As Alan Greenspan writes book after book obsessively, desperately trying to convince himself and the rest of the world that the financial crisis was not foreseeable (and therefore not his fault), Michael Burry (and many other critical thinkers) remind the world that credit bubbles are both predictable and avoidable. In this area as in many others, “ignorance is willful” and individuals can think clearly apart from the pack in order to survive and thrive even in the most challenging conditions: “think better and act stronger.”
2012 UCLA Department of Economics Commencement featuring Dr. Michael J. Burry as keynote speaker. Here is the direct link.
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More great comment, too bad it never makes it into our “education system”, except at rare occasions like this.
Is seems the question now is, “do we go Iceland…………..or Ireland?”
I enjoyed the commencement speech Danielle.
I have an on-going debate with a colleague. I’m on your side where there has to be a “cleansing” that must take place before things turn around. My colleague says that some companies are making profits, and some of these companies are making acquisitions in this lousy economic environment. He doesn’t understand why the market is the way it is at the moment. I say to him, yes, those companies are making profits, but if there are powerful negative attitudes towards the financial market, then both good and bad companies will be dragged down. There are no “safe-haven” stocks to run from. I also tell my colleague that there is no confidence in our governments to make the right choices at the moment. Most public companies are waiting to see what economic policies will be brought out. However, at the moment, politicians are too busy getting re-elected. Sometimes the business of politics is to over-promise and under-deliver to keep the electorate wanting more. My colleague says that isn’t this the time to buy when the market is being dragged down?
Any words of wisdom you can provide?
Thnx
Thanks for sharing this commencement address with us. Anybody who has read about Burry in “The Big Short” (a fascinating book) know that he is not only heads and shoulders above the crowd in thinking and analyses but also has been diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome (much to Burry’s surprise himself as it came well into his adult years). His erudite acumen, once again brought forth in this penetrating address, says to me that we all could benefit greatly from more Aspies involved in our establishments of regulation and policy making as one of their characteristics is being HIGHLY FOCUSED with little distraction from the noise of “conventional wisdom.”
America is not going the way of Japan, but the way of Argentina.
That said, todays market action has flipped the budding market ‘rally’ back into FULL BLOWN CORRECTION mode. Rolling stall. Rolling stall. Rolling stall.
Sorry boomers, what you always suspected is now about to come true and hit you squarely on the head. Its a SOLVENCY CRISIS. SOLVENCY CRISIS. Beware!