“If you want to be trusted, be trustworthy. If you demand hard work, work hard. If you want your colleagues to level with you, level with them. It’s not very complicated!” — John C. Bogle, Enough: True Measures of Money,
Interesting Reading – October 7, 2016
Note to readers: In this new series, we will suggest worthwhile reading material on a variety of topics, not all of which will be related directly to investing. We anticipate several posts per month consisting of five to ten suggestions
Bogle: Alan Greenspan’s Testimony Was Disingenuous
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified today in Washington before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. We suggested last week that Mr. Greenspan and others who failed to foresee the crisis should simply accept responsibility and play a role in helping society learn from past mistakes in an effort to prevent similar problems from taking place in the future. While Mr. Greenspan now admits that he was only correct “70 percent of the time”, he continues to minimize the role of monetary policy in the crisis. Read this article for more details and a brief video clip of Jack Bogle’s view of Mr. Greenspan’s testimony.
Bogle Expects Solid Returns for Stocks
In an interview on Nightly Business Report last night, Vanguard Founder John “Jack” Bogle comments on the investment follies of the decade coming to a close and expressed positive views on prospects for returns from common stocks in the decade ahead. Mr. Bogle is the most prominent advocate for index funds which seek to match broad market indices at low cost. Read the article for more details.
Buffett and Bogle Urge Reforms to Address “Short-Termism”
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett and Vanguard Group founder John Bogle have joined with 26 other prominent individuals to call for action to reduce “short-termism” in business and investment management. In an Aspen Institute statement released today and summarized in a Wall Street Journal article, the group called for more robust action to encourage longer term thinking among investors, boards, and executives. Read this article for more details.