“We will continue to ignore political and economic forecasts, which
are an expensive distraction for many investors and businessmen.
Thirty
years ago, no one could have foreseen the huge expansion of the Vietnam
War, wage and price controls, two oil shocks, the resignation of a
president, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a one-day drop in the
Dow of 508 points, or treasury bill yields fluctuating between 2.8% and
17.4%.
“But, surprise – none of these blockbuster events made the slightest
dent in Ben Graham’s investment principles.
Nor did they render unsound
the negotiated purchases of fine businesses at sensible prices.
Imagine
the cost to us, then, if we had let a fear of unknowns cause us to defer
or alter the deployment of capital.
Indeed, we have usually made our
best purchases when apprehensions about some macro event were at a peak.
Fear is the foe of the faddist, but the friend of the fundamentalist.
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