“Everyone asks about gold. This is the irony: just as Jim Grant tells us (correctly) that we all have faith-based paper currencies backed by nothing, it is equally fair to say that gold is a faith-based metal. It pays no dividend, cannot be eaten, and is mostly used for nothing more useful than jewelry. I would say that anything of which 75% sits idly and expensively in bank vaults is, as a measure of value, only one step up from the Polynesian islands that attached value to certain well-known large rocks that were traded.” WellsUsedCertainValuesAsksPayKnownStepsRocksPaperFairsGoldIronyIslandsGrantsHave FaithMetalsCurrencyWell KnownJewelryStep UpDividendsVaultsFaith BasedPolynesians Author:Jeremy Grantham
“Volatility is a symptom that people have no idea of the underlying value-that they have stopped playing the asset game. They're not buying because it's a company with certain attributes. They're buying because the price is rising. People are playing games not related to any concept at all of what the long-term value of the enterprise is. And they know it.” PeopleKnowsLongIdeasCertainValuesGamesTermCompanyConceptsNo IdeaLong TermRelatedRisingBuyingEnterpriseAssetsAttributesSymptomsPlaying GamesVolatility Author:Jeremy Grantham
“The potential for alternative energy sources, mainly solar and wind power, to completely replace coal and gas for utility generation globally is, I think, certain. The question is only whether it takes 30 years or 70 years.” ThinkingYearsCertainEnergyGenerationsWindSourceAlternativesGasCoalUtilityEnergy SourcesAlternative EnergyWind Power Author:Jeremy Grantham
