“The investment business has taught me – increasingly as the years have passed – that people, especially investors (and, I believe, Americans), prefer good news and wishful thinking to bad news; and that there are always vested interests to offer facile, optimistic alternatives to the bad news.” PeopleThinkingYearsBelieveI BelieveInterestTaughtOffersNewsInvestmentOptimisticAlternativesInvestorsGood NewsBad NewsWishful ThinkingVested Interests Author:Jeremy Grantham
“...how little our side of the industry did to move its business to the more ethical firms and to make a fuss about conflicted or unethical behavior. Had a number of us moved our business, we might have slowed or even stopped the 30-year slide in conflicted, unethical behavior that we have experienced. I, for one, regret the modest nature of our moves. We all could have done more. We have tolerated a pretty nasty decline in standards. Shame on us.” YearsLittlesDoneMightMovingSidesNumbersRegretIndustryBehaviorStandardsShameMovedFirmEthicalDeclineNastyModestSlidesUnethical Author:Jeremy Grantham
“Although value is a weak force in any single year, it becomes a monster over several years. Like gravity, it slowly wears down the opposition.” YearsValuesForceWeakMonstersOppositionGravity 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
“Investment bubbles and high animal spirits do not materialize out of thin air. They need extremely favorable economic fundamentals together with free and easy, cheap credit, and they need it for at least two or three years. Importantly, they also need serial pleasant surprises in such critical variables as global GNP growth.” NeedsYearsTwoTogetherSpiritThreeEasyGrowthAnimalAirEconomicFundamentalsSurpriseInvestmentCreditCriticalPleasantThree YearsBubblesVariablesSerialsThin AirPleasant SurprisesAnimal Spirits Author:Jeremy Grantham
