In January of 1946, a man named Stanislaw Ulam found himself confined to a hospital bed, having suffered an encephalitis attack. A brilliant scientist and a veteran of the Manhattan Project, Ulam wasn't the type to sit idly while he recuperated. Instead, after playing innumerable games of solitaire [...]
What’s going to happen
This week I received some odd communications from mutual fund giant Vanguard Group. First, they sent a white paper titled, “Here today, gone tomorrow: The impact of economic surprises on asset returns.” As the title suggests, this paper examined the relationship between the economy and the stock [...]
Is Apple the greatest company ever?
Is Apple the greatest company ever? On the surface, it certainly appears that way. They sell more than 450,000 iPhones per day, every day. And customers love them: According to surveys, iPhone customer satisfaction stands at 98%. Last year Apple's revenue topped $200 billion, and in its most recent [...]