1/ Spent some time this evening catching up on past issues of Grant's Interest Rate Observer (@GrantsPub). A few observations...
2/ The biweekly publications found their way to me late because of a change of mailing address. Yet, each one felt timely and fresh.
3/ Far and few are the financial publications that allow for such long-form writing. @GrantsPub is one. @ttmygh is another. I'm struggling to think of a third.
4/ Does anyone besides Jim Grant write about financial markets today with an encyclopedic and insightful knowledge of their history stretching back 3,000 or so years? Perhaps, but I don't know who that would be.
5/ Does anyone in the financial world write with exquisitely elegant style of Jim Grant? No. Though, let me say, his Deputy Editor, @evan_lorenz, increasingly comes close. As does (no surprise) Associate Publisher @philgrant3.
6/ Every sentence in each number has a poetic rhythm. Every paragraph a thoughtful structure. Every article is a cathedral of research, insight, & analysis. Many examples to choose from, and this is far from the best, but consider this from June 12 opening essay...
7/ "Low rates are notorious mischief-makers. Seeking the returns unavailable at the bank or in government debt or even in conventional 60/40 investment portfolios, savers become investors, investors become speculators and millennials turn to day-trading."
8/ A few other observations. Grant's is hot on the tail of private equity, which surely deserves to be hunted down and shot. Fund managers should resist the temptation to return phone calls from Lorenz. The man is armed (with Bain's 2020 Global PE Report) and decidedly dangerous.
9/ Most of all, Grant's is sounding the clearest, most consistent, most cogent, and most urgent warnings about the unprecedented fiscal & monetary experiments our elitist Fed masters are carrying out. Sounding those warnings with urbanity, learning, modesty, and wit.
10/ Bonus: each Grant's edition features one or two actionable investing ideas, spooled out in gorgeously flowing prose that almost disguises the vast amount of undergirding thought & research.
11/ Also, the Jim Grant rolodex is incomparable as a font of wisdom. Many are the financiers, hedge fund managers, bond mavens, and big picture thinkers who, though they may disagree with Grant, are pleased to share ideas, insights, and concerns.
12/ Which is another marvelous part of the Grant persona: he invites his critics to have their say. He is humble enough to listen. They are appreciative enough of his inquiring mind to participate...
13/ Memorable always for me will the debate a few years back between Grant, an arch-critic of passive investing, and the late, great John C. Bogle, founder of Vanguard Funds. The topic: the blessings and curses of index fund investing.
14/ It says a great deal about Grant that he would invite debate from Bogle, and it says a great deal about Bogle that he would happily accept. It says a great deal about both of them that the conversation was fact-dense, candid, informative, and above all civil.
15/ Now, more than ever, we are poised on a precipice. We perceive the hollow quality of the political debate & the utter inadequacy (& corruption) of our elected officials. The extent of stimulus & concomitant waste is staggering. The hubris of our central bankers is unbounded.
16/ So, I will keep as my compass @GrantsPub and as my lodestar @ttmygh. And I encourage others to do the same. Perhaps, as a start, give a listen to the podcast at the start of this thread.
