The American Spectator : What Would Sir John Say?

What Would Sir John Say?

By Theodore Roosevelt Malloch on 1.8.09 @ 6:08AM

(Page 3 of 3)

He was, you have to admit, amazingly spot on. But what would Sir John say today in the midst of the greatest recession since the thirties, a global credit crunch of unparalleled proportions and unprecedented market turmoil?

I was with him less than two years ago at the famous Morgan Stanley equity conference at Lyford Cay and he was weak and frail from plain old age. He attended as much as he could because his mind was still sharp, even if his body was in decline. In the final session all the giants of financial services, the hedgies, asset managers, and top fund gurus told a bit about their plans for the future year or so. When Sir John spoke the room fell deafeningly silent, like in those old EF Hutton commercials, you could actually hear a pin drop. When he said he would "short" the financials, autos, airlines, housing, the QQQ, and Wal-Mart it was like a bomb had gone off and people (in this case the largest hedge funds and asset managers in the world) gasped for air. You see, Sir John was not known to normally -- go short. One person who runs the world's largest private equity fund asked sheepishly, "Is there nothing you would buy?" Sir John's quiet but sure answer I will always remember. He said, "No, because nothing is cheap yet, but they will be shortly."

Over his long lifetime Sir John while constantly urging for free markets, competition, spiritual knowledge and moral character would also be searching the world over and buying cheap stocks, and then holding them to sell when they had fully appreciated. He would see this moment, this next year, 2009, I think, as the buying opportunity of a lifetime, not only in the U.S. but also, as was his predilection, in markets around the world. Mark his words and check back in five, ten, or twenty years. And when in doubt always ask, "What Would Sir John Say?"

Page: < 1 23

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Global Financial Crisis

Drudge Ette Obama| 1.8.09 @ 6:59AM

Someone get to Obama, if he is back from vacation yet, and educate the fool. He has a once in a century opportunity to reverse a dire course we are on. Why does he keep moving to the dark edge? Why does he want to spend another trillion on idiotic projects? What compels these people? Meglomania? How can we save ourselves?

Luonne Dumak| 1.8.09 @ 7:44AM

Educate Mr .B.O.? He is already educated, in the ways of Karl Marx.

Alice Moore| 1.8.09 @ 8:42AM

Re: educating Obama. Obama, like many Liberals, have secular BELIEFS; not opinions. I think he shares Rev. Jeremiah Wright's worldview as well. Obama and his wife might like seeing white America lose their shirts.

A Sir John demonstrating logical cause and effect, let alone quantifiable facts,would be a waste of time.

Lauren Templeton| 1.8.09 @ 3:19PM

I received the same memo. Impressive thoughts!

We recently created a quarterly newsletter: The Maximum Pessimism Report. The Maximum Pessimism Report profiles value investing ideas from a contrarian’s point of view. If you would like to receive the Maximum Pessimism Report on a quarterly basis please visit our website: www.MaximumPessimism.com . Click on the newsletter tab to register for your free subscription.

“Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria. The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell.” ~Sir John Templeton

Happy Bargain Hunting!

Scott CrossSr| 1.8.09 @ 4:02PM

WOW! Astute, cogent, pithy: a stunning assembly of a few ideas in just a few paragraphs that simply ring TRUTH. I'm obviously stunned. Only Norman Poderetz in the world of civilization and ethics comes to mind. Wish I had met Sir John, just once.

frankg| 1.8.09 @ 5:06PM

Yeah, obama and the libs appear certain that this is the way to go, socialist creative destruction. Massive national debt will likely be a means to an end. Remake the world in their image. And build a second tower of bable. It'll all be a failure, of course, but as they experiment on us, they'll be sure they can get it right, eventually.

Michele San Pietro| 1.8.09 @ 6:01PM

I don't see any economic or financial disaster. Is this The American Spectator or The Communist Spectator?

Alan Brooks| 1.8.09 @ 7:40PM

Templeton said it all. what can be added?

we should have known; 1991, recession; 1996, pulling up (the best time); 1998, optimism ("overheating" economy); 1999, millennial euphoria-- not even Y2K could dampen it.
Then the dotcom downturn in 2000-- since then it's been a hell of a ride. it was all there in the '90s for us to see but we were blinded by the light.

Joseph Smith| 1.8.09 @ 9:23PM

Thank you for sharing that amazing memo from an amazing man.

Alan Brooks| 1.8.09 @ 10:06PM

when the Old School dies off we may lose a great deal more than we might think we do.

Heimo Mauser| 1.10.09 @ 4:09PM

Great old man. But there are still left some others like Warren Buffett, Marc Faber and all the Graham&Dodd;-people who really understand the economy. If we really want to know - we could ask them for advice.

Pingback| 3.6.09 @ 10:09AM

Link Roundup « What Would John Templeton Say? links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…only ones looking to John Templeton for wisdom and perspective lately. Here’s a look at some other great articles that we’ve gathered from near and far: The American Spectator “What Would Sir John Say?” iStockAnalyst “John Templeton’s Plan for Surviving the Great Recession” The Motley Fool “3 Lessons from an Investing Master” Scotland on Sunday “Wealth…

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The American Spectator

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