Jim Rogers: more banks should have failed

As the one-year anniversary of Lehman Brothers' collapse arrives, some in the mainstream press (who neither anticipated the financial bust or understood its true causes when it actually transpired) have taken it upon themselves to educate their audience on the "lessons of the Lehman Brothers collapse".

The problem, of course, is that these "lessons" tend to (predictably) advance all sorts of blatantly wrong ideas through their misreading of history (eg, Andrew Mellon and his cohorts triggered the collapse of the 1930s), faulty conclusions drawn in advance (the bailouts worked, saving us from a second Great Depression!), and plain ignorance of sound economic principles.

So what are the real lessons to have learned from last year's financial crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers? Jim Rogers joins CNBC to offer his consistently-held view: not only should Lehman have failed, more banks should have failed with it. Watch the clip for more.

Clean Money - John Rubino: Book review

Clean Money by John Rubino 274 pages. Hoboken, New Jersey John Wiley & Sons. 2009. 1st Edition. The bouyant stock market environment of the past several years is gone, and the financial wreckage of 2008 is still sharp in our minds as a new year starts to unfold. Given the recent across-the-board-declines in global stock markets (and most asset classes) that have left many investors shell-shocked, you might wonder if there is any good reason to consider the merits of a hot new investment theme, such as clean energy. However, we shouldn't be too hasty to write off all future stock investments. After all, the market declines of 2008 may continue into 2009, but they may also leave interesting investment opportunities in their wake. Which brings us to the subject of this review. John Rubino, author and editor of GreenStockInvesting.com , recently released a new book on renewable energy and clean-tech investing entitled, Clean Money: Picking Winners in the Green Tech Boom . In Clean ...

Seth Klarman: Margin of Safety (pdf)

Welcome, readers! Signup for free email updates at the Finance Trends Newsletter . Update: PDF links removed due to DMCA notice. Please see our extensive Klarman book notes below. New visitors, please check the Finance Trends home page for all new posts. Here's something for anyone who has been trying to get a look at Seth Klarman's now famous, and out of print, 1991 investment book, Margin of Safety . My knowledge of value investing is pretty much limited to what I've read in Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor (the book which originally popularized the investment concept of a "Margin of Safety"), so check out the wisdom from Seth Klarman and other investing greats in our related posts below. You can also go straight to Ronald Redfield's Margin of Safety book notes . Related posts: 1. Seth Klarman interviews and Margin of Safety notes 2. Seth Klarman: Lessons from 2008 3. Investing Lessons from Sir John Templeton 4. ...

Marty Schwartz Talks Trading, Life at Amherst College

Trader and Pit Bull author, Marty Schwartz speaks at Amherst College and shares lessons on markets and life in a rare, hour-long video session (Hat Tip: Tischendorf Letter ). You may also know Schwartz from his interview in Jack Schwager's Market Wizards , a chapter which I will revisit in a follow-up post. For now, let's absorb some of the wisdom and life lessons he imparts to the students at Amherst. Those of us who are students of trading and life may find a few pearls in the highlights below: Marty Schwartz begins his talk by relating some of his experiences as an Amherst student back in the 1960s (a technological "stone age" by comparison to today). He was decked early on with some pretty poor grades, but he fought to get back on track and completed his studies successfully. One recurring theme from the early portion of his talk is, "it didn't kill me so it made me stronger." . Schwartz tells students, "I'm here to tell yo...

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