The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 6 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Baran: Japan's pension reforms forced price-insensitive liquidation of equity portfolios
“Because for some god unknown reason, the government said, we don't want to take your assets, we'll take your cash. So everything was converted into cash, and there was no price sensitivity at all.”
Baran: Trillions of dollars sit idle on Japanese corporate balance sheets
“There's trillions of dollars sitting on Japanese balance sheets that are owned by Japanese pensioners who need the money.”
Baran: Symphony holds Japanese companies with 60% EBITDA margins
“We own companies that have like 60% heavy down margins. I mean, I'd be hard pressed to find that in the U.S. Market. And they're making money. They're profitable.”
Baran: Hundreds of Japanese companies traded at a discount to cash
“I spent quite a number of years actually trying to understand both how and why the stock market was discounting so many of these companies, and there were literally hundreds of them”
Baran: Historical Japanese accounting did not require marking securities to market
“For example, you didn't have to mark to market your securities portfolio. So these companies had massive amounts of stock that had gone up five times from when they bought it 50 years ago. It was on their book at acquisition costs.”