Enough Sniping - at the wrong target - October 20, 2011March 25, 2017 WARREN BUFFETT’S CHAIN LETTER (NOT) Mike Duffy: “Usually when I get a ‘XXX wants you to forward this to N people’ message, I check its veracity on snopes.com. Here’s what they have to say about Warren Buffett’s alleged chain letter. If you haven’t already mentioned it to them, your readers might benefit from knowing about Snopes.” ☞ I use Snopes frequently – and when I don’t, I usually regret it. THE LIST Steve: “Lawrence Lessig wrote Republic Lost and was on NPR Tuesday. He cites Obama as a failure for promising to change the way business is conducted in Washington but being exactly like every other pol who seeks $ and re-election over everything else. Lessig pretty much summed up my thoughts. We can vote for Obama or one of the dwarves, it doesn’t matter in the long term. If you have to list Obama’s accomplishments, Andy . . .” ☞ Steve’s negativity is both unfair and counterproductive – and just plain wrong – though I know it comes from justifiable frustration and values that we all share. Unfair, because, for example, the President and the DNC take ZERO money from Washington’s more than 10,000 federal lobbyists and PACs – even though the RNC does and it’s how “business [has long been] conducted in Washington.” This policy has cost us tens of millions of dollars, yet Steve counts it as nothing. Unfair, because the President has worked so hard – to the dismay of so many of my fellow liberals – to try to work with the other side. Yes, he failed to change the culture of Washington, but not for lack of trying. You blame him for that; I blame the other party. Just plain wrong, because the world would have been SO different if Gore had been allowed to serve, SO different if Lindbergh had defeated FDR (did you read the Philip Roth novel imagining that?), SO different if McCain/Palin were today running the show. It’s preposterous to say “it doesn’t matter in the long run” who wins. The last decade would have been about the same either way? Give me a break. Counterproductive, because negativity saps the enthusiasm needed to advance the causes we share. Enough, Steve: If you really care about all this, as I know you do, get to work – volunteering for Obama, registering new voters, bucking up existing voters, pushing back on your fellow naysayers – and not dismissing three years of incredible accomplishment (given the context) because it’s “a list.” (“If you have to list Obama’s accomplishments, Andy . . .”) Don’t snipe at the good guys, Steve, help us beat back the bad guys. (For the things we believe in, the Koch Bros, Karl Rove, et al, are bad guys.) Feel free to pass this on to Lawrence Lessig. SMBC Aristides’ Chris Brown: “SMBC reported another great quarter. EPS of $1.21. Earnings are still benefitting from the tailwind of the FDIC-assisted transaction last year. Company reported both deposit and loan growth. The ratio of tangible common equity to assets ticked up about 10 basis points and is on pace to easily exceed 7% within 3-4 quarters. Equity/assets is now 9.6%. Loans and deposits both grew quarter-over-quarter. Credit quality improved from perfect to more perfect. With great earnings like this, and great asset quality, I’m leaning more towards the view that management will not issue shares here. Tangible book value per share is $22.51, up from $17.19 a year ago! Short of Armageddon, I think it is going to be a very good next 12-24 months for shares of SMBC.”