We will continue to ignore political and economic forecasts,
which are an expensive distraction for many investors and
businessmen. Thirty years ago, no one could have foreseen the
huge expansion of the Vietnam War, wage and price controls, two
oil shocks, the resignation of a president, the dissolution of
the Soviet Union, a one-day drop in the Dow of 508 points, or
treasury bill yields fluctuating between 2.8% and 17.4%.
But, surprise - none of these blockbuster events made the
slightest dent in Ben Graham's investment principles. Nor did
they render unsound the negotiated purchases of fine businesses
at sensible prices. Imagine the cost to us, then, if we had let
a fear of unknowns cause us to defer or alter the deployment of
capital. Indeed, we have usually made our best purchases when
apprehensions about some macro event were at a peak. Fear is the
foe of the faddist, but the friend of the fundamentalist.
Warren E. Buffett, 1995
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