You Should Have Been There for a Peek Into the Future
by “Should Have Been There” guest blogger, Larry Blumsack, President, Zoka Institute
On one-hand and on the other-hand philosophy of the U.S. and world financial conundrum was presented to attendees at the April Dealmakers Breakfast by Dr. Allan Bufferd, Treasurer Emeritus of MIT and Founding President of the MIT Investment Management Company.
In a very straightforward fact-filled presentation Dr. Bufferd made it clear on one-hand that even the most sophisticated endowment investors never predicted the “severe disruption of our financial system in 2008.” He stated a number of times that it is very difficult to see future risk. On the other-hand institutional endowments did better by comparison than the rest of the financial institutions.
While on one-hand, he is long on the U.S. on the other-hand he is also long on strong economic growth in the emerging markets, particularly Asia – up about 20% with risk-adjusted investments. Bufferd believes that the U.S. has the broadest economy in the world, filled with can-do people with a large technology base. Opportunities like the internet, energy and healthcare will give rise to growth changes in this country.
Dr. Bufferd closed his talk with the fact that – without question - the structure of the U.S. financial institutions and banking system have dramatically changed. He echoes a similar comment from another financial genius Warren Buffett.
