Subject: Re: Data Point: Railroads
It's one of those classic Buffett insights where a single, simple data point completely reframes how you look at a giant, traditional industry.

Charlie Munger talked about the need to have a very (very) large store of general knowledge, so as to be able to occasionally connect seemingly unrelated points from different disciplines. Mental models, he called them.

A couple of weeks ago Jim/mungofitch described an approach that reminded me, again, of the albatross energy budget (1): make it look easy by harvesting a little bit from each updraft, avoid the downdrafts, and before you know it you're never needing to land again.

That, plus knowing enough history to where now and then you can't help but hear the rhyming in real time, plus simply anticipating where other peoples' incentives will necessarily lead them -- seems to work. Mostly.

-- sutton

(1) https://www.shrewdm.com/MB?pid...