The Outsiders
According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers--until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
5mentions
5people
2009–2024years
60% recommend40% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- "In no way do we think that Berkshire shares should be repurchased at simply any price. I emphasize that point because American CEOs have an embarrassing record of devoting more company funds to repurchases when prices have risen than when they have tanked. Our approach is exactly the reverse."
For many companies, the approach seems to be "we've paid our dividends, we have some cash left over, let's buy back our own stock" - with a complete disregard for the valuation. Buying your own shares at too high a price (see GE and US airlines) is equivalent to incinerating money, whereas buybacks at low prices (Teledyne, Apple) do wonders for returns. If you run a listed business you have to think long and hard about what your firm is worth without just looking at the market price. William Thorndike's book "The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success" [0] makes that point beautifully
Right now it is interesting to observe that many companies are doing the opposite of buybacks at a record clip, the share issuance of firms like Twillio is astounding.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13586932-the-outsiders
- I've wondered why Apple has been perpetually undervalued for many years and my theory is basically that the market has always viewed Apple against comps like Dell, HP, Nokia, Blackberry, etc. That is, a hardware company that is always at risk of being passed over by something that was cheaper (because hardware is allegedly a commodity).
Of course the reality is that Apple has a durable moat in being a platform company with differentiated products. I think what's changing now is that the growth of Services is basically forcing the market to realize this and the multiple is getting re-rated upward.
The book The Outsiders profiled a number of CEOs and companies where good capital allocation enhanced total returns over time [1]. I'm pretty sure if it were revised there'd be a chapter about Tim Cook and Apple. Being able to buy back stock in size for 5 years now, without the market figuring Apple out, is kind of absurd. It might be the biggest transfer of wealth from sellers to shareholders of all time.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Outsiders-Unconventional-Radically-Ra...
- "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes (the short story, not the novel)
"The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton
- I wouldn't use the term "garbage prose", but I do agree that many books from the literary canon aren't the greatest choice to assign to kids.
Steinbeck and Faulkner come to mind.
I understand that they're important, influential, and well-written. But I just didn't relate to them. There was almost nothing about the main characters' challenges or desires that I could understand.
My son was assigned "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton - he didn't mind reading it, but he said he just didn't really relate to any of the characters. Even though it's set just 50 years ago, the culture it describes bares basically no resemblance to modern-day life for a teenager.
- “ My son was assigned "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton - he didn't mind reading it, but he said he just didn't really relate to any of the characters. Even though it's set just 50 years ago, the culture it describes bares basically no resemblance to modern-day life for a teenager.”
Maybe that’s ok? I read the Outsiders when I was young (25 years ago or so) and although I thought it was a bit weird, it wasn’t bad. My life bears little resemblance to many current contemporary people’s lives the world over, but exploring those differences can be good. I am all for giving the kids a chance to see a different world and get a sense of how things can change.
