Wednesday Links

Imitation ain't easy: the ability "to see something once and learn it perfectly... is rightly considered a superpower. Yet, in economic models it’s assumed that everyone has this ability." We've been thinking about competitive advantage this week in trying to figure out where the Conrad Industries high returns on equity are coming from.

A Conrad competitor said that "new dry barge builds required to replace retiring barges may strain the capacity of barge manufacturing during the next five years."

Meanwhile, ATPG stock was finally delisted today. I wrote earlier that "There shouldn't be 75 percent returns available for things that are pretty certain, like ATPG equity being canceled as part of its restructuring."

Gary North on the GOP and the tea party: "If Romney loses, and Ron Paul's name appears on enough ballots in swing states to cause this loss in the electoral college, the Republican Party establishment will find itself boxed in. It will find itself beholden to the tea party. If it thinks that he cannot win without the tea party, the leadership will decide not to win. If it is a question of surrendering to the tea party, especially on the issue of gold, the American establishment at the highest levels would be perfectly willing to see the election of nothing but Democrats for the foreseeable future."

More bubbles to pop: "eight still-expanding bubbles and have developed an acronym to help easily remember them: 'CCC Aches,' [:] China, Commodities, Canada, Australia, College (U.S.), Healthcare (U.S.), Emerging markets and Social media."

Red Corner writeup on XPO, 3rd party logistics firm: "There are four verticals within the brokerage space that, together, represent a very large acquisition universe — about $200 billion in aggregate. All four are non-asset based, meaning the companies don’t own the trucks, ships or planes. They manage the logistics of how freight moves from one point to another by matching shippers with carriers. XPO is already in three of the four verticals."

Posts about schuff steel at Red Corner and OTC Adventures.