Well, welcome to the Grant's Interest Rate Observer Podcast. I'm Jim Grant, and with me today

is Paul Isaac, who is the progenitor and for all I know the president of Arbiter Partners,

a most successful hedge fund and one in which I have a personal interest. I'll disclose all

of this presently. Also with me is the great Evan Lorenz, the deputy editor of grants, and Phil Grant,

the editor of almost daily grants, virtually daily, I'd say, at NUGM. And Eric Whitehead at the

dials, and we are brought to you today through the kind intercession of LinkedIn learning

and away travel, both about

which presently. So, Paul, welcome. Great to be here. Yeah, it's so nice to have you because I should

disclose, Paul, we are thick as thieves. I mean, Paul J. Isaac is a director of Grant's interest

rate observer or its holding company. And our family is an investor in arbiter partners that are most

satisfied one. Paul, you can shut your

earphones off now because this will mortify you. But from the start, the inception of Arbiter,

and it was a $1.00, the S&P 500 in Arbiter. It drives Paul crazy, by the way, to have everything

compared to the S&P 500, but so be it for now. But if you had started at 2001, as you should have with a buck and arbiter partners,

it would, as of a fairly recent date, be worth more than $16, whereas your miserable dollar

in the S&P 500 would scarcely be knocking in the door of three lonely dollars. 16 versus three.

All right, that'll end that infomercial. But Paul is a lifelong friend. He is investor royalty. His

father, Irving, was not Irving? Yes. Specialist, I guess, in workout investments in the 30s, although I dare

say that most everyone was in that field in the 30s. And he is a nephew of the late and great

Walter Schloss, who once had the privilege of working for Ben Graham, and indeed,

Ben Graham had the privilege of employing Walter Schloss.

So, Paul, without further ado, welcome.

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