This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Guest Post: The Eroding Premium On Truth And Trust
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
The premium in America has shifted from truth to self-serving distortion, and from trust to manipulation.
The premium we place on truth and trustworthiness is self-evident. Truth is uniquely productive feedback from the real world. Truth (including factual data) is indispensable, for it alone enables us to correct errors, learn from mistakes and improve our effectiveness and communication.
We pay a premium for trust because the cost of dishonesty and artifice is steep.Would you pay more to buy a used car from someone you trust? If you place no premium on trustworthiness, then you buy the "great deal" used car you found online: oops, the "new" battery was spray-painted black, the crankcase leaks, the engine is shot and doesn't pass smog, and the certificate of ownership is forged.
The premium on truth and trust is eroding under the constant onslaught of officially manipulated data and markets, and a vast array of distortions and propaganda designed to serve the interests of ruling Elites and key constituencies.
We all know the negative premium placed on fact: telling the truth will get you fired. And not just in the corporate world: politicians from the President on down all worship at the altar of the carefully distorted unemployment rate.
The officially sanctioned lying and manipulation are now shameless. Never mind that millions of people have become statistical phantoms (i.e. not in the workforce) to generate that low rate, and college graduates working 3 hours a day (if they're called in at all) are gleefully counted as employed, as if there is no difference between a full-time job and a marginal one.
President Obama is touting rising auto sales as proof of the "recovery" (and implicitly, of his wise stewardship), studiously avoiding the fact that these stupendous auto sales are the result of offering low-interest rate auto loans to marginal borrowers with near-zero collateral (i.e. skin in the game).
How did blowing a credit bubble and securitizing the debt turn out last time?
Never mind: here we go again. Via Doug Nolan at Prudent Bear:
Springleaf Finance Corp., the lender to borrowers with poor or limited credit, sold $604 million of bonds last month backed by personal loans secured by household goods from furniture to electronics, its first such deal. Demand for riskier asset-backed bonds has grown as the Federal Reserve holds its benchmark interest rate at almost zero for a fifth year. Sales of securities linked to subprime auto loans doubled to $4 billion in January from a year earlier.
Manipulation and carefully crafted distortion erode trust, not just in the individuals employed to repeat the lies but in the institutions that issue them. The ruthless pursuit of self-interest is now the norm; truth is a terribly risky disruptor that must be hidden, masked or countered with plausible lies.
As a nation, we're like the obese person who looks at himself in the mirror and sees his body as normal--the distortion of truth is so complete that we literally no longer recognize reality. Untruth no longer arouses any moral indignation; we are either too jaded to care, or our moral compass now spins aimlessly from one manipulation to the next.
There can be no trust if there is no truth. How can we trust people who lie to us constantly, who issue one self-serving justification after another for their own parasitic predation? We cannot. How can we trust institutions whose credibility now rests on the continuation of lies that are so embedded in our financial sector and State that their collapse will bring down the entire house-of-cards debtocracy? We cannot.
The premium in America has shifted from truth to self-serving distortion, and from trust to manipulation. This spiritual and moral rot will end gloriously, have no doubt, for the stock market's permanent ascendancy dissolves all other narratives.
»
- 13801 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
You can't erode ZERO
This is all pretty rich coming from libertarians who still can't admit that trickle down economics has failed.
The United States of Propaganda
@MillionDollarBonus_: Trickle down economics is the same as trickled down from DC and from the Fed. Regardless of where it comes from those people that hand it out and regulate it have the power. You're a fascist, MillionDollarBonus_.
NYC Bar accepting Bitcoin payments: http://news.yahoo.com/york-city-bar-accepting-bitcoins-payment-192300237...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZSri_HG32c
who i trust, me, thats who
(and i have my doubts about that guy even, from time to time)
MillionDollarBonus is not a fascist. He is a Jewish Bolshevik.
You sayin theres a difference?
Or maybe the United States of Whatever http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1zvhJRIM7M
A Noble Lie: Oklahoma City 1995
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roZi0H2Gsxg
To a psychopath, a lie is more important than the truth.
Welcome to the modern world.
So economics backed by lies is sustainable? Ask some average North Koreans how great their lives are; since they're the best example of a society completely dominated by lies.
Can't we just send the squid in there. We'll own the that piece of undeveloped real estate in 10 years, no shots fired.
"The ruthless pursuit of self-interest is now the norm;"
That was true in the alpha-male social hierarchy of the hunter-gatherers, that was true in Pharonic Egypt, that is true in North Korea, and that is true in the US.
It's the modus operandi of government.
Productivity and efficiency gains all go to the cabal. A chinese sock making, making 50,000 socks an hour, with a machine, makes the same wages, in relation to the European average, as his forebearers did in the 18th century making 5 per hour.
BINGO! I have not heard others express this. This is done through inflation of the currency and is the source of all banker wealth. Prices of products would go down due to innovation but bankers print free money for themselves to spend first which causes moderate inflation (when they are not being greedy). People don't notice since they can still afford the things they want. However, this negatively impacts society as a whole.
It is one mechanism, but it is also done at the mangement level. The sock maker gets paid minimum wage however many socks he produces. He does not get a cut. Socks that sell to Western markets at 2 pennies each end up on the streets of Europe and the United States at a Euro/$/Pound. That 98 pence is largely the middle men and management. Now if the sock maker were to get a penny per sock, he would be laughing, but of course, why should he, when the management can make an extra penny per pound. The rich get 1% richer so that the poor will never see anything. Perhaps such employers value themselves, as human beings, by the ratio of income between themselves and their employee.
Well, I'm an employer and I don't value myself that way. I do know however that any inovations that we (I and my employees) come up with are immediately grabbed by currency inflation and customer threats to go with an offshore vendor. I can guarantee they don't go to my salary, the bottom line, at any greater rate than they go to my employees wages and benefits.
Rare employer. Hope you survive the financial apocalypse. We need moral people on the other side.
MDB, that just goes to show how insane your pal Obunga is. He's $7 Trillion into trickle down economics. Chew on this for awhile.
Trickfuck economics or Trickle down economics. Is there any difference?
To the point of the article, without trust, which indeed, is a function of Truth we will be in this stagnation for a very long time.
And as the members of the Politburo meet again in Washington, perhaps we could remind them to read Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago, especially during the chapter on the party members fearing to be the first person to stop clapping as the Party Boss arrived; people kept clapping until they fell over. Absurd ? Yeah, like the world we occupy today.
Eat your Pablum! But sir, it looks and tastes like shit. I can assure you it is not shit, so get eating.
Trickle down economy cannot truly be tested when governments grant corporate welfare, which tilts the playing feild in favor of the TBTF corporations and banks. Libertarians believe a TRUE free market, with minimal government intervention or favoritism, while not perfect, is preferable to Oligarchy, Socialism or Fascism
Failed at what? To do the impossible and remove poverty?
Poverty is a choice cupcake.
QE is trickle down economics and O and the FED can't get enough of it.
MDB - that makes no sense... Were you around during Reagan? Do you remember...
I guess not.
It must be the propaganda...
Semantics but but you can definitely erode to ZERO. You can't erode below ZERO (note: unless using current BLS stats).
Captain obvious is back. No shit Captain, when fraud is the status quo, possession is the law. Get your tribe in order and hedge accordingly, because nothing changes until the issue of moral hazard is addresses and real consequence for bad behavior returns. Could be a while folks...
...if history is any guide, people around here know that I am betting that the supply lines break first.
Thank you for not responding to MDB
moral hazard ? Why do you soft-shoe crime and deceipt and continue to call it moral hazard?
Cheating people and robbing them through inflation is a crime. The great engine of growth in the American economy seized up at least a generation ago. All we have left is borrowing against that illusion and selling parts offshore.
I read in the New York Times that you are wrong. Krugman told me so!
Sales of securities linked to subprime auto loans doubled to $4 billion in January from a year earlier.
The path of least resistance is to avoid acknowledging certain truths so as not to suffer the political and social consequences. Go ahead and jump up and down about how risk is being mispriced and dig into the actual loans. You'll be called a racist and a whole bunch of other crap completely irrelevant to the actual subject under examination.
How much capital is being wasted or shady practices going unnoticed beneath the beard of “being green" ?
Obama's whole life is a fraud by the way.
Looks like somebody is clicking down on everything and anything remotely truthful.
A properly seated grand jury can convict anyone including the TOTUS. The penalty for TREASON is DEATH
Tyrant Of The United States ?
Tom from Pudnhead Wilson
Now that bitcoin millions is quickly vanishing from my dreams, with each passing hour, time to invest my time and money in a video game, 'The Zionist Jimmy Saville Murders.' Any investors?
The song Liar by Henry Rollins sums it all up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E-qlXKVdaY
The Beavis and Butthead version is much better:
http://youtu.be/rM7oxuOLIiw
I forgot that one
+100
I think watching the U.S. collapse is hilarious--I hope it gets WAY worse!
No, you are seeing the collapse of a despeate ruling class. Freedom will over take their tranny. End the Fed.
No, you are witnessing the collapse of the middle class worldwide. The wealthy will do just fine as they always do since the system is rigged in their favor. If you haven't noticed, only deep pockets own your government.
Transmission or transexual? Oh...you mean tyranny...never mind.
Transexual might aply to Obummer, Down Low in Gay Chicago.
But P.C. and progressiveness is "the moral high ground"...we are superior to you base folks down there....sarc on
GREAT ARTICLE!
This is what I've been so upset about since waking up to reality in 2008. Without truth and honesty, we're doomed. If you can't trust the people who make the rules... you can't trust the rules. When enough people don't trust the rules... society crumbles.
I wish we could return to the time when we trusted Government - and they trusted us.
looking back, at what point would you place your trust in government?
at what point was government deserving of your trust, of the trust of humans living under the government ruling?
from over here, it doesn't appear to be any time during my own life, nor decades prior even. . .
trust yourself first, earn your own trust. then add others, carefully, as you go.
There is no Truth - there are only endless infinite Interpretations
therefore, the only "rules" are actually guidelines which are situation specific depending on the power dynamic of the respective parties - short term long term
judges are a waste of time they will get to where they want regardless - so dont bother - lie, cheat and steal - measure the risk of gamblers ruin - and if you get into a negative corner - say ...you're sorry - someone will buy it somewhere and move on
both government and private systems
truth? legally, the 1st is a wonderful protection for liars, and socially, admitting a lie is the ultimate death in the Anglo-American world. I know, it's too hyperbolic, but consider this: how many people do you know that request the truth and appreciate the truth when given?
either you have a comprehensive, integrative society and then you can use the old social/tribal schemes like shaming or you have a dis-integrated society where lying is just an individualistic "right" in the pursuit of happiness
Have you noticed how often the MSM attacks the truth as "hate speech?"
Have you noticed how often the MSM attacks the truth as "hate speech?"
" The ruthless pursuit of self-interest is now the norm; truth is a terribly risky disruptor that must be hidden, masked or countered with plausible lies."
Tylers are very very confused...I thought you all championed clowns like Smith, Hayek and Mises and were fans of the idea that "everyone pursuing his own interest brings the best in a society". This is your beloved capitalism, ruthless pursuit of self-interest, so what are you whinging about it now? What do you want instead? Capitalism without pursuit of self-interest? Tamed capitalism? As far as I know, you are against all regulations, government interventions, so excuse me but what the fuck do you exactly want?
Capitalism without patriotism ultimately succumbs to treason.
“I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”
Edith Cavell
Also, Capital is transnational dude, and now so is labor, sucks huh?
"patriotism"???
loyalty to fictive nationstates???
nationstates that attract the sociopath mindset, those who desire to rule over, and through endless laws create a passive "lower" class to suit their game??
pass.
I'll keep my trust for individuals that earn it, and pass on those "elected" to serve the peoples that can't/won't take responsibility for themselves.
the parental-nationstates are bad habits humanity indulges. time to grow up.
It is amongst the sociopaths that you find the most fervent of the Politically Correct, compensation for their amorality I guess. Patriotism begins with loyalty to community, if you do not have that, then the chances are you have no loyalty to anyone in the human race, thus the cosmopolitan is the flip side of misanthropy. How often I hear the same tune, 'I'm not racist, I hate all humanity equally.' The sentiment flows easily from the glib liberal lip.
I get yer not so subtle msg, by the way.
if you want to create new definitions to get yer point across, be my guest - but I'll opt out of your tendency to obfuscate truth by creating an exclusive club based on mis-using emotive words to capture unsuspecting minds.
sociopathy, indeed.
Copy and paste from a dictionary does not constitute comprehension. Are you Jewish?
you can make up all the definitions you like for the words you use. those who tug the strings use double-speak all the time, pulling the rug out from under acknowledged use of common words & phrases every day.
patriot relates to fictive nationstate/land masses with boundaries & flags. unless of course, yer thinking about a sports team and fan-dom. . . which embodies all the characteristics required for patriot-ism, working as intended.
am I Jewish? sure, whatever hate-meme works for ya bud.
Ahh the naivete of stupidity and ignorance combined, if it helps his cognitive dissonance to blame the juice, let him blame the juice.
Fascism always needs capo's he should be at the top of their list, easily controlled emotions, low capaciy to understand dissimulation, inflated sense of ego, nationalist tendancies, etc etc.
People like him are the reason we are in this mess, if there were no willing slaves to obey orders without question TPTB would be screwed.
Lets hope he never breeds.
From your bio.
Composer, novelist, screenwriter, physicist, philosopher, software developer and statesman.
I dont thinks you is any of the above, i thinks you is just a liar.
Loyalty to the community? are you a communist?
A statesman who believes in patriotism? i met plenty of statesmen and women, none of them were patriots, all of them were rational people.
Unquestioning patriotism leads to fascism.
...so excuse me but what the fuck do you exactly want?
"All I really want is for someone to hold me and tell me that everything is gonna be alright."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgf4zq0bi_w
True free market capitalism requires that you provide a service of greater value than what you ask for in payment, otherwise no one will buy your product. Merely engaging in "pursuit of self-interest" does not work unless the game gets rigged in your favor by insiders who have control, advantages and power, whether they be in governments, banks or the military.
I suggest you read some Gramsci and the theory of hegemony before you dream of that capitalism...
Here is a beginner from wikipedia:
"In Gramsci's view, a class cannot dominate in modern conditions by merely advancing its own narrow economic interests. Neither can it dominate purely through force and coercion. Rather, it must exert intellectual and moral leadership, and make alliances and compromises with a variety of forces. Gramsci calls this union of social forces a ‘historic bloc’, taking a term from Georges Sorel. This bloc forms the basis of consent to a certain social order, which produces and re-produces the hegemony of the dominant class through a nexus of institutions, social relations and ideas. In this manner, Gramsci developed a theory that emphasized the importance of the political and ideological superstructure in both maintaining and fracturing relations of the economic base"
Read Gramsci if you want to understand the cancer eating away at Western Civilization. Gramsci provides the strategy, Alinsky, the tactics. Throw in some Bernays and Hegel, and you've got the NWO philosophical primer. Know your enemy.
Or you could just read the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. Same thing.
Self-interest in a free and competitive society is a good thing. A free and competitive society exists only in a textbook.
It's like Mom always said- tell a lie and you end up having to tell more and more lies to support the first one. Pretty soon you don't even know the truth any more yourself.
But Mom lied to me. I always knew what the truth was no matter how many lies I told.
Wonder how many other lies she told me to support that lie? Well, let's see...
Don't be afraid of hard work. (Lie)
Liars and cheats never prosper. (Definitely a lie)
It is easier to tear something down than build something up. (Yeah, unless it's somebody else's house of lies- they're indestructible)
........ excuse me, I need to go reconsider my entire life now.
When you no longer beleive the lies of the government, the government calls you a radical. But truth is often radical. Jesus was killed because of truth and its preceived risk to and by the ruling class.
You had me up to the Jesus part.
He's still right even without the religion angle, Pontius Pilate's torturer makes the historical reference to a 'jesu' as the only man he never broke.
Edit:
Of course the bible paints him in a different light.
'Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord'
Colossians 3:22
but see, when the religious angle keeps getting added, it's not truth, it's belief - and not everyone believes the same stories, even those who profess to be "religious"
so let's leave the religious to their story, and LEAVE THAT STORY OUT OF GOVERNING, because it's oppressive to many, and it's not truth.
I don't care WHAT people want to believe in, just stop putting your beliefs into covert/overt LAWS.
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12
"Eroding"? I'd say it more like "completely eroded."
Cancelled a 25 year continuous newspaper subscription due to lying propaganda last month. Watch CNBS for 12 minutes per day max. Don't watch MSM news. It hits their bottom lines by me x millions of others. I did laugh the other day - Chase Bank stopped sending postage free return envelopes in their credit card solicitations, I wonder how many empty envelopes were returned.
I return mine full, chop a little off a roof tile and it fits right in.
So do a few frozen shrimp.
Doctor, Where have you been...the plan is for a collapse...BarakaDoc taught that very course!!!!!!!
A basic assumption we take for granted without thinking about it (like breathing oxygen) is that other people tell the truth when they speak or write. In the New Normal the basic assumption needs to change to that they lie when they speak or write.
These rocks that some people have been living under for years must be mighty large to have blocked out the rays of light that should have struck ALL by now!!!!!
I'm not too good with Italian but a judge in Italy has indicated the Bilderberg group arranged the terrorist attacks against civilians to establish the NWO there.
There can be no trust while these criminals are running loose.
http://www.articolotre.com/2013/04/ferdinando-imposimato-ce-bilderberg-dietro-alla-strategia-della-tensione/159105
But Leisman and Cramer said that stocks and housing were back... This beauty just in from CNBC: Suckers! Tech execs selling Stock... http://www.cnbc.com/id/100634578
When I read a Bloomberg article this morning about Obamas meet with top bankers, I immediately imagined it like a reverse police lineup.
"That's him Mr. President, that's the one banker who didn't lie, cheat, and steal from me"
The great imbalances in the world will never to rectified until a great part of the liquidity sloshing around the globe is destroyed. At that point the governments will reel in their liquidity hoses and capital assets will begin to have real value again. In that future period, liquidity will once again have some value. The trick is getting from here to there with your savings.
This model had been repeated over and over in Latin American countries during the 80's/90's and I'm glad to have had first hand experience with all of that as an on-site treasury employee of an international bank.
The key is to stay risk averse until the temporary liquidity phenomenon has peaked. Who knows when, but thats how it plays out.
Trust???????
What HASN'T the Obowel Movement lied about?
The road to Perdition is getting steeper.
<Many miles to go before the liars sleep.>
As an example, daily traders looking at today's action post 10:15, in which we get a 70 degree up angle on some charts with no typical interim pullbacks on ordinary volume, it just seems clear those pushing the buttons felt there'd be shorts thinking an easy pre-noon scalp would be available, so they instead ran relentless, mindless programs to take us up to near yesterday's close, where all the stops would be, with the plan to dump and take profits at 11:30. Don't think I've ever seen such a steep, sneaky climb with trend indicators, such as ADX, remaining so muted until late in the move. Very suspicious, but nothing new.
"Find the person doing all the down arrows," said Sherlock Holmes, "and you shall apprehend the thief."
I confess I am the thief, so I down arrowed ya.
It's quite simple to understand - governments and finance exist in these forms to serve the few at the expense of the many. They are being rather brazen about this now, not even trying to hide it......
and they have their emulators all the way down the food chain, brazen.
Speaking about Trust, less than half, prolly moar, do not trust the babylonian govt anymore.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/01/31/poll-most-americans-feel-...
But who can blame them when you have a sneaky bunch of babylonians that are trying to pass this gun bill stuff, as everyone else is looking at korea.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JvfXtFaEF0s
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s649/text
SEC. 112. PENALTIES FOR STATES THAT DO NOT MAKE DATA ELECTRONICALLY AVAILABLE TO THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM.
(a) In General- Section 104(b) of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 (18 U.S.C. 922 note) is amended by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and inserting the following:
‘(1) DISCRETIONARY REDUCTION-
‘(A) During the 2-year period beginning on the date on which the Attorney General publishes final rules required under section 102(b)(2)(B), the Attorney General may withhold not more than 3 percent of the amount that would otherwise be allocated to a State under section 505 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3755) if the State provides less than 50 percent of the records required to be provided under sections 102 and 103.
‘(B) During the 3-year period after the expiration of the period described in subparagraph (A), the Attorney General may withhold 4 percent of the amount that would otherwise be allocated to a State under section 505 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3755) if the State provides less than 70 percent of the records required to be provided under sections 102 and 103.
‘(2) MANDATORY REDUCTION- After the expiration of the period referred to in paragraph (1)(B), the Attorney General shall withhold 5 percent of the amount that would otherwise be allocated to a State under section 505 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3755), if the State provides less than 90 percent of the records required to be provided under sections 102 and 103.’.
***
And well, when the chinga hits the rotating device, where will you be?
http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=144816
Sorry to drone on...............
First, Teso looked at the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system that updates ground controllers on an aircraft's position over a 1Mb/s data link. This has no security at all, he found, and could be used to passively eavesdrop on an aircraft's communications and also actively interrupt broadcasts or feed in misinformation.
Also vulnerable is the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), the communication relay used between pilots and ground controllers. Using a Samsung Galaxy handset, he demonstrated how to use ACARS to redirect an aircraft's navigation systems to different map coordinates.
"ACARS has no security at all. The airplane has no means to know if the messages it receives are valid or not," he said. "So they accept them and you can use them to upload data to the airplane that triggers these vulnerabilities. And then it's game over."
Teso was also able to use flaws in ACARS to insert code into a virtual aircraft's Flight Management System. By running the code between the aircraft's computer unit and the pilot's display he was able to take control of what the aircrew would be seeing in the cockpit and change the direction, altitude, and speed of the compromised craft.
He admitted that some of this was moot, given that the human pilot could always override the automatic systems, but the software could be used to make cockpit displays go haywire or control other functions, like deploying oxygen masks or lights.
The precise nature of the code flaws wasn't released – for understandable reasons – but Teso says the Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Administration have both been informed and are working on fixing the issue. ®
9-11 hijacked drones?
Some theories say remote controlled military aircraft Boeing jetliners were substituted for the passenger jets, when the radar ident code transmitters were turned off in mid flight parallel flight path syncronization game of tag.
To quote the sage philosopher Geogikus Costansikus - "It isn't a lie if you believe it."
The last thing people want is the truth. They want comforting lies and their own petty prejudices confirmed.
There is a God. lie
Jesus will save me. lie
We are the chosen people. lie
The democrats or republicans are on our side. lie
Watch peoples actions. Their words mean nothing.
I'm dead serious! The vast majority can't handle the truth. It took me 40 years to arrive at the point that I could. Maybe you are a better man than me, but I had to overcome 13 years of Catholic Institutional lies!
What better control over the flock than confessing your sins.
There was never truth, just blind obeisance bought at the promise of a dozen credit cards and a lifetime of low rates.
The truth lies somewhere between CNN and Fox News....I switch back and forth between these channels, but my receiver cannot pick up the intermediate Truth channel....it remains dark.
Today I shall go to Radio Shack and upgrade my receiver....will report back on Friday by 10:00 am.
Not in the middle between, but completely beyond lying and treasonous CNN and Fox News.
We've gone from Washington, who could not tell a lie, to Nixon, who could not tell the truth, to Bush, who could not tell the difference, to Obama who can tell you whatever is on his teleprompter.
Genius !