This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

If Your BS Detector Is Not Screaming, It's Broken

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

Wishing it was true doesn't make it true--it makes you a chump who fell for the con.

Once upon a time in America, no adult could survive without possessing a finely tuned BS detector. Herman Melville masterfully captured America's fascination with cons and con artists in his 1857 classic The Confidence-Man, which I discussed in The Con in Confidence (October 4, 2006).
 
An essential component of the American ethos is: don't be a chump. Don't fall for the con. And if you do, it's your own fault. The Wild West wasn't just thieves shooting people in the back (your classic "gunfight" in the real West)--it was a simmering stew of con artists, flim-flammers and grifters exploiting the naive, the trusting and the credulous.
 
We now inhabit a world where virtually everything is a con. That "organic" produce from some other country--did anyone test the soil the produce grew in? It could be loaded with heavy metals and be certified "organic" because no pesticides were used during production. But what about last year? And the year before? What's in the water used to irrigate the crops?
 
The employment/unemployment statistics are obviously BS. 93 million people aren't even counted any more--they're statistical zombies, no longer among the living workforce. If the unemployment rate were calculated on the number of full-time jobs and the true workforce (everyone ages 18 - 70 that isn't institutionalized or in prison), the unemployment rate would not be the absurdly delusional 5.6% claimed by the bureaucratic con artists.
 
The corrupts-everything-it-touches bribe vacuum known as Hillary Clinton is still disgracing the national stage, 24 years after she first displayed her con-artist colors. Hillary's most enduring accomplishment is the Clinton Foundation--a glorification of bribery, chicanery, flim-flam and cons so outrageously perfected that it serves up examples of every con known to humanity in one form or another.
 
And as she learned from hubby Bill--if the smarmy charm-con fails, quickly revert to veiled threats. "You'll never work in this town again!"
 
Hillary would fit right into Melville's river boat teeming with con-artists. The accent she uses on the marks--oops, I mean audience--changes as readily as the camouflage on a chameleon. Upper Midwest, Noo Yawk, Fake-Southern--what you hear depends on the credulity of her marks.
 
The entire American political system is a con, a sleazy mix of legalized bribes, auctioning off of favors, revolving doors between government agencies and the corporations they enrich and the blatant hypocrisy of snake-oil salespeople who know the marks (voters) face a false choice between two parties that are the same poison sold under different labels.
 
Which brings us to China, one of the greatest credit bubble and financial cons ever. Please examine this chart of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSEC). Clearly, there is no upper limit to the Chinese stock market: 5,000 today, 10,000 next week, 50,000 the following month and 100,000 shortly thereafter. The sky's the limit, Baby!
 
That China's credit machine is now dependent on a stock market bubble for its very survival speaks volumes about the true health of China's economy. This dependence was recently explained in Why China Is So Desperate To Blow The Most Epic Stock Bubble.
 
Everybody who thinks China's economy is healthy because its stock market is soaring has been suckered. Every good con-man/ con-woman knows that the con only works if the chump/mark wants to believe the impossible is true--that the snake-oil remedy will actually cure their ailments, that the "hope" candidate will actually change the corrupt system from the inside (ha-ha, they fell for it), and that China's economy is on its way to becoming the world leader in everything.
 
Many people want to believe this fantasy because it suits their agenda: For American pundits, China isn’t a country. It’s a fantasyland.
 
But wishing it was true doesn't make it true--it makes you a chump who fell for the con. We want to believe our political system isn't an unreformable cesspool, that our economy is a vibrant creator of new middle class jobs and that China will manage the greatest credit bubble in history without a hitch. But these are all cons put over to protect the wealth and power of those benefiting from the con.
 

If your BS detector isn't shrieking, it's broken. You've been conned. Wake up.

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:33 | 6177944 prefan4200
prefan4200's picture

When the con men can see the cards and you can't, there's nothing to be done.  You're gonna be conned, whether you like it or not.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:37 | 6177974 wildbad
wildbad's picture

unless you don't play

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:39 | 6177983 prefan4200
prefan4200's picture

Oh, you're in the game, too.  Whether you wanna be or not, you're in the game.  If you've come to the conclusion you're not playing, you've fallen for the con.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:41 | 6177992 Manthong
Manthong's picture

Mine is not broken, but sometimes it gets numb.

That is what happens when the sense organ tissue gets pounded to just this side of a properly tenderized flank steak.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:43 | 6177997 AlaricBalth
AlaricBalth's picture

In every stockjobbing swindle every one knows that some time or other the crash must come, but every one hopes that it may fall on the head of his neighbor, after he himself has caught the shower of gold and placed it in safety." (Karl Marx - From "Capital: Critique of Political Economy," 1867)

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:48 | 6178019 y3maxx
y3maxx's picture

...Its not a con....its a parrot....and its not dead, its just sleeping.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:01 | 6178071 BoredRoom
BoredRoom's picture

I for one trust the unbiased Chosenite media and our benevolent Chosenite bankster masters to do what is best for America and Americans....

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:11 | 6178116 Captain Debtcrash
Captain Debtcrash's picture

There are those who's primary function is to make the general population conclude that anyone speaking the truth is crazy.  When most hear the name Ron Paul the first thing they think is 'crazy old man'.  History will be shocked that the population didn't realize what was happening.  If I hear the main stream media say conspiracy theory I pay more attention. 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:27 | 6178191 bbq on whitehou...
bbq on whitehouse lawn's picture

People realize they just choose to work the con as well.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:00 | 6178338 pods
pods's picture

Looks like rain in the forecast. Good thing I got me a Chinese Umbrella.

pods

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:06 | 6178591 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

When criminals rule... (Jesus tried to warn everyone, but you know what they did about him...)

This is the devils auction, where senators whore for more...

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:31 | 6179021 Four chan
Four chan's picture

leave that lier out of this, we have enough frauds involved in this subject.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:00 | 6180988 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

Liar.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 04:04 | 6181619 pretty bird
pretty bird's picture

We have choices.  If you don't like the candidates, go with Elizabeth Warren.  She hates Wall Street.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 06:36 | 6181687 jeff montanye
jeff montanye's picture

bernie sanders is actually running.  and there will be a libertarian candidate, at some point.

rand paul may be less awful than some, possibly.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 07:19 | 6181748 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

If all of the politicians weren't so damn busy sucking corporate cocks for corporate donations, you know this Country might not be heading down the drain, and fast, indeed we might even come to know something called "Justice" again, but alas, they've got the entire system sucking on their corporate dollars & begging for more like the whores they are...

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 17:42 | 6180328 brucekeller
brucekeller's picture

They always take it to the extreme too and are like "Do you also think the moon landings were fake?!"  IFLS on FB recycles the same story over and over again about how people that believe conspiracy theories will believe anything.  Then they'll recycle the same climate change story and how anyone that questions it is stupid.  Then they'll say people who think climate change stats are manipulated are the same as anti-vaxxers.  

It gets pretty annoying.

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:23 | 6178432 Oldballplayer
Oldballplayer's picture

Pining for the fijords.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 06:40 | 6181693 jeff montanye
jeff montanye's picture

the norwegians disagree but there are fewer of them than english (mis)spellers so coming soon to a dictionary near all of us.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 19:16 | 6180692 newdoobie
newdoobie's picture

You've stunned it!

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:56 | 6178053 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

Oh yeah, Marx was great with money- he pissed away TWO inheritances. Marxists Cloward and Piven wanted to destroy the current system and replace it with one that guaranteed every citizen would receive a salary. This isn't "fairness", it is lunacy.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:09 | 6178107 max2205
max2205's picture

Met a girl named Catlyn on craigslist....said she was a virgin 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:20 | 6178152 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

"It's a trap!!"

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:27 | 6178197 BoredRoom
BoredRoom's picture

Bruce Jenner proves homosexuality IS a mental disorder

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:53 | 6178312 Citxmech
Citxmech's picture

What has BJ's mental condition have to do with being gay?

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:26 | 6178451 MANvsMACHINE
MANvsMACHINE's picture

He can't find happiness.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:44 | 6178518 steveharless
steveharless's picture

Would you be happy with Chris Jenner?

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:12 | 6181293 OldPhart
OldPhart's picture

I'd be happy with a BJ...

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 06:44 | 6181699 jeff montanye
jeff montanye's picture

that ellipsis implies the sex (species?) of the mouth is irrelevant?

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:50 | 6181111 mt paul
mt paul's picture

he can't find 

his penis anymore...

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 00:29 | 6181416 Free2Speak
Free2Speak's picture

Bruce thinks being a woman means wearing nail polish and high heels.  He is very confused man, a phony and a fool.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:01 | 6178571 11b40
11b40's picture

I did not realize "he" was homosexual.  Has he said that?  Has "she" said that, either?

Transgender can be straight, gay, lesbian, bi, or even asexual.

Jenner's transformation proves nothing, but maybe homophobia IS a mental disorder.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bruce-jenner-im-not-gay-im-heterosexual-2...

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:43 | 6178764 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Keep on churning that.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:59 | 6178846 11b40
11b40's picture

Thanks.  Glad I have your permission.

Isn't it interesting how Jenner is such a magnet for so many homophobes to show us their insecurities?

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:23 | 6178975 Creepy Lurker
Creepy Lurker's picture

The real mental disorder is people getting wound up about what other people do with their crotches, both for and against.

Anyone who wants these attention whores to go away, the answer is simple. Stop caring, stop giving them the attention they crave. Bruce Jenner grew tits because he's too old to be a famous athlete anymore. Its that simple.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 15:35 | 6179862 pods
pods's picture

I admit it, I care about what women do with their crotches. Especially if it is on video.

pods

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:05 | 6181279 Antifaschistische
Antifaschistische's picture

I don't care what people do with their crotches...and I don't particularly care who they chose to shower with tonight.....but....someone sure the hell cares...why do I even have to know if anyone is gay...or straight.  I don't care...but they care.   so they keep shoving it in your face "i'm gay I'm gay i'm a tranny I'm a tranny....treat me special treat me special"

they only people making a big deal out of it is the MSM and the Hollywood TV/Movie crowd.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:58 | 6179146 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Once one has "deviated" from the normally accepted behavior, does it really matter if HeShe is gay? I mean after all, even the "deviants" cluster under a single umbrella of the LGBTQIA organization.

Its not about identity beyond be considered as "other". It just ain't cool to be "normal".

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:05 | 6181004 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

You're not supposed to say "normal." They want you to say "cisgendered." I kid you not.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:13 | 6181165 NeoRandian
NeoRandian's picture

It is interesting that the issue was always intended to be a big controversy to provoke reactions that could then be mocked to further the big queer agenda by punishing anyone that dares voice a belief.

 

We've all read Foucault. You're not fooling anyone.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:30 | 6179018 Dewey Cheatum Howe
Dewey Cheatum Howe's picture

I'll go on record as upvoting you for that comment about people conflating transgender (physical) with sexuality (mental).

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:58 | 6179149 Citxmech
Citxmech's picture

Isn't that amazingly apparent from the votes here.  JFC - I've met plenty of gay men in my life, but never met one that wanted to cut off his junk and insert a vagina.  

Feeling like you're trapped in a body of the opposite sex has absolutely nothing to do with being gay or straight.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 13:14 | 6179214 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

So if you are "physically" only definable as one sex, I mean scientifically or any other way quantifiable, yet you "think" you are another, that's not mental? If you think your arm is not yours but placed there by aliens and as such you seek to have it removed, is that mental or physical?

All I can think is Fuck Me.

Not a living soul knows why they want anything or feels anything except for what is conceived and transmitted through our fucking brains. The biggest con of all time is the selling of this notion of happiness and how we all deserve it when we don't have a single idea what the fuck that even means most times. They would like for us to think that all happiness comes from consumption, and when that fails we should express our deepest held proclivities, like that somehow could make us happy. Look at the suicide rate of those who have had surgical reassignment and then tell me about happiness. People are being manipulated to think that if they aren't happy (in some immeasurable unquantifiable way) that they are a failure and that their first and foremost efforts should be in that pursuit. The problem is that the whole notion of happiness, like most other words abused, has lost all real meaning. Happiness was a simple jargon for some concept of contentment and even that was socially derived to some degree. We have allowed this value system of "happiness" to be contorted to the point of self destruction, to the point of record drug addictions, along with just about any other addiction you can think of.

But at least we now have Obamacare, so leading a productive life of self sustainment will NEVER interfere with our pursuit of "happiness" again.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 18:54 | 6179882 Citxmech
Citxmech's picture

I think that's why we're supposed to be guarenteed "life" and "liberty" but only the "pursuit" of happiness. . . 

PS  A man without bread has only one worry, a man who has bread, has many worries. 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 19:24 | 6180721 Semi-employed W...
Semi-employed White Guy's picture

You've come to the wrong site to sell that faggotry.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:27 | 6181197 TuPhat
TuPhat's picture

Nothing 'it' says could be at all meaningful.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:52 | 6178041 Dewey Cheatum Howe
Dewey Cheatum Howe's picture

That is why non-participation works. Cons need marks, refusing to do anything deprives the con of it's mark.

Ghandi showed the way....

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:25 | 6178180 Arnold
Arnold's picture

93 million up votes.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:53 | 6178310 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

Ghandi only proved that passive resistance works to a degree if the PTB's care about public relations.

Ghandi would have been forgotton if he was found hanging dead in his cell.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:24 | 6178541 Dewey Cheatum Howe
Dewey Cheatum Howe's picture

Does the current PTB regimes care about public relations?

You all know the answer to that one even if you don't have 2 functioning brain cells left in your head. Fear has to care whether it wants to or not because of that thing about control. Fear is the root of control, power is the ability to not fear and therefore not care about public relations or control.

Fear is only one facet of power. If they weren't fearful they wouldn't care. They would just do, no deception or bullshit words and doublespeak.

They don't have total control regardless of what everyone wants to think or believe.

If you are ruled by fear, fear reacts to fear, rejection is the most powerful tool of fear one has to strike back at a fearful system.

Hence you get labeled as things like pathologically frugal when you do.....

You must be sick in the head if you don't love the system.

Love is another weapon used by the system. Weaponized emotions were always the most effective control mechanisms to 'civilize' people.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:47 | 6178783 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Yes they do DC+H, thus the constant push back to reasonable argument.

 

 

http://www.bestofbeck.com/wp/activism/saul-alinskys-12-rules-for-radicals

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:04 | 6178871 11b40
11b40's picture

Hey, Arnold.....think about that "fear" thing as it relates to homophobia, too.  Can't help be reminded of the Jenner comments above.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 13:49 | 6179292 Arnold
Arnold's picture

You have an agenda to push.

I respect that.

I don't agree with it.

It is toxic.

 

After nearly six years here , you might have become a more subtle writer, but you still attack with a club.

 

My time and name is still for sale.

$60,000 USD

 

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 17:29 | 6184067 11b40
11b40's picture

Actually, you inserted yourself into an earlier post in this chain, suggesting I was pushing something.  Your quote to me - "Keep on churning that."

Now, you are telling me I have an agenda to push.  I don't, but I do find it tiresome to have to wade through a bunch of postings by grown men who sound like 5th grade boys in the schoolyard.  

In the immediate conversation above, you were making an interesting comment about reasonable arguments and the pushback they get.  My comments about the differences between Trangenders and homosexuals was both reasonbable and accurate.  Do you want to dispute the facts?  I also mentioned homophobia.  Do you deny that so often we find that the most vocal gay bashers turn out to be closet queers?

Also, I upvoted one of your comments below about things reaching a peak and the declining, but I have not a clue what you are talking about when you say your name and time are for sale.

I would have thought that after spending 3 years here, you might realize this is fight club - where facts talk and bullshit walks.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:26 | 6178991 centerline
centerline's picture

+1

Weaponized emotions is exactly how the "college bubble" was born and inflated.  Parents who love thier children and want the best for them who are fearful that the American dream is slipping away and see college as the only option regardless of the cost.

The college bubble is truly more evil than any other major bubble.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 18:23 | 6180499 frankly scarlet
frankly scarlet's picture

Right on...TPTB are always the ones who determine whether reform will be peacemeal, non violent or violent revolution by their reactions to demands for change.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:08 | 6178378 LoadedBakedPotato
LoadedBakedPotato's picture

If Ghandi had tried that sort of pacifist protesting at any other time in history (i.e. other than war weary world in the early 1930s), against any other ruling authority (i.e. other than a more western "civilized" British power), he would simply been taken out back and had his throat cut or head blown off instantly.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:48 | 6178531 Dewey Cheatum Howe
Dewey Cheatum Howe's picture

But he didn't and this is a continuation of then not before his time.

It also worked well for Jesus (yes I am going there knowing loaded and irrational response I will get). Christianity went 'mainstream' didn't it, i.e. assimilated, bastardized and undercut so the original intent and effectiveness can't be used to undermine power civilized or not. Explain to me the difference between civilization and domestication.

Is civilization really voluntary?

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:05 | 6178606 proV
proV's picture

Alan Watts - Insecure societies and hermits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADVBZtHvURM

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:22 | 6178622 Dewey Cheatum Howe
Dewey Cheatum Howe's picture

Also is civilization a prerequisite for intelligence?

Entropy seems to be the enemy of intelligence and development in general.

Civilization breeds entropy en masse.

I'd argue the more 'civilized' one becomes the less intelligent one gets because of that entropy thing. Doublespeak and meaning (aka ever more creative ways to bullshit oneself) seems to grow proportionally with civility.

Is saying the same thing 37 different ways a sign of intelligence or entropy?

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:51 | 6178808 Arnold
Arnold's picture

All things reach a peak and decline.

 

 

--Arnold

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 15:41 | 6179535 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Just to take you question and run with it a bit........

 

 

My considered response is yes and no.

Coming out of the caves, moving beyond hunting /gathering, provided a certain amount of leisure (not in the modern sense) time.

Mining and smelting and fabrication of metal and stone were not done with out a nourishment and hierarchy support structure.

Innovation came from the same as above plus a mentor system, so that what has been learned before, is not lost or forgotten.

and so on, not so simply from there.

Famine , Plague  and warfare have all been setbacks and 'technology losses' moved us into the printing and preserving ages.

I can't predict where it goes from this second, but relying on electrical memory is a looser in my opinion.

 

So in summary, intelligence ,no.

Progression yes.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 14:03 | 6179427 SurlysonofaBitch
SurlysonofaBitch's picture

"It also worked well for Jesus" - It didn't work out well - they crucified him. 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 15:20 | 6179669 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Resurrection through sacrifice.

hey, I'm not even a holy roller.

Inspirational story at the very, very least.

 

Mohamet couldn't do it.

Hindu,Budda, it seems like an every day thing.

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 14:52 | 6179677 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

That was part of the plan- as prophesied.

Jesus Christ fulfilled all those prophesies in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, http://biblehub.com/niv/isaiah/53.htm as well as hundreds of other prophecies regarding the Messiah, and one of these was that he would suffer, be executed, and be ressurrected on the 3rd day.

"And he said, "Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day." - Luke 24:46

"He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, "This Jesus I'm telling you about is the Messiah." - Acts 17:3

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 15:46 | 6179853 Arnold
Arnold's picture

My single problem with that passage, as well as............

never mind, it seems to be written or revised well after the fact.

Something we are all capable of doing.

 

Just an  rub.ald

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 15:47 | 6179913 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

Isaiah chapter 53 was written ~700 years before Christ, and was not revised.

As for Luke and Acts- yes they were written after Christ's death and resurrection, but they weren't revised, either.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 18:39 | 6180537 frankly scarlet
frankly scarlet's picture

Wow, him too...same as Horus and a number of other dieties....hmmm  the sun in the northern hemisphere is at its lowest point on Dec 21st, but has "risen" 1 degree from its lowest point-death on Dec 25th..three days... etc etc. it is amazing how many "gods" are born on Dec 25th, begin their ministry at an early age are crucified and rise from the dead in three days; from ancient Egypt and others to Greece and Rome and finally to Christianity... some cons never grow old do they.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 15:00 | 6179725 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

"Christianity went 'mainstream' didn't it, i.e. assimilated, bastardized and undercut so the original intent and effectiveness"

That was prophesied to occur, so no surprise there:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+2%3A3-12

As for Jesus death and ressurection, that too was prophesied:

http://biblehub.com/niv/isaiah/53.htm

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:43 | 6178765 New_Meat
New_Meat's picture

DCH--

"Cons need marks, refusing to do anything deprives the con of it's mark."

OTOH, you can't cheat an honest man.

- Ned

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:52 | 6178776 Dewey Cheatum Howe
Dewey Cheatum Howe's picture

Wrong you can't cheat a knowing man. Knowing and honesty are not the same thing. I can cheat an honest man all day and night long through perception trickery. That is the difference between belief and knowing.

Knowledge requires knowing what dishonesty is at the same time.

Set, subset like mathematics.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:34 | 6178997 Dewey Cheatum Howe
Dewey Cheatum Howe's picture

Give you an example I have food, you trade me for food. Nothing dishonest about the trade on the surface (terms agreed upon by both parties) and not only that it is voluntary. Perception

What I don't tell you is the food I traded you has some addictive substance in it to make you want my food instead of someone elses. Reality

See how I cheated you through information asymmetry to control the perception the trade was honest. You believed the trade was honest but you didn't know if it really was. Would you have agreed to trade knowing the food I was trading had crap in it detrimental to your health and well being? You can't cheat when information isn't asymmetrical. Knowledge negates an asymmetrical information advantage.

If you still made the trade anyways with no information asymmetry then there is no one else to blame afterwards except yourself. The only person who can make you a victim is you.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:50 | 6179102 Shaznardickleze...
Shaznardickleze the Doon's picture

The greatest weapon slavers use is the mind of the enslaved. 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 14:04 | 6179431 Winston Smith 2009
Winston Smith 2009's picture

"That is why non-participation works. Cons need marks, refusing to do anything deprives the con of it's mark."

The Undebtors: Sworn Enemies of the Vampires of Debt   (March 17, 2015)

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmar15/undebtors3-15.html

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 20:20 | 6180881 vulcanraven
vulcanraven's picture

Amen, this is the reason I have gone MGTOW.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:25 | 6178678 larz
larz's picture

its called off the grid prefan

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:31 | 6179020 joseJimenez
joseJimenez's picture

You are confusing things.  You can get robbed or killed, that makes you a victim not sucker

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:40 | 6177986 VinceFostersGhost
VinceFostersGhost's picture

 

 

I just took the batteries out.....sweet silence!

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:22 | 6178163 McCormick No. 9
McCormick No. 9's picture

Speaking of Hillary Clinton, Vince Foster is a good example of what happens to people who fall in love with her.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:34 | 6178229 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

If Vince Foster really feel in love with her his head would have just exploded on its own.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:53 | 6178558 Temporalist
Temporalist's picture

I have a cottage cheese fettish so I just want to be submerged between her thighs.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:24 | 6178440 Oldballplayer
Oldballplayer's picture

If he was tapping that, he would have rotted from the groin up and out.  No wonder he capped himself.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:40 | 6181094 delacroix
delacroix's picture

vince foster turned documentation over to the fbi.  it was kept in the murrah building in oklahoma.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 13:31 | 6179287 sgt_doom
sgt_doom's picture

As real economists have been saying for quite a number of years now (e.g., Canadian social economist, R. T. Naylor, etc.), America is completely fraud-based!

Never thought I'd be recommending a rightwing author (Schweizer), but to fully understand the foundation financial structure --- put in place in the 1913 congressional legislation which also gave us the Federal Reserve System and the oil depletion allowance), read the following three books and you will experience a truly elegant mental epiphany:

The Rich and the Super-Rich, by Ferdinand Lundberg

The New Prophets of Capital, by Nicole Aschoff

Clinton Cash, by Peter Schweizer

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 16:16 | 6180034 AGuy
AGuy's picture

"unless you don't play"

Not really, Even if you don't invest in the markets, you still get burned. The Banks and other gamblers get bailed out, and you get to pay the bill. Jobs gets outsourced, etc. You are player no matter what you do.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 17:58 | 6180397 neidermeyer
neidermeyer's picture

"You cannot win if you do not play!" , old Carney come-on ..... and it's true unless the game is rigged.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:23 | 6181314 OldPhart
OldPhart's picture

Oddly, the California Lottery uses that line...incessently. Walked over to the liquor store across the street to get a pack of smokes on my break. Had to wait behind some idiot who bought various lottery tickets, scratch offs, and other lottery stuff (I know about the red ball one, and some other sort like it)...spent a good twenty minutes in front of the lone cashier, then paid with an EBT card. Just give me my cigs here's the cash, keep the change. A less than one minute transaction took twenty one and doubly pissed me off.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:31 | 6178209 ZH Snob
ZH Snob's picture

Micheal Dukakis once famously said we should not become a country that tries to thrive selling hamburgers to one another.

Now, it would be much more fitting to say that we should not be a country that relies on conning one another for any resemblance of commerce.

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:21 | 6178970 Fred Hayek
Fred Hayek's picture

A brief bit of sanity from Dukakis. He was just another hack governor here in Massachusetts. He didn't play the corruption game any less than the others. He was just a little more pretentious in his declarations to the contrary.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:54 | 6181121 stocktivity
stocktivity's picture

It's all Bullshit!!!

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:33 | 6177945 XAU XAG
XAU XAG's picture

Welcome to the MATRIX

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:35 | 6177956 gdogus erectus
gdogus erectus's picture

Yeah, didn't realize that movie was a documentary when I first saw it.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:37 | 6179045 The Navigator
The Navigator's picture

Another good documentary is Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Hail Hydra

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 13:34 | 6179309 sgt_doom
sgt_doom's picture

A few readers may actually believe you are being facetious and not realize that the concept of the infiltration of America to create the Fourth Reich is pretty much what appears to have occurred, it is just a bit more ecumnical now, consisting of pseudo-christians, pseudo-jews and pseudo-muslims.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:52 | 6178037 Usurious
Usurious's picture

 

 

thanks to Mako, I shit myself right out of the Matrix in 2010

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/karl-denninger-explains-foreclosure-gat...

(one of the best threads ever)

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:26 | 6178189 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

+1 Usurious. You have reminded me of why I first started coming to the Hedge :)

"I have forgotten the face of my father."

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:19 | 6178415 sandman.s
sandman.s's picture

Nice Dark Tower reference there buddy.  I'm a fan.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:19 | 6178416 Uchtdorf
Uchtdorf's picture

+1 Usurious. Very enlightening thread.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 14:15 | 6179469 Nostradumbass
Nostradumbass's picture

Thanks for posting Usurious.

I guess I missed that Denninger article and the comments 5 years ago.

Great reading though - I read it all today and downloaded Modern Money Mechanics too.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:33 | 6177947 q99x2
q99x2's picture

An essential component of the American ethos is: don't be a chump. Don't fall for the con.

You expect me to believe that?


Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:50 | 6178030 jmcadg
jmcadg's picture

+100 I just threw up a little q99x2 :))))

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:40 | 6178254 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

USED to be, in a different America long ago.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:15 | 6178647 CPL
CPL's picture

Yeah, it's the Achilles heel of republics in general.  Just takes one dirtbag (or a bunch of them) in charge to throw them over the rails for good if they don't do the maintenance and mind the operational requirements of one. 

Republics are about a thousand times better than Monarchies though, even though Republics unfortunately have a habit of devolving into monarchies.  Usually with very poor results, historically starting a monarchy from a republic always turns into starvation, rebellion and collapse which is accelerated by poor planning and gross mismanagement of resources.  Understand that the same people planning their little fiefdoms today couldn't manage a functioning republic with the skills and resources available.  They are hardly the people that would understand the requirements of developing a monarchy and successfully run one without killing their subjects or themselves.

For the US experiment the best course of action is dump the federal level with all of the debt and turn all the states into individual states to reset themselves.  Won't fix the pension problems, or the systemic in built problems with a centrally printed piece of fiat called a dollar.  But right now it's at a point no one can pay for infrastructure maintenance.  They weren't going to pay for pensions any ways either by hyperinflation or mismanagement.  All that can be done is triage in local areas, can't do that with the Federal system as they are the principal problem to stability and the liability all the states are carrying.  Dump them like a bad girl friend.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:12 | 6178915 centerline
centerline's picture

One way or another the world is going to get a lot more local for most people.  The question really is about whether or not this is done in an intelligent manner or realized purely as a collapse outcome.

I think most of agree it will be the result of collapse.  Even if the truth was told, it would be seen by the majority as a another scam.  The madness of our world cannot be removed with wisdom.  Not even the presentation of facts.  Rather, it will have to be eradicted by fire.  In many places, literally. 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 13:18 | 6179236 CPL
CPL's picture

To fix something properly you have to take it apart first.  The choice in the situation is whether the tool used is use screw driver politely or rip it apart with a crowbar.  Offers were given for a migration point of action to remediate, they say 'no'.  Fuck'em.  The crow bar gets used.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 16:06 | 6179988 centerline
centerline's picture

Sort of like a post-mortem versus surgery (errrr....  triage at this point actually).

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:33 | 6177949 gdogus erectus
gdogus erectus's picture

You missed a few.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:34 | 6177954 Pumpkin
Pumpkin's picture

My BS meter, WTF alarm, and MFr alert system has been blaring away for nearly 8 years now.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:59 | 6178058 Colonel Klink
Colonel Klink's picture

And my Jewdar has been screaming nonstop too!

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:34 | 6178476 Rusty Shorts
Rusty Shorts's picture

This should set off a few BS sirens...wtf June 7, 2015 Flint MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5UsW2W0waA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRGAtCUYOyU

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:35 | 6177957 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

When fraud has been the operating principle in Western economies and politics for so long, honest options are no longer possible.

China is just emulating the Fed's bubbles in stock, bond and real-estate markets.

A false reality always collapses.

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:43 | 6178270 SofaPapa
SofaPapa's picture

I wonder who's been emulating who?  It seems like both sides have taken from the other.  The Chinese have learned some of the subtle arts of the lie from the US, but at the same time, the US has learned from the Chinese that there is no need actually to give a shit about the citizens of the country in order to rule them.  It's the perfect marriage to create evil across two continents.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:59 | 6178578 Temporalist
Temporalist's picture

I've been saying that for a long time JustObserving.  Japan, Europe, China, South America, they all emulate the US kleptocracy so the vortex to hades grows.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:35 | 6177960 ThirteenthFloor
ThirteenthFloor's picture

"Easier to fool a man, than convince him he's been fooled". Mark Twain

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:54 | 6178313 rlouis
rlouis's picture

And could we say that Americans really are exceptional - exceptionally stupid?

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 14:49 | 6179664 HughBriss
HughBriss's picture

Absolutely!  By why stop with 'Murica?  This isn't an issue of nationality, but of humanity.  Sorry, pal, you're part of the stupid!  Posting quips on ZeroHedge in no way negates that wee little fact...  ;)

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:36 | 6177967 Caveman93
Caveman93's picture

 

US will erase student debt for Corinthian students

 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102742478

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:39 | 6178747 stormsailor
stormsailor's picture

are those the ones that make the leather in the dodge that they use to talk so much about. the rich corinthian leather.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:38 | 6177979 Fun Facts
Fun Facts's picture

"You can fool some of the people all of the time and those are the ones you want to concentrate on"

- GWB aka The Great Decider

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:38 | 6177980 lynnybee
lynnybee's picture

i call it the "gotcha society."    sign your name to anything, especially a government program & GOTCHA !!  my Grandma Jo (born in 1915, god rest her soul, would always tell us kids to stay away from the government & never go into the stock market.    

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:38 | 6177981 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

ironic piece because the clintons love chinese bribes

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:43 | 6177996 Dragon HAwk
Dragon HAwk's picture

My Dad called me a suspicious son of a Bitch..

  I prefer the term Realist..

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:06 | 6178096 BoredRoom
BoredRoom's picture

 My kids called me a conspiracy theorist.

I thanked them for the compliment and said I prefer the term Informed

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:13 | 6178396 LoadedBakedPotato
LoadedBakedPotato's picture

In a world this fucked up, I don't want to be considered normal. Being called crazy or conspiracy theorist is a badge of honor.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:00 | 6178825 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Just back off a bit from the involuntary commitment aspect, and you are good to go.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:29 | 6178928 cameldojo
cameldojo's picture

dupe

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:48 | 6178025 RabbitOne
RabbitOne's picture

What bother me most today are the parallel scams going on all over the world at the same time because of globalism. Minor scams used to be contained and confined to geographic areas. In the past we could handle them one at a time. Now we risk total disruption worldwide which increases the possibility of endless wars…  

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:51 | 6178303 earleflorida
earleflorida's picture

It's funny you should say that? The last tyme I checked-- every industrial nation on `Planet 'NWO' has their concentrated wealth in the hands of the 1% controlling 50% -60%! And with the 10% controlling 75%-80% of all 'WEALTH"![!!]

Me thinks Kings and Queens of old, are back in vogue?

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:51 | 6178027 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

And this is the higher up con, it gets even more sickening at the individual State and local town and cities. There the Con gets even more bullish, IE property values are up so real estate taxes need to go up, and we need more money for Schools scam, we need more money for more Cops scam , we need more money for Infrastructure scam...trash fees , excise tax, sales tax and so on.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:51 | 6178035 Comte d'herblay
Comte d'herblay's picture

...er...uuhhh....how do I buy the Shangai Index?

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:52 | 6178038 autofixer
autofixer's picture

"You can't be conned unless you are greedy." - A Famous Con Man

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:54 | 6178315 earleflorida
earleflorida's picture

the minute of your inception, you grab the teat, and never let go...

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:56 | 6178316 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

"Don't you feel bad about taking that man's money?"

"Hell no! A mark only gives us his money because he believes he's getting something for nothing, and that is exactly what we give him...nothing."

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:18 | 6178413 Omen IV
Omen IV's picture

is wanting the truth from a politican AND doing what he pledged after election ....being greedy?

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:56 | 6178050 surfvin
surfvin's picture

Mines been pegged red ever since I can remember!

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:23 | 6178051 Colonel Klink
Colonel Klink's picture

You can't spell CONgress without CON!

What's the opposite of progress?  CONgress!

EDIT:  Sorry Mr. Speaker Boner but the truth hurts huh?  I appreciate you taking time out of your busy traitorous schedule to give me the down vote though.  Graft on my friend.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 08:57 | 6178055 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Check out the 10Y Tee lol

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:01 | 6178070 vyeung
vyeung's picture

Smart comment!

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:32 | 6178709 Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs's picture

10 yr hasn't been above 3% since 2011 when they smashed gold and silver prices, which have never recovered despite the biggest money printing scam the world has ever seen (via QE).

Like most everything these days, interest rates and yields are completely FUBAR.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:00 | 6178061 vyeung
vyeung's picture

Interesting to see the keyboard worriors come out swinging. Yeap, SSE is somewhat crazy, but I don't see any comments about people factoring in the New Silk Road/Maritime & the integration prospects of Eurasia Economic Union. As equities goes, they are always forward looking, so.........

 

Articles shit and lacks any insight or credibility. Some dickhead thats never landed in the place let alone understanding what is happening in Asia/Eurasia.

Yeap, equity market is forward looking way way too much and the shadow banking is now finding some solution via PBOC assist (can't let the local government go broke due to insane borrow costs from the 

Jiang Zemin era)

 Bottom-line POS of an article that benefits no one except the non capitalists that enjoy rhetorical masterbation sitting in the West! But then many savvy Western elites are already migrating to China. Example is the Vanguard fund rejig of the Shanghai A-shares. The rest will follow.

 

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:20 | 6178147 usednabused
usednabused's picture

Well good , get the fuck out and don't come back.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:46 | 6178280 N2OJoe
N2OJoe's picture

Haha new silk road! You are one of the "fool some of the people all the time" dupes, arencha?

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 10:57 | 6178573 rejected
rejected's picture

Yea, the best con is where the marks swear their not being conned. Like the liberty, freedumb and home of the brave thing in the ufsa. (United Fascist States of Amerika)

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:18 | 6178947 vyeung
vyeung's picture

when your broke and old, the fool shows himself in the mirror. Only a fool who knows ZERO about something and calls others a fool is the GREATEST FOOL...hahahaha.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 14:44 | 6179642 malek
malek's picture

And if you've blown all your money you'll come back here and let us know about it... right!

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:45 | 6178771 vyeung
vyeung's picture

hahaha - poor mofo!!!

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:59 | 6178329 Zen Master
Zen Master's picture

You're correct about the possible benefits of a Eurasian Economic Union to China. But the silk road is years away from becoming a reality.

China has been the "demand" for oil, concrete, iron ore, copper, timber and much more since 2009. The construction of ghost cities has come to a grinding halt, which was propping-up the world economy.

What next? Who knows. It's anyone guess at this point. Predicting a collapse is sophistry. But what can be garnished from the current situation is that "ignorance is bliss...until it isn't."

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:44 | 6178770 vyeung
vyeung's picture

http://geopolitics.co/category/new-silk-road-2/

ignorance is bliss when you get trickles of the news!

Too bad most of you cannot read any mandarin. So much more happening than what you get presented in the Western press.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 12:14 | 6178922 vyeung
vyeung's picture

Firstly, there are ghost cities, second shadow banking is certainly an issue, third its not utopia. But China has ZERO external debt and it has $4Trillion in reserves give or take. When you have ZERO external creditors, you can pretty much do anything you like.

I do no fantasize about investing in a perfect nation (there is non) and outside of all its issues, its one of the few nations on earth with a plan for the future! If anything has been shown over the last 1.5 decade is that the Chinese economy maturing and a hell of a lot of investment opportunities exist.

Corruption etc is but part of the evolving situation. Now, I don't see any roses in the US with the neocons and Zionists firmly in-charge and sure hell don't see them do any capital investment for future growth (outside of bombing everyone), atleast not on US soil. The EU is but another failed state, so where do you deploy your $$$ (assuming some of you have some). Now, if you were not on ZH to get info. that the mainstream media denies you (actionable info. that is), then why would you waste your time here anyway. Might as well waste your time enjoying yourself on a beach, watch  moronic entertainment or entertain yourself with the upcoming BS election.

No, I'm here to get more actionable insight, not bullocks. Tell me one thing this article can assist in? Nothing. Atleast when they crow about the demise of the USD, you have actionable recommendations to protect yourself (whether you believe it or not is not my concern). All you get here is a tantrum on something we already know and has been published to death, atleast in Asia.

So, what FARKING USE is this article? NIL in my books.

You people should question the propaganda and ask intelligent questions instead of just flowing with the status quo. No, I'm not that stupid to participate in China Equity right now, but when it does corrects value will be presented and opportunity will be provided to those that are prepared.

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 11:50 | 6178799 vyeung
vyeung's picture

yes keyboard worriors, just so happens I just brought a sea front apartment at one of the Maritime Silk Roads stops. No, I don't know anything about China and I dunno anything about how things are moving ahead. hahahaha. Take your pick, some dick thats sitting thousands of miles away who can't even tell you where the farking brothels are. Yea, he's going to provide you great intel and insight!!! Just love the response.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!