Submitted by Mark J. Grant, author of Out of the Box,
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”
-Rudyard Kipling
In business, in relationships, words spoken or memorialized in the Press, once out there the damage has been done; the consequences on the way to creation. You can't deny them, you can't hide them and you are accountable for what has passed your lips or the roller ball on your pen. This is just the way of it in the world which is why it is always important to not only choose your words carefully but to carefully decide if they should be released into the wild. Words are the Pandora's Box of everyday life.
“Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall.”
-Jodi Picoult
Words also have another fascinating characteristic. When you spit them out you know what you meant. Then someplace in the air between their release and someone hearing or reading them they get jumbled up. What you were trying to communicate is often, and as an author I can tell you with certainty that it is more than one might imagine, that what you were trying to say is not at all what is heard. There have been countless times when I have stared at people's comments about something that I have written and wondered, "Where in God's name did they come up with that?" It is not just "lost in translation" but "lost in space."
“Be silent or let thy words be worth more than silence.”
-Pythagoras
I make these points today for a very important reason. Mr. Bernanke, and it had to come to this eventually, there was no other real choice, has now unleashed the Fates that could no longer be contained and the harpies are free once more. The world had deluded itself that it would never come to pass. The world had also looked at Mr. Draghi's comments as if they were certain prophecy not uttered by Mr. Draghi himself but as if he was just the mouthpiece for some higher divinity that had taken over his body during the length of his famous speech.
In both cases the world had become delusional. In both cases the fantasy has ended and we have been pushed back to our unpleasant reality where one and one still makes two. Living with Alice in Wonderland was certainly more pleasant!
Mr. Bernanke's comment about "things could change" is nothing more than the recital of verse. Of course, thing can always change and he acknowledged what each of us already knew. There were sounds in those sentences worthy of no significant meaning. What was full of the sound and fury of important meaning though was that the dream was over. With his soliloquy of "ending," the dream was shattered and lays now upon the floor all around us like broken shards of razor sharp glass.
You and everyone else will try and step carefully but you are going to get cut because avoidance is impossible. Bonds, stocks, commodities or Real Estate; you are going to bleed. In the same manner as we cannot invest off-world. We cannot avoid being hurt on-world. The real pain of induced withdrawal from the central banks' monetary creation is upon us. The words cannot be taken back. The meat is minced!
Words, once spoken, are no longer your own. Words, strung together, may be the most powerful spells in our kingdom. Two speeches, one in America and one in Europe buoyed the world. One speech made in America has now ended the experiment. No magic wand was needed.