Thursday, April 25, 2013

"The Eroding Premium on Truth and Trust"

Racine Exposed has a great post up today on the "Racine Economic Development Project Opportunities." It's about the agenda that lying John and his friends have regarding where and how they're going to spend big money. (Isn't is disingenuous to say that these dollars aren't coming out of tax dollars, but out of loans? The loans, plus interest, have to be repaid by taxpayers. Duh!)  You can read the post here: http://racineexposed.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/survey-says/

The post also contains a quote from a blog by Charles Hugh Smith on http://www.oftwominds.com/.  As I read the quote, it moved me.  I've decided to reproduce it here just because I like it so much. Thank you, Racine Exposed.


  The Eroding Premium on Truth and Trust   (April 11, 2013)

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.

From: http://www.oftwominds.com/blogapr13/truth-trust4-13.html

6 comments:

Toad said...

I'm going to enjoy this one later. Busy day ahead. The boss Is home. OH shit.

kkdither said...

Untruth no longer arouses any moral indignation

I don't buy that. I think the real issue is that you pay way too high a price to care anymore, and helplessness has led many to acceptance or self-imposed ignorance.

This was a powerful paragraph starting with, "The premium we place on truth and trustworthiness is self-evident."

It makes me angry that the article is specific enough to include Obama's name, but nothing about the same, evil game played by the other side. This is a money and power struggle of the haves vs. the have nots. Exclusive name calling just heightens this game.

Okay... enough thinking. Anyone know a good joke?

OrbsCorbs said...

I didn't like the Obama shot either, because it makes the article appear partisan.

Maybe THAT says something. How did we get to the point that any criticism of a person is viewed as damning their entire political party?

I also want to believe that most people are unaware of what a sewer our government has become, but I don't know. It seems like the average person doesn't give a shit unless his/her income is messed with.

legal stranger said...

Damn the Damnocraps and Repulsicans.

There is little or no regard for veracity in all branches of government.

Every corrupt politician has earned and deserves the wrath of the population.

Every honest and honorable politician deserves the support and respect of the population.

The fundamental concept of evil flourishes where good people do nothing supports the evil we face in government today.

Get out and protest!

Now your joke:

CELTIC MORTALITY
What is the difference between an Irish wedding and an Irish funeral?

One less drunk.



OrbsCorbs said...

I share your feelings, ls. Republican vs. Democrat is a game to keep us occupied while the corrupt officials carry on business as usual. I really dislike the polarization of our country because you can't say one thing without someone making a ton of political assumptions about you. I'm so sick of the liberals vs conservatives.

legal stranger said...

I have another comment on this subject.

The Obama comment was spot on target.

Obama is the current liar and current piece of shit in the Presidential Palace.

Obama joins the long list of liars, cons and welfare pimps in the president's office.

Here is your second joke:



The patrolman in a small town was making his evening rounds.
As he was checking a used car lot, he came upon two little old ladies sitting in a used car.

The patrolman stopped and asked them if they were stealing the car.
"Heavens no, we bought it." the ladies said.

He said, "Then why don't you drive it away".

The women looked at each other and said "We can't drive".

The officer momentarily shook his head and then asked "Then why did you buy the car?"

The ladies answered, "We were told if we bought a car here, we'd get screwed, so we are just waiting"

Pleasant dreams in JTRIrr land.