Before the downgrade of the US credit rating was announced Representative Barney Frank, said ...I’m just puzzled that people pay attention.
Well Barney, there's no reason to be puzzled. People pay attention for the same reason they pay attention to the claims and counterclaims of politicians.
The public has a malleable mind that can be shaped by a whisper, shout or suggestion. The difference is how quickly a reaction is needed. The mind of the people has been trained to trust sources who portray themselves as thorough, and objective and knowledgeable. The main culprits are popular media, politicians at every level, Wall Streeters and business bigwigs.
If we are to ever experience significant personal growth we must acknowledge the nature of this multi-headed beast.
All the tongues from Washington to Wall Street are permanently forked and tangled together so the sounds they make are like the ones we made as kids when we held our tongues and tried to talk.
We don't have to give meaning to this gobbledygook. Just let 'em keep talking and telling lies. We should mostly do nothing or the opposite.
We don't have to allow media to instigate us to make ill-advised choices. Let them work each other into frenzies. Do not allow this Medusa-like creature to turn you hardheaded in the wrong direction.
BTW: Why do all these news sources all talk about the same things each day in the same way if they are “independent and objective?”
Barney, be not confused as to why people are freaked out and stocks are falling. We are doing as we've been trained and educated. We turn to you to tell us the important things. We need you to explain what we've heard. We need you to help us focus on information that we hope will help us make the best decisions for ourselves and be the best we can be.
You need us too. You need us to keep trusting you and believing we need you. You need us to wait to be told what's going on. You need us to doubt and diss-believe anything you don't say. You need us to lack confidence in our ability to be the discerners that is supposed to come with the developing cognitive ability of adulthood. You need us to trade the fullness of our capabilities and purposes for a life of gobbledygook.
Even though most of your information is either late or of no consequence to us, we continue to stay in a relationship with you believing we can't make it without you, just like those with no or low self-esteem. This has a lot to do with why, the wealthiest one percent has more wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined. All information, no evolution. Stocks are falling now because self-esteem fell long ago.
People, take this into consideration: When stocks fall, someone is shaking us like trees trying to shake them loose from our hands. Someone is also either catching the stocks or picking them up. There are no stocks left lying around on the ground because in order for someone to sell a stock, someone else has to buy it.
In other words, every time you hear there is a sell off in stocks, there is also an equal buy in. The difference is, one side is shaken and scared while the other is certain and salivating. One is panicked, the other prepared. The rich get richer when we simply listen to the news they own because information is more valuable than stocks.
Additional Reading:
30 Lessons from Warren Buffet & Bill Gates
