Tuesday, February 4, 2014

F for Fake and Investments



Thinking about forgery opens up an issue of what is an expert. Forgers are able to be successful because experts are just not very good at seeing the details even when presented to them in their area of expertise. Their conceit and ego will not allow them to admit failure. 

This reminded me of the old Orson Welles movie F for Fake about the hoax biographer Clifford Irving, the master forger Elmyr de Hory, and of course Orson Welles, the man who created the radio hoax "War of the Worlds". If you have time, see Welles' muddled masterpiece. It is on youtube. It will certainly have you think about what is truth and what is fiction. 

There is a lot of fraud in the investment world. This is not about what is legal but what is truth. Professionals passing themselves off as experts, but really just talking heads. Investors believing whatever they are told. A lack of clarity between truth and opinion. 

Still, there is an answer to this problem. Do your own research and follow the numbers. 

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