Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to another blog entry at this site:
if the Goons and hatred and conspiracies are the real story, why not talk about that during your 5 minutes of fame at FinCon?
People don’t want to hear it, Anonymous.
It makes people feel very uncomfortable to discuss that stuff.
The people who promote Buy-and-Hold are not bad people. They made a perfectly understandable mistake. Then they covered it up, thinking it probably wouldn’t be a big deal to do so. Then valuations went so high that it became a very big deal indeed. By that time they felt that it would make them look awful to come clean. The trap that they have fallen into just keeps pulling tighter and tighter and tighter as time passes.
People don’t like to think that Jack Bogle is a criminal or that Mel Linduaer is a criminal or that John Greaney is a criminal. I don’t like to think it myself. You didn’t see me calling these people criminals until they had engaged in so many criminal acts that it was impossible for me to look the other way anymore.
Why were all those Catholic priests not turned in when they engaged in sexual crimes? People didn’t want to accuse them. People didn’t want to cross powerful people. People were embarrassed. These things happen.
I would prefer it if someone else would expose this matter. I would prefer that about 10,000 times over. Do you see anyone else stepping forward?
Every academic researcher wants to be freed to do honest work. Every blogger wants to be freed to post honest blog entries. Every investment advisor wants to be freed to give honest investment advice. Every economist wants to be freed to tell people the true cause of our economic crisis.
Why don’t all those people speak out?
The same reason why those people don’t speak out is the reason why I don’t focus on the ugly side of this in my presentations at FinCon. People do not want to hear it. People are not ready to hear it.
We will have another chance following the next price crash. At that point people are going to be very afraid. We may be in the Second Great Depression. At that point, I think we may get Old Saint Jack himself speaking out. If not, we will get other people who will say things that will put Jack in a spot where he will eventually need to speak out. Once Jack comes clean, everyone will feel safe to speak honestly. People want to feel safe.
Do you have any great ideas on how to solve this problem? If you do, I am all ears.
You know darn well why I don’t address the nasty side of this at FinCon. The Buy-and-Hold Mafia is a brutally corrupt entity. People are afraid their careers will be destroyed. People are afraid they will be sued. People are afraid that these powerful and corrupt people will not link to them. People are afraid that even people who are not Buy-and-Holders will not link to them because those people will be afraid of the Buy-and-Hold Mafia turning on them if they have a relationship with people who have posted honestly. People are afraid that their readers will not like them if they pop their Get Rich Quick fantasies.
You know the answer to your question.
And somewhere in your consciousness you know why we need to solve this problem. We have as a society put the responsibility on workers to finance their own retirements. We must provide some means for them to access accurate and honest reports re the last 33 years of peer-reviewed research in this field. This is imperative. The future viability of our economic and political systems depend on it.
I write about the nasty side here. So there will be plenty of materials when people are open to looking at them.
I wrote about the nasty side in my 30,000 e-mails to academic researchers.
I recorded several RobCasts on the nasty side of things.
I have contacted numerous journalists and bloggers re this side of things. Not just on the personal finance side. I have contacted people on the political side. I will obviously contact lots more people in days to come, especially following the next price crash.
Is there anyone you can name who has done more than me? I obviously would like to do more. But I think it would be fair to say that I have done more than anyone else. No?
Do you think we should ignore this? Do you think that Bogle and all the others are going to stop committing financial fraud if we all act like it doesn’t matter? How do you think that will work exactly? If doing nothing is the right answer, why is it that people are still promoting Buy-and-Hold 33 years after the peer-reviewed research showed that there is precisely zero chance that it could ever work for a single long-term investor?
Do you think that I did a good thing pointing out the errors in Greaney’s study or a bad thing? I obviously think I did a very, very good thing. What do you think?
Would Greaney be in the position he is in today if someone had posted honestly about those studies years before I did so? I obviously don’t think he would be. What do you think?
Do you think that Jack Bogle wishes that he had come clean years ago instead of letting this massive act of financial fraud get so out of control? I sure do. What do you think?
What do you want from me, Anonymous?
I have offered to do anything in my power to help you short of committing a felony myself.
Is there something else?
What can I do to make you happy that would not require me committing a felony under the laws of the United States?
Is there anything?
Rob
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