If I Refrain From Commenting on the Lack of a Valuations Adjustment in the Retirement Study Posted at John Greaney’s Web Site, That’s Fearful, Technically Honest but Indirectly Dishonest Posting. By Not Saying Anything, I Lead People to Believe That the Study Is Okay.”

Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to the discussion thread for another blog entry at this site:

Rob,

Can you please define for us as to what you believe is “honest” posting? When I think of the word “honest”, I would define it as truthful and backed by facts. Can you let us know what you think it means.

If I say that I believe that the retirement study posted at John Greaney’s web site lacks a valuation adjustment, that’s honest posting.

If I say that I believe that the retirement study posted at John Greaney’s web site gets the numbers right, that’s dishonest posting.

If I refrain from commenting on the lack of a valuations adjustment in the retirement study posted at John Greaney’s web site, that’s fearful, technically honest but indirectly dishonest posting. By not saying anything, I lead people to believe that the study is okay even though in my heart I know that it cannot be reconciled with the 36 years of peer-reviewed research showing that it is not possible to get the numbers right without taking valuations into account.

I hope that helps a small bit, old friend.

Rob