Buy-and-Hold Goon to Rob: “The Problem Is That You Have Made the Choice to Not Function with Society and Society Norms.”

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

We have a functioning society. The problem is that you have made the choice to not function with society and society norms. You have your own creative definition of what is “honest” which does not line up with what people believe is truthful and factual.

The laws against advancing death threats are in line with our social norms, Anonymous.

The laws against extortion are in line with our social norms.

The laws against financial fraud are in line with out social norms.

The social norm that I am not in concert with is the social norm of encouraging the relentless promotion of Get Rich Quick/Buy-and-Hold investment strategies. And that social norm is in the process of changing. The social norm was established at a time when economists believed in something called the Efficient Market Theory. Robert Shiller has published peer-reviewed research discrediting the Efficient Market Theory and pointing us to a far better understanding of how stock investing works (Valuation-Informed Indexing). His views remain minority views today. But he was awarded a Nobel prize. That shows that his views on how stock investing works are not nearly so far out of the mainstream as you Goons like to suggest.

I don’t feel comfortable violating the social norms against financial fraud and extortion and threats of physical violence. So I am going to continue posting honestly even though doing so puts me outside of the failing social norm in favor of the relentless promotion of the pure Get Rich Quick/Buy-and-Hold approach to stock investing. I believe that a lot of good and smart people are going to examine that failing social norm a lot more closely in the days following the next price crash. Then we will all be on our way to living better and richer lives.

One of our most important social norms is that, when research is published showing that an earlier belief doesn’t pass muster, we permit that research to be widely discussed so that we can all move on to something better. I strongly endorse that particular social norm. All of my work for the past 18 years has been done in deference to that social norm. I became a journalist because I believe that progress is necessary and beautiful and because I believe that explaining things to people clearly and fairly can help them to appreciate which way we need to go as a society to achieve progress. So I am going to continue to say that I believe that Shiller’s Nobel-prize-winning research is legitimate research and that we should be exploring the far-reaching implications of that research at every discussion board and blog on the internet, without a single exception.

My best and warmest wishes to you and yours.

Rob