Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to the discussion thread for another blog entry at this site:
Posts like that (filled with lies) are why you are banned.
That’s not an entirely untrue statement.
There are two levels of contention between the Buy-and-Holders and the Valuation-Informed Indexers. There are the matters of substance, which are what ultimately matter. In the days when Buy-and-Hold was being developed, we did not have Shiller’s Nobel-prize-winning research showing that valuations affect long-term returns available to us. So the people who came up with Buy-and-Hold advanced this loony tunes idea that market timing might not always be required (there was research showing that short-term timing does not work). Now that Shiller’s research is available, we need as a naton of people to correct that error. The Buy-and-Holders feel that it would make them look bad to acknowledge the error. So they continue to suggest that market timing (price discipline!) is not required. That’s the thing that matters. We need to be reminding investors of the importance of market timing at every site on a daily basis and it makes the Buy-and-Holders feel bad for people to learn of their mistake.
Then there are the matters of process, the abusive and in some cases criminal acts that a number of Buy-and-Holders have engaged in (and that a much larger number of Buy-and-Holders have tolerated) to block discussions of the susbtantive questions. This is where the death threats and the acts of extortion and so on come into play. The substantive error is understandable. An error was made at a time when all of the research was not yet available. Who cares, you know? The criminal behavior is something different. That translates into prison sentences. So there is a very, very high level of concern re that stuff. People who would be willing to permit discussion of the substantive matters are not willing to permit discussions of the criminal stuff.
That means that the Buy-and-Holders possess an important piece of leverage in their efforts to suppress discussion of the last 41 years of peer-reviewed research, Engage in criminal behavior and the discussions will be shut down just about everywhere. They get what they want even though they have nothing to offer on the substantive side because their behavior is so outrageous that most site owners do not want to entertain discussions of such things.
I am in favor of doing anything within the realm of reason to make it easier for Buy-and-Holders to engage in constuctive discussions. So I praise them to the skies for all of the many amazing contributions they have made to our understanding of how stock investing works. However, I draw the line at engaging in criminal behavior myself. If I were to say that I believe that the retirement study set forth at John Greaney’s web site contains a valuation adjustment, that would be an obvious case of financial fraud. Fraud is a crime in the United States. It is a felony. That means prison time. So thanks but no thanks, you know? Not this boy. No can do.
The Buy-and-Holders did great work. They made one very big mistake. It is in everyone’s interest that that mistake be corrected as soon as possible. So I am not willing to ignore the mistake with the hope that doing that would appease you Goons. But I do very much believe that all of us trying to get the internet opened to honest posting re the last 41 years of peer-reviewed research should make it a regular practice to point out how, outside of that mistake, the Buy-and-Holders have done a good amount of amazing, helpful work.
My best wishes to you.
Rob
If you have evidence of criminal activity, then file charges. However, you can also be charged with filing a false police report if you are just making it up……..which is probably why you haven’t filed charges.
The Greaney retirement study remains uncorrected 21 years after I brought the error in it to the attention of the Reire Early community that met at the Motley Fool site. What more evidenve could any rational-thinking person require?
The hold-up is that today’s stock investors are highly IRRATIONAL, as shown by today’s CAPE value. We can do all sorts of wonderful things once we get past our addiction to Get Rich Quick/Buy-and-Hold “strategies.” Will all of the magic begin to happen in the days following the next Buy-and-Hold Crisis? I think so. I hope so. But I don’t believe that anyone can say with absolute certainty given that we have never been in a situation like this before.
My best wishes to you.
Rob
I have a Tesla Model 3. This past weekend, I went out to test drive the Tesla Model X. To my surprise, it did not have a microwave oven, even though the price is twice as much as a Model 3. It is obvious that the VII goons are utilizing criminal acts to block Tesla from installing microwave ovens. What more evidence could any rational-thinking person require?
Good point, Anonymous.
Please take good care, my old friend.
Rob
You did say this was your job. If it is really your job, then it is your responsibility to file charges if there are criminal acts. So are you going to do your job?
I filed a police report way back in 2002. I called them and they came to the house and I told them about the death threats. They asked to see links and I showed them links. They asked me whether I truly believed that one of you Goons was going to come to my house and murder me or one of my loved ones. I said that my persoanl view is that you were advancing the death threats to scare me, to shut me up. I added that anyone who would make a death threat is by definition a crazy person and that there is really no way of knowing what a crazy person will do. They put all that in their report.
The important thing here is that every site on the internet be opened to honest posting re the last 42 years of peer-reviewed research. I will tell the story in a full and fair way. Millions of people have been hurt in a very serious way because of the ban on honest posting. So we need to come to terms with it as a nation of peope. So, yes, part of my job is to tell that story. If the people of the United States want criminal charges to be filed, they will be filed. I will not object if they are filed. I can see why some would feel that the filing of criminal charges is needed. But that is not going to be my focus.
The full reality is that it is not only you Goons that caused the problems. All of the humans have a Get Rich Quick/Buy-and-Hold urge residing within them. That’s why you Goons got away with what you got away with. If we had all been acting in our self-interest, we all would have called you out on your b.s. when you advanced your first abusive post and things never would have reached a point where there would have been any death threats or acts of extortion. That’s part of the story too and I see it as my job to report that part as well.
If my telling of that part of the story results in you Goons not going to prison, I am fine with that. I am happy either way so long as every site is opened to honest posting and we all get to live richer and fuller and freer lives from that point forward. My job is to tell the story in a full and fair way. It is up to the people of the United States as to whether there are prison sentences and as to how long those prison sentences extend.
All that I can control is my part. I am not going to say that I believe that Greaney included a valuation adjustment all along because that would put me on the wrong side of the felony line, which cannot possibly be the right answer. But I am not going to make it a personal cause to see that you Goons go to prison. My personal cause is to open every site to honest posting re the peer-reviewed research.
The criminal stuff hurt millions of people, not just me, so it is up to those millions of people to determine what is to be done about it. One aspect of the question that needs to be taken into consideration in my view is that the millions of people played a role in creating the circumstances that permitted all the bad stuff to happen. So, as a journalist, I see it as being part of my job to tell that part of the story as well as the other part.
I hope that that helps at least a tiny bit.
Rob
So even the police did not see sufficient evidence to support your claims, yet you want to perpetuate a story. Got it.
The police wanted to see an actual attempted murder before they took action, a threat was not enough. I have never said that there was an actual attempted murder. I have said there were threats. Threats are a big deal. Threats scare people. When people who post honestly re the last 42 years of peer-reviewed research are threatened and people who post in support of Buy-and-Hold/Get Rich Quick are not, you get more posts in support of Buy-and-Hold/Get Rich Quick than you get pointing out what the peer-reviewed research says. Eventually, you end up with a CAPE value of 30 and the entire nation experiences the Buy-and-Hold Crisis that follows. So the threats are a big deal.
If we were all thinking clearly, we would all want to see the acts of intimidation come to a full and complete stop. Of course, if we were all thinking clearly, today’s CAPE value would not be anything close to 30. It all fits together. Buy-and-Hold is Get Rich Quick and Get Rich Quick is Buy-and-Hold. The last 42 years of peer-reviewed research is the enemy of Get Rich Quick/Buy-and-Hold. I am a research-based guy. So I oppose acts of intimidation aimed at silencing discussion of the last 42 years of peer-reviewed research.
My best and warmest wishes to you and yours, Anonymous.
Rob