Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to the discussion thread for another blog entry at this site:
Just like you, Ted Kaczynski thought he was right along as well. We see how that played out.
Does John Greaney think that he is right? Does Mel Linmdauer think that he is right?
I don’t agree with Lindauer or Greaney on safe withdrawal rates. But I say that the Valuation-Informed Indexers and the Buy-and-Holders should interact with each other in a spirit of friendship and respect. It seems to me that that is the anti-Kacynski position.
Rob
Given the massive stock market crash, the $500 million settlement you got, your huge Billion dollar retirement account and getting your book on the New York Times best sellers list, must mean you are right and everyone else is wrong.
I believe that Greaney’s reaction is strong evidence that I am right. If he truly believed that he had included a valuation adjustment in his study, he would have responded in a calm way.
Rob
Greaney has always been calm. He made some excellent posts about you, but after that, I think he ended up ignoring you and your nonsense more than a decade ago.
Okay, Anonymous.
Rob
Does the fact that Greaney has been successful, while you haven’t, proven anything in your mind?
I have been hugely successful on the content side. On the content side, I have achieved a level of success that at an earlier time in my life I would not have considered possible.
It could be said that Greaney achieved a higher level of popularity in that he has not been banned. Even there, I would be more popular if it were not for the abusive stuff and the criminal stuff. That stuff has held me back because it scares people and, for people to learn about new ideas, they need to feel free to ask questions and express their sincere thoughts and so on. So, through the use of underhanded stuff, Greaney has achieved more popularity.
I believe in peer-reviewed research. If you have concluded that your stuff can remain popular only through a banning of discussion of the peer-reviewed research, I consider that a very bad sign. It’s like you are asking a doctor “does it bother you that a heroin dealer makes more money than you?” It’s a bad thing that the heroin dealer makes more money. It shows why we all need to work to resist the lure of a heroin addiction. The ban on honest posting and all that goes with it (the popularity of people like Greaney and so on) shows why we need to resist the lure of Get Rich Quick/Buy-and-Hold.
That sort of thing is not my particular cup of tea, I would rather be unpopular than go there. I believe that I will be popular in the days following the onset of the next Buy-and-Hold Crisis. But I would follow this road regardless. I need to at least feel that I am trying to help people to be able to do the work. If I said that I believe that Greaney’s retirement study contains a valuation adjustment, I would feel that I was selling out my frends. Yucko, you know? No can do.
My best wishes.
Rob