TRADING IN A CESSPOOL OF LIES
By Janice Dorn, M.D., Ph.D.

Everyone lies.  All you have to do is open your eyes and ears.  The litany of lies is everywhere. Even those who are doing everything possible to lead lives of radical honesty will slip and catch themselves in a lie.  Maybe it’s a

“little  white lie” or something which is euphemistically called an “error of omission” or a “slip of the tongue.”  Nonetheless, a lie is a lie.

We start lying at around age 4-5 when, as children, we gain both the power and awareness of language. The first lies we tell as children are not malicious, rather they are tests of the degree to which we can or cannot manipulate our environment.  Eventually, children lie to get out trouble or get something they want. Is lying ever OK?  I leave that to each of you to answer.  There is a much larger issue here.

There are persons who are compelled to lie about almost everything.  They lie to protect themselves, to make themselves look good, to gain financial, sexual or social rewards or to avoid punishment. In the extreme, these individuals are given psychiatric descriptions like “pathological liar” or actual psychiatric diagnoses (Sociopath, Antisocial, etc). In these people, one lie leads to another and then another until there is no way to know what is truth and what is a lie.  A favorite expression among those who treat addicts (in the active stage of addiction to substances or destructive behaviors, lying is the norm) is “If your lips are moving you’re lying!”

The bottom line is that, once a person lies to you, a bond of trust is broken. If the person steps up and confesses to the truth, there is a possibility for the relationship to be repaired.  Depending on the nature of the lie, that trust is likely damaged for a long time.  I have heard repeatedly from couples in therapy or from individuals who are suffering from anxiety and depression that something happened and their loved ones don’t trust them anymore. What has happened is that there has been betrayal of a vow or of a commitment and that person has lied about it and then either confessed voluntarily or was forced to confession when the evidence for betrayal was incontrovertible. 

The internal rot that plagues a country or a culture begins at the highest levels of government and like some unleashed stream of contaminated sewage, trickles into the orifices of society.  We all know that politicians lie.  After all, the origin of the word politics is from poly (many) and tics (small blood-sucking insects).  It is a foregone conclusion that those in poli-tics  will lie to us to get what they want from us and to further their own agendas.

There is a contagious epidemic of lies spreading all over the world, and it starts with the rot at the highest levels of government.  We are in a culture of lies and deception.

Just look at how many lies we read about every minute of every day. Not a single day passes when someone accused of some hideous act or violation of law denies it.  Scandal is everywhere.  Referees lie about fixing major league sports events, celebrities lie about possession of illegal drugs, famous athletes lie about doping or using performance-enhancing drugs, other famous athletes lie about torturing animals and murdering innocent animals, a quasi-celebrity now on trial for murder of a beautiful young woman is defending himself by saying that she shot herself in the mouth.  People lie all the time about murder, rape, pedophilia, addiction and acts against God and society.

Why does this matter to the trader?  I make it a point to stay on some 50 mailing lists of  financial , investment trading and newsletter services that offer unlimited riches and instant gratification through trading this or that special system or some unknown indicator or something that has just been discovered which will make it possible to turn $1,000 to $1,000,000 in less than a year.  Right.  Sure.   Please give us all a break here. 

This is just stinky slime that is creeping through the markets and into your inbox. You see ads and infomercials on TV and hear garbage on the radio that is just plain ridiculous.  The marketing is becoming more sophisticated because we know so much more about the brain and how to responds to the lure of easy money.  Marketing to groups of people who are addicted to money (that means just about everyone in the markets) is easy.  All the “neuromarketers” have to do is to appeal to the dopamine-driven rat brain areas.  Just the thought of making money through these “revolutionary instant money machines” that promise thousands of percent increases to your accounts will “light up” the dopamine, pleasure centers of the brain.  “Neuromarketing” is everywhere, and getting more powerful.  The interesting aspect of this is that the most effective way to sell is to lie.  Oh, no!   Can that possibly be true?  In order to sell you something, people have to lie to you?   Yes.  That is very often the case. 

Wall Street is a pack of lies.  They are there to get your money, and they will do everything possible to separate you from your hard-earned cash.  There are some very powerful hammerhead sharks lurking around every corner and doing every sneaky deal imaginable to convince you to buy something; anything.  Come on in, the water’s fine, so just keep buying.  There is no danger here.

There appears to be no limit to the sneaky and slimy cesspool of deception which runs through the financial markets.

There is no risk.  Don’t worry if you lose 50% or more of your portfolio.  It will come back.  Hold and hope.  Buy more.  Buy, buy, buy! Booyah! (Oops, sorry, I just couldn’t resist getting that in there!)

The bottom line is that we are behavioral traders.  We observe everything, and believe nothing.  Please do not allow yourself or anyone you love to be carried down into this oozing mass of detritus. These are the poli-ticians of the market, those many blood-sucking creatures who are after your wallet and your hard-earned money.  They put on all sorts of disguises and come at you with fancy cars, expensive suits and ridiculously outrageous prices for what they are selling you.   BEWARE.  These are the emperors who have on no clothes. (http://deoxy.org/emperors.htm)

There is nothing underneath the glitz.  It is a sham and it will take from you until it has gorged itself and destroyed you and then move on the next victim and the next and the next.   Greed knows no bounds.

Please, everyone who is reading this:   Open your eyes; do not allow yourself to be led down some garden path which appears to be lush with trees and flowers, but ends up in the vast wasteland of wiping out your equity.  Beware of false prophets , hype and crooks.  Verify, verify, verify.  Use your new (rational, cortical) brain to override the old (emotional, rat) brain impulses and allow yourself time to measure and judge with logic and reason.  Your rat brain is always out to get you, and the scam artists know exactly where to find it.

Beware and be careful. Trust your own truth and judgment.  It’s your money; you earned it, so please don’t throw it into the shark-infested waters.