I love non-traditional thinking.
Off the wall ideas are incredible. I like to think I come up with some pretty interesting ideas myself, like not paying off your student loans or getting married for college money.
But here’s the thing about my crazy ideas; they are all pure. Whether I’m right or wrong, my goal is to share my opinion, promote thinking and maybe even make you laugh once or twice.
That’s why I get really pissed off when people say things purely for personal gain.
I found an article by Paul B. Farrell today, and I officially hate him. No. I loathe him.
The Sky is Falling!
Paul Farrell pretends to be an economist and environmentalist. In reality, he’s nothing more than a fear mongering jerk. It’s just a guess, but I’m pretty sure this guy is short selling the entire stock market and doing his best to terrify people and trick them into selling their own investments so he makes more money.
Here’s an example of his article entitled, “A ‘no-growth’ boom will follow 2012 global crash”.
And yet, the facts about the coming catastrophe are so obvious. Just apply a little grade-school math and economic common sense: Our planet’s natural resources can reasonably support about 5 billion people. That’s a fact. Another: Today we have 7 billion. That’s a problem, 2 billion too many. We’re consuming commodities and natural resources at a rate of 1.5 Earths, according to estimates by the Global Footprint Network of scientists and economists.
Our planet can only support 5 billion people? That’s a fact? It’s so obvious. According to whom?
I’m sure there are some people believe the Earth’s capacity is 5 billion. It may even be true. But to bluntly say it’s a fact without presenting any data to support the hypothesis is absolutely ridiculous.
His article goes on to say that it’s too late to even worry about global warming. The damage has been done, and because of global warming, the world economy is going to be blown to smithereens. Take the following quote as exhibit B:
What will trigger “The Crash” he sees coming? “If you grow an economy or any system up against its limits, it then stops growing and either changes form or breaks down … As our system hits its limits, the following pressures will combine, in varied and unpredictable ways, to trigger a system breakdown and a major economic crisis (or series of smaller crises) that will see us slide into a sustained economic downturn and a global emergency lasting decades.”
As Gilding sees it, the coming crash is “not a doom and gloom prediction, but an inevitable physical reality.”
First of all, notice how the person Farrell quotes continues to write in absolutes without providing any real, meaningful data. Just more fear mongering.
The article then goes on to tell people where to invest their money to actually turn a profit in this scenario. You have got to be pooping me!
He’s talking about an economic crisis so severe that it results in “a global emergency lasting decades”. And yet, instead of telling you to invest in bottled water, canned foods, weapons and ammunition, and a safe house for you and your family, he wants you to invest in wind and solar stocks.
What a joke.
If his predictions come true, a $100 bill will be about as good as the warmth it will provide by burning it. The only things of value will be physical goods that help you survive.
Use a Critical Eye When Reading Investing Advice
I am 99% sure this guy is either heavily invested in a variety of green companies or funds, and/or has short sold the rest of the stock market. He’s doing everything he can to influence other people to buy or sell stocks that will make him money.
I remind you that investing advice rarely comes without strings attached. When someone recommends you invest somewhere, there’s a good chance they are already on the bandwagon and are recruiting more members. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad advice; just that it’s not objective.
The blatant self interest in this guy’s post is hard to miss, but others do a better job of concealing it. Heck, I might have some ulterior motive to influence your behavior for my own personal gain. I promise I have no such motive, but do you trust me?
I think you can trust me because I provide data and/or explanations. I always share the reasons I believe certain things to allow my readers to understand where I’m coming from. That way they can form their own opinion. And I’m nothing special in this regard; most credible writers do the same thing.
People like Mr. Farrell are the exception. Spouting off radical “truths” with no data or even an explanation of how he came to believe something.
If you are going to take anyone’s advice regarding what you do with your hard earned money, I recommend thinking critically about what they are suggesting and possible reasons why they might have ulterior motives. Don’t let some snake oil salesman trick you into padding his bank account.
As a footnote, here’s the rest of Mr. Farrell’s stupid article. I don’t even want to link to him and provide even one additional view of his crap, but I actually believe that people should have the opportunity to go straight to the source of information and make their own decisions. What a concept.
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
Speaking as a journalist, this kind of thing drives me absolutely bonkers. I find so many people fall into one of two camps when it comes to the media: 1) They blindly believe everything an anchor says, because he’s a journalist, and therefore knows what he’s talking about, even if he doesn’t (e.g. Fox News) or 2) They believe that all journalists are liars.
It’s infuriating! Like, we’re not all liars, but we’re not perfect either. I mean, in theory, journalists should know what they’re talking about and, in most instances, are held to an impossibly high standard, but as such, we should also be held accountable for things. And we make mistakes. If a journalist tells you something, it’s probably true, but use your head a little bit before you decide to blindly follow someone’s advice if it doesn’t make sense to you.
Hey now. What’s wrong with Fox News?
Your quarrel is not really with Paul Farrell but with Paul Gilding, whose book Farrell spends most of his article summarizing. Grand predictions about the future have a way of not coming as true as the predictors would like, but can anyone really deny that the earth’s resources are finite and that we are accelerating our consumption? More cars on our roads than ever, more use of gas, more cars in developing countries such as China, etc. Of course there are those who reject global warming and associated potential crises completely, but Farrell and/or Gilding would accuse them (and possibly you) of being in denial. I think Gilding’s book probably deserves a full reading before anyone dismisses it out of hand, but just remember that if even some of what he predicts turns out to be right by 2050, at my age I’ll certainly be dead, but you won’t, and what kind of world do you want to live in when you’re 60?
This is just one of Paul Farrell’s articles. They all say the same thing.
And yes, I realize there is finite amount of things to burn on this planet, but the sun’s power is, from a practical perspective, unlimited. All we have to do is figure out how to harness it. Until then, we’re gonna keep burning stuff.
You never know who to trust now do you?
Kevin,
Of all the complete and utter tut written on the internet, why do you think this bloke has annoyed you so much?
TMG
I’m as mad at this guy as I am at MarketWatch.com. If he were writing this stuff on a blog that no one reads then I really don’t care. But the fact that he writes for MarketWatch gives him instant credibility to a lot of people.
I’m not even mad at his opinion. I’m mad at the blatant disconnect between his opinion and his advice. This is what I read in his article: “The environment might cause an utter collapse of our economy, but don’t actually prepare yourself to make it through something many magnitudes worse than the great depression. Keep throwing your money in the stock market to help make me richer. Thanks.”
Fair enough, Kevin. B-)
I’ve mentioned you in my latest post. Hope that’s OK with you.
TMG
Earth can probably support more than 5 billion people but if the earth only has 5 billion people I think all the lives of that 5 billion people will be bountiful.
I agree, you should be skeptical and don’t follow anybodys advice without doing a little research yourself first.