Barron’s “Truthiness” Instead of Truth

Barron’s used our Truthiness post from last week for their Market Watch section:

>

"Truthiness" Instead of Truth
Big Picture by Fusion IQ

March 24: Whether overstating job creation [or growth, or] understating inflation, a shocking amount of debate about the economic expansion has been primarily spin….[as] a parade of sycophants, despite knowing better, continued to cheer-lead punk data….First, they denied what was happening; then we got the whole "contained" thingie; then they blamed da Bears. Now they’ve unwittingly embraced Marx, and successfully pled for the central planners to rescue them from their own stupidity…Has "truthiness" replaced truth? [Will we] be saddled forever with these hallucinatory hacks?

>

Source:
MARKET WATCH:  A Sampling of Advisory Opinion
Edited by ANITA PELTONEN
Barron’s MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2008
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB120674492840373083.html

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

What's been said:

Discussions found on the web:
  1. Max commented on Mar 31

    Can we please refrain from dragging Marx into this? How many people here, seriously, have read him?

  2. AGG commented on Mar 31

    Hallucinatory hacks?
    Perhaps they are Dynamos of Distraction.

  3. The REAL Steven Colbert commented on Mar 31

    Although I admit that I invented the word, credit given to me. When the history books are read, the writers will get it right on just how amazing I was.

  4. lurker commented on Mar 31

    Paulson proposes overhaul—LOL!

    Now that the horses are long gone, it is time to move the barn and slap on a new and different coat of paint—see we love our ponies!!! Now where are they again????

  5. Marcus Aurelius commented on Mar 31

    Posted by: Max | Mar 31, 2008 3:03:25 PM

    ___

    I have read Marx. Here’s my favorite quote:

    “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”

  6. Shane commented on Mar 31

    Raises hand . . . yes I have read Marx, “The Communists Manifesto” plus multiple other writings.

    It’s actually pretty scary to look at Marx’s 10 points and look at our society. We obviously don’t have all 10 points implemented in our society, however almost all of his points are implemented to some degree.

  7. Darkness commented on Mar 31

    *waves at steven* (real or not, who cares?) — love ya!

    And to Berry, congrats yet again. The paragraph was succinct, blunt and salted with just the right level of pop references to make the sting come out impersonal and non-shrill.

  8. sergtat commented on Mar 31

    Some of us had to read Marx first at school than in university, so don’t be so sure…

    Sorry for repeating guys but it’s coming.

    bandera roja is coming, millions of useless bureaucrats will oversee the financial industry. You will have to go through the endless red tape to get a credit card approval, forget about a anything else. And as usual it will hit the six pack Joe the hardest. Will cost arm and leg to buy a car or a house. You will have to prove your income to buy a TV set. It is not Orwell it is USSR 1984. Been there done that. S. America is looking better and better…
    bandera roja
    bandera roja

  9. Old Ari commented on Mar 31

    My favourite was Groucho.

  10. Dirk van Dijk commented on Mar 31

    Harpo had more insightful things to say than Karl

  11. eckalectic commented on Mar 31

    Is it just me or has Barron’s (other than Alan Abelson) been really, really, really trying in the past few months to put a bullish spin on any sliver of potential good news?

    I mean, a week ago they did a cover story on a pool hustler who predicts Dow 20,000, and Santoli every week seems to be calling a bottom.

    Seems like they are going after the Jim Cramer crowd.

  12. Rock commented on Mar 31

    The FED got us into the mess. And now the FED wants more GOD power with their central planning.

    The FED appears to be favoring the rich bankers. With some bread crumbs for some. Savers get the shaft with low interest rates.

    Looks like a bloodless coup for the investment bankers.

  13. John Wellman commented on Apr 1

    Believe it or not, some of the Cramer crowd read this blog. Not all of us are hunting for stock tips or are only drawn to investing due to his influence. My green collar job working with fuel cells might be pedestrian to many people here, but it is putting me in a position to have enough money to become an actual investor. I would like to glean a some knowledge from those gnostics that populate this site. Thanks for providing the education.

  14. Philip commented on Apr 1

    Please don’t ever use the term “green collar” again.

  15. Millan commented on Apr 1

    I think you are right about the recession starting in Q4 ’07. At that time a friend in the industry told me were functionally in a recession as the steel service centers were seeing a dramatic slowdown in October ’07 orders. Bill Zollars at YRCW was seeing the same thing in trucking and all the shipping stocks fell off a cliff at the same time. Would be interesting to look back at the predictive value of shippers/truckers declining volume or weights as a predictive tool for recessions.

  16. Millan commented on Apr 1

    I think you are right about the recession starting in Q4 ’07. At that time a friend in the industry told me were functionally in a recession as the steel service centers were seeing a dramatic slowdown in October ’07 orders. Bill Zollars at YRCW was seeing the same thing in trucking and all the shipping stocks fell off a cliff at the same time. Would be interesting to look back at the predictive value of shippers/truckers declining volume or weights as a predictive tool for recessions.

  17. Chuck Ponzi commented on Apr 1

    Colbert can have his “Truthiness”. I have invented my own word: “Douchiness”. Several posts here border on douchiness.

    Chuck Ponzi

Posted Under