Our culture of lying

Let’s step slightly outside the bounds of finance and talk about something that distresses me; something not often discussed in our culture. Namely, our culture of lying. I bring this up, not to moralize (because that’s not me), but to send up a corrupting influence in our society.

When I say culture of lying I am referring to lies both small and large. In the small lie category we have the daily and numerous evils of marketing. Just about every advertisement creates a false image and context for the product in question. We have the lie of chocolate bar ads promising nirvana. We have the lie of car ads promising us studly sex. We have the lie of dietary supplements promising us health and slim figure lines. We have the lie of the Rolex watch meaning that we are important. And on and on and on. Because most of us grew up in this culture of the small lie we have become inured to its effects. But what happens when a goodly chunk of our private time, spent in an alpha state (meditative state), is spent being lied to? I am talking about watching television and being bombarded with falsity.

What happens is that people become naturally defensive. The defensiveness leads to being disconnected from reality. That disconnection leads to a conditioned state of mistrust and cynicism. It’s my opinion that this ultimately leads to a profound insulation against fundamental and sincere connection to people. Ouch!

What about big lies? Lies told by the heads of corporations and lies told by our political leaders? I’m talking about lies of convenience and lies of outright obfuscation. The lies of convenience are easier to forgive. People of power often have to bridge the gap between varied constituencies. This requires a level of diplomacy that few of us can truly appreciate. Sometimes a small lie allows all parties to move forward. Often it’s not a choice of good vs. evil, but a choice from amongst evils. No, the lies I am talking about are lies like Ronald Reagan claiming to know nothing about Iran Contra. Or Bill Clinton lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Or of AIG’s former Master of the Universe CEO Hank Greenberg intentionally hiding the funding vehicle for his and his executives’ outrageous compensation. Or of Enron adhering to the letter of the law, but absolutely violating the spirit of the law. Or of dotcom-era analysts inventing new ways of valuing businesses. Or of mortgage lenders mostly ignoring the creditworthiness of their mortgage holders. This behavior sets a cultural tone. This behavior says that it’s OK to lie, to mislead, to obscure, to be a jackass.

Taken together, the small lies and big lies lead to a corrosion in the ethics of a culture. They lead to a culture where success is pursued at any cost. I am not naive enough to believe that there was a “Golden Age” where every person was honest, forthright and true. I am not advocating a return of religious dogma to corral our astray ethics. I am advocating that people begin to live their lives in accord with honesty and truth. This means becoming more conscious of our motivations and choices. It means holding people accountable for white lies and giant lies. Empires never crumble from without, but from within.

To tie this back into the blog’s purpose – investment commentary: 70% of GDP is based on consumer spending. Consumers aren’t spending. A large proportion of this is because people are taking this moment in history to reorient their budget toward savings and away from debt. But another reason that people aren’t spending, in my opinion, is that there is a cultural malaise that runs deep. In my opinion, the malaise is symptomatic of our culture’s lying dis-ease. Long-term the culture will die, not due to any single catastrophe, but due to a death by papercut. And dishonesty cuts deep. I choose not to invest in this scenario and its unconscious creators.

Soapbox dismounted.

Jason