DENYING OUR FINANCIAL MISTAKES
12 March 2010 | By ken in SocietyWhy We Can’t Face Facts
When victims of Charles Ponzi’s original scam were offered 30 cents on the dollar, many of them refused to turn over their original notes and get what they could. Though Ponzi was in jail, they still believed he would make good on his initial promise of 50% interest.
“That was probably not the first, and certainly not the last, example of what might be called ‘buyer’s denial’,” as The New York Times reporter Floyd Norris put it in his article on a more recent fraud. Investors in CMKM Diamonds are suing to recover an alleged $3.87 trillion in compensation they claim they are owed by the government. (See “Dealing With Fraud By Denial.”)
The CMKM investors sound more than usually paranoid and grandiose. That puts them in a somewhat different category. But, still, why is denial so common and so powerful, especially when it comes to financial matters?
The Times quotes Dean G. Kilpatrick, director of the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center: denial “may be better than having to admit to yourself that it is over and you’re never going to get your money back.”
The study of consciousness offers a different explanation. It’s not about the reluctance to accept loss so much as the difficulty of acknowledging the mistake. A major function of the unconscious is to protect us from information damaging to self-esteem, and few things can be more humiliating that be suckered into losing your money, especially in a get-rich-quick scheme that defies common sense. Our consciousness invents alternative explanations, such as governmental conspiracy, as in the case of CMKM. The simplest response of all is denial: I didn’t actually make the mistake.
In the wake of our recent credit disaster, economists are searching for better models to explain our economic behavior. It would be a shame if they failed to take into account our unconscious tendencies to “fix” reality. Beyond or below the sight-lines of “behavioral economics” lie deeper and more powerful motivations.
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12 March 2010 | charsyph Said:
Ken is a good little minion who believes in his crooked government. Soon he will see the world is no longer flat.
12 March 2010 | hardrock Said:
Most of these shareholders will continue to be in denial when Mr Casavant is extradited and brought to trial.
16 March 2010 | Dream Interpretation Said:
I bealive that during this world financial problem all business man, and all type of business had little time for a review. I mean to see where they made their big wasting money.!
17 March 2010 | CMKXer- FOR INES Said:
If you want to make judgements on shareholders in this investment environment I would suggest educating yourself and doing some more reading.
You can find alot on this page.
http://www.deepcapture.com/wall-street-captures-the-sec/
Wall Street Captures the SEC
Posted on 26 January 2008 by Patrick Byrne
Capture of SEC by Wall Street is exactly what Harry Markopolos who discovered that Madoff was a fake and a ponsy sceme and reported that to SEC in the span for 10 years says in all of his interviews.
Now do you think that Harry Markopolos is also “crazy” for saying that after his experience of 10 years with SEC?
The most amazing part is that SEC actualy did “conduct” investigation into Madoff and gave him a OK no problems.. go on, which we know how it all ended.
Harry Markopolos (The Madoff Whistleblower) has published a book: “No one would listen”, so maybe you can go on and read that as well.
Your intentional, or unintentional, and just clumsy contribution Mr Ken Eisold is the message to all the shareholders that have been wronged is just to submit to the failure and losses and not to fight the system or establishement and not to ask questions or fight for corrections, and finnaly their investment.
In your hart of harts, I do not believe that was your intention or true belief, or I hope so, but it played out that way for whatever reasons involved, and we are where we are today.
Quit deleting INES Comments!!!!
17 March 2010 | S E C Said:
Ken, What are your Hidden Motives for erasing and closing comments pages on the last 2 threads where you talk about cmkx shareholders. Cmkx shareholders have a lawsuit against SEC, and suddenly we have campaign from specific people like Floyd Norris and Ken Eisold attacking and ridiculing shareholders.
17 March 2010 | denial Said:
i think you’re full of it !
06 April 2010 | cmkx shareholder Said:
Shame on you!
You really are one careless clueless person in the least, or one corrupt person at the worst Ken Eisold.
As much as I respect the psychology field, and love the subject, you are one twisted puppy at how you wrote about cmkx shareholders, and then erased all their comments on your blog.
Sick in a bad way.
you erased all the comments and replies from Cmkx shareholders in your 2 previous titles:
March 15, 2010
Footnote to Denial
Internet Virulence
March 12, 2010
Denying Our Financial MIstakes
Why We Can’t Face Facts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoglm_HcPzs The S.E.Cs 3.87 trillion dollar lawsuit TheAlyonaShow
Here is somebody making report on cmkx shareholders lawsuit against SEC commissioners that is not corrupt like your friend Noris Floyd or careless like you.