From the Archives: Stifling the Truth Is Abuse of Capitalism

Given the strong and varied response to a few of my most recent commentaries, I thought it may be insightful to take a look back into the archives. In September 2011, I took a bit of a sabbatical from writing. I would like to rerun the first post back from that break which ran in early October 2011. Has anything really changed from where we were a year ago this week? I think not.

In fact, I think the issues our nation has in finding, embracing, and revealing the truth are now more troubling than ever. What does that say about us as a people and a society? One reader the other day equated us to mushrooms being “fed manure and kept in the dark.” With no desire to sit idly by being fed a daily dose of dung, I welcome the challenge of continuing to pursue the truth as we navigate the economic landscape. LD

From the archives written here at Sense on Cents on October 6, 2011

Information is everything.

Access to information combined with fair and open markets are cornerstones of our free market capitalist system. With our economy continuing to lag, I have witnessed an increase in the stifling of the truth. 

Without the truth, how can our economy and our markets recover from the fundamentally broken state in which they currently operate?

I am not so naive to think that there have not been forces at work for a protracted period which profit from intentional obfuscation of economic and market related information. I also would never denigrate the many great people in our nation who play by the rules and understand how to navigate the pitfalls and shortcomings within fundamentally broken markets.

However, in the midst of this environment one would have hoped that market regulators, government officials, and the media would have more aggressively pursued the truth in order for our economy and markets to recover. Is it just me or do others also witness a very real sense – if not a concerted effort – to obscure or conceal the truth?

Over the course of the last month, separate individuals have shared a number of examples of blatantly obvious instances in which revealing the truth of shoddy if not illicit activities has been squelched. Are these mere coincidences? I think not.

I firmly believe that there are very real forces at work from both the private and public sector which have little interest in seeing the truth revealed. The cover of “it would not be good for our economy” is wide reaching, but real ‘sense on cents' maintains that a stifling of the truth is nothing more than an abuse of capitalism.

Is this America? Not the one I desire for my children.

Navigate accordingly.

Larry Doyle

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I have no affiliation or business interest with any entity referenced in this commentary. The opinions expressed are my own. I am a proponent of real transparency within our markets so that investor confidence and investor protection can be achieved.