And please don’t forget Bosch and Francis Bacon: they look like premonitions, too.

As for our rationally impoverished populace, Lewis Mumford spoke more than forty years ago about “the electronic dark ages” in his masterpiece, The Myth of the Machine. It’s in two volumes; check out volume two, The Pentagon of Power.

By intending to give the investors in these fraudulent instruments every penny of interest they irrationally contracted for, so as to continue foreign purchases of treasury bonds to finance global militarism and empire, both political parties will destroy the currency, and perhaps the republic.

C. Wright Mills wrote about “crackpot realists,” and Ahab said – in close paraphrase – “My methods are reasonable, my purpose mad.”

In the case of public trust that means too many lies and too much spin were geared up over too narrow a supporting base of trustworthiness.

Somebody tell Francis Fukuyama to call his office, it may be time to add an epilog to his 1995 book on Trust.

Very good post Yves!

Corporate spin needs to be carefully parsed word for word and phrase for phrase, just like an old denial from Bill Clinton or Dick Cheney.

That relates to the spin.

Some of what is coming out from corporate sources is outright lies. I’m convinced that Lehman was spewing a fair amount of that about its various proposed “merger partners” during its protracted endgame.

Additionally, I think the press crew needs to improve as well. I note the claim by a relatively unknown reporter for the Chicago Times where an alleged hearsay comment of Bernanke was PARAPHRASED and then given wide currency.

No other reporter from any reputable paper reported Bernanke’s alleged comment, nor David Hale’s checkered record understanding Fed policy moves in 1982 and 1987.

Matthew Dubuque

The quoted story suggests that it’s actually Mack that’s telling the truth. What was it you wanted to be retracted or corrected?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/pageoneplus/corrections.html?scp=2&sq=mack%20pandit&st=cse

Editor's Note

A front-page article on Thursday reported on discussions the investment bank Morgan Stanley has had with possible merger partners. It cited two people who were said to have been briefed on a conversation in which John J. Mack, chief executive of Morgan Stanley, had told Vikram S. Pandit, Citigroup’s chief executive, that “we need a merger partner or we’re not going to make it.”

After the article appeared, Morgan Stanley vigorously denied that Mr. Mack had made the comment, as did Citigroup, which had declined to comment on Wednesday. The two people whom The Times cited now say that because they were not present during the discussions, they cannot confirm that Mr. Mack in fact made the statement. The Times should have asked Morgan Stanley for comment and should not have used the quotation without verifying that the two people had direct knowledge of any comments made by Mr. Mack.