I have already used the title, “If You Want to Know The Truth, Follow the Money,” for a post analyzing the student debt problem. If you want to know the truth, just look at where the money comes from, where it goes, who gets to keep it, and who has to accept what level of risk in the transaction. In this case, the money comes from the banks or the Government. The bank or Government is guaranteed a return on their investment by a law that doesn’t allow the debtor to discharge this obligation in bankruptcy and the power of the state to tax its citizens. The university gets all of their money in cash, up front. Only the student bears any substantial risk in this transaction.
Sadly, this past election has demonstrated that the commercial media, all of it, doesn’t even pretend to have a shred of journalistic integrity. Even if someone (like me) is making a serious effort to find the truth, I am beset by my own biases, world view, and life experiences.
Think about it. If you read two articles about the same football game in two different newspapers, the only point of agreement is likely to be the final score. If something so unimportant as a silly game can generate such different reports from professional eye-witnesses, how likely do think it is going to be that you will hear the truth from someone who is not only biased but has a personal interest in the outcome of a particular event when power, money, and his paycheck are at stake?
You can’t find a news source that doesn’t spin the news to further its own ends. Sometimes even reputable organizations publish outright lies, because they want to believe that they are true. The good ones apologize when they make such a mistake, usually in really small print on a back page after the damage has been done. The bad sources just lie and never apologize. Headlines exist to get you to read the article. Look at how they are written to make you angry or cause you to gloat in your own sense of moral superiority. Look at two different publications on the same day. What subjects are featured on the front page? What subjects are consigned to back of the section? What subjects are omitted on one source, but featured on the other source? What does the layout of the page tell you about the publisher’s opinions?
Early on in my quest to understand how to invest my money, I learned the importance of the Biblical truth, “In a multitude of counselors there is wisdom.” Often different professional, respected, objective research sources will produce different recommendations on how to best invest your money in the same situation. However, if you look at four or five different sources, you can usually ferret out something reasonably close to the truth. The same logic can be applied to any analysis of the news. Read a conservative journal. Then read the same story in liberal publication. Sometimes foreign sources, like the BBC or Al Jazeera, will provide a more balanced report on American news than any domestic source. I have even learned that RT, a Russian news service can do a pretty good job reporting on American economic news.
But if you really want to know the truth, if you are ready to deal with the truth, follow the money.
Money is the only news reporting service that never lies. Look at an individual, a politician, a corporation, a nation. Where did they get their money? What did they do with it once they had it in hand? What kind of obligations, contractual or implied, came with the transfer of that cash?
Nobody rides for free.
If I could analyze your finances, your income, your monthly expenses, your gifts to church or charity, your rate of savings, your investment choices, everything you do with money, I could paint a very clear picture of who you are and what you value. For example, the rate at which I wear out and replace expensive walking shoes combined with a record of my purchases of fast food and convenience food would expose one of my major psychological conflicts.
Remember. Money Always Tells the Truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment