STREET DOGS
MICHEL PIREU: Irreducible universal truths
‘Investing isn’t simple enough to be boiled down to a punchy quote’
Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another." — Ambrose Bierce Investing is not simple enough to be boiled down to a punchy quote. Boiling something down to a single sentence makes it appear as a universal truth. It is a great way to reduce critical thinking. After all, if George Soros said something, it surely must be true. The guy is a billionaire and could not possibly be wrong. Unfortunately quotes are almost always taken out of context and oversimplified. Most of the time, people do not really expect that a throwaway sentence will hang around for decades. Many popular quotes are generalisations. They are formulated to appear to be a summary of a person’s philosophy. That was likely not how they were meant. Take something as simple as, "Always trend with the trend". The only people who would agree with that are those selling trend-following trading systems. Trading with the trend can often be a good idea, but saying that people should always do it would b...
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