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168 Don’t Make Me Say I Told You So

Knowledge, even if it’s incomplete, is power over how things
turn out. Power, a feeling of control (even if it’s false) is reassuring.

Without knowledge, and some sense of control, we’re more
afraid. Futurism, whether it’s in books or movies, or experts

predicting what “Tomorrowland” will look like, or religions
answering the ultimate futurist question, “What happens after

I die?”, are all speaking to the same innate desire we have for
some control over our future, our fate, our survival. 1

I mentioned earlier that I feel sorry for financial journalists.
They are being asked to do a job that’s nearly impossible. That

is, come up with something to say about the stock market

or the economy almost every single day. I feel the same way
about economists, analysts, researchers, and others who are
compelled by their occupation to constantly try to predict the

future, which is impossible to do.

Fortunately for them, however, these people don’t ever have

to be right about the topic about which they are prognosticating.

They just have to say something. Anything. They can’t very well
answer a journalist’s question about the stock market or the
economy by saying, “How the heck would I know?” They just

have to give an answer, any answer.

Chapter 4: The Most Common Investor Mistakes