Easily irritated as a child ass behind international. It’s so frustrating to see all the waste, inefficiency and downright idiots wreaking such havoc on the people of the planet.

Over time, one becomes mellow, gain wisdomand learn to get rid of those who are seriously stupid.¹

My journey to accept this begins at the trading desk, where mismanaged risks can turn into costly mistakes. As a novice, I took comfort in the incisive wisdom of the Chief Trader. I never forget his answer to my question about bad decisions:

“someone Must be on the wrong side of the deal. “

This is incredibly comforting.

A lot of financial stupidity still motivates me – deep down I harbor a burning ember of anger that burns every time some setback blows oxygen on it – but over time I learned to keep it from the spiral. This allows me to vent my anger in a healthier way.

Instead of angering every perceived violation, it creates an opportunity to interact with the world in a more productive way. For example, I can:

– Use my interests to educate myself better;
– share what I have learned with readers;
– build a reputation based on these insights;
– Motivate others to learn on their own;
– Deploy capital in a way that leverages what I have learned.

When channeled properly, anger can be a useful motivator. Still, it’s a never-ending battle against ignorance and the damage it does to people’s financial lives.

One can witness this phenomenon every day, especially on social media.

Every morning, I assemble my reading list, consume only the most interesting and insightful items. I’ve been doing this in public for decades, ever since a friend asked me to share my daily list with him. Despite my best efforts to avoid getting caught on the losing side of the deal, some crap still managed to creep into view. The biggest advantage of a social media many-to-many publishing platform is as a discovery tool.Use it to find smart, insightful people who will freely share their hard-earned results wisdom. But the biggest weakness of the same platform is that any idiot can go out and expose himself.

Just today, I saw stupid examples here, here, here, here, here, hereand especially here.

In the market, these are the losers of the deal. Feedback loops punish these people financially—and soon, in measurable dollar amounts on the income statement or portfolio. The ignorant, misinformed, and incompetent either get up fast or go broke. The system is brutal but fair.

In society, these people experience a very different feedback loop: the personal consequences of idiots are remote, they affect third parties, and they spread out over time and distance. Spreading misinformation about vaccines, big lies about politics and elections, often disrupts life as we know it, with little personal cost to the negative effects. Maybe a few friends and relatives have unfriended you on Facebook, treating you like a fool. But that’s all. In the attention economy, it can even generate revenue.

Which side of the deal are you on?

Before:
Judgment under uncertainty (March 25, 2022)

Wisdom I wish I knew 30 years ago (August 30, 2021)

What expertise do you want? What are you willing to do for this? (21 May 2021)

inadvertently (February 3, 2021)

Investing is a problem-solving exercise (January 31, 2022)

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1. This has some risks, because there are so many stupid people. In democracies, this risk is nascent because stupidity is mostly random and disorganized, unaware of its own interests and needs. But just as angry thugs are a threat to life and limb, stupid people can become motivated and organized. Stupidity is quite dangerous at this time.