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Posts: 2878

Shifu

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Q: Why sites like ZeroHedge EU Times etc are not credible sources.

I’m sure most people on here know that those doomsayer websites icnif is always posting links to are BS. I just wanted to touch on exactly why in case anybody was thinking they might be legit or that im just bitter cause I disagree with them.

 

For starters let me say I don’t think the system is perfect. In fact I know quite well it’s full of shit. It may well collapse at some point, reducing us all back to peasant farmers or whatever these people hope will happen. But if it does, it will be for a variety of reasons most of which boil down to stupidity and short-term thinking because economics is really complicated. Probably not because of any grand conspiracy.

 

Sites like EU Times and Zero Hedge ‘The Economic Collpase Blog' and the other tin foil hat brigade sites are bullshit because they start with a conclusion and then when anything happens they say its just more proof of whatever their starting position is.

 

So for example if a central bank makes an interest rate hike somewhere, their job is to write a story about how that rate hike is just the latest step on the road to ruin or the latest sign of the latest step or whatever. If instead that same bank that same day cut the interest rate, the site would run the exact same doom & gloom story. Just replacing ‘hike’ with ‘cut’.

 

Because what they don’t do, is when something happens they get on the phone with economics professors, crack the books of the keynesians the austrian school the classicalists etc, run a regression on that events’ correlation to economy performance historically and then write a story based on the conclusions of their research. (granted nearly every media outlet should do more of that). That's what good analysis and discussion is. 

 

But zerohedge et al readers go there specifically to just read stories about how any day we’re all going to be fucked and whatever happened this week is just the latest step down that road. That’s how they get traffic to their sites. Because people who want to see the system break down obsess over it and want to read something comforting to what they already think. Nobody goes there to learn anything new, just to validate what they already think.

 

Now, paradoxically enough this doesn’t mean this websites aren’t right. But if they are right, they’re right by accident and that’s why you shouldn’t rely on them. It’s the stopped clock being right twice a day principle. 

 

They don’t know any “real truth”...they’re just guessing. Hell…if there IS a grand conspiracy these sites aren’t saying that because they have any spies in the illumanti. They’re just assuming there is one for whatever reason…which of course doesn’t mean there isn’t a conspiracy or that we aren't all doomed. But it definitely doesn’t mean there is...so why should I base my worldview on some anonymous asshole’s unprovable assumption taken on faith. Same reason I’m not religious.

 

So hey, maybe this latest currency devaluation is the beginning of the end. But probably not, it's probably going to have a moderate impact on a mundane outcome. If it is the end it’s not going to be because zero hedge called it. No matter what happens they are going to say the same thing. Can you imagine a headline "Vive la Francoise! Hollande pushes through sensible reform...outlook positive!" on Zero Hedge? Even if something really good happens policy-wise? Of course not. And that's why you shouldn't listen to them because they say the same thing regardless of what happens.

 

Shit, all news sites are kinda guilty of this, but the ones I'm talking about only do this. You specifically know they are not credible. Thats why you shouldn't base your outlook on them.

 

Just wanted to throw that out there in case anybody was buying into BS link spamming. 

8 years 33 weeks ago in  Money & Banking - China

 
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Maybe the conspiracy theories are all a conspiracy to hide the REAL conspiracy in a maze of fake conspiracies. It's all a conspiracy.

expatlife26:

Now that I can believe!

8 years 32 weeks ago
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8 years 33 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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Kind of like Gordon Chang, he's been predicted the end of china for almost two decades. If it happens, does that mean he was right? Zero Hedge is, as mentioned, always saying the sky is falling. Well, yes, sometimes it does rain. Doesn't make me a weatherman.

expatlife26:

yeah its about staking out a position and sticking with it.

 

If what you say happens than you say "Yeah! Told you so!"

 

if it doesn't happen you just stick with it and say it's still coming.

 

Dunces will latch on.

8 years 33 weeks ago
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8 years 33 weeks ago
 
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Maybe the conspiracy theories are all a conspiracy to hide the REAL conspiracy in a maze of fake conspiracies. It's all a conspiracy.

expatlife26:

Now that I can believe!

8 years 32 weeks ago
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8 years 33 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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They are sensationalist news outlets, they make their money from bait and click titles, of course they can't be trusted.

They come as the exact opposite from state-run/Party-controlled medias (Global Times, People's Daily, ...) that can't be trusted as well.

 

In between are independent papers and journalists that do NOT play on sensationalism, they are many and the only real source of information.

expatlife26:

yeah but you have to look for those and educate yourself a little bit on the topic.

 

too much work for some people.

8 years 32 weeks ago
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8 years 33 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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The problem with Zero Hedge is that its contributors all post content under a pseudonym. They claim this is to stop them from being persecuted. One editor says there are 40 editors another says there are four. "Tyler Durden" (the pseudonym for the collective editors) claims that the editors have "...experience in finance and other operations..." So they've been the banker a couple of times when they played monopoly?

 

If you are going to pen an opinion then at least have the guts to put your name to it. Otherwise it really means nothing. If you are going to put your name to it then you better have the evidence to back up said opinion. So stump up with the facts or be prepared to be relegated to the conspiracy theory waste basket.

 

Regarding banking; of course banking is a load of horse shit. It's a complete fantasy world. The only problem is that it's a fantasy world that has real life repercussions for us all. In the last GEC inventive and dangerous lending practices in the USA caused people to starve in many of the poorer parts of the world, including rural China.

 

Laisez faire Capitalism may be a whore but it performs the miracle of giving most of us food, shelter, jobs and health care.

 

 

expatlife26:

exactly. The whole point of a byline is that you are putting yourself out there to stand behind your words or retract them as the information available changes. (though again a lot of mainstream journalism is guilty of that too!)

 

It's a glorified message board, plus while fight club was a good movie people who still quote fight club 15 years later are usually huge tools.

8 years 32 weeks ago
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nzteacher80:

My favourite line from Fox News is "some people say". I forget the movie but someone made a montage of Fox presenters saying "some people say." The worst kind of journalism.

8 years 32 weeks ago
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ScotsAlan:

Faux news... "No go zones". Fantastic. They claimed Birmingham, UK was a Muslim only city and that non Muslims were not allowed there. After lots of complaints they issued an apology, but the damage was done. And they still talk about "no go zones".

8 years 32 weeks ago
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expatlife26:

Oh yeah I saw that about birmingham! Your 3rd largest city! 

 

What a ridiculous claim, that would be like claiming that Chicago was a no go zone! Ugh, i guess another example of americans not knowing geography very well

 

But if this is ALL the news you read and don't seek out sources from a different viewpoint you'll believe it. And wonder why everyone else isn't freaked out.

8 years 32 weeks ago
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8 years 33 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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My beef with people who really get worked up over conspiracy theories is that they hold their belief to no standard of proof but are super nitpicky about the other side.

 

Example: I don't buy that bush & co were behind 9/11. I think they benefitted from it. I think they used it as a good excuse to do things they wanted to do already on the never waste a good crisis principle.

 

But Im not married to that idea. There are tons of things that would make me change my mind. Sworn testimony from somebody directly involved, discovered document outlining the execution etc., publication in a peer journal about impossibility of collapse like that. 

 

The people on the other side though cite unsourced statements on metallurgy, comments on free fall speed, conjecture about holograms etc. Tons of stuff thats at best very questionable. Then they look at the 600 page official report and pick up little details trying to find anything to question as proof we're being lied to. 

 

But theres no changing their minds they take it on faith that they're right. Any evidence against what they think is just part of the conspiracy.

 

That's why I dont like Icnif spamming those stupid links. Because it's not about having a discussion about economics or markets. His mind is made up to something stupid and wants to convert others.

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8 years 32 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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I was thinking about this post, how those sites I was whining about were "fake news" before that term became popular. This concept now seems like it's better understood.

icnif77:

Doesn't matter what, 'fake news' is your (USA) invention.

 

 Stock market traders rely on 'fake news' = 'ZeroHedge' ....  often?? Remember meaning of 'zero hedge'?

7 years 1 week ago
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Shining_brow:

The thing about the 'fake news' thing was that the supposedly 'fake' stuff wasn't solely limited to extremist X-wing (not the rebel type) newspapers... and certainly wasn't limited to only one side!

7 years 1 week ago
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expatlife26:

Oh for sure shining brow, fake news is all over the place. Every conceivable political position has somebody out there making agenda-driven BS for the true believers to eat up without thinking about it.

7 years 1 week ago
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7 years 1 week ago
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icnif77:

and ZeroHedge:

 

 

7 years 6 days ago
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7 years 1 week ago
 
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Those news sites are actually dangerous because they serve as a smoke screen. Traditional news outlets feel they must compete so they start sensationalizing news also

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7 years 6 days ago
 
Posts: 2878

Shifu

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Icnif did you read that link you posted? Do you understand any of the underlying issues, let alone why that Post article (if it is) would be fake news?

 

The Washington Post covered a fairly strange bit of legislation that restricts the government's authority to deny the right to purchase a firearm to military veterans under certain circumstances, such as mental incapcity. 

 

The post's editorial slant is pretty consistently in favor of a greater degree of gun control so they described the bill in less than charitable terms (though still more-or-less accurate). That bill DOES make it easier for mentally incompetent veterans to buy a gun by requiring a specific judicial order saying they can't. The bill may do other things with the best of intentions but the claim that if you have a mentally unstable veteran it is now more difficult to stop them from buying a gun is not a lie.

 

Whether or not you are for or against greater gun control, that is a VERY flimsy case for the Washington Post spreading "fake news". It's biased for sure, it's certainly written by someone who has an opinion on the topic but that doesn't make it fake news.

 

For that matter, what is "The Horn News"? It looks like it is a typical "secondary news" site which reads stories from actual news outlets and writes more opinionated, more biased commentary on the news from real sources. So for example they'll take a story about an illegal immigrant committing a crime from another site and then write a story about it with their explicit bias on display.

 

It's my same beef with zero hedge. Zero Hedge does not have investigative journalists, it has been used as a whistleblower's platform but most of their content is just people reading news made by real journalists and inserting their explicit bias & narrative into it while complaining about the implicit bias of the primary news sources. That implicit bias exists of course but it's still way closer to the truth.

 

For the record I like Reuters. Explicitly avoids emotional language...at least makes an effort to just state the facts.

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7 years 4 days ago
 
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Shifu

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Also add all the CCP-run official news outlets in the likes of Global Times, People's Daily and Xinhua, not credible at all.

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7 years 4 days ago
 
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Governor

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I understand that Trump quotes ICNF's sites all the time ... so they must be gospel ... and they are picked up by Breitbart ... and ... The Daily Inquirer.

icnif77:

BuTT ... all honor goes to me ? beside Breitbart?

 

 

7 years 2 days ago
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April 9th, 2017, around 3pm:

 

- Yahoo:

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-korea-says-syria-airstrikes-prove-nukes...

 

April 8th, 2017, ... AM:

 

- ZeroHedge:

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-korea-says-syria-airstrikes-prove-nukes...

 

This isn't some VIP news, but ZeroHedge is ahead of MSM on posting news. All MSM piggy-back on ZeroHedge!

Both links are the same, i.e. c&p out of Reuters, except ZeroHedge reported a day ahead of Yahoo.

 

Doesn't that prove that Yahoo is moar reliable, timely source ....?

 

 

 

 

Where's 's-expat-wife'?

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6 years 50 weeks ago
 
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Answer of the DayMORE >>
A:  "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "S
A: "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "Shenzhen agent can connect you with an employer, who's authorized to hire waigouren ... and can sponsor Z visa." It's not like every 10th person you meet in Shenzhen's hood can sponsor work visa ...  The only way to change student visa to labourer one is just a regular way by: 1. Finding an employer, who'll apply for an Invitation letter; 2. Exit China and apply for Z visa in your home country's Chinese embassy; 3. Enter China in 30-days after Z visa was stamped into your travelling instrument ...As I am aware, you won't be able to switch to Working permit by remaining in China....,so make ready for a return to your home .... -- icnif77