Mostly: Classical

[Frank Pembleton]

Time To Become A "Gloom & Doomer"?
Gary Halbert's Weekly E-Letter

My Early Indoctrination

Not long after starting my career in the investment business in 1976, I found myself with a small group of rather eclectic clients. I'm not sure how it happened, but when clients like you, they tend to refer their likeminded friends and business associates to you. When I say these clients (not all, mind you) were rather eclectic, I mean that they were very conservative politically (that was one reason they liked me), and they were also very much into the "conspiracy theories" that so dominated the 1970s and '80s and to a much lesser extent, even today.

By conspiracy theories, I mean the Trilateral Commission, the Council On Foreign Relations, the Bilderbergers, etc., etc. At the ripe old age of 24 in 1976, I bought into the conspiracy theories hook line and sinker -- at least for a few years. I subscribed to all sorts of publications that claimed to track the conspiracy groups and expose their intentions. It was fun for a while.

[FYI, my early infatuation with the conspiracy theories ended after a few years when I concluded that: 1) all these powerful people around the world couldn't agree on that many things over several generations; and 2) the quasi-socialism they supposedly desired would bankrupt their capitalistic businesses that made them so rich and powerful. So my interest in the conspiracy theories waned by the end of the 1970s.]

This same group of early clients (again, not all) was also of the gloom and doom mentality. They believed that the US was headed for a new Depression and financial crisis for a variety of reasons, ranging from deficit spending to moral decay to the plans of the conspiracy groups. This, too, was very easy to buy into for an impressionable 24 year-old. So in addition to the conspiracy theories, I was also indoctrinated into the gloom-and-doom mentality.

By mid-1977, I had subscribed to dozens of newsletters and other publications that focused on these negative issues, so it was no surprise that when I started my own newsletter in late 1977, I was not only a conservative politically, but also a gloom-and-doomer. What a combination!

This is a long introduction to say this: Because of all the newsletters and other publications I subscribed to a long time ago, I am still on a LOT of mailing lists. I see a lot of the promotional mailings, and now Internet promotions, that many of you probably get as well. There are some common threads among most of these promotions that are intentionally designed to play on our emotions and get us to subscribe and/or invest our hard-earned money. I will explain these common threads as we go along.

http://www.investorsinsight.com/forecasts_va_print.aspx?EditionID=454