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April
09
2018

Finding the Needle of Truth in the Haystack of Lies
Larry LaBorde

What is truth?  I suppose that question has caused more than one person to sit and think for a while.  In today’s society we have more information at our fingertips than ever before.  The great libraries of the world cannot compare with the data available from a single smart phone.  But with so much data how do we determine truth.  

I read the other day about an internet service that could help with a bad internet profile.  For an example, if a picture got out over the internet that was less than flattering and was causing great concern they offered a service to fix the problem.  This service would flood the internet with good pictures of you and good stories so that when your name was searched the bad picture was hiding in a sea of other pictures.  The bad picture could not be removed but it could be hidden within hundreds of other pictures.

As another example, much has been written about 9-11 in New York.  I am sure that the real story is out there somewhere in the open but I am pretty much equally sure that hundreds of false stories have been planted to confuse or dilute the truth.  I still have questions about building 7 that are unanswered.  

With accusations of “fake news” and MSM (main street media) bias in reporting the news who knows what is truth anymore?  We are constantly bombarded with 24/7 news stories.  The financial press talks for hours on end trying to explain why the markets went up or down yesterday.  They knit together cause and effect stories on how this report from the BLS or the Fed or the President’s latest tweet caused the market to react one way or another.  To listen to their reasoning we have become a nation of schizophrenic investors buying and selling every few minutes based on the latest headline story.  Perhaps with robotic trading algos buying and selling massive blocks of stocks at the speed of light for a few pennies the markets have become exactly that.  

Many people in today’s society sneer at the old Roman practice of “bread and circuses” to entertain the masses of yesterday but what of EBT (electronic benefit transfer or modern food stamps) cards and the NFL of today?  They are nothing really but modern day bread and gladiators to keep us fed and amused.  The search for truth is hard for everyone and requires quiet reflection and study.  In short, it is difficult to find in this all too short time on earth with everything and yet nothing competing for our attention.

Maybe it is time that we tune out the day to day static and look for the long term trends.  To slow down and seek out the real truths that ultimately drive our society and our lives.  But where do we find such truths?

There is a reason the Bible is the world’s best selling book.  Try reading King Solomon’s wisdom in the short book of Ecclesiastes where he says there is nothing new under the sun as human nature remains the same throughout time.  Read the book of Proverbs where King Solomon talks about how to live a proper life.  Read the Ten Commandments in the 20th chapter of the book of Exodus which is the basis of western law.  (Karl Marx and socialist around the world must have missed the last one that says “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife or property.)  Surely there is truth in the Bible.

What about more modern writers?  In the book, “The Fourth Turning” authors Strauss and Howe talk about how history advances in cycles like a stretched slinky.  Always advancing but still circling around in cycles of about 80 years or 4 generations.  Martin Armstrong writes about cycles based on pi.  

Richard Maybury writes about the two laws that he feels that have defined common law:  1.  Do all you have agreed to do.   2.  Do not encroach on other persons or their property.  Pretty simple!

George Washington wrote his rules of civility at a young age as his guiding principles.

C.S. Lewis wrote children’s stories with great truths woven into them.  My favorite is the truth that we must strive for goodness against our base human nature and our biggest battles in life are those within ourselves where we are fighting our own shortcomings.

Miguel Ruiz wrote “The Four Agreements” back in 1997 and it has become a best setter ever since.  My favorite is #2.

I advise everyone to stop worrying about the day to day static and to study, read and pray to find their own truth.  Turn off the mindless stories of the day that will not matter next week or next month.  Most of it is propaganda anyway by people trying to influence your opinion on some topic or other.  Sit back and ask yourself what do you believe and why?  Does it ring true?  Write it down and read it again next year and the year after that.  You will never find real truth in a newspaper or on CNN (or even on Fox News).  Listen to your grandparent’s wisdom if they are still around.  Those little nuggets of wisdom like:  Don’t spend more than you earn or always save for a rainy day or family, friends and health are your greatest wealth or always be polite to others are lessons learned from a lifetime of living.

Everyone should know deep down in their heart that continued government borrowing with no intention of ever paying it back can only end badly.  Of course no one knows how bad or when it will end but that it will end and it will end badly.

Find your few needles of truth in this modern world’s haystack of lies and hold onto them tightly.

“If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.”  Peter Marshall

“Those who do not read are uninformed, those who only read newspapers are mis-informed.”  Thomas Jefferson

Larry’s interest in precious metals originated at age eight, when he made his first trade after learning that the new 1965 coins were made with far lower silver content than earlier coins. He promptly exchanged new coins for older, more valuable coins that he gathered from the tellers at the bank where his dad was a board member and from the lunch ladies at school. He was thrilled at having spotted such a rich opportunity because of a stupid move by the government, and his fate as a metals broker was sealed.

In high school, recruiters from MIT and the Naval Academy came calling, but Larry had already made the decision to marry his sweetheart and follow in his father’s footsteps in the water well drilling business, so he went to Louisiana Tech University and trained as a civil engineer. After college, he returned to Shreveport and took over operations of the family business. He is active, along with his four brothers, in both the water well drilling business started by his father and a water well supply business.

Larry enjoys traveling with his wife of 35 years and racing dinghy-sized sailboats. He is active in the Shreveport Lions Club and the McNeill Street Pump Station preservation effort. An avid student of monetary history and U.S. history and politics, he is the author of Libertorn: Hope and Heartache for America’s Future (in press).

Larry and his wife, the lovely Miss Puddy, have two grown children and live in Shreveport, Louisiana (USA) with Gracie, a border collie who likes to bark at the second hand of the wall clock, and Abbie, a golden retriever who looks sweet and innocent in between stealing treats. When not traveling, studying or playing with the dogs, Larry occasionally goes on mini-adventures with Miss Puddy to do things like jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

Larry LaBorde sells precious metals through Silver Trading Company LLC. Since 2001, Silver Trading Company has offered high volume sales of gold, silver, platinum and palladium to serious investors around the world. It also offers guidance about storage options for metals. Please visit Silver Trading Company’s website at www.SilverTrading.net. 

 

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