Blue Skies and Contrarian Thinking

Always slipping from my hands
Sand's a time of its own
Take your seaside arms and write the next line
Oh I want the truth to be known
--Spandau Ballet

Nice interview with Jim Rogers on the coming collapse driven by money printing. Wanted to reflect, however, on comments at the beginning of the exchange. The interviewer asks JR to what he attributes his success as an investor.

He answered that he has learned to, "think against the crowd."

"When everybody says the sky is blue, I at least urge you to go and look out the window." Most people accept the claims of others without testing them for validity. If the claims of others are tested, you'll often find that the sky isn't blue.

On the other hand, if you see that the sky is blue outside, and everybody knows the sky is blue, then it's time to start thinking that "Well maybe tomorrow the sky will not be blue?"

"So I have learned that, for whatever reason, to know that change is coming, to know to think against the crowd, that the crowd is nearly always wrong, and to try to think for myself."

Engage your brain, and don't be dependent on the collective mindset.