International Law

Lies, Liars and Con-men

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Russ Sears, writing at Daily Speculation, has nice post about the Klondike Gold Rush, and the role of con-men.

Wherever there are rational people responding to instinct, doing foolish and irrational things, you will find a swarm of lies and deception.

Mark Twain's story of the Duke and the King with its parody of the Shakespeare play shows how the lie and liars work in such a situation. 

It starts with the lure: the promoter telling the truth, but not the whole truth. 

The victims of the lure turn to pathological lying; rather than admitting a mistake, they allow themselves to become strong supporters of the promoter.

And finally you find the con-men each stepping over the others to take advantage of the swarm."

Sounds like the evolution of the business cycle. Read the entire post about liars and con-men.

Steve Mihm's book on Counterfeiting in the mid 1800 century in America  is a great book, entitled A NATION OF COUNTERFEITERS Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States.

Here is what I wrote about Mihm's book on Counterfeiters, at BMM.

"One of the more interesting facts about the American expansion and domination of the west was the lack of currency or specie.  Counterfeit currency appears to have played a reasonable role in facilitating credit up to around 1867 in the US.

This is odd because, at the time, in virtually every other European country, counterfeiting currency is treason and punishable by death.  Indeed, several centuries before in England those who debased the coin had their nuts cut off.

But, in the West the lack of hard currency and demands for trade inspired a different view of currency fraud."

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on August 25, 2008 (boomark / email).