A fellow is ballooning in New Mexico. He miscalculates the wind, somehow floats into a wind-stream that carries him so high he passes out from lack of oxygen, then deposits him out in the middle of the desert. He comes to, disoriented and lost, but cheered by the sight of a passer-by, a hiker. “Hey, where am I?” he asks the stranger. “You are in a basket, sir, way out in the middle of the desert,” the stranger answered.

“Say, are you some sort of accountant or investment expert or financial news pundit?”

The amazed stranger said, “Actually I’m all three of those things – how could you possibly know?”

“Elementary,” replied the dazed yet astute crash victim. “The information you have just given me is completely accurate yet utterly useless.”

There are, of course, many kinds of information (the term used loosely) dispensed by media figures and those they choose to interview or cite. There are opinions from experts who are remarkably undaunted by having been wrong so consistently. There are historians’ factual reports, which seem right about half the time. There is the analysis from all the former this’ and thats; former hedge fund managers, former CEO’s, former government bureaucrats; key word: former. There are the teleprompter paragraphs written by who knows who, read with conviction and pizzazz, by the financial-news babes flashing a lot of leg, a little cleavage and dazzling smiles. Finally, there is actual news, including a lot of statistics.

To be fair, within this stew, there are quite a few chunks of accuracy. But most of it is utterly useless. Continued...