When Confidence Crumbles

Submitted by Mark St. Cyr,
Once again we awake to an array of seemingly contradictory news and reports across the spectrum. Whether it be Ebola, the financial markets, or just plain ordinary life in general. It seems everything is once again in turmoil.
The issue at hand is migrating from worrisome to darn right alarming. And that’s not counting the general public at large. That speaks directly to the very one’s trying to re-establish confidence.
Today, what was once presumed as ‘a troubling situation in competent hands.’ Now appears more inline with the space between ‘in’ and ‘competent’ being a typo.
The confidence in the people who are supposedly, as well as supposed to be ‘in charge’ is doing more than just dwindling. It’s crumbling in Humpty Dumpty like fashion. For no matter how they try – it too may never go back together.
Once confidence wanes, or is lost, regaining it can be just as monumental of a task than the actual crisis itself. In particular it’s in the manner of reflexive or reactive assumptions that are communicated, along with conflicting assertions made by the very people trying to instil it – that diminish it. For it too can not only feed upon itself as not helping in real-time, but rather, hurting any and all credibility moving forward.
Sometimes no amount of ‘rights’ will affect the one impression held by the public which you made wrong. Once it’s lost sometimes no amount of words seems to help. In fact, more words can actually make matters even worse. Sometimes – much worse.
This in turn is the exact tipping point where politicians, academics, et al find themselves not only up against a rock and a hard place, but also looking down the hillside where torches and pitchforks are advancing up the once presumed impassable slippery slopes.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on 10/19/2014.