The Arrogance Cycle

What is the arrogance cycle? We've just lived through it. As market bubbles build, our confidence level rises (dis)proportionately. Everyone wants in on the action. We want to believe Wall Street, and once we do, the inevitable happens. The only problem was that it was all artificial. In The Arrogance Cycle, Farr examines the forces at work on individuals and markets and explains in clear, concise layman terms how we got to where we are.

What is the arrogance cycle? We’ve just lived through it. As market bubbles build, our confidence level rises (dis)proportionately. Everyone wants in on the action. We want to believe Wall Street, and once we do, the inevitable happens. Like Dr. Frankenstein breathing life into inanimate flesh, investment professionals sought ever more novel ways to create wealth. The only problem was that it was all artificial. In this book, Michael Farr examines the forces at work on individuals and markets and explains in clear, concise, layman’s terms how we got to where we are. Farr focuses on individual factors—such as rampant consumerism, a sense of entitlement, narcissism, resentment toward the upper class—that combined to create the perfect economic storm. By consulting with leading psychologists and relaying first-hand experience with investment clients, he provides a case study of the arrogant investor. In reviewing failed enterprises like Enron, AIG, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns, as well as the illegal activities of Bernie Madoff and others through the lens of arrogance, the book sheds light on those disasters and offers a means to detect the insidious presence of arrogance so that in the future we can contain the damage before it spreads.

How does the average investor protect their assets? How do they keep their financial goals in sight and their arrogance in check? Investment guru, Michael Farr has counseled thousands of his clients on just that. In Avoiding the Arrogance Cycle, Farr examines the psychology of investing and sets it against the historical and cultural forces at work on individuals and markets and explains in clear, concise layman terms how we just lived through the worst financial disaster since the great depression. He focuses on the individual factors such as rampant consumerism, a sense of entitlement, and narcissism that combined to create the perfect economic storm.In Avoiding the Arrogance Cycle, Farr provides first hand accounts of real client situations to create a profile and case study of the arrogant investor. Throughout the book, he sifts through the wreckage of previous crashes and downturns and finds the proverbial black box of evidence to support his contention that collectively we are the ones responsible. Farr examines the influence of popular culture; the expansion of consumer credit, and the government's ill timed and poorly executed encouragement of home ownership, outrageous increases in executive compensation, and immunity from accountability. Through the lens of arrogance, this book sheds light on our recent financial past and offers a means to detect these insidious attitudes so that in the future we can contain the damage before it spreads.

Douglas Miller lives in a world of booze, drugs, and life on the edge. Yet he wants a better way of life, and he begs God to give him a quest. When God reaches into his heart, he shows Douglas a much different world of good and evil, light and darkness, happiness and sadness. As shown in this book, Douglas realizes that his whole life has been a quest. Like others, he ran to try and escape from himself and his unhappy life, but he could not outrun himself or his purpose. He finds his purpose and learns that no one needs to travel very far to be on a quest. God asks Douglas to share his new knowledge in life lessons. These life lessons are the foundation of this book. As Douglas shares the valuable life lessons, he helps others who are lost. He wants to help other travelers find their way back to God. Are you ready for the journey? This book contains the edited version of how I found God, in an easy to understand language.

No matter when disciples have lived on this earth, they have all looked to the same Savior. This unique approach to scripture study weaves together the history, culture, and geography of the Bible and Book of Mormon to provide a deeper understanding of how these standard works support each other. Discover a broader perspective and deepen your own discipleship with this inclusive guide to the scriptures.

A nurse relies on her faith to explore and describe the layers of attention deficit disorders that accumulate in children and adults.

He is a bystander, wandering like a ghost in this world called the earth, watching flowers bloom and fall, sitting and watching clouds roll, watching human beings live and work in peace and contentment, and watching the life of birds and animals.

Polarisation, intransigence and dogmatism in political and moral debate have in recent years threatened to overwhelm many Western-style democracies, where for centuries reasoned argument has been a hallmark feature of tackling disagreement. For many people, this marks a worrying deterioration in the moral and political climate, threatening to create a divisive environment of "us" versus "them". In this superb collection a team of international contributors examine these pressing issues from a philosophical perspective. Topics explored include: the problem of "deep disagreements"; martial conceptions of argumentation and the motivation to argue to win; epistemic egocentrism; intellectual trust; bullshit and dogmatism; intellectual humility and the internet; epistemic and "tribal" arrogance and authoritarianism; empathy and polarisation; and epistemic rights violations. Polarisation, Arrogance, and Dogmatism: Philosophical Perspectives will be of great interest to researchers in political philosophy, applied and social epistemology, ethics and feminist philosophy, as well as those working in politics and sociology.

A provocative, challenging, and irreverent expose' of the obnoxious arrogance inherent in all religious thinking: condemning one another to eternal torment, relegating women and gays to second class citizenship, dividing humanity into arbitrary factions, sexual repression, denial of knowledge, promoting delusions of god and the afterlife, upholding phony patriarchal authority, claiming eternal truth without evidence, and child indoctrination. Religion is not good for the human race. We would be better off dropping these bad habits on which we give religion a free pass. We must stop lying to our children that religions are true. Dr. Zingrone is a college instructor and secular activist with a PhD in Developmental Psychology exploring research interests in cognitive development and evolution. His driving motivation is to dispel outdated religious based ideas about human nature that are ingrained in the folk beliefs of our modern culture.

Almost all self-help books emerge from one of two flawed views of the self, and these mutually exclusive ditches are destructive. The Ditch of Smallness says that people are fundamentally bad and that humanity's greatest spiritual threat is pride. The Ditch of Bigness says the exact opposite: people are fundamentally good, and shame is our greatest danger. Dan Kent presents a third view, a road between the ditches. He shows how the humility Jesus revealed offers the most accurate and freeing view of the self. Whereas shame and arrogance are dysfunction steroids (making our depression darker, our anxiety tighter, our addictions stickier, and so forth), humility, as Jesus teaches it, counteracts shame and pride, thereby subverting two major psychological forces that thwart us. Once we embrace this new way of seeing ourselves--how Jesus sees us--we begin to relate to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us in a way that allows us to overcome a whole host of vices and self-sabotaging behaviors. Furthermore, whereas the ditches both lead to powerlessness and passivity, humility as Jesus teaches it is empowering, fosters proactivity, and serves as a scaffold for true confidence.