What if everything you Know is wrong?

from The Failure of Common Knowledge:

It takes a shockingly long time for the masses of people to pick up on new realities. This is especially true if the new realities reverse very old trends that have burrowed certain false assumptions in our minds.
As examples, most people even today assume that you should:

• get as much formal education as possible
• buy a house as a solid investment
• look to the stock market as an economic barometer
• trust the Fed as the nation’s money manager.

Another thing that everyone knows: Prisons keep us safe from predators.
But what if all of these things are wrong, and not just a bit wrong, but wholly incorrect? What if in fact the reverse is true? What if, for example, hanging around in school for as long as possible is the worst life step you can possibly take? What if the real criminals are still in the streets, and most people behind bars are not really threats to anyone?

It would be helpful to have a one-volume book that takes on all these misnomers and presents the bracing reality in light of our changed times.

This is precisely what The Failure of Common Knowledge by Doug French does. It applies economics and contemporary facts to upend many common assumptions people make about critical life decisions. He shows that the common views do not take account of the real costs and risks — or the actual facts on the ground in our crazy, mixed-up world.

It is amazing how much we have been lied to.  How can we trust anything?  How do we really know anything unless we see it?

The conclusion to the article:

Then there’s the prison problem. Most of the people in the can never hurt anyone. And yet the U.S. has the world’s largest prison population — a reflection of the growing police state. More and more of us know someone who landed there for no good reason. Is this making us safer? No. And French shows why.

This book is a training guide for how to navigate a very confusing economic environment. Its lesson: Do not trust the common knowledge to run your life. The common knowledge has proven to be spectacularly wrong. Why let it manage your life?

You have to think for yourself to avoid the traps that special interests have set up at every turn. You have to subject “what everyone knows” to critical standards of rationality and economic logic.

Doug’s book is a primer for starting this process now. It is helpful for anyone of any age who seeks to avoid disastrous life decisions and get on the road to independent thinking, financial soundness, and a better life. You can get it right here or join the Club to get it for free.