A More Complex World Requires A Wiser Approach

A couple of years ago, CNN began an investigation based on a government mail fraud case against a Canadian company accused of processing payments for many rip-off artists from around the world with millions of victims in the US. “Many of the schemes are remarkably similar. They prey on the desperate, sick and elderly -- sending out letters that trick people into thinking they've won the lottery or found a psychic adviser who will turn their lives around.” Every year the scammers stole millions and laundered it through that company.

As follow up and as research for a book on the subject, they wanted to meet and interview a famous French psychic whose name is at the bottom of letters that appeared to be handwritten and personally signed. Addressed to the elderly, sick and lonely, "the letters promised that Maria Duval would use her powers as a world-renowned psychic to help solve their problems. They could recover from ailments, avoid terrible misfortune, win the lottery.” They only needed to send her money first. “At least 1.4 million Americans fell for the scam.”

To be convincing, the “letters contained personal details, like a recipient’s name, age or hometown” but this information is easily obtained on line. They bought mailing lists of people who would likely fall for such a scam. These people would then send in about $40 for each letter giving them guidance from the psychic along with lucky numbers and magic charms. The total collected in this one operation is estimated at over $200 million.

This continued for more than 20 years, but was only the tip of the iceberg. When they got an interview with the psychic, they found that she sold the rights to her name for a fraction of the proceeds. The psychic letter ploy along with other similar scams had become big business with professional copywriters and marketers scattered around the world and linked together by the Canadian payment processors.

It’s true that not enough Americans understand that psychic powers don’t exist. Those that can’t distinguish coincidence from the universe sending messages (or some such nonsense) are easily taken in. It’s true that some Americans don’t understand that you can never win a lottery that you haven’t bought a ticket for. But that’s not the main point.

There is a broader issue here. More sophisticated Americans, who scoff at the victims of these scams, follow fads and trends, are taken in by advertising for products of dubious value and respond with fear to manufactured crises. 

Their lack of critical thinking is evident and somewhat frightening. On one hand, they argue that climate change is real, based on the testimony of so many scientists. On the other, they will reject scientific consensus on many other subjects like the safety of genetic engineering, glyphosate (brand name Roundup) and irradiation of food. They will buy into the concept that locally grown and organic produce is always superior. They put their families on a gluten-free diet when there is no medical reason to do so. They believe there is something magical about sea salt. They put their faith in all sorts of untested dietary supplements. Experts warning against these actions are considered corporate shills or just mistaken. They buy products based on nothing more than endorsements from friends, strangers or celebrity spokespersons. They flock to purveyors of “secrets” that drug companies, doctors, credit card companies, Wall Street and the government “don’t want you to know.”

All this goes on as the world gets more complex every day. Incredibly fast communications bring real and false offers and threats. Advanced robots, AI and autonomous vehicles lurk in the near future, while hackers try to steal our identities and influence votes. Are Americans ready for the future? Behavior shows that today far too many are struggling, victims of scams and their own poor decisions.

How to Sell Magazines

I have heard from time to time various advertisements using the approach that there are secrets out there that they are going to let us in on to make our lives much easier or richer or healthier.  Ones tells me that they are going to tell me secrets Wall Street doesn’t want me to know, if only I attend some complementary seminar.  Another tells me there are secrets the credit card companies or banks don’t want me to know to tempt me to sign up for some service – I stop listening half way through, because I am not so paranoid as to think there are that many secrets out there.  Most businesses aren’t that smart or that good at keeping secrets; there’s going to be a leak with news agencies jumping all over it.  Most businesses want to serve their customers and maintain a good reputation and the leaking of secrets is not going to help.  So I usually ignore these pitches as, shall we say, insincere.

That’s why the news of “50 secrets hospitals don’t want to tell you” caught may attention.  It was on network news, but featured a story from The Reader’s Digest.  I thought, these Readers Digest titles feature articles and not advertising.  They are not just saying that to try to sell me some service or seminar.  What is the deal?  So I looked it up.

A Google search of “Reader’s Digest 50 Secrets” took me to this page.  Wow!  There was a whole list of similar titles.  According to the Reader’s Digest, everyone is keeping secrets from us:  hospitals, food manufacturers, nurses, your waiter, pilots, your surgeon, veterinarians, the nursing home staff, your grocer, the HR department and even your pets!  And the really odd thing is that each of these conspirators has exactly 50 secrets!

Curiosity led me to the 50 hospital secrets and I found some common sense ones, like don’t stay in the hospital longer than necessary because it costs more and check your bill for accuracy.  There were many that I wouldn’t really care if they kept the secret from me forever:  some providers bet each other on patients’ readings before they are taken.  Some bet on what the next condition an ambulance will bring in.  Sometimes nurses are getting attacked by violent patients.  None of this is going to affect me, so I don’t really care.  A few tips were helpful, like a tip to bring your own meds from home so you are not buying them at hospital-inflated prices.  In general though, it was kind of ho-hum information.

But let me correct an earlier statement.  I said I was surprised because I didn’t see the Reader’s Digest in the same light as some of the people who were trying to sell me something directly with their pitch about the secrets.  They aren’t trying to sell services, but they are trying to sell magazines – using the same sales approach (over and over) with a slightly different objective.

Secret to Good Health

As I read this information from John’s Hopkins on how to maintain good eyesight, it occurred to me that products advertised as the secret to good health must be a scam.

This article from a group of medical experts tells that other than regular checkups, to maintain good eyesight “many lifestyle factors that protect our heart health may also help keep our eyes healthy, including being active; getting enough sleep; controlling blood pressure and diabetes; not smoking; maintaining a healthy weight; and eating a diet rich in fish and leafy, green vegetables like spinach and kale.  Wow, that’s almost the same advice for every other health concern, not only heart health, but also improving the effects of arthritis, preventing chronic illness  and promoting memory and general mental health.

The real secret to good health is that there is no secret.  Health authorities have not been trying to hide anything from us.  There is no big secret "doctors don't want you to know."  In fact they have been shouting from the rooftops at every opportunity.  We are told over and over on a number of issues that if we want to avoid problems and just generally feel better we should:  get enough sleep, eat healthy, drink alcohol in moderation, stop smoking, get plenty of exercise, get enough liquids, use sunscreen, wear work gloves or protective eyewear as appropriate, learn relaxation techniques to reduce stress, brush and floss, wash your hands and get a flu shot.  This should come as a surprise to no one.  We have heard all this advice or subsets of it many times for many years.

The problem with advice like this is that no one wants to hear it.  Americans are looking for the easy way, one that requires little discipline.  So every time a new diet book is published or the doctors on TV tell us about a miracle cure or another health secret, people want to sign up for the program (and send in their money).  They can’t hold an audience by saying the same things over and over, especially when we are so desperate for secrets, so the authors and television personalities must give us secrets.

The real secret is the boring truth – that there is no secret.  Like every other endeavor in life, staying healthy requires a little luck and a lot of discipline to stick to the best course of action.  The rest is distraction.

Healthcare and Behavior

The topic of healthcare costs is so large that it takes many short essays to even scratch the surface.  On Monday, April 16, 2012, I listed 8 categories – reasons for higher healthcare costs that should be addressed to solve the problem.  These were explained further on that date and at other times including on the following Friday, April 20.  I did, however, leave out one very important point, that a major influence on healthcare costs is how well we take care of ourselves – yes, individual behavior.

This was reinforced as I read in the past few days articles about:  13,000 newborns needing additional hospitalization because they are born addicted to painkillers; more teens requiring drugs for obesity-related diabetes; and almost half the people treated in emergency rooms being under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Remember, I have argued on several other occasions that the solutions to our problems, our ability to overcome the so-called crises challenging our society, come not from big government programs or from punishing the big, evil corporations, but from adopting more positive behavior in one or more of the five key dimensions.  Applying this same approach to the problem of rising healthcare costs we see that improved behavior in responsibility and discipline goes a long way toward solving it.  Take responsibility for our health and then do something about it. 

Remember back on August 5, 2011, I pointed out that all legitimate health advice we receive from the media can be reduced to a few basic habits, but we see them over and over presented as “news.”  Likewise reports about preventing or lessening the impact of many diseases include the same advice:  eat right, stay active, get enough rest, quit smoking, drink alcohol in moderation, avoid soft drinks and snack food, etc.  It’s not rocket science.  By taking individual responsibility, we improve our own health, reducing overall healthcare spending.  And reducing the demand for anything usually has a favorable effect on price.

Another recent article about more people walking shows that we are off to a good start. We can do it and don’t have to wait for any new programs or laws.