investing in the future

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Mar 05, 2010

 "When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing — they believe in anything."

That adage is attributed to G.K. Chesterton, and while there's some question as to whether he ever said it, it certainly sounds like his work.

In any event, whether it's Chesterton's thought or not, the observation might explain the case of Sean David Morton, who convinced gullible investors that he could bring them fabulous returns because, with the help of the Dalai Lama, he had learned to read the future.

Really. The internal logic of the proposition is flawless. If you can read next week's stock ticker, you shouldn't have any trouble picking this week's winners. But where do you find people willing to believe that you can read the future? If Morton had been recruiting in atheist circles, Chesterton's maxim would apply. Otherwise we need another explanation. 

By the way, the credibility of Morton's claim to see the future has taken a serious hit. He didn't see the federal prosecutors coming.