'Times' Gets the Back of the Hand

It should probably come as no surprise that a wordsmith is the most resilient hustler in the history of modern Wall Street.

We saw the latest installment this week, but The Business Press Maven wants to tell the entire story as it must be understood: through the eyes of the miscreant's writing ability. The lasting moral to every savvy investor is this: The ability to use words surpasses any requirement in the financial world to be accurate, much less moral. Moreover -- and this is essential to your portfolio's well-being -- do not believe a word this man says, even when he is showcased in otherwise great publications, which serve as apologists for him.

Knowing how to stand out by using words effectively in a world saturated by business media and unencumbered by memory simply trumps substance. Nowhere is this clearer than in the rise, fall and rise again of one Henry Blodget, the scourge of all decent investors and the man who best personified the cynical conflicts between hype men -- uh, analysts -- and investment bankers on Wall Street.

For those of you (this must include most of the business media) who forgot, Blodget is the journalist (that is key to remember) who became an Internet analyst with an uncanny knack for laying out particularly catchy phrases for how high certain dot-com companies would fly. I'm willing to forgive innocent mistakes of lapsed copy editors at Harper's, but the flashy reports Blodget filed for the likes of Merrill Lynch(MER) -- and his well-spoken public justifications for them -- were no innocent errors.