Why Do People Do Bad?

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On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom, why do people do bad?

My personal belief is that the ultimate downfall of man, individual or as a group, is pride. And I think it goes back to what you were talking about before with the people that were in charge of the gangs, how they were so full of themselves. They had the best self-esteem. I think It goes back to pride. Caesar, look at what he did, and most prideful man I think we ever had on this planet.

Well, there's competition for that title, Megan.

Yeah, well.

But, so by pride meaning what? Filled with oneself?

Yes, I think total egotism, but then I think pride can be this big swirling depth, you know, as somebody that has road rage, maybe, you know, pride, how dare that person cut me off, or. Not, uh, signal or something. I think that's why, uh, people rape and murder and everything. It all comes back to pride.

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

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Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs. And to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to dennisprager.com.

Alrighty everybody, you're listening to the Dennis Prager Show. Let's crank it up there, Sean. This is the Ultimate Issues Hour. This is the hour devoted to the great questions of life. I have an hour each week on Friday devoted to the question of happiness, and this is to the great questions of life. Hi everybody, the Ultimate Issues Hour, here we are. I'm Dennis Prager. Thank you, Sean. The question today, and this is really ultimate, an ultimate question, an ultimate issue, Why do people do bad? And let me, let me answer, because a lot of you are already— don't call in, don't call in yet, please don't. They're already calling in. Don't call it yet, don't call it. Wait till I, wait till I define bad. And let me tell you what I, what I'm, I'm asking about, because I want to be very precise or this thing will go all over the place. I, I I want to focus in like a laser on the question that I'm talking about. When I mean bad, I mean bad toward fellow human beings. I'm not talking about sin against God, although everybody who believes in religion in any sophisticated sense knows that when you hurt a human, you are sinning against God, but that's not my point. I'm talking— when I say evil or bad, I'm talking about bad toward another human. And this, this subject is as much addressed to secular people as to religious people. It's not a religious question per se. You may have a religious answer, that's fine, it's your prerogative. But my question is, why do people do bad things to others? And, and I mean really bad things, whether it's blowing up children and, and, or people on, on buses or wars of aggression to conquer and enslave people, whether it is racism where you believe people of another group are inferior, or in daily life when you cheat on a test, that's a bad thing. I won't call it evil, I'll call it bad. Bad is lesser than evil. That's how I'll be using the term here. Why do people do bad things to other people, deliberately hurt other people? Why? I'd like to offer you some, some answers. And incidentally, I need to tell you that we're going to have an hour on why do people do good. Alan, if you'll put that down, I think the question of why do people do good is at least as complex as the question, why do people do bad? People think that it's natural to do good, but folks, it is natural to do bad. It is more natural to cheat than to be honest. It is more natural to lie when it serves your purposes than to tell the truth. So folks, it's, uh, the question of why do people do good is a very, very real one. But I'm dealing this hour with the question that more people ask. Why more people ask why do people do bad is a very interesting one, but I— that I'll put aside as well right now because we discussed that issue on one of the Ultimate Issues Hours, and that was the question of are people basically good. And of course, I don't believe we're basically good. I believe that we have Good tendencies and bad tendencies, and it's very hard to vanquish the bad tendencies. So let me begin my answer about why people do bad, and please hear me out, because the issue isn't to get everybody's opinion, to be perfectly honest, and forgive me for even saying that. It is to try to clarify great issues. That's the purpose here. So I'd like you to react to what I'm saying, and if you have something else to say, of course it's welcome. But I need you to hear me in this case first, so, so don't call in yet. I haven't even told you one answer, except that it's easier to do bad often than it is to do good. Alright, in answering this question, in answering this question, I divide as I so often do between the macro and the micro, the personal and the societal, if you will, or the social. There are two authors of evil, the individual and the society. Or if you will, in the societal, there is what I would call ideological reasons for evil. Let me tell you something, there is more evil done, or certainly in the last 100 years, there has been far more evil done for ideological reasons than because of people's sadism or cruelty. See, when you hear about a kid, a child who's kidnapped and raped and strangled, that's an act of evil. I think everybody listening knows that that is an act of evil. But those are relatively rare. The vast majority of real evil that has been done since the 20th century began, at least, has been done for ideological reasons. When the Nazis did what they did and the Communists did what they did and the Islamic totalitarians, jihadists, do what they do, it's out of ideological reasons. There was torture in the name of the Nazi state, torture in the name of communist liberation, and torture in the name of Islam. I'm not here to argue whether that is real Islam. That is what— that is the name they gave it. They would invoke Islam and then torture people. I am not indicting all of Islam, and it is not the subject whatsoever. My point here is solely that there is ideological evil, and then there is character and psychological evil. Now, I, I, I am clear on this, and I need to convey it clearly. The two sources, the two big sources of evil, are individual character slash psychology and social justification. Social justification comes from ideological evil, and that's worse because the people doing it think they're doing good. The Nazis thought they were doing good, the Communists thought they were doing good, and the Islamic torturers think they're doing good. That is what you need to understand. These people think it's good. That's why it's Ideological evil is more frightening than individual evil because individual evil is done by people with, with sick characters, sick psyches, or sick psyches, not necessarily both. But, and they are, they are relatively rare. I mean, how many people are kidnapped and murdered. Now you have a fair amount of it. I mean, gang violence, that's individual, that's not ideological, that is individual. These are human beings with no self-restraint who live the laws of a, if you will, a moral jungle. That still is relatively rare compared to ideological evil. The number of people killed by Nazis and Communists in the 20th century, what approached 100 million— well, actually exceeded 100 million. And there, people often thought they're doing good. I am advancing the proletariats' revolution. I'm advancing a world of equality. You know what Lenin's phrase was for how he justified murdering non-communists? Murdering landowners, murdering people who engaged in business. You, in order to make omelets, you have to break eggs. Or he put it the other way, you have to break eggs to make omelets. See, so we're making beautiful omelets, so of course we're going to have to break some heads. And so that was the understanding because of the beautiful omelet that communism would be making. So you kill some. And in the case of Stalin, it went to between 20 and 40 million you killed, but after all, you make a beautiful omelet. Of course, the irony is that the beautiful omelet didn't exist either. They broke eggs in order to break eggs. And all they had was broken eggs. There are two sources then for evil. Bad ideology. And bad character, or bad character and bad psychology, both. I will talk about the bad character, bad psychology, and now I'll take your calls. 1-8-PRAEGER-776, that's 877-243-7776. 877-243-7776. This is the Ultimate Issues Hour on the Dennis Prager Show. Why do people do bad things?

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Precious metals dealers come and go. This is Nick Grovich, president of Ampfed Coin and Bullion. We've stood the test of time since 1983. With the flurry of coin and bullion dealers coming and going, how do you know who to trust and what to buy? At Ampfed Coin and Bullion, we value educated consumers. We want to alert you to good bullion buys in the market and help you steer clear of the tricks and bad deals. Call AmFed Coin and Bullion for a free coin performance review. 800-221-7694 or americanfederal.com.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

Alrighty everybody, Dennis Prager here. This is the Ultimate Issues Hour, the hour on the great questions of life. Every Tuesday at this hour, I have this subject. Today is why do people do bad things? I mean really bad things. I don't mean little bad things. All the little bad things, in other words, here's an example. Why do people, for example, why will they park diagonally and take up 2 parking spots? I mean, you know, that's bad. That's not evil. But It is part of a continuum. Now, I'm not saying that somebody who does that is going to be a torturer, but it's part of a continuum. And remember that what I have done here is I've divided between ideological evil— Nazism, evil done in the name of religion, communism— where you have an ideological justification to not only do evil but to think you're right when you do it, versus individual evil, uh, stealing, murder, etc., that you will do individually, and that emanates from character flaws and psychopathology. Now, I don't believe that evil is sick. Evil may in fact be— it's a very difficult question. Is evil— is all evil sick? Can a psychologically healthy person commit evil? And in my opinion, the answer is yes. My opinion— in fact, I'm certain of it. Not everybody who does evil is sick, and not every sick person does evil, but sometimes psychopathology causes you to do bad things. Alrighty, let's see what you have to say, folks, in light of what I have just said. 1-800-PRAGER-776. And we go to Cleveland and Charles. Hello, Charles. Dennis Prager.

Well, thank you, Dennis. Um, I'm looking forward to next time you come to Cleveland. I don't know when it'll be, but, um, you know, I think there's only one root cause, and it's the, it's the failure to put, uh, any restraint on impulses, and it's the rationalization for that. I treated sexual offenders for 5 years. I've been active politically and, like you, love history. And in each case, and you're right, they don't have to be sick in the sense of being some kind of psychiatric disorder. Kids learn on a micro level, Kids learn that they can get away with things and they do it and they develop an ideology that says the world is divided into smart people and suckers. And on the macro level, people learn that we can achieve certain things and they have different rationalizations, but the core behaviors, if you study it, isn't that different from Stalin, isn't that different from a gang leader. As a matter of fact, when you do a study of so-called self-esteem, The highest people in the country.

That's right.

Gang leaders.

That's right. That is so good. Thank you, Charles. And I'll be announcing when I come to Cleveland. I will be. That, that is exactly right. I, I had a number of people on my show over the course of years who noted, and I, I've always believed that, but I had, I had scholars who, who work in this field say it, and perhaps it would give it more authority than my theorizing about it, that a lot of bad people have very high self-esteem. This notion you give kids high self-esteem and you will therefore be well on your way to stopping antisocial behavior is nonsense. A lot of criminals have extremely high self-esteem. That's why they think they can do what they do to other people. I am so terrific, I think so highly of myself that I can, I can rob a bank. You suckers out there, you play by the rules, but not me. Hahaha! I take what I want. So the battle against bad is huge because it's so easy to do it. It's so easy and so tempting. I remember the difficulty I had telling young kids that you can't download music that you didn't pay for. Why not? Everybody does it. Everybody does it. That ends the issue. Everybody does it. The roots of bad are so enormous, but I have really divided them into two categories: ideological evil and personal evil or personal bad. And under personal, I have psychological Reasons and character flaw reasons. Cheating, lying, stealing for personal gain, murder for personal gain. See the, uh, the movie Crimes and Misdemeanors. Despite the fact that it was made by Woody Allen, is one of the most brilliant moral films ever made, if not the most brilliant. 1-800-PRAGER-776. And we go to Henry with the opposite view. Hello, Henry, Los Angeles. Dennis Prager, hi.

Hey, good morning.

All right.

Well, my opinion is it is self-loathing. I mean, you take the dictators of the world, Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, they were all very short men with horrible families. I mean, these guys, they were consistently picked on and they kind of flashed back. And a lot of times, people, reason people do things is that they feel alienated and they want, they need something, attention or something that would make them feel good. A crook that does steal, he steals because it makes him feel like, hey man, I robbed a bank. Hey, I'm pretty badass. I'm sorry, I shouldn't swear on the radio. Sorry about that, Craig. I'm sorry about that. But, um, a lot of guys feel that, um, they have to go out of the way to make themselves, you know, have a feeling of self-worth. Also, people who cause people hurt or torture people are suffering from a pain inside.

Well, yeah, no, I'm listening. I heard every word. What do you say then to the argument that was just offered by Charles— which I supported— that whenever they do assessments of gang leaders and a lot of the worst people in society, they have high self-esteem?

Well, they seem to be having high self-esteem because... but they went out and did that because they had low self-esteem!

Well no, maybe they didn't! Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait! Maybe they did it because they have such high self-esteem they don't think that the rules that apply to suckers like you and me apply to them uber mention. You see, you know what, this is why, this is why you could make the argument—

this—

so that's why I never attributed to the self-esteem notion quite the moral significance. It's good to have self-esteem, and it's also to have a, a good dose of self-doubt. Both are good. So it's Some of the best people I know suffer from self-esteem problems. So it's a tough call on self-esteem, but yes, I think that there is something to what you say. But the idea that Stalin was mistreated as a youth, I don't recall that. He may have been, I don't recall that. I've read a number of biographies about him, but I never took particular interest in his childhood. I don't even know if we know much about his childhood. And with Hitler, I mean, it was the loss of his mother. I don't know if he was raised with poor self-esteem or hurt by his parents. I don't— he was hurt by the death of his mother whom he loved, but the number of people who lost their parents in history at an early age is so large and none of them ended up advocating genocide. I— we continue, why do people do bad things? Have a whole host of different, different thoughts from around the country. But again, I've given you my two— the ideological. That's why— that's the one I fight the most. We'll be back in a moment. You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Rising interest rates, stock volatility, out-of-control inflation— people are concerned about what the future holds financially. This is Dennis Prager for AMFAO. American Federal Coin and Bullion. There's no better time than the present to move a portion of your IRA into precious metals. You should know there's a right and a wrong way to set up your precious metals IRA. Mistakes could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in IRS fines. Call AMFED Coin and Bullion, 800-221-7694, americanfederal.com. That's americanfederal.com.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show. This is the Ultimate Issues Hour. Every week at this time, I devote an hour to the great questions of life. Why do people do bad things? And I'm not asking why do people sin. That's a theological question, and that's not my question. Now, bad is sinful, but that's a separate issue. But why do people hurt other people? Why do they do bad things, whether it is little bad things Uh, like, uh, like cheating on a test, or huge bad things like murdering innocent people. But why do people do bad, and why do people do evil? And there's a gradation that, uh, from bad to evil, obviously. I mean, that's the way I'm using them. These are not scientific terms. I don't mean them to be, but they are helpful for the question that I am posing. I consider it a riddle, by the way, about why do people do good things. And incidentally, the answer to why people do good things is the same as to why people do bad things. But we'll have a separate hour on that. But remember, I'm dividing between ideological evil and personal evil. Doing evil because an ideology told you to do so. Nazis were told it's a good thing to kill Jews. And let's see, those who enslaved blacks were told it's a good thing. People need slaves. Blacks are not fully human anyway, so you can do that. That's ideological evil. That's why you could have people who, after a day, you could have Nazis after a day of gassing Jewish families go back to their family and talk, you know, play with their kids. And then that's why you could have had people who engage in the slave trade and watch the suffering on the transatlantic crossing, and then have them go back to their families after their cruise. That's ideological evil. That's where the human being, his conscience is perverted. That's the most dangerous because it's— well, it's the most dangerous because it happens on the largest level. Of numbers. That's where you have basically decent people taught that bad is good. We have that today with, uh, with people who murder in the name of Islam. They think they're doing good. It'll usher in a beautiful period where the world will be ruled by Sharia. They, they think they're doing good. Then there is individual evil, and sometimes they're together where the ideology reinforces your psychopathology. But there is individual where it's just weak character and, and a, and a broken psychology, a broken psyche. 1-800-PRAGER-776. We go to Dallas, and in Dallas it's Megan. Hello, Megan. Dennis Prager.

Hi Dennis, pleasure to speak with you.

Thank you. Is it Megan or Megan?

It's Megan actually.

Okay, I always like to know.

Okay, um, I, I, my personal belief is that the ultimate downfall of man, individual or as a group, is pride. And I think it goes back to what you were talking about before with the, uh, people that were in charge of the gangs, how they were so full of themselves, they had the best self-esteem. I think it goes back to pride. Caesar look at what he did, and most prideful man I think we ever had on this planet.

Well, there's competition for that title, Megan. But, but, uh, so by pride, meaning what? Full, filled with oneself?

Yes, I think a total egotism. But then I think pride can be this big swirling depth, you know, as somebody that has road rage, maybe, you know, uh, pride. How dare that person cut me off, or— not signal or something. I think that's why people rape and murder and everything. It all comes back to pride.

So, which is related to the notion of the high self-esteem in bad people.

Absolutely.

Okay, very good. Megan, thanks so much.

Thank you.

Okay. And let's go to Cypress, California. Darren. Hello, Darren. Dennis Prager.

Hi, Dennis Prager, a pleasure to speak with you.

Thank you.

I believe that I haven't developed it to the ideological level yet, but I believe that at the micro level, it is all related to your ability to sympathize with others. And I think that it's instilled at an early childhood stage.

That's brilliant. That is absolutely right. I wish I had noted it. You're absolutely right. Is there empathy or not?

Right. And your ability to develop that early on and how you relate to humanity.

And that is why ideological evil, what it does is it breaks down your ability to empathize. The other, the black can be enslaved, the Jew could be gassed, the Tutsi is not real. We'll be back in a moment. You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show.

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I'm Dennis Prager. I welcome you back. This is the Ultimate Issues Hour, the hour each week devoted to the great questions of life. Why do people do bad? The last, the last caller hit on something huge: empathy. Some people have it and some people don't. That goes under, remember, my two headings: ideological evil and personal evil, or personal bad. It's usually more, but both exist. And under the personal, there are psychological reasons. There are people who are just so unhealthy that it leads them into hurting other people almost without even realizing it. And there are those with simple character flaws. 1-8-Prager-776. What happened to my— ah, bummer. The guy with the, uh, with his, uh, with his, uh, expensive car. I had a guy calling in who said he's a good guy. I guess he thinks he's a good guy. He takes 2 spaces, parking spaces, and parks diagonally because he doesn't want his car bumped. And I wish you would have been my next call. It's too bad. And there would have been a good example, and I appreciated so much your calling. But here's a perfect example of the ability to justify what is wrong, and that is what we call rationalize. The ability to use reason, that's why you can't use reason alone to know what is good. Reason is not enough. Good is higher than reason. Reason is necessary but not sufficient. The answer if you have an expensive car is not to park diagonally. Is either don't get an expensive car and therefore hog up 2 spaces because you had the money for an expensive car, or park elsewhere. I mean, it's just, that's really a sense of self-esteem. You see, there's a perfect example. I have a great car, an expensive car, so I, unlike you nothings out there who are driving Ford Escorts, I, with my expensive car, can take 2 spaces. But you, the wretched of the earth who drive regular cars, you have to take one spot. It's too bad you didn't stay on. I would have loved to have that discussion with you. Folks, it is so easy to do bad. It is so easy because of the psychological reasons, because you don't even know you're doing bad, because of your rationalization of doing bad, because of ideological justification of doing bad, that it's, it's very easy. That's why good is more of a riddle to me than bad. It's so easy to do bad. 1-800-PRAGER-776 is Reverend Jamie in Parma, Ohio. Hello, Reverend Jamie, Dennis Prager.

Hello, Dennis. Hi.

Hi. You know what, I just love listening to your show and I love your Ultimate Issues Hour. So many times I've wanted to call you on the Ultimate Issues Hour. Thank you, thank you. But I I got your answer to the root, and being a reverend, this has nothing to do with theology or religion in any way. It covers your ideological as well as your private or personal evils. The root is selfishness and self-centeredness. Selfishness and self-centeredness is in all its degrees and forms and variances. It's very subtle and it can be very profound. I mean, you throw— Dennis Prager, throw anything at me that you think is an evil or bad or the malady of our society, and I I will be able to show you why it's selfishness or self-centeredness. That's bottom line.

That's right.

That's a good point. So at which is built in.

Right, right. Now, how far do you want to go with this? Is it selfish and self-centered to want to breathe? Because if I don't breathe, I won't live.

No, no. Here is the question. You're a thinker, obviously. Here's the question of what is selfish or not. In other words, with people starving in the world, am I selfish? For buying a house rather than living in an apartment?

Hmm, that's— I would think at that point we're talking about more of an ideological question rather than a personal question.

No, well, it's a moral question. I have the answer. I think there's nothing wrong in your living in a house, and I have a lot of answers for that. And by the way, you're right, and that's a great answer. That's right. See, selfishness is built in. That's why, uh, it's one of the reasons that I believe in good religion, and I've always said that well before the problems we have with whatever percentage of Muslims we have problems with. I've said this for so long, there's bad religion and good religion. I've always said I believe in good religion, just like I believe in good psychotherapy. There's a lot of bad psychotherapy. Most psychotherapy stinks. Most therapists are not competent. Every single therapist I've interviewed has said most therapists are not competent. But good religion makes people better and bad religion makes people worse. But in any event, we need good religion because our nature isn't good. We are born selfish. We are not born empathetic. Kids hoard at the party, at a birthday party, they hoard those cookies. Half of the joy is not only that they'll have all the cookies because they can't eat them all. They'll have their stomach pumped if they eat them all. Is that they're depriving the other kids from it. I got more than you. Na na na na na, look at me. Thank you, Reverend Jamie, that's exactly right. By the way, my answer in the question of whether it is okay to buy a house when you can live in an apartment, whether to buy a nicer car when you could drive a cheaper car, the cheapest car because there are people starving, you should send your money to Africa. Is A, it's not going to help the people of Africa if you do that, and it's going to hurt our country if you don't buy a house because then everybody who builds houses will be unemployed. Impoverishing yourself— everyone has to give charity, that's obvious, but giving away your money isn't going to help. And aside, you're not going to work. The human being, there are almost no human being will work as hard when all the money or nearly all the money that he earns he earns is then going to be given away or taken away, and taxes are given away even voluntarily. So you see, folks, the battle— the good is natural. That's what I've been trying my whole life. I've talked about this subject well before I had radio. I was lecturing, and I would say that's the battle. The battle is with yourself. That's the difference between In my opinion, my religious upbringing and the secular liberal upbringing, my upbringing said the biggest battle in Dennis Prager's life is Dennis Prager. Today, kids are taught that the biggest battle in their life is global warming or racism or sexism. In other words, something outside of themselves.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Rising interest rates, stock volatility, out-of-control inflation. People are concerned about what the future holds financially. This is Dennis Prager for AmFed Coin and Bullion. There's no better time than the present to move a portion of your IRA into precious metals. You should know there's a right and a wrong way to set up your precious metals IRA. Mistakes could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in IRS fines. Call AmFed Coin and Bullion, 800-221-7694, americanfederal.com. That's AmericanFederal.com.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

Why do people do bad? That's the subject of this, the Ultimate Issues Hour, this hour of the week on the Great Question. If I have left you with anything, I hope it is at least two things. One, how natural bad is. The, the— remember, we live in the age of stupidity. Emanating from the secularization of society and the lack of wisdom and the belief that people are basically good. Human nature is entirely a mixed bag. There's good and there's a lot of bad. Very few people are born empathetic. Very few people are born anything but selfish. So hard to teach kids, so hard to teach them the right thing in so many instances. Why shouldn't I cheat on a test, Dad? All the other kids do. Why shouldn't I download songs I didn't pay for, Dad? All the other kids do. Why shouldn't I XYZ? Why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I? Everybody does. Selfishness is built in. Now, there has to be a level of selfishness. You have to take care of yourself. But you all know what I mean by that. Linda, Philadelphia. Dennis Prager.

Hi, Linda.

Hi, how are you?

Hi.

I think it has a lot to do with narcissism, both on a personal level and on a global level. If you're an extremely narcissistic person, you don't even have to stop and consider anyone else. If your religion is narcissistic, it only reinforces that. It doesn't need to examine itself.

Yes, you are, you are 100% right. I've dealt with narcissism a lot. I don't mean in my personal life, I mean in, on the show, and you are so right. I think we have though, and thank you, Linda. Jessica, you called back, you're the one with the car?

Yeah.

Oh good, okay, go ahead quickly. In Chicago.

Yes, I, we park in two parking spots, typically far away where it's not discourteous to other people. But to protect our car, because, you know, other people that open their door too hard and ding your car, they don't care and they don't leave a number to fix it, and then you're stuck with the bill to fix your car, and that's not fair.

Well, but it's not— it's also not fair to take 2 spots.

Well, that may be true, and we typically try to take 2 spots that it's far enough away, we'll walk the extra distance where it's not going to bother anybody else, where nobody else is parking in the back of the lot or something like that.

Yeah, if in fact there really isn't any other, but remember that you Always— here, Jessica, because there's so little time, here's a very important thing to ask before you do anything. The rule of thumb about deciding whether something is right: what if everybody did what I do? People with cheaper cars also don't want their cars dinged. They have to pay to get it repaired too. Why shouldn't everybody take 2 spots? This has been the Ultimate Issues Hour on the Dennis Prager Show. Thanks for listening. Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager: If you had to offer your opinion on what is the biggest no-no in a marriage, I think I have the answer to that question.

The answer is the failure to communicate, and by this I mean the unwillingness to listen and/or to voice your opinion.

The thing that I have found that will destroy any relationship is lying. If you cannot trust that other person and have the audacity to lie to you, then how can you trust them in the future?

What do you— I'm sure you have something in mind.

Give it—

give me the example that's in your mind.

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Precious metals dealers come and go. This is Nick Grovich, president of Ampfed Coin and Bullion. We've stood the test of time since 1983. With the flurry of coin and bullion dealers coming and going, how do you know who to trust and what to buy? At Ampfed Coin and Bullion, we value educated consumers. We want to alert you to good bullion buys in the market and help you steer clear of the tricks and bad deals. Call Ampfed Coin and Bullion for a free coin performance review. 800-221-7694 or AmericanFederal.com.