One thing I've learned through the years is that people often stretch the truth -- occasionally to the breaking point -- where money is involved.

Call it greed or call it survival (or, perhaps, human nature): the more that is at stake, the greater the risk that you won't get the straight scoop from those who stand to win or lose based on what comes out of their mouths.

As it happens, I once worked with a (very) cynical fund manager who refused to meet with corporate executives because "they are all liars."

While I wouldn't go that far -- aside from anything else, I thinlk that many leaders achieve that standing because they use their skills to create a reality that matches a powerfully optimistic inner vision -- I do think people need to maintain a healthy level of cynicism, especially during unsettled times like the present.

In a New York Times Dealbook blog post, "What Goes Before a Fall? On Wall Street, Reassurance" Andrew Ross Sorkin explores the issue in light of recent developments.

“Jim, we have a great future as an independent company,” Robert K. Steel, Wachovia’s chief executive, told James Cramer on CNBC’s “Mad Money.” “We’re also focused on very exciting prospects when we get things right going forward. I didn’t have time today to talk about the good things going on at Wachovia.”

That interview wasn’t last month or last year — it took place, amazingly, two weeks ago. Wachovia’s shares closed at $10.71 that day. On Monday, Citigroup bought the company for $1 a share.

What was Mr. Steel thinking? Did he think he could “spin” his way to survival?

It is a conundrum that C.E.O.’s of troubled companies seem always to face. In an effort to bolster public confidence in their businesses, they give interviews and try to put on a happy face — right before their companies go off a cliff.

We’ve seen it over and over again, especially during this latest chapter being written about the financial industry, a world that is predicated on betting billions of dollars of paper on little else than the confidence that the guy on the other side of the bet will be in business tomorrow. A rumor that a company is in trouble can turn into a self-fulfilling prophesy unless it’s stamped out quickly, or at least that’s the thinking on Wall Street.

Just rewind the tape: Days before Bear Stearns was sold to JPMorgan Chase, as speculation swirled about Bear’s stability, Alan D. Schwartz, Bear’s chief executive, went on television to say: “We don’t see any pressure on our liquidity, let alone a liquidity crisis.”

That same month, Erin Callan, then Lehman Brothers’ chief financial officer, confidently told analysts that the firm had raised enough capital. “We took care of our full-year needs at that point,” Ms.