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Forecasting Economic Decline
by Stephen Lendman
Hard times getting harder.
Economic analyst Harry Dent's 2009 book, titled "The Great Depression Ahead" became a national bestseller. He predicted the current crisis and worse ahead.
His new book, co-authored with Rodney Johnson, predicts "The Great Crash Ahead." He calls it inevitable and sees protracted trouble worse than 2008. It's coming between 2012 and 2014 he believes.
In 1992, he correctly forecast the decade's economic/stock market surge in his book titled, " The Great Boom Ahead." He's now Dr. Doom, predicting harder than ever hard times. He blames sharply falling incomes and aging Boomers among other factors.
He may or may not be right. He called the 1990s boom accurately but wrongly thought Dow values would reach 40,000. Now he sees massive money creation buying time but little else. Housing crashed. Major banks are dead. He calls Europe a "retirement community in debt."
He forecasts "economic winter" and advises:
- avoid chasing short-term gains;
- stress capital preservation;
- choose high quality income streams;
- pay down debt sooner, not later;
- rent, don't buy; and
- keep your day job until promising alternatives arrive.
Recent IMF and World Bank forecasts also spell trouble.
On January 18, the World Bank's Global Economic Prospects said world economies teeter "on the brink of another major decline" with "anemic growth" at best through 2013.
