20 Questions with the World's Leading -- Perhaps Only True -- Deflationist, Robert Prechter Robert Prechter, the world's leading proponent of the deflationary scenario, answers tough questions from noted financial commentator Jim Puplava. Anyone looking to invest in today's environment should read this revealing new 20-page report. Consider these recent forecasts: In 2005, Prechter warned readers of an imminent top in real estate. In October 2007, Prechter warned that stocks and commodities were historically overvalued and due for an immediate crash. In 2008, Prechter maintained that the U.S. dollar would rally throughout the most volatile market environment since the Great … [Read more...]
Deflation: First Step, Understand It
There is still time to prepare if deflation is indeed in our future. "Fed's Bullard Raises Specter of Japanese-Style Deflation," read a July 29 Washington Post headline. When the St. Louis Fed Chief speaks, people listen. Now that deflation -- something that EWI's president Robert Prechter has been warning about for several years -- is making mainstream news headlines, is it too late to prepare? It's not too late. There are still steps you can take if deflation is indeed in our future. The first step is to understand what it is. So we've put together a special, free, 60-page Club EWI resource, "The Guide to Understanding Deflation: Robert Prechter’s most important warnings about … [Read more...]
What is the Ultimate Status Symbol in a Deflationary Depression?
Deflationary Depression: Ultimate Status Symbol The Biggest House? No. The Most Expensive Car? Try Again. By Robert Jay Ostentatious display defined the "Gilded Age" in the latter part of the 19th century. Most of the upper class in that period believed that if you had a big bank account, you should make sure everyone knew it. A century later -- during the bull market of the 1980s-1990s -- "McMansions" with BMWs in the garage became more common. Pulling out the plastic and enjoying instant gratification became pervasive. In most decades of the past century, families had to save for big ticket items, perhaps even save all year to ensure holiday presents under the tree. To take … [Read more...]
Deflation: The Black Swan Has Been Spotted
By Nico Isaac Up until recently, the mainstream experts put the likelihood of deflation transpiring in the United States at whatever the current odds are of Mel Gibson finding a date; i.e. nill to none. Their catchphrase for the rare and unexpected nature of a deflationary event was "Black Swan." And as the following news items from 2008-2010 show, very few imagined this "bird" migrating onto the economic shore: Oct. 20, 2008: "Central banks of the world know how to stop deflation. You just print enough money." (Reuters) Jan. 19, 2009: "US Deflation Unlikely. The tremendous stimulus from the US administration... should prevent the recession from dragging on long enough for deflation … [Read more...]
Quadrillion Dollar Debt: ‘Day of Reckoning’ Looms
What Will Happen as $1,000,000,000,000,000 in Global Debt Winds Down? By Elliott Wave International The biggest balloon in the world is deflating. This balloon had been inflated with a quadrillion (1015) dollars, which is to say: This balloon was filled not with air but with debt from around the globe. What will happen as this global debt winds down? In two words: Deflationary Depression -- the likes of which could be unprecedented in history. A thousand trillion in debt can't be wished away or swept under the rug. No one can "forgive" the debt. The consequences of unwinding this debt could be as massive as the dollar figure itself. … [Read more...]
The Bear Market and Depression: How Close to the Bottom?
By Elliott Wave International While many people spend time yearning for the financial markets to turn back up, a rare few have looked back in time to compare historical markets with the current situation -- and then delivered a clear-eyed view of the future informed by knowledge of the past. One who has is Robert Prechter. When he thinks about markets and wave patterns, he goes back to the 1700s, the 1800s, and -- most tellingly for our time now -- the early 1900s when the Great Depression weighed down the United States in the late 1920s and early 1930s. With this large wash of history in mind, he is able to explain why he thinks we have a long way to go to get to the bottom of this bear … [Read more...]
20 Questions with Robert Prechter: Long Decline Ahead
Long Decline Ahead July 2, 2010 By Elliott Wave International The following article is an excerpt from Elliott Wave International’s free report, 20 Questions With Deflationist Robert Prechter. It has been adapted from Prechter’s June 19 appearance on Jim Puplava’s Financial Sense Newshour. Jim Puplava: I want to come back to government spending, but first I want to move onto the stock market. In your last two Elliott Wave Theorist issues, you laid out a scenario that would put the Dow and S&P, which in your opinion may have peaked on April 26, as the top from here. You feel that this top is the biggest top formation of all time, a multi-century top and we could head straight down … [Read more...]
20 Questions with Robert Prechter: Signs Point to Deflation
June 30, 2010 Signs point to Deflation By Elliott Wave International The following article is an excerpt from Elliott Wave International’s free report, 20 Questions With Deflationist Robert Prechter. It has been adapted from Prechter’s June 19 appearance on Jim Puplava’s Financial Sense Newshour. Jim Puplava: Bob, I want to pick up from last September. Since then we've had several quarters of positive economic growth. Asset classes rose substantially, CPI turned positive, gold has hit a new record, oil is close to $80 a barrel. I guess a lot of our listeners would like to know, have these events altered your views on deflation? … [Read more...]
The Primary Precondition of Deflation
By Robert Prechter, CMT Elliott Wave International The following was adapted from Bob Prechter’s 2002 New York Times and Amazon best seller, Conquer the Crash – You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression. Deflation requires a precondition: a major societal buildup in the extension of credit (and its flip side, the assumption of debt). Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek warned of the consequences of credit expansion, as have a handful of other economists, who today are mostly ignored. Bank credit and Elliott wave expert Hamilton Bolton, in a 1957 letter, summarized his observations this way: In reading a history of major depressions in the U.S. … [Read more...]
Hidden Signs of Deflation
Inflation is like a roaring lion-- pretty hard to miss. Deflation is more like a New Orleans levy holding back millions of gallons of water. You don't really know it's there until the dam breaks and unleashes its destruction. In the following article the editors of Elliott Wave International give us a look behind the curtain at all the pent up deflationary power just waiting to be unleashed.~ Tim McMahon, editor Signs of Deflation That You Might Not See Clearly By Editorial Staff, Elliott Wave International The following market analysis is courtesy of Bob Prechter's Elliott Wave International. Elliott Wave International is currently offering Bob's recent Elliott Wave Theorist, … [Read more...]
