Two More Dark Near Term Predictions for U.S. Economy
Uber investor Marc Faber says he’s 100 percent sure the U.S. will experience hyperinflation and economist Nouriel Roubini says that while the U.S. economy may post modest growth in six to nine months there is still a chance for a second dip beginning some time in 2010.
The U.S. economy will enter “hyperinflation” approaching the levels in Zimbabwe because the Federal Reserve will be reluctant to raise interest rates, investor Marc Faber said.
Prices may increase at rates “close to” Zimbabwe’s gains, Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate reached 231 million percent in July, the last annual rate published by the statistics office.
“I am 100 percent sure that the U.S. will go into hyperinflation,” Faber said. “The problem with government debt growing so much is that when the time will come and the Fed should increase interest rates, they will be very reluctant to do so and so inflation will start to accelerate.”
Roubini stood by a recent article in which he mentioned the possibility of a “perfect storm” in 2010.
“There is even a risk of a double dip, a W-shaped recession at the end of next year,” he said, a combination of rising oil prices, rising public debt and increases in real interest rates, rising concerns about inflation and the expiration of a number of tax cuts in the United States.
Roubini Has Earned Moniker “Dr. Realist”
I found the excerpts below from an interview of Dr. Nouriel Roubini for the Washington Post and Newsweek. When asked if he’s still “Dr. Doom” Roubini replies, no, “I’m Dr. Realist …” You know what, he’s earned it. People actually shouted him down when he made the financial crisis call well before the crisis. I call that, Dr. Knows What the Hell He’s Talkin’ About. Instead, we’ve all fallen into this Dr. Doom thing. At first, it seemed a cool nickname. Now, it just seems to diminish his contributions to our understanding of the house of cards that has come down upon us.
Roubini: Jim Cramer is a “buffoon” & Recovery “later rather than sooner”
You’ve got to at least listen to what Dr. Doom has to say …
First on the economy in general and recovery, markets, etc:
Nouriel Roubini, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and chairman of economic research firm RGE Monitor, said on Tuesday that he expected more dour macroeconomic data and problems in the banking and housing sectors, as well as pressures on consumers.
Big stimulus packages will eventually slow the rate at which economies contract, but that will take time, he added.
“There will be a light at the end of the tunnel somewhere down the line, later rather than sooner,” he said at a Toronto news conference, which took place ahead of a Sprott Asset Management event entitled “A Night with the Bears.”
Then, on CNBC’s Jim Cramer:
“Cramer is a buffoon,” said Roubini, a New York University economics professor often called Dr. Doom. “He was one of those who called six times in a row for this bear market rally to be a bull market rally and he got it wrong. And after all this mess and Jon Stewart he should just shut up because he has no shame.”
