Doomsday economist who predicted the 2007 financial crisis warns of stock market 'crash of a lifetime' - but it's not all bad news
- Harry Dent predicted Japanese crash in 1991 and US housing crash in 2007
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An economist has doubled down on his grim prediction that America faces a stock market crash that would dwarf the one during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
Harry Dent first warned last December that an 'everything' stock market bubble would burst - prompting the 'biggest crash in our lifetimes'.
'If I'm right, it is going to be the biggest crash of our lifetime, most of it happening in 2024,' he previously told Fox Digital.
Given he predicted the crash was due to hit by May, critics who accused him of being 'crazy' appear to be correct.
But in a new interview, the Harvard Business School alum said he stands by his claims. He says the benchmark S&P 500, for example, will plummet 86 per cent.
However, he does admit the market bottoms are now more likely to be seen between early and mid-2025.
Economist Harry Dent has re-emphasized his warning that the stock market is going to crash much worse than it did during the 2008 financial crisis
Dent is an economics analyst and a bestselling financial author.
He reportedly accurately predicted the asset price bubble in Japan - which burst in 1991 - and also the long recession which followed. He also warned of the the US housing bubble, which burst in 2007.
Dent claims the crash will be sparked by overvalued markets and excessive stimulus spending, which he says will create a far worse recession than other economists have predicted. Tens of millions would lose their jobs.
A crash would also affect American's retirement accounts. Most have at least some of their 401(K) and Individual Retirement Account invested in the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
The worst crash of many people's lives would mean it would have to surpass the hardship felt after 2008's Great Recession - which was the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
'In 1925 to 1929, it was a natural bubble. There was no stimulus behind that, artificial stimulus per se. So this is new. This has never happened,' Dent said on Tuesday.
'What do you do if you want to cure a hangover? You drink more. And that's what they've been doing.
'Flooding the economy with extra money forever might actually enhance the overall economy long-term. But we'll only see when we see this bubble burst,' he added.
'And again, this bubble has been going 14 years. Instead of most bubbles [going] five to six, it's been stretched higher, longer. So you'd have to expect a bigger crash than we got in 2008 to 2009.'
US stocks ended May with gains as Nasdaq was up by 6.9 percent, S&P 500 was up 4.8 percent and Dow Jones up by 2.3 percent.
But Dent claimed: 'I think we're going to see the S&P go down 86 percent from the top, and the Nasdaq 92 percent.
'A hero stock like Nvidia, as good as it is, and it is a great company, [goes] down 98 percent. Boy, this is over.'
'We have never seen [the] government sustain a totally artificial bubble for a decade and a half, and see what happens after that.
'But I can tell you, there has not been one bubble - and this is far larger and longer - in history that has not ended badly, period.'
People will be hurt 'the most' by the real estate crash, which he says will drop housing prices back to 2012 prices.
Dent hit out at those who have accused him of stoking fears and tensions among Americans.
'I just say what I see and, frankly, don't give a damn,' he said. 'If people don't like it, because you [have] got to choose: are you going to tell the truth, or are you going to make people happy?'
'They call me a "perma-bear." This is absolutely, uncategorically B.S.'
He added: 'Looking at it from history and standing back, nothing's more obvious.
'A lot of other bubbles in history just do not have the steepness or the magnitude.
'Why? We've never realized the power that central banks can have to just print money out of thin air.'
Dent claimed last December that an 'everything' bubble would burst prompting the 'biggest crash in our lifetimes' with the effects felt by May
But he was accused of being 'crazy' and scaremongering with his chilling predictions by critics
Dent has warned people to move their money out of the stock market ahead of the 'bubble of all bubbles'
But Dent does not believe any looming crash is necessarily a bad thing.
He said: 'The big crash is going to come on the back end.
'This is going to wash all this excess out of the markets, bring the markets down to where they should be so that the millennial generation can have a boom that is healthier and that they can invest their savings into for retirement.'
The economist has warned people to move their money out of the stock market ahead of the 'bubble of all bubbles'.
In recent weeks, top bankers and even a leading former CEO have issued chilling warnings about the US economy.
In May, Jamie Dimon - head of the world's biggest bank JPMorgan Chase - said that the worst outcome for the US economy would be 'stagflation'. This is when inflation continues to go up, but unemployment is high and growth slows.
Economists consider stagflation, last seen in the US in the 1970s, to be worse than a recession. It would send stocks down, hitting 401(K)s and other retirement savings.
