The financially "unexpected" is fast moving toward the "unthinkable."
Just think back over the past few years.
The credit of the United States has always been a "chiseled in stone" triple-A rating. Now, Standard & Poor's has downgraded it to AA-plus with a negative outlook. That was "unthinkable" a few years ago.
Just a few months ago, in fact, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was asked about the risk of the U.S. losing its triple-A credit rating: Secretary Geithner replied, "No risk of that." (Fox News, 4/19)
Brace yourself for more of the unexpected -- or even what experts and top government officials say is "unthinkable."
Most people were unprepared for the mortgage crisis, high unemployment, and the international debt crisis. Yet readers of Conquer the Crash: You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression (now in its second edition) had Bob Prechter's forecasts well ahead of time. Here are a few quotes from that book:
"What screams "bubble" -- giant, historic bubble -- in real estate today is the system-wide extension of massive amounts of credit to finance property purchases." (p. 152)
"In a crash and depression, we will see stocks going down...massive layoffs, high unemployment...and ultimately financial and political crises...Being unprepared will leave you vulnerable to a major disruption in your life." (p. 139-140)
"I see no way out of the current extreme in credit issuance aside from the classic way: a debt implosion." (p. 415)
How will we know when the "debt crisis" is over?
In a Special Section titled One More Hike for the Debt Ceiling; A Giant Collapse for Debt -- the just-published August Financial Forecast also quotes Conquer the Crash:
"Debts are retired by paying them off, “restructuring” or default. In the first case, no value is lost; in the second, some value; in the third, all value. In desperately trying to raise cash to pay off loans, borrowers bring all kinds of assets to market, including stocks, bonds, commodities and real estate, causing their prices to plummet. The process ends only after the supply of credit falls to a level at which it is collateralized acceptably to the surviving creditors."
The just-published August Elliott Wave Financial Forecast gives you analysis of the debt crisis, stocks, gold, the dollar, and more -- and it's analysis you will not find anywhere else.