Nuriel Roubini

I really believe that we must preserve the economic miracle that has given our citizens one of the highest living standards in the world. This economic miracle has not been due to the efforts of Wall Street MBA's, Stock Market Gamblers, Real Estate Speculators, Economists, Insurance Salesmen, Junk Bond Salesmen, etc. This standard of living was created by the Agricultural and Industrial Base that produced the food, goods, services and other items that we consumed, plus an excess of these goods & services that were produced and then sold to other foreign countries in order to accumulate the US gold reserves through a positive balance of trade surplus payments. Our gold reserves are the basis of the value or buying power of our currency. This was (is) true of all of the currencies in the world.

Only a positive balance of trade will restore the value of the dollar, and we must accomplish this by any means possible, or accept third world poverty on a large scale basis. Riots and insurrection are predictable, ala the French Revolution, when the people find their situations economically hopeless.

Well even Norman Fossback is right on occasion. Doesn't mean people should pay attention to him all the time.

Typical of anything about US economics, the word ethical never appears anywhere.

You didn't need a PhD to understand that a national economy cannot run based solely on mortgage turnover. For the last ten years the US has been profiting from it's own ponzi scheme. The credit card bill has arrived and the credit limit reached, and yet, amazingly, there are still people out there who are surprised!?! You have to produce something...anything...in order to support a consumer society. This is high school stuff folks and this Roubini fella was one of a small group who had the guts to say something before the crash. I listened, and thank god for it.The single greatest problem this country faces is education...too much of it. Our citizens know way too much about one thing, and practically nothing about anything else. Thank god for liberal arts colleges. Becoming a millionaire isn't worth squat if you end up losing it due to your own stupidity.

Roubini has made plenty of predictions that were way, way off base. For an excellent summation of his past calls, see:
http://www.erictyson.com/articles/20081024_1

I love this guy. He is intelligent, clear and uncompromising. It's a joy to read such clarity.

Roubini is an excellent independent economist. You have to meet him in person to know who he truly is. He's far away from any conflicts or biases and thus speaks freely and thoughtfully. Many in the world didn't take him seriously, until they saw the world in recession. Yes, to some he may sound pessimistic, but that's how the truth echoes under increasing budget deficits and mounting debt levels.

Interesting that nobody asks Nouriel's PR agent to show where he predicted the credit market collapse which is what shut off funding for housing. He had been saying since 2004 that the rash was going to be driven by trade imbalances ( http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~nroubini/papers/Roubini-Setser-US-External-Imbalances.pdf ) and he even said that housing was not going to crash but fizzle and only then in the formerly fast appreciating markets. He didn't call it, or I should say, he called it for all the wrong reasons and annually until he got it right. Do a google news search for 2004, 2005, 2006 and see for yourself. A FALSE CLAIM from a self promoter who pays for a PR firm to promote his claims.

"an academic skeptic, an armchair philosopher" ---- spot-on assessment. If you truly believe your words, then why suffer the fate you predicted.

Roubinia knew of the severe recession as early as 2006, yet "he's suffered just like the rest of us: he's remained fully invested in stock index funds through the market downturn, causing his portfolio to plummet." Had he known the severity of the mortgage driven recession as early as 20066, why was he fully invested in the stock market? Roubini sounds like an academic skeptic, an armchair philosopher who doubts everything there is to doubt - whether the world exists or not, whether he is just dreaming he's awake - and then going to lunch when hungry.