Huffington Post has an interesting piece up entitled "The 12 Worst Predictions about the Economy," zeroing in on some of the most notorious soothsayers who, though they have legions of credulous followers, manage to be consistently wrong whenever they go peering into the future.
Here are just a few examples:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Prediction: On March 18, 2010, Jim Kramer predicted that Obamacare would topple the stock market.
Reality: Since then, the market has risen about 2,500 points to its current level of well over 13,000, a full two-and-a-half years after Obamacare was passed.
Prediction: Glenn Beck predicted that the U.S. would undergo a "Great Depression times 100," with a period of hyperinflation.
Reality: Unemployment, though high, is still far below what it reached in the 1930s and inflation is nowhere to be found.
Prediction: CNBC analyst Rick Santelli, the godfather of the Tea Party movement, foresaw a future of stagflation - a time of high unemployment and high inflation.
Reality: As with the Beck prediction, the inflation failed to materialize.
Prediction: On March 8, 2010, el Rushbo predicted that if Obamacare went into effect, 250 million Americans would be without health care insurance.
Reality: I'll let that one speak for itself.
Prediction: Economist Peter Schiff, on Glenn Beck's show in October 2008 predicted an inflation rate of 20%, thanks to Federal Reserves monetary policies.
Reality: Less than 2% inflation and even some periods of deflation.
Look, anybody can be wrong sometimes, and predicting what the future holds, even on a good day, can be an activity fraught with uncertainty and peril. But why isn't anyone ever called on their wrong predictions? And why are they allowed to go on making such predictions without ever having to account for the ones they screwed up?