Hi Scott
A question for you if you wouldn’t mind commenting – is there any truth to economist Harry Dent’s latest dire warning of doom for shares and property in Australia?
Jenny
Hi Jenny,
So I watched Harry on the Today show. He predicted that “2024 will bring the biggest crash of our lifetimes”, and suggested that the value of both Aussie shares and property could more than halve this year.
It was frankly … weird.
The folks on Today are supposed to be journalists, but the hardest hitting question they asked wasn’t even a question. All the interviewer said (with a giggle) was, “Geez, that’s a bit depressing”.
So here’s a question I would have asked Harry:
“Harry, you’ve been incorrectly predicting that Australian property prices will crash for years.
“You said they’d be down by … 55% in 2009, 65% in 2011, 55% in 2014, 50% in 2016, 40% in 2018, and 40% in 2020. You have been ball-tearingly wrong for so long, why should we believe you today?”
And because he’s a savvy sausage, Harry would no doubt have a well-rehearsed rebuttal that would sow enough doubt in the minds of viewers eating their cornflakes to let him wriggle out of that question. So then I’d then follow it up with my final question:
“Harry, if you have all the answers, why don’t you set up an investment fund and make billions profiting from your predictions?”
Because, once upon a time he did. Except it was a dud, reportedly losing 80% of its assets before it was merged and closed down.