Invest Intelligence When It Realy Matters
Harry Dent. Economist, Futurist & Contrarian Indicator
UPDATED info on Harry "Doomsday" Dent and his SHITTY track record (20014 - 2015):
In the past, I have discussed the many ways the media deceives, spins and even lies about financial information as a way to please its financial sponsors, all while creating drama so as to captivate its sheep audience.
The goal of the media is two-fold. First, the media has to establish a large audience because the size of the audience determines the amount they charge companies that pay for sponsorships and advertisements. Second, the media has to make sure to keep its corporate sponsors happy. This goes well-beyond airing the ads companies have paid for.
Since corporate America and Wall Street buy the vast majority of ads and sponsor all sorts of shows, events and programming segments, the media always slants things in the favor of corporate America and the financial industry. For drug companies, this means the media will downplay the dangers of prescription drugs or air news on harmful side effects in ways that are deemphasized. The delivery of the propaganda is finessed so as to not alert the audience that the media sleeps in the same bed as those who buy the ads.
When it comes to the financial media, the agendas are less conspicuous for those who have not been induced into a mild hypnotic trance. Unfortunately, the media uses countless tactics to induce this mild state of consciousness in its unsuspecting audience. The unique thing about the financial media is that it extends throughout the entire media monopoly. For instance, when CBS or ABC reports on the stock market, the economy and other issues they draw upon reports or even journalists from CNBC or the Wall Street Journal. As well, all major television networks, radio stations, newspapers, periodicals and websites have formed partnerships with financial media programs.
The game is simple. The financial media creates the perception of valuable programming so as to attract its audience. Financial and economic news is reported in variable degrees in order to ensure the goals of the sponsors have been met. Sometimes this results in reporting knee-jerk events, exaggerations, distractions, and other techniques. Other times the reporting is more focused but highly deceptive. Among some of the more common strategies used are flooding, censorship, stacked decks. The media is controlled both by corporate America and Washington. Thus, the media provides much more detriment than value.
The financial media seeks to create panic and fear, mania and confusion, all while spinning, lying and censoring so that its sponsors feel like their money has been well-spent. As a result, Main Street tends to act on impulse so as to trade more frequently, most often with confusion and misdirection. This benefits E-Trade, Charles Schwab, Ameritrade and other online brokerage firms. And because these investors are acting out of emotion, misinformation and deception, Wall Street is pleased because it allows them to more easily take the money of Main Street.
Other times, mutual funds and insurance companies are propped up by the slanted opinions of the financial commentators or fund analysts. This provides the opportunity for front running by both Wall Street and individuals connected to the media, whether through their friend, relatives or others within their syndicate. These acts of securities fraud occur on a daily basis and add a sizable portion to the massive skimming and other fraudulent activities that steal billions of dollars from Main Street daily. The media will never discuss how fund companies stick their customers with exorbitant fees, nor will you hear how many of the fees are hidden.
Finally, the media will never point out the fact that equity mutual funds are the absolute worst investment to have during a bear market, as this would upset the companies that spend billions of dollars advertising on these networks.
When the media interviews professionals from the financial industry, more often than not these individuals serve as marketers with terrible track records. You certainly wouldn’t come to that conclusion based on their introduction. TV journalists hype up each of their pitch men to ensure they are perceived as credible experts so you will see value in tuning in.
It is a very rare event when the media bothers to independently verify the track record of its guests. Instead, the TV journalist reads their bios as if everything that has been written is true. After all, it’s not in the best interest of journalists to uncover lies and exaggerations made by those selected to serve as members of the financial media club.
Over the past couple of years I have exposed the reality behind several individuals who have been positioned by the financial media as experts. If the media claims some guy predicted the financial crisis, then by God they must have according to the sheep. Main Street acts inherently naïve as they automatically associate media exposure with credibility instead of spending adequate time to verify track records and look for bias and agendas.
The reputation of these hacks spreads like a virus. The more they are seen and heard, the more Main Street attaches credibility to their views. Before you know it, everyone thinks Meredith Whitney, Nouriel Roubini, Marc Faber, Robert Shiller, Peter Schiff, Harry Dent, Robert Prechter, Martin Weiss and countless others predicted the financial crisis.
More Ridiculous Market Predictions from Dent
Today I wanted to mention another individual who has been positioned by the media as a credible expert despite his dreadful track record. Perhaps you have heard of Harry Dent. Like the vast majority of this crew of mass marketers, Dent serves as a much better contrarian indicator than anything else.
Like others in the media club, Dent knows how to tell a good story. Combined with media status, Dent has been successful in terms of selling his books and newsletters. However, his track record has been another story. As you will see, similar to the other so-called experts who regularly appear in the media, Dent is a professional marketer and speaker, not a credible economist or investment expert.
Remember, real experts don’t spending most of their time giving media interviews, hitting the speaking circuit, making YouTube videos, and other marketing activities. These tasks are the focus of individuals like Robert Kiyosaki and Tony Robbins. But they are also the focus of Harry Dent, Peter Schiff and the others.
A few weeks ago, Harry Dent came out in the media with warnings of a coming market collapse over the next few months. Below I summarize Dent’s “predictions.”
The stock market could top 13,200 by late summer then collapse to 3000.
Oil and gold have already topped out and are headed down.
Real estate will go down by 50-60%.
Before I demonstrate how Dent is no different than the rest of the marketers who have been positioned as experts, let’s have a look at these “latest predictions.”