The Financial Crisis: Economists And Politicians Who Got It Right (PHOTOS)

Financial prognostication has a notoriously shoddy track record (We're looking at you, Jim Cramer!).

But did anyone actually see the financial crisis coming?

Well, sort of. There were a number of economists, pundits and even a few politicians who either predicted aspects of the crisis or had eerily prescient things to say about the pre-credit crunch, pre-housing bust economy.

We've compiled a list of some of the most notable soothsayers of financial doom. Check out our photos and vote for your favorite prophet of our still-lingering financial apocalypse. If you know of any other thinkers who predicted to the crisis, leave them in the comments section and we'll add them to the list.

Nouriel Roubini, NYU Professor And Chairman Of RGE Monitor

The economist they call "Dr. Doom" didn't earn his nickname by shilling Wall Street encomiums. Roubini was one of the most vocal critics of the pre-bubble American economy. Witness this gem from New York magazine way back in 2006: "...since 1997, real home prices have increased by about 90 percent. There is no economic fundamental—real income, migration, interest rates, demographics—that can explain this. It means there was a speculative bubble. And now that bubble is bursting."

comments(164)

Rate This Photo

(Current Rank: loading...)

Obvious Prophetic

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Now Make Your Own Top 5

And Share with Your Friends

Average rating: loading... out of 10

Current Top 5 Slides

loading...

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

Share Your Top 5 Slides

Users Who Voted on this Slide

loading...

loading...

HuffPost Community Top 5 Slides:

«»

 | Become a fan

Share Your Top 5 Slides

 

Get HuffPost Business On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[PNG]

12:18 PM on 10/02/2009

Attention: 'Democrats' and 'Republicans'

The fascism that has taken since 1946 to build was helped by the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, paving the way for our rights as humans to be summarily sacrificed for total dominance in revenue and territory. It's corporate fascism that is your enemy..not 'Democrats' or 'Republicans'. Your 'party' is an illusion, and a distraction.

'Elections' are no more legitimate than merely choosing a 'product' (candidate) the you choose by 'brand' (Democrat/­­­Republic­a­n­). They are all on the take, and we have no choice.. as the choice is also an illusion as well.

It is the New INGSOC ('1984', George Orwell) : Weakening of public will through misdirecti­­­on/misin­f­o­rmatio­n, ignorance and sloth. By causing hardship, or enabling it, it addles ones ability to think clearly by using fear as an aggregate.

Both parties suck , as they are in the pocket of Corporations.

The more you folks wake up out of your self-induced coma, the more pissed you will be. In stating that however, many folks, both 'conservative', and 'liberal' don't want to face the reality that their 'representative' is a walking facade; a corporate product designed to support the policies that will aide in their revenue expansion. Especially at the expense of the populace.

We matter not at all. Your 'vote' matters not here, and makes no difference in the kabuki theater of politics.

[Torrentlover]

09:05 PM on 09/08/2009

Where are Jim Rogers and Bill Fleckenstein?

[liberal user]

06:05 PM on 09/08/2009

Obama isn't doing enough with regards to executive pay and bank & wallstreet regulation

good articles: http://www.iamned.com ...

[josephXY]

11:51 PM on 09/07/2009

The Peter Schiff video is mentioned repeatedly by other commentators. It is a must - see for many reasons (the bunch of pundits who were so incredibly wrong and are to see a major reason). Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

and, fitting to that, a follow-up video, with Bill Maher in a comedy show, having Art Laffer as guest
who was pretty wrong in his forecasts, asking him about a bet he made with Peter Schiff (to see
in the other video), forecasting and so on. I like the way comedians handle such matters / issues.
Both videos make up some kind of very easy tutorial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3WjgKUf-kA

[John Mainstream]

09:03 PM on 09/05/2009

One of the biggest questions regarding health insurance reform is: “How are we going to pay for it”. If the money is taken from the economy by taxing the rich and businesses, as well as with an unfunded mandate of compulsory health insurance coverage, millions of jobs will be lost. Instead, use the same strategy used for TARP and the stimulus package…have the Federal government borrow the money. Provide subsidies to the uninsured and to businesses to help make health insurance more affordable. To pay for this spending, use strategies for faster GDP growth, such as reducing the long-term capital gains tax rate to zero.

[raydot]

11:00 AM on 09/05/2009

Where is NNT?

[boghall]

04:59 AM on 09/05/2009

Outstanding in Britain for forseeing the housing collapse (2003), for being repeatedly over the last few years miles ahead of almost all commentators on what's likely to happen and what in the end would have to be done, and for consistently explaining in intelligent and lucid yet everyday language what's going on, is Vince Cable MP, the Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman. Mind you, he has an economics PhD and was formerly Chief Economist of Shell oil. He's now the most desired candidate for Chancellor among the British public, though unlikely to get the job because he's in the wrong political party.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/5219221/Interview-Vince-Cable-Britains-best-loved-politcian.html
It's perhaps a bit much to derogate the entire economics profession - remember it's 'the dismal science': and remember too the popular saying that the market has successfully "predicted nine out of the last three recessions."
The (London) Times has a similar list, which overlaps with HuffPo's.
http://timesbusiness.typepad.com/money_weblog/2008/10/10-people-who-p.html

[Digital Subway]

02:37 AM on 09/05/2009

I don't believe this. After all this bubble bursts and then people start saying that it was him who was the most vocal one advocating/warning about the burst.

Who had heard about him or his ideas before this all happened?

[siasina]

12:05 AM on 09/05/2009

Peter Schiff was right. He's my number 1. They were laughing at him all this time like he was a fool, now he's right.

Watch his videos, he knows what he is talking about. He's great.

[Aztecwrior805]

04:28 PM on 09/04/2009

Well I see the obvious of having Peter Schiff in the top 3.. but how can we leave out Rep. Ron Paul, Jim Rogers and Gerald Celente? These three have been warning about all of this mess we are in for years!

[jekyll]

04:31 PM on 09/04/2009

I agree 100%! You also can throw in ALL of the Austrian economists!!!!!!!!!

[Torrentlover]

09:08 PM on 09/08/2009

http://mises.org/

[sirale]

08:05 PM on 09/04/2009

Ron Paul is an 1diot! he has make right predictions based on the wrong analysis. He think things are going wrong because the policies have to be more towards the right.

[siasina]

12:04 AM on 09/05/2009

Obviously you haven't listened to what Ron Paul has to say.

[DomainDiva]

03:45 PM on 09/04/2009

Ryan conveniently forgets the August 2007 Cramer 'they know nothing" rant on CNBC with Erin Burnett.

[EBDave]

01:03 PM on 09/04/2009

Unfortunately, while Peter Schiff was mostly correct about the excesses of the US economy he was mostly incorrect about the economies of the other countries he invested in.

[jekyll]

04:34 PM on 09/04/2009

How is that? His calls in foriegn markets and commodities have been spot on for the past 9 years! Of course foriegn markets got hit last year. However, the same markets have gained 90%-100% this year compared to 45% here in the states.

[EBDave]

05:56 PM on 09/04/2009

Here's what Schiff actually said was going to happen.
1) US Equity Markets Will Crash.
2) US Dollar Will Go To Zero (Hyperinflation).
3) Decoupling (The rest of the world would be immune to a US slowdown).
Investment strategy: Buy foreign equities and commodities and hold them with no exit strategy.
The plain truth is that global markets crashed simultaniously, some of them harder than the USA. If those markets are up further than the US this year it may be because they fell further last year. We're also still patiently waiting for the dollar to revalue to zero.

[springbaby]

01:00 PM on 09/04/2009

Look how Peter Schiff is treated by O'Donnell on MSNBS.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=peter%20schiff%20healthcare%20reform%20msnbc&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv#

[springbaby]

12:57 PM on 09/04/2009

They praise these guys for getting it right but continue to poo-poo their warnings now...

[FreidaPeeple]

12:45 PM on 09/04/2009

Who is John Gault?