Tampa author Harry Dent predicts 'Great Crash' ahead

By Jeff Harrington, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, August 28, 2011

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Stock market prognosticators Harry Dent, Jr., left, and Rodney Johnson of HS Dent, co-authors of a new book coming out in September. Dent is probably best known for two previous biz books: one in 1992 predicting a stock boom that decade and one in the early 2000s in advance of the stock market drop of ‘08. This time the duo are predicting a crash. [Cherie Diez | Times]
	[CHERIE DIEZ | Times]

Economic soothsayer Harry S. Dent takes issue with those who call him the ultimate pessimist, Tampa Bay's version of Dr. Doom. After all, this was the same guy who in 1992 wrote The Great Boom Ahead, accurately forecasting the stock market and economic surge of the '90s. Back then, Dent says, conventional wisdom was that Japan was trumping the United States. He was ridiculed as a "perma-bull." Now the tables have turned. Dent is bracing for an economic crash that will make the financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath appear tame. Part of the blame falls on banks, politicians and spendthrift consumers who couldn't say no, Dent says. But he also blames the unstoppable tide of demographics. Aging baby boomers who drove the economic prosperity of the '90s during their peak spending and earning years will as retirees suck capital out of the market. As a result, he sees a deflationary spiral in the next few years when both prices and incomes drop dramatically. Housing prices in Florida could tumble another 30 to 35 percent; the Dow Jones Industrial Average could plummet as low as 3,000, down 70 percent from current levels. "Stockbrokers don't see it. They're going to get killed," Dent said. "They're going to tell people, 'Hold on. Don't panic. The markets will come back. We've got you diversified.' And (stocks) are going to hell in a handbasket across the board and they're going to shoot that broker."...