Hindsight is the most exact of all sciences. Most people who live their life backwards have a miserable life. Having been around for a while, I tend not to look back, especially not at negative events. Much better to embrace uncertainty since everything going forward from here is uncertain. We can’t do anything about the past but we certainly have more control over our future. And looking at the next few years, it does seem that these are going to be extremely turbulent both economically, socially and politically.
In spite of not normally looking back, I have had a look at a Newsletter that I wrote in July 2009 when gold was just over $900 and the Dow 9,100. It was called “The Dark Years are here” and received quite a lot of attention at the time. This was at the end of the sub-prime crisis when the Dow had just declined by 60% and gold had risen from $250 in 1999 to $925.
I am clearly putting my head on the block here because like with most forecasts, the timing of my predictions contained many errors. But we must remember that protecting risk is more important than being right on timing.
At the end of the article I am drawing some important conclusions.
The Dark Years are here – written July 2009
In this newsletter we will outline what is likely to be the devastating effect of the credit bubbles, government money printing and of the disastrous actions that governments are taking. Starting in the next 6 months and culminating in 2011-12, the world will experience a series of tumultuous events which will be life changing for most people in the world. But 2011-12 will not be the beginning of an upturn in the world economy but instead the start of a long period of economic, political and social upheaval that could last for…