Here are some of the worst predictions that were made about 2008. Savor them -- a crop like this doesn't come along every year.
1 k; C4 U6 w4 D1 T 1. "A very powerful and durable rally is in the works. But it may need another couple of days to lift off. Hold the fort and keep the faith!" -- Richard Band, editor, Profitable Investing Letter, Mar. 27, 2008) B' i2 L2 [# a( d: L
At the time of the prediction, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 12,300. By late December it was at 8,500.% R' C' w1 s0 H; T* z: ^
2. AIG (NYSE:AIG) "could have huge gains in the second quarter." -- Bijan Moazami, analyst, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, May 9, 2008
6 H3 S1 r$ n5 r7 q4 f& V1 Y AIG wound up losing $5 billion in that quarter and $25 billion in the next. It was taken over in September by the U.S. government, which will spend or lend $150 billion to keep it afloat.
- r$ B( q4 y% P+ j 3. "I think this is a case where Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) and Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) are fundamentally sound. They're not in danger of going under I think they are in good shape going forward." -- Barney Frank (D-Mass.), House Financial Services Committee chairman, July 14, 2008& H4 c! Z0 l. a. p8 W# @2 ]- ]
Two months later, the government forced the mortgage giants into conservatorships and pledged to invest up to $100 billion in each.5 }) j& k* g" |' P% B
4. "The market is in the process of correcting itself." -- President George W. Bush, in a Mar. 14, 2008 speech
7 `6 I6 X, N1 O, `1 ]0 S6 q F For the rest of the year, the market kept correcting and correcting and correcting.
2 O0 \9 U: @5 Y9 Q. A) J1 F0 d0 c 5. "No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble." -- Jim Cramer, CNBC, Mar. 11, 2008
3 q+ Z& ~. Z3 y% v& y Five days later, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) took over Bear Stearns with government help, nearly wiping out shareholders.
; v1 _: {( l0 Z( p 6. "Existing-Home Sales to Trend Up in 2008" -- Headline of a National Association of Realtors press release, Dec. 9, 2007
" D+ R1 l7 ?& O5 s On Dec. 23, 2008, the group said November sales were running at an annual rate of 4.5 million -- down 11% from a year earlier -- in the worst housing slump since the Depression.9 Z F; g, o7 M3 w+ {4 n" I/ P
7. "I think you'll see (oil prices at) $150 a barrel by the end of the year" -- T. Boone Pickens, June 20, 2008
+ [6 |; h2 [( A9 Z Oil was then around $135 a barrel. By late December it was below $40." b7 y5 [' s3 q3 C! t6 Z+ A
8. "I expect there will be some failures. I don't anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system." -- Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, Feb. 28, 2008% Y& ]& V2 ~7 D! e
In September, Washington Mutual became the largest financial institution in U.S. history to fail. Citigroup (NYSE:C) needed an even bigger rescue in November.
, F1 A% n7 f, s4 E. p* g( ^. }: Q 9. "In today's regulatory environment, it's virtually impossible to violate rules." -- Bernard Madoff, money manager, Oct. 20, 2007
/ }$ v5 r5 F& [. I About a year later, Madoff -- who once headed the Nasdaq Stock Market -- told investigators he had cost his investors $50 billion in an alleged Ponzi scheme.
( z m, o! X$ x% Q5 K. d& D4 I 10. A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win, the title of a book by conservative commentator Shelby Steele, published on Dec. 4, 2007.
* Q( C$ E5 R+ m% B8 T0 S Mr. Steele, meet President-elect Barack Obama. |
发表于 2012-8-16 08:12:37
