terms... an outlier, an eccentric, or merely someone who was voicing the “minority opinion.” The majority, you see, comprised the ranks of experts who worked for and even led those institutions with the most to lose if, and when, the bubble popped. Their mood was “no worries.” Outfits like Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae... and so on. Soon, the economy was sandbagged by a collapse none of them saw coming or had taken precautions against. These things do happen, even to the best of economies. And experts can’t always be right. But for some things, they are almost always wrong. Particularly with the big, important surprises. More than a year before the 2016 Republican Convention, Ann Coulter took part in one of those tedious, televised panels where experts talk politics. With great self-assurance, they explain to the plebes in the audience how things are and will be. Who will be nominated, and why. And of course, who will then go on to win the election. People watch and, presumably, pay attention. And why not? These people are experts after all. And if you can’t trust experts... When Coulter predicted Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee, the rest of the panel and the studio audience erupted in a burst of condescending laughter. You could almost read thought bubbles over
It seems that even if you can’t win ‘em all, you ought to win at least some. Especially if you are an expert. The nation recovered, of course. Things picked up where they had left off, especially with regard to the economy... It sailed on winds of deficit spending, easy credit, and compulsive real estate speculation. What could possibly go wrong? Nothing, according to elite opinion. Oh, there were voices of warning and even alarm. For example, as explored in the September American Consequences magazine, Congressman Ron Paul warned the House Financial Service Committee that mortgage subsidies were dangerously distorting the U.S. housing market, years before the 2008 crisis. And financial publisher Porter Stansberry published a letter titled “Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Are Going to Zero: How to Protect Yourself from the Greatest Financial Calamity of Our Lives” in June 2008... mere months before they plunged from $25 a share to less than $1. And not all of the warnings were so easily dismissed as those of contrarians Dr. Paul and Stansberry. “Crackpots,” some experts said. Of course, one doesn’t write off legendary investor Warren Buffett
easily. Instead, the experts labeled him with more polite “crackpot”
American Consequences
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