QUESTION: I requested GOK who thinks the inventory market will crash. It gave a listing of individuals all anticipating a crash. It additionally famous that Buffet was bearish and J.P. Morgan was calling for a 20% drop. The explanations have been “Excessive valuations, notably in tech and AI, are in comparison with historic bubbles (e.g., dot-com, railroads). Recession fears, pushed by tariffs, excessive rates of interest, and shopper debt, are seen as potential catalysts. Ongoing conflicts (e.g., Center East, Russia-Ukraine) and commerce coverage shifts add volatility.”
It even mentioned:
“Samuel Benner’s Historic Chart (Referenced on Medium):
- Prediction: A 150-year-old monetary cycle chart by Samuel Benner, cited in a Medium article, has traditionally predicted main crashes, together with the Nice Melancholy, dot-com bust, and 2020 COVID crash. It suggests warning indicators for a possible crash in 2025.”
You appear to be standing alone. What do you consider the Benner chart?
SY
ANSWER: That’s good. The bulk is at all times improper. Simply as Rogoff mentioned, the forecasts at Davos are at all times improper. Most of those folks forecast markets primarily based on private opinion, and so they are typically very myopic. They don’t take a look at the world as a result of they consider they’ll forecast in isolation.
The declare that Benner’s Cycle predicted the Nice Melancholy is fake. The chart that was revealed within the Wall Road Journal altered Samuel Benner’s cycle, which was primarily based on agriculture. It predicted a excessive in 1927, not 1929, and the low in 1930, not 1932. Claims that Benner’s work requires a crash in 2025 are flat-out improper. His goal years can be 2019 and 2035, primarily based on his knowledge, not the altered, faux information revealed by the WSJ in 1933.
Benner was a farmer. Making use of his cycle to the economic system as we speak is not efficient, any greater than the Kondratieff Wave. Each have been primarily based on the economic system, with agriculture being the #1 sector. Because the Industrial Revolution unfolded, these cycles stay related for commodities, however not the economic system. Agriculture, when Benner developed his mannequin, accounted for 53% of the economic system. Right now it’s 3%. In the event that they have been alive as we speak, they’d have used the companies business. Capital flows are nonetheless pointing to the greenback, given the prospect of warfare and sovereign defaults exterior the USA.
