Tampa author Harry S. Dent Jr. predicts 'Great Crash' ahead

Economic soothsayer Harry S. Dent Jr. 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


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