Two pertinent topics on CNNMoney

[HFWR]

Ask the Expert: The meaning of 'living within your means' - Feb. 19, 2009

Quote:

...many Americans are now having to face after more than a decade of frenzied borrowing and spending -- namely, the need to downsize a lifestyle that's proven to be unsustainable.

Philip Tetlock on expert predictions on the economy - Feb. 18, 2009

Quote:

My research certainly prepared me for widespread forecasting failures. We found that our experts' predictions barely beat random guesses - the statistical equivalent of a dart-throwing chimp - and proved no better than predictions of reasonably well-read nonexperts. Ironically, the more famous the expert, the less accurate his or her predictions tended to be.

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Ironically, the more famous the expert, the less accurate his or her predictions tended to be.

That was true for Elaine Garzarelli after she "called" the 1987 crash, and God willing it will be true of Roubini as well.