Roubini Sees More Economic Gloom Ahead

What do you think of President Barack Obama's progress so far?

I have to give credit. In about six weeks, they have done three major things: the $800 billion stimulus package, a mortgage program that is much more than the previous Administration did and a bank plan that, however flawed, at least has the benefit of not having another bailout of the banks.

Noted as an economic forecaster, as early as 2005, Roubini wrote, "'home prices were riding a speculative wave that would soon sink the economy.' Back then the professor was called a Cassandra. Now he's a sage." In September, 2006, he announced to a skeptical International Monetary Fund (IMF) that an economic crisis was brewing. "In the coming months and years, he warned, the United States was likely to face a once-in-a-lifetime housing bust, an oil shock, sharply declining consumer confidence and, ultimately, a deep recession," according to the New York Times. He accurately foresaw "homeowners defaulting on mortgages, trillions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities unraveling worldwide and the global financial system shuddering to a halt," the NY Times even labeling him "Dr. Doom." In hindsight, IMF economist Prakash Loungani has called him "a prophet," and the vice chairman of AIG said "Roubini was intellectually courageous, and he called the shots correctly."

Because his descriptions of the current economic crisis have proven to be accurate, he is today a major figure in the U.S. and international debate about the economy. Prospect Magazine in January, 2009, voted him #2 on its "list of the world’s 100 greatest living public intellectuals." He has recently appeared before Congress, the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Economic Forum at Davos. Having become a sought-after adviser, he spends much of his time shuttling between meetings with central bank governors and finance ministers in Europe and Asia."