Larry Swedroe writing for CBS Money Watch –

Nouriel Roubini gained fame for accurately predicting the financial crisis that began in the fourth quarter of 2007. As his descriptions of the crisis proved to be accurate, he became a major figure in the U.S. and international debate about the economy, regularly appearing on CNBC. People pay attention to what Roubini has to say.

According to Wikipedia, Roubini spends much of his time shuttling between meetings with central bank governors and finance ministers in Europe and Asia. In 2009, Prospect Magazine voted him No. 2 on its “list of the world’s 100 greatest living public intellectuals,” Foreign Policy magazine ranked him No. 4 on its list of the “top 100 global thinkers,” and Time magazine him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He has appeared before Congress, the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Economic Forum at Davos.

Mr. Swedroe goes on in the article to criticize Roubini and talk down economic predictors of all sorts.

I don’t agree. Roubini is very good at what he does. No one paid any attention when he predicted our current morass.

Are we going to make the same mistake twice?

James Pilant