How Accurate Were My Forecasts from Last Fall?

evoAs I've consumed media widely these past few months I've realized that, in large part because I am a futurist and not an economist, that I have been right, while the "consensus of experts" have often been wrong. I look at broad and long-term trends and this current recession is part of a larger historic transition going on. It is a reorganizational recession between two ages, the Information Age and the Shift Age. Perhaps it is this long-term viewpoint that has provided me with an accuracy missing from the "economic experts."

In a column entitled "The Collapse of the Third Economic Wave" dated 10/15/08, I proclaimed that the third wave of consumer spending had collapsed, that "Thrift would be the new extravagance" and that "thrift would be the new behavior and the cool thing to do." Since that column, the savings rate in the U.S. has gone from -0.5% of income to 6.7% and of course mainstream media has been full of stories about thrift.

In the column "A Shift in Consciousness has Occurred" I first wrote about what I now call a scarring. We have all been scarred by the events of the last year. We realize now that the only thing we can control is what we save. This scarring is not as bad as the scarring of the generation that lived through the depression, but it is a scar that will last for years if not for a decade. I have been saying for a year that the recovery from this recession will not be led by the consumers of the world. Recent stories in the media have been tinged with surprise about how retail sales are down. No surprise to this futurist!

A third column I wrote on 10/22/09 entitled "Future Economic Forecast," while general in nature, did have some correct forecasts:

-Debt will become the new four letter word around the world. People will move away from debt;

-We will witness one of the worst holiday retail seasons in history on a year to year comparison basis;

-In January and February there will be a number of retail chain bankruptcies, particularly in the apparel sector and the middle market of department stores. Many chains will avoid bankruptcy but will close stores and retrench to survive;

-Some media companies, given the loss of retail advertising and a contraction in ad spending, will declare bankruptcies, greatly downsize or seek acquirers or merger partners. Even media companies not reliant upon advertising will see some contraction;

-Discretionary spending will be based upon need and will largely occur only when items are deeply discounted. Postponement of purchases will be a common theme;

-The stock market will remain volatile. History will look back on the period of late 2008 to mid 2009 as the bottom of the fear-based equity market we are now in.

Of course the accuracy of my forecasts provides value to my readers, audiences and clients. More importantly, it must be said that in times of great transformation, and now is one of those times, a futurist might have a better handle on the economic landscape than more traditional "economic pundits."

[Note to readers: I have recently launched the paid subscription "Shift Age Trend Report" which will be the only place I now make my forecasts. In the Trend Report, my forecasts are grouped as short-term 0 -9 months, medium-term 9 months to 2 years, and long-term 2-5 years. The Trend Report is semi-annual and an attempt to reinvent publishing with an interactive, media rich PDF that will provide subscribers with a look into the future. To get a free copy of volume 1, courtesy of this blog you will need the following username and password:

-Username: DavidHoule
-Password: ShiftAge

Type in the url: www.theshiftagetrendreport.com and enter the above. Once there you can click on the download bar. Make sure you have also downloaded the free Adobe 9 software to experience the state of the art interactivity. I hope that you both enjoy this free download and that you take advantage of the discount subscription offer in the download.]