Wonkette just put up a BBC clip in which market trader Alessio Rastani predicts a global economic collapse that makes the last three years look like a picnic. He says, in part: “In less than 12 months, the savings of millions of people are going to vanish, and this is just the beginning.” There’s nothing like a rainy Monday for watching a terrifying prediction of doom, right?

32 replies on ““The governments don’t rule the world. Goldman Sachs rules the world.””

  2. Greece is gonna go TU; that’s only a matter of time. Whether it takes the EU down with it is another matter entirely. And, even if it does, that’s only going to increase the value of the dollar, so I can’t agree with this whole “doom and gloom” scenario. It should be interesting, though.

  5. This guy is the problem with the markets – his vision is only to this year’s bonus. Agree with @2, Greece is toast, but I don’t see why that should bring down the EU or the US.

  6. He’s just desperately trying to get people to buy his investments from him before we lynch all the landlords. Oh wait, Tea Party idiots want to lynch the ones trying to give them bread and give the landlords thrones. He’s right about one thing: money is the new government. We need to stop looking for ways to make it better and start looking for ways to make a truce. Cause this is class war and we’ve already lost.

  7. This guy sounds like a Grade A sociopath. And a douche. Though I guess those tend to go hand-in-hand.

    He dreams of another massive global recession because HE is prepared to make money off the inevitable misery and loss of security for hundreds of millions? Fuck him.

    “Investors and traders don’t care about any of that . . .” well maybe you should. A total collapse and destruction of modern society would mean lots of wealthy assholes having meaningless money and a riot at their doorsteps.

  8. Forbes just put up a cute post that includes Mr. Whoever’s freakout, entitled “New Study, Old News: Stock Traders Are Psychopaths”.

    The hubbub is just starting to pick up after NZZ Online’s report yesterday on a University of St. Gallen study that shows stock market traders display similarities to certified psychopaths. The study, authored by MBA students Pascal Scherrer and Thomas Noll, compares decisions made by 27 equity, derivative and forex traders in a computer simulation against an existing study of 24 psychopaths in high-security hospitals in Germany. Not only do the traders match their counterparts, but, as Der Speigel succinctly puts it, the “stockbrokers’ behavior is more reckless and manipulative than that of psychopaths.”

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisbarth/2…

  10. @7, your last sentence is dead-on. Those genius market traders would be pretty fucking stupid to keep sucking life until the host is dead.

    This guy is basically proposing a run on the banks, which will *definitely* cause a collapse. So yeah, the prophet will be right when he causes his prediction to come true.

  11. This guy is just being honest. Traders trade, that’s what they do. If this guy is saying he’s making his bets predicated on the failure of global markets, he’s just giving you the unvarnished situation he plans to exploit.

    Of course he’s going to make money off the crash–that’s what he does. Just because he sounds like a heartless sociopath doesn’t mean he isn’t right about what’s coming.

  13. Yes, and tech stocks will continue to double and housing prices will keep going up forever. Does anyone really believe these confident declarations of what will happen in the future of The Market? The predictions of random financial “experts” are worth less than what you pay for them. It is better to look in the paper at your horoscope for a predictor of what will happen in the future.

  14. Yes, and tech stocks will continue to double and housing prices will keep going up forever. Does anyone really believe these confident declarations of what will happen in the future of The Market?

    The predictions of random financial “experts” are worth less than what you pay for them. It is better to look in the paper at your horoscope for a predictor of what will happen in the future.

  15. Apocalyptic doomsayers never have anything to lose.

    Sounds like a good line of work to me, I just need to find something to predict doom about. Maybe heat death or the sun turning into a red giant.

  17. This guy has a message:

    – Fear is governing the market
    – Here is something to be really afraid about: your savings are going to disappear in the next year
    – I am a trader, and I make money whether or not you do
    – Did I mention I am a trader?

    Not to say he doesn’t illustrate a couple of valid points, but geting a trader to comment about an economic stimulus plan is a bit like going to Hannibal Lecter for your self esteem issues.

  18. Yep, sure enough, he dominates several pages of Google search results, and his Facebook “likes” and hit counts skyrocketed after he went on BBC and made “shocking” comments. I’m sure terrified individual investors, people who really can’t afford to lose whatever they have stashed, are flocking to this guy’s website looking for salvation.

    Mission accomplished.

  19. Hey, at least he’s honest with his motives. Better than our so-called progressive President, who talks populism but bows at the altar of Wall Street.

  21. @19, if any human being were able to predict macroeconomic movement with Rastani’s timing and certainty, that individual would (or at least could) possess immense wealth. Rastani is a salesman who is playing an economist on TV. I don’t consider that to be honest.

    Further, I cannot fathom why anyone should attempt to compare Rastani with Obama. Rastani, as far as I know, has no plans to run a political campaign, and Obama, as far as I know, isn’t pimping a Forex training seminar. There’s no common ground on which to weigh moral equivalence.

  22. Good thing I sold all my immaterial and fake investments, including my fake paper money, for gold, which I keep in an ammo case buried under the third rock from the left on the north side of the back yard of my house at 13928 15th Ave NW. When the end comes, I’ll be livin’ the life with Dr. Ron Paul, but all of you people with play money are gonna be screeeeeewed

  23. “@9, you mean European capitalism?”

    It’s europe’a bloated public sector that’s gonna get chopped down to size. One in five Greeks work for the state (‘work’ being a loosely applied term in Greece). Ten years from now that will be cut in half bill bet a testicle on that.

  24. @2, @7, @10 are correct.

    But we all know Greece will be kicked out of the EEC common EU currency, and at least 1 or 2 other countries – probably Italy and either Ireland or Portugal.

    This is actually a good thing, since they lied to get in the EU common currency in the first place.

  25. By the way, if you’re in your 20’s or 30’s, this is a great time to invest 10% of your income in no load broad index funds (or high dividend value funds) and never have to worry about your retirement for the rest of your life.

  27. Wow …. reality is that hard to swallow? Those of you decrying this guy in the video, clue time, he’s actually right. The economy cannot be bullied like other aspects of life, and bullying is all a government can do. All this was projected a long time ago, and the economists have been correct so far, the governments have not been correct yet. But, a market crash is actually a good thing, as he said, it allows even us poverty level people the opportunity to invest and correct mistakes we have made on finances in the past. I’m looking forward to it, will be keeping an eye on the next Microsoft-like company with a dream, well maybe a few just in case.

    Will, the Euro is a good idea, the US is larger than all of the European countries, there are very good reasons to have a single currency in Europe, because traveling between countries there is like traveling between states here. A common currency only opened up tourism and people seeing family in other countries.

  32. The Yes Men wish to commend Mr. “Alessio Rastani” for his masterful performance as “trader” on BBC World yesterday. Mr. Rastani’s real name is Granwyth Hulatberi; he once appeared on CNBC MarketWrap as a “representative” of the WTO. Well done, Granwyth! You’re getting better and better. Just kidding. We’ve never heard of Rastani. Despite widespread speculation, he isn’t a Yes Man. He’s a real trader who is, for one reason or another, being more honest than usual. Who in big banking doesn’t bet against the interests of the poor and find themselves massively recompensed—if not by the market, then by humongous taxpayer bailouts? Rastani’s approach has been completely mainstream for several years now; we must thank him for putting a human face on it yesterday. If you’d like to see the human face of the human perspective—the perspective of the 99% victimized by our demented and out-of-control financial system—come join the occupation of Wall Street. Michael Moore did so last night, and pointed out that in America, it’s just 400 people who own as much as most of the rest of us put together—and that when we decide we really want to change the rules of the game, those 400 people won’t be able to do squat about it.

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