Economist Reveals How to Turn Political and Financial Upheaval to Your Advantage

November 16, 2017

WRITER

Economist and bestselling author Harry S. Dent, Jr. joined Glenn on radio Thursday morning to discuss his new book, Zero Hour: Turn the Greatest Political and Financial Upheaval in Modern History to Your Advantage.

Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below. Here's the teaser for his latest book:

About the Author

Harry S. Dent, Jr. studied economics at Harvard in the ‘70s, but found it vague and inconclusive. He became so disillusioned by the state of his chosen profession that he turned his back on it. Instead, he threw himself into the burgeoning new science of finance where identifying and studying demographic, technological, consumer and other trends empowered him to forecast economic changes. He is a lecturer, bestselling author and founder of Dent Research, which publishes several influential financial newsletters.

GLENN: All right. I've got somebody that's going to scare the hell out of you.

STU: Wow. I can't wait.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. Kids will mess with the environment. Actually we're looking at priorities. Harry Dent is the author of a new book Zero Hour, which I've read. And it will scare the hell out of you. Scare the hell out of you. Because it has a lot of charts and graphs and everything else.

Harry has been on with us many times. He's the guy that predicted the 2008 struggle and what we're going through right now. This is a book on how to turn the greatest political and financial upheaval in modern history to your advantage. Harry Dent Jr. is with us now. Hello, Harry, how are you?

HARRY: Oh, hi, Glenn, good to be back.

GLENN: So, Harry, I know you have a lot of charts and graphs, but I have a lot of questions that I think you're going to be able to actually answer for me.

There is a story that I saw on Business Insider and a couple of other places today, that the stocks are flashing ominous signals. Not seen since the financial crisis. And one of them is the -- Stu, help me out. The Hindenburg omen. And the other is the Titanic Syndrome. A, do you find any credibility in either of those, and what do they mean if you do?

HARRY: The Hindenburg, yes, I do track that. And there have been many, many more signals on that. Much more than usual. That is not a guarantee of a crash. The more important thing I've been looking for, Glenn, because you know I've been talking that this bubble is going to burst at some point. It's going to burst violently when it does. It's the only way it happens in history. The Dow transports are tanking while the Dow Industrials keep edging up. That is a big diversion, and the small --

GLENN: Wait. What does -- what does that mean to the average person? Explain that.

HARRY: Well, it means -- okay. If the industrials are going up, it means, okay. We're still producing stuff. But the transport is not going up. Yeah, but we're not distributing them. People aren't buying it.

And when the small caps go down, in which they've down recently. They're down 4 to 5 percent, with the Dow up. It says, hey, the smart money, who buys small caps because it takes more sophistication, they're getting out of the market, while the everyday person, which buys Apple and GE and all the big names, that's what they know. They're piling -- those are the two diversions I've been looking for. They are starting to show warning signals.

You know, I take that more seriously than the Hindenburg. Because the Hindenburg can happen a lot and still not get a crash, although it's a sign it is more likely.

This is the biggest thing I look for. And this is starting to happen. I think we're in a topping process between October and December and January. And I think the thing, Glenn, that I warn people -- because everybody says, well, Harry, if this things going to burst, I'll just wait till there are signs and when my stockbroker tells me to get out. First of all, your stockbroker will never tell you to get out.

GLENN: Yeah.

HARRY: When bubbles crash, and I've averaged every major bubble in the last century -- the first crash tends to be 41 percent in two and a half months, so it's too late when that happens. Better to get out a little early and be cautious. So I think these warning signs are saying that we are getting close. If you look at the chart -- I mean, this is just like -- we said in November, as soon as Trump got elected against the odds -- and, of course, we were warning that was likely because of this populist movement we were seeing happen. We said, hey, we're going to have another 20, 25 percent rally.

Even though I had been talking about -- this market says, it is going up. It is expecting a big tax cut, but we've seen that rally. And it has been 20 to 25 percent since then. So I think this is -- we're getting very near atop. And when this thing goes and people say, oh, governments won't let this happen. Governments create the damn bubble. You know, they created the roaring 20 bubble. And then the Great Depression.

The fed was created in 1913. And then 20 to 30 years later, you get the Roaring Twenties and the greatest depression of all time, because they boosted up the economy artificially, by cutting rates, cutting rates. Making money cheap. Free money always creates bubbles. Well, that's what they've done here. So for somebody to say, oh, the central banks, the federal reserve won't let this market crack, they're the ones that have created this extreme thing. Stressed the market so far. And when they go, it's like a rubber band, going to the extreme. I'm just telling people, I didn't create this bubble. Get out of the way.

GLENN: Okay. So, Harry, we've been warning about this for a long time. I thought we were not as resilient as we are.

I expected this thing to come crashing down just because of the money printing and the extraordinary levels of debt, which -- not just the government debt. But the debt that we have as Americans. Our credit card debt is, what? 119 billion. And -- and we're starting to default on those. And people have jobs now.

I expected this to go a lot earlier. Why do you think it's this time?

HARRY: Well, you know, it's hard to argue with $14 trillion of free money being created. It's hard to argue with mortgage rates that are 4 percent, when they ought to be 6 percent. Car loans are, you know, two to 3 percent, and they ought to be six to seven.

I mean, everybody is getting a free lunch here. And stocks are going up 20 percent a year, instead of the normal 7 percent adjusted for inflation. You know, everybody is getting a free lunch. You know, mortgage -- housing is going up 10 percent, instead of the 3 percent inflation. So everybody is getting a free lunch. And it makes everybody kind of high. I don't know a better way to say it. And people don't want to hear the bubble is going to burst. I get lambasted all the time. And I'm like, look, I'm just the messenger. I've studied history. Bubbles build. They're totally recognizable.

I have a whole bubble model that tells you how it's going to build, how much it's going to crash, how long it's going to take to crash. There's nothing black swan about these bubbles at all. It shouldn't be a surprise. People go into denial because they don't want it to end because everybody is getting something for nothing. So governments don't want it to end.

GLENN: So you put -- the reason why your book I think is accurate on at least diagnosing the problems is you have several chapters on -- on revolution. And the world is going into revolution.

HARRY: Yeah.

GLENN: Most people are not -- they're absolutely denying what is happening. Even the Trump thing was a revolution. And it has just begun. It's only going to get worse. Tell me -- give me the highlights of your take on what's happening globally.

HARRY: Well, you know, I had been talking about for a long time, yeah, we're going to have a crisis financially just because we've got bubbles and debt bubbles. And these things are totally predictable. But I've also been saying we have a 250-year revolution coming. The biggest thing to happen in all of modern history was when Sally met Harry. Free market capitalism met democracy, in the late 1700s.

I mean, that's the biggest thing that's happened ever. And this is going to happen again. And the reason I pushed this book. And this book focuses more on the political side of what I'm talking about, is because I've been waiting for signs. It was Brexit. And it was the surprise Trump election. That told me, okay. The political side of this is starting to happen. And this is going to take decades. We've got a backlash against globalization. The special interests have total taken over democracy. Central banks have totally taken over free market. We're destroying the golden goose that made us rich in the first place, since the late 1700s. And all of modern progress has come since those two things came together. This is going to be that big or bigger. And this is going to go down in history. And people aren't going to realize it until later. We're telling you now. This is going to happen. It's going to be unsettling. It's going to change a lot of things.

You know, we really need a bottoms-up economy. Get out of all this top-down management. All this social and financial engineering, where economists try to create La La Land, with three or four percent growth and two percent inflation, which is the worst thing you can do for the economy. You have no innovation when that happens. Japan has had no innovation for 30 years. No growth for 30 years. Because they've been living off of quantitative easing.

GLENN: But, Harry, you and I know that, a lot of this audience knows that, but that is not where the world is headed. They are -- trust me, even Donald Trump, we go through a Great Depression, and Donald Trump will be FDR. He will.

He will not cut it back. He will become the great state that will take care of everyone. And if he won't do it, there will be somebody there to promise it. Socialism is popular now.

HARRY: It is. And we've been living on more than that for now nine years, with all this quantitative easing and free money.

The problem, Glenn, is this, governments created this. Central banks created this bubble, extended it, took it to extremes. And when it burst, it is going to be out of control. It is going to be impossible to stop. And they're going to lose credibility. My theory is central banks, of course they're going to want to -- they're going to want to do ten times the quantitative easing. It's just people are going to say, hey, you already did that, and it failed. Why would we believe you this time?

I think governments are going to lose credibility. I think central banks are going to lose credibility. And that's a good thing. That's -- that's the revolution, when people say, cut off their heads. We don't want anymore of this baloney.

GLENN: We're going to get into the he says there's six triggers. And then there's some safe havens for you. We'll get into that here in just a second. Harry Dent Jr. the name of the book is Zero Hour.

Critical theory destroys truth and justice

Editor's note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Critical theory once stood out as the absurd progressive notion that it is. Now, its maxims are becoming an integral part of ordinary political discourse. The more you repeat a lie, the more you will believe it, and this is the very dangerous place in which we find ourselves today.

Take this critical theory maxim as an example: If we desire justice, we must sometimes champion what may appear superficially as injustice. It's a necessary evil, if you will, the necessity of “controlled injustice.”

By using truth through fabrication and controlled injustice for justice, we’ll save the republic. We’ll be acting in a noble way.

This definition of justice is defined by the “oppressed,” not the “oppressor.” It is the greatest happiness for the greatest number. To achieve this justice, however, we need to endorse acts on occasion that, while seemingly unjust, serve a higher purpose. It will ensure the stability and the unity of our republic, and this may manifest in ways that seem contradictory to our values. But these are the necessary shadows to cast light on “true justice.”

And isn’t that what we are all after, anyway?

Here’s another critical theory maxim: Sometimes we find the truth through fabrication. Our pursuit of truth sometimes requires a strategic use of falsehoods. The truth is a construct that has been shaped and tailored to promote the well-being of the collective.

We sometimes need to accept and propagate lies designed by "the system” — not the old system, but the system that we’re now using to replace the old to get more justice through injustice and more truth through fabrication.

We’re engaging in a higher form of honesty. When we fabricate, it’s for the right reason. We are reaching up to the heavens fighting for a higher sort of honesty. To fortify the truth, we occasionally must weave a tapestry of lies. Each thread, essential for the greater picture, will ultimately define our understanding and ensure our unity under this infallible wisdom.

The election is coming up. Does this maxim sound familiar? Many think it is imperative that we secure our republic through election control to maintain our republic. Sometimes, we might need to take actions that by traditional standards might be questionable.

The act of securing elections requires cheating. It's not mere deception. It is a noble act of safeguarding our way of life. We're on the verge of losing this democracy, and without deception, we will lose it.

To ensure it doesn't fall into the hands of those we know will destroy it, we may have to make a few fabrications. We're fabricating stories to be able to control or secure the republic through our elections. By using truth through fabrication and controlled injustice for justice, we'll save the republic. Therefore, we'll be acting in a noble way. Stealing an election from those who wish to harm our society is truly an act of valor and an essential measure to protect our values and ensure the continuation of our just society.

If we desire justice, we must sometimes champion what may appear superficially as injustice.

I know it's a paradox of honor through dishonor. But in this context, by embracing the dishonor, we achieve the highest form of honor, ensuring the stability and the continuation of our great republic.

Let this be heard, far and wide, as a great call to patriotic action. As we advance, let each of us, citizens of this great and honorable republic, consider these principles. Not as abstract or paradoxical but as practical guides to daily life. Embrace the necessity of controlled injustice, the utility of lies, the duty to secure our electoral process, and the honor and apparent dishonor. These are not merely strategies for survival. They are prerequisites for our prosperity.

We all have to remember that justice is what our leaders define, that truth is what our party tells us. Our republic stands strong on the values of injustice for justice, honor through dishonor, and the fabrication of truths. To deviate from this path is to jeopardize the very fabric of our society. Strength through unity; unity through strength.

We've heard this nonsense for so long. But now, this nonsense is becoming an instituted reality, and we are entering perilous times. Don't be fooled by the narratives you will hear during the march to November. Never let someone convince you that the ends justify the means, that a little bit of injustice is needed to achieve a broader, collective vision of justice, that truth sometimes requires fabricated lies and narratives. If we do, justice will cease to be justice, truth will cease to be truth, and our republic will be lost.

Top 5 MOST EVIL taxes the government extorts from you

David McNew / Staff | Getty Images

"In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." -Ben Franklin

The injustice of taxation has been a core issue for Americans since the very beginning of our country, and it's a problem we have yet to resolve. This belief was recently reignited in many Americans earlier this month on tax day when the numbers were crunched and it was discovered that the government was somehow owed even more hard-earned money. As Glenn recently discussed on his show, it's getting to be impossible for most Americans to afford to live comfortably, inflation is rising, and our politicians keep getting richer.

The taxpayer's burden is heavier than ever.

The government is not above some real low blows either. While taxes are a necessary evil, some taxes stretch the definition of "necessary" and emphasize the "evil." Here are the top five most despicable taxes that are designed to line the IRS coffers at your expense:

Income Tax

Joe Raedle / Staff | Getty Images

"It would be a hard government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their income." -Ben Franklin

On February 24th, 2024 we hit a very unfortunate milestone, the 101st anniversary of the 16th Amendment, which authorized federal income tax. Where does the government get the right to steal directly out of your paycheck?

Death Taxes

Dan Mullan / Staff | Getty Images

"Now my advice for those who die, Declare the pennies on your eyes" -George Harrison

Not even in death can you escape the cold pursuit of the tax collector. It's not good enough that you have to pay taxes on everything you buy and every penny you make your entire life. Now the feds want a nice slice, based on the entire value of your estate, that can be as much as 40 percent. Then the state government gets to stick their slimy fingers all over whatever remains before your family is left with the crumbs. It's practically grave-robbery.

Payroll

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

"The power to tax is the power to destroy." -John Marshall

What's that? The nice chunk of your paycheck the government nabs before you can even get it to the bank wasn't enough? What if the government taxed your employer just for paying you? In essence, you make less than what your agreed pay rate is and it costs your employer more! Absolutely abominable.

Social Security

VALERIE MACON / Contributor | Getty Images

"We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much." -Ronald Reagan

Everyone knows the collapse of Social Security is imminent. It has limped along for years, only sustained by a torrent of tax dollars and the desperate actions of politicians. For decades, people have unwillingly forked over money into the system they will never see again.

FICA

Kevin Dietsch / Staff | Getty Images

"What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue." -Thomas Paine

FICA is the payroll equivalent of Social Security. Your employer has to match however much you pay. It means it costs your employer even more to pay you—again, you'll NEVER see that money. At this point, are you even working for yourself, or are you just here to generate money for the government to frivolously throw away?

5 DISTURBING ways World War III will be different from previous wars

Oleg Nikishin / Stringer | Getty Images

Has World War III begun?

Over the weekend, Iran launched an unprecedented attack against Israel involving over 300 missiles and drones. This marked the first direct attack on Israel originating from Iranian territory. Fortunately, according to an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, 99 percent of missiles and drones were successfully neutralized by Israeli defense systems. Iran claimed that the operation against Israel had concluded and that no further offensive was planned, although the possibility of another attack is still present.

This has left many people, including Glenn, wondering the same thing: did we just witness the start of World War III?

Glenn recently had a World War II Air Force Veteran as a guest on his TV special, who told stories of the horrors he and his brothers-in-arms faced in the skies over war-torn Europe. This was a timely reminder of the terrors of war and a warning that our future, if it leads to another world war, is a dark one.

But, if Glenn's coverage of the Iranian attack revealed one thing, it's that World War III will look nothing like the world wars of the twentieth century. Long gone are the days of John "Lucky" Luckadoo and his "Bloody Hundredth" bravely flying their B-17s into battle. Over the weekend, we saw hundreds of autonomous drones and missiles clashing with extreme speed and precision over several different fronts (including space) simultaneously. This ain't your grandfather's war.

From EMP strikes to cyber attacks, here are FIVE ways the face of war has changed:

EMP attacks

New York Daily News Archive / Contributor | Getty Images

The entire modern world, on every level, is completely dependent on electricity. From your home refrigerator to international trade, the world would come to a grinding halt without power. And as Glenn has pointed out, it wouldn't even be that hard to pull off. All it would take is 3 strategically placed, high-altitude nuclear detonations and the entire continental U.S. would be without power for months if not years. This would cause mass panic across the country, which would be devastating enough on its own, but the chaos could be a perfect opportunity for a U.S. land invasion.

Nuclear strikes

Galerie Bilderwelt / Contributor | Getty Images

Nuclear war is nothing new. Many of us grew up during the Cold War, built fallout shelters, and learned to duck and cover. But times have changed. The Berlin Wall fell and so did the preparedness of the average American to weather a nuclear attack. As technology has advanced, more of our adversaries than ever have U.S. cities within their crosshairs, and as Glenn has pointed out, these adversaries are not exactly shy about that fact. Unfortunately, the possibility of an atomic apocalypse is as real as ever.

Immigration warfare

Nick Ut / Contributor | Getty Images

The strategy of strangling an opposing nation's economy to gain the upper hand is a wartime tactic as old as time. That's why the Border Crisis is so alarming. What better way to damage an opponent's economy than by overburdening it with millions of undocumented immigrants? As Glenn has covered, these immigrants are not making the trek unaided. There is a wide selection of organizations that facilitate this growing disaster. These organizations are receiving backing from around the globe, such as the WEF, the UN, and U.S. Democrats! Americans are already feeling the effects of the border crisis. Imagine how this tactic could be exploited in war.

Cyber shutdowns

Bill Hinton / Contributor | Getty Images

Cyber attacks will be a major tactic in future wars. We've already experienced relatively minor cyber strikes from Russia, China, and North Korea, and it is a very real possibility that one of our adversaries inflicts a larger attack with devastating consequences on the United States. In fact, the WEF has already predicted a "catastrophic" cyber attack is imminent, and Glenn suggests that it is time to start preparing ourselves. A cyber attack could be every bit as devastating as an EMP, and in a world run by computers, nothing is safe.

Biological assault

WPA Pool / Pool | Getty Images

Don't trust the "experts." That was the takeaway many of us had from the pandemic, but something less talked about is the revelation that China has manufactured viruses that are capable of spreading across the globe. We now know that the lab leak hypothesis is true and that the Wuhan lab manufactured the virus that infected the entire world. That was only ONE virus from ONE lab. Imagine what else the enemies of America might be cooking up.

The government is WAGING WAR against these 3 basic needs

NICHOLAS KAMM / Contributor | Getty Images

The government has launched a full-on assault against our basic needs, and people are starting to take notice.

As long-time followers of Glenn are probably aware, our right to food, water, and power is under siege. The government no longer cares about our general welfare. Instead, our money lines the pockets of our politicians, funds overseas wars, or goes towards some woke-ESG-climate-Great Reset bullcrap. And when they do care, it's not in a way that benefits the American people.

From cracking down on meat production to blocking affordable power, this is how the government is attacking your basic needs:

Food

Fiona Goodall / Stringer | Getty Images

Glenn had Rep. Thomas Massie on his show where he sounded the alarm about the attack on our food. The government has been waging war against our food since the thirties when Congress passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938. They started by setting strict limits on how many crops a farmer could grow in a season and punishing anyone who grew more—even if it was intended for personal use, not for sale on the market. This sort of autocratic behavior has continued into the modern day and has only gotten more draconian. Today, not only are you forced to buy meat that a USDA-approved facility has processed, but the elites want meat in general off the menu. Cow farts are too dangerous to the environment, so the WEF wants you to eat climate-friendly alternatives—like bugs.

Water

ALESSANDRO RAMPAZZO / Contributor | Getty Images

As Glenn discussed during a recent Glenn TV special, the government has been encroaching on our water for years. It all started when Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, which gave the government the ability to regulate large bodies of water. As the name suggests, the act was primarily intended to keep large waterways clear of pollution, but over time it has allowed the feds to assume more and more control over the country's water supply. Most recently, the Biden administration attempted to expand the reach of the Clean Water Act to include even more water and was only stopped by the Supreme Court.

Electricity