I guest co-hosted Rants & Raves yesterday, and had a nice conversation with Hal Blackwell, author of Secrets of the Skim, a book that shows the corruption of Wall Street from the inside. Blackwell worked in the insurance business before becoming a Merrill Lynch financial advisor, and wrote his book to expose what its subtitle calls “the raw greed and cultural rot harbored in the belly of Wall Street’s most iconic institutional management industry.”
He advised his clients to go to cash in 2008 before the stock market crash, and that got him into trouble with Merrill Lynch because it resulted in lower fees for the big brokerage firm. The inherent conflict of interest in the financial business was an interesting topic, but I think Blackwell’s thoughts on where the market is going from here were more interesting. He got it right in 2008, after all.
So, where’s his money now? On the sidelines. He thinks the next crash is around the corner and that we’re heading into some very bad territory ahead. He even thinks we may get a major war out of this mess before it’s over, something we’ve considered recently on this site, as well.
You can hear Blackwell’s comments beginning at 31:58, and his market forecast specifically at 44:00, here.
