Economic bubbles burst, and when this one does, the "crash of a lifetime" will follow, economist Harry Dent predicts.
Dent made his initial projection in December, and despite a roaring stock market, says he has seen nothing to make him change his mind, according to Fox Business.
"The government created this bubble 100 percent... totally artificial, injecting a drug to artificially perform stronger. And again, everything from human life to history shows, you don't get something for nothing, and bubbles always burst… it's a much, much higher possibility than anybody gives it,” he said, predicting that what comes next will be worse than the Great Recession of 2008.
He noted that the current economic cycle “would have been, without all this $27 trillion stimulus, 2008 to 2022."
Instead, the federal government pumped money into the economy to stave off a day of reckoning.
"We have never seen [the] government sustain a totally artificial bubble for a decade and a half, and see what happens after that," he said. "But I can tell you, there has not been one bubble, and this is far larger and longer, one major bubble in history that has not ended badly, period."
"And again, this bubble has been going 14 years. Instead of most bubbles [going] five to six, it's been stretched higher, longer. So you'd have to expect a bigger crash than we got in 2008 to '09,” he said.
Dent said he expects the crash to hit hard in early to mid-2025
"I think we're going to see the S&P go down 86% from the top, and the Nasdaq 92%. A hero stock like Nvidia, as good as it is, and it is a great company, [goes] down 98%. Boy, this is over," he said.
He said a government-fueled bubble has never happened before.
"In 1925 to ‘29, it was a natural bubble. There was no stimulus behind that, artificial stimulus per se. So this is new. This has never happened," Dent said. "What do you do if you want to cure a hangover? You drink more. And that's what they've been doing."
Dent knows his opinions clash with the mainstream.
"I just say what I see and, frankly, don't give a damn if people don't like it, because you [have] got to choose: are you going to tell the truth, or are you going to make people happy?" he said, adding, "A lot of other bubbles in history just do not have the steepness or the magnitude. Why? We've never realized the power that central banks can have to just print money out of thin air."
"This thing has gotta blow,” Dent said, according to Business Insider.
"We've got to see a crash of about 40% to say, OK, the bubble's finally let off the steam. And once it gets that much momentum, I think it's hard to stop," he said.
"Bubbles are not followed by recessions. They're followed by depressions," Dent said. "I can tell you there has not been one bubble — and this is far larger and longer — one major bubble in history that has not ended badly, period."
Economist Albert Edwards is also warning that what has been going up could come crashing down, according to Business Insider.
"As GDP growth disintegrates, equity investors should be worried," Edwards said in a recent note to clients. "That recession might yet arrive after all."
