Looking gloom...

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is
now forecasting a revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within
four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing
concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in
predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine
considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be
a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches,
and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

"We're going to see the end of the retail Christmas....we're going to see a fundamental
shift take place....putting food on the table is going to be more important that
putting gifts under the Christmas tree," said Celente, adding that the situation would
be "worse than the great depression".

"America's going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for,"
said Celente, noting that people's refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a
recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of
the crisis.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime
mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November
last year that the following year would be known as "The Panic of 2008," adding that
"giants (would) tumble to their deaths," which is exactly what we have witnessed with
the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar
would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 percent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in
living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by
plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report
last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich
and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would
mean, "The world's middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and
skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest," and that, "The
middle classes could become a revolutionary class."

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in
America.

"There will be a revolution in this country," he said. "It's not going to come yet, but
it's going to come down the line and we're going to see a third party and this was the
catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in
this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen."

"The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That's going to be the big one
because people can't afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax.
You're going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop."

"It's going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the
likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around
the country and we're going to see many more."

"We're going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in
them as well. It's going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to
be used to. It's going to come as a shock and with it, there's going to be a lot of
crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last
1929 Depression, people's minds weren't wrecked on all these modern drugs -
over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge
underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody's
comprehension."

The George Washington blog has compiled a list of quotes attesting to Celente's
accuracy as a trend forecaster.

"When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente."
- CNN Headline News

"Gerald Celente has a knack for getting the zeitgeist right."
- USA Today

"There's not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he's
talking about."
- CNBC

"Those who take their predictions seriously ... consider Gerald Celente and the Trends
Research Institute."
- The Wall Street Journal

"Gerald Celente is always ahead of the curve on trends and uncannily on the mark ...
he's one of the most accurate forecasters around."
- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Mr. Celente tracks the world's social, economic and business trends for corporate
clients."
- The New York Times

"Mr. Celente is a very intelligent guy. We are able to learn about trends from an
authority."
- 48 Hours, CBS News

"Gerald Celente has a solid track record. He has predicted everything from the 1987
stock market crash and the demise of the Soviet Union to green marketing and corporate
downsizing."
- The Detroit News

"Gerald Celente forecast the 1987 stock market crash, 'green marketing,' and the boom
in gourmet coffees."
- Chicago Tribune

"The Trends Research Institute is the Standard and Poors of Popular Culture."
- The Los Angeles Times

"If Nostradamus were alive today, he'd have a hard time keeping up with Gerald
Celente."
- New York Post