Economist Sold Millions of Books Predicting "The Greatest Depression the World Has Ever Seen" in 1990. The 90s Became the Greatest Bull Market Instead.

Professor Ravi Batra became one of the best-selling economists of all time with "The Great Depression of 1990: Why It's Got to Happen, How to Protect Yourself." The book hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in 1987, spawned a sequel ("Surviving the Great Depression of 1990"), and terrified millions of Americans into pulling money from markets.

His methodology? A mix of 30-year and 60-year recession cycles dating back to the 1780s, plus the philosophical teachings of an Indian guru named P.R. Sarkar. When Milton Friedman was asked about the book, he said he "would not touch it with a ten foot pole."

What actually happened in the 1990s: The S&P 500 rose over 400%. The tech boom created more millionaires than any decade in history. Unemployment dropped to 4%. GDP grew consistently. The only depression that occurred was among readers who followed Batra's advice to sell everything and wait it out.

Batra went on to write "The Crash of the Millennium" in 1999, predicting another depression. He's still predicting one.