Ravi Batra: Difference between revisions

Batra predicted a full scale depression in the USA in 1990; it did not happen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci9-4.pdf|title=Now and Then: The Evolution of Loan Quality for U.S. Banks, Volume 9, Number 4|author=Kevin J. Stiroh and Christopher Metli|publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of New York|date=April 2003|accessdate=January 10, 2012}}</ref> Batra's reputation rose in Europe on account of his correct prediction for the downfall of communism when he was awarded the Medal of the [[Italian Senate]] in 1990. Batra continued to publish bestselling works in Japan with economic malaise lasting until the early 2000s. In the USA, however, his sales began to drop and his booming side-line career as a media commentator on matters economic and financial began to sour. In 1993, Batra received the [[Ig Nobel Prize]] in economics. Batra's views on capitalism have not been popular among mainstream economists, but these views may be changing in the wake of the [[Late-2000s financial crisis|financial crisis]] in the USA and other developed economies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=7369|title=Prophet of Boom (and Bust) - Now will they listen to Ravi Batra?|author=Kendall Anderson|publisher=Ft Worth Weekly|date=December 17, 2008|accessdate=January 10, 2012}}</ref>

In 1993, Batra published ''The Myth of Free Trade: The Pooring of America'' in which he argued that [[free trade]] has enabled the rich to become richer but most people became poorer.  Batra predicted that NAFTA would create unemployment in Mexico  and lower wages in America. He urged the breakup of large firms, a raise in tariffs, and a drastic cut in defense spending to turn the country around.  In his view, domestic monopolies generate inequality and poverty and global trade damages the industrial base and the global environment.