World Future Society Welcomes Finance Expert Bob Chernow To Its Board of Directors

BOB CHERNOW

5.10. 2011. (Bethesda) Bob Chernow, a finance expert and futurist from the Milwaukee area, has joined the World Future Society's board of directors.

Chernow is perhaps best known for successfully predicting the S&L/Mutual Savings Bank crisis years before its massive impact on the U.S. stock market.

"Deregulation and the lack of oversight led me to predict the collapse of the industry – something that I tried to prevent in a series of speeches and articles to the industry,” he wrote in an article for BizTimes, where he serves as an online columnist. “In addition, the 'guns and butter' policies of President Lyndon Johnson and President Richard Nixon’s imposition of price controls (without making changes in the economy) made inflation inevitable. The lack of any response made me understand what it means to be a 'Cassandra.' You can see the future, but you are cursed that no one believes you!"

Chernow later predicted the late 2007 subprime mortgage collapse by examining non-enforcement of bank regulation, fraud in appraisal and credit reports, the use of interest-only loans, and ARMs, among other factors.

Prior to entering business and finance, Chernow worked in the area of intelligence at the Special Forces Warfare Center (Green Berets) and later in Army Intelligence, both during the Vietnam War. He created a spread pattern analysis system to project enemy positions. He explains that, because he didn't have access to a computer at the time, he "used an index card system of all intelligence gathered over a decade, true or false. It allowed us to develop an institutional history and to use uneven data to project what would occur." He calls this his first foray into the field of foresight methods and futurism.

Chernow has played an active role in the Society for decades, having attended every World Future Society conference since 1980. He hopes to focus on grants and donations.

Founded in 1966 as a nonprofit educational and scientific organization in Washington, D.C., the World Future Society has members in more than 80 countries around the world. Individuals and groups from all nations are eligible to join the Society and participate in its programs and activities.

Contact:
Patrick Tucker
Senior editor
THE FUTURIST magazine
Director of Communications
The World Future Society
ptucker@wfs.org
443-756-4205 (Direct)