Gary Shilling On Why Underwater Homeowners Will Double From 23% to 40% Shortly

Arguably nothing can ever be quite as amusing as the Michael Pento-Simon Hobbs incident from July in which the now brainwashed Brit told the recent EuroPac addition that he was just "peddling the power of nightmares" (not even Pento getting booted off by Erin Burnett, although the fact that some idiot uttered the now legendary phrase "nothing is in a bubble when people want to buy it" certainly gives the clip brownie point for retention in the annals of CNBC's worst all time bloopers) when all the outspoken critic of the . Alas, today's interview of Gary Schilling by the same British H1-B/Green card holder comes nowhere close, however it certainly should be highlighted. Following up on Diana Olick's presentation of Clear Capital surprising announcement that home prices had dipped 6% in just two months (we can't wait for Cramer's take on this development even as housing "bottom" last June), and warning that fraudclosure will certainly cause prices to dip even more, it is Gary's turn to "peddle some nightmare powers" to Hobbs. To wit: the CEO of Gary Shilling & Co. sees home prices tumbling another 20% over the next few years, and the number of underwater mortgages nearly doubling from 23% to 40% (meaning nearly half of America will likely strategically default as nobody has any initiative to pay down their mortgage when they know there is no equity value left). And even when Hobbs tries to pull the old Pento one-two, and tells Shilling that "you do admit in your own writing that very few people would agree with you" to which the old fox answers: "what forecast is really worth much if everybody agrees with a consensus: it doesn't add much value..." Sorry, Gary, you are preaching to the wrong propaganda station: this is easily the first time they have ever encountered such a radical and subversive idea. (more)