Professor declares past, future predictions

Dr. Ravi Batra, Southern Methodist University professor, presented causes and solutions to the economic crisis at a recent lecture at Brookhaven College.

During his lecture March 3 titled “The Present Economic Crisis and Its Solution,” Batra spoke to approximately 200 government students and faculty.

Batra said political corruption and cutting interest rates are the causes, and raising wages is the solution to the crisis.

Batra is the author of two international The New York Times best sellers. In October 1978, he was ranked as the third in a group of 46 superstar economists selected from all American and Canadian universities by the Economic Enquiry journal.

Batra said he forecasted the downfall of communism from Russia in his book published in 1978. He said he wrote that the Chinese variety of communism could last a little longer but that it would eventually fall.

Batra said he predicted aspects of the current economic crisis in his latest book, “The New Golden Age: The Coming Revolution Against Political Corruption and Economic Chaos,” in 2006.

He said he predicted the stock market crash, the housing market downfall and credit crisis in the book. He also foresaw a minority president would be elected. He said the new president would bring change.

Batra said President Obama is a nice man, but he selected experienced people with old ideas.

“If the government is not careful, recession will turn into depression,” he said.

Batra said the bail out is a waste of government time and money. Banks are getting most of the bail out benefits, not the U.S., he said.

Batra said the solution is to reverse the policy, increase people’s wages and create jobs. He said creating debt won’t solve the problem, and outsourcing destroys jobs. Wages are low because of corrupt politicians, he said.

He said if the government raised wages, consumer spending would rise in a natural and permanent way.

Batra said supply and demand should be equal. He said if there is too much supply and not enough demand, there will be overproduction, and that is what is happening right now.

“Raising minimum wage doesn’t hurt small business or the economy,” Batra said. “It creates consumer demand so that business can sell their goods.”

Robert Little, government

professor, said he enjoyed Batra’s presentation and required students to write an essay about it.

“I liked his recommendation of dealing with economic crisis, Little said. ” … He raised a lot of provocative ideas [and we] need to think about the trade policy. Is globalization good or bad for the United States?”

Batra said his forecasts are posted on his Web site, www.ravibatra.com.

Source: http://www.brookhavencourier.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&uStory_id=b4208926-0012-4c15-9b77-905b98a72a2a