In September 1999, two American economists followed Cassandra’s tradition. James Glassman and Kevin Hassett published a book titled Dow 36,000, which predicted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (the Dow) would reach 36,000 by 2004. The Dow was at 10,936 then, which meant that it would have to rise 329% in five years to fulfil the prediction.
Cassandra, a princess in Ancient Greece, had a gift that would get her a job in stockbroking today: She had the power to predict the future.
Unfortunately, the princess was also cursed. No one believed her predictions. For instance, she foresaw that the Greeks would enter Troy by hiding in a massive wooden horse. Though she was proved right, her forecast was initially scorned. Her own family even imprisoned her as a nutcase.
