Economic pessimism can prove accurate and self-fulfilling. Gloomy talk chills the “animal spirits” of investors that John Maynard Keynes identified as the accelerator of booms and busts.

Investment guru Peter Schiff, who CNBC has dubbed “Dr. Doom,” has prophesied a flight from the dollar abroad and inflation, recession, even a depression at home. As the author of “Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse,” Schiff has a vested interest in gloom. Still, he’s made money as a bear, and it may pay to listen to him now.

This hour, On Point: debating the state of the economy with Dr. Doom.

-Jack Beatty

Guests:

Peter Schiff, investment advisor, president of Euro Pacific Capital, and author of “Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse.”

Ken Rogoff, professor of public policy and economics at Harvard University, chief economist and director of research at the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2003.

Tags: economics