Roubini Says the Euro Zone is Destined to Fail

Nouriel “Dr. Doom” Roubini has long been in the limelight given some of his bold predictions on the economy. But what keeps him at the forefront is the accuracy of a number of his statements and forecasts for the future, so when Roubini gives an opinion on the future, people tend to listen. Aside from the fact that Roubini was prepared for and betting on QE3, he has also predicted a “perfect storm” for the global economy in 2013. He combined stalling U.S. growth, debt troubles in Europe, a military conflict in Iran, and a Chinese slowdown as the main culprits of what he feels is a coming recession [for more economic news and analysis subscribe to our free newsletter].

Roubini has now gone even further on the European facet of his perfect storm, stating that the nation bloc is destined to fail. As many economists feel, Roubini is on board with the idea that easing programs do nothing more than delay the inevitable and that the euro zone will eventually suffer from its massive debt crisis. There have been multiple packages put into place to help countries like Greece, Italy, and Spain, but with the troubles coming on multiple fronts, it seems that the euro crisis is a tough one to solve. Most look to Germany to lead the way through the fog as they have long been one of the most powerful economies in the world.

Instead, Mario Draghi has taken in the reins in a Bernanke-like fashion. To be fair, Draghi’s open-ended asset purchasing program came a few days before the Fed’s, but Helicopter Ben has long been a proponent of debt purchasing. For the time being, Roubini feels that the asset purchasing will prop up markets and economies but that they will have tosuffer a contraction at some point in the future. Given that Dr. Doom has been frighteningly accurate with some of his past predictions, investors may be a bit more wary of the failing European nations [see alsoWill a Euro Collapse Wreck Your Commodities Allocation?].

For those who buy in to Roubini’s predictions, there are a number of commodity investments that can help you outpace global economic troubles. SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEARCA:GLD) and iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV) offer unmatched liquidity for both gold and silver investing, as these two precious metals tend to outperform equities in times of struggle. Another interesting play comes from the tobacco world, as this consumer commodity is propped up by relatively inelastic demand. Stocks like Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) and Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) will be good plays.

This article was originally written by Jared Cummans, and posted on CommodityHQ.