From: "Zack Exley" <zee at ix.netcom.com> Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 14:22:01 -0500
anyone want to give me some comments on this press release?
Entrepreneur unveils Web site and business plan devoted to a market crash Contact: Zack Exley 617-216-5688 zee at ix.netcom.com
Inspired by Harvard Economist John Kenneth Galbraith's book "The Great
Crash", a new Web site has come online with an unusual plan to profit from a 1929-style stock market catastrophe.
"This is the only business plan that will profit from the coming crash--no matter when the crash comes," said the Web site's creator, Zack Exley, the computer programmer and Web prankster who created the parody site gwbush.com.
"Market crashes are as inevitable as they are unpredictable. thegreatcrash.com plays on that fact to profit before, during and after the next great 1929-style crash," Exley said.
thegreatcrash.com sells T-shirts and other items that predict the crash in the year 2000. Each year the crash does not happen, the e-commerce site will send out replacement items free of charge to all it's customers. The new items will be identical to the old ones, except for predicting the crash in the new year.
How, for the price of one shirt or poster, will the Web site send out new items each year? "Simple," says Exley, "I'm investing the cost of next year's items in the market! As long as stocks continue to skyrocket, I'm covered. When the crash comes, I loose that money, but that's OK because I won't have to send out any more merchandise." He said that with investor expectations so high, the market will have to either continue is rapid rise or face a terrible crash. "Just like in 1929, there is no longer any middle ground."
Exley says he plans to profit from the initial sales, but he is also counting on a dramatic appreciation in the value of his merchandise after the crash. "Imagine an old poster dated Jan. 29 warning 'Beware: The crash is coming!' How much would that be selling for on eBay today? This is my retirement plan." Exley is 30 years old.
All the items feature the same design, a graph that compares stock market valuations in the 20's to those in the 90's, with the headline, "The Great Crash will burst your bubble in 2000." The banner features cartoons that put words into the mouths of Alan Greenspan and CNBC market commentators.
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