The writers behind The Simpsons have demonstrated an nearly supernatural potential to foretell future occasions, together with some important financial developments that left monetary specialists scratching their heads.
Right here’s a have a look at seven instances Springfield’s best noticed the financial future with eerie accuracy.
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1. JCPenney’s monetary downfall
In 2007, The Simpsons hinted at hassle for conventional retail once they portrayed a tragic, empty mall with JCPenney as one of many struggling anchor shops. In a scene that appeared like easy comedy on the time, Homer walked by means of a abandoned Springfield Mall commenting on how brick-and-mortar retail was changing into irrelevant.
Quick ahead to Might 2020, and JCPenney filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety after years of declining gross sales and mounting debt. The retail large’s struggles in opposition to e-commerce giants like Amazon eerily mirrored the ghostly mall corridors depicted in Springfield over a decade earlier.
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2. Eep! The Greece monetary disaster
In a 2012 episode titled “Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson,” a information ticker on the backside of a Fox Information parody confirmed the headline “Europe places Greece on eBay.” Whereas performed for laughs, this joke predicted the extreme monetary disaster that will engulf Greece within the following years.
The nation’s debt disaster peaked in 2015, requiring huge European Union bailouts and harsh austerity measures on Greek residents. The Simpsons’ joke about promoting off the nation wasn’t removed from the fact of Greece having to denationalise many nationwide property to satisfy creditor calls for.
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3. Ay caramba! AI taking jobs
Lengthy earlier than ChatGPT and automation anxiousness grew to become dinner desk conversations, a 1998 episode confirmed automated employees changing people on the Springfield Nuclear Energy Plant, with Homer and his colleagues discovering themselves out of date.
AI’s influence on labor markets more and more shapes at present’s financial panorama. Oxford economists estimate that almost 47% of American jobs are at excessive threat of automation within the coming many years – a priority The Simpsons voiced many years earlier than it grew to become mainstream.
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4. Leisure hit for Barbie film
Greta Gerwig’s comedy hit Barbie grew to become the most important field workplace success of 2023. It grossed over $1.4 billion and took the world by storm, enveloping popular culture in pink hysteria. Margot Robbie’s main efficiency grew to become immediately iconic.
Whereas the movie was a vital success that earned plaudits for its social commentary, The Simpsons initially pictured a world engulfed in a doll daze within the Season 5 episode “Lisa vs Malibu Stacy.”
The episode not solely predicted the cultural and financial phenomenon of a doll-centered narrative with feminist undertones but in addition precisely portrayed how a film may generate huge income when marketed accurately.
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5. Hey Hey Youngsters–Predicted Nobel Prize in Economics
Within the 2010 season 22 premiere, Nobel Prize winners are introduced within the episode “Elementary Faculty Musical,” which reveals a confused crowd as Krusty the Clown is asserted to have gained the Peace Prize.
A freeze gag reveals a “Betting Pool” card containing Milhouse’s and different college students’ predictions for the Nobel Prize; one in every of these is Milhouse’s wager for the Nobel Prize in Economics – Bengt R Holmstrom. The Finnish economist would go on to win the award in 2016.
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6. Walt Disney merger with twenty first Century Fox
In 1998, within the episode “When You Want Upon a Star,” Homer met Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger and determined to work for them. Throughout his telephone name to twentieth Century Fox executives, Homer urged an thought for a film. The subsequent scene confirmed that Walt Disney now owned twentieth Century Fox.
The scene is now among the many well-known issues The Simpsons predicted, as in March 2019, Walt Disney introduced a $71 billion merger with twenty first Century Fox. In 2021, Disney and Fox settled on streaming rights for the movies that Disney owned. In different phrases, this settled what motion pictures could be solely on Hulu/Disney+ or HBO Max and the deadline for the settlement.
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7. Donald Trump’s presidency, D’oh
Within the now-famous episode “Bart to the Future” from 2000, Lisa Simpson turns into president and mentions inheriting “fairly a funds crunch from President Trump.” Whereas the episode was meant as an absurdist joke on the time, Trump’s precise presidency is inflicting profound financial implications.
The Simpsons’ throwaway line a few Trump presidency grew to become their most mentioned prediction, with its financial ramifications persevering with to reverberate by means of markets upon Trump’s second election.
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Might XRP be subsequent?
Bullish XRP merchants now hope one other one in every of its obvious forecasts may come true. A broadly circulated chalkboard gag attributed to The Simpsons — although by no means featured in any official episode — urged that XRP would surpass $589.
With Trump again within the White Home, XRP has lately surged in value, and a few optimistic buyers are betting it may attain that degree.
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