I've seen two advertisements for so-called "well known" financial analysts and reporters purporting to have inside information on grave threats to the economy. I visited the websites advertised in the commercials just to see what all the hype was about. It turned out both websites were sales pitches for high priced newsletters containing investment advice. Both were products of the same company, Weiss Research, Inc.

The first sales pitch was given by Martin Weiss. He claimed to have correctly predicted several ups and downs in the economy months or years in advance of the actual event.

The second was by Larry Edelson, who appears to be the editor for one or more of the publications being advertised. He also claimed to have predicted many of the same events.

I know shameless self-promotion when I see it and I have no intention of buying a subscription to their publication but just because they toot their own horn doesn't mean they aren't telling the truth. So what I'm wondering is:

Did they accurately predict the event's they claimed to? Do the free rating lists they publish accurately reflect those companies financial health? Do they appear to give sound financial advice?

I tried to search for background information on Weiss and Edelson but everything I found pointed straight back to one of the numerous websites they control. Even the Wikipedia article was under review for deletion because there was evidence it had been written by someone associated with the company and didn't meet Wikipedia’s guidelines for accuracy and verifiability.