Comments on: Does Google Have a Crystal Ball That Lets You Predict the Future? http://www.walterbristow.com/2009/06/10/does-google-have-a-crystal-ball-that-lets-you-predict-the-future/ ... and musings on the law, taxes, insurance, and a variety of other topics Sun, 23 May 2010 11:16:08 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Robert http://www.walterbristow.com/2009/06/10/does-google-have-a-crystal-ball-that-lets-you-predict-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-174 Robert Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:31:39 +0000 http://www.walterbristow.com/?p=1042#comment-174 Very interesting Walt. Did a few queries myself to check out Google Trends and to see if I could get a feel for the (anecdotal) evidence and your hypothesis. Here's what I found. estate planning - same slightly negative trend as retirement planning. social security - slightly negative sloping graph. financial security - slightly negative sloping graph but with more volatility debt - nearly flat graph. credit card debt - trend: 2004 slightly negative, very positive during last few weeks, 2005 slightly negative first half, slightly positive second half, very positive during last few weeks, 2006 slightly positive with huge volatility, 2007 flat or slightly during most of year wity huge volatility last part of year and very positive during the last few weeks, 2008 positive trend during first 10 months, very negative during Oct & Nov, then very positive furing final few weeks, 2009 negative trend so far. Investing - negative trend. real estate - Each year the graph is lower than the previous year with a negative trend through the year except for a very positive trend during the last few weeks, 2009 flat through April then VERY slightly negative. The real estate one threw me because "everyone" <i>knows</i> that no one is thinking about real estate during the winter months. So why the steep positive graph during December of each year? Very interesting Walt.
Did a few queries myself to check out Google Trends and to see if I could get a feel for the (anecdotal) evidence and your hypothesis. Here’s what I found.
estate planning – same slightly negative trend as retirement planning.
social security – slightly negative sloping graph.
financial security – slightly negative sloping graph but with more volatility
debt – nearly flat graph.
credit card debt – trend: 2004 slightly negative, very positive during last few weeks, 2005 slightly negative first half, slightly positive second half, very positive during last few weeks, 2006 slightly positive with huge volatility, 2007 flat or slightly during most of year wity huge volatility last part of year and very positive during the last few weeks, 2008 positive trend during first 10 months, very negative during Oct & Nov, then very positive furing final few weeks, 2009 negative trend so far.
Investing – negative trend.
real estate – Each year the graph is lower than the previous year with a negative trend through the year except for a very positive trend during the last few weeks, 2009 flat through April then VERY slightly negative.

The real estate one threw me because “everyone” knows that no one is thinking about real estate during the winter months. So why the steep positive graph during December of each year?

]]> By: Lucky Luck http://www.walterbristow.com/2009/06/10/does-google-have-a-crystal-ball-that-lets-you-predict-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-126 Lucky Luck Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:44:16 +0000 http://www.walterbristow.com/?p=1042#comment-126