Legendary investor Warren Buffett once famously nicknamed Michael Burry, best known for correctly predicting the 2008 housing crisis, as 'Cassandra' as he compared him to the Trojan priestess in Greek mythology who was cursed to deliver true prophecies that no one believed.
Just before the 2008 financial collapse, people believed that the US housing market was secure and booming, and that home prices would not fall. Banks increasingly issued subprime loans, riskier mortgages were given to borrowers with weaker credit, under the assumption that rising prices would shield them from losses. Despite the misplaced optimism, Burry voiced his opinion that the market was on the brink of collapse, which most people did not believe, almost like Cassandra’s prophecy.
