As we prepare for the holiday season in which we reflect upon the past year and make plans for the year to come, let us all begin to feel the creeping sense of fear that comes with the confident expert prediction: Recession 2015.

Of course, various people have been predicting the next recession pretty much constantly since the last recession. And that's what makes it fun! There's always a new reason to feel fear. Today, with the stock market at all time highs, falling unemployment, and an unending procession of new excesses by the stupendously rich, the atmosphere is ripe once again for the bottom to fall out of everything. And that is exactly what one respected financial forecasting firm is now predicting. Bloomberg reports on the opinions of the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center, named for a man who got out of stocks just before The Great Depression:

Its half-dozen analysts attach a 65 percent probability of a worldwide recession forcing a contraction in the U.S. by the end of next year...

"Clearly the direction of most of the recent global economic news suggests movement toward a 2015 downturn," chairman David Levy told clients in an Oct. 23 edition of a monthly forecasting report, which at over 60 years purports to be the oldest of its kind.

A 65% level of confidence is great by gambling standards. Then again, other people believe we are in a secular bull market, and others point out that there's never a perfect time to invest, and also it's worth remembering that business forecasts in general are almost pure garbage. Still... two thirds chance of recession next year.

Mmm, fear. Taste it. (And act rashly based upon those fears—while you still can!)

[Photo: AP]