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Working for a smaller firm, and largely unnoticed, she had nothing to lose from making wild, negative predictions. If she was wrong, no one would pay her any attention; if she was right, she'd be famous.

Now, six months later, she's probably the most feared analyst on Wall Street. The rise in her status is truly sensational, and due, largely, to a single prediction. On Oct. 31, 2007, she was right, and the world was wrong.

How on earth does that happen? I can think of several possibilities.

1) Meredith Whitney is the only analyst on Wall Street wil... See more

Last fall, as the panic heated up, hardly anyone had heard of Meredith Whitney. ``I guess my clients knew who I was,'' she says, ``but the rest of the world -- I don't think so.''

The market took Whitney's skeptical argument and ran with it. On the first day of trading after her report, Citigroup's shares tanked. Four days later, Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Charles Prince resigned. In January, Citigroup slashed its dividend and set out to raise more capital.