Those words are: “You can’t predict the future, but you can weigh the probabilities.” Bezos’ financial advice was offered when he counseled his Twitter followers that it’s time to prepare for possible economic turmoil. The probabilities in this economy tell you to batten down the hatches. He re-tweeted a CNBC clip of Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon (embedded in article) saying that businesses should lessen their exposure to risk these days. What makes this such good advice is that neither Bezos nor Solomon claims to know what will happen to the U.S. or world economy. The truth is, nobody knows. Zillow’s chief economist Skylar Olsen noted this month that forecasting is all about pattern recognition, and that today’s economic patterns are unrecognizable. Still, she said, forecasts seem to be trending toward the negative.