Just as a rear view mirror is used as a point of reference while driving. One must know what has occurred in the market before one can know what to expect ahead. The future builds upon the past. Your statement is more accurate than you think, but in a different context.
Prechter has been a perfect contrarian indicator for more than a decade. How can one be so wrong after being so right? One theory is he actually never really understood EW in the first place and got lucky until the crash of 1987. Another might be that he is purposefully discrediting EW. My opinion is that he is caught up on this erroneous Grand Super Cycle theory. Which does not have any historical precedence. When one intermingles their own beliefs with the EW, you no longer read the waves, but what you what to see in them.
I have tried two different Elliott Wave real time software packages. Just about the time the correct wave was unfolding, the entire wave structure recaculated itself. The waves were there alright but AFTER THE FACT. It was impossible to trade real time.
Just like reading tea leaves. Pure crap. People always see patterns in pure randomness. EW is an illusion.
I know of a successful position trader who uses EW. I've seen him call some tops and bottoms with very high accuracy. I'm divided at the moment... I'll post again in this thread in about five months, when a supposed crash much greater than the 30s should be underway, according to EWI. I like to keep an open mind. In Conquer the Crash, Prechter was pretty adamant that it had started in late 03.
In five months the market should be siginificantly higher. In late 2003, an ABC could have been counted up from the late 2002 lows. But it was the wrong count as the market has already proven.