America's Bubble Economy: Profit When It Pops

I've read several books recently about profiting from real estate, economic theory, the future of the US economy, etc, and I am more than a little freaked out to report that this book is both the most scary of the bunch and is also panning out to be the most accurate. I've been recommending "America's Bubble Economy" relentlessly to my friends, and I've changed my investment strategies accordingly. Now I cross my fingers, bite my nails, and hope that Wiedemer, against all common sense and logic, is overexaggerating.

In the 1930's, without any warning, a major hurricane roared in over the Connecticut and New England coastlines and wreaked havoc. The storm's horrific effects were multiplied by the fact that the weather experts had taken a conservative line and issued no warning - despite the best scientific evidence to the contrary. A financial storm of category 5 dimensions appears to be headed for the U.S. in the not so distant future. The real estate and stock market bubbles are due to pop, causing a dollar crash. Excessive consumer credit and governmental deficits of unprecedented dimensions will add to the fire. Based on sophisticated new economics, the book America's Bubble Economy gives us advance warning of the "bubble pop" before it happens - and in time to restructure investments not only to weather the storm, but to profit from it. Fortunately, the book does not attempt to be a long, drawn out hyper technical academic treatise. It is easy to understand, has clear logic, and is not overly complex. However, the book has more depth than the surface writing would make it appear. For example, some books on the dollar crisis, or prospective crashes, predict a depression along the lines of the 1930's. Modern economists are unlikely to repeat the mistakes of the 1930's and restrict the money supply in the face of a major downturn. Instead, they will likely increase the money supply dramatically which will produce inflation in response to a major downturn. It will not be a classic depression composed of excess production and labor capacity which was deflationary in the 1930's. The book explores a future downturn from the bubble perspective, based on deeper historical insight into the nature of bubbles, rather than a simple depression model. It leaves the reader with little doubt about the need for investment restructuring to deal with a bubble pop situation. It gives tell tale warning signs to be on the look out for and lays out a clear path as to how the bubble pop will likely occur. While a lot of financial analysis revolves around what not to put money into, this book gives clear and positive investment actions to take to weather the storm, such as purchasing gold. It even gives interesting insights on the future of foreign exchange and the nature of the changes the "bubble pop" will cause. There may be rays of hope and much better weather after the long storm ends - it will be a much more global and electronic economy than today. Don't let the book's easy reading characteristics fool you - the economics behind this book are very sophisticated. In any event, when dealing with future events, high precision is hard to obtain. We can predict for sure that it will snow this winter in Colorado, but it's hard to predict on exactly what minute of what hour, of what day the first snow will occur. We can predict an economic hurricane in the next few years in the form of a bubble pop, but it's hard to predict the exact time and location of its l

This book examines the American economy in a clear and straightforward way and is a valuable learning tool for investors who wish to understand the likely impact of economic changes in the U.S. and it takes into account America's closest trading partners and offers basic solutions for observant investors to protect and defend our assets. Normally, most of us get our information about financial investments from respectable business dailies, our brokers, and friends who pay attention. On the rare occasion that I actually check out or buy a book on the subject, I am mindful that the authors point of view is expressed either to confirm their stations as experts or to illuminate one aspect of the economy, whether it be macro or micro-focused and offer specialized analysis. What is refreshing about this book is that the authors are unafraid to tackle a very big (and Gorean 'inconvenient') subject; America's cluster of deficits and the bubbles that have become manifest because of them and are willing to define and summarize a dangerous situation and offer a prognosis and a few thoughtful solutions. The tone is less WSJ and FT and more Economist. The authors predict that while it may look great today with an expanding stock market and continually inflating real estate values, we should all be mindful of history and not get caught up in the hubris of today's earnings which might quite literally disappear tomorrow. Eric Janszen's clear eyed view (albeit colored by his families good fortune) about gold "for those who hate gold" were particularly riveting. The book uses a kind of "you know this but what if" Socratic method to make you think about the interconnected "bubbles" and how we can "profit when they pop." I enjoyed the book very much and it was extremely well written. There is humor (and funny illustrations to amplify the points which can be inherently dry) and a confidence about their facts and conclusions (with a few mistakes that any author or speaker inevitably cringes at ex post facto. :) Chapter Two, "How we Got Ourselves Into this Mess" and Chapter Five, "How to Cover your Assets and Make Big Profits with Alternative Investments when the Bubble's Burst" are particularly stimulating. And the conclusions in Chapter Eight (which was long and a tad repetitive) are sound and very thought-provoking. The authors are not just "crying wolf" they seem to understand how in a few years time, transition and upheaval can become stability and wealth creation for "the rest of us." Sandra Halin-Adams, Barnes, Richmond, UK (U.S. Expat accountant and grateful reader.)

This easy-to-read book provides valuable insight into recent economic trends that threaten the U.S. economy. The authors have done an excellent job of presenting the big, somewhat alarming, picture. They also provide valuable advice on protecting your assets when the bubble does pop. America's Bubble Economy is a must read. Don't wait until it is too late.

It's a quick read -- big type, cartoons and relatively simple concepts cut it down to one or two evenings -- and not too brain-bending ones at that. The authors feel quite confident about their points, and present them swiftly, without delving deeply into statistics or high-level economics (most points take a common-sense, "when x people do y with z, z goes up or down" approach...often with heavily simplified charts and graphs to illustrate). If they were trying to sell me on a massive investment plan to get-rich-quick right now, I wouldn't feel sufficiently convinced by their approach. But they're not -- this is a practical guide to a possible future scenario: if the Dollar tanks, and tanks big (and the first half discusses the reasons why that's likely sometime in the coming years), they present sound advice as to what to do with your investments; and, in light of that, what you may want to do with some percentage of them now, as a hedge. While this isn't Eric Janszen's (of predicting-the-internet-bubble-burst fame) book (he only provided one chapter), the authors' philosophy mirrors that of his "iTulip" Web site -- if you find it intriguing, this will provide background and practical applications. If they're right, and you play it well, things will go very well for you. If not -- even if their reasoning is wrong, their recommendations belong in a well-balanced portfolio at times, anyway. In-a-nutshell contents: 1) Active bubbles (overinvested sectors, most especially the American currency itself) at play in the American/world economies -- how they formed, how big they are, and what happens if they deflate in tandem 2) What sectors would survive or thrive in the several-year global recession that would result 3) A somewhat tangential last-chapter on the likelihood of the global electronic markets someday evolving out of the current bubble-generating multi-currency morass into global monetary unit Rather annoyingly, the hyperlinks referenced by the book (most sections have at least one "see x on our site for more information") are all dead at the moment -- but it's a new release, so hopefully they'll finish the site soon.