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Title: Crash Proof: How To Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse
ISBN: 159659277X
Author:
Peter D. Schiff
John Downes
Publicate Date: 2009-05-01
Publish: 2009-05-01
List Price: $29.98
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Audio CD
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $19.79
Amazon Merchant Price: $19.79
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| Customer Review: |
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1: It's 2009 and this book has been right so far...
Reading this book now (January 2009) is like watching a horror movie and seeing yourself in it about to be attacked.
Schiff does a great job explaining the causes for our current situation, and laying out why there WILL be a crash and a complete devaluation of the dollar within the next few years. The government may be able to slow the process down, but his big prediction is that a recession will eventually combine with hyperinflation to cause the economy to collapse. The inflation may come from foreign governments dumping $ USD in favor of other reserve currencies, or from the US government simply printing out more paper. The big variable here is, how much will foreign governments be compelled to pull out of the US and invest their money elsewhere, and when do they lose their confidence in the value of the USD? His advice on saving SHOULD be common sense, but the sad truth is that it isn't anymore.
While parts of the book seem doom & gloomy, and the later parts have a bit of shameless self-promotion in them (he runs a brokerage firm that advises clients according to his perspective,) the advice and knowledge he includes in the book are worth their weight in gold.
Take any economists' predictions with a grain of salt, but this guy has been pretty darn accurate so far. Read it NOW; it may change your habits for the better.
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2: Proceed with caution!
As I write this in the first few days of 2009, it has become obvious that we are in for a long, nasty recession. In fact, more and more people are predicting Great Depression 2.0.
In his book "Crash Proof," Peter Schiff presents many interesing ideas about what is to come and the book itself is certainly an interesting read.
However, there are many ways that this situation could play out and the book presents only one of them.
In fact, at this point in time (nearly two years after the book was released) the author's preferred investment vehicles are doing very poorly. Also, the economic situation has become more global than Mr. Schiff originally predicted, and China (on which the author is very bullish) has been hit very hard.
Will Mr. Schiff's predictions prove correct in the long run? Only time will tell, but there are currently many other differing predictions that are equally viable.
My advice would be to read the book, but do your homework on the bigger picture before making an investment decision you may later regret.
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3: We're Busted!
Peter Schiff is to "Crash Proof" as Joel Rosenberg is to Epicenter: Why the Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future. Both are clear, concise and high accurate.
Others have eloquently set forth the crux of the author's book. Crash Proof was one of the stellar books of the many books I read in 2008--and the heavy highlighting of the book and my frequent use of it, proves its worth. Like many others, I am not an economic whiz, I quickly back-pedaled out of college economics once we got past supply and demand. That I understood, but I was sinking fast. Reading the book affirmed that things in my country were not right. Peter's book not only makes sense and is right on, but having been published in 2007 before things really broke loose in 2008 makes it even more valuable.
But did we just accept the author's thoughts on face value? Nope. We contacted the financial adviser of a fortune 500 company and the manager of a large financial institution. We had two questions: (1) Had they seen an M3 report that tracks the increase and decrease in our government's money supply? and (2) Did they agree with a negative assessment of our economic crisis? The answers were exactly those of Peter Schiff--No, they hadn't seen an M3 report since 2006 (p. 81) and Yes, they agreed wholeheartedly that our debt problem had been coming for years and that government and personal debt would bury us. It was just a matter of time.
While investment entities clamored over whether to buy, sell or hold, Schiff said to avoid the US market. When they haggled over whether to tell their clients to "review their portfolios for the long term," (and, thus, save their commissions), Schiff quietly screamed to flock to the safety of stable foreign markets. Just as Europe was the world leader before America took the world stage, the next economic power is in Asia and the quickly emerging countries.
Peter Schiff not only clearly establishes economics and the reason for his worldview, but provides many practical recommendations. Will I, or can I, do every thing he suggests? No, but he provides a variety of selections that fit my needs. Does Schiff promote his company and his book? In the words of Sarah Palin, "You betcha!" However, he's pretty evenhanded: On page 195 he suggests a list of five questions to ask a potential foreign investment broker. There aren't a lot of foreign brokers, but I do see their ads on TV from time to time. And he's right about the service that Euro Pacific provides, They're handling our meager investment portfolios and treat us with the same respect and courtesy afforded the "big guys." I am very satisfied with the performance of my foreign investments, and I don't fret about them. I don't always agree with my rep regarding the performance of a particular company, but he sets forth his reasoning. Ultimately, it's my call.
The one thing I've decided I don't like about the book is its title. "Crash Proof" sounds like a come-on and misses Peter Schiff's passion, compassion and purpose: "My goal here is not simply to provide an investment survival guide, but to expose and illuminate the grave economic weaknesses that make survival the issue. A proper understanding of the true state of the American economy is vital to investors and noninvestors alike." (p. xv)
PS - Peter Schiff is a master of analogies. Not only do they keep his book light and readable, but they clarify complicated economic principles. (Too bad he wasn't my economics professor!) One of my favorites: "Despite all this negativity surrounding the U.S. dollar, the folks managing our economy stand like miners around a comatose canary, wondering what's bothering it and concluding maybe it's taking a nap." (p. 64) Love it! So if you see me wearing a sweatshirt that says, "The canary's NOT napping," and the economy is still in a mess, you'll understand. :)
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4: Scary
We heard about "Doctor Doom" on BNN and finally became convinced we needed to know more about what this man was saying. The scary part is that Peter saw this global economic collapse coming when he wrote "Crash Proof" in 2006. He is no "seer". His logic and rationale for what he says makes absolute sense and is proving to be spot-on. We have closely followed his advice in attempting to crash proof our own portfolio and will continue to do so. Thanks, Peter. Best book we've read in a long time.
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5: Extremely informative and important
Peter Schiff is one of a few people (including Ron Paul) who have been warning us of the dire consequences of the faulty and fraudulent economic policies that our federal government has been pursuing for many years and which we are now starting to suffer from in an increasingly painful way. He also has suggestions for dealing with the crash which we are at the leading edge of at this time. If you think the government can solve a problem that was created by inflation and easy credit with more inflation and easy credit this could be a real eye-opener.
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