Depressing Summer Reading

Plenty of gloomy books have appeared on the current financial crisis and various aspects thereof. I found 13 of them (as listed below) a few weeks ago while digging around for some summer reading. I was tempted to read several of them — but as it turned out, some work assignments came along and cut into the time set aside for leisure reading. Besides, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to immerse myself too deeply in any more bad tidings than what was already coming out in the news. It’s been plenty enough on its own.

1. Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism, Kevin Phillips
2. Chain of Blame: How Wall Street Caused the Mortgage and Credit Crisis, Paul Muolo and Mathew Padilla
3. The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash, Charles R. Morris
4. The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crash of 2008, George Soros
5. When Markets Collide, Mohamed El-Erian
6. Confessions of a Subprime Lender: An Insider’s Tale of Greed, Richard Bitner
7. Financial Shock: A 360º Look at the Subprime Mortgage Implosion, Mark Zandi
8. Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future (Revised and Updated Edition), Michael J. Panzner
9. Greenspan’s Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve, William Fleckenstein and Fred Sheehan
10. The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel, Stephen Leeb and Glen Strathy
11. Buy Gold Now: How a Real Estate Bust, our Bulging National Debt Will Push Gold to Record Highs, S. McGuire
12. A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation, Richard Bookstaber
13. The Collapse Of The Dollar And How To Profit From It, James Turk

Comments

[Bill W.:]

Larry, thanks for your list. I strongly suggest you do, in fact, read one or two of these books. I recomend " When Markets Collide, Mohamed El-Erian" as a must read. I also suggest you take a peek at jsmineset.com for daily comentary by Jim Sinclair. Jim's credentials are impecabble (he was on the short list as a nominee for Sec. of the Treasury during the Nixon regime). And, he has over 35 years of experiance in the gold and stock markets.....the bottom line on this guy is that I listen to what he has to say because he know what he is talking about.

It is only when one has educated one's self will it be the time when he cannot be fooled by the media fools.

Respectfully,

Bill W.

2008 Aug 01 12:27 PM

[TinyTim:]

Forgot Howard Ruff, who's "How to Prosper during the coming Hard Times" written in the late 70's, is what most of the above are based on. The "hard times" weren't easy, thanks to Paul Volker doling out the correct medicine. But they were also not as described.
Hopefully, history will repeat.

2008 Aug 01 12:40 PM

[chux08:]

Personally, I've read:

11. Buy Gold Now: How a Real Estate Bust, our Bulging National Debt Will Push Gold to Record Highs, S. McGuire

10. The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel, Stephen Leeb and Glen Strathy

and Howard Ruff's latest, mentioned above.

The Buy Gold Now book does an excellent job of explaining gold's ascent these past few years in relation to housing, government economics (another oxymoron if there was ever one) etc, etc. And, like Howard Ruff who is NOT a goldbug, this author sees gold as both a hedge and a way to profit in current market conditions, having no bones about selling higher tho not necessarily at the very top (tho that's the goal, I'm sure). I would recommend reading this book if you're looking for more info both about gold and how we got where we currently are, financially speaking.

The Coming Economic Collapse has been out for awhile now but it too is a worthwhile read. And it seems right on the money too having "predicted" very high priced oil. It's not a long read....it doesn't have to be. If your eyes are open and your ears are listening, you KNOW higher priced oil (and other commodities) are going to be the future's trend. This book tells you how to prepare and profit in such a financial climate. A worthwhile read...

That sounds like a depressing list of reading really...

2008 Aug 01 01:35 PM

[chux08:]

I forgot one:

Crash Proof - How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse, by Peter Schiff

Wow...Dr Doom himself. Trouble is he's been DEAD ON so far in his predictions so that you ignore this guy at your own financial peril. To say he makes "cents" in these days and times is an understatement (to me). His advice? Read it and see but in a couple of words - PREPARE & HOLD ON!!

www.europac.net/report...

2008 Aug 01 01:44 PM