Debt, Deficits, and the Demise of the American Economy - Tapa dura

Acerca del autor

Peter Tanous is President of Lepercq Lynx Investment Advisory. Over the course of his forty years as a finance professional, he has served as executive vice president of Bank Audi (U.S.A.) in New York City, chairman of Petra Capital Corporation―an international investment bank that he cofounded―and first vice president and international regional director with Smith Barney. Mr. Tanous is the author of several critically acclaimed books, including Investment Gurus, which was chosen as a Main Selection of The Money Book Club, as was his subsequent book, The Wealth Equation.

Jeff Cox has been a journalist since 1987 and is a staff writer with CNBC.com where he covers all aspects of the markets, and appears on CNBC Television. He provides market commentary for radio stations across the country, and his articles frequently run on other CNBC syndication partners such as TheStreet.com, Yahoo!, and AOL Money. He also has worked at CNN Money and as a senior editor for two Pennsylvania newspapers. Cox's writing and editing projects have been honored on multiple occasions by the New Jersey Press Association and Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

De la contraportada

Praise for DEBT, DEFICITS, AND THE DEMISE OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMY

"Before reading this book, I was concerned. Now I am scared. Hopefully, this admirable message will provide material to those legislators fighting for more robust, low-debt, deficit-free systems. I thank the authors for fighting for economic safety." ?NASSIM Nicholas TALEB, Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering, NYU, and author of The Black Swan

"Tanous and Cox brilliantly explain how the United States got into the financial hole. But better yet, they explain how we can get out of it. Here is the sure path to renewed prosperity if we will only follow it." ?SAM DONALDSON, ABC News Correspondent

"An important business book about how we've ended up at this desperate juncture for our economy. Tanous and Cox don't merely chart the path to our demise, they construct an effective road map back to prosperity that all policymakers should heed." ?Dr. ARTHUR LAFFER, Chairman, Laffer Associates

"A chilling account of what will happen if our political leaders do not take immediate steps to resolve the number-one threat to our great nation: massive federal budget deficits that are growing exponentially with no end in sight. Must reading." ?WILLIAM M. ISAAC, former chairman, FDIC, and author of Senseless Panic: How Washington Failed America

"Debt, Deficits and the Demise of the American Economy is a sobering and frightful account of the nation's financial challenges that should be read and understood by all Americans, whether they agree with the authors' conclusions or not." ?Steve Liesman, Senior Economics Reporter, CNBC

De la solapa interior

"The problem we now face is the most extraordinary financial crisis that I have ever seen or read about." ?Former Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan (August 7, 2010, interview in the New York Times)

So begins this extraordinary book that takes the reader through a logical and linear progression toward what is likely to become the worst financial disaster in American history. The financial Armageddon will begin with the collapse of the so-called PIIGS nations?first Greece, then Ireland?leading to a crisis of confidence in European banks and a sharp devaluation of the euro. Speculation about the fate of the EU will spark a trading frenzy in world equities markets, and the rising uncertainty will bring a rapid decline in world stock markets. The bond markets will all but shut down, and interest rates will spike. In short order, the focus will shift from Europe to the United States and its monumental debt and out-of-control deficit spending. The U.S. Treasury will shift its printing presses into high gear as it churns out additional billions to cover its debts, but America's deteriorating financial condition will cause a spike in interest rates as buyers of U.S. Treasuries lose confidence. Several states will default on their municipal debt; in many cases, retirement checks to former state employees will cease. From there, events inexorably will lead to soaring inflation of an order not seen since the 1970s.

If this grim scenario seems far-fetched to you now, it won't by the time you're done reading this harrowing account of the current state of the world financial system.

Authors Peter Tanous and Jeff Cox brush aside the "blue skies" propaganda coming out of Washington and the New York Fed to offer a cold-eyed assessment of the facts. Step by painful step, they delineate the events that have led us to the current state of affairs until they arrive at the inescapable conclusion that decades of profligate spending by government and reckless speculation in the financial markets have taken us too far down the path of destruction for us to entertain any ideas of turning back. Global economic collapse may be inevitable. The only question remaining now is what you can do to protect your assets until the crisis blows over.

In answer to that question, Tanous and Cox explain why Modern Portfolio Theory and the traditional 60/40 portfolio structure no longer apply. In their place, the authors offer a set of inflation-busting asset allocation strategies that include a substantial investment of real assets?including oil, gold, timber, and even farmland?as well as inflation-protected bonds.

A storm is coming. How soon, exactly, it will arrive, no one can say for sure. If you want to know how it will shake out and what you can do to shield your hard-earned assets from the worst of it, read Debt, Deficits, and the Demise of the American Economy.