The Empire of Debt

Auteur

William Bonner is the bestselling author or coauthor of numerous books, including Financial Reckoning Day, Empire of Debt, Mobs, Messiahs and Markets, Hormegeddon, Dice Have No Memory, and The Idea of America. Mr. Bonner is the author of the classic Un-Civilizing America: How Win-Win Deals Make Us Better and shares his investment insights daily in a missive for Bonner Private Research found on Substack. He is the founder of the worldwide research network, The Agora, and an avid stone mason. Addison Wiggin has been an executive publisher within The Agora for over two decades. He is the coauthor with Mr. Bonner of Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt. Mr. Wiggin is the author of the bestseller Demise of the Dollar and writer and executive producer of the feature-length documentary I.O.U.S.A. which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Addison is the international director of The Gray Swan Investment Fraternity.

Texte du rabat

Following the financial crisis in 2008 a series of economic policy blunders in the Empire of Debt led Washington and Wall Street to the edge of the abyss. Now, its trusting citizens are asked to pay up as the global financial system wends its way toward financial turmoil, again. What exactly has gone wrong in the opening decades of the 21st century? How much longer can the will of the political class hold?

"When things are good," internationally acclaimed authors William Bonner and Addison Wiggin contend, "people tend to believe the most outrageous things--that the financial sector could get rich by lending money to people who couldn't pay it back and that a whole economy could flourish by luring consumers to spend more than they could afford." By the fall of 2008, the jig was up. The financial system broke. But then something miraculous happened. For over a decade, policymakers believed the solution to excess credit and money in the system--was more credit and money! The plebeians of the empire took the bait. The collective delusion helped to re-inflate a worldwide bubble of debt and dollars. The saga continues...

In the Post-Pandemic Third Edition of this ground-breaking work, Bonner and Wiggin team up once again to reveal the third, and perhaps final, act of the most epic financial bubble the world has ever known. In this entertaining edition you'll learn how the financial crises that pock the first two decades of the 21st century were not only destined to happen but grow in magnitude with each passing edict. Throughout the book, the authors offer a frightening look at how policymakers have consistently ignored time-honored wisdom and put United States citizens in a precarious position. Imperial desire and government control of the economy and financial system--combined with unfettered deficit spending--have led to "forever wars" at the periphery, undermined rights once believed sacred in the old Republic, ravaged the domestic economy, deceived unwitting consumers and pushed the global banking system to the brink.

Uncompromising in their analysis, yet amusing in tone, Bonner and Wiggin warn of the dangers that lie ahead for the economy and the financial system including the lynchpin that could lead to final collapse. Importantly, you'll arm yourself with knowledge and discover that you don't have to tie yourself to the inevitable fate awaiting America's system of imperial finance.

Through their books, films and daily musings, Bonner and Wiggin have been studying the primary trends in economics and history for more than forty years. This latest edition of Empire of Debt brings their keen insights to bear on the post-pandemic financial landscape. You'll not only learn how policymakers got us into this mess, but how you can protect yourself and family in the future.

"The doom mongering is leavened with some waspishly witty writing."
--The Daily Telegraph

Contenu

INTRODUCTION: The Bubble Empire, Redux 1

PART I IMPERIA ABSURDUM 21

CHAPTER 1: Dead Men Talking 23

CHAPTER 2: Empires of Dirt 43

CHAPTER 3: How Empires Work 59

CHAPTER 4: As We Go Marching 87

PART II DEAD PRESIDENTS 99

CHAPTER 5: The Road to Hell 101

CHAPTER 6: A Great Depression 141

CHAPTER 7: McNamara's War 163

CHAPTER 8: Tricky Dick 191

PART III EVENING IN AMERICA 203

CHAPTER 9: American Money 205

CHAPTER 10: The Empire of Debt 237

CHAPTER 11: Modern Imperial Finance 263

CHAPTER 12: Something Wicked This Way Comes 281

PART IV FIN DE BUBBLE 295

CHAPTER 13: Welcome to Squanderville 297

CHAPTER 14: Kingdoms Are of Clay 317

CHAPTER 15: Turning Argentine 357

CHAPTER 16: Gray Swans 389

Notes 419

Index 439