Financial Reckoning Day Fallout : Tragic but Funny

Financial Reckoning Day Fallout, Surviving Today’s Global Depression, by bestselling authors William Bonner and Addison Wiggin, is the fully revised and updated 10th anniversary edition of their celebrated book that foretold much of the financial chaos of today.

The beauty of both editions is that they tell the tale of financial trickery, mass delusions, and government intervention in the way free markets are supposed to work, in a highly entertaining and informative fashion. This is an important book about finance and markets in a world gone mad. It is far removed from the dry and often boring financial topic books one may have poured over in college or in the finance section of your favorite bookstore.

At times you will be strangely tearing up with laughter while reading about the most depressing subjects. The wit displayed by Bonner and Wiggin is only matched by the accuracy of their forecasts. You will quickly discover that the authors are keen students of history. Their belief that history does repeat itself is clear. Humans seem to forget about their tragic mistakes within a generation or two and then go on to not only repeat the mistakes but to enlarge them.

Bonner and Wiggin believe that in the present crisis the leap to trillions as an accounting unit, from merely billions, places a new spin on the consequences of governments trying to cure problems caused primarily by the use of excessive debt by creating even more debt.

That there can be no good ending to the present US financial crisis clearly dawns upon the reader as facts are presented in the book. However, even with disaster looming just around the corner you will find yourself amused and even laughing at how ridiculous and silly the human condition is on this little planet earth.

One statement made early in the book is that “The severity of a depression is inversely correlated with government’s efforts to stop it.” When one examines the Herculean efforts of the Obama administration to prevent a depression by creating trillions of dollars in new federal debt one can only think that this depression will be deep and long indeed.

If you are an American baby boomer the chapter “The Hard Math of Demography” provides a chilling reminder of how much drastic change you will see within your lifetime. If you are a young adult, say in your twenties or thirties, you will see that your life style experience will likely be far more fugal than your parents. And that without careful planning you may live out a life of financial misery.

While written in a most entertaining matter, with a multitude of amusing antidotes, readers of all ages will find “Financial Reckoning Day Fallout” to be chock full of ideas and revelations that are worth thinking about. Serious thought. The health of your financial future may depend upon it.