The Death of Money

The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System

By: James Rickards

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

The international monetary system has collapsed three times in the past hundred years, in 1914, 1939, and 1971. Each collapse was followed by a period of tumult: War, civil unrest, or significant damage to the stability of the global economy. Now James Rickards, the acclaimed author of Currency Wars, shows why another collapse is rapidly approaching - and why this time, nothing less than the institution of money itself is at risk.

The American dollar has been the global reserve currency since the end of the Second World War. If the dollar fails, the entire international monetary system will fail with it. No other currency has the deep, liquid pools of assets needed to do the job.

Optimists have always said, in essence, that there’s nothing to worry about—that confidence in the dollar will never truly be shaken, no matter how high our national debt or how dysfunctional our government. But in the last few years, the risks have become too big to ignore. While Washington is gridlocked and unable to make progress on our long-term problems, our biggest economic competitors—China, Russia, and the oil producing nations of the Middle East—are doing everything possible to end U.S. monetary hegemony. The potential results: Financial warfare. Deflation. Hyperinflation. Market collapse. Chaos.

Rickards offers a bracing analysis of these and other threats to the dollar. The fundamental problem is that money and wealth have become more and more detached. Money is transitory and ephemeral, and it may soon be worthless if central bankers and politicians continue on their current path. But true wealth is permanent and tangible, and it has real value worldwide.

The author shows how everyday citizens who save and invest have become guinea pigs in the central bankers’ laboratory. The world’s major financial players—national governments, big banks, multilateral institutions—will always muddle through by patching together new rules of the game. The real victims of the next crisis will be small investors who assumed that what worked for decades will keep working.

Fortunately, it’s not too late to prepare for the coming death of money. Rickards explains the power of converting unreliable money into real wealth: gold, land, fine art, and other long-term stores of value. As he writes: “The coming collapse of the dollar and the international monetary system is entirely foreseeable… Only nations and individuals who make provision today will survive the maelstrom to come.”

©2014 James Rickards (P)2014 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

“A terrifically interesting and useful book . . . fascinating." (Kenneth W. Dam, Former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury and Adviser to three Presidents)

It's what I suspected of the gov and well descrbed

This book lays it all out in more or less easy to understand concepts, and those that are more complicated the author takes the time to define them in such a way you will understand the point of it. It's very well written and it is what I have believe has been going on in our fed gov for a very long time and imparticularly with the obama administration and what I perceive he is doing straight up by design. You will come away from this book with a very indepth understanding and I'm sure it will for you as it did for me .... I'm getting prepared!

PhD level

love this book. Jim Rickards is on another level.. A must have in your library.

awesome

this definitely help you prepare for what I believe is coming but you might have to speed up the voice of this book

Timely and cogent

Well worth your time do your portfolio a favor and listen to this pragmatic- but ugly- view of macroeconomic situation today

you can't afford not to listen to this book.

a complicated matter told in simple make sense way. A financial survival giude for you and me.

Why isn't he chairman of the federal reserve?

I'm just a layman and concerned US citizen, witnessing the destruction of my grand kids' future. To me, Mr. Rickards' take on the situation makes far more sense than the path we're on.

good for details and education

some parts are dry, it is economics afterall. after i listened i windered how AI and robotics reducing unit labor costs would impact the conditions he covers. also not a lot of discussion on how falling worldwide population will impact forecasts over the next 30 years. the final chapter gives specific warning signs to look for indicating an impending dollar collapse.

Currency 101

The books gives a overview of how competing currencies in the world; Dollar, SDR, EUR and Swiss francs compete with one another for supremacy. It also describes how the dollar could falter in the future and different scenarios that could happen thereafter.

Eye opening

Struggle to follow it due to its complete and detailed explanations on capital markets and global economy, but the conclusion chapter is pristine and simply powerful

Great Book And tells the Truth

I liked this book because it gives a way a lot of info about government , Fed and international monetary system .