Currency Wars

The Making of the Next Global Crises

By: James Rickards

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1971, President Nixon imposed national price controls and took the United States off the gold standard, an extreme measure intended to end an ongoing currency war that had destroyed faith in the U.S. dollar. Today we are engaged in a new currency war, and this time the consequences will be far worse than those that confronted Nixon. Currency wars are one of the most destructive and feared outcomes in international economics. At best, they offer the sorry spectacle of countries' stealing growth from their trading partners. At worst, they degenerate into sequential bouts of inflation, recession, retaliation, and sometimes actual violence. Left unchecked, the next currency war could lead to a crisis worse than the panic of 2008.Currency wars have happened before-twice in the last century alone-and they always end badly. Time and again, paper currencies have collapsed, assets have been frozen, gold has been confiscated, and capital controls have been imposed. And the next crash is overdue. Recent headlines about the debasement of the dollar, bailouts in Greece and Ireland, and Chinese currency manipulation are all indicators of the growing conflict.As James Rickards argues in Currency Wars, this is more than just a concern for economists and investors. The United States is facing serious threats to its national security, from clandestine gold purchases by China to the hidden agendas of sovereign wealth funds. Greater than any single threat is the very real danger of the collapse of the dollar itself.Baffling to many observers is the rank failure of economists to foresee or prevent the economic catastrophes of recent years. Not only have their theories failed to prevent calamity, they are making the currency wars worse. The U. S. Federal Reserve has engaged in the greatest gamble in the history of finance, a sustained effort to stimulate the economy by printing money on a trillion-dollar scale. Its solutions present hidden new dangers while resolving none of the current dilemmas. While the outcome of the new currency war is not yet certain, some version of the worst-case scenario is almost inevitable if U.S. and world economic leaders fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors.

©2011 James Rickards (P)2011 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"[Rickards] presents a compelling case for his views and offers thought-provoking information for library patrons. This is a must-read book." ( Booklist)

Necessary Information for Middle Class America

Would you listen to Currency Wars again? Why?

The Dollar effects every American's quality of life yet few of us understand how. This book increased my understanding yet I had to be patient with some of the segments due to information overload. I gained more understanding about the Federal Reserve and political polices. Most importantly new understanding on how the Dollar along with other currencies have been intentionally manipulated through out history and why it causes more problems than it solves. This book is for learning.. no so much for pleasure. But I agree is a highly important subject and if more American's would take the time to read/listen to books like it we could get back on the right track.

What other book might you compare Currency Wars to and why?

Rich Dad's Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver by Mike Moloney. Why??? For the history of money, currency and fallen Empires. Wealth cycles and the transfer of wealth.

Gripping read about the future of US dollar

Any additional comments?

Thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook with numerous important facts about the US dollar and currency wars - a subject that is very hard to find info on.

Decent but lacks basics

I read this book as someone who is always fascinated by, but with very superficial knowledge of economics. I feel it is unfair for me to judge the book due to my limited ability of the topic, but as someone who isn't well versed in the ideas of impact of inflation, currency manipulation and tools used by governments to manage their economic, I found the book to be average at best.

The book is an explanation of economic war, and the history of similar episodes (both during the 1920s, and then again during 1970s), and the huge impact a new one could have if it happened now, from the UAS's point of view (circa 2012, from the book's perspective). The book does a good job outlining the history of economic "warfare", but I found that it got more and more confusing (and rather, the arguments become weaker) as it describes the current status, and frankly the last two chapters were completely confusing to me. Again, perhaps I should read up about in the basics and get back to it, but overall I don't recommend the book if you are not at least a bit verses in the topic.

Read this soon, just make sure you have coffee.

What did you love best about Currency Wars?

The insight into what a currency war is and how it effects an economy

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The intro was most interesting, the least was the middle of the story.

Which character – as performed by Walter Dixon – was your favorite?

N/A

If you could give Currency Wars a new subtitle, what would it be?

Money education that everyone should have if you invest.

Any additional comments?

The overall book is good. I just rated it a little low because there are about 3 to 4 chapters that are a little boring, hence the coffee remark in the title. There is a lot of knowledge in this book and I plan on re-listening to it. We are starting a world currency war now and you need this knowledge to plan accordingly.

Wow

if you interested in the inner working of this topic, then this is the book for you. already have his next book

Scary but plausible

Thanks for this insight. It has been an ete opening experience to listen to this book despute that it was published in 2012. It is valid today more than ever in light of the inflation, global risks, BRICS and what feels like a dollar devaluation.

Highly recommended.

Should be required reading

Scary scenarios playing out in this book. However, great thinking material. I believe this should be a mandatory read definitely at a college level but even possibly at a high school level. Thank you for writing it.

Take the Blue Pill...

Don't read this book if you can't handle the truth.

Sounds sobering, doesn't it?

Well, I mean it. This is an excellent study of our nation's coming crisis, backed by facts and solid analysis. It will illuminate you. It will scare you. Why, because it's not fiction. This is quietly and slowly happening around us.

Writers try to capture this kind of disaster in novels. It makes good money in the literary biz. "I'll write a novel about America's financial collapse!" And they write. And they fall short. Even if it sells.

Unfortunately, they have very little understanding of what has HAPPENED to get the U.S. to where it financially is today. Consider this: We're printing and flushing $85 billion worthless US dollars a month into its already crippled economy, facing a "Race to the Bottom" currency war with other major nations. At the same time, nations and central banks are doing everything they can to hold back the price of gold, while quietly getting as much of it as they can in their coffers before currencies fail.

This is engaging and well-written. How? You couldn't get a better unbiased expert.

As a commodities broker who has dealt daily with these issues for over a decade, I can tell you that this book is not only factual, its extremely ACCURATE. Rickards, a lawyer with over thirty-five years of financial experience on Wall Street, has often counseled and worked for the Feds. He was hired by the U.S. to put together a system to provide advanced economic warnings and operations to avert economic terrorism against the U.S. (and did this successfully before and during 9/11). He's testified on the Hill numerous times. Look him up. His credentials are incredible.

In 2005, that system successfully warned of a pending disaster on the horizon. He presented the evidence to the Feds, and they rejected it. Why? Because he cited THEM as the problem.

Well, we all know what happened in 2008.

That same system now warns of a MUCH greater economic nightmare. And the culprits?

Once again, we're doing it to ourselves.

Want to know more? Maybe not. You've got to want to pull your head out of the sand on this one. You want an excellent read that pulls no punches, keeps you on the edge of your seat with hard facts and a good story that most fiction writers would kill for?

This is very much like the Matrix, and you have to choose the blue pill or the red pill. Take the red pill, and you go back to sleep, and forget about all this. Take the blue pill, and you get the real story behind the facade, the reality of our fragile economy.

Take the blue pill.

Good info but hard to sit through

I liked the content. I personally didn’t enjoy the narrator. Maybe because the topic was about economics which is dry material at best. Would have liked to have heard Jim do the narrating. Lots of valuable insight. I plan to listen to his other 3 books.

The true Value of Money!

What made the experience of listening to Currency Wars the most enjoyable?

It explained the global process of currency and it's manipulations by our corporate masters.