The Real Crash

America's Coming Bankruptcy - How to Save Yourself and Your Country

By: Peter D. Schiff

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

You might be thinking everything’s okay: The stock market is on the rise, jobs are growing, the worst of it is over. You’d be wrong. In The Real Crash, New York Times best-selling author Peter D. Schiff argues that America is enjoying a government-inflated bubble, one that reality will explode... with disastrous consequences for the economy and for each of us.

Schiff demonstrates how the infusion of billions of dollars of stimulus money has only dug a deeper hole: The United States government simply spends too much and does not collect enough money to pay its debts, and in the end, Americans from all walks of life will face a crushing consequence. We’re in hock to China, we can’t afford the homes we own, and the entire premise of our currency - backed by the full faith and credit of the United States - is false.

Our system is broken, Schiff says, and there are only two paths forward. The one we’re on now leads to a currency and sovereign debt crisis that will utterly destroy our economy and impoverish the vast majority of our citizens. However, if we change course, the road ahead will be a bit rockier at first, but the final destination will be far more appealing. If we want to avoid complete collapse, we must drastically reduce government spending - eliminate entire agencies, end costly foreign military escapades and focus only on national defense - and stop student loan or mortgage interest deductions, as well as drug wars and bank-and-business bailouts. We must also do what no politician or pundit has proposed: America should declare bankruptcy, default on its debts, and reform our system from the ground up.

Persuasively argued and provocative, The Real Crash explains how we got into this mess, how we might get out of it, and what happens if we don’t. And, with wisdom born from having predicted the Crash of 2008, Peter Schiff explains how to protect yourself, your family, your money, and your country against what he predicts.

©2012 Peter Schiff (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

A great timeless book

Peter Schiff outdoes himself in The Real Crash. The ideas in this book more relevant in 2021 than ever.

Eye Opening

Where does The Real Crash rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The Real Crash is one of the better books I have listened to about the US economy. It takes the listener through history arriving at our current state of the economy and our country on a whole.

What other book might you compare The Real Crash to and why?

End The Fed
The Return of the Great Depression

Which scene was your favorite?

History of Income Tax
How to profit during the real crash.

Any additional comments?

Should be required reading for all politicians and voters. No matter which party you support we need to come togther and bring back the guiding principles our framers laid out.

Peter Schiff is great.

The author, Peter Schiff, who predicted the housing market crash of 2008 and profited from it, is now is pointing to the dollar and government bubble we are in. This could be a tremendous crash that we will see in our lifetime.

It is good to be prepared.

Read this book. Adjust your voting accordingly.

What made the experience of listening to The Real Crash the most enjoyable?

The content of the book. Schiff gives a fantastic history of the economy/currency/taxation etc. and is able to break complicated material down for just about anybody to understand

Any additional comments?

The narrator might go a little overboard, but he is better than most. You don't get the sense that he's just reading words on paper like a lot of narrations. Read this book.

A must read for all Americans!!

A must read for all Americans!! This book is a great “Volume II” to Peter’s 2006 Book Crash Proof. Very good book!! Highly recommend!!

Great book must read but overly smarmy narration

The book is really good and enlightening goes into quite some Deb on a number of real issues facing or country in society and economy the narration is overly smarmy and smug rather than a little bit more objective would have been much better

Strongly Libertarian, but interesting

Peter is strongly libertarian, but I found myself agreeing with much of what he had to say. As such, much of what he discusses has about as much chance of becoming real as an ice storm in July. There are some points however than can provide some food for discussion and at the present time neither of the major political parties seem to be able to do much more than yell at one another, and walk or chew gum. Maximum of two of the three.

I like his podcasts better, but it was still good

I’ve listened to my fair share of Schiff podcast episodes (both from his own show and appearances he’s made on others). I love his principles, personality, and energy. I was hoping for more of that here, so I listened to the audiobook version of this one.

While the opinions put forth are the same, this one lacks a little bit when compared to Schiff’s podcast content in the sense that he doesn’t narrate this book. That’s no dig on him — narrating a thirteen-hour book is a serious undertaking. It’s just to say I think this one would’ve benefitted from having his own voice behind it.

Okay, so onto the content itself. If you’ve listened to Schiff before, there’s nothing totally new here, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s the same good stuff around economic collapse, runaway inflation, the value of gold, etc. It’s very on-brand for Schiff, and it fits well with what he normally talks about.

There were a few parts that dragged on or got a bit preachy at times, however, which is why I’m pulling my rating down a little. For example, I didn’t love the “get rid of every single part of the government” or “legalize everything under the sun” narratives. Sure, they’re no divergence from Schiff’s known philosophy, but when you start talking about legalizing heroin, you’re inevitably going to lose me.

But, all in all, this is still a pretty solid book, and again, one that’s very much stamped with all the typical Schiff trademarks. If you’re looking for some high-level advice on the economy or financial paths to pursue further, give this one a spin.

-Brian Sachetta
Author of “Get Out of Your Head”

Great book, bad narrator

I usually prefer audible books but the narrator in this one was really bad. He was too dramatic and did not have tone that was easy to listen to. This is a very serious book; he made it sound like a comedy. Sure, the writer has some comic relief written in, but the narrator attempts to add to it with his tone and it's an epic fail.

I think the publisher should have the book re-recorded.

It has EXCELLENT content, we shouldn't be robbed of the priviledge of hearing that content read well.

Good book, so-so naration

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The book is well organized, insightful, and entertaining. The book was performed poorly overall, so my time would have been better spent reading it.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

His voice is clear, and his pronunciation is good.

Would you be willing to try another one of Oliver Wyman’s performances?

Absolutely not. He reads without emotion, as if he is in front of a 3rd grade social science class. He does not understand, or care about the material he is reading. He seems to apply random inflection to words which he's too distracted to bother to read.

Was The Real Crash worth the listening time?

The story is worth it. But I'd recommend buying the non-audio version of the book.