BOOK REVIEW, Aftershock

BOOK REVIEW (346 words) 3/2011

Wiedemer, David.
Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown.
2010.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
260 pp.
ISBN 978-0-470-48156-1.
$27.95 hardcover.
Published Livingston County News 4/14/11
Published Midwest Book Review May 2011, Bookwatch, Joanne's Bookshelf

--Joanne Conrad Reviewer

Tax increases of 30-70% on total income?[217] Forty to sixty percent unemployed?[217] Social unrest, but not chaos?[218] A silver lining?[222] David Wiedemer, Ph. D., Univ. of Wisconsin, author of America’s Bubble Economy, writes in Aftershock about six bubbles in the economy that are collapsing. It may be chaotic for a while, and the silver lining of the post-dollar-bubble collapse will “…force us to confront …fundamental problems and make changes to our government and society to improve productivity.”[222]
His six bubbles are: Real Estate Bubble, Stock Market, Private Debt, Discretionary Spending, Dollar, and Government Debt.[25-55] Yet to come are the Dollar collapse and Government Debt collapse when no one will want our dollars and we can no longer borrow. It will not be like 1929 as we are wealthier, have more safety nets, and extended families will rely on employed relatives and friends, but increased public distress will occur.[214]
Wiedemer postulates the last two bubble quakes will require government to “cut, cut, cut spending and live on its income.”[209] Horrendous inflation, curtailed pensions, defense cuts, Social Security means testing, Medicare reimbursement reductions, interest payment eliminations, agriculture and commerce cuts, increased user fees, and eliminated subsidies will ensue.[211] Investment recommendations are also included.
He concludes with seven needed reforms to solve long-term economic problems: (1) Political, (2) Productivity, (3) Bubble Prevention, (4) Financial, (5) Economic, (6) Capital Creation, and (7) Targeted Stimulation.[256-258] Not included is the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (7/2010), nor the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (12/2010) or the GAO Report to Congress (3/1/2011), the latter two which could generate serious reforms.
He predicts an international currency, the IMU, pronounced “eye-mu,” an international monetary unit, because of financial globalism. This will start with the dollar, yen, and euro, and eventually include other currencies.[166] Perhaps Wiedemer also read G. Edward Griffin’s The Creature from Jekyll Island (2005) about the Federal Reserve, which mentions a world-wide “bancor,” coined by John Maynard Keynes in 1944.[544]
A bibliography, index, and a detailed website www.aftershockeconomy.com/appendixb are also provided. It is sobering, comprehensive, and quite readable.
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