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| Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse (Lynn Sonberg Books) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Peter D. Schiff, John Downes
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $15.68
You Save: $12.27 (44%)
New (21) Used (8) from $15.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  249 reviews
Sales Rank: 36
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0470043601
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.60973
EAN: 9780470043608
ASIN: 0470043601
Publication Date: February 26, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Gets right to the point in language just about anyone can understand. March 17, 2007
75 out of 79 found this review helpful
For the past two years I have been aghast at the insanity of the American economy, as exemplified by the "housing bubble". Time after time the "experts" have said "there is nothing to worry about", "we have bottomed", "this won't spread", but they have been wrong, time and time again. What would you expect Ben Bernanke or Hank Paulson to say, "We think it's time to RUN! RUN!". No, they just keep trying to pretend everything is fine. They all have a vested interest in keeping you happy. Their incomes and jobs depend on keeping you fat and happy, in debt and voting for the status quo.
Peter's book backs up, and illuminates the conclusions I myself have drawn about the health of our economy and its future. Inflation has been used as the panacea for all economic ills. Simply "printing" money (an apt term for the government borrowing without limit) makes everything appear great, however, life is like that when you borrow from the future. It is only when it comes time to pay it back that the pain begins.
Two weeks ago, the sub prime mortgage lenders imploded. They were revealed to be rotten to the core, though the "experts" on Wall Street had just upgraded them to "market outperform" the day before. Yes, that is true. Doesn't that tell you that the people in charge of the big money are hiding some very bad news from you or even worse, are in the dark themselves? Neither choice is good. This serves as an omen and example of what is coming to the broader economy. The "experts" keep telling you everything is ok, like they have many times before and been wrong. But take it from someone who has made lots of money shorting the housing market, the worse is yet to come.
As scary as this is, the solution to each American's possible, upcoming, personal tragedy is rather simple. You can essentially boil it down to "invest in non dollar assets". When you do this, every decline in the American dollar becomes a rise in your own net worth. In this book Peter goes into the details of how to do this. It isn't hard at all.
Time has run out. No nation, however great, can belay the laws of physics and economics.
Crash Proof has two important messages, it explains why we are in this situation, and how an individual can evade the upcoming crash. The language used is simple yet accurate. The examples and analogies he uses illustrate the problems and solutions without complexity. They get right to the issue without confusion.
Excellent macroeconomics refresher, solid advice for pessimists November 23, 2007
74 out of 79 found this review helpful
I read this book around early summer after hearing about it on a financial webcast I stumbled accross. Thank heavens I did. I read the author's explanations of what has happened and what will and I have to say that it makes sense to me. I had macroeconomics 25 years ago and barely paid attention but after reading this it all came back to me. Schiff doesn't just preach gloom and doom. He lays out a good case for his predictions. I didn't just trust this book. I read two others that basically say the same things. What I liked was that it validated thoughts and questions I'd had for years.
"how can we all be so wealthy yet save nothing?" "How can we have had such a run up in home prices even though we haven't added that many people to the nation?" "How can inflation be officially low even though so many things have gone way up in price (food, fuel, insurance, education, health care, and even home prices till recently)". "How can we manufacture relatively little and sell each other services and still become more wealthy?" If that was possible I'd stay home and cook my wife meals while she mowed the lawn for me and we'd just get rich that way.
Maybe I just like how Schiff shares my natural pessimism and distrust of politicians being put in charge of our national statistics. But I used a simplified form of his advice, bought gold via ETFs, an international bond fund, with the balance in a treasury money market fund, and in just a few short months I've made quite a bit more than I did in any single year since I've been investing. And unlike in past years, I feel very confident that the trend in my investments is going to be up. The underlying economic picture simply demands that these products will do well. I realize that 3 months of good results (up 20%) does not prove anything, but I read this book way before I heard anything in the news about the dollar decline or housing bubble. Now that I've read the book, I tune in daily and the news just confirms the book's premise.
We have had a debt based too-good-to-be-true affluence. Like a drunken college kid on a spending spree, it will end eventually. The housing bubble alone might not sink us. The consumer credit crunch alone might be something we could work with. But add in the astronomical federal govn't obligations ($50 trillion unfunded?) and it's just a matter of time before the ride gets wild.
I would like to thank Mr Schiff for writing this book. I honestly feel that it has saved my financial future. I am in a business where one cannot work into old age, and instead of seeing my traditional stock investments knocked back down in value, I may actually be able to make a nice profit that will help us get through the hard times ahead.
I'm no expert, just a small business owner, but I looked hard to find an honest rebuttal to this book before investing my money in gold (I dont' want to lose money!) , but all I have been able to find were cheerleading tomes to the stock market that were short on logic and long on boasts and how great things were and still are. I find those to be total BS and so I can't trust their theories. Post a comment here if you know of one who actually makes a good argument for staying in the US stock market.
A terrific book with PLENTY of meat April 24, 2008
74 out of 77 found this review helpful
I hesitated to buy this book for quite a while because of the negative reviews claiming it was more of a sales brochure for the author's investment company. I find this claim to be absolutely unfounded, and regret that I took so long to finally purchase the book.
Notice, that I'm not saying Peter Schiff doesn't repeatedly plug and promote his company; he does, but that in no way takes away from the quality of the book's content. Crash Proof clearly lays out Schiff's investment philosophy and his opinions on the US/world economic situation.
At the very least, after reading Crash Proof, you will view economics in a refreshingly practical, non-conventional way. Mr. Schiff has a gift of breaking down complex financial information into language the common person can understand. Even more importantly, he exposes the smoke and mirror approach that's so prevalent with economists and cable news financial analysts. The view behind the curtain is very disturbing, to say the least.
No book can provide a magic bullet. In Crash Proof, you will be provided with the author's philosophy, and whether you invest with his company or not, you should be a more informed person after reading the book. I'm not a financially minded person, so I totally appreciate the informative, yet non-technical nature of Schiff's common sense approach to investing and the economy.
 Not just 'how to survive' but 'how to profit' February 25, 2007
57 out of 85 found this review helpful
Peter Schiff believes himself to be one of the few non-biased investment advisors able to clearly identify current market weaknesses and give practical advise on how to use that information to your advantage.
In summary, he claims foreign central banks will let the dollar's value crumble resulting in many Dow Jones companies ultimately falling into foreign hands. A significant decline in the dollar will make those companies value-priced for foreign buyers, who will have little else to buy with the trillions of dollars weighing down their cavernous pockets. America will be condensed to the role of an inferior economic power. Our populace will work mostly for foreign-owned companies while the profits are sent back to their far richer overseas bosses.
His arguments seem compelling. At the same time, there have been doom-n-gloomers bashing the market and predicting disaster for decades. Maybe it's time they're finally right.
For a better understanding on the contents of the book, here are the chapter titles.
-THE SLIPPERY SLOPE: CONSUMERS, NOT PRODUCERS
-WHAT UNCLE SAM, THE MASS MEDIA AND WALL STREET DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW
-FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE: OUR DECLINING CURRENCY
-INFLATION NATION: THE FEDERAL RESERVE FALLACY
-MY KINGDOM FOR A BUYER: STOCK MARKET CHAOS
-THEY BURST BUBBLES, DON'T THEY: THE COMING REAL ESTATE DEBACLE
-COME ON IN, THE WATER'S FINE: OUR CONSUMER DEBT PROBLEM
-HOW TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE, STEP 1: Rethinking Your Stock Portfolio
-HOW TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE, STEP 2: Gold Rush -- Be the First Person on Your Block to Stake a Claim
-HOW TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE, STEP 3: Stay Liquid
 Generic, Shallow, Put Together Quickly July 12, 2007
55 out of 73 found this review helpful
I have read about every book on this topic written over the past 6 years and this one is towards the bottom of the list (along with Financial Armageddon and America's Credit Bubble). Save your money. The book does not present anything that is not mirrored on the internet. It's quite generic. In fact, it looks like it was written in 2 weeks. If you have no idea about the economy whatso ever, or if you are in high school, this book might be a decent read but only if you can get it for free so check your local library.
When one writes a book on such a topic, they are expected to provide original content and analysis. However, this one not only comes up short (that is if you don't count the plastering of Euro Capital throughout the book). I guess the book serves as an inexpensive and low-effort way to generate marketing for the firm.
Even the charts used were cut and paste and the resolution is terrible! The author did not even take the time to reconstruct a single chart (which would have been easy). As a reward for his use of charts from the [..], the author receives an inaccurate and overly generous review from David Tice, the head of this fund. I challenge you to check Mr. Tice's record. He runs mutual funds that take short positions and the fact is that they average annual returns are NEGATIVE for several years!!!!
The reviewer "Passey" is right on. The book serves as a commercial for the author's investment firm. He mentions it throughout as a desperate plea for business. In contrast, the reviewer "Hussey" seems somewhat clueless from his praise of the author on CNBC. First of all,if you watch CNBC, that implies that you really have no idea what is going on and you welcome further confusion and improper guidance. Second of all, it does not take much to look good next to the morons on CNBC. Ask yourself who pays the bills at CNBC (mutual funds and Wall Street firms, which are always bullish).
Maybe my opinions won't suit everyone since I am a financial professional, but the two best books on this topic are America's Financial Apocalypse: How to Profit from the Next Great Depression and The Second Great Depression with the former being one-of-a kind.
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