Preface xiii
What This Book Is (and Isn’t) About xiv
Time to Take Action xvi
Chapter 1 The Dollar’s Shrinking Value 1
Why Governments Love Inflation 1
“It Can’t Happen Here”— or Can It? 2
How Low Can It Go? 3
What You Don’t Notice Won’t Upset You 4
Infl ation Is Already Picking Up Steam 6
A Hope Is Not a Plan 7
Principle 1 Exchange Dollars for Real Things
Chapter 2 Life in the Gold Rush? 13
Gold: Traditional Haven for Nervous Investors 13
Caution: You Are Late to the Gold Party 14
Beware Investors Fleeing Gold 15
Why to Buy Some Gold Anyway 15
Buying Gold Now 17
Gold Supply and Demand 17
How High Will Gold Go? 17
The Easy Way to Buy Gold 20
Downsides of Exchange-Traded Funds 21
Warning: Exchange-Traded Notes = Added Risks 21
Why You Should Have Some Physical Gold 22
What Coins to Have on Hand 23
Why to Avoid Bullion 23
How to Buy Mining Stocks (If You Must) 24
Silver—the Other White Meat 24
Why Silver Is Undervalued 25
The Pros and Cons of Holding Silver Coins and Bullion 26
Learning to Like “Junk” 26
Another Way to Profi t from Silver 27
Key Points 27
Chapter 3 Real Estate: Home Is Where the Hedge Is 29
Why You Should Own Your Home 29
Is Now the Time to Make Your Housing Move? 31
When Renting Makes More Sense 31
How to Invest in Apartment Buildings 33
How to Steer Clear of Passive Income Losses 34
How to Protect Your Real Estate Equity against Falling Prices 35
Invest in U.S. Farmland 36
Risks of Farmland Investing 36
Key Points 37
Chapter 4 Dollar Down = Oil Up 39
Why You Need to Invest in Black Gold 39
Why Proved Reserve Figures Are Unreliable 40
Is the World Running Out of Oil? 41
Will Abiotic Oil Avert a Hubbert Curve Peak? 42
Political and Environmental Pressures Are Pushing Oil Prices Up 43
Shale Gas—Energy Bright Spot? 44
The World’s Biggest Oil Companies and Their Ticker Symbols 44
The Easy Way to Own Oil 45
How to Profi t from the Oil Supply Chain 45
Should I Invest in Oil Drilling? 46
Canadian Royalty Trusts: Good Investments No Longer 47
Key Points 47
Chapter 5 From Diamonds to Trees: Alternative Assets 49
Another Precious Metal—Platinum 49
Why You Should Stay Away from Palladium 50
What about Stamps? 51
The Danger of Diamonds 52
Art: Love It or Leave It 53
How to Get Money to Grow on Trees 53
Profi t Opportunity: People Have to Eat 57
The Copper Shortfall 58
Key Points 60
Principle 2 Future Money Is Cheap Money
Chapter 6 Beat the Banks at Their Own Game 63
Why Fixed-Rate Mortgages Are Your Friend 63
Cut Your Mortgage in Half 64
Don’t Get Locked into HELOCs 65
Buy Big Houses and Lease Used Cars 65
If Your House Is in Foreclosure 66
FDIC “Insurance” May Be Hazardous to Your Wealth 68
Why Your Financial Accounts May Not Be Safe: Bank “Holidays” 68
Save Your Pennies 70
Key Points 71
Chapter 7 Dueling with the Devil: Credit Cards and Student Loans 73
Why Credit Cards Aren’t Worth the Plastic They’re Printed On 73
Don’t Expect the New Law to Save You 74
How to Outwit the Credit Card Companies 75
How to Be a Bad Credit Card Customer 76
Goose Your Contracts with a Gold Clause 76
How to Use Infl ation to Discount Your Student Loans 77
Beware of Prepaid Tuition Guarantees 79
Key Points 81
Principle 3 Diversify Out of Dollars
Chapter 8 Fleeing the Dollar: Foreign Currencies 85
The Dollar: From House of Bricks to House of Straw 85
The Dollar Near-Term: Temporary Upswing 87
Foreign Currencies: Risks and Rewards 88
Which Currencies Should I Invest In? 89
The Chinese Yuan Is Going Up—for Now 89
Beware: China Has Its Own Stimulus Problems 91
The Euro: Slow-Motion Meltdown 92
One Way to Invest in Foreign Currencies: ETFs 96
How to Invest in Foreign Bonds 96
Low-Debt Countries = Good Bond Bets 98
Gold Private Currency 100
Become a Foreign Farmer 101
Key Points 103
Chapter 9 Manage Your Government-Regulated Accounts 105
The Threat to Your IRA Wealth 105
Two Mutual Funds You Can Buy to Hedge against Inflation 106
U.S. Treasury Bonds: “Certifi cates of Guaranteed Confiscation” 106
Twisting in the Wind 107
TIPS: Inflation Protection or Inflation Fraud? 108
Why You Can’t Trust Government Inflation Statistics 109
What to Hold in Your IRA 110
Start a Self-Directed IRA 111
Convert to a Roth IRA? 111
When Not to Convert to a Roth IRA 113
Key Points 113
Principle 4 Prepare for the Worst, but Expect the Best
Chapter 10 Why Your Taxes Are Going Sky High 117
The Numbers Speak for Themselves: Someone Has to Pay 117
Say Goodbye to Bush Tax Cuts 118
Defi cit Lip Service: How to Fool Some of the People Some of the Time 119
The Greek Road to Ruin 119
“New” Defi cit Reduction Strategy: Taxes 122
Coming Soon to Your Pocketbook: The Alternative Minimum Tax 122
Loophole: How to Turn a $700,000 Tax Bill into $10 Million Tax-Free Gift 123
How to Tax a Trillion Dollars 124
Your New Health Care Plan: Financed by Deception 124
Baby Boom Legacy: Spiraling Entitlement Costs 125
The Next Money-Grab: Value-Added Tax 126
Tax Fig Leaf: Erroneous Economic Models 127
Ouch! Economic Medicine That Works 129
Why the United States Will Never Be the Same Again 130
Key Points 131
Chapter 11 Look for the Warning Signs 133
The Warning Signs of an Imminent Currency Collapse 133
Is the U.S. Government Secretly Engineering a Weak Dollar? 136
How to Be a Billionaire—Zimbabwe-Style 138
Is the United States the Next Greece? 139
Got Gold? 140
Wage and Price Controls 140
The Lesson of the Russian Grandmothers 142
Key Points 143
Chapter 12 Looking Up While Hunkering Down 145
Speak Out 145
Another Way to Multiply Your Voice 146
Develop a Necessary Skill 146
Start an Export Business 147
Prepare a “Stay Bag” 148
Tangibles to Keep at Home 151
Whisky and Pot: Your Depression Friends 152
The Health Care Bomb: Better Have That Surgery Now 153
Consider a Move to the Country 154
Buy a Generator 155
Go off the Grid 156
How to Avoid Snoopers 157
Maintaining Your Privacy in a Facebook World 158
Key Points 159
Conclusion How to Sleep at Night, Whatever Happens to the Economy 161
Notes 163
About the Author 189
Index 191
