Secure your financial future before the next big bubble burstsAftershock provides a definitive look at the economic climate still ahead in 2015--and beyond--and details the steps you can take now to secure your financial future. Written by the authors who accurately predicted the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, this book serves as both a warning and a game plan for investors looking to avoid catastrophic loss. This updated fourth edition has been expanded with new actionable insights about protection and profits in an increasingly confusing investment environment, and includes the latest data, updated charts and tables, and brand new coverage of monetary stimulus. With a look back at the domino fall of the conjoined real estate, stock, and private debt bubbles that triggered the last major crisis, this book paints a vivid picture of what to expect the next time the world's economy pops. You'll learn how to protect your assets before and during the coming fall, and how to capitalize on the opportunities everyone else is missing.The housing bubble has popped, toppling banks and sending shockwaves of stock market misery around the world. It may seem like the worst is over. It's not. This book shows you what's still to come, and how to ride the crest instead of being sucked under.* Learn when, why, and how the global bubble will burst* Understand the repercussions that will reach into your accounts* Get up to date on the data, with expert analysis and insight* Start protecting yourself now with a few smart investment movesThe stock market, real estate, consumer spending, private debt, dollar, and government debt bubbles will burst, driving up unemployment, devaluing the dollar, and causing deep global recession. Aftershock helps you fortify your assets before the wave so you can enjoy clear skies after the storm.

Executive Summary xiiiAcknowledgments xvPreface xviiIntroduction: Your Guide to the Fourth Edition of Aftershock xxiPart I: The Coming Aftershock 1Chapter 1: This Recovery Is 100 Percent Fake Why the Aftershock Has Not Been Canceled 3Isn't a Fake Recovery Better than No Recovery at All? 5If the Aftershock Has Not Been Canceled, Why Hasn't It Happened Yet? 7Still Not Convinced This Recovery Is 100 Percent Fake? 17Don't Believe the Stimulus Has to Eventually End? 25Please Prepare Now 30Chapter 2: America's Bubble Economy Understanding How We Accurately Predicted the Financial Crisis of 2008 Is Key to Understanding Why Our Latest Predictions Are Also Correct 33Because Our Earlier Books Were Right, Now You Can Be Right, Too 38Didn't Other Bearish Analysts Get It Right, Too? 41How the "Experts" Got It So Wrong 43Predictions from Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson--We Trust These Officials with Our Economy 48Where We Have Been Wrong 49Chapter 3: Phase 1: The Bubbles Begin to Burst Pop Go the Housing, Stock, Private Debt, and Spending Bubbles 55Bubbles "R" Us: A Quick Review of America's Bubble Economy 56From Boom to Bust: The Virtuous Upward Spiral Becomes a Vicious Downward Spiral 62Pop Goes the Real Estate Bubble 64Pop Goes the Stock Market Bubble 70Pop Goes the Private Debt Bubble 74Pop Goes the Discretionary Spending Bubble 77The Biggest, Baddest, Bad Loan of Them All 80Chapter 4: The Market Cliff Not Your Father's Down Cycle 83The Market Cliff Won't Be Just a "Down Cycle" 84Hitting the Market Cliff 89The Last Resort: A Stock Market Holiday 93When Is the Best Time to Get Out of the Stock Market? 95Chapter 5: Massive Money Printing Will Eventually Cause Dangerous Inflation--So Why Hasn't It Happened Yet? 97What Is Inflation? 98What Exactly Is Money Printing? 99How Does Money Printing Cause Inflation? 101Central Banks Gone Wild: The World Is Printing Money 103Where Is Inflation Hiding? 107The Arguments against Future Inflation Simply Don't Hold Up 113This Is Not a Plan--It's a Panic! 120The Real Problem with Rising Future Inflation: High Interest Rates 121The Fed's Big Blind Spot: They Don't Understand Where Growth ComesFrom (Hint: It Doesn't Come from Rising Bubbles or Massive Money Printing to Support the Bubbles) 125When Will Inflation Begin? When Group Psychology Turns Negative after the Market Cliff 129The Inflation Deniers Are Liars! 133Chapter 6: Phase 2: The Aftershock Pop Go the Dollar and Government Debt Bubbles 137The Dollar Bubble: Hard to See without Bubble?]Vision Glasses 138The Government Debt Bubble Pops 158The Aftershock 165The Six Psychological Stages of Denial 166Is There Any Scenario for a Soft Landing? 170Chapter 7: Global Mega-Money Meltdown It's Not Just America's Bubble Economy--It's the World's Bubble Economy 173The United States Will Suffer the Least 174Think of the World's Bubble Economy in Two Categories: Manufacturing and Resource Extraction 175How the Bursting Bubbles Will Impact the World 179If the World's Bubble Economy Is Hit Harder than the U.S. Bubble Economy, Won't That Be Good for the Dollar? 188If the Rest of the World Is Collapsing, Won't That Be Good for Gold? 188International Investment Recommendations 190Chapter 8: "You're No Fun" What I Hear Traveling Across Our United States 193By Aftershock Co-author Robert Wiedemer Florida:"You're No Fun" 193Philadelphia: Wharton Meets Wall Street 197Green Bay, Wisconsin: I Can Be a Cheerleader, Too--in the Right Places 199North Carolina: People Know in Their Gut that What I'm Saying May Be Correct 201New York City: The Turkeys Were Living the Good Life Until ... 202New York City Again: When You Abolish Failure, You Institutionalize Stupidity 203One Last New York Story: Is He Really Smart or Really Stupid? 204A State of Extreme Denial Exists in Parts of the United States 205What's the Smart Money Doing Now? Just What They Did Before the 2008 Financial Crisis! Same Denial Now as Before 207The Sun Will Shine after Every Storm (From My Hotel Room in North Carolina) 209Part II: Aftershock Dangers and Profits 213Chapter 9: Covering Your Assets How Not to Lose Money 215The Three Rules for Not Losing Money 215These Rules Are Simple but Not Easy! 216Long Term versus Short Term 218Rule 1: Exit Stocks Well Before the Market Cliff 221Rule 2: Stay Away from Real Estate Until after All the Bubbles Pop 228Rule 3: Avoid Bonds and Most Fixed?]Rate Investments as Interest Rates Rise 241Where's the Best Place to Stash Cash? 243How Long Must We Follow These Three Rules? 243Letting Go Is Hard to Do 244What Else Can I Do to Protect Myself? 247Remember, Your Net Worth Is Not Your Self?]Worth 249Chapter 10: Cashing In on Chaos Best Aftershock Investments 251Plenty of Profit Opportunities, but They Will Feel Quite Uncomfortable, Even Scary at Times 251This Economy Is Evolving; Your Investments Should Evolve, Too 252Three Goals of an Evolving Aftershock Investment Portfolio 254Reducing Risk with a New Kind of Diversification 256Two Other Aftershock Investments after the Bubbles Pop: Foreign Currencies and Foreign Bonds 272Timing Is Everything before the Bubbles Pop, but Your Timing Won't Be Perfect 274Putting It All Together 275Chapter 11: Aftershock Jobs and Businesses 279The Rising Bubble Economy Created Huge Job Growth; Now the Falling Bubble Economy Means Fewer Jobs 280Conventional Wisdom about Future Job Growth Is Based on Faith that the Future Will Be Like the Past 281Why Conventional Wisdom on Jobs Is Wrong 283What's a Savvy Aftershock Job Seeker to Do? 284The Falling Bubbles Will Have Varying Impacts on Three Broad Economic Sectors 286Should I Go to College? 296Opportunities after the Bubbles Pop: Cashing In on Distressed Assets 297Dig Your Well before You Are Thirsty 298Chapter 12: Understanding Our Problems Is the First Step Toward Solving Our Problems 299If You Don't Understand Why an Economy Grows, You Can't Understand Why It Doesn't Grow 300You Need to See the Big Picture before You Start to Focus 301Key Breakthroughs in the History of Economic Thought 302Economics Needs a Breakthrough Big?]Picture Idea like Geology Needed Continental Drift 309So Why Aren't We Getting an Alfred Wegener wor a Breakthrough Idea like Continental Drift? 311Economists Have Become Academia's Version of Financial Cheerleaders 311The Demands to Get Tenure and the Rewards of the Good Life after Tenure Have Delivered a One?]Two Punch to Creative Economic Thought 312Where to Now? Answer: Economics Needs to Move from Being a Collection of Competing Philosophies to Being a Unified Science 315Four Key Elements for Making Economics More of a Science 317Where Do We Stand Today in Making This Transition? 321The Economics Profession Does Not Want to Make This Transition 322The Solution to the Lack of Interest in Making Important Changes in Economics: The Coming Aftershock 324Chapter 13: Our Predictions Have Mostly Been Accurate, So Why Do Some People Still Dislike Them? 327It's Not a Cheerleading Book 329It's Not a Complex Book (Although It Is Based on Complex Analysis) 330It's Not a Crazy Book 333It's Not an Academic Book 333It's Not Suggesting Armageddon 334It's Not a Reality?]Denying Book 335Us versus the Comforters: How Aftershock Stacks Up against Other Bearish Books 335Appendix: Are the Bond, Stock, and Gold Markets Manipulated? 343Bond Market Manipulation 343Stock Market Manipulation 344Gold Market Manipulation 351Market Manipulation Summary 354Investment Impact 355Bibliography 357Epilogue: Say Good-Bye to the Age of Excess 363Index 367