Customer Reviews

Crisis Investing

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Mr. Casey writes in a concise, well thought out manner and I recommend this book. To give a perspective on the content versus time, I purchased the 70's edition during the summer of 2007. Gold, as well as housing, stocks, and other commodities, have gone through several cyclical phases during this time. The only thing that has been steady is devaluation of the american dollar due to inflation and Mr. Casey explains why.

Speculation is not a given and thankfully many of Mr. Casey's predictions have not come into fruition to the extent he described. But looking at what did happen between the time of the original printing and now, he has been more right than wrong. More importantly, Mr. Casey provides rational thoughts on why.

Mr. Casey's views should not be one of surprise if one understands the schools of economic thought. Mr. Casey's views indicate he is in the Austrian camp. Anyone who is interested in Austrian thinking should look up the Mises Organization as well as Murray Rothbard.

Rarely in the annals of investing has advice so sincerely rendered had such a terrible effect on the financial health of so many of its acolytes. Millions of dollars have been lost by thousands of investors who have had the misfortune to heed this now stale dogma i.e. in real dollars gold is off 95% over the last 20 years.

This book, written by a most public persona from the temple of gold-bug mania, one who has endured as a perma-bear over the last 30 years, should be a required afternoon's reading entertainment for those novice, hopeful, knock-a-homa, Joe-six-pack investors everywhere, who would entertain the acquisition of gold as a portfolio hedge or as a road to riches. Like the failed perfidies of socialism this errant advice is still proffered in the 21st century, and who is to say that the author might not ultimately by given his due? However, the repetitive spins of culture have a way of casting before us the prevailing evidence of continued farce so evident in so many facets of human behavior; why not once again?

To fully follow Doug's logic one would have to go to the nub of his theories and test for validity, something he has never done. In fact, if his blandishments were correct in 1975, when he first began writing on subjects as all-encompassing as "the bankruptcy of the world's financial systems", and on the idea that "gold will continue to be the lynchpin of modern economics", then a back casting of his theories, from 2002 to 1975, should serve as a way to test the confirmation of his continuing advocacy? Or is there no other way save wait out the seasons of financial chicanery of criminal and dictatorial elite's as they plunder national treasuries about the globe? In this sense it would be necessary to examine the author's predictions and advocacy of anarchy as a way to govern the affairs of society, against the backdrop of history.

The fact that his book sells for $.50 as a relic of the seventies gives one an indication of the verdict of history as rendered by thousands of readers and investors. By heeding, and worshipping only at the altar of the school of rational calculation, Doug has failed to fully comprehend human nature and its various cultures. This is why backcasting his theories over history has ended with them being relegated to the far, far fringes of public policy. While Doug is a facile and entertaining writer, gifted with an ability to multi-task in a way that most mortals could only dream of, his historic revelations belong in the same dustbin of history with Marx and Malthus as regards his forecasting with predictive accuracy. The reason? His basic set of premises are fatally flawed.

If one reads the most recent of this trilogy, "Crisis Investing", published roughly circa 1980; "Strategic Investing" - 1983, and "Crisis Investing for the rest of the 90's" - 1993, one can only marvel at the missing chapters on the rise of the micro-chip revolution, and its effects on gold as a final currency. Beyond that one can continue to be aghast at the author's reasoning as to the way society might be ordered; Ayn Rand's Galt's Gulch being a fantasy of the first order. Anarchy? Show me a successful historical example?

The prime underpinning of Doug's theory is that government is unnecessary. This makes anarchy a possibility for comprising a heaven on earth community. A cursory reading of "the military 100" would disabuse the average person, but not so with our intrepid visionary. He airily dismisses such objections with a cursory "all those guys just......", and then trails off into the intellectual arena of God knows where.

Doug believes that if we don't bother them they won't bother us. He believes that mercenaries and bounty hunters can be hired to fend off the i.e. al-quaeda. That this analysis is totally at odds with history does not seem to phase Doug, intrepid analyst that he is. Just like our socialist brethren, who have been responsible for so much human misery, Doug treads into intellectual quicksand by averring that "just because it hasn't happened yet does not mean that it cannot happen in the future". By this I mean Libertarianism. If you believe it will work then I have a bridge to sell you. And, you're going to lose your shirt investing in the next run-up in the prices of gold stocks. To repeat myself, rarely have so many lost so much by following the advice of so few.

The theme of this book, and indeed of all three of his books, is that:
1 - mankind cannot devise a government worth having.
2- that any government will eventually debase the currency making gold the only solution for those who wish to conduct commerce, and.....
3 - that the masses of humanity, so ignorant and incapable of learning from historical mistakes, will only be a burden on the "producers", as articulated in Rand's "Atlas Shrugged".

From this societal malady, only one solution can be rendered; that is to nsulate oneself from the onion breathed multitude through isolation in a Switzerland-style redoubt in i.e. the rocky mountains, in a modern day "Galt's Gulch". It is there that our modern day "dogs of war" will protect our producers from those who would steal their possessions.

For contrast on Doug's theories please read "the Twilight of Sovereignty" by Walter Wriston - circa 1992, or "the Vandals' Crown" by Millman, circa 1995. These books will explain how the micro-chip has made gold a 3rd rate currency hedge and no longer the final solution for national monetary systems. Read "the Military 100", about the most influential military leaders in history. In order to augment your understanding of the need for government pay particular attention to Machiavelli, Jomini, Sun Tsu and Clausewitz. Compare and contrast what you learn with Doug's advice.

Read the trilogy, Doug is a very bright and an interesting guy. The exercise will make you think and that, in and of itself, is a good thing. I've learned much while listening to him, you could also.

Doug Casey offers timeless information in this book...even if some of it is a bit dated today. Still, the general principles offered in the book could be applied to the current economic environment to make just about anyone successful.

A few things seem to be missing though from Casey's book. Precious metals take a front seat and everything tied to the U.S. dollar is shunned (most of the time), but Casey ignores the fact that Gold hasn't always been a superstar. Timing matters...which is a point he makes but doesn't stress hard enough in my opinion.

There is a time to hold cash and a time to diversify out of it. Still...all in all, it is absolutely worth the read, even today.

This book arrived very quickly after I submitted my order. I was really pleasantly surprised at the promptness of their service. The packaging was great and the book arrived in first class condition. Good Work!!

I read this book to see how "accurate" Casey was with regards to the Crisis of 2008..he was about 25% right....some of the predictions were spot on...like the bailouts....most of the book hinges on a linear growth of inflation..by Casey's "projections", we should be at about 50% inflation!!! This is a decent book to read in hindsight..nothing groundbreaking..I like the way he recommends CUSTOM KNIVES as an investment!! Casey was a visionary in that sense..I guess this is an ok book if you are into all the economic doomsday, hyerinflation, gold standard, credit collapse stuff....

While time has passed since this book came out, some of the information is valuable to the new investor and the experienced one. The info on gold, real estate are indipensible. Buy It!