Customer Reviews

Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending Catastrophes

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Financial Armageddon presents an alarming discussion of the Four Horsemen riding towards the U.S economy. Panzner has turned what might seem dry or inaccessible subjects - i.e derivatives, deficits, pension liabilities - into a tale even the layest of laymen can understand. Some will suggest it goes overboard in it's pessimism (hyper-inflation? widespread beggary and pestilence?) but even if it does it scarcely begins to offset the institutionalised optimism pumped out in the popular media. However the book is not just doom and gloom, it also provides concrete ideas on how individuals can prepare themselves and their investments. If even a fraction of Panzner's predictions come to pass investors will be grateful for the recommendations contained in this book. Read it and come away disturbed, but informed.

Part One of this book offers a brief overview of four financial threats the author suggests Americans will be facing in the near future. This is the mild stuff.

What follows, in Parts Two and Three, is a very disturbing "worst case" scenario of what life might be like for the average American once these four threats hit home. We could be facing a full-fledged systemic economic breakdown. And we will each be on our own. There is no certainty that we can count on Social Security; retirement pensions; Medicare, or financial institutions to save us. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There will be fallout from dozens of other disasters headed our way as society begins unraveling. We need to start taking immediate steps to educate and protect ourselves. Part Four of the book offers some advice on how to do just that.

This is an intense read. It is fascinating in somewhat the same way a trainwreck is fascinating. I couldn't put it down.

This was not a "fun" book to read. I disagree with the comment above that describes this book as "sobering" - it's outright depressing! I was simultaneously fascinated and horrified by the way the author details what life will be like if the crashes he outlines come to happen. The first two sections of the book outline the 4 basic threats and then the risks to our society from those threats, which is frankly a little dry. But then it gets juicy...the "fallout" section grabs you in a scary-movie sort of way and almost makes you want to put the book down and walk away, but you can't, just like you can't pull your eyes away from, say, an airplane crashing in you own backyard. The final section, "defenses," gives some ways to protect yourself, but the solutions fluctuate, depending on the circumstances of the economy at the time. He even discusses how this will affect your relationships and the kind of lifestyle you will lead if you're not prepared. It certainly will make you think twice about your own situation, and even if he's partly wrong, it will make you want to live the Boy Scout motto. The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is because the recommendations aren't real specific, but I still strongly recommend it.

There are over a dozen recent books on this topic, and I have read nearly every single one. A couple are terrible, most are okay, one is good (this one) and one is truly spectacular (America's Financial Apocalypse).

The only problem is, like most of the others, "Financial Armageddon" is a bit too simplistic for those who are in the know, but it does a good job given its obvious wide audience. I would rank it higher than "Crash Proof."

The very best book by far though is "America's Financial Apocalypse." I would recommend "Armageddon" and "Apocalypse" as a nice one-two punch to gain the best understanding of the situation. The price difference between these books is well-justified. The former is a crash course while the later is manifesto of sort.

The book was predominantly boring while I was waiting for actual news, something to learn. A lot of the ideas were repeating throughout the book just rephrased.
I couldn't wait to get to the "solutions" part. But when I got to it - what a disappointment! Advice like "buy insurance", "watch for deals that are too good to be true", "don't trust this or that guy, check this web site for his background", etc. were all obvious suggestions and sound like grandma's advice: "don't talk to strangers" type of statements.
This book is a complete waste of time. Even though author touched on some of the problems the economy has it could be put together in 10 pages. The other 174 pages are garbage.

I tend to agree with the critical reviews. I don't think this book is useless, but I would imagine that reading a history of the Great Depression would probably give you the same outline of what is to come (if all the assumptions in the book are right).

Most people who buy a book like this think that bad things might be about to happen. I bought it to find personal solutions. What investments are likely to make money in a severe downturn? Are there any good moves to make? You won't really find these answers here.

It's going to hit the fan. You might buy gold. Spend cash as fast as you can when hyper-inflation hits. Otherwise, no useful suggestions for actions to take.

I like to read gloom and doom books. They are more fun reading than crime stories. I remember reading "Bankruptcy 1995" in the early 1990's - a book which predicted the bankrutcy of the United States in 1995. It was a scary reading in 1990, but as we know today, that prediction did not come true. In fact, the majority of all predictions about the future turn out to be wrong. It is not easy to predict the future correctly.

The book under review distinguishes itself from other books on this subject by its willingness to consider extremely dark scenarios in the future. Contrary to most other books, Panzner believes that the future will unfold via a debt deflation first followed by hyperinflation later on. He seriously believes that the Dollar will get more valuable in the future due to the Dollar scarcity caused by the accelerated repayment of debts.

The attempt to analyze the future in terms of inflation and deflation is in my opinion a case of old and obsolete financial thinking. The last major incidences of hyperinflation and deflation occured at least 70 years ago. Since then, the nature of money has changed completely. Today, money is essentially a piece of data in a computer system. Very little cash exists in the world in form of currency. Ben Bernanke is right by emphasizing that it is very easy to fight deflation: just mail to everybody credit card offers with 0% interest valid until the balance is paid off. (Such offers exist already today: 1.99% until the balance is paid off). Although Bernanke did not say it, it is equally easy for the government to fight hyperinflation. Since hyperinflation is characterized by extreme circulation velocities of money, what needs to be done in such a case is simply restrict people's access to their bank balances and credit cards to let's say $100 per day. That will dramatically increase the scarcity of Dollars which in turn will kill any emerging hyperinflation. All of that is easy to implement because money today is not tangible currency (like 60 years ago) but electronic bytes in computer memories. Computers are very powerful. That power can be utilized in order to control the flow of money and economic activity very efficiently.

If the future does not bring deflation nor hyperinflation, how will the future unfold? I believe, in the future we will not run out of money. Instead, we will run out of resources. For instance, gasoline may not be avaiable all the time. Electricity may not be avaiable 24 hours a day (blackouts). Water may not be avaiable 24 hours a day. Certain types of foods may become scarce. I believe that these things are going to happen first before any serious financial crash will occur. More effort is being spent on securing the financial system than money is being spent in securing essential resources for the future. In other words, the future will unfold pretty much in the direction of what happened in the Soviet Union before it collapsed. Everybody had a job and plenty of money. The money had great purchasing power, but unfortunately stores were empty most of the time, that is, money could be not be exchanged against consumer goods all the time. Certain essential things could not be obtained in stores, but on the black market only in form of barter (supplemented by money and alcohol as a form of payment). A development like this would be the logical conclusion of monetary policies started by Roosevelt in the 1930's.

One last remark: Every doom and gloom book should commit itself to stating a date by which the author admits that his predictions were wrong. For instance, if you predict bankruptcy of the United States, please also state a date by which such an event is going to happen at the latest. It does not make sense to predict the bankruptcy of the US 100 years from today. Such a prediction is totally worthless. If no date is specified by which the prediction is going to happen at the latest, there are no means to falsify the intellectual efforts of the author. In such a case, the prediction has only entertainment value.

As I have always been gloom and doom in my outlook of this nation and my life has been spent preparing for one type of disaster or another (Y2K ect..) I can say that I've been proven wrong more than not. I do however believe in the the boy scout motto "BE PREPARED" and it has served me well. This book opens ones eyes to the smoke and mirrors that the Gov't,Big money, and the privately owned FED reserve try to serve up to an un-careing or un-informed populace and does so in a clear and understandable text. I implore anyone who want's another angle on our economy besides the Main Stream media to read this book. Hope for the best but be prepared for what this book outlines and you'll be a winner either way.

Written by New York Institute of Finance faculty member Michael J. Panzer, Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future From Four Impending Catastrophes is a dire warning of the four most severe financial risks confronting Americans today. Private and public debt has been climbing to record levels; the aging population is putting so much pressure on Social Security that eventually retirement will be simply a hopeless mirage; systemic overindulgence in "hedge funds" and other house-of-cards derivatives that depend on assets losing their value to make a profit place negative pressures on the economy. Financial Armageddon does not pull punches in its warnings of doom and gloom, and what raw economic realities can potentially inflict upon Americans everywhere, yet its greatest asset is its solidly practical advice for preparing for the worst. From the importance of prioritizing maintenance investitures over acquisitional investitures (skipping the regular tune-up of a car is more likely to cause more expense further down the line) to knowing when to spend and when to hold off (it's valuable to buy up tangible and practical commodities such as nonperishable food when the threat of hyperinflation reigns, but not when prices are falling), to the singularly invaluable sentiment of "Trust but verify" - the importance of utilizing the internet to thoroughly check out the credentials and track records of any individual or institution with whom one is considering a financial relationship. Written in plain terms, and notable for its painstakingly clear definitions of terms like "derivatives" that cause many a lay reader's eyes to glaze over, "Financial Armageddon" is a must-read for anyone in the unfortunate modern era of ballooning fiscal irresponsibility, not to mention outright swindles. Highly recommended.

"Financial Armageddon" explains significant risks faced by the USA and global economy in a clear and complete manner. It does not as clearly explain how to protect oneself except for reiterating the same sensible concepts used by people who "live within their means." It does explain clearly how different strategies will be advantageous during different stages of an economic catastrophe or spasm.

"Financial Armageddon" is a very useful book for all people to read. It was well worth my time and will help me protect my economic wellbeing in the future.