Survive the Great Inflation [Hardcover]

Michael Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2010

Emperor Bernanke Has No Clothes - Michael Murphy Is Calling Him Out

Everyone is worried about what's going on with the economy. The Powers That Be continue to frantically give away huge piles of taxpayer money to get the US moving again and they're not willing to see that the bridge in the direction they're heading has collapsed. 

Investment expert Michael Murphy, however, is doing what few seem willing to do: He's calling a spade a spade, dispassionately laying out the numbers and building a solid case for what is going to happen next in the US and world financial environments. (Hint: It's big and it's bad!) But it doesn't have to be bad for you. Why? Because after Murphy tells the hard-to-swallow truth, he presents easy-to-follow instructions on how to protect your assets, your family, and your future when the shift hits the fan.

Murphy was one of a very small group that sounded the warning on the real estate collapse and the government's costly, ineffective response. He navigated his newsletter subscribers through the mess to a documented 148.5% gain in 2009, and continues to outperform the markets in 2010. And while most of that small group are now predicting deflation, Survive the Great Inflation gives you an abundance of facts, figures, charts and graphs to prove deflation is not the problem. It is high inflation that will demolish most people's finances and retirement if they haven't planned for it.

Past government performance is no guarantee of avoiding future stupidity. In fact, maybe it's a formula for assuring it. You need to get a clear view of what's happening now and the exact moves you need to make that will allow you to prepare for and prosper through what's coming, no matter how extreme. That's nothing less than what Survive the Great Inflation has to offer.  

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Next Paradigm Press, Inc.; First edition (October 14, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978875001
• ISBN-13: 978-0978875008
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #307,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Murphy CFA, America's leading independent technology stock analyst with 40 years of experience in the trenches, has put himself in the right place at the right time to know what's happening with the US and world economies.

After graduating with honors in Economics from Harvard in 1963, he became a computer programmer in the nascent computer industry. He then took advantage of a fortuitous opportunity at American Express and made a career shift to technology stock analyst. American Express was a venture capital investor in a little semiconductor start-up named Intel, and Michael grew up along with Silicon Valley. He became Vice President: Investment Planning & Control for American Express Investment Management in San Francisco, then a Chartered Financial Analyst. He then spent several years at Capital Research & Management/American Funds as a Security Analyst and Director of Investment Statistics.

Shortly after the introduction of the IBM personal computer, Michael foresaw the opportunity for individual investors and left Capital Research to found the highly successful California Technology Stock Letter, which later became today's New World Investor. He also has been Chief Investment Officer of three mutual funds and CEO of two software companies.

Michael is an award-winning writer with numerous influential articles on finance, and he authored the business best seller, Every Investor's Guide to High-Tech Stocks and Mutual Funds. He has been a featured investment expert in Worth, is often quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Barron's and Money, and makes frequent appearances on CNBC and CNNfn.

In addition to enjoying profitable investments based on thoughtful fundamental analysis, Michael's interests include a biodynamic, organic permaculture farm on which his family raises rare-breed animals, heritage seed crops, and children. For many years he held the Class I/E record for electric cars at the Bonneville Salt Flats. In 2001 he narrowly missed the world record for electric hydroplanes. Michael expects to go back to Bonneville on August 17, 2019 to reclaim the electric car record, this time with his then-16-year-old daughter in the driver's seat. You are invited to join them.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'd better read this, in case our government doesn't., November 24, 2010

By 

Siskbert (FL) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Survive the Great Inflation (Hardcover)

Mr. Murphy graduated Harvard cum laude with a degree in economics. He has spent his life making very successful prognostications about this generation's transformative technology: the digital revolution. As such he views our current economic morass from a perspective that qualifies him to opine on what the government should and shouldn't do to deal with our economic situation in the digital age. He presents a very persuasive argument of why we are headed for a great inflationary period (perhaps a dreaded hyperinflation) and what the government should do to avoid it and how you can protect yourself and those you love from the government's failure.

In five parts, Murphy discusses: 1) whether we are headed for inflation or (as some maintain) deflation; 2) the 3 deflationary forces which our government cannot fight, indeed may not even recognize; 3) how our government in general (and Ben Bernanke in particular) is attacking these forces with the wrong tools; 4) what the government should do, but won't; and what you should do to survive and perhaps thrive in the great inflation ahead.

In the first part, Murphy looks at the reasons why some say we are headed for deflation and explains at every point why they are wrong. Inflation is not just higher prices--it is at its essence decreased purchasing power. Ben Bernanke and our government fear deflation so much that they are doing all they can to create money and to cushion the effects of the housing and credit busts. Rather than riding out the deflation, they are on the road to devaluing the dollar so much that its value as fiat currency is in danger of falling off the razor thin path from a slow loss of value (normal inflation) over the edge into worthless paper.

We face 3 deflationary forces about which the government can do nothing: an aging Baby Boomer population past its consumer prime, a new generation which will be afraid of consuming on credit, and the explosion in digital technology. When you read how this transformative technology has improved standards of living while making us more efficient you will see that like other transformative technologies (such as the industrial age and mass production) it has constantly done so at lower and lower costs.

Unfortunately, our government does not accept the fact that deflationary periods can be good for society and do not always mean depression. While deflation discourages borrowing and is thus bad for bankers, it is good for savers and means life is good because things are getting cheaper. Further, our government lacks the tools to measure the productivity of the digital age. Old ways of measuring the economic output, such as bushels of grain or vehicle sales, do not measure the value of technological breakthroughs in medicine or the information age.

While Murphy tells you exactly what you need to do to protect yourself in an inflationary environment, the best part of the book is his recommendation on how the government ought to react to current economic conditions. Alas, it is too radical to ever gain traction, so you had best prepare yourself as Murphy recommends.

This book rates 5 stars for being thought provoking, 5 for being entertainingly written and 5 for being your survival manual for the great inflation around the corner.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraroadinarily Insightful Book on the American Economy in Context!!, December 2, 2010

By 

Donald P. Galamaga (Warwick, RI, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Survive the Great Inflation (Hardcover)

Don't know how to react to what Ben Bernanke is doing today at the Fed? Feel lost in a morass of economic gobbledy-gook? Want to know how to protect and grow your investment in a world of teetering economies? THIS IS A MUST READ!! Michael Murphy has put it all into readable context and has asked "Helicopter Ben" and all of the other politicos and policy makers if they have taken into account the people affected by this one size fits all approach to helping the economy get back on the rails again. His insights into the differences among the age cohorts, generational values, and the impact of technology on economic progress is superb. I would make that part of this book required reading for every person who has any interest in how outstanding economic policy should be formulated and how it seems to have been. Ohh yes!!! The Great Inflation, ladies and gentlemen!! That's where Michael sees the current policies leading us, unless some steps are taken to turn this ship of state around (If you have ever seen how long it takes to turn a large ship around or slow it or stop it, you'll appreciate the urgency fo getting to work on this...now.) He leads us into an understanding of what kind of inflation will result, if business as usual continues...quite believable. You don't even want to think about "hyper-inflation"..it's possible. I remember those German stamps in my collection from the early 20th century..in millions and billions of marks to send a letter.

Michael gives some useful advice on how to protect your own "stash." This is also very well laid out and easy to understand. He also poses some options for dealing with the problems of the economy, from a fiscal and not a Federal Reserve System perspective and finally does some blue skying, to which his thoughtful and very readable book is entitled. What else can I say..it's terrific!!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Book, November 29, 2010

By 

Picasso Ray - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Survive the Great Inflation (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this book. It outlines the deflation and inflation pressures on our economy in the near future in easy to understand terms. More importantly, there are plenty of real world suggestions on how to set up your investments to protect yourself in the foreseeable future. Educational and practical.