I first read the Second Edition of this book in 2011. The Aftershock they were predicting has not happened yet. HOWEVER... As they have argued, the Fed's "money-printing" has, for now, been able to prop up speculation in the stock market--something that David Stockman (former Reagan budget advisor) has also argued in his writings, and the national debt is almost $20 trillion (look at the U.S. Debt Clock site where you can track this in real-time). If you look at alternate economic figures on the Shadow Stats site, you see an annual inflation rate of 10% (1980-based-numbers) and an unemployment of almost 23% (when "discouraged workers" are counted), and an annual GDP growth rate stagnant at 2%. These are not signs of a healthy U.S. economy. The P/E (price-to-earnings ratio) of stocks are sky-high on average, which is a sign that stocks are overvalued. Therefore, I find the Aftershock authors' overall pessimism and concern quite plausible, despite my financial advisor telling me things are going well and I should dump gold and silver and stay in stocks.
The authors argue that there are 6 bubbles, including a dollar value bubble and the huge government debt bubble that have not popped yet, but will after stocks have tanked again and inflation and interest rates subsequently rise. While I am not an economist or a financial expert by any means, I find their explanations of what is happening and their justification of safety measures to take lucid and well-reasoned.
If they are wrong and the optimists regarding the economy are right, and you follow the authors' advice, the worst risk that would seem to follow is not making the high-return gains that the bullish stock-market is currently giving to investors. But if they are right, and there is an imminent popping of the 6 bubbles they are talking about, you are likely to avoid massive losses in the next financial crisis by moving your assets places more secure than the stock market. I would recommend reading the book, considering their arguments carefully, and actively watching economic indicators in the months ahead. They offer some suggestions of indicators to watch for (including decreasing investor confidence and failure of Fed money-printing to reverse a stock-market downtrend). Weigh both the optimist's view and the authors' view with what's going on and act according to your understanding of the risks of both views, and don't wait for the crowd to act if you think the authors are right.
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