Interesting to go back to this book on my bookshelf and to throw it out the window. In one respect the author previsages the financial crisis around real estate, in another he misses the mark completely in his framing of what is to come and the mechanics of systemic shocks we have seen over the years.

At its core there are some good points but they could be condensed to a few pages. The bulk of the book is fluff and predictions that are unhelpful and inaccurate.

One should regularly read these sort of books to avoid overly framing reality in the current space, with the current problems.

His core advice: invest in good companies outside the US and in gold. And then more in detail suggestions like mining companies which actually suffered greatly. ( )

This is the very first work I've read since joining Librarything that I am unable to give a rating. That by itself is a very curious distinction, and certainly apropos, since this is a very, very, very curious work. Parts of it are very well written, very well thought out and had me nodding my head in agreement, even though I had honestly not thought in these terms before. And yet for each well written section in a chapter section there is almost always an offsetting thesis that left me with a raised eyebrow or an item presented as a fact that struck me as rather dubious.

Review continued offsite, on my blog.

great great review of the inconsistencies in the financial reporting in this country. Energy, housing, lots of other things are not computed in the consumer price index because that would scare us! The whole thing is a manipulation. This is a great book to use to really understand the constructed reality we have constructed (or allowed to be constructed) around ourselves that keeps us slaves to this hegemonic imperialist system (which by the way causes terrorism and war but that is my comment). ( )

America, once a society of production has become a society of consumption. Living on massive amounts of credit, both as individuals and as a nation, the ever mounting inflationary debt has left us on the brink of an economic disaster. At least according to Mr. Schiff.

Peter Schiff, son of famous tax protestor and currently federally incarcerated Irwin Schiff, is known as "Dr. Doom" for the extremely dire analyses of the United States' current economic situation he provides for the mainstream media. The analysis he provides in crash proof is based fundamentally from the viewpoint of Austrian economics. If you are ideologically aligned with this fundamental view point, Schiff's clear and concise explanation of our current situation will likely resonate with you. However those who tend to follow the basic capitalistic precepts of Friedman or especially Keynes, or who do not follow capital or free market theory at all will not likely be persuaded by his arguments.

The book itself is broken into two major sections. The first two thirds of the book is Mr. Schiff's analysis of what he feels is an imminent collapse in the housing market, the economy in general and of the dollar, which he feels has a good chance of seeing an episode of hyperinflation never before witnessed by the American people, even during the Great Depression. The last third of the book is devoted to investment strategies to hedge against this collapse.

The first section is well written and interesting, however, the fundamental problem with this book is the last third of the book devoted to the investment strategies. These strategies can pretty much be summed up with three quick statements. Move market investments from Dollar based U.S. stocks to yield based stocks in Europe and Asia. Invest in commodities, particularly precious metals. Avoid U.S. dollar based assets and stay liquid. The rest of this section is not much more than marketing material for Schiff's investment company Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

If you decide to pursue this book, I would highly recommend first watching the short video (~45 minutes) Money as Debt. It is the most straightforward explanation I have seen of the monetary theory used by Mr. Schiff as the basis for his analysis. Whether or not you agree with this particular theory, understanding it is the key to understanding Mr. Schiff's arguments. ( )