Contagion The Financial Epidemic That is Sweeping the Global Economy... and How to Protect Yourself from It

by Talbott, John R.

• ISBN13: 9780470593677
• ISBN10: 0470593679
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-06-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Tough times are ahead and Talbott argues that the coming recession will be on a global scale, affecting economies across the world. We have had no real growth in GDP for the last ten years if purchases with government and personal debt are excluded. In effect, government borrowing and spending on the war and healthcare and Social Security and corporate give-aways combined with dramatic increases in personal spending funded by credit card and mortgage debt have funded unsustainable levels of personal and government consumption. The world's banks are threatened with insolvency due to bad mortgage loans and will not be making new loans for any purposes for a very long time. Consumption, by definition, has to decline. Our financial markets worldwide are in chaos with the inability of any financial house or big hedge fund going bankrupt without pulling down the whole $400 trillion derivatives market and the global financial markets at the same time. With this as a backdrop, Talbott offers practical suggestions as to how homeowners and investors can best weather the coming storm with specific advice on where to invest by type of investment and geographic location. Stocks, bonds, TIPS, commodities, real estate, housing and currencies will all be examined.

Author Biography

John R. Talbott is a bestselling author, a former investment banker for Goldman Sachs, and previously a visiting scholar at UCLA's Anderson School of Management. For the last decade, he has been writing full-time as an author, publishing six books and numerous peer-reviewed academic journal articles on'economics and politics. His books include Slave Wages; The Coming Crash in the Housing Market, Where America Went Wrong: And How to Regain Her Democratic Ideals; Sell Now!: The End of the Housing Bubble: and Obamanomics. Talbott has served as an economic advisor to a number of developing countries, including Jordan and Russia. He has appeared live on CNN, Fox News, CNNfn, CNBC, MSNBC, and CBS, and has published articles in the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, and Financial Times.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Bamboozled	p. 1
What Didn't Cause the U.S. Housing Boom and Bust	p. 11
What Did Cause the U.S. Housing Boom and Bust	p. 29
The Contagion Spreads from Subprime to Prime	p. 45
How Low Will Housing Prices Go in the U.S.?	p. 55
The U.S. Economy Was Not in Great Shape to Begin With	p. 71
The United States Enters a Long Recession	p. 87
The Global Economy Catches the Contagion	p. 103
Too Big to Fail-The $400 Trillion Derivatives Market	p. 117
Local Governments Feel the Pinch	p. 131
From Wall Street to Main Street	p. 141
Demographics Magnify Contagion	p. 151
Which Investments and Which Countries Will Weather the Storm the Best?	p. 165
Stop the Bleeding	p. 181
No Future without Reform	p. 195
A Warning Shot Across the Bow	p. 207
References	p. 227
About the Author	p. 245
Index	p. 247
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