The World Is Curved Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy

by Smick, David M.

• ISBN13: 9781591842187
• ISBN10: 1591842182
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-04
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover

Summary

David Smickkeeps a low profile, but experts consider him one of the most insightful financial market strategists in the world. For more than two decades, he has conferred with central bankers (such as Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke) and advised top Wall Street executives and investors, from George Soros to Michael Steinhardt to Stan Druckenmiller. Political leaders (from Bill Bradley to Jack Kemp) have regularly sought his policy advice. The World Is Curvedpicks up where Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flatleft off, taking readers on an insider’s tour through the private offices of central bankers, finance ministers, even prime ministers. Smick reveals how today’s risky environment came to be—and why the mortgage mess is a symptom of potentially far more devastating trouble. He wrestles with the two questions on everyone’s mind: How bad could things really get in today’s volatile economy? And what can we do about it? Drawing on riveting anecdotes in language anyone can understand, Smick explains: • Why the churning cauldron we call China (the next great bubble to burst) represents a powerful threat to everyone’s pocketbook • How Japanese housewives have taken control of their nation’s savings, and why it matters to us • How greed-driven bankers and investment bankers have put everyone’s pensions and 401(k)s at risk • Why today’s incredible shrinking central banks” may not be able to save us when the next crisis hits • Why the big-money Russian, Chinese, Saudi, and Dubai sovereign wealth funds represent a tectonic shift in global financial power, away from the United States, Europe, and Japan • Why the world desperately needs a big think” financial doctrine to guide today’s dangerous ocean of money The World Is Curvedis the rare book that speaks simultaneously to the Wall Street, Washington, and London elite, yet its apt storytelling shows Main Street readers how to survive in these turbulent times.

Author Biography

David M. Smick advises some of the world-'s most successful money managers through his investment and strategic consulting firm, Johnson Smick International, Inc. He is also the founder, editor, and publisher of The International Economy, an acclaimed quarterly. He has served as an adviser to both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates and has written for such publications as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Table of Contents

The End of the World	p. 9
A Dangerous Ocean of Money	p. 36
Entrepreneurs in a World of Private Equity and Hedge Fund Troublemakers	p. 68
Tony Soprano Rides the Chinese Dragon	p. 93
Japanese Housewives Take the Commanding Heights	p. 132
Nothing Stays the Same: The 1992 Sterling Crisis	p. 159
The Incredible Shrinking Central Banks	p. 188
Class Warfare and the Politics of Globalization	p. 214
Surviving and Prospering in This Age of Volatility	p. 242
Acknowledgments	p. 277
A Word on Sources	p. 281
Bibliography	p. 285
Index	p. 289
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.