This book can get really dry and dense with lots of charts and facts that could make your head spin.

However, just the "letter" he wrote to his children about why Greece matters earns the book 4 stars. It's really that powerful, and easy to understand.

John is my favorite armchair economist who honestly and transparently tries to understand the world and explain it to us. Thought-provoking and actually rather optimistic, anyone with a more than mild interest in understanding economics should read this. ( )

uitgeleend Jan Bronselaer ( )

John Mauldin publishes an excellent newsletter and runs financial conferences that include the biggest names.

The book explores at greater length what they have to say and is a good "state of the art" of the debt crisis as of the 2011 publication date. It feels as if it was prepared in a hurry but it still leaves the reader in no doubt about the gravity of the debt overhang and he interestingly completes a country by country analysis highlighting similarities and differences.

The authors conclude with a short section on how people can protect themselves, which ultimately isn't very helpful since they say that excess debt could be resolved by inflation or deflation, each requiring quite opposite actions.

However, I feel that the book falls down for the lack of a detailed exploration of the legislative sources of the crisis and an evaluation of how the problem can be fixed at a structural level. Nomi Prins' book, "It Takes A Pillage" for example, handles this aspect in a masterful way, showing the pivotal importance of the Glass Steagall Act.

Also the authors don't truly explore the U.S. "Endgame" in a deeper historical sociological context. For example, the possibility of tariff protection is quickly rejected in a couple of paragraphs despite being a traditional way to promote local production and reduce a deficit. The Donald Trump variant recently gained some traction viz. 50% tariff on imports from China = production of higher priced toys in the US = greater US employment + lower deficit + children with half as many toys (does it matter?).

They don't consider that the European debt crisis could be a jump off point for the U.S.E. United States of Europe that Monnet originally envisaged, considering that a shared currency needs central fiscal control i.e. central government.

They don't look at the multicultural nature of American society and the tendency of this sort of non-society to fly apart under severe economic stress e.g. pre WWI Vienna.

The section on likely government "financial oppression" such as coercion of the public to purchase government bonds is interesting but I feel that they needed to explore more fully their statement on P146, "But then standards got loose, greed kicked in, and Wall Street began to game the system." ( )

A tour de force. Clear explanation of current economic environs and outlook for years ahead. ( )