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Loading... Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisisby James Rickards
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. What could've been an interesting book degrades into a very one sided argument for using gold as backing for currencies. Doesn't even attempt to show the the other side of the argument. At the end it complains that gold has been unfairly blamed for policy mistakes in the past that didn't rely on gold and then later proposes policy fixes that in no way require gold to be implemented. The killer line however is saying that gold is not a commodity but a universal store of value. Good ... but I was expecting more. Good in that it was an overview of the history of currency wars, what they are now, and what might happen in the future .... but I felt he was just filling up pages. Good in that it seemed balanced ... but I felt that he didn't really know what to say. And therein is the crux: he, Mr Rickards, didn't really know what to say: He doesn't have a strong idea about what the past means for the present or the future, what should be emphasized, what is the deal with currency wars. I found this book uneven. I liked very convincing historical perspective (some facts that I didn't know about). I was bored in the beginning by currency war simulation description - seems like totally useless exercise and a waste of taxpayers money. I was skeptical about some generalizations of financial systems provided by author. I was totally convinced by his description of what the future hold. I was annoyed by some obvious biases in author's description of some government intervention in the past - not all was wrong. Overall, it's a very useful book that everybody should read, despite its shortcomings. I will definitely be looking at Fed's activities in a different light now.
This is a must-read book.
Drawing on a mix of economic history, network science, and sociology, "Currency Wars" provides a rich understanding of the increasing threats to U.S. national security, from dollar devaluation to collapse in the European periphery, failed states in Africa, Chinese neomercantilism, Russian adventurism, and the current scramble for gold. No library descriptions found. |
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Although Cryptocurrency was just coming into existence, and thus not covered, one can certainly see how it might fit into the broader discussion of a new global currency. Mr. Rickards also covers the IMF, the World Bank, and SDRs.
Still a recommended read in the 2020s. ( )