Robert A. Wiedemer - Fake Money, Real Danger: Protect Yourself and Grow Wealth While You Still Can

1. Appendix D

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 5
4. Chapter 6
5. Chapter 7
6. Appendix A
7. Appendix B
8. Appendix C
9. Appendix D

David Wiedemer

Robert A. Wiedemer

Cindy S. Spitzer

Copyright 2022 by David Wiedemer, Robert A. Wiedemer, and Cindy S. Spitzer. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wiedemer, David (John David), author. | Wiedemer, Robert A., author. | Spitzer, Cindy S., author.

Title: Fake money, real danger : protect yourself and grow wealth while you still can / David Wiedemer, Robert A. Wiedemer, Cindy S. Spitzer.

Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2021] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021020643 (print) | LCCN 2021020644 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119818076 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119818090 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119818083 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Finance, Personal. | Financial crises. | COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020

Classification: LCC HG179 .W52645 2021 (print) | LCC HG179 (ebook) | DDC 332.024dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021020643

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021020644

Cover design: Paul McCarthy

Cover image: GETTY IMAGES | Jeffrey Coolidge

Why now? Why did we wait five years after Aftershock, 4th edition (Wiley, 2015) to write a new book?

Well, because this is the perfect time for this new book! And it wasn't before.

Why not?

Honestly, there wasn't much new to write about until now. The economy, although full of vulnerable bubbles, was still going strong. The stock and real estate markets were rising ever higher after the election of President Trump. Most importantly, the Federal Reserve was massively reducing its previous money printing, which had been launched after the 2008 global financial crisis.

When everything is looking good, it's hard to make the case however accurate that we are destined for ever higher and higher amounts of money printing to keep the stock market and other bubbles afloat.

Yes, the deficit increased enormously from 2015 to 2019, but nobody cared. It wasn't negatively affecting the markets.

So, it wasn't any easier in 2019 to predict when the Aftershock would begin than it was when Aftershock 4th edition came out in 2015.

Every time during those five years that our publisher, John Wiley, and other publishers tried to push us to write a new book, we told them we would as soon as the Fed was forced to print money again. We knew that, sooner or later, the Fed would be forced to print more money to support the stock market bubble and the rest of our bubble-based economy.

Sure enough, we were right. And, Oh My God, did they start rolling the printing press! In March 2020, to save the stock market and the rest of our bubble economy during the Covid-19 pandemic, the US Federal Reserve printed more money in just one week than it printed in an entire year during the Financial Crisis peak.

And the printing presses keep rolling. As of summer 2021, the Fed is printing more than $120 billion per month.

Of course, the Fed could change over the next few years and print less money than it is now, but it will likely still be printing a lot of money in the future for reasons we explain in (Hint: supporting the bubbles).

Hence, we have a much better idea now than any time in the last five years of what forces are likely to finally drive bubble-popping inflation and kick off the coming Aftershock.

We are pleased and proud to present you this new book of insights and advice on what is truly one of the most historic times in world economic and financial history.

Enjoy!

The authors thank John Silbersack of The Bent Agency for his relentless support of this book and Kevin Harreld for his work in putting this project together for John Wiley. We thank John Wiedemer, Seline Wiedemer, and Arda Unal for their work on the graphics and data collection. A very heartfelt thanks go to David Pugh, John R. Douglas, and Eric Janszen for their very special roles in making our books a reality.

I thank my co-authors, Bob and Cindy, for being indispensable in the writing of this book. Without them, the book would not have been published and, even if written, would have been inaccessible for most audiences. I also thank Dr. Rod Stevenson for his long-term support of the foundational work that is the basis for this book. Dr. Jeff Williamson and Dr. Lee Hansen also provided me with important support in my academic career. And I am especially grateful to my wife, Betsy, and son, Benson, for their ongoing support in what has been an often arduous and trying process.