Thom Hartmann - The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It

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Copyright 2013 by Thom Hartmann

Cover design by Catherine Casalino

Cover photography by Ryann Cooley

Cover copyright 2013 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the authors intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the authors rights.

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First ebook edition: November 2013

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ISBN 978-0-446-58481-4

ADD: A Different Perception

ADHD Secrets of Success: Coaching Yourself to

Fulfillment in the Business World

Focus Your Energy: Hunting for Success in Business

ADD Success Stories

Think Fast! with Jane Bowman and Susan Burgess Beyond ADD

The Greatest Spiritual Secret of the Century

Thom Hartmanns Complete Guide to ADHD:

Help for Your Family at Home, School and Work

The Edison Gene

The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight

The Prophets Way

We the People: A Call to Take Back America

What Would Jefferson Do?

Ultimate Sacrifice: John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK by Lamar Waldron with Thom Hartmann Walking Your Blues Away: How to Heal the Mind and Create Emotional Well-Being

Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle

ClassAnd What We Can Do About It

Cracking the Code: How to Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Restore Americas Original Vision

Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination by Lamar Waldron with Thom Hartmann Threshold: The Crisis of Western Culture

Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became

PeopleAnd How You Can Fight Back

Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country

As contributor:

Air America: The Playbook: What a Bunch of Left-Wing

Media Types Have to Say about a World Gone Right

Imagine What America Could Be in the 21st Century, edited by Marianne Williamson

From the Ashes: A Spiritual Response to the Attack on America

To Tim Carpenter, cofounder of Progressive Democrats of America, and a true champion of democracy and the people

This book would not have been possible without the help of my friend, colleague, and collaborator in so many things, Sam Sacks. From ideas and suggestions to research to extraordinary editorialist assistance, Sam has helped make this book what it is. Indeed, Im the author of this book, but youll find Sams hand and deft touch throughout it. Partly because of my schedule, but mostly because of Sams brilliance, Ive never so relied on a private editorial assistant for any other book Ive written. Its been a pleasure and an honor working with you, Sam. Thank you!

Bill Gladstone, my agent and the CEO of Waterside Productions, also helped bring this book into being, from concept to final publication, and has shepherded it along these many months. Bill has been working with me for decades on my books and is always a source of encouragement, inspiration, and good, solid, sane advice.

The great folks at Hachette and Twelve have been with us on this book from beginning to end, and Im so grateful for their help, encouragement, and bringing this book to publication. They include: Sean Desmond, Libby Burton, Mari C. Okuda, and Cary Goldstein.

Im not the first or only author to follow the trail of the themes of this book. There have been many over the years, and many have influenced my thinking. In particular Dr. Ravi Batra, author of The New Golden Age and Greenspans Fraud and a frequent guest on my radio show, has taught me a lot. As have Richard Wolff, Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, David Korten, David Cay Johnston, Lori Wallach, Ralph Nader, and so many other brilliant writers, thinkers, and economists Ive had the privilege of knowing and interviewing over the years that Im reluctant to start a longer list of names for fear I will miss some.

Finally, without my wife, Louise Hartmann, none of my many books would have been finished over these decades. Thank you, Louise, for being both my life partner and my business partner!

Your home is regarded as a model home, your life as a model life. But all this splendor, and you along with it its just as though it were built upon a shifting quagmire. A moment may come, a word can be spoken, and both you and all this splendor will collapse.

Henrik Ibsen, A Dolls House, 1879

I was around ten years old, and a total science fiction junkie. Amazing Storiesa pulp magazine of science fiction short stories, commentary, and science newsarrived every month, and that meant that on that day all homework and play were forgotten. These were some of the most brilliant stories, written for a penny or so a word by people such as Robert Silverberg, Jack Vance, Poul Anderson, and Frank Herbert, who would go on to become the biggest names in the field of Fantasy and Sci-Fi.

And one particular story haunted me for years. Eight years later, when the first men landed on the Moon, that story was brought back to me as if Id read it the day before.