BookEnd From The Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/12/06/ccsand06.xml&sSheet=/money/2005/12/06/ixcoms.html What's new on the business bookshelves Empire of Debt is nothing if not ambitious. Authors Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin seek to chart how "Americans have abandoned the sound traditions of economic freedom, personal liberty and fiscal restraint in favour of government control of the economy, unfettered deficit spending, gluttonous consumption and fearless military adventurism". It's unlikely this book will muscle its way into President Bush's list of bedtime favourites. The pair are adamant that the US has led the global economy to the brink of financial crisis. Empire of Debt makes some big claims - tech stocks are rubbish; the euro will flop - as it crashes through history, politics and economics at an alarming rate of knots. The doom mongering is leavened with some waspishly witty writing. In a passage to warm the hearts of bears everywhere, the authors warn those with portfolios heavy in junk bonds, tech stocks and US dollars: "There is never a good time to die. Nor is there a good time for a crash or a slump. Still, death happens. Be prepared. Say something nice to your mother. Offer a bum a drink. And buy gold." Bonner and Wiggin are savage in their assessment of outgoing US Federal Reserve chairman ("the Great Deceiver") Alan Greenspan: "The deception that sent credit expansion soaring between 2001 and 2005 came eagerly from America's own central bank. "By setting its key lending rate below the current inflation, the Fed misled almost everyone." Agree with them or not, Mike Tyson pulled more punches than this pair in their portrait of the US as "Squanderville." Empire of Debt concludes with an entertaining "essentialist glossary" which should furnish the reader with enough ammunition to fire off a few one-liners when backed into a corner. Here is a selection of the best: ? Broker: What my broker has made me ? Bull Market: A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius ? Cash Flow: The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet ? Gambling: What you do with your excess money when you are too lazy to invest the way Buffett does ? Market Correction: The day after you buy stocks ? Yahoo! What you yell after selling your tech stocks to some poor sucker for more than you paid for them. Empire of Debt is published by Wiley. Price: £16.99. Click here for more information. | 
