The economic tipping point for the United States is no longer theoretical. It is a reality today. The country has gone from the world's largest creditor to its greatest debtor; the value of the dollar is sinking; domestic manufacturing is winding down - and these trends don't seem to be slowing. Peter Schiff casts a sharp, clear-sighted eye on these factors and explains what the possible effects may be and how investors can protect themselves. For more than a decade, Schiff has not only observed the U.S. economy, but also helped his clients reposition their portfolios to reflect his outlook. What he sees is a nation facing an economic storm brought on by growing federal, personal, and corporate debt, too-little savings, a declining dollar, and lack of domestic manufacturing.
Crash-Proof is an informed and informative warning of a looming period marked by sizeable tax hikes, loss of retirement benefits, double digit inflation, even - as happened recently in Argentina - the possible collapse of the middle class. However, Schiff does have a survival plan that can provide the protection that readers will need in the coming years.
When I began this book early in 2006, I didn’t plan to have a
Preface. My goal was to explain in a readably informal, easyto-
understand way why America’s persistent and growing imbalance
of imports over exports—its trade deficit—would cause
the dollar to collapse, forcing the American public to accept a
drastically lower standard of living and years of painful sacrifice
and reconstruction. Seven chapters would show the various
ways the world’s greatest creditor nation had become, in the incredibly
short space of some 20 years, the world’s largest debtor
nation while the public’s attention was focused on other things.
My challenge, as I saw it, was to create public awareness, where
it didn’t exist, of an impending economic crisis for which I have
been helping my clients prepare for years. My final three chapters
would share investment strategies already being used successfully
by my several thousand brokerage clients, so that
readers could avoid the dollar debacle and position themselves
to profit during the rebuilding.