Monday, February 09, 2009

When Money Dies

I've quoted from and referred to Adam Fergusson's 1975 classic several times in the past. If you read it before the most recent inflationary spike, the historical perspective allowed you to make a fortune or, at a minimum, protect yourself. This is why the book is important and valuable. Fergusson points out the signposts that accompany economic and eventually political and social madness, so future readers can recognize conditions and events as significant when they occur. That value is reflected in the book's cult following and its current market price. Take a look at the latter here.

The American Conservative tracked down Adam Fergusson and published an abridged version in the February 9 issue. If you don't want to spend a couple grand on the original, here's the link. Destined to become even more important, unfortunately...

14 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi I can't get the full abridged Fergusson text When Money Dies. All that downloads is the first page. Would it be possible to provide the PDF here on your blog?

cheers

2/09/2009 9:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Are you using a mac? I contacted the mag and they linked me to a pdf plug in for firefox. worked like a charm.

http://code.google.com/p/firefox-mac-pdf/

2/09/2009 9:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hmmm.

They seem to place a lot of blame at the feet of Obama.

I've yet to see a comprehensive alternative laid out to me. I'm not saying Obama is correct in what he is doing. I'm just saying that whoever is in charge now basically inherited a dirty douche and has one last vagina to clean up.

Bush's tax cuts, a real estate bubble, and two wars that were probably wholly supported by the writers over at the American Conservative. All happened with the Republicans pretty much fully in charge. Sure, the Democrats were craven at times...but I can remember how many times they were called defeatocrats and traitors by the press and the American people for opposing any and all things Bush. If tax cuts were the solution, why did they lead to budget deficits? What's different now?

To draw a parallel...I've heard people say that the steroids problem in baseball is forgivable because they saved the game after the strike...weren't they the ones that ruined the game by going on strike?

2/10/2009 8:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Bush's tax cuts, a real estate bubble, and two wars that were probably wholly supported by the writers over at the American Conservative. "

The American Conservative was strongly anti-war.

2/10/2009 10:37 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Deficits happened because the tax cuts were not offset by SPENDING cuts.

Am Con is always for cutting spending.

Bush was no conservative.

2/10/2009 1:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You could also find a copy at your area university. Try searching on worldcat.org to see if there's one in your area with a copy.

2/10/2009 2:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Feb 9 issue isn't available online yet through this university. I do see there's an article about how Rod Blagojevich was "too honest" for DC in the last issue online.

2/10/2009 2:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

$2500! Those w/money can buy it, and it'll probably just sit on a shelf so someone can boast: see what I've paid and stored in my walnut/leather/gold bookcase. And those that should read it, won't. Isn't it the goal of a author to get as many people as possible to read their material ;-) And if it is really good, or really important, it'll pass by word of mouth or appear in other published books.

Ray Bradbury: "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." And price them so no one can afford them... ;-| I've noticed with the Internet, people put prices on things, sit on it, but there is no way in the world it sells at that price (okay, maybe a Prince in Dubai). Put it on EBay and see what and who an auction will bring in. Better yet, go to worldcat and talk to your local library.

It's interesting to read the comments at Amazon. One guy said he bought multiple copies of the book in the 80's. What would drive him to do that? Hmmm, what was happening. The "Conservatives" took over, Reagan, Iran-Contra, S/L Crisis, deregulation, Contract w/America.. Oh, oh! James Galbraith, was interviewed by Amy Goodman, over at democracynow.org, and towards the end, she asks him to explain the title of his new book: "Well, the Predator State refers to the takeover of state power by private interests masquerading behind conservative principle and basically acting for private clients and private profit. That was the Bush administration in a nutshell."

2/10/2009 3:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've telephoned the Folio Society in London and asked if they would consider publishing a new edition of When Money Dies. Tim Sell, with whom I spoke, seemed interested in pursuing the matter further. I encourage other Folio Society members to make the call. The toll free number is 1-877-538-3958.

2/11/2009 12:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bush, in your mind, may not have been a conservative...but him and his economic policies were fully supported by the conservatives. All you have to do is look back in your little brain to see that. If that doesn't work, there's always YouTube.

It certainly weren't the liberals keeping him in power.

2/11/2009 3:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Perhaps money already died, when corporate executives said stock options weren't compensation, and they got Congress to agree?

They had their own little printing presses... just like the mob.

2/13/2009 1:41 PM  
Blogger jpjanssen said...

I found the text at mises.org:

http://www.mises.org/resources/4016

3/19/2009 12:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In the UK the book has been republished: http://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Money-Dies-Nightmare-Hyper-Inflation/dp/1906964440/

7/12/2010 6:13 AM  
Anonymous viagra online said...

Adam Fergusson's was a great man ehen he was alive, so I think that when money dies come the world will end and the people will be crazy.

12/22/2010 4:51 PM  

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