Their considered view is that China (and to a lesser extent, the other emerging markets like India) would continue to be a reliable hotspot for investment profits. “Even more magical, these burgeoning economies might actually help buffer the rest of the world, and even the United States, from the full impact of the U.S.-led recession”.

‘Aftershock’ provides a harsh outlook for the economic future of America; it provides a wealth of investment tips, analyses, predictions, budget advice, and sound economic guidance that people can act on immediately. In short, it offers an indispensable blueprint for life in the US after forecasting skyrocketing unemployment (50 percent), soaring inflation (100 per cent) and stock market crash ( almost 90 per cent will)  besides mounting national debt and massive budget cuts.

The general advice on offer: sell homes now, cash out life insurance policies, and dump stocks ahead of the impending crash. Opt for gold and inflation-linked securities

Already into its second edition, the book argues that the dotcom bubble, and housing bubble as also Federal Reserve’s market ‘manipulation’ and the ‘incredible irresponsibility and bad judgment of the public sector’ have ruined the American economy.  In a 2006 crystal gazing, David Wiedemer, who heads the Absolute Investment Management, had proved correct when his warning that real estate boom and Wall Street bull run were about to end came true.

His brother Dr. David Wiedemer is the Chief Economist for Absolute Investment Management worked on developing a new economic framework for better understanding how the economy evolves called STEP Evolution (STEP stands for the Science, Technology, Economics, Politics).  STEP Evolution is the basis for his highly accurate and prescient predictions about the present and future economy.

The third author of ‘Aftershock’ Cindy Spitzer is president of Aftershock Consultants, a consulting firm that provides one-time and ongoing consulting and support to individuals, families, businesses, and groups, based on the ideas in Aftershock.  Consulting provides insights and macroeconomic food for thought as decisions are made regarding real estate, business decisions, family finances, retirement, gold, and general asset protection.

In Chapter 4 titled ‘Global Mega-Money Meltdown’, the authors argue that not just America’s but the world’s also is a bubble economy. Here is an excerpt (as available at http://www.aftershockeconomy.com/BookLinks.htm):

“A popular fairy tale gained favour in early 2008 proposing that the rest of the world, especially China, had magically "de-coupled"; from the naughty U.S. economy. Regardless of whatever foolishness and financial problems we happen to get ourselves into here, China (and to a lesser extent, the other emerging markets) would continue to be a reliable hotspot for investment profits. Even more magical, these burgeoning economies might actually help buffer the rest of the world, and even the United States, from the full impact of the U.S.-led recession.

Unfortunately, by the end of 2008 it became fully evident that this de-coupling myth could not be further from the truth. It was just another failed attempt at wishful thinking and economic cheerleading. In fact, when the U.S. housing bubble, stock market bubble, private debt bubble, and discretionary spending bubble all began to burst in late 2008 and 2009, the speed at which the rest of the world fell into deep recession was staggering. In the fourth quarter of 2008, GDP in the United States declined by 6.2 percent on an annual basis; in the UK it declined by 5.9 percent, Germany declined by 8.2 percent, Japan declined by 12.7 percent and South Korea declined by a staggering 20.8 percent (during the Great Depression, U.S. GDP fell by about 25 percent). Both Germany and Japan had accelerating declines in the first quarter of 2009 with Germany falling at an annual rate of 14.4 percent and Japan falling 15.2 percent. Mexico actually topped the list in the first quarter 2009 with a 22 percent decline. As the U.S. economy reduced its imports of goods from overseas, particularly in the fourth quarter of 2008, the rest of the world’s economies, joined at the hip to ours and each other’s, simply fell off a cliff.

The U.S. and other economies are so tightly linked, and the impact of the U.S. Bubble-quake and Aftershock will be felt so deeply around the world, that we almost titled our first book The World’s Bubble Economy. But such a broad title would have reduced interest among our readers in the United States, which is most of our audience, so we went with the less accurate title. Nonetheless, just as we predicted in America’s Bubble Economy, when the U.S. multi-bubble economy started to fall, the world’s multi-bubble economy had little choice but to fall, too. And as we continue to fall, the rest of the world will end up in even worse shape than us.

The United States Will Suffer the Least”.

Looking ahead to the Post-Dollar-Bubble World, the authors say (in Chapter 10)

“We’d love to say that after Phase I (the Bubble quake) and Phase II (the coming Aftershock), the worst will be behind us. Unfortunately, our analysis does not bear that out. In fact, there will be no way to avoid the miseries of Phase III: the post-dollar-bubble world.

Preparing for Phase III will be the subject of our next book, but we thought you might like a bit of a look now to see what we’re in for. It isn’t pretty. There won’t be much to like about the post-dollar-bubble world (other than the wild profits you can make if you follow our advice now in Chapter 6). Once the dollar has fallen in Phase II, life in these United States and around the world will be profoundly changed in Phase III. Before you get too depressed, it’s good to know that we will surely pull ourselves out of this mess in Phase IV when we start to make some of the changes that will lead us to real prosperity; even more than we had before”.