The New Gold Rush - Jon Amsden - Bog

The New Gold Rush has been written for US citizens and others who are concerned by the possibility that rapidly increasing Federal spending ( now 41% of US GDP) might bring down the US dollar and their savings with it. The Federal government has been spending massive amounts of US dollars on bank bailouts, the economic stimulus program, and the high cost of two ongoing wars. In addition to increased deficit spending by the government in Washington, the United States currently has large negative trade balance with other countries. An idea of the size of the trade deficit is given by the fact that the United States is currently in debt to China for more than $2Trillon and owes almost the same amount of money to Japan. Should either country begin to sell off the Treasury Bonds they are holding the US dollar would collapse overnight. These threats to the US dollar, in the context of an industrial slowdown and the off shoring of basic industrial production, could eventually overburden the national budget and lead to an inflation that could be both massive and quick. Because rapid inflation would impose serious losses on dollar-denominated investments and savings, many Americans have been thinking about buying gold as an intelligent form of economic self-protection. The New Gold Rush combines a historical explanation of the relationship between gold and money with five practical chapters devoted to a detailed and careful explanation of gold markets actually work showing how the long term investor (gold coins), the medium term investor (gold mining stocks) and the speculative investor (commodity futures in gold) can operate in these markets. The author, Jon Amsden, holds the PhD from the London School of Economics and has followed financial markets both as investor and analyst for many years.