The Empire of Debt: We Came, We Saw, We Borrowed - Hardcover

by William Bonner (Author), Addison Wiggin (Author)

Protect your investments with a deep dive into the past and future of finance

Building on the uncannily accurate predictions in previous editions, this latest edition of The Empire of Debt: We Came, We Saw, We Borrowed, written by New York Times bestselling authors Addison Wiggin and Bill Bonner, explores the economic, political, and financial events between 2008-09 and 2023, placing them in historical context and explaining what's likely to happen for the remaining years of the 2020s.

The book imparts practical advice on how to protect wealth in the face of ongoing and rapidly intensifying crises, as well as suggestions on how these trends can be played to put investors' own money to work. In this book, readers will learn about:

• Political development of US hegemony in the 20th century, from the founding of the Federal Reserve in 1913 through to the present
• Past and current conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Russia and their effects on finance
• The response to the Financial Panic of '08, including a decade of Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP)

With investors more eager than ever to protect their investments, The Empire of Debt is an essential guide to the future of finance, harnessing history to accurately plot where we are and where we're going.

Front Jacket

Following the financial crisis in 2008 a series of economic policy blunders in the Empire of Debt led Washington and Wall Street to the edge of the abyss. Now, its trusting citizens are asked to pay up as the global financial system wends its way toward financial turmoil, again. What exactly has gone wrong in the opening decades of the 21st century? How much longer can the will of the political class hold?

"When things are good," internationally acclaimed authors William Bonner and Addison Wiggin contend, "people tend to believe the most outrageous things--that the financial sector could get rich by lending money to people who couldn't pay it back and that a whole economy could flourish by luring consumers to spend more than they could afford." By the fall of 2008, the jig was up. The financial system broke. But then something miraculous happened. For over a decade, policymakers believed the solution to excess credit and money in the system--was more credit and money! The plebeians of the empire took the bait. The collective delusion helped to re-inflate a worldwide bubble of debt and dollars. The saga continues...

In the Post-Pandemic Third Edition of this ground-breaking work, Bonner and Wiggin team up once again to reveal the third, and perhaps final, act of the most epic financial bubble the world has ever known. In this entertaining edition you'll learn how the financial crises that pock the first two decades of the 21st century were not only destined to happen but grow in magnitude with each passing edict. Throughout the book, the authors offer a frightening look at how policymakers have consistently ignored time-honored wisdom and put United States citizens in a precarious position. Imperial desire and government control of the economy and financial system--combined with unfettered deficit spending--have led to "forever wars" at the periphery, undermined rights once believed sacred in the old Republic, ravaged the domestic economy, deceived unwitting consumers and pushed the global banking system to the brink.

Uncompromising in their analysis, yet amusing in tone, Bonner and Wiggin warn of the dangers that lie ahead for the economy and the financial system including the lynchpin that could lead to final collapse. Importantly, you'll arm yourself with knowledge and discover that you don't have to tie yourself to the inevitable fate awaiting America's system of imperial finance.

Through their books, films and daily musings, Bonner and Wiggin have been studying the primary trends in economics and history for more than forty years. This latest edition of Empire of Debt brings their keen insights to bear on the post-pandemic financial landscape. You'll not only learn how policymakers got us into this mess, but how you can protect yourself and family in the future.

"The doom mongering is leavened with some waspishly witty writing."
--The Daily Telegraph

Back Jacket

PRAISE FOR EMPIRE OF DEBT
--Post-Pandemic Edition--

"Watching the news is a bit like watching a bad opera. You can tell from all the shrieking that something very important is supposed to be happening, but you don't quite know what it is. What you're missing is the plot.

Let us begin by noticing that this is a comic opera that seems as though it might veer into tragedy at any moment. The characters on stage are familiar to us--economists, politicians, investors, consumers, and businesspeople. They are the same hustlers, clowns, rubes, and dumbbells we always see. But in today's performance they are doing something extraordinary: They are some of the richest people on the planet, but they have come to rely on the savings of the world's poorest... They routinely spend more than they make--and think they can continue doing so indefinitely... They invade foreign countries believing they are spreading freedom... They run trillion-dollar deficits, routinely, giving almost no thought to who will pay... or how."

- From the Introduction to Empire of Debt

"Empire of Debt is a wake-up call for all investors. Bonner and Wiggin masterfully illustrate why we should all take a much closer look at what our future holds." - Marketwatch

"The authors describe with sardonic humor--and no small amount of name calling--how America has become an overfed, imperial has-been and economic basket case." - SmartMoney.com

"In addition to being accomplished financial analysts, Bonner and Wiggin are talented historical writers. And they put this talent to work in the cause of examining the political and economic effects of empire." - The Huffington Post

Author Biography

William Bonner is the bestselling author or coauthor of numerous books, including Financial Reckoning Day, Empire of Debt, Mobs, Messiahs and Markets, Hormegeddon, Dice Have No Memory, and The Idea of America. Mr. Bonner is the author of the classic Un-Civilizing America: How Win-Win Deals Make Us Better and shares his investment insights daily in a missive for Bonner Private Research found on Substack. He is the founder of the worldwide research network, The Agora, and an avid stone mason.

Addison Wiggin has been an executive publisher within The Agora for over two decades. He is the coauthor with Mr. Bonner of Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt. Mr. Wiggin is the author of the bestseller Demise of the Dollar and writer and executive producer of the feature-length documentary I.O.U.S.A. which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Addison is the international director of The Gray Swan Investment Fraternity.