How you can Profit from the coming devaluation

by Harry Browne

Now, we are facing a far greater crisis. The shift from gold and silver coins to paper money caused great concern to economists such as Harry Browne, but now today even the paper money has no value. Nowadays, the world's financial system is carried on Internet websites!!! Trillions of dollars flow back and forth every day through the world's financial markets. If the World Wide Web crashes, there is nothing to back it up. Today, the governments of the world are just creating ever increasing deficits. They are spending like there is no tomorrow. They are just bailing each other out. How much longer can this continue? The "mother" of all financial collapses is upon us NOW. That is why this book is needed more than ever NOW. The world's economy is being run as a giant Ponzi scheme. Governments are bailing out banks and then bailing out each other. The country of Greece was on the verge of collapse until the Government of the United States sent over billions of dollars to Greece to bail it out. Of course, the United States Government did not send real money to Greece. It just made an electronic transfer of funds. The Government of the United States is also bailing out several states of the United States. Who will bail out the United States of America when it collapses, as it must, because of the deficit spending that keeps increasing? The Collapse MUST come. It is inevitable. Our fondest hope has to be that it does not come during our lifetimes, so that only our children and grandchildren will suffer because of it. That is the reason why we need to read and re-read "How You Can Profit from the Coming Devaluation".

Genres: Finance, Economics

189 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

Reviews

[Lewis Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harry Browne wrote a truly amazing book in "How You can Profit." A thoughtful observer, he saw how the forces acting on the dollar were changing and had the boldness to predict a gold price that could rise to "as high as 100-200 dollars per ounce." Of course gold in his time would go onto peak at nearly $900 per oz and serve as a testimony to Mr. Browne's insight as well as a cautionary statement on how strongly a bull market may progress.

It has been more than a decade since I read this book but the clarity of its insightful and the creativity of its author make it a classic. Of course, Mr. Brown's prescience would be rewarded in the market and he would go on to pen other investment tomes, each with rising popularity and each more shrill than the last, predicting monetary mayhem even as the cycle was turning. But none of that can take away from his profound insight when it mattered: before the trend had even started, which set the thoughtful reader on a path of comprehension and profit.

Mr. Browne was an innovator and an astute observer of his times. Any serious study on inflation and currency depreciation must include this work.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harry Browne won no small measure of fame when he wrote this book, essentially foreseeing the coming dollar devaluation by Nixon (with the final untethering of the dollar from gold).
This book was recommended as having some superb chapters explaining the nature of money, inflation, fractional-reserve banking, etc. I would agree that it was excellent in that regard. The rest of the book was great too, discussing as it does some strategies for investing depending on the anticipated economic climate (recession vs. devaluation vs. depression vs. inflation vs. hyper-inflation, etc). When he wrote the book, it was still technically illegal to own gold, so some of his advice and topics covered may be somewhat narrower than what is needed today, where gold is legal obviously. Still, a fantastic primer on financial and economic concepts. I would also suggest, as a means to understanding gold, money, banking, etc., a reading of Murray Rothbard's book "What Has Government Done To Our Money / The Case For A 100% Gold Standard."

[Mark Zodda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat interesting look at Browne's apocalyptic warning from 1970 about the coming end (1971-73) of the international system where foreign governments could exchange dollars for gold and how that would lead to financial chaos. Having only been a kid at the time, I have no memory of what really occurred, but Browne's plan to profit seems to have been more than a bit extreme. In fact, he later modified his investment strategy to make a more permanent allocation of investments, which is covered in his book, "Fail-Safe Investing." That said, his critique of fiat currency is well worth reading and has to give pause as one wonders what the future might bring as world currencies are even more unmoored from any meaningful valuation. Fairly easy to read, but some of his explanations are hard to follow and understand from today's perspective.

[Alex Drysdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in an old abandoned house in the middle of the Rockies.
It was one of only two books on a shelf below a caved in roof that were still legible.

I knew it was old, but reading, it was if the author was speaking of what we're going through today in 2023... then he revealed he was not even talking about the 70's but the 20's.

The economy, money, valuations are all a manipulated cycle.

This walked you through without talking down to you, giving great examples and scenarios to match your personal risk.

Definitely worth checking out in these turbulent times.

[Marco den Ouden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Serves well as a text book on money theory. Easy to understand. Well written.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in the early to mid 1970's. The first few chapters were the BEST introduction to free-market economics that I've seen. Harry Browne is a gifted writer.

[Michael L Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional book on money, inflation, gold and silver, etc. What's the government done to our money?! And what can you do about it? This is a Must Read. Especially if you like money.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good but i've read better