Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador
When Giants Fall
Book

When Giants Fall

An Economic Roadmap for the End of the American Era

Michael J. Panzner
Wiley, 2009
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Editorial Rating

7

Recommendation

Books about the future usually mix and match four broad categories: The present is great or awful, and the future will be great or awful. This book builds on the awful end of today’s economic problems. Michael J. Panzner reinforces the seesawing anxiety some people already feel about America and the future by contending that these dreary times will almost certainly worsen. People have been selling books about America’s demise for decades and maybe one of them will be right someday, but this one is pretty dire. getAbstract admires Panzner’s diligence and hard work, but notes that he offers few, if any, mitigating beds of roses to brighten his forecast. Instead, he blends generally negative economic, ecological, demographic and geopolitical news to project a downward trend that would scare even the most daredevil economic rollercoaster rider. Trends that harm America are likely to injure many other nations also, so some positive, mutual pushback seems inevitable, though Panzner cites instead how other nations would benefit from a weaker U.S. Given the reporting on negative trends and dangers he amasses to explain his pessimism, it would be no wonder if Panzner is depressed. If he’s right, there will be plenty of depression to go around.

Summary

When Economic Structures Fall Apart

America has been spending more than it can afford for several decades. The dollar is sinking in value and the U.S.’s ability to borrow in order to fund its voracious consumerism may be hitting its limit. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have spurred the rise of anti-Americanism in every corner of the globe. America’s industrial might has moved overseas, and its hopes of replacing that with a knowledge economy are evaporating as China and India crank out increasing numbers of engineers and businesspeople.

Countries now feel comfortable moving out from under the American umbrella and seeking their own places in the international sunshine. The Russian bear is out of hibernation and projecting its power onto some of its former satellites. The Middle East is changing and America’s role is under pressure from nations that supply the world with much of its oil. Western countries do not want America to harm their national economic stability by doing something that sends the price of energy skyrocketing even higher. Nations want to seek their own self-interests and act on their own aspirations. As America continues to demonstrate a lack of strength...

About the Author

Michael J. Panzner has worked for 25 years for major firms, such as HSBC, Soros Funds, ABN AMRO and others, in the New York and London stock markets. He is a faculty member at the FT Knowledge/New York Institute of Finance. He is also the author of Financial Armageddon.

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