Planning for Disaster
by Patrick Krey
Radio host and author Charles Goyette has no doubt about the future of the U.S. dollar. The question isn’t whether the U.S. currency will become virtually worthless but when it will happen. Goyette wrote The Dollar Meltdown: Surviving the Impending Currency Crisis with Gold, Oil and Other Unconventional Investments for the express purpose of giving people an opportunity to protect themselves and their families in the face of what he contends is an inevitable collapse of the U.S. dollar, owing to the federal government’s outrageous inflationary spending. There are numerous other books out there offering financial advice, proclaiming to help the reader get rich quick. Unlike those, this book instead attempts to help the readers preserve whatever they can of their existing savings in the face of the ongoing destruction of the U.S. fiat currency by the “wizards in Washington.” The book is broken up into sections that introduce a completely uninitiated reader to the detailed background of our current predicament before getting into the financial advice. Goyette’s years on talk radio have served him well, as he is able to effectively communicate complex and challenging topics for a wide audience. His ability to keep things interesting and entertaining for the reader helps as he summarizes the history of fiat currencies, global empires, and the worsening U.S. predicament. “Such episodes are so frequent in history, they should not need retelling and the economics of unsound money should not need to be repeatedly reexperienced. But such lessons are seemingly never learned and so are replayed again and again. Sometimes the consequences are experienced in a more or less severe manner, but it is the same notes, only played in a different octave.” Through anecdotal examples and witty analysis, Dollar Meltdown is a much more readable book than others on a similar subject. It is informative but also keeps the reader engrossed enough to keep turning the pages. There are many amusing quotes and a few of his most memorable ones will stick with you after you’re done. That is not to say the book is light-hearted. If anything, it’s a massive downer, as it takes a sober look at what lies ahead. America is on a collision course with bankruptcy. The Federal Reserve Notes we currently exchange as money are IOUs that our national leaders have overextended beyond the point of no return. “America’s national government has moved way beyond a political spoils system…. It has become a piñata: everybody gets a crack at it…. But the piñata does not survive the party. It is bashed to bits.” Goyette places the blame on the combination of foreign and domestic spending. “As the Romans discovered and Americans will learn to their great sorrow, empires are unsustainable edifices.” Still, such spending wouldn’t be possible without the machinations of the Federal Reserve. “The harm the Federal Reserve does is inescapable; it reaches everywhere, damaging every nook and cranny of the economy.” As a believer in the Austrian School of economics, Goyette argues that the Federal Reserve itself is responsible for the booms and busts that rock our economy and result in establishment leaders expanding government power with bailouts and more control. Of course, this means that Goyette takes issue with the “conventional wisdom” trumpeted by the governing classes and their lapdog media that our present financial crisis was caused by insufficient government regulation. To say that the economic meltdown was caused by an insufficiency of regulation, Goyette says, is similar to “saying that the Titanic collapsed because of an insufficiency of ice.” April 16, 2010 Patrick D. Krey, Esq. is a freelance writer who works in the corporate world and has an M.B.A., J.D. (law degree) and an L.L.M. (masters of law) from the University of Buffalo. Patrick is also a general practice Attorney admitted to the bar in New York State. His writings focus on national issues and have been published online at JBS.org, PrisonPlanet.com, Antiwar.com, Infowars.com, The Tenth Amendment Center and in The New American bi-weekly print magazine. Copyright © 2010 The New American
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