Dying of Money: Lessons of the Great German and American Inflations

Book was as described, very informative, will have to read again

This book covers causes of inflation going back to the Roman Empire but focuses on modern inflation theory relative to Germany starting in the 20's, and later USA's inflation starting at the end of WW2 in '49 to '72. Spend now, pay later policies that have become very relevant lately.

Still reading as we are looking at the same scenario in this country.

This book was originally published in1974 but the issues and theories on inflation haven't gone away. This book covers the Wiemar inflationary spiral, although not in as much detail as "When Money Dies" (Fergusson) or "The Downfall of Money" (F. Taylor) . The author delves more into the theories behind what causes inflation and how tricky it is to predict an inflationary period due to the variables that cannot be measured or controlled (Velocity of money, values, etc.). It's a slow read and requires concentration, but if you want another arrow in your informational quiver concerning money and inflation, this is worth the effort. With the continuing government deficit spending and money creation, it might be useful knowledge to have.

If you want to know where the country is headed - read this book

I rarely write reviews of anything on Amazon. However, this book is special. Of the 20-or-so books I've purchased over the last year to try to help me figure out what was going on in the macro-economy, this book is definitely the one that I would keep if I could keep only one, and second place, I would add, is distant.While I did not agree with every conclusion or argument that the author made, the superb writing and thoughtful presentation of new ideas was extremely helpful towards helping me learn about and "expand my thinking" on various aspects of our current financial system, and secondly, the optimal way our financial economy *should* be constructed in an ideal sense. Granted, the author is writing in 1974, so some deference needs to be given to the author in light of new financial innovations, policies, and a different geo-political and financial environment today as compared to when the book was written, but the basic arguments made in the second half of the book in my opinion remain relevant, or at the very least still worthy of consideration for society today. That these insights were collected and written down by an attorney under a pseudonym is telling, and the associated writing style is refreshing for a book on this topic.I have consumed more than 300 hours of YouTube videos and podcast content, and read several books, over the last year on macroeconomics, banking, and financial policy topics including MMT, QE, gold, investing, and the bond market: nothing I've learned has suggested this book is old and outdated, and that I should not read this book a second time, and this time take more detailed notes. I relish the thought!The reader is advised the author's essential arguments in the second half are based on the quantity theory of money (QTM) which Modern Monetary Theorists might dismiss as "antiquated," but which an educated, independent, seeking reader (having studied and finding value in MMT also as a descriptor of our current system) may not be so ready to dismiss, admitting the possibility that both theories may contain truths that are useful. If QTM is no longer useful because the "structure of the international monetary system has become more complex and rendered QTM no longer relevant," that point has certainly not been proven out to my satisfaction by my open-minded readings and research over the last year. Just because QTM-related quantities are difficult or nearly impossible to measure (e.g. money velocity and money supply) does not mean we should discard the theory or its logical implications altogether as useless. QTM is still firmly grounded in the equation of exchange. Thank you, Marcks, for making me skeptical of the modern lines we are fed about "the way things work."Other reviewers have discounted the second half of the book as "collectivist drivel," a characterization which I would argue (as a non-collectivist) is wholly misplaced and inaccurate, and does not nearly do the second half the justice it deserves. While there are a couple places in the second half where I feel the author oversteps a bit, his arguments are still logical and considerate, which alone makes this book worth having on your bookshelf. While stimulus checks aren't quite UBI and are a far cry from Marcks' "national dividend," the ideas are all in the same conceptual ballpark, which made that part of the reading very interesting and very real.I can say this safely, even though I don't agree with everything the author writes: The author's writing throughout is masterful, and there is a certain "playfulness" with which the author dances around various topics (e.g. interest rates, money, markets, and politics) that would otherwise be very dull, which makes the book a pleasure to read and hard to put down.I believe there's a reason this book was not reprinted before now (note: I believe a recent new paperback version just came out, which was not available until recently...), and there's a reason this book can sometimes cost several hundred dollars to purchase. The information contained in this book is extremely valuable, even if QTM doesn't exactly describe every aspect of our modern monetary system in its entirety today. In a capitalist system, you get what you pay for. I highly recommend this book to any critical reader trying to learn about money, interest rates, and what's going on in the macroeconomy. Yes, the book was written 45 years ago, so there are a few weaknesses. But the benefits vastly outweigh the weaknesses. Even if you end up not liking the book's content, you'll probably enjoy the writing style. Oh yeah, and if the author's thesis is correct, this book will easily save you 10 times what you pay for it. : )

...Principles for Dealing with The Changing World Order.Jens O Parsons (Marcks, Ronald H) wrote one of the most eye-opening books I've ever read. There's two books that really slapped some sense into me over the years: Rich Dad, Poor Dad and The Dying of Money.If you're surprised by any of this material and wonder why it's not taught in high school or made mandatory in college, it's because the government and the central banks don't actually want you to know this.There's also a lot of politicians that would rather you don't know this either so they can keep scaring you about the national deficit. And then try to convince you to vote for them with false promises that they can fix it. You can't fix it. Once they genie is all the way out of the bottle, there is no fixing it. All you can do is plan accordingly and pass on the knowledge to your family because of if the return to hard money doesn't happen in your life time, it will happen in theirs.

Anyone who holds their wealth in assets priced in paper currencies should read this book, without fail.The introductory chapters on the German inflation starting in World War One and ending in 1923 are just hair raising. The detail on how society was torn apart, rich people impoverished, huge fortunes both made and lost is just fascinating and scary. It's also scary how suddenly the end came, and how it came about, as confidence in the value these bits of paper money were purported to represent collapsed drastically, as more and more currency was printed. (Holding Euros or US $ anyone?!) By 15 November 1923, the Reichsmark was replaced by the Rentenmark at a conversion rate of one trillion to one (!).The book is worth buying if you only read this first part alone.The second part deals with the (so far) less dramatic and fairly steady decline in the value of the US $ since 1939 - the beginning of the rot really being again a major World War. This is also fascinating reading, and talks about the Federal Reserve's role in pumping out ever increasing gobs of paper dollars.On August 15, 1971, the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the dollar to gold, and the US $ became fully 'fiat currency,' backed by nothing.I don't know what "Helicopter" Ben Bernanke actually studied, but if he hasn't read how the German experiment with printing vast amounts of un-backed money ended, he should probably have a look at this book pretty soon!

ottimo

An absolute must read, despite the price!It’s dense with economic theory, but none of it super abstract. It’s extremely well written with a flowing and clear style.

A fantastic and easy to read book, explaining in depth the causes and measures that lead up to both Great German & American inflations.Will it be different this time around?