Surviving the Great Depression of 1990: Protect Your Assets and Investments-- And Come Out on Top

by Ravi Batra

Book Overview

Dr. Ravi Batra shocked the nation with his financial predictions in the runaway bestseller, The Great Depression of 1990. Now in this lifesaving sequel, Dr. Batra showsome out on top. Clear,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671663240
• ISBN13: 9780671663247
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 367 Pages
• Weight: 1.76 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Watch your back, Dude!

Well, 1990 has come and gone, and Dr. Ravi Batra is not that good of a prognosticator. However, he is a radical dude, and you have to like him for that, unless, of course, you are not radical. I am (a radical, I mean). You have to get to the end of this book to really understand what Batra's agenda is. The last few chapters are still relevant to today's American economy and society. It is a picture of pure and unadulterated classicism. Whoops, did I say that? Hey, I'm in the middle class. Isn't everybody? Batra blames all economic problems, today and yesterday, on wealth concentration. I believe this is what might be called a "populist" viewpoint, because it paints "the people" against the rich elites. Yet, it is only a viewpoint. Batra does not actually prove his point; he only shows some possible correlations between economic dips and wealth concentration. You have to appreciate him, though. Batra has a tough gig, drawing conclusions about an entire national economy. The years since 1990 prove that Batra did not and probably could not factor in all the possible variables, for example, the emergence of conflict between the U.S. and radical Islam. This excerpt shows you how radical Batra was when he wrote this book: "Time and again throughout history, enormous concentration of wealth among the few has drive the poverty-ridden masses to rise up and dethrone the affluent...in a massive revolution." Is anybody out there so poverty-stricken that he or she is ready to revolt? Revolution was more likely in the 1960s than today, and you see how those poor fools (e.g., the so-called Symbionese Liberation Army or the Weather Underground), were squashed by the almighty "powers that be." You go, Ravi! Ravi Batra for President! Did you like Reagan as a President? You will not after reading this book. I never did, anyway. Batra is a person of heart, and that's what distinguishes him from all the so-called fool Keynesians, neo-Keynesians, "tricklists" like Reagan and all their greedy, money-worshipping brethren. Batra tells it truthfully: the U.S. is now and always has been based on a culture of acquisitiveness, which boils down to greed, which boils down to "me first." This brings back memories of good old Ayn Rand ("The Virtue of Selfishness") and other such. This book is worth its weight in all the economic policies of all those trickle downers, namely, Reagan, Bush, Bush, and so forth. These big people support the ethic of greed, just as Batra so adeptly shows in this book. So did the Democrats. They cannot help it. We cannot either, I guess. We're like fish that don't know the water their swimming in. Yet, some advice for the author may be in order: Watch your back, dude, because Big Brother is definitely back there looking at you!

This book should be subtitled "Have a Plan B"

Whether you agree with Ravi Batra's theories or not, his advice on preparing for and dealing with severe economic downturns is golden. Having read this book in the 1980's, and kept the possibility of a second great depression in mind, we successfully (emotionally and financially) dealt with a stretch of my professional husband's unemployment lasting a year and a half. I would recommend this book, and especially the worst-case worksheets, for anyone at risk for layoffs.

A Very Good Read

I purchased this book sometime in 1989 and recently reread it after reading Conquer the Crash by Robert Prechter. Although Batra misses his prediction by 13 years, in many ways he just predicted the upcoming event too early. In some ways, his theory of social cyles reminds me of Prechter's Elliot Waves in the sense the both suggest a sort of determinism that revolves around the affairs of men. That's one reason that I wanted to reread Batra. Much of what Batra offers is quite sober and gives some food for thought. I find the discussion of speculative bubbles particularly appropriate given recent events which he could not have known about 13 years ago. Back in 1989, several things were occurring (i.e. S & L debacle, recession, real estate crash) that could have resulted in a very significant downturn. According to Batra, he didn't anticipate the influx of Japanese investment in US assets in response to the Japanese central bank forcing interest rates to zero. He suggests that this increase in foreign investment averted the financial collaspe he predicted. He is correct on this point as our current account deficit up to recently has been reinvested by foreigners in US financial assets. Now with the dollar faltering against major currencies combined with near zero interest rates here, these flows have now begun to reverse. A severe economic contraction is now within the realm of possibility.

So...13 years later....

Is this merely a post-ponement? Perhaps the year 2010 should be inserted into the title?Put 3 economists in a room and you'll get six answers, if your lucky. A good idea is to read books put forth by economists 10 years and longer in the past. You'll see how often most of them are not only misguided and incorrect, but also out on planet Mars. However, some offer good insights into cyclical trends and patterns juxtaposed with current political, technological, and societal evolution. Now, you can keep this in mind when you are reading the current books, newsletters, and magazines from economists, investment gurus, analysts, etc.Dr. Batra covers many facts of the 1980s such as the Tax Reform Act of 1986, banking conditions, and the exportation of American labor and manufacturing jobs to LDCs among other conditions. Covering dozens of areas in investing, here is one example of advice. He specifically advised people to liquidate tax-deferred savings such as KEOGHS and IRAs. page 178 states: "Premature withdrawal of funds in Keoghs and IRA plans may then be the safest bet in spite of various penalties, especially if they are entrusted to non-banking institutions. The next question is: what should you do with the money? Can you trust the banks at all?" ---end quote. Batra then promotes the danger of putting money in banks. Real estate is also getting ready to crumble. He did state several times, that he hoped his forecasting would turn out to be incorrect, and he (as all economists seem to do), provide the solutions via tax restructuring, monetary policy, and budget allocation. Interesting, is that these forecasts were obviously made before the exponential growth and explosion of the Internet, which greatly transformed the economy, and markets. So....what would the economy have been like had it not been for the dot.com explosion? And, now in 2003, after that bubble has burst, will there be wage growth and middle-class job creation in the years to come....?His "Law of Cycles" has eruditic roots. Batra, an avid reader and self-studied student of world history, international trade, politics, and humanities, noted several areas of the world and the-then present conditions that brought him to his conclusions. He did have the courage to write his beliefs (which he profited from tremendously), and write them in a very easy-to-read way for the masses, or laymen population. (Marketing?) In sum, reading economic books of the past, whether theory, or in historical factual disciplines, helps us make better decisions today, in our attempt to gauge the future.