An impending “70% stock market crash”.   A “$100 trillion meltdown”  A “coming catastrophe”  and “Our leaders have kept us in the dark about this dangerous situation”.  These are some of many claims made by Jim Rickards in webpages and email spam messages.

Does he really think the world will end?
We don’t know but in the meantime he’s making a lot of money scaring people.

His latest spam emails claim that the US government knows the crash is coming and has secret plans – a maze of underground bunkers near the Blue Ridge Mountains and so on.

His evidence is all circumstantial and doesn’t really prove anything but if he scares  people enough into buying his books then one guy is happy. There are more of these people in America as it has a long history of prophets of the end of the world. Hasn’t happened yet but the strange thing is that whenever one of the end of the world dates is passed and nothing’s happened – people still believe.

What Does Rickards Claim?

Rickards says that beginning in 2015, the U.S. will fall into a 25 year depression. In a Reuters interview, when asked about when this would happen he concedes “I don’t know any more than anyone else”.

• He argues that the CIA created something called “Project Prophecy” which actually predicted a 2006 terrorist attack.  (shockingly, there are thwarted terrorist attacks every year…..who would have predicted?)
• Debt has been systematically used to grow our economy  (Ah, there we go…..joining the legions of debt-obsessed apocalyptic doomsayers who have been preaching financial failure for decades)

 

It starts with $39.50 for a one-year subscription to even more of his marketer-crafted blood-pressure-raising blabber.    For $79, you qualify for an ‘Executive Package’ that includes four books full of this fear-mongering.  Rickards also wants you to buy his book “The Death of Money”.   Supposedly, Rickard’s prescription to financial wellness during his coming Armageddon is gold, real estate, art, hedge funds and cash.  These are all very complex investments.   No surprise then, that you’ll need to pay for his guidance to make it through the financial mine field that he’s about to lead you into.