From the shelf · 102 money books
Does Currency Wars hold up?
Currency Wars (Rickards) is one of the 102 money books on The Money Shelf. It comes from the shelf’s earlier bookshop lists and the books that make specific claims. The shelf links it to 2 of the 22 claims that the book tests against official records from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Each verdict below comes from that test.
Claim 15 · Linked to the book by the shelf; its publisher’s description does not confirm itGold: protection in a crash
Not establishedGold rose 4 per cent in 2008 while the S&P 500 returned −37.00 per cent, and it lost less than the S&P 500 between 6 and 16 March 2020 (13.4 against 19.7 per cent, on unlike measures), yet it fell 29.5 per cent between March and October 2008, and two episodes cannot show that gold protects wealth in a crash in general.
Read the full test →Claim 22 · The book makes this claimInflation and cash: currencies are losing value, so cash savings are being destroyed
Weak diagnosisThe arithmetic is true for notes kept in a drawer, because £1 in 2025 buys what 0.58 new pence bought in 1900, and Australian prices in 2025 were 97 times their 1901 level, so cash held since 1901 buys 1.03 per cent of what it bought then.
Read the full test →One book holds the whole shelf: 22 claims from 102 popular money books, every figure dated, every source named, and the arithmetic worked through for three countries.
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