I thought I would not like this book after I read a little bit.  But I was wrong and am glad I continued.  Despite our very different opinions about the handling of the Covid-19 crisis, I think this book teaches a valuable lesson.

The full title is The New Great Depression:  Winners and Losers in a Post-Pandemic World  by James Rickards.  The differing opinions do not matter here.  We agree as to the economic problem. I come at this from a public health background.  The author from the world of finance. 

The thing about the future is we never know what is coming.  We may have opinions and in some cases we are very sure we are right but we should be prepared for the unexpected.

For example, how many of us would have predicted the current COVID-19 situation a year or more ago.  Many of us in the United States are doing poorly. Some very poorly and some are doing OK or even well.

Financial people are divided about how our economy will do after the pandemic is over.

Some, including this author, think it will be very bad; others predict good times ahead as the economy expands to meet pend-up demand.  So it could mean stocks will tank or maybe they will soar.

The author has previously written about gold as an investment.  He believes it may soar in value as we go into the post-Covid depression.  Others think gold is not a very good investment.  So gold may go way up in price.  On the other hand, it may not.

I could go on with other examples where various experts disagree about future events but I’m sure most readers would rather not see me belabor this point.

The author also makes the point that the best defense in view of this economic uncertainty is to diversify investments.  This is very good advice.  And he further believes that diversification should include a much broader range of investment than most of us consider.

This is a book well worth reading.