John Mauldin and Jonathan Tepper have a new book out. The short title is Code Red. The whole enchilada: How to Protect Your Savings from the Coming Crisis–Code Red.
You may or may not think that there is a crisis coming. Sometimes I think trying to predict economic happenings is rather like trying to suggest that the end of the world is nigh. At the Berkshire Hathaway meeting two years ago (I think it was two years ago, but time flies and I sometimes get my meetings mixed), there were special vans running around the streets of Omaha with huge banners attached—the banners predicted Armageddon.
I was told that a religious leader of some stripe was trying to scare us shareholders towards the straight and narrow. When The End didn't occur on the specified date, I understand that the guy (it's mostly males, by the way, who love to predict this kind of stuff; women are not so much into the predicting-the-end-of-the-world game, although some seem to like numerology, tarot cards and talking to the dead), kept the game alive by changing the date. As we used to say when we didn't get something right the first time–if at first you fricassee, fry, fry a hen.
But Mauldin and Tepper's book really doesn't seem to be about predicting the end of the world so much; instead, although it refers to coming problems, the book seems mostly to be a thoughtful approach towards educating us about solid investments so that we can stay out of the way when a runaway economic train is coming down the track. I read excerpts, and look forward to digging in to the full picture.
