Crash Proof

One of the big hits in the business section of book stores these days is Crash Proof.  How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse. There are lots more like it. They have titles like The Coming Economic Collapse, Financial Armageddon, The Great Bust Ahead, Game Over, After the Crash, and When Giants Fall.

  Scanning these titles can be terribly depressing. But don’t despair. As long as we have subtitles, we have hope. Whether the future holds collapse, depression, catastrophe, Armageddon, or the most awful planetary mash-up in the history of the whole bloody universe, the subtitle is certain you can profit from it.

  All you have to do is buy the book.

  The strange fact is that most popular business books come in one of two varieties. One is The Coming Boom: How to profit! The other is The Coming Collapse: How to profit! One never sees The Coming Moderation: How to do fairly well!

  Outwardly, manic bulls and depressive bears are completely unalike. But at their core, both species are optimists, even the bears. After all, it takes a certain unflappable cheeriness to see everything from Great Depressions to plague, war, and civilizational collapse as an opportunity to make some coin.

  True pessimists offer only the hope that you and your family may not be beaten and flayed by starving marauders. No one“profits”or “prospers”in their subtitles. At best, they“guard”or“survive.”