This time is different

Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff (Harvard): This Time is different (The Book) or just the earlier Paper is a must read for anyone concerned about the current environment.

They go statistically through 800 yrs of financial history and their findings are rather sobering. It's a quick and easy read which you couldn't expect from the subject.

The key takeaway from their unique work is that it would be different this time if the worst were behind us. We'd be smarter than all generations before us and had truly reached some stage of Nirvana where Politicians and Central Bankers have reached their peak right on time to save us from the biggest financial global intertwined train wreck in history. If you believe this is the case that you can continue believing this new generation of NEW DEALERS around the world.

If not.....read the book and think for yourself....

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This is what Niall Ferguson had to say about it

This is quite simply the best empirical investigation of financial crises ever published. Covering hundreds of years and bringing together a dizzying array of data, Reinhart and Rogoff have made a truly heroic contribution to financial history. This single marvelous volume is worth a thousand mathematical models.
(Niall Ferguson, author of "The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World")