Business

"The next financial collapse will resemble nothing in history. . . . Deciding upon the best course to follow will require comprehending a minefield of risks, while poised at a crossroads, pondering the death of the dollar."

The international monetary system has collapsed three times in the past hundred years, in 1914, 1939, and 1971. Each collapse was followed by a period of tumult: war, civil unrest, or significant damage to the stability of the global economy. Now James Rickards, the acclaimed author of Currency Wars, shows why another collapse is rapidly approaching--and why this time, nothing less than the institution of money itself is at risk.

The American dollar has been the global reserve currency since the end of the Second World War. If the dollar fails, the entire international monetary system will fail with it. No other currency has the deep, liquid pools of assets needed to do the job.

Optimists have always said, in essence, that there's nothing to worry about--that confidence in the dollar will never truly be shaken, no matter how high our national debt or how dysfunctional our government. But in the last few years, the risks have become too big to ignore. While Washington is gridlocked and unable to make progress on our long-term problems, our biggest economic competitors--China, Russia, and the oilproducing nations of the Middle East--are doing everything possible to end U.S. monetary hegemony. The potential results: Financial warfare. Deflation. Hyperinflation. Market collapse. Chaos.

Rickards offers a bracing analysis of these and other threats to the dollar. The fundamental problem is that money and wealth have become more and more detached. Money is transitory and ephemeral, and it may soon be worthless if central bankers and politicians continue on their current path. But true wealth is permanent and tangible, and it has real value worldwide.

The author shows how everyday citizens who save and invest have become guinea pigs in the central bankers' laboratory. The world's major financial players--national governments, big banks, multilateral institutions--will always muddle through by patching together new rules of the
game. The real victims of the next crisis will be small investors who assumed that what worked for decades will keep working.

Fortunately, it's not too late to prepare for the coming death of money. Rickards explains the power of converting unreliable money into real wealth: gold, land, fine art, and other long-term stores of value. As he writes: "The coming collapse of the dollar and the international monetary system is entirely foreseeable. . . . Only nations and individuals who make provision today will survive the maelstrom to come."

Harvey Mackay, who taught millions of Americans how to "swim with the sharks without getting eaten alive" now dives deep into the art of which he's grandmaster: networking. Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty contains Harvey's gold-chip advice, accumulated over a lifetime of business success, on how to build and maintain the network you need. Harvey guarantees you'll never be more than a phone call away from a person in the position to help you get what you want - whether it's the job opportunity of a lifetime or a lifetime partner, the sales prospect of your dreams or the career advice you've only dreamed of. Harvey shows you how to create a network of trusted, valuable contacts that is worth its weight in platinum. Harvey show you step by step how to get to know the people you need to know; how to keep relationships up-to-date and alive; how to ask for what you need when you need it; how to sparkle in the information age and on the Internet; and how to unlock any door ... anywhere ... at any time. Learn from Harvey's own energizing examples and those he gleaned from world-class networkers like Muhammad Ali, Lou Holtz, Erma Bombeck, Larry King, and Pat O'Brien.

The New York Times bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation from the author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money--the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction-at work, at school, and at home--is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does--and how that affects every aspect of life. He examines the three elements of true motivation--autonomy, mastery, and purpose-and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

Who says nice guys finish last? Fully revised and updated for today's times, Emily Post's The Etiquette Advantage in Business will show you how to meet the challenges of the business world with the kind of self-confidence and poise that will propel you to the top.

Peggy Post and Peter Post show you how to use personal skills to manage workers more effectively, make longer lasting contacts, win clients and close deals-everything you need to know to get ahead in your career. Scores of new topics are addressed for the first time in this completely revised and updated edition.

The Etiquette Advantage in Business, Second Edition includes practical advice on everything from writing persuasive business memos, letters, and e-mails to choosing the appropriate dress for both casual and formal offices; from planning and leading productive meetings to getting results at trade shows and conventions; from conducting a successful job search to guidelines for business entertaining, from the company picnic to formal dinner parties--and much more, including a detailed primer on the social customs you need to know when doing business abroad.