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Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse Hardcover – February 9, 2009

by Thomas E. Woods (Author), Ron Paul (Foreword)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 410 ratings
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If you are fed up with Washington boondoggles, and you like the small-government, politically-incorrect thinking of Ron Paul, then you'll love Tom Woods's Meltdown. In clear, no-nonsense terms, Woods explains what led up to this economic crisis, who's really to blame, and why government bailouts won't work. Woods will reveal:
* Which brave few economists predicted the economic fallout--and why nobody listened
* What really caused the collapse
* Why the Fed--not taxpayers--should have to answer for the current economic crisis
* Why bailouts are band-aids that will only provide temporary relief and ultimately make things worse
* What we should do instead, to put our economy on a healthy path to recovery

With a foreword from Ron Paul, Meltdown is the free-market answer to the Fed-created economic crisis. As the new Obama administration inevitably calls for more regulations, Woods argues that the only way to rebuild our economy is by returning to the fundamentals of capitalism and letting the free market work
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  1. Print length
    194 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Regnery Publishing
  4. Publication date
    February 9, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781596985872
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1596985872
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Is Capitalism the Culprit?

The media tells us that "deregulation" and "unfettered free markets" have wrecked our economy and will continue to make things worse without a heavy dose of federal regulation. But the real blame lies elsewhere. In Meltdown, bestselling author Thomas E. Woods Jr. unearths the real causes behind the collapse of housing values and the stock market--and it turns out the culprits reside more in Washington than on Wall Street.

And the trillions of dollars in federal bailouts? Our politicians' ham-handed attempts to fix the problems they themselves created will only make things much worse.

Woods, a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and winner of the 2006 Templeton Enterprise Award, busts the media myths and government spin. He explains how government intervention in the economy--from the Democratic hobby horse called Fannie Mae to affirmative action programs like the Community Redevelopment Act--actually caused the housing bubble.

Most important, Woods, author of the New York Times bestseller The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, traces this most recent boom-and-bust--and all such booms and busts of the past century--back to one of the most revered government institutions of all: the Federal Reserve System, which allows busy-body bureaucrats and ambitious politicians to pull the strings of our financial sector and manipulate the value of the very money we use.

Meltdown also provides a timely history lesson to counter the current clamor for a new New Deal. The Great Depression, Woods demonstrates, was only as deep and as long as it was because of the government interventions by Herbert Hoover (no free-market capitalist, despite what your high school history teacher may have taught you) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (no savior of the American economy, in spite of what the mainstream media says). If you want to understand what caused the financial meltdown--and why none of the big-government solutions being tried today will work--Meltdown explains it all.

From the Back Cover

From the Foreword by Congressman Ron Paul

We can probably expect an avalanche of books in the coming months that purport to tell us what happened to the economy and what we should do about it. They'll be dead wrong, and most of the advice they provide will be dreadful. You can count on that. That's why Meltdown is so important. This book actually gets things right. It correctly identifies our problems, their causes, and what we should do about them. It treats the architects of this debacle not with the undeserved reverence they receive in Washington and on television, but with the critical eye that is so conspicuously missing from our supposedly independent thinkers in academia and the media. Tom Woods reserves his admiration for those few who, unlike the quacks who would instruct us now, actually saw the crisis coming, have a theory to explain it, and can show us the way out. In a short span, Tom Woods introduces the layman to a range of subjects that have been excluded from our national discussion for much too long. Topics our opinion leaders thought they'd buried forever, or never heard of in the first place, are suddenly back, and not a moment too soon. This book is an indispensable conduit of these critical ideas. . . . Ideas still matter, and sound economic education has rarely been as urgently necessary as it is today. There is no better book to read on the present crisis than this one, and that is why I am delighted to endorse and introduce it.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1596985879
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Regnery Publishing; 1st edition (February 9, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 194 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781596985872
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1596985872
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 410 ratings

About the author

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Thomas E. Woods

Thomas E. Woods

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Thomas E. Woods, Jr., was educated at Harvard and Columbia University (where he received his PhD), and was honored with the Hayek Lifetime Achievement Award in Vienna in 2019. Woods is the New York Times bestselling author of 13 books, which in turn have been translated into over a dozen languages, and his book The Church and the Market won the first prize in the Templeton Enterprise Awards.

Woods has appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, FOX News, FOX Business, C-SPAN, and other outlets, produced his own program for EWTN, and he is the host of The Tom Woods Show. He was a creator of the self-taught, K-12 Ron Paul homeschool curriculum. He lives in central Florida with his wife and five daughters.

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4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
410 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Water Sprite of Jax
5.0 out of 5 stars Should be a Must Read
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2009
Verified Purchase
There's plenty of good reviews here that are better written than I'm capable of, but let me add my Two Cents.

THIS BOOK SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE, ALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS PLUS THE POSER PREZ!

My son borrowed Meltdown (the Nation articles compilation) for me by mistake. I read it first. They seemed fixated on blaming BUSH and the mantra of 'deregulation,' tittered on in subjective terms - not helpful at all!! Then I cracked open THIS Thomas E. Woods Jr volume and was delighted to find clear writing, GREAT historical quotes (e.g., William Leggett, 1830's, PG 90-91; could be speaking about today!) and references, INFORMATION, NOT SENTIMENT, and in less than 200 pages I was fascinated and EDIFIED. He gave a great argument for the Austrian School of economics ("which predicted the Great Depression but also the calamity we face today"; tho neglected for too long, there ARE free market principles that better lead to prosperity or shorten disruptions) versus Keynes/Krugman. Contrary to well-entrenched dogma, progressive (rather than free market) economics have more often prevailed in our history; the effects were telling. The wise observers were ignored and the statist fools wreaked havoc. Frustratingly, Obama's "change" continues the trend of willful ignorance ("I'll stage a 'listening' event, for show mind you, but you aren't going to change my mind"). AARGH!

On nearly EVERY issue of concern, Progressive 'leaders' act OPPOSITE to common sense, honest data, and history's lessons, addressing symptoms rather than causes. Like adolescents, they think Short Term/in the Present, no thought to consequences, driven by ideology and never LEARNING! (No wonder there's anxiety and insecurity - the EVIDENCE is there that today's 'EXPERTS' are anything but! That definition of insanity - repeating the same actions despite their lack of success, determined that eventually they will succeed, comes to mind!) As more harm is directly felt by Americans, like free market economists of the past, we are reduced (yet again - and the stakes are at their utmost due to the metastisized cancer seen today what with incentivized multiple segments of the economy scrambling on board the Unsustainable Malinvestment/Misallocation Train) to standing on the sidelines hollering "Don't go there! Don't do THAT!" (as even PUTIN warned Obama recently), all to no avail. Then we all suffer the unnecessarily drawn-out consequences and adding insult to injury, are subjected to denials/bogus explanations about what went wrong. Read this book and you will be equipped with understanding on how we are being conned, betrayed and pillaged to an unprecedented level!

Woods made clear that our present pervasive mess is LAYERS of problematic practices (I lost count at FIVE) that triggered one to another. (In other words, don't get caught up in thinking that just shutting down Affirmative Action Lending or ACORN will do the trick.) The initial CATALYST time and again has been/is now INTERVENTIONISM, the single most destructive practice, discombobulating the market. This can be laid at the feet of the mysterious, unaccountable FEDERAL RESERVE ("...it's Chairman chosen by govt appointment, and endowed with monopoly privileges, the Fed rests on principles diametrically opposed to those of the free market. It is dedicated to central economic planning, the great discredited idea of the 20th Century...with consequences that necessarily reverberate throughout the economy." Pg 8) You see the Fed's hand in every recession (but one; it was tellingly short) in our history, inflating the money supply & manipulating the interest rates (directly causing boom-bust cycles). ARTIFICIAL credit, wages, and prices...

"[Jim] Rogers [investment maven], when asked on CNBC what two courses of action he would take if he were appointed Fed chairman, replied that he would ABOLISH THE FED AND THEN RESIGN." [Pg 4] Yet what is OBAMA DOING *RIGHT NOW*? - BEEFING UP THE AUTHORITY/POWER OF THE FED! AARGH! The EVIDENCE may be dusty, but it's THERE, and the Dems stubbornly and consistently IGNORE common sense and historical evidence. This does NOT bode well for our hoped-for recovery. Japan spent FIFTEEN YEARS in recession following the very practices espoused as 'good' and being applied today. With this fired up Obama Steamroller in control, there's still a whole lotta hurtin' comin' up around the bend. We need RE-EDUCATION to effectively FIGHT BACK and hope for survival. This book is a valuable tool.
6 people found this helpful
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parisltm
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent economic analysis for the current crisis - MUST READ!
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2009
Verified Purchase
Dr. Thomas Wood enjoys a great advantage over other historians and analysts, in that he not only has a unique grasp of history and its precedents, he also possesses an excellent understanding of sound economics. Most historians could not say the same, today (reading the dribble they write nowadays, they would be lying if they ever said they understand economics). Most ECONOMISTS today do not possess the same grasp of sound economics that Dr. Woods enjoys!

Thomas Woods makes use of both these great assets to explain, in layman terms (albeit never in a simplistic or condescending way), why the US economy suffers now what could very well be the worst crisis of its existence, how it got there and what should be done from a policy making standpoint.

He diagnoses the crisis by enumerating the known or often-mentioned culprits: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the Community Reinvestment Act, the over-leveraging, the loose lending standards... These have been mentioned in the Mainstream Media and by pundits and analysts as reasons for the meltdown, but never within a unified theory that could explain why they played a role or came into existence in the first place.

Woods relies on Austrian Business Cycle Theory, or ABCT, to explain how the above factors contributed to the problem but were not THE seed, THE reason, THE origin for the housing boom and bubble, the bad investments and over leveraging, for none of those issues would have been possible if not for the real culprit - the money supply manipulations of the Federal Reserve.

ABCT indicates that when the Federal Reserve, or any Central Bank, lowers interest rates below their Free Market level by increases in the money supply, investors and businesses are fooled into believing that there are more savings available for long term projects than what exist in reality, enticing them to make riskier or long term projects and investments that are not viable. In order to understand why this happens, one has to realize that capital comes from people saving their resources and capital by delaying consumption now for future, greater consumption (as a quick example, like the paper boy saving his paper route money for purchasing his first car later, instead of using it now for other consumption). What people are willing to accept as a reward for this delayed consumption is called the interest rate. When savers and investors compete in the market for capital, a MARKET DRIVEN (or natural) interest rate appears, just like any other price. Investors can only use capital that already exists for longer term investments which promise either better goods, more capital or more productivity, because if people delay consumption, the resources available for such consumption can THEN be diverted towards the longer-term projects. Imagine people delaying their DIY projects so that builders can use the building materials for new and improved housing.

If this market driven interest rate is manipulated by increasing the money supply (money being the measure of wealth), investors and consumers are fooled into thinking that, a) Investors can make the investments profitable and b) Consumers can keep on consuming as if such projects were not being realized. This creates a DISLOCATION of consumption versus investment, ending up in resources being gobbled up faster than if the investments were not made or the consumption delayed. This is what causes the boom-bust cycle.

What the Central Bank does is that it reduces the interest rate by the only way it can: by printing more money. Money is an indicator of assets and wealth in an economy, so more money gives the impression of more wealth available. This new "capital" is a mirage, a sham - consumers have NOT delayed consumption. So the investments are made under false information, taking resources out of the economy which end up not being enough to finish the projects. Or, the expected demand in the future does NOT materialize (as it happened at the end of the boom, with so many new housing available with no customers.)

It was the Federal Reserve that seeded the boom and subsequent bust that lead to this meltdown. What the government did through its agencies (Freddie and Fanny), regulations and insurances, was to compound the problem by enticing lenders and debtors take on more risk than what prudence and real interest rates would have indicated. Certainly, things like the Community Reinvestment Act, by making lenders and mortgage issuers reduce their lending standards, made the housing boom, it was the Fed that made it possible for the boom to exist in the first place. The Fed is the culprit for other boom-busts, most notably the dot-Com debacle of the 90's. When that bubble fizzled, the Fed reduced interest rates further down to supposedly avoid the recession that should have liquidated the bad investments and reallocate the resources. Instead, it simply fueled a NEW bubble, this time in housing.

The book explains all this in very clear terms. As an analysis, it is above the shoulders of most, but most important, for anybody who wants to learn more about sound economic theory, this book is an excellent start, being on par with Hazlitt's "Economics In One Lesson" - it is a great antidote against the economic fallacies that permeate the Mainstream Media and the so-called "Financial" shows in cable TV. I wholeheartedly recommend you get and read this book.
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Daniel Rodrigues [BR]
5.0 out of 5 stars Uma ótima introdução a teoria dos ciclos econômicos da escola austríaca de economia
Reviewed in Brazil on February 1, 2021
Verified Purchase
A lição que encontramos em Meltdown é simples e direta. Não é possível realizar mais investimentos do que a quantidade de recursos poupados pela sociedade. Tentar alimentar o desenvolvimento econômico com concessões de crédito e estímulos ao consumo resulta, sempre e toda vez, numa descoordenação entre os investimentos em fatores de produção e a capacidade de consumo real. Quando essa descoordenação se torna suficientemente grande, é impossível dar continuidade aos estímulos governamentais sem gerar processos inflacionários grandes demais para serem controlados. E, assim, quando o governo se vê obrigado a interromper a expansão de crédito, o boom econômico se torna numa profunda e dolorosa recessão, que destrói a ilusão de enriquecimento do período anterior.

Thomas Woods utiliza como exemplo desse processo, que nada mais do que a teoria dos ciclos econômicos da escola austríaca de economia, o boom imobiliário americano de quase 15 anos que desencadeou numa das maiores crises econômicas recentes, em 2008.

O livro também deixa bem claro que a bolha imobiliária americana não foi fruto do livre mercado sem regulações, mas, ao contrário, foram as regulações governamentais quem a criou e estimulou. Erros empresariais são naturais no processo produtivo. Esses erros são punidos através do prejuízo, o mecanismo natural de correção do mercado contra a má utilização dos recursos sociais. Porém, quando um grande número de empresários comete ao mesmo tempo o mesmo erro, significa que o mecanismo de correção do mercado está sendo bloqueado por alguma força externa. Essa força externa, é claro, se trata dos governos influenciando através de taxas de juros, subsídios ou estímulos ao consumo para colher benefícios políticos de curto prazo, ao custo dos prejuízos para toda sociedade no longo prazo, quando essas políticas se tornam incapazes de esconder as distorções que elas mesmas criaram e a economia quebra. Aquilo que seria um prejuízo de algumas empresas e setores restritos da economia, se torna uma falha sistêmica que contamina todo o tecido social.

Se trata de um livro interessante tanto para um primeiro contato com a teoria dos ciclos econômicos, quanto para quem já está familiarizado com ela e quer um exemplo recente de como as interferências das políticas dos governos, através de seus bancos centrais, distorcem as relações de produção e consumo e acabam gerando ciclos de breves crescimentos, seguidos de longas recessões econômicas, cujos únicos ganhadores são os políticos e as empresas (sobretudo o setor bancário) protegidas por eles.
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Kindleのお客様
5.0 out of 5 stars 素晴らしいです。
Reviewed in Japan on August 1, 2020
Verified Purchase
とても安くてまるで新品のようです。

（そして、本は勧めます。短くて詳しくてわかりやすいです。Tom Woods のYotubeチャンネルも勧めます。）
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Sonia
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesante
Reviewed in Spain on July 6, 2014
Verified Purchase
Aunque esta en Inglés es de fácil y amena lectura.
Recomendable para todo aquel que quiera respuestas.
Autor muy conocido por Estados Unidos.
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Mr. Francois Marcognet
5.0 out of 5 stars Crise financière et Ecole Autrichienne
Reviewed in France on April 27, 2011
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Très bonne analyse de la crise monétaire et financière récente, 2008-2010, sur la base de la théorie économique autrichienne libérale de L. von Mises et de F. A. Hayek.
Comment les gouvernements et les banques centrales, en particulier le gouvernement U.S. et la Fed, provoquent des bulles par l'intermédiaire de la création inconsidérée de monnaie et de crédit, source d'endettement et de spéculation? En voilà l'explication.
Deux mythes sont détruits au passage: la mentalité "too big to fail" et la peur de la déflation. Les gouvernements et les autorités monétaires sont donc responsables en dernière analyse des cycles "boom-bust" dans un régime de monnaies fractionnaires. Les plans de sauvetage et de facilité monétaire ne font qu'aggraver les situations à long terme (leçon de Hazlitt), au lieu de s'attaquer à la mauvaise dérégulation et aux interventions déstabilisantes.
Il faut donc revenir à ce que dit la théorie autrichienne à propos du marché libre, de la monnaie saine et de l'étalon-or; et mettre fin à la manipulation monétaire.
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Stuart Fairney
5.0 out of 5 stars This may make an Austrian of you
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2010
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Tom Woods describes how the federal government not only created the very conditions for a collapse, but is now following the same policies of fiat money creation that will delay any recovery. He does this in a clear, simple and rather amusing way. Fundamentally, this is an indictment of non-commodity based money. He argues that we don't let the government set the price of bread, so why do we let them set the price of money as well as being the biggest counterfeiter in history? It is a compelling book.

For a fictional account of this theory of economics and politics, you may want to try this one  Single Acts of Tyranny
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