The Money Mystery: The Hidden Force Affecting Your Career, Business and Investments, 2nd ed.

Uncle Eric #7

by Richard J. Maybury

This second edition is out of print. It has been replaced by a third edition. Please search for the third edition by entering either 0942617517 or 9780942617511 in the search field for books.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, School, History, Politics, Read For School, Business

95 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Richard Maybury, also known as Uncle Eric, is the publisher of U.S. & World Early Warning Report for Investors. He has written several entry level books on United States economics, law, and history from a libertarian perspective. He writes the books in epistolary form, usually as an uncle writing to his nephew, answering questions.

Maybury was a high school economics teacher. After failing to find a book which would give a clear explanation on his view of economics he wrote one himself. Some of his books include Uncle Eric Talks About Personal, Career & Financial Security, Higher Law, Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? and Whatever Happened to Justice? .

Reviews

[Alannah Alomar · Rating 3 out of 5]

"MONEY'S NOT EVEN REAL" i scream as they drag me away.

this was such a rushed book to read for school lol like 50 pages a week? they are trying to kill us

this man is HIGHLY biased. he said he would be. he followed through. its just...so stupidly biased.
He dispises the government. i get it uncle eric, but jeez, chill. anyway. i actually did learn a lot lol i guess.

[Andy Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this book, the author explains the importance of understanding money velocity: how fast money is changing hands. Overall, it seemed the book focused on the events surrounding an surge in gold prices in 1980. While important lessons can be learned from that event, the application of those lessons for today was not terribly clear. The author does mention the value of comparing the purchases of inflation-indexed bonds with regular bonds. He also mentions the importance of not investing in something you can't get out of quickly as there is a lot of uncertainty in our economy and government.

I was surprised by his statements on page 64: "[T]he governments do not like [a single global economy]; they fight it. They greedily cling to their borders, tariffs, and other artificial boundaries that should have vanished with the coming of the telephone and radio. This primitive behavior creates great risk for business people and investors as governments continue to fight over territory." It seems idealistic to think that there is no need for physical borders due to the diversity of cultures and beliefs that exist in our world, creating a need to individualized governments and practical physical controls for those individual regions/countries.

In general, it seems this book is an addendum to the author's other book, The Clipper Ship Strategy: For Success in Your Career, Business and Investments, explaining money velocity in order to better understand that book better.

[Michael Tildsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another very good history lesson from Uncle Eric. I found the 1790s economic picture in France highly informative and intriguing. We hear all the time about Weimar Germany, but few people talk about this era in France. History is a great note keeper.

One very interesting thing is that Uncle Eric says we should watch the yield curve and the steeper it gets the closer we are to danger.

This book is a bit dated, (2004) but the Federal Reserve now uses something called YCC the yield curve control to target certain rates in the long term bonds (by agreeing to buy them) that it hides the real demanded interest rate on those bonds. The public is evidently not allowed to know how steep the real yield curve is. Similar to how we’re not really intended to know what the real CPI is, as the government has changed the actual individual goods inside the index it is claiming to be tracking.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the second edition (1999), so it was dated, but since it was dealing with a specific time period of history (the 1980's), it was not a huge issue. I found it harder to follow than "Penny Candy," and I wished the author would have explained the events around the 1987 stock market crash more thoroughly. However, it was definitely a very informative book describing the link between politics and economics.

[Moony Lupin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This guy hates
~~
❌ politicians everywhere
❌ presidents
❌ inflation
❌ high velocity
❌ worthless paper money
❌ even the good presidents
❌ freezing money

This guy loves
~~
✅ totally roasting monetary choices that were made a long time ago, and more recently
✅ himself
❎ his “student” (maybe? Still undecided. Why would he flood a young boy’s mail box with his rambling letters about how every president and politician is terrible? Indoctrinater…)
✅ did I mention himself?
✅ his opinions

[Eleni Mastronardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book. All should read if you’ve never heard the word “velocity” used in economics. And even if you have heard it in that context, you probably don’t understand it as well as we all should.

A quote from John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) from the back of the book stood out:

“The issuers may have, and in the case of government paper, always have, a direct interest in lowering the value of the currency, because it is the medium in which their own debts are computed.”

[Concetta Kellough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can be read as a standalone but is in a series of 11. I am on the last book of the series and have learned a lot. Richard Maybury explains things so money is easy to understand. It's the 3rd of the money books in the series.

[T.J. Puritz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but concise explanation of how money works. This one had some details about concepts first presented in Penny Candy. It also contained numerous references to his other books. It does help clarify some key topics though, so it is definitely a useful book to read.

[Caleb Hack · Rating 3 out of 5]

No comment.

[Rosa Cabrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommend for high school kids and anyone for that matter

[abi]

I technically haven't finished but I need to get it off my currently reading

[Sammy Storment · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it for school, decent book if a bit boring.

[Ada · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this for school. I enjoy economics, but this book was just not very interesting and I didn’t like the way he taught it very much.

[Laura The Book Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was required reading for an Econ class for my daughter. This is the 2nd edition and a bit dated, but we enjoyed all the learning it contained.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellie read y11...10/24

[Danielle Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, but I wish there was a little more depth.

[Adalynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda felt like it was rushed, but then again I DID have to rush through it for school….

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Best description of velocity I've ever read, and something that few economic textbooks cover at all, mostly because it is poorly understood.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye opening description of how the monetary system works and the impact of government interference in the economy. Highly recommend.

[Deann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a harder time getting into this book, compared to the previous books. But it was full of good information and has increased my understanding.

[✧ hayley (the sugar bowl) ✧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

➳ 4 ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

used this as part of a curriculum for economics. very helpful and informative i just don’t like economics but that’s not this books fault




୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆

[Michael]

November 17, 2014