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Uncle Eric #7

The Money Mystery

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During the 1980s the velocity of circulation of the dollar became erratic; now the whole country is affected. "The Money Mystery" explains why Federal Reserve officials remain so afraid of inflation, explains precautions you should take, and explains the wild swings in the stock market. Few analysts understand what velocity is doing to the economy. Learn what you can do about it. This third edition includes an all new chapter titled A New, or Very Old, Form of Inflation.

"The Money Mystery" is the first sequel to "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?" and provides essential background for getting the most from "The Clipper Ship ", both books are also available through Amazon.

Can be used for courses in Economics, Business, Finance, Government and History.

To improve the student's learning experience, also purchase the student study guide for "The Money Mystery", 3rd edition, titled "A Bluestocking Solving the Money Mystery".

Table of Contents for The Money Mystery
Uncle Eric's Model of How the World Works
Study Guide Available
Author's Disclosure
Fable of the Frog
1. The Financial Panic of 1980
2. A Shot of Inflation
3. Misleading Propaganda
4. The French Example
5. Stage Two Inflation
6. Khomeini
7. The Grain Embargo
8. Ramifications of the Panic of 1980
9. The Gloom-and-Doomers
10. Two Important Questions
11. The Financial Hair-Trigger
12. Federal Reserve Behavior
13. Another Important Lesson
14. The Lesson of the 1987 Crash
15. What You Can Do About It
16. Summary
17. The Velocity Demon Updated
18. A New, or Very Old, Form of Inflation

111 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

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About the author

Richard J. Maybury

29 books108 followers
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? .

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5 stars
127 (35%)
4 stars
136 (37%)
3 stars
74 (20%)
2 stars
16 (4%)
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8 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for Alannah Alomar.
207 reviews5 followers
March 30, 2026
"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.
Profile Image for Andy Scott.
215 reviews2 followers
June 11, 2021
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.
Profile Image for Michael Tildsley.
Author 2 books8 followers
January 23, 2022
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.
203 reviews
February 22, 2023
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.
Profile Image for Moony Lupin.
152 reviews1 follower
March 25, 2024
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
Profile Image for Eleni Mastronardi.
63 reviews1 follower
March 27, 2025
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.”
800 reviews1 follower
February 8, 2021
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.
Author 2 books7 followers
April 25, 2022
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.
Profile Image for abi.
151 reviews
Read
March 23, 2022
I technically haven't finished but I need to get it off my currently reading
64 reviews
March 29, 2024
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.
389 reviews8 followers
August 15, 2024
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.
Profile Image for Adalynn.
36 reviews
March 20, 2026
Kinda felt like it was rushed, but then again I DID have to rush through it for school….
Profile Image for Michelle.
2,669 reviews53 followers
December 3, 2022
Best description of velocity I've ever read, and something that few economic textbooks cover at all, mostly because it is poorly understood.
22 reviews1 follower
February 1, 2011
Eye opening description of how the monetary system works and the impact of government interference in the economy. Highly recommend.
Profile Image for Deann.
29 reviews
October 30, 2015
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.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews