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Aftershock's Aftershock

The Case of the Missing Chapter

by Nina L. Diamond

"Everybody wishes we were wrong," says economist Robert A. Wiedemer during an interview in "Aftershock Survival Summit," a promotional video made for the revised and updated second edition of Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown (John Wiley & Sons, 2011), the bestselling book he co-authored with his brother, economist David Wiedemer, and Cindy Spitzer. "Count me in that group."

The Wiedemers, who call themselves fiscally conservative, are billed by their publisher, John Wiley & Sons, as "the authors who predicted the first financial meltdown." They did that in their book America's Bubble Economy, published in 2006, and then further addressed that issue in the first edition of Aftershock, which was published in 2009 in the midst of the meltdown.

In Aftershock's second edition, the authors note that in 2010, Robert Reich, who was the Clinton administration's Labor Secretary, "published a book surprisingly called Aftershock, one year after our Aftershock came out. Yes, we did complain to his publisher about using our title, but they refused to change it. We're not sure why he calls his book Aftershock since he doesn't really describe any aftershock to the financial crisis. Maybe he just liked the eye-catching title. It is a good title -- we can attest to that."

The Wiedemer's Aftershock certainly caught everyone's eye(s), including the media and reviewers.

"Their scenario is dark and their strategies bold and unconventional. But after being on target the last time they went against the grain, the Wiedemers merit being heard out," The Associated Press noted regarding the first edition of Aftershock.

The Wall Street Journal's MarketBeat was also all ears: "As bitter as it is, Aftershock's message -- that America has yet to pay its bills -- deserves an audience. After all, the authors were right once before."

The authors take issue with the entire financial establishment, regardless of political party, and point out repeatedly that everyone responsible for the meltdown had a vested interest in all of its aspects, from ignoring the warning signs to supporting its various ineffective remedies.

Aftershock's second edition posed a huge problem for its publisher: The Wiedemers write that the worst is not over, it's actually on its way, and the original final chapter of the book offered such grim predictions that the publisher pulled the chapter, fearing it would spook readers.

The authors turned this act of censorship into an opportunity, and are making a free copy of that chapter available separately to readers as part of a special promotion.

In the "Aftershock Survival Summit" promotional video, Robert A. Wiedemer explains that the chapter removed by the publisher focused on what life would be like after the next meltdown, which he says will begin in 2012, and will be far more serious than the first one.

That chapter is based on these startling Wiedemer predictions about the second meltdown: Unemployment at 50%, a 90% stock market collapse, and 100% annual inflation.

When will these horrible statistics hit?

"We don't think the Aftershock can be postponed much longer but...that is largely a matter of governmental decisions and investor psychology," they write in the Aftershock's second edition. "Could it be five years away? We think that is unlikely. Could it be just one year away? We think that is probably equally unlikely. Exactly when the Aftershock will hit is hard to say because there is no easy way to predict governmental actions or investor psychology. Best guess: two to four years."

Which gives the authors plenty of time to sign canned goods.

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As a journalist, columnist, essayist, and media critic, Nina L. Diamond's work has appeared in many publications, including Omni magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and The Miami Herald.

She was a regular contributor to a number of "late, great" national, regional, and newspaper Sunday magazines, including Omni; the award-winning South Florida magazine; and Sunshine, the Ft. Lauderdale (now South Florida) Sun-Sentinel's Sunday magazine.

She covers the arts and sciences; the media, publishing, and current affairs; and writes feature articles, interviews, commentary, humor/satire/parody, essays, and reviews.

Ms. Diamond is also the author of Voices of Truth: Conversations with Scientists, Thinkers & Healers (Lotus Press) and the unfortunately titled Purify Your Body (Three Rivers Press/Crown/Random House) , a book of natural health reporting which has been a selection of The Book-of-the-Month Club's One Spirit Book Club and the Quality Paperback Book Club.

For its entire run from 1984-1998, she was a writer and performer on Pandemonium, the National Public Radio (NPR) satirical humor program, which aired on WLRN-FM in Miami.

She has appeared on Oprah, discussing the publishing industry, but, in a case of very bad timing, that appearance was two years before her first book was published.

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