Sold Out: How Broken Supply Chains, Surging Inflation, and Political Instability Will Sink the Global Economy

This book is the latest dystopian take on the economy by tax attorney, financial advisor, and former banker Rickards. The book begins with a description of how global supply chains work. The first chapter recites anecdotes about shortages of baby formula, potato chips, and semiconductors. The author points to the complexity of supply networks as the reason that trade wars and the pandemic broke them. Shortages will persist, he argues, because of unnecessary regulation, pandemic measures, and lack of population growth. He believes that climate change and COVID were never valid concerns. Instead, he says readers should worry about an impending financial collapse. The solution? Bring industry back to America, rely on gold, and shun those countries that abuse human rights. Left unsaid is what to do if the violators control vital resources. The later chapters, discussing monetary theory, may be hard for some readers to follow. Like his previous books—The Road to Ruin, Aftermath, and The New Great Depression—there are no charts or opposing views, and the message that the end is near is the same, just updated with new stories.