Among other books, I'm reading:
Financial Reckoning Day: Surviving the Soft Depression of the 21st Century by William Bonner with Addison Wiggin.
The authors also publish a newsletter that is available through their website at:
http://www.dailyreckoning.com
The book and newsletter convey suprising statistics on the state of the economy mostly in the USA and most of the news is not good.
An example is: Consumer debt rising 4 times as fast as real GDP.
Message is:
US Government spending is rising out of control.
US consumer spending is rising out of control.
US Government debt is rising out of control.
US consumer debt is rising out of control.
US money supply is rising.
US imports are rising.
US trade inbalance is rising.
US manufacturing is in decline.
Many economic statistics that you've come to believe may be unreliable.
The US stock market is overvalued.
The commodities markets are currently undervalued.
There remain good ways to make money through investing but the patterns of the US economy as we've known them are unsustainable.
The investment viewpoint of the authors is contrarian relative to the opinion of big media and popular opinion.
Some comments are irreverent and unChristian in their viewpoint. Some are humorous. Many are interesting. Many are worthy of consideration.