If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ve probably read my two interviews with John Jagerson about the dinar.  Well John has now written a book about the dinar.  I’ve just read it and I wanted to offer my thoughts on it.

First of all I have to tip my hat to John for taking the initiative in 2008 to speak out on the misinformation and hype surrounding the dinar, and for making two very informative videos which I’ve used on my blog and have found very helpful.  This is a complicated situation because most of us had no experience in the world of currencies prior to learning about the dinar, and we were overwhelmed with talk of reserves, fractional reserve banking, fiat currencies, crawling pegs, dirty floats, M1, M2 ….. etc.  It took a while to get up to speed on the terminology and the concepts and during that time many of us got sucked in by the hype.  People like John have helped to clear the muddy waters for us and for that I am grateful.

Now for the review.  If you’re thinking “yeah I knew this guy had an agenda … he’s out to sell a book and make money off of this” you should know that this is an ebook that sells for $4.99.  Quite a bit cheaper than the $29.95 dinar guru Adam Montana charged for his book and I’m sure he’s not going to sell nearly as many copies as Adam did because John’s not feeding anybody’s fantasies.  But he has obviously invested a lot of time in this and I see nothing wrong with a little compensation for his efforts.

You can tell from the issues he addresses that John is up to speed on the pumpitude over the past couple of years.  Some of the points he addresses are already covered in his videos as you would expect, but he goes into much greater detail in the book, especially in explaining RVs (revaluations) and RDs (redenominations).  He also shows you how the currencies of oil producing nations have fared over the past twenty years.  Unlike many who don’t believe in the overnight millionaire scenario, JJ discusses the wrongheaded idea that the dinar will grow in value as their economy grows.

John Jagerson

John offers a good analysis of the issue of liquidity, which to me is the stickiest point in this investment.  If you could always easily liquidate your dinars like you can the Mexican peso or the Canadian dollar then certainly the risk would be minimized, but with so many banks now refusing to handle dinar, and the looming issue of redenomination, the liquidity of the IQD becomes a greater concern with each passing day.

There’s also a good discussion of the role that religion plays in the marketing of the dinar.  Rather than delving into the theological aspects he simply shows how the issue of eschatology (bible prophecy) isn’t really relevant in assessing the validity of owning IQD.

He concludes the book with links to articles discussing the dinar from respected institutions rather than dinar forums or dealer sites.  As you would expect from a professional he even includes references to support the points he makes.

The least navigable part was no doubt his discussion of bonds and the sterilization of capital flows.  Dinar researchers like Scooter and Enoch8 (and F8 and DaveD – readers of my blog) might be able to grasp what he’s saying here, but I have to admit it wasn’t too clear to me, although the point he was making about oil exporting countries preventing an appreciation of their currencies was.

Although I don’t refer to the dinar investment as a scam as John does, I do agree with almost everything that he says based on what I have learned over the past few years.  But whether you agree or not you can’t dispute that he knows what he’s talking about, and he’s happy to provide you with his credentials and his real name which many pumpers and gurus will never do.

If you or someone close to you is thinking about investing in the Iraqi dinar you owe it to yourself to read what a true expert like John has to say.  The $5 price tag is nothing compared to the thousands you might be putting at risk.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Iraqi-Dinar-Scam-ebook/dp/B007Z9DFN8