THE STRATEGIC METALS WAR: The Current Crisis and Your Investment Opportunities

by James E. & Robert Parker Sinclair ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 1982

A slick, plausibly documented but ultimately overstated brief for strategic-metals investment--which suffers by comparison with the similar, superior Posner-and-Goldberg work (above). Sinclair and Parker cover much the same ground in assessing the scramble for 20-odd non-fuel minerals--chromium, cobalt, manganese, tungsten, etc.--whose iffy availability from Third World or Soviet-bloc sources could have military implications for the West. Their text is also divided into a survey of global geology and review of the emergent marketplace. But their approach is considerably more doctrinaire: they see the USSR waging an ail-out resources war against the US which, coupled with the determination of less-developed countries to achieve a so-called new international order (i.e., a better break on raw materials prices), could penalize the US unless decisive action to secure strategic-metals supplies is taken. They consequently applaud the Reagan Administration's commitment to step up the defense budget--which would, of course, increase the demand for strategic metals. Their sanguine view of the investment potential also scants such negative factors as substitution or the possibility of disruptive technological breakthroughs; they assume, indeed, that rational persons will want to hold 30 percent or more of their assets in strategic metals. In self-protection, non-professionals had best stick with Posner-and-Goldberg.

Pub Date: Jan. 7, 1982

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Arlington House--dist. by Crown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1982

Categories: NONFICTION