Acknowledgments

I'm surrounded by a veritable sea of friends, associates, and role models who have influenced me, taught me, and contributed to my personal and professional life and this book. First, there is Kay, my most recent wife (49 years and still counting). She is the stabilizing anchor in my life, and the only person in the world I'm afraid of—for fear she might be disappointed in me. As the mother of 13 children (four adopted) and numerous foster children, and grandmother of 63 (and counting), she is the quintessential earth mother. When I introduce her as Old Granny Ruff, audiences gasp, as her timeless beauty makes that the ultimate irony. She is the role model for all supportive wives.

Then there are our offspring who read this manuscript and made priceless suggestions, always looking for indications that I might be too full of myself.

Joann Allen has been my assistant for 24 years. Not only has she kept track of my schedule and managed my day-to-day personal finances, she would fall on a grenade for me. She has been a priceless contributor to this book, formatting, proofreading, and offering important insights.

Peg Fugal is a one-woman advertising agency, and was my muse at an important juncture as this book was taking form. Tom Lipscomb was the president of Times Books, and the publisher of How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years in 1976. He saw its potential right off the bat, and his brilliant insights and marketing strategies helped turn it into the biggest-selling financial book in history. I again turned to him when this book was in the early development stages, and he immediately saw that I was on the wrong track. That painful counsel led me to many of the decisions that made this book what it is.

There are so many people to thank that I'm sure I will miss some, and to them I offer my apologies. There's W. Cleon Skousen; Jim Cook; Fran Perry; Terry Jeffers; Senator Orrin Hatch; former president Ronald Reagan; Neal Blair; Art Linkletter; Gary North; Jim Blanchard; my courageous mother, Rena Ruff; J. W. Marriott Sr.; Ezra Taft Benson; Robert Allen; Judy Kimball; Paul Eldredge; Sandy Broadus; my brother, Jim Ruff; Jeff Carneal; Mark Stoddard; Jay Abraham; Mike Bayback; Dan Rosenthal; Jack Anderson; Art Laffer; Dave Nemelka; Richard Russell; Mark Skousen; and countless others.

My editor, Jimmy Vines, jumped at the chance to represent me, as he had grown up in a home where his dad was a Howard Ruff fan, and dinner conversation often centered around my latest newsletter or TV show. He has been a friend and calm counselor all through the complex process of negotiating the sale of the book to a big New York publisher.

Then there's my editor at Wiley, Executive Editor Debra Englander, who saw the potential of this book and decided to take a chance on an old guy whose last blockbuster book success was a quarter century ago.