Posted On: Wednesday - June 8th 2022 5:09PM MST
In Topics: Global Financial Stupidity Economics Inflation
OK, I'm gonna be bragging here for a whole paragraph, maybe even two of them! If you find this disgusting, please don't vomit in the comments sections. Our dBase administrator is tired of cleaning up after you guys, he says. ;-}
It's not like I've kept up my whole life, but I did learn some of the real economics, past the Econ II that was a crock in college* way back. I'd say that I did most of my thinking about the subject over the last 12-15 years, starting with the housing bubble time (mentioned in the last post). This was not out of a big love of learning so much as out of "WTF are we gonna do when this country has its SHTF?!"
Let me just say that this Peter Schiff video is a great find, but almost every subject he went on about was something that I could have explained just as well. This is NOT from watching Peter Schiff videos over the years. I will credit the site ZeroHedge, however. I was obsessive in reading all posts and comments on that site for a time there, 10-11 years back.** The Tyler Durden guys and the commenters there pointed out Peter Schiff commentary plenty of times, but I came upon my views that match well with his independently. (Sure, Ron Paul and Lew Rockwell helped me too.***)
Monetary policy of the FED, the real definition of inflation as opposed to meaning "price increases", interest rates, the FED being stuck between a rock and hard place on said rates, Paul Volcker and the inflation/interest rates in 1980, moral hazards, you name it, I've said it, and it is here in this video. Do you read this site, Mr. Schiff?
A little bit more here about the video: The interviewer is comedian Jimmy Dore****. I would estimate that he talked in this video only 3% of the time! That's admirable, for an interviewer, but I think it's partly because he seems to know almost nothing about economics. That's not his job though, just to interview, but then, he came across at the beginning sounding like he was just in awe of Mr. Schiff's prescience on the '08 housing bust and today's inflation just due to Schiff's having supernatural powers or something. Mr. Schiff should have spent a minute to disabuse him of this view with "I just understand how this works, that's all. If you understand economics like an Austrian, how could you NOT see it coming?" He never did explain that to Mr. Dore.
Mr. Schiff will talk one's ears off with his knowledge and examples. It was funny when he started answering Mr. Dore's (silly, IMO) comment that wage and price controls worked (whaaaa?) for Richard Nixon with some more context and forgot what the original question was. Ha, I was about to go back and listen for said question, but then I thought "wait, if Peter Schiff and Jimmy Dore never do remember it, then what's the point?"
The Kung Flu PanicFest was (luckily!) not a part of this interview, except for the mention of the tremendous amount of money spent (yep, Trump, Biden, and Congress, Mr. Schiff notes), till the very end. At that point, I gotta say that there were no words at all said about the stupidity of the PanicFest itself. I'll be charitable and chalk that up to their running out of time.
Finally, about Peter Schiff and his Dad, Irwin Schiff. These guys are Jewish, and they are true men of principle. They are not the guys, which are lots of them, who use their knowledge only to accumulate riches, and the hell with the other guys. They know/knew a whole lot about economics and they put their money where their mouths are/were for their country.
Dad Irwin Schiff was a Libertarian/Constitutionalist who put not just his money where his mouth is, but his life, in a way. He resisted the income tax, putting his money elsewhere and simply not paying. He ended up dying while shackled to a hospital bed during a 13 1/2 year sentence for tax evasion in a Texas Federal prison in October of '15. (With blindness and cancer even, they would not let him get out to be with his family. In fact, the web sites say he was moved from New York to Texas in order to keep him from his family as additional punishment.)
These are the good guys. I'd be glad to listen to Peter Schiff, but, bragging again here, he's got nothing to say that I haven't already though of. OK, I enjoyed watching anyway.
I wish every American would watch this hour-long Austrian-style explanation of economics by Peter Schiff, or better yet, come to Peak Stupidity. What's green and stupid and read all over?
* Econ I was pretty solid - just the basics: Supply & Demand, Elasticity, etc. The professor had us graph y versus x first though, to make sure we knew our math. That gave me an idea of what people in other majors really were like....
** Wow, that was a long time ago. If I had known at least ABOUT how long it'd be until the financial situation started really accelerating toward ruin, I'd have stayed in the normal markets and acted like a normal person for the first 8 years of that and just set an alarm on my phone!
*** In fact, from reading some Lew Rockwell article, I came close to buying, OK, close to thinking about actually buying, a bunch of gold in '03-'06, sometime in there, at what was then 300-odd bucks plus a couple dozen bucks premium (it'd been flat-lined there for years). Alas, my mind was still not right.
**** I gotta say that I know almost nothing about Jimmy Dore, having seen him only for a few minutes on other interview video clips.
Comments:
Moderator
Friday - June 10th 2022 5:20PM MST
PS: SafeNow, sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. I really wanted to write something about your comment but got very busy for a few hours.
It's a very good thing this guy is your relative and I assume a guy you can therefore trust. That is the main thing. If he charges you a premium of 5% even, well, I wouldn't balk because the trust is more important. As much as I'd rather not be responsible for giving out financial adviceI think you should definitely do this, SN.
Another thing to keep in mind, so you don't get erroneously pissed at your relative. The spot price often just doesn't mean much. When silver went down to $11/tr-oz back during the Kung Flu time, you could barely get it for twice that. They'll just tell you that they can't get if for that spot price. You can ask around, of course, but I haven't found that people are BSing me on that.
It's a very good thing this guy is your relative and I assume a guy you can therefore trust. That is the main thing. If he charges you a premium of 5% even, well, I wouldn't balk because the trust is more important. As much as I'd rather not be responsible for giving out financial adviceI think you should definitely do this, SN.
Another thing to keep in mind, so you don't get erroneously pissed at your relative. The spot price often just doesn't mean much. When silver went down to $11/tr-oz back during the Kung Flu time, you could barely get it for twice that. They'll just tell you that they can't get if for that spot price. You can ask around, of course, but I haven't found that people are BSing me on that.
SafeNow
Friday - June 10th 2022 11:03AM MST
PS
Mr. moderator mentioned once being close to buying gold. I am ready to do that now. I happen to have a family member who is a high-end personal financial adviser for one of the very large brokerages. You know the type - - very wealthy people call, and these personal-banker types answer the phone on the first ring and handle the stock transaction. Well, I called my relative to ask for a referral to a reliable company that could sell me physical gold. I was astonished to hear that my relative could now sell me physical gold. In other words, super-rich people, who are smarter about these things than I am, are now buying physical gold. Well, I ordinarily would not qualify to have this high-end broker handle my transaction, but I am a relative, so I can do it, and I guess I will.
Mr. moderator mentioned once being close to buying gold. I am ready to do that now. I happen to have a family member who is a high-end personal financial adviser for one of the very large brokerages. You know the type - - very wealthy people call, and these personal-banker types answer the phone on the first ring and handle the stock transaction. Well, I called my relative to ask for a referral to a reliable company that could sell me physical gold. I was astonished to hear that my relative could now sell me physical gold. In other words, super-rich people, who are smarter about these things than I am, are now buying physical gold. Well, I ordinarily would not qualify to have this high-end broker handle my transaction, but I am a relative, so I can do it, and I guess I will.
Moderator
Friday - June 10th 2022 6:52AM MST
PS: Mr. Kief, on the stock market. Sure, Pfizer and the others you mentioned could go way up NOMINALLY. The entire stock market has since '10 or so, and yes, I will admit that I lost lots of monetary opportunity costs by opting out (completely OUT!). How about in REAL value though? If the market is denominated in dollars, I just don't know about that ...
I feel like I am better than Yogi Berra, though, haha! I don't know exactly how it will all go down, or I'd have solidified my plans 5 years ago or more. (It didn't help that my wife though I was a nutter on all this - do they still use that term? - about it until only the last 2 years.) Still, I am hesitant sometimes, and I don't want to put all the eggs in one SHTF bug-out basket. (Hey, I like that one - just made it up.)
I can write about this financial stuff forever. I will write a post today or tomorrow thanking the old ZeroHedge. I really think that on-line conversation over there - in the comments just as much as "Tyler Durden"'s posts - set my mind right on all this.
I feel like I am better than Yogi Berra, though, haha! I don't know exactly how it will all go down, or I'd have solidified my plans 5 years ago or more. (It didn't help that my wife though I was a nutter on all this - do they still use that term? - about it until only the last 2 years.) Still, I am hesitant sometimes, and I don't want to put all the eggs in one SHTF bug-out basket. (Hey, I like that one - just made it up.)
I can write about this financial stuff forever. I will write a post today or tomorrow thanking the old ZeroHedge. I really think that on-line conversation over there - in the comments just as much as "Tyler Durden"'s posts - set my mind right on all this.
Moderator
Friday - June 10th 2022 6:42AM MST
PS: Mr. Kief, about that assumption: I do understand that it seems like an assumption that all else Mr. Schiff, I, and the financial doomers of (at least) 2012 ZeroHedge base everything they predict on. I don't see how it can be anything but a near-term future fact though.
I also understand the arguments, as you mention* , argued on "The Unz Review" that the US currency is backed by military might, and cultural and economic dominance. On the military might, is see the additional ruination of the budget due to out-of-control warmongering being not only world-wide support for Israel and then the Globo-homo agenda, but also as a bludgeon against those who WOULD try to get out of the American Reserve Currency and financial hegemony.
Against the military pressure, countries have been trying and sometimes succeeding. When they don't, as ZH has discussed, there are ME heads of State killed by the US State Dept. minions and stuff like that. It seems the man of 10,000 spellings (Caddoffee?) wanted to trade oil in gold, etc. Well, how long will the US succeed as 2 things go on:
1) Our financial situation will make for a broke military at some point. (I know this sounds recursive.)
2) "We" make stupid moves like willy-nilly confiscation of assets that get Russians and others to try that much harder to escape the US system.
Culturally, well lots of Americans are against "America" (the Potomac Regime) on that one too. Then the economic domination has been eroding for 3-4 decades. China dominates at this point.
That all said, I can see the argument that "all currencies are going to lose". OK, well, possibly no argument from me will be forthcoming, but that doesn't stop the US Dollar from going down the toilet with the rest.
I'll write some more, Dieter.
* Especially by an otherwise on-the-ball commenter named Pincher Martin who is under the impression that everything is just peachy, financially, in the world, including this country. "We are richer than ever." may not be an EXACT quote, but it was something he wrote, I recall. I was flabbergasted enough to not have the heart to write back after a while. (As I say, he's otherwise pretty astute.)
I also understand the arguments, as you mention* , argued on "The Unz Review" that the US currency is backed by military might, and cultural and economic dominance. On the military might, is see the additional ruination of the budget due to out-of-control warmongering being not only world-wide support for Israel and then the Globo-homo agenda, but also as a bludgeon against those who WOULD try to get out of the American Reserve Currency and financial hegemony.
Against the military pressure, countries have been trying and sometimes succeeding. When they don't, as ZH has discussed, there are ME heads of State killed by the US State Dept. minions and stuff like that. It seems the man of 10,000 spellings (Caddoffee?) wanted to trade oil in gold, etc. Well, how long will the US succeed as 2 things go on:
1) Our financial situation will make for a broke military at some point. (I know this sounds recursive.)
2) "We" make stupid moves like willy-nilly confiscation of assets that get Russians and others to try that much harder to escape the US system.
Culturally, well lots of Americans are against "America" (the Potomac Regime) on that one too. Then the economic domination has been eroding for 3-4 decades. China dominates at this point.
That all said, I can see the argument that "all currencies are going to lose". OK, well, possibly no argument from me will be forthcoming, but that doesn't stop the US Dollar from going down the toilet with the rest.
I'll write some more, Dieter.
* Especially by an otherwise on-the-ball commenter named Pincher Martin who is under the impression that everything is just peachy, financially, in the world, including this country. "We are richer than ever." may not be an EXACT quote, but it was something he wrote, I recall. I was flabbergasted enough to not have the heart to write back after a while. (As I say, he's otherwise pretty astute.)
Dieter Kief
Friday - June 10th 2022 3:12AM MST
PS: PSAssume everything is gonna collapse and you can show in rich detail, how that will take place.Assume the Dollar collapses. "Yeah, I just assumed that!" And if it doesn't - you're still left with the nice task, to explain why it will happen next time. Lets assume..." -The Dollar rose last week with regard to quite some currencies. - And? - The Schiffmanns go: This doesn't matter! The Ruble rose in comparison with the Dollar and all the Schiffman's go: See!
It's hard to make predictions.
Yeah, buy Pfizer and Nestlé, and Goodyear, KraftHeinz and Shell. Reasonable bets that might help if a crisis does occur.
My bottom line as brought forward in an online discussion with one Achmed E. Newmann and some others over at Unz com are: The Dollar is a function of the US' military, cultural and economic dominance. It - this is my prediction - could even outlast these conditions (at least some of 'em). But I won't bet on that.
It's hard to make predictions.
Yeah, buy Pfizer and Nestlé, and Goodyear, KraftHeinz and Shell. Reasonable bets that might help if a crisis does occur.
My bottom line as brought forward in an online discussion with one Achmed E. Newmann and some others over at Unz com are: The Dollar is a function of the US' military, cultural and economic dominance. It - this is my prediction - could even outlast these conditions (at least some of 'em). But I won't bet on that.
Moderator
Thursday - June 9th 2022 6:37PM MST
PS: Yes, ABPP, I would like price controls on at least Bud and Miller Highlife. That's all we want. I will own nothing, and I will be happy ... OK, nothing but my beer making equipment... and my guns ...
Moderator
Thursday - June 9th 2022 6:33PM MST
PS: Mr. Blanc, about bitcoin: I would agree with Peter Schiff that it is not a store of great store of wealth. I wonder if someone may eventually find a mathematical way to break the blockchain, but also, there are still many forms of cryptocurrency out there, so maybe the one you put your money in will not be supported after a while, if that's possible.
However, I do think these cryptocurrencies are a great way to transfer money while avoiding the tax man and the customs man.
Definitely the trading in these cryptos is no more than gambling, not much different from most of the rest of the stock market. I know someone who has made quite a bit of money doing this, but I couldn't get myself to do it. If I needed to get money to a guy in Uruguay or something, then sure, I'm glad this stuff is around.
However, I do think these cryptocurrencies are a great way to transfer money while avoiding the tax man and the customs man.
Definitely the trading in these cryptos is no more than gambling, not much different from most of the rest of the stock market. I know someone who has made quite a bit of money doing this, but I couldn't get myself to do it. If I needed to get money to a guy in Uruguay or something, then sure, I'm glad this stuff is around.
Moderator
Thursday - June 9th 2022 6:28PM MST
PS: I don't haven't seen Jimmy Dore but a few times, Alarmist, so I don't know if he normally is more loquacious. He seemed to know next to nothing about anything Mr. Schiff was talking about, so maybe that's why he was shy in this case.
What do you mean about Irwin Schiff and the law? Are you saying that he didn't expect to that he would be nailed and put in prison? (I just wasn't sure what you meant here.)
What do you mean about Irwin Schiff and the law? Are you saying that he didn't expect to that he would be nailed and put in prison? (I just wasn't sure what you meant here.)
A Bigger Printing Press
Thursday - June 9th 2022 5:55PM MST
PS Economics is a construct of the white male patriarchy and all fiatbux will be redistributed in the interest of unity.
Burning it all down is a feature of the Great Reset Leap Forward and there won't be any vote on it in muh democracy.
Squaw Elizabeth Warren of the Bolshevik tribe is ready for price controls on everything because it be all like egalitarian and stuff.
OMG! Like totes, no craft beef for you unwashed proles though.
Burning it all down is a feature of the Great Reset Leap Forward and there won't be any vote on it in muh democracy.
Squaw Elizabeth Warren of the Bolshevik tribe is ready for price controls on everything because it be all like egalitarian and stuff.
OMG! Like totes, no craft beef for you unwashed proles though.
MBlanc46
Thursday - June 9th 2022 4:00PM MST
PS The immortal Yogi Berra is alleged to have said, “Making predictions is tough, especially about the future”. So I’m not big on making predictions. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow or next week or next year. But my guess is that what Peter Schiff is saying is rather closer to the way things will turn out than what Totally Legit Joe or Janet Yellen are saying. I am following his advice. I’m turning paper money into physical goods at an accelerated rate. I’m going to take another look at the price of gold, and maybe purchase a few more Eagles. For those interested in Bitcoin, I recently listened to Schiff on Bitcoin. He compared it to Beanie Babies. Cute, maybe, but without intrinsic value. He didn’t use the word “Ponzi scheme” in regard to Bitcoin, but he did accuse people who got in early of painting a rosy picture in order to lure in new purchasers so that the early purchasers can get out with a profit.
The Alarmist
Thursday - June 9th 2022 12:19PM MST
PS
Yeah, Dore is too shy. Loquacious interviewers, like Max Keiser, are far more fun to watch with regard to Peter Schiff.
As for Irwin, he was 100% right on the law and 100% wrong on how it would actually be applied. The system would fail if the law was actually followed.
Yeah, Dore is too shy. Loquacious interviewers, like Max Keiser, are far more fun to watch with regard to Peter Schiff.
As for Irwin, he was 100% right on the law and 100% wrong on how it would actually be applied. The system would fail if the law was actually followed.
Peter S. does have something, and he has been saying the same thing since 2007 (first time I heard of him). He was 1000% certain that the dollar was going to collapse in 2007. With his Austrian proofs, no less. Instead, while asset prices worldwide were shrinking, the dollar was booming (flight to safety, least risky store of wealth, something that any experienced investor should have known from history). Regardless, I put all my funds with his Euro-Pacific, he sold all my dollars and bought a slew of stocks of firms in China boasting high rates of return. In fact, overall the returns were "ok", but not what I would have gained had I stayed in dollars and invested in US stocks in 2008. HOWEVER, it was when P.S. called me and tried to pump for a donation to fund his run for Senate (how unethical was that?!) that I realized Peter's main investment was Peter Schiff. I switched investment firms and then discovered that all my holdings from P-E were super low liquidity. The markets for them lacked such depth that it was very hard to sell them (without my sales collapsing the prices).
Peter has promised long before 2007 that the dollar was going to evaporate over night and NOW was the time buy gold, gold, gold. Well, a broken clock is right once a day. And P.S., I have been told has only 5% of his assets in gold. So how convinced is he of his own advice??
Yes, I think that the dollar will continue to decline in value. It is the only way for the Beast in DC to service the national debt. Just like the Euro is kept afloat by "creative accounting", so the money wizards will manage a measured and relentless decline in the dollar. But we little guys need to not look for universalized, fool-proof solution from the eternal goldbugs.