Peter Schiff is a mensch II: Interviewing OWS

Peter Schiff tries to explain that high-wage earners are often the people who provide jobs and if you tax them at too high a rate, they are likely to just stop working hard and stop risking their capital, and people whom they employ will lose their jobs.  It is a compelling narrative if you are an employer, as are both my wife and I.  Craig Carter says something similar (If You are Thankful for Your Job, Hug a Billionaire):

Every time I hear the “Tax the 1%” meme, I feel personally threatened. I feel as though someone is out to destroy the economy and create the kind of conditions in which I could, potentially, lose my job. The war against the rich is really a war against the middle class and it is based on emotional manipulation, rather than reason. The people who are involved in it may be sincere, but they are much too gullible.

Maybe economics should be a compulsory subject in high school and maybe we ought to start purging socialists out of our universities so that free market principles once again dominate the curriculum. OWS and liberal/socialist propaganda is getting out of hand and people are getting hurt.

I don’t think Peter Schiff would argue with Dr. Carter on that point.

Hat tip:  Monty Pelerin

Peter Schiff is a mensch

I enjoy the tenacity of Peter Schiff and his willingness to speak against the consensus. Schiff has been consistently critical of the debt bubble in the US and he predicted the fall of housing prices in the face of mocking and shouting down by other “experts”.  Consider this 2006 video from Fox News:

For a long time, Schiff has recommended precious metals and continues to do so despite many who say that gold is “hyper-overbought” (Dennis Gartman, September 29–when gold was trading at $1300).  Against those who think that there is a gold bubble, Eric Sprott claims, “I am pretty convinced that gold will go a lot higher because it is under-owned as only 1 per cent of people’s money is in it.”  Now, there is a new Tech Ticker debate between Peter Schiff and Gary Schilling.  If it is appropriate to call people who insist that gold is the best investment as “gold bugs”, then Gary Schilling is a “bond bug” because he is inflicted with a disease now appropriately named as “Fiat Currency Fever“, the irrational view that the US dollar is a the best and safest investment–despite the severe and secular bear market that the dollar has suffered since 1971 when it was taken off the gold standard.  At a certain point, Gary Schilling claims that the Federal Reserve doesn’t create money–a trillion dollars that banks have received from the Fed is just sitting in the banks.  But unfortunately Schilling seems to be dead wrong on this point, because the banks have been lending this money to the US government, and it has actually gone out into circulation in the form of food stamps, federal employee wages, unemployment benefits, Social Security benefits, etc.  There is some serious monetization of debt going on in America (cf. Monty Pelerin), for Bernanke is trying to re-inflate all the bubbles.

Despite being right most of the time, Peter Schiff still faces fierce opposition from critics, including economists–you know the guys with PhDs, who claim that gold is barbarous relic.  I agree with Schiff.  For I believe that only God can create something out of nothing, and when a central bank expands the volume of fiat money inflation is the inevitable result.  This is an immutable law of economics.  When hyperinflation hits in earnest, then all those who own precious metals will be very thankful that they listened to Peter Schiff.

Gold at $56,000 per ounce?

There is a story going around that the London Bullion Market Association has sold as much as 45-100 times the amount of gold futures as there is physical gold underlying the notes.  I first heard about this story from Monty Pelerin’s blog which featured a Max Keiser interview with Jim Willie (see videos below).  Then, on the Peter Schiff Radio Show, Adrian Douglas claims that gold should be selling at $56,000 per ounce. Even Peter Schiff was incredulous about it (see http://www.schiffradio.com/pg/jsp/charts/audioMaster.jsp?dispid=301&pid=51169 ).

Now, thanks again to Monty Pelerin, I’ve read Vincent Bressler’s “Empire of Fraud“, saying:

The futures markets are fractional reserve systems running at very low reserve ratios, something like 45 to 100 ounces of electronic gold and silver obligations for every unencumbered ounce of physical gold or silver. The day is coming when the physical price of gold and silver disconnect from the electronic price and they can not be brought back together again except through a massive devaluation of the dollar in terms of gold and silver. On this day the future’s markets in gold and silver will be stopped. There will be secret meetings. Those holding electronic gold tickets will be paid in be paid in dollars at the price of gold before the disconnect. And then I believe that there will be an explicit devaluation of the dollar with respect to gold on the order of 20 to 40 times.

Once this happens, the dollar will be further devalued against a large number of other commodities and will probably actually collapse altogether as the world’s reserve currency.  Few believed the warnings about fraud which was going on in the real estate market and yet that bubble collapsed.  Lying, manipulation and greed is the common story in our times.  I’m preparing for this one.  I am long on Barrick ABX, New Gold NGD, Lakeshore Gold LSG, and Detour Lake Gold DGC; and I’ve now also taken a long position on Sprott Physical Gold PHY.U, which claims to keep actual physical gold in the Canadian Royal Mint.  I’ve sold puts on ABX, GG, DGC and NGD.

Here is Max Keisar interview Jim Willie in three parts:

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

Hyper-Inflation: Think the economy is bad now? Just wait

The post on Obama and inflation in Zimbawe has received 257 hits so far.  Well, here are a couple experts who agree with me.

Peter Schiff calls the US economy a “ponzi” economy.  He warns that stimulus package suggested by Congress will lead to a “unmitigated disaster”.  He warns of hyper inflation (not just double digit inflation) similar to Latin American countries or to the Weimar Republic.  He compares the interventionist government with Hoover and Roosevelt which is leading us into a new depression.
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