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Peter Schiff: A Crisis Is Already Playing Out Under the Radar

Peter Schiff: A Crisis Is Already Playing Out Under the Radar

The mainstream remains optimistic about the trajectory of the economy. Price inflation has supposedly been beaten down. GDP growth was even better than expected, and most economists have tabled their recession predictions. But in his podcast, Peter Schiff explained that it’s all an illusion. The financial crisis has already started, and it continues to play out beneath the radar.

Nobody understands that this crisis has started. But believe me, it has. This was the way the 2008 financial crisis started. It didn’t just happen when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt.”


By the time Lehman went under, everybody knew there was a crisis. But it was obvious long before that.

That’s the reason it went under. It didn’t just go out of business out of the dark. It wasn’t just happenstance. The reason that Lehman Brothers, and Bear Sterns, and Fanny and Freddy, and AIG, and all these companies went under was their exposure to the mortgage market. That exposure was obvious to me for years, but particularly in 2007 when the subprime market blew up. That was the point where even the village idiot should have been able to figure out what was coming. The problem was most people on Wall Street weren’t even smart enough to qualify as the village idiot, so they still couldn’t figure it out.”

They needed the proverbial anvil to fall on their head. That finally happened in 2008. But even in the summer of ’08, a lot of people were oblivious.

So, if you’re wondering, ‘Peter, how can we be so close to this massive crisis, in fact, how could this crisis have already started if nobody is talking about it?’ Well, just go back to the summer of 2008. Nobody was talking about it.”

Peter emphasized that this crisis is much bigger because the problems driving it are much bigger.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Peter Schiff: Bank Bailouts Will Devalue the Dollar

Peter Schiff: Bank Bailouts Will Devalue the Dollar

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Peter Schiff appeared on NTD News to talk about the bank bailout and the March Federal Reserve meeting. During the conversation, Peter explained that everybody is going to pay for these bailouts because they will ultimately devalue the dollar as inflation skyrockets.

During his press conference after the March FOMC meeting, Jerome Powell said the banking system is “sound and resilient.” Peter said it’s not sound at all.

It’s a house of cards that is starting to collapse.”

Peter explained how the banking system became so unsound.

First, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates at zero for over a decade. During that time, banks loaded up on low-yielding, long-term Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. With interest rates so low, they had to go out further on the yield curve. And the reason they were able to take so much risk is because the government guarantees bank accounts. That created a moral hazard. Customers didn’t care what the banks did with their money because they knew the government would bail them out.

Thanks to the mistakes the Fed has made since the 2008 crisis, we have a much bigger bubble now. The Fed caused the bubble that led to the financial crisis of 2008, and then they inflated a bigger bubble to try to paper over those mistakes and kick the can down the road so that we wouldn’t have to deal with the full consequences of resolving all those mistakes. And of course, we just compounded the problem with bigger mistakes and now the US economy is poised on the biggest economic disaster in its history.”

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Fed Fears Complete Economic Collapse – Peter Schiff

Fed Fears Complete Economic Collapse – Peter Schiff

Money manager and economist Peter Schiff said in October the Federal Reserve “could NOT win the fight on inflation by raising interest rates.”  As inflation just turned up anew, it looks like he was right—again.  Schiff explains, “Based on the recent data we got . . . the inflation curve has bent back up.  The months of declining inflation are in the rearview mirror.  Now, we are going to see accelerating inflation . . . and I think before the year is over, we are going to take out that 9% inflation high last year in year over year CPI (Consumer price Index) . . . and what that is going to show is what the Fed has done thus far in its inflation fight is completely ineffective.  If the Fed is serious about fighting inflation, and I do not believe it is, it’s going to have to fight a lot harder than it has.  Interest rates need to go up much higher than anybody thinks, but that alone is not going to do the trick.  We also have to see a big contraction in consumer credit and lending standards rising so consumers can’t keep spending. . . . Consumers are running up credit card debt.  That is inflationary.  That is an expansion of the supply of credit.”

It gets worse when the Fed has to save the economy again.  Schiff predicts, “I think the Fed is going to have to throw in the towel on the inflation fight because it will be fighting something it fears more, which is a complete economic collapse. . . .The federal government may be legitimately forced to cut Medicare and Social Security instead of illegitimately cutting it through inflation. . . .We have this collapsing standard of living, but think about it as a tax.  This is what Americans are paying…

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Peter Schiff: Inflation Is Going to Win the War

Peter Schiff: Inflation Is Going to Win the War

The CPI data for December buoyed markets and raised hopes that the Federal Reserve is winning its war against inflation. But in his podcast, Peter explained that the Fed isn’t winning the war. It is losing and will ultimately surrender to inflation.

Markets rallied after the CPI data appeared to show further cooling in price inflation. Most people assume that means the central bank can be less aggressive and ease up on rate hikes in the coming year. And if there is enough progress, many people think the Fed will reverse course and start cutting interest rates later in 2023.

Peter said he agrees that there is a good chance the Fed will cut rates this year. And he thinks there is an even better chance the central bank returns to quantitative easing, whether it cuts rates or not. But this pivot won’t be because of a victory in the war against inflation.

No. They’re going to surrender. Inflation is going to win that war. The Fed is going to run to fight another battle — at least it’s going to try to fight because it’s going to lose that battle too. That battle is going to be recession, maybe financial crisis, maybe a battle to try to prop up the US government whose insolvency is becoming a bigger problem with rising interest rates.”

The US government continues to run massive budget deficits even as its interest costs rise. Interest payments on the debt rose 41% in 2022. According to the Peterson Foundation, the jump in interest expense was larger than the biggest increase in interest costs in any single fiscal year, dating back to 1962.

If interest rates remain elevated or continue rising, interest expenses could climb rapidly into the top three federal expenses. (You can read a more in-depth analysis of the national debt HERE.)

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Peter Schiff: You Think Inflation Is Bad Now? Wait Until Next Year!

Peter Schiff: You Think Inflation Is Bad Now? Wait Until Next Year!

Peter Schiff recently appeared on Real America with Dan Ball to talk about the economy, energy prices, and inflation. Peter said if you think inflation was bad this year, wait until next year with a much weaker dollar.

Dan set the interview up with a list of tech firms set to lay off employees. He asked how people can say the economy is just fine when you have tens of thousands getting laid off, nobody has any savings, and when the housing market is tanking.

Peter said they’re going to keep saying that, but it simply isn’t true. He pointed out that the entirety of the Q3 GDP increase was from a decrease in the trade deficit.

It’s not like it went away. It just got slightly less enormous than it had been. And that was for two reasons. The strong dollar enabled us to buy imports cheaper. But also, all that oil that was released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, we got to export that, so that increased our exports and reduced our deficit. And so that helped us out.”

But those impacts are already starting to reverse. The dollar is tanking.

And all of the economic data that’s come out so far on the fourth quarter suggests that GDP in the fourth quarter is going to be negative again.”

That would mean a drop in GDP in three of the four quarters in 2022. And Peter said the Q4 drop could be the biggest yet.

As far as the petroleum reserves, Peter said we’re going to run out sometime next year.

And I think in California, by the time Biden finishes his first term, and hopefully his only term, I bet you guys in California will be paying $10 a gallon for gas.”

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Peter Schiff: Very Scary Admissions from the Fed

Peter Schiff: Very Scary Admissions from the Fed

Last week, the Federal Reserve delivered a 75-basis point rate hike, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell failed to deliver the more doveish rhetoric that many expected. The messaging did not indicate much softening in the stance on the future trajectory of rate hikes, despite an apparent “soft pivot” the week before.

In his podcast, Peter broke down Powell’s messaging and pointed out a number of very scary admissions that came out of the Fed meeting.

Peter said the Fed did do a soft pivot but was able to back off when the bond market stabilized.

I believe the Fed was forced into making that pivot because it stood on the precipice of a bond market crash, which was in the process of happening. And I think the only way the Fed was able to stop that slow-motion crash from playing out accelerating was by throwing a bone to the markets and indicating through the Wall Street Journal that there was going to be some type of statement that was going to go along with the rate hike that would indicate that maybe there was going to be a pause in the pace, a slowdown in the pace, that the Fed was going to take a step back and reflect and assess, and maybe acknowledge the progress that had been made without indicating complete victory, but at least acknowledging that victory was at least in sight and that the Fed could take a more cautious approach going forward. … Something to that effect was expected.”

However, the Fed didn’t deliver anything close to that.

Initially, the markets thought the Fed was going more doveish. The statement released by the FOMC left some wiggle room for a slowdown in hiking or even a pause with language about monetary policy “lags” and “cumulative” effects.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Peter Schiff: A Massive Fiscal Time Bomb

Peter Schiff: A Massive Fiscal Time Bomb

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell knew fighting inflation would cause big problems in a bubble economy loaded up with debt. He put it off as long as he could, calling inflation “transitory.” But once inflation became a huge problem, the central bank had no choice but to get into the fight and start tightening monetary policy. The problem is, the Fed’s plan won’t work. And one reason it won’t work is the massive national debt.

Peter Schiff talked about it in this clip from his podcast.

The federal government already spends about $500 billion per year on interest payments on the $31 trillion debt. Peter noted a CNBC discussion where they speculated that in 10 years, the US government could be paying $1 trillion per year on interest alone.

Ten years? We could be paying $1 trillion in interest in one year! How are these guys getting 10 years?”

Four percent of the $31 trillion debt is $1.25 trillion. The average maturity on the debt is under five years. A third of the debt will mature in the next year. Meanwhile, the debt continues to skyrocket. The national debt grew by $1 trillion in just eight months even with pandemic spending programs winding down.

Five years from now, the national debt will be over $40 trillion, and we’re going to have to pay an interest rate probably more than 5% on that. So, a $1 trillion tab for interest on the national debt isn’t a decade away. It’s a year, maybe two away. That’s how close this crisis is.”

That raises an important question: where is the government going to get the money to pay for this? It will cost something like 30% of all tax revenue just to pay the interest on the debt. Huge interest payments will mean even more borrowing.

This is a massive fiscal time bomb.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peter Schiff: The Inflation Freight Train

Peter Schiff: The Inflation Freight Train

December Consumer Price Index data came out on Wednesday (Jan. 12). Month-on-month, it was again even hotter than expected. Peter called it an inflationary freight train that the Fed’s “field of dreams” monetary policy will not stop.

“Transitory” inflation has now been running hot for a full year.

The year-on-year CPI was 7%. It was the biggest annual CPI increase since 1982.

Month-on-month, the CPI spiked another 0.5%. This was hotter than the consensus 0.4% projection.

Core CPI (stripping out food and energy — as if you don’t have to eat or put gas in your car) was up 5.5%.

Goods prices were up a staggering 10.7% That was the biggest 1-year increase since 1975.

Keep in mind, this is using the cooked government CPI formula that understates inflation. If the government was still using the formula that it used in 1982, inflation would be higher in 2021 than it was then. In fact, we’d have the highest level of inflation in history. According to ShadowStats, it would be just over 15%.

Based on the methodology the government uses to calculate housing prices (owners’ equivalent rent), housing prices were up 3.8% in 2021. Meanwhile, the actual home prices rose about 16.5%.  If you take owners’ equivalent rent out and put home prices in the calculation, 2021 CPI suddenly becomes 10%.

Some people have recently claimed we shouldn’t worry about inflation. They say that wages go up along with prices, so it’s basically a wash. But wages are not going up as fast as prices. Real wages (nominal wage increases minus CPI) were down 2.4% in 2021. That means even with your raise, you have lost purchasing power. And you’ve lost even more than the official numbers reveal. If you use an honest inflation measure, real wages were down somewhere in the neighborhood of 10.4%.

As Peter Schiff said, “Consumers are going to have to live in the real world, not in the government’s fantasy world.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peter Schiff: The Fed Can’t Do What It’s Saying It Will Do

Peter Schiff: The Fed Can’t Do What It’s Saying It Will Do

The Fed FOMC minutes came out last week, signaling tighter monetary policy. Peter Schiff talked about the minutes in his podcast, arguing that the Fed can’t do what it says it’s going to do. If it does, it will crash the markets and the economy. And it won’t lower inflation.

The Fed minutes were widely viewed as even more hawkish than the messaging coming out of the December meeting. Peter said the minutes even surprised him a bit. But he reminded us that when he’s talking about a “hawkish” Fed, he’s not really talking about hawks.

They’re extinct. They may as well be the dodo bird at the Federal Reserve. Everybody is a dove. We’re just talking about degrees of dovishness. And so, the Fed was less dovish than the markets had expected.”

The minutes indicated we could now see four interest rate hikes this year. Three hikes were widely anticipated after the meeting. That would push rates up to about 1% by the end of the year. In the big scheme of things, and against the backdrop of the current economic data, that’s not a lot.

You cannot describe those itsy-bitsy moves in any way ‘hawkish.’”

But comments regarding quantitative tightening – shrinking the balance sheet – really roiled the markets.

In other words, they’re going to go from being a massive buyer in US Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities to a seller of those securities. And that’s what really spooked the markets. Because that sent the bond markets tanking.”

Yields on the 10-year Treasury hit a 52-week high and briefly pushed above 1.8%.

If the Fed is going to shift from buying bonds to selling, clearly, that will put heavy pressure on the bond market. But Peter said there is one thing that the markets don’t seem to comprehend.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peter Schiff: There Is No Ceiling on Inflation

Peter Schiff: There Is No Ceiling on Inflation

Gold closed out the week before Christmas above $1,800 an ounce, despite rising bond yields. The $1,800 level has been viewed as a ceiling for the price of gold. In his podcast, Peter Schiff said people need to start thinking of $1,800 as a floor. And he said they will once they realize there is no ceiling on inflation.

We got the personal income and spending data for November last week. Incomes grew at a slower pace than projected — 0.4%. Meanwhile, spending was up 0.6%. Obviously, if spending is outpacing income, the difference has to come from somewhere. It appears Americans are dipping into their savings to cope with rising prices. The savings rate declined to 6.9%. That is the lowest level since December 2017.

We also know that consumers are turning to debt to make ends meet, with credit card balances growing at a fast pace.

The savings rate shot up and Americans paid down their credit cards when the government showered them with stimulus. Peter said it appears the stimulus has run out.

Obviously, Americans have now exhausted that windfall. They’ve depleted that savings war-chest that was built up with stimulus money, and now it’s gone. And so, they’re having to go into debt.”

Consumers have a double problem. They’ve run out of savings and consumer prices keep going up. That is robbing people of their purchasing power.

That robber is the government, because it’s the government that’s creating the inflation that is causing the cost of living to go up. But the cost of living is going up, yet consumers have even less savings to afford that increase in the cost of living.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peter Schiff: Stock Up Now! Inflation Could Get Very Ugly

Peter Schiff: Stock Up Now! Inflation Could Get Very Ugly

The price of pretty much everything is rising precipitously. The CPI for September came in above expectations with a month-on-month increase of 0.4%. Peter Schiff appeared on Unfiltered with Dan Bongino to talk about inflation in Joe Biden’s America. Peter said you should stock up now because things could get ugly really quickly.

Bongino pointed out that while wages are rising, they aren’t rising as fast as prices. Wages have risen 4.6% while inflation has surged by 5.4% — according to government numbers. Peter said that is typically the trend.

The price of labor never keeps up with the price of stuff.”

Peter said the real problem is during and after COVID, a lot of Americans stopped working.

Unfortunately, they didn’t reduce their spending because the government made the mistake of replacing the incomes they lost with new money that the Federal Reserve was printing. So, we were making fewer things to buy, but everybody had more money to buy stuff, and so, prices just went ballistic. And they’re going to keep going up.”

Bongino pointed out that the rich have accounts and hedge mechanisms to shield themselves from the impacts of inflation. But what does an average middle-class family do to avoid the financial apocalypse of inflation coming down the pike?

Peter said, first of all, remember that inflation is a tax.

So, when the Biden administration says they’re not taxing people that make less than $400,000, they’re hitting them with this huge inflation tax.”

So, how do you avoid it?

Peter said, “Stock up now!”

Buy the things that you think you may need a year from now, two years from now. Buy it now. Especially the stuff that is nonperishable…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peter Schiff: Government Serves Grade-A B.S. on Inflation

Peter Schiff: Government Serves Grade-A B.S. on Inflation

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Both the Federal Reserve and the Biden administration continue to insist inflation is transitory. And they are also trying to shift the blame for rising prices so they avoid any responsibility. In this clip from his podcast, Peter Schiff explains why the government inflation narrative is Grade-A B.S.!

The Fed has finally acknowledged that inflation is running hotter than they’d expected. During the September FOMC meeting, the central bank raised its forecast, anticipating core inflation to increase 3.7% this year. That compares with a 3% projection in June. But the Fed and US government officials insist that rising prices are simply a function of supply chain issues and that it will be “transitory.”

Meanwhile, they ignore the elephant in the room – the increasing money supply. The central bank created new money at a record pace in response to the economic chaos caused by government shutdowns for COVID-19. And while money creation has slowed in recent months, it continues at a very high pace. Last month, M2 grew at the fastest rate since February.

If inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, and you have this record increase in money supply, and then you also have this big increase in consumer prices, how can you not bring up the possibility that all of this money printing is potentially responsible for prices going up?”

But the central bankers continue to focus solely on the supply chain.

Peter suggested the money printing could account for the supply chain problems.

Whenever there is a surplus of money, there is automatically a shortage of stuff, because the government can print money very easily…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peter Schiff: Gold Will Explode; The Dollar Will Implode When the Markets Figure This Out

Peter Schiff: Gold Will Explode; The Dollar Will Implode When the Markets Figure This Out

Peter Schiff says gold will explode and the dollar will implode when the markets figure out the Fed is crying wolf when it comes to monetary tightening.

The Federal Reserve wrapped up another meeting without making any changes to its current extraordinary, loose, inflationary monetary policy. But the central bank did hint that it may start tapering its quantitative easing program “soon.”

That was enough for the markets. They continue to expect the Fed will tighten monetary policy and fight surging inflation. Gold sold off after the FOMC statement came out, dropping about $10.

The gold market has battled these headwinds for months. Every time the Fed hints at tightening, gold sells off. Every time inflation numbers come in hot, gold sells off. This doesn’t make sense. Why would investors sell an inflation hedge during an inflationary period? Because they honestly think the central bank can and will sweep in and successfully fight inflation.

But as we have said over and over again, the Fed cannot possibly tighten in this economic environment. In an interview on RT Boom Bust, Peter Schiff said even if the Fed does begin to taper, it will eventually reverse course and ultimately expand QE.

It knows the only foundation this bubble economy has is the Fed’s easy money policies. And I don’t think they have any actual plans to taper. And even if they just kind of feign the process by beginning it, they’ll never complete it because soon after they start the taper, again, if they even ever start, they’re going to have to reverse the process. Because ultimately, the Fed Fed is going to expand the QE program and start to buy a lot more government Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities in the future than it’s doing right now.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peter Schiff: Less Loose Fed Monetary Policy Isn’t Tight Fed Monetary Policy

Peter Schiff: Less Loose Fed Monetary Policy Isn’t Tight Fed Monetary Policy

There’s been a lot of talk about the Federal Reserve tapering its asset purchases. Peter Schiff talked about it during his podcast, saying even if the Fed does getting around to tapering, that doesn’t equate to a legitimately tight monetary policy. Furthermore, any tapering today sows the seeds for its own destruction.

The minutes from the July Federal Reserve meeting came out last week. They revealed the Fed is starting to talk about tapering asset purchases later this year. That sent stocks lower as traders continue to anticipate Fed monetary tightening. The hardest-hit sectors were economically sensitive cyclical stocks and anything that was part of the reflation trade.

Peter said there was really nothing new in the minutes.

The Fed did not reveal anything that hadn’t already been revealed by other FOMC members in their various talks.”

Nevertheless, according to all the experts, the Fed is Johnny on the spot. It is now tightening. And because it is tightening, inflation is no longer a concern.

Peter said the markets are reacting to this anticipated tightening cycle in the same way they have to past tightening cycles without appreciating the difference between this tightening cycle and those that preceded it. In fact, it’s hard to call the Fed’s next step a “tightening cycle.”

So far, the only thing that has happened during this cycle is that the Fed has talked. That’s it. It’s all talk and no action.”

Peter conceded that the central bank may well taper and slow down quantitative easing.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peter Schiff: When It Comes to Inflation, We’re Just Getting Started

Peter Schiff: When It Comes to Inflation, We’re Just Getting Started

The July Consumer Price Index (CPI) data came out this week. For the first time, the numbers were in line with expectations, leading many mainstream pundits to declare “transitory” inflation is already starting to cool down. Peter Schiff broke down the report in his podcast. He said inflation is far from cooling off. In fact, when it comes to rising prices, you haven’t seen anything yet.

July CPI rose 0.5% month-on-month. This was in line with expectations for the first time this year. Every other CPI report had come in hotter than expected.

The year-on-year CPI came in at 5.4% – a high number, but in line with expectations. Core CPI, stripping out more volatile food and energy, charted below estimates at 0.3%.

Adding up the monthly CPI increases gives us a 4.1% inflation rate through the first seven months of 2021. As Peter pointed out, that’s more than double the Fed’s target of “slightly above 2%,” and we’re barely over halfway through the year. If you annualized the first seven months, you get around 7.2% inflation for 2021.

Clearly, nobody can define that as ‘slightly above.’ It’s more than triple 2%. I mean, it’s getting close to quadruple.”

And as Peter points out, it would be a lot worse if we had an honest measure of price increases.

I think if we measured inflation today using the same CPI we used to measure inflation in the 1970s, this year could end up being a worse year than any single year during the 1970s.”

More disturbing, Peter said this is just the beginning.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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