The Federal Reserve has manipulated and pulled the strings of the market for far too long. They have created a monster that is now truly out of control. For decades they have ignored this fact. But it appears that this is no longer. They are waking up to realize that they have created a monster that is beyond them.
How far will government officials go? What lies will they tell to us and what levels of deception are they capable of? More than you would ever think and or imagine.
Will the tax plan help the little man, will it help the overall economy, or is the government now doomed and simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? Is this economy going down like a sinking ship? Listen to Peter Schiff to learn more.
Is the market really doing well? Or is it all an illusion, created by the massive amounts of fiat money that continues to be pumped into our failing systems? Peter Schiff breaks down how the market continues to move higher on false optimism and how eventually, it is all going to come crashing down on our heads.
Peter Schiff breaks down the numbers and explains how any recovery being touted by government officials, are simply an illusion. REAL unemployment continues higher and will continue to do so, until real change is made.
Peter Schiff discusses how the swamp is winning the war and how it is slowly, but surely dragging down the Trump administration. Will they win the day, or will liberty finally come out on top? The eternal struggle continues on.
Peter Schiff talks economy, Trump, and stock market bubbles at the New Orleans Investment Conference. He explains what he believes to be the best strategy to protect yourself in the coming stock market crash. This bubble is red hot and waiting to blow. - Video Source, Peter Schiff
How long can the U.S. economy be propped up with ever expanding debt? Money manager Peter Schiff says, “How high can the debt go? I don’t know and you don’t know. How many straws can you put on a camel’s back? You don’t know until you put that final straw that’s one too many and you break his back. So, can we go to $25 trillion in debt? Maybe. At some point, we are going to break the back of the camel with all this debt. Then we are going to find out how much debt we can pile on, and it’s not going to be pretty. Everybody is going to lose. Everybody is going to get wiped out who has been partying in the stock market, the bond market and the real estate market. The dollar is going to tank, and purchasing power is going to get wiped out.”
Inversely, Schiff says it is the same with the suppressed gold and silver markets. Schiff contends, “They can’t keep doing it, and it will end. It’s just like how much debt can we take on. It’s not an unlimited amount. We will know when we get there. How long can they keep the price of gold suppressed? We will know when we get there. At some point, the price is going to explode because there is real physical buying, and all that paper selling can’t camouflage that.
People don’t trust fiat currencies. More and more people are looking for alternatives, and the real alternative is gold. When they embrace it, it’s going to overwhelm central banks’ ability to suppress the price. In the meantime, enjoy the gift that they are giving.”
The Trump tax plan is surrounded in mystery and many are wondering what it actually consist of. What are the good, the bad and the ugly? Peter Schiff discusses this and much more.
Peter Schiff breaks down the risk of big government and how it can quickly grow out of control. Government will eventually bring an economy to its knees, especially if it runs a deficit, as most in the West are doing so now. The more you borrow, the faster you fall behind.
Veteran market expert Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, isn't too fond of the Federal Reserve's easy money policies.
Schiff thinks the Fed has been inflating asset prices and won't have the proper tools in place to "rescue investors" during the next stock market crash, like they did in the years following the 2000 and 2008 crashes.
"They were successful in reflating yet another bubble but I think this bubble will be the similar fate as the prior two," he said in an interview with TheStreet.
"The difference is, the third time is not going to be the charm - it's going to be three strikes you're out." According to Schiff, the market could still rise from here, but the eventual crash would be painful.
"Let's say the Dow goes to 30,000, if it gets cut in half, that's 15,000 - that's still a low lower than it is right now," he said.
Bitcoin may be surging past $5000 for the first time ever, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will maintain its all time highs. Veteran market forecaster Peter Schiff expects bitcoin prices to crash.
"I believe it's not going to succeed in delivering the monetary utility that people [expect]," Schiff said. "I do not think it's going to be the money of the future. I think it's the bubble of the present."
Schiff, who is CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, said even with the risks of bitcoin, prices can still head higher.
"I think a lot of people unfortunately, have attributed properties to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that do not exist," he said. "I think that people who are rightfully skeptical of the dollar, the euro, the yen are taking refuge in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies and they've jumped from the frying pan into the fire."
Once again the Debt Ceiling looms on the horizon. The government is going to kick the can down the road, as it has done countless times before. But this time may be different. The government is contemplating erasing the Debt Ceiling altogether, which could spell the end of the Republic, as we know it. - Video Source
The markets are incredibly dangerous at this time, the FED is out of bullets and the next collapse is going to destroy the US dollar in the process. The only protection going forward is precious metals. The Dollar is destined for failure.
Watch Joe Rogan freak out when he learns that Goldmoney makes a 18K gold MasterCard! This is the effect that precious metals has on people, the first time they hold and touch it. There is no expensive like it.
Peter Schiff breaks down the recent FED meeting minutes and what it means for you, as an investor going forward. Can we avoid the next crisis that is now at a full boil behind the scenes, or will it erupt and possibly take down the system as we know it? - Source, Peter Schiff
Why are so many people upset about plans to raise and remove the United States debt ceiling and why was it created in the first place?
Peter Schiff joins Stefan Molyneux to discuss the history of the debt ceiling, the consequences of eliminating it, shocking U.S. debt interest payments, the U.S. dollar losing 12% of it's value since the start of the year, outrage over price gouging during the recent hurricanes, the value of a college degree and America's economic future.
Peter Schiff is an economist, financial broker/dealer, author, frequent guest on national news, the host of the Peter Schiff Show Podcast, the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital and the Chairmain of Schiff Gold.
Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker, author and financial commentator. Schiff is CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc. He also hosts his own podcast called "The Peter Schiff Podcast".
Peter Schiff appears on "The Street", where he takes explains how the stock market is in a massive bubble, in addition to this, he adds Bitcoin to this basket, which he flat out refuses to partake in. He believes that both are due for massive and historic crashes. Where is the FED? What are they doing?
The whole charade surrounding the repeal of Obamacare is finally over. The most recent attempt, labeled “Skinny Repeal” was a big fat lie. They weren’t really repealing anything, leaving the essence of Obamacare and accelerating Obamacare’s death spiral. If Congress had repealed the employer mandates and the individual penalties but left everything else the same, then the number of healthy people making the irrational decision not to buy insurance would skyrocket and the sick people who would still be buying, would be facing higher and higher premiums and costing insurance companies bigger and bigger losses to be subsidized by the taxpayer.
Let the Democrats Own the Disaster
Many Republicans are upset with John McCain, for being one of the 3 Republicans to join all the Democrats in opposing the bill. I think McCain did the GOP a favor. This bill, if passed, would have let the Democrats off the hook. They would have not owned Obamacare, and they would be responsible for its failure. Now we all know Obamacare is still there, it is exactly the way it was passed, the bill President Obama championed and signed, the one that Nancy Pelosi said, “We have to pass it to see what is in it.” We passed it, we know what is in it (although most people do not understand what is in it) and it is a disaster. Late last year most people thought the Republicans were going to repeal it – everybody but me. I didn’t think that they had the guts to do it. I had this interview on Russia Today in mid-January, it’s up on my YouTube Channel; the title is, “Peter Schiff Very Skeptical of Obamacare Repeal”. If you watch that video you will see that I say, “I don’t think they’re going to repeal it.”
No Guts to Repeal
Of course, everybody thought, “of course they are going to repeal it. They’ve been campaigning on it for years!” The President promised it. Everybody who has run for office as a Republican says, “Elect me and I am going to get rid of Obamacare!”. They voted to repeal it many times when Obama was still President. And, of course, every time they voted to repeal it, Obama vetoed it, which of course, the Republicans knew was going to happen. As it turns out, that was the only reason they had the guts to repeal it because they knew it wouldn’t actually happen.
Washington turmoil is keeping a bid under gold. Gold now at session highs as the news came out that Sean Spicer resigned as the white house press secretary. August gold now ending the week up 2% at 1253 an ounce. Kitco News caught up with Peter Schiff on the sidelines of FreedomFest in Las Vegas to get his thoughts on the Spicer exit and gold's revival.
More weak economic data today sent the U.S. stock market to record highs; at least the Dow and the S&P hit new records. NASDAQ not quite, but very close. The dollar hit a new low for the year. The dollar index, settling in at 95.10, right on the low for the day. That’s down .63. Some of the other currencies are strong.
Aussie Dollar Strong
The Aussie dollar was up about 1.3% on the day; one of the strongest of the currencies today. The Aussie dollar is very close to a 2-year high. The Canadian dollar was very strong this week on the back of a rate increase by the Bank of Canada. But the dollar falling across the board.
Foreign Stock Gain
Foreign stocks did better than U.S stocks, given their tailwind from appreciating currencies. Gold prices were up just over $11. Given the weakness in the dollar and the weak economic data, gold should be moving up a lot more than it is; I still think there is still a lot of short selling going on, but I smell the mother of all short squeezes coming. Silver is up about .30; back up to $16. remember was a low as $15.10 earlier in the week.
Dollar Index Weakening
The dollar index index at 95.10, just down over 7% on the year. It ended last year just above 1.02. In fact, in January, hit almost 1.04, so we’re down 8-1/2% since the January high, and the year is only half over. So I think there is a lot more momentum coming, especially in light of the economic data I’m about to get to.
Retail Sales Disappoint
The big report was the Retail Sales numbers, were supposed to bounce back from May’s -.3, and they did manage to revise that to down only .1%;but instead of getting a .1% rebound we had another drop. We had -.2% in June, so that is back-to back declines. In fact that is 3 consecutive months of falling retail sales. The picture gets worse when you strip out car autos. Last month, we got -.3%. That was unrevised. They were looking for June to be +.2% – instead we were down another .2%. And if you strip out gasoline, it’s even worse than that. They were looking for +4% and we got -.1%. So very very weak retail sales. This was supposed to be the quarter of the big bounce back! How are we going to bounce back in GDP without retail sales?
Consumer Prices Weaker
We also got consumer prices that actually came out weaker than expected. That is supposedly bad news, the way the Fed spins it, because the Fed’s trying to get higher inflation, at least the way the CPI measures it. They were supposed to get an increase of .1% for consumer prices following last month’s .1% decline and instead we came in unchanged. Year over year CPI, up 1.6% vs an estimate of 1.7%, and core, stripping out food and energy, they were looking for +.2%. instead we were up .1%
Janet Yellen Wants More Inflation
So when Janet Yellen testified before Congress earlier in the week, the only thing she expressed concern about is that inflation is not high enough. She does not seem concerned at all about the weakness in the economy.
The Dow and the NASDAQ set new record highs today as the dollar sold off near the end of the day to close at yet another low for the year. Remember, the dollar index rallied 6% between the election and the Trump inauguration. It has now fallen more than 10% since inauguration. Many currencies are at two-year highs. The Australian dollar is at a 2-year high, certain commodities are at a 2-year high, copper broke to a 2-year high; oil prices have been strong. Oil was up about $.80 today after being up about $2 yesterday. We’re now above $48.50. Getting close to $50/barrel again.
Federal Reserve: “No Hike”
One of the reasons for the strength in commodities is the weakness in the U.S. dollar. The catalyst for the weakness in the dollar today is the Federal Reserve, the FOMC, concluded their 2-day meeting today; their press release came out at 2.30pm ET and they announced that they did not decide to raise interest rates during this meeting. Nobody expected the Fed to raise interest rates, which is one of the reasons why they didn’t.
Balance Sheet Normalization?
There was some anticipation that the Federal Reserve may be more specific concerning when it might start quantitative tightening or ‘balance sheet normalization’ as they call it. So people wanted to know when that would start, and by how much are they going to let their balance sheet to run down but the Fed did not allude to any specifics. All they said is that the process will begin relatively soon. Now the last time they put out a statement, they said it would begin this year. Now they are saying it will begin ‘Relatively soon’. Why didn’t they leave it at “this year”? Because “this year” would be within the next six months. “Relatively Soon” leaves the statement comfortably vague enough to fit within the Fed’s slippery parameters.
Gold Hanging In There
The markets didn’t know what to do for the first half hour, but eventually the dollar broke, and gold finally popped up; it was up around $11-12. It was about unchanged going into the announcement and the knee-jerk reaction was a $2-3 selloff, then it came back to unchanged and then we had the rally. Gold stocks had a pretty good day today; the GDX up about 2.5%; the junior minors doing a little bit better. Yet these stocks have barely moved this year, but this is just getting started.
Dollar Bulls will be feeling green, and Gold & Silver Bulls will be seeing green with what he said next…
Peter Schiff tells X22 Report the next crisis is coming, and it’s coming right to the US Dollar. In Peter’s own words, after this party, the markets are about to have a massive “hangover”.
Peter provides his latest analysis on gold, silver, the precious metals, the Fed, and the fiat dollar currency crisis that follows after too much of a good time.
Is the FED going to crash the economy on purpose? IS this the elites best hope of taking down Donald Trump? Perhaps. Peter Schiff explains. - Video Source
That was the day that Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said that we’ve experienced enough financial reform and improvements in global economies to prevent another financial crisis “in our lifetimes.”
that we’ve experienced enough financial reform and improvements in global economies to prevent another financial crisis “in our lifetimes.”
The ensuing sounds that follow such a statement are women weeping and men gnashing their teeth. Sounds so horrific that if we described them further, you would flee from your building.
Peter Schiff and Marc Faber are likely breaking their keyboards as they type at 200 words per minute to retort Yellen’s confidence. But let’s just point out the obvious.
When you hear this statement, you either laugh or you take a long, deep pause and wonder why and how Yellen could say something that surely will remain with her as long as history books log her name beside the title role in the Fed.
The short expectation is that central banks have no limitation to using liquidity as a cure to the slightest fiscal sneeze. Let the banks run wild. Let nations on the brink of insolvency multiple times receive massive bailouts.
Italy? You get a bailout before a “financial crisis…”
Optimism was in the air at the International Metal Writers Conference 2017, as thought leaders and experts shared ideas and updates on the bullish junior mining sector–over 40 expert analysts and dozens of companies shared the conference floor.
The lustre is back on gold as the likes of Rick Rule, Peter Schiff, and John Kaiser shared their optimism on the precious metal. During the conference, INN also caught up with the following companies focused on their gold projects in the Yukon Territory, Nevada and Nunavut. Scroll down to view their updates...
We’re ready! Boom Bust is bursting with headlines today. Bianca Facchinei starts off by taking us into the world of Bitcoin as former head of Mt. Gox goes to trial in Japan. The charges? Embezzling millions of dollars in bitcoins. CEO Peter Schiff joins us today as he talks about the two things the world is always watching: oil and the dollar. Retail expert Carol Spieckerman brings her knowledge to the table as we ask the question: is American retail in decline? That, and more, on today’s episode of Boom Bust!
Peter Schiff discusses the growing bubble that is the US economy. Will the US be able to survive its coming recession, or will they collapse and crash, bringing down the rest of the world with it? Peter Schiff explains what he believes will unfold.
Euro Pacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff is out with a bearish call on U.S. equities today, saying that the so-called “Trump Trade” is done and over with.
In fact, Schiff told CNBC that it’s time to dump stocks and buy gold instead:
“Remember that early in the Trump trade, you had a strong dollar. The dollar has surrendered 100 percent of its gains post-Trump’s election,” Schiff told CNBC. Additionally, “year to date the S&P is up, [but when] priced in gold the S&P is actually down.”
So instead of staying in the U.S. stock market, Schiff is urging investors to buy bullion, which “is up more than the Dow and more than the S&P,” with the yellow metal having rallied 11 percent this year. Gold rose to its highest price since the end of April on Friday, thanks largely to the continued drop in the U.S. dollar.
Along with gold, Schiff also says to look beyond U.S. borders for better returns. The fund manager sees emerging market strength continuing throughout the rest of the year, outpacing U.S. stocks by a wide margin.
Since the election of Donald Trump, the stock market has soared. Many Americans believed the new president would turn things around and "make America great again!" Meanwhile, the sale of precious metals has slumped in the US. While sales of gold and silver have soared in places like China and India, Americans have been buying up US stocks.
But is the unbridled optimism warranted? Peter Schiff doesn't think so, and believes now is the time to think like a contrarian, and buy gold and silver.
While everybody is still piling into stocks, Peter believes this is an opportune time to invest in precious metals. Trump's election made a lot of people more optimistic about America's economic future. Gold and silver bullion coin sales at the US Mint have fallen to the lowest level in years, following the general trend in US precious metal markets. But as Peter points out, fundamentally things aren't any different than they were before the election. The precious metals slump in the US doesn't really make sense. The fact that the mainstream is looking the other way is a good indication that it's time to get into gold and silver - before it's too late.
As Peter put it, nothing has changed.
Yes, having Donald Trump president is better than having Hillary Clinton as president. But he is not a get out of jail free card for the economy…The problem is the damage is going to hit on Donald Trump's watch. Barack Obama got out of Dodge just in time."
Obama and the Fed did a great deal of damage to the economy. Trump inherited a mess, and he won't be able to fix it. Will all of the chaos surrounding his administration, it seems increasingly likely he's going to have a hard time pushing his agenda through. And as Peter points out, even if he does, it's not going to be enough. Even with a new administration, the fundamentals underlying the economy haven't changed. The Federal Reserve hasn't changed. The bubbles still exist.
The seemingly never-ending record run for stocks doesn't mean the Trump rally is on solid footing, according to perma bear Peter Schiff.
"I think the trade has unraveled a bit," the Euro Pacific Capital CEO said last week on CNBC's "Futures Now."
Last week, stocks set new all-time highs, as investors shrugged off a weaker-than-expected May jobs report and remained at least partly motivated by elements of President Donald Trump's policy agenda. However, one of Wall Street's most relentlessly bearish voices was unimpressed.
"Remember that early in the Trump trade, you had a strong dollar. The dollar has surrendered 100 percent of its gains post-Trump's election," Schiff told CNBC. Additionally, "year to date the S&P is up, [but when] priced in gold the S&P is actually down."
So instead of staying in the U.S. stock market, Schiff is urging investors to buy bullion, which "is up more than the Dow and more than the S&P," with the yellow metal having rallied 11 percent this year. Gold rose to its highest price since the end of April on Friday, thanks largely to the continued drop in the U.S. dollar.
Meanwhile, Schiff said it's also time to look overseas, as foreign markets are actually outperforming the U.S.
"The U.S. markets have been pretty steady while foreign markets have been much stronger, [with emerging markets also being very strong," he said. "I expect this trend to continue and I think it will accelerate in the second half of the year."
In fact, while the S&P 500 Index is up almost 9 percent this year, Wall Street analysts have started urging investors to look at Europe, also up 9 percent year to date. Emerging markets, however, have soared over 19 percent so far in 2017.
But Schiff says more trouble could be ahead for the markets, especially given the Federal Reserve's next actions. While the CME Fedwatch Tool is predicting an over 90 percent chance that the Fed will hike rates during its meeting next week, Schiff doesn't expect any more hikes after June, which could damage the market.
"Even though the Fed claims to be data-dependent and they hike interest rates [in spite of weaker than anticipated data], I think the markets are starting to look beyond the hikes to the cuts," said Schiff. "I think we're getting ready to start a new easing cycle."
Schiff had previously cast doubt on the number of rate hikes. In February, the ardent Trump critic had pointed out that economic data was weaker than anticipated, blaming the Fed for Trump's election.
What is going to happen next? Can Presidents Trump budget plan save the US, or are we already too far gone? The damage that Obama did, may not be able to be reversed.
"When interest rates go up, the cost of servicing the enormous national debt will skyrocket. You can just forget about this entire budget, its all a bunch of fantasy."
Peter Schiff takes to the sound waves and discusses the recent aliments of the US dollar and how it is destined to crash and burn. We haven't seen anything yet, and much more pain is on the way. Get prepared now, or regret it.
Are the Federal Reserve attempting to bring down our system? What are they doing and why are they doing it? Peter Schiff discusses the recent actions of the FED and what direction they are going to take next.
Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, warns savvy investors they should start protecting their assets for a worst-case scenario because there is little hope of economic improvement as President Donald Trump near completion of his first 100 days in office.
“Donald Trump should already be disappointing a lot of people who thought we were going to get change, we were going to make America great again,” Investment Watch quoted Schiff as saying.
“We didn’t repeal Obamacare, that’s here to stay. Major tax reform is dead. We’re dropping bombs,” IW quoted Schiff as telling Future Money Trends.
“I mean it’s the same old same old right? Big government… bigger deficits… more cheap money… keep the air in the bubble. We’re headed for a major major crisis,” Schiff said.
Schiff also investors to keep an eye on the U.S. dollar, which Trump himself last week said was too strong.
“The dollar is living on borrowed time, literally. And so we just don’t know. It’s like a bomb with a fuse, but we just don’t really know how long the fuse is,” Schiff said.
“The dollar, I think is in a major bubble. I think it is in the process of topping out. I think once it completes this top it’s going down. And I think it’s going to take out the lows from 2008,” Schiff said.
“I think it’s going to go down for the count. Because the last time, what saved the dollar was the financial crisis, and that crisis resulted in everybody buying the dollar. But I think the next crisis is not going to be the same crisis that we had in ’08,” Schiff said.
“I think the dollar is going to be the crisis. I don’t think it’s going to be a bread and butter financial crisis. This is going to be a currency crisis. So it’s going to be the US government," Schiff predicted.
"It’s not going to be the mortgage markets that’s blowing up. It’s going to be the Treasury bond market that’s blowing up. It’s going to be the Federal Reserve that’s blowing up. And this is going to be a major major negative for the dollar, not a positive,” Schiff said.
Even Trump's former economic adviser cautions the president about his apparent recent policy reversal on the greenback.
Stephen Moore, one of Donald Trump's economic advisers during the campaign, said he was not concerned about most of the president’s latest policy flip-flops, but disagrees that the U.S. currency is too powerful.
“Advocating a weaker dollar is I don’t think good policy or good politics,” Moore told The Washington Post. “A strong dollar is a strong president, and a weak dollar is a weak president,” the Newsmax Finance Insider said.
Trump earlier this week said he won’t brand China a currency manipulator, retreating from core campaign promise, though he argued that a strong dollar is hampering the ability of American firms to compete.
“I think our dollar is getting too strong, and partially that’s my fault because people have confidence in me. But that’s hurting — that will hurt ultimately,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s very, very hard to compete when you have a strong dollar and other countries are devaluing their currency.”
However, other respected economic gurus are much more optimistic and urge wary investors to keep faith in Trump.
David Horowitz, author of the best-selling book "Big Agenda: President Trump's Plan to Save America," told Newsmax TV that the market rally since Republican Donald Trump won the election has more room for gains as the president pushes his pro-business agenda.
“There's more upside. Starting from when he was president-elect he started this stock market boom,” he told the “The Income Generation Show.”
“There will be corrections. There are going to be setbacks along the way like the healthcare which they hurried too fast. If you're looking over the long term of this administration, I think the stock market is going to love Trump.”
Another of the most respected economic gurus of modern times also urges patience with the president.
Former Ronald Reagan adviser Larry Kudlow is urging any impatience investors to just give President Donald Trump to fully enact his strategies to reform healthcare, spark economic growth and redesign the tax system.
After all, Trump has been in office a relatively short time and has inherited a mountain of problems from the past two decades.
“He's trying to fix a lot of problems that have gone unfixed in the last 20 years,” Kudlow explained to CNBC.
"The U.S. stock market rally is ending," said Schiff. "It's a bubble that is going to deflate."
Since the November election, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has surged over 12%. Additionally, the S&P 500 has added over 9%, and the Nasdaq has soared 13%.
But Schiff thinks the markets are extremely overinflated due to "investor optimism."
"We are not getting the Obamacare repeal, we are not getting the comprehensive tax reform, I mean we are not getting anything and still the stock market has not surrounded any of the gains from the Trump rally that was based on the expectation of a bunch of things that will not happen. What is going to happen is a recession!" wrote Schiff on his blog April 12.
However, according to Schiff, the real impetus that will topple this economy has already begun…
According to Schiff, a new housing bubble, an overvalued stock market, and President Trump's proposed stimulus plan will send the U.S. into extreme panic at some point in the near future.
In fact, Schiff thinks these catalysts will combine to cause an "inflationary maelstrom" that will "wipe out entire generations of retirees" who have their nest eggs invested in the market.
Let's take a look…
Schiff Sees a New Kind of Echo Bubble This new housing bubble – coined an "echo bubble" by some economists – is something we've warned you about before.
In the United States, there are at least six major cities – ones that recovered from the recession too fast – that meet the criterion for bubble status: Their housing markets are considered overvalued (above 0.5%), and their housing prices have skyrocketed well above 15% within the last five years…
In fact, some have seen over a 50% increase since 2011.
What Is an Echo Bubble?
A post-bubble rally that becomes another, smaller bubble. For example, after the technology bubble that occurred at the turn of the 21st century – one of the biggest bubbles of all time – people believed that another echo bubble was on the way.
However, "[t]his bubble is different because it's an institutional bubble," said Schiff. "You have record ownership of single-family homes by hedge funds and private-equity funds. They bought these things up in '09 or '10 or '11, and their plan was to rent them out for a while and then sell them to other tenants."
Here's the problem…
"The tenants are now broke," said Schiff. "They're unemployed — they have credit card debt, auto debt — they can barely afford to even rent the houses!"
However, this housing bubble alone won't crash the economy, according to Schiff.
GoldSeek Radio's Chris Waltzek talks to Peter Schiff CEO of EuroPacific Capital and to Bill Murphy of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee and La Metropole Cafe.
The improved economic outlook with the election of President Trump has lead the Fed to raise interest rates for only the third time in 10 years. Peter Schiff joins Stefan Molyneux to discuss the state of the United States economy, the nature of the U.S. debt ceiling limit, why Paul Ryan's Obamacare replacement won't work, how to solve the American health care crisis and why many are salivating at the opportunity to blame President Trump for long existing economic problems.
Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, warns savvy investors they should start protecting their assets for a worst-case scenario because there is little hope of economic improvement as President Donald Trump near completion of his first 100 days in office.
“Donald Trump should already be disappointing a lot of people who thought we were going to get change, we were going to make America great again,” Investment Watch quoted Schiff as saying.
“We didn’t repeal Obamacare, that’s here to stay. Major tax reform is dead. We’re dropping bombs,” IW quoted Schiff as telling Future Money Trends.
“I mean it’s the same old same old right? Big government… bigger deficits… more cheap money… keep the air in the bubble. We’re headed for a major major crisis,” Schiff said.
Schiff also investors to keep an eye on the U.S. dollar, which Trump himself last week said was too strong.
“The dollar is living on borrowed time, literally. And so we just don’t know. It’s like a bomb with a fuse, but we just don’t really know how long the fuse is,” Schiff said.
“The dollar, I think is in a major bubble. I think it is in the process of topping out. I think once it completes this top it’s going down. And I think it’s going to take out the lows from 2008,” Schiff said.
“I think it’s going to go down for the count. Because the last time, what saved the dollar was the financial crisis, and that crisis resulted in everybody buying the dollar. But I think the next crisis is not going to be the same crisis that we had in ’08,” Schiff said.
“I think the dollar is going to be the crisis. I don’t think it’s going to be a bread and butter financial crisis. This is going to be a currency crisis. So it’s going to be the US government," Schiff predicted.
"It’s not going to be the mortgage markets that’s blowing up. It’s going to be the Treasury bond market that’s blowing up. It’s going to be the Federal Reserve that’s blowing up. And this is going to be a major major negative for the dollar, not a positive,” Schiff said.
Even Trump's former economic adviser cautions the president about his apparent recent policy reversal on the greenback.
Stephen Moore, one of Donald Trump's economic advisers during the campaign, said he was not concerned about most of the president’s latest policy flip-flops, but disagrees that the U.S. currency is too powerful.
“Advocating a weaker dollar is I don’t think good policy or good politics,” Moore told The Washington Post. “A strong dollar is a strong president, and a weak dollar is a weak president,” the Newsmax Finance Insider said.
Trump earlier this week said he won’t brand China a currency manipulator, retreating from core campaign promise, though he argued that a strong dollar is hampering the ability of American firms to compete.
“I think our dollar is getting too strong, and partially that’s my fault because people have confidence in me. But that’s hurting — that will hurt ultimately,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s very, very hard to compete when you have a strong dollar and other countries are devaluing their currency.”
However, other respected economic gurus are much more optimistic and urge wary investors to keep faith in Trump.
David Horowitz, author of the best-selling book "Big Agenda: President Trump's Plan to Save America," told Newsmax TV that the market rally since Republican Donald Trump won the election has more room for gains as the president pushes his pro-business agenda.
Prior to the FOMC raising the Federal Funds Rate this week, the Atlanta Fed revised its estimate of Q1 GDP from 3.4% to 0.9%, an enormous downward revision that suggests Chairwoman Janet Yellen and FOMC authorities aren't as data dependent as they claim. The serious lack of economic growth indicated by the downward revision should give the Fed pause, but that doesn't seem to be the case, as Peter Schiff pointed out in his latest podcast.
"If anything, you've had a collapse in [economic] growth estimates since the last time the Fed met. Yet that collapse in GDP forecast has not done anything to alter the Fed's path because they've ignored all of the data, and they raised interest rates yet again."
The rate increase now brings the current target range to 0.75 -1.0%, a number so far from any market-set rate it's still worthless for anyone looking to earn anything from their savings.
The Fed's decision to raise rates is still another attempt to instill false hope into consumers that the economy is getting better. But more and more consumers are becoming aware of the reality of sluggish wages and an increase in prices.
"People are tapped out. People are not spending money because the economy is weak. Prices are rising, but their incomes are not," Peter explained.
Peter also criticized Janet Yellen's comments about shrinking the Fed's balance sheet. When asked about it, Yellen stated it would begin winding down the balance sheet until the rate normalization process is "well underway." When asked to clarify what the term meant, the Chairwoman wasn't able to give specific levels of interest or a general timeline.
Beginning with the 2008 crisis, the Federal Reserve began quantitative easing, meaning it began purchasing large quantities of Treasury securities and US-backed mortgage securities. The buying frenzy expanded the Fed's balance sheet from $900 billion to $4.5 trillion.
Yellen's hesitancy to define a timeline or standard for "well underway" is another example of how the Fed keeps its data dependency murky enough to wiggle out of any attempt to hold it accountable. Because higher interest rates mean higher payments on the national debt and possible default on US loans, the Fed is understandably reluctant, but it can't telecast that reluctance or motivation. Instead, it continues to feign interest in raising interest. Yellen claims she's waiting for stronger economic data to give FOMC members confidence, but it's consumer confidence that she's actually hoping to create with too-little-too-late rate increases.
Peter Schiff, a prominent investor of gold and CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, has been criticized by many analysts and experts including Brian Kelly of CNBC for describing Bitcoin as “digital fool’s gold.”
For the most part, Schiff’s ignorance towards Bitcoin stems from his responsibility to protect Euro Pacific Capital’s business model, which almost entirely relies on the performance of gold. Schiff has also found the vast majority of his career success in gold trading and thus, it is essentially instinctive for Schiff to protect gold against Bitcoin.
However, most innovative and successful investors understand that to profit from an ever-changing market, one needs to beat the market. One asset or currency which has beaten the market for three straight years is Bitcoin by outperforming all reserve currencies, stock markets and assets, something gold has failed to do.
Rarity, scarcity, decentralization
Currently, the basis of all criticisms against Bitcoin is the absence of network moderators and the origin of its value. Specifically, conventional economists struggle to understand the purpose of Bitcoin’s fixed supply, as it could theoretically lead to economic issues in the future.
Rarity, scarcity and decentralization, the three characteristics of Bitcoin which conventional economists including Schiff warn investors against, are in fact the strongest advantages of Bitcoin. These characteristics of Bitcoin are why mainstream analysts like Brian Kelly are dedicated to offering fair and balanced coverage on Bitcoin.
“For me, it is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is not just digital gold. It is a technology platform that fintech is being built on top of. It is a once in a life generation investment opportunity similar to the Internet growing just as fast if not faster. It is the Internet of money. Everyone is involved in it. The Federal Reserve released a paper on it. Bank of England is involved in it. 14 of the top 30 banks have active projects.”
Kelly’s statement is factually accurate in that Bitcoin is a technology platform and an open source protocol in which anyone can build anything on top of. Bitcoin as a base protocol is a payment facilitation tool. It facilitates payments between two users without the necessity of a mediator.
On top of that layer one technology, two-layer solutions exist as well as other technologies which will allow Bitcoin to transform itself into a settlement system, digital gold, wealth management product and virtually any financial instrument which investors and traders may need in the future.
Bitcoin’s structure isn’t a replica of gold
Schiff, however, argues that Bitcoin’s structure is a replica of gold, built to act as an alternative to fiat currencies. As mentioned above, Bitcoin isn’t a replica of gold nor the monetary system adopted by governments across the globe. It can operate as gold and a currency but it wasn’t structured to replicate either of those two.
When Schiff states that gold is a more efficient version of Bitcoin, Schiff is considering the commodity aspect of gold. Gold is a commodity and an asset. But, it is not a payment unit and a settlement network. Its value is dependent on an infinite supply, which could exponentially increase if companies manage to find massive sources of gold in the future.
If Bitcoin had a bug which could lead to the creation of Bitcoin out of thin air, Bitcoin’s value wouldn’t be where it is as of current.
If investors and citizens are frustrated with President Donald Trump, they should blame the Federal Reserve, according to Euro Pacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff.
In a recent interview with CNBC's "Futures Now,"the ardent critic of both Trump and the Fed cast doubt on the potential for future rate hikes. He also said that the central bank's easy money policies are partly to blame for Donald Trump's election.
Weak economic data "has been the primary reason the Fed has been able to keep rates so low for so long," said Schiff.
"In fact it's been these low rates that are actually one of the reasons the economy has been so weak," he added— renewing a criticism that the Fed's quantitative easing (QE) have primarily benefited banks and the wealthy.
"This benefits the financial markets, it benefits the stock market, it keeps it propped up at artificially high levels, but it undermines the real economy. That's why so many Americans are hurting and why so many voted for Donald Trump," the investor told CNBC.
According to Schiff, if the economy was really as strong as many believe, "not only would Trump have not been elected, he wouldn't have been the Republican nominee."
Shortly after the election, Schiff appeared on CNBC criticizing Trump, and predicting that his policies could actually have the Fed reversing course on possible rate hikes.
Since then, however, the stock market has continued to hit record highs, while Fed Chair Janet Yellen has suggested that two or more rate hikes may be appropriate this year. Still, that didn't deter Schiff from calling her bluff.
"What's appropriate and what the Fed is going to do are two totally different things. The Fed is going to raise interest rates as slowly as they can possibly get away with, and at some point they're going to have to come up with an excuse why they're going to stop raising rates, and why they're going to cut rates again and why they're going to go back to QE," Schiff argued.
"All of this is inevitable. But even if the Fed does nudge interest rates up a little bit more before they reverse course, it's not going to matter," he told CNBC. Meanwhile, price pressures are building in the economy, with data last week showing inflation rising at the fastest pace in almost four years.
"Inflation is headed up, not just on the consumer level but…inflation rising faster than any rate hikes we might get from the Fed," Schiff said. "So real rates are going to be falling even if the Fed raises nominal rates."
The CME FedWatch Tool currently pegs a March rate increase at 17 percent probability.
Gold has stood the test of time, and now Bitcoin is being compared to gold in many ways, especially for its safe haven qualities. Do you need to own gold, do you need to own Bitcoin? Will they weather the coming storm? Peter Schiff and David Seaman discuss. - Source
Why is the FED raising rates? Are they looking to simply extend and pretend the phoney confidence that exist in the markets currently, or are they looking to bring the system down? Peter Schiff discusses the FED's recent actions. - Source
The future of the dollar isn't bright, and Peter Schiff breaks down why this is a bad thing for the country in the long term. The fiat dollar is horribly flawed and destined for the trash bin of history. - Source
Peter Schiff breaks down the short time that President Trump has been in office, he talks about how he believes Trump should govern the country going forward. Tune in to learn more. - Source
The improved economic outlook with the election of President Donald Trump has lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates for only the third time in 10 years. Peter Schiff joins Stefan Molyneux to discuss the state of the United States economy, the nature of the U.S. debt ceiling limit, why Paul Ryan's Obamacare replacement won't work, how to solve the American health care crisis and why many are salivating at the opportunity to blame President Trump for long existing economic problems.
Peter Schiff is an economist, financial broker/dealer, author, frequent guest on national news, the host of the Peter Schiff Show Podcast, the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital and the Chairmain of Schiff Gold.
Money manager Peter Schiff says, “The Fed is going to try to keep interest rates as low as possible because we have so much debt that these artificially low rates are the only way we can service it. So, the Fed, I think, is willing to sacrifice the dollar to keep propping up the bond market. Even if we launch QE4, it may not have the effect on the bond market that prior round of quantitative easing had. They may lose control of the long end of the bond market. And certainly when it comes to corporate bonds or muni bonds, or any bonds that are not being monetized, rates are going a lot higher. . . . I think the dollar is going to tank.”. . . In order for the Fed to keep the air from coming out of this bubble (in bonds), they will have to sacrifice the dollar.” Where does that leave hard assets like gold? Schiff contends, “Gold stocks were the best performing stocks in 2016, and they are already the best performing stocks in 2017. I think the bear market in gold and gold stocks ended at the end of 2015. It’s a new bull market. I think the big gains we got last year are just a small down payment on the gains we are going to get in the years ahead. Very few people are positioned properly.” Schiff goes on to say, “Donald Trump is not the cause of these problems. We’ve got a giant wound that we’ve got a band-aid on. Nobody is really looking at the wound because it is hidden by this band-aid, and it’s getting worse, and worse and worse. Maybe Trump will peel back that band-aid, and we actually get a good look at how bad we are wounded. . . . I think this has gone on so long and the bubble has gotten so big . . . . We did not get to celebrate the Dow 20,000 party, but I think that we are going to have the last laugh and do the most celebrating when the bottom drops out of the dollar and reality sets in.”
Peter Schiff shows how Trump's policies seem to be over before they even get started, and takes the New York Fed President to task for reckless advice to homeowners.
Peter said he sees the President-elect's recent comments to the Wall Street Journal about the overvaluation of the dollar as representing an unstated "falling dollar" policy - one that candidate Trump espoused his entire campaign.
"Donald Trump always talked about the overvalued dollar when he was a candidate. He didn't always say, 'the dollar is overvalued.' He would say, 'foreign currencies are undervalued,' which is basically like saying the same thing only using different words... If he wants foreign currencies to appreciate, then by definition, he wants the dollar to depreciate."
As expected, the dollar tumbled 1.2% shortly after Trump's statements. It's currently down nearly 1% against the Japanese yen and Mexican peso, according to MSN.
Trump's comments also targeted China's currency manipulation as the major cause for the dollar's strength. "Our companies can't compete with them now because our currency is too strong. And it's killing us," Trump said.
As Trump sees it, the US's trade imbalance with China stems from the valuation gap between the dollar and the yuan. Typically, the weaker a nation's currency, the cheaper and more competitive their exports will be. Nations like Venezuela are now fighting hyperinflation, after leaders made moves to devalue the bolivar for the same reasons. When mixed with huge trade deficits and artificially low interest rates, such a "weak dollar" approach could help create a similar currency crisis for the US.
Peter also took New York Fed President William Dudley to task for his recent entreaty to homeowners to leverage their equity for consumer spending. Sadly, the suggestion echoes those of Alan Greenspan's during the George W. Bush era before the housing bubble burst.
In March 2003, Greenspan admitted to a group of Independent Community Bankers of America that "the frenetic pace of home equity extraction last year is likely to appreciably simmer down in 2003, possibly notably lessening support to household purchases of goods and services."
The need for separation of healthcare and employment stemmed from Schiff's belief that workers are incentivized to accept health insurance from an employer instead of cash payments. In other words, employees don't want to receive cash from their employer because that can be taxed. Instead, employees prefer health insurance coverage because it is tax-free.
Schiff's solution: Let individuals fully deduct whatever they spend on health insurance from their income taxes.
"More people will get their health insurance the way they get their auto insurance or their fire insurance or for their homeowners insurance," he said. "Get rid of those incentives, get businesses out of the healthcare industry, and allow individuals to shop around."
The second part of Schiff's plan included specifying which circumstances were "appropriate" for insurance coverage.
"The big problem in medical care is that too many people use insurance for everyday items," he said. "We don't want you spraining your ankle and then billing it to the insurance company – things like that should be paid for out of pocket."
According to Schiff, not using insurance and paying out of pocket with cash for things that aren't life-threatening will reduce the price of healthcare for everyone over time.
"Once you have a third-party player, you no longer have free market controls on costs, and costs skyrocket," he said.
The final segment of Schiff's plan called for the termination of two programs that collectively aid over 105 million Americans, according to a 2015 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation…
Medicare and Medicaid.
According to Schiff, these programs are better left for dead because they take up "too much" time for practitioners and provide a handout for low-income Americans.
"We should be getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid," Schiff said. "Before we had any of this stuff, we had a much better healthcare system. It was more affordable, and doctors had a lot of free time. They didn't have to spend all their time filling out paperwork."
"So, to the extent that there are poor people who couldn't afford medical care, they got it for free," Schiff criticized.
While the Euro-Pacific Capital CEO continues to criticize the American healthcare system, the reality is he is not in a position to do much about it.
But one person is…
Donald Trump.
Will Trump cut Social Security benefits? That's the big question keeping more than 46 million U.S. baby boomers up at night.
