Peter Schiff: It's Not A Growth Story, It's An Inflation Story

The Federal Reserve released December's FOMC meeting minutes this week, and the tone was decidedly more "hawkish," leading most analysts to believe interest rate hikes and quantitative tightening will remain on track in the coming year.

As Bloomberg reported, "officials in December debated the risks to the US economic outlook, with some concerned about low inflation and others pointing to robust growth that was about to get a further boost from tax cuts." In fact, inflation was at the center of debate. But generally, the concern was that inflation expectations remain too low. In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff said this attitude shows just how clueless investors, and the general public are.

"If they don't think there's going to be inflation, they're wrong. Those expectations are totally wrong. People are ignoring what is going on in the currency market, what's going on in the commodities markets, what's going on in the bond markets. All of this stuff is flashing inflation - at least the way you measure it - consumer prices."

Peter specifically mentioned oil. The price has pushed above the $60 per barrel mark, the highest levels in two years. Of course, when the price of oil rises, it reverberates through the economy. Peter called it a gigantic tax hike for consumers. But the Fed is still worried prices aren't going up fast enough and that they won't hit the mystical 2% goal.

"They're going to hit that out of the park. They're going to be looking at 2% in the rearview mirror - in the distant rearview mirror. That is going to be the big story. They're going to way overshoot and they're not going to be able to do anything about it."

The FOMC also talked a lot about tax cuts. Most analysts still believe the tax cuts passed last month will spur economic growth. We have argued persistently that tax cuts without a corresponding decrease in the size and scope of government will not produce the promised growth. But the mainstream is banking on growth. Peter said these people are ignoring the structural problems in the economy.

- Source, Seeking Alpha

Clueless Elites Embrace a Weak Dollar, Plan to Dethrone "King Dollar"

Peter is back to provide a a critical update after Wednesday’s big moves in the metals and the dollar.

Peter says that while he has been wrong for several years on the U.S. stock market, over the last two years he has actually beaten the U.S. stock market.

But that’s hindsight, Peter says.

What is important is that because it has been so painfully long for what everybody is expecting to unfold, it just means that we have all had more time to prepare for the coming US dollar collapse and fiat currency crisis.

Since the U.S. markets have had such a long run, and since the dollar strengthened in 2014 on a three year run, it has allowed everybody to add more to their gold and silver stacks or to diversify out of the dollar.

Peter says that it’s all unfolding now, and you can’t miss the train, because the platform is made of the U.S. dollar and it’s going to blow up.

Missing this train, Peter says, is not just like missing out on some investment opportunity, because not being positioned means going down in the dollar collpase.

- Source, Peter Schiff

Peter Schiff: Twin Deficits May Doom The Stock Market Boom

The US trade deficit widened 3.2% to $50.5 billion in November. It was the largest trade deficit in almost 6 years. If you take oil out of the equation, the trade deficit hit an all-time high. If oil prices keep rising and the dollar keeps falling, it will put even more pressure on the US trade deficit.

In theory, a weakening dollar should help the trade deficit because it makes US products more competitive. As foreign products become more expensive, consumers can just substitute domestic alternatives. But as Peter pointed out, it doesn't work that way in practice. Americans don't have that ability to substitute. There are no domestic alternatives to many of the products they import because America doesn't make them anymore. So, if the dollar goes down, it simply forces Americans to pay higher prices for imported products.

On the flip side of the equation, the weakening dollar doesn't help exports either. You have to produce something before you can export it.

So, if we're not producing the goods foreigners want to buy, the fact that the dollar is cheaper doesn't help our exports. So, this is going to compound the problem for the trade deficit."

Peter turned to the tax cut plan. The GOP admits it will add about $1.5 trillion to the deficit. But Peter reiterated what he said last month - the deficit will likely grow even bigger as people reorganize their affairs to take advantage of loopholes built into the plan.

- Source, Seeking Alpha

Peter Schiff: There Is Everything To Worry About

Last Friday, all three major stock markets hit new record highs ignoring the storm clouds on the horizon. In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff said this reminds him of 1987.

The stock market is rising despite the fact that there are very, very negative factors that are building, that are hiding in plain sight, that everybody is ignoring.”

When it comes to the economy, most people aren’t worried about anything when there is everything to worry about.

Peter highlighted a number of ominous signs, including rising inflation, as evidenced by the surging price of oil, the tanking dollar, and warning signs in the bond market with reports China plans to quit buying US Treasuries. Peter says it’s the perfect setup for a 1987-style crash that nobody sees coming. Of course, they should see it coming.

That’s going to be the crazy part. When it’s going to happen, everybody is going to say, ‘Well, nobody could have possibly seen this coming. How could anybody have possibly known this was going to happen?’ I mean, this is the most obvious crisis ever, yet of course, yeah, they’re oblivious.”

Meanwhile, the markets are priced for perfection. So, what will the Federal Reserve do when the air starts to come out? They are going to try to stop it.

Let’s say the Dow drops 1,000 or 2,000 points.

Now the Fed has to come out and stop the carnage, right? They don’t want to let it continue. So they’ve got to fess up, ‘Oh, you know, we’re not going to hike … then the dollar implodes.”

So, if the Fed has to launch another round of QE and buy up bonds, how is that going to happen? It will have to print money, because would you want to own the dollar?

The president is talking about, ‘Why do we let all these immigrants in from these shithole countries?’ Well, I think our creditors are going to think about the same thing. I mean, why should they flush their hard-earned money down this shithole? Why do they want to flush their money down the US toilet? Which is what it is when it comes to lending money to the US government. So, that could be very scary – if the Fed announces it is going to buy bonds and bonds tank anyway. That is the beginning of the end.”

- Source, Seeking Alpha

Peter Schiff: Gold Could Be The Pin That Pricks Bitcoin's Bubble

A big move up in the price of gold could cause a fall in Bitcoin prices, according to Peter Schiff, CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.Schiff sees investors’ shift back into gold as a negative for flows into cryptocurrencies. “To the extent in which people think Bitcoin is digital gold, it’s not, but to the extent that people think that, some money that might otherwise be used to buy real gold, is buying fool’s gold instead, and that is taking some of the demand for gold,” he told Kitco News.

Speaking on his outlook on gold, Schiff sees positive growth for the yellow metal in 2018. “I think the price is going higher,” he said, “once people really come to terms with reality on the true state of the U.S. economy, and what the future direction of Fed policy is going to be, there’s going to be a mass exit of dollars, and a scramble to buy gold.

- Source, Kitco News

Nailed It: Bitcoin Plummets in Value!

Peter Schiff's 2018 Outlook on bitcoin bubble, bitcash, Litecoin, Ether, gold, dollar, market, blockchain, satoshi, crypto and cryptocurrency on Kitco December 19th 2017.

- Source, Kitco News