Back in September, Peter Schiff was interviewed by Anthony Wile of The Daily Bell. The exclusive conversation covered a vast number of topics, but in the second half they dug deep into Peter’s analysis of the United States economy. Peter, as usual, clearly explains our fundamental economic reality while deftly moving across a range of topics, from the performance of this year’s blockbuster movies to the European Central Bank’s rate cuts.
Daily Bell: What should the Fed be doing these days other than going out of business? What’s it doing wrong?
Much positive economic hay has been made of the job report numbers that were released last week. The number on which everyone focuses is the unemployment rate, which touched a six-year low of 5.9% in September. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 248,000 jobs were created.
But much of the financial media ignores the other side of the picture. Most importantly, the latest data from the BLS that shows the labor force participation rate at its lowest since 1978 – a disturbing 62.7%! The labor force participation rate refers to people who are currently employed or are actively searching for work. The chart below makes it blindingly obvious that the economy is not on the steady growth track the government would like us to believe.
By Peter Schiff
Yesterday, I launched this new website and announced the rebranding of my gold bullion dealer from Euro Pacific Precious Metals to SchiffGold. I started this company four years ago to provide a trustworthy option for my Euro Pacific Capital brokerage clients, but it has since grown to become a major US gold dealer in its own right. This landmark for my company comes in the midst of a historic time for the precious metals. The past four years have had highs and lows. We have been experiencing the inflation of remarkable new asset bubbles, and gold’s response has been mixed. But I have reason to believe that over the next four years, gold and silver investors will witness shocking macroeconomic events that put to rest any doubts about the importance of having sound money in every portfolio.
Peter Schiff appeared on Fox Business yesterday to debate James Cordier about the state of the United States economy. While their conversation was friendly, Peter posed some tough questions that never got answered.
The precious metals have been having a hard time recently, especially following Janet Yellen’s press conference last week. While Yellen was extremely vague about when the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates, the financial media latched on to her theoretical discussion of how rates would be raised when the time came. This turned out to be the only part of Yellen’s statement the markets seemed to care about. Even unbiased, legitimate new agencies like Reuters reported that “…the Federal Reserve indicated in its policy statement it could raise borrowing costs faster than expected when it starts moving.” This is the explanation for gold and silver’s latest downturn. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees.
In his latest Schiff Report video, Peter Schiff dissects Yellen’s press conference and the Fed’s statement to explain why the Fed will never raise interest rates. In fact, Peter thinks the United States is overdue for another cyclical recession. Physical gold and silver investors should be focusing on this big picture view instead of the deliberately confusing hypotheticals presented by Yellen and the financial media. The economy is getting worse, and this latest news is just another opportunity to stock up on more gold at discounted prices before the markets wake up to the reality of the Fed’s predicament. Here are some excerpts from the video, which you can watch below.
Once again, the financial world watched the Federal Reserve this week in the hopes of hearing some real news about whether or not interest rates would be raised in the near future. While the Fed continued to taper its quantitative easing, it said that interest rates would remain at zero for a “considerable time.” To economists like Peter Schiff this is more or less an open admission that the United States economy is in terrible condition. If the economy was improving, why would it need the continued intervention from the central bank?
In his latest written commentary, Peter compares historical Fed policies to the central banks’ actions in the past eight years. He explains clearly and succinctly why we’re in a new age of “forward guidance” and how disastrous it will be for the economy. Don’t look for interest rates to be raised at all, Peter argues. Instead, another dose of QE is probably right around the corner.
Are Government Bonds Really ‘Safe’?
By Dickson Buchanan Jr., Director of International Development
One of the striking ironies of our modern economy is that government bonds are considered safe-haven investments, while gold is a “barbarous relic” to be avoided at all costs. Since the 2008 financial collapse, the bond market has been on a tear, thanks to the Federal Reserve’s endless interest rate suppression. This has only served to reinforce the traditional notion that government bonds are “safe.”
Meanwhile, the financial media argues that gold is no longer relevant to today’s investors. They conveniently ignore the fact that gold has been a safe-haven for thousands of years, while government paper has only been around for a handful of decades.
However, government bonds fall short of traditional investment goals. A look at the history of government-issued bonds in the 20th century reveals terrible performance. Applying this historical knowledge to our current economic climate, and bonds don’t stand a chance when compared to time-tested gold bullion.
Peter Schiff answers some of the more challenging questions he has received from you, his loyal subscribers. Learn what he really thinks about gold manipulation, why Wall Street hates gold, who should buy silver instead of gold, and more!
This is the final installment in a three-part series exploring three key reasons why gold could be the best hedge in the event of a major market correction. For part one, click here. For part two, click here.
As we wrote previously, there are many stories in the news lately exploring the various ways to protect yourself from a major market correction. They talk about hedge funds shorting US municipal debt, junk bonds, and foreign bonds in Asia and the eurozone. However, hardly anyone in the media mentions the use of physical gold bullion to protect your savings from a stock market crash. We believe gold will outperform any of these conventional “safe havens” for three key reasons.
The third promising factor for gold in the event of a major market correction is that there are simply few alternatives. Even the conventional “safe bets” don’t hold up to scrutiny in today’s environment.
Treasury bonds have been one of the most traditional investments for protecting savings and providing cash flow. However, bond yields are currently at record lows and will probably move even lower in the event of a market correction. The return on a 5-year Treasury has fallen by an average of 4.3% in each of the past three recessions. In the likely event that this trend continues in the next market correction, the nominal yield could become negative. In other words, investors would be paying the government to take their money!
This is part two of three in a series exploring three key reasons why gold could be the best hedge in the event of a major market correction. For part one, click here.
As we wrote yesterday, there are many stories in the news lately exploring the various ways to protect yourself from a major market correction. They talk about hedge funds shorting US municipal debt, junk bonds, and foreign bonds in Asia and the eurozone. However, hardly anyone in the media mentions the use of physical gold bullion to protect your savings from a stock market crash. We believe gold will outperform any of these conventional “safe havens” for three key reasons.
The second promising factor for gold is that many of the “weak hands” have been shaken out of the gold market. This means that short-term speculators who were just jumping on the bandwagon have exited the gold market. Those that remain are primarily long-term holders who understand the fundamentals of gold.
A primary example of these “weak hands” is those who held “paper gold” investments such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In this type of investment, you don’t actually own gold. You simply put your money into a fund that is invested in gold companies or gold bullion. This is very different from holding the physical precious metal yourself. These paper gold investments are very popular with short-term speculators who can make quick money if they’re savvy enough.
