Peter Schiff: Veto Everything!

Peter Schiff recently did an interview with David Lin on Kitco news. Peter talked about the devaluing dollar, the stock market bubble, his investment strategy, the trajectory of the global economy, and finally, what he would do if he was president of the United States. In a nutshell, Peter said he would veto everything.

Is the stock market a bubble?

Lin opened this section of the interview by asking Peter about where he thinks “risk assets” are heading in 2021. Peter said the dollar is a risk asset even though everybody thinks of it as a “safe haven.” Lin asserted that the bond market seems to disagree with yields ticking up. But Peter reiterated something he talked about at length in a previous podcast – the bond market is rigged.

The bond market is being manipulated by government. I mean, there’s not a fair market there. If it was a fair market, bond prices would be crashing. But the government rigged the market by intervening and buying bonds.”

As far as the stock market, Peter said he doesn’t think the entire thing is a bubble.

I certainly think that there are a lot of stocks that are in bubbles. But I think there are a lot of stocks that are going to keep going up, maybe not in real terms, maybe not if you price them in gold. But if you price them in dollars, yes, because the dollar is going to lose value faster than most stocks.”

That said, there are a lot of overhyped stocks trading at prices far out of proportion to any underlying value that the companies have based on their likely earnings. Peter said he stays away from stocks with “pie in the sky” valuations.

I want to buy real businesses that I think are going to do well in the economy globally as I think it’s going to evolve over time.”

And Peter said he thinks it will be an economy where America plays a smaller role.

I think Americans are going to be diminished in their wealth and purchasing power and stature as the dollar goes down and we move more toward a socialist model than a market-based economy. The dollar is going to go down. US assets are going to be out of favor. I think the emerging markets are going to shine.”

Peter said he is investing based on how the world is going to look while most people are looking in the rearview mirror with no idea what lies ahead. And he said his portfolio is outperforming the S&P 500 nicely.

Interestingly enough, it’s not my gold stocks that are doing it. It’s all my non-gold stocks. Even though the story is more bullish than ever for gold, enough people don’t really get that just yet. But I think they will. And I think ultimately it’s my gold stocks that are going to end up being my top performers.”

The conversation then turned to policy. Lin asked Peter what he would do if he was president “to pass legislation to make American lives better.” Peter said we don’t need any new legislation.

We need to get rid of all the existing legislation. So, if I was president, I would just veto everything.”

Peter pointed out that you have to go back to the 1880s to find a president who served four years and vetoed fewer bills than President Trump.

So, Donald Trump pretty much rubber-stamped every spending bill that hit his desk. You can’t drain the swamp without draining the money. But he continued to fill the swamp with money. So, I would veto everything, including raising the debt ceiling or any of these continuing resolutions.”

Peter said, in effect, he would want to dismantle government.

So, I would use my executive power to eliminate as many laws and regulations and taxes as I could as president.”

Peter said he would also use the bully pulpit of the presidency to clearly articulate to the public why the US is in so much trouble, and how past politicians and presidents have destroyed the economy, and what needs to be done in order for Americans to rebuild.

But there is no solution that’s going to come from government.  All the solutions are going to come from the people, from the free market. We need people working, producing, and the government has to get out of the way. But a lot of damage has been done, and we have to acknowledge that. And we’ve got to bite the bullet and accept the losses. We can’t just keep blowing bubble after bubble and try to pretend that those losses aren’t there by making all the problems bigger and ultimately making the day of reckoning that much worse.”

Peter said it’s tough to win an election by telling the truth – especially when other politicians are promising free stuff.

My message is freedom. I’m not giving anything to anybody because the government doesn’t have anything. All the government can do is steal from one person and give to somebody else. But see, I think theft is wrong. I don’t want to steal from anybody. I want to protect everybody so that people don’t steal from them — just protect their liberty, protect their life, protect their property. That’s what government is supposed to do.”

You can watch the first part of the interview here.