Peter’s Blog

After the Federal Reserve incentivized borrowing with more than a decade of artificially low interest rates and easy money, the debt chickens are coming home to roost. Last week, Fitch Ratings downgraded the US’s long-term credit rating from AAA to AA+, and on Monday, Moody’s cut the credit rating of 10 small and midsize banks.

The number of corporate debt defaults in 2023 has already exceeded the total number of defaults last year. According to data from Moody Investment Services, 55 American-based companies defaulted on loans through the first half of 2023. That was a 53% increase over the total number of defaults in 2022.

In a recent podcast, Peter Schiff warned that we could be on the verge of a further breakdown in the bond market and that a bear market in bonds could also maul US stocks and the dollar. Financial commentator and investment guru Jim Grant has similar concerns. In a recent interview on Odd Lots Podcast, […]

Americans continued to run up credit card debt in May, but borrowing for big-ticket items tanked. This could indicate that cash-strapped, over-leveraged consumers are reaching the end of the rope. American consumers borrowed another $7.2 billion in May, increasing total consumer debt to a record $4.865 trillion, according to the latest data released by the […]

Peter Schiff appeared on First TV’s I’m Right with Jesse Kelly to talk about the state of the economy, inflation, and the unfolding financial crisis. Peter warned that we’re heading straight toward Great Depression 2.0.

After pulling back slightly in February, Americans went back to borrowing on credit cards in March — despite record-high interest rates. This indicates that consumers continue to struggle to make ends meet in this deteriorating economy. It also reveals that the Fed’s monetary tightening is not cooling spending as promised.

American consumers continued to pile on debt in February, but the pace of borrowing slowed significantly, another sign the economy could be heading toward a recession. Overall, consumer debt grew by $15.3 billion in February, a 3.8% annual increase, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve. That compares with an upwardly revised 19.5 […]

Looking at last month’s US Treasury activity, it’s clear that interest expenses are exploding upwards at an unsustainable pace. Annualized interest on the debt increased by $25 billion in a single month.

Retail sales surged in January, creating the impression that the economy is humming along nicely. After all, there can’t be a problem if consumers are out there consuming, right? But a lot of people are ignoring a key question: how are people paying for this shopping spree?

Retail sales came in much stronger than expected in January after declining the previous two months. Mainstream financial media pundits immediately declared that this “jump in consumer spending” was a good sign for the economy. The Wall Street Journal called the robust sales report “evidence that US economic growth picked up at the start of […]