It seems like everybody is getting a bailout right now. The government is handing out money it doesn’t have left and right. This is all justified because of coronavirus. Even conservatives who normally oppose government bailouts have jumped on the stimulus train. “This is a crisis!” they cry. The government has to step in. But as Peter Schiff explains in his podcast, the government crippled the economy in the first place. A government crutch isn’t the solution to the problem.
As you may know, several years ago, Peter Schiff relocated to Puerto Rico. Have you ever wondered why? What are the advantages? And what can his move teach us more generally about economics and politics?
Peter recently appeared on the Puerto Rico ICON Podcast and answers some of those questions.
The US government is spending money and running up debt at an unfathomable rate. The US national debt increased by a staggaring $814 billion in just two months. When confronted with this reality, most people just shrug. Policymakers certainly don’t care. They continue to ramp up spending and call for even more. Paul Krugman recently tweeted that we need more government stimulus — ie spending — to stoke tepid demand.
Democrats have never cared about spending and Republicans swear tax cuts will grow the economy and fix the debt problem. But as we’ve reported many times, debt retards economic growth.
Now we have even more evidence that government stimulus doesn’t stimulate. In fact, it has the exact opposite effect, as we can see from Europe’s spending binge.
You may have heard that you can’t purchase more than $10,000 worth of gold without it being reported to the IRS.
This is a myth.
You can avoid IRS reporting requirements, even on large-scale purchases. You just have to know the rules. Our revised Guide to Tax-Free Gold and Silver Buying provides the information you need to navigate the complex world of IRS reporting. You’ll learn:
The government is regulating you to death. Sometimes literally. But there are some things you can do about it. In this episode of It’s Your Dime, host Mike Maharrey talks about it with libertarian activist and author Mary Ruwart.
We’ve seen growing support for a universal basic income or UBI. In a nutshell, the government would pay every citizen a set amount of money without any means testing or work requirement. Democratic Party presidential candidate Andrew Yang has made UBI a central issue in his campaign. Under his plan, every American over the age of 18 would get $1,000 per month, guaranteed. This sounds great, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t want free money? But the plan raises a few questions — like how would the government pay for it?
In this episode of It’s Your Dime, host Mike Maharrey talks with Antony Sammeroff, author of the book “Universal Basic Income: For and Against.” They discuss the pros and cons of UBI and delve into some of the economic ramifications.
It’s time for Fun on Friday and I have to be honest — I’m not feeling very fun.
Why?
Because the tax man cometh! And no matter how you slice it, taxation is not a fun subject. It’s no wonder “death” and “taxes” are often mentioned in the same breath.
But April 15 is lurking right around the corner and that means it’s almost tax day.
Several state legislatures are considering bills that would repeal taxes on the sale of gold and silver.
Fundamentally, gold and silver are money. But most governments treat precious metals as a commodity. They don’t accept it as payment. Worse than that, they tax it. Think about the absurdity of this policy.
As we reported last week, China is dumping US debt. China’s holdings of US Treasuries fell for the third consecutive month in August. The Chinese shed another $6 billion in US debt, dropping its total holdings to $1.165 trillion. Over the last year, China’s holdings of Treasury bonds fell by $37 billion year-on-year.
But China has debt problems of its own. Local Chinese governments have reportedly piled up about $5.8 billion in debt. An S&P analyst called Chinese debt “an iceberg with titanic credit risks.”
Peter Schiff recently appeared on RT to talk about the US and Chinese debt.
In fiscal 2018, the national debt expanded by more than $1 trillion. According to data released by the Treasury Department, it was the sixth-largest fiscal-year debt increase in the history of the United States. A combination of increased spending along with shrinking revenues continues to expand the federal deficit and balloon the national debt.
GOP apologists insist the revenue shortfalls caused by tax cuts are temporary and economic growth spurred by tax relief will eventually turn things around. Tax relief is great, but without substantive government relief in the form of spending cuts, the promised economic growth won’t likely materialize.
