Peter Schiff on Tucker

Wow. Peter Schiff (was right). Noted economist and adviser to Ron Paul.

He's been telling you to buy gold and silver for 25 years and now he's doing very well isn't he...

I'm watching this!!

S&P started at $17.57 in January of 1928. The latests S&P is now about $6,916.

Gold started a $20 an ounce. Now Gold is above $5,000.

In the S&P, there have been dividends during this time. No dividends from a gold ounce.

But the S&P 500 changes over time. Companies are added. This changes the overall return.

It is not at all clear gold outperformsthe S&P. In fact, It seems the S&P probably outperforms gold, even today, and almost certainly the S&P outperforms gold for most of the time.

Transcript Summary

Summary of the conversation between Tucker Carlson and Peter Schiff (a well-known economist, gold advocate, and founder of Euro Pacific Asset Management and Shift Gold):

Peter Schiff discusses his long personal history with gold, starting with purchasing physical gold using his bar mitzvah money in the mid-1970s during the 1970s gold bull market. He sold it near the 1980 peak (~$850/oz) to buy a car and later began recommending gold to clients in the 1990s as a stockbroker, viewing it as an essential portfolio hedge.

Schiff argues that much of the apparent U.S. stock market prosperity since 2000 (e.g., Dow rising from 10,000 to near 50,000) is illusory when measured in gold terms. Gold rose from ~$300/oz in 2000 to over $4,000/oz (implied in the discussion, aligning with recent highs), meaning stocks have declined significantly in gold-denominated value (70% drop in Dow/gold ratio). He attributes this to dollar devaluation through inflation (money supply expansion), not genuine economic gains.

He traces U.S. monetary history: the dollar was originally defined by gold/silver weight, remained convertible to gold for foreign governments until 1971 (when Nixon ended convertibility), and post-1971 fiat system enabled unchecked money printing, deficits, and inflation. This fueled 1970s price surges (e.g., oil), temporarily stabilized under Volcker/Reagan with high rates and reforms, but now risks a larger crisis as the world potentially abandons the dollar's reserve status.

Schiff claims the U.S. has exploited dollar reserve privilege to run massive trade deficits (over $1 trillion/year), importing goods while exporting inflation via printed dollars. Foreign central banks (e.g., China, Russia, India, Poland) have accelerated gold purchases, especially after U.S. sanctions on Russian reserves post-2022 Ukraine invasion signaled dollar vulnerability.

He defines true inflation as money/credit expansion (not rising prices, which are a symptom), criticizes the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target and justifications (e.g., preventing deflationary delays in purchases), and notes government redefinitions of CPI/underemployment metrics understate real inflation and unemployment.

Schiff critiques post-2008/2020 policies: quantitative easing (debt monetization), low rates fueling asset bubbles (stocks, housing), and COVID-era stimulus (shut production while flooding money) as massively inflationary. He predicts rising long-term rates, exploding debt service costs (potentially exceeding tax revenue), recession, falling home prices, and a severe U.S.-centric crisis (not global like 2008) as dollar reserve status erodes.

On alternatives, Schiff strongly favors physical gold (and silver) as real money with intrinsic value (industrial/jewelry uses, durability, historical role), contrasting it sharply with Bitcoin/crypto, which he views as speculative, lacking intrinsic value, reliant on "greater fool" dynamics, and not a viable reserve asset for central banks. He promotes tokenized gold (digital claims on physical gold via blockchain) for easier transactions while maintaining backing.

He warns of gold industry scams (overpriced/collectible coins, high markups via talk-show endorsements) and promotes transparent, low-margin dealers like his own Shift Gold. Overall, he urges holding some physical gold as protection against dollar debasement, inflation, and impending economic/fiscal turmoil, while criticizing government intervention, fiat systems, and crypto promotion (including by figures like Trump).

The discussion includes sponsor segments (e.g., Black Rifle Coffee, Dose supplement, Battalion Metals) unrelated to the core economic arguments.

You can pick periods where gold does better than stocks, and periods where stocks do better than gold. It’s all hype.

Exactly correct.