Posted on 07/30/2008 5:02:01 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
When Dr. Doom speaks, we should listen
JOHN HEINZL
jheinzl@globeandmail.com
E-mail John Heinzl | Read Bio | Latest Columns July 29, 2008
When CNBC or Fox needs a guest who can be counted on to deliver a thoroughly gloomy outlook for the U.S. economy, they call on "Dr. Doom."
To say Peter Schiff is bearish is like saying Tiger Woods is an okay golfer, or China has a small problem with air quality. The president of Connecticut-based Euro Pacific Capital Inc. is so pessimistic about the U.S. economy that he lives in a rented house and keeps the vast majority of his and his clients' money outside the country, a healthy chunk of it in gold and energy stocks.
"America is finished. We are going to destroy this country. Our economy is just going to unravel," he told me yesterday. "The question is how much money is the world going to lose before it writes us off?"
Apocalyptic forecasts are a dime a dozen these days, so why should anyone pay attention to Mr. Schiff? Because his past predictions have proved uncannily accurate.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Ping!
Thanks for posting this.
We know we’re at the bottom when pessimism reigns supreme. When the popular press joins with politicians to predict disaster that can only be staved off by higher taxes, more regulations, and government intervention, we know we’re in for a monster rally.
From the fundamental analysis of money supply and yield spread, we’re in for an extended period of low inflation and interest rates, an extended stock market rally, and prosperity.
I just don’t look like it right now. Have faith.
Yeah, the economy is so bad that we went out and bought a 1979 Harley Davidson FLH basket case for the wife yesterday.Running motor and good rest of the drivetrain, just have to build it.I like putting our money in something that holds it’s value.
When we supposedly elect Pres. Osama, by proxy Warren Buffett runs this nation--hes is old, what if Buffett dies or turns senile???
The more the economies of the world draw together in what is referred to as a global economy, the less credibility the rhetoric of this particular doom merchant has.
What he fails to see is at this particular time we are the key in the worlds economy. Should what he says happen it would drag the entire world down with us.
Since we are 24% of the entire worlds GDP what would happen should we stop producing and consuming, or if it even slows by 10%? What does the rest of the world do with the enormous excess of their production they will be stuck with when Americans stop buying it? what happens to the excess oil if we cut our imports to 40 million bbls fro it’s current 80+ million bbls? who buys it? The suppliers MUST sell it to maintain their own nations services. What will happen is the price will drop precipitously as it did in the late 90’s when oil was about $12.00 bbl.
Much is made of our debt and the fact we are depending on the rest of the world to finance it. Some say that Japan, China, Saudi Arabia et al may choose to sell our treasuries and put their cash elsewhere. To that end there is a saying that goes “If you owe the bank a million dollars you are in trouble, but if you owe the bank a billion dollars the bank is in trouble”. And so it is that the developed world is dependent on our continued viability that they can and will do nothing to cause us and in turn them to fail.
Economics aside there is also the question of safety. If and when the “stuff” truly hits the fan you will see the cash reserves of all nations literally pour into the dollar as they seek safety in the only nation that has any chance of being left standing in any possible conflagration of epic proportions.
Everything’s fine as long as an R is in the White House. Five minutes after a D gets in, everyone will switch opinions.
There is an excellent video of Peter Schiff here from 2006 here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G3Qefbt0n4
ALL but ONE of his predictions has come true.
The last one - much higher interest rates. AND that is coming soon children...
No government ever pays it’s debts. Brace yourself for monumental inflation.
It’s going to be interesting watching this unfold.
Hate to break this to you but the people who really run this country (and the rest of the world) make Buffet look like a church ice cream social.
Of course not. That's because the New Deal deepened and lengthened the Depression.
If we can avoid a second New Deal this time, there is a better chance that Santiago de la Vega could prove prescient.
hate to break this to you, but you named no names...have a great day...
I love how, for a certain subset of Freepers, being right all the time is proof you’re wrong.
Doublethink in action, Orwell would be proud.
“When dot-com stocks with no earnings were shooting skyward in the late nineties, he was advising clients to stay away and instead putting money into the unloved energy sector, just in time for the great oil bull market”
“Mr. Schiff made a bundle shorting the subprime mortgage sector”
... and, if you want to actually have a penny to your name when this is said and done:
“With the walls closing in on the U.S. economy, where is an investor to turn? Apart from gold and energy producers, which benefit from a plunging U.S. dollar, Mr. Schiff likes conservative, dividend-paying stocks such as pipelines and utilities. He’s especially fond of Europe, Asia, Australia and Canada, where his holdings include Barrick Gold Corp., Goldcorp Inc., Crescent Point Energy Trust, Baytex Energy Trust and Pembina Pipeline Income Fund”
Simple solution:
Close our borders to foreign imports.
Just close them! No messing around, just say “that’s it”.
Americans will have to make all that stuff.
That means jobs. Jobs making everything, you see with a “made in China” tag.
Just think how much of that, there is...
I read Peter Schiff regularly. Dollardaze.com is a good resource.
We’re reaping the harvest of fiat cuurency and Keynesian economics. This economy has been stretched so far for so long, and it will eventually become unsustainable. We keep putting band-aids on a serious systemic disease, expecting it to heal. It won’t, until we abandon this fake monetary system.
Mises was right.
Oh, by all means. That worked so very well the last time we tried it.
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