Nov 29, 2013

China Announced The Mother Of All Tapering

Here is the biggest bombshell of the week, maybe of the year. Everybody was focusing their attention on what the Federal Reserve did not even say, they were pretending that the Fed said they were going to taper, even though they did not. So while everyone was focusing on stuff the Federal Reserve did not say, nobody paid attention to what China actually did say.

Because China announced the mother of all tapering. China finally came out and admitted that a further expansion of their foreign currency reserves is no longer in China`s interest. Now, expanding their foreign reserve currency reserves has not been in China`s interest for a long time, it is just that now they finally came out and publicly admitted it. Now, what does it mean?

If China isn`t going to expand its balance sheet anymore because its not in their interest, it means it has to stop buying Treasuries. It has to stop buying mortgage backed securities, the same securities the Federal Reserve is buying and is threatening to taper off.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 27, 2013

Will Bitcoins Be Worth Zero? They Might.

Today of course, we do not have a legitimate currency. We have fiat currency. There is nothing behind the dollar, which is why people think, well, what is wrong with bitcoin? Because there is nothing behind the dollar and there is nothing behind bitcoins, there fore its the same.

Well, there is a significant difference. The dollar is legal tender in America. Other currencies are legal tender some place else. And even though I do not want dollars, the government only accepts dollars in payment of taxes, therefore if I don`t want to go to jail and I value not going to jail (that does have a value), the only way I can stay out of jail is to have enough dollars to pay my taxes. So, there is a legitimate use for dollars even though they do not have any intrinsic value, the way gold does.

But bitcoins, do not have any intrinsic value whatsoever. So here is the problem. People are advocating the use of bitcoins as if its a form of money. But it can`t be. Because bitcoins do not represent a store of value. You don`t know how much bitcoins will be worth next week, next year, in 5 or 10 years. Nobody knows. Will bitcoins be worth zero? They might because they don not have any intrinsic value.

Somebody may come up with an alternative digital currency maybe more attractive than bitcoins and people will use that one. Somebody might come up with a legitimate digital currency that is actually backed by gold. That is not hard to do.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 26, 2013

The Original Currencies

The original currencies were issued by private banks, in fact if you go back to the beginning, the first currency was issued by a goldsmith. Somebody took their gold to a goldsmith and he gave him a warehouse receipt for that gold. Now, the person who owned a warehouse receipt from a reputable goldsmith instead of going back and taking his gold, he might be able to take that receipt and exchange it with with somebody else who had goods and services that he desired. The other person might accept it because they recognize the receipt, they know its a reputable mint, they know there`s gold there and so that warehouse receipt can circulate as currency. That`s what banks did. Before the Federal Reserve in 1930, private banks all around the United States issued their own note currency. The currency was backed by gold that the banks had in their vaults.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

The Only Reason Anybody Wants Bitcoins

The only reason that anybody wants Bitcoins is because they believe somebody else wants them.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 25, 2013

An Economy That Lives By QE, Dies By QE

The fact is, it is impossible to create a viable, self sustaining recovery with QE. I keep saying it, but if an economy lives by QE, it dies by QE. But no one seems to be able to figure this out.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Federal Reserve: They Have No Intention Of Tapering

The fact of the matter is, they have no intention of tapering. The markets still haven`t figured that out, despite the fact that today, Dennis Lockhart, who is the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, was on CNBC and this is what he said: "We will not taper our bond buying until the economy is ready."

We will not taper our bond buying until the economy is ready, what kind of commitment is that? I think he knows the economy will never be ready. I mean ready is always subjective, when will it be ready? It`s like a drug addict saying, "Yes, I will stop taking drugs when i no longer need the drugs to stay high. Well, you always need the drugs to stay high. We are high on monetary stimulus, we are high on QE.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 24, 2013

Tapering & Tight Financial Conditions

If the markets continue to believe, if they continue to take the Fed taper bate and feel that a taper is imminent, interest rates on long term government bonds are going to rise even further. Now, if they continue to rise by the time the March meeting comes around financial conditions will be a lot tighter than they were back in September.

If the Federal Reserve could not taper in September because financial conditions were too tight, how are they going to taper in March or even sooner if financial conditions are even tighter?

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 23, 2013

The Only Thing The Federal Reserve Fears More Than Tapering

The Fed(eral Reserve) can talk about taper but the only thing they fear more than tapering is admitting that they can`t do it because if they taper the recovery will fail.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 22, 2013

Bitcoin Is The Wrong Vehicle

I want to spend a few moments talking about Bitcoins. And while I have a lot of sympathy with what the bitcoin community is trying to achieve, I just think they have the wrong vehicle.

Now, I think the idea behind bitcoin was to digitally replicate gold. A kind of a gold standard for the internet. Gold 2.0 has some people have alleged. And you know, if you look at bitcoins, the way they come into existence is just that they are mined just as actual gold. You mine them into exixtence. And just like mining gold, when you mine for bitcoins you actually expend real resources, real energy. There is a cost associated with creating a bitcoin. Just like there is with gold, in contrast to central banks that create pretty limitless amounts of currency for nothing, out of thin air at virtually no cost.

And also like gold, there is a limit there is a scarcity in that there there only 21 million bitcoins that can be mined into existence. I think right now there are probably around 12 million. So there is still more that can be created but again that is going to cost money to do so. And also like gold, bitcoins are divisible. You can take one bitcoin and make 100 million fractional bitcoins that collectively would have the value of a whole coin. But the idea is that you can break your bitcoin up into smaller increments for transaction, just like gold. You can have an ounce of gold, then you can have half an ounce, one tenth of an ounce. You can make smaller quantities that are more ideal for transactions. But unlike gold, you can instantaneously send your bitcoin over the internet. You can`t do that with gold. You can`t transport gold, because gold actually has substance. Bitcoins exist in the cyberspace.

When you have gold, you have to protect it. It can be stolen, you have to guard it and it may even cost you money to store it. It does not cost you any money to store bitcoins in your digital wallet. So bitcoins  really replicate all the properties of gold, even improving on some of them. But here is the problem. They replicate all the properties except the single most important. You see without that property, gold never would have been money. I am talking about value, intrinsic value, the metal itself. Bitcoins does not have any.

The reason gold became money, first it was valued as a commodity. It was a luxury good, known through out the world, everybody wanted gold. And so you knew that if you needed something you could always buy it gold because even if the person who accepted your gold did not want it, he knew somebody else who did.

Gold was uniquely suited to be money over a lot of other commodities. It basically won the free market competition for money because it had a lot of other characteristics. These are the characteristics that bitcoin is replicating, but they are not replicating the intrinsic value. That made gold desirable in the first place.  

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 21, 2013

The Simple Truth On The U.S. Debt: Repayment Is Impossible

The thing about Ponzi schemes is that they have to keep on growing and if they don`t grow, they implode because you need a bigger supply of new investors to cash out the old investors.

Look at the U.S. Treasury Bond market. We have a 17 trillion dollar national debt (although that is just a tip of the iceberg, we actually have 100 trillion plus in total debt. 17 trillion is just where there are U.S. treasuries outstanding but the U.S. government has lots of obligations beyond the treasury debt).

But if you just focus on that, where does the U.S. government get the money to retire all the maturing bonds every year, trillions of dollars worth of Treasuries mature. The government does not have that money. It relies on new buyers to cash out the old buyers. And in many cases its the same holders, people that hold the debt, just roll it over, so we never have to pay it back.

But nobody wants to acknowledge the simple truth that repayment is impossible. All we can do is borrow more money to pay out the maturing debt but the debt stock keeps getting bigger and bigger because of the compounding interest and because the government borrows more more money every single year.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

We Are Going Get More And More QE Until We Overdose

The problem is we are not going to grow the economy, we are not going to create jobs by creating inflation, by debasing our money. It might make the stock market go up, it might make the real estate market go up and so we can delude ourselves into thinking that we are actually growing the economy but we are just blowing the bubbles and growing the debt. And because the economy will never recover, because the Fed won`t allow it to restructure, then the unemployment picture will continue to get worse, which means that we are going get more and more QE and they are going to keep on increasing the dosage until we overdose.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 20, 2013

Federal Reserve: No Impetus To Change Course

We will need to have a complete monetary disaster before there is any impetus to change course. Because as long as the Federal Reserve can take the easy way, that is what they are going to do. As long as they keep subsidizing the growth of government and prop up the real estate market and the stock market they are going to keep doing it. It`s going to be pressures that are brought externally that will finally force us to do something different and the sooner that happens, the better, the sooner we have this crisis the sooner we can begin to deal with the underlying problems. The more we succeed in postponing the day of reckoning, the more we will have to reckon with, the more difficult it will be to solve the problem.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 19, 2013

Bitcoin: People Will Lose A Lot Of Money

I do not think it is going to end up being a source of commerce for the world. I think right now it is a source of gambling and I think people will lose a lot of money. But again, I don`t know where the top is. I never know where the top is but I think I got a pretty good vision when it comes to seeing bubbles and I certainly see one in bitcoins.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 18, 2013

Yellen, Dollar Crisis & The End Of This Madness

She actually believes the Federal Reserve can create prosperity, can create jobs and economic growth by creating inflation, by printing more money and that is what she is going to do.

And because it`s not going to work, because it`s going to make the economy worse, not better, she is going to do more and more of it until ultimately there is a currency crisis and the dollar collapses bringing an end to the madness.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Yellen Will Compound The Mistakes

She has not learned from the mistakes at all. She is going to compound the mistakes. She is going to take the QE program and expand it.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Yellen: A Blind Leading The Blind

I think its going to be case of a blind leading the blind once she is confirmed as the next Fed Chairman, our Chairwoman.

I would like to see the truth come out of these confirmation hearings to discuss how completely clueless Janet Yellen was during the housing bubble. Because, the left has tried to redefine her and rewrite history and cast her as some kind of Nostradamus who was warning about the housing bubble and the financial crisis, she was just Cassandra there at the Fed and nobody listened to her. This is all nonsense. She was just as blind as everyone else. In fact she was dismissing the warnings about the housing bubble, that people like me were actually making at the time.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 15, 2013

Bitcoins Are No Alternative To Gold

You can play the game if you want but I don`t see bitcoins as an alternative to gold. It is not a modern day gold standard. If anything, they are modern day alchimists. But you cannot make gold digitally. It`s no better than a fiat currency.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 14, 2013

Bitcoins: A Modern Day Tulip Mania

To me it looks like a modern day tulip mania, the fact that there are people in the hard money community that have embraced bitcoin.

A bubble is a bubble. The dotcom or the real estate bubble, there is a bubble in bitcoin. I think the reason people are buying bitcoins is because the think they are going to make money. They think the price is going to go up. It will keep going up until it implodes. And a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money in bitcoins. A small amount of people will make a lot of money but it will be paid for by a much greater amount of people who lose because they come at the end of the pyramid scheme. Wether we are at the end now, or wether it is going to keep going higher for months or years, I do not know.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 13, 2013

The Minute They Remove The QE, We Are Back In Recession

The Fed wants to pretend that they can take away the QE yet the economy can keep recovering, it can`t. The minute they remove the QE, we are back in recession. That is why they are never going to remove it. But they have to pretend they are planning on removing it, they can`t acknowledge that is here forever because that will accelerate a dollar crisis, which is coming eventually anyway.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Video: Discussing Gold & Currencies With Dennis Gartman


Video Summary: discussing gold and yen markets with Dennis Gartman

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 12, 2013

Euphoria: The Short Term Effect Of The Monetary Stimulus

What we are seeing in the United States is not economic growth. Is the euphoria that is the short term effect of the monetary stimulus.

But when that wears off, just like any other drug, you have the hell of a hangover and the U.S. is heading right back into recession. In fact we are headed for a worse economic crisis than the one we had in 2008.  

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 11, 2013

We Are Not Getting Better Economic Data

I don`t think we are getting better economic data in the United States. We are spending more borrowed money but that`s not good economic data and I think the Fed is not going to taper, in fact I think the ECB just helped them out because now they are going to be able to use this as an excuse not only not to taper but to increase the monthly dosage of QE.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 10, 2013

The Fastest Growing Industries Are Where Prices Are Coming Down

The fastest growing industries are where prices are coming down, not where prices are going up. Look what is happening with cell phones, computers, prices come down every year and consumers buy more because they have more purchasing power.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 9, 2013

The Natural Consequence Of A Growing And Vibrant Economy

The natural consequence of a growing, vibrant economy is that prices come down because economies find more efficient ways to produce things, and the price of goods come down. That`s what happened in America from 1870 to 1930, prices were falling rather sharply every year and we had tremendous economic growth.  

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 8, 2013

What Europe Needs

The idea that the problem in Europe is an absence of inflation is ridiculous. If you are going to define inflation as rising consumer prices, the slower they rise, the better. If fact, if consumer prices were to fall that would be better still. So, Europe is not going to solve any economic problems by creating inflation. You will exacerbate them. What Europe needs, the same that America needs, is less government, fewer regulations, less government spending, less government debt, less social welfare programs and more free market capitalism. That is what is going to solve the problems.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 7, 2013

Video: Federal Reserve, Cheap Money & Asset Bubbles



Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 6, 2013

The Federal Reserve Is Getting Ready To Increase QE

If you go back to that Fed statement, the Fed does not mention taper, it says adjust monetary policy. Adjustment does not imply a direction. I think what the Fed is getting ready to do is increase the amount of QE, not diminish it.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

QE Is Like A Drug

It is like a drug, QE keeps us high but if we lose the drug, we go through withdraw. We are never to have a genuine recovery until the Fed lets us have a real recession.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 5, 2013

QE Is Preventing The Economy From Fundamentally Recovering

It will never get better fundamentally until they will stop QE. QE is preventing the economy from fundamentally recovering from the damage.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

The Problem For The Market

The problem for the market is, the more the Fed succeeds in pushing up the market now with QE, the further it`s going to fall once QE stops. Because it has to end eventually, otherwise the dollar is going to collapse.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 4, 2013

The Whole Rally In Stocks Is Based On QE

If the Fed begins to taper, which I do not think it`s going to do, we will be back in recession. It`s not going to be good for stocks. The whole rally is based on QE.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Video: Discussing Monetary Policy With Ron Insana



Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 3, 2013

Eugene Fama Should Return The Nobel Prize

Theoretically you get the prize for excellence in economics. So if you say something that`s so bad, you theoretically should have to give it back. The Committee should be on the phone demanding that Nobel Prize right now and the returning of the money.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Video: Economic Incompetence Is A Prerequisite For A Nobel Prize


Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nov 1, 2013

Eugene Fama`s Neutral Events

Neutral events. So, Rick Santelli asks what is going to happen when we have to unwind this massive balance sheet and his response is, it does not matter, it`s a neutral event. How can it be neutral? The Fed goes from the biggest buyer of Treasuries and mortgage backed securities to the biggest sellers. And that`s a neutral event? - from a recent exchange between Rick Santelli and recent Nobel laureate Eugene Fama 

Related trading instruments: SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY), U.S. 10-Year Treasuries

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Video: Yellen`s Nomination


Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Blog Archive