This is Taper-Light, At Best

This is taper light, at best. But its not even that. Because the Fed was so worried about the effect that would have on the market simply by announcing a decision to taper in the future that the Fed decided to sugarcoat that bad tasting medicine. How did they do it? The Fed changed its language with respect to its commitment to keep interest rates at zero. They have been at zero for years and the Fed has said, as long as unemployment is above 6.50%, interest rates will stay at zero. Now,the Fed has changed that language, it has rewritten it. It now reads, the Fed is going to leave interest rates at zero well past the point in time where the unemployment rate goes below 6.50 percent. So they haven`t just moved the goal posts, they have destroyed the goal posts.  

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 Fed Is In A Box

At some point the market is going to figure out the box the Fed is in and it will not want to hold the dollar. It will realize that it is QE infinity and when the dollar really starts to come under pressure, if it loses 10, 20 percent of its value against a basket of currencies, that is when the Fed is going to have to make a choice. A very difficult choice that is has been avoiding for years, which is going to be to dramatically increase interest rates even if the unemployment rate is rising, even though it is going to force many banks into failure, even though it might force the government to default on its debt, even though its going to bring out a very severe recession, the Fed is going to have to raise rates anyway and start selling Treasuries not buying them. Or if it does not have the integrity, or the courage to do that, then its going to print even more money and the dollar is going to crash.

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