Federal Reserve: Higher Prices, Higher Minimum Wages

Inflation is the business the Federal Reserve is in. It creates inflation, it has been creating it for years and it manifests itself in many different ways: higher prices being one of them. Wages are simply a price of labor. But what is happening through out the country is this push for the minimum wage increase. Look at what is happening in Los Angeles, they just increased their minimum wage to 15 dollars which is going to be phased in over the next 5 years, which will delay the damage somewhat.

But while this is going to be problematic for businesses it is going to be a much bigger problem for all the workers in Los Angeles who cannot get jobs because what the law does is, it says that if you have minimum skills and if you cannot convince an employer to pay you 15 dollars an hour, it is illegal for you to work, so many people will not get jobs.

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

Wal-Mart (WMT): A Bad Quarter And It Probably Get Worse

One of the bigger signs that the economy is weakening came from Wal-Mart (WMT), which came out with their earnings on Tuesday and way below estimates. Not only were their profits down but their revenues were down. A really bad quarterly report. The stock was down 4 or 5 percent and it is now down 16 percent from its record high printed in January when everybody was so optimistic about this recovery and everybody thought that consumers were going to take their windfall from cheap gasoline prices and spend it on Wal-Mart (WMT).

Well, it did not happen. Wal-Mart (WMT) had a very, very bad quarter and it is probably only going to get worse for Wal-Mart (WMT) particularly now that they are raising their wages and so you are going to have rising costs as well as slowing revenues.

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 U.S. Economy Is Addicted To Zero Percent Interest Rates

We have had zero percent interest rates for 6 years. We are addicted to zero percent. We can`t handle even 2 percent even though that is historically low, that is not low enough for the addiction that we have.

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

If The Fed Raises Rates, We Will Have A Worse Financial Crisis Than In 2008

An interest rate hike is not coming into play, actually it has never been on the table. Again, this is all part of the posturing from the Federal Reserve. If they can`t come out and tell the truth, that it is impossible to raise interest rates because then we would be back in recession. In fact, we would have a worse financial crisis than 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.

Yellen Does Not Want The Stock Market To Go Down

People have been reaching for yield in years thanks to the Federal Reserve. Janet Yellen said that stocks are not necessarily overvalued relative to bonds yields. But if the Federal Reserve is going to be raising interest rates, bond yields are going to be rising and then the stock market will have to come down. So, that is why I think the Federal Reserve is not going to raise rates.

I do not think that Yellen wants the stock market to go down because this phony economic recovery is based on asset bubbles and the Federal Reserve is not going to intentionally prick those 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.

Industrial Production: Worst Losing Streak Since 2009

In the Industrial Production (April), this is now the fifth consecutive monthly decline in Industrial Production. This is the longest losing streak that we have had in that data point since 2009. So again, here is another time where you have to go back to the Great Recession to find economic numbers as bad as the ones we are getting right now, supposedly on the doorstep of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

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