Peter's Blog

Fake Debt Ceiling Fight Yields Fake Spending Cuts and a Credit Card With No Limits

We have a debt ceiling deal. And the deal is there is functionally no debt ceiling until January 2025.

The Fed Blew Up Another Real Estate Bubble and It’s Losing Air

In March, I warned that the commercial and investment real estate markets could be the next thing to break in this bubble economy. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal put a face on my warning.

Corporate Bankruptcies at Levels Last Seen During the Pandemic

Despite all of the mainstream talk about a strong, resilient economy, corporate bankruptcies through the first four months of 2023 came in at the highest level since 2010. Meanwhile, monthly bankruptcy filings have hit numbers last seen during the peak of the pandemic. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, there were 235 corporate […]

The Real Problem Begins After Congress Raises the Debt Ceiling

The debt ceiling fight is getting down to the wire. In a letter to Congress on Monday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that without a debt ceiling increase, it was highly likely the government wouldn’t be able to meet all of its obligations by “early June, and potentially as early as June 1.” Despite the […]

Bernanke and Powell: A Lot of Finger-Pointing but No Self-Reflection

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and former chair Ben Bernanke recently fielded questions together at the annual Thomas Laubach Research Conference put on by the central bank. They engaged in a lot of finger-pointing but didn’t offer a hint of self-reflection as they discussed inflation and the state of the economy.

What Are the Markets Getting Wrong?

We’ve talked about the recent selloff in gold. On the other side of the coin, the NASDAQ has made a string of 52-week highs. What is driving these market dynamics? The Fed. The markets generally believe that the Federal Reserve is finished hiking interest rates, or at least close enough to being done that a […]

Household Debt Cracks $17 Trillion for First Time Ever

Total household debt eclipsed $17 trillion for the first time ever in the first quarter of 2023 as Americans wrestle with persistent price inflation. After charting the biggest rise in 20 years during the fourth quarter, household debt climbed again in Q1, rising by $148 billion. The 0.9% increase pushed total household debt to $17.05 […]

Talk Is Cheap; What Will the Fed Actually Do?

Gold had dropped by over $100 in the last two weeks. Meanwhile, the dollar rose to a 7-week high on May 17. If you’re thinking that this looks a lot like how gold and the dollar moved at the height of the Federal Reserve’s inflation fight, you’re right. That’s because the central bankers at the […]

The Inflation Picture Is Even Worse Than Government Numbers Suggest

On an annual basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 4.9% in April. While that’s an improvement over last year, it’s still not good. It’s more than twice the Federal Reserve inflation target. And as Peter Schiff pointed out during a recent interview with Jesse Kelly, the reality is even worse than the numbers […]

Media Bias Fails Investors and the Public

Was the producer price data that came out late last week really more good news on the inflation front? That’s certainly how the mainstream media spun it. But as was the case with the April CPI data, the mainstream spin didn’t necessarily reflect reality. In fact, there is a pro-government, pro-official narrative bias that pervades […]