Peter's Blog

Peak Irony: Fed Paper Admits Fed Policy Can Lead to Economic Ruin

A paper  by Scott A. Wolla and Kaitlyn Frerking for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis warns that the Fed’s own policy could lead to “economic ruin.” The paper titled “Making Sense of National Debt” explains the pros and cons of national borrowing in typical Keynesian fashion. In a nutshell, a little debt is […]

Powell Lectures Congress About Government Spending the Fed Facilitates

Fiscal 2020 started just like fiscal 2019 ended – with a massive federal budget deficit. And that has Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell worried. In an ironic bit of political theater, Powell lectured Congress about the spending he helps facilitate. The budget shortfall last month was 34% higher than the October 2018 deficit, coming in […]

Silver Investment Up and Other Silver News

Silver investment in three major categories is up so far this year, according to a report highlighted in the latest edition of Silver News. Silver held in ETFs hit an all-time high this year. Year-on-year through mid-August, 736.9 million ounces of metal were held in silver-backed ETFs. Meanwhile, global mint silver bullion coin sales rose […]

This Is Not a Printing Press! (Or Is It?)

Rene Magritte’s 1929 painting “The Treachery of Images,” depicts a tobacco pipe with a caption that reads “Ceci n’est pas une pipe,” (French for “This is not a pipe”). Everyone who has taken a course in modern art knows that Magritte’s exercise in contradiction was meant to draw a distinction between a real thing and […]

Perception Is Reality for Consumer Spending

By: Spencer Schiff (@SchiffSpencer) The recession narrative is suddenly catching on. That could spell major trouble for consumer spending and our economy as a whole. Following the recent 2s10s inversion and subsequent stock market volatility, countless prominent news outlets have been reporting on the possibility of an impending economic downturn. The number of articles mentioning […]

Debt and Taxes

Yesterday was tax day. We’d like to think the money we hand over to the IRS is paying for stuff – things like roads, education and national defense. But an increasing number of tax dollars are simply going to pay interest on the national debt. According to Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget president Maya […]

The Anything But the Dollar Club

We’ve been following a number of central banks that have been buying gold recently, specifically the Russians and Chinese. But these two central banks aren’t alone. In fact, central bank gold-buying has surged over the last couple of years. What’s behind this trend?

Fun on Friday: That Moment the “Good Guys” Turn Into the “Bad Guys”

Everybody wants gold. Some people want it so bad that they’re willing to break the law to get it. That’s why we have police. They stop the bad guys. At least that’s how it’s supposed to work. But don’t miss what I said. Everybody wants gold. Police officers fall into the category of “everybody.” So, […]

The Pause Is on and Now the Mainstream Is Starting to Talk Interest Rate Cuts

Right after the last Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting, Peter Schiff said the “Powell Pause” won’t be enough to save the stock market and head off a recession. He said ultimately, the central bank would have to cut interest rates and launch another round of quantitative easing. Well, it seems the mainstream is starting […]

Fun on Friday: An Epic Campaign Promise

Politicians promise lots of stuff. Delivering on those promises – that’s a different matter. But when it comes to pledging to do this or that, politicians are masters. Now, most of the time they keep things pretty vague. After all, you don’t want to commit to anything quantifiable. If you did that, voters could actually […]