Peter's Blog

GOP Tax Reform: Incentives Matter

It appears increasingly likely the Republican Congress will pass tax reform this week. As we analyze the plan, it’s important to remember – incentives matter. Details of the House/Senate compromise bill came out Friday. It features a top rate of 37% and a bottom rate of 10%. The corporate rate would drop to 21%. The […]

Economic Stimulus Alive and Kicking in EU

Janet Yellen and company pretty much followed the script during last week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, raising interest rates another .25 percent and signaling three rate hikes in 2018. We tend to focus primarily on Federal Reserve actions, but it’s important to remember the Fed isn’t the only central bank game in town. While it […]

India Silver Demand on the Rebound

Indians are buying silver. India ranks as the second largest gold consumer in the world, behind only China, but Indians also have an appetite for the white metal. After a drop in silver demand last year, Indians are once again buying.

Some Key Reasons Gold Should Shine in 2018

The last few weeks have been tough on gold. If you have a short-term mentality, you might even think the gold market has gone bearish. But as World Gold Council chief market strategist John Reade pointed out in a piece he wrote for the December issue of WGC Gold Investor, 2017 has been good for […]

FOMC Meeting: Yellen Follows Her Script

The December Federal Open Market Committee meeting went pretty much according to scrip. Analysts widely expected the Fed to raise rates by .25. It did. Analysts also expected the Fed to signal three more hikes in 2018. It did that too. Gold went up, as we said it probably would, hitting a one-week high in […]

The US Government Is Spending Money Like a Drunken Sailor

The US federal government is spending money like a drunken sailor. And that’s probably unfair to drunken sailors. In November alone, the US government reported a $139 billion deficit.

Crypto vs. Gold: Gold Has Value Unto Itself

Bitcoin mania is in full force. When I get to my desk in the morning, the first thing I do is check the latest gold news. But lately, when I google the word “gold,” I mostly get Bitcoin news. In his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff even suggested CNBC should rename its network the “Crypto News […]

The Fed’s Magic Trick That’s Picking Your Pocket

Every year, the Federal Reserve robs you of a little bit of your wealth. And it does so by design. Writing for the Sovereign Man, Jeff Thomas called it a “magic trick.” But it’s not magic in a mystical way. It’s magic in the show business sense of the word.  It’s an illusion, facilitated by distraction that fools the audience. […]

Jobs Numbers: The Biggest Hoax in American Politics?

President Trump has completely flip-flopped the way he looks at economic data. When he was on the campaign trail, he called the stock market a “big, fat, ugly bubble.” Now that he’s sitting in the Oval Office, he takes credit for the same bubble. He’s done the same kind of 180 when it comes to […]

Gold and Rising Interest Rates: Selling the Rumor, Buying the Fact

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to nudge interest rates up again this week. Most analysts agree that the specter of a rate hike is one of the primary reasons gold has slumped over the last several weeks. But are rising interests rates really bad for gold? The short answer is no. At least not […]