Peter's Blog

More Banks Get Credit Downgrades as Financial Crisis Continues to Bubble Under the Surface

The financial crisis precipitated by rising interest rates continues to bubble under the surface. Earlier this month, Moody’s cut the credit rating of 10 small and midsize banks. It also placed six large banks on review for potential downgrades and revised 11 more banks from a stable outlook to a negative outlook. This week, S&P […]

Banks Borrowed More Than $3 Billion From Fed Bailout Program in July

In another sign the financial crisis continues to bubble under the surface, banks borrowed an additional $3.7 billion from the Federal Reserve’s bank bailout program in July. Currently, there are $106.9 billion in outstanding loans in the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP).

Peter Schiff: The Fed Will Never Hit Its Inflation Target

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for July came out last week. Even though the headline number ticked up slightly compared to June, most mainstream analysts took it as a sign that the Federal Reserve made more progress in its inflation fight. In fact, most mainstream pundits seem convinced that the Fed is on the […]

The Bill Is Coming Due! SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap Aug. 11, 2023

Credit cards are great until the bill comes due. And the US economy has about maxed out the plastic. The Federal Reserve incentivized borrowing and the economy is buried under trillions of dollars in debt. As Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey explains in this episode, the bill is about to come due. He also […]

Debt Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost

After the Federal Reserve incentivized borrowing with more than a decade of artificially low interest rates and easy money, the debt chickens are coming home to roost. Last week, Fitch Ratings downgraded the US’s long-term credit rating from AAA to AA+, and on Monday, Moody’s cut the credit rating of 10 small and midsize banks.

The US Government Has Borrowed Over $1 Trillion Since the Debt Ceiling Deal

There’s a big problem that pretty much everybody is ignoring. In just two months since Congress reached a deal and suspended the debt ceiling for two years, the national debt has surged by a staggering $1.2 trillion. Within a week of the debt ceiling suspension, the national debt cracked $32 trillion and as of July 28, […]

What’s Next? SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap July 28, 2023

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates yet again during its July meeting. So, what’s next? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about the Fed meeting and the weird messaging, and then speculates about the central bank’s next move given the current economic backdrop. He also talks about a […]

The Fed Follows Its Script and Hikes Again; What’s Next?

I’ll say this about the Federal Reserve: it tends to follow the script. Everybody expected that the central bank would hike rates at the July FOMC meeting, and that’s exactly what it did. The Fed boosted the federal funds rate another 25 basis points to 5.25 to 5.5%.

Number of US Corporate Defaults Already Bigger Than Last Year

The number of corporate debt defaults in 2023 has already exceeded the total number of defaults last year. According to data from Moody Investment Services, 55 American-based companies defaulted on loans through the first half of 2023. That was a 53% increase over the total number of defaults in 2022.

Jim Grant: Rivets Are Popping in the Economy

Can the Federal Reserve navigate a narrow path and slay price inflation while steering the economy to a soft landing? During an interview on CNBC Squawk Box, financial analyst Jim Grant expressed his doubts. He compared Jerome Powell’s task to Captain Chelsey Sullenberger’s when he was forced to land a US Airways plane on the […]