Peter's Blog

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 […]

Fed Set to Launch “Massive” Bond-Buying Program — In Other Words QE

The Federal Reserve is set to begin what a MarketWatch article called a “massive” bond-buying program. Jerome Powell announced the program last Tuesday and the central bank released more details about the plan on Friday. The Federal Reserve will buy $60 billion in short-term Treasury bills each month. According to a statement, the purchases will […]

Fun on Friday: The Opposite Game

When I was a kid, we used to play the opposite game. Everything you said had to be the opposite of what you meant. For example, if you were hungry, you’d say, “I’m not hungry.” Or if you really liked the song on the radio, you’d say, “This song sucks.” Well, politicians play the opposite […]

J. Powell’s Word-Salad: SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap Oct. 11, 2019

Everybody is talking about the possibility of a trade deal. Well, maybe not everybody. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey rehashes his standard trade war observations and then moves on to bigger news – Jerome Powell’s announcement that the Fed is resuming QE. Of course, Powell didn’t exactly say that. […]

Peter Schiff: The Fed Is Lying to Say This Is Not QE

Yesterday, Jerome Powell announced that the Fed will soon launch another round of quantitative easing. Except he insisted it will not be doing quantitative easing. This is not QE. In no sense is this QE.” What the Fed will be doing, according to Powell, is expanding its balance sheet. Powell said details of the process […]

Nobody Knows the “Correct” Fed Policy

Central bankers suffer from what some might call fatal conceit. They actually believe that if they tinker enough, they can come up with a policy that will work “just right.” Maybe we should call it the Goldilocks Syndrome. But the truth is they don’t know.

Fed Mechanizations: SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap Sept. 20, 2019

It was Fed week. As widely expected, the central bank cut interest rates another 25 basis points on Wednesday. But the real Fed action happened on Tuesday morning and most people didn’t even notice. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey talks about all of the Fed mechanizations – not just […]

Peter Schiff: Whatever the Fed Is Going to Do Will Stink to High Heaven

The Federal Reserve did exactly what the markets expected on Wednesday, cutting interest rates by another 25 basis points. The central bank sent out mixed signals about what will happen next. Markets widely construed the Fed’s messaging as somewhat hawkish. In its policy statement, the Fed said the US economy is growing at a “moderate” […]

Peter Schiff: Negative Interest Rates Are Boneheaded

Donald Trump has been badgering Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for months, begging for lower interest rates. Yesterday, he took things to another level, saying that the “boneheads” at the Fed need to push rates into negative territory. In his podcast, Peter Schiff said negative interest rates are boneheaded.

Peter Schiff: Trump Loses It on Twitter

Donald Trump went on a Twitter rant Friday. In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff said the president basically “lost it.” There was a lot of news on Friday before Trump went off on Twitter. Jerome Powell gave his speech at Jackson Hole. He was generally upbeat about the economy. Then China announced additional tariffs on […]