Peter's Blog

Nearly Half of Small Business Owners Expect to Close Down Permanently

The economy was booming. The stock market was setting records. Then coronavirus came along and governments shut things down to minimize the pandemic. That led to massive layoffs and a nasty recession. But once states open up, things will spring back to life and the economy will go back to being great again. That’s the […]

Over-Leveraged Zombie Companies Threaten Economic Recovery

There seems to be mounting optimism that the US economy will rebound relatively quickly as states begin opening up and there is progress toward a coronavirus vaccine. But the optimism ignores deep problems in the US economy that existed before the pandemic  – chief among them staggering levels of debt and the proliferation of zombie […]

The Economy Isn’t Just Dollars: Friday Gold Wrap May 22, 2020

Jerome Powell went on 60 Minutes last week and said there was “no limit” to what the Fed could do to support the economy. Of course, that’s not really true. All the central bank can really do is print more dollars. And the economy isn’t just about dollars. It’s about stuff. In this episode of […]

The Arsonists Are Fighting the Fire: SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap May 15

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dumped cold water on the notion that we’re going to have a quick recovery during a speech this week and begged Congress for more fiscal stimulus. As Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey put it, Powell and the federal government are the arsonists trying to fight the fire they started. […]

Tale of Two Cities: SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap May 1

US stock markets just had their best month since 1987. Meanwhile, the economic data is as bad as it’s ever been. It’s almost like a tale of two cities. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey digs into some of the data and explains why the damage to the economy […]

Live Your Hopes, Not Your Fears: SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap April 24

It was another crazy week on Wall Street with a lot more economic doom and gloom, punctuated by a complete meltdown of the oil futures market. In this week’s Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about some of the highlights – or lowlights – but he also injects a little optimism into the […]

A Bucket of Cold Water: SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap April 17

Gold sold off overnight and stock futures soared after President Trump offered some guidelines to “reopen America.” There was also news of a promising COVID-19 treatment. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey throws a bucket of cold water on all of the optimism. He explains why the economy won’t […]

What’s Next? SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap April 10

The economic lockdowns continued and another 6.6 million Americans joined the ranks of the unemployed this week. But the stock market rallied? How can this be a thing? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey explains what’s going on. And then he asks the burning question: what’s next? What is […]

Delusional Thinking: SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap April 3

As the coronavirus economic lockdown drags on, there seems to be a lot of delusional thinking out there. Many people seem to believe that at some point, President Trump will snap his fingers and the economy will roar back to life. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey looks at […]

What Do These Jobs Numbers Really Tell Us Anyway?

November’s jobs numbers came out Friday weaker than expected. Trump’s twitter feed was strangely silent on the jobs report. Generally, he likes to tout unemployment as an accomplishment, even though he poo-pooed the same numbers when he was campaigning against Obama. As Peter Schiff pointed out in his most recent podcast, the official numbers significantly understate […]