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December 03, 2008
Peter Schiff was right
Is my new meme.
It can suck to be the contrarian voice in the herd, as Peter Schiff was in 2006, two years before the economic walls came down. It takes guts, perseverance and, as Peter instructively demonstrates in this video, quiet confidence. He would've still been right had he been screaming a la Jim Kramer, but it's easier to side with a screaming optimist than a screaming skeptic.
Other blogs that reference Peter Schiff was right:
Wow, he went head-to-head w/ARthur Laffer? Ben Stein? Gosh, this guy is my hero for sticking to his guns! I'm forwarding along to my peeps....
Wow! I am with Dave above! Peter sas right on the money time after time. Notice the arrogant attitudes from all of Peter's opponents...that should have been the telltale sign. Peter always remained calm and provided information, not just hyperbole. The scary question is WHY didn't we listen to Peter? During a time of uncertainty, why didn't we listen to Peter rather than these other bozos!
Great post!
John
Great video! Atta-boy Peter Schiff, you rock, kick arse... (poor taste to say the USA "A" word??)
But what's Peter saying today. Does he have a "I-Told-You-So' video out recently that feeds crow to his detractors (FAR poorer detractors!)???? Would this be a bad idea? Just how 'gracious' should we be when we are proven right? Should it be far more "I was Right' the past few years, rather than 'Everyone but me was wrong?"
What's would be the BEST way for Peter to play this out?
Inquiring Minds Wanna...
David
agsteward@juno.com
Very interesting stuff. Unfortunately, if Peter continue to be right than he predicts that we could possibly see something worse than the depression (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMdF1CiQAkA). Again, time will tell.
Hmm. I find this very disturbing. I am a grad student. I am still young. Supposedly I know nothing.
But I remember as a TEENAGER being disturbed by the fact that so much of my local economy was based in construction/real estate speculation & consumption at the local Wal-Mart. I wondered how long we could last when our town was not producing a darned thing!
So how is it that this seemed disturbing and odd to sixteen year-old, but men and women being paid exorbitant salaries to analyze finances and trends saw no problem?
Dave and John -- If anyone needed to temper their arrogance in that time, it was Arthur Laffer. The infamous Laffer Curve has been disproven time and again, especially with the current administration.
David -- Good question. Probably with the same quiet determination he showed in 2006 while allowing letting the video in question do its own word of mouth work.
Bill -- Yup, and that's quite frightening. The November 2008 jobless report out today (Friday) showing 500,000 jobs lost in that month alone... gulp.
John Q -- Two things: Greed and lax regulation.
Laffer is clearly wrong on this, but his curve has not been disproved. Look at the numbers, tax cuts DO produce more tax revenue. What Schiff is really right about is the need for government spending cuts! Consumption, in and of itself, is not bad. Pure debt consumption is bad.
Again, our problem is not a market failure that the government has to fix, it is a government policy failure that the market is correcting for (if we give it a chance). Of course, another $18 billion to bad companies is not allowing the market to perform its correction. The Big 2.5 burn through $6 billion a month, all this does is prolong the inevitable.
