Failed Senate candidate and former Ron Paul adviser Peter Schiff calls himself an economist, but he’s actually a right wing ideologue masquerading under the fake ‘libertarian’ label. A perpetual fringe character who enjoys cable news pundit-status on Fox News, Schiff became slightly-famous for supposedly predicting the 2008 housing sector meltdown, but in reality Schiff’s rigid logic is matched by extremely flexible timetables that allow him to be “right” no matter how often he is wrong — which is almost all the time.
Though he is personally worth $70 million, Schiff’s policy prescriptions are as uniformly terrible and deranged as his investment advice. Schiff’s father Irwin, a famous tax protester, is currently in prison for tax evasion schemes that wouldn’t be out of place in a group of so-called ‘sovereign citizens.’ Peter still defends his father’s belief that the 16th Amendment was never properly ratified, a thoroughly-debunked libertarian historical revision that shows up all the time among fringe anti-government movements.
Since 2008, Schiff’s public statements have become ever-more outrageous in a bid to keep the spotlight on himself. Opposing health care reform in 2009, he said that Medicare had created a “culture of dependency;” in 2011, he organized a counter-protest of the 1% against Occupy Wall Street; then in 2012, Schiff declared that President Obama had “won the idiot vote.”
More recently, Schiff protested against the campaign to raise the minimum wage by pestering customers outside a Walmart, declared that the mentally retarded should be happy to work for $2 an hour, and supported the murders of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. That last data-point is important, because it reveals the ugly truth hiding underneath all of Schiff’s glib talking points about “liberty.”
Deep down, Peter Schiff doesn’t believe in freedom; he believes in power, and that it should be accumulated for oneself rather than shared with others. As you can hear for yourself in the above clip, his real dream is monarchy, where the riff-raff have no power because their social betters handle all the complicated business of owning everything for them. This is perfectly natural thinking for a person who regards taxation as “theft.”
Dear smart person who wrote this “great” article. It would be better for your reputation to research a little more before writing something that is so provably wrong, or just pick a different target since Schiff is too difficult to bash. Peter Schiff explained in excruciating detail why there would be a real estate meltdown in 2006, and it happened in 2008. Simply youtube “Peter Schiff Mortgage Bankers”. He explained why, and exactly how it would all go down, and he nailed it.
In separate interviews you can see on youtube, he even said”whether it happens in 2007 or 2008 is immaterial.” But it did happen in 2008 even though he generally avoids timetables for macro events. (BTW he called the 2001 Nasdaq crash back in ’99-2000) He is not an oracle. He simply looks at macro economic events (endless money printing, and he adds commons sense)
If you want to know how his investment advice pans out, you must (as he advises his clients) to look long term. He is NOT a trader but a long term investor. Regardless, since private accounts are not available to analyze, you can still check his public mutual funds track record, several of which have won awards and have done very well.
– Additionally his father does NOT support the 16th amendment argument. His father states very clearly that the income tax is legal as written in the constitution and in the law itself. The method of collection of the income tax are illegal. The IRS does not follow the law. That should not surprise anyone.
His father also had a book banned (in the land of freedom of the press!) and only after the ACLU took up his case was it reversed, so don’t pretend his father is in jail for any legitimate reason. The trial transcripts are online and you can see for yourself, the judge stating: “I will not allow the law in my courtroom.” disallowing the IRS code book entered as evidence for a court trial that charges Irwin with breaking the very law he wants entered as evidence.
Peter Schiff’s general criticism of welfare related programs is not criticism against the people who receive welfare. He has repeated very clearly that the recipients are only being rational to take money handed to them for free. He also admits when he was young he rode out his unemployment to the last day never looking for a job until it ran out. He criticizes a government that makes it perpetually harder for low skilled workers to get a job and work their way up the corporate ladder.
He also criticizes the fact that over 1/3rd of workers need a license to work, and exposes through charitable legal defense organizations people who (for example) simply braid hair, and the government threatens them with jail unless they get a license, which costs thousands of dollars and takes a long time to get. He champions the the little guy. I think you should reconsider your articles position and be more factual. All of his positions are all posted online, both audio, radio, video, etc, so nobody can really make anything up and get away with it.
Don’t you know that the liberal media lies. Today anyone can be a reporter just do what the status quo wants you to do. I love Peter Schiff I have a subscription to his investment advice sight that he has with Marc Faber etc. I am so glad if not I would have lost a lot of money in 2008. I still follow him as well as others like Marc Faber and a few other supply side guys. I have been very happy. He is right but people need to lean the hard way I bet you the guy who wrote this article probably uses Schiffs advise whenever is investing. I wish Schiff was wrong but he and his partners have been spot on.
And this is Marc Faber. Who ever the hell that is. Con artists.
LOL there is some serious astrofturf on this thread.
Hope they pay you well.
If you do not know who mark faber or Jim Rogers your are a dummy I have made money with them listening to them. I am not here to convince you.
So this is Peter Schiff stepping up to defend himself? Too much time on your hands these days.
A lot of people predicted the housing bubble and the crash of 2008. That was no big trick to brag about. After 8 years of republican policies of outsourcing jobs, unpaid tax cuts for the rich, unpaid wars kept out of the budget, deregulation of the banking industry and all other business, the stench of financial collapse was in the air. Taxi drivers were predicting it.
I didn’t even read the rest of your crap because you lied right off the bat. I’m sure it’s just as questionable.
Dude, I am not Peter Schiff. You can easily see my profile. I have not met him nor do I know him. I have just seen him on the news and heard his radio discussions. If you bother to look, you will see that dude, and about 3 others were the only people predicting the crash. He was being laughed at on every single news show he was on including Fox. He was their punching bag, so to say it was so obvious even taxi drivers knew is pure BS revisionism. Now read the rest and actually rebut something legitimately.
In other words, you haven’t looked very hard pre 2008. Let me guess: before Obama’s election, you weren’t paying attention to politics or the economy at all, like most of you childish faux-libertarians.
Yet of course, you’re the tyke who claims to value research. Oh, the irony.
Ever heard of the concept of self awareness, kiddo?
What’s your point? Peter Schiff is just as critical of the Republicans as he is the Democrats. His arguments are all on principle. I could care less who is President. I do not get wrapped up in personality cults like you guys seem to, worshiping at the altar of mass media.
you don’t need to try and convince these idiots. I these idiots
Wow you really are rather gullible. And clearly have issues with reading.
Go play patriot with Cliven Bundy, kiddo.
Be specific.
What Pete Schiff doesn’t mention, is that Great Britain is still a democracy…..and that people *vote*. Just as in the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, etc.
Really, about the only absolute monarchies I can think of are Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Bahrain, and the eastern Persian Gulf states, and they’re all terrible.
And funnily enough, he regularly launches fund scams in those absolute monarchies. Because he can find a prince or two to bribe, so he has no other business expenses. Schiff is the poster buy for the ‘fraud and corruption are positive aspects of freedom’ cult.
He has no business expenses? He has hundreds of employees and offices around the US, Canada, etc, so what fund scam are you referring to? His funds are public, and award wining. What belief does he hold that supports fraud? You are simply making straw man arguments with nothing to back them up.