I just heard an economist I could agree with and it wasn't Krugman.

I just heard Peter Schiff on Morning Joe. Frankly, what the man says rights true about solutions now. Less spending, more saving and investment in goods, and let bad businesses fail. The recession as medicine for a sick economy. I hope President Obama speaks with him.

blah.

but what he said made sense.

is Hoovernomics

This is why you have to be careful listening who Morning Joe pushes out there

throw trillions at failed banks--doesn't mean that he's a "wacko libertarian."

Many people feel that it's a bad idea to try and dig out these failing institutions
that are swimming in toxic assets. It's like giving vitamin C to someone who has
stage four cancer.

Does that mean that you're a "wacko libertarian" if you don't want to throw a bunch
of money down a rat hole?

I'd rather the money be given to the American people. Help them pay their mortgages, their
health-care bills and their student loans. Inject that money directly into the wallets
of the American people--don't give it to these banks--who have defined EPIC FAIL!!

Shiff's not saying---don't fix the problems or don't spend any money. He just doesn't
believe that these large, failed banks need to have money thrown at them--because money
isn't the solution.

I happen to agree with him, and I'm sure as hell not a libertarian!

...and his expertise in economics and his ability to understand what would happen
with our economy--was nothing short of amazing.

I'm not familiar with his politics, and all of his policy views. I've only heard
him speaking out about our economy being a house of cards. He predicted everything
we're experiencing now, and he fought to get the message out.

The corporate media heard what he had to say and practically banned him!!

Peter Schiff stood up to Art Laffer--and didn't back down. Schiff was trying to help the
American people and get them to see the coming crash.

I like him. He's prescient when it comes to the economy.

nt

That throwing money at the problem, proping up failing banks and corportations is the way to go? Possiblly as much as $7 Trillion added to the deficit making it closer to $17 Trillion with out fixing the systemic problems with the economy is the way to go? Are you hoping that free money from the sky will reach you and you can continue the good times as you want?

Peter Schiff is right and you are wrong.

nt

Get a transcript of the show. You're right, I didn't take 5 pages to quote everything said. I believe that I conveyed the essence of what was said.

especially in a recession. Have we learned nothing from history

Just letting the business cycle run its course however it may is not a good idea from the standpoint of economics nor is it a humane idea. Deep recessions have social consequences beyond just simply joblessness.

The great virtue of liberalism is NOT being close minded and dogmatic ... you can read and hear someone like Peter Schiff and agree with his analysis and, yes, still be a Democrat. I thought it was only Repugs that required a goose-stepping obedience to the party line or the decrees of 'the leader'.

Here's an article Schiff wrote earlier this month that I think is correct: Obama Placing the Economic Cart Before the Horse.

Frankly, I think Obama is wrong on a host of economic issues ... I think David Korten in his new book "Agenda for a New Economy" has the best plan for creating a sustainable prosperity, not Obama's or Geithner's or AIG's.

However, if you believe the government has no role in the economy, you cannot possibly be one.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident..."

Though liberal democracy is an unusually scientific form of government, being predicated on reason, it has its dogmas.

The equality of man is not a testable concept. It is an assumption upon which our system is constructed.

watching. It detailed how we got in this situation and what it takes to get out. Try to catch it if it airs again.

That's economic nonsense! You want MORE, not less...

I guess some on DU don't like Schiff, but he has been spot on about the economy.

He knew this meltdown would happen in 2006 and he was sounding the alarm bells. He
tried to warn everyone about the coming economic collapse. No one would listen to him.

He predicted the housing crisis and he criticized all of the creative financing and
crazy loans--long before anyone talked about it. He also talked about our entire
economy being unsustainable--with the economy relying too much on consumer spending
and not producing enough.

Have you ever seen the video of him on CNBC--debating Art Laffer, one of the founders
of supply-side economics? Schiff went on CNBC and predicted PRECISELY what would happen
to our economy. Everything you see now...Schiff predicted. Laffer attacked Schiff and
mocked him. Schiff was never asked back on CNBC again.

Here's the link to the video---it's amazing that Schiff said these things in 2006! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU6PamCQ6zw

If you followed it- you'd have lost your ass.

Funny how soon people forget.

Not looking too good right now....;-)

...and not every stock pick he's made has been a money maker. I mean, what person who calls
stocks for a living---gets it right all of the time?

Has anyone bothered to investigate the calls that Art Laffer has made--as president of Laffer Investments? I bet he's
recommended some investments that haven't panned out.

After Schiff predicted this recession (in 2006!!!) the media began ripping him to shreds, in an attempt to discredit him.

The media pointed to some of his investment advice that didn't end up making money. Schiff is no different than any other
investment guru. He makes some good calls; he makes some bad calls. The problem is--the criminals who were orchestrating
this heist--needed silence. They didn't need someone like Schiff exposing the rot before they had completed the robbery.

Schiff was totally attacked for predicting what would happen to the economy--and talking in very specific terms--about where
America was headed. And he was spot on...like NO ONE else.

Some here may not like his politics or his policy. However, one cannot deny that he called it...he totally called everything
that we are seeing now.

Is it possible for people to distinguish between his politics and his knowledge and amazing predictions????

How much would you have lost listening to him with respect to currency exchange alone- not to mention mining and resource trusts- and equities in emerging markets.

Maybe not as much as some lost in bank stocks.

Don't spend in a recession/ near depression. Anyone remember Hoover?

Because exchange rates may well have overshot, resource stocks are cheap and demand for commodities will rise if and when the economy improves again.

Buy low (when here's blood in the streets) and sell high. I'm sure some few savvy folks managed to get out in time and make good money. Some few also got out from under Stanford and Madoff, too. But it's a hefty risk.

...when it comes to warning us about our current economic situation.

In 2006 he predicted the housing crisis. He said that appraisers had overvalued homes
and that this 'wealth' was a load of hot air. He said that our economy was based too
much on consumption, spending and borrowing and that this was unsustainable and that it
would soon collapse.

All of that happened. NO ONE else was saying these things in 2006. Schiff had such a
crystal clear view of the future...and all of it happened, right down to the details that
he laid out.

Art Laffer tried to suggest that our borrowing would fuel the economy. Schiff pointed out that
in the past, when we borrowed--it was to build things and make things. We borrow now, and there
is nothing to show for it--and this will lead to a huge economic crisis.

Schiff fore-casted the crisis we are now experiencing--better than any other human being on the planet. That's a fact.

After he went on CNBC and gave the dire warning--he was never allowed on again. Gee, I wonder why???

This propaganda about some of this bad calls---is part of a propaganda campaign against him to nullify
his spot-on analysis. The criminals in this country weren't finished robbing us, and they couldn't
have truth-teller like Schiff warning the peasants.

I'm surprised so many on DU have bought into the nonsense-attacks about Schiff--which are clearly
orchestrated hits by the corporate media who take their marching orders from the Wall Street criminals
who have taken down this country.

Fact: In 2006 Schiff called this massive recession--right down to the last damn detail. He understood
that we were spending and borrowing ourselves into an unsustainable bubble. He also knew that the housing
boom would crash--due to creative financing and housing values that were nothing but hot air.

No major economist or politician DARED to say these things in 2006. They either didn't have the intellect
to see what would happen, or the guts to say these words.

Schiff had both.

You can wag your finger at Schiff's inability to call correct on "currency exchange" all you want. Who the hell cares?

We're talking about Schiff's vast understanding of macroeconomics and his ability to understand how the economy works.
That's what the OP was praising. You can't simply nullify his macroeconomic expertise and understanding--by pointing
out some obscure call he made. He makes thousands of them a week!

I don't really listen to anyone who makes investment predictions--because it's all a game based on speculation. However,
I do appreciate sound economic advice and someone who has the ability to understand economics so succinctly--that he
predicts many, many economic events that will happen in the future. That's exactly what Schiff did and that's why I value him.

He had the courage to speak out when all of the Republicans wanted Schiff to shut up. Did you see how Art Laffer mocked
Schiff and tried to make a fool out of him? Laffer attacked Schiff on CNBC, because he knew Schiff was revealing the
criminal Ponzi scheme that the Republicans and the Wall Streeters had going with America's money.

and so did so many others because housing was out of control and eventually the bubble would burst. It sure made me uneasy to see everything go so high in the stock market. It wasn't going to stay there forever. Many others on this board said the same thing. The problem with Schiff is he is a LIBERTARIAN! He wants to let the market correct itself. Like they have done such a bang up job so far. Krugman is way more on then Schiff is. Hoover did not spend after the crash. He tried to balance the budget. Guess what? It got worse. Savings is good. We need to do more of it. Bad businesses need to be seized by the government and broken up and sold off. But Schiff wants us to do nothing. No stimulus for jobs, no investments in the future so the problems we have actually get solved. My problem with libertarians is they want to do one thing: nothing.

:rofl: Every one of us has that opinion.

are not considered to be as important in the macroeconomy as they are in the microeconomy of my own home. There is a role for them. And when I default on my debt, I suffer immediate and severe consequences. I think the man is right that some of these bad businesses must be allowed to tank. Invest in the ones which can contribute to rebuilding the nation.

I'm sure you have all the answers and know exactly how to solve the problems of the universe so I'll take your scorn with the appropriate humility.

the underlying theme in my post was that IF we agree with a pundit or talking head, they MUST be right. All of us hold tight to this principle. Its in our nature. If there was scorn there, it was self directed as much as anything. And, btw, I think Krugman is right because I agree with him. Its in our nature.

this might have worked in the 70s but you got a global economy now