James Gandolfini and Ben Bernanke

James Gandolfini, the actor who played mobster Tony Soparno in the HBO series, The Sopranos is dead. He was 51.He died, in Italy, of a heart attack. His death did not come as a shock to me.

Although I had no idea what his weight was, or his blood pressure, or what a CT scan of his heart looked like (Assuming I could even read a CT scan), it was clear that Gandolfini was very overweight and that he was likely clogging up his arteries, making him very susceptible to a heart attack.

If I had told a friend a year ago (or five years ago) that Gandolfini would likely suffer a heart attack, given what I observed. My friend would have been able to call me day after day after day and report to me that Gandolfini was alive and imply that I did not know what I was talking about. Earlier this week, my friend could have called and said, "Hey, your man Gandolfini, who was supposed to have a heart attack is in Italy enjoying himself."

Sadly that can't be done anymore. Nature has caught up to James Gandolfini and his poor eating habits.

There' s something similar going on with the economy. Ben Bernanke is stuffing the system with money. It is very dangerous. Much of the money ($1.9 trillion of it) is ending up back at the Federal Reserve as excess reserves. This money could come flying into the economy at anytime and cause massive price inflation. Bernanke and the Fed could try and combat the flow of money into the economy by draining funds, but that would result in a massive increase in interest rates. No matter how you look at it, the system is clogged with fiat money. It will ultimately result in a financial heart attack, that is, super price inflation, very high interest rates or possibly both. Peter Schiff understands this and has repeated the warning. He understands the economic arteries are getting clogged up, but mainstream  financial broadcasters don't want to focus on the arteries. They are like my theoretical friend, who simply pointed out the days that Gandolfini was alive, without understanding what was going on beneath the surface.

Here's CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo saying the same thing to Peter Schiff about the economy. Schiff is warning her about the crisis that is coming but instead of trying to understand his argument, at the 5:09 mark, she says, "Peter haven't you been saying this for years?"  Yes, he has and the financial arteries are getting more and more clogged up because of Ben Bernanke.

Just because Gandolfini didn't die a year ago, a month ago or a week ago, doesn't t mean his arteries weren't getting more and more clogged throughout that period. Bernanke is doing something similar with the economy. Bratiromo's challenge to Schiff that he has been warning about the economy for years, isn't a strong argument against Schiff. Schiff understands what is going on under the surface, he may not be able to tell you the exact day that panic will hit, just as I couldn't tell you in advance what day Gandolfini would have his heart attack. But Schiff knows that what Bernanke is doing to the economy can't last, the financial heart attack caused by Bernanke's reckless policies is coming.