By Isaac Arnsdorf
Peter Schiff lays an iPod-sized bar valued at about $40,000 on the sun room floor of his Connecticut mansion, and calculates it would cost about $250,000 for each floor tile to pave the room with gold.
He shows off $50 gold chips, to be used when paper money becomes worthless, a prediction repeated on his daily two-hour radio show broadcast from his basement studio to 68 stations in 30 states and 50,000 listeners online. The unabashed gold bug’s Euro Pacific Capital Inc. manages a $20 million mutual fund that invests in stocks related to the metal and lost 4.5 percent since it began in July. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold and Silver Index slid 2.9 percent in the same period.
Schiff, 50, isn’t fazed that gold is heading for its first annual price drop in 13 years, or that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has called it a “slam-dunk sell.” He predicts bullion will reverse its 21 percent year-to-date decline and probably surge 52 percent to reach a record $2,000 an ounce within a year. That’s just the beginning: Before President Barack Obama leaves office in 2017 the U.S. will default, the dollar will collapse, hyperinflation will strike and gold will skyrocket, he says.
“I’m waiting for the dollar crash, I’m waiting for the real crisis to hit that I know will benefit gold,” Schiff said Oct. 18 over lunch of spinach-and-beet salad and stewed rabbit in the sun room after the radio show. “The longer it takes, the longer I have to wait for that payday. But the longer it takes, the bigger that payday is going to be.”
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I understand what Peter sees, but in tough times, when cash is tight and people are trying to pay off debt, there's no guarantee the dollar will go down.
ReplyDeleteThe old discredited Schiff was right in 2006 meme appears in the article. No, Schiff was not right. He bet on a dollar collapse and it cost his investors millions. Well documented in the WSJ.
ReplyDeleteRight Forecast by Schiff, Wrong Plan? - WSJ.com
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123327685671031439
Peter Schiff predicted a collapse of the U.S. financial system, but he didn't foresee the bust-up that made mincemeat of investors who took his advice in 2008.
Do you have an account with Europac? I do and I'm up slightly over 100% in those 5-6 years. However that compares to other investment options over that time is up for scrutiny, but it's not mincemeat. It's silly to do analysis of anyones investment performance over a one year period. He has recommended gold for 10+ years. His investment advice is based on the gov/fed reaction to the crisis. To your point he has said the 08 crisis wasn't the crises he was talking about. The "real crash" is the money printing/dollar decline that will follow it.
DeleteOne of the factors that people fail to realize about Peter's sentiment is the temporal context of his views. Peter is speaking of investments. Investments proper. Long term savings. He consistently states this and I would estimate from various times hearing him that he's speak of 10+ years. This is how one should take his views. Right now short term is very risky and possibly rewarding as well, but, for those interested in investing they should heed Schiff's advise.
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