Schiff was Right

          Our current economic woes are the early stages of a depression and while trillions in government stimulus money have temporarily delayed the coming collapse, the fall will soon resume with a vengeance.  That dismal prediction is the opinion of businessman, author and financial commentator, Peter Schiff. 

          In the midst of the 2008 meltdown, several commentators were saying that Schiff had predicted the housing bubble in his book Crash Proof.  I quickly bought the book and read it as I watched the value of my stock portfolio drop.  With rising trepidation, I read and moved my stocks into more defensive positions.   When I finished the last page, there was no doubt in my mind that Schiff had foreseen the problems that we are currently experiencing.  There is now an updated edition of the book titled Crash Proof 2.0.  Peter Schiff’s most recent book is How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes inspired by How an Economy Grows and Why It Doesn’t, published years ago by his father Irwin Schiff. 

          Years ago, I came to belief that the Austrian School of economic thought best predicts long-term economic trends.  The Austrian School is not popular today so, as I read Schiff’s book and learned more about the man I was pleased to discover that he is also an advocate of the Austrian School.  

          The first embedded video is an interview with Nick Gillespie of Reason.tv.  In it Schiff declares that the economic downturn we are in is only a mild preview and that “We have to cut $1.5 trillion out of this year's budget.”  He acknowledges that such cuts would be painful but, “not nearly as painful as it's going to be if we don't cut spending by that degree.” 

          The second embedded video is a compilation of interviews with Schiff before the crash.  During each interview, he accurately predicts the coming crisis and is either ignored or laughed at.  Even today he is often ignored, but the housing and stock markets have never recovered and I don’t believe our problems are behind us.  If you If excessive government spending, rising unemployment and big business bailouts worry you, but you don’t understand how it is all tied together, get to know the writing of Peter Schiff.