Dave Ramsey and Peter Schiff are two men that I respect because they exist within a group of little known “truth tellers,” speaking out on the perils of personal debt and a troubled U.S. Economy. But there are two distinct differences in their perspectives concerning our U.S. Economy and monetary policy that I find puzzling. Scroll down to watch Schiff’s top interviews.
Also, listen to what Dave Ramsey said about Peter Schiff in January 2008.
In a recent radio show (early January 2008) Dave Ramsey was asked about the state of the American Economy. He joked and said that the media had predicted “36 out of the last 2 recessions”, implying the media was anxiously reporting any negative news in regards to the state of our Economy. Ramsey then went on to mention that GDP and Net Worth figures were steadily rising - and pointed to these facts as proof that talk of recession is nothing more than ‘fear mongering’.
Since Peter Schiff (whom accurately predicted the housing bubble meltdown) is currently predicting the outright collapse of the U.S. dollar and our Economy, I decided to purchase his latest book ‘Crash Proof - How to Profit from the Upcoming Economic Collapse’ to harvest Peter’s thoughts on this very subject - and he delivers.
The Net Worth argument
Peter wastes no time attacking the Net Worth argument (smacks it down in the preface) stating that booming optimism “relies heavily on the familiar but erroneous argument that declining savings rates are belied by high household net worth figures, which we know reflect inflated housing and paper asset values.”
In other words, Americans have record low amounts of Savings (lowest since 1933) - but that’s supposed to be alright because they bought a house three years ago, which has doubled in ‘market value’, so the acquired equity represents Net Worth. As we are currently witnessing, Net Worth based on home equity is dropping sharply. Likewise, paper asset values such as stocks and investments will also drop, because they are based on a maintained global market ‘faith based’ value of the U.S. Dollar. The Dollar is on the way down, along with any markets based on its value. Since most American’s ‘paper assets’ are based on investments backed in U.S. dollars, the Net Worth attached to these paper assets are likely to crash and burn.
How does Dave Ramsey not comprehend this?
The Gross Domestic Product argument
Moving on to the ‘GDP is growing - so the Economy is great’ argument. Peter invalidates this fantasy on page 2 of Chapter 1. The problem “is that most Americans, including most economists and investment advisers, have confused conspicuous consumption with legitimate wealth creation. Our impressive gross domestic product (GDP) growth, dominated as it is by consumption, is not a measure of how much wealth we have created but of how much we have destroyed.”
Our inspiring GDP is based on borrowing and consumption (bad), not savings and production (good). It sounds wonderful to be able to say that life is good because people are spending money. But when you analyze just beneath the surface there is a horrifying catalyst: The Savings of American Citizens are gone, personal and national debt is at an all time high, and the money was used to purchase garbage.
If this is how you measure success - count me out.
Gold investments and the Gold Standard
In regards to monetary policy Dave Ramsey is not a promoter of Gold. Although Dave doesn’t mention hard money or a Gold Standard, he does degrade the precious metal as a poor investment. In Dave’s latest book ‘The Total Money Makeover’ he had this to say about Gold: “The truth is that gold is a lousy investment with a long track record of mediocrity. The average rates of return tracked as far back as Napoleon are around 2 percent gain per year. In recent history, gold has a fifty-year track record of around 4.4 percent, about the same as inflation and just above savings accounts………..It is important to remember that gold is not used when economies fail. History shows that when an economy completely collapses, the first thing that appears is a black-market barter system…” (pg. 55).
Although I don’t doubt that Ramsey’s facts are accurate, his assessment of Gold is backed by his above mentioned confidence in the U.S. Economy. If the value of our U.S. Dollar were to crash - Gold would remain a viable investment (protecting an individual’s wealth by maintaining value on the global market).
This is where Peter and Dave’s philosophies differ.
If Peter Schiff turns out to be correct about a Dollar meltdown - Dave’s investment strategies would fail (they’re based largely on Wall Street Economics). Peter’s attraction with Gold is reinforced by his admiration of the American Economy and Government when our currency was on a Gold Standard. The Gold Standard restricts the creation of credit and helps to keep Government Spending under control. Peter understands this and believes that the next dominating ‘reserve currency’ will be backed by the luscious Gold.
Dave Ramsey is on the right track regarding most of what he says. He encourages all Americans to get 100% out of debt immediately. Ramsey accurately explains that obligations to debt prevent wealth building.
However, after retreating from the debt trap I highly recommend adopting Peter Schiff’s investment strategies (based on foreign markets and precious metals). I know it’s difficult but let’s try and look beyond Wall Street, or as Peter would say “Nations are not served by citizens who refuse to face the truth. Blind optimism, shrouded typically in patriotism, abounds and is going to lead us to disaster.”
Peter Schiff VS The Empire (Compilation)
Peter Schiff on CNBC 11-20-2008
Peter Schiff on ‘The Gold Market’
Peter Schiff June 26 2008 Fox Business News - Cavuto
Peter Schiff on the Glenn Beck Show - THE BAILOUT
Wiki Facts
David L. Ramsey III (b. September 3, 1960) is an American financial writer, radio and television host.
His syndicated radio program, The Dave Ramsey Show, is promoted with a tagline that it is about “Life and Money,” and is heard on over 300 radio stations throughout the United States and Canada, and also on XM and Sirius satellite radio. He has written over 14 books, three of which have been on the New York Times Best Seller list. His books and broadcasts often feature a Christian perspective that reflects Ramsey’s own religious beliefs.
Ramsey’s current company, The Lampo Group, is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, and oversees three divisions geared toward financial counseling.
He has been featured on many media outlets including The Oprah Winfrey Show, 60 Minutes, and The Early Show on CBS. He has also recorded a pilot and six episodes of a reality show named The Dave Ramsey Project. He is the host of The Dave Ramsey Show at 8pm ET and repeated at 12am weekdays on the new Fox Business Network.
Peter Schiff is the president of Euro Pacific Capital Inc., a brokerage firm based in Darien, Connecticut. Schiff frequently appears as a guest on CNBC, Fox News, and Bloomberg Television and is often quoted in major financial publications. He is known for his extremely bearish views on the United States stock market, bond market, the US dollar, and the United States economy in general for which he has earned the nickname “Dr. Doom.” His father is tax protester Irwin Schiff.
Schiff wrote a book called “Crash Proof” (2007) and also hosts a live internet radio show called “Wall Street Unspun.”
Peter Schiff on subprime homes and lending standards
Irwin Schiff is the father of Peter and Andrew Schiff. Born in 1928, Irwin is a prominent member of the United States group which refers to itself as the tax honesty movement, and which has been referred to by the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies as the tax protester movement. Schiff is known for writing and promoting literature that claims the United States income tax is applied incorrectly. He has lost several civil cases against the federal government and has a record of multiple convictions for various federal tax crimes.
Schiff is serving a 13-plus year sentence for tax crimes at the Federal Correction Institution at Terre Haute, Indiana. His projected release date is 7 October 2016. Irwin Schiff is also the father of stockbroker Peter Schiff, who is credited as a co-author of Irwin Schiff’s 1985 book, “The Great Income Tax Hoax: Why You Can Immediately Stop Paying This Illegally Enforced Tax“.
The following video is an interview with Irwin Schiff on Hannity and Colmes. It’s amazing how even Hannity, Mr. Liberty and limited government himself, berates Irwin for not paying his fair share. It never ceases to amaze me how even the most honorable of talk show hosts will manipulatively shake down a great man in order to foster America’s path to ruination and marxism to protect their own career. These talk show hosts are not the GREAT AMERICANS they claim to be. Great Americans are the ones who stand up for truth, even when it puts their lives and wealth in harms way.
The same Sean Hannity who takes up for Big Government (in the above video) is the same Sean Hannity who recently released his Top 10 Items for GOP Victory in November. Hannity had this to say:
3) The Candidate Pledges to support Tax CUTS, and fiscal responsibility:
a) The American people are NOT under taxed, Government Spends too much
b) The Candidate who Pledges to ELIMINATE and VOTE AGAINST ALL Earmarks
c) The Candidate pledges to BALANCE the budgetThat Government’s do not have the ability to solve all of our problems, and to take away all of our fears and concerns. We need their pledge that we will be the candidate that promotes Individual liberty, Capitalism, a strong national defense and will support policies that encourage such…
It is our fundamental belief that limited Government, and Greater individual responsibility will insure the continued prosperity and success for future generations.
We the people who believe in the words of Ronald Reagan, that we are “the best last hope for man on this earth,” “a shining city on a hill,” and that our best days are before us if our Government will simply trust the American people.
Well, there are those in life who do, and then there are those who talk…..
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Hey Lawrence,
interesting points bout dave’s bankruptcy. The good thing about dave ramsey is that he is correct about what he says in regards to debt. Hell he’s inspiring because no one - and I mean no one on the main stream says what he says. He’s really in the face of the federal reserve and wall street in a way because he preaches abstaining from debt. This is truly what america needs…
bb
Here is where I think the problematic semantics of the conversation occur: The discussion of whether “Gold” is an “investment,” or not. I don’t think that’s what Schiff is suggesting…Gold is a “currency.” The psychological value of gold is, for the most part, constant. The supply is pretty consistent. It’s the PERFECT currency. It’s completely immune to political pressure.
A fed cannot magically make gold out of thin air. “Gold” has objective existence, while Fiat currency does not. Gold, also, is relatively safe from being “used up,” like commodities such as “oil” or “wheat”.
The industrial uses for gold have increased, so THAT throws a minor twist into the above statements. In my opinion, it’s not enough to invalidate the above statements.
Peter Schiff is talking about using gold as a hedge against the inflating fiat dollar. Ramsey discusses investments.
The above quote by Dave Ramsey, which states that it’s about the same as “inflation” makes perfect sense, when viewed in this light.
They’re talking about completely different issues. They are both right. Apples and oranges. Gold is NOT an investment. It’s an escape from bad currency.
>/<
hey Robert,
Good points!! I guess coincidentally gold has been viewed as an investment in the last few years due it’s sharp increase in value.. Perhaps what began as a hedge began to be viewed as an ‘investment’ - anyway I think your comments are spot on, thanks for sharing…
barry
I’ve been wrapped up with Hurricane disaster work but have still managed to stay tuned via radio to the latest government induced banking crisis. The blame for this one, once again, seems to be in the hands of the socialist driven liberals and their perversion of the banking industry. And of course the Federal Reserve should be destroyed for fostering slavery but that’s another post. Here’s how I got there….
Ron Paul’s final word on the bailout - CNN article..
Wayne Barrets article “Andrew Cuomo and Fannie and Freddie: How the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history gave birth to the mortgage crisis”
Wikipedia info on the Community Reinvestment Act (another liberal ‘feel good’ program).
I thought this video was decent but too flattering of the GOP (they never seem to complain about corrupt banking if it’s fueling the economy while they’re in office)..
I also enjoyed this speech on the House floor by Ohio Congress woman Marcy Kaptur.
Just say “NO” to the bailout.
A caller to Glenn Beck’s show took the words right out of my mouth “I’d rather go through another Great Depression and preserve liberty and freedom for my children - than to give in to anymore socialism or regulation of what should be (but isn’t) a ‘Free Market’….
So, for all of you who insisted that there are no economic woes, what say you now? All roads lead to our lack of production, exporting the dollar, and love of debt.
I too am a huge fan of Dave Ramsey, but he drives me insane with his contradictions. By following his advice I myself have gotten out of debt and put myself in a much better position to weather storms. So I really am thankful for his wisdom with personal finance, but I don’t think it extends to economics or politics.
He rants endlessly about the federal government getting involved in too many aspects of our financial lives, enacting regulations which hurt business… but then he lobbys for regulation on credit card companies on college campuses, saying the government should step in.
I called him on his contradictions once, and he read it on-air… only to laugh at me. He started off his show ridiculing a reporter who said that people who get free seats at college sports games due to contributions equates to the government subsidizing the purchase of those tickets, since there’s a tax deduction. He said that anyone who thinks a tax deduction equates to the government paying for part of something is stupid.
Now I agree with that statement…. and later on I hear him take an e-mail on HSAs. He then makes the statement that HSAs make sense because of the tax situation… since it’s pre-tax money, if you were in a 30% marginal bracket, a $1000 contribution would only have been worth $700 otherwise, so the government was paying for the other $300. I couldn’t believe my ears, especially given his previous rant.
He reacted like many intelligent people with egos do… get pissed and instead of correcting his statement or admitting he misspoke… he attacked. I gotta say that really brought his reputation down a notch for me. I’m arrogant and egotistical, but I’ve learned the value in admitting defeat.
Yea. I like Dave too and think he has a good message. As a Christian I appreciate his intentions, but sometimes he is very anti Christ in his elitist comments coupled with an inability to take accountability for his mistakes. But that is all part of the journey we go through in our growth. Dave has probably stagnated in life, but I can tell he means well and lives a life like no other. “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.” -JC
As always, “Dr. Doom” (Peter Schiff) looks more and more like a sane, reasonable soul to listen to vs. those who think the market always goes up up up. We are watching the greatest decline of the market in history and the dollar is about to go bye bye. Because of limited resources, I haven’t been able to take advantage of Schiff’s advice, but I do appreciate a truth teller giving a clear heads up about what was going to happen. The only thing he’s no “wrong” about is the inflation of commodity prices (because of the drop in global demand), but as soon as this deflationary period ends and we hit hyperinflation, his predictions regarding commodity prices will fall back in line with reality.
I have to say that Peter Schiff is one of the smartest men in the financial world and has a common and realistic approach in analyzing our current economic conditions. I appreciate his honesty, bluntness and his grit. I truly admire you Peter and believe what you say is to help Americans wake up from the government’s Matrix. I am with you Peter and I am taking the “red pill”. I want to know the truth and how deep the debt hole really is in our beloved nation. God bless you and your Dad too as he raised fine upstanding men that speak the truth.
Well, he’s not wrong if you hold and if you had listened long enough to hold gold when he said to , you wouldnt care if your stock porfolio went up or down in the short run. Wah. Buy gold and sit tight. All you can do is preserve your money at this point. It’s the same every where.
Dear Sabrina
How very blond of you darling
Such incisive analysis and tough love advice > Wellesley?
Jack,
The losses are global in case you have not heard. Your losses would be just as much if you had stocks here in the US. You seem to have a lot of negativity towards Peter Schiff but have not posted any of your own solutions on a better solution for investment. Peter Schiff is spot on in his past advice and predictions. My account in down at EUROPAC is down as well. Gold has been a great investment from the time I bought it 3 years ago and it seems to be an excellent price and safety net now.
It seems to me that you use this blog to post pompous repsonses to people who do not agree with you. Your last name wouldn’t happen to be a@# would it?
In the most parts of the UK the house prices have dropped almost 15% on average since their peak last year. Some economists predicted this crash back in 2005 and are expecting a further 20% drop. The sale and rent back market has been growing at phenomenal rate due to the rising number of homeowners struggling with their mortgages.
Alan,
You must have watched only one of the television debate excerpts. Peter Schiff comes across as the least vituperative of the debaters, and he has an enviable track record of prescience regarding the American economy.
Barry makes a cogent point about Dave Ramsey, who has made a fortune selling grandma’s common sense about debt — and packaging it in Jesus’ name.
As a Christian, I’m discouraged at the ascendancy of this tax industry salesman; Ramsey’s advice renders the average Taxpayer a net negative, compared with the advice of a more honest, tough counselor like Dave Champion (Dave Champion Radio Show, on the internet).
Like Rush Limbaugh, I believe the political and financial establishment just buy people like Dave Ramsey, giving them mainstream publishing and media deals as long as they peddle the conventional wisdom that put America in the hole we’re in now.
Dave Champion digs all the way down the rabbit hole, where Dave Ramsey dares not go. Like Limbaugh, Hannity, et al, mainstream voices like Dave Ramsey are laughable now. A mere shill for the status quo: “Hey! Pay the government $1,000 and I’ll show you how you can save $9.95!!”
America’s public and private sectors are deeply, widely corrupt as is the case in every other nation on earth. Violating the law is a daily practice in Washington and at City Hall.
As a result of citizen ignorance about currency, the Constitution, and the corrupt Congress, the U.S. dollar is on its last legs…and many Americans are, too.
Still, I’m optimistic for any family that exhibits equal parts of honesty, courage, and diligence (Dave Ramsey is missing the first two). There are REAL solutions right now, for those who perform their due diligence in tax history and tax law.
You can’t put multi-trillion-dollar bailouts into perspective until you learn a bit of history and economics. Sorry.
Besides, it isn’t rocket science (as I illustrate on my Tax Honesty blog http://www.americanglasnost.blogspot.com) so other than your own lethargy, there’s no reason for any literate American to let the corrupt politicians pull you from pillar to post by your nose-ring!
Among the estimated 67 million non-filers are many followers of Irwin Schiff (Peter Schiff’s father). While he has become expert in law over the years, I believe the elder Schiff has shown a lack of tactical wisdom.
For instance: say I’m on a jury in an income tax case. Am I going to acquit a defendant who filed tax returns with all zeroes on them, but then signs as “Taxpayer”…a legal term defined in the Tax Code as one who is made liable for a tax in the Code? Doubtful. I think most jurors won’t acquit an Irwin Schiff “zero filer”. If you file, there is a presumption that you are legally required to file.
Buy a $100 single-volume (like Thomson/RIA) copy of the Tax Code; it’s all in English. It’s the law, and what your CPA tells you…or your tax preparer tells you…or Dave Ramsey tells you…is NOT the law. After you buy a copy of the Code, highlight the mere (124) lines in it that you find at “The Tax Code for All” website:
http://www.taxcodeforall.blogspot.com
Dave Ramsey would scream at me; I haven’t filed for eleven years. I don’t buy Dave Ramsey’s books, programs, or seminars — yet I’m out of debt. I don’t need Dave Ramsey to tell me the obvious or to steer me through tax industry smoke-and-mirrors. I just don’t take on debt, period.
I’m a law-abiding Nontaxpayer; I can find nothing in the Tax Code establishing a legal duty to keep records, file forms, or pay demands of the IRS…so I don’t. It’s simple.
I do correspond with them IMMEDIATELY by certified mail whenever they send a wishful invoice or terrorist threat in the mail. And — gasp!! — they haven’t harmed me in the least, or taken one dollar from me. Other than sending dozens of hopeful invoices and filing a legally meaningless “NOTICE of Federal Tax Lien” in my county’s records, they have done nothing to me.
That NOTICE of a lien happens to meet the test in Texas law for FRAUDULENT lien filings. I made that clear to my district judge when IRS filed it; I filed an accompanying affidavit and the IRS has never been able to do anything more.
Terrorists are clever, but they also know when to move on to easier prey. Dave Ramsey won’t tell you that, of course. I’ll bet Peter Schiff will.
Tens of millions of us are far beyond Dave Ramsey’s silly nostrums about saving pennies while paying thousands to the state-sponsored terrorists. “Financial Peace”, my eye!
We tens of millions of law-abiding Nontaxpayers and non-filers are just OUT of this bailout mess. We don’t give a frog’s quivering thigh about “waste and pork” because we no longer underwrite it! Bailouts? Fine, be an idiot, Taxpayer. Pay for whatever corruption and foolishness you like; and by all means, follow Dave Ramsey’s advice about how to treat the 60% they MIGHT let you keep, if you even keep your job.
As for us, we’ll take the Constitution, and the Tax Code as written. As for us, April 15th is just another day on the calendar. Many of us own a copy of the Tax Code. We OBEY it, and we make our employees obey it, too!!
Not only are we Nontaxpayers financially embargoing the DC al-Qaeda (fighting government corruption; ASSURING smaller government by directly de-funding it)…some of us are also supporting the AMERICA AGAIN! project in our town next Independence Day.
This project can establish local American self-government in a very short period of time by breaking the never-ending “us versus them” war down into 535 local battles.
http://www.america-again.blogspot.com
Peter Schiff is right about the economic realities; Dave Ramsey is not. But this matters much less than becoming a law-abiding Nontaxpayer, and bringing our U.S. congressmen and senators home to face multi-count criminal indictments unless they start obeying the law NOW!
Perhaps for a few American communities, history is going to be made next Independence Day; institutional corruption like the Federal Reserve counterfeiting scheme, the fractional reserve banking scheme, and the IRS check-skimming scheme would be opened up for the world to see!
But even if the America Again! project never materialises, the whole “pork” and bailout fiasco is immaterial to my family, and to millions of others who no longer underwrite corruption.
For millions of families, the economic outlook has never been better. So while Peter Schiff is right, the glass is half FULL, not half empty. Such a realisation will be increasingly important in the lean years ahead, after Dave Ramsey has pocketed his millions and his books no longer sell.
When my husband and I talked to our “financial adviser” at EuroPacific, about why he chose these particular stocks, he said, “Only Peter Schiff decides where to invest funds. Basically everyone who invests, gets the same ones”.
Mr. Schiff seems to be good at forecast our economic future but he obviously knows nothing about equities. NONE of our stocks at AmeriTrade (no financial advisor involved) have come close to these kinds of losses!
More from Paco Ahlgren on the Treasury bubble, gold, oil, and the failing dollar.
http://experienceiseverything.blogspot.com/2009/01/treasury-bubble-update-1709.html
I agree with Bruno, “Beware of anyone who uses religion to get their hands into your wallet. Schiff makes his case and sells his services and makes no bones about it.”
As I said below, Dave Ramsey’s “get out of debt” advice is common sense; the kind of thing your granny told you but you didn’t listen. Neither did Dave Ramsey, so he went bankrupt and failed at business until he learned how to fleece broke people in the name of Jesus.
As a law-abiding Nontaxpayer who has no debt (not even a mortgage) without having to be ‘taught’ by Dave Ramsey, I also avoid the snake-oil “tax deduction” blather he throws around. As a Christian, it’s just embarrassing to see how easy it is for these folks to make $30 or $300 off of people already in debt, just to tell them things they would have learned for free just by listening to their parents or grandparents.
Here, I’ll challenge Dave Ramsey to an ROI contest. Take my advice and perform the FREE due diligence found on my Tax Honesty websites. All of it is law and rulings, available online at zero cost. See how much you save, as compared with Ramsey’s hokey tax-deferred investments and $50 packages, over a 24 month period…not even including the time and terror you get to start setting aside,
http://www.americanglasnost.blogspot.com
http://www.taxcodeforall.blogspot.com
Peter says gold is a good buy and has tripled in the last 7-8 years. My belief is once a little bit of sanity comes in the markets gold should go down. Everything that goes up…..comes down… that happened to US houses and stocks world over.
Gold does not produce anything. It is a hedging tool…..If people loose trust in everything…gold prices go up…that is the same reason why gold is shooting up and a few speculators have heavily moved in. I think this crisis will continue for a while….but the world will not let the dollar go out as those countries will have to write down their all savings.. It will be a painful time though and the recovery will be slow and fragile….but everywhere not only in the US.
“lethal Says:
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Time will tell.”
Indeed it has. Do we all understand now?
“…the world will not let the dollar go out as those countries will have to write down their all savings.”
I’m afraid those countries have no ’say’ in the matter. There is, in fact, a limit to the amount of debt we can float. After we pass that point, the whole thing comes down, whether they want it to or not.
I deeply respect DR, but I have a growing feeling that he is wrong on this one. From what I can tell, his most sophisticated arguments against gold have holes in them.
Schiff’s clients lost their shirt and he’s been wrong about many of his predictions. See this synopsis:
http://erictyson.live.subhub.com/articles/20090213
Peter Schiff’s response:
http://debtprison.net/wordpress/295/peter-schiff-responds-to-his-critics/
In response to Kevin & Tushar above.
First to Kevin. Almost everyone lost money in equities last year. Even the beloved Oracle of Omaha, aka Warren Buffet’s gem of a company, Berkshire Hathaway, lost money. He was DOWN almost 32 % for year end 2008. I don’t hear you or the collective morons at CNBC now bashing Mr. Buffet, as a terrible financial advisor ! Everybody has had investments that go sour, including myself. It’s part of the risk you assume when first make the decision. That’s life; get over it.
As for Tushar, you are in dire need of a formal eductation in economics. Sorry my friend, but Gold has INTRINSIC value ! You said is does not produce anything ?
If it’s just a hedging tool, ( as you claim ), why do rich folks and central banks all over the world even bother with it ? According to you, they are fools. Really ? I guess that’s why the US government still maintains a large stockpile of it. I guess that’s also why many foreign governments still maintain a LARGE quantity of it, in vaults at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
It has INTRINSIC value, as a rare commodity. Gold has hundreds of industrial uses in manufacturing. It transfers electricity with less resistance than any other metal on the planet ! The folks who make very high tech electronics & computer components use GOLD wiring instead of copper for their circuitry. Gold is also very corrosion resistant. It’s not used as often as companies would like to, because it’s SO EXPENSIVE !
Gold has brought value to civilizations over the last 4,000 years !AND, because of the fact that it’s extremely rare, Gold has ALWAYS been used as a storage of wealth. When people began to accumulate large fortunes, they often exchanged their wealth for Gold & had it stored in vaults with Goldsmiths. They were then given a ” paper receipt ” for the deposit. Over time, other folks simply began exchanging the paper receipts themselves, instead of taking possession each & everytime people engaged in commerce. Thats how paper money came into existence !
According to the great financial advisor Tushar, we should all keep chasing paper profits, in over - priced equities. That’s where the REAL wealth is made. Really Tushar ? So why didn’t the ” smart folks ” convert all their gold, into Dot.Com stock certificates, back in the 1990s ? Wait, maybe they were wise enough to see that fraud, as a financial bubble, since it came crashing down with a loud thud several years ago.
The same holds true for the recent Sub-Prime mortgages & Credit Default Swaps, that Wall-Street has been pimping over the past few years. That’s real wealth Tushar ? I think not.
That bubble just got exposed as another ” paper-trading fraud ” as well ! Therefore Tushar, the next time, think twice before you expose your ignorance, regarding the basic principles of economics.
The call that started it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S98_eMax9xo
Dave Ramsey mocking and insulting Irwin and Peter Schiff.
Nice collection of videos. I think Schiff comes off best in his media appearances than he does in other formats, especially compared to his latest book. I have nothing against Schiff and I often agree with his investment opinions but I have a few problems with the way he argues at times. In his book he mentions how great his currency picks have performed (at the time) against the dollar in the prior 12 months. Since then, the dollar has trumped all of the currencies he mentioned. When pressed about it during media appearances he claims that (1) 12 months is too short of a time frame and (2) they are all fiat currencies so it doesn’t matter. That is dishonest dialogue.
For my full review of Schiff’s book please go to http://soyouthinkyoucaninvest.blogspot.com/2009/04/peter-schiff-little-book-of-bull-moves.html