Peter Schiff 9/27/09 - CNN Your Money

[katiatomsk]

Ok, sacrifice is not a solution. You said you don't like free market, so which economic plan do you feel is better? Sacrifice is not an economic plan, it is a result of a plan. What plan are you proposing as a solution?

[EeeScape]

@katiatomsk

"Sacrifice is not an economic plan" Yes it is. Just because you can't quantify it using economic tools doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Sociological conditions within any society are greatly important to any economic plan. The problem now in the US is that the average worker doesn't want to admit it. Also, I never said I don't like the free market. I implied that it has limits.

[Tomta20012]

Ben Barber is stupid

[bellcord]

Anybody over the age of 12 should know that an unfettered Wall Street pumping toxic mortgage backed securities into the world's economy lead directly to the panic that lead to the global meltdown...No amount of phony baloney blame shifting from asshats like Petey Schiff or Rush or the Wall Street Journal is goin' change the facts...What happens when any 'Free Market' runs wild without any brakes starts getting fueled by human greed and finally runs the hell off the tracks ..."

[shortybla]

If I were Benjamin Barber and sat beside a man who was so right about the economy I'd just shut the F**k up and listen.

GO SCHIFF!

[tigerone1970]

Peter can't have it both ways.

Either 'the government is the problem and the market is the solution' and deregulation is a good thing. Or we got into trouble when the government withdrew and deregulated banking.

I would say it is painfully obvious that deregulation lead to disaster, which means that government is not the problem and unregulated markets are not the solution.

You can't stay a freetrader through this mess and keep your credibility.

And the Fed is NOT the government.

[XlancerTHEgreat1]

Could the Fed exist without the governments granting it the power to print money out of thin air?

It's not very hard to see that government set up or propt up monopolies are the cause of all of our problems. We pretty much just need to open our eyes.

[tigerone1970]

Well could anything exist without not the government but Congress putting it into law? No copyright protection (no Microsoft). No consumer or worker protections, no enforcement of laws or even contracts by the judiciary...

The key is that the Federal Reserve is privately owned by certain banks.

[XlancerTHEgreat1]

First I would ask you to think through the implications of what you said, could anything exist without Congress writing laws? Congress can write copyright laws all day, but they still have to hire private citizens to carry out their laws. Couldn't Microsoft hire those same citizens to do that same job?

Here's my question to you, could Congress/government exist without, We, the people? So who is more real, Microsoft who hires real people, or the government, We the people, created from nothing?

[MistaFrista]

I have this really controversial idea that will simply BLOW your mind away: how about none of the extremes are good? Complete deregulation bullshit will create chaos and too much regulation will artificially warp the markets and stiffle innovation/competition.

Politics and life aren't a black and white thing, there are always different shades of gray inbetween that are far more important

[tigerone1970]

Hi,

I'm not advocating for 'the other extreme'. I am saying that either the government is the problem or the government is necessary for functioning (transparant, uncorrupt) markets. I don't think the latter point is extreme (although I wouldn't care if it was - whatever works).

The thing about Peter Schiff is that he was absolutely right about the state of the economy, but his prescription is more of the same, and more extreme. Getting rid of the Fed, instead of making it transparant.

[gizmo2084]

I agree with what Peter says, mostly. Except when he says, "The Government..." over and over. He's running Senate in Connecticut. Last I checked that was THE GOVERNMENT!

Benjamin Barber is not an idiot like some of you stated. He even agreed with Peter on that the CEO pay packages were a outrage. Barber was a major critic in during the run-up to the Iraq war and can be seen in the documentary called, "Hijacking Catastrophe." Link below...

watch?v=SltOy_F6ZII

[derekowens]

Four or five topics in six minutes. No depth on any of them. Pretty shallow journalism. Pretty typical. At least Schiff continues to be a voice of reason.

[gizmo2084]

I agree derek,

This CNN interview(s) was a waste of time. It was done like a EPSN highlight. Not an in depth financial analysis.

[NSResponder]

Peter never said Obama was the problem, he's said that Obama is *part* of the problem. He's certainly laid plenty of blame at the feet of the Republicans, too.

-jcr

[0bodobod0]

Banks or Government

Wow, how wrong can you get.

[quietstormprod]

SCHIFF ROCKS!!!! .... this Benjamin guy is an IDIOT!!!!

[purplefetus3]

schiff is awesome, but the other guy benjamin whatever is really clueless.

[dogatron]

my god that guy was a fucking idiot...

[Thrice13]

Oh my god, this other guy is a complete buffoon! Challenging Peter, claiming the government represents us, and that they are out to help us. LMFAO!!!

[WOLFENCT]

Once again, Peter makes the "experts" look like fools!  Schiff 4 Senate 2010!!!

[geezerbut]

Another one of these "all hat and no cattle" Keynesian, central-planning, totalitarian, Thomas Friedmanish, policy-wonking lunatics.

Silly looking mofo too.

[christo930]

Why is it that the failure of government always leads to the expansion of gov? The leftist line is always the gov just doesn't have enough power. The gov is inevitably capture by interests that aren't for the people and we inevitably suffer. Look at just some of the wonderful ideas of gov:

War on drugs, wars in the middle east, federal reserve, social security, corn ethanol... and the list just goes on and on.

[glennd7962]

It's even worse. When this pseudo-intellectual fool equates government interests with individual interests, he belies his fundamental ignorance of liberty and the theories of rights that gives rise to it.

[ronpaulspanish]

The most dangerous person on earth is the arrogant intellectual who lacks the humility necessary to see that society needs no masters and cannot be planned from the top down. ~ Friedrich von Hayek

[NicosMind]

Brilliant quote, I love the Austrian school but havent read Hayek or Mises yet. Road to Serfdom may be my next purchase but i have plenty of other books from Mises in my library to read also. Ive just finished rereading Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson, revising some chapters from one more book before i read my next.

[ronpaulspanish]

Awesome! I read Economics in One Lesson too. Helps a lot using common sense to identify falacies... like Cash for Clunkers is totally like the broken window example from Hazzlitt. "The Great Idea" from him is awesome and fun! you should read that one also. Best of luck!

[NicosMind]

I cant find that on Mises. Found it on Amazon but not Mises :(

[ronpaulspanish]

It´s by Henry Hazzlitt, not Mises. Sure youll find it. ;)

[dogatron]

what an awesome quote

[xxxxulovemexxxx]

Peter is awesome. An example would be a parent putting out their lazy, misguided, and unmotivated child. Even though it is hard we must stop spending and start saving. It will be painful to many, (especially and hopefully public employees) but it needs to be done. We are China's lazy child. We need to stop getting the handouts and start taking responsibility for our mistakes.

[katiatomsk]

Shows Peter as a Free Market Economist and Shows Ben Barber as a Socialist, a supporter of Government control.

I will back Free Market because it backs Free Men.

[EeeScape]

@katiatomsk

there is no such thing as a free market. Because even as a temporary free market enables men to gain massive wealth, those that acquire this wealth over time end up rigging the system in order to protect what they've acquired against any other men that want the same chances they had.

So called free men hate the free market because when faced with the freedom to fail, they chose protection every time. This is what riches does to men's minds.

[katiatomsk]

@EeeScape Ok, so what is your proposed solution? Let us have a nice dialogue about the solution.

[EeeScape]

@katiatomsk

You want to hear something scary? The leaders don't know what to do about it. Reason: They know that there's not enough money/resources/labor to go around. So, this is why they setup the Fed, World Bank, IMF, and a FIAT currency running on an economy based on debt. It's why to "give" money to others without any sacrifice on their part. Lazy people drains a natation, but so do the rich that horde money and lend out debt (print money). Solution? Both groups have to sacrifice.

[katiatomsk]

@EeeScape "Free Market" is the buyer deciding what to buy and how much they are willing to pay for it. Unlike the controlled market that caused the housing failure. Gov't told banks to loan to whomever and backed it up. People borrowed WAY more for a home than they could really afford or the house was worth. But if Free Market had been in play, the price of homes would have been lower and only the right buyers would have bought. True supply and demand would have regulated the market, not gov’t.

[EeeScape]

@katiatomsk

If the free market was in play back in 1979 to 2008, you wouldn't have the boom and busts we've seen since then. What you would see is the same thing we see today. Stagnation or very slow growth that is regional. But no president will allow that since they always push for intervention. So, I'm fine with the way it is today as long as you are. But that means that there will be no more booms and we'll always be around 9-12% unemployment (sometimes a little better, some times worse).

[EeeScape]

@katiatomsk

What you have done is fall into "magic" of the free market ideology. Tell me what product you would sell if there was a true free market right now? Tell me, please. I'd love to hear it. You don't just say "free market" without an industry of production. So, what would you produce?

[wilsonspaulding]

Once again, Peter articulates the big picture while these other guys mush around in the mud. Once in awhile they'll get a piece of truth, but they put it in the wrong place and then go back to chasing their tails. Man, I hope Peter can get in there and do some good.

[EsotericThrone]

lol @ Barber's claim that the gov. represents our interests, and that the banks simply pretend to. Anyone who actually believes that is divorced from reality.

[Sentinel4truth]

When douchebag says the government is not some alien entity but is made up of our representatives, he doesn't understand that the Federal Reserve does not represent the US citizens in any way, but rather seeks to destroy our capital through perpetual inflation which it uses to fund the banksters and the war machine. Peter is correct in shining a light on the Fed as it is completely unconstitutional and we need to end it and get Constitutionally sound money back again.

[dx11101]

The Federal Reserve is the problem and Obama is the puppet.

[dx11101]

I saw a lot of what "The Government" can do at the G20 protest.

[mandatum1979]

Benjamin Barber is apparently clueless when it comes to economics and finance. He had no business in this discussion. He is a writer with a left/liberal orientation that was ossified in the 60s. His rhetoric is very general, and was trite when first uttered 40 years ago. Barber is a personification of a stereotype. He was worthless participant in a real debate about the economy.

[DaveIrie]

He really is, it's like he's not even from the same planet. The government is against the banks? Giving them 24 trillion in taxpayer money, that's being against them? What?

[mydantube]

Well said - a very precisely observed analysis.

[ukjw2]

"i aint heard that in a coons age"