Peter Schiff answers Reddit's questions (2 of 2)

also check me out on http://www.facebook.com/schiffreport and http://www.twitter.com/schiffreport

http://blog.reddit.com/2009/06/redditors-interviewing-economic-critic.html

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Peter Schiff
• Reddit
• Economics
• Economist
• Gold
• Dollar
• Euro
• Credit crunch
• Economic crash
• fraud

[captainkid1]

I very much liked what he said about the war on drugs. This guy is smart.

[Nielsio]

How are you going to prevent competitors to undercut you if you raise prices, in a free market? The only way you can do that is if you get special privileges through law or you use outright violence. In both cases, it's not a free market.

[chbrules]

@5:20 is where the gold starts

[pieaficionado]

@dkswede I got my degree from the University of Sheffield in 1995.There was never any mention of any Austrian economics. It's no wonder I found it so hard as none of it makes any sense.

[CytherLynx]

@dkswede seriously, everywhere. you are better off studying by yourself. see mises(dot)org

[CytherLynx]

3:18

LISTEN.

[dkswede]

@pieaficionado May I ask where you got it? Im doing my Ma in Political Economy in England and it's littered with Keynesianism and socialism. I constantly have to fight for my points and im pretty much known as "that guy" in my class. Just wondering if this is a trend all over the world or if it is mostly in Europe

[Atom299]

@stoneeh

Yes..however the point I'm trying to make is that there needs to be a clear distinction between the amount of regulations and the type of regulations.

i.e. The only regulations needed are those aimed at ensuring a level playing field for all participants e.g. Laws against fraud, artificial monopolies, exploitation of workers and the environment etc.

These laws must be strictly enforced on all players with no exceptions, with appropriate effective penalties imposed on all violators.

[stoneeh]

@Atom299 regulations must be either non-existent or very simple. everything else is just not free market anymore

theoretically, we have a free market in the US right now. it is just so overregulated, thus distorted, that it has nothing to do with free markets anymore

[Atom299]

@stoneeh

There's more to this monopoly issue than readily meets the eye. True free market economics must also be fair, just and ethical. Otherwise it's not truly free.

For example companies who use slave labor to undercut their competitors prices or those who pollute and don't clean up have an unfair market advantage.

I can only touch on this subject here but to ensure free and fair competition these areas must be strictly regulated. Something we don't have yet.

[studentofsmith]

@chbrules Inflation is usually caused when the government borrows into existence more money than is needed to keep pace with economic growth. While the ability of commercial banks to create loans in excess of deposits contributes to this process it is not the primary cause as they are limited by their reserve requirement. In fact increasing the reserve requirement to 100% would completely eliminate the inflationary effects of private banking.