Peter Schiff on the Big Beautiful Bill

When Trump was first elected, there was an expectation that @elonmusk and @DOGE would help lead the nation off the unsustainable fiscal path our nation has been traversing for decades. But the Big, Beautiful Bill not only fails to change course but amounts to stepping on the gas.

~ Peter Schiff, tweet, May 25, 2025

Peter Schiff on bank failures: "the entire house of cards was directed by the Fed and U.S. government"

I warned for years that the banks will start collapsing for the precise reason that they're collapsing now: the Fed kept interest rates at zero for so long.  That's what allowed the institutions to load up on overpriced, low-yielding Treasuries, mortgage-backed securities and other loans.  Plus U.S. government auditors from the Fed, FDIC, they encouraged the banks to buy these long-term Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities because they gave favorable accounting treatment.  The banks didn't have to mark them to market as long as they could pretend they would hold them to maturity.  So the entire house of cards was directed by the Fed and the U.S. government, and now it's collapsing and they're acting like they have nothing to do with it and they're tying to figure out how to put out a fire that they lit.  And of course the problem is they're not putting out the fire, they're throwing gasoline on it.

~ Peter Schiff, interview with Fox Business, 4:05 mark, May 4, 2023

Peter Schiff on the Trump-Biden debate

When both candidates agree that government should spend more, borrow more, and print more, and neither understands the nature of the structural problems that will precipitate the coming crisis, there's nothing of substance to debate. The result is the spectacle we just witnessed.

~ Peter Schiff, tweet, September 29, 2020

Peter Schiff bullish on non-U.S. equities

I talk about gold because hardly anybody else does. I do believe gold should be owned but I don't think it should be owned exclusively.  I think people should have most of their money in equities. I just have a problem in the U.S. market because of the massive economic collapse I see in our future, and because our markets are overvalued.

~ Peter Schiff, "'Perma-bear' Schiff's funds have been on a roll," as appeared on CNBC, August 12, 2014

Peter Schiff on investing in Europe and in the euro

Europe certainly has its share of problems, but, unlike the United States, at least it lives within its diminished means. For all its socialism, at least the European Union enjoys a trade surplus and its people still manage to save. As a result the euro will likely be a principal beneficiary of the dollar's demise. That could give Europe a huge boost, helping to contain interest rates and consumer prices on the continent. As a result, the euro zone is definitely an area where we want to invest. Of course, we also want to invest money outside the euro zone, such as in Switzerland, the UK, and Scandinavia, which will also benefit from a strong Europe.

In the long run, the euro as a fiat currency may very well fail like the U.S. dollar. But being the largest nondollar currency issued by a major creditor, it appears certain to thrive in the short term.

~ Peter Schiff, Crash Proof, pp. 179-180

Peter Schiff in the coming boom in China and Asia

Once China allows the dollar to collapse, its domestic purchasing power will surge and its economy will quickly overtake the U.S. economy as the world’s largest. Free from the burden of subsidizing America, the rest of Asia will boom as well.

As it now stands, the United States is the beneficiary of a reverse Marshall Plan, which costs Asian economies a fortune to fund. When they pull the plug, the U.S. economy will go down the drain, and Asian economies will see explosive growth and prosperity. Asia is where the real fortunes will be made. That is why I suggest growth-oriented investments be targeted to Asia. Investing there now is like investing in America in the late nineteenth century.

~ Peter Schiff, Crash Proof, p. 179

Peter Schiff on the inflation vs. deflation debate (2007)

Among those rational enough to perceive the looming economic downturn, a heated debate has arisen that centers on whether the slowdown will be accompanied by inflation or deflation.

Those in the deflation camp believe that money supply will collapse as a natural consequence of the implosion of the biggest credit bubble in U.S. history. As loans go bad, assets, which collateralize these loans, will be sold at fire sale prices to satisfy creditors. It is also argued that a recession will reduce consumer discretionary spending, causing retailers to slash prices to move their bloated inventories. This is the way the situation played out in the 1930's and this is how many expect it to happen today.

However there are several key differences between then and now, which argue against the classic deflationary scenario. In particular, the Fed's ability to pump liquidity into the market in the 1930's was limited by the gold backing requirements on U.S. currency. No such limitations exist today. This distinction is critical. When credit was destroyed after the Crash of 1929, the Fed was not able to simply replace it out of thin air. Today however, the Fed will likely print as much money as necessary to prevent nominal prices from collapsing. In fact, in the infamous speech that spawned his "helicopter" sobriquet, Ben Bernanke explained how the printing press can be used to stop deflation dead in its tracks.

~ Peter Schiff, "Not Your Father's Deflation," Safe Haven, December 21, 2007

Ben Stein apologizes to Peter Schiff

Next, here’s a lesson I learned in a 12-step program and should have learned better: avoid contempt prior to investigation. When the financial stock meltdown started, I was on a television show with Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital, who warned that Merrill Lynch could be in very bad shape. I glibly said that I thought that its problems were limited and that the stock was a buy. Mr. Schiff was completely right and I was wrong. I had no idea that Mother Merrill, where I have been a happy stockholder for years, had been turned into a such a wild house of high-stakes gambling. I apologize to Mr. Schiff for my dismissal of his views, which turned out to be far superior to mine in this area. (I could do without his acolytes sending me endless hate mail, though.)

~ Ben Stein, "Lessons From the Pits of Travel and Investment," The New York Times, December 9, 2008

Peter Schiff on the bargains in Asian stocks

You have a fire sale going on around the world, especially in Asia. There are stocks that are at half the value they were 10 years ago.

~ Peter Schiff, who helps oversee $1 billion at Darien, Connecticut-based Euro Pacific Capital, "Japan Stock Futures Rise; Panasonic, Cnooc Gain in U.S. Trading," Bloomberg, October 29, 2008

Peter Schiff on the free market's ability to self-regulate and moral hazard created by government attempts to limit risk

The free markets regulate themselves. Everybody is greedy, right? But everybody is afraid of losing. There's always risk and there's a tradeoff. And in the free market the risk of loss always counter-balances the greed for profit, and they check each other. But what happens is the government enters into the equation and tries to remove the element of risk. They create a moral hazard, whether it's by Freddie and Fannie guaranteeing mortgages. And now loans are going to be made then in a free market wouldn't be made - because the borrower isn't creditworthy. But when the government steps in and guarantees the loan all the sudden there's no reason to worry about the risk of loss. And when the Federal Reserve makes borrowing money very inexpensive, borrowing is cheap, so the speculation on leverage is a lot cheaper. And so it encourages more of it. And so government's come in and they remove the barriers that would exist in a free market. And then there's all these problems that get created and now the government is about to blame the free market. They're able to say, "well, there wasn't enough regulation," which is nonsense!

~ Peter Schiff, podcast with Lew Rockwell, Nobember 20, 2008

Peter Schiff on short selling

It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but an investor of above-average sophistication might reasonably ask, "If the U.S. stock market is a train wreck waiting to happen, why not just sell it short?"…

Here’s why I would recommend against doing this.

Retail brokers normally require investors to hold any short-sale proceeds in U.S. dollars usually earning no interest. The dollar, seen through my famously jaundiced eye, could lose more purchasing power than the security you sold short lost value…

I’ve got a much better idea, which is to borrow dollars and spend them to acquire foreign income-producing assets, using the income to pay the interest. Short selling accomplishes the opposite, as you end up borrowing assets, which will probably have some intrinsic value, and acquiring dollars, which may have none.

~ Peter Schiff, Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse, pp. 112–113

Peter Schiff on competing with Asians

It has to do with government. You know, we used to kick their asses - when we had small government, sound money, and less intervention. The reason they're beating us is because we have more government than they do. We have a bigger obstacle to overcome.

~ Peter Schiff, Interview on The Glenn Beck Show, September 29, 2008

Peter Schiff on the decoupling theory

I think the solution - the world needs to recognise that America is not the engine of the global economy. We are the caboose. Anybody can consume. Little children can consume. The key is to produce. The key is to save, not to borrow. And if America stops consuming and stopped borrowing, that's not going to hurt the global economy, that's going to help the global economy. The rest of the world has been living beneath their means so we can live beyond ours.

~ Peter Schiff, "Schiff, Keen on dateline," News Kontent, September 12, 2008

Professor Steven Keen debating Peter Schiff about the decoupling theory

I wish Peter [Schiff] were right that the rest of the world had its act in order. The rest of the OECD doesn't. It isn't just America that been borrowing more money than it's been earning - the whole of the OECD bar one country, which has France, has been having an increase in ratio of its debt to GDP for the last 30 years. So we're all in the borrowing game. We've all made the mistake of confusing money generated by real production with money you can borrow from a bank. And that's kept on going for so long that it's reached the point now where that game is over. If you like, it's the old "greater fool" philosophy. You make money if you find a greater fool who borrows more money than you did to buy the same asset off you and you get away rich and they end up with even more.

~ Professor Steven Keen, "Schiff, Keen on dateline," News Kontent, September 12, 2008

Peter Schiff: "I'm not just doom and gloom"

I'm very negative on the U.S. economy. But I'm very optimistic on a lot of other economies. A lot of people tell me, 'Peter, this doesn't make any sense. How can you be so dire and gloomy on the U.S. and yet so positive on the rest of the world?' That shows you I'm not just gloom and doom. I recognize that contrary to popular opinion, the U.S. economy has been a drag on the global economy, and that when the rest of the world stops subsidizing us, growth abroad will actually improve as a result.

~ Peter Schiff, President, Euro Pacific Capital, "Gloom and Doom? Nah; Just for the U.S.," Barron's, June 30, 2008, by Lawrence C. Strauss

Peter Schiff on the need for limited government in the U.S.

My business works better here. I could try to run the business from overseas, say the Cayman Islands or Australia, but I have friends and family here. I'm optimistic.

I've supported political candidates in the U.S., including Ron Paul, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination this year. I'm not writing America off. But I'm trying to educate people so that they understand that when this economy does collapse, it is not because of capitalism but that it's because of too much government.

To really rebuild the economy, we are going to need cooperation from government and the government is going to have to get out of the way and make itself a much smaller burden on society, which means major reductions in government spending, taxes and regulations.

~ Peter Schiff, President, Euro Pacific Capital, "Gloom and Doom? Nah; Just for the U.S.," Barron's, June 30, 2008, by Lawrence C. Strauss

Peter Schiff on the coming decline of Wall Street

Most importantly, Wall Street's reputation, once its greatest asset, is also in jeopardy. Just as Detroit lost its reputation for high quality cars, bankrupted dotcoms and worthless subprime debt are creating similar problems for Wall Street. You can't expect to keep your customers if you continually sell them shoddy merchandise. Wall Street has spread hundreds of billions of dollars in losses around the world and in so doing shattered its reputation with some of its best customers.

However, in the last few years Wall Street has not only screwed customers but their own shareholders as well. At one time all of our major investment banks, such as Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, Smith Barney, Shearson, E.F. Hutton, Kidder Peabody and Solomon Brothers, were private partnerships. However, during the 1990's they all went public (of course many merged first so they no longer exist as independent firms). Goldman Sachs was the last to go public in 1999. The transition allowed Wall Street partners to cash out, transferring future risks to new shareholders. In so doing they were able to capitalize on bubble valuations, yet through lavish bonus compensation packages, still keep the lion's share of the profits for themselves. In other words they got to have their cake and eat it too.

As a result of this transfer of risks, the business models of America's leading financial institutions shifted, with profits coming from riskier sources such as proprietary trading and structured finance. To line their own pockets, Wall Street willingly exposed its shareholders to risks that it would never have assumed with its own capital. This moral hazard set the stage for the enormous losses shareholders are now suffering, and are a direct consequence of the phony profits booked in prior years. However, while shareholders are left holding the bag, Wall Street's former partners, now turned employees, have already walked away with huge IPO and stock option windfalls, as well as lavish bonuses paid on phantom profits.

~ Peter Schiff, "Another One Bites the Dust," Gold321 Ltd, January 25, 2008