Peter Schiff: Don’t Be Fooled by Inflation

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Peter Schiff: Don’t Be Fooled by Inflation

Buy Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse by Peter Schiff

Buy The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets: How to Keep Your Portfolio Up When the Market is Down by Peter Schiff

Strike up the band, boys, happy days are here again! Recently released short-term economic data, including unemployment claims, non-farm payrolls, home sales, and business spending, which had been so unambiguously horrific in February and March, are now just garden-variety awful. With the Wicked Witch of Depression now apparently crushed under the house of Obamanomics, the Munchkins of Wall Street have sounded the all clear, pushing the Dow Jones up 25% from its lows. But the premature conclusion of their Lollipop Guild economists, that the crash of 2008/2009 is now a fading memory, is just as delusional as their failure to see it coming in the first place.

Buy Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse by Peter Schiff

Buy The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets: How to Keep Your Portfolio Up When the Market is Down by Peter Schiff

Once again, the facts do not support the euphoria. Over the past few months, the government has literally blasted the economy with trillions of new dollars conjured from the ether. The fact that this “stimulus” has blown some air back into our deflating consumer-based bubble economy, and given a boost to an oversold stock market, is hardly evidence that the problems have been solved. It is simply an illusion, and not a very good one at that. By throwing money at the problem, all the government is creating is inflation. Although this can often look like growth, it is no more capable of creating wealth than a hall of mirrors is capable of creating people.

We are currently suffering from an overdose of past stimulus. A larger dose now will only worsen the condition. The Greenspan/Bush stimulus of 2001 prevented a much needed recession and bought us seven years of artificial growth. The multi-trillion dollar tab for that episode of federally-engineered economic bullet-dodging came due in 2008. The 2001 stimulus had kicked off a debt-fueled consumption binge that resulted in economic weakness, not strength. So now, even though the recent stimulus administered a much larger dose, we will likely experience a much smaller bounce. One can only speculate as to how much time this stimulus will buy and what it will cost when the bill arrives.

My guess is that, at most, the Bernanke/Obama stimulus will buy two years before the hangover sets in. However, since this dose is so massive, the comedown will be equally horrific. My fear is that when the drug wears off, we will reach for that monetary syringe one last time. At that point, the dosage may be lethal, and the economy will die of hyperinflation.

As always, the bulls fail to understand that investors can lose wealth even as nominal stock prices rise. As a corollary, the bearish case is not discredited by rising stock prices. While there are some bears that mistakenly cling to the idea that deflation will cause the dollar to rise, those of us in the inflation camp understand that the opposite will occur.

In the meantime, stocks are not rising because the long-term fundamentals of our economy are improving. If anything, the rise in global stock prices is due to investors realizing that cash is even riskier then stocks. The massive inflation that is the source of the stimulus is essentially punishment for those holding cash. To preserve purchasing power, investors must seek alternative stores of value, such as common stock.

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The Rest is Up to You…

Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com

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2 Comments on "Peter Schiff: Don’t Be Fooled by Inflation"

  1. The G Manifesto
    alphadominance
    12/05/2009 at 12:17 am Permalink

    Schiff is spot on. Inflation has been universally denied by those propping up the system, but is the only possible long term response to massive monetary expansion. We are like a driver hitting the gas when his car starts to sputter. You may accelerate for a while but ultimately the stop will only be that much more abrupt. Few places to hide but nonetheless our economy is still the biggest in the world. I remain optimistic for the very long term, 20 years plus. Cheap assets during my productive youth means stockpiling equity for the later years. As much as possible it’s going international over that time frame. Diversify globally to mitigate risk.

  2. The G Manifesto
    KrisBelucci
    01/06/2009 at 5:36 pm Permalink

    Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for posting. I’ll definitely be coming back to your site.

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