Interview with Peter Schiff
Amid an inflationary depression in the U.S., Peter Schiff, president and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital, sees opportunities in the maelstrom. Facing a massive redistribution of wealth, he advises investors to act quickly and divest U.S. dollar assets into physical precious metals, other currencies and equities outside the United States. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, the widely-quoted expert on money, economic theory and international investing discusses what led up to our current phony economy and how investors can actually profit from the crisis.
The Gold Report: Peter, you were one of few people to predict financial crisis that the U.S. and the world is now in the midst of. At a recent conference, you called the conditions that we’re facing an inflationary depression. Can you describe what you mean by that?
Peter Schiff: Well, basically, that is the condition that the government is creating here in the United States, and an inflationary depression is going to be a protracted period of economic decline accompanied by rapid increases in consumer prices. So, it’s going to be something like the stagflation of the 1970s, only much more stagnation, or outright contraction of the economy, with the cost of living increasing even more rapidly than it did then.
TGR: As we look at some of the things that Obama’s trying to put into place, is there anything the government could do now to avoid this?
PS: There’s nothing the government can do to avoid some serious short-term pain. The country is in a lot of trouble because of all of the monetary mismanagement of the past, the reckless government spending and the money creation that led to the phony economy.
Peter Schiff is president of Euro Pacific Capital and author of The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets and Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse.