Close Close
Sign In
Newsletters
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
Podcast Center Video Center Webcasts Resource Center Events
About ThinkAdvisor Contact Us Advertise With Us Asset & Logo Licensing Sitemap Terms of Service Privacy Policy Copyright © 2024 ALM Global, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
ThinkAdvisor

Portfolio > Alternative Investments > Real Estate

Peter Schiff: The Dollar’s Collapse Is (Still) Coming

By John Sullivan

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

C’mon, Schiff—we’re waiting. Where’s the dollar’s collapse, the sky-high inflation, societal chaos, the oceans of fire?

The last two may be a stretch, but the outspoken head of Euro Pacific Precious Metals has warned of the dire consequences of Fed action for what seems like forever (or at least since the first round of quantitative easing). Those consequences have yet to reveal themselves.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that he didn’t believe the Fed was fueling a stock market bubble with its accommodative policies.

Schiff told The Daily Ticker on Friday that the Fed couldn’t see a bubble if it popped in its face.

“In fact, Ben Bernanke himself said there was no real estate bubble even after the real estate bubble burst,” Schiff told the website. “I don’t think there’s necessarily a bubble in the stock market. There’s certainly a bubble in certain types of stocks that are way overvalued as a result of all the cheap money Ben Bernanke has been creating.”

That doesn’t mean the Fed’s unprecedented policies of near-zero interest rates and bond buying are without consequence.

“What he is doing with his reckless monetary policy is causing our resources to be malinvested,” Schiff continues. “We’re spending too much on housing right now because of what Ben Bernanke is doing. He’s bragging about the fact that we’re building more houses and home prices are up, but they’re only up because of the artificially manipulated prices thanks to the Fed, and all of this is a mistake and is going to be unwound in a very painful way.”

The ticker notes Schiff’s own role in detecting bubbles, specifically the real estate bubble ahead of 2007 and 2008. In a now famous appearance on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Stewart produced earlier video clips of Schiff predicting the crisis of 2008 to the scoffs and dismissive giggles of pundits at Fox, CNBC and others.

He’s likewise been warning of the dollar’s collapse as a result of Fed policies.

Yet, as the website notes, since the beginning of the year the dollar, measured against a basket of other currencies, has been rising.

“At some point that is going to change,” Schiff says. “People are going to realize or call the Fed’s bluff, that our economy is stimulus-based. There is not a real exit strategy. The Fed is going to print money indefinitely.”

He adds, “the dollar is weak, it’s just that other currencies are also weak, so that’s masking how truly weak the dollar is. The only way you can say dollar bears have gotten it wrong maybe is on the timing,” Schiff concedes. “I’ve been talking about a weak dollar—the dollar has been weak, and look at how weak the dollar has been against gold.”

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.