[N.B.: Dear Peter; as a regular listener of your weekly radio show and vlog, I wanted to say that I appreciate the work you've done. Although not everyone may agree or even want to listen to what you have to say, I respect the consistency and logic of your arguments, which is quite refreshing admist the scattershot discourse in the mainstream media. All the best in your campaign!♦ To my regular readers: please don't take this post as dogmatic political utterance on my part. As an individual investor I've been following Schiff's economic commentary for years, so the story of this stockbroker running for Senate is just the next fascinating chapter in what appears to be a larger course of development.]
Sept. 17, 2009 – Peter Schiff Announces Run For Connecticut State Senate on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Program
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Below is a clip from earlier this morning in which he formally announces his run.
You might also want to read some background to the story:
Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets (Review) (March 9, 2009)
Schiff On the Rally And Why You Still Need To Buy Gold (May 8, 2009)
Schiff Considers Senate, Advises U.S. To Default Honestly On Its Debts (June 1, 2009)
FAQ About Peter Schiff’s Run For Senate
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1. Who is Peter Schiff? Peter Schiff is a successful stockbroker and president of brokerage firm EuroPacific Capital. He is NOT an economist nor does he have any background in institutional politics.
2. When did Peter Schiff decide to run for Senate? Schiff had been speculating for quite some time, as early as late 2008, about running. But this was all rumor until summer 2009 when Schiff himself publicly declared that he was *considering the possibility* of a Senate run. In July 2009, Schiff declared his “test candidacy” – a public test of support for his possible run.
3. How much money has Schiff raised? As of August 12, a week after the “money bomb,” approximately $850,000 had been raised. As of his official announcement of candidacy on September 17, at least $1, 012, 287 had been raised through http://www.schiffforsenate.com.
4. When did Schiff start raising money? Peter Schiff started raising funds back in July 2009, as part of a “tester” program. A website was created – SchiffForSenate.com – and donations started trickling in, without Schiff so much as declaring officially that he would run.
5. Who is Schiff running against? There will be several candidates expected to run for the position, the most formidable opponent being, perhaps, Chris Dodd.
5. Where can I find out more information on Peter Schiff? Visit his own site, EuroPacific Capital, where you can listen to his weekly radio broadcasts as well as watch his weekly vlogs. He also has an official YouTube channel, SchiffReport.
If you’re an investor, check out Peter Schiff’s Favorite Canadian Oil Stock.
To all the Schiff haters and naysayers, how much do you really know about Schiff? You don’t have to be a radical Ayn Randian or Ron Paul supporter to see the clarity and logic of Schiff’s arguments, which are backed by sound theory and historical evidence. Schiff is not perfect, and he doesn’t claim to see the future perfectly, but it’s great to see another person with demonstrable intelligence vying for a more public spotlight. I can’t make any comments on how his expertise translates into the political sphere, but if Schiff is right, it seems to me that the U.S. will need more of his perspective and economic analytical leadership. What do you think? Are you very familiar with Schiff? How do you think he’d do in Senate?
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
As it happens, I’m half-way through Schiff’s Bull Moves in Bear Markets at this very moment. (Until reading the book, my only exposure to him was a few clips from TV appearances.)
Thus far, I’m undecided on which points I agree with and which ones I don’t.
One thing where I absolutely agree him is in his statement that a lower standard of living in the U.S. is not a problem to be avoided, but in fact a solution to our coming problems. Both as individuals and as a country, we need to stop spending money we don’t have.
Something that really scares me about him, however, is his confidence in his predictions. I have an extremely hard time trusting anybody with that degree of confidence about that many different predictions.
When it comes to the predicting economic and market movements, I see humility as a virtue. The way I see it, there are simply too many moving parts for anybody to have cause to be as certain as he appears to be.
I agree re: predictions; in many other places, though, Schiff has repeated that he can’t say for sure when such and such a thing would happen – I think it’s more that he’s outlining logical consequences rather than giving predictions, per se. Like a deductive argument: if A and B, then C.
Ah, that’s a good distinction. One that I perhaps just hadn’t yet picked up on. (Like I said, aside from this book–which I haven’t even finished–I’m not terribly familiar with him.)
I mean, he’s definitely following Austrian economics by the book; that might be problematic, not sure how flexible it can be, or is even supposed to be.
I heard him on CNBC today and I’m sold – well, actually, “you had me at Chris Dodd”.
Anyway, he’s saying the right things – we shouldn’t be spending money we don’t have; minimal government, allow free markets to work, we wasted billions/trillions on these bailouts, etc. These are all things I’ve known and been saying for years. So, we’re aligned. I just don’t know if an outsider can come in and break the mold of business as usual with candidates, special interests and the fear of/blame toward capitalism that the current administration has fostered.
I haven’t read the book, but I have read some of his articles and seen the youtube videos. Interestingly, though he predicted the economic collapse ahead of time, he has been wrong about some of his predictions, and his clients were actually down big in 2008 per this business insider article – http://bit.ly/QFNvW
I would say that he would be a breath of fresh air in the Senate, but I wonder if his confidence comes from all the facts continuing to point towards his conclusion, or if it’s intellectual rigidity. However, the great thing is that he should be able to shine a light on the hypocrisy and ineptitude of the senators and congressman who wouldn’t know the difference between a CDO and ODB (Wu Tang, of course).
Peter Schiff is rare breed these days, along with Ron Paul. Schiff doesn’t need to run for Senate, but he is feed up with the nonsense that is happening up in Washington. Especially when he is trying to take out Chris Dodd who has made a career our of being a politician since 1974.
I believe he predictions are bold based off his beliefs with studying Austrian Economics. He also is a strong believer in the constitution, which most of our politicians have a total disregard for. I follow his Vlog weekly and suggest everyone finding more about him and Ron Paul.
Great Post!
Sounds like we all agree Schiff would be a fresh voice in politics, at least. Some of his points do seem a bit dogmatic at times, but honestly, most of them really apply in the economic situation facing the U.S. right now. I have to say it seems a *bit* contradictory that Schiff wants to keep politics/government out of the economy, yet he’s running in order to help (de)regulate, make changes, etc. But as he has said, he’s doing it to keep free market solutions in place. My sense is he won’t make it to Senate, through no fault of his own, though.
I couldn’t be more excited. Peter Schiff is an incredibly intelligent investor. I’ve enjoyed his economic insights for the last year on his radio show. He practically gives investment ideas away and educates you on what’s going to happen next. I would love for him to become a Senator. I worry on three counts about his “realistic” prospects.
1. He doesn’t provide the 8th grade level vocabulary and zealotry that the average American understands and follows. It’s kind of that Dennis Miller effect. Remember when Miller tried to commentary on Football? His comments were great but it flew over the head of the average American sports fan. These are the people voting. If Schiff wants to win, he is going to have to speak on their level with their vocabulary. I just hope for our sake he realizes that early.
2. He will need to pretend like the “issues” of today are really important and get behind the hysteria. People care about abortion, healthcare, and education. They don’t think about macroeconomics, GDP, inflation, and the collapse of the USD. Even though they are the real issues. He will need to do the dog and pony show long enough to distract the foolish then get into office and deal with real issues. I figure he could go in barely vote and satisfy the health care and war voters.
3. His message is to negative for the American voter. He can do the doom and gloom but he needs to tie it up in a big red bow and leave the listeners thinking he not only understands the problem but look how promising and wonderful his solution.
With these three, I think he will be set. Pick up a cloak and dagger Peter. It’s time to go to the ball.
Having now finished that book, I can say that I sincerely hope Schiff’s campaign goes absolutely nowhere.
The entire last section of the book is about his belief that free markets automatically avoid/solve pretty much every problem. It’s like he’s never gotten past Econ 101 to learn the definition of “externality.”
In any scenario in which the production of a good or service results in either a negative or positive externality, free markets fail (in the sense that they result in an inefficient allocation of resources). That’s the case with healthcare, the environment, education, and countless other scenarios.
The guy has a lot of valid points. He points out several things that are very real problems. He makes an intelligent case that we (both as a nation and as individuals) would do well to cut our spending. And his tips for individuals to save money are great.
But I couldn’t disagree more strongly with his political agenda.
@Mike – yes, I’m a bit wary of free market dogmatism – which is not to say I disagree with free markets – but like you said, he does seem to think they are the solution 100% of the time, when I think it’s more likely the case that it might be a good guideline for 85% of the time and there are ends and extremes in which it can break down. There are peak levels of performance for anything, after which the continued application/pursuit doesn’t give further benefits. Hardline free market principles might be like that.
What exactly does he want to deregulate? We have a toothless SEC, and poor regulation of lending and leverage helped cause this recession.
Sounds to me like (as of 2008 at least) he wanted to deregulate just about everything.
His suggestions from Bull Move in Bear Markets:
“We must stop discouraging savings though [sic] inflation, punishing work through taxation, stifling growth through regulation, and start providing an environment where businesses can be creative and flourish….Ideally this would included [sic] dismantling entire departments (such as Education, Transportation, Housing, Energy, Commerce, Homeland Security, and Agriculture); closing agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA); firing other useless government employees such as statisticians and economists; eliminating many misguided social programs and means testing; and eventually abolishing all entitlements, especially Social Security.”