Former Ron Paul economic adviser Peter Schiff anounced today that he is running for the U.S. Senate. Despite his groupie-like following, Schiff actually has few qualifications to run for the Senate and has publicly admitted that he can’t even remember the last time he voted. Schiff’s followers praise him for his predictions on the economy, but despite the fact that Schiff proudly advised investors to bet against the U.S., they still lost record sums of money.
Schiff Couldn’t Recall the Last Time He Voted and Said He Never Saw Much of a Reason To Vote.
In a recent interview with political columnist, Stuart Rothenberg, Schiff bragged that he couldn’t remember the last time he voted. “Schiff is the first candidate I’ve ever interviewed who proudly says he can’t recall the last time he voted. I’ve never seen a real reason to vote,‟ he says without hesitation, adding that he registered to vote only recently in Connecticut. Apparently, he’s never heard of the concept of civic duty or considered the meaning of 200 years of American history.” [Roll Call, Rothenberg Column, 6/15/09]
Schiff Said Recession Was The Cure
“The recession is not the problem, the recession is the cure. It’s not fun, just like heroin withdrawal is not fun . . . but it’s necessary.” [Hartford Courant, 8/23/09]
Schiff Opposed Bailout, Said Recession Should Run Its Course and Businesses Should Fail.
In May, Schiff told a Canadian audience, “What we should do is let the recession unfold and allow businesses to fail and asset prices to fall.” [New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, 5/13/09]
Fellow Investor Said Schiff Never Had Anything Good To Say About the U.S.
Mike Shedlock, a Illinois based investment advisor, recently told the Hartford Courant, “He never has anything good to say about the U.S. dollar or the U.S. political system…It’s almost as if the man hates the United States.” Shedlock, like others, questioned Schiff’s prediction that the U.S. economy would meltdown while the rest of the world’s economy remained unchanged. [Hartford Courant, 8/23/09]
Clients Who Invested With Schiff Saw Heavy Losses.
In January, the Wall Street Journal reported that clients who invested with Schiff say heavy losses. In Fact, according to the article, on average, Schiff’s clients experienced a higher average loss than the Standard and Poor’s index. “Most had one thing in common last year: heavy losses. A number of investors said their Euro Pacific portfolios lost 50% or more in 2008, worse than the 38% drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index last year. People familiar with the firm say that hardly any securities recommended by Euro Pacific brokers gained ground in 2008.” [Wall Street Journal, 1/30/09]
Schiff Said His Experience of Collecting Unemployment to Sit on the Beach Proved It Was a Bad Program.
On his Europac on April 8, 2009 weekly radio show broadcast, Schiff admitted to receiving unemployment while sitting on the beach during his early days after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley. Schiff proclaimed that this was a good example of unemployment compensation being ill-conceived because it encourages people to be lazy. [Peter Schiff, 4/8/09]
Republican Party Insiders Question Schiff’s Chances…
Connecticut GOP Chair Said Schiff Was Not Well Known In State.
Chris Healy, Connecticut Republican Party Chairman, said Schiff was not well known in Connecticut. “He has no political footprint at all in Connecticut; he hasn’t voted, contributed or participated in anything political in our state…He has written books and appeared on television and has a business of which we know little,” Healy said. [The Hill, 9/1/09]
Schiff Insider Said Schiff Didn’t Have a Chance.
A source close to Schiff’s campaign recently made critical comments to The Hill. The source “said the inmates are running the asylum.” The individual went on to say that Schiff was “too untraditional to have a chance.” [The Hill, 9/1/09]
Schiff Volunteers “Scare the Crap” Out of Regular Republicans.
A source close to the Schiff campaign recently complained to The Hill that the Schiff people refused to run a traditional campaign. “They refuse to run traditional races, meaning that they will rely on volunteers to conduct critically important campaign operations — much like the Ron Paul campaign did in 2008… “Every campaign needs volunteers, but unfortunately for Schiff and Paul, their volunteers scare the crap out of traditional Republicans.” [The Hill, 9/1/09]
Most of this stuff sounds like a Schiff endorsement to me. Yes there has been little reason to vote when there are nothing but “machine” candidates on the ballot; civic duty has nothing to do with it. Recessions are in fact cures for hyper-stimulated economies, and his drug-addict analogy is quite good. The bailout was an idiotic move whose purpose was to keep the financial fatcats in their private jets and corner offices; had we let their little empires collapse, their companies’ assets would today be in more diverse and capable hands.
Should Schiff say good things about the U.S. when its government is full of glad-handers who are selling us down the river every day? Hmmm. So Schiff sat on the beach testing out our unemployment system … sounds like he did nothing worse than most of the people on unemployment do, and at least he’s got the guts to talk about it.
Finally, he and his volunteers are scaring the crap out of regular Republicans? I couldn’t think of a better endorsement. Regular Republicans and regular Democrats have led us down the primrose path, and I myself couldn’t think of a better solution than a clean sweep.
Comment by Dave Ziffer — January 26th, 2010 @ 2:04 am