FreedomFest
Continued from Page 4 Regarding Bernanke, Schiff said, “I think he’s a liar because he’s so nervous ... Everybody’s been talking about the Fed’s economic strategy ... Who’s going to buy those worthless mortgages?” He accused the U.S. government and the Fed of being “addicted to stimulating the economy.” However, once one starts the stimulation process, it is hard to end it. “If we stop the quantitative easing, we’re going to have a big recession,” Schiff said. “The economy they’re trying to keep alive refuses to die,” despite the bad policies being pracited. “It’s like Frankenstein’s monster.” With the government’s continuing quantitative easing efforts, “it’s like we’re trying to sober up a drunk by giving him more alcohol. Schiff also said Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy exemplify the spread of the sovereign debt crisis. “The subprime is just the tip of the iceberg ... All of the morgages have the disease, it just shows up first in subprime ... We’ve got all the problems of Greece in, they just haven’t manifested yet” in the U.S. “We’re actually paying less in interest payments today with twice the debt, as we did 10 years ago. That’s why the Fed keeps interest rates low. The cost of keeping rates low is inflation.” Schiff said the dollar’s exchange rate, “if it collapses, won’t affect domestic inflation.” In yet another swipe at Bernanke, he said, “I don’t think Ben Bernanke is qualified to be a bank teller, much less chairman of the Fed ... The dollar’s purchasing power at home affects its value overseas. But look, if low interest rates would solve the problem, we’d have no problem.” As for his solution to America’s economic problems, Schiff said, “In order to rebalance our economy, just get (the government and the Fed) out of the way and let the economy do its thing ... Interest rates need to go up, then we’ll have more savers, jobs and capital spending.” Instead, with Keynesian policies holding sway, “housing prices have reached new lows since any time in the (economic) decline.” U.S. policies are so wacky, he said, “It takes a bank a year or two to get you out of your house, if you stop paying on your mortgage. So you can stay that long rentfree. “The debt ceiling came in in 1917, when we let the Fed” take over as America’s central bank and Congress “decided to put in a debt ceiling. We’ve raised it all the time” ever since. “Pretty soon, the only thing we’ll be able to do is pay interest on the national debt ... When interest rates go up, we (the U.S.) will go into default anyway.” He added, “Actually, default is better. The worst thing is inflation — everybody loses who holds dollars. You get hyperinflation, which is worse than anything. “The one ray of hope is, capitalism is a very dynamic thing. If we could have sound money and a constitutional government,” the private sector would rebound. He also said if current trends continue much longer, “it might take a violent” revolution to restore the U.S. as a constitutional republic and land of opportunity. “Our grandkids, they’re not going to stay here” and pay the taxes that will be required to cover the debt that is being accrued. “They’ll leave” for nations where there is more opportunity, Schiff predicted. With a note of pride, he said, “My ancestors came here for freedom and opportunity ... The whole world is changing and much of it is embracing capitalism, just as the United States” — to its detriment — is going in the opposite direction, Schiff said.
Asheville Daily Planet — October 2011 - 5