Daily Archives: 14 February 2009

Peter Schiff: Government acting as consumer of last resort

“The fiscal stimulus bill being debated in Congress not only won’t help the economy, it will make the recession much worse, says Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital.

Schiff scoffs at the notion the economic decline is starting to level off and concedes no government action means a ‘terrible’ recession. But the path of increased government intervention will lead to ‘unmitigated disaster,’ says Schiff, who gained notoriety in 2007-08 for his prescient calls on the housing bubble and U.S. stocks.

The problem, he says, is the government is trying to perpetuate a ‘phony economy’ based on borrowing and spending. With the U.S. consumer tapped out, the government is ‘now taking on the mantle’ of consumer of last resort, he continues, predicting the bond bubble will soon burst – if it hasn’t already – ultimately leading to a collapse of the dollar and an ‘inflationary depression worse than anything any of us have ever seen.'” (Read more from westernstandard.blogs.com)

Watch the video in this earlier post to learn about Peter Schiff, and to see the ridicule he dealt with for speaking the truth.

Calif. Counties Threaten Tax Revolt Against State

“California counties are throwing another wrinkle into the state’s cash crisis as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders try to agree on a way to erase a $42 billion budget deficit.

Several counties are considering some form of tax revolt — either filing lawsuits or delaying tax payments to the state — because the governor has proposed withholding payments to them for as long as seven months in a move to preserve cash.

Local governments already are missing out because the state has imposed a 30-day payment delay to counties. . . .

Meanwhile, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the state’s $46 billion general obligation bonds this week, leaving California with the worst state credit rating in the nation.” (Read more from cbs13.com)

Maybe the counties are tired of spending $10 billion a year to keep people in prison.