Speculating on the next Federal Reserve chairman is quite the summer craze. But ultimately President Obama's appointment won't matter because no one on the list will do the right thing, says Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital.
If the nation wants a good Fed chairman, the president needs a broader list of candidates, Schiff told Yahoo, and he needs to pick someone who has the integrity to do the right thing.
"Unfortunately, nobody like that is on the short list or even the long list," Schiff said.
Many would beg to differ. The so-called frontrunners for the top spot at the Fed are former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and current Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen. The campaign for the job has become an intense and occasionally uncivil battle between the supporters of these two candidates, according to The Economist.
Schiff isn't impressed with either of them.
"I've been talking about the choice between Yellen and Summers as being asked to choose your method of execution. Do you prefer the guillotine or do you want a firing squad?" he asked.
"I think the U.S. economy is in trouble regardless of who President Obama chooses because I think it's going to be more of the same policies that have brought the country to the brink of economic ruin. And I think it's those policies that's going to push us over the edge," Schiff explained.
While Summers and Yellen appear to have staunch supporters, the low tone of the debate is disappointing, The Economist noted, because little attention is being paid to the candidates' views.
It isn't even quite clear what Summers' views are, but The Economist described Yellen as "an open book." She believes the Fed's dual mandate — price stability and maximum employment — provides leeway for central bankers to do more address unemployment.
"The mandate [the Fed] needs to keep under control is a sound currency, to preserve the value of our money," Schiff argued.
That's the "real mandate," and if the Fed focused on it, the nation would have a lot prosperity, job creation and economic growth. If the Fed actually stuck to the original purpose for its existence, we would have legitimate prosperity, he told Yahoo.
Instead, the Fed is "playing around with interest rates and money supply" and that's what is creating the big problems in the economy, Schiff stressed.
"I do think of all the choices Yellen is probably the worst of the bunch," he said.
"She is probably going to be more likely to keep on printing and printing. I don't see her doing the right thing at any point until there's been complete economic implosion," Schiff stated.
"Only if the economy were on its knees might Yellen be persuaded to do the right thing," he added.
I like Peter Schiff and think his perspective is the right one.
He and his penchant for pushing gold at $1,600 an ounce cost me some money though. He was saying that gold was taking a breather and was going to hit $2,100 or more. Well the breather was worse than a breather as I watched gold lose $300/ounce.
Not that I want Larry Summers or that other guy. I like Peter Schiff still. Just saying nobody knows the future.
I like Peter Schiff and think his perspective is the right one.
He and his penchant for pushing gold at $1,600 an ounce cost me some money though. He was saying that gold was taking a breather and was going to hit $2,100 or more. Well the breather was worse than a breather as I watched gold lose $300/ounce.
Not that I want Larry Summers or that other guy. I like Peter Schiff still. Just saying nobody knows the future.
Well, gold HAS gone up in value, a lot, from years ago. And that's the thing; you have to have the money to put into that stuff to just leave there forever. And yeah, it'll go up and down, but over time, persistent climb (as least with metals). Of course, there are elements out there, like Soros, who will flood the market with their gold selling because he/they don't want people's gold to go up in value. There's a method to their madness of NWO crap.
Still, Schiff is reliable with his overall thoughts and warnings about the economy. But he still can't help what actually happens from what should happen when government/Bernanke/SEC/Treasury Dept. are actively gaming the system, which they are.