mimo2005

Mr. Laffer, the ex-presidential economic adviser to Reagan argues with Peter Schiff ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Schiff ) that the economy is in great shape and no recession will come. However, all the points that Peter makes are pretty much 100% correct and was spot on in predicting the recession and actually says we should embrace the recession and the the recession will likely last for years.

VIDEO:
http://www.webtvhub.com/watch-2006-n...two-years-ago/





With Gramm and Laffer on board, McCain has the right team to finish what W started.Laffer Out Loud!

RedScott

Ah, libertarian austrian economist Peter Schiff. The same Mr. Schiff who was Ron Paul's economic adviser during his campaign. When will American start listening to the people who were right?

RedScott

Also, if you're interested in the what the future holds, here's Mr. Schiff from just a few days a go.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/?...depression.mp3

sobeit

they do, but when right is not in the best interest of certain individuals/businesses, then its put aside and ignored.

linderman

dont worry fellas........ Phil Gramm as Treasury Secretary will take good care of your 700 billion as soon as he is handed the steering wheel of the "USS America" pocket book ......... you may need to choose between house or heating oil ....... but then again we are just a country of whiners!

Chode

Saying that recent events have discredited Laffer's theories would be giving them more credit than most economists ever did. Laffer economics were never more than a tool of the Republican party to justify a policy of helping the rich get richer by standing on the backs of the rest of America.

In that context Schiff's predictions aren't much different than many economists' predictions over the same period. Where Schiff has a problem is with the assumptions he makes about the Government's role in the future. When he talks about how the Government will be saddled with additional debt as home owners stop making mortgage payments, I think he misses the point that most of the "worthless" mortgage backed securities the Government has already assumed wouldn't be worthless if homeowners were still keeping up with their payments. From that point, he launches into a rant about how the Government will soon enact price controls, etc.

I think Schiff is going to be proven just as wrong as Laffer over the next couple of years, as many of his predictions fail to materialize, while more moderate economic predictions will be correct. In fact, he and Laffer share the common assumption that Government interference and regulation of money markets is undesirable. So, what matters here is just the spin.

Of course, Schiff has to talk about how the world economy would be so much more stable if were based on the gold standard, but in the end that isn't any less arbitrary than paper money. An ounce of gold, just like a dollar, has value only because people believe it does; not due to any inherent value.

If you want inherent value, I say we should return to the "Flint Standard". I live in the Texas Panhandle, home to the world's best flint. For centuries, Alibates flint was traded all over the Americas because it made the best tools and weapons in the Western Hemisphere.