Does being right matter?

This just in from cognitive dissonance land: Economic crisis caused by Peter's lack of faith and failure to be a team player!

Seriously. That was the creepiest bit. Disagree all you like about expected market valuations and whatnot; but watching them turn on the doubter in their midst was pretty disconcerting.

Wow...And they just laugh.

I'm sure now Stein and co will just say they were taken out of context.

This certainly looks compelling, though it should be remembered that if you put enough people with differing opinions on the air and then edit the resulting footage, it could be possible to create a misleading overall impression.

I don't watch enough Fox News to know if these clips are representative.

If he has nerd-friends he must be wondering why they call keep calling him "Lathspell".

He was right about the debt-fuelled crash, but is he right about cutting spending? Right now, I think inflation is not something we should be worrying about.

Of course being right matters - it's something that must absolutely be avoided, at all possible costs. See also "telling the truth".

Now, clap harder or the economy gets it.

Proof, if it was ever needed, of Fox news right wing agenda.
Everyone but Schiff was 100% wrong- what I want to know is if they will now stand up and admit it?

I cant believe I actually used to think Ben stein was cool.

Anthony Piitarelli

Even though he seems to be getting a lot of press right now, some people have been listening to him for years.

You've probably heard of them...They're the same people who thought Ron Paul should have been the Republican candidate in the election, have known for years that 9/11 was a False-Flag terror attack designed to start the wars in Afghanistan & Iraq (and to pass the PATROIT Acts)...and have been ridiculed and marginalized so that the Powers-That-Be could keep driving us into the ground.

The mainstream media has failed us, and it's a real shame people weren't taking this all a bit more seriously years ago when we could have stopped some of this mess we're in.

It's about time somebody started listening to the truth about the world we live in! Wake up people...some of us have been trying to show you the light for years!

Investigate 9/11...study the history of the Federal Reserve...and then wonder why you've been on the wrong side for this long. Get involved, and make sure the real criminals don't get away with this.

Try this for a fun experiment. Go to the FBI's website, and look at Osama Bin Laden's "wanted" poster.

Do you see 9/11 ANYWHERE on there?

The answer may surprise you...but then again, I'm sure a lot of things in the last 8 years will surprise you when you learn the TRUTH about the real criminals running your life.

Schiff was Ron Paul's top economic adviser, fyi.

Jim right on brother well put! Its amazing all the sheeple I see.

I watched Fox News for most of 2000-2001. I always noticed that the things they laughed at the hardest were things that eventually came true. like everything else on the channel, laughter is calculated. I found that the harder the host laughs at a guest or topic, the more valid and valuable it was when I actually researched. highly recommend others do the same.

all politicians know to watch cable news with the sound completely off. why don't we do that?

Peter Schiff, Ron Paul, and everyone at the Ludwig Von Mises Institute saw this coming, and warned about it.

-jcr

like patrick noted: they actually LAUGH at schiff's predictions -- the guy's good at what he does, he's a good 1-2 years ahead of the curve. buy gold like he says

Fox noise? This video is from MSNBC, the most liberal of the networks. Please don't take away from Schiff's message by including bad info.

csrster, You don't think we should be worrying about inflation? Look at all the artificial money the government has pumped out in the last month. Thats the only thing keeping our currency somewhat normal. Wait until consumer confidence is restored and everybody throws their money back into the market. We'll have hyper inflation. Of course we should be worrying about inflation right now

I believe we are in the last throes of the insurgency.

It was common sense. I don't understand how people could overextended so much ( lines of credits and mortgages). You don't need to be a guru to see it. Now please get some cash, that's all you have

If we have a choice between inflation & deflation right now, we should definitely choose inflation. Deflation will make our debts more expensive to pay off and will encourage everyone to keep their money under their mattress. See Japan circa 1990s. Inflation is the only way we're going to convince people & business to spend money again, based on the idea that it's better to spend now before money loses more of its value. With deflation, nobody spends, as in 1929-1932, and the economy stagnates or contracts.

Tyler, the video is a patchwork from a few networks, Fox and MSNBC included. I did not use a stopwatch but I thought it was mostly Fox.

Ben Stein - the same guy who brought us Exposed. What a joke. To think this guy used to have serious power and clout!!

Peter, you actually do have to be a guru to get it. Economics is a strange strange beast

Peter saw what the Democratic policies from the Clinton Era had done to the mortgage industry and knew it *had* to crash. When the largest lending institutions in the country (mortgage lenders) like Fred M & Fan M crash, everything else follows. This economic crisis we're entering will last a long time. And if we slump into a true depression it will be a generation before we climb back out, if we ever do. The Great Depression started in 1929, the market didn't fully recover until 1955.

-Time

The democrats have to share the blame for supporting deregulation etc, but "Time" is oversimplifying and spinning the facts for partisan reasons, not to mention putting words into Peter Schiff's mouth. He clearly blamed sub-prime lending, massive debt and trade imbalances which are not Clinton's or Fannie and Freddie's fault.

the real story here is that peter is speaking based on evidence and trends. the rest of these assholes are just guessing because the realize they hold no accountability for what they say

Wow, this is the third post I've read here and between them we have representatives of the tinfoil hat brigade, right-wing partisan hacks and a true-blue authoritarian socialist (along with a smattering of the sane folk). Methinks I'm going to like it here.

I think that it's easy enough to try and place the blame on the republicans, the democrats, those greedy lenders or those greedy, lying borrowers, or the idiots who thought that trading houses should be like trading commodities, but the truth is that it's all of the above. There's plenty of blame to go around here, but ultimately, we're way the hell past that point. It's an exercise in futility, because the damage is done. What needs to happen now, is finding a way out of this mess.

And if Obama isn't blowing smoke up our tushes about working with everyone to find solutions, we just might pull through it. Time will tell. OTOH, the way this massive bailout seems to be going, we're pretty much screwed.

Anthony, I couldn't agree more, I too used to think Ben was cool ... but he has shown his true colors over the past year or two. What a turd.

"Obama ... blowing smoke..."

I still cling to hope, but everyday with a little more of the cognitively dissonant denial only desperation can inspire.

Ironically, the other conversation I have been engaged in, is about denialism. One of the types of denialist is exactly what you are describing there. I actually mentioned that I rather wish I could be that sort of denialist, in regards to global warming - because honestly it scares the crap out of me. Were it not for a virtually impenetrable skepticism about anything that comes out of any politicians mouth, I could definitely be such a denialist about Obama and the economy. That said, I really want to believe him and honestly do like him - though I didn't vote for him.

All in all, I am right there with you.

From Wikipedia:

"Schiff has said on numerous occasions that the current economic crisis is not the problem; it is the solution. According to him, the transition from borrowing and spending to saving and producing cannot be accomplished without a severe recession, given the current imbalances of the US economy. But according to him, that transition needs to happen. He also thinks the government is doing no one a favor by trying to "ease the pain" with stimulus packages, bailouts and such. Schiff believes these actions will only make the situation worse and possibly result in hyperinflation if the government continues to "replace legitimate savings with a printing press."
Schiff is a firm believer in reducing government regulation of the economy. Schiff worries that Barack Obama will increase such regulation."