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Campaign Crawlers
Tea Party Prophet
Peter Schiff foretold the financial collapse. Now he wants to go to Washington to prevent the next one.
While other Tea Party insurgents have taken to dreamily insisting they can see Ronald Reagan’s city upon a hill shining in the distance just beyond November 2, 2010, Peter Schiff looks at those same distant glints and sees instead something akin to a state Leviathan economic death ray.
“Oh no, 2008 was the overture,” Schiff answers with a rueful smile when asked if the worst of the past two years’ tribulations are behind us. “We haven’t even heard the opera yet let alone the fat lady.”
This is not a prognostication to take lightly. With his 2007 book Crash Proof Schiff proved himself a more authentic clairvoyant than Alan Greenspan, Art Laffer, or Nostradamus, correctly predicting not only the shortly-thereafter ensuing sudden economic collapse in uncanny detail, but also the ham-handed, meddlesome Big Government response that would exacerbate the crisis.
In CEO of the Sofa, P.J. O’Rourke wrote that he read Hillary Clinton’s It Takes a Village because he recognized “Neville Chamberlain made a famous mistake by not bringing a copy of Mein Kampf with him on the plane ride to Munich.” Similarly, Crash Proof is the book you wish Ben Bernanke had taken in the car en route to testify before the Senate Banking Committee in 2007.
So dire is the situation, Schiff has decided to add to his busy schedule of writing financial bestsellers and guiding his Euro Pacific Capital fund a run for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in Connecticut, a race in which, bizarrely, the man whose YouTube greatest hits includes the remarkable video “Peter Schiff Was Right” is considered an underdog against former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon, a woman now perhaps as well known for her willingness to spend $50 million of her own money to become a senator as she is for her ability to take a piledriver and nonchalance about shin to groin combat.
“I’m going there to fix the problem, not to be a senator,” Schiff says, laying out his planned approach to membership in what state power fetishists and senators (but I repeat myself?) insist on calling the world’s greatest deliberative body. “The Senate is a means to an end. And the end is to reverse the damage government has done. I’m going to Washington to dismantle it.” He pauses for a moment as if to reconsider, then adds, “Not completely, just the lion’s share.”
“The financial crisis does not result from a lack of regulation, but an excess of regulation,” he continues. “We need to stop distorting price signals, stop distorting resource allocations. We need to allow these decisions to be made collectively through the marketplace, not by government bureaucrats centrally planning our economy based on what they think should happen, because they’re almost always wrong. That path has been tried time and time again, and it has never succeeded. Obama will not succeed where Castro failed. It’s just not going to happen.”
For those unfamiliar with Schiff and inclined to presume this is the same sort of Road to Obamascus moment profligate Republicans of the majority Bush years seem to be having left and right while mired in the minority, rest assured Schiff has never been a water-carrier for statism, and he has the scars to prove it.
“For years, I was going on financial television shows…arguing with all the conservatives,” Schiff — who is no shrinking violet with media liberals, either, incidentally — says, chuckling softly. “They thought we had a genuine prosperity because of the Bush tax cuts. I would argue with these free market guys and they would compare me to Michael Moore. They figured I was this bleeding heart liberal because I was being so critical. They did not understand the phony nature of our economy…
“Blindly defending Bush set the stage for Obama. You give capitalism a bad name by labeling Bush a capitalist when he’s not. He was not a free market guy. The left was critical for the wrong reasons, but they’re the ones who got credit for saying, ‘Hey, we warned you!’”
Schiff’s electioneering roots as a financial advisor on Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign are not difficult to divine from the unadulterated, Austrian-school-saturated agenda on his campaign website: End all bailouts, a “hard cap” on the national debt, “fight against backdoor regulations on global warming,” eliminate the Department of Education, “allow interstate health care competition,” “a policy of national defense, not national offense,” end weak dollar policies, and “Personal preferences aside, U.S. Senators must not interfere with a state’s rights to self-govern.”
“Congress can’t handle the problems currently in front of them,” the site fumes. “Yet, that hasn’t stopped President Obama and the Democrats from plotting new expansions into every aspect of our daily lives.”
It isn’t exactly sunny optimism, but Schiff allows he has the audacity to hope that while the end is indeed nigh, it is not quite here yet.
“The pendulum is either going to swing in the complete opposite direction of Obama, which is what we need, or it’s going to be stuck,” he says. “We are at a fork in the ‘road to serfdom’ Hayek wrote about…We’re either going to bite the bullet so things can improve or we’re going to embrace this ideology and things will never improve — they will get much, much weaker, and that will pave the way to turn this country into a totalitarian society, a giant banana republic. Where is the tipping point? I don’t know. I don’t think we’re there yet, but we are moving in that direction, and we’re moving in that direction fast.”
Typical of a seasoned investor, Schiff has diversified the baskets in which he holds his freedom fighter eggs. In addition to the Senate race, Schiff recently released a new book with a less investor-centric, more generally accessible, bent, How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes, updating for the present day an allegory of three island fishermen his father, the jailed tax protester Irwin Schiff, employed decades ago to teach his young sons about economics.
About the Author
Shawn Macomber is a contributing editor to The American Spectator.
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 7.13.10 @ 6:15AM
I'd vote for him.
arlo price| 7.13.10 @ 10:09AM
"The best defense we have against government tyranny and creeping socialism is to educate the public so they wake up and understand the lie the government is selling them so they don't buy it,"......
Alan Brooks| 7.13.10 @ 12:28PM
He hears 'Hail To The Chief' playing in his ears.
cats1cowboy| 7.13.10 @ 6:29AM
When you use phrases such as, "...Tea Party insurgents ..." it is a despicable abuse of leftist anti-American so-called journalism. Tea Partiers are patriots, akin to to founders of this Great Nation. Shame on you!
Alan Brooks| 7.13.10 @ 12:30PM
Well, they are looking out for their families' portfolios.
AMENBRO| 7.13.10 @ 6:30AM
HAIL YEAH!!
I would also. Uncompromisable rafter shacking possibilities indeed. Anybody except the incumbent EXTRORDINAIRE~!!
Please move to NC
DVG93| 7.13.10 @ 7:49AM
I kinda like Tea Party insurgents. Insurgents are patriots too.
martin j smith| 7.13.10 @ 7:50AM
I agree that GWB was no free marketeer and I also agree of the two , possibilities in the election--either complete opposite of BHO or stuck on stupid.
To assure going tothe comp[lete opposite of BHO there are just a few things to work out:
1) Do everything possible to limit effects of voter fraud.
2) Create a group of political researchers who can dig into the belly of the beast to see of any nefarious plans are afoot to circumvent the eletcoral process.
Everything BHO does is both ideological and straegic to those ends. Do you beleive that BHO would try something ? Look at his behavior vis a vis Arizona,The Gulf Oil spill etc This man must be watched like a hawk.
AMENBRO| 7.13.10 @ 2:44PM
Look fer BECK to die mysteriously.
Say what many have but the man has the balls to dig the wheat berries outta the manure pile.
John McLaughlin used to do INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM until he was bought off bout 12 years ago .
Chicago Style| 7.13.10 @ 4:04PM
No surprise when BHO is Re Elected in 2012 -
That is how the political machine works.
We get our people into office no matter what we must do.
You have an address book of friends and family.
We have one of dead people. All registered and willing to vote.
You don't think things can get worse???
Tyler S.| 7.13.10 @ 4:09PM
Actually, us libs love beck. He confirms what we've thought about conservative crazies all along. I mean, the guy is pretty unhinged. He may be a hero to the far right, but moderates tend to view him in the same way they view Micheal Moore on the left. I mean, he's unvieling a "plan delivered to him by god," that just never seems sane.
Jeff Lee| 7.13.10 @ 8:10PM
Beck is what happens when liberals stop taking drugs.
Ms. Jones| 7.15.10 @ 2:09PM
Tyler, have you ever watched his program? Or are you just regurgitating what you read/see in the mainstream media? Actually, the universal condemnation and ridicule of GB is the catalyst for this independent "moderate" to tune in. He just sits back and allows all these progressives to damn themselves with their own words!
Starryeyed| 7.13.10 @ 8:47AM
Oh the sins of the fathers: I remember Irving Shiff. I'm sorry he had to go to jail--but he was wrong. Now in Connecticut we have Red Ned Lamont ,son of Corless big time Soviet appologist. (son of Thomas Lamont a founder of US steel.) Therefore I'm supporting a real business woman, Linda McMann. Along with Anne Couture one of my two favorite blonds.
ds80| 7.13.10 @ 1:28PM
... a real business woman, Linda McMann. Along with Anne Couture one of my two favorite blonds.
It's Linda McMahon. And Anne Couture designs gowns.
Starry: you are poster-material for "uninformed, ignorant electorate".
Tim*| 7.13.10 @ 8:50AM
The Austrian School of Economics trumps Obama's Keynesian Redux Economic Gravedigging Disaster.
The Tea Party Escalates .
We Can See November From Our Houses.
ShortNSweet| 7.13.10 @ 10:10AM
The Tea Party Escalates! I can see November from my house too! Patriots started this thing and Patriots will have to finish it!
Shamus| 7.13.10 @ 8:57AM
It's hard for me to see this guy in Congress. He has a personality that is probably too incendiary for most voters. My guess is that he loses to Linda McMahon.
Paul from SA| 7.13.10 @ 10:31AM
Peter Schiff is a super economist. I would contribute and vote for him, but I'm from Texas. Hey, does Conn. have a ACORN outlet?
While I like Mr. Schiff, I don't know about his political skills.
Ms Jones| 7.15.10 @ 2:11PM
I, for one, plan to vote against anyone with "political skills" (i.e., the ability to lie with a straight face) this November.
Bob K.| 7.13.10 @ 11:27AM
I'd vote for him too!
But enough of the cheerleading. Here is a hard question? How is he going to handle the national pension crisis? Wait until the Republican's take over the house and maybe the senate and then react to the press who will blame it all on them?
William Wallace| 7.13.10 @ 11:53AM
Schiff sounds like a really smart guy with just the prescription to cure what ails us economically. I hate to be jaded and cynical, but that probably means he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting elected. More's the pity...
My electoral fantasy: a block of senators and representatives that seek to repeal as many laws as possible. Imagine all of the unnecessary, freedom-killing, good-ol-boys-picking-winners laws we could get rid of.
As my namesake said at the end of the movie, "Freeeeedom." Indeed.
John OB| 7.13.10 @ 12:02PM
"The financial crisis does not result from a lack of regulation, but an excess of regulation,"--Schiff "What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not but that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed?"-- Madison, the original Tea Party Prophet.
Louis Jenkins| 7.13.10 @ 12:24PM
Schiff seems to be an up and up kind of politican. At least he's honest.
"should have been heeded rather than laughed at three or four years ago."
A prophet will not have honor in his own country.
SCM| 7.13.10 @ 1:07PM
Sounds like the type of guy we need in office.
And since when do Republicans watch pro wrestling? Why should Linda McMahon have such great name recognition with Republicans?
hrh| 7.15.10 @ 12:23PM
Because she's been firebombing the airwaves with TV ads for the last 7 months ...
Sparky| 7.13.10 @ 4:56PM
He had his shot and he lost. Try again next time. Let's not do the third party dance and elect Blumy.
Ms Jones| 7.15.10 @ 1:47PM
For decades, conservative patriots have held their noses and voted for RINOs for fear of "splitting the vote". I believe the anti-incumbent feeling sweeping the land makes the time ripe to elect third-party candidates (or Democrats, or Republicans) who hold fast to Constitutional values of free markets and small governments. Certain races have the potential to become national, and this is one of them. Chris Pareja's candidacy to unseat the Democratic Poster Child for term limits, dinosaur Pete Stark, is another. Check out chris pareja.com!
Ron Macomber | 7.13.10 @ 6:54PM
This guy sounds like a "super-duper" economist. I would vote for him, but I'm from Delaware. I like Mr. Schiff... seems like he has it together in more ways than one.
Jim East| 7.14.10 @ 12:40AM
You can't vote for him but you can help him get elected. Just go here: http://schiffforsenate.com/
and click where it says " let freedom ring"
Jhalmos| 7.14.10 @ 9:58AM
The cold, hard, painful fact is, the majority of Americans, and I means the mouth breathers as well as the long-lunchers in Washington, aren't ready to heal yet. The Dr. philism "You can't change what you don't acknowledge" can't even apply here, because you sure as he'll can't change what you can't even label. Schiff nailed most of it so accurately because he thinks like a citizen, not a ruler. That's what Austrian economics is in the end. I don't know. The whole thing looks like a takedown to me, rather than the inability to fix it.
Ben| 7.14.10 @ 9:58AM
Peter Schiff advised Ron Paul during the presidential elections. Both were prescient and have been for years. We need Schiff. He also is for a strong national defense of America without all the neoconservative nonsense (I think).
Joe| 7.14.10 @ 11:15AM
If there are not more people like Rand and Ron Paul, and Peter Schiff in Congress; then we don't gracefully or go into the storm with direction. Instead we go into it as a rudderless ship. It will be chaos because everyone will interpret the situation differently. In the end ( much like forest fires ), the market will win. And the market has a lot of dead wood to burn through.
Mac-101| 7.15.10 @ 12:02PM
Unfortunetly, an Economist following simple ECON Micro and Macro 101 principles is now a genius, while the "ELITES" are using rediculous models to destroy this country for the Trans National Kapitalist to establish their NWO!
Jamie Shafer| 7.15.10 @ 5:45PM
This afternoon I just planted 5 Schiff signs on my road frontage on RT 33 in Ridgefield. I am happy with the effect and plan a couple more to make it really effective. Linda McMahon will turn out to be a RINO I believe. Besides she papered the inside of my mailbox with her shiny thick expensive mailings until she got the party endorsement, and that egregious kind of spending does not augur well I tend to think. Actually I have been for Peter Schiff since before he was running, so I say give him your vote Nutmeggers on Aug. 10.
MarylandPTAMom| 7.15.10 @ 6:15PM
We can improve our U.S. government by choosing wisely in the next election and by supporting good government candidates with contributions of time and/or money ... just $20 or $10.
For example, Peter Schiff is running for Senate from Connecticut in the Tuesday, August 10 Republican Primary. He is a businessman with a long record of telling the truth about our government's financial situation. I've heard him as a guest speaker on CNBC for years.
He could use our help with contributions or volunteer time to make phone calls through his website www.schiffforsenate.com
I love America and I love good government politicians!