I'm saving this post and im going to bring it back up in a year. Lets see if you were right or wrong about Peter.
Quote from makloda:
Two people who called the mortgage meltdown:
1. Peter Schiff - Got his head handed to him; lost his clients money in 2008. Loves publicity. Goes on TV on how he was always right and never wrong and saw everything coming and "positioned his clients accordingly".
2. John Paulson - Made himself and his clients billions in 2008. Hates publicity. Doesn't go on TV.
Now why is there an entire generation of broke college kids worshiping Schiff that ironically have never heard of Paulson? Schiff is good at marketing, got to hand him that.
Schiff should start a hedge fund/mutual fund to create a transparent track record -- but like most talking heads he doesn't like the idea of transparency and accountability for past recommendations. Had he launched a fund in January 2008 he could have been blown out of the market in a matter of months.

Quote from Debaser82:
Why do you judge Schiff on a 6 month downturn in his favourite asset classes (a quite serious one I will admit) wile on the other hand you have stated the likes of Hugh Hendry shouldnt be judged on a smal blimb in their investment career as people should look at the broader picture and over a longer period of time.
You think Hendry is still buying all the dollars he can find as he stated with the euro under 1.30$?
Or as he stated it: 'Goldbugs, enjoy your ride cause the markets will turn around soon enough in the other direction.
Right.
Anyway, seems a bit childish to 'defend' or 'trash' your favourite or least favourite guru so I will try to refrain myself.
I would argue as far as Schiff goes (who has made quite a few bad calls bot strategic as timelwise obviously) the verdict isnt yet in as to whether his main investment thesis will prove to be wrong or not (get out of the $ and into hard assets.) Is gold going to 5000$ or 500$? Who knows?
There seems to be a bit of stubbornness in his view though that does seem to clouden his view.
I remember Faber (who is of the opinion the $basically is a shite currency) telling people last summer to buy it anyway as liquidity was tightening which should be benificial to the $.
I'd think Schiff wouldnt have the mental flexibility to make such a call which doesnt speaks to his advantage but then again few can match the great dr Faber.![]()
(BTW: Paulson's stake in Anglogold ashanti is down 15% in $ this last week and even more in other currencies! Ha!)
Too bad I own it myself.![]()
Quote from fullblotter:
schiff is being judged on the 6 month downturn because he keeps taking credit for calling it. if he is like every other market player then fine, we should judge on him on the long term, but he has made his name on calling this collapse and is behaving on television like he made a windfall when the exact opposite happened.
Quote from makloda:
Two people who called the mortgage meltdown:
1. Peter Schiff - Got his head handed to him; lost his clients money in 2008. Loves publicity. Goes on TV on how he was always right and never wrong and saw everything coming and "positioned his clients accordingly".
2. John Paulson - Made himself and his clients billions in 2008. Hates publicity. Doesn't go on TV.
Now why is there an entire generation of broke college kids worshiping Schiff that ironically have never heard of Paulson? Schiff is good at marketing, got to hand him that.
Schiff should start a hedge fund/mutual fund to create a transparent track record -- but like most talking heads he doesn't like the idea of transparency and accountability for past recommendations. Had he launched a fund in January 2008 he could have been blown out of the market in a matter of months.
Quote from Optional:
What most of the idiots in this thread don't understand is that the accounts aren't MANAGED accounts.
percent returns don't mean FUCK ALL.
what matters is that his brokerage firm has a strategy which is buying dividend paying stocks in foreign currencies as well as physical bullion stored overseas.
Not every client DOES the same thing.
I'm sure that Peter's holdings fell hard during the collapse, but he kept buying all the way down, and unless he put his money in a bunch of BK stocks, so long as the companies were solid, i'm sure with what's happened in the last few months, his positions are killing it.
Remember that Peter has been buying this stuff since 2000, and been on the right side for a long time. Anyone who has been following his advice since then is WAY ahead of the curve.
Quote from fullblotter:
the overwhelming supreme irony about schiff is for a decade he kept calling everything a "bubble". when the bubble finally did burst it turned out he was by far and away the biggest beneficiary of this bubble. all his dividend paying foreign mining stocks were pumped up from the very easy credit he ranted and raved about.
as far as his macro analysis it is simply childish. yes, he correctly called a meltdown but he's been calling for a meltdown since 2000. his understanding of austrian economics, which he claims to be a student of, is wrong.
here is some nice analysis from a correct austrian perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3KFFFXvbXY&feature=channel_page
this guy was explaining this in november 2007. schiff's analysis was, and is, the exact opposite of this and that is why he got raped and pillaged during the collapse.