Joe Rogan Experience #445 — Peter Schiff Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. Just your common sense might mean you know more about economics than people who actually have Nobel Prizes in economics. or misunderstood what was really going on. And they bought into this idea that it's capitalism or the free market that is the problem. the things that they're saying are. I understood that they were upset and they were frustrated,

3:05 nothing the government should you know not supply it i can't necessarily blame wall street uh for somehow they pretend that that means that the economy is getting better just because asset But we're buying things that are made in other countries. meanwhile, their policies are a complete failure if you judge it by what's actually going on in take taxpayer money? And what are the repercussions of them not doing it? So if they didn't bail the

6:21 in 2001. A lot of it, you know, you had the September 11th tragedy and we were going into a recession. But the politicians, you know, Bush had just become president. estate, the stock market bubble burst. And so the real estate bubble got all the air. I knew that the big crisis, though, for the real estate market was not going to be the buyer of real estate.

8:36 estate prices to keep falling, it would have been more painful in the short run, but it would have But we have much easier, much more aggressive monetary stimulus now. And I'm afraid that Yellen is going to do more of the same, only worse when she gets in. would be insured by the government if banks collapse? And then where does that money come I mean, it's a huge moral hazard because, you know, people now will

11:31 And you would have companies that would rate them and say, That doesn't seem likely. No. Well, that's what they've done in the past. They're only technically allowed banks to fail? Then some depositors would have lost money. Some depositors would have not equity. But if you don't have a house, falling real estate prices is a good thing for you. because the government guarantees all the student loans,

14:10 What's the quote? because we can't keep borrowing. The world can't keep lending us money. It's like a giant vendor financing scheme where other countries produce products and then they lend us the money to buy those products. But we can't pay back any of the money we've already borrowed, yet they keep lending us more because they don't want to deal with the reality of how much money they've lost. What kind of an epic change would be involved in getting away from this trend? What kind of an epic change would be involved in making sure that the government doesn't subsidize universities, making sure that housing costs do go down, making sure that banks aren't government protected?

15:55 But I think the way the collapse is going to come is going to be in the value of our currency, The government can keep borrowing money. The government can keep borrowing money. But when people don't want the dollars that the Fed is creating, now the value of the dollar starts to go down. And that's when you start to see a real acceleration in prices for consumer goods. I mean,

17:20 Now, the government, you know, is actually trying to lay the foundation for higher inflation now It's to bring prices down so that people can buy more stuff. Is the problem incompetent intervention in the market, to keep the party going as long as possible. Wall Street, I mean, they're making a ton of money. in 2003 and four and five and six and when i was going around going on tv shows given

19:38 Of course, that was wrong. And you would have thought, gee, I wrote a book I was like, great, why don't I go and testify time. But, you know, I tell them the truth and I treat these guys like they ought to be treated. We had too much regulation and too much government. in order for banks to thrive and get customers, they are going to have to provide a safe platform, a depository of their savings.

22:35 And so, you know, I'm not going to go on a plane, on an airline that, you know, without government interference, I care about what the banks do with my money. don't worry, we'll make sure the bank is safe. So now the depositors say, we don't give a damn. to externalities like pollution and things like that. But a lot of that is best done at a local

24:59 But, you know, the amount of money that you would lose if they weren't regulated would There's so much regulation in my industry. So there's a lot less competition in my industry. to happen. But the problem is that's happening now, even with all the government. Look at Bernie Well, this rant started when I was asking you about the BP spill, the idea that the government should possibly regulate that.

27:51 would be less of an environmental threat. It would be a lot easier. But the government, corporations were riskier than they would have been. And then, of course, then BP said, okay, there that want jobs that might say yes but most most people who don't have a vested interest in that, Before you know it, you're going to look out Believe me. What they've done is an unbelievable disservice to the planet itself. Well, you know, a lot of people want to vilify, okay, big bad oil companies.

30:18 Let's say we have an oil company that's like BP, So what? But what if we punished BP to the point? That's your new industry. And so now insurance and liability insurance goes up. I'm talking about you're raising the cost throughout the entire, you're going to have Couldn't someone listen to this conversation, listen to you saying this and say, well, this guy does – he thinks that banks should fail but oil companies shouldn't?

32:42 I'm sure there is a few, but there's maybe a few of those. BP didn't invent oil and BP didn't invent cars. to spend more money in the construction of the well, Do you want to have a giant oil rig 50, 100 yards I mean, the economic catastrophe that the government is in the process of creating from this. We'll go all the way the other way and start trading metals that we find on the street.

35:40 It's all going to be shipped over to Asia because their currencies are going to be stronger. They're going to drive cars, and they're going to use a lot of gasoline. can make a product and they can hope that you buy it but it's your decision you choose and and the is forced. The government says, you have to do this Corporations have money though. But if we allow corporations right to

38:40 of the bidders, the fault of the bidders, because if I'm a business and I don't try to get a favor and then they wind up getting jobs with banks. No, I think if you have a degree in economics, then you've probably lost. There was no other country where the standard of living was even anywhere close to what we enjoyed. If you want to be a socialist and you want to try to micromanage and centrally plan the economy, then you need advisors.

41:09 the United States. China was a communist country. There was so much different about the world then. They wanted freedom. Anybody can hire somebody, but it could fire somebody. But why were those jobs there? They got wealthy by satisfying the demands and the needs of the masses, of average people. No, no, no. People lived in New York. I don't know the exact percent.

43:59 They had, you know, all kinds of gadgets that made their lives better that didn't exist in 1865. I mean, it wasn't an accident. We had a standard of living unparalleled. Because we were so rich. and how rich we were and how everybody didn't have any of the things that we had. and we go to other countries. There's a lot going on there. I certainly think that creativity and innovation help or it helps it to be free. To have freedom certainly is going to enhance the ability to

46:37 Like here, if you want to cut hair, right, if you want to be a barber, you've got to get licensed. No one's going to go there anymore. Fuck him out of business. Look, people aren't rational. on your car or working on your house, they put your pipes in incorrectly and your fucking I mean, the free market will find solutions so that companies can say, you know, yes,

49:06 It's poor people. It's inner city people that never can get jobs. They never can improve their skills. regulating these things because I don't necessarily think they're going to do the best job. And if anybody sees that sign on your shop, they know that you really know how to weave a basket. I'd rather just be a stockbroker and not be a member of FINRA, but I can't. The government made it illegal. So in order for me to be a

51:44 Well, I think also the idea is that the government is going to be the one that's impartial. We stopped that. they have the power uh there's going to be people will get around those requirements and there'll dollars from running amok. At this situation, where we are right now, who's going to run amok? Look, it was something that the government was going to be there for them.

54:04 Getting rich in a free market is they will they will they may fail in doing so but they go out and borrow and speculate. And all this wealth that is being generated for a small number They create no real wealth for society, but they're getting rich on their own. But all Are you? No, I'm not. think they can get away with it. Yeah, look, there are bad

56:06 knowing that they're going to get in big trouble for it? The majority. And that's the free market. you've got to buy insurance. You know, well, what? What if I don't need it? What if I don't government to have that power. I feel you. I see what you're saying. And I agree with you for the changes. I started there about three years ago. What are the actual environmental effects?

59:55 They're not ruining the drinking water. Why would you laugh about that? And the same thing, look, they've been doing this with various, we've got to say this species, this subspecies, that subspecies. Yes? They start talking to people that have been forced out of their farms But it did happen, right? and make wealth out of it, It has to get shipped here on a on a big ship that comes across from China,

1:02:28 You are automatically leaning towards the profit side over the environment side. And everyone's going to suffer because we didn't let everybody take this fucking wacky basis but once those places are poisoned, they're poisoned. Hasn't the government allowed people, the frackers, to use all that water in fracking? And I think that maybe you've read some things and you've seen some of this stuff, and I

1:04:36 concern to you. Why would it be more of a If we were not producing all that energy that we're producing now out of North Dakota, prices would be much higher already. it would be even worse. profits over environmental concern. How is the market going to preserve it? Once it's ruined, it's ruined. Allowing hunters to go over there. They have people spend exorbitant amount of money to kill

1:07:17 I mean, I'm not a hunter. You can't wipe out the herd. It's a million dollars in profit is generated if you shoot a person. to do with my argument. Where is South Dakota going to get the money to pursue a gigantic oil company that's ruining its environment? I mean, you're out here in California. Oh, the government's going to deal with it. Washington pays for it than when your local government pays for it. But most of the stuff

1:10:00 farmer to sue a gigantic corporation. I mean, there's so much lawsuits here because, you know, if you sue somebody, But it's crazy to pretend that corporations would automatically give people money if they That's what they do. I don't know who should regulate it. Look at all the property taxes that are sent up there to Sacramento. I mean, they don't produce anything.

1:12:07 you throw in all the benefits, the average person working for government is making twice as much Washington gets wealthier, everybody else gets care of it. I seem to think there's no fucking way the environmental rules you don't think I just know that I think there's more laws on the books than we should have, certainly for the federal government. And at least initially, the FDA only made you prove that your drugs weren't harmful.

1:14:16 Because the doctor has to prescribe it. or some bureaucrat you've never met who doesn't even know who you are? and dealing with things that devastate the immune system and may or may not be even effective. What if there's a drug that would save me? And I know that there are a lot of drugs that work that they don't let on the market. And so they keep it up.

1:16:24 No, some people are evil. Right, but wouldn't some of those evil people are. When they get in bed, you don't think they would. No, no, no. Some people are evil. Yes, because of the FDA. for them to say, ah, the proof is inconclusive. How would the doctor know if he prescribed Fen-Phen or Vioxx or all these different drugs that have been pulled off the market after they have been prescribed by people who went to medical school.

1:17:55 And because of that, too, companies can only – you have some illnesses or some diseases that only affect a small number of people. and just don't assume that everybody else is an idiot frack. They're going to be like, what are they doing? you trust people to smoke pot responsibly and environmental protection, there's a huge liberty and freedom. You're also about the market.

1:19:54 right? If the government doesn't say we can't do it, then we can do it. And so that's why No, no, no. ruined your life well if you if if you say okay we're not going to have any fracking because a I mean, so many farmers are You don't think that the wildlife or the fresh water or all those things, the poop poisoning, that stuff is bad? Let's pick a lake, Lake Michigan.

1:22:20 Everything near the lake is dead. Probably sounds like a decent tradeoff to me. No, but that's not the tradeoff you told me. I probably eat fish more than anything else. Human beings are incredibly adaptive. One of the great wonders Because now they can live a way to do that It's the freer we are, the more prosperous we're going to be, and the enemy of freedom

1:24:37 real economic recovery, that the jobs are on their way, that there's no inflation. All of this is market going up doesn't mean anything. I mean, it's not even that earnings are going up. Look at all the student loans we have. We need more of them. So the tax, the money is out of the country. Why half? Do you know a medieval serf, and this is feudal system of serfdom, which was considered very repressive, you know, in the Middle Ages.

1:27:45 in America, the government took nothing, nothing. In fact, when they first created the income tax, by a tiny little tax on the rich. Now the income tax taxes the average guy at rates far in excess how would we run this country if we didn't have all that money going in? How did we run it back then? Well, it's a different country. There's far less people. There's far less expenses,

1:29:47 We had the industry that enabled us to go and win those wars. growth. Now, when people say, well, Peter Schiff, you want to go back to, you know, the 1890s. How do you figure the environment? Yeah. Well, there are a lot of countries that are... Doing better than us? I mean, literally, you drive down the street and you see half the people have masks on.

1:31:58 They're producing all these things. If you were A1, I mean if you were 4F, you were working for a factory that made bombs. The people making bombs are going to be unemployed. Right, but the origins of those airplanes. We started to make military airplanes. How dare you, Peter Schiff? It's kind of like when we had factories and we were making But if the Chinese let their currency go up,

1:35:28 The Chinese people, is they can't afford it They look forward to quitting time. They look forward to regulation than us, and this is the result of it. They have slaves making pennies an hour. They don't the companies are taking care of their room and board. They have plenty of spending money. They No, there's not a bunch of slaves in China. Okay, but you understand.

1:37:34 Jesus Christ. And unfortunately, that is what's going to come, right? Well, no, barely. That's why the business is left. they make a choice. You make decisions. Government's on your neck. And, of course, there should be no minimum wage. The minimum wage is, does a lot Nobody volunteers to be exploited. and somebody shows up, when Walmart runs an ad, they get like, I don't know, 50 applicants per

1:42:16 who hire people, and they said, look, you don't pay your workers enough money. They don't have don't have any other opportunity? Nobody makes anybody But if they want to keep their job, then they must like it. This is the idea that people have in America. You can't make that leap. No, because you want to make a choice, and I agree you should have that choice.

1:43:47 Not in California. Right. Well, then they got something right over there. Right. and the purity of their products than the Crips or the Bloods Because they need money to buy illegal drugs. Well, this is supported by the prohibition. go in and they would say, oh, my head hurts. Okay, we'll go right next door. I'll write you up some of a lack of regulation. It's because they weren't forced to have a database where they made sure that people weren't doing something

1:47:12 Well, then that's unfair to try to bring it up to you. Hey, just deal drugs. of skills. You're talking about outside of high school? Right. What skills am I getting working at Newport Creamery? They'd wash your windows. Now, of course, the minimum wage law, it's all self-serve. know, on the job training was how young people used to acquire skills. You know, now we've got

1:50:25 It started in 1938, and it only affected some certain federal workers. It was actually lower than white teenage unemployment. them. It's impossible. You're not going to hire them to lose money. You're not going to train not because it benefited them, because they made much more than minimum wage. You're going to have more people involved, more red tape, more bullshit, more waste,

1:53:01 This is the perverse effect of it. employers didn't want to run afoul of the employment law. So they would only give you the internship job. And, you know, people say, well, you know, you can't raise a family on the minimum wage. The manager? I mean, how do you rise through the ranks at a fast food place? But I mean, that's not how he got his foot in the door.

1:55:24 But if you take a look at someone that works at McDonald's, you don't necessarily have to work up the chain at McDonald's. Now, you say, well, did I move up in the mall. I sold shoes. I sold cable door to door. They say, well, you know, did I move up in the, no, but I, I ended up getting other jobs where, you know, the sales skills You've got to start somewhere. Everybody starts somewhere and you can't expect to get paid a lot

1:56:49 No, but I'm not saying you don't have to make a living. Wouldn't that be good, just like we were talking about deregulation of the government, forcing Now, part of the problem is, and this isn't, you know, that there are some people that really could be working better jobs. The jobs that are higher up on the ladder, where are those jobs? If I'm Obama and I say, Peter Schiff, I heard you on the Joe Rogan Experience. You make a lot of the jobs that exist. So how would you fix that? If I'm Obama and I say, Peter Schiff, I heard you on the Joe Rogan Experience.

1:58:36 Other than resigning. He actually has that kind of epiphany. Let's pretend. Let's pretend Jamie's the president and you've got to make friends. But if he's actually going to listen to me, then I don't want him to resign. Let's pretend. If he actually has that kind of epiphany. Where do you start? Assholes, every one of them. We said this is too much.

2:00:02 We've got to get rid of it. So obviously the world has changed drastically since the time when we imported 50% and maybe our needs are greatly disproportionate What do they do wrong? They've got to make up stuff. It's not the survival of the fittest. everybody needs to go to college is nonsense. Most people don't need to go to college. You know, graduated. And they all did. And some of them had two or three degrees and they were all, you know, if they graduated from college and what their major was and when they graduated. And they all did. And some of them had two or three degrees.

2:02:56 anything, but you got all this debt. And are the kids better off spending the first six years of They can rent their own place. anyway because they benefited from knowing that this is not how to get through in life I mean, these are disasters. You want a little scotch, a little whiskey? students are is absolutely ridiculous i agree that college educations are insanely expensive

2:05:35 Explain it to people who don't understand because I've seen your explanation of the Social Security system, like insurance because the taxes that you pay are called premiums and you're a beneficiary Did that get on the rocks? I love it. So people paid Social Security taxes, rights or what's the other stuff? Jack Daniels is fine. Oh, fucking American. I love it.

2:06:43 Salute. people and pay off the older people. And of course, the older people, they vote, right? The The employer just, whatever money your employer sends to the government is the money that he would have sent you if the tax wasn't there. house hey you fucked up you trusted the government you know you're screwed you know the government That's all it is.

2:09:28 doing it now just like any ponzi scheme or rather a chain letter or pyramid there are people like But she made out, right? Because when people realized it was a Ponzi scheme, they wanted their money back. I would opt right out. sector. I mean, you know, and let me What happens when your money goes into Social Security? But there's also no return because there's no compounding But you don't know what you're spending on what because it's just a bunch of money. But there's also no return because there's no compound.

2:12:36 the politicians have to admit all the false promises that they made in order to buy votes, program but who would have been self-sufficient if the government had let them plan for their Washington a 1% pay raise. Who could afford that? that i mean they should be giving these guys pay cuts but part of the deal uh to you know We need to stop stirring up

2:14:27 In fact, all we're doing is instigating. Why do we have all these bases all over Europe? Why are all the troops still there? need to dramatically reduce what we're spending on the military. But I think the military should And once it becomes big, like any bureaucratic institution, like any gigantic corporation, like anything that has too much power and influence.

2:16:28 So a larger percentage of money goes towards defense, but less money. At the turn of the 19th century, so 1900, They were idiots. It has to take. we're going to get rid of change, alter the way we deal with defense, What do we need? Those guys like to fight. The federal government's got nothing to do with the roads. if no one had to pay Social Security taxes, right, how much more money would be here?

2:18:57 The government's going to come in and seize his property. Because the thing is, it's going to fall apart eventually. It's going to be that much bigger a bubble. So the economic data is going to start to come out weaker than a lot of people think. And so they're going to reverse this tapering process, and they're going to do more quantitative easing.

2:21:25 But the market is expecting the reverse to happen. work if you do it bigger. So I think when that happens, you're going to see a lot of downward so the fed can't let that happen so they got to print even more debt. So we'll be at an even worse financial crisis than 2008. So the Fed can't let that happen. or they're going to keep printing the dollar until they print it into oblivion,

2:23:21 A lot more than a pound. dollar from before, let's say you had a $10 bill. It would say on the bill, And you could... Sitting somewhere. And that money varied depending upon the price of gold and silver? So if our money is illegitimate, how does our economy ever recover? Here's your coat. But it doesn't represent anything. Maybe. In fact, we experimented with it in the Continental Congress.

2:26:55 disaster it would be. And we are going to have a disaster because we don't have real money. They were very learned men. you know it's interesting that germany which you the United States, in addition to our own gold, right, we also store gold on behalf of a lot of other countries. Good. Theirs, ours, mine. You got gold in dried food? Do you wear any gold?

2:29:16 I don't wear my gold. You're the guy. You've never been there. eventually the world is going back to I mean, the kids don't want the chaperone there. That's why they want funny money. My brokerage clients. selling their clients what they wanted. But I make a lot more money than they do now because I took a You know, people forget the past. What do you think about emerging currencies?

2:32:27 it's a bubble i think that i think that bitcoins are gonna collapse though you hear with vegas but explain to me, I mean, is it in one Bitcoin, two Bitcoins? So how many pizzas you can get – a pizza is like $9.50. Yeah, but they need to figure it out. you can't do anything with it. Yeah, well, our currency is crap. And the government enforcing... There's no history...

2:34:53 But let me tell you why. But let me tell you, though, if you go, if I go to a store that accepts dollars and I pay with dollars, right, they don't sell my dollars. Here's what's going on with Bitcoin. But now the merchants want to get rid of them because they need dollars or euros or whatever their currency is. I think at some point they're going to be worried about losing what they have rather than getting more.

2:36:55 No. Bitcoin. There's a ton of them now. This is all a bunch. who have a vested interest in Now, if you get a real digital currency backed by gold, I can be on board with that. There's no history of value to Bitcoin. There's no real frame of reference. the dollar worked for a while, not backed by gold, and it hasn't worked very well, is because it had

2:40:36 Well, look, if you look at- look at a quarter right you know you think it's you know you? You know, if you look at the ridges of a quarter, But why does the government go through the process of binding zinc to copper, and it's coated with a little bit of zinc. But why does the government go through the process of binding zinc to copper, and why Is that why those old coins are always fucked up and they're never like

2:41:56 They're just worn out. It was like people were used to silver coins. We have counterfeit paper. The real crash is coming. And unfortunately, I was right about that. And why it crashes. So we've figured out a lot of things. The Department of Public Education, or Department of Education rather, Department of Energy, We've got to follow the founding fathers.

2:44:32 didn't make gold money. The people Back when donkeys were worth a lot, you could carry things for your donkey. It's malleable. It's good for, you know, you can make dishes. you can pay for it with gold. You know, like they found this underwater freshwater lake in Antarctica under the glaciers, gigantic freshwater lake like the size of an ocean. There are people saying, well.

2:46:39 Do you know the whole story of Zacharias Hitchin? And they live on a planet that's in an elliptical orbit that comes around near Earth every 3,600 years, and they need gold to sustain their atmosphere. They created us out of monkeys. years ahead of us they have currency? Because I do think that if you have free markets and sound money, I can imagine what you would do with Bigfoot.

2:48:40 No one's visiting us, or at least I guess if they are that that advanced they're advanced enough to not let us know that they're here. to think that out of all of the resource-based economies, or really based on money. It's not based on gold. about a primitive society i mean the only way and that's why this how an economy grows and why it Not a lot.

2:51:04 They got a stick. They still don't have money. and say you weren't an asshole, wampum, right? What was wampum? What was that? No, but look, money is a great invention because without money, it's all barter, right? But, I mean, you have sponsors. But instead of money. Money makes transactions a lot more efficient. Peter Schiff, you're a bad motherfucker, but we're out of time.

2:53:35 I just might eventually have to take a bathroom break. So I really thank you very much for that. The Schiff Report is fantastic. The Schiff Report on YouTube. But, you know, the Schiff Report on YouTube. Because whenever I do a live show, we then repeat the broadcast for 24 hours until the next live show. Find a nice stream. Learn how to hunt and fish. no escape. Be nice to your neighbors. Collect water. Find a nice stream.

2:55:20 And then the weekend after that, He's going to be really fucking mad. Use the code word ROGAN to save 10%.