Summary: * This is the first podcast I've been able to record since the death of my father, Irwin Schiff, who passed away on Friday * If you're interested in learning more about him and the circumstances surrounding his death, I would encourage you to read my commentary, "<a href="http://www.schiffradio.com/death-of-a-patriot/" target="_blank">The Death of a Patriot</a>" * There also links to many other articles written about him on my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchiff" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> * You can also find on my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/SchiffReport">YouTube channel,</a> my father's debate for the 1996 Libertarian Nomination for President * You can also find on the internet a video he created called, "<a href="https://youtu.be/kZX1bvj_z0E" target="_blank">The Secrets of a Tax Free Life</a>" * He died in jail because of his political beliefs and for standing up for his Constitutional rights * While in prison, my father got insufficient medical care, he lost all his teeth, lost his eyesight and eventually died of cancer * In my father's case, even if he were wrong, the penalty should have been a civil case * My father was steadfast in his beliefs, and did not want to be released unless he won his appeals * The Dow was up more than 300 points today * The strength came from the ECB, as Draghi suggested that the ECB was considering expanding QE * The ECB is trying to talk the euro down * The ECB did not actually do anything, they just jaw-boned the markets with the idea of more QE * This was a euro story - the dollar was only up against the euro * The New Zealand dollar was up 1.3% against the U.S. dollar * Gold was up 2% in terms of euros * Silver was up .15 in dollars despite the big jump in the dollar index * This lays more foundation for the Fed not to raise rates * At some point, I think the Fed will another round of QE * The reason Draghi suggested QE was over fears that inflation is too low * It is running at .9%, but according the ECB, the holy grail is 1.9% * Draghi was asked why he is spending so much money to raise inflation when he earlier said that low inflation is good for purchasing power * How does the ECB think they can pinpoint inflation to exactly 1.9%? * Draghi's answer was that low inflation makes debt harder to repay * What Draghi is saying is that it doesn't reduce debt enough * Why is it good to transfer wealth from creditors to debtors? * He also said that with low inflation, real wages will rise * Why is this a problem? Because the government artificially boosted wages in the first place expecting inflation to mitigate their true effect in the economy * What's really too high is not so much wages as labor costs, due to government mandates * We want workers to have higher wages in a free market based on their productivity * All that is undermined in the ECB's quest to generate inflation * Draghi also questions the accuracy of is numbers * Central bankers are trying to prop up the stock market and the government * The real debt the central banks want to wipe out is government debt * This is not what central banks are supposed t do, they're supposed to be independent * Another reason the U.S. market might have been strong is because of all the weak economic data that came out * Housing was stronger than expected, but everything else was pretty weak * The Chicago Fed National Activity Index, which was -.41 came in at -.37 - back to back bad months * Also leading economic indicators experience their biggest drop in almost 3 years to -.2 * Last month was also revised down * Also the Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index negative again * Bloomberg's economic expectations index is at its lowest level since 2013 * All these indicators suggest recession on the horizon * This is music to the ears of Wall Street traders because it means the Fed will continue to play the cheap money tune
