vlogolution network » Peter Schiff

How US Job Losses and Offshoring Will Start to Decline

Alexander P Morris — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:29:20 +0000

(SeekingAlpha-MHFT) “Textile workers earn $2.99 an hour in India ($PIN), $1.84 in China ($FXI), and $0.49 in Vietnam ($VNM).”

“This compares to the $8 an hour our much abused illegals get at sweat shops in Los Angeles, and $10 in some of the nicer places. What’s more, the Indian wage is up 17% in a year, meaning that inflation is casting a lengthening shadow over the sub continent’s economic miracle. A series of strikes and a wave of suicides have brought wage settlements with increases as high as 20% in China.”

“This is how the employment drain in the US is going to end. When foreign labor costs reach half of those at home, manufacturers quit exporting jobs because the cost advantages gained are not worth the headaches and risk involved in managing a foreign language work force, the shipping expense, political risk, import duties, and supply disruptions, just to get lower quality goods. Chinese wage growth at this rate takes them up to half our minimum wage in only five years.”

“This has already happened in South Korea ($EWY), where wage costs are 60% of American ones. As a result, Korea’s GDP growth is half that seen in China. These numbers are also a powerful argument for investing in Vietnam, where wages are only 27% of those found in the Middle Kingdom, and where Chinese companies are increasingly doing their own offshoring.”

Full Story: How US Job Losses Will End (SeekingAlpha-MHFT)

Reducing overwhelming regulatory burdens and requirements would also go a long way to help reduce unemployment as well:

(PeterSchiff) “In my own business, securities regulations have prohibited me from hiring brokers for more than three years. I was even fined fifteen thousand dollar expressly for hiring too many brokers in 2008. In the process I incurred more than $500,000 in legal bills to mitigate a more severe regulatory outcome as a result of hiring too many workers. I have also been prohibited from opening up additional offices. I had a major expansion plan that would have resulted in my creating hundreds of additional jobs. Regulations have forced me to put those jobs on hold.”

Full Story: Peter Schiff: Before the Congressional Committee of Oversight & Reform (YouTube)

Occupy Wall Street – Peter Schiff Debates Cronyism and Socialism versus Capitalism

Alexander P Morris — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 01:44:41 +0000

Last week, Reason.tv followed Peter Schiff, prinicipal of the financial firm Euro Pacific Capital, around Occupy Wall Street protesters in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park as he attempted to debate the the difference between capitalism and cronyism, and how socialism (and communism) only serve to promote more cronyism.

(Reason.TV) “Touring the Occupy Wall Street scene in New York with a sign that read ‘I Am the 1%, Let’s Talk,’ Schiff spent more than three hours on the scene, explaining the difference between cronyism and capitalism, bailouts and balance sheets, and more. ‘The regulation we want is the market,’ said Schiff. ‘That’s what works.’ Schiff describes himself as ‘sympathetic’ to the plight of the OWS protesters, but thinks their anger is misdirected at legitimate business interests and should be better at the White House, Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the crony capitalists they’ve bailed out.”

It’s sad and disheartening to watch people arguing with him, while blind to the fact that he’s on their side and generally agrees with most of their grievances, but not with their solutions. Granted, there are also many Ron Paul, “Tea Party”, and sound money-types in the crowd as well, who do likely already better understand these points. As such, these debates can only serve to bring them closer together against the true common enemies of the people.

Schiff debates a few people who correctly make the point that “Wall Street” TBTF (Too Big To Fail) firms must get their hands out of politics, and shouldn’t be allowed to control and manipulate the government. At the same time, they want to raise taxes and give even more money, power, and control to the government. Somehow they simply don’t make the connection that the same manipulative controlling “rich” people they despise most of all are the greatest benefactors of their rage and “wealth redistribution” agenda. These “elites” are laughing all the way back to the bank while directing the bought-and-paid-for police, judges, politicians, and prosecutors to do their bidding. Who do OWS protesters think controls the policemen firing flash grenades at their heads (who then deny doing it despite the events being captured on video from a dozen different angles)? And if the Almighty Obama himself couldn’t even bring the “Change” they were looking for, then who got all those $$trillions? Must be the same people Obama blamed for “blocking progress”… Maybe had he thrown all the bankers in jail where they belong, they’d have a harder time at it.

Schiff believes that capitalism is the only hope for young, frustrated people to have a vibrant and prosperous future. So he went to Occupy Wall Street to engage and debate the protesters, and to help them better understand these key differences.

NY Hard Assets Conference Review 2009

Alexander P Morris — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:48:34 +0000

While I didn’t have a chance to get down to the NY Hard Assets Conference in New York City May 11th-12th, Daryl Montgomery of the NY Investing Meetup did attend. Honestly, I counted on him releasing a good summary and review of the conference so that I could focus on trading and managing positions in this crazy market! (did I say that out loud?!) He didn’t let me down, and wrote an excellent summary of the conference on his blog, along with his take of the “experts” in attendance and their “predictions”. It’s definitely worth reading the full article. Some key points are included below:

(read more...)