December, 10 2008, 12:22pm EDT
The Next Depression?
President of Euro Pacific Capital, Peter Schiff, fears US financial stimulus may cause devastating inflation and depression
TORONTO, Ontartio
With the US financial bailout in total of more than $8 trillion, experts warn of a looming economic depression. In an internal memo regarding recent "unprecedented" bailout attempts by global financial authorities, Citigroup Chief Technical Strategist, Tom Fitzpatrick says "the world is not going back to normal after the magnitude of what they have done".
Peter Schiff, economist and president of Euro Pacific Capital suspects that the US
government's attempt to promote consumer spending by excess printing of paper currency will lead to an "inflationary depression". He goes on to say that the current financial situation is a result of the government's "years of reckless spending" and is a consequence of a service sector economy dependent on global borrowing.
US Federal debt, including unfunded government programs and obligations, has reached over $53 trillion or roughly half a million dollars per US household. The printing of more money, Schiff says, "debases the value of our savings, debases the value of our wages and prices rise". If the US dollar is to be preserved, he suspects that there will be "some radical and painful changes in the way we run monetary policies and the government".
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said last week of the current government financial intervention, "if not handled correctly, today's financial crisis will become tomorrow's human crisis...with potentially devastating consequences for all".
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