by Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, and host of The Peter Schiff Show, broadcasting live from WSTC Norwalk CT from 10am to noon Eastern time every weekday, and streaming at

Earlier this week the Federal Reserve ignited a firestorm in the global markets by admitting that the U.S. economy is facing downside risks. Although it continues to sugar coat the unpleasant reality, never has such a stunningly obvious statement resulted is so much turmoil.

Once again we are seeing the knee-jerk market reaction to seek refuge in the perceived safety of the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasuries. However I expect investors will soon discover that such assets are firmly in the eye of the storm.  As the tempest moves on, those enjoying the dollar’s current stability may soon find themselves battered by a category five monster.

Market disappointment was compounded when the Fed failed to follow up its dire outlook with a new round of quantitative easing (QE). Instead, through a policy entitled “Operation Twist” the Fed promised to sell $400 billion of short-term Treasuries and use the proceeds to buy an equivalent amount of long-term Treasuries. The markets evidently perceived this “balance sheet neutral” policy as too timid.

From my perspective, the Twist really amounts to another Fed “Hail Mary” pass that will fall short of the end zone. But, by putting the squeeze on banks and further restricting credit availability to small business the move will likely do more harm than good.

The policy rests on the false premise moving already historically low interest rates even lower will stimulate the economy into recovery. But low interest rates are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Even by the government’s debased standards, trailing headline inflation is already hovering above 4%, and, at current rates, 30-year Treasuries are negative by 100 basis points. This distortion is inflicting untold damage on the economy. Pushing rates further into negative territory seems only to invite more problems in the future.

With the Twist, the Ben Bernanke wing of the increasingly divided Fed is offering debtors the short-term gain of low long rates in exchange for its own long-term pain of limited balance sheet flexibility and diminished power to deal with surging inflation. By selling on the short end (thereby pushing up short term yields) and buying on the long end (thereby pushing down long-term yields), the Fed will flatten the yield curve. But to attain these insignificant benefits, the plan exposes the Fed, and the economy, to great risks.

First the “benefits”: Mortgage rates are already at generational lows and have recently lagged the declines seen in long dated Treasuries. Is it reasonable to believe that mortgage rates will go much lower as a result of this policy?  Even if they do, what would be the net economic benefit of a new refinancing wave? Do we really want to encourage consumers once again to use their homes as ATM machines? Even if they do, any short-term boost in consumer spending would be transitory and counter-productive to a genuine recovery.  The last thing we want to encourage is more spending, particularly on the imported products that would likely be purchased by those who refinanced.

What’s more, the program will actually increase borrowing costs for small businesses. By increasing the cost of short-term borrowing and lowering returns on long-term loans, it will severely pressure the profitability of the beleaguered financial sector. In other words the borrower’s gain is the lender’s pain. In such conditions, should we expect banks to provide more credit to small business? In fact, the move will be a devastating blow to bank balance sheets and further enfeeble a financial sector on life support.  Business credit will instead be diverted to dead end consumer spending, resulting in less business activity to grow the economy and create jobs.

Now the costs: The Fed severely underestimates the danger of loading up its own balance sheet with long dated securities. Not only does the move expose the Fed to severe losses when interest rates inevitably rise, but it drastically reduces its ability to withdraw liquidity to fight inflation. Short-term securities provided flexibility as they could be sold into a falling market with little price risk, or if need be, held to maturity. Such options do not exist with bonds maturing in 6-30 years. So when inflation continues to rise, as I’m sure it will, the Fed will be powerless to slow it without crushing the bond market and causing yields to soar.

In any event, the markets did not want the Twist program, they wanted additional liquidity injections in the form of QE III. In this respect, the market is like a heroin junkie. It needs ever-greater doses of money to continue moving higher. When it gets its fix, it will rally.

But a growing popular mistrust of stimulus is currently pressuring the Fed to forestall the launch of QE III. But a few more whiffs of financial turbulence could cause the Fed to fold. When the market rally ensues the Fed will claim victory.  But the celebration will be hollow. The nominal gain in stock prices will likely be eclipsed by dollar declines and a more rapid gain in gold, oil, or other commodity prices. The result for investors will be higher nominal portfolio values but lower real purchasing power and a reduced standard of living.

But many of those who oppose QE3 do so because they believe the economy doesn’t need more stimulus not because the stimulus itself is causing the economic weakness. As a result when the economy deteriorates, support for QE III could grow. In the end QE3 will likely be far more popular than another bank bailout (possibly to be called TARP II), which may be on the table if the Fed fails to rescue the banks it may be pushing over the edge with the Twist.

But our zombie economy does not need to be perpetuated by more QE. It must be allowed to die so that a living, breathing, self-sustaining economy can replace it. By feeding our drug addiction now the Fed is impeding the recovery. QE may goose the markets and provide a short-term boost to spending, but it will also increase debt and grow the government. This process exacerbates the structural imbalances underlying the U.S. economy, making what may be the inevitable crash that much more spectacular.

Last week U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, held a hearing on his proposed Free Competition in Currency Act of 2011 (H.R. 1098), which would repeal legal tender laws, restrictions on private mints, and taxes on gold and silver, since such taxes interfere with the metals’ circulation as money. Testifying were the executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Monetary Education, Lawrence M. Parks, and George Mason University Economics Professor Lawrence H. White. Video of the hearing is not quite an hour long and you can watch it here:

The full text of the legislation is simple and concise and can be found here:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h112-1098

The legislation would seem to legalize the Liberty Dollar coins whose issuer recently was convicted on vague charges in federal court in North Carolina. Professor White quotes New York Sun editor and Wall Street Journal contributor Seth Lipsky to the effect that it doesn’t make much sense to suppress private money that is sound to protect money that is unsound.

Unfortunately the Free Competition in Currency Act has no co-sponsors and its introduction and this week’s hearing seem to be mainly an educational exercise. But that’s where everything starts.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

by Peter Schiff

The markets are going through another sell-off phase, yet the traditional notions of a ‘safe haven’ are changing. No longer is the US dollar the default shelter; instead, gold, the Swiss franc, and the Japanese yen are the preferred assets.

All three of these havens – gold, francs, and yen – have been surging upward this month. Two of them, however, are being actively devalued by central banks desperately (and foolishly) trying to curtail appreciation. The Swiss and Japanese are enlisting both policy measures and all the banker-speak they can muster to stem the tide of investment flows into their currencies.

The game is Last Haven Standing, and Spielberg has already acquired the movie rights.

SWITZERLAND: FROM NEUTRALITY TO INTERVENTION

Looking to Europe, the Financial Times now has the awkward task of reporting that mighty European Union’s currency is coming apart at the seams, while neighboring Switzerland has barely enough hotels to house the world’s waterlogged financial refugees. The franc is up 5.41% against the euro this year and almost 14% against the dollar. One wonders if the only way to prevent a collapse of the these major debtor currencies is to back them with Swiss-made wristwatches. At least then they’d have a partial gold standard and there’d be no excuse to be late for an austerity protest!

Unfortunately, the Swiss National Bank is so afraid of the franc’s rise that it has flooded the market with liquidity and cut interest rates to zero. The SNB even recently threatened to peg the franc to the euro. It’s as if survivors on one of the Titanic’s lifeboats were so confused and bewildered that they began tying their boat to the sinking behemoth out of a desire for a ‘stable relationship.’

NOTE TO JAPAN: IT’S NOT THE SPECULATORS

Japan, ironically, has been blessed that while its debt problems are severe, they’ve been severe for so long that markets are willing to take that as a sign of stability. And, aside from the public debt problem, Japan does have fairly impressive fundamentals. They are still a productive economy with high personal savings and exposure to booming China. So, it’s no wonder the Yen has risen 6.63% against the dollar so far this year.

Former Finance Minister, and now Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda stated recently that he would “take bold actions if necessary and won’t rule out any possible options” to restrain the yen’s appreciation. Yet, while Noda has said the ministry will study whether “speculation” is behind the yen’s rise, he doesn’t seem to understand that this is a permanent move away from dollars and euros and into anything which might be a better alternative. This is not driven by Wall Street gamblers, but rather by everyday investors seeking shelter.

CLEARLY SHIFTING SENTIMENTS

My readers know that I see these past years in the US markets as one ongoing crisis. We’re not “facing a double-dip recession” as the media suggests; instead, we’re really in the midst of a prolonged economic depression. The periodic market panics since 2007, both in the US and Europe, all stem from the same disease and, as such, ought to be properly understood as related symptoms, not as separate events.

And as one long, ugly narrative, these subsequent panics resemble a series of steps; sharp drops leading down either to a dismal “new normal” or – more likely – a collapse in both the fiat dollar and euro currencies and a widespread return to gold as money.

My brother, Andrew Schiff, wrote an article for my brokerage firm this month reviewing the market turmoil and how it compares to previous crises since ’07. He found a steady shift in what investors perceive as a safe haven.
During the depths of the credit crunch, from October 2008 to March 2009, the S&P lost over a quarter of its value, as investors flocked to the US dollar, driving it up 8%. Foreign stock markets sold off and most foreign currencies fell substantially. The Swiss franc fell over 3%. Gold rose some 6.5% and the yen rose 5.75%, but neither kept pace with the US dollar, which rose 13.5%.

Then, during the dip between April 23, 2010 and July 2, 2010, the S&P dropped again by almost 15%. The dollar rallied barely more than 3%. The Swiss franc gained slightly instead of falling. And this time, both the yen and gold beat the dollar, gaining 4% and 5.5% respectively.

Now here we are in August, and what’s happening?

In extreme volatility, the S&P fell over 13% before rebounding to its starting place. The dollar has remained essentially flat even with intensified fears in the euro zone. The yen is also flat, despite heavy intervention to push it down. The Swiss franc rose 8% before Switzerland’s central bank threatened to peg the currency to the euro, and gold has surged almost 12%!

See the pattern? On each step of this multi-year downward spiral, global investors are slowly but coherently altering their preferred safe haven. Alternatives are being desperately sought, though actions first by the Japanese central bank and more recently by the Swiss have prevented their currencies from fully realizing potential gains as dollar-alternatives.

Fortunately, gold doesn’t have a central bank, so it can rise as fast as the dollar falls.

THE FIAT DOWNGRADE

Whether it is in their interests or not – and I argue it is not – central bankers look set on continued competitive devaluation of their currencies so that their economies don’t have to do the hard work of retooling for the new reality.

That is why gold is doing so phenomenally well, and why it should continue to do so. New gold comes into the market at a rate of about 2% per year. This number has been fairly steady over time, and reflects the ability of mining companies to locate, finance, purchase, and develop new gold mines. I invest in these companies, and trust me, it’s not an easy job.

Contrast this with a paper currency – more dollars can be created by Bernanke simply printing extra zeros on his banknotes. See that $10 bill? Shazam, it’s a $100!

The reason currencies like the yen and Swiss franc are considered safe is simply a longstanding habit of their central banks not to print too much. But a habit is much less reliable than a physical constraint.

Think of a dog that has been trained not to eat steak. If you put it in a room with a juicy ribeye, would you be more confident the steak would be there when you came back if the dog was in a kennel or just sitting there? Just like a dog always craves steak, and will grab a bite when no one’s looking, central bankers always crave the printing press.

That’s why we need to hold an asset for which scarcity is dictated by nature itself – gold.

As this realization becomes more commonplace, and as this depression accelerates, I expect gold to be the Last Haven Standing. This will not be a “new normal,” but rather a return to thousands of years of economic tradition.

A NOTE ABOUT THE FUNDAMENTALS

Those who do not really understand the fundamentals, such as commodity trader Dennis Gartman, continue to look at gold’s rise as a bubble. In fact, Gartman just called the top in gold, again, claiming that one of the “great bubbles of our time” had finally popped.

He cites as evidence the quick 200-point rise to over $1900/oz, which Gartman sees as a speculative blow-off top. He also cites the meaningless fact that one Gold ETF, GLD, has a larger market cap than one S&P 500 ETF. He absurdly compares this situation to the Japanese Emperor’s palace eclipsing the value of the entire state of California at the top of Japan’s real estate bubble. Those ETFs simply represent one way of owning assets, and do not, as Gartman contends, indicate that investors value gold higher than the entire US stock market. In fact, a true comparison of the two asset classes reveals gold’s value is historically low relative to the value of US stocks.

Rather than the bursting of a bubble, the recent technical action in gold is more indicative of a break-out. In fact, the positive divergence of gold stock from bullion in this recent correction is evidence that a more powerful leg in this bull market is about to begin. Up until now, the market for gold stocks has been characterized by fear. However, it now appears to me that gold stocks will make a new high before the metal itself. If the stocks finally begin to lead the metal, it means traders are finally starting to believe in this rally. Rather than evidencing the end of the trend, such a shift in sentiment likely indicates an acceleration in that trend. Maybe when the last skeptic finally throws in the towel, we may finally get the blow-off top Gartman thinks already occurred – but that day is likely many years into the future.

In fact, all the talk about a gold bubble seems to be based on the fact that so many investors are now talking about gold. However, the problem with this argument is that despite all the talking, very few investors are actually buying. Bubbles are not formed by talk, but by action. Before we get a gold bubble, all those investors talking about gold actually have to buy an ounce. In fact, before a bubble pops, its not just investors, but the average man in the street who will have to be buying. Thus far, he has not even joined the conversation.

by John Browne, Senior Market Strategist at Euro Pacific Capital

The basic unwillingness of politicians to face economic and financial realities has caused the United States and European Union to face currency collapse. The politicians are content literally to paper over the problem with massive amounts of newly printed currency. This means that savvy investors, facing major real losses, are turning increasingly to gold. In essence, even though currencies are no longer on a gold standard, they are increasingly being “redeemed” for gold in the marketplace.

For decades, fiscally irresponsible US Administrations have gradually reduced the world’s richest nation, with a currency perceived as ‘good as gold,’ to the position of the largest global debtor, with a debased currency. Furthermore, US stock markets have offered little real return. Indeed, the Dow stands just below 11K, down over 3K points from its all-time high on October 9, 2009. Discounting for inflation shows a loss close to 4K points, or a fall of over 25 percent from its all-time high. Meanwhile, equities in emerging markets have often shown handsome returns.

The recent political wrangling in Washington has damaged the financial credibility of the United States, prompting a long overdue debt downgrade by ratings house Standard & Poor’s. This removes a fundamental pillar supporting the dollar as the global reserve asset of choice.

In Europe, the unwillingness of politicians to face the fatal structural flaws within the euro is encouraging a fear-driven economic recession, sovereign debt defaults, a banking crisis, and, potentially, a currency collapse. This is hurting the euro’s formerly bright prospects of replacing the dollar as global reserve.

This week’s Merkel-Sarkozy summit meeting amounted to nothing constructive. The most popular topic was instituting a Tobin tax on forex transactions. This would, of course, drive financial markets out of the EU to more friendly environments. But more importantly, it leaves the major structural issues of a two-speed Europe unaddressed.

With nothing achieved by the EU’s ruling Franco-German axis, European banks are correctly seen as increasingly vulnerable to further EU sovereign debt defaults. Of course, former communist Merkel and her French ‘poodle,’ the socialist Sarkozy, will find no problem in transferring toxic bank assets to the public purse. But it will require more market anguish before they dare to do it. Once this happens, the euro will be locked on the same railway to devaluation as the dollar.

China’s yuan has strong fundamentals, but is not properly situated to vie for a place on the world stage. It is neither backed by hard assets nor freely floating. Though this policy is changing, it is not yet a true alternative to the dollar as it maintains a fixed exchange ‘band’ to restrain its true value.

Naturally, private investors and foreign central banks are turning to the very monetary instrument that they never should have abandoned: bullion gold. That is why the gold price is rising in $50 leaps per day, with only small corrections. Gold is being re-monetized. [Learn the difference between rare and bullion gold in Euro Pacific Precious Metals' new special report, free for download HERE. Please note: Euro Pacific Capital and John Browne are not affiliated with Euro Pacific Precious Metals.]

Still, despite our continued warnings, and perhaps motivated by yield or a misplaced sense of safety, some investors still are tempted into dollars and US Treasuries, driving them to negative real yields of up to three percent. This may prove to be one of the largest financial traps in history, potentially devastating the savings of many investors. It reflects a fundamental investment strategy flaw.

It has been held that most wise investors should look not at yield and capital appreciation, but at total return. The only need to differentiate between yield and capital growth is for tax purposes. Some investors avoid gold still, because of its lack of yield. This can be a costly mistake when gold’s meteoric capital gains are taken into account.

Some are skeptical because of the performance of silver during the spring. However, it must be remembered that silver is still up some 125% year-over-year. The drop from $50 to $35 was directly related to an unprecedented triple-margin hike by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The exchange made the same move against gold, but the yellow metal shrugged it off through buoyant demand.

Indeed, while silver is temporarily hobbled by worries of global depression and a corresponding drop in industrial demand, gold appears to have no such reservations. Silver may ultimately surge well past gold as the emerging markets prove themselves able to stand on their own despite an ailing West. But gold is a pure monetary trade, and its signal is indisputable.

As long as politicians continue to paper over their problems by issuing more fiat money, gold will regain its crown as the king of monetary instruments.

Paul Krugman sounded the war cry this Sunday on Fareed Zakaria’s program Global Public Square. After all, he asserted, only spending equivalent to another World War could lead us back to prosperity. That, and a healthy dose of inflation.

Krugman argued that inflation would address our debt problem by reducing our bill in current dollar terms and that the Second World War was a giant stimulus plan that actually worked. Thankfully, he added the refrain, “Hopefully we don’t need a world war to get there,” but I sensed a tinge of regret in his voice. After all, the Keynesian economist’s favorite pastime is seeing people waste their lives digging holes in the ground or sacrifice their lives in war. Both acts create economic growth according to the topsy-turvy logic of men like Krugman.

The truth is that wars are a miserable misallocation of capital and usually leave financial ruin in their wake. The US did not boom in the ’50s because we fought World War II, but because we resoundingly won. It was the byproduct of having an unscathed manufacturing base, solid infrastructure, an intact military, most of the world’s gold, and the only reserve currency.

The logical implication of Krugman’s arguments remains that working in productive employment is not at all necessary. If this is true, why not have people just save gas and stay home? The government could simply borrow and/or print money and send it to foreign countries that are dumb enough to produce goods and services for US consumption. Christina Romer, former Chair to Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, also sided with Krugman in a commentary posted in Sunday’s New York Times finance section. In it, she pontificated on the lessons to be learned from the Great Depression, saying: “It would be a mistake to respond by reducing the deficit more sharply in the near-term. That would almost surely condemn us to a repeat of the 1937 downturn.” This misdirection demonstrates her lack of understanding of what causes economic depressions in the first place.

The cause of the Great Depression in the 1930s and the Great Recession beginning in December 2007 were one and the same – an over-leveraged economy. Easy money provided by the banking system eventually brings debt in the economy to an unsustainable level. At that point, the only real and viable solution is for the public and private sectors to undergo a protracted period of deleveraging. The ensuing depression is, in actuality, the healing process at work, and is marked by the selling of assets and the paying down of debt. Unfortunately, our politicians today are focused on fighting the natural healing process of deleveraging by promoting the accumulation of even more debt.

During this latest economic contraction, the Federal Reserve has taken interest rates to near 0% for the past 2 ¾ years, and it has just promised to keep them there for an additional 2 years! Meanwhile, the Obama administration is leveraging up the public sector to record levels in an effort to re-leverage the private sector. The government’s philosophy is tantamount to sticking a frostbitten man in the freezer so he won’t have to suffer the pain associated with the thawing of his extremities.

During the Great Depression, real GDP plummeted 32%. The Great Recession, through which we are still struggling, began in December 2007, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. But, in contrast to the 1930s, GDP during this recession shrank only 3.6% from the fourth quarter of 2007 through its low point in the second quarter of 2009.

The contraction in GDP during the Great Depression was the direct result of consumers paying down debt and selling off assets. Household debt as a percentage of GDP reached nearly 100% in 1929. To put that number in perspective, household debt did not go back above 50% of GDP until 1985. And it was not until the first quarter of 2009 that household debt once again approached the 1929 level.

Between the start of the Great Depression and the end of World War II, household debt fell from 100% to just above 20% of GDP. Getting there was a painful process, but such de-leveraging was the only real cure for an economy swimming in debt. Thanks to government efforts to carry on our debt-fueled consumption binge, during today’s Great Recession, household debt has barely contracted at all – it has only been reduced to 90% of GDP as of Q1 ’11.

To make matters even worse, during this current crisis our government’s response has been to dramatically increase its own borrowing. At the start of the Great Depression, gross national debt was 16% of GDP. It peaked just below 44% when the Depression ended. While the national debt did increase significantly during that period, it was still relatively benign compared to other Western governments. The US entered this current Great Recession with gross national debt equal to 65% of GDP. It has since exploded to 98% of GDP!

US federal debt did rise dramatically during World War II, topping out at 120% of GDP in 1946. But consumer debt plunged concurrently. So, while Washington was adding debt to fight and win a global war, households were taking the necessary steps to ensure their balance sheets were well prepared for the aftermath of the battle.

Today, for the first time in our history, gross national debt and household debt are both at least 90% of GDP.

Mr. Krugman and his allies believe that we can grow our way out of this recession like we have in the past few. Unfortunately, we’re dealing with a completely different animal. In every past recession, the government, under the guidance of Keynesians, decided to put off deleveraging in return for artificial growth. Well, that tab has come due.

Since these economists keep trying to spend like it’s World War III, we are moving inexorably closer to causing Great Depression II. If policymakers and mainstream economists fail to understand that the progenitor of a depression is debt, they will also be unable to provide a genuine solution. Instead, by pushing public debt past the point of our creditors’ willingness to lend, they may ensure that this next Great Depression will be accompanied by runaway inflation. If history is any guide, this is a truly lethal combination.

by John Browne, Senior Market Strategist at Euro Pacific Capital

Last week Fed Chairman Bernanke raised eyebrows and denied history when he asserted in front of Congress that gold doesn’t qualify as money. Yesterday he took the unprecedented step of announcing that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates near zero for at least the next two years. In very short order thereafter it required much more of the money that he believes in (U.S. dollars) to buy the money that he doesn’t believe in (gold).

In any event, it was beyond unusual for the Fed to make such an explicit time commitment on monetary policy. To underscore this fact, three voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee came out against the policy. Such dissent within the Fed’s ranks has not been seen in decades. But Bernanke’s shameless appeasement of market fears did interrupt, if only for a few hours, the free fall on Wall Street. Wiser investors, understanding how a more activist Federal Reserve will destroy the value of the dollar, moved to gold, pushing the metal up to north of $1,750 per ounce.

The economic forecast contained in the Fed statement was far gloomier than earlier pronouncements. Bernanke sees continued sluggish growth for the U.S. economy and subdued inflation. Normally under such conditions gold should be expected to fall. However, as we have said consistently, these times are far from normal.

Readers will know already that we believe that the U.S. Treasury market is a gigantic wealth trap. Even before the Fed’s statement, investors seeking safety from European debt fears and staggering losses and unnerving volatility in the equities markets had flooded into U.S. Treasury securities. Nevertheless, this week has thus far seen a stampede into Treasury securities, causing yields to plummet. One-month Treasuries now yield 0.02 percent, making them no better than cash; the 5-year yields 0.93 percent, 10-year 2.17 percent and the 30-year 3.56 percent. Assuming a Consumer Price Inflation rate of 3.2 percent, all new investors in U.S. Treasury securities with a maturity of less than 30 years are losing ‘real’ money. In addition, with little prospect of further interest rate reductions the possibility of capital gains through Treasury investments are essentially nil.

These negative returns will eventually act as a pressure for funds to drift away from the bloated bond market into the beaten down equity market. But the total size of the global bond market is more than twice the size of the global equities markets, so these fund flows, when they occur, may make an outsize impact on equity prices.

In addition, the Fed is debasing the U.S. dollar at an increasing rate. Despite the fact that other nations are following suit to protect their exports, the dollar is set to fall further. Indeed in criticizing the S&P downgrade last week, Former Fed Chairman Greenspan said that the Fed need not be concerned about debt service because it can just “print more money!”

Facing negative real yields, the prospect of further credit rating downgrades and a falling dollar, investors in U.S. Treasuries are setting themselves up to be plundered.

On the other hand, despite recession fears, the upward march of gold continues, with many mainstream investment firms now setting price targets north of $2,000 per ounce. But skepticism remains, with some analysts pointing out that the price of gold is in “record” territory and is therefore highly speculative. However today’s gold price of $1,760 is still about 30 percent below the inflation adjusted high set in 1980 when gold struck $850 per ounce. From my perspective, with a sovereign debt crisis threatening, a currency collapse looming, and a chronically persistent low interest rate regime, gold looks positively cheap.

To an extent not fully appreciated by the investing public, financial markets are influenced by human emotion just as much as they are by economic data, corporate earnings, and dividend yields. Of all human motivations, fear is perhaps the most powerful. When people get scared, the “fight or flight” instinct forces us to take action.

Simple dangers prompt simple responses. If we unexpectedly encounter a bear on our driveway, we immediately run into the house and call animal control (or, in the country, grab the shotgun). But it’s harder to know what to do when financial danger stalks the stock market. To be honest, most investors are clueless. Is that really a bear? Is it dangerous? What qualifies as a house?

When confronted with fear AND confusion, investors tend to look around to see what other people are doing – hoping that others know something they don’t. This is a big part of our natural and instinctive drive to seek safety in numbers. When financial markets panic, investors follow the herd. If the herd does something illogical, like buying US Treasuries when they pay almost no yield and when the government is essentially bankrupt, it is evidence that people have decided to seek safety in numbers.

But here’s the thing: this herd doesn’t have a leader. As much as we would like to think that there are rational, or sinister, individuals who decide where the herd goes and how fast it will take to get there, in reality, we just have a center of gravity around which the herd coalesces. Individuals may make an impact but the mass has a mind of its own. The center of gravity does move, but it tends to do so glacially.

As a result, we can expect that market movements in the current correction will largely resemble past corrections. However, there will be slight differences, which should be studied intently to determine where the center of gravity is drifting. It’s particularly important to notice where the herd is seeking safety.

Yesterday’s sell-off in the US markets saw the the S&P 500 lose 4.8% of its value. The Dow’s loss was, at 513 points, the biggest one day drop since December 2008. It capped a horrific 10-day plunge that knocked more than 10% off stock prices overall.

The carnage has many investors queasily recalling the nightmare days of the credit crunch of 2008. In one particularly brutal phase of that crisis, between December 16, 2008 and March 9, 2009, the S&P 500 sold off more than 25%. Fear drove investors to seek safety in traditional havens. During that time, the US dollar rallied by 8.4% while foreign currencies sold off heavily, including a 9% dip in the Australian dollar and a 3% haircut for the vaunted Swiss franc. Gold rallied 7.4% during that period, but failed to beat the dollar’s run up.

The next major correction in stocks showed a slightly different result. Between April 23, 2010 and July 2, 2010, the S&P 500 dropped 16%. During that time, the dollar rallied just 3%. Notably, this time around, the Swiss franc did not sell off, but rather rallied by about 1%. More importantly, gold rallied nearly 5%, taking from the US dollar the title of “fear asset of choice.”

These trends have gained momentum in the current sell-off. From April 29, 2011 to August 4, 2011, the S&P 500 lost 11.3%. During that time, the dollar managed just a skimpy .3% gain. Meanwhile, the Swiss franc jumped almost 13% and gold surged 5.6%. It does appear that the crowd has changed at least some of its assumptions. It no longer runs blindly into US dollars. It considers other options.

There are many theories as to what moves the herd’s center of gravity. Here, I don’t think it’s much of surprise. Since 2008, a steady drip of news stories have highlighted the staggering indebtedness of the US government, the unwillingness of its policymakers to confront the crisis, and the stubborn persistence of economic stagnation in the face of growing inflation. Although the dollar is still regarded as a place to go when the going gets rough, that opinion is not as strong as it was in the days before our economy imploded and our government became the economy itself.

I would expect the broad trends outlined here to continue. As economic data continues to disappoint, look for the stock market to continue to fall. If the drop goes too far too fast, look for an early launch of the next round of quantitative easing. QE3 may help stabilize stock prices, but it will further erode confidence in the US dollar. As a result, when the next panic hits, look for the dollar to perform that much worse than it did this time around.

Although the dollar’s doom is clearly written on the walls, the center of gravity in the financial world has moved very slowly and will likely continue to do so. Fortunately, for our readers, the direction of the movement is clear. Thus, we are positioned well in front while Wall Street brings up the rear.

The reliance upon the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency and “safe haven” asset has created a perverse, but deeply entrenched, mindset among global investors. In fact, many believe the major financial players have no alternatives to owning U.S. debt and dollars. They argue that the market for U.S. dollars and Treasuries is the only financial pool large enough to handle the massive liquidity that sloshes around the globe on a daily basis. This idea makes a mass exodus from U.S. debt holdings seem impossible. This provides a nice explanation why the U.S. Treasury bonds can rally even while the government openly flirts with default and ratings agencies issue downgrades. But just because an illogical event occurs habitually does not mean it is logical or tenable.

The sophomoric reasoning behind the dollar “exceptionalism” argument is like assuming a stock can never fall unless a significant portion of shareholders decide to sell. In reality, a buyers strike is all that is needed to puncture a market. If the U.S. experienced just one disastrous Treasury auction, prices could nose-dive and yields could skyrocket across the board on all U.S. debt.

But the problem doesn’t just lie with the United States. Investors around the world are finally beginning to understand that central bank’s thirst for creating inflation, in order to keep their banks and governments solvent, will never be quenched.

This week, the Swiss government took action to weaken the surging franc by lowering interest rates and printing currency. The franc was pushed down briefly, but then snapped back. It’s hard to keep a good currency down. Similarly, the Bank of Japan announced that it won’t stand for Yen appreciation much longer and would likely soon intervene to buy dollars and weaken the Yen.

Meanwhile, problems at the overly indebted countries just get worse. Italian and Spanish debt yields are now following the upward spiral of Greek bonds (and hitting multi year highs). Italian ten-year notes have surged from just above 3% in late 2010 to well over 6% today. For a country whose debt to GDP ratio is currently over 120%, a doubling of interest rate expenses spells disaster.

Enter Jean Claude Trichet who will certainly use his printing press to buy much of the weakening Italian debt that is now festering on the balance sheets of the biggest European banks. But the size of the bailouts needed to deal with Italian and Spanish debts will be several orders of magnitude greater than those needed for Ireland or Greece. Anticipating a massive increase in the Euro money supply, investors are flocking to gold to protect themselves from currency debasement.

Adding fuel to the gold fire is the recent debt deal reached in Washington. The disgusting agreement virtually assures that over the next decade the U.S. will add an additional $8 trillion in public debt, an increase of nearly 80% in ten years! The back-end-loaded deal will cause the amount of deficit reduction to be just $21 billion in 2012 and $42 billion in 2013.

But even this modest debt reduction depends on rosy assumptions from Washington that are always wrong. For example, the Obama administration predicts GDP growth will average well over 3% for the coming decade. But the annualized GDP growth in the first half of 2011 was just 0.9%. That means the actual deficit and debt figures will be far greater than the projections. Given the immediate increase in borrowing needs, and the obvious slowing of the tepid “recovery,” there can be little doubt that the next round of quantitative easing will be launched sooner rather than later.

The incompetency of U.S. credit rating agencies has long been suspected. But their actions in the wake of the debt ceiling agreement now confirm them as liars. After threatening to downgrade U.S. credit if Washington failed to cut $4 trillion in spending, neither Moody’s, Fitch nor S&P had the courage to carry through, despite the fact that the total cuts would amount to only half their requirements. But a credit rating downgrade on Treasuries did come-from China. The Dagong Global Credit Rating agency cut the credit rating on U.S. sovereign debt to A from A+, 5 notches below AAA. And since the Chinese are the biggest foreign buyer of Treasuries, their opinion counts.

This week, more evidence of U.S. stagflation emerged. The ISM manufacturing and non-manufacturing reports showed a slowdown in new orders and employment and the ADP report showed that the U.S. lost 7,000 goods-producing jobs in July. Other data releases showed that layoffs surged 60% last month to a 16-month high. Meanwhile, YOY consumer prices are up 3.6% and M2 money supply is up 7.5% YOY and rising at a 14.6% annual rate in the last quarter. As the problem with stagflation becomes worse, international investors will avoid the U.S. dollar and U.S. debt at an ever increasing rate.

With soaring debt-to-GDP ratios in Japan, Western Europe and America, the desirability of owning precious metals will grow as investors realize the fiat currency system’s days are numbered. Those holding U.S. dollars and U.S. debt will feel the biggest brunt of the change. But it is always darkest before the dawn. As a result of the carnage the re-establishment of gold as the world’s reserve currency is, hopefully, only a few years away.

by John Browne, Senior Market Strategist at Euro Pacific Capital

Although I believe gold still faces a very rosy future, an agreement in Washington that avoids default and growing concerns of a global economic slowdown could create significant near-term headwinds for gold investors.

While the dysfunction of the US government is on stark display over the debt ceiling negotiations, other areas of the world show similar policy confusion. In the European Union, great doubts exist as to how the leaders will be able to stem the tide of serious sovereign debt contagion without inviting recession and an uptick in inflation. In China, commentators seem to lack confidence that the economy can maintain its impressive growth rate if its major trading bloc partners fall back into recession. This uncertainty has created a level of financial fear that has contributed to gold’s run up to more than $1,600 per ounce. However, this also means that any weakening of these fears could lead to a pull back in gold. An agreement in Washington, however meaningless, may be such a trigger.

Evidence has grown that the United States government has no real intention of curbing its spendthrift ways. By next Tuesday, Congress will likely reach some sort of pallid agreement that will involve a short-term agreement to raise the debt ceiling just enough to postpone an imminent fiscal crisis until after the 2012 election. This will, of course, be another case of kicking the can down the road – and will only further compound the very problems that have helped send gold soaring. Still, any agreement that prevents an immediate default on Treasury debt will be greeted with great relief in the markets. The good feelings may spark a short-lived rally in stocks and sell-off in gold.

Another near-term hurdle for gold will be the dawning realization that recession may take hold once again in many regions around the globe, most notably in the US and eurozone. To the extent that these recessions are deflationary, they could drag on the gold price.

Despite the agitation of the freshman Tea Party members of the US House of Representatives, there appears little or no serious discussion about curbing the rise of runaway government spending that is acting as a crippling parasite on the US economy. Similarly, the punitive nature of the present so-called sovereign debt rescue packages in the eurozone likely will fan the flames of recession in Europe. To the extent that these downturns are not met with new money-printing, they could hypothetically hurt the gold price.

This is especially true if the implosions among Western economies impede the growth of China. For now, it appears China’s breakneck growth is indeed slowing, but it is neither clear what role their export markets play in this nor how quickly they will be able to shift to a domestic-consumption model.

In normal times, these deflationary forces could present long-term problems for the gold price; however, these are not normal times. Rather, we believe the stage is being set for the currency catastrophe we have long forecast. In our calculation, the sovereign debt problem likely will increase. Eventually, even suddenly perhaps, it will lead to a currency crisis. This may cause a temporary capital shift from the euro into the US dollar, temporarily correcting the current dollar slide. But very quickly, I expect investors would realize that the US dollar itself is most vulnerable. As it is the international reserve currency, this might very well threaten a currency collapse and a surge in the price of gold.

In summary, gold appears set on a very strong upward path. However, in the short term, if global recessionary forces re-emerge and/or investors become euphoric over the US dodging a debt default, gold could face a significant price correction. If governments inflate wildly in a futile attempt to avert a pending depression, leading to stagflation, as we expect, then gold should rebound in price.

This should not be construed as an appeal for investors to sell their gold and try to time their way back into the market. Rather, I would suggest that there may be some discounted opportunities in the coming months. Hold on tight for turbulence ahead, and keep your bearings fixed on your intended destination.

The debt ceiling debate that has dominated the headlines over the past month has been thoroughly infused with a string of unfortunate misconceptions and a number of blatant deceptions. As a result, the entire process has been mostly hot air. While a recitation of all the errors would be better attempted by a novelist rather than a weekly columnist, I’ll offer my short list.

After having failed utterly to warn investors of the dangers associated with the toxic debt of entities like Enron, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG, as well as the perils of investing in mortgage-backed securities and sovereign debt of various bankrupt countries, the credit ratings agencies (CRAs) have now apparently decided to be more vigilant. Hence, many have offered conspicuous warnings that they may lower U.S. debt ratings if Washington fails to make progress on its fiscal imbalances. But then, just in case anyone was getting the impression that these rating agencies actually cared about fiscal prudence, Moody’s suggested this week that its concerns would be lessened if Washington were to make a deal on the debt. The agency has even suggested that America’s credit could be further improved if Washington would simply eliminate the statutory debt limit altogether. In other words, Moody’s believes that our nation’s problems are more a function of squabbling politicians rather than a chronic, unresolved problem of borrowing more than we can ever hope to repay.

With or without a deal, the CRAs should have already lowered their debt ratings on the $14.3 trillion of U.S. debt. In fact the rating should be lowered again if the debt ceiling IS raised. And it should be lowered still further if we eliminated the debt ceiling altogether. To lower the rating because the limit is NOT raised is like cutting the FICO score of a homeless person because he is denied a home equity loan.

Republicans are making a different misconception about the debt ceiling debate in their belief that they can dramatically cut government spending without pushing down GDP growth in the short term. In a recent poll from Pew Research Center for the People and the Press showed 53% of G.O.P. and 65% of Tea Party members said there would be no economic crisis resulting from not raising the debt ceiling.

They argue that leaving money in the private sector is better for an economy than sending the money to Washington to be spent by government. That much is undoubtedly true. But a very large portion of current government spending does not come from taxing or borrowing, but from printed money courtesy of the Fed. If the Fed stops printing, inflation and consumption are sure to fall. While this is certainly necessary in the long run, it will be nevertheless devastating for the economic data in the near term.

Over the last decade and a half our economy has floated up on a succession of asset bubbles, all made possible by the Fed. Our central bank lowers borrowing costs far below market levels. Commercial banks then expand the money supply by making goofy loans to the government or to the private sector. As a consequence, debt levels and asset values soar and soon become unsustainable. Ultimately, the Fed and commercial banks cut off the monetary spigot, either by their own volition or because the demand for money plummets. The economy is forced to deleverage and consumers are forced to sell assets and pay down debt. Recession ensues. That’s exactly what could happen if $1.5 trillion worth of austerity suddenly crashes into the economy come August 2^nd. Although they don’t seem to realize it, this will create huge political problems for Republicans.

And then there is the deception coming from Democrats who argue that we need to raise taxes in order to balance our budget. This is simply not possible. The American economy currently produces nearly $15 trillion in GDP per annum but has $115 trillion in unfunded liabilities.With a hole like that, no amount of taxes could balance the budget. Raising revenue from the 14% of GDP, as it is today, to the 20% it was in 2000 would barely make a dent toward funding our Social Security and Medicare liabilities. Therefore, we need to cut entitlement spending dramatically. But the Democrats refuse to face the obvious facts.

With the Tea Party gaining traction in Congress, and causing nightmares for incumbents, Republicans have little incentive to raise the debt ceiling (although they raised it 7 times under George W. Bush). Democrats aren’t going to reduce entitlements without raising taxes on “the rich” and Republicans aren’t going to raise taxes when the unemployment rate is 9.2%. There’s your stalemate and anyone expecting a significant deal to cut more than $4 trillion in spending by the August 2^nd deadline will be severely disappointed. Although there has been some movement by the so-called “Gang of Six” centrist senators in recent days, a substantive deal may be more unlikely than most people think. And even if a much smaller deal can be reached in time, the credit rating agencies may follow through on their promise to downgrade our sovereign debt. The fallout could be devastating to money market and pension funds that must hold AAA paper. But an even worse outcome will occur when the real debt downgrade comes from our foreign creditors, when they no longer believe the U.S. has the ability to pay our bills.

In my opinion, the best news for the long term future of this nation is the Republican “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan that just passed the House. It now heads to a much harder hurdle in the Democrat controlled Senate, and if it passes that, to a certain veto from President Obama. At least something so promising got to the table at all. However, I think the country needs some more tastes of brutal reality before such bitter medicine has a chance of going down.

by Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, and host of The Peter Schiff Show, broadcasting live from WSTC Norwalk CT from 10am to noon Eastern time every weekday, and streaming at www.schiffradio.com

I have been forecasting with near certainty that QE2 would not be the end of the Fed’s money-printing program. My suspicions were confirmed in both the Fed minutes on Tuesday and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s semi-annual testimony to Congress yesterday. The former laid out the conditions upon which a new round of inflation would be launched, and the latter re-emphasized – in case anyone still doubted – that Mr. Bernanke has no regard for the principles of a sound currency.

Tuesday’s release of the Fed minutes contained the first indication that a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) is being considered. The notes described unanimous agreement that QE2 should be completed, along with the following comment: “depending on how economic conditions evolve, the Committee might have to consider providing additional monetary policy stimulus, especially if economic growth remained too slow to meaningfully reduce the unemployment rate in the medium run.” Since the unemployment situation is deteriorating, and by all accounts will continue to do so, the Fed is essentially pledging to keep the spigot turned on. The committee also decided to look only at current “overall inflation” in making their judgments, as opposed to “inflation trends.” Since new dollars take awhile to circulate around the economy and raise prices, this means the Fed is sure to be too late in tightening once inflation starts to run away, causing more dislocations in the American economy.

If anyone had lingering faith that Mr. Bernanke actually has a plan to end the US government’s addiction to cheap money, the Chairman’s semi-annual testimony to Congress should have washed it away. In addition to claiming that his money-printing has helped the US economy, Bernanke told Congress that gold is not money, people buying gold are not concerned about inflation, and the external value of the dollar has no influence on its domestic purchasing power. He even took a moment to stump for President Obama’s plan to raise the debt ceiling.

By claiming that gold is not money, the Chairman demonstrates his ignorance of much of monetary history. He told Congressman Ron Paul that he had no idea why central banks hold gold, before speculating that it might have something to do with tradition. Yes, traditionally gold is money, which is precisely why central banks hold it. And gold is money because central bankers like Mr. Bernanke cannot be trusted with a paper substitute.

Bernanke further disputes the facts by claiming that the only reason people are buying gold is to hedge against uncertainty, or “tail risks” as he calls them. My advice to the Chairman is to ask the people who are actually buying it. As someone who has been buying gold myself for a decade, I can assure him that my gold buying has nothing to do with “uncertainty.” In fact, it’s just the opposite. I am buying gold because of what is certain, not what is uncertain. I am certain that Mr. Bernanke’s incompetence will destroy the value of the dollar and unleash runaway inflation.

If it were true that people bought gold to protect themselves from market uncertainty, as the Chairman claims, then the metal should have spiked in the midst of the ’08 credit crunch. Instead, it fell along with most other assets. People instinctively fled into US dollars and Treasuries because of their long record of stability. What Bernanke doesn’t understand is that his irresponsible monetary policy is undermining that faith in US assets, built up over generations. That is what’s driving gold: easy money, negative interest rates, and quantitative easing.

Finally, by claiming that the dollar’s exchange rate has no effect on domestic prices, Mr. Bernanke demonstrates that he probably lacks the competence to be a bank teller, let alone Chairman of the Federal Reserve. A weaker dollar means Americans have to pay more for imported goods. But it also means domestic producers have to pay more for raw materials and imported components, which raises domestic production costs as well. It also means that more domestically produced goods are exported, reducing the supply and raising the price of what is left for Americans to consume. This is Econ 101.

Given the Chairman’s confusion on the basics of economics, perhaps it’s no surprise that he’s put quantitative easing right back on the table, where, despite prior rhetoric, it has been all along. The Fed has always known that QE3 is coming; it’s just looking for an excuse to launch it.

The problem is that fighting a recession with QE is like fighting a fire with gasoline. As the flames of recession reignite, more QE, while dousing it momentarily, will only produce an even larger economic inferno.

At one point, Bernanke said, “The right analogy for not raising the debt ceiling is going out and having a spending spree on your credit card and then refusing to pay the bill.” He’s got the analogy right, but his conclusions are completely wrong. Yes, Congress has gone on a spending spree and it’s time to pay up. But raising the debt ceiling is like taking out a Mastercard to pay the Visa… it just makes the problem worse. If you or I go out one night, get drunk, and run up a huge credit card bill, we know that the way to fix it is to buckle down and pay it back. We might postpone vacation plans or put off buying a new car, we might cancel our cable TV subscription or gym membership. The point is that we would have to reduce current consumption to make up for the overspending in the past.

Obama claims that raising the debt ceiling is about getting a hold of the federal debt. Have you ever heard of anyone getting out of debt by taking on more debt? Has anyone ever reduced their debt without reducing current consumption? How can the Fed Chairman endorse such a preposterous idea?

Bernanke actually went a step further and warned against reducing current federal spending too sharply, claiming that such a move might impede the “recovery.” He apparently believes that it is the role of the Congress to go on spending sprees, and his role to pay the mounting bills with freshly printed dollars. The fact that this formula has produced larger and larger economic crises does not seem to bother him. I guess ignorance is bliss.

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