Perfectly summarizing the cognitive dissonance of the mainstream media (and their drone-like viewers), this duel of the Soft-Money-Honey Maria B and Hard-Money Golden Boy Peter Schiff was a tragic farce. Maria comes out swinging, "whether this is a manufactured market or not, you've got no alternative but stocks - where's my yield?" Schiff counters, "there are alternatives" - summarily scoffed at (a-la his-housing appearances in 2006/7) by Maria
remember...
[7]
- "we have a completely phoney economy driven 100% by cheap money; the minute you take it away, the whole thing implodes." And while the 'fight' moves on, we are left thinking they are in two different rings since whatever point is made by Schiff is summarily ignored for the status quo.
"QE will be here until we have a USD crisis and the Fed can't get away with it anymore," Schiff reminds, adding, "There is no exit strategy... the Fed is bluffing; exit is impossible."
The glancing blows continue deep into the late rounds. "The reality is we are living in a bubble; and all bubbles burst," (reminding us of Sam Zell's comments to the very same CNBC anchor a few weeks back [8]), "it's unfortunate we didn't learn that lesson in 2008 but we're about to learn a much bigger lesson." Disingenuous laughter follows at Schiff's suggestion at holding Gold with Maria's anchoring bias loud-and-proud - "I'm looking for alternatives to stocks, and I can't find any."
Schiff notes, "the next crisis will be the USD," to which Maria incomprehensibly asks "what currency am I going to own if not the USD?" And this is where the fireworks begin as Schiff dares to suggest "you could just have real money Maria" (just as Marc Faber warned her "you don't own gold, you are in great danger" a few months back).
Her response, perfection in its anchoring bias (forgetting the double collapse in stock prices in the last 13 years), "gold? gold! what if I get caught in the largest sell-off in history like it did 3 weeks ago?"
Schiff, almost speechless at the utter inability of the money-honey to see beyond stocks reminds her of the performance difference over the last five years (to which she smugly smiles at his apparent foolishness) and asks why CNBC hasn't covered the $120 surge in gold's price in the last 3 weeks.
"Gold versus dividend-paying securities..." she repeats spell-like, weighing the simple decision (in her mind) since, we are sure, she "is being paid to wait," or is just totally and completely incapable of comprehending that stocks can fall in price and the 'real' price of said securities is being destroyed. "It's not gold vs stocks; it's gold vs the dollar," Schiff educates.
Eight minutes of sheer comedic perfection assured to go down in the annals of 'irreconcilable differences' for ever...