I have not read his book, but I must admit to quite liking Peter...

I have not read his book, but I must admit to quite liking Peter Schiff.

He has a belief and he has stuck to it, while many other economists have been doing 180 degree turns. He made a good early call on the property bust and the economic recession and remained true to his views while others publically ridiculed him.

His message is also simple, which appears to frustrate many commentators who find it difficult to argue against.

I have never been a gold bull myself and will not be taking a gold position (I am mostly sitting on the sidelines), but agree with him that the blow out in US public debt, large private debt, lack of savings, decreased consumer spending etc should place significant downward pressure on the US dollar.

Given the fact that commodities are quoted in US dollars a fall in the US dollar should result in a rise in commodity prices (including gold) as long as the fall is not offset by further demand side weakness. This doesn't necessarily mean a rise in Australian dollar prices.

It will be very interesting to see how this all pans out over 2009.

Cheers
SBC