Mark Skousen Part II

http://thedailybell.com/2489/Anthony-Wile-with-Mark-Skousen-on-the-Failing-Dollar-the-Growth-of-Liberty-and-the-Success-of-FreedomFest.html

DB: Are we headed toward a double dip recession for the world and America?

MS: Only if the US government blunders more than they have already.

BM: The US never left the first dip. The government doesn’t have to blunder anymore, continued recession / depression is baked in the pie. If the government stopped any additional spending, the current programs (both military and social) are unsustainable and enough to bring the economy and the dollar down.

MS: Both have risen so much in the past ten years that I'd be surprised if they keep going. There's got to be a major pullback, and if the US gets its act together, we could see a significant correction. We've already seen it in silver. But as long as the Fed keeps pumping cheap money into the monetary system, and keeps interest rates artificially low, commodities like gold and silver should do well. Oil too.

BM: Enough hedging and contradiction in this statement to make any outcome be the predicted outcome.

“There's got to be a major pullback, and if the US gets its act together, we could see a significant correction.”

The US getting its act together is a political impossibility, but Skousen is theoretically correct.

“We've already seen it in silver.”

Hard to call what happened in silver a major correction. Viewed from the perspective of even a year ago, silver is significantly higher.

MS: I'm very bullish on high-income dividend-paying stocks and funds.

BM: He can only be high on these if he believes that “the Fed keeps pumping cheap money into the monetary system, and keeps interest rates artificially low….” So he must also believe that gold and silver are going higher. But wait, he hedged that comment earlier.

MS: [The dollar is] in a bear market, that's for sure, but once the Fed reverses course and raises rates, and the government stops spending like a drunken sailor, I see the dollar recovering.

BM: Another greatly hedged statement. When does he see this reversal of course for the Fed and the government? It seems the only possibility of a reversal of course is if the Fed decide saving the dollar is more important than supporting Congress, Then, Congress will take over Fed activities (likely incorporate the Fed into the Treasury). A greenbackers dream, and the certainty of a hyper-inflationary nightmare.