Business as Usual Everywhere

Peter Schiff writes that in second and third world countries,

In such a system, support for the ruling regime is the best and only path to economic success. Who you know supersedes what you know, and favoritism trumps the rule of law.

Now, Schiff is scared that the U.S. might be falling into the same habits with the way it has taken property from Chrysler’s creditors.

::screeching tire noises::

Wait a minute. “Who you know supersedes what you know.” Are you serious? As if that somehow never happens in the U.S.? I’m sorry, but the last thing I was left with when I completed my bachelor degree was this piece of advice, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Not only was I told that this is how the United States runs, but I have always seen for myself that that is how the United States runs. How Peter Schiff thought America, at any point in time, was immune to this - is unbelievable.

U.S. assets, which have historically traded at premium valuations based on faith in our legal system, will soon trade at discounts to reflect this new threat.

Huh? Peter, I know you have a sense of history. Baby, buddy, sweat pea, while you are right in thinking that the rules have not changed, you are wrong in thinking that politicians and people in power somehow rarely made exceptions. The reason why U.S. assets always traded at premiums is because people thought those assets were always better than anything else out there. It had nothing based to do with if we followed the laws, or not.

In the end, what bothers me the most is how Peter Schiff, a man whom I respect and I think is way ahead of the curve financially speaking, speaks of breaking property/finance laws the way people should about how our government runs its foreign policy.

More importantly, the fact that two of the highest-ranking government officials can conspire to violate both securities laws and private property rights is abhorrent to everything America supposedly stands for.

Does he know that our country tortures?