I'd like to respond to two of the more douchey arguments made by Mr. Schiff.

1. AMERICAN WORKERS ARE DEMANDING MORE MONEY AND LOWER PRICES THAN CORPORATIONS CAN PROFIT FROM.
This would be more believable if a. Corporate profits weren't at record highs, b. the disparity between worker and executive pay is huge and has been more or less steadily increasing and c. the disparity between the top 20% and everyone else has also been increasing. So essentially the rich are demanding more for less and they're getting it.

2. I WORKED HARD TO EARN EVERYTHING I GOT, SO I DESERVE TO KEEP IT ALL AND DO WHATEVER I WANT.
This is a ridiculous argument designed to make the person who has the most look like a victim. It ignores the tremendous advantages he enjoys in a society that strives to give workers a relatively comfortable wage and keep opportunities for economic advancement open. Had he been born in one of his oh so precious 'competitive' wage countries in all likelihood he'd be living in poverty sewing shoes for a $1 a day till the day he died of poor health at the age of 45. Further more it also ignores his socioeconomic upbringing and make the assumption he's a self-made man who picked himself up from his own boot-straps out of the mud of poverty. In Mr. Schiff's case his father was a well connected political activist, investor, and current tax dodging jail bird. Its probably safe to say Peter Schiff didn't start with nothing, but in fact had a lot more avenues to success open to him than the majority of Americans do. There's also the element of chance, its nice to think that everything you succeed at is purely a result of your own tenacity and personal genius, but I'd argue there is also a good deal of chance involved; being in the right place at the right time and making the right decision. No, I'm not suggesting people have no control over what they do in life, I'm arguing the assertion that they have complete control is false.

I don't think the protester did an awful job, and the fact he gave someone who's job it is to argue on on TV about economic matters a run for his money is a statement to the weakness of Mr. Schiff's position.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Peter Schiff Cornell West on CNN Anderson Cooper 360' to 'Peter Schiff, Cornell West, CNN, Anderson Cooper, 360' - edited by kulpims

It's just so...sad how he repeatedly rewrites history to fit his twisted view. Free market ended child labor alone? hah!

It's insanity to not agree with dystopianfuturetoday on this. We've got record profits for corporations, all time low taxes for them. Where are the jobs....where are the jobs?

Can anyone fact check what schiff said to the protesters? It appears he's pretty obviously lying when he says gov't takes half of what he earns. but it would be nice to have something to fire back when people say shit like that.

But even if he is true. taxing the uber wealthy at 50 percent may not exactly be horrible. even at 50 percent they still live like sultans. They're still here in the USA. If the tax rate is so horrible, why haven't they left? History has shown that high tax rates don't necessarily kill jobs. Combine that with the history we're living right now that low taxes does NOT create jobs.

If someone pulls a gun on your spouse and says "if you take a step closer, I'll kill them" If you step forward, it's still the gunman's fault if they shoot them. That's what I think of every time a CEO says they might not hire anybody or start firing if they raise taxes. It's still their fault...their responsibility when they hold us hostage like that, not Gov't.

Basic Spiderman 101: With great power, comes great responsibility. And the CEOs have forgotten that.

"Koch Brothers lackey Peter Schiff gets schooled by OWS"

I think the title proves who the real fool and idiot is.

The black guy makes a rape analogy between corporations and their victims, but then seems to suffer from Stockholm syndrome when questioning Schiff about EPA, FDA, and Dept of Education.

Peter Schiff *Failboat.com.org

In reply to this comment by NetRunner:
Definitely one to mark down:

Schiff says we'll have a crash of our economy driven by hyperinflation by the end of the year, or maybe in 2010.

Krugman (who unlike Schiff is a Nobel prize winning economist) also predicted the problem we're having now, and says if we don't do something even bigger than an $800bn stimulus, we're in for a deflationary problem, just like the Great Depression.

Clearly, someone will be proven right, even if disaster ensues.

Flim-flam artists like Schiff should know better, if the problem now is because Greenspan made the interest rate too low in 2002 then the real problem is that our current 0% interest rate will cause a new asset bubble that will collapse, so he should allow for a much longer period of time for it to gestate, like say Obama's second term, 2014 or so.

But that wouldn't get him on the TeeVee machine to throw bricks at Democrats as often.

>> ^RedSky:

>> ^heropsycho:
They're both fools. Both offered overly simplistic rationalizations for complex issues, or sometimes didn't even offer that.

x2, x3, x4.
The argument oscillated between being against free trade and disbanding massive government departments because they're inefficient rather than reforming them. In other words there was no actual discussion and it was just two people shouting separate ideas at each other.


x5

>> ^Boise_Lib:

>> ^Jinx:
I dont think he got schooled at all. Well, unless you think ad homs are cool.

He talked, and acted, like a fool--he got called a fool.
Petey tried to control the conversation with talking points--he couldn't.
Schooled.

No sorry. Talking points or not he did still make points. Points that could have been deconstructed and debated. Instead we got some guy calling him an idiot, which true as it may be is probably something any of us could do on our worst days. So no, he wasn't schooled. He is an idiot though and I would like him to get properly destroyed by a real argument, and not just this schoolyard shit.

Oh wait. I suppose in that sense he was "schooled". GODDAMN I'M WITTY.

>> ^heropsycho:

They're both fools. Both offered overly simplistic rationalizations for complex issues, or sometimes didn't even offer that.


x2, x3, x4.

The argument oscillated between being against free trade and disbanding massive government departments because they're inefficient rather than reforming them. In other words there was no actual discussion and it was just two people shouting separate ideas at each other.

Schiff is a trained media professional who had the luxury of being able to a) prepare for this event in advance and b) edit it down after the fact. This pathetic attempt was the best he could come up with.

The protesters did great. Whatever they lack in media savvy, they make up for in the 'getting it' and 'vision' departments, two things that Schiff is incapable of despite vast wealth, power and resources. There is nothing these protesters could do or say to convince Schiff to cease propping up the bloated corpse of the corrupt corporate establishment. He is a true believer. He thinks he's one of the good guys.

Wow. I just lost alot of respect for ol' Schiff. I guess he can only seem sharp in a scripted forum.

The fact is, Mr. Schiff was not up to the intellectual level of that protestor, and was rightly called out for it at the end. The guy was very respectful, until Schiff went off into fringe/crackpot territory.

Anyone who advocates banning the FDA and EPA is indeed a fool, or a rich, callous, selfish MF. Which is it, Schiff?

He kind of schools himself. >> ^Jinx:

I dont think he got schooled at all. Well, unless you think ad homs are cool.

>> ^Jinx:

I dont think he got schooled at all. Well, unless you think ad homs are cool.


He talked, and acted, like a fool--he got called a fool.

Petey tried to control the conversation with talking points--he couldn't.

Schooled.

Yeah, I'd like to see Schiff take on someone with actual debate chops rather than random bystanders. The fact that he looked bad next to a random protester speaks volumes though. You can't FIND someone at a Tea Party rally who could put forth an even slightly cogent argument.

by definition, the "job creators" spend money on themselves.
If you're a personal trainer, or a luxury car detailer, this is good news. for the rest of us, living in a country where everything is owned is not helpful.

Schiff is one of the few people in the whole world who don't like the Federal reserve, and like the 999 plan.

i like peter schiff, but he's missed so maney salient points that his assessment just completely falls apart.