Trump Blinks on Iran — Ceasefire Proves the Threats Were Empty

Summary

---

The Peter Schiff Show Podcast

Episode: Trump Blinks on Iran — Ceasefire Proves the Threats Were Empty
Date: April 8, 2026
Host: Peter Schiff
Summary Prepared By: Podcast Summarizer AI

---

Episode Overview

This episode centers on President Trump's recent standoff with Iran, his social media threats of impending military action, and the abrupt, market-moving ceasefire that followed. Peter Schiff analyzes the credibility of Trump’s threats, the mechanics and aftermath of the ceasefire, shifts in global markets, and broader economic implications. Schiff also reflects on U.S. credibility, the market psychology around the war, and the risk of further financial/geopolitical fallout.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Social Media Threats and Their Perceived Credibility

Timestamps: 00:57–04:13, 09:35–14:12

• Trump’s Escalating Rhetoric: Over the weekend and into Tuesday, Trump posted several incendiary threats on Truth Social, including vows to “rain hell” on Iran and “wipe out the Iranian civilization.”

  • “Tonight the Iranian civilization will die, never to come back.” — Peter quoting Trump, (02:49)

• Ridicule & Doubt: Schiff points out the threats’ extreme language, inconsistency (Trump’s misspelling “rain” as “reign”), and lack of strategy as undermining U.S. credibility.

  • “If you're trying to help out the Iranians, how does bombing them to the Stone Age ... benefit the Iranian people? It makes Trump look ridiculous to make those statements.” (04:13)

• Market Response: Despite alarmist rhetoric, market movements were relatively subdued (“Dow was down 400 points, oil was up around $115...”), signaling that neither investors nor Iranians believed the threats were credible.

  • “People are not fooled anymore. Trump has cried wolf one too many times with these threats.” (05:10)

---

2. The Ceasefire: Negotiations, Market Reactions, and What Really Changed

Timestamps: 07:40–21:17

• Pakistan’s Mediation: Pakistan, possibly at Trump’s request, called for a ceasefire. Both the U.S. and Iran accepted, with Trump “suspending” attacks for two weeks contingent on Iran allowing passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

  • “Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shabazz Sharif ... I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.” — Peter quoting Trump (13:47)

• Ceasefire Terms: Schiff notes that Iran's official statement concedes nothing new—safe passage only through coordination with Iran’s armed forces; essentially, what Iran was already allowing. There’s talk of a $2M per-ship toll, but overall, Iran remains in control.

  • “Iran is agreeing to temporarily reopen the Strait, though technically it was never closed.” (16:18)

• Market Whiplash: Upon news of the ceasefire:

  • Stocks rallied (Dow futures up ~900 points).
  • Gold, bitcoin, and foreign currencies surged.
  • Oil plummeted (~15% drop).
  • “We basically went from Armageddon... to now, apparently, the war is over.” (13:07)

• Schiff’s Skepticism: Schiff is adamant—Trump didn’t achieve his goals, and Iran ceded nothing; the U.S. stance looks weakened, not strengthened.

  • “Iran has conceded nothing. So what was the point of all of that other than to just make the markets move around?” (21:17)

---

3. On U.S. Credibility, Negotiating Posture, and Moral Leadership

Timestamps: 21:28–28:40

• Empty Threats Damage U.S. Negotiations:
  • “Making a bunch of threats and not following through ... undercuts your negotiation posture.” (21:45)
• Historical Comparison: Schiff draws stark contrasts to WWII and norms post-1945, lamenting Trump’s openness about targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
  • “The world came to agree, okay, we're not going to target civilians. And here's Donald Trump ... out there saying, yeah, we're going to target civilians.” (22:56)
• Why Rally Support for Brutality?:
  • “Why would you say stuff like that? Why do you have to make yourself look so bad?” (24:36)
• On Power and Responsibility:
  • “With great power comes great responsibility. What about our responsibility not to use this military in that way?” (24:39)

---

4. The Real Winners: Schiff Argues Iran Gains; U.S. Loses

Timestamps: 28:38–40:12

• Strategic Outcomes:
  • Iran’s regime remains intact and may negotiate a stronger position (possibly reduced sanctions, ability to charge for strait passage).
  • “Iran is going to win ... in the sense that I think they are going to come out of this with the regime intact.” (28:38)
• America’s Damaged Reputation:
  • “I’m confident that our reputation is going to be diminished on the world stage. We’re going to alienate more people, we’re going to create sympathy for Iran.” (29:38)
• Global Ramifications: The world will further move away from the U.S. dollar, drawing down reserves from the U.S., and questioning the restraint and trustworthiness of U.S. military power.
  • “We've projected this threat again, where the world looks at American military strength as a liability rather than an asset.” (30:22)

---

5. Financial Markets and Economic Prognosis

Timestamps: 31:10–40:12

• Markets Driven by Fed, Not Geopolitics:
  • Rally driven by belief ceasefire means Fed rate cuts can return—not any real peace dividend.
  • “Everything is keying off the Fed. The reason that gold is rallying ... is not because there's not gonna be a war.” (33:08)
• Misconceptions About Oil and Inflation:
  • Higher oil prices don’t equal inflation unless the Fed prints more money.
  • “The only reason that we can pay more for everything is because the Fed creates the inflation.” (35:51)
• Rate Cuts Imminent (Regardless of Inflation):
  • Recessionary data (e.g., falling durable goods orders).
  • “The Fed is going to ignore that inflation and they're going to cut rates anyway. In fact, even though this war may be over ... oil prices are not going back down.” (37:12)
• Skepticism of Permanent Peace: Schiff doubts any deal holds with Trump’s erratic negotiating and historical disregard for international agreements.

---

6. Domestic Economy & Trump’s Approval

Timestamps: 47:16–54:23

• Polling & Public Sentiment:
  • Trump now holds record-low economic approval among independents—lower than any previous president.
  • “If the people are saying the economy is worse now than it was under Biden, what does that say?” (53:49)
• Disconnect Between Official Data & Public Experience:
  • Schiff warns not to trust government statistics but rather gauges public sentiment.

---

7. Investment Strategy & Recommendations

Timestamps: 54:23–60:57

• Investment Advice:
  • Avoid U.S. stocks/cash (even after rallies) due to overvaluation and an overvalued dollar.
  • Focus on gold, silver, mining stocks, foreign/emerging markets.
  • “This was a gift ... I would continue to advocate for [buying mining stocks].” (60:57)

---

8. Noteworthy Legal Update: Schiff’s FOIA Lawsuit vs. IRS

Timestamps: 62:18–69:26

• Victory Against IRS: Schiff won a court order forcing the IRS to release documents about the closure of his bank—but the IRS plans to appeal or seek reversal.
  • “The judge basically let him have it and told the IRS, you're wrong. ... You have no valid justification. You need to produce this information.” (62:19)
  • Schiff accuses the government of stonewalling transparency and covering up their own misconduct.
  • “If there were legitimate reasons, then why can't they let it out in the open?” (65:16)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump’s Bluster:
  • “Making a bunch of threats and not following through with them really does undercut your negotiation posture.” — Schiff (21:45)
• On the Markets:
  • “Everything is keying off the Fed. ... The reason that gold is rallying and the reason that stocks are rallying ... is not because there's not gonna be a war.” — Schiff (33:08)
• On America’s Role:
  • “We've projected this threat again, where the world looks at American military strength as a liability rather than an asset.” — Schiff (30:22)
• On Civilian Targets:
  • “The world came to agree, okay, we're not going to target civilians. And here's Donald Trump ... out there saying ... we're going to blow up civilian infrastructure, we're going to wipe out the civilization.” — Schiff (22:56)
• On FOIA Victory:
  • “The judge basically let him have it and told the IRS, you're wrong ... You have no valid justification. You need to produce this information.” — Schiff (62:19)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Segment / Topic | |----------------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:57–04:13 | Trump’s social posts; market skepticism | | 09:35–14:12 | Ceasefire negotiations and market movement | | 16:18–21:17 | Iran's ceasefire statement; Schiff’s assessment | | 21:28–28:40 | U.S. image, civilian targeting history, negotiation damage | | 28:38–40:12 | Who benefited from the ceasefire? Economic/geopolitical risk | | 31:10–40:12 | Why markets move on the Fed, not war; inflation discussion | | 47:16–54:23 | Trump’s approval, economic realities for Americans | | 54:23–60:57 | Investment strategy post-ceasefire | | 62:18–69:26 | Schiff’s FOIA lawsuit win against IRS, transparency fight |

---

Final Takeaways

Peter Schiff calls out the disconnect between intense geopolitical threats and the actual outcomes, highlighting both market psychology and the lasting impact on U.S. credibility. He argues Trump’s bluster has backfired both diplomatically and domestically—offering little strategic gain, escalating costs, and eroding economic and geopolitical standing. Schiff’s advice is clear: be wary of U.S. stocks/dollars, favor gold and global alternatives, and look to real economic data over official illusions.

---

End of Summary

Transcript

[Peter Schiff]

You make no friends in the pits

[Capital Group Announcer]

and you take no prisoners. One minute you're up half a million in soybeans, and the next, boom.

[Peter Schiff]

Your kids don't go to college and

[Capital Group Announcer]

they've repossessed your Bentley. Are you with me?

[Peter Schiff]

The revolution starts now. Starts now. We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

Turn those machines back on.

[Peter Schiff]

You are about to enter the Peter Schiff show me the money.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to.

[Peter Schiff]

This is the last stand on earth. The Peter Schiff show is on. I don't know when they decided that they wanted to make a virtual you out of selfishness. Your money, your stories, your freedom. The Peter Schiff Show. Well, it's Taco Tuesday tonight.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

And you know, earlier in the day

[Peter Schiff]

when I scheduled this live podcast to begin at 8pm, I knew that was the deadline that Donald Trump had given over the weekend. And again, earlier this morning, this was the drop dead point, the line in the sand that the President drew where Iran had better basically unconditionally surrender and open up the Strait of Hormuz. Or that was it. If you look at the posts over the weekend from Trump,

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

one post was

[Peter Schiff]

that time is running out. In 48 hours, all hell will rain down on Iran. All hell. I think some of the people in the media had a little fun with the fact that the President spelled rain wrong. He used the reign of a king as opposed to a rain coming down from the sky. But it was obvious what the President meant. He was going to rain hell down on Iran. And in fact, then over the weekend, he posted that Tuesday, this was on Easter Sunday, he posted this. This was his Easter message to the Iranian people. Tuesday will be power plant day and bridge day all wrapped up in one In Iran, there will be nothing like it. Open the effing straight, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in hell. Praise be Allah. President Trump. So they'll be living in hell. Hell is going to rain down on

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

Iran

[Peter Schiff]

by 8 o' clock this evening and then again this morning. As if that wasn't enough, this morning Trump came out with another post. I think, where did I have that one where he basically threatened to kill Iran's entire civilization. He said, tonight the Iranian civilization will die, never to come back. Something like that. I had the text of it up. I think I accidentally deleted it. I've been looking for it. I think I clicked the X and I lost it. But I had the whole truth social post. But that was the Gist of was going to be the death of civilization in Iran. I mean, they've had a civilization for thousands of years there, and apparently it was going to come to an end. Now, remember, one of the justifications for this war that the President chose to fight was that he was also fighting for the Iranian people. He was going to free them, he was going to liberate them from the oppressive regime

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

and.

[Peter Schiff]

Make Iran great again. Now, if you're trying to help out the Iranians, how does bombing them to the Stone Age, raining down hell, making their life a living hell, and destroying their entire civilization, how does that benefit the Iranian people? It makes Trump look ridiculous to make those statements. And not only does it make him look ridiculous, I mean, I think it's bad for the United States. It's a bad image to portray, to be so heartless and so cruel to put out these threats. And even if the President was serious about these threats, I mean, why does he have to make them untruth social? Can't they be made behind the scenes? Like, can't you put this pressure on the Iranians through diplomatic channels, like, hey, we're serious, we're gonna do this stuff? Why does he have to play it out there on truth social media where, you know, the markets might react to it? And, you know, when I saw the market reaction today, at most, the Dow was down 400 points during the day at the low point, and oil was up around $115 a barrel. If investors really took Trump seriously during the day, if they really thought he was going to rain hell down and wipe out the Iranian civilization at 8 o' clock tonight, the Dow would have been down thousands of points. Oil would have been a lot higher. The fact that that was not the case to me means that people are not fooled anymore that Trump has cried wolf once too many times with these threats. And if the markets didn't believe the threats, why would the Iranians. And in fact, he was going to blow up the bridges and the power plants. Well, I was watching on the Internet videos. And the bridges in Iran are full of citizens, people, thousands of people, women and children are on the bridges. They're surrounding the power plants, holding hands and chanting, how the hell are we going to bomb those bridges and those power plants? There's just no way it was going to happen. I mean, I don't care what Trump says. How is he going to give an order to drop bombs on bridges that are full of women and children? There is no way. I don't care what Trump wants to Post, he can't be that heartless and cruel. And in fact, I don't know how a soldier, the pilot or the Bombardier on a B52 or whatever, are you really going to drop a bomb on a bunch of women and children, even if the President gave you an order to do that? I don't think so. So I don't think the threat was real. I think the Iranians knew that it wasn't real. I think investors knew they didn't know 100%, right? Otherwise they just would have bought. Now, of course, there may have been some people that knew 100%. There may have been some Trump insiders that knew that it was 100%. Taco guarantee traders, average people that don't have the inside information could make an educated guess. But if you don't know 100%, you're not going to make as big a wager as you might if you knew for sure. Now, the 11th hour reprieve came a couple of hours ago, although there was a rumor of this within an hour of the close. So the US Stock market started to rally back in the last hour because of some news coming out of Pakistan, because Pakistan had basically said, hey, let's have a ceasefire, guys. Come on, you know, let's, you know, let's, let's pull back from this. Let's have a ceasefire. And it was Pakistan that apparently was asking the US And Iran to stand down. Now, did this come out of the blue? Or maybe Trump asked Pakistan to do this? I don't know. Maybe he was looking for a way out and he got the Pakistanis to provide it. Although before I even get to that, you know, one of the things that was in the thread from this morning where he said, look, you know, we're going to wipe out the Iranian civilization. He said, hopefully we won't have to do it. I said, I hope that they come to their senses. But he said he doubts it or something like that. But he, he reiterated the fact that

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

we have a whole new regime.

[Peter Schiff]

He said, we've already accomplished regime change. So maybe this new regime, they're better and smarter and wiser, so maybe they'll come to their senses, but he doubts it or something. But this is not regime change. This is the same regime as the

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

one we had before.

[Peter Schiff]

Yes, some of the people are different, right? The Supreme Leader is different, but it's the same basic regime. We didn't wipe out the whole regime. We just took out some of the leaders, and now they got new leaders from the same regime, and they May even take a harder line than their predecessors, I don't know. But I think it's completely disingenuous for Trump to claim that we've had regime change. Although at one point he denied that that was even an objective, even after he stated it was an objective. So he had no idea like what the hell he was talking about. But anyway, so this, you know, not rumor, because it wasn't a rumor, but news of the Pakistan offer that both sides stand down, that came out. And so the market rallied. Gold, Gold was never down that much today. At the most, it was maybe down 40 bucks, 50 bucks. It ended up closing up $60 on the day. The stock market, which was down again, at most 400. I think the Dow eked out a small gain. S and P. Bitcoin. Bitcoin rallied, too. In fact, Bitcoin is almost 72,000. Bitcoin was down around 68,000 earlier today on, you know, when everything was down, bitcoin was down. But all the markets have reversed. The stock market futures are now up about 900 points. Big move. The U.S. dollar is down across the board. You've got about an 8, 10 of a percent rise in the euro. And the British pound, the Aussie dollar's up almost a percent and a half. The dollar's down against the Swiss franc by Almost a full percent. Oil making the biggest move. Oil's down 15.5% as I'm speaking. Oil is back down to $95 a barrel. This is the. What month crude is this? But this is West Texas, but it's down. It's down $17.70 a barrel. So we basically went from Armageddon, this is the end of Iran. We're going to destroy their civilization to now, apparently the war is over. And I'm going to read what Trump posted on Truth Social. I wrote that down. I mean, I, hopefully I didn't erase that. Although, actually, no, I got that on my phone. Here. I have it here. So here's what Trump. This is what he posted today, and I got that on my phone. So. On behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I express gratitude and appreciation for my dear brothers Pakistan. All right, now, this is not what Trump. No, no, this is not Trump's statement. This is I, this is Iran's statement. Where is, where is the Trump. That's, that, that's, that's Iran accepting, accepting the peace file. All right, here's what I. Oh, no, here, I got. Here's what Trump. Here's what Trump wrote based on conversations with Prime Minister Shabazz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir of Pakistan and wherein they requested that I hold off on the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran. Which again, I think that's bullshit. There's no way that they were going to do that. They were not going to blow up all those bridges, all those power plants, killing all those civilians. There's just no way it was going to happen. Right, but. And subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the complete, immediate and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

So again, he's not calling it off.

[Peter Schiff]

All hell is still going to rain down. He's still going to wipe out their civilization. He's just going to wait two weeks with bullshit.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Peter Schiff]

I mean, obviously he didn't do it today, he's not going to do it in two weeks. And I think the Iranians realize that this is not going to happen. This will be a double sided ceasefire. The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all military objectives and are very, very far along with a definitive agreement concerning long term peace with Iran and peace in the Middle East. Now I don't think they're anywhere near a long term agreement for peace with Iran, let alone the entire Middle East. So that's just BS. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Yeah, the 10 point proposal is basically a complete victory for IRAN if those 10 points that Iran is insisting on. If we agreed to those 10 points, Iran would be in a much better position after the war than they were before the war. So what would we have achieved? We would have, will be no safer and we would have elevated the position of Iran and diminished our own. I mean, to me the two sides are as far apart as they were from the very beginning. I don't see what Iran has conceded. And the President is claiming that, you know, we're almost there, like the whole mess is over. The mess that he, that he created on his own. It said, he wrote, almost all of the various points of the past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran. No they haven't. But a two week period will allow the agreement to be finalized and consummated. On behalf of the United States of America, as President and also representing the countries of the Middle east, he represents the Middle east. Now. It is an honor to have this long term problem close to resolution.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

Thank you for your attention.

[Peter Schiff]

I don't think anything has actually happened. And I think that Iran is agreeing to temporarily reopen the Strait, though technically it was never closed. The strait was, you know, there wasn't like walls and in fact, ships were going through. If the Iranians let them through, right, their allies, their ships could pass. But I think what they're agreeing to, from what I'm reading, is that they're going to open it up with conditions like they're still going to be in charge of the passage. That's going to have to be coordinated through their military and maybe there's going to have to be a payment. I know they were talking about $2 million payment per ship. I don't know if that payment is going to be part of the reopening over the next two weeks. If the ships that do want to pass through the strait are going to have to pony up the 2 million.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

I'm not really sure.

[Peter Schiff]

But if you read what Iran said, I mean, they're like, yeah, you know, the President wants this truce, wants this ceasefire, and since he's agreeing to meet us on our terms and our conditions, then fine, we'll agree to have a temporary ceasefire as long as things are going to be resolved to our satisfaction. Anyway, we got a quick commercial break. I'm coming right back.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

If you're running any kind of business with whether you're selling products online, managing inventory, or just trying to keep your operations organized, you know how complicated it can get juggling multiple software platforms that don't talk to each other. That's where today's sponsor, Odoo, comes in. Odoo is an all in one business management platform that brings everything together in one place. We're talking website building, E commerce, inventory management, accounting, CRM, all integrated and working seamlessly together. No more switching between disconnected tool or dealing with data that doesn't sync properly. What I really appreciate about Odoo is just how scalable it is. You can start with just what you need and as your business grows, you simply add more applications. And here's the kicker. The first application is completely free for life, including unlimited hosting and support. After that, it's just $24.90 per month to access all of their applications. Compare that to paying for multiple separate platforms and you'll see why so many businesses are making the switch. The interface is very intuitive and the automation saves you from many of your repetitive tasks. And everything is configured for your location. Taxes, currencies, regulations, all handled automatically. So if you want to start streamlining your business operations and actually save Money doing it. Check out Odoo using the link in the description.

[Peter Schiff]

All right, so now I'm going to read again the announcement by Iran, the official communication of the acceptance of the ceasefire. On behalf of this Islamic Republic of Iran, I express gratitude and appreciation for my dear brother, he Prime Minister of Pakistan Sharif and he Field Marshal Munir, for their tireless efforts to end the war in the region. In response to the brotherly request of the Prime Minister Sharif in his tweet, and considering the request by the US for negotiations based on its 15 point proposal, as well as the announcement by the President of the United States about acceptance of the general framework of Iran's 10 point proposal as a basis for negotiations, I hereby declare on behalf of the Iran Supreme National Security Council, if attacks against Iran are halted, our powerful armed forces will cease their defensive operations for a period of two weeks. Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran's armed forces and with due consideration of

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

technical limitations, whatever that means.

[Peter Schiff]

But again, with the coordination of Iran's armed forces. So Iran is still in charge of the passage through the strait. They're not just walking away, but it's pretty clear that the Iranians have conceded nothing. They're basically willing to negotiate, with which they were willing to negotiate from the very beginning. And all of Trump's threats to destroy them, to wipe out their civilian infrastructure, to kill their civilization and turn Iran

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

into a living hell did nothing. Iran has conceded nothing.

[Peter Schiff]

They have agreed to nothing. So what was the point of all of that other than to just make the markets move around?

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

Because I think that we look bad.

[Peter Schiff]

I think Trump looks bad obviously, too. He loses credibility. Not that I wanted him to follow through with these threats. I'm glad that he didn't follow through with them. I just wish he had never made them. Because a, you know, making a bunch

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

of threats and not following through with

[Peter Schiff]

them really does undercut your negotiation posture. You know, Trump is supposed to be this great negotiator. Well, I think he's really weakened his position by, you know, constantly tacoing out on these things. But making the threat makes us look bad. You know, I mean, the last time there was a lot of civilian casualties

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

during World War II, right?

[Peter Schiff]

Both sides bombed civilians. The Germans bombed London. A lot of people died in their homes. They were bombed, you know, air raids. We bombed German cities, some of them completely destroyed. The air force came in and look at Dresden and other, you know, you know, cities just got decimated. Civilians, right? Just bombing you know, residential buildings. And of course, obviously, we dropped nuclear bombs in Japan.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

Nagasaki, Hiroshima.

[Peter Schiff]

I mean, wiped out a lot of civilians. And I think, you know, after that war, kind of the world, you know, came to terms with some rules of war, that that was not a good thing to do. You know, I mean, in hindsight, right, just targeting civilians. Yes, it makes the war, you know, more brutal. It makes the people pay a higher price. Maybe the idea was if we kill enough civilians, there'll be pressure on our enemies to surrender because the war will be less popular. But, I mean, it's really brutal, and a lot of civilians. Not in America. I mean, we were lucky. We got bombed in Pearl harbor. And of course, that was a military base. The Japanese targeted our navy in Pearl Harbor. But other than that, there were no bombs dropped on American soil. So we did not suffer like the British or like the Germans or like the Japanese. I mean, we. We had casualties. I mean, we had soldiers died, but they died on the battlefield. We didn't have civilians dying in their homes the way they did in Europe and then in Japan. So the world came to agree, okay, we're not going to target civilians. And here's Donald Trump out there saying, yeah, we're going to target civilians, we're going to kill civilians, we're going to blow up civilian infrastructure, we're going to wipe out the civilization. It's going to be living hell.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

Why would you say stuff like that?

[Peter Schiff]

Why do you have to make yourself look so bad? There's already enough hatred of America in the region. Why fan the flames with that kind of rhetoric? And then Americans support it, like, yeah, I mean, why? Just because we have a big enough military that we could do that? Just because we have the capability of raining hell on Iran, does that mean we do it? Just because we can, you know, what's that? What was it from Spider Man? With great power comes great responsibility. What about our responsibility not to use this military in that way? I mean, there was no imminent threat. I don't care what Trump wants to say about. They were about to nuke us. If that was the case, then he lied to us eight months ago when we, you know, what was that Operation Midnight Hammer or whatever that one was, where we. We dropped these bunker buster missiles and we apparently wiped out their nuclear capability, set it back for years and years. So I guess that was a lie if we were on the verge of getting nuked, you know, before March 1st. But there is no reason for the United States to threaten that kind of action against the civilian population of Iran, especially when you started the conflict by claiming that you're there to help liberate them. You're claiming that the Iranians are supporting us, that they're protesting in the streets for their government to be overthrown. I mean, Trump was actually saying that the Iranians don't want us to stop the bombs. They want us to keep on dropping bombs. Well, I really doubt they wanted to to be bombed back into the Stone Age. They didn't want to be bombed out of electricity, out of running water. Why would anybody want that? And how long would it take to rebuild all that? Because obviously if we wiped out all that stuff, what's the cost of putting it back together? So none of that makes any sense. I mean, did Trump not think about any of this before we started this war, the position that we might be in? Because I think at the end of the day, Iran is going to win. Win in the sense that I think they are going to come out of this with the regime intact. They would have stood up to the Great Satan, America. And I think they may end up negotiating for themselves a better position. Maybe the sanctions will be gone. Maybe they will be able to start levying a toll on the strait. Yes, they're going to have to rebuild, but a lot of what they lost was military equipment. I mean, that's no big deal, right? I mean, you know, and assuming they don't have to rebuild the weapons that were destroyed economically, they can end up in a better position. I don't know what the US Is going to end up gaining other than Donald Trump bragging about this great victory that he won, which again will be in his mind only. Cuz Donald Trump doesn't care about reality. Remember, his philosophy is if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes true. And so Trump has repeatedly lied about his accomplishments. He's lied about the US economy, about

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

how great it is, about how strong it is.

[Peter Schiff]

He's lied about inflation, he's lied about tariffs. So he's gonna lie about winning this war and how much better off we are as a result of this war. But I'm confident that our reputation is going to be diminished on the world stage. We have. We're going to alienate more people, we're going to create sympathy for Iran that might not have been there before. We are going to accelerate the desire of the world. You know, I just read that the French government had basically sold all the gold that it had left in the US Custody of Fort Knox and just repurchased it. And so they you know, they now they have the gold outside the United States. But I think the world is going to be moving away. We have further distance of ourselves from the world, alienated more of our friends and our trading partners. And I think we've projected this threat again. Where the world looks at American military strength as a liability rather than an asset. Realizing that we could use our military power just because it benefits us. If there's something that we want to take, we take it because we can. Might makes right. We have the toughest, biggest military. And so we could do whatever we want because we've got weapons that nobody else has. And if I'm another country, I'm thinking this ain't a good situation here. We've created a monster. The United States has got too much power and we need to stop financing it. We need to stop paying for it. And the way you pull the rug out from under the US Military is to pull the rug out from under the dollar. You stop subsidizing our trade deficits, you stop subsidizing our budget deficits, allow interest rates to surge, allow consumer prices to surge, and let the US Economy implode. That's it. That's how the world disarms America. That's how they win a war before it starts, is to win the economic war. And here Trump just doesn't understand the game. He thinks he's got the cards, he doesn't. He's got nothing. He's bluffing. And the world has the winning hand. Anyway, got one more commercial break.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

Stick around.

[Peter Schiff]

All right, so I want to, you know, talk a little bit again about the markets and, you know, really the counterintuitive movements in the gold.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

You know, I've been talking for a while now about the disconnect between the price of gold and the valuation of gold mining companies. Gold is holding strong, near historic highs. Yet a lot of producers, and especially emerging producers are still priced like gold is back at fifteen hundred dollars. That disconnect creates opportunity. One company I've been following and that I actually own shares in is West Red Lake Gold. The ticker is WR lgf. What makes this story interesting is that this isn't your typical early stage explorer burning cash and issuing stock. They're already in production. They restarted the Madsen mine in Red Lake, Ontario, one of the most prolific gold districts in the world. And they're generating cash flow right now. Over $500 million has already been invested into infrastruct and development there over the past decade, which significantly de risks the asset compared to most junior miners. And management is focused on scaling production, targeting about 50,000 ounces next year, growing toward over 100,000 ounces annually. So you've got a company with real operations, real leverage to the gold price and a significant exploration upside, all in a top tier jurisdiction like Canada. If I'm right about where gold is headed, and I think I am, companies like this are where you can potentially see outsized returns compared to just owning the metal. Again, the ticker is wrlgf. It's one that I own and one I think is worth a closer look.

[Peter Schiff]

Market because gold rallies on war, and I mean rallies on peace and sells off on war. Whenever there's an escalation in the rhetoric, this war is going to get worse. Gold goes down. But when we have a situation today,

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

it gets de escalated. There's a ceasefire.

[Peter Schiff]

Gold goes way up. That is the opposite of what you would expect. If gold is supposed to be a safe haven, you need a safe haven when there's war. When it's peace, you don't need the safe haven anymore. There's nothing that you need safety from because the hostilities are ending. But everything is keying off the Fed. Everything. And it shows you that the Fed just has way too much power in the economy or in the financial markets. Because the reason that gold is rallying and the reason that stocks are rallying and the reason that foreign currencies are rallying and the reason that Bitcoin is rallying is not because there's not gonna be a war.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

It's gonna be because the markets believe

[Peter Schiff]

that that peace means we'll have rate cuts. That the one thing standing between the markets and the rate cuts is the war. Because the war keeps the price of oil up and that keeps pressure on consumer prices and that takes the rate cuts off the table. But the view is that if the war is over, oil prices will come back down. And that means the inflation threat diminishes. And that allows the Fed cover to cut rates.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

And so it's all about rates.

[Peter Schiff]

Nobody really cares about the war. It's about interest rates.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

But what all of these traders still don't get is that the rate cuts

[Peter Schiff]

are not what's important. What's important is where are interest rates relative to inflation. Doesn't matter if the Fed cuts or hikes. If inflation moves up more than the Fed hikes rates or the Fed doesn't hike rates at all and the Fed and interest and inflation moves up, you're getting a reduction in the real rate of interest. And that's bullish for gold. And it's not oil prices going up that are inflationary. They're not. Higher oil prices means higher oil prices

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

doesn't mean higher inflation.

[Peter Schiff]

All else being equal, if the price of oil goes up, the price of

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

other things are going to come down.

[Peter Schiff]

Because if I have to spend more money on energy, I have less money to spend on something else. And so demand for other things goes down, and that means the price of other things will go down. Now, that's not good news. I mean, I don't want to spend more money on energy. I want to have more, more money left over for other things. So my standard of living goes down if I have to pay a lot more for energy. But that doesn't mean there's more inflation. The only reason that we can pay more for everything is because the Fed creates the inflation. The Fed creates additional money so that I can buy oil and still have money left over to buy other stuff. So it's the inflation of the money supply, the Fed accommodation, that allows inflation to rise, not the increase in oil prices. But again, nobody seems to get that. They just focus on prices and they see oil prices and. And they think that this is going to be the limiting factor. It's not. But even though inflation is going to be a lot higher, not because oil prices are higher, but because the Fed prints more money,

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

the Fed is going

[Peter Schiff]

to ignore that inflation and they're going to cut rates anyway. In fact, even though this war may be over, who the hell knows? But whenever it does end, oil prices are not going back down to $60 a barrel. I doubt they'll even get much below $80 a barrel. And they won't stay there. I think oil prices are going to be significantly higher as a result of this war. Donald Trump talks about how he expects the price to come collapsing down when the war is over. I don't think so. I think that you're going to have more countries that need to stockpile strategic reserves. I think that the risk premium is going to be forever elevated, that who the hell knows, based on any kind of agreement that the United States comes to with Iran. I don't know how anybody can have any confidence that that agreement is going to hold or that Trump is going to somehow be bound by whatever he signs, because I don't think he is. Remember, he told the New York Times, Donald Trump, he was asked, what are the limits on your power? And this is back when he was talking about taking over Greenland. And Trump said, there are no limits on my Power. As commander in chief, I can do whatever I want. He said, the only limitation is my own mind, my own morality. So he doesn't recognize any other authority. He doesn't recognize the Constitution as restraining him. He doesn't recognize, you know, international law, you know, conventions, you know, I mentioned, you know, treaties about, you know, not targeting civilians. And I don't think he's going to feel bound by any treaty that he signs. I mean, look, he wasn't. You know, he talked about how great NAFTA was, and then he wanted to violate. I mean, not nafta, but usmca. Right. NAFTA was the horrible, worst trade deal ever. And then when we got the usmca, which was pretty much NAFTA rebranded, Trump said, that's the greatest trade deal ever.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

But then he didn't want to abide

[Peter Schiff]

by that when he started slapping all these tariffs on screw, screw usmca. So the world is not going to necessarily believe that any kind of truce, any kind of ceasefire, peace deal is permanent. So everybody is going to have to be prepared. We'll hope that the situation doesn't flare up again, but we better prepare. We don't want to be caught off guard.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

And so it's gonna put a bid,

[Peter Schiff]

a premium in the oil market. Prices are not going back down. I mean, obviously we already had an inflation problem. Prices were rising for just about everything except oil. That was the one bright spot that we had. Everything was getting more expensive, but oil was cheaper. Well, now everything's gonna be more expensive. And oil, oil's gonna be going up, too, and the economy is going to continue to weaken. Look, we get more economic data this week. In fact, we got some today on durable goods. And, and, and that was. That was a weak number that we got on durable goods. Let me see, I have that here. Yeah, Durable Goods orders declined 1.4% in February. This is before the war. The consensus was for a drop of 0.2, and we went down 1.4 the prior month, which was reported unchanged in January. That was revised to minus 0.5. So, you know, a big drop. A lot of it obviously came from transportation, because X transportation orders were up. But overall, it indicates that the economy is weakening. But we're going to get more data. We're going to get the final read, I think, on Q4 GDP on Thursday. And remember, the last look we got was 0.7. That was half of the 1.4% that they were estimating. It was just 0.7. We'll see if that gets revised any lower, but it was already very weak And I think Q1 is going to be even weaker. Right? We just finished that now because now we're in April, but we don't have those numbers yet. And we're also going to get the CPI numbers on Friday. Now this is the March number, these are the estimates and I'm going to talk about these. I'm going to do a a Shift Gold Friday Market Wrap. So I'm not going to do another podcast, but on Friday I'm going to record the Shift Gold Friday Market Wrap. So make sure and tune into that on the Shift Gold YouTube channel.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

I used to think a mattress was just furniture until I got my Ghost bed. It's a whole different experience. I woke up and thought to myself,

[Peter Schiff]

so this is what good sleep feels like.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

Because Ghostbed doesn't build mattresses like furniture, they build engineered sleep systems. Their beds are serious health equipment beds designed for relief and recovery, not looks or fluff. Your body should be healing while you sleep, not fighting for comfort. I noticed the difference right away. If you're waking up stiff, tossing and turning, sleeping hot, even reaching for a pain reliever before bed, hoping tonight will

[Peter Schiff]

be different, that's not aging.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

That could be your mattress talking.

[Peter Schiff]

And here's another thing I love about Ghostbed.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

You get 101 nights to try it at home. If you don't feel the difference, you can send it back risk free. Ghostbed is offering my audience their lowest prices of the season plus an extra 10% off. Go to Ghostbed.com Peter and use promo code Peter that's Ghostbed.com Peter promo code Peter did you know? Fast growing trees is America's largest and most trusted online nursery with thousands of trees and plants and more than 2 million happy customers. They have all the plants your yard or home needs, including fruit trees, privacy trees, flowering trees, shrubs and houseplants. All grown with care and guaranteed to arrive healthy. It's like your local nursery, but anywhere you live with more plants than you'll find anywhere else. Whatever you're looking for, Fast Growing Trees helps you find options that actually work for your climate, space and lifestyle. Fast growing trees makes it easy to get your dream yard. Just click, order, grow and get healthy, thriving plants delivered to your door. Their alive and thrive guarantee promises that your plants arrive happy and healthy. No green thumb required, just quality plants you can count on. Plus get ongoing support from trained plant experts who can help you plan your landscape, choose the right plants and learn how to care for them every step of the way. Shopping for plants, the traditional way can be a hassle. You drive around to multiple nurseries, try to figure out what actually works in your climate, and then you're loading dirt and plants into your car, hoping they survive the trip home. Fast Growing Trees makes the whole process a lot easier Fast Growing Trees is a company we've been using for my home in Connecticut for several years. My wife loves shopping their website and choosing the plants for our yard. And now with spring on its way,

[Peter Schiff]

she's already planning to order more plants

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

and trees for our property. Right now they have great deals on spring planting essentials, up to half off on select plants and listeners to our show get 25% off their first purchase when using the Code Gold at checkout. That's an additional 25% off. Better plants and better growing at fast growingtrees.com using the code Gold at checkout Fast Growing Trees Code Gold Now's the perfect time to plant. Let's grow together. Use Gold to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. This is the time of year I tend to take a step back and look at what I'm actually wearing and more importantly, what's worth keeping. I'd rather own fewer things, but higher quality pieces that I can wear consistently

[Peter Schiff]

without thinking about it.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

That's what I love about Quince. The materials feel like something you'd expect from a much more expensive brand. The fit is dialed in and the pricing is actually reasonable. Quince makes high quality everyday essentials using premium materials like 100% European linen and their insanely soft Flow knit activewear fabric. Their men's linen pants and shirts are lightweight, breathable and comfortable, basically the perfect layer for spring. The pants strike the right balance between laid back and refined so you look put together without trying too hard. And their Flow Knit activewear is moisture wicking, anti odor and soft enough that you'll actually want to wear it all day. The best part is that their prices are 50 to 60% less than similar brands. Quince works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen so you're paying for quality, not brand markup. Everything is designed to last and make getting dressed easy. I've been wearing their Pro Tech golf pants and honestly they've become a go to of mine. They're lightweight, they have a nice stretch to them and move well without feeling loose or sloppy. Refresh your wardrobe with quince. Go to quince.comgold for free shipping and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. Go to Quincy C E.com Gold for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's Quince.com Gold.

[Peter Schiff]

Oh and by the way, again on this, if you're not a subscriber to this channel, subscribe. Like the video, leave a comment. You know, I'm leaving. I'm, I'm feeling a little under the weather. You know, I was on the boat. I did my last podcast from sea. I was, you know, a number of people were able to recognize exactly where in the BVI I was based on the background from that video, which I was impressed that people knew because there's so many different islands there. But I guess if you've been there enough, you start to recognize them. But I don't know. I picked up something yesterday. I started feeling sick on the way back to shore and I think I picked it up from my daughter. I always get it worse. My kids get sick and then I get it worse than they did. So I'm not feeling that great. I'm doing this video. But tomorrow I got to leave. I'm speaking at an event in North Carolina on Thursday. So I'm flying out tomorrow and coming back on Friday. So I'm going to be traveling but I'll be back Friday to do the shift gold market wrap and I'll talk about these numbers that we've got. But just looking at the estimates for the cpi, the consensus for the increase in March, right, and this is obviously with, with the energy prices is a point nine percent increase in headline cpi. That's a huge jump. And even the core, if you strip out food and energy is estimated at point three. So that would bring the year over year headline number to 3.8. No, no, they're looking for 3.4 for the headline and 2.7 for the for the year over year core, those are still big numbers. Moving in the other direction. Headline going from 2.2.4 to 3.4 and core going from 2.5 to 2.7. But we've got a long way to go. The economic data is clear. In fact, I pointed this out on my last podcast on Friday and I read more polls that Donald Trump now when it comes to independence, he has the lowest approval rating ever of any president, even lower than Harry Truman. Because when you're looking at the independents, it's a pretty good bellwether because you eliminate the die hards on either side because the Democrats are going to be predisposed to hate Trump no matter what and the Republicans are going to be predestined Most of them anyway, to love them no matter what. So if you take independence, right, they have no party affiliation, so they have no horse in the race or dog in the race. So they're going to be a little bit more objective by definition, right? They don't have any loyalty to any one party. And when you ask people, do you approve of the way the President is handling the economy, the average guy or gal doesn't really know about the overall economy. I mean, they're too busy, you know, just trying to get by, right? They don't really consider, well, what are the GDP numbers, you know, what's the budget deficit, you know, what's the productivity numbers? And in many cases, they don't even look at the stock market. The average guy, when he's asked about, do you approve or disapprove of how the President is handling the economy? They think about it from their own perspective. How am I doing? Am I better off or am I worse off? And if the person polled feels good about their own circumstance and thinks things are getting better, they're going to say, yeah, I approve of the President's handling of the economy working for me. Things are getting better for me. So I approve. If, on the other hand, things are getting more difficult, if people feel that they're worse off, they're going to say, no, I don't approve of the way the President is handling the economy. He's doing a bad job. Things have gotten worse for me. I don't approve of that. And so because Trump has record low, record low approval ratings or record high disapproval ratings among independents on the economy,

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

specifically on the economy, shows you just

[Peter Schiff]

how bad the economy is. Donald Trump is saying, we have the greatest economy in history, not just the greatest economy recently, not just a better economy than we had under Biden, but we have the greatest economy in history. At the same time, he says that under Biden, we had the worst economy in history, we had a dead economy, and now we're the hottest economy in the world. Now, the independent voters who are being polled, they were alive when Biden was president, so they lived through the worst economy in the history of the world, and now they are living in the greatest economy in the history of the world, Wouldn't you think that they would give Trump credit for that? Wouldn't you think he would have high approval ratings if in such a short period of time, Trump was able to take us from the worst economy in history to the greatest economy in history? Yet the people who live through both are not happy about that. They're not excited. Gee, yeah, I'm glad that Donald Trump brought us, you know, from the brink of annihilation. There it was, we were, it was so miserable under Biden, and now this is an economic boom. Obviously. If the people are saying that the economy is worse now than it was under Biden, what does that say? Because if Biden, if we had the

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

worst economy in history under Biden and

[Peter Schiff]

now it's worse, what does that mean about Trump? Now we have the worst economy in history. If Trump was accurate about his description of the Biden economy. So this, to me is a much more important indicator. Forget about these government numbers. They're all fudged, right? They've been reverse engineered and they're designed deliberately to see. But when you ask people how they're doing and they tell you I'm doing awful, that's more believable.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

And the Fed is going to be

[Peter Schiff]

under intense pressure to cut rates regardless of inflation. And the Fed will excuse it. They'll attribute it to temporary transient factors. They'll attribute it to the lingering effects of the war, the lingering effects of tariffs. They are going to focus on weakness in the economy and weakness in the labor markets, and both are going to be even weaker in the aftermath of this war and whatever kind of peace we end up negotiating to bring an end to it, if it does end. So I think we're gonna get the cuts. I think the markets are right in that. But I would not be buying into the US Stock market. I think the US Stock market, after this big rally, I think it could roll over. I mean, Dow's up almost a thousand points now. The Dow was way overpriced before the war started, and it didn't even go down that much during the war. There's still much too much optimism out there and complacency for a very overvalued US Stock market. But that does not mean that you should be sitting in cash. You should not be. Because as overvalued as the US Stock market is, the US Dollar is every bit as overvalued and the dollar is going to go down. And that means if you're sitting in cash and your cash is dollars, you're losing purchasing power. So instead of owning dollars, you want to own gold and silver. You want to go over to shift gold and buy some gold and silver. You want to open up a T gold account if you don't already have one, and get yourself some T gold in addition to the physical gold and silver that you take delivery of and move More money out of US stocks. This rally I don't believe is going to last, but I think emerging markets are going to emerge from this in much better shape. I think foreign markets are going to be in better shape because I think money is going to continue to flow away from the US dollar, away from the US bond market, away from the US stock market. And that money is going to come back to where it came from. And this is a huge wave that you want to ride it. You don't want to get crushed by it. You want to ride it for as long as you can. Most people have no idea that this is what's happening, so there'll be some euphoria. I would sell into the rally in US stocks, but I keep buying into gold and silver, buying into foreign stocks, buying into the mining stocks.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

Look, most people treat their health the same way bad investors treat the market. They react, they guess. They follow generic advice from someone who doesn't know their situation. And then they wonder why nothing's working. Here's the thing about supplements, diet, all of it. Most people are optimizing for nothing. They're taking what their friend takes. What some article said. No data, no baseline, no idea if it's actually doing anything. That's not a strategy.

[Peter Schiff]

That's hope.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

True Diagnostic is different. They use advanced epigenetic testing, real biological data to tell you exactly what's happening inside your body. True Age measures how fast you're actually aging, not how old your birth certificate says you are, rather how old your cells are behaving. One simple at home finger prick measures up to 180 biomarkers, over a million data points analyzed. And then you get a 90 day action plan. Three specific recommendations, not a list of 40 things. Three the ones that matter for you. Then you retest. You see the progress. That's accountability. I've done the test myself. The process is straightforward, honestly easier than I expected. And what I got back gave me something concrete to work with. I already pay close attention to what I'm putting into my body, how I'm moving, how I'm recovering. But True Age helped me sharpen that. It confirmed some things and pointed me toward a couple areas I hadn't prioritized the way I should have. Right now my listeners can get 20% off at truediagnostic.com using code GOLD20 at checkout, that's truediagnostic.com and use code GOLD20 for 20% off today. Choose Truage True Health or the Combo Kit as a one time purchase or Subscription.

[Capital Group Announcer]

Some of the best lessons don't come from a classroom. They come from experience on the power of advice. A new podcast series from Capital Group. You'll hear from CEOs, investors and founders about how they built careers, took risks and reinvented themselves. If you're starting your own journey, this is the kind of advice you won't want to miss. Available wherever you get your podcasts Published by Capital Client Group Inc.

[Peter Schiff]

You know, we mentioned I have a, for the first time, I've got a sponsor, West Red Lake Mining. And they just did a commercial. First time I've done that. And I thought it was interesting because I'd own that stock for some time. And they approached me about sponsoring the podcast and I was like, well, yeah, you know, a lot of times I get approached by financial companies and I turn them down because I, you know, I guess I don't want to recommend it. But here was something, I already owned it. And, you know, I said, well, yeah, you know, I mean, I see gold companies advertising. They advertise on television, you know, turn on financial news and you see gold companies run advertisement. They have investor relations, so why not, why not have a company? Maybe I'll get more companies sponsoring my podcast as long as I like the stock. Because I think people should be buying gold mining companies. I think this is gonna be a huge boom. You know, you could either buy individual stocks on your own or, you know, you can buy into my mutual funds. You could buy into my separately managed accounts, have us manage the portfolios for you in gold stocks. But they had a pretty big pullback and the war was the catalyst for the pullback. Even though the war should have been bullish, it was the catalyst for a shakeout. But we have set the stage for the next leg up and I do expect the mining stocks to lead the metal. I think the gdx, the gdxj, which are not the best way to buy, but as an indicator, a benchmark, I believe those mining stocks will make new

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

highs for this move.

[Peter Schiff]

They will take out their February highs before gold and silver take out their highs. And I think that's a healthier bull market and I am very well positioned to benefit from that. And again, I would encourage all of our listeners to this podcast to try to use this pullback. I've been recommending the entire time the market was under pressure to increase positions and I would continue to advocate for that. This was a gift. And even though the markets will be up a lot tomorrow and maybe buy in the open, isn't the greatest move, maybe wait for a pullback. But the markets are still significantly lower than where they were. Even if we have a huge gain tomorrow, we're still significantly lower. We're still more than 20% below the peak. So it's a great opportunity to buy back in. Anyway, that's it for today's podcast. Again, as I said, don't forget, I'm gonna do the Friday podcast on the SHIFT Gold channel. So if you're not currently a subscriber, go. Oh, one thing I meant to mention, I totally forgot because I mentioned on this podcast that I won my FOIA lawsuit against the irs.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

Took me over a year.

[Peter Schiff]

The judge basically let him have it and told the irs, you're wrong. You know, you have no justification for withholding these documents. You've got to give shift the documents that he requested. You've got to unredact them.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

It's hundreds and hundreds of pages.

[Peter Schiff]

You have no valid justification. You need to produce this information. Oh, and by the way, the other searches that you refuse to do, you need to do those because you're wrong. He was very specific in what he wanted and your reasons for rejecting the search were wrong. Basically, I won, you know, a total victory from a judge who gets it. Federal judge in, in Washington D.C. basically said the IRS was wrong and the information that I've been requesting for years should have been supplied to me years ago. And the judge, I put the entire opinion up on the 9Fraud website. If you go to 9Fraud.com read this opinion, it's not like a short opinion. The judge goes into detail about why the IRS was wrong. He has all of the case law that he cites and he issues the order, you know, produce these documents, give the shift the documents. Well, now I found out from my attorneys that they're not going to give me the documents. The first thing they're going to do is ask the judge to reconsider the ruling, change his mind. Now, I don't know what they're going to do to try to put pressure on him to get his mind right. Hopefully he stands pat because I don't see how he could change his mind given how one sided the ruling was in my favor. I mean, it wasn't even close. It was like hands down denied everything the government wanted and granted everything I wanted basically. But they've also told me that if the judge doesn't change his mind that then they're still not going to give me the information because they're probably going to have the Justice Department appeal it. To the district court, circuit court, and try to get an appeals court to overrule the trial court to say the government doesn't have to give me this information. I mean, think about the extent to which the US Government is going to avoid transparency. I'm asking to see the information. The emails that went back and forth between IRS agents and IRS agents and ATO agents and HMRC agents and OSEF about shutting down my bank, about why they decided to shut it down, right? Why can't I see this information?

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

What the hell are they hiding?

[Peter Schiff]

If there were legitimate reasons, then why

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

can't they let it out in the open?

[Peter Schiff]

Right? If they didn't do anything wrong, If I'm the one that did something wrong, right? They investigated my bank for years and years. In fact, the criminal investigation started January of 2020.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

This is six years later, more than six years.

[Peter Schiff]

Now, one of the things they're claiming is they can't release the information because the investigations are still ongoing. Bullshit. They've been investigating me for six years and they haven't charged me with anything. They haven't charged anybody at the bank. They haven't charged any of the bank's customers. There's no way this investigation is still going on. We haven't received a single request for a single document in years. Years. But I'm asking, okay, the investigation is basically over. Show me this, you know, this information. I'm asking. I was the one that was investigated. Get, show me the dirt you got on me. Right? I'm asking for these emails. If I did anything wrong, they should be happy to produce them. If they didn't do anything wrong, if they were legitimate in what they did, they would produce the documents. I'm the one that's demanding the documents about my own criminal investigation be made public so everybody can see what they investigated. And the reason is, I know. I know that if these documents are ever given to me unredacted, I know what they're gonna show. They're gonna show IRS agents saying, what are we gonna do? We spent all this time and all this money investigating Schiff and his bank, and it turns out they did nothing wrong. Not only did they not do anything wrong, they went above and beyond. They did everything right. I've never seen a bank that had such strict compliance. I mean, we couldn't have been more wrong. They had a tougher AML and KYC program than any we've ever encountered. So what do we do now? How can we make this innocent bank look guilty? How do we get out of Jail and salvage our reputation. What can we do? And they came up with this brilliant plan to try to convince the Puerto Rican regulators to shut down my bank on a pretense. Hey, you got to shut down Schiff's bank. You know, I don't care why. Make up some reason we need to shut it down. And then, you know, you need to help us frame the bank for money laundering and tax evasion.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

We got to make it look like this bank is guilty of committing these

[Peter Schiff]

crimes because not only did we investigate him, but we leaked it to the media. And 60 Minutes, the new York Times, they ran all these stories about this investigation. We can't walk away empty. We need to have something to show for this investigation. We need a scalp. So I know it's probably gonna be all out there in black and white. Cuz these guys probably thought, no big deal, we'll have these conversations, we'll put what. Because Schiff is never going to get to it, right? They probably weren't thinking about it. So I'm sure that all of this criminal conduct will just be there for all to see. And I think that's why they are resisting this so much. That's why it's taking me years and years and years and well over 100,000 in climbing in legal bills to force the government to obey its own law. The Freedom of Information act says that

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

I'm entitled to this information.

[Peter Schiff]

The judge agreed. Normally nobody even gets to a judge. You submit a request and the IRS just denies it. The government denies it. And then you're sol, right? They just deny it. You can't have it. Most people just walk away. They don't get it because they don't

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

want to file the lawsuit.

[Peter Schiff]

They don't have the time, they don't have the money. But I did. I hired the lawyers, I took the time, I spent the money. And they are dragging this out.

[Podcast Co-host or Guest]

They won't even accept that they lost.

[Peter Schiff]

They've got to appeal it because it's so important to keep the public in the dark. The IRS does not want the light of truth shined on what they're doing. And of course this is Donald Trump's Justice Department. So if the Justice Department appeals this decision because they want to continue the COVID up, it's on Donald Trump's watch. So don't think you know, that swamp is being drained. It's not all the corruption is still there. The government does not want to expose this, they just want to cover it up. But anyway, I will keep everybody posted and when they do appeal and then I have an opportunity to object. I'm gonna post all that stuff on the nine fraud website so you could read how your government is trying to argue that it shouldn't have to make this information public and I'll be arguing that they need to. But anyway, that's it for today's podcast. See you on Friday on the shift Gold Friday Market Wrap. Bye for now. Working across teams is tough, but Asana helps you handle it. Asana AI can spot roadblocks and assign work to keep everything on track. That's how work gets handled. Visit [e-mail].

[Capital Group Announcer]

If you're early in your career and looking for insight, inspiration and honest advice, listen to the Capital Ideas podcast. Hear from Capital Group professionals about leaning into the differences that make you unique, making decisions that last, and what it means to lead with purpose. The Capital Ideas Podcast from Capital Group. Available wherever you listen. Published by Capital Client Group Inc.