Peter Schiff - The Human Scumbag

Do a quick google search on Peter Schiff and the results portray him as a shifty peddler trying to make more money at any cost. His gold selling site preys on people; like a late night infomercial. All the information he "shares freely" is designed to push sales toward commodities that he has invested in. I don't think he really cares about disenfranchised humans. I do agree with the idea that competition creates prosperity, innovation, and affordable products. I also believe in the idea of helping those who have nobody else to turn to. When it comes to health care, Peter Schiff says that the extremely ill, dying, and chronic sufferers should have to pay full price. Allowing the insurance companies to deny these people coverage or charge them a fortune for limited services, only serves to burden an already very sick person with an ungodly amount of stress. It's commonly known that a person's mental health is a significant deciding factor in regards to their recovery and very survival. When you force someone to constantly evaluate if they should accept the care they need, and punish them when they do with debt beyond their means, you are sentencing them to die.

We cannot simply assume that every person, incapable of working, has someone else to take care of them or that private social elements will be there to support those who have nothing else. There are people out there who are sick or mentally damaged that also have no friends, no family, no religious affiliation, and no other means to acquire assistance. The problem isn't the social programs that we have in place through the government, the problem is the people who abuse those systems and are perfectly capable of providing for themselves. Far too often I come across someone who is on SSI and/or Food Stamps and they make money under the table. Either through a construction position or much more illegal activities such as drug dealing. I've seen those very same people work hard in their personal lives, show capacity to problem solve, and are completely able bodied. Unfortunately it's near impossible to truly evaluate if a person is abusing the system or genuinely needs it, because the entire thing relies on trusting what the person says. Without some sort of extreme surveillance of a person's life, you never really know what they are doing or how they feel when they aren't in front of you.

I don't think government should be as large or powerful as it currently is, but we also must, on some levels, enforce the human element into the system of capitalism. Leaving it entirely up to the goodwill of fellow humans isn't the answer either. When money is taken from you and spent somewhere else, you become disconnected from that spending; you have no choice where it goes. Although that can be a terrible thing, imagine how difficult it would be to get people to part with something they have to actively make the choice to part with. There would be no way to enforce equality of access. Someone just as much in need, but not as easily empathized with, would not get help. There has to be a middle-ground for social charity; a right to know where your money is going, but no power to discriminate out of hatred or disgust. Just look at how easy it is for a person to walk right past homeless people living in their own town and think nothing of it. Yes, we are the most charitable country, but those are for causes which make you feel good or earn you higher social points. The people who don't have a powerful narrative get left to fend for themselves. A great deal of our charity also goes toward other countries or toward administrative costs. It is ridiculous for Peter Schiff to flat out state that 90% of charity money goes toward its respective cause. If anything, it's more than often the opposite.

Peter Schiff is no better than a person abusing public welfare assistance; he games the system. He's competing in a structure and winning. He's just doing it in a very different manner, that has a much higher ceiling for success. He's an addict and you should assume anything he says is merely to further his own score. Yes, his money can create jobs and help some people have better lives, but at what cost? He will always take more than he will give. The god he worships is money. Money he makes off swindling others out of theirs. Many of them who already have very little. He's selling false hope to the vast majority while justifying it by creating a few jobs. Just as he says that the politicians will tell you what you want to hear in order to get more votes, Peter Schiff tells you what you want to hear in order to get more money. Both have agendas. Peter Schiff just wants to convince you that his platform is the absolute solution. Never trust anybody who speaks in such absolutes.