Peter David Schiff (/ʃɪf/; born March 23, 1963; nicknamed "Dr. Doom")[2][3][4] is an American stockbroker, financial commentator, and radio personality.

His father, Irwin Schiff, who was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, served in the US Army during World War II.

Schiff's parents divorced when he was young and he moved around the country with his mother and his brother, Andrew, from Connecticut to Manhattan to Florida and finally to Southern California.

[10][11] Peter Schiff did not share his father's radical stance and by 1980, had urged him to stop his tax protest activities which he saw as "futile resistance".

[14] In 1996, Schiff and a partner acquired an inactive brokerage firm and renamed it Euro Pacific Capital, and began operating it from a small office in Los Angeles.

[26] Since then he has said many times that without a change in US government economic policy, there will be hyperinflation[26][27] and that the imbalance between the number of goods the US consumed and what it produced would eventually lead to problems for the US economy.

Referring to the housing market, Schiff went on to criticize the policy of the Bush administration to "vilify and threaten the lenders" for reckless borrowing.

[33] In a March 2009 speech, Schiff said that it would be impossible for the US public debt to China to be repaid unless the US dollar's value is substantially diluted through inflation.

"If I gave him an ounce of gold and he dropped it on the sidewalk would he similarly condemn the precious metal as a foolish monetary system?

"[46] Later that week, an article appeared in The Wall Street Journal reporting that Schiff's broker-dealer firm had "advised its clients to bet that the dollar would weaken significantly and that foreign stocks would outpace their U.S. peers" but the dollar later advanced against most currencies, "magnifying the losses from foreign stocks.

Schiff believes inflation eventually leads to increases in consumer prices after an indefinite waiting period.

Krugman noted that inflation had instead remained low and concluded that Schiff's type of economic "model is all wrong" since it predicts that a tripling of the monetary base, such as had just occurred, must lead to "dire effects on the price level.

"[54] In January 2012, Schiff stated that a US debt crisis and high consumer price inflation had been delayed merely by government policy.

He was critical of the US government's efforts to "ease the pain" with economic stimulus packages and bailout, as he believed that replacing "legitimate savings with a printing press" would result in asset price inflation, eventual consumer price inflation, and if left unchecked potentially hyperinflation.

[59][non-primary source needed] For example, in 2009, Schiff predicted a "protracted period of economic decline accompanied by rapid increases in consumer prices."

However, he did open up the possibility of a few basis point rate hike but anticipated that it would have major impact on the equity market and would lead the US into recession, therefore the Fed would be forced to reverse its policy and resume the QE program.

[62] In December 2008, some Connecticut citizens created a website encouraging Schiff to campaign against incumbent senator Christopher Dodd.

[65] In a May 2009 video blog, Schiff said that he was seriously considering a run for the US Senate, and when questioned by a Washington Post reporter, he said the chance of him entering politics was "better than 50-50.

[71][72] At the May 2010 Republican convention, Linda McMahon received the most delegate votes but not enough to prevent an August primary election challenge from Rob Simmons.

[79] In August 2012, Schiff replaced G. Gordon Liddy in the 10 a.m.–12 p.m. time slot on the Radio America network Internet broadcast.

[80] Schiff is also a video blogger in the internet and distributes his media through YouTube,[81] Euro Pacific Capital,[82] and iTunes.