Peter Schiff joined two other guests on Fox Business’ Closing Bell with Liz Claman. They discussed what it would take for the United States government to balance its budget without deficit spending. Peter Hoekstra, a former Republican Congressman from Michigan, argued that the government had managed to balance the budget in the 1990s. However, Peter Schiff pointed out that the balanced budget of the ‘90s was a fantasy based upon the dot-com bubble. What the US really needs is real monetary reform and arestructuring of its economy.

The cost of government is not what it taxes, but what it spends. The Democrats are all about something for nothing. Republican candidates who talk about tax cuts without corresponding spending cuts – that’s the same thing. It’s something for nothing. “

Highlights from Peter’s interview:

“The cost of government is not what it taxes, but what it spends. The Democrats are all about something for nothing. Republican candidates who talk about tax cuts without corresponding spending cuts – that’s the same thing. It’s something for nothing. The candidates need to be asked what government programs are they going to eliminate? What spending are they going to cut to make these tax cuts possible. Otherwise, it’s just more deficits. All these candidates, they stump and you go to their websites – they’re all in favor of a balanced budget amendment. That’s because none is ever going to pass. As President, they’re not going to be able to enact a balanced budget. I would ask these candidates: ‘If you were President, would you take an oath now not to raise the debt ceiling or suspend it, the way they just did in Congress, under any circumstances, and actually force a balanced budget on Congress right now?’ …

“What we have to do is stop all the artificial stimulus that has led to one bubble after another. Your other guest talked about the balanced budget in the 1990s. That was a fantasy based upon the dot-com bubble. You remember reporting on that back in the early days. The Congress was flush with revenue from a bubble that burst in 2001… It was not real in longevity. People extrapolated these projections into the future. We need a real recovery. We need real jobs. Not what we have now. Not bubble blowing, not zero-percent interest rates. We need a big restructuring in the economy…

“It wasn’t real. At the time when people were forecasting surpluses as far as the eye can see, I said that was nonsense. These deficits are going to come back. And they came back huge…”