On Sunday night, Mike Shedlock lobbed a hand grenade Peter Schiff’s way (here, and mirrored here).
Around late 2008, some PR flacks were circulating a Schiff’s greatest hits — short excerpts of his appearances on major media. It was apparent to me that these heavily edited clips were not coming from random readers, but rather, were part of an organized PR campaign.I do not know if this annoying guerilla marketing approach is what motivated Mish to write his takedown, but it sure made me come close several times.
Regardless of the motivation, in a meticulous, fact-based post, Shedlock highlighted the poor investment returns Schiff has generated in 2008. Through the grapevine, I have heard that Schiff was livid, and is threatening a lawsuit.
Too late: I understand more fireworks are coming, via a major media outlet that picked up the specific details from Mish, and independently verified them. Look for a major story soon (possibly as early as Weds/Thur). As is so often the case these days, a blogger discovered something newsworthy, and the MSM picked up on it afterwards.
~~~
In the past, I defended Schiff against a pretty shoddy piece of hit journalism by Forbes. It was a case of pretty weak investigative reporting — and I expect much better from Forbes. I have also highlighted the works of Blog Spotlight: Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis (November 30th, 2006, 7:00PM).
I’m not sure you call me neutral — but I am certainly even handed in this case. However, I simply cannot find anything in Mish’s blog post that is actionable. Besides, who would want to open themselves up to the sort of discovery process slander/libel litigation would entail for the plaintiff. It would make a colonoscopy look pleasant by comparison . . .
What's been said:
Discussions found on the web: