This past week economist and financial advisor Peter Schiff announced his Republican candidacy for the Connecticut senate seat currently held by Democrat Chris Dodd. Baring any manipulations from the Republican establishment, Schiff's entry into the race guarantees that important issues that are often ignored by establishment candidates will be addressed. Once addressed, Connecticut voters will come to the conclusion that Schiff is the only candidate capable of cleaning up the financial mess produced during Dodd's 5 terms in the Senate.

“What America has succeeded in creating is not an economy impervious to shocks, but merely one which enables their consequences to be postponed to a later date.” – Peter Schiff

No politician of either party will admit this. But Peter Schiff is absolutely right. What has been built during Dodd's close to thirty years in the Senate is an economic system that is prone to booms and busts due mostly to the easy money policies of the Federal Reserve. So, we have a boom in the dot com sector fueled by low interest rates and then the bottom falls out and what does the Fed do but lower rates to one percent to stimulate the economy. This in turn causes the next boom in housing. What does the Fed do again? You got it – lower rates practically to zero. Once recessions set in the politicians turn to the central bank to pump in more money in to ease the pain. This approach has worked so far to delay the inevitable but in the end all we will have is a huge national debt and a calamitous financial meltdown the proportions of which have never been seen in modern history.

It is issues like this that are ignored by the establishment candidates in our political contests. Another issue that Schiff is focused on that the Washington establishment is ignoring is the current reserve crisis at the Federal Housing Administration. Reserves at the agency have fallen to $30 billion while the total amount of mortgage debt insured by the agency has risen to over $1 trillion. Schiff asks correctly, “Didn't we learn anything?” from the most recent crisis. How will the agency insure so much debt with so little reserves? Again, as long as the printing presses are rolling at the Fed, official Washington will sweep this bad news under the rug. But, Schiff has rightly pointed out that the day of reckoning will come when the dollar has lost so much of its value that foreigners will no longer buy our debt and our standard of living will be in the dumper.

America needs leaders with the integrity and intelligence of Peter Schiff. He was one of the very few people in America who predicted the current financial crisis as long ago as the early 2000s. Mocked and ridiculed by political pundits for his comments that the U.S. economy was being built on false notions of wealth his position has since been vindicated by falling asset prices in the housing and stock markets. Currently, his patriotism has come under attack for his belief that the current recession/depression is necessary to liquidate the bad economic decisions that were made during the government induced boom of the last decade. He is the only candidate for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut that is telling the truth regardless of the consequences and standing against the establishment position that winning elections is more important than doing what's right for the country.

When he is elected to the Senate, Schiff will fight for fiscal responsibility, sound money, and restoring the federal government to its constitutional limits. As the candidate who is tied to no special interests including the Republican establishment, Schiff is uniquely qualified to propose and fight for policies that benefit all Americans not just the large corporate bosses and big bankers. For the first time in a long time, Connecticut voters have an opportunity to bring real change to America.

Kenn Jacobine teaches internationally and maintains a summer residence in Haywood County, North Carolina. Visit his blog site online at: The View from Abroad.