I was just treated to a 28 minute interview with Jim Rogers, comfortably seated in his Singapose digs with U.K. reporter getting an economics history lesson.
Here’s my summary of what Jim Rogers said about the past and the future:
- Move east – not New York, far east. That’s where the money is, that’s where the opportunities will be. He has 1 year and 5 year old daughters, imagine that!, and the 5 year old speaks Mandarin.
- Here’s a new thought: have something to sell. He expects farming to do very well over the next 10 years. Paper pushers, on the other hand, not so well.
- Despite what has been reprinted by Kitco’s Jon Nadler, Bernanke deciding to buy Treasuries and print money now to stave of deflation, they WON’T take the money back when the time comes to prevent inflation. Lesson: Spending money and increasing debt has NEVER in world history solved problems brought about by spending too much money and incurring too much debt.
- The Japanese tried all of this, refused to let the market work, they had the lost decade (don’t you mean 2 decades, Jim?)
- Another lesson: Debasing your currency has NEVER worked in the long term, never in the medium term, maybe a little in the short term.
- Ok, who remembered that the U.K. went broke in the 1970′s, could NOT see government bonds, and had to be bailed out by the IMF?
- The G-20 summit was likened by Gordon Brown to the 1933 summit – but that one failed Mr. Brown. Sterling is dead (Jim Rogers has NO positions in Sterling or anything U.K., not long or short). Britain has the North Sea drying up, it has London drying up. What do they have to sell to make up for these 2 big holes in their economy? (Imagine that, an ecomony should have something to SELL!)
- You need to take the pain, let businesses fail; others (smarter) will pick up the pieces and prosper. You only postpone the pain by bailing these companies out and the pain increases the longer it is put off.
- Bailing out Northern Rock was a mistake, bailing out Long Term Capital Management in 1998 was a mistake. Mr. Rogers says that the pain of today would not be happening if LTCM had been allowed to fail and the system take its lumps.
- This is the first time in history that the undeveloped nations have been funding the developed nations, i.e., China funding the U.S. Not a good sign for the U.S.
The good news, as the reporter asked Jim Rogers if they could end on a positive note, is that people will prosper with new opportunities – he again mentions farming.
Illinois Governor Should Watch Jim Rogers’ video
Side note: Illinois governor proposes raising taxes on individuals 50% and raising taxes on businesses to salvage state budget. He assumes that everyone will be content living and working in a state with little to offer – especially in the way of climate – while paying some of the highest income taxes, business taxes, property taxes and sales taxes. I think he is wrong. He certainly isn’t going to attract business and prosperity with that proposal.
I cannot get you in on any Jim Rogers investment newsletter, but the one that comes closest in my opinion is the Casey Report
To see the entire Jim Rogers video, grab a cool drink in a Disney glass and join him here:
