Jim Rogers on CNBC April 1, 2009.
Jim Rogers spoke with CNBC on February 9, 2009. Among comments about the UK and other topics, he related:
- I’m buying gold just because periodically I buy gold. I do expect it to be much higher over the next decade.
- Btw, if the IMF sells their gold — and the IMF is dying to sell their gold to bail everybody out — then gold could go down a fair amount. But that would be the bottom for gold if the IMF does. Now, I hope the IMF does sell their gold for two reasons: 1. We would get a low price for gold, and 2. then we could get rid of the IMF because, after they sell all their gold, nobody else is going to give them any money, and then the IMF would have to dissolve somewhere down the road.
If only.
Jim Rogers appeared on New Delhi Television Limited February 25, 2009.
“I expect to see social unrest, civil unrest, in the United States a couple years from now. Yes, it’s changing the entire situation in the United States. The United States is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world. There is a dramatic sea change taking place. The world’s center is moving from the West to the East, to Asia, and many people have not figured this out yet, especially people in the United States. No, you’re going to see a lot of turmoil in the United States in the next 3, 4, 5 years.”
Let’s do what we can.
![Jim Rogers spoke with Business Week. Highlights:
Q: What do you think of the government’s response to the economic crisis?
JIM ROGERS: Terrible. They’re making it worse. It’s pretty embarrassing for President Obama, who doesn’t seem to have a clue what’s going on—which would make sense from his background. And he has hired people who are part of the problem. [Treasury Secretary Tim] Geithner was head of the New York Fed, which was supposedly in charge of Wall Street and the banks more than anybody else. And as you remember, [Obama’s chief economic adviser, Larry] Summers helped bail out Long-Term Capital Management years ago. These are people who think the only solution is to save their friends on Wall Street rather than to save 300 million Americans.
What would I like to see happen? I’d like to see them let these people go bankrupt, let the bankrupt go bankrupt, stop bailing them out.
…if Long-Term Capital Management had been allowed to fail, Lehman and the rest of them would’ve lost a huge amount of money, their capital would’ve been impaired, and it would’ve put a terrible crimp on Wall Street. It would’ve slowed them down for years. Instead of losing capital, losing assets, and losing incompetent people, they hired more incompetent people.
Who was the head of Citigroup? Chuck Prince? I mean, how many hundreds of millions of dollars did Prince take out of the company? How many hundreds of millions of dollars did other Citibank execs take out of the company? Wall Street has paid something like $40 billion or $50 billion in bonuses in the past decade.
Look at the guy at Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines. He did worse accounting than Enron. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac alone did nothing but pure fraudulent accounting year after year, and yet that guy’s walking around with millions of dollars. What the hell kind of system is this?
I mean, this is outrageous economics, and it’s terrible morality.
We’re going to have social unrest in much of the world. America won’t be immune.](http://27.media.tumblr.com/Anhohk1sakfoht3fxSoK0SOzo1_400.jpg)
Jim Rogers spoke with Business Week. Highlights:
Q: What do you think of the government’s response to the economic crisis?
JIM ROGERS: Terrible. They’re making it worse. It’s pretty embarrassing for President Obama, who doesn’t seem to have a clue what’s going on—which would make sense from his background. And he has hired people who are part of the problem. [Treasury Secretary Tim] Geithner was head of the New York Fed, which was supposedly in charge of Wall Street and the banks more than anybody else. And as you remember, [Obama’s chief economic adviser, Larry] Summers helped bail out Long-Term Capital Management years ago. These are people who think the only solution is to save their friends on Wall Street rather than to save 300 million Americans.
What would I like to see happen? I’d like to see them let these people go bankrupt, let the bankrupt go bankrupt, stop bailing them out.
…if Long-Term Capital Management had been allowed to fail, Lehman and the rest of them would’ve lost a huge amount of money, their capital would’ve been impaired, and it would’ve put a terrible crimp on Wall Street. It would’ve slowed them down for years. Instead of losing capital, losing assets, and losing incompetent people, they hired more incompetent people.
Who was the head of Citigroup? Chuck Prince? I mean, how many hundreds of millions of dollars did Prince take out of the company? How many hundreds of millions of dollars did other Citibank execs take out of the company? Wall Street has paid something like $40 billion or $50 billion in bonuses in the past decade.
Look at the guy at Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines. He did worse accounting than Enron. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac alone did nothing but pure fraudulent accounting year after year, and yet that guy’s walking around with millions of dollars. What the hell kind of system is this?
I mean, this is outrageous economics, and it’s terrible morality.
We’re going to have social unrest in much of the world. America won’t be immune.
Jim Rogers spoke with Sir David Frost on February 13, 2009.
What is worse than failure?
Jim Rogers with the FT, part 4 of 4. For prior Fiatch on Jim Rogers, go here.
Jim Rogers spoke recently with the FT, part 1 of 4.
Per usual, Jim Rogers is right, and the TV talking heads are, well, crazy.
Witness a confession of insane, inane illogic:
“Far be it for us to dive into history and all of that. I wanna just ask — do you think there is any type of middle ground we can achieve to solve this financial crisis between the all-out bail-out we are seeing in the US and letting all of the banks fail?”
“Far be it for us to dive into history, and all of that.” I mean, damn. Balph Eubank and Ellsworth Toohey live.
Look again at the words. Watch the pleasant, polite ravings of an irrational professional paid to rationalize theft. History, fact, logic are deemed a nuisance, a trifle, an anachronistic practice, a bother, a bore, a chore. Later, she continues:
“Is there anyone out there, Jim, that you admire who you think could get us through this crisis?”
This question assumes the answer. The interrogation presumes a superman, a superior intellect, the central planner, the commanding authority, the benevolent tyrant who can “get us through this mess.”
What a total nightmare.
Jim tries to explain how central planning doesn’t work, how the market would could and should be allowed to allocate resources.
The host registers no comprehension. She does not even feign interest in such ideas. She wants her powerful hero to have a name. Lunacy.
Jim finally exclaims with exasperation, “Why do you listen to these people?”
Indeed.
You can watch part 2 of this segment here.
On Bloomberg October 24, 2008, Jim Rogers described how policymarkers are “taking from the competent and giving to the incompetent.”
Jim Rogers tangles yet again with CNBC. Inflation versus deflation is an interesting debate, but the host has the wrong idea about the Great Depression. Unfortunately, so do policymakers today. You may read the discussed Anna Schwartz article here.
CNBC; March 12, 2008; the Dow is at 12,156:
CNBC: “What’s not good about 400 points on the Dow?”
In-an-i-ty.
Later, CNBC asks Jim Rogers, “What would be the first two things you would do if you were in Mr. Bernanke’s seat tomorrow morning?”
Jim Rogers: “I would abolish the Federal Reserve, and I would resign.”
Indeed.
Everyone has probably heard the analogy of The Little Dutch Boy lately — as if the Fed and Treasury are the savior, bravely ignoring those who cry moral hazard and holding back the flood.
For a moment, imagine a different version of this analogy. What if it’s American individuals and families — and not the regulators and bureaucrats — who are the Little Dutch Boy? All of these bailout moves represent claims on the future production of individual Americans. In your mind, don’t make The Fed and Treasury the Little Dutch Boy.
What if they’re the water? What happens to us then?
