Krugman Dementia Alert: Former Enron Consultant Says Jim Rogers “Has Been Absolutely Wrong About Everything”
by Zero Hedge - November 7th, 2010 9:50 am
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
While we approach the topic of Paul Krugman with the same eagerness one approaches a clogged up, never cleaned, bathroom at a frat party that is about 50 years past its due date, (pretty much like Keynesianism) this one just put us over the top. In his latest pointless drivel on the economy, instead of reverting to his usual mode of praying to John Keynes, bitching at those who dare call for accountability and the punishment of all those, such as Krugman, responsible for what is now a $4 trillion taxpayer monetary bailout tab, and begging for trillions, then quadrillions, then quintillions, then an infinite amount of money, the Op-Ed writer has instead decided to start a mudslinging campaign against none other than Jim Rogers, the co-founder of George Soros’ Quantum Fund, who has been pretty much spot on with his calls for decades.
A quick compare and contrast – Jim Rogers, whose fortune is in the hundreds of millions, contrary to Krugman, who only has a worthless statue given to him by the same idiots who thought that Obama was worthy of being awarded for his "peace" initaitives, has always had to put his money where his mouth is, while the other one’s only notable claim to fame is being a consultant, and a corrupt and massively conflicted one at that, for that icon of Keynesian free markets- Enron, which Krugman could not find enough words to praise, before it was uncovered that, just like Krugman’s Keynesian ideal, was a fraud, a disaster, and the biggest bankrupty at the time, in the making. We could go on and on, and recapitulate Gonzalo Lira’s thesis of why Krugman is either an "Imbecile or a Fraud" but luckily our readers are sufficiently intelligent and they can figure this out on their own. Which begs the question: just how dumb does Krugman take his readers to be, when he says something as patently imbecilic as the following: "And please note that inflationistas like Rogers have been wrong about absolutely everything this cycle (and the last cycle, and the cycle before that)." While this statement is so wrong and obtuse, it merely confirms that Krugman must obviously be an idiot if he believes that any of those unfortunate enough to read his meandering garbage will not spot who has been wrong…
Jim Rogers Calls CNBC Bullsh*t On CNBC
by ilene - July 30th, 2010 2:09 am
Jim Rogers Calls CNBC Bullsh*t On CNBC
Courtesy of Jr. Deputy Accountant
No seriously.
"It is PR, they got the stocks up, that’s the whole purpose of PR, make the stocks go higher. That’s what CNBC and many many PR agencies are all about."
Jim Rogers: “I Am Buying Gold For A Relief Rally” But All Fiat Currencies Are Doomed
by ilene - June 17th, 2010 7:59 pm
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
On one hand you have BNP revising their mid-term EURUSD forecast to 0.98, on the other you have such pessimists as Jim Rogers saying to buy the Euro. Who to trust anymore? Granted, Rogers’ thesis is only predicated on a a relief rally, pretty much the same as what we suggested when we saw the Goldman downgrade of the EURUSD, and immediately beckoned readers to get right back in. We consider the +50,000 pips picked in the ensuing week a direct gift from god (or at least his favorite worker). At this point the relief rally has likely fizzled, and the direction now is indeed down, at least until the next time the CFTC notes the net EUR shorts have hit a fresh record. Back to Rogers: in the long-term, Jim is just as bearish as always: "The European governments are not getting their act together, not at all. All paper money is flawed, nearly every currency in the world."
Rogers on European credibility: "If Greece went bankrupt it would send the signal to the world, and to the rest of Europe – ok, we’re not going to let people lie about their finance anymore, we are not going to let them spend money they don’t have, we are going to run a tight ship. That means the euro would be an extremely sound currency, it would the old Deutsche Mark." On Keynesianism: "You can’t keep spending money you don’t have because eventually the whole thing collapse in a house of cards." On the transition to reality: "I am not suggesting it is going to be a good time, don’t get me wrong. But if you wait 5 years from now, 10 years from now, when there is nothing you can do, and the whole system collapses, then you have real chaos in the streets, then you have Greece never recovering. In the US we have had states go bankrupt, cities go bankrupt, counties go bankrupt. It didn’t end the US, it didn’t end the US dollar." And on the flaws of our political system, which are just as applicable to our own president: "Greece is just trying to get through the next election, I am trying to figure out what’s good for country, what’s good for the world, what’s good for Europe, what’s good for the financial system."
Jim Rogers Starts Some Short Positions
by ilene - March 23rd, 2010 2:58 pm
Jim Rogers Starts Some Short Positions
Courtesy of Market Folly
Legendary investor Jim Rogers recently appeared on television and voiced some of his latest opinions and investment maneuvers. We haven’t talked about the former Quantum Fund manager for a while because, let’s face it, he’s on television all the damn time. But, some of his comments from this recent interview made us take notice.
Potentially the most notable bit of his conversation was when he said, "I had no shorts for about 15 months so I started putting out some shorts recently. But the fact that I’ve been putting out shorts means the stock market won’t pull back." So, it’s interesting to see Rogers fight the current trend. In his mind, it’s the right play, but he knows he’s going to potentially feel some pain first. Many investors out there will agree that the market is overdue for a near-term pullback. MarketClub voiced these concerns in their recent technical analysis video of the S&P 500. Additionally, Bespoke outlined that many stocks are overbought.
We’ve also noticed some other signs that the market might be getting overheated for now. If you hadn’t realized yet, there’s been an insane amount of secondary offerings hitting the market. As we tweeted earlier, these secondaries typically come in droves when there is complacency and it could be a contrarian signal. (You can follow us on Twitter here). It’s been noted many times in the past that investors often buy the most at the top. Where were all these secondaries when the market was tanking and stocks were cheap? There was no demand; investors were too scared. Now that everyone feels ‘safe’ again, the secondaries are rolled out, the buybacks crank up, and the insiders start purchasing. So, you can’t really blame Rogers for taking a stab here even though he’s going against the current trend.
In his interview, Jim Rogers also talked about some other hot topics. He touched on the euro given the fact that European sovereign defaults have taken centerstage. Rogers notes that, "The euro will probably break up in the next 15 to 20 years. Don’t get me wrong, I own the euro. We’ve had currency unions in history. They didn’t survive. This one won’t survive either." So, he’s short-term bullish and long-term bearish on the euro.
He then shifted his focus to how potential…
BULL VERSUS BEAR: JIM VERSUS JIM
by ilene - March 18th, 2010 12:18 pm
BULL VERSUS BEAR: JIM VERSUS JIM
Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist
James Barty from Arrowgrass Capital Partners says investors should continue buying the dips as stocks continue climbing the wall of worry. Meanwhile, Jim Rogers says we are on the verge of another recession.
Bull:
Bear:
Source: CNBC
Jim Rogers on the Tiger Woods solution
by ilene - December 11th, 2009 10:42 pm
Jim Rogers on the Tiger Woods solution
Courtesy of Tim Iacono at The Mess That Greenspan Made
It’s been a while since a Jim Rogers quote graced the pages of this blog – it seems it was well worth the wait after looking at the gems offered up in this interview with CNBC today.
Gov’t Spending Is Like Tiger’s Dating: Jim Rogers
The U.S. government’s plan to increase spending as a way to kick-start the economy will leave the country with no way to help its way out of the next crisis, Jim Rogers, chairman of Jim Rogers Holdings, told CNBC Thursday.
The Treasury Department "has been putting out all of this stimulus and now they’re talking about extending the (Troubled Asset Relief Program)," Rogers said.
…
Geithner "is a very smart person," but "he’s been wrong about everything for the last 15 years," Rogers said."Why are we listening to any of those guys down there? They’re making our situation worse," he said. "They said in writing yesterday the solution to our problem is to spend more money … that’s what got us into this problem: too much debt."
"That’s like saying to Tiger Woods, ‘you get another girlfriend and it will solve your problems’ or ‘five more girlfriends and you will solve your problems,’" he said.
Rogers sees a currency crisis of some sort occurring somewhere around the world sometime in the not-too-distant future and asks how the U.S. government intends to solve future financial and economic crises if they borrow and print so much money to solve the current one, "What are they going to do, quadruple the debt again? Print more money?"
This was one of the best rhetorical questions I’ve heard all year…
GURU OUTLOOK: JIM ROGERS ISN’T BUYING THE EQUITY RALLY
by ilene - November 12th, 2009 10:48 pm
GURU OUTLOOK: JIM ROGERS ISN’T BUYING THE EQUITY RALLY
Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist
This week’s guru outlook brings you Jim Rogers. Rogers has become infamous in recent years for his prescient calls on the global meltdown and the commodity boom, but long before that Rogers became famous for co-founding the Quantum Fund with George Soros. Rogers and Soros helped steer the fund to a miraculous 4,200% return over the 10 year span of the fund (see here for the Soros Guru outlook) while the S&P 500 returned just 47%. They ran what is considered to be one of the first truly global macro hedge funds.
Rogers has an interesting outlook currently. He has been very vocal about his inflationary outlook, but doesn’t see the liquidity driven bubbles that some other see forming. In fact, he doesn’t see any bubbles in anything other than the U.S. treasury bond market:
“The only bubble I see forming in the Western world is in the U.S. government bond market. Other than that I don’t see any bubbles going on.”
Rogers, a follower of Austrian economics, absolutely hates that the Fed is bailing out the banks and attempting to print us to prosperity. He thinks the winners in this printing press environment are commodities which he believes are in the middle of a secular boom. Paper assets and the dollar are the losers in Rogers’ scenario of
“no new large gold mines have been opened in decades. Some of those mines are over 100-years old. They are all depleting. On the other hand, central banks have huge Gold reserves above ground — and they are less interested in selling than in the past.
If you adjust Gold for inflation and go back to its former all-time high in 1980, Gold should be over $2,000 an ounce right now if you want to say it’s reaching new inflation adjusted all-time highs. That does not mean Gold has to get back to a true all-time high. Nothing has to. However, I suspect that given all the money printing in the world, we will see much higher prices for hard assets.”
Despite his optimism regarding gold, Rogers is actually…
JIM ROGERS: CHINA COULD COLLAPSE
by ilene - July 30th, 2009 10:25 pm
JIM ROGERS: CHINA COULD COLLAPSE
Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist
He’s still very bullish over the long-term, but Jim Rogers is concerned that the Chinese market has run up too far too fast:
Is George Soros Long or Wrong on the Global Rebound?
by ilene - July 1st, 2009 6:27 pm
Is George Soros Long or Wrong on the Global Rebound?
Courtesy of Keith Fitz-Gerald
Investment Director, Money Morning
Billionaire investor George Soros thinks the worst of the global financial crisis is behind us.
In a June 20 interview with Polish television, the Hungarian-born Soros acknowledged that this has been the most serious crisis he’s seen in his lifetime, but said, "Definitely, the worst is behind us."
For those that like to interpret "Soros-speak," that’s as powerful a sign as any that one of the world’s most successful investors is "going long."
But is he wrong?
On one hand, the World Bank is busy roiling the markets with recently updated figures that project a 2.9% decline in global economic activity this year. Then there are the signs that the "green shoots" (how I’ve come to detest that term) may be more like weeds. Debt is devastating the developed world and the once-mighty G-7 looks more like a G-1 every day.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t bet against him. When it comes to financial influence and acumen, Soros is about as powerful and prescient as they come. He’s made billions over the years speculating on things that others simply couldn’t see or, more often, didn’t want to believe. He’s as iconic as he is legendary for making big bets on market timing even if, by his own admission, he’s not always right.
For the millions of investors who are tempted to interpret Soros’s comments as bullish, that admission forces me to urge caution. In fact, my advice to proceed with caution extends to any comments that might be made by such other investment legends as Warren Buffett, or even Soros’ former investment partner, noted author and commentator Jim Rogers.
I preach caution for three reasons:
- Despite the fact that each of these men is fabulously successful, the typical retail investor has no idea how much money they’re betting on the upside, or what percentage of their wealth is involved in any publicized position.
- It’s not clear what – if any – protective stops are being used so you don’t know whether the positions they’ve taken represent core portfolio holdings or speculative trades.
- These revelations – disclosures – are usually made after the fact, which means that investors who may want to tag along for