Chairman and CEO of Rogers Holdings Jim Rogers spoke with FOX Business Network (FBN) about the U.S. deficit and the path the nation and individuals need to take in order to prosper. Rogers said that the U.S. economy will not recover until we “accept reality, stop spending money we don’t have, go down to a lower level, and start over.” He went on to say that particularly in such an uncertain economy, “you should invest in only what you know, otherwise keep your money in cash.” Excerpts from the interview be found below, courtesy of FBN.
On his investment strategies:
“I am long commodities, long currencies, and short stocks. But we will see what happens. You should invest in only what you know, otherwise keep your money in cash. The reason people lose money is because they keep jumping around investing in things they don’t have a clue what they are doing. Normal people should just wait. Wait until there are good opportunities and take advantage of them. There are plenty of opportunities besides banks. Cotton is going through the roof, corn is making all time highs. Invest in farmers. Invest in agriculture. I think agriculture is going to be one of the great industries of our time.”
On what one commodity he would invest for the next 10 years:
“Agriculture. I am a terrible market timer but maybe rice. Maybe sugar.”
On the United States deficit:
“America is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world. These clowns in Washington are running up the debts. They are not solving the problem, they are making the problem worse. We have a serious crisis facing us and no one seems to understand it.”
On what it will take for Congress to get serious about passing a deficit plan:
“Throughout history, countries have never dealt with this kind of problem until there is a crisis or a semi crisis. The way things are going we are going to have a crisis. It is going to be in the currency markets. Perhaps as early as this fall you will see a lot of currency turmoil in the dollar or the euro. That’s how these things usually start.”
On whether a crisis in Europe would impact world markets:
“Of course it will. We are going to have problems. Nobody wants to take pain even when its staring you in the face. We have made a lot of mistakes. We have got to deal with those mistakes and saying we don’t have a problem is going to make the problem that much worse. There is going to be some pain. We have had pain before. People have been going bankrupt for a few thousand years. Hopefully if that happens you have got shorts. That’s why you are hedged.”
On when our economy will recover:
“When we accept reality, stop spending money we don’t have, go down to a lower level, and start over. We are no longer what we used to be. The largest creditors are in Asia. I don’t like this. I am an American citizen, but we have got to face the facts.”
On who he would like to see running the Federal Reserve:
“I would rather Trichet were running the Federal Reserve than Ben Bernanke are you kidding? I would rather anyone run the Federal Reserve than Ben Bernanke. Mr. Bernanke has been wrong about everything in the last seven or eight years. I would rather have Touché but if I could have anyone I would have Merkel. I would want Merkel to sit there and say you guys have got to take a haircut.”
On whether bond holders should take a haircut:
“Absolutely. They made the mistake, why should innocent German taxpayers wake up one morning and say oh I have got a bill here to pay off some Greeks sitting on the beach. It’s just not right. It’s not morally right and it’s not economically right.”
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