Jim Rogers: Western world needs additional crisis to get out from under all its indebtedness

Jim Rogers admited in an inteview for IndexUniverse.com, that it will be required an additional crisis for the Western world to get out from under all its indebtedness. The author of "Hot Commodities" is so bullish—particularly on agriculture these days — that hearing what he has to say can leave you a bit unsettled. When IndexUniverse.com managing editor Olly Ludwig caught up with Rogers recently, he said new RBS' lineup of commodity ETNs that have his name on them are so far superior to the competition.

Surveying the world of agriculture, Rogers talked about the growing shortage of farmers around the world at a time of tight food supplies. He also reaffirmed his bullishness on gold—and his bearishness on bonds—both of which are closely tied to his skepticism that the US and the rest of the industrialized world will ever get out from under all its indebtedness without some additional crisis.

His most surprising revelation? After dismissing Russia for years as a dangerous investment destination, where losing money was almost guaranteed, he said Russian President Vladimir Putin has changed his approach to foreign investment. That means Rogers is poking around the commodities-rich country looking for ways to profit.

Jim Rogers warns technology is heading for a big drop

Billionaire investor Jim Rogers issued another warning to the investors and made the aware that there is a sector they should avoid in order to save their investments. The co-founder of the Quantum Funds with George Soros might made some wrong moves in his career but he has gained fame for some of his warnings. In a 2007 interview with Reuters, Rogers predicted a 40-50% drop inreal estate prices in some areas of the United States and a massive recession across the country. The United States still can not find a way out of this downfall.

Investors all over the world take note when the legendary Jim Rogers makes any market prediction. And the billionaire is now warning that one sector of the market is "priced in lunacy," so he is betting heavily against the group. The sector has seen earnings fall by 4.3% in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, almost double the decline of 2.2% for the overall market. Rogers is talking about technology.

And indeed, there are several reasons the technology sector is due for a correction. The sector outperformed all others during the past four years with an annualized gain of 19%, while the S&P 500Index gained 12% in the same period. This outperform may already be working itself out with a drop of 10% so far this quarter compared with a decline of 6% in the rest of the market.

Of more concern, four years after the financial collapse, U.S. companies have yet to really ramp up hiring. While Europe and China are looking incrementally better, the United States is facing a huge fiscal gap in the coming quarters, with even the most optimistic forecasts only calling for about 1.5% gross domestic product growth. With labor already cut to the bone, companies are putting off improvements in tech spending ahead of the fiscal and economic uncertainty.

One big clue to the level of frothiness in the tech sector could be coming from the rebound in real estate prices in Silicon Valley . Real estate has soared in the tech capital and prices are off their peak by just 1.3% in some cities, while much of the rest of the state continues to struggle with foreclosures.

There may yet be hope for the sector. Tech companies in the United States earn more revenue outside U.S. borders than any other sector, making the tech industry more resistant to fiscal cliff worries and weakness here at home. Revenue should be marginally supported if Europe can stage a rebound or if emerging markets continue their economic march higher.

President Barack Obama will need to barter with Congress if he wants to let the Bush-era tax cuts expire for those making more than $250,000 a year. One possible deal could revolve around another tax repatriation holiday like we saw in 2004. Under a repatriation holiday, U.S. companies are lured to bring foreign profits back to the country by taxing them at a roughly 5%tax rate , rather than the current 35% corporate rate. Because the tech sector has the most overseas revenue, it also has the most cash held overseas, so it could win big with such atax holiday .

In addition, Microsoft launched Windows 8 in October and will stop supporting Windows XP in early-2014. This could reinvigorate the corporate spending cycle for information technology (IT) and services. Further, if demand in fact rebounds, then tech spending usually leads the business cycle because it is easier to buy IT and services than to add staff.

Even Rogers admits there will always be success stories, but the problem is when an entire sector is pushed up without any real difference between the good and the bad. This was evident in some of this year's catastrophic IPOs -- Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) and Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN).

Investors seem to have forgotten the lessons of the 2000 tech bubble, and are now paying meteoric prices for very little in earnings. While Groupon and Facebook have seen their shares sink since their IPOs, shares of LinkedIn ( LNKD ) are up almost 10% since its offering in May 2011.

There are those risks to be considered: Half of investing is keeping your profits before the bottom drops out of the market. Companies with strong balance sheets and good value should do well during the next year, but may see a short-term drop as investors take the entire sector lower. Investors should be ready for a short decline on sentiment before stronger stocks head higher.

There are some actions one can take. After years of outperformance, the tech sector could be due for a correction, as Rogers expects. You may not want to neglect the entire sector, but be selective and know when to take your money off the table. Given the valuations in much of the sector, investors may want to avoid some of the more expensive stocks and the general sector funds. For those who do not want to completely avoid the sector, look for large-cap companies with strong balance sheets that pay healthy dividends such as Intel.

Jim Rogers Remains Bullish on Precious Metals

According to legendary investor and co-founder of the Quantum fund with George Soros - Jim Rogers, the precious metals crowd has nothing to worry about now that Obama has been reelected. The billionaire urged the market to expect more of what we've seen in the past four years. The loose monetary policy, further quantitative easing and weak dollar will support the upward trend in gold and silver, according to Rogers.

Previous four years were very generous for precious metals. President Barack Obama's first term saw silver up an eye-popping 236% while gold added an impressive 128% gain. Those both precious metals overwhelmed the S&P 500's 75% return. Such huge results raised concerns in more than a few investors about another asset bubble in a long list of bubbles that includes technology, finance and housing in the past 12 years.

"Investors should prepare for rising prices and more expansionary monetary policy now that President Barack Obama has won reelection. "If Obama wins, it's going to be more inflation , more money printing, more debt, more spending," Rogers recently told CNBC. The investor also said he plans to sell federal debt and purchase more gold and silver.

So if Jim Rogers is correct, then investors should expect big things and rising trends from precious metals in the next four years. But with all kinds of precious metals investments to choose from, the landscape can be confusing. There are some risks to be considered before deciding to invest in gold and silver.

The biggest risk to gold is a liquidity crunch like the one we saw in the financial crisis of 2008. The trigger for an event like that could be Europe, which continues to struggle with too much debt and shortages of tax revenue.

Although the region continues to combat its financial problems, margins calls for big investment banks and intuitive traders would weigh on gold and silver. Jim Rogers is bullish on gold and silver, projecting that the next four years will look much like the last four years for precious metals.

Jim Rogers: Beware of Wild Money Printing

The election results in the United States of America set analysts on fire as they started to spread all kinds of predictions on how they think the next four years will go. Barack Obama securing a second term made some optimistic, while others are quite fearful. Among the second group is Jim Rogers, as his recent comments show little confidence in the USA economy and in the future. The world famous investor Jim Rogers was quoted as saying that he feels money printing is going to run amok now. He added that he had to invest based on what’s happening and not what he would like. An Obama victory has many worried that rampant money printing will continue, as the open-ended QE3 from the Fed has been met with much opposition. Still, monetary policy is at the will of the Fed, not Obama. Bernanke’s term does not end for another two years, so a Romney victory would likely have had little sway over the current policy.

Jim Rogers: America will have a few lost decades

legendary investor Jim Rogers used another opportunity to attack the U.S. economy, after some remarks he made earlier about that 2013 and 2014 will see markets slip into a deep recession. Now, Mr Rogers, reffering to the period between 2000 and 2009 who is often referred to as the "Lost Decade" for U.S. investing, said that there will be more lost decades for the States. During that time markets were barely able to scrape up any gains over the ten year period

Jim Rogers drew the comparison between United States of America's economy and that of Japan. The Asian one that has been well documented for years and years of poor market performance and a sputtering economy. "The idea that you prop up people who are bankrupt is what Japan did. Japan had two lost decades, America will have a few lost decades" said Rogers.

He suggests to invest in agriculture and farmland in order to protect yourself from these "Lost Years". Rogers has also stated that he likes both gold and silver, but for the time being he favors silver over its precious metal counterpart.

Jim Rogers doubts US government jobs data

Top investor Jim Rogers has some doubts about the data that the US government is feeding to the public about the US unemployment. According to the authorities in the United States of America there is decline in the unemployment in the States, but Rogers thinks that the administration is misleading the public. The US jobless rate dropped to 7.8 percent last month, the lowest since US President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, according to a report released on Friday by the US Department of Labor. The labor agency also revised previous numbers to show the US economy created 86,000 more jobs in July and August than first estimated.

Jim Rogers, co-founder of the Quantum hedge fund, Expressed his skepticism about the reported improvement in the US job market. According to the investor, the latest round of quantitative easing will not fix the US economy. "I have learned not to take advice from the government, especially the US government, which frequently misleads its citizens," Rogers said in a media briefing in Taipei.

"There is an election coming in the US and the administration wants to win", he also said. Rogers added that most other institutes believe US unemployment remains worse than the official statistics suggest. "Even if the reported drop in the US’ unemployment rate is true, it has nothing to do with the US Federal Reserve’s third round of quantitative easing that was initiated last month", believes Rogers.

"Printing money has never worked throughout history," he said. "Sometimes it worked in the short term, but it’s never worked in the medium or long term." He gave as an example Zimbabwe, saying that if printing money could ameliorate debt, the cash-strapped African country would be a wild economic success. By early 2009, the Zimbabwean dollar was rendered effectively worthless as the government issued bills in denominations of up to 100 trillion dollars in a bid to rein in debt problems, which instead heightened inflation and poverty.

According to Rogers, it is better to admit one’s mistakes and accept the reality of the situation so things could be improved once the worst part is over. Rogers, who is currently based in Shanghai, also said China is right in trying to slow its economy down for the past three years because of its inflation and property problems. "It is the right thing to do for China as economic conditions in Japan and the West slow down," he said.

Jim Rogers debates with Marc Faber over the merits of investing in Chinese equities

Eastern markets are in the center of the investment community's attention after some poor results that Chinese economy have shown recently. Investments gurus Jim Rogers and Marc Faber engaged themselves in a heated debate over the long term value case of the Chinese equity market in a CNBC interview.

Jim Rogers explained his position that he is using share price falls as a value opportunity and has recently upped his stake in the region for the third time in his career. "China is going to be the next great country in the world," he told CNBC.

"I was violently and vehemently telling people not to buy China when it was going up in 2007. I only buy China when it collapses."

Faber on the other hand argued it is difficult to be bullish on Chinese equities given their poor share price performance over the past couple of years. Since 2007 the Shanghai stock exchange has fallen from 6,100 to 2,074 today, a fall Faber cited as the main reason for his continued bearishness.

Faber is refraining from adding exposure to equities across the board, believing markets are overdue a sharp correction.

"I just want to have a lot of cash, because I think that within the next six to nine months we can buy just about anything 20% lower than it is now," he said.

Jim Rogers takes on Steven Horsford on Twitter

For a month or so former chancellor Jim Rogers has been taking on Steven Horsford. Rogers used to be the chancellor of higher education for 5 years. Moreover, he is the owner of the NBC television in Nevada, along with other stations all over the country. Rogers stroked Horsford with a negative comment on Twitter because apparently Horsford never returned his call for a meeting 3 years ago.

In a recent interview Rogers talked about his annoyance with Horsford. The only crime which Steven seems to have committed is not returning a call. But Jim Rogers is of the opinion that Horsford is a con man and a fraud because he promises things which he afterwards does not do.

Rogers is annoyed because he thinks that Horsford should have returned his call since he is working for the whole state, including Rogers. Moreover, former chancellor Rogers seems to think that it would have been better if Hosford had sought him for advice.

Jim also criticizes Steven for not being able to increase the education funding during his 4 years in the state Senate as a majority leader. When asked about Jerry Tarkanian, Rogers said that he was one of Jerry’s biggest supporters.

Jim Rogers is a firm believer that Southern Nevada has suffered from the state’s funding for higher education with the amount of nearly 600 mil dollars over the past thirty years, blaming Steven Horsford for not doing what he has to.

Prepare for the recession, get some agricultural commodities and silver, urges Jim Rogers

The recession is coming, there is no way to prevent it, warns renowned investor Jim Rogers. For couple of months the chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc. is calling for recession. The reason for this is that he feels United States' enormous debt levels and upcoming fiscal cliff will propel into yet another economic spiral.

Jim Rogers stated his opinion that the next two years - 2013 and 2014 will be worse than the fallout four years ago in 2008. The Federal Reserve has announced an extremely aggressive QE3 and that forced Rogers to become extremely bearish on the U.S. dollar. In the investments guru's opinion, it will suffer the same losses that the pound sterling did years ago.

But there is something we can do about the upcoming fall as Jim Rogers shared his ideas how to overcome the recession. He advices to go for agricultural commodities. Based on history, Rogers feels these assets are depressed and that they will have plenty of room to run given rising demand for food around the world.

Second, Rogers stated that he likes silver better than gold as he feels it to be undervalued by comparison. The bull market in gold won’t end until it too reaches a bubble sometime near the end of the decade, so there is good chance to win if you bet on silver.

And lastly, Rogers has been boasting two foreign currencies. His eyes are set on Asia and he considers Japanese yen and Chinese renminbi as good investment. Mr. Rogers is not worried about a China slow-down in the last year.

Jim Rogers sees no difference in post-election USA

The world famous investor Jim Rogers is very well known about his negativity towards U.S.A. So, it came as no surprise his predictions for the upcoming elections for president of the States. According to Rogers, the main thing that separates the two candidates for the White House is that "one comes from Chicago and the other comes from Boston". Apart from this, Mr. Rogers sees no fundamental difference in how things will be in the States post-election.

He once again backed his predictions that the Russian markets are far more lucrative than the American. His outlook is fundamentally negative and his interest in the Russia is evidence of the ongoing need for investors to look to emerging markets for future investment returns.

Given Rogers negativity toward the U.S. and his recent and increasing interest in Russia, if he is proven correct, then both RSX and RSXJ may be good candidates for investment. And with Russia been less affected by Europe by the crisis there is no reason the Russian market cannot flourish, if the country continue with a proactive agenda of reform and investment.

Jim Rogers advices investors to consider Russia

Something interesting is going on in Russia and Jim Rogers warned the investors not to miss the chance to explore the significant opportunities out there. The famed investor was on a recent visit to Russia and stated that although he refers to Vladimir Putin as a criminal, the president of the country has influenced great progress in the former socialist country.

Jim Rogers pointed out a pool of billions of dollars the government has set aside for investments to be made alongside private investors. He cited his own assessment of the low valuation of the Russian market along with an unfortunate concentration in oil and gas. Although Mr. Rogers is yet to invest in the Russian market, he currently considers it heavily.

Rogers thinks that the country has learned its lessons from the past. This makes it a great investment in the future and Rogers says he is interested in buying the ruble. His ideas were backed up by Todd Berman, Head of Investment Banking at Troika Dialog, who expressed his opinion that Russia's recent entry into the World Trade Organization is a major accomplishment which will help advance reforms that should propel the Russian economy forward.

Jim Rogers: If you’re worried about evil speculators making money, go to the field and drive the price down

The prices of corn, soybean and other basics skyrocket in the U.S. after the most severe drought in decades that are all across the Midwest. Certainly this news is very bad for all the consumers, but there are people that are very happy about this situation. The finance guru Jim Rogers is one of them and while others suffer from the drought, he is making serious money.

The commodities trader Rogers admits, that he is ecstatic to see prices going higher because that might save the day.

Jim Rogers: Much bigger problems around the globe than the drought in the US

The international investor and commodities guru Jim Rogers warned that there are larger problems in the global agriculture than the drought in the United States. The problems in the US are very serious since the Midwest is facing a crisis following the lack of rains that is causing soybean and corn crops to wilt.

Although that the current temperatures in some regions of the United States are exceeding the records from the Dust Bowl era, Rogers believes that these problems are nothing compared to the larger problems in the global agriculture as a whole.