The interview was really, really good. He's short Fannie Mae (FNM) and thinks people looking at commodities now should look to corn, sugar, cotton, and other agricultural commodities for opportunity. He also said that he's pulled his money out of emerging markets, but recommended Chinese stocks.
He cheered the commodities bull market (mainly 'cause of China) & repeated bearish statements on Russia. - - I was hoping he would be asked about the Refco fiasco and his commodity index fund, but no such luck. - -
I'm at R.I.S.E right now at U of Dayton. They are hosting it for the 6th year in a row now. They had Jim Rogers here to speak on a "keynote" seminar. The guy is a nut. His actions scream for attention. He might have been a good hedge fund manager back in the day, but his old age has turned him cynical. Here are a few things he said earlier today (not exact quotes, but extremely close, did not write them down) 1. The United States dollar will not exist in 10-15 years. Put your money in anything but US dollars or you will cease to have wealth. 2. He'd rather own real estate in Angola than in America. 3. He wants to completely shut down the Federal Reserve. 4. He thinks Ben Bernacke(sp?) is a complete idiot, but not s bad as Greenspan. I can't take this guy seriously after hearing him spout off the bull I wrote above earlier today. What do you guys see in this guy anyways?
He keeps it interesting, and if you look beyond some of the grandoise rhetoric there is a framework that has allowed him to repeatedly catch monster waves (Japan selloff, commodity boom) the way most only dream .... I hope that answers your question.
I wonder what made him turn so hostile against the US, he seemed like a pretty nice guy previously. There's one time I remember him being wrong in 2003 when he went short DIA in late summer of 2003 and emailed me suggesting I sell QQQQ, I lost track of his calls after that but he did have some good ones also in 2003. So he's not perfect and the end of the US as we know it might not be eminent.
As Jack Schwagger once put it, a short-term trade for Rogers is two years! Accordingly, you should expect his timing on anything will be far from perfect.