the past six months rogers has been screamng the usd would collapse within a year, and it has. i don't recall that many other strategists, or anyone in the obama administration going on national television, newspapers and magazines, making that call. he may not tweet he's long the EUR/USD (that one was for you, God.) xyz contracts and how much, but you know someone is listening. you may know so and so, doesn't mean he was privy, or is privy to, the conversations between rogers and soros over a game of internet poker, or whatever their game is. any decision soros makes flows down to his traders. they work for his board. it's not the other way around. is rogers still advising soros? is he a board member?
no, but he has said he is NOT a trader. he's an economist. he lets the geeks do the heavy lifting. but if he makes a decision one morning after say, obama decides to borrow another $10T to add to the national debt to pay for health care reform, yeah, i think he's going to tell his traders he's going short the dollar. that is very specific, actually. when he announces his exit points is really irrelevant. he's already locked in his profit marks with hedging. i'm sure jim can analyse a chart the same as some asshole on et named after the lead character in to kill a mockingbird.
have you ever seen dolphins corral bait fish for sharks and sea birds? it's quite the spectacle. your friend should join a new kind of prop firm, one that's organised, and help build the futures business. he might make a couple bucks more than he ever did at quantum, although i'm sure he's already made his fortune. how much is enough, gordon?
Jim lately says his lawyer has told him not to discuss certain situations, but he has been very specific in real time. For example he was short Citi from late Dec 2006. He was on Cavuto with Meredith Whitney in early Jan 2007, and she was saying buy and rated it sector perform, while he was short. She didn't change her position until the end of Oct 2007, and even then she still had it at sector underperform. Jim stuck to his story during many interviews as 2007 wore on. He was short most of the financials. He covered his shorts around Sept/Oct 2008 (I believe--and he announced it when he did it). He later said that was too early, but he said he cannot call the bottom. Likewise he talked about his short Tsy position when it was losing money. Now he says he is long his own Ag index and doesn't know when it will make money. In general he is looking at agriculture/farm land, food products, metals.
"Am interested to hear other people's views on Jim." /up onto soapbox. Jim is a rags-to-riches guy from Alabama who went to school and did what he loved, managing money. If I had to name people in America that I think should run for office to fix the Hussein/Bush/Clinton/Bernanke disaster, they would be (in no direct order) Peter Schiff, Ron Paul, Jim Rogers, Alan Keys and Ross Perot, with cabinet members including youtube's Walstreetpro2 (yes, one "L"), drinkingwithbob and myself, of course (if I needed a job). Such government jobs do nothing for the wallet but the job security is unmatched. Jim Rogers is more realistic than any government spokesman I have ever heard. That, I like. Everyone else blows smoke up your ass to sell something. The guy's a billionaire and he apologizes to nobody for his views, which are clearly counter-government and blatantly anti-Hussein/Bernanke/etc. The guy can't be bought. This, combined with his justified outlook at monetary policy, makes him someone I listen to on financial matters. And it is indeed justified. His views are beyond concern of what the market does today, as he admits to being the world's worst market timer. If I had to sum up Jim in one sentence, I would say this: In a media full of opinion based on the latest winds of policy change, today's FOMC notes and Fed decisions, Jim Rogers is a sober and cautionary voice of practical experience from a historical perspective, who loves America but does not trust its monetary leaders. I have mirrored some of his long-term advise, as I am a trader, not investor, and had to be dragged into investing as a long-term hedge. The result has been better than a CD but not as good as my daily trading. He is not a guru, despite the media emotional hype they sell. I find his frank opinion refreshing amidst the bobbleheads of government and its agencies. I would rather follow his pessimism about the markets and preserve all my wealth than follow some TV bonehead and watch my money go up and down with the tide. /down from soapbox. I trade index futures. I have little taste for anything long-term. But I have read Jim Rogers and believe him... so far.
he's right, no one can call a bottom, although you can call a range based on past levels. the S&P stopped just shy of where most smarter strategists called it. so he was right stopping out in october. no one saw march bottom coming. and the next bottom could be worse, especially when you look at the 1929-1933 chart. the stock market didn't bottom until well after the first bear market rally died. it could happen again, which is why being in Ag is smart, because the world needs to be fed in good times and bad, and demand for raw food is never going to drop unless half the world dies of starvation.
no, he can't be bought. if his net worth is $5B, say, his buying power is probably 100x that leveraged, and that's on the conservative side. his forex positions could be as high as 400:1 with the kind of capital he has backing him. 400:1 would be in the trillions. combine that with the influence factor of the soros and gates and buffetts and pickens and kk's and icahns of the world, and you are an incredibly powerful man.