The US is More Communist Than China According to Jim Rogers

Who is Jim Rogers?  According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Rogers , Jim Rogers (his personal web site:  http://www.jimrogers.com/) , or James B. Rogers, Jr. (born October 19, 1942) is an American investor and financial commentator.  He is co-founder, along with George Soros, of the Quantum Fund, and is a college professor, author, world traveler, economic commentator, and creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index (RICI). 

His best-selling books include “A Bull in China,” “Hot Commodities,” “Adventure Capitalist,” and “Investment Biker.”

This multi-billionaire commodities trader and retired hedge fund manager (of the Quantum Fund) was recently interviewed by CNBC Europe on the topic of the US government taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  That interview is presented here for those who are interested to read and digest.

Link:  http://www.cnbc.com//id/26603489

QUOTE:

US Is "More Communist than China": Jim Rogers

By CNBC.com | 08 Sep 2008 | 05:28 AM ET

The nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shows that the U.S. is "more communist than China right now" but its brand of socialism is meant only for the rich, investor Jim Rogers, CEO of Rogers Holdings, told CNBC Europe on Monday.

"America is more communist than China is right now. You can see that this is welfare of the rich, it is socialism for the rich… it's just bailing out financial institutions," Rogers said.

Stock markets jumped after the U.S. government's decision to launch what could be its biggest federal bailout ever, in a bid to support the housing market and ward off more global financial market turbulence.

But Rogers said in the long term the move spelled trouble.

"This is madness, this is insanity, they have more than doubled the American national debt in one weekend for a bunch of crooks and incompetents. I'm not quite sure why I or anybody else should be paying for this," Rogers told "Squawk Box Europe."

European stocks soared on Monday, led by banks. UBS was up 11 percent, BNP Paribas up 8 percent, Credit Agricole up 11.1 percent and HBOS up 13.8 percent.

"You certainly gonna see a huge jump in any financial institutions which owned a lot of Fannie because they don't have to worry about going bankrupt all of a sudden," Rogers said. (Watch the video on the left for the full interview)

"Bank stocks around the world are going through the roof, that's 'cause they've all been bailed out. You don't see the homeowners in Kansas going through the roof 'cause they're not being bailed out," he added.

"A Huge Mess"

However, despite the rally in Asian and European markets, the decision to take over Fannie and Freddie is likely to cause more volatility and needs careful consideration by investors, according to Rogers.

It's rarely good to jump in a moving bus and right now you got a lot of buses moving. I might short some more investment banks in the US, depending on how they rally over the next week, but other than that, I'll just sit and watch," he said.

Rogers, who is short on U.S. bonds, said these are likely to fall while commodities may rally. The two government-sponsored enterprises don't have good loans on their books, because "everybody else took the good stuff and dumped the bad stuff onto Fannie and Freddie," he said.

From 2010, Fannie and Freddie will have to shrink their portfolios by 10 percent a year until they reach $250 billion, to reduce the risk to the taxpayer, according to the Treasury plan. But this may put additional pressure on the housing market, Rogers said.

"That's going to also ensure that house prices continue to go down. It's going to be harder and harder to get a mortgage."

Investors should not pin their hopes on this year's presidential election for a solution to the problems, as none of the candidates is likely to find one, Rogers said.

"This is a big huge mess and neither one of them has a clue what to do next year. It's going to be a mess."

© 2008 CNBC.com

UNQUOTE:

You can also read another interview with Jim Rogers here:

Link:  http://www.moneymorning.com/2008/08/19/jim-rogers/

Title:  Exclusive Interview: Jim Rogers Predicts Bigger Financial Shocks Loom, Fueling a Malaise That May Last for Years

Or you can watch two of his videos here.  Both of these links have more links to other videos of Jim’s interviews with various medias that are all very interesting to watch if you really want to understand what is happening to the US economy at present.

Link:  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6046520409389956642

Title:  Jim Rogers says "Abolish the FED" on CNBC 2008.03.12

Link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=airxvVmGnqc

Title:  Jim Rogers on US Economy FED Ron Paul

I hope you enjoy reading what Jim has to say about the US economy and the behavior of  the present American leadership. 

--  Dalmasian