No matter what you've heard to the contrary, "there is QE3, the Fed is pumping money into the system," says legendary investor Jim Rogers, disregarding most every Federal Reserve statement over the last six months. In the attached video Rogers explains his lack of trust (read: contempt) for the Federal Reserve and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Rogers has been a critic of the Fed's quantitative easing programs and artificially low interest rates, pointing to the latter as something akin to QE3 in drag.
"They're lying to us," he says of the Fed. "One reason the markets are holding up so well is that they are printing money as fast as they can."
As asserted on Breakout regularly, the Federal Reserve is operating in an almost complete leadership void due to an unprecedented level of gridlock among the the elected politicians charged with setting fiscal policy. Unless and until the public acts on their many vows to "throw the bums out" of D.C. the Fed will be free, indeed forced, to act alone in regards to doing something to change our economic condition.
In a pyrrhic victory for America, Rogers believes things will eventually get so bad that Americans will finally vote for real change and economic progress. Alas, the measures he feels are needed to cure our economy are so harsh that those same officials will also get tossed out when voters realize just how harsh the road back to prosperity is.
Regardless of the necessary suffering, spending cuts are needed in order to save the most fiscally responsible citizens, those whose savings are funding this disaster.
"What the Federal Reserve is doing now is ruining an entire class of investors," says Rogers. By forcing rates down and keeping the economy on a flatline, he believes the Fed could cause another lost generation of investments. Suffice it to say, vaporizing those who faithfully accumulated savings over the years is no way to restore confidence in our financial markets.
Rogers isn't simply a disgruntled American patriot, he's an investor with a legendary record of success. That being the case, and having established what the depths of suffering the world is facing now, the obvious question is where Rogers is putting his money to avoid or even profit from the pain.
"I'm long commodities and currencies; I'm short emerging market stocks, U.S. technology stocks, and I'm short European stocks," Rogers tells me after pronouncing himself a terrible market timer (author's note: He's nothing of the sort). His logic behind the portfolio is that he wins if the economy turns up due to commodity scarcity. And if the economy remains weak, Rogers' short positions will more than offset his long positions.
As for gold, an investment he's been holding for years, Rogers has a mixed view.
"Gold has been up 11 years in a row," he says, adding it's "very unusual for any asset in world history and I'd expect the correction to continue." That said, he's not selling any of his gold and would look to buy weakness, depending on the global situation.
He's long select commodities and currencies, short Europe, tech and emerging markets. Is Rogers off base or is he underestimating the ability of the Fed to turn this thing around? Let us know what you think in the comment section below or visit our Facebook page.
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