Shale Gas could cause a revival in the U.S. but only temporarily

Jim Rogers : Well, in 1918, the U.K. was the richest, most powerful country in the world. If you looked at a map of the world, it was all red – the British Empire was everywhere. But there was a lot of corrosion underneath. And within three generations, the U.K. was bankrupt. The U.K. could not sell government bonds. It had to be bailed out by the IMF. Now, it certainly had some rallies along the way. Sometimes things got better... or looked better. But the trend was always down. Starting in 1979, the U.K. had a revival when the North Sea oil started flowing. Over the next 20 years or so, the U.K. had a huge boom in oil production, which made things much better in the U.K... And of course, there was the stock market bull market, which made the City of London more exciting and prosperous. But now, the North Sea oil is declining and the city of London is going into decline, just like Wall Street and financial centers all over the world. As unlikely as it appears, these things happen... And they're happening in the U.S. right now. So I keep looking for what could happen to cause a revival in the U.S. We have agriculture, but even our agriculture is facing problems. Conceivably, we have a lot of shale gas. If that technology is ever perfected, that would help the U.S. But these things are not enough to turn the U.S. around permanently, just as the North Sea was not enough to turn the U.K. around permanently. So, no... Right now, I'm not bullish on the future... And I would urge everyone to learn about investing outside of the U.S. - in The Daily Crux