Jim Rogers: people are not paying real attention to the biggest problems facing the world

Tom:  It seems like a lot of it comes down to human nature and human psychology. In a bubble, some don’t realize it’s a bubble, but even those that do are jealous of their neighbors making so much money in whatever’s hot right now, greed overwhelms fear and they can’t resist buying regardless of cost.
Jim Rogers:  Well yes, all of that is correct. But I never know whether people really believe some of the absurd things they say. I don’t know whether they’re fools or liars. I’m stunned sometimes with some of the things I hear when I go through life.

Tom:  So as a follow-up question, what’s something you think most people aren’t paying attention to now but should be?
Jim Rogers:  Oh well, there are many things. I would start with the debt in the United States government. You might say “oh, they’re paying attention”, I would say balderdash. You know, my entire life I’ve heard congress talk about deficit spending, bemoan deficit spending, and talk about the debt. Back in the 1980s there was something called the Grace Commission, which was specially commissioned to study what to do about the deficit and the debt. And it passed laws, congress passed several laws since then, saying there will be no more deficit spending, or there will be no more debt, there will be no more, this will change, blah blah blah. And then they turn around and they ignore the laws. This has been going on for a long time. You might say people are paying attention, I would say that’s claptrap, they’re just talking, they have no intention of doing anything about it, and even if they “do something”, what they do is say “ok, instead of having increased spending, we’ll have less increase, we’ll still increase, it’ll just be less.” I mean, no, nobody’s paying attention to it.

Tom:  I think some people are aware of it, but it gets back to what I was saying about a systemic problem with the political system. Since pain later is easier than pain now, a lot of people on both sides kick the can down the road… they know there will be big problems but they don’t want to lose political power now and they don’t care what happens once they’re out of office.
Jim Rogers:  Well, I call that not paying attention. You say they’re paying attention, I guess you’re saying they’re liars, not fools. Either way, people are not paying real attention to the biggest problems facing the world, not just America, and of course all of that deficit spending has led to money printing worldwide, and nobody’s paying attention to that either. Now it’s the accepted conventional wisdom that money printing is a good thing and only nuts like me say there’s something wrong with debasing your currency. - in investorguide




Jim Rogers started trading the stock market with $600 in 1968.In 1973 he formed the Quantum Fund with the legendary investor George Soros before retiring, a multi millionaire at the age of 37. Rogers and Soros helped steer the fund to a miraculous 4,200% return over the 10 year span of the fund while the S&P 500 returned just 47%.