Growth, Deficits And Debts In India

“Saying 10 percent growth with giant deficits and debts just does not work. Spending is still too high in relation to income and in a year or two or three or four, it’s all going to come back to haunt India.

Should India’s government continue to spend at the present rate, the nation’s debt to gross national product may reach 100 percent in three to four years from more than 80 percent currently.

Many studies have shown that when your debt gets up to 90 percent of GNP, your growth slows immensely and you usually wind up having serious problems. India is becoming a very indebted nation and that’s not good for India or for the world.”

in Bloomberg

We'Ve Been Applying Temporary Sticking Plasters

"The last few months have seen a false bounce, shorn up by massive short-term injections of government underwriting. But it can’t last. We've been applying temporary sticking plasters, not long-term cures. Later this year we’ll see the start of the real recession."

in www.investorschronicle.co.uk

US Dollar, Yen And The Euro Currency

The recent strength in the dollar is it here to stay?

It’s here to stay for a while because of the serious problems in Europe many people were using the dollars carry trade and now reversing and borrowing at low interest rates and investing elsewhere and now having to take that money back and we burst the carry trade and that makes the dollar go higher for a while. I own the dollar for that reason and I own the Japanese yen for that reason. Both could be temporary beneficiaries of what is happening in Europe.

in Economic Times

If I Were Going To Buy Something Now, I Would Buy Agriculture

"If I were going to buy something now, I would buy agriculture. If I were an Indian, I would try to find the depressed commodities and buy those commodities because there is a problem of too much money printing around the world, not just in India but all over the world and many agriculture prices are still very, very depressed".

in www.equitymaster.com

The Dangers Of China`s Credit Growth.

"It is not sustainable. They have been cranking out credit as fast as they possibly can, that too is always release the problems down the road. Now, China has made some mistakes. One, they are pumping out credit at a very rapid rate. Prices are starting to go up for real estate. In my view, the real estate bubbles are developing in Shanghai, Hong Kong and some of the cities in China. Now they are going to have to cut back. Nobody should have done all this huge amount of spending much of that’s credit expansion but they did and now we are going to have to pay for it. "

in Economic Times

The Biggest Problem India Faces Is Water Shortages, Not Inflation

As an investor would you say that the biggest risk India faces today is inflation?

No, as more serious risk in India of course is the huge water problem that northern India has. If they do not do something about the water problem, then there would not be an India story at all. But inflation is certainly one of the problems that India is facing.

In Economic Times, February 22

I Am Not Buying Equities Anywhere

"I am not buying either China or Sri Lanka at the moment. In fact I am not buying equities anywhere at the moment because there had been such big run ups and cheers all over the world that I am just sitting and watching. Normally when you have big booms over a 10 or 12-month period, you stand to sit back and do something else. So I do not like to jump in the things after shares have gone up a lot."

in Economic Times, February 22

China And The United States On Collision Course

"China and America could and should work together to have great prosperity for both, unfortunetely it seems, at least for the moment they are on collision course, getting more and more apart from each other"

"If You Have A Dream, You Have To Try It"

"If there is one thing I have learned in going around the world, it`s that societies become rich, swagger around for a few years, decades, or centuries, and then their hour is done.

More important, I have also learned that if you have a dream, you have to try it; you must get it out of your system. You will never get another chance. If you want to change life, do it."

In Investment Biker

China Dumping US Treasuries

"I am surprised China has not dropped more. The US should be worried about everyone lightening up (on US treasuries) – not just China."

in CNBC.com

I Am Surprised China Has Not Dropped More US Treasuries

"I am surprised China has not dropped more (US treasuries)" in CNBC

"The US should be worried about everyone lightening up – not just China." in CNBC

China's move to unload US treasuries is likely to continue in the long term while the "euro scare" may last a while, Jim Rogers told CNBC.com today.

China has cut its holdings of US debt by 34.2 billion dollars (or 4.3%) to 755.4 billion dollars, losing the top spot in terms of foreign ownership of Treasurys to Japan. Japan has also cut its exposure by 11.5 billion dollars to 768.8 billion dollars.

Investment Thoughts: It`s Never Different

For example, an investor will say, "This stock has a lock on the market - a monopoly - it will grow at 25 percent a year forever." I ask, "What about high returns on equity bringing in competition or substitution?"

"Yes, that was true for IBM and Penn Central and oil, but this time it`s different because of (its patents, its management, its market position...)", you fill in the blank.

Well, in the law of economics, in the laws of history, in the laws of politics and in the laws of society, it is never different this time. The law of gravity isn`t ever suspended for someone`s convenience, and these laws are just as rigorous, though more subtle and complex.

in Investment Biker

Sri Lanka: Investment Opportunities

"Jim Rogers and Marc Faber has been asked to sit on the advisory council of Leopard Capital, a private equity business which has launched one fund focusing on Sri Lanka, and is ready to launch another, which is what they're looking for the advise of Marc Faber and Jim Rogers on.

Jim Rogers is connected to a number of commodity ventures and indices, while Marc Faber is of course widely known for his Gloom, Boom and Doom Report newsletter, which focuses on unique investments around the globe.

This is interesting if for no other reason than very few people know a thing about Sri Lanka in the investment world, and it's not exactly near the top of places people and institutions are looking to to generate wealth."

in Commodity Surge

I Just Wait Until There Is Money Lying On The Corner

"I just wait until there is money lying on the corner, and all I have to do is go over there and pick it up. I do nothing in the meantime. Even people who lose money in the market say, "I just lost my money, now I have to do something to make it back." No you don`t. You should sit there until you find something.

in Market Wizards

Commodities Bull Run Will Last Till 2014 Or 2022.

“If history is any guide, this bull market is going to last until between 2014 and 2022 and everything is going much higher.”

in Financial Times

Best Investment Rule

"One of the best rules anybody can learn about investing is to do nothing, absolutely nothing, unless there is something to do. Most people always have to be playing; they always have to be doing something. They make a big play and say, "Boy, I am smart, I just tripled my money." Then they rush out and have to do something else with that money. They just can`t just sit there and wait for something new to develop."

in Market Wizards

Commodity Prices Are Going To Shoot Up

“Commodity prices are going to shoot up. The challenge is that people are eating more foods these days. But the supply of food products is coming down. Food supply is going to remain down since we have serious production problems. At the same time people are eating more and we are burning some of our foods as fuels."

in Commodity Online

Related ETF`s: PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (DBA)

Food Prices Will Go Much Higher

“We are going to see much higher food prices. If we do not see much higher prices of the food soon, we are going to have people starving. The price of the food articles has to go higher and much higher and I think they will. Most food prices are very depressed”

in Business Standard

Related ETF`s: PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (DBA)

One Of The Biggest Mistakes Most Investors Make

One of the biggest mistakes most investors make is believing they`ve always got to be doing something, investing their idle cash. In fact, the worst thing that happens to many investors is to make big money on an investment. They are so flushed, excited, and triumphant that they say to themselves, "Okay, now let me find another one!"

in Investment Biker

Unemployment Is Up, Bankrupcies Continue To Increase In The US. So People Are Not Better Off.

"I want to remind you basically, if you ask me this is all part of a continuing. Yes, the stock market went up. You know, the american stock market is around 10,000 right now, the Dow Jones Average. It can go to 30,000 if they continue to print money. You think you made money because the Dow Jones tripled. But it has tripled in worthless paper. So we are not going to be better off and that is part of what is happening now. The stock market has gone up but the value of the money is deteriorating.

Look at what has happened to the price of gold, or silver or some other commodities. They have been very strong because people know that the paper money is becoming less valuable. You may think that if the stock market goes to 20,000 you are better off, but you are not.

The stock market is up a lot, around 50%. But unemployment is up, bankrupcies continue to increase in the US. So people are not better off. The stock market is better, stockbrokers are better because they have all the money. And that is not a good system. That is socialism for the rich."

in Praag Meeting

Praag Meeting 2010: Video Interview

Latest video interview, February 1.

"The stock market has gone up, but the value of the money is deteriorating."

How To Invest In Commodities

"Most people should buy an index. Index investing outperforms 70 or 80% of active managers, year after year. That is what I do, and I would suggest that most people do it too. If you are a great commodity picker, pick the ones that are going through the roof the most."

in Bloomberg Asia

We Are Going To See Much Higher Prices Of Crude Down The Line

“I do know that crude will be back in triple-digits some time in the next five-ten years. The surprise is how high the price of crude is going to stay. The world is running out of normal reserves of crude. Hence, we are going to see much higher prices of crude down the line.”

in CNBC