Austrian School Of Economics

Well, if you go back to previous periods in history, in the early Twenties, for instance, America had an economic problem, and believe it or not they raised interest rates, they balanced the budget. They had a terrible year or two in the early Twenties, but then they had one of the most prosperous and exciting economic decades in history, in American history. The Scandinavians, in the early Nineties, had the same problem. They let people go bankrupt, they let the market take its course – that was a horrible pain for a couple of years, but then Scandinavia became one of the most prosperous parts of the world economy, over the next 10 – 15 years, so that solution works. The Japanese, at the same time in the early Nineties, did the opposite. They refused to let people go bankrupt. They spent staggering amounts of money they didn't have. They printed a lot of money, and the Japanese still talk about the 1990s as a lost decade; now they talk about two lost decades. That has not worked – that system of, the tangient system, if you will, has not worked any time in history. Hayek has worked. It's difficult for a while, but in the end you clean out the system. Many people, not just Hayek – but von Mises, Schumpeter – many economists throughout history have said, unless you clean out the system, anything after that is artificial, any recovery is artificial and it won't last. So far, they've been proved right, and Keynes has not been proved right.

Compounding Is The Magic Of Investing

If you compound your money at 9 percent a year, you are better off than investors whose results jump up and down, who have some great years and horrible losses in others. The losses will kill you. They ruin your compounding rate, and compounding is the magic of investing.

Find Ways To Invest In Myanmar

If you can find ways to invest in Myanmar you will be very, very rich over the next 20, 30, 40 years

It`s Not That Simple

If all you had to do was to pile up debt and print money, Zimbabwe would be the richest country in the world right now.

If You Have A Dream, You Have To Try It

"If there`s 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. The other thing I have learned is that even when all the wealth is gone, life goes on." "More important, I`ve also learned that if you have got a dream, you have to try it; you must get it out of your system. You will never have another chance. If you want to change your life, do it." Jim Rogers in Investment Biker

Markets: It’s Going To Get Worse Next Year

It’s going to get worse next year. 2013, 2014 – you should be very worried and you should prepare yourself. There are a few parts of the world economy that are going to boom over the next few years – agriculture is one of them. It’s not going to be all disaster.

Food Prices Will Go Up And So Will Social Unrest

I expect food prices to go much higher over the next few years.Whenever that happened through out history it lead to social unrest.

Successful Investing

Successful investing means getting in early, when things are cheap when everything is distressed, when everyone is demoralized.

Sugar Is Going To Be Much Higher Over The Next Decade

Sugar is going to be much higher over the course of the next decade or so. Sugar is down about 70% or 75% from its all-time high. Sugar has been amazingly depressed in the past three-four decades. So sugar is going to go much much higher before this bull market is over.

There's Going To Be A Huge Shift In American Society

There's going to be a huge shift in American society, American culture, in the places where one is going to get rich. The stock brokers are going to be driving taxis. The smart ones will learn to drive tractors so they can work for the smart farmers. The farmers are going to be driving Lamborghinis.

The World Faces Serious Problems In Agriculture

The world faces serious problems in agriculture. We are facing shortages of everything. The inventories are near historic lows so any problem will have an immediate, profound effect. We are facing a shortage of farmers so any problems will turn into even bigger. But any weather problems will have big effects because of the dire situation in farming. Agriculture will be one of the best sectors of the world economy for years as I have told you often.

The Best Investment Opportunity In The World Right Now Is Myanmar

Probably the best investment opportunity in the world right now is Myanmar. In 1962, Myanmar was the richest country in Asia. They closed off in 1962, and now it's the poorest country in Asia. I see enormous opportunities there because they're now opening up. It's like when China opened up in 1978. There were unbelievable opportunities going forward. The same is true in Myanmar now in my view. North Korea, I expect to see the same sorts of developments.

European Bailouts: Absurd Economics And Absurd Morality

The way the system should work is when you fail, you fail, and competent people are required to come in reorganise the assets. What we are doing in the West now is taking assets from the competent people, giving them to incompetent people, and saying 'now you compete with the competent people with their money'. It is absurd economics and it is absurd morality.

If You're Smart, Put Your Money Into Anything Related To Agriculture

Nobody wants to farm any more. Yet there are more people than even now. Seven billion of us....Fewer and fewer people are producing more and more food for more and more of us. That's only going to get worse over the next 20 or 30 years. So if you're smart, put your money into anything related to agriculture.

Acknowledge The Complexity Of The World

Acknowledge the complexity of the world and resist the impression that you easily understand it. People are too quick to accept conventional wisdom, because it sounds basically true and it tends to be reinforced by both their peers and opinion leaders, many of whome have never looked at whether the facts support the received wisdom. It's a basic fact of life that many things "everybody knows" turn out to be wrong.

The Surprise In Oil Is Going To Be...

The surprise in oil is going to be how high it stays and how high it goes. The IEA, has done a study. The world`s known reserves of oil are in steady decline. We have to find a lot of oil or the price of oil is going to unheard of heights.

Finance: It Has Always Worked This Way

When I went to Wall Street in the 60`s nobody went to Wall Street. In the 50`s, 60`S, and 70`s, Wall Street was not important. Then we had a big bull market for 30 years and it became extremely important. Everybody got an MBA and everyone wanted to go into finance. But that has happened many times in history. In the beginning of the 20th century, for the first 30 years of the 20th century, finance, they were the kings, they ruled everything. Then we had the big collpase in the 30`s and it became disastrous again until the 80`s. It has always worked this way. Jim Rogers

My Advice To Young People: Get Into Agriculture

My advice to young people would be to get into agriculture. If you want to make money over the next 20 years, agriculture is the way to go. If you don't want to be a farmer, buy the Lamborghini dealership or a restaurant in Iowa. Why? Because the farmers in Iowa are going to be very wealthy. And they will be able to afford Lamborghinis. Fewer and fewer people are producing more and more food for more and more of us. That's only going to get worse over the next 20 or 30 years. So if you're smart, put your money into anything related to agriculture

Keys To Success

Jim Rogers' Keys to Success (taken from the titles and sub headings of each chapter of the new book, "A Gift To My Children"): 1. Do not let others do your thinking for you 2. Focus on what you like 3. Good habits for life & investing 4. Common sense? not so common 5. Attention to details is what separates success from failure 6. Let the world be a part of your perspective 7. Learn philosophy & learn to think 8. Learn history 9. Learn languages (make sure Mandarin is one of them) 10. Understand your weaknesses & acknowledge your mistakes 11. Recognize change & embrace it 12. Look to the future 13. “Lady Luck smiles on those who continue their efforts” 14. Remember that nothing is really new 15. Know when not to do anything 16. Pay attention to what everybody else neglects 17. If anybody laughs at your idea view it as a sign of potential success

Myanmar: They Have Everything

It’s right between China and India, 60 million people, massive natural resources, agriculture. You could feed much of Asia, they have metals, they have energy, they have everything.

The Situation Is Getting Much Worse

Overall, the situation is getting much worse. They’re spending other peoples’ money, they’re printing money, so overall, I’d be very worried about 2013-2014, and maybe even later in 2012 if it becomes clear that 2013 is not going to be fun.

Election Year: The Economy Is Going To Look Better Than It Does Normally

Every time there's an election, the government spends as much money as it can to get votes. and the central bank prints as much money. so this year, the economy is going to look better than it does normally

Sugar Is Still 60 Percent Below It`s All Time High

What else do you know that is 60 percent below its all-time high?

If I Were Buying Anything I’d Be Buying Agricultural Commodities

If I were buying anything I’d be buying agricultural commodities. Going forward we’re going to have huge shortages of everything – including farmers – I think ag will be a great place for the next 10-20 years.