Jim Rogers is hedging his gold (and silver) positions reflecting that this is normal, following such a tremendous run, and that this is good for the precious metal in the long-run. In his discussion with Maria Bartiromo this afternoon, he notes India’s anti-gold ‘protectionism’ (and its potential balance of payments issues) that are trying to force the hoarding into risky ‘productive’ assets (as others might say). The immutable commodity maven suggests JPMorgan (and its peers) could be behind the drops in the overall commodity complex as the uncertainty of their positions (and liquidation potential to raise cash as bank examiners begin their forensics) becomes more important. He holds the USD, which he hates; has a number of equity shorts; and is most fearful of banks – specifically admitting he is a serial seller of calls on JPMorgan. His advice, and perhaps Maria should look into it given their ratings recently, is to become a farmer; own farmland; and speculate on agriculture. On the dismal ‘ethical’ state of our leaders and management, the thoughtful Rogers opines, “You can read world history for decades. There are always people doing things wrong. We have not changed our human nature and we will continue to have scandals and problems” and in a follow-up to CNBC’s standard ‘money-on-the-sidelines’ argument he crushes the money-honey’s dreams: “Finance had a great 30 years. That’s finished. Now to advance, we have too many people, too many MBAs, too much leverage and too many governments that don’t like us”. -see rebuttal to the ‘normal’ CNBC hopium with more on China’s slowdown, a US recession, Europe and a Greek exit, QE3, and ‘tractors’.
