Business Intelligence Middle East

Legendary global investor and chairman of Singapore-based Rogers Holdings, Jim Rogers said he has been proven right about his criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whom he characterized as "a disaster… doing the wrong thing… and making mistake after mistake after mistake."

Speaking with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television’s "In the Loop" in a discussion including Bethany McLean, a Bloomberg contributing editor, about Dr Bernanke’s job performance and policy decisions, Rogers said: I defy you to find a single time in the last six years that he [Dr Bernanke] has been in Washington, where he’s been right about anything."

Prompted by Liu suggesting the Fed Chairman has not been proven wrong yet and what he’s doing is not necessary bad for the US economy, Rogers replied: "If you are in favor of inflation and a collapsing currency, then of course. Most people would like to live in a country with a sound currency with stable prices and we don’t want a housing collapse."

According to McLean there are three categories of Fed critics: 1) the people who are critical of QE2. 2) the people who have been critical of the Fed’s policy decisions for a long time on the grounds that the central bank repeatedly blows asset bubbles and then disavow any responsibility. 3) the people who are fundamentally opposed to the Fed on principle and believe we’ll be better off with a return to the Gold standard.

"You really have to think of the ideology of where people are coming from when they criticize the Fed — short term criticism of QE2 or a much longer deeper criticism," added McLean.

In reply, Rogers noted that the US has had central banks in its history. “The first 2 disappeared, this one is going to disappear too’, he said.

"We will be better off without central banks," Rogers claimed, admitting that “we have problems when we don’t have central banks" but stressing that the Fed made it worse over the last 20 years with a "staggering amount of debt".

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Jim Rogers has taught finance at Columbia University’s business school and is a media commentator worldwide. He is the author of Adventure Capitalist, Investment Biker, Hot Commodities, A Gift to My Children, and A Bull in China. See his website.

The Best of Jim Rogers

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