The Future Of Hong Kong Is Continued Decline

I think the future of Hong Kong is continued decline. 

The only reason Hong Kong became Hong Kong was because of 1949, in Mao Zi time. Now, you don't need Hong Kong anymore. Shanghai was the largest financial center between New York and London before the before the war, Second World War.

China's opening up so we don't need Hong Kong anymore. It's going to continue to decline. When the Renminbi, the Chinese currency, is convertible, yes, I would expect the Hong Kong dollar to disappear.

Related tickers:  iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index ETF (FXI), iShares MSCI Hong Kong Index ETF (EWH)

New Book: Warning To Japan

In his most recent book, U.S. investor Jim Rogers issues a stark warning over Japan's future. In "Warning To Japan", warned of a dark future for Japan if it does not take drastic measures to curb its massive debt and severe population decline. Here's a few excerpts from the book:

"Japan's national debt is going to swell due to the Olympics, and this can only lead to a bad outcome for ordinary citizens." 

"There was such a long period of astonishing prosperity, when everything worked." 

"But Japan got so rich, so successful, that... it resulted in huge protectionism." 

"If there was somebody in Japan who will say, we got to bear this pain, we have to sort this out. And if we don't, the 10-year-olds in Japan today will have no future." 

"But the problem is that the politicians in power today don't want to do that. They know if they cause the pain, it is not going to be good for them." 

"They're opening up a little bit, but not nearly enough."

"It's simple arithmetic. The population is going down and they're not having babies. It is straightforward, but overwhelming and frightening for their future."

"Few people have any confidence; they know, consciously or subconsciously, that there is something wrong. Maybe somebody will change things, but I'm afraid I don't see that happening right now. There are too many entrenched interests."

Investing, Global Debt & A Bubble In Education

In a recent interview with Money And Markets, Jim Rogers commented on his unortodhox approach to investing,

“I’ve been wildly bullish on many things many times, but often it’s things that people don’t understand. That’s how you get rich: You buy things that other people don’t care about.”

And Jim also expressed concerns about the rising level of debt worldwide:

“Nobody’s reduced their debt since 2008, specifically the mounting deficits in both the U.S. and China."

And finally Jim Rogers pinpointed a bubble in education in the United States:

There’s also a bubble in college education in the U.S., but I don’t know any way to short Princeton.”

Bankruptcies Are Coming

You're gonna start seeing bankruptcies. You're even gonna see bankruptcies in China which is gonna shock a lot of people including me and I just told you it's coming. 

There's a lot of debt in the world. In 2008 we had a big problem because of too much debt. Since then, you know the debt has skyrocketed everywhere and so we're gonna start seeing bankruptcies and with interest rates rising we're gonna see a collapse.

Market Update: British Pound, Gold and Silver

British Pound Outlook, The United Kingdom Can Break Up

The United Kingdom has huge debts. The United Kingdom is one of the most indebted nations in the world on any kind of comparative data. They don't have as much debt as the United States as it's a much smaller country. There's huge, gigantic debts which people don't seem to pay too much attention to. I pay attention to.

This story is not going down because of Boris Johnson. I mean, maybe he's contributing, maybe he's a needle causing the pinprick but no, Sterling has got huge problems and whatever happens it's going to get worse. It looks to me like the political problems are certainly going to make it much much worse, I mean the United Kingdom could break up.

US Dollar, Gold 

Many things that are gonna make the next problem very very very serious and a alternative an alternative is the the US dollar I expect the US dollar to get overpriced I expected it maybe turn into a bubble but often when that happens gold goes down you know if the dollar is very very strong go this week so my plan but don't pay too much attention my plan is that the US dollars going to get oh Christ I'm gonna sell my US Dollars and as gold goes down in that crisis as it often does I will put my US dollars into gold.

Gold or Silver?

If somebody came in and said, "You gotta buy Gold or Silver!" I would buy silver today. 

7 Investing Lessons From Jim Rogers

1) My problem, my strength, is I don't like to sell. I like to own things. The kinds of things I buy, often, you can own forever, or at least for many, many years.

2) The book that I still to this day tell people to read is Security Analysis by Ben Graham. I read it decades ago. Short of that, The Intelligent Investor by Graham and Dodd. Graham's ideas of investing in fundamentals and cheap stocks, I realized that's the that's the kind of investor I was, that's what I loved and thought was great. So, I recommend that book when people ask me what book to read or books to read I tell them about Ben Graham. 

3) The more certain something is, the less likely it is to be profitable. 

4) If people learn to be a little more attentive to what they see they might wind up making investments and they might be successful. 

5) One of the best things I can tell you is do not have a lot of debt and try to stay away from people that have a lot of debt. 

6) Those who can not adjust to change will be swept aside by it. Those who recognize change and react accordingly will benefit. 

7) If you want to get rich you don't diversify. You put all your eggs in one basket and then you watch the basket very carefully. You got to make sure it's the right basket or you will go bankrupt but that's how you get rich. Henry Ford never diversified, Bill Gates never diversified.

Bullish On South Korea

South Korea's economy has been slowing as well at the moment. South Korea's having a problem, everybody is because of trade wars, there are many, many reasons that the world is starting to slow down and we're going to have a very very serious problem in the next year or two. But once the 38th parallel opens this is gonna be the most exciting part of the world for the next 10 or 20 years. You have everything going for you once the 38th parallel opens. In the meantime things are not gonna be so good.

Related trading instruments: iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund ETF (EWY)