Jim Rogers, pillager extraordinaire

Excerpts

Rogers, co-founder along George Soros of the Quantum Fund, railed at the Federal Reserve and incoming U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, while also saying the high saving rate and solid fundamentals in China make it a powerful force to be reckoned with.

He said his bets against U.S. investment banks, the two largest U.S. mortgage providers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the yen kept his portfolio in the positive last year, but the rest of his investments suffered.

The Quantum Fund shot to fame after making more than $1 billion betting against the British pound in early 1990s.

Commentary

And it also caused financial in Southeast Asia betting against all those currencies, until it bet the wrong way against the Hong Kong dollar and lost a fortune.

The breed of speculators such as Mr. Rogers will no doubt fan the flames of uncertainty and panic to reap rewards for themselves, while fiddling watching the world's economies go down. Unfortunately for the masses, their speculation is usually done behind closed doors, and not visible outsiders, except what they want to reveal to strengthen their own positions.

Fortunately, their manipulation will eventually fail. Hong Kong burned the Quantum Fund; Porsche burned the hedge funds. Will the US burn Mr. Rogers?

Reuters: Jim Rogers, pillager extraordinaire