I was able to reconnect for an interview with legendary Quantum Fund manager and commodities bull, Jim Rogers. Jim shared thoughts on the fundamentals of agriculture and mining after ten years of being in a bull market, and further spoke to the "artificial boom" going on in the equities market.

Additionally, he commented on the biggest challenge facing gold mining companies today, one which didn't exist during the last bull market nearly forty years ago.

When asked about the fundamental supply picture for commodities today, Jim commented that, "Agriculture for instance is much worse, inventories are now near historic lows, [and] they weren't ten years ago. The average age of farmers in America is now 58, and ten years ago it was 48. The world is [also] running out of farmers, because farmers all over the world are aging or retiring, and in America for instance, more people study public relations than study agriculture. So the world is facing serious shortages of agriculture."

"In mining [for example], we've had huge numbers of projects and capital spending cut back, cancelled, delayed & rescinded, because of the problems [occurring] since 2008. We've certainly had some new capacity in some areas since 2008, but not enough in my view to end the bull market."

With respect to the biggest challenge facing gold mining companies today, Jim explained that, "[People] have the easy alternative now of owning ETFs and physical gold. Forty years ago when we had a bull market in gold, it was very difficult to own gold itself. Even gold futures didn't exist. That's all changed now. Forty years ago you could [only] own Krugerrands, or you could own gold bars perhaps, but they were difficult to find. There were no gold futures, so you could really only use gold stocks. That's entirely different now."

When asked about the contrasting boom occurring in the general equities markets, Jim said that, "We certainly have money printing [going on] everywhere in the world. This is the first time in recorded history where nearly all major governments and all central banks are printing a lot of money at the same time. So naturally, we're having something of a boom, but to me it's an artificial boom, because it's all based on printed money. Maybe it's real, or maybe it's going to turn real. Central bankers hope that it's going to turn real, or at least that it lasts before they have to resign or retire. I don't think it's a very real situation but it's happening---[so] it doesn't matter whether I think it's real or not."

Concluding on which country in the world today looks ripest for investment, Jim said that,"Right now North Korea is extremely exciting for me, there's not many ways to invest in North Korea, but what's happening there is very, very exciting."

Additionally, Jim commented on his new book release entitled "Street Smarts", which is currently available  through Amazon.
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This was another great interview for serious investors and market students, as Jim's approach to investing has made him one of the most successful investors in the world today.

To listen to the interview, left click the following link and/or right click and "save target as" or "save link as" to to your desktop:

>>Interview with Jim Rogers (MP3)

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Thanks,
Tekoa Da Silva
Bull Market Thinking