Monthly Archives: May 2009

One of the more interesting words in the German language is the term: aussteiger. The term comes from the verb aussteigen, which means literally to get off a bus or train. However it also has a double meaning. An aussteiger is an expatriate who has chosen to leave Germany and live elsewhere, usually because of dissatisfaction with the status quo.

The U.S. has plenty of these. The most public of them is Jim Rogers. Jim Rogers is famous for cofounding the quantum fund along with George Soros. He’s a prolific author, world traveler and news commentator. Most recently he’s chosen to leave the United States and live in Singapore (1).

Rogers’ views have become increasing pessimistic about the state of the US economy. In a number of interviews, he has been openly critical of the Federal Reserves monetary policy (1) and the federal governments recent bailouts (1). As a result, he has been granted less airtime in US domestic media and has been seen increasingly in the less prominent CNBC Asia (1).

Rogers isn’t the only dissident economist in this situation. A similar sentiment has been echoed by Swiss investment advisor and investor Marc Faber. Faber argued that US policy over the past 20 years resulted in “illusory wealth” and in a recent interview said Federal Reserve policy could result in inflation values as high as Zimbabwe’s (1).

Now, neither of these gentlemen get a whole lot of media play. They don’t get the time partly because their views are hugely negative on the state of the U.S. economy. Unsurprisingly this conflicts with statements issued from official Washington. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has famously said that “green shoots” of economic recovery will set in this year (1) and President Obama has gone on record saying the economy will get better in 2009 (1). So, part of the reason people like Rogers and Febar don’t make the headlines is because they say the US economy is headed for problems when official Washington has been saying the exact opposite.

It really is a shame. Rogers made over 4700% return when he worked with George Soros on the Quantum Fund. Faber got his Ph.d at exceptionally young age of 24. Both of these guys can offer a great deal of insight into the state of economy as well as Americas role within the global system. Frankly its sad that because their views differ from the official line, they tend to get marginalized in the media. Its even more sad when you consider that the mainstream financial media and DC policymakers utterly failed to forecast last years economic downturn.

So, just to wrap this up, the medias tendency to marginalize dissident economists really does the public a disservice. They obviously have built wealth throughout their careers, so it would be a good idea to listen to them if you want to build your own wealth. Expatriate aussteigers like Rogers and Faber can provide a valuable alternative and to the puffed up public relations nonsense and media group think that sometimes comes out of Washington and CNBC.

Thanks,

James