Jim Grant: How About Capitalism, Ben Bernanke ?

James Grant is interviewed on Bloomberg and the 13th of March 2012 after the federal reserve meeting.

He first talks about the Federal Reserve monetary policy and the bond market.

He explains that by distorting interest rates, the Federal reserve has suppressed price mechanisms and with little value in bonds (he calls the bond market a "desert of value"), many people flock to high yielding junk bonds.

Ben Bernanke

He also "translates" terms of Bernanke speech:

• Highly accomodative = high manipulative
• Quantitative easing = money printing

He explains that Gold price is a function of the action of central banks and note that the ECB has increased its balance sheet by an astounding 89% on an annual basis, the British central bank by 67% and the fed by only 15%. All those numbers are unprecedented and the way they do it is by simply taping numbers on a computer screen.

Jim Grant also took a stab at Warrent Buffet's "Stocks outperform Gold" by showing a chart between 1996 and today with the prices of Gold, sugar and Coca-Cola stock. During that period Gold was the best performer, followed by sugar and then Coca-cola. He explains that valuation is important. Whereas Coca-cola had a PE ratio of 39 in 1996, it now has a much better 16 PE ratio. He also mentioned that while Gold is now the refuge of the fearful, back in 1996, Gold was considered to be the refuge of the idiots. :)

Finally he says he's bearish on the Chinese economy and worries about the consequence of a Chinese slump, since many people think the Chinese have found the formula to make it work...

Marc Faber: Stocks to Correct After April

Marc Faber is interviewed by Bloomberg TV in Hong Kong on the 2nd of February 2012.

He talks about his recent investments (stocks in Hong Kong and Thailand) and his views on the markets in 2012. He expects February to be somewhat weaker than January, followed by another rally in March/April, before a more meaningful correction starting around May.

Marc Faber: Equities better than Bonds

Great 30 minutes interview of Marc Faber on Bloomberg Radio on the 26th of November 2011.

They discuss about government debts, equities, gold, the global economy and politics.

Some random quotes:

• "I would rather buy Italian government debt at 7% than US treasuries at 2%".
• "The best would be to break up the Eurozone ..with local currencies and the Euro co-exisiting..."
• "You're better off investing in equities rather than in bonds or cash over the next 10 years"
• "It's beautiful, wherever you look there are problems..."
• "I'm very concerned about the slowdown in China"
• "I own some companies like Hang Seng Bank and Sun Hung Kai Properties" and he doesn't invest directly in Chinese companies.
• "I'm fully prepared to have less money over the next years" (due to higher taxes).
  
• "It's my biggest worry, that eventually we'll have war".
• "People that have deposit in the bank may lose money, who knows" in reference to MF Global and other companies that play with clients' money.
• "Nothing will be done, the entitlement will continue, the government finance will continue to deteriorate and one day the government will go bust. Before that they'll print money..."

Marc Faber: QE26 will come - 30 March 2011

After QE18, it's now QE26 in a Bloomberg interview with Marc Faber where he talks about the outlook for a QE3 from the Federal Reserve, his investment strategy and the outlook for global stock and commodity markets.