My Money Engine

Jim Rogers spoke to BBC's HardTalk about his investments in Asia, what he's short, and where he remains bullish.

Rogers defends his long-term position in Asia, noting that, while there are certain to be hiccups, it's a much better place to be investing than in the bankrupt countries of the west. He admits that there is a bubble in coastal Chinese real estate, but does not see it as being similar to the situation in U.S.

Rogers also spoke on what he sees as the number one problem for China's economy."I don’t mind if China has civil war, epidemics, panics, depressions, all of that. You can recover from that. The only thing you cannot recover from is water … China has a horrible water problem in the north. India has a worse water problem, there’s no question about that; America, in some places, has water problems. If China doesn’t solve its water problems then there’s no China story … I’ve been around the world a couple of times, I’ve seen whole societies, cities, countries that disappeared when the water disappeared.

They’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars … they’re spending staggering amounts of money trying to solve their water problem. I am presuming that they will. Now, maybe they won’t, and if they won’t, in twenty or thirty or forty years, the whole story’s over."

By Gregory White May 28, 2011