Investor Jim Rogers is holding U.S. dollars even though he says they are not the "safe haven" many investors appear to believe.
The dollar "is going up against everything right now” for a number of reasons, one of which may be that everybody is panicking "and for some reason they’re rushing into the U.S. dollar,” Rogers told CNBC.
“The U.S. dollar is not a safe haven, if you ask me, but I do own it,” says Rogers. “Agriculture prices [are] getting banged right now. I am kind of planning on buying Swiss francs, more dollars and agriculture."
China, Rogers says, is doing its best to cool its overheated economy, which is contributing to global economic slowdown, and he expects it will continue to do so.
However, “the major problems are coming from the west," Rogers stressed. “They are coming from Europe and the [United States]. We are much worse off than we were in 2008 because the debt has gone through the roof.”
“At least in 2008 there was the possibility that the governments could bail us out," Rogers says. "Now, of course, the governments have gotten deep, deep, deep into debt themselves. Everybody is in much worse shape.”
Rogers notes that trade and currency tensions are developing. “Brazil has sort of ignited a trade war (by increasing import tariffs on vehicles that will particularly affect China and South Korea)," he says. "And right now China is trying to get the Europeans to let them open up the trade with China more. The Europeans are saying no, so China is saying, 'No, we won’t bail you out.'"
Rogers says he hopes a trade war doesn’t break out because of the ramifications. “You saw what happened in the 1930s," he says. "It led to depression and it also led to war.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that the dollar has been roaring higher against many other major and minor currencies over the last month, a trend that accelerated as global investors were spooked yet again by recession fears.
© 2013 Moneynews. All rights reserved.