Well respected financial commentator Jim Rogers has slammed the economic policies of the American and British governments, arguing that they are "propping up zombie banks", and repeating his previous warning that an inflationary holocaust is being unleashed due to a ceaseless overprinting of currency.

Rogers made the comments during a lively CNBC interview yesterday.

The legendary investor stated:

"Throughout history whenever you've had gigantic amounts of paper money created, it's led to inflation down the road. Sure, things are going down now because of forced liquidation, I mean AIG went bankrupt, Lehman brothers went bankrupt, and a lot of people are redeeming and being forced to sell everything. That's not deflation, that's temporary."

The CNBC anchor then expressed disagreement with Rogers’ argument, missing the entire point that overprinting of currency has caused hyper inflation throughout history, and instead using semantics to argue that AIG didn't go bankrupt and stating that an overall deflation has caused the current economic crisis.

As we have continually demonstrated, the driving factors behind the current financial crisis have been the destruction of the dollar via an ever increasing move towards a debt based economy, the creation of money out of thin air and the attachment of unwarranted astronomical value onto paper and derivatives contracts.

"Unless the world is coming to an end… in that kind of scenario you are right, everything is going to suffer." Rogers told viewers. "I am of the view that the world is going to recover some day and with all the money that's being created, history has shown that it has always led to inflation." he continued.

Rogers, the creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index (RICI), also slammed the Treasury Secretary and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

"Paulson and Bernanke should resign, it's the first thing they should do, they should abolish the federal reserve and stay out of the way, let the market take care of this. Bernanke claims to be an expert over the depression, the collapse, you know he doesn't know what he is doing." Rogers commented.

Rogers also pointed out that the Japanese economy is still suffering because during a sharp decline in the stock market throughout the 90's it did not allow anyone to fail and created so called "zombie banks".

"it's 18 years later and they're stock market is still 75 or 80% below where it was 18 years ago. This policy has never worked," Rogers urged.

Rogers described the bailout policies of the American and British governments as "taking the assets from the competent, giving the assets to the incompetent and saying now you compete with the competent," pointing out that the approach is completely antithetical to how soundly functioning markets have operated throughout history.

Article written by Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Thursday, Oct 23, 2008

The events of the past week are no exception.

The bailout package that is about to be rammed down Congress’ throat is not just economically foolish. It is downright sinister. It makes a mockery of our Constitution, which our leaders should never again bother pretending is still in effect. It promises the American people a never-ending nightmare of ever-greater debt liabilities they will have to shoulder. Two weeks ago, financial analyst Jim Rogers said the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made America more communist than China! "This is welfare for the rich," he said. "This is socialism for the rich. It’s bailing out the financiers, the banks, the Wall Streeters."

That describes the current bailout package to a T. And we’re being told it’s unavoidable.

The claim that the market caused all this is so staggeringly foolish that only politicians and the media could pretend to believe it. But that has become the conventional wisdom, with the desired result that those responsible for the credit bubble and its predictable consequences – predictable, that is, to those who understand sound, Austrian economics – are being let off the hook. The Federal Reserve System is actually positioning itself as the savior, rather than the culprit, in this mess!

• The Treasury Secretary is authorized to purchase up to $700 billion in mortgage-related assets at any one time. That means $700 billion is only the very beginning of what will hit us.
• Financial institutions are "designated as financial agents of the Government." This is the New Deal to end all New Deals.
• Then there’s this: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." Translation: the Secretary can buy up whatever junk debt he wants to, burden the American people with it, and be subject to no one in the process.

There goes your country.

Even some so-called free-market economists are calling all this "sadly necessary." Sad, yes. Necessary? Don’t make me laugh.

Our one-party system is complicit in yet another crime against the American people. The two major party candidates for president themselves initially indicated their strong support for bailouts of this kind – another example of the big choice we’re supposedly presented with this November: yes or yes. Now, with a backlash brewing, they’re not quite sure what their views are. A sad display, really.

Although the present bailout package is almost certainly not the end of the political atrocities we’ll witness in connection with the crisis, time is short. Congress may vote as soon as tomorrow. With a Rasmussen poll finding support for the bailout at an anemic seven percent, some members of Congress are afraid to vote for it. Call them! Let them hear from you! Tell them you will never vote for anyone who supports this atrocity.

The issue boils down to this: do we care about freedom? Do we care about responsibility and accountability? Do we care that our government and media have been bought and paid for? Do we care that average Americans are about to be looted in order to subsidize the fattest of cats on Wall Street and in government? Do we care?

When the chips are down, will we stand up and fight, even if it means standing up against every stripe of fashionable opinion in politics and the media?

Times like these have a way of telling us what kind of a people we are, and what kind of country we shall be.

Article written by Dr. Ron Paul
September 25, 2008

Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.