dispute with China<\/a> and other nations over tariffs and trade policies. If it results in negotiations that lead to a more equitable Tariff System for everyone then great, if however results in a full blown trade war then most likely, not so great.<\/p>\nThat could lead to significantly higher prices on a wide variety of goods as well as increase manufacturing cost and a domino effect that brings economic growth potentially to a grinding halt. We\u2019ll talk much more about the situation with China and the potential of a Trade War with our guest Jim Rogers a bit later in the show. Of course another challenge for Powell and the Fed lies in the polarized political climate in Washington DC. The tax reform bill remember was passed without democratic support and so far it\u2019s the only really big piece of legislation that president Trump has been able to get through Congress. If political grid lock remains the norm for other bills and policies relating to the economy, that will only increase the unprecedented levels of uncertainty already facing the Fed and make their job that much tougher.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll find out more about what happens there in November. But regardless of how you feel about him it\u2019s hard to deny that president Trump himself, also increases that area of uncertainty, with some of his words and actions. In a recent tweet for example he wrote quote \u201cRussia and China are playing the Currency Devaluation game as the US keep raising interest rates. Not acceptable. This tweet was interpreted by some as a criticism of the Feds decision to approve that most recent rate hike in March. But others read it differently. But you see It\u2019s that lack of clarity in some of these remarks that make his Presidency quite unique and also makes it a bit more challenging for Powell and the rest of the Federal Reserve. And on that note let\u2019s welcome back Gregory Daco, to get\u00a0 his take on the first two months of Jerome Powell\u2019s being in office at the helm of the Federal Reserve. Too Dovish, too hawkish or as my good friend Jeffery Small would say like Goldie locks, just right.<\/p>\n
Gregory Daco:<\/strong> I think overall in terms of Jerome Powell\u2019s approach to policy making, he\u2019s more of a pragmatic. I think that so far war what we\u2019ve really seen is someone that looks at the data, evaluates the data and generally concludes that the economy is doing quite well. That\u2019s the pace of G.D.P. growth is satisfactory, that employment growth remains quite solid and that inflation is gradually moving back towards the Feds objective of 2%, and in the environment, in those circumstances the Fed expects to raise rates currently 3 times for 2018. We think actually they might actually go with four rate hikes this year, given the fact that inflation would probably surpass the Feds 2% inflation target somewhere around December of this year.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong>\u00a0 Alright so of course now the 800 pound gorilla in the room is long term Interest Rates,\u00a0 you know the Feds can certainly take three more hikes and they can get us up in 21\/4 \/21\/2\u00a0 range but then, how do we know long term interest rates are gonna respond? We have European countries now with their stimulus; we talked about earlier on the show about Spanish and Italian ten your debt, paying nearly half the interest rate that ours does, but yet theoretically at least a higher default risk. So things are already out of the equilibrium which is why for example the ten year treasury long term interest rate has struggled to go up. What\u2019s gonna finally make long term interest rates cooperate? I am not seeing it.<\/p>\nGregory Daco:<\/strong> well I think that if we take a broader perspective in terms of the interest rate complex, we see that essentially we have the Fed putting upward pressure on short term Interest Rates, the increases in the Federal Funds Rate and that on it\u2019s own should put upward pressure on long term rate. Now we have seen a very slow rise in long term rates and indeed the ten year yield has taken quite a bit of time to even reach the symbolic 3% mark.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong>\u00a0 Sure<\/p>\nGregory Daco:<\/strong> But we expect that with upward pressure on short term rates, we\u2019re going to see long term rates rise. We have to also factor in other factors, the fact that inflation\u2019s rising generally tends to support higher long term rates. The fact that you have wider budget deficits stemming from the combination of the tax cuts and jobs act as well as the bypartism budget act will increase the deficit and therefore put upward pressure on long term rates.<\/p>\nSo those factors will keep the pressure on the 10 year yield towards the upside. We cannot forget though that the US remains the reserve currency of the world and that in case of uncertainty around the world whether geo-political or economic uncertainty flow capital flows back into the United States and tend to put down ward pressure on long term yield, so there are two opposing voices at play right now.<\/p>\n
David Scranton:<\/strong> So with the thirty seconds or so we have left in this segment, you know what about the flattening of the yield curve, you know two interest rates hikes ago there was a .9% difference between the two year and the thirty year. Now it\u2019s about .65%, they raise rates three, four more times it could be .3%, .4%, isn\u2019t that close to a flat yield curve?<\/p>\nGregory Daco:<\/strong> Yep, I think we\u2019re getting close to a flat yield curve. What really matters though is an inverted yield curve, where long term rates fall below short term rates, that\u2019s generally indicative of an impending recession and we can\u2019t forget that, that\u2019s not necessarily a sign that the recession is coming up in the next few months, you still will generally have a year maybe eighteen months before a recession actually hits.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> When we come back I wonna talk to you a little bit about; the deficit, the national debt, how far can we go with the national debt , can we really grow our way out of it and just keep taking on more and more debt item for item? I wonna get your feedback on that, and also what you would tell average investors, members of the Income Generation and for you Income Generation members, stay with us we have more from Gregory Daco upon our return We\u2019ll be right back.<\/p>\n[Break]<\/p>\n
David Scranton:<\/strong> Well we\u2019ve discussed one of the Fed\u2019s objectives in moving forward with two more short term interest rate increases this year, is to hit a stable inflation rate of about 2%. Well even though isn\u2019t talked about very much another thing they need is for long term interest rates to cooperate and to move up first. In fact as we\u2019ve discusses before on the show, they\u2019re actively working to achieve that goal through the so called unwinding of Quantitative Easing.<\/p>\nThis is also an important part of the process of normalizing the Feds balance sheet. Through three rounds of Easing the Federal Reserve purchased, some 2.1 trillion dollars of mortgage back securities and US treasuries. Starting last year they begin selling those bonds back in the open market. The idea as I\u2019ve explained before is to basically flood the market increasing the supply in order to drive prices down and drive long term interest rates up. This unwinding process is largely why the rate, on attaining your treasury yield jump from 2.4% to 2.7% in January, spooking Wall Street and helping trigger that rapid 10% sell of that we saw back then. You might think of this unwinding process is an attempt to administer an antidote to cure the lingering effects of those economic steroid injections known as QE-1, QE-2 and QE-3, and as we know sometimes an antidote works, but sometimes the antidote kills the patient instead.<\/p>\n
So for the Federal Reserve, this is one more big uncertainty and you might also be wondering, if rising interest seem to rattle the market so much, then why is the Fed trying to drive them up. Well, as we\u2019ve discussed before, if they move ahead with their plan to hike short term rates up to 2.1% by the end of this year. The long term rates remain at 3% or so as they are now. They\u2019ll be creating a flat yield curve. Banks and lending institutions depend on a positive sloping yield curve to make money, if it\u2019s not, if it\u2019s flat instead, meaning that the difference between long term and short term interest rates are only marginal.<\/p>\n
Then those institutions loose the financial incentive to lend money. In this case businesses and individuals\u2019 won\u2019t barrow won\u2019t be able to barrow, for things like mortgage loans, car loans, small business loans, things that are all central to a healthy, growing economy, and they all depend on a positive sloping yield curve.<\/p>\n
Now our regular viewers know that I\u2019m on record for saying that I believe long term rates are gonna have a tough time going up. They just recently broke through the glass ceiling of 3%, that if, has hold for so long, in spite of the Feds unwinding efforts. One reason as we\u2019ve discussed earlier, is that many European country, still have Quantitative Easing programs in place, meaning, they are still administering economic steroid injections and as a result, in countries like Spain and Italy for example their bond yields are generally lower than ours, in fact approximately half although those countries are considered to have a much higher default risk than ours.<\/p>\n
That means that a lot of investors are still pouring money into our bond market. Why? Because it\u2019s a better option, to be able to get more secure bonds at nearly double the interest rate and as I put it before, we in the United states, although we may not be doing economically well as we were in the 90s and some points in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n
Yes we still the cleanest dirty shirt in the world\u2019s economic hamper especially when it comes to global bonds investors. Now, naturally you know this affects the Feds effort to drive prices up and down because they can\u2019t flood the market when the demands for bonds remain so strong. They flood it but the bonds end up just getting purchased right back. So their efforts to drive up the prices and drive up the interest rates become significantly hindered by what\u2019s going on abroad. Again consider the ten year treasury peak at 2.94 at the end of February, it\u2019s 2.94% and through all of March and most of April it couldn\u2019t break through that rate, in fact it was just this past week that it broke through that 2.94% again.<\/p>\n
Well that creates yet another challenge for the Fed. At least it\u2019s a positive sign for the financial market just started to naturally normalize themselves again, even if the Fed is struggling with the process. After years of being mostly influenced by artificial factors, the market is just starting to respond to fundamental realities again. That\u2019s why long term interest rates stabilized as the stock market recently has gone through a series of big sell offs and partial rebounds, followed by more sell offs and more partial rebounds over the last two months.<\/p>\n
In addition to that, or maybe as a result of that, something called a Flight Equality has occurred, as many of our own investors here in the US under the uncertainty of equities fled toward the relative security of bonds, once again keeping our long term interest rates down in spite of the Federal Reserve\u2019s efforts and what\u2019s more I believe this trend will continue, creating yet another major challenge for Jerome Powell and for the Feds, as they attempt to land this experimental airplane safely.<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s time to welcome back Gregory Daco. Let\u2019s talk about this deficit and this debt, you know politicians like to tell us you can spend our way out of it not to worry about it as long as we get enough growth you know our net worth as a country if you will is growing and as long as it grows faster than our debt, but there\u2019s got to be an end to this right? I mean, you know our viewers can\u2019t just take on more and more and more debt without worrying about it and even though we are the world\u2019s reserve currency, I mean, can we really do that?<\/p>\n
Gregory Daco:<\/strong> Well, I think that if you look at the US position right now, we\u2019re not too far from a position at which we\u2019re not really adding to the debt to G.D.P. ratio and that\u2019s simply because essentially our deficit is as large as the pace at which the economy grows. But if we look out over the next few years especially the next two years with the implementation of a pretty substantial series of tax cuts and additional government spending, we\u2019re going to see an increase in the budget deficit and we expect the budget deficit to go from about 3-31\/2% of G.D.P today to about 5% over the next eighteen months.<\/p>\nThat on its own will put upward pressure on the debt to G.D.P ratio, which will likely surpass 80% in the coming months and if we look further out with the aging of the population, the need to spend more on an aging population, to spend more on Medical Care, that would continue to put upward pressure on the debt and it could become a real issue for private sector investment for the economy overall.<\/p>\n
David Scranton:<\/strong> Yeah Gregory it\u2019s kinda funny, you\u2019re kind of a young fellow, which usually the crusty old salt\u2019s the ones that are more apt to say, be more cynical and say no we can\u2019t keep doing that, so it\u2019ll be interesting, we have Jim Rogers coming up next and I\u2019m gonna ask Jim the same question and we\u2019ll plot you head to head with Jim Rogers, we\u2019ll see what he says. So where do people put their money? You know, members of the Income Generation that watch our show that are age 50 and over, you know, if long term interest rates are going go up to afford the Federal Reserve more room to raise short term rates, you know that\u2019s not the best scenario for a fixed income, but it\u2019s also a bad scenario for equities. If the equity market is pricing in Trump\u2019s promise of 4% G.D.P. growth and you\u2019re only gonna get less than 3% then that\u2019s not good for equities either, so what are people to do? I mean put all the money in Crypto Currencies, cross their fingers and toes and hope for the best? What will you tell average middle aged America today?<\/p>\nGregory Daco:<\/strong> Well I don\u2019t necessarily know that people should take big risk with new forms of currencies as they tend to carry quite a bit of risk and the return is not always guaranteed, especially in the long run. But I think that if you look out over a long period of time, then it continues to be quite revenue generated to invest in a mixed portfolio, to have investments that aren\u2019t necessarily putting all your eggs in the same basket and so to have a blend both nationally and internationally in terms of where you invest your money in order to in some ways off set the risk that might come from the international global environment or from the domestic environment.<\/p>\nSo in the environment I think diversification is really a key element in any investment strategy that looks into the future and I think that while the economy might be close to the end this\u00a0 like I can\u2019t believe we forget that the US economy is very much procyclical and after every up cycle there is a down cycle but is again followed by another up cycle, so we have to remain optimistic about the prospects for growth, the US economy is very much a dynamic economy and I think it remains very much a center that will continue to attract capital pros from the international environment.<\/p>\n
David Scranton:<\/strong> Yeah, sound like you\u2019re saying you know it\u2019s ok to be a little lopsided in times when there\u2019s obviously a better opportunity somewhere but especially now when everything is in question. Diversify cross the board be conservative and be smart about it so Gregory, thanks so much for joining us today time flies when you\u2019re having fun. Thank you too, our income generation members, we\u2019ll be back to wrap up today\u2019s show with a grand finally in just a minute.<\/p>\n[Break]<\/p>\n
David Scranton:<\/strong> Welcome back to The Income Generation, I\u2019m here with my next guest Jim Rogers. As you well know he\u2019s a renowned American Business man Investor Traveler, Financial Commentator and author who\u2019s based in Singapore. His books include Adventure Capitalist and A Bull in China. He\u2019s chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interest and creator of Rogers International Commodities<\/a> Index as well as a co-founder of the Quantum Fund. Jim welcome to the show.<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> I\u2019m delighted to be here David; you should not have done all that introduction.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> I love you the humility, I could see out the corner of my eye with your hands moving going no no no not me [laugh]<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> I don\u2019t want to hear all that, but any way I\u2019m delighted to be here, I\u2019m delighted to see you again.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> Well it\u2019s good to have you, you know, it\u2019s funny because you were on the show somewhere around a year ago, maybe a year and half ago at this point. It\u2019s funny because I tried to push you, I tried to talk about whether China you know was a bubble, we talked about you know their growth rate at 7% being artificially maintained, artificially stimulated and you said, after pushing you trying as any interviewer does, trying to push you into the corner you said \u201cDave you wonna look at a bubble, look at the debt in the United States, we have a debt bubble over there\u201d and then I kinda chuckled and I said well you got me on that. But, is that why recently you were quoted as saying something about the next Bear Market is likely to be the worse in your life time?<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> Well David yes, all I said was, we\u2019re gonna have Bear Market again, we\u2019ve always had them. Hello Janet Yellen, use to be the head of the Federal Reserve says, we\u2019re never gonna have a Bear Market again so, sorry for chuckling out loud. She says \u201cwe\u2019ll never have a Bear Market again\u201d. I know we will. And all I said was the next time is gonna be the worst in my lifetime. 2008 and 2009 we had a problem because of too much debt. But David! You know the debt has gone up many many times and not just in the US all over the world even China.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> So what do you say to all the politicians and even some educated government employed economist who say that well that\u2019s ok we can grow our way out of it, what do you say to them.<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> First of all why did we grow our way out of it in 2008-2009 if it\u2019s that simple and second of all I think you should resign.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> Well you know It\u2019s funny I say to people to and people say well, the market has another drop I\u2019ll just get out before it drops all the way and I said did you do it in 2008, of course you did and the same thing is true yeah you\u2019re right. So, how long can this go? I mean can it go as long as have the status of the world\u2019s reserve currency? Can it go that long? Or is bit coin for real? Should we buy bit coin in the crypto currencies? I mean what?<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> Well it has already gone on nearly ten years. We\u2019ve already have one of the longest Bear Market in recorded history, not just in the US but anywhere in the world, so I don\u2019t know, can it go on eighteen years, I don\u2019t know. I have no idea but I know it\u2019s got to be getting closer to the end. Interest rates have started to go up, which often has a negative impact on markets, who knows which war Donald trump will start next. Anything can go wrong. On the other hand, I\u2019m not selling short right now. I expect this to go on a little longer. I mean if Donald Trump pulls off Korea for instance, you\u2019ll get a Nobel Prize and the market will go through the roof. So there are still some things that could make it continue.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> It sound like you are saying that right now the market is kind of speculative, but you think it has some upside potential based upon optimism, based upon some good yield political news and things like that. But long term, at bear minimum you\u2019re saying we should have one finger on the trigger, you should be careful?<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> There\u2019s no question the market is speculative, there\u2019s no question the market is highly expensive, but by any measure, any historic measure, it\u2019s expensive, but it also could get more expensive. I\u2019ve seen that many times in history, many places in the world but I agree with you 100%, be sure to be careful, be sure to watch News Max, because we\u2019re getting towards the end and one day when the end comes, I mean News Max will probably say it\u2019s time to get out, but most of, or the rest of us will miss it.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> But what about—It was just a year and a half ago we were talking about China\u2019s doing and of course now China itself is taking on debt, which is different from before. Why is that happening? And what implications might we see from that for example, in your opinion.<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> For many years, nobody—who would lend money to mousy tongue? For goodness sakes so China didn\u2019t have that for many years. Even in 2008 when it started, they had money saved for a rainy day, it\u2019s started raining, and China started spending the money and helps save the world, but now China, they were so happy and so excited about their success, now they have debt too. Now many Chinese company are gonna go bankrupt, next time around, the ones that deal with the West in a way can have that and the government of Beijing had said\u00a0 we\u2019ll let people go bankrupt which I hope they do, I wish America would let people go bankrupt.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> Well the problem is, a lot of the businesses are owned by the government, so doesn\u2019t that debt, let say the fifteen seconds or so we have left in the segment, doesn\u2019t that debt ends up rolling up for the Chinese government ultimately?<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> If they let it happen, yes I mean they might step in like the US government and prevent everybody from going bankrupt. I hope it does wind up in the Chinese government hands, they say they were gonna do it, let them do it, we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> Well Jim stay with us as soon as we come back, we\u2019re gonna talk about the Trade Wars. So stay with us and you stay with us also, here on Income Generation.<\/p>\n[Break]<\/p>\n
David Scranton:<\/strong> Welcome back we\u2019re talking again to the friend of the Income Generation Show, whose introduction I have to shorten this time, so he doesn\u2019t get frustrated with me. Singapore based author and investment expert Jim Rogers.<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> Well, David I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m an expert on anything but thank you.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> [laugh] The Trade War, the Trade War, so called Trade War. Can we win this? First of all, do you agree with the President that some of the deals we\u2019ve negotiated are unfair and ideally should be fixed? Do you agree with that, first of all?<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> Let\u2019s go back when Trump says Trade Wars are good for America and that he can win the Trade War and that is absolutely ludicrous. Mr Trump doesn\u2019t know History and if he does know History, he thinks he\u2019s smarter than History. Nobody ever won a Trade War, even the people who thinks they\u2019ve won Trade Wars, if anybody ever did, looses, so the answer\u2019s no. we cannot win the Trade War, nobody can.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> But you agree that the deals we\u2019ve made in the past are as lopsided as he seems to be saying or he\u2019s just pointing to a few things that are particularly lopsided?<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> Do you think Mr Trump had read T.P.P? Do you think Mr Trump has read any of them that read the agreement; hundreds of people seem to be involved in negotiating these things. Listen they\u2019re bureaucrats and I don\u2019t have much regard for bureaucrats but still, I know Mr Trump has not read them I don\u2019t know why he says they\u2019re no good, I do know the D.P.P has to be—anytime you have free trade\/open trade its good for everybody, and I find it interesting that the eleventh countries that stayed with it continued with the D.P. P. and they\u2019re not gonna let us back in as Mr Trump say they will.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> Then what\u2019s the best that we can all hope for then in all this Trade War business in your opinion?<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> Hope the best, we hope it goes away. We hope it doesn\u2019t happen the Chinese, they\u2019ve been pretty retrained so far but if get sucked into the thing, it\u2019s gonna get worse; let\u2019s hope that [unintelligible] has prevail. Mr Trump seems to calm down a bit about the Chinese Trade War anyway. Well that\u2019s a different story that\u2019s not a Trade War. If he calms down—look if he can pull that off —If Mr Trumps pulls up get rid of Trade War, pulls off Korea, etc stock market is going to go up quite a lot for the rest of the year. If he can pull these things off.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> So in the thirty seconds or so we have left, tell me, you share the concern that many have that if we really take off China, perhaps they might stop buying our\u00a0 bonds and that will cause interest rates to spike upward? You think that\u2019s realistically a possibility?<\/p>\nJim Rogers:<\/strong> I doubt seriously they might just re-invest their bonds. We know interest rates are getting higher, maybe one of the reasons, interest rates are at a thirty five year low, thirty seven year lows, of course interest rates are gonna go higher and it\u2019s gonna hurt all of us. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s gonna cause, I do know some of the thing, but China, I\u2019m not too worried about what you just outlined, acerbate if it happens.<\/p>\nDavid Scranton:<\/strong> Well that\u2019s good news because that will be detrimental if it happens. So Jim thanks so much for being on the show once again we appreciate your time today. We appreciate all of you too our Income Generation viewers, we\u2019ll be right back in a minute.<\/p>\n[Break]<\/p>\n
David Scranton:<\/strong> I\u2019d like to take this opportunity to thank both of our guests today for joining us on another episode of the Income Generation, I would also like to thank you or new and returning viewers. You know, we\u2019ve tackled a pretty challenging topic on today\u2019s show, but to think understanding all the complicated factors weighing on new Federal Reserve Chairman, is tough, imaging trying to deal with these factors. The top job of staring into the nation\u2019s economy is difficult enough in normal times Bu even 92 year old former Chairman Alan Green spare and the queen in the recent Bloomberg interview. These are not normal times, unlike me Mr Green spin is a student of history and also like me he recognizes all the challenges facing the economy.<\/p>\nThe financial markets and our political leaders today are historically unprecedented. Of course as we learned on today\u2019s show that\u2019s partially our own fault. Short sighted, quick fix policies have helped create this unprecedented age of uncertainty, now it\u2019s up to people like Jerome Powell, in his new role as head Chairman to try to normalize this economy and the financial markets again in the midst of all this uncertainty which is sort of liking trying to land this experimental airplane in the midst of a storm.<\/p>\n
You know, for everyday investors out of their retirement, it\u2019s important to remember that we\u2019re all passengers on this airplane, and as such I believe there have never been a more important time to reduce your market risk and to focus on asset protection and income. In other words, fasten your seat belts.<\/p>\n
Thanks for watching, if you\u2019re close to retirement<\/a> and you really wonna know how to protect and maximize your money. It\u2019s absolutely essential that you stay informed and up to date and right here is where you can do it on the Income Generation. I\u2019m David Scranton, thanks again we\u2019ll see you next week. Red day to day Scranton new groundbreaking new book; Return on Principle: 7 Core Values to Help Protect Your Money in Good Times and Bad.\u00a0 Discover practical solutions to the financial challenges facing today\u2019s generation of retirees and near retirees.<\/p>\nLearn the truth about Wall Street, the Financial Media and the secrets they try to hide from everyday investors. This isn\u2019t just another book about investing, working Americans who have lived through two major stock market crashes and the worst financial crisis since the great depression in the past sixteen years.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need another book about investing. David Scranton\u2019s approach to financial planning is a holistic system design for maximum protection, strategic growth and reliable income regardless of market conditions. Stop planning for retirement with your fingers crossed, read Return on Principle; 7 core values to Help Protect Your Money in Good Times and Bad. Available now<\/p>\n
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