Marc Faber : The Fed is the dumbest institution

Marc Faber : Yeah, sure. I mean the Fed, in my view, is the dumbest institution because if they write history, they could figure out what money printing does but they do it. - in Chris Martenson interview
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Marc Faber : in Asia we have also Imbalanced growth and widening social divisions and rising social tensions

Marc Faber : Well, basically in Asia we have a lot of inflation and much more than what the government published. I mean prices are going up substantially and the economies are still doing reasonably well because we have a competitive advantage and we have to make the consumption growth. But, basically there’s a difference, I mean everywhere I go in the world there’s one thing that strikes me. You go to a luxury hotel, there’s Maserati’s, Ferraris, Bentleys, Jaguars, and so forth in front of the hotel and the ordinary people are struggling. I see that everywhere. And, so I think that in Asia we have also imbalanced growth and we have widening social divisions and rising social tensions and I also think that the Chinese economy, which grew a trend line between 2000 and 2007, and they printed money, had huge fiscal debt, and so forth and they are now in a significant slowdown period. I’m not talking about the stock market. Maybe the stock market goes up because of money printing. All I’m saying is the economy is slowing down very significantly which will have implications on the global economy. - in Chris Martenson interview
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Marc Faber : correction forthcoming in Equities Market

Marc Faber : Well, I’m not sure. I think the market is overbought. I think correction is forthcoming but who knows if there is even money printing and markets are irrational at times and maybe they pushed them up more. The technical indicators have deteriorated. So I personally, when I was positive about equities in November, December but the sentiment was very negative now I’m taking some money off the table. - in Chris Martenson interview
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Marc Faber : Gold & Silver can go down another thirty percent

Marc Faber : Yes, but all the gold and silver, I was just telling people, you should buy it as an insurance. It can go down thirty percent. We are in volatile markets so you know you want to have your insurance safely. You don’t want to leverage up in the futures market of gold and it goes down ten percent and you’re wiped out because of margin calls. It's all a matter of degree, how much you allocate to each asset class. - in Chris Martenson interview
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Marc Faber : we are all doomed

Marc Faber : Yes. You know looking at the governments and the interventions into the economic system, I mean I tell everybody I grew up in the 50s and 60s, I think we had much more freedom than there is freedom today. And, so this is a concern of mine. So I mean look, in my view we’re all doomed. But, maybe if you keep your gold in a safe place you’re doomed later than other people who have no gold and only paper money and government bonds. - in Chris Martenson interview
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Marc Faber : The FED is about the worst economic forecaster you can imagine

Marc Faber : The FED is about the worst economic forecaster you can imagine

Marc Faber : The FED is about the worst economic forecaster you can imagine. They are academics. They never go to a local pub. They never go shopping -- or they lie. But basically they are a bunch of people who never worked a single day in their lives. They’re not businessmen that have to balance the books, earn some money by selling goods, and paying the expenditures. They get paid by the government. And so these people have no clue about the economy.
And, so what happens is they never paid any attention to excessive credit growth -- and let me remind you, between 2000 and 2007, credit growth was five times the growth of the economy in nominal terms. In other words, in order to create one dollar of GDP, you had to borrow another five dollars from the credit market. Now this came to an end in 2008.
Now the Fed never having paid any attention to credit growth, they realized if we have a credit-addicted economy and credit growth slows down we have to print money. So that’s what they did. But believe me it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that if you print money you don’t create prosperity. Otherwise, every country would be unbelievably rich because every country would print money and be happy thereafter.

Marc Faber : The Perils of Money Printing

Marc Faber : " First of all, I do not believe that the central banks around the world will ever, and I repeat ever, reduce their balance sheets. They’ve gone the path of money printing and once you choose that path you’re in it, and you have to print more money.
If you start to print, it has the biggest impact. Then you print more - it has a lesser impact unless you increase the rate of money printing very significantly. And, the third money printing has even less impact. And the problem is like the Fed: they printed money because they wanted to lift the housing market, but the housing market is the only asset that didn’t go up substantially.
In general, I think that the purchasing power of money has diminished very significantly over the last ten, twenty, thirty years, and will continue to do so. So by being in cash and government bonds is not a protection against this depreciation in the value of money."

Marc Faber : Moving off fossil fuels for security But not for profitability

Marc Faber : This is a very difficult question to answer. Basically, I'm convinced that, over time, to drill a hole in the ground in the Middle East or in other emerging economies and then bringing that oil through a pipeline onto a ship into the countries that consume oil is not an elegant solution to the energy problem. I think eventually this will go away. But in the meantime, alternative sources of energy are extremely expensive. Unless the oil price collapses to like $50, most alternative sources of energy will not be profitable. If someone says to me, we need alternative sources of energy for security reasons, yes, I agree. But for profitability I doubt it. - in OilPrice.com

Marc Faber: Japan energy problems after Fukushima

Marc Faber : Well, I guess they’ll lean towards more natural gas and more oil so they can offset this shortfall of nuclear energy. Now I don't think that this will change the nuclear energy prospects long term in the world, because other countries like India and China will build their numerous nuclear energy plants. In the case of Japan, I think the power plants which had the problems were antiquated. In other words, they were not up to modern standards. - in oilprice.com

long Oil and Gold in view of the escalation with Iran

Marc Faber : Well, if there are escalations, then obviously you have to be long, oil and gold. My sense is that the Iranians are playing the same game the Japanese played in the '70s and '80s. They always negotiated but never did anything about the changing balances - they just want to delay the hour of truth. Every day, I think the Iranians are getting closer to having nuclear weapons. I can understand why. The whole world is hostile towards Iran, and they are encircled. In the west, France has nuclear weapons and Britain and the U.S., and their neighbor Israel, towards the west. Then in the east, India and Pakistan and of course China. So why shouldn't they have nuclear weapons? Mind you, either there is all around abandonment of nuclear weapons by all the powers, or every country should be allowed to have them. We in the Western World, we have the misguided belief that we are there to judge which countries may have and which countries should not have nuclear weapons. But maybe our view is wrong. My view is that if I were looking after Iran, for sure I would want to have nuclear weapons. For sure! - in oilprice.com

Marc Faber : time to be rather cautious

Marc Faber : Basically, since March 2009, equities have doubled in value by and large. Some have gone up more than 100%, some a little bit less, we’ve had a huge bull market. Last year, almost a year ago on May 2nd, the S&P reached a high of 1,370. Then we dropped into August and into October, and we bottomed out on the S&P at 1,074 on October 4th. Since then, we have a 25% rally. The mood in October and November of last year was extremely negative. I think this is the time to be rather cautious. Personally, if I had heavy exposure to equities, I would take some money off the table. - in oilprice.com

Marc Faber : The best opportunities for investors in Asia at present ?

Marc Faber : Right now, for the next one or two months, I don't think that stocks will go up a lot. I personally think they will correct. But long term, I still like Asia. My concern is if the Chinese economy slows down meaningfully that we could have economic weakness spreading around Asia as well, as well as in countries that supply commodities to China, like Australia, Brazil, Argentina, and so forth. Right now, say for the next two months, I'm very cautious. - in oilprice.com

Marc Faber : The Only Change under Obama was for the worse

Marc Faber : I don't want to get into an overly political discussion, but I think that first of all, we have in the U.S. and elsewhere highly expansionary fiscal and monetary policies, but we have restrictive regulatory policies. In other words, Obamacare is a big problem for many medium sized and even large companies, because they don't know exactly how much it will cost them. That has retarded hirings of people. Mr. Obama has intervened into the economy massively, left, right, and center. Every government intervention has consequences. Just to give you an example, the U.S. government debt - I'm only speaking about the government debt, not the prime debt - has gone from essentially zero 200 years ago, to a trillion dollars in 1980. By the year 2000, we were roughly at $5 trillion. Now in 12 years, we've gone to close to $16 trillion. That excludes the unfounded liabilities. Under Mr. Obama, the fiscal deficit has exploded. The big question is: Will we ever, in the U.S., have a fiscal deficit of less than $1 trillion or $1.5 trillion? I don't see it. Under Mr. Obama, spending has gone up and tax revenue has gone down. Change, if there was any change under Mr. Obama, it was for the worse. In my view, he's a very disappointing president. - in OilPrice.com

The Future of Renewable Energy

Marc Faber : This is a very difficult question to answer. Basically, I'm convinced that, over time, to drill a hole in the ground in the Middle East or in other emerging economies and then bringing that oil through a pipeline onto a ship into the countries that consume oil is not an elegant solution to the energy problem. I think eventually this will go away. But in the meantime, alternative sources of energy are extremely expensive. Unless the oil price collapses to like $50, most alternative sources of energy will not be profitable. If someone says to me, we need alternative sources of energy for security reasons, yes, I agree. But for profitability I doubt it. - in OilPrice.com

Should America use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Marc Faber : I think selling down the reserves would be a useless strategy as one of the main reasons prices are rising is due to international tensions. It’s possible for an increase in supplies to drive down the price a little bit. But in emerging economies like China and India, the demand continues to go up. Now, it may not go up every year by the same quantity it did in the last 3 years, because in the last 15 years, oil demand in China tripled, from 3 million barrels a day to 9 million barrels a day. So it's conceivable that in a recessionary environment in China, oil demand will not go up substantially for one or two years. But because the per capita consumption is so low in countries like China and India compared to say the U.S. and Japan and Western Europe, I think the trend will continue to increase. - in the OilPrice.com

Oil Prices projections for the next 3-5 year

Marc Faber : Well, you’ll have to give me a second. I need to call Mr. Ben Bernanke and ask him how much money he will print. Commodity prices were in a bear market from 1980 to 1998, and since then they've gone up. But because of expansionary monetary policies and artificially low interest rates they have increased more than would have otherwise been the case. We don't know exactly how long this asset bubble will last - but say if you had interest rates in real terms, of five percent, instead of negative five percent, then I think all commodity prices, including gold, would be lower. - in OilPrice.com

Marc Faber : Investors shouldnt Buy Oil right now

Marc Faber : I think there is a risk that oil prices will go much higher. At the same time, the bullish consensus on oil is now at one of the most elevated levels it's ever been. In other words, from a contrarian point of view, you shouldn't buy oil right now. I think it may go down somewhat. In general, if trouble breaks out in the Middle East, or if there is a war, I think the price of oil could go much higher. - in an interview today with OilPrice.com

Marc Faber : big correction in Gold if they stop printing money

Marc Faber : "All I'm saying is that, in my opinion, the gold price correction is not yet entirely completed,"
"I see significant support around the $1,500 an ounce level, but it could drop lower."

"We could have a big correction if global liquidity tightens or they stop printing money," - Marc Faber said during the Middle East Investment summit at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai last week as reported by Gulfnews

US Treasuries and Inflation

Marc Faber : "The US will pay the interest as long as it can print money,"
"But suppose you buy a ten-year government bond that yields 2 per cent and inflation is perceived to be 5-7 per cent. To what extent would investors still buy these bonds? That question is not too far away." - Marc Faber said during the Middle East Investment summit at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai last week as reported by Gulfnews

Marc Faber : No Better time to Buy Gold than now

Marc Faber : Gold is nowhere near a bubble phase and there is no better time to buy it than now considering the violent volatility global markets could face in the context of the economic uncertainties and excessive liquidity central banks are pumping in.
I don't believe gold is heading into a bubble,"
A bubble is characterized by the majority of market participants being involved in a market space. I saw a gold bubble in 1979-1980, when the whole world was dealing — buying and selling gold 24 hours a day, globally.- Marc Faber said during the Middle East Investment summit at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai last week as reported by Gulfnews

Government interventions have created more economic and financial volatility

Marc Faber : Basically I will try to explain that instead of smoothing out the business cycle, government interventions have created more economic and financial volatility and have had very negative consequences for the US in particular. And as I pointed out earlier, these measures, such as some of the fiscal and monetary measures we've talked about, are based on erroneous economic sophism. - in the gold report

Marc Faber : Cash and Government Bonds are not very safe

Marc Faber : That in this environment of money printing, cash and government bonds are not very safe and that you have to navigate through different asset classes. Under normal conditions, cash and government bonds are essentially the safest investments—not investments with the highest returns, but the safest. That is not the case today. - in the Gold Report

Marc Faber : ZERO Economic Growth in China this year

In an interview with with Abu Dhabi based alarabiya TV legendary investor Marc Faber, editor and publisher of the gloom boom and doom report said that China has no growth right now. Chinese government statistics are fake for the most part and if Chinese economy is slowing down there will be more money printing in China. the Chinese government economic figures are meaningless, because they are manipulating most of the economic data, which confirms that there is no economic growth in China this year in fact China's production of steel, cement and electricity as well as the volume of its exports and car sales are stable or declining compared to last year, which is incompatible with the growth announced by the government he explained , China is headed towards a slowdown Marc Faber confirmed The 25% hike in the S&P in October and November last year happened despite a very low trading. I am watching the markets right now and not doing anything, I think the markets should correct, I believe investors should not hold 100% of their assets in paper. Regarding Gold . Marc Faber says : Gold is in a long term correction, the Euro will be saved but not all the Eurozone countries will be a part for the EU, some of them will be evicted and will be in big trouble because of their currencies, .

Marc Faber : Rental Properties in the US a good Investment now

Marc Faber : I travel around the world all the time and I'm interested in the formation of prices so I have an idea about trends in prices. You have to consider real estate prices in the context of currency valuations. For example, five years ago, homes in Australia and Canada were inexpensive and now they aren't, but not necessarily because prices have gone up. Although prices don't necessarily track with whether a currency increases or decreases in value, in those two cases, the value of the currencies also has increased. The US does have areas where real estate is incredibly low relative to other parts of the world. I can buy homes in Atlanta and Phoenix for less than I'd pay in Thailand, and because the GDP per capita in the US is of course much higher than in Thailand, on a relative basis, those homes in Atlanta and Phoenix would be attractive. As a foreigner, I am not interested in investing in US real estate for various reasons, including taxation, management and regulation. But if I were a US citizen, I would say now is a relatively good time to buy real estate and rent it out and net a yield of maybe 6–8%. Many of my friends who own rental apartments do very well on rental income. Many of the people who no longer qualify for mortgages can rent. - in The Gold Report

Marc Faber : Gold Price may not exceed the $1,922/oz in 2012

Marc Faber : This year the Gold Price may not exceed the $1,922/oz high that we reached on Sept. 6. Maybe it will. I'm not a prophet. I'm just telling people that I'm Buying Gold and holding it. I don't speculate in gold. If you Buy Gold, you better understand that the price could always move to the downside. If you don't understand that, don't invest in gold—or in anything. - in The Gold Report

Marc Faber and the Next Bubble

Marc Faber : We had the NASDAQ bubble 12 years ago, the housing market bubble probably five years ago, and I would say also a bubble in commodities in 2007–2008, when oil spiked to $147. What's next, I'm not so sure. I could imagine some stocks, maybe some precious metals, in a bubble stage—not the entire market necessarily. - in The Gold Report

Marc Faber : In 2012 Invest In Gold & Stocks

Marc Faber : "Political risk was high six months ago and is higher now. I think sooner or later, the U.S. or Israel will strike Iran - it's almost inevitable,"
"Say war breaks out in the Middle East or anywhere else, (U.S. Federal Reserve chairman) Mr Bernanke will just print even more money -- they have no option...they haven't got the money to finance a war,"
"You have to be in precious metals and equities ... most wars and most social unrest haven't destroyed corporations - they usually survive,"
"If you can't live with volatility, stay in bed,"
"The Americans and the western powers know very well they cannot contain China economically.... but one way to contain China is to switch on and switch off the oil tap from the Middle East,"
"I happen to think the Middle East will go up in flames," Dr Marc faber told Reuters on Tuesday on the sidelines of an investment conference

Marc Faber : A Correction in the Markets is Coming

Marc Faber, editor and publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, discusses how an investor should allocate his or her portfolio in the face of a stock market correction he thinks is coming in the short term." I think investors misunderstand what is risk , I think it is highly risky to have all your money in cash , if I did not have anything today , I will invest right away little bit in equities little bit into properties and little bit into gold and accumulate every month"

Marc Faber : QE3 depends on the S&P

Marc Faber : "QE3 depends on the S&P, if the S&P drops 100-200 points, then yes, for sure we will have QE3 but if the S&P stays here or even goes up, the likelihood of QE3 diminishes,"
“Bernanke targets asset prices, he doesn’t admit that, but he doesn’t want asset prices to go down,”
“The S&P went up from 666 on March 6 2009 to 1,370 (presently) so it has more than doubled and that has to do with QE1 and QE2,” - in CNBC 4 Mar 2012
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Marc Faber : Correction Ahead for Equities

Dr.Marc Faber, Editor and Publisher, Marc Faber Limited, The Gloom Boom & Doom Report, says that we will see high volatility in all asset classes over the next few years and that global equities are overbought, calling for a correction in equity markets in the near-term

Marc Faber : Buy Farmland & Gold

Marc Faber : I would even say I'm insanely pessimistic about the paper currencies, the currencies uncovered. The Middle East is a tinderbox because of the oil. In addition, I expect a collapse of social systems due to the aging of the countries. In preparation for the final crisis, I would buy farmland land and own gold. - in Handelsblatt

Marc Faber : I am terribly pessimistic

Marc Faber : The ECB tender has obviously helped (the stock market rally ). Because Greece has been pouring liquidity into the system. The stock markets rallied also because of the flood of money and because of the Euro-land crisis. Without the crisis, we would not even these gains
Maybe for some time (the stock market will still rally ) . The situation reminds me a little bit of 1987 At that time, stock prices rose during the year by about one third only to crash in October. - in Handelsblatt

Marc Faber : We need a two-tier banking system

Marc Faber : The financial system has become too large in relation to the real economy . When I began to work in the early '70s, the investment bankers were still stuck with their assets. Today the bankers speculate with other people's money - risk free. A German bank, for example, is now a hedge fund with no risk of loss. Why? Because the bank in question is rescued by the state. We need again a two-tier banking system. - in an interview with the German paper Handelsblatt 1st March 2012

Marc Faber : Obama & Bernanke are Clowns

Marc Faber : I've been saying for some time: people like the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and President Barack Obama are academics and clowns. They have created the credit bubble with their low interest rate policy. So the politicians are responsible for the crisis. And just now they are presenting themselves as saviors. - in an interview with the German paper Handelsblatt 1st March 2012

Marc Faber : The honest savers will pay the price - Inflation is inevitable

Dr Marc Faber Says ECB latest loans to European banks will only calm markets short-term, lead to inflation in the long-term and push banks’ funding problems into the future, in an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt published today 1st March 2012 : Marc Faber: "No, it just shifts the problems in the future. I've always fought against this policy of printing money. Central banks in many countries only dilute the money, it loses its purchasing power. Inflation is inevitable." - in handelsblatt.com

Marc Faber : let Greece go bust Now

Marc Faber : I think there is a possibility of a new government (in Greece) but whatever happens the fact is 'Greece is Bankrupt' , now if you have a bankrupt company either you let the company go out of business or you support it with government interventions , I am against the support and the government interventions but we have to look at it that's the way it is in today's environment and may be they will continue to support Greece , the fact is someone will take a loss somewhere , either the tax payers who have to continuously bailout Greece and I think in the end they will default anyway but it can be postponed , the best would have been to let Greece go bust right away it would have been far less costly than now ....- in Bloomberg Radio - 21 Feb 2012

Marc Faber : Government Statistics are Garbage

Marc Faber : “I am not interested in the garbage these government officials broadcast either they are lies or they are distrustful,”
“You can’t trust them anymore because they produce statistics that are completely unrealistic.”
“the dollar is doomed.” Marc Faber added without giving a date of when that may happen

Marc Faber not optimistic about the Euro

Marc Faber : well significant appreciation I doubt , but the Euro was very weak until just recently and recently testing strengthening and I think this strengthening might last a little bit longer , but I am not optimistic about the Euro , I think in general the US is in better shape than say the European economies and in the US we see some result of the money printing which is say the bottoming out of the housing market and slight improvement in economic activity - in Bloomberg radio
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Marc Faber invested in Thai Hospital Stocks & Food Companies Stocks

Marc Faber : yes I still own some ( Thai Hospital Stocks) but I sold some because they had a huge run-up , but i still own quite a few but my biggest positions are in food stocks in Thailand , because if you look at the competitive advantages Thailand in the production of food has a huge advantage because everything grows here and the climate is favorable for agriculture and these companies are relatively well diversified and I suppose technically quite advanced they are quite competitive in the world so that's one reason I own food and food related companies and in general in Asia I believe you want to be in consumption place because I can see that the trends is obviously towards higher and higher consumption
- in Stansberry Radio
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2012 is Nothing like 2008

2012 is "Nothing like 2008" - O'Neill, Marc Faber, Siegel, Dreman - World Markets Outlook . Dr. Marc Faber says Stocks may" disappoint" after a" strong open," in the first half of this year, Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom, Boom and Doom report, said in a recent Bloomberg television interview...

Marc Faber Keynote speaker @ The Middle East Investment Summit in Dubai UAE

Dr Marc Faber will be a keynote speaker at the Middle East Investment Summit next month in Dubai UAE on One Tuesday 6th March 2012 . Marc Faber Keynote is entitled : forecasting prospects for the global economy

    The opportunities for institutional investors if sovereign debt continues to spread
    Social and political unrest in the MENA region
    Emerging frontier markets; investing in new country specific hotspots
    How investors can take advantage of new regulatory requirements

Marc Faber Bullish on Thailand

Marc Faber : “Some companies will have second thoughts about expanding their Thailand operations, but the majority will continue to operate here,” Marc Faber is still bullish on Thailand despite the recent floods , Marc Faber lives in Chiang Mai Thailand ,

Marc Faber Interview Bloomberg Radio - 21 Feb 2012

Marc Faber : "The final crisis in Europe has been postponed by monetary intervention , it is not being resolved but it is being postponed and as you know the market is a discounting mechanism and therefor has rallied very strongly in the US , from the S&P low of 1074 on October 1st to now 1360 or thereabout so basically the markets are anticipating a resolution to the crisis "

Marc Faber : Japan is my favorite Equity Market

Marc Faber : “I think there's a good chance that Japanese stocks will surprise on the upside," - in CNBC

Marc Faber : Gold is safer from Confiscation in Asia

Marc Faber : You know what worries me the most is this continuous blackmailing of countries by America like the Swiss they had to divulge the account names of Americans who have accounts in Switzerland , I think the Swiss government did a lousy job t should have refused to divulge this information but anyways there was enough pressure and of course the pressure rose because Swiss companies have large holdings in America so the Americans said look you do not disclose the names of these accounts we close down your shop in America and the banking lobby of course they obliged and so forth , but I am worried that one day if the US does the same as in 1933 namely seize the gold they did not expropriate they paid for it , if that happens again they will go to the Europeans and to the Swiss and tell them that they have to do the same and probably they would oblige , but in Asia I don't think the Americans could do that , so i keep some gold in Asia and the bulk is still in Switzerland but I am thinking about moving it more and more to Asia - in Stansberry Radio
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