8 May 2012 BBC Radio 4, Today Programme
06:16
Jim Rogers co-founder with George Soros
“The banks are bankrupt, Spain is
bankrupt somebody has got to put up money or we have to acknowledge reality and
declare bankruptcy.
“Our problems in Europe and in the world
are not over yet. ...even the austerity plans have debts still rising
in every country in Europe. That is not solving the problem that is making the
problem worse. So whether it is this month because of the Socialists in France or
next month because of a new election in Greece or next year because of German
elections these problems are going to come back until somebody accepts reality, realises
that these people have spent more money than they have and figure out a way to
resolve the problem - either go bankrupt or cut spending with a chainsaw.
“The debts continue to go higher, nobody’s
debt is going down. If you don’t face reality now you can face it in 2014 or
2016 and at that point nobody’s going to put up any money and at that point the
chaos is going to be much, much worse. Somewhere along the line you run out of
other people’s money.
“[Electorates] have rejected it. Everybody
wants a free lunch. Somebody’s got to face this eventually. Eleven governments
have been replaced in the last few years in Europe by electorates that have
said we don’t like what’s going on. I don’t like it either. But the facts are these, governments for 30 or 40 years have been spending money they didn’t have. But eventually
somebody’s got to come up with the money and there is no money any more.”
Hear it here www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/b006qj9z/console at 16 minutes in.
