Julian Robertson: Markets will pay the piper

By Prieur du Plessis, on October 2nd, 2009 posted in: Investment, Markets, Money

Julian Robertson, Tiger Management founder and chairman, is always worthwhile listening to. I somehow missed his appearance on CNBC last week, but the content is still as topical as a few days ago. My apologies for the delay.

The US is too dependent on Japan and China buying up the country’s debt and could face severe economic problems if that stops, Robertson told CNBC.

“It’s almost Armageddon if the Japanese and Chinese don’t buy our debt,” Robertson said in an interview. “I don’t know where we could get the money. I think we’ve let ourselves get in a terrible situation and I think we ought to try to get out of it.

“If the Chinese and Japanese stop buying our bonds, we could easily see [inflation] go to 15-20%,” he said. “It’s not a question of the economy. It’s a question of who will lend us the money if they don’t. Imagine us getting ourselves in a situation where we’re totally dependent on those two countries. It’s crazy.”

There are two versions of the interview – short and extended. Both are given below.

Short version (8 minutes):

Extended version (31 minutes):

Source: CNBC (here and here), September 24, 2009.

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