My review of "Street Smarts"

4 out of 5 stars.....

Jim Rogers goes through much of his personal biography, growing up in Alabama, graduated from Yale, studying history, then worked on WS for awhile and got hooked on investing, then off to Oxford to learn more of the world, then got back to finance, hooking up with George Soros and the very successful Quantum hedge fund, all the while having a passion to travel the world and basically figure out things.

Anyway, he is convinced the US is in decline, as all great civilizations eventually do, basically because we are too much in debt...while it is China and Asia which will dominate. Beginning in 1999, he saw a bull market in commodities with US workers falling behind seeking white collar jobs, rather than getting into farming and commodity related businesses. NYC - hotels and airports don't compare to Asia.

He is critical of the 2008 crash, thinking we should have let all the banks, etc go bankrupt...that capitalism can't exist without bankruptcy.....creative destruction as Schumpeter said.

He thinks US education should make greater use of the Internet.............thinks our college system is in a bubble which won't last.

He does feel immigration is great and would prefer no borders. Throughout history the most profitable societies were open to the world.

He does think our federal government should make better use of the Internet and have politicians stay home mostly and vote from there....less contact with DC lobbyists, etc.

He advocates bringing all troops home, not taxing savings and investments, and a simpler tax code.

His key advice to any investor is to ignore him and concentrate on what you know best - everyone has something they know more about than most people.

Overall, a very good book, especially welcome because Rogers is a truly successful investor. That said, one should read the book with a critical eye.....maybe Rogers would understand the US better if he wasn't such a world traveler.....but, I can't say he's wrong...but, personally I do think the US is still unmatched in creativity, I do have more hope for the US than he does.