(Q): What if Thatcher had never come to power?

Rogers: Who knows, because the U.K. was in such disastrous straits when she came in. And that’s why she came to power…because it was such a disaster. I’m sure she would’ve made things better, but short of all that oil, the situation would’ve continued to decline.

So it may not be in our lifetimes that we’ll see the bottom, just given the U.K.’s history, for instance.

(Q): That’s going to be terrifying for individual investors to think about.

Rogers: Yeah. But remember that America had such a magnificent and gigantic position of dominance that deterioration will take time. You know, you don’t just change that in a decade or two. It takes a lot of hard work by a lot of incompetent people to change the situation. The U.K. situation I just explained…that decline was over 40 or 50 years, but they had so much money they could have continued to spiral downward for a long time.

Even Zimbabwe, you know, took 10 or 15 years to really get going into it’s collapse, but Robert Mugabe came into power in 1980 and, as recently as 1995, things still looked good for Zimbabwe. But now, of course, it’s a major disaster.

That’s one of the advantages of Singapore. The place has an astonishing amount of wealth and only 4 million people. So even if it started squandering it in 2008, which they may be, it’s going to take them forever to do so.

(Q): Is there a specific signal that this is “over?”

Rogers: Sure…when our entire U.S. cabinet has Swiss bank accounts. Linked inside bank accounts. When that happens, we’ll know we’re getting close because they’ll do it even after it’s illegal – after America’s put in the exchange controls.

(Q): They’ll move their own money.

Rogers: Yeah, because you look at people like the Israelis and the Argentineans and people who have had exchange controls – the politicians usually figured it out and have taken care of themselves on the side.

(Q): We saw that in South Africa and other countries, for example, as people tried to get their money out.

Rogers: Everybody figures it out, eventually, including the politicians. They say: “You know, others can’t do this, but it’s alright for us.” Those days will come. I guess when all the congressmen have foreign bank accounts, we’ll be at the bottom.

But we’ve got a long way to go, yet.

P.S. After interviewing legendary investor Jim Rogers at his home in Singapore back in March, Money Morning investment director Keith Fitz-Gerald caught up with Rogers again in July – this time in Vancouver, where both were speaking at the Agora Wealth Symposium. Rogers talked extensively about the ill-advised bailouts of Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the potentially ruinous fallout from the financial “Super Crash” that’s about to engulf the U.S. market. To find out how to get a report on the once-in-a-lifetime profit plays that will emanate from this so-called “SuperCrash” – and to also get a free copy of noted market analyst Peter D. Schiff’s New York Times bestseller “Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse” – please click here. And look for Part 2 of Money Morning’s latest interview with Jim Rogers tomorrow.

Source: Exclusive Interview: Jim Rogers Predicts Bigger Financial Shocks Loom, Fueling a Malaise That May Last for Years

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