Speaking at the Optionetics “Oasis 2007” seminar last week in Santa Clara, Calif., investment guru and commodities bull Jim Rogers provided his insights to a three-year trip around the world he took with his new wife, Paige Parker. He said his biggest return from the trip was his first child, a baby daughter. Rogers noted he never had children before because he didn’t want the bother, but it was his best experience to date and recommended everyone go out and start working on babies right away.

More seriously, Rogers gave his view of the world, stating that China will be the country of the 21st century, just as the United States was in the 20th century and Britain the century before that. He noted China had the “the best capitalists in the world,” despite being a Communistic country. In fact he alluded to moving his family to Asian soon. “China will be the next greatest country in the world, whether you like it or not.”

Other Rogers’ comments:

• Teach kids how to speak Mandarin. He said his nanny is Chinese and speaks only Mandarin to his baby girl, so she already is bi-lingual.
• Right now the Chinese shares market is in a bubble; don’t buy shares right now (although he couldn’t recommend when to buy it). He also noted he has huge amounts of Chinese stocks but wouldn’t say what despite intense audience questions.
• Although U.S. dollar has been the world’s reserve currency, the United States’ is the largest debtor in the world, owing the world $13 trillion, adding $1 trillion in interest debt every 15 months.
• It is terrible policy to debase the $ in the long run, history has showed this.
• Stay away from bonds unless you know how to go short.
• Stocks will be in a big trading range for several years.
• We are in the middle of a bull market in commodities, which is the second largest market in the world (only currency market is larger).
• Oil reserves are dropping. In fact, Indonesia will become an importer of oil by the end of the decade, which means it will be kicked out of OPEC, an exporting cartel.
• Best alternative fuel is nuclear, which is clean if controlled properly (This is a big if…even the United States has had problems in this area; imagine less developed countries control.)
• Biggest danger in the world is the water problem, or lack there of. He did recommend NOT to buy water as if and when it becomes serious, politicians will take it over.

Rogers new book, “A Bull in China” will be released soon. It will be based on his observations of his round the world trip.

With some 300 fund managers, traders and administrators in the Managed Fund Association audience, Anthony W. Ryan, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury for financial markets gave a warning: with $1.4 trillion in assets under management in the hedge fund community, managers need to be vigilant to avoid any actions that could cause a "systemic event."

Ryan, a former fund manager who joined the Treasury department last December, noted that the President's Working Group missive release last February came to the conclusion that "stakeholders," which include fund managers, lenders and counter parties, all those who manage private pools of capital, need strong market discipline, and that mixed with regulatory policy can reduce the chance of a systemic event.

He noted that a "perfect storm" for an event could include a situation that allowed easy credit, highly correlated strategies, connected lenders, inadequate information and undeveloped markets.

Sentinel Management Group filed for Chapter 11 protection on Friday, Aug. 18, leaving behind a field of battered, bruised and potentially out-of-business clients. Download file

Meantime, some industry players believe the 75 cents on the dollar investors may see now could be the upside, as the Sentinel's investmentslook murkier. One firm described the Sentinel strategy to clients as such:

It has been almost one year since the subprime problems first surfaced last July as two Bear Stearns hedge funds acknowledged that they had lost virtually all of their funds. It was the beginning of a slow drip of disturbing information regarding the extent financial institutions, primarily investment banks, were affected by subprime holdings.

While it was the collapse of a couple of hedge funds that introduced us to the problem, it was the investment banks that had the greatest exposure. So much so that the Federal Reserve had to open its lending window to these institutions for the first time in 80 some odd years and arrange the bailout of Bear Stearns. And while hedge funds continue to be watched with suspicion, it is the banks who have had to book billions of dollars of losses due to this exposure.