Wednesday, 13 Feb 2013 07:53 AM

By Bill Hoffmann

Legendary international investor Jim Rogers says the stock market has been skyrocketing to new heights for one simple reason: the United States is printing large amounts of money — a practice that’s not sustainable.

“The market is near its all-time highs because the central bank is printing staggering amounts of money. This is very artificial,’’ Rogers told Steve Malzberg on Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show.’’

The United States is not the only culprit, according to Rogers, author of the new book, “Street Smarts: Adventures on the Road and in the Markets.’’

“We have the Japanese central bank printing money and the European, you got all of central banks printing money,’’ he said.

“It’s a vicious cycle and it is … This is all insanity. No sound person in his sound mind would say, this is the way to run things. Of course, it’s going to lead to more — we already have inflation. But the government says we don’t have inflation. If you shop, you know that there’s inflation.’’

Rogers, who co-founded of the Quantum Fund with George Soros and created the Rogers International Commodities Index, says that for the first time in recorded history, every country is printing money.

“That’s the problem. They’re all devaluing … Everybody’s trying to,’’ he said. “There’s a currency war, is the term that’s currently being used. They’re all trying to drive the value of their money down.’’

That makes investments fraught with peril and Rogers advises those searching for somewhere to put their money take extra care.

“The American debt, with the largest debt in the nation in the history of the world and it’s getting worse and worse and worse. You’ve got to be careful of anything you do with you money,’’ Rogers said.

“Don’t go deep into debt, be careful what you invest in … Whether you’re German or Australian or American, everybody should have some of their money outside of their own country now because these are very difficult times.’’

Editor’s note: To order ‘Street Smarts’ at great price — Click Here Now.

© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.