Barton Biggs On Bloomberg Television

Barton Biggs, managing partner of New York-based hedge fund Traxis Partners, appeared on Bloomberg Television's "Inside Track" with Deirdre Bolton this morning. Biggs offered his view on the U.S. economy, saying that he is optimistic and that he thinks "the next significant move in equity markets is up." He also says that the European Union and the ECB are "very foolish" in terms of managing the crisis and that "you've got to risk overkill rather than doing too little." Excerpts can be found below, courtesy of Bloomberg Television. Check out the video here.

Biggs on the U.S. economy:

"Our studies show that sentiment is very important when it's oversold and that's a really good timing indicator. The market can stay overbought for
months. I don't know where we're going to see the end of 2011. My crystal ball doesn't have a calendar embedded in it. I think the next significant move in equity markets is up and can it go to 1400, 1450, 1500? Sure, if we can get some of the problems that the world is dealing with straightened out. Yeah, sure, the US economy is strong, the high frequency data every day, just even like today continues to improve."

"In my long portfolio, I'm a little over 50% in the U.S. The U.S. economy is strong in and of itself. We're using PMIs, ISMs, the ISI weekly retail survey, automobile sales, consumer confidence. Not everything is perfect--truck loadings have rolled over. The general tone of the high frequency data is very positive."

On Chinese inflation:

"I think the government is too sophisticated to believe that the Chinese families out there in the rice paddies that are spending 50% of their income on food are paying attention to interest rates or even know what the heck they're doing."

Biggs on the crisis in Europe:

"I think the European Union and the ECB and the governments are being very foolish and the first rule of central banking and crisis management is to do
what you gotta do and do it big enough. You've got to risk overkill rather than doing too little".