Multi-millionaire investor Julian Robertson told CNBC that the United States is "just getting into the recession," and that the poor economy will last as long as 10 to 15 years.
Last year, Robertson had said that the U.S. economy was in for "a doozy of a recession." He said the reason was the credit situation was worse than anyone had thought.
"Doozy’s a tough one and long one, I think that’s what we’re headed for," said the chairman of Tiger Management.
(Watch the accompanying video for the full interview with Julian Robertson...)
"I don’t mean to imply that this is going to last quite as long as what’s been happening in Japan, but when they went into their decline in 1990, almost 20 years ago, their people were loaded with savings—but [Americans are] all broke," he said. "...If we leave out the home in the calculations, I’d say that 80-85 percent of Americans are broke. So they have to cut back on their spending."
Robertson said that his current favorite trade is the "curve steepener" trade.
"It’s a derivative which pays the movements in the difference between the two-year interest rate on government bonds and the 10-year and 30-year…I think the curve steepener is the best hedge against inflation and I think we’re going to have some inflation."
Robertson was optimistic about "some excellent buys" that investors should consider.
He likes Apple , Microsoft , Baidu , MasterCard and Visa .
"I have a pretty good bet on copper. I think that copper, which is selling so far below its cost of production, is a terrific short," he added.
