John Petersen is an attorney specializing in venture capital investments in the alternative energy space with Fefer, Petersen & Cie in Berne, Switzerland.? He argues that the entire electric car movement is a complete fraud orchestrated by a few big car companies pandering to growing numbers of ?green? consumers. Batteries are expensive, and do a poor job of replacing a gas tank.

For example, the $100,000 all-electric Tesla roadster uses 6,000 model 18650 cell phone type batteries, which is akin to using ?6,000 hamsters to pull a stage coach.? Deutsche Bank says that there are enough new factories on the drawing board to build batteries generating 36 million Kwh by 2015. These will be used to power vehicles like the $44,300 Nissan Leaf, which launches in December, and will be powered by several hundred larger, soda can sized batteries.

But even if the world?s total battery output is devoted solely to vehicles like the Leaf, fuel savings would amount to only 600 million gallons of gasoline a year, worth only $1.8 billion, about five hours worth of global oil production. If these batteries were devoted to hybrid vehicles like the Prius, the energy savings would amount to 3.8 billion gallons worth, a much more substantial $11.4 billion. The low hanging fruit for investors in the fuel efficiency race can be found by pushing forward existing, simpler, and cheaper technologies.

A great example is the ?stop-start? integrated starter/alternator. Cars burn about 10% of their fuel idling at traffic lights while driving in cities. ?Stop-start? turns the engine off, and then restarts it when the light turns green. European car manufacturers are rushing forward with this fuel saver, which costs about $600 per vehicle, to meet stringent CO2 standards. The system requires more advanced batteries which can handle dozens of engine starts a day, instead of a handful.

The Department of Energy recently handed $34 million to Xide Technology (XIDE) to develop just such a product using a lead-carbon formula. Global auto parts supplier Johnson Controls (JCI) is also involved in the space. The play here is that far more versatile batteries can command much higher prices, possibly $150, compared to the average $57 for traditional car batteries. Those taking a look at XIDE will find a $429 million market cap selling at $5.57/share versus $20 a year ago. In the meantime, car companies are going to hold back on making major capital investments in lithium battery power trains until the technology becomes proven. Better to invest in a company that may become profitable next year, rather than in five years, or never.

To learn more about John Petersen?s views on alternative energy, please visit his blog at altenergystocks.com. You can also find an archive of his past work at http://seekingalpha.com/author/john-petersen/articles.You can contact him directly at fefer.petersen@gmail.com. To listen to my complete interview with John Petersen on Hedge Fund Radio, please click here.

Hedge Fund Radio is a weekly program featuring one-on-one interviews with the titans of the hedge fund industry. The show is hosted by legendary hedge fund manager John Thomas, one of the most seasoned players in the industry. It is broadcast live on station KGOL 1180 AM in Houston, Texas as part of the BizRadio? network to 100,000 local listeners, and will be streamed online to a further 100,000 national and international listeners.

The show is broadcast every Saturday morning at 12:00 pm Eastern time, 11:00 am Central time, 9:00 am Pacific Coast Time, and 5:00 pm Greenwich Mean Time. For pilots and the military, that is 17:00 Zulu time. For the online link to the show, please go to www.bizradio.com, click on ?Listen Live!?, and click on ?Houston 1110 AM KTEK.? For that added insight into the future of the markets tune in, or catch the show in my Hedge Fund Radio archives.

A second deflationary tidal wave may hit the US early as April. The Dow is going to crash, possibly heading for a double bottom at 6,000, and bonds are going up for the rest of the year. Gold has had it for the foreseeable future. Crude futures are predicting war with Iran by 2013. First, deflation, then inflation. The greatest trade of your lifetime is setting up. This trend could start tomorrow, or in two years. Blow your entry point, and you?ll get wiped out. Oh, and by the way, crude oil futures are discounting way with Iran by 2013!

After much pleading and cajoling I managed to get a no-holds-barred, no stone unturned, 40 minute interview with technical analyst to the stars, Charles Nenner of Charles Nenner research in Amsterdam, for Hedge Fund Radio. Bottom line: A second deflationary tidal wave may hit the US as early as April. The Dow could crash, possibly heading for a double bottom at 6,000, and bonds could go up for the rest of the year. Oh, and by the way, crude oil futures are discounting way with Iran by 2013!

Once this deflationary scare burns out, the greatest trade of your lifetime will set up, says Charles. This is the one where you pile on the leverage, take out a home equity loan to get a still bigger position, and max out your credit card to cover your living expenses. Get it right and you?ll never work another day again, you can pay off your home mortgage, and get a building named after you at that college you can?t stand. The bad news? This trend could start tomorrow, or in two years. Blow your entry point, and you?ll get wiped out.

Since Charles has had a particularly hot hand lately, calling the top in the US stock market within four days, months in advance (click here for my December 12 interview with Charles), he has major hedge funds relentlessly banging on his door for his next call. I managed to track him down late last night at his home in Amsterdam, where I extracted an update on his global view.

Charles is talking about shorting the 30 year Treasury bond, a trade I?ve been yammering on about for the last several months, and seems to be on the verge of breaking a 29 year bull market trend line. The yield on this paper, now at 4.55%, will gyrate between 4.25% and 5.07% for the next year. Then sometime in 2011 we will break out to 7.5%, possibly very quickly. That would take the bond futures from 119 today to as low as 82.

But that?s just the opening act. Once inflationary fears take hold, the 30 year yield could fly as high as the November, 1981 high of 13%, bringing the futures down to 53. The Armageddon scenarios you hear about today could take it lower still. And this is all in a contract with a margin requirement of only $3,240 for a $100,000 position, giving you 30:1 leverage. No wonder the big hedgies are salivating.

Keeping this interest rate scenario in mind, I then pinned the erudite Dutchman down to calls on every other major market. The S&P 500 may grind back up as high as 1145, and then the next big move is down. The dollar is over extended here, but he sees it eventually moving to $1.18 against the Euro. The yen is ready for a big move down after peaking around here, initially targeting ?105. Traders should take profits in the Ausie/Euro cross at 68 by May. Crude will peak in the low eighties by the end of March, and then begin a one year decline. Copper could also peak then at $3.73. Gold has peaked already, with Charles bailing on his longs at $1,220/ounce, and we are now in a downtrend that will last for some time, until the above mentioned inflation fears kick in and take it to new highs. Natural Gas looks terrible, having just peaked at $6/MCF. It?s headed downtown, first to $3.80 and then to $1.70. Gulp!

What is the one trade that Charles would put on today? Go long the Ausie/Yen cross, where you go long the Australian dollar and short equal value of Japanese yen at today? price of $AUS 0.80. Charles? calls were so hot, my hand was sizzling when I finally put the handset down.

Charles has a long career that includes stints at medical school, Merrill Lynch, Rabobank, and 12 years at Goldman Sachs. He has spent three decades developing his proprietary Cycle Analysis System, which generates calls of tops and bottoms for every major market in the world. Charles developed a huge following after 2007, when he accurately nailed the top in the Dow at 14,500 and urged his clients to put on short positions when everyone else was predicting that the market would keep grinding higher. I have been following Charles daily research reports myself for two years, and found them to be uncannily accurate. Today, Charles Nenner counts major hedge funds, banks, brokerage houses, and individuals among his clients. You can find out more about Charles? work at his website at www.charlesnenner.com.

To catch my entire sizzling interview with Charles Nenner, please click on the ?play? arrow below.

?As with the NFL,? says Jon, ?you can?t defend against speed.?

Hedge Fund Radio is a weekly program featuring one-on-one interviews with the titans of the hedge fund industry. The show is hosted by legendary hedge fund manager John Thomas, one of the most seasoned players in the industry. It is broadcast live on station KGOL 1180 AM in Houston, Texas as part of the BizRadio? network to 100,000 local listeners, and will be streamed online to a further 100,000 national and international listeners.

The show is broadcast every Saturday morning at 12:00 pm Eastern time, 11:00 am Central time, 9:00 am Pacific Coast Time, and 5:00 pm Greenwich Mean Time. For pilots and the military, that is 17:00 Zulu time. For the online link to the show, please go to www.bizradio.com or click here , click on ?Listen Live!?, and click on ?Houston 1110 AM KTEK.? For that added insight into the future of the markets tune in, or catch the show in my Hedge Fund Radio archives.

Legendary futures trader, Dennis Gartman, says the euro has had it, and has a long way to go before it finds a bottom. He is urging investors to short the European currency and go long Canadian and Australian dollars against it. They may resolve Greece, but not Portugal, Spain, or Italy.

The strong dollar is also causing a lot of damage to the commodities charts and their derivative equities, with those for Freeport McMoRan (FCX) and US Steel (X) broken. The government January crop report forecasting the corn harvest will leap from 12.8 to 13.1 billion bushels is a total game changer, as genetically modified seeds are delivering incredibly tough, weather resistant strains and surprisingly large yields.? Gartman is now repositioning his portfolio to go long industries that benefit from falling food and commodities prices, and go short producing industries. Gold is also taking a hit, so he prefers to go long against weaker sterling and the euro. Watch the euro/yen cross for short term market direction, as it is a great barometer of global risk taking.

Although he believes the economy is out of recession, it is not returning to the heady 3%, 4%, and 5% the economy sees in its rear view mirror. Instead, it is heading for the ?square root? scenario I have been arguing for, which he refers to as ?a tea cup with a handle.? With bankers reverting to their traditional 9:00-3:00 work day, the credit won?t be available to do any better. Why should they bother lending to customers of dubious credit quality when the steepness of the yield curve offers such a great free lunch?

Although there is much to worry about with Treasury bonds, it could be a long wait before we see a big move, and the early players could get bled dry by the cost of carry. Look no further than the JGB market, which some hedge funds started shorting 15 years ago, to no avail. US stocks are going nowhere, and could end up the year unchanged from where we are now, after suffering a big dip in the interim. China (FXI) is another story, which is leaping from the 14th century to the 22nd. Dennis also likes stocks in Brazil (EWZ), Australia (EWA), Canada (EWC), and Indonesia (IDX).

Dennis has been in the market since they traded rocks for pre-Cambrian settlement. He has published his daily ?Gartman Letter? since 1987, which is a must read for hedge fund managers, major corporations, banks, prop desks, and hedge funds. Dennis started his career as an economist for ?Cotton, Inc,? where he analyzed cotton supply and demand for the US textile industry. He went on to trade foreign exchange for NCNB National Bank in Charlotte, North Carolina, and to trade bond futures as an independent member of the Chicago Board of Trade. He then managed the futures brokerage operation of Sovran Bank. Dennis recently served as an outside director of the Kansas City Board of Trade, and taught classes on derivatives at the Federal Reserve school for bank derivatives. Dennis is going to share his thoughts with us on stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, and the economy. If you are a qualified investors and want to shower Dennis with your millions for management, you can contact him at www.thegartmanletter.com.

To hear my entire interview with Dennis, where we discuss the future of everything under the sun, please click the play button below.

Hedge Fund Radio is a weekly program featuring one-on-one interviews with the titans of the hedge fund industry. The show is hosted by legendary hedge fund manager John Thomas, one of the most seasoned players in the industry. It is broadcast live on station KGOL 1180 AM in Houston, Texas as part of the BizRadio? network to 100,000 local listeners, and will be streamed online to a further 100,000 national and international listeners.

The show is broadcast every Saturday morning at 12:00 pm Eastern time, 11:00 am Central time, 9:00 am Pacific Coast Time, and 5:00 pm Greenwich Mean Time. For pilots and the military, that is 17:00 Zulu time. For the online link to the show, please go to www.bizradio.com , click on ?Listen Live!?, and click on ?Houston 1110 AM KTEK.? For that added insight into the future of the markets tune in, or catch the show in my Hedge Fund Radio archives.