Ranting Andy: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

RANTING ANDY – It’s still Saturday afternoon, but my mind is racing, and the list of “horrible headlines” is piling up.  But before I get started, I want to put you in a good mood.  I was just sent the below video of perhaps the most amazing football play of all time, which even the most diehard football-hater will enjoy.

http://wimp.com/endzone/

OK, back to reality.  The past week was a major inflection point in GLOBAL MELTDOWN II, when the dam’s leaks became large enough for the chewing gum band-aids to be seen from outer space.  The cumulative damage from decades of reckless borrowing and spending, deregulation of the most dangerous business on earth – BANKING – and corruption of the world’s most powerful politicians, is finally penetrating the artificial blockades of spin, propaganda, and MONEY PRINTING.  It is downright eerie that the Mayans forecast December 21, 2012 as the “end of the world,” as I FEAR what things will look like then, a year from today.  Who would have thought that AMERICA, the “land of opportunity and freedom,” would fall so far, so fast?

Ranting Andy: Twice in a Lifetime

RANTING ANDY – Here we go again!

One day of rising stock prices, care of a spirited, PPT-aided media attempt to spin “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” as symbols of meaningful progress, and the news is abuzz of “green shoots of recovery.”  Due to the factors listed in yesterday’s RANT, I take the opposite view entirely.  In other words, if “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” sales are so strong in an environment of deep economic decline, plunging stock markets, and record-low consumer sentiment, then something far more ominous than what we have seen to date is at play.

I believe the main reason for such strong early-season sales is that it has simply become a trend to shop earlier than in the past, particularly when “doorbuster” sales (I get ill writing that word) might ease the cost burden.  Retailers are in desperate straits, as for most, their ENTIRE year’s profitability is earned during the holiday season.  Thus, the urge to grab as high a market share of this year’s scant retail buying power is powerful, even if obtained at the expense of profits, which will surely drop this year due to the weak margins resulting from deep discounting.

If there’s one thing I’m positive of it’s that, at best, strong “Black Friday” sales are meaningless, and at worst, a symptom of further desperation on the part of both cash-strapped buyers and profit-starved sellers.

Ranting Andy: MF Global – The Beginning of the End of Paper Markets

RANTING ANDY – It’s Monday morning, and I couldn’t be more ready to RANT.  My job is to keep you aware of the dangers around you, which increase with each passing day.  And some days on more than others, such as TODAY!

Don’t let the fact that a SUNDAY NIGHT SPECIAL wasn’t required the past few weekends, as they will be returning with a vengeance in the coming months, more likely before the end of 2011.  This weekend alone saw waves of “horrible headlines” highlighting the collapse of the European Union, and now it looks like the U.S. economic implosion is about to retake center stage.  Given the broad, intimidating list of such headlines, I am going to start today by going through them, before getting to my topic of the day – the long-term ramifications of the MF Global collapse.

Ranting Andy: Derivatives Destroying the World

 RANTING ANDY – Another day, another microscope on the financial world. 

Today has started out calm, as once again the world (aided by the omnipresent PPT) is focused on “Will it?, Won’t it?” regarding the Greek bailout, and  ”Is it?, Isn’t it?”a “credit event” as pertains to the CDS market. 

Yesterday’s market decline was attributed to Greek politicians insisting on a referendum to decide whether to accept the proposed bailout plan, throwing a monkey-wrench into the formerly “controlled” situation.  Obviously, if Greece votes against accepting the severe austerity terms involved, it will exit the EU, default on its debt, and create a “credit event” sparking a chain of bank destruction across the Western world, PARTICULARLY in the U.S., where 97% of all derivative contracts are written (can you say JP Morgan?).

Ranting Andy: Individualism

RANTING ANDY – The global economy is like the train at the end of Back to the Future III, careening down the track at 88 miles per hour en route to its inevitable crash into Clayton Ravine.  No matter what sticks and stones are placed on the track to slow its momentum (such as FAKE bailout schemes, such as we saw last week, and “Yenterventions”, as we see this morning), the train will inevitably crash, and do so in spectacular fashion.  This is why it is GUARANTEED that PHYSICAL Precious Metal prices will rise until a new gold standard is forced upon the world by the litany of collapsing currencies.

Ranting Andy: Revett Minerals is Mining Simplified

RANTING ANDY – Revett Minerals’ (NYSE-Amex: RVM; TSX: RVM) Troy silver and copper mine is just outside of Noxon, Montanta, approximately 125 miles East of Spokane, Washington.  Last week, my colleagues and I had the privilege of seeing the Company from “behind the velvet rope” via a site visit and mine tour.  There were a number of others visiting the site at the same time, including several analysts who currently cover the Company.  I can safely say that the Company’s operations are as impressive as the rolling mountains within which the it operates.  And while nothing can compare to being there for yourself in person, click on the picture below to see Revett in a more detail.

Ranting Andy: Human Nature, Part II

RANTING ANDY – Saturday morning, just back from my weekly head-clearing pickup soccer game.  It’s been a crazy week in many ways, and I’m looking forward to a bit of R&R this weekend. 

The backlog of “horrible headlines” remained long all week, so it was difficult to focus on some of the deeper topics I’ve wanted to discuss.  That backlog is just as long today, an incredible statement considering the Dow has risen 1,400 points in the past three weeks.  Of course, per the numerous RANTS written during that period, the rally appears to be 100% generated by the PPT, which is just as talented as smoking at Dow shorts with chart-painting buys as smoking out gold longs with chart-painting (often naked) short sales.  I’ve listed some of today’s “horrible headlines” below, and saved others for next week, worthy of more detailed comments.

Ranting Andy: Dedication

RANTING ANDY – Back in the saddle after three days of traveling, with plenty on my mind, I’m happy to say.  I am touched by the multitude of emails from readers wondering where I was, but unfortunately I was literally out of cell phone and internet range in the wilds of Montana. 

One reader worried I had “lost my fire” because I hadn’t sent a RANT in two days, which I assure you DID NOT, and WILL NEVER, happen.  Actually, I spent three hours at the Spokane Airport writing “HUMAN NATURE, PART I” on Monday morning, and another four writing “RECORD BREAKING HORRIBLE HEADLINES TO MARKET ACTION RATIO” yesterday, both of which you have by now.  Unfortunately, if I am not at my PC with the master email distribution list, I cannot get RANTS out in as timely a fashion as I’d like.  But I’ll work on it for the future, I promise.

Regarding the question of my fire, I’d like to thank the reader submitting that comment, as it inspired this morning’s RANT.  The past two RANTS focused on the literally dozens of “horrible headlines” that appear to be emerging like crabgrass in August.  Just keeping up with the pace of financial collapse is difficult, and I assure you this morning is no different.  However, to avoid being sucked into the news flow vortex, today I have simply agglomerated the most recent “horrible headlines”, as well as some other relevant reading material, into an addendum at the end of this missive.

Ranting Andy: Record Breaking Horrible Headlines to Market Action Ratio

It’s Wednesday morning, and I’m back in civilization, having spent much of the past two days in the Montana wilderness touring a silver mine.  I’m sitting in the same chair at the Spokane airport as the one I wrote my Monday RANT from – “HUMAN NATURE, PART I – , and I have several hours of waiting time, so I’m raring to go.  HUMAN NATURE, PART II is still waiting in the wings, but will have to wait as the world is moving too fast to slow down for even a SECOND.

In my brief minutes with WiFi access yesterday, and at in the wee hours of last night, I downloaded an incredible amount of “horrible headlines”, one worse than the next.  Readers, we are witnessing the global banking collapse I’ve been warning of for some time now, and simultaneously TPTB step up market manipulation in an exponential manner, to a level NEVER seen in financial history.

If there was a way to chart the correlation between the Dow and bad news (“or horrible headlines”, as I call it), I’d love to do it, as right now it would be showing a 5+ standard deviation surge, no different than the 5+ standard deviation Precious Metal declines we have regularly seen since OPERATION PM ANNIHILATION commenced MINUTES after the Labor Day holiday. 

Fortunately, the PHYSICAL gold and silver markets have fallen far less thanks to expanding premiums (particularly in the retail segment of the market), but it still is painful watching your pockets picked as the reasons for gold and silver to EXPLODE grow stronger each day, or hour for that matter.

Ranting Andy: Human Nature, Part 1

RANTING ANDY – HUMAN NATURE, PART I It’s Monday morning, and I’m sitting in the Spokane, Washington Airport with several hours of downtime, and lots on my mind. It’s incredible how much has occurred in the 24 hours since I hit “send” on my last RANT, “DESPERATELY SEEKING GOOD NEWS”, but in the fast-motion train wreck that is the global economy, it is hard to BLINK before a new wave of “horrible headlines” emerge.

Before I get to the subject of this RANT, I need to “take out the garbage,” as so much has accumulated in the past day, fitting PERFECTLY with yesterday’s motif. Please bear with me, as Spokane Airport has BOINGO Wireless, the world’s worst internet service, which will make it difficult for me to post links.

This morning, I see Citibank reported the same type of fraudulent “earnings” as JP Morgan did on Friday, taking a HUGE accounting gain based on the fact that it’s bonds have fallen in value (due to a weakening economy), as well as a HUGE accounting gain based on a reduction in loss reserves (due to a strengthening economy)! Huh?