Ranting Andy: The Biggest Miss in U.S. History

RANTINGANDY – C’mon guys (US Government), I really wanted to take a day off from writing.  But you’re making it too easy for me, displaying levels of ineptitude that I rarely come across.  Even my wife is saying “this country is getting so embarrassing, I’d be afraid to leave it and get laughed at by the rest of the world”.  Fortunately, in our trip to the UK next week for GATA Gold Rush, we will find equally high levels of ineptitude, as the bankers and politicians in London certainly are giving those from New York and Washington a run for their money.

Today’s GDP report was probably the biggest miss versus “consensus” I have ever seen, following in the heels of a slew of worst-ever misses versus “consensus” across the board, from housing to construction activity to employment (remember the June employment report, 18,000 jobs versus the “consensus” 170,000?).  Those creating the consensus are among the dumbest “economists” and “market strategists” in human history (a truly lofty title, by the way), and frankly I’ve always sensed these numbers were created with the help of the government, in order to assist in its propaganda strategy of MOPE, as Jim Sinclair calls it, or Management of Perspective Economics.  In other words, to keep people thinking things are “improving”, ESPECIALLY if the numbers can BEAT CONSENSUS and thus suggest an upward accelerating trend (which of course the puppet media will report).

George Maniere: Debt Downgrade Drama

InvestingAdvicebyGeorge – I was watching Speaker of the House John Boehner speak today on Bloomberg TV (yes I have the TV on while I trade but the sound is off until I see something that is newsworthy). Speaker Boehner made the same old pitch about how the Republicans have out plans on the table and the Democrats have done nothing. I watched as his entourage climbed over each other to say something to the media and it hit me hard. This is July 28, 2011. In one year we will be in full reelection mode. How much money would one of these congressmen have to raise to get some prime time face time? I would guess it would be quite a bit. Meanwhile the media dutifully reports every sneeze that one of these elected officials makes in the name of unbiased reporting. The job of the media is to scare the masses so they will stay tuned while the media peddles their soap products and toaster ovens. The congressmen can’t get enough of it. Free advertising! Next year the amount of time they have spent in front of the camera will cost them dearly. Now they get it for free.

So now we get down to it. Like it or not The United States is “Too Big to Fail.” I have been studying the possibility of a credit downgrade and I have come to the conclusion that it simply cannot and will not happen. S&P, Moody’s and Fitch want some face time too! Ask yourself this – Are the treasuries that the FOMC have been peddling for the last two years really “AAA” grade? Absolutely not. The reality is that S&P and the rest are still the same money grubbing spineless jellyfish they were when they were stamping the garbage CDO’s “AAA” in 2007. They are still the same clowns that have been stamping our treasuries “AAA.” Now they come out with an ultimatum that unless this deal by Congress is up to their lofty standards they will downgrade our credit rating. This is sheer arrogance or worse it is part of the charade that is being foisted on an ill educated public to scare them and keep them “tuned in.”

Silver Looks Good, But Collapse Earlier this Year Continues to Weigh

LONDON (Reuters) – Silver prices look set for further gains after rallying more than 15 percent this month on gold’s coat-tails, but the metal will struggle to revisit this year’s record high near $50 an ounce after investors were burnt by May’s heart-stopping price correction.

Silver was one of 2010’s best-performing commodities and surged to a record $49.51 an ounce in April as investors favoured precious metals as a safe store of value during the euro zone debt crisis.

Those highs were swiftly followed by a sharp correction, however — in the five sessions after it hit its record, silver shed a third of its value.

“That whole experience is part of the explanation as to why silver hasn’t continued to highs on this particular run,” said Philip Klapwijk, executive chairman of metals consultancy GFMS.

“It overshot last time around, and there are still people who are licking their wounds.”

Ranting Andy: Sunday Night Special

RANTING ANDY – So here we are, just five days from the debt ceiling deadline, and, as expected, COMPLACENCY is in the air.

No one seems to care how horrible the situation is for the United States, not in the slightest except for token airtime because it has to be MENTIONED.  No analysis goes into such coverage, simply statements such as “Democrats and Republicans are wrangling about the debt limit”, as if it is more a political topic than a financial one.  The politics are certainly more “interesting” than the guts of the issue, although hardly an ounce of charisma emanates from key players such as Boehner (spells like “boner”) and Reid.  Even Obama, whose only real exceptional asset is charisma, looks decidedly less impressive these days, and sounds dumber by the minute.

Frankly, I don’t think Americans are paying much attention to ANYTHING these days except for reality shows, video games, and Lady Gaga, and the mindless media thoroughly reflects this ambivalence.  At this point, the average American is so deeply in debt that nothing seems to matter anymore, so long as entitlement payments continue to come in from the government.  To give you an anecdotal view of how socialist America has become, watch a TV show like “Judge Judy” for a few episodes.  Invariably, each case features people on the dole in some way, shape, or form, in most cases without proving much of anything to get their taxpayer-funded, printed money checks.  In fact, I’d guess at least every third or fourth case features someone that openly admits to defrauding the government to get these funds, but again no one seems to care.

Advanced Explorations Moving Forward at Roche Bay and Tuktu Iron Projects

Advanced Explorations (OTC Other: ADEXF; TSX-V: AXI) continues to move forward at both its Roche Bay and Tuktu Iron projects, highlights of which include: (i) at Tuktu, 50% Fe within a 264 metre interval which provides positive indications as to a broader resource potential of Tuktu and highlights the Direct Ship potential and (ii) at Roche Bay, metallurgical tests indicate the ability to produce a 50%Fe product as well as a high quality concentrate product of 70%.

And administratively, the TSX Venture Exchange has accepted the Framework Agreement with the Company’s strategic partner, XinXing Pipes Group of China (“XXP”) for filing.

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George Maniere: U.S. Debt Downgrade Grows Closer than Ever

InvestingAdvicebyGeorge – Am I the only one who finds it a bit ironical that the agencies that were supposed to protect us from the greed of the bankers, the same the same agencies that stamped the garbage mortgages, CDO’s and derivatives “AAA” grade so they could partake in the greed fest that was going on in the years from 2000 – 2008 are now the agencies that are holding our countries credit rating hostage. To date I have not read or heard one report that says if S&P, Moody’s and Fitch had done their job properly we would not be in this economic morass we find ourselves in. They seem to permeate an air of innocence and holy than though as they dictate the terms that would be suitable for them to allow us to keep our “AAA” credit rating. I can’t help but wonder where these guardians of the financial system were as they stamped junk CDO’s that were packaged and sold to unsuspecting investors as grade “AAA” U.S. debt obligations. If it wasn’t so sad it would almost be laughable. See chart below.

Balmoral’s Northshore Property Returns Grab Samples of Up to 7,520 g/t Gold, Option Agreement Finalized

Balmoral Resources (OTC Other: BALMF; TSX-V: BAR) has finalized an option agreement with GTA Resources on the Company’s Northshore Property, the terms of which allow GTA Resources to acquire up to a 70% interest in the property.  In anticipation of the option agreement, GTA Resources conducted a site visit as part of its due diligence review, which included the collection of surface grab samples from various locations. Several of these grab samples were collected from two northeast trending quartz-carbonate vein systems located near the intersection of the southeast-trending “Afric Zone.”  All of these latter samples returned “bonanza grade” gold mineralization with results ranging from 19.70 g/t gold (0.575 oz/t) to a high of 7,520.91 g/t gold (219.42 oz/t).  A nearby grab sample from the “Afric Zone” returned a value of 20.811 g/t gold (0.607 oz/t).

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Advanced Explorations Intercepts 264 Metres of 33% Iron, Including 9 Metres of 50%

Advanced Exploration (OTC Other: ADEXF; TSX-V: AXI) has intercepted 9.04 metres of quality banded iron formation (“BIF”) grading 50.19% Fe within a broader 283.07 metre interval of BIF grading 32.36% Fe. 

According to John Gingerich, President and CEO, “The Tuktu assay results continue to impress us. We are reporting very long intercepts of 32% to 33% iron, and now we have found a high grade lens that grades over 50% iron in drill-hole 11TT008. This is a very significant discovery and represents some of the highest grade iron we have found on the Melville Peninsula. Unfortunately, this hole terminated within high grade BIF and thus, the full extent is not known. Defining the surface exposure along with strike and width of the high grade lens is an important next step to defining the potential of direct ship ore (“DSO”) at Tuktu.”

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Andover Intercepts 16.5 Meters of 6.6% Copper Equivalent at Sun Property in Alaska

Andover Ventures (OTC Other: AOVTF; TSX-V: AXI) has assayed the first two holes from the Company’s 2011 drill program on the Sun Property in Alaska.  Drill holes Sun11-23A and Sun11-24 were completed in June 2011 at depths of 316.4 and 157.3 meters, respectively.  Significantly, drill hole Sun 11-24 returned 16.5 meters of 1.6% copper, 3.49% lead, 10.25 zinc, 86.6 g/t silver, and 0.24 g/t gold (6.6% copper equivalent).

These first two holes represent a good start to the results portion of the Company’s 2011 drill program, and additional assays should be forthcoming and will be met with great expectations.

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Victoria Nominates Two New Directors and Appoints New Officer

Victoria Gold (OTC Other: VITFF: TSX-V: VIT) has nominated Mr. Edward Dowling and Mr. Christopher Hill to serve on the Company’s Board of Directors.  In addition, Mrs. Kelly Arychuk has been appointed the Company’s Vice President, Mine Support Services.  As a result of these nominations and appointment, the Company’s board and management team have been strengthened.

Mr. Edward Dowling is the Chief Executive Officer, President and Director of Alacer Gold Corp, a role he has served in since the formation of Alacer through the merger of Anatolia Mineral Development and Avoca Resources Limited in February 2011.

Mr. Christopher Hill has been Treasurer at Aecon, Canada’s largest public construction and infrastructure development company, since March 2011. Previously, Chris held several senior management positions at Kinross Gold Corporation (“Kinross”) from 1998 through 2010.

Kelly brings over 20 years experience in the field of human resources coupled with substantial experience within the mining industry, dealing with larger scale operating mining companies in Northern Canada.

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