AND THE 2008 WINNER IS………

By Adrian Douglas

As 2008 winds down it is time to announce the runners-up and the winner of the coveted “Moron of the Year” (MOTY) Award. The whirlwind financial crisis that has unfolded this year has exposed many in the financial media for the morons that they truly are as none of them could see it coming. GATA had been forecasting this financial meltdown for ten years and has amassed huge amounts of evidence that the financial system was using unprecedented leverage and dubious or illegal accounting practices to give the appearance the US economy was performing well. This was only possible because the alarm system was disconnected which was achieved through suppression of the gold price. It was a catastrophe waiting to happen. GATA even published, at great expense, a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2008 as the ultimate warning. The response from the financial media? ZIP! ZERO!

http://ww w.gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

The morons whose job it is to inform the public and to root out important news stories totally ignored GATA. There was not one phone call, not one e-mail!

Although the MOTY provides some light entertainment for café readers it does have a more serious intention also. It serves to take to task, in a small way, those journalists and public officials who are stupid enough to think that whatever they say or print is all that counts. People who are paid to give information to others have a duty to check what they say is accurate to the best of their ability. But the truth has become largely irrelevant to many of these people; it is an inconvenience that must be “spun” out of the way. I hope that those who are nominated might feel embarrassed enough to pay more attention to what they say and publish.

In Tenth Place: Christopher Cox, Chairman of the SEC

Christopher Cox, in his first interview since the Madoff Ponzi Scheme became public, has uttered some completely moronic nonsense that earned him a MOTY nomination:

QUOTE
http://www.latimes.com/business/l a-fi-cox27-2008dec27,0,307886.story

In his first interview since the Madoff scandal broke, Cox said that he was not responsible for the agency's failure to detect the alleged fraud and that he had responded properly to the broader financial crisis given the information he had. Confronted with a barrage of criticism from lawmakers, former officials and even some of his staff, Cox said he took pride in his measured response to the market turmoil.

"What we have done in this current turmoil is stay calm, which has been our greatest contribution -- not being impulsive, not changing the rules willy-nilly, but going through a very professional and orderly process that takes into account unintended consequences and gives ample notice to market participants," Cox said. This caution, he added, "has really been a signal achievement for the SEC."

END

Oh boy! The Chairman of the stock market regulatory Authority thinks that sitting back and doing nothing is their signal achievement! He ranks up there alongside Emperor Nero for Crisis Management skills! However, I would think that for doing nothing and staying calm he can expect to pick up a multi-million dollar bonus check for 2008….so despite making moronic comments I suspect he isn’t really a moron because he knew if he had done something and it was the wrong thing he could have gotten fired and lost his bonus. That’s smart!...so he didn’t come close to winning this year’s MOTY award!

In Ninth Place: Alan Schwartz, President and CEO of Bear Stearns

Alan Schwartz, President and CEO of Bear Stearns received a MOTY 2008 nomination for his in-depth understanding of his company’s balance sheet and an uncanny gift for financial forecasting!

QUOTE
March 10, 2008

http://www.reuters.com/article/press... e/idUS216274+10-Mar-2008+BW20080310

The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. today denied market rumors regarding the firm's liquidity. The company stated that there is absolutely no truth to the rumors of liquidity problems that circulated today in the market.

Alan Schwartz, President and CEO of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc., said, "Bear Stearns' balance sheet, liquidity and capital remain strong."

END

Only 7 days later the Investment Bank collapsed requiring a takeover by JPMorgan Chase instigated by the FED and hastily concocted on a Sunday! Imagine how much quicker they would have collapsed if their balance sheet, liquidity and capital had been weak!

In Eighth Place: John Thain, CEO of Merrill Lynch

He got a nomination for this peach of a moronic statement:

QUOTE
"We deliberately raised more capital than we lost last year ... we believe that will allow us to not have to go back to the equity market in the foreseeable future." (John Thain, CEO of Merrill Lynch, April 8, 2008)

END

Unfortunately, as we now know, they were able to lose money even faster than they could raise it and so had to be rescued by a hasty shot gun marriage to Bank of America! If only he had raised ten times as much money as they lost in 2007 Merrill Lynch would have been OK…at least for a few more weeks!

In Seventh Place: Christopher Dodd, Chair, Senate Banking Committee

Christopher Dodd got a nomination for this moronic gaffe:

QUOTE
"These institutions [Fannie and Freddie] are fundamentally sound and strong. There is no reason for the kind of [stock market] reaction we're getting." (Christopher Dodd, Chair, Senate Banking Committee, Financial Post, July 12, 2008)

END

He is only the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee so we wouldn’t expect him to know anything about the GSE’s! In September 2008 he followed up with this peach in an interview on Bloomberg

QUOTE
http:/ /www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR200...

“I have a lot of questions about where was the administration over the last eight years."

END

I wonder if he has any questions about what is the job of Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee!?

In Sixth Place: Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman

This statement was made by Bernanke in 2007 so it doesn’t technically qualify for a 2008 MOTY nomination:

QUOTE
“The subprime mess is grave but largely contained”

(Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke 5/17/2007, Speech before the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago)

END

However, Ben Bernanke sent me a cryptic message in one of his recent articles begging to be nominated for a 2008 MOTY Award.

QUOTE
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2... /01/081201fa_fact_cassidy?currentPag...

"I and others were mistaken early on in saying that the sub-prime crisis would be contained," Bernanke said in an article in the December 1, 2008 issue of The New Yorker magazine. "The causal relationship between the housing problem and the broad financial system was very complex and difficult to predict," he said in the piece titled "Anatomy of a Meltdown."

END

This was a stunning coded message because “Anatomy of a Meltdown” is a perfect anagram of “Named to own ‘alf a MOTY” (if you have nothing better to do, check it!). The reference to only receiving “[h]alf a MOTY” is no doubt that he feels that he can’t take total credit for the moronic drivel that the sub-prime mortgage problem would be contained and should share the MOTY with Hank Paulson who also claimed the sub-prime mortgage crisis would be contained.

QUOTE
"The market impact of the U.S. subprime mortgage fallout is largely contained and the global economy is as strong as it has been in decades." (Henry Paulson, August 2007)

END

In Fifth Place: Senator Phil Gramm

QUOTE
"Misery sells newspapers. Thank God the economy is not as bad as you read in the newspaper every day." (Phil Gramm 7/10/08)

END

That statement already got my attention for his potential nomination, but this one really clinched it:

QUOTE
“Some people look at subprime lending and see evil. I look at subprime lending and I see the American dream in action”

END

I wonder what he was smoking when he uttered that moronic nonsense!

In late 1999, Mr. Gramm staunchly supported the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which removed barriers between commercial and investment banks that had been instituted to reduce the risk of economic catastrophes following the Great Depression. Gramm is, without a doubt, one of the key architects of today’s financial crisis.

In 2000 Gramm spoke at a bankers’ conference. He said the problem of predatory loans was not of the banks’ making! Instead, he faulted “predatory borrowers.”!! The American Banker, a trade publication, later reported that he was greeted “like a conquering hero.” If he had muttered such moronic drivel in 2008 instead of the year 2000 he would have won this year’s MOTY hands down.

In Fourth Place: Goldman Sachs

On December 12 there was a late nomination for Goldman Sachs who came with a barn-burner of moronic drivel. Goldman Sachs issued an updated gold price forecast. They raised their forecast for gold because, according to them, it will attract safe haven investment as the dollar declines BUT the FORECAST IS LOWER THAN THE PREVAILING GOLD PRICE! Their 3 month forecast is $700!! That is one helluva safe haven investment! Their 12 month target is $795! What on earth are they smoking? I wonder if Goldman Sachs has made so many cutbacks to save money that they have taken away the computer screens of their employees such that they have no clue what price gold is trading at. Did they even look at the way they have covered their own trading position from 54,000 contracts net short to 800 contracts net LONG on TOCOM? That is hardly coherent with their forecast of a falling gold price! It is interesting that there are no analysts’ names credited, just “Goldman Sachs”. I can’t blame anyone for not putting his name on it, nonetheless, this stellar piece of forecasting definitely gets Goldman Sachs a nomination for MOTY 2008.

http://www.reuters.c om/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndR... 78020081212

In Third Place: Jeff Christian, Managing Director of CPM Group

Jeff Christian, a silver market analyst, got a nomination for taking the time to produce a video of moronic drivel supposedly to dispel notions that the silver market is manipulated.

http://media.kitco.com/kitco/CPM_Sil... 16.wmv

This video is like watching a Soviet Era newscast telling the viewers that while there was a slight technical problem at Chernobyl nobody has been injured and no nuclear material has been leaked due to the vigilant attention of the authorities!!

He says the reason to make the video is because some of his clients are finding talks of conspiracy theories distracting to their business. Oh, surely not! Who are those clients? JPMorganChase or Goldman Sachs?!!

The video is a wonderful lesson in propaganda. First of all he says that there is no concentrated position in silver! The CFTC had just reported that 2 or maybe 1 bank(s) sold 25% of the world’s annual global production short in just one month! These banks had 82% of the net commercial short position. How is this not concentrated? He also says the silver market is comparable to other commodity market but he does not address the fact that in no other commodity market is there a consistent short position of one year of global production. Jeff Christian says that the large concentrated short position offsets long positions in other markets. First of all how does he know that because the CFTC and COMEX do not release the positions of any traders? And if he does know that information then he must certainly be so friendly with the bullion banks that I would question his objectivity! But more importantly he makes the issue even more illegal. If these banks have such a large concentrated short position on the COMEX and that offsets a large long position on another market then they are acting illegally in two markets not just one! They should not have been allowed to accumulate such a large long position that needs offsetting by a huge concentrated short position. Every trader can tell you that if you have a very large long leg and a very large short leg you can make markets do what you want and constantly make money. How convenient that both legs are not held in the same jurisdiction!

The final slide is a real howler. It says while there is a production deficit, there is no supply deficit. Oh No! Has he tried to buy any silver recently?

He released his propaganda on 9/16/2008 and was made to look like a moron because just 9 days later the CFTC announced they were investigating the silver market for manipulation! That must have been even more distracting for his clients!

“Headline: CFTC Relents and Probes Silver Market”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1222311 75151874367.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The CFTC in December had a meeting with GATA Chairman Bill Murphy to discuss gold and silver market manipulation. I wonder if they have met with Jeff Christian….if they have seen the video I wouldn’t hold my breath that they would want to!

Jeff Christian, for this piece of propaganda you have received a nomination for a 2008 MOTY, which hopefully your clients will also find distracting to their business!

In Second Place: Jon Nadler, Senior Analyst, Kitco

Jon Nadler was the winner of the 2007 MOTY. One would have thought that receiving the award would have galvanized him to cease writing moronic drivel on gold, particularly when he is employed by a broker of precious metals! But nope, undeterred by no sooner than January 9, 2008 he penned this piece of the most moronic garbage on gold that I have read in a long time:

QUOTE
http ://www.kitco.com/ind/Nadler/jan09200...

Despite real gold prices that could be argued as being "low" compared to prices over much of the past three decades, future price trends will depend heavily on nominal gold prices relative to the costs of production at many gold deposits, the cost of refining metal from scrap, the cost of using and buying gold in jewelry, and the potential that some investors will decide to take profits based on high nominal prices.

Ever since gold trading officially and legally began on the Comex on 31 December 1974 history shows that gold prices have spent more than half of the time since then trading between $250 and $450. Gold has spent fully 28.6% of the past 30 years trading between $350 and $400. This should not be surprising, since at this range of prices is what econometric studies suggest has been the long-term market clearing price range for gold: At levels above $400, a tremendous amount of additional gold ore becomes economically feasible to mine, and can have the long-term effect of increasing supply sharply. Also, above $400 gold becomes expensive for use in jewelry, which leads to a sharp reduction in jewelry demand and an equally sharp increase in the amount of newly refined gold being recovered from jewelry sold for its scrap content. In other words, above $400, a lot of gold comes into the market, and fabrication demand falls off sharply. It takes scary economic and political conditions driving investors to hoard increased amounts of gold to keep prices above $400 - - the sort of market that has been seen consistently since 2001.

Similarly, below $400 the incentive for bringing new mines on stream falls sharply. Supply falls. Jewelry holders hang on to their old jewelry, seeing it as not being worthwhile to sell their jewelry for its gold content. Jewelry demand meanwhile tends to rise sharply as prices fall below $350. These trends have tended to make the range of $350 - $400 the market clearing range for gold prices, levels at which supply and demand broadly are in balance. Prices can spend a great deal of time below this market clearing range, as was the case fro 1997 through 2001. Prices also can spend long stretches of time above this range, as has been the case since the fourth quarter of 2004. In the long run, however, gold's supply and demand fundamentals strongly suggest that, barring extreme levels of investment demand or central bank selling, the gold market tends to be in balance between $350 and $400.

Now, even if we were to be very generous and allow for this clearing price of the metal to increase to, say, $600-$650 and remain there, well you can still see that there is no logical reason to expect that we 'must' trade and remain at the inflation-adjusted $2200 per ounce anytime soon - if ever. The operative word here is "barring extreme levels of investment demand" - such as let's say after a pre-emptive attack on Iran, another terrorist strike in the USA, etc. Such events could indeed result in a brief - but unsustainable- spike to levels unknown. Conversely, the other key word is 'central bank selling' -as in massive liquidations by the official sector (for whatever reason). Since we do not believe that either extreme is likely to materialize, the expectation that the market will eventually revert to the mean - even if a higher mean than the 400 area- is justified.

This is important as one considers the real and inflation-adjusted prices for gold. The gold market clearing range is computed in nominal dollar terms. Many observers focus on the fact that while nominal gold prices have risen to levels beyond even their 1980 record levels, adjusted for inflation since then, real gold prices remain relatively low. They have suggested that this implies scope for further sharp appreciation in gold prices lie ahead for this metal, even though there are no economic theories to justify such conclusions. While it is true that gold prices are not as high in real, inflation-adjusted terms as they are in nominal terms that means very little to most producers and consumers.

The key to understanding the economic factors that will weigh on gold prices over the long run are more centrally focused on nominal prices. The average cash cost of producing gold at mines now is roughly $350 per ounce on a nominal basis. It had ranged between $200 and $280 per ounce over the past two decades. That compares to a nominal price above $600, meaning that gold mining presents enormous profit opportunities to any company able to find new gold to mine. This differential in nominal prices matters to the price of gold. The nominal price of gold jewelry, on the other side of the gold market's ledger, meanwhile is measured not so much against its historical price by would-be consumers, but rather against the costs of competing luxury goods and other forms of jewelry on a nominal basis.

More important on the demand calculations made by jewelry manufacturers, who need to keep the wholesale price of their jewelry at a certain low level in order to allow retailers to purchase the jewelry for sale to the end consumers. Jewelry manufacturers do this by reducing the amount of gold per piece of jewelry, so that rising gold prices can lead to lower gold use in jewelry even as the dollar value of the jewelry increases. For these reasons and more, the nominal price of gold is more important than the inflation-adjusted price of gold in determining whether gold is "cheap" or "expensive" in the eyes of producers, consumers, and others at any given price and time.

END

Congratulations Jon Nadler. This piece has demonstrated that you do not understand even the basics of gold. Gold is money and the dollar is not money, it is merely a currency. As the dollar is produced in ever increasing quantities out of thin air it is beyond moronic to expect that gold will regress to some average nominal dollar price! The only reason gold does not fully reflect the obscene levels of dollar creation is due to gold price manipulation. This manipulation is patently obvious from the shortages of physical supply (as confirmed by Kitco’s own website) and the large premiums being paid for physical gold over paper gold.

Jon Nadler, for this moronic drivel you have been inducted into the MOTY Hall of Fame alongside Simon Constable. You will no longer qualify for an annual award as you have now been bestowed with lifetime recognition.

And…drum roll please, the 2008 MOTY goes to ………….

DENNIS GARTMAN!

Anyone can make a slip of the tongue, or make a silly comment, or make a hopelessly inept market call, but Dennis, you have persistently spewed out such worthless drivel on the gold market that it seemed at times you were deliberately trying to get a 2008 MOTY nomination! Here are some samples of what makes Dennis Gartman the Grand Master of moronic gold market garbage:

December 16

QUOTE
Turning to gold for a moment, we draw everyone's attention to …gold's trading activity since early this year. We cannot help but notice that since the high made in March on the very morning of the Bear Stearn's bankruptcy, each high has been progressively lower, and so too each low. This is not a bull market at all; this is a bear market. This is not a market to buy; this is a market to sell. This is not a place where we wish to be involved on the long side, and we note that the long side seems to have become rather more heavily laden of late with new, enthusiastic participants whose enthusiasm we fear shall prove quite wrong. Indeed, were we to trade gold, we'd trade it from the short side, not the long.

END

Here is the gold chart since 2000. BEAR MARKET!!?? That certainly puts even Jon Nadler in the shade for a moronic statement. Gold has closed higher every year for the last 8 years. I would love for Dennis to explain how this chart is one of a bear market. Dennis, I think you have the chart upside down!

December 11

QUOTE
http://moneynews.newsmax .com/streettalk/gartman_gold_bugs_wr... tml

Gartman: Gold Bugs Are Wrong

By: Julie Crawshaw

Gold bugs want very badly to see collusion and manipulation and intervention and all sorts of mischief taking place in the gold market, Dennis Gartman says in his latest investment letter.

They are deluding themselves, he warns.

Granted, Gartman says, backwardation -- in which the future price of gold is lower than the present price -- recently happened for the first time in the gold market.

But gold bugs are misinterpreting this as signaling that the end of the fiat dollar system is at hand when all that’s happening is a "rather boring, inordinately prosaic interest-rate arbitrage," Gartman says.

"Yes, there are shortages of gold coins in the market, and yes the spot/1st and even to the 2nd future gold future is backwardated," Gartman says.

"But this is hardly the stuff of manipulation and central bank intervention (and) we would counsel everyone to take a deep breath; to sit down and count to 10."

END

Dennis boldly declares that manipulation of the gold market is just the goldbugs being delusional. This is despite the fact that the CFTC launched an investigation into possible manipulation of the gold market in September 2008 and the CFTC met with Bill Murphy, Chairman of GATA, in December to discuss gold market manipulation.

Anyone who dismisses an event in a market, like Backwardation, that has happened for the first time in history (according to Gartman, but three times according to real experts!) as boring arbitrage truly deserves a MOTY nomination!

November 3

QUOTE
Gold Set for 2-Year Low as Deflation Trumps Inflation

…Dennis Gartman, an economist and editor of the Suffolk, Virginia-based Gartman Letter, exited all his gold positions, except for coins he purchased at the end of September. ``I feared the whole financial system was coming to a halt, and you need a little gold in that case,' he said. ``I doubt it will anymore. But it sure felt like it a month ago. There's no value in gold right now.'

http://ww w.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206010 87&sid=aO19j3vI5FP8&refer=home

END

Dennis, that is quite a side-splitter: “There’s no value in gold right now”. That certainly puts you head and shoulders above all others this year for moronic commentary.

October 10

QUOTE
As for gold, once again we hope... we really do hope... that we lose money and a great good deal of it on our long positions, for if we do it shall mean that the capital markets are doing a great good deal better. At the moment, that seems unlikely, for as we write gold is pushing upward through $920 in US dollar terms.

END

Now how much more moronic can it get? Who would make an investment hoping to lose lots of money! Dennis, I have news for you. Gold going down doesn’t mean all is well unless you are quoting from the Cartel’s play book. This is what gold price suppression has been all about for over a decade. You should by now have learned that a low gold price does not mean everything is fine, but it does mean you will lose money on a long position, courtesy of the Gold Cartel! You got your wish, you did lose money!

October 9

QUOTE
Yesterday, we noted that there was "selling of very real consequence at the $910-$920 level." We knew not who the sellers were, but we tacitly speculated that it might be the financial authorities themselves, for if they could keep gold from rising too swiftly the capital markets might take that as a sign of returning health. Again, we do not know who the sellers were, and we can only guess as to their identity; however, they've lost, for gold has pushed on through their selling as it trades $925 as we write.

END

Now where would you get such a hair-brained idea that it could be the “Financial Authorities themselves” selling gold to give the impression the capital markets are healthy? This shows that Gartman knows exactly what the gold suppression scheme is all about which makes all his other anti-gold drivel extremely disingenuous.

September 22

QUOTE
"We must make it clear here that although we have returned as bulls to gold, we are not, and will not be, supporters of the basic thesis of the folks at GATA. We are not Conspiratorialists. We do not believe that the governments of the West have collectively obscured gold trading, or have lied about their reserves, or have distorted the data surrounding gold. Those concerns are a waste of one's time, and as we have said, we would hope that GATA's leaders would spend their time researching things more important to the world such as the spread of disease, famine, the rise of Islamic fascism, etc. and et al. We are bullish of gold for the very simple reason that gold has stood the test of time; that it is the purest form of betting against the weakness of currency valuations and rising commodity prices generally. Conspiracy plays no role in our thesis, and indeed it obscures the reality of a reflating central bank:"

END

Interesting! That is not what Gartman said on October 9 when he speculated “Financial Authorities” might be suppressing the price of gold to paint a rosy picture of health in the capital markets!

As a matter of information, Dennis, there is no task on earth more important than what GATA is pursuing. Without a properly functioning, honest monetary system the world’s economy will cease to function.

September 16

QUOTE
As for the gold "bugs," life has gotten miserable for them, for they've never seen circumstances more bullish than those of the present... and yet gold is weak and the other precious metals are even weaker. The "bugs" will argue that nefarious, governmental forces are at work, collusively, to keep the price of gold very weak. We say to the gold "bugs,' "Yes, this is possible, but who cares?"

If governmental forces are collectively working to keep the price of gold uneconomically low, then eventually they will have to run for cover. This we consider inherently de-stabilising if true, and wonder how it is that the "Bugs" have been unable to disabuse the bears on gold. If GATA's "True Believers" had turned tail to the gold market and has used their insights and collective maturity toward gold, to instead work to cure cancer, or grant hope to the suffering from some other serious affliction, the world would be a far, far better place. Ah, but they won't:

END

I think “moronic” is too kind for this drivel! “Who cares?” WHO CARES? Are you kidding me? That makes my blood boil. Who cares if Bear Stearns collapsed, who cares if Lehman Brothers went bust, who cares if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were behind a fraudulent mortgage scheme, who cares if millions of Americans lose their homes, who cares if millions of Americans lose their jobs, who cares if world security is threatened due to the greed and stupidity of elitist Central Bankers? Well GATA cares! We cared enough to spend 10 years collecting evidence, we cared enough to toil for endless hours each and every day to get exposure, and we cared enough to bring a lawsuit against the perpetrators of the fraud that has allowed all other financial fraud. We cared enough to pay $264,000 for a one page ad in the WSJ to try to prevent the misery that will be heaped on the masses. This is not about the gold price, for the sake of the gold price. This is about the gold price as the fire alarm of the financial system which has been disconnected. If you don’t see this as the Crime of the Century and you don’t see why anyone should care you are beyond help.

August 27

QUOTE
Finally, last week much was made by the Gold Bugs and the "Conspiratorialists" who populated the bullish side of the market that the US Mint had stopped selling gold coins. The "Bugs" were convinced that this was the signal they had long awaited that the US government's manipulation of the gold market was finally proven. They were convinced that there is less gold in the government's coffers than is reported, and that the Mint's decision to stop coin sales is the first clear reflection of that shortage.

However, the Mint has dashed those hopes noting that there is something far more prosaic at work here than evidence of market manipulation: the Mint has suspended gold coin sales because they've run out of the "blanks" needed to forge the coins. Literally, the stamping tools needed by the Mint are in short supply. According to the Mint's statement

Because our vendors are not able to supply enough one-ounce gold bullion blanks to meet the unprecedented demand we are experiencing, the United States Mint notified our authorised purchasers on August 14, 2008, that we must temporarily suspend sales of the 2008 American Eagle One- Ounce Coin. However, one-half ounce, one-quarter ounce, and one-tenth ounce 22-Karat American Eagle Gold Bullion coins are still available to authorised purchasers and are in stock at the United States Mint. In addition, one-ounce American Buffalo 24-karat gold bullion coins are still available... and are in stock at the United States Mint.

The Mint said that simply that the suspension is due "to a shortage of blanks from its suppliers." The "Bugs" were convinced... truly and utterly convinced... that there has been a fully fledged conspiracy regarding the insufficiency of gold in the US government's coffers, made evident by the shortage of coins for sale. We find the conspiratorialists to be, shall we say,... well, they are conspiratorialists, convinced that some evil cabal manipulates gold at every turn. We think the government has more important things to be concerned with than testing the Gold Bugs. There are wars, and rumours of wars, and famines, and global cooling, and the like. Gold's problems are a gnat in the government's eye. So, we found it nearly comical that the US Mint said that the shortage was due to a shortage of blanks needed to mint the gold it has ready for coinage; there is no shortage of gold; there is a shortage of the minting devices as the public rushes to own gold coins. How prosaic... how mundane... how utterly unimportant is that? Were it not so prosaic it would be comical.

END

If you look at his comments highlighted in red by me you can see how clueless Dennis Gartman is on the subject of gold …he thinks that the "blanks" are part of the equipment to press gold coins!!! He says "Literally, the stamping tools needed by the Mint are in short supply" and later on "So, we found it nearly comical that the US Mint said that the shortage was due to a shortage of blanks needed to mint the gold it has ready for coinage; there is no shortage of gold; there is a shortage of the minting devices"

So Gartman is such a moron that he doesn’t even know what blanks are! He is falling off his chair laughing at GATA because he thinks we have confused a shortage of "blanks" (which he thinks is a machine part!) as being a shortage of gold! He had better stop laughing because he now has made him self a laughing stock (and not of the gold variety!) because it is he who has confused "blanks" as being part of the minting machinery. He has also shown without any question of doubt that he has made more moronic comments than any other nominee.

I hereby award Dennis Gartman the 2008 MOTY and hope that in 2009 he will desist from writing such inane commentary about gold and the gold market.

Adrian Douglas
December 2008