Good day all:

Took a vacation ( from everything ) for a few weeks and just checked in to see nothing much SFMI has changed...yet, except for the good NR yesterday. Same holds for other stocks (such as YRI) that have not reacted to the upswing in the price of the PMs. It is so obvious that the JPM and most PM stocks are being stifled that it becomes nauseatingly redundant to even make mention of it.

The general news on the global and US economic front just seems to grow a little bit worse when peeling back the layers of creep. Seems some of the States are now "borrowing" from their pension funds to ward off bankruptcy. I did notice that some of the US News papers were gingerly posting more "realistic" articles in the back pages re the currencies, PMs, and economy...more than "balanced" by the articles on the front pages...and Kudlow and Cramer. Noticed ads both on TV and in the papers for coin sales and gold purchases. I wondered if this is part of an ongoing campaign to have the population buy up and act as a "shadow bullion vault" for the US Gov. down the road, by way of confiscation. This will come in handy when there is a new, gold backed currency...because there is no gold in fort Knox. Anecdotaly, tourism is down (mostly from Europeans ) in the San Fran and Napa areas. What an incredibly beautiful part of the country!

Understandably, the oil spill is front and center news...and should be. I am still most confused why there seems to be little discusson on why the oil spill wasn't attacked with vigor the day the leak started...by attempting to collect as much as possible from the start. It sure does seem like the ball was dropped by ? We did talk to a few people that did bring up politics without any prompting. Some were quite outspoken in their delight that Obama was now President as they thought it was much better for the US with respect to the global image. Out of politeness I did not want to ask any leading questions. We have our hands full in Canada with our own politicians.

To all Americans out there, we were most impressed by the friendliness, helpfulness and hospitality accorded to us on our little journey. Also, everywhere we went, the service was outstanding. I couldn't help silently wondering if there were any deep seated concerns about the state of the nation both politically and economically as people seemed to be going about their daily affairs as usual. We did notice that many retail outlets were not busy, and that many restaurants that usually needed reservations were not full. The sales in Macy's for men's polo shirts were unrreal (thank you) ..and I got and extra 20% discount off the 50% discount ....by signing up for a Macy's account...by merely giving my Canadian ID and mailing particulars...for which the sales lady was most appreciative (must get an incentive and good for her)...I was tempted to tell her about SFMI to put her bonus money into... I should get the bill in a month or so and I'm sure that Macy's has sold my "asset" at a discount to a broker and leveraged it up 10 times invested in the derivatives market...for which they hope will be a good investment. I will pay my bill promptly on arrival as I expect the (broker's?) interest rate should be a eye opener.

Sorry for the diversion whilst we await the next leg up in the SFMI share price as the bashers continue to exert extreme presssure on the BBs. The last few weeks has underlined the fact that nothing has really changed on the surface...even the though the pot is on high boil. As long as there's no apparent steam, we are all expected to be complacently blissfull and to stay away from the "crappy" JPM and PM markets.

Cheers all!