IKN

And then they wonder why the service doesn’t make them money. Here’s Casey on Peru today (thanks reader K)

Stupidity Watch

Lethal Stupidity On June 5, 2009, reports surfaced of major clashes between protesters and police in Peru, with the death toll now estimated at 34 people. The protests involved tens of thousands of indigenous people who were opposed to mining and energy exploitation in rainforest areas of the country. This prompted the government, on June 18, to revoke two laws enacted last year to open the Amazon to mining, oil, and timber development. Reuters reports that Peru’s president, Alan Garcia, “is under heavy pressure to make more concessions to opposition groups as social unrest and a slower economy undermine his push to attract foreign investors.”

This could result in measures hostile to the interests of resource investors involved in projects far from the rainforest areas. We have no exposure to Peruvian politics in our portfolio at present, but a major anti-industry move in Peru could have regional effects, so we will keep an eye on the story.

I mean, where do you start with this tosh? Maybe with the idea that there are a lot of places in Peru that are umpteenth generation miners and write petitions to mining companies to get them to develop in their areas. Maybe with the way Casey insists on putting the word “miner” before “energy” when the whole thing had nothing to do with any mining concession whatsoever. Or maybe by explaining that if Florida votes against having mining it dosn’t mean Nevada is affected. I dunno…it’s just so banal, so dumb…there’s no saving the text at all.

So let’s just call them dumbasses and be done. Y’know, they actually entitled their note “stupidity watch”. Better would have been “watch stupidity”.