Today's big question: Just how stupid is Andrey Dashkov of Casey Research?

Andrey Dashkov: Bartenders, please
ask for ID before serving

This month's Casey International Sheeptator rag included a macro overview of Peru written by the babyfaced Andrey Dashkov, the very same dumbass who recently won the coveted award here at IKN for penning one of the worst overviews of Colombia I'd ever seen. His effort this month on Peru was, unsurprisingly, in the same pisspoor category and showed that not only has he little idea about the place but he has no clue about the basics of the subject he tries to fake expertise about, either. This chart from the note.....

......was presented to his readers as "Peruvian exports". When I saw it the immediate first thought was "HUHH???" cos anyone that has even a passing interest in Peru's economy knows that for the longest time metals exports have been roughly 60% of the country's total, not the 80% presented by the dumbass Dashkov.

Then it struck me what he'd done wrong. It took about 15 minutes to put together this chart that shows the real story (I've even tried to be cute and used the same colour-coding as the Caseyfools, bar the green of course):

click to enlarge

Yep, this Dashkov completely missed out all non-traditional exports! What must have happened is that he finds some dataset or other marked "traditional exports" and is so uneducated about the terms used in country economies that he doesn't even realize that traditional exports are not the whole ballgame....not by a long chalk. I mean, the next time you eat a grape grown in Peru, or wear something made of Peruvian cotton (the third best quality cotton in the world according to those that know about these things) according to Casey Research (word "research" used in the loosest terms possible) it didn't actually come from Peru. Those and a whole mountain of other products, ignored by the ignorant.

This dumbass Dashkov misses out 20% of everything Peru exports! Jeesh! And not only that, the whole editorial team at Caseyfools didn't spot something that would take anyone with an inkling about a nanosecond to spot. But hey...it's Casey. Do you really expect truth and accuracy from these shills?

Meanwhile, Andrey Dashkov has managed to make himself look verysillyperson over his lack of nous about first Colombia and now Peru. I wonder which country he's going to be allowed to butcher next?

Casey Research, Idiots on Colombia (this week's coveted award)

A really, truly amazingly stupid piece of "research" has been published by the dumbasses over at Casey Research. Authored by Andrey Dashkov, it's the most pathetic attempt to pump up their sagging Colombia junior miner portfolio yet. Jeesh, these guys must be in a serious hole due to the crap they've bought. There's so much to laugh about in Dashkov's report it's tough to know where to begin, so let's just keep it to the level of "show them the dumbassery":

1) The title of the piece is "Columbia (sic): A New Gold Rush?". Yes indeedy, these freakin' experts on the country can't even spell the name of the place right! Another spelling mistake that shines light on their fake expertise is found in paragraph three, where "guerrilla" is spelled with just one "R". This might not sound like much to you, kind and gentle reader, but it's a really clear tell to anyone versed in Spanish that the author doesn't have a clue about the language used in the country of focus. So you profess to be an expert on Colombia but you can't speak the language? Yeah right.

2) Once again, we're told that all the trouble is caused by Marxist terrorists. Yet again, not a single peep about the far right wing terrorists that cause just as much mayhem in the rural areas of Colombia (i.e. where the gold is). In fact, Dashkov seems to fudge the word paramilitary with the word Marxist and has no clue about the difference between the two. Newsflash, dumbass; these people exist in large numbers today and are running drugs right through the places that you want to invest in. And they're toting guns. And they don't give a shit about Socialist policies.

3) We're told by this note dated March 3rd that Uribe might get his way with the constitutional change. O RLY? Somebody tell this guy about the news out of Colombia on February 26th? JEESH!!!

4) We are treated to a freshman dialectic device as old as the hills. This one is the "well, people say that things are bad. This might be true, but point one point two point three etc etc point ninety-seven". By making single mention of "la violencia" (WTF!) Dashkov then believes he has the right to wheel out point after point of the good stuff without decent examination of the negatives. Assholes, greenhorns and sheep, queue here.

5) We get a lot of charts that mostly show percentage changes and no absolute figures, a tactic that always smacks of BS when you know how stats work. But we also get a line that goes "The Colombian economy has fared better than its Latin American peer group" which isn't backed up by any sort of proof. This is because it's utter bullshit. Here's the real story, as shown by quarterly GDP for Colombia as measured by the Colombian gov't DANE stats office (known for their independence and accuracy unlike the BS merchants of Argentina, Peru etc):

Yup, a clear hard landing and pathetic 2009. The first three quarters of 2009 aggregated a -1% drop in GDP. As for "faring better than the LatAm peer group", how about Panama at +2.4%, Argentina at +0.1%, Peru at +0.9% etc etc ad infinitum and star of them all Bolivia at +3.7%.

Andrey Dashkov, you win this week's coveted award. You win it because you're a bullshit liar, a shame on your industry and a fake know-all about a country you clearly know nothing about. Drink your own Kool-Aid but don't brainwash others. Enjoy, dumbass: