"John Thomas Financial Special Economic Report: Deficits and Interest Rates, Separating Fact From Fiction" Available for Download on JTF Blog

A research report that shows no correlation between government spending, deficits and interest rates. The report, a piece by John Thomas Financial Chief Economist Mike Norman, analyzes historical data on government spending vs. long-term interest rates, surplus/deficit vs. long-term interest rates, inflation rates vs. long-term interest rates, and fed funds vs. long-term interest rates.

The John Thomas Financial Special Economic Report: Deficits and Interest Rates, Separating Fact From Fiction includes four charts reflecting thirty years of data from the White House Office of Management and Budget and John Thomas Financial proprietary economic research. Some key findings from the report include:

• While government spending rose nearly tenfold in the past 30 years, long-term rates have declined 73% in that same period.
• Long-term rates have declined steadily in the past 30 years despite large swings in the U.S. budget balance. In the past three years there has been an unprecedented (nominal) explosion in the deficit, yet rates have hit record lows.
• Looking at the period in question, rates did drop sharply along with a concomitant decline in inflation from 1980 to 1986; however, inflation has since hovered in the 2% to 4% zone while long rates have continued to decline.
• There is a very strong correlation between the central bank's overnight interest rate target and long-term yields.

"The evidence shows clearly that there is no direct correlation between high deficits and rising interest rates. In fact, history shows the inverse to be true in the case of countries that issue and spend their own currency," said Mike Norman regarding his findings.

The complete John Thomas Financial Special Economic Report: Deficits and Interest Rates, Separating Fact From Fiction is available for download on the JTF Blog.



John Thomas Financial Announces Chief Economist Mike Norman as a Regular Featured Guest on Fox Business "Bulls & Bears"

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - March 31, 2011) - John Thomas Financial, an independent broker-dealer and investment banking firm located in New York City's Financial District, today announced that its Chief Economist, Mike Norman, will be a regular featured guest on the Fox Business Network "Bulls & Bears" every Friday. Mr. Norman will appear alongside Charlie Gasparino, where the two will go head-to-head on economic issues of the day. The segment, titled "Street Smackdown," will air at 4:20pm every Friday beginning April 1, 2011.

Mike Norman has appeared regularly on CNBC, Bloomberg, CNNfn, Fox News, and Fox Business. With over 30 years of experience in the financial industry, Mr. Norman is an expert on fiscal and monetary policy and is largely focused on macroeconomic analysis. His JTF Fiscal Liquidity Index, a proprietary tool that measures daily money flows between the U.S. Treasury and the economy, is featured on Bloomberg.

Mr. Norman has a BA in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master's Degree from UCLA. He's a frequent guest speaker at numerous corporate and investment-related events and had the honor of presenting his economic outlook at the Army War College.

Visit the JTF Blog for a preview of what to expect on "Street Smackdown."

About John Thomas Financial
John Thomas Financial, member of the FINRA and SIPC, is an independent broker-dealer and investment banking firm headquartered in New York City's Wall Street district. Emphasizing a client-centric approach to managing all aspects of its business, the firm offers a full complement of retail brokerage and corporate advisory services tailored to the unique needs of its clients. For more information on the firm, please visit www.johnthomasbd.com

John Thomas Financial Issues Statement Regarding Barry Minkow's Guilty Plea To Federal Insider Trading Charges

John Thomas Financial (JTF) CEO Thomas Belesis today issued a statement regarding reports that Barry Minkow has plead guilty to federal securities fraud for his trading in Lennar Corp. shares in 2009. Mr. Minkow was convicted in 1988 on 57 counts of racketeering, securities fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, mail fraud, tax evasion and bank fraud. In June 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation into Mr. Minkow's shorting of InterOil Corp. and Lennar Corp, among other companies. 

Mr. Minkow accused Wall Street broker dealer and investment banking firm, John Thomas Financial, of "pumping and dumping" IOC shares, citing little evidence to support his claims.

"Barry Minkow has a long history of stock manipulation which, most recently, includes shorting companies for whom he later reports unsubstantiated, damaging claims. His reports have led to a tremendous loss of value for shareholders, damaged the public trust and caused unnecessary legal and reputational damage to his targets. One such report targeted InterOil, a New York Stock Exchange-listed energy company, and John Thomas Financial. The latest revelations that Minkow is about to plead guilty for insider trading of the shares of Lennar Corp. come as no surprise. We view Mr. Minkow's federal insider trading charges as further evidence that his statements were merely fabrications aimed at defrauding the public," said John Thomas Financial CEO Thomas Belesis.

InterOil's shareholder base includes some of the smartest minds in the financial community such as Soros Fund Management, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley & Co., Capital Research Global Investors, Fidelity Management and Wells Fargo & Company.

John Thomas Financial Supports the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation

CEO Thomas Belesis Attends the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation Sixteenth Annual Gala

NEW YORK, NY – March 14, 2011 – John Thomas Financial, an independent broker-dealer and investment banking firm located in New York City’s Financial District, shows its support for our country’s servicemen with support for the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation (MC-LEF). Following a donation to MC-LEF, John Thomas Financial CEO Thomas Belesis will attend the foundation’s Sixteenth Annual Gala on March 24, 2011 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. 

MC-LEF provides scholarships to children of Marines and federal law enforcement officers who have lost their lives while serving the United States.  The foundation provides $30,000 in maturity value EE Patriot Savings Bonds for each child of Marine or Federal Law Enforcement personnel who have died while on active duty. MC-LEF is certified as one of “America’s Best Charities” by the Independent Charities of America and has met the ten accountability standards for the Federal Government’s Charity Drive, including low fundraising and administrative costs.

MC-LEF ‘s Sixteenth Annual Gala will honor Mr. Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO of the United States Chamber of Commerce.  General James F. Amos, 35^th Commandant of the Unites States Marine Corps, is Special Military Guest of Honor.

“John Thomas Financial is proud to support the men and women who serve our country by contributing to and participating in this important cause.   To be able to give back to the children of the brave individuals who gave their lives in the name of freedom, democracy, and duty is a true honor,” said John Thomas Financial CEO Thomas Belesis.

To donate to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, visit the organization’s Contributions page.

John Thomas Financial Assists America West Resources in Capital Raise, helps the coal producer commence expansion

America West Resources Takes Delivery of New Continuous Miner and Commences Expansion of Thermal Coal Production at Horizon

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – (PR NEWSWIRE) – January 13, 2011 – America West Resources, Inc (OTCBB: AWSR), a domestic compliant coal producer with mining operations in Central Utah, today announced that it has taken delivery of anew continuous miner and has immediately commenced its deployment in a second section of the Horizon Mine, the Company’s compliant coal mining operation located 12 miles outside of Helper, Utah – about 120 miles southeast of Salt Lake City in Carbon County.

A continuous miner is a 60-ton machine with a large rotating steel drum with tungstencarbide bits that cut coal from the coal seam. Operating in a “room and pillar” system –where the mine is divided into a series of rooms, or work areas cut into the coalbed – it canmine as much as five tons of coal a minute. For the past two years, America West hasutilized continuous mining in one section of Horizon, averaging approximately 25,000 tonsof compliant thermal coal per month. With the arrival of the second continuous miner, theCompany expects to immediately commence deployment of the new miner in a secondsection of Horizon, which is expected to increase total monthly production to approximately60,000 tons once the new continuous miner reaches fully operational status. Based on theCompany’s prevailing deployment strategy, the new miner should be operating at optimal capacity by the end of March 2011.At the 60,000 ton monthly production level, it is anticipated that America West will become cash flow positive.

With its coal sales backlog requiring production of nearly $200 million in coal over the next five years, and up to $500million over the next decade, America West’s management team has been implementing several key initiatives designedto strategically and methodically execute a mine development plan capable of optimizing its valuable thermal coal assets.  John Thomas Financial, an independent broker dealer headquartered in New York City, assisted America West inaccessing the capital required to purchase the new continuous miner.

According to Dan Baker, President and CEO of America West, “Demand for our compliant coal is at an all-time high, soit is crucial that we stay on plan to ensure that we are in a position to effectively address our customers’ needs. Over thenext several months, we expect to expand our room and pillar operations to provide for three sections being minedsimultaneously. In addition, we will strive to introduce a longwall mining system in late 2011 to significantly escalate ourproduction levels to the point where we are safely extracting hundreds of thousands of tons of coal per month. Of course,that presumes that we prove successful in our efforts to secure necessary growth capital and equipment financing.”

Continuing, Baker added, “We are currently in active discussions with a number of strategic funding sources and hope tohave a comprehensive capital formation plan finalized by the second quarter of this year.”

About America West Resources, Inc.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, America West Resources is an established domestic coal producer focused on themining of compliant (low-sulfur) coal and its sale primarily to utility companies and industrial customers in the westernU.S., China and Europe. The Company operates the Horizon Mine, which has recoverable compliant coal reserves underlease of approximately 12 million tons. For more information, please visit www.AmericaCoal.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements Please refer to the Company's Form 10-K and other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") for additional information regarding risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed from time to time in such SEC reports.  Copies of these filings are available through the SEC's electronic data gathering analysis and retrieval system (EDGAR) at www.sec.gov.  The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance.  Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release which are not strictly historical statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding current or future mining output, ability to obtain necessary equipment, personnel and permits to mine coal, production capabilities, management's strategy, plans and objectives for future operations, plans and objectives for production, plans and objectives for present and future production, plans and objectives for regulatory approval, and anticipated results, constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including, without limitation, risks associated with coal production, mining in general and in our mines in particular, ability to achieve the coal output anticipated, ability to obtain permits, ability to hire and retain the necessary personnel, as well as other risks detailed in our filings with the SEC.  We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the announcements described herein.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
ELITE FINANCIAL COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
Dodi B. Handy, President & CEO (Twitter: dodihandy)
For Media Inquiries: Polly Wheeler, Director of Elite Media Group
407-585-1080 or via email at AWSR@efcg.net

SOURCE America West Resources, Inc.

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RELATED LINKS
http://www.americacoal.com