We like to think that when we deposit a dollar at the bank, it goes into a big vault and we can pull out that same dollar at any time. But that¿s not how the U.S. banking system works. Banks take that money and invest it to make money themselves, so cash gets spread around. This, naturally, leads to a big risk: What happens if those investments go sour? Well, you¿d be out of luck. You can¿t get your dollar back.

The Federal Reserve doesn¿t like that scenario, so it prohibits banks from putting all the cash it has on deposit on the line. In fact, the Fed forces banks to keep a portion of their assets at the Federal Reserve itself, to make sure that some of your assets won¿t get squandered if the bank¿s bets go south. These are called ¿reserves,¿ (hence, Federal Reserve. Got it? Good), and usually amount to 10% of the total cash kept in checking accounts.

These reserves are never exactly 10%, and banks like to keep a little extra in reserve ¿ not, as you might think, to make you more comfortable that they¿re in good financial shape, but rather so they can take that excess and lend it to other banks and make money off it. (They¿re banks, they can¿t help themselves.) The rate at which they make these loans is called the Federal Funds rate, which is set by the Federal Reserve¿s Federal Open Market Committee.

When you hear people chattering about how the Fed cut or hiked interest rates, this is what they¿re talking about: the interest rate banks can charge for lending money from their reserves. This begs the question: If these are essentially loans between banks, why is the Fed Funds rate so important for the rest of the economy?

Well, simply put, because loans make the financial world go round. Bank A lends Bank B $10,000 at a Fed Funds rate of 5%. Bank B then lends out $10,000 to a small business at 7%. The small business then takes that money and expands the business and hires new workers. Now someone is employed, Bank B has made interest off the loan, and Bank A is the richer for making it all happen. It¿s perhaps overly simplistic, but you get the idea. When you want the economy to thrive, you make lending cheaper.

Of course, sometimes you don¿t want the economy to thrive. In fact, you might want it to cool down, mostly to avoid money flooding the system and causing inflation. In that case, the Fed raises interest rates, making it difficult to lend or borrow.

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Gold Point Energy Announces the Appointment of James Hersch as Director and Andrew F. de P. Malim as Vice President of European Business Development

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jul 24, 2008 (PrimeNewswire via COMTEX) ----Gold Point Energy Corp. (TSX-V:GPE) (Frankfurt:A0HGQ1) (the "Company" or "GPE") is pleased to announce that Mr. James Hersch has agreed to join the Board of Directors and Mr. Andrew F. de P. Malim has accepted the position of Vice President of European Business Development.

Mr. James Hersch is currently the Chief Executive Officer for Century Petroleum Corp. in Texas. He has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Century Petroleum Corp. is an oil and gas exploration company focused on High Pressure - High Temperature projects in the United States. Mr. Hersch's extensive industry background includes working at Exxon from 1975 to 1981, followed by a career with Anadarko from 1981 to 2006 that expanded his experience internationally. Mr. Hersch was responsible for leading exploration teams and identifying and recommending projects in India, China, the United Kingdom, the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Rocky Mountains, Asia, and Indonesia. Mr. Hersch holds a Bachelor's degree in Geology from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. He is a certified licensed professional Geologist with an M.S. in Economic Geology from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Mr. Andrew F. de P. Malim is an experienced mining and corporate finance executive with over 30 years dedicated to the financing and management of mining companies. Mr. Malim has a strong working knowledge of geology and has been associated with a number of significant discoveries including the Blackdome and SNIP high-grade underground gold mines in British Columbia and other base metals and diamond discoveries in the USSR and Africa.

Mr. Malim's personal and corporate achievements include being a full member of the International Stock Exchange London from 1966 to 1979; a founding member of the James Capel & Co. mining team from 1968 to 1979; and a founder of the Lion Mining Group in 1981 which, until 2004, acted as financier (both as principal and agent) to numerous mining companies and projects.

Mr. Malim will be working closely with President Jack Steinhauser, Vice President Kevin Allison and Chairman Tony Harvey on the development of GPE's European project portfolio in his capacity of Vice President of European Business Development. Mr. Malim will continue to serve as a Director of the Company.

Gold Point Energy Corp. is engaged in the development of oil and gas projects in the U.S., South America and Europe. The Company has experienced technical and management professionals, which provide a high level of expertise to oil and gas project development, as well as good access to industry contacts and quality projects. Gold Point Energy Corp. has recently announced two new projects: a farm-in with JKX Oil & Gas PLC and Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC to earn a 20% working interest on portions of two licenses comprising 350,000 acres in eastern Bulgaria, and a farm-in with RTR Energy, LLC to earn a 37.5% working interest in the redevelopment of the Tepee Butte oil field in Hettinger County, North Dakota.

Certain statements contained in this press release may be considered as "forward looking". Such "forward looking" statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimated or implied results. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phases such as "believe," "expect," "plan," "anticipate" and similar expressions identifying forward-looking statements. Investors should not rely on forward-looking statements because they are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations, and expressly does not undertake any duty to update forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to the following: the Company's ability to obtain additional financing, geological, mechanical or difficulties affecting the Company's planned geological work programs, uncertainty of estimates of mineralized material and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release was distributed by PrimeNewswire, www.primenewswire.com

SOURCE: Gold Point Energy

Gold Point Energy Corp. Val Donovan, Manager, Corporate Communications (877) 741-1217
   (604) 681-1250 vdonovan@goldpointenergy.com

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