James Conrad

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Word on the street is that previously silent victims of precious metal manipulation are now, for the first time, grouping together to do battle in the courts of the United States of America. Class action lawsuits are being planned against the suspected manipulators of the gold and silver markets. What is the basis of the lawsuits? 

About two weeks ago, on August 18, 2008, I published an article titled “The Disconnect Between Supply and Demand in Gold & Silver Markets”. In the article, I explained how relatively small amounts of money can be strategically used to collapse the price of multi-billion dollar commodities markets, such as gold and silver. In short, unscrupulous manipulators can use either fictional silver/gold, or gold “swapped” to them by Central Banks, to create an artificial supply. This fake “supply” can then be strategically used to attack the price, on the futures markets, which, in turn, will profoundly affect the spot price. Collapsing the spot price can, in turn, destroy investor confidence, market stability, and the willingness of more conservative investors to take large permanent positions in precious metals. After collapsing a market, using the techniques described, unscrupulous manipulators can buy back their short contracts, from shell-shocked long position holders, at a profit.  

Soon after my article was published, hard evidence of a vast change in short positioning began to emerge. The first discovery was made by tireless silver market researcher, Ted Butler. The data he found led to yet more work, and, soon, similar activities were revealed in the gold market.  All this begs the question. Why would a handful of banks suddenly have the infinite wisdom to take incredibly large short positions, immediately before the unexpected rise in the value of the U.S. dollar, and the collapse of precious metals prices? Remember, these are probably the same players who got us, and themselves, into the credit crisis.

We don’t yet know all the details, but the information uncovered so far, is already of great importance to holders of physical gold, shares in streetTracks Gold (GLD), iShares Silver Trust (SLV), and/or the various gold and silver mining companies, such as Newmont Mining (NEM), Goldcorp (GG), etc. According to Rob Kirby, a precious metals market analyst, the most recent CFTC positions report shows that:

…as of July 1, 2008, two U.S. banks were short 6,199 contracts of COMEX silver (30,995,000 ounces). As of August 5, 2008, two U.S. banks were short 33,805 contracts of COMEX silver (169,025,000 ounces), an increase of more than five-fold. This is the largest such position by U.S. banks I can find in the data, ever. Between July 14 and August 15th, the price of COMEX silver declined from a peak high of $19.55 (basis September) to a low of $12.22 for a decline of 38%.3 U.S. banks held a short position of 7,787 contracts (778,700 ounces) in July, and 3 U.S. banks held a short position of 86,398 contracts (8,639,800 ounces) in August, an eleven-fold increase and coinciding with a gold price decline of more than $150 per ounce. As was the case with silver, this is the largest short position ever by US banks in the data listed on the CFTC’s site.

[See “Wake-Up Call”]

The 3 banks in question are only the tip of the iceberg. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] does not group secondary controlled entities, like hedge funds and private equity groups, in the “bank” category, even though the funds may be wholly controlled by the banks. Beyond that, the visible portion of the futures market, though it has the most effect on the spot price, is not the biggest portion. A vastly greater unregulated inter-institutional market exists, and this market takes place inside so-called “dark pools”. The total short position taken by the alleged perpetrators, and the losses sustained by their potential victims, who include other institutions, is probably vastly greater than the researchers now realize. 

Before we continue, it is important to understand what it means to take a “short” position in the futures market. The general concept is vaguely related to “shorting” stocks because, in both cases, you are betting that the price will go down. However, when you short stock, you borrow someone else’s shares, and, later, you buy them back, and replace the shares you sold. Issuing a futures short position, however, does not involve borrowing a long position, although it may involve borrowing the underlying commodity. Typically, a bank or futures dealer will sell a short position in, for example, silver or gold that it says is sitting in a vault somewhere. This alleged stockpile may have “leased” from either a bigger bank, or, in the case of gold, even one of the central banks, like the Federal Reserve or the ECB. As I mentioned, back on August 18th, it doesn’t really matter if the metal really exists, because less than 1% of all futures contracts will ever see delivery, and the CFTC never does any vault audits. 

In other words, being “short” in the futures market means that you hold the opposite end of somebody’s long position.  The “short” promises to deliver by a certain date, but knows that he won’t have to, because, as previously stated, less than 1% of all futures contracts are ever delivered. European futures markets overtly and honestly tell you that the “contracts” are settled on paper, only. However, COMEX keeps up the fakery, and its prestige, size and ability to influence the spot price arises out of this fiction. A rule, requiring futures contract writers to maintain a stockpile consisting of 90% of whatever commodity they are writing on, was established years ago, in an effort to keep the market honest. It is not enforced in any meaningful way.

Normally, when supply exceeds demand, prices must fall. Investors, however, unlike jewelry fabricators, electronics manufacturers, etc., do not physically use, and, in many cases involving the precious metals, don’t ever physically even see the gold and silver metal that they ostensibly buy. Their agents just store it for the future. This unusual set of circumstances allows for the use of fictional gold and silver to create fake supplies of the metal, which can be used to divert investment demand.  The futures contract writer may not even know the gold or silver underlying his contracts really doesn’t exist. Only the vault owner really knows. CFTC would know if they bothered to do unannounced vault inspections, but they don’t do any. It has never once bothered to check a vault. 

As a result, there is nothing to prevent paper-fake claims to fictional silver or gold. Indeed, there is every reason to create fake claims, because the lessor of fictional precious metals can give a very lower lease rate and still make lots of money. If, on the other hand, you really have to go to the expense of buying real gold and silver, and putting it into a real vault, you must charge more.

On almost every day, with the exception of a few, since January 1, 2008 (227 days days to be exact), lessees of silver have been paid a fee for borrowing silver, because the lease rates are lower than LIBOR. This is known as “negative leasing rates.”   

The alleged vaults essentially pay you to lease their silver, because you can “sell” the metal, take the paper money, deposit it, and make a profit on the difference. These payments are happening in the midst of a real market so short on precious metal that the U.S. Mint has run out of both gold and silver, and the Royal Canadian Mint is going around, hat in hand, asking for gold, as described in my other articles. This need to subsidize leases implies that there is a major shortage of silver metal. For the moment, refiners, like Johnson Matthey, in Salt Lake City, have  transferred all available resources into meeting the needs of physical users like the electronics industry and jewelry manufacturers. They and, probably, others have stopped production of all retail sized blanks and bars. The U.S. Mint, for example, has run out of both silver and gold. However, as the shortage deepens, the wholesale market will also eventually go into shortage.  At that point, the price will take off, as the open market becomes aware of the situation.

At least one lawyer, and a horde of market commentators, have taken note of the fact that the sum total of COMEX silver futures contracts is many times larger than the world’s known supply. It is very close to impossible for all the claims to be real. As noted in my prior article, in 2007, Morgan Stanley paid millions of dollars to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged it had never bought silver and other precious metals for its clients. Instead, the complaint alleged that the bank, one of the most prestigious in the world, simply listed client silver holdings on monthly statements, charged big fees for storing it. According to the complaint, the Morgan Stanley silver was fictional, and its customers were paying for storing nothing but air. There wasn’t any real precious metal in the vaults. Fake claims upon precious metals, allegedly stored in vaults, therefore, are not merely the figment of conspiracy theorist imagination.

A dramatic and unexpected rise in the dollar was the initial, but not the only cause, for the sudden fall in precious metals prices. That the U.K. and Europe are joining the USA in a recession does not explain the dollar surge. The depth of European contraction does not compare, and will never compare, to the devastation being wrought inside the U.S. economy. Furthermore, common sense tells us that, though the world economy may be falling apart, the particular paper currency that is the basis of that economy would not be particularly attractive to investors.  

If we look behind the double-speak market chatter, however, the true reason behind the recent dollar surge is clear. In March, a group of central banks planned a huge and coordinated currency intervention to buy dollars, in the world currency markets, to support the U.S. dollar. No doubt, these same players have finally acted on their plans. Beyond that, in August, China got the blessing of the US Administration to impose new currency controls, "forcing its commercial banks to build up large dollar reserves, using them as arms-length proxies in a renewed campaign of exchange rate intervention.” 

Although, in times past, this obvious bid to lower the value of the yuan would have caused outrage in the Bush Administration, now, there is no criticism at all. In addition, recently, there has been a very large overall increase, in the buying of American treasury bills by foreign central banks, generally. The increase exceeds that needed to simply offset the trade deficit. The buying happened right before the value of the U.S. dollar started surging. (See here (pdf warning).)  

None of these factors can stand alone, of course, but, together, they constitute a coordinated and highly effective effort to prop up the dollar. The U.S. dollar’s upward surge is obviously NOT based upon fundamentals. It is based on coordinated currency intervention. The rally is being used, by our Orwellian double-speak Federal Reserve, and its coordinating foreign central bankers, to “break the back” of anti-dollar, pro-gold market sentiment. 

What they fail to realize is that the dollar is not merely the victim of negative market psychology. It is the victim of many years of corruption, within the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury, including repeated FMOC action that has sacrificed the good of the nation, in favor of a small group of favored Wall Street bankers. When the coordinated efforts relax, the U.S. dollar, being an incredibly flawed currency, will fall deeply. We must remember that there is an unsustainable $750 billion dollar per year current account deficits, enormous federal budget deficits, and a failing economy that continues to fall, deeper and deeper, into a broad downturn. 

The hollowed out economy of the United States of America is no longer efficient enough to sell manufactured goods into the world marketplace, unless its currency is allowed to deeply depreciate. Therefore, this currency intervention cannot continue permanently. Manufacturing for export has been, up until the intervention, the only bright spot in the U.S. economy. The Federal Reserve and its friends are now busy destroying that bright spot, in the interest of helping a few favored banking institutions. Part of the reason for the timing of the current dollar intervention may be a desire to help Lehman Brothers executives sell their company to the Koreans for a nice price. This attitude, however, and the Fed’s consistent actions in favoring some financial institutions over others, permeates Fed thinking, and has led to the current crisis. In the long run, the same thinking will lead to the long term downfall of the U.S. dollar as an international medium of exchange. The abuse of public funds to favor one institution over another is an important reason to shut down the Federal Reserve, permanently.

When the currency intervention ends, a new round of U.S. dollar depreciation will begin. The currency will fall much lower than before. In their turn, gold and silver will rise much higher than anyone is now imagining. Now is an excellent time for dollar holders to unload dollar denominated assets. Those assets will start heavily depreciating when currency intervention ends, and gold and silver will go up. If you buy precious metals now, the world’s central bankers will be paying part of your bill. If you wait, you will have to pay the entire bill yourself, which, simply put, means you will pay a higher price. 

We are currently in a “sweet spot” for buying precious metals, because, as the world’s economy progressively gets into worse condition, and as central banks, all over the world, progressively loosen monetary policy in response, more and more paper money will be chasing the same amount of real goods.

But, let’s get back to the discussion of the 3 perpetrator banks, who wrote all those shorts, right before the dollar began taking off. They probably had inside information about the currency intervention. By taking advantage of it, they achieved several purposes. 

First, by collapsing precious metal pricing, they shell-shocked most “long” futures participants. This allowed the perpetrators to unwind tens of billions, or even hundreds of billions of dollars (when we add the invisible, but much larger, derivative trading world of inter-institutional “dark pools”) worth of short positions that they had written at much higher prices. The unwound positions are much larger than anyone now realizes because they include, not only direct bank assets directly, but, also, off-balance sheet entities – short positions owned indirectly, through controlled entities that are not be formally listed as “banks” inside CFTC’s position papers. 

Second, they were able to carry out their own wishes and that of the politician-economists at the Federal Reserve. There is an ongoing need to suppress gold and silver prices so as to support dollar hegemony. The Fed’s primary dealer system runs a closed show, in which the U.S. dollar must be the dominant world currency. If it loses that status, they lose their ability to profoundly affect and manipulate markets worldwide, including, most importantly, on the American stock market. The Federal Reserve and its client banks do not enjoy unfettered access to unlimited amounts of gold, and the U.S. Treasury no longer holds any silver at all. So, they must settle for inducing heavy crashes, now and again. While this technique cannot stop the rise in value of the monetary metals, nor their inevitable return to the basis of international exchange, it can and does slow that rise. High levels of volatility discourage highly conservative investors from taking large permanent positions in gold and silver, as all financial institutions and people always did, prior to the time that the price became volatile, during less manipulated times. 

Third, and finally, they did what most people do with illegal inside information that can be converted to cash. They made a lot of money by taking very large short positions immediately before a known price crash. Direct profit to their bottom line, not including the unwinding of other short positions, amounted to several billion dollars, at minimum.

Market manipulation is, of course, a felony level offense. We don’t yet know who the perpetrators are, but it is reasonable to assume, from the fact that they were privy to the most sensitive information, that they are very well connected. That is the only way they would have known of the upcoming central bank currency intervention. In all likelihood, therefore, no help will come from the U.S. Justice Department or the CFTC. Some official help, however, might come from some of the more honest and aggressive of the state district attorneys, and/or attorney generals. State based criminal charges could be brought, based upon violation of state blue sky laws, regardless of the refusal of federal authorities to act. For the most part, however, victims will need to lead the charge, possibly with a RICO based civil class action that could include hefty awards of punitive or triple damages. 

Disclosure: Author owns physical gold, holds a long position in GLD & SLV.

This article has 84 comments:

  •  
    Sep 03 12:06 PM
    Its impossible for me to believe the stupidity of those still buying gold and commodities. The bell has rung and the heavens have lit up. ITS OVER!!!

    The bull lasted 8 years and we now are in disinflation with a strengthening dollar. WAKE UP
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 12:10 PM
    The author is clearly a disgruntled gold bug. But I will echo his sentiments to this extent:

    Phony gold is fraud regardless of the apparent strength of the counterparty minting it, and the Comex harms its brand by not policing the abuse; and

    Commodity speculation of any kind is not a suitable activity for FDIC insured banks.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 12:51 PM
    If you lost your life's savings in Enron or Worldcom.....would you say that you were a "disgruntled"... employee? What these banks are doing is ILLEGAL. Concentration is ILLEGAL. Price suppression is illegal. The US Mint not producing enough eagles for the public is ILLEGAL.

    As far as the dollar bull comment. The dollar is strengthening because the ECB is PRINTING MONEY on their central bank computer keyboards and using it to buy US Dollars because Uncle Ben called Trichet and told him to do it or risk a global financial meltdown.

    I just can't get over how people still believe in these silly charts, waves, graphs, TA's. They mean NOTHING. The entire market is rigged and has been rigged since the day Nathan Rothschild took over the LSE after he faked everyone into believing the English lost against Napoleon.

    People are getting exactly what they deserve.....because they allow their gov'ts to permit this type of activity.

    "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and the corporations which grow up around them,will deprive the people of all their property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. - Thomas Jefferson"
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 12:57 PM
    "Its impossible for me to believe the stupidity of those still buying gold and commodities. The bell has rung and the heavens have lit up. ITS OVER!!! "

    Hey all you deflationist out there. I suggest you pull out those $100 bills you've been stuffing under your mattresses and take a close hard look at them. Notice anything different over the last twenty years.

    I'll give you a clue, its in the serial numbers.

    When the serial number on bars of gold start increasing at the same rate as the serial number on the $100USD, I'll call the gold bull over

    Until then enjoy you're paper bonds, stocks and dollars. I guess at the end of the day you'll always have one advantage over us gold bugs. You can always burn your paper notes to keep warm in the winter.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 01:06 PM
    If you think the gold market is manipulated, you should flee from it, not buy more just because you think you have it figured out now. You might as well make a living shorting the penny stocks you hear about in spam and faxes. Had this all been figured out in June, I'd be impressed today, but when prices were rising, there were no complaints. To throw money after something you can't understand until after the fact is mighty risky.

    If you think the gold market is NOT manipulated, you should still flee from it. As dot-com, real estate, China stock, and now commodities investors have recently learned, nothing goes up forever. To expect for anything to do so is naive. If you're lucky, gold might have another 8 - 10 year boom in a couple of decades. In the meantime, it just might appreciate about as much as a money market fund and cost you storage, insurance, etc. fees.

    But it's soooo pretty.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Thank you for bringing attention to this very important topic!! The signs of market manipulation have been clear for some time, but until recently it seemed that corroborating evidence was a difficult hurdle to overcome. I believe that the recent wave of selling has produced some of the best evidence to date, and I hope that mining companies, investors, and other parties interested in ensuring the existence of uncompromised financial markets will unite in pursuit of truth and accountability as they pertain to the inexplicable action in the precious metals markets of late.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 02:21 PM
    How do you join in on the lawsuit? If this gets started websites need to post who and when to contact to join in this.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 02:21 PM
    No less an "in-the-know person", than John Reade, the analyst over at UBS, who has proven to be right, many times before, says that gold buying is now going wild at $800 or so per troy ounce. UBS happens to be the world's largest bullion bank, so they see what the real gold demand is, right now. He is predicting $900 by the end of this month. I'm sure that the manipulators will try to stop that from happening, but, so what?

    The Fed and their client banks don't have unlimited resources. I, however, have unlimited time. I never buy on the foolish futures market, and I will hold my gold, and never sell. It will be inherited by my children. If they keep suppressing precious metals prices, I will buy more.

    If they do keep suppressing the price, at the present rate, they will need real metal to do it, because they will soon run out of weak handed hedge funds to scare. If they are forced to use real metal, then the U.S. and European gold hoards will be reduced quickly, just as they wore out their silver hoards.

    Just as they are forced to use fake-only claims for silver (because no metal is left at Fort Knox), they will also be forced to use fake-only claims for gold.

    Besides, if you avoid a market because you are trading against the government, you couldn't invest in stocks, either. The manipulators not only manipulate gold and silver, but also the stock market. Anyone who thinks, for example, that stocks like Merrill Lynch would naturally surge on earnings report disasters, as they did, back in October, is very foolish indeed. What happened, then, was clearly the plunge protection team at work, trying to prop up ML and Citigroup and its other members share prices. The media reported it as "celebrating the fact that the losses weren't deeper." How stupid can you get. The stock market is obviously manipulated.

    So far, this year, however, in spite of their best efforts to pump up the stock prices of their member firms, C, ML, GS, JPM and all the others have depreciated more than any commodity. PPT member, Bear Stearns, depreciated from $150 per share, almost down to zero, for example. Stockholders were lucky to get $10 per share. At one point, they were only going to get $2. One or two of these big banks will go bankrupt before this credit crisis is over. Even the former Chief Economist of the IMF says so.

    In short, the manipulators are not all-powerful, and they can and do lose. After the lawsuits are launched, and are successful, eventually justice will prevail, a lot of wrongdoers will go to jail, others will pay billions in damages. It will become very difficult to create paper-fake gold and silver, once the rules are enforced.

    So, as far as I can see, if you are looking long term, and don't get sore over the temporary attacks, the future of the precious metals is very bright. Besides, it is only a matter of time before the Fed and other Central Banks realize that gold and silver are not direct threats to paper money unless they cause it to happen with stupid policies of endless money printing. They can increase the value of paper money, honestly, simply by not printing as much. They don't need to attack gold and silver, even though, right now, they apparently think that they do.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    CLH you make the same mistake others make by lumping gold in with commodities. Can you explain why you see gold as a commodity? I don't.

    If gold were a commodity, and not real money, would you be seeing world leaders,past and present worrying like in this video?

    www.youtube.com/watch?...
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 02:53 PM
    Thank you for this great informative article.

    Are there no longer any decent honest people
    left in the USA or the world?

    I hope the Lawyers go after these Firms, Companies,
    People and Government Institutions/Banks etc.

    Hopefully they will all spend along time in jail.

    I believe it was in the 1980's when they found a
    scam/manipulation on Silver that precautions
    would be taken so his kind of thing would never
    happen again. But, when people get greedy they
    will do almost anything for the almighty dollar
    whether it's legal or illegal and to hell with
    anyone else if they get hurt in the long run.


    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 03:20 PM
    What these James Conrad articles say is backed by stronger and stronger facts, it seems. Here is a quote I found, from UBS' Metals Letter, which was published yesterday. UBS is the biggest gold bullion dealer, and, evidently, NOT among the "perps", involved in the precious metals fraud. It is a Swiss bank, not one primarily based in the USA, which may say everything:

    "After claiming last week that our vault staff have been as busy as at any time over the past 20 years, we have had a few requests for data to substantiate this assertion. We cannot show the past 20 years data, but we have collected daily sales to India over the past 18 months. We put together this series to illustrate the recent strength of UBS's gold sales to India.

    Note that we have turned this into an index to maintain confidentiality, but considering that we are one of the top players in selling physical gold to the Indian market, with a good geographical spread of consignment location and overall market share of between 10 and 20% we believe that this is a very representative display of just how strong recent sales have been. At the start of the series, in early 2007, demand was reasonable, but had been so since September 2006. A better description of our sales then was 'sold and steady' rather than 'spectacular': the near-absence of jewellery demand between August 07 and July 08 (apart from a few brief flurries in April and May this year) left the Indian market largely de-stocked, hence the tremendous pick up in demand over the past five weeks following the gold price correction.

    This demand - running at 5-10 times the average of 2007 levels, was not confined to India: note the similarly strong demand reported in the story about demand from Abu Dhabi. We do not, unfortunately, have such good statistics to illustrate non Indian demand. The liquidation seen from the Comex and OTC market was largely absorbed by this physical demand (jewellery and physical investment pieces). Physical demand continues as of Monday with a near-record day of Indian demand prompted by the dollar and crude induced sell-off of the gold price. Yet long liquidation has stopped ceased after a near-record volume of Comex liquidation over the past six weeks as we reported in our Metals' Daily. This combination of heavy long liquidation and stellar physical demand remains the main reasoning behind our strong call in gold (although supported also by a technical view on the dollar from our Technical Strategy colleagues)."

    And, from Reuters:
    Reuters reports that gold sales in Abu Dhabi soared 300 percent in volume and almost 250 percent in value in August from a year earlier…"It was the best month the market has seen in almost 30 years and it compensated for any drops we have seen earlier this year," Abu Dhabi Gold and Jewellery Group Chairman Tushar Patni told Reuters.

    And the demand in Turkey has also surged. Turkey's gold imports jumped by 70 percent in August to 47.2 tonnes, the highest monthly figure ever recorded, data from the Istanbul Gold Exchange (IAB) showed on Tuesday. Bullion imports to Turkey, one of the top three consumers of the metal, shot up compared to 10.7 tonnes in July."

    You can read more detail here:

    www.fxstreet.com/funda...
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 04:10 PM
    If The US Justice system doesn't go along with these suits, which they won't . What is the use in fighting this ? The power elites have control over the money , banks + precious metals. This will not change !i have personally lost over 100,000 because of this + I am severely disabled !
    If you ever believe the government cares about you , forget it , They Don't!
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 04:41 PM
    I don't think they have control over the courts, or the state attorney general's offices. Remember, the manipulators are not the only institutions that have an interest in this. A lot of big investors got burned. Only 3 banks made a fortune off the manipulation. They took most of their money from other members of the monied elite. So, while the Feds may be so intertwined with the 3 corrupt banks that they won't help, there will be a lot of help coming from a lot of powerful people, who had their money stolen.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 06:04 PM
    it's so funny to read CHL' comments! Only difference between him and God is perhaps God doesn't think to be CHL, lol!
    Going to serious issues, bashers on gold are in massive attack just because they take note of the signs of their novicemasterbasher at kitco, providing them ammunitions via dowjones. At this juncture, when everyone thinks that mining sector is doomed, that's exactly the right time for contrarians to take note and act accordingly.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    " while the Feds may be so intertwined with the 3 corrupt banks that they won't help, there will be a lot of help coming from a lot of powerful people, who had their money stolen. "

    Philman - spend the dough to change Washington. When the CFTC is a personal pet to enrich House of Representative members, the SEC is lamed and tamed to do very little to nothing and Justice doesn't exist except for minorities, you have a broken country. The looting will continue until like other times in history the middle class has had enough and has a voter revolution or a physical one. Three times in history the reelection rate dipped below 90%. One of those years was 1933, when about 180 House Reps were voted out of office. It didn't fix the Great Depression, Emporer Hirohito did that, but it ended some of the core corruption baked into the system at the time.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 06:09 PM
    It's good to know that someone is seeking to get some real answers and I suppose the courts are the way to do it though I wonder if it can happen fast enough. I do think buying gold and silver is a wise decision so long as one possesses the actual metal.

    In light of this info with the current debt situation with all the loans that have been paid out and how it effects the economy, I find it all a bit unnerving.

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 08:28 PM
    Those who contest this article are either willfully dismissive or complicit. Morgan Stanley is a perfect example of how so many claiming oh, just another conspiracy, were proved so wrong. Just like the London Gold Pool. Yes price manipulation in markets does exist. The World is not a wonderland Alice.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 09:29 PM
    The cited circumstances do strongly suggest heavy- and clandestine central bank intervention in a quest to underpin the 6 trillion US dollar trove which they hold....a weak and vulnerable asset .
    While none of this activity will ever be proven , the dollar fundamentals have not at all improved .....and the support campaign will not be sustainable ...Gold and silver will rebound to new record highs ...not because they are especially dood ,,,,,but rather because the dollar is inherently so bad ....Only the painful reality of a sharp dollar devaluation can possibly restore order to trade balance
    The USA enjoys an enormous credit line ,,,,but not unlimited !
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 04 12:30 AM
    all games end! paper is a game gold in money
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 04 12:44 AM
    In response to mish
    Endless amounts of points to consider thou,
    1. With out a conspiracy how would you get people to take paper for real goods?
    2. I read 2 articles and they both referred to gold eagles as a novelty?
    3. If Gold/Eagles are a novelty why are there bullion Banks?
    4. 1933 the US made gold illegal to own why? involves a lot of people= conspiracy
    5. As I read you debunking Ted Butler saying there is no conspiracy if I would apply your same analogy you proving Ted wrong doesn’t prove you right on the no conspiracy theory either.
    6. As for 15 Years is a short time in banking terms they loan paper for 30 years. And this paper game is about 700 years old. So you only need a chart with 2 things 1 Gold’s buying power 1oz = x amount of bread loafs, 2 How many times paper money has failed. If your money/paper is only backed by words I would bet there lies. involves a lot of people= conspiracy
    7. Selling or Storing something you don’t have on a large scale taking cash for it and not winding up in jail would involve a lot of people= conspiracy.
    8. Media LOL Next
    9. Education LOL Next
    10. Exchange Rates involves a lot of people= conspiracy
    11. PPT involves a lot of people= conspiracy
    I could go on and on as I am sure you know, my point is Ted Butler may not be totalty correct thou he is at least 50% right there is a conspiracy.
    Remember its what you don’t know or understand that’s gets you “Warren Buffet”
    “me” People all ask me how I am going to get my money out of my gold, I ask them how there going to get there gold out of paper?
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    Sep 04 02:28 AM
    I don't think it will be too hard to tame these manipulators, once people begin to fight back. It is only because people are complacent and some have the attitude of foolish CLH, that they sit back and let the powerful corrupt people abuse them.

    Once things get fully underway, I think it will certainly be possible to put some of them in jail for a long time. Enron's crooks were also very powerful in their day. Here's how I think it will happen.

    The private lawyers will go to court on the "complaint for discovery". It will be titled "In Re: The matter of Gold & Silver Manipulation" or something like that. They will get the judge to order CFTC to hand over names and numbers. In the process, they may need to agree to keep that information confidential for a set period of time. But, we will know the names in short order, because when the actual lawsuit is filed, the lawyers must name the defendants. because

    Then, through a legal process called "discovery", subpeonas, depositions and other legal methods will ferret out the truth, just like in Enron case. Remember, 99.9% of the people who work at these banks are innocent of any wrongdoing. The bad apples are probably no more than 0.01% or less of bank employees. They just happen to have the power to do evil. But, the 99.9% are needed to carry out such frauds, even though they don't know what they are participating in. The 99.9% keep records of what they've done, so it will not be hard to unveil the whole dirty business, once things get underway.

    I think they might even eventually unveil the Federal Reserve for what it really is -- a tool of these bad apples. In the end, when all the evidence has been ferreted out, and the headlines are blaring from every television set, radio, and newspaper, the Federal government will have no choice but to join in, and prosecute. Otherwise, they will be thrown out of office. Besides, most politicians in America are not overtly corrupt. They are usually just very very stupid, and manipulated by corrupt people who contribute to their campaigns. But, they usually don't even realize they are being manipulated.

    Remember, we're talking about America. No matter how corrupt it has become, the founding fathers set up a wonderful system of checks and balances that can be self-renewing. That is our strength in the face of a terrible situation, where such corrupt people have taken control of our nation. But, I believe, now that I know that people are finally starting to take action, that the evildoers will get their comeuppance!
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  •  
    Sep 04 08:58 AM
    WHERE DOES ONE GO TO JOIN THE LAWSUIT?
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    Sep 04 09:02 AM
    So what's new? The PM market just like the stock market has always been manipulated by the big boys. One just has to get on the right side of the trade.

    The government won't prosecute these offenders; just look at the sub-slime credit fraud thieves who are laughing all the way to the bank.
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  •  
    Sep 04 09:03 AM
    Also, EVERYONE, please forward this article to your Senators and Congressmen and DEMAND action against these 'Insiders.'

    You might also include: www.resourceinvestor.c...

    www.investmentrarities...
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    Sep 04 10:47 AM
    CLH represents the "elite idiots " of the world .He or she never has a single fact or piece of data yet they know .I'll bet he owns financial stocks and lost big time and still thinks the bankers are model citizens .To accept corruption of this kind just because your not invested in gold is as selfish and greedy as one can get .If this article is true ,all people should be angry as hell . So if your not , then don't complain the next time it happens to you .
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