The Mainstream Grapples With The Last Manipulated Asset Class

There is something rather absurd about the ever-so-slightly loosening death grip that the mainstream financial media has around the issue of precious metals price manipulation. The painfully reluctant (and largely incomplete) reports on the subject have fueled a series of seemingly derivative-like conspiracies.

It's not as if the issue is really that complicated. Therefore, it must be part and parcel - an extension of the mechanism. Perhaps the hope is that partially educating or entertaining the masses, followed by rebuttals from a string of authorities, would put the issue to bed? But clearly, it cannot be that complex. 

Most precious metals investors and market observers have been somewhat caught off guard by the strange emergence of more than a few stories devoted to precious metals price manipulation occurring in the mainstream financial press of late. 

Media outlets including The Financial Times of London, Bloomberg News, The London Evening Standard, and Handesblatt are but a few. While handling of the issues was somewhat impressive, they were very much incomplete. The Financial Times, perhaps the largest and most influential, decided to pull its version soon after it published. Apparently, it felt like it needed to re-evaluate the issue, though it made no official comment.

Perhaps it is inevitable that these organizations, like so many other large and complex entities, are unable to fully manage their content. But that's another conspiracy.

Most of you are familiar with the core issues. It would take approximately 15 minutes to explain and demonstrate to a well-trained financial journalist the conspiracy facts surrounding precious metals price manipulation. It is the same management that occurs every day in all directions, intended for profit and to control the rate of interest, perception of currencies, and the value of money.

They would be interested and well-versed in the data clearly implicating a basic trading structure that is manipulative by definition and by law. These organizations would certainly have someone in-house to create some graphics to go along with this.

An interested journalist might also understand something about high-frequency trading or spend a few moments delving into the mechanisms used to move prices in practically every market. They could interview NANEX if they needed some graphics to go along with that.

Better yet, it seems a bit irresponsible to have ignored the vast archives created by the Gold Antitrust Action Committee (GATA) or the constant commentary from its officers who ask the questions for them. Certainly, they Google "Ted Butler" and read one article from 20 years ago outlining the mechanism that is alive and well today, as this is typed and read. Even better, they could call them up or send them email for comment.

It wouldn't be a stretch for the curious and aspiring journalist's imagination to review the details of the most investigated market of all markets - the COMEX silver market, self-regulated (of course) by the for-profit CME - who would also be thrilled with a call requesting comment.

It would be easy to cherry pick days where, say, 50 percent of global silver production was sold in 36 hours.  And much of it sold while everyone was asleep.  Think of the headlines they could generate!

Maybe the CFTC would be willing to throw another celebrity into the spotlight? This time they could have them explain that the combined budgets of the CFTC, SEC, and DOJ pale in comparison to that of the main instigator and right arm of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Therefore, while they see clearly that gold and silver are managed - just like FOREX, equities, LIBOR, and government bonds - it is just too big an issue to prosecute because it risk disrupting....

Overnight, investors would awaken from their hypnosis. Return of capital would quickly replace return on investment. Whichever particular news organization that allowed an accurate rendering would become a social media content darling - earning massive traffic, clicks, and revenue for itself and it's advertisers; perhaps also freeing itself from  dependency on said influence and, therefore, becoming closer to what once was a free press.

But seriously...

As fascinating as it is to observe journalists struggling to paint a picture of an issue that is incredibly basic and available for almost anyone who has with even tangential interest, it is also a sad reflection of how the issue will ultimately be resolved.

History teaches us the lesson over and over. Control of the money invariably leads to abuse of power. The power expands unnaturally and destroys the money. All of the financial system bloat and insolvency we see today is the modern version of this. It can suffocate and nearly destroy a functioning economy and, sadly, take many innocents along with it.

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