JPMorganChase And HSBC Allegedly Manipulated Precious Metal Markets
Silver nugget. Photo: Jurii (CC)
“The conspiracy and scheme was enormously successful, netting the defendants substantial illegal profits” in the billions of dollars … JPMorgan and HSBC together “controlled over 85 percent the commercial net short positions” … William D. Cohan writes in the New York Times:
As Americans know all too well by this point, commodity prices — for corn, wheat, soybeans, crude oil, gold and even farmland — have been going through the roof for what seems like forever. There are many causes, primarily supply and demand pressures driven by fears about the unrest in the Middle East, the rise of consumerism in China and India, and the Fed’s $600 billion campaign to increase the money supply.
Nonetheless, how to explain the price of silver? In the past six months, the value of the precious metal has increased nearly 80 percent, to more than $34 an ounce from around $19 an ounce.…
Utah Approves Gold & Silver Coins As Currency
Via Talking Points:
The Utah House of Representatives has approved a bill that allowing gold and silver coins to be used as currency, though unlike similar bills in other states, it doesn’t force anyone to accept gold or silver as legal tender.
House Bill 317 was introduced by state Rep. Brad Galvez (R) last week, and passed the House by a vote of 47-26. It will now head to the state Senate for a vote.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Galvez explained: “This is a step in preparedness, a step in security that allows us to be able to help hold up our economy as the dollar continues to shrink.”
As TPM has been documenting, there’s been a recent push for gold and silver coins to be used as currency. Georgia state Rep. Bobby Franklin (R) recently reintroduced legislation to force his state to conduct all monetary transactions with U.S. gold or silver coins —…
Gold And Silver Currency May Be Legalized In U.S. States
U.S. 1933 Double Eagle Gold Coin
Anyone who’s been paying attention knows that the United States federal currency has been grossly devalued as the Federal Reserve has been printing paper dollars 24/7 to fund the “stimulus” that’s supposed to end the bleak recession we’ve been stuck in for the last three years (I know, officially it’s over, but tell that to the millions of un- and underemployed people scraping by).
One of the great things about American governance is that the individual states retain a lot of power, so many of them are taking matters into their own hands and planning a reversion to currency that really is worth something: gold and silver. Ralph Benko reports on the trend for the Christian Science Monitor:
Why are so many state legislators beginning to call for issuance of a form of gold money?
The Constitution prohibits states from coining money but allows them to make “gold…
Silver Manipulation By JP Morgan And U.S. Fed?
In yesterday’s New York Times, William D. Cohan refines what was once a confusing and fringe theory about JP Morgan and HSBC’s involvement in silver market manipulation into a very plausible scenario, tying in the cloak and dagger elements of the story with the currently unfolding class action lawsuits in several states.
Once again, the Xtranormal.com platform is being put to good use to elucidate exactly what’s happening:
Each segment has information that I found useful, especially the fact that there is actually no physical silver left in circulation — nice touch. Part II is here and part III available here.
Part IV is here, and after the creators accidentally deleting the original voices, the bear in the overalls is now sounding strangely like John Lennon.
Another source of information and a more detailed breakdown on basic market manipulation and arbitrage is available here. The site that appears to be the sponsor/creators of the Xtranormal videos silvergoldsilver.blogspot.com is less clear, but has information as well…
Can JP Morgan Really Be ‘Crashed’ By Buying Silver?
Max Keiser, financial analyst and host of RT’s Keiser Report, and Texas radio host Alex Jones are telling their listeners and fans to buy silver. Ostensibly the reason is to destroy the value of the JP Morgan bank. The cynic in me wonders if Alex and Max have an existing position in silver that they’d like to see increase in value. Anyone have any real insight?
According to Keiser, the goal of the “Crash JP Morgan – Buy Silver!” campaign is to force JP Morgan to cover its negative bets…
Gold Posts Biggest One-Day Loss Since 2008
You can almost predict the oft-repeated explanations the pundits offer up every time the precious metals behave irresponsibly.
- The trouble with being a contrarian is that you can never be quite contrarian enough. We began having doubts about the ‘feds inflate…gold soars’ hypothesis last year. It was too easy…too obvious. And if it were that easy to inflate a nation’s currency, how come the Japanese couldn’t get the hang of it in the ’90s?
- Inflation, yes…but not for a while. And gold? Well, we are in it for the long run. In the short run, anything could happen.
- To clarify our view on gold, The Daily Reckoning is not bearish on the metal. It is not bullish on the metal either. It is buggish. We are gold bugs. In the long run, gold will retain its value. Since that’s all we ask of it, we are always satisfied. Even if it is down…
Silver, But No Silver Lining
By Robert Singer
The end of our consumer society is on the horizon, which should be no surprise to anyone who took Economics 101. Do we really expect to spend our way out of this mess by buying and selling each other useless cheap stuff from China?
As the financial collapse gathers steam, gold and silver oracles like Butler, Friedman, Morgan and Turk who have been predicting for years the launch of the price of silver to the moon will see their prophecy fulfilled, but a celebration is not in order.
Being wealthy during the last 60 years of unprecedented prosperity at the expense of the Third World and the environment is one thing, but profiting from a bull market in silver when millions of hungry Americans are living in tent-cities next door is quite another.
A default at the Comex that will ignite the explosion in the price of silver and gold is…
