Monday, August 6, 2012

Four-Year Silver Probe Set to be Dropped

FT reports:
A four-year investigation into the possible manipulation of the the silver market looks increasingly likely to be dropped after US regulators failed to find enough evidence to support a legal case, according to three people familiar with the situation.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission first announced that it was investigating “complaints of misconduct in the silver market” in September 2008, following a barrage of allegations of manipulation from a group of precious metals investors. 
In 2010, Bart Chilton, a CFTC commissioner, said that he believed there had been “fraudulent efforts” to “deviously control” the silver price.
I have no idea if the silver market has been "manipulated", as I said about the LIBOR "manipulation," there are major players on all sides of these markets and they are all trying to game the system. However, any such gaming would be impossible to do on a long-term basis in a free market. If you are "manipulating" against the free flow of a market, it is going to cost you more money to do so day after day, until you blow yourself up,when other traders figure out what you are up to.

These tales of market manipulations bring to mind what Ludwig von Mises wrote about supposed cattle manipulations:

The socialist authors do not content themselves with depicting the conditions of the victims of capitalism. They also deal with the life and the doings of its beneficiaries, the businessmen. They are intent upon disclosing to the readers how profits come into existence. As they themselves—thank God—are not familiar with such a dirty subject, they first search for information in the books of competent historians. This is what these experts tell them about the “financial gangsters” and “robber barons” and the way they acquired riches:  “He began his career as a cattle drover, which means that he bought farmers’ cattle and drove them to the market to sell. The cattle were sold to the butchers by weight. Just before they got to the market he fed them salt and gave them large quantities of water to drink. A gallon of water weighs about eight pounds. Put three or four gallons of water in a cow, and you have something extra when it comes to selling her.”  In this vein dozens and dozens of novels and plays report the transactions of the villain of their plot, the businessman. The tycoons became rich by selling cracked steel and rotten food, shoes with cardboard soles and cotton goods for silk. They bribed the senators and the governors, the judges and the police. They cheated their customers and their workers. It is a very simple story.
It never occurred to these authors that their narration implicitly describes all other Americans as perfect idiots whom every rascal can easily dupe. The above mentioned trick of the inflated cows is the most primitive and oldest method of swindling. It is hardly to be believed that there are in any part of the world cattle buyers stupid enough to be hoodwinked by it. To assume that there were in the United States butchers who could be beguiled in this way is to expect too much from the reader’s simplicity. It is the same with all similar fables.

18 comments:

  1. JPMORGAN MUST OF PAID FOR THIS ARTICLE THE CTC AND GENSLER ARE ALL SLEPPING TOGETHER

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yea jp moron is on top and gensler is the dumb bitch.

      Delete
  2. The fall in silver corresponded to the rise in the dollar index. Cash is in demand.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "It never occurred to these authors that their narration implicitly describes all other Americans as perfect idiots whom every rascal can easily dupe. The above mentioned trick of the inflated cows is the most primitive and oldest method of swindling."

    This is not similar; the market is rigged by large companies, not individuals; the large companies are in collusion with the government, so the market is not free; and the regulators are part of that same government, so the collusion is not punished (the large companies would blow the whistle on the government, so exposure is not in the government's interest). The only ones who lose - are the small investors / long-position holders, and they have insufficient power to hold the perpetrators accountable.
    This is a case of regulatory capture, those performing the crime own the regulators. Free market assumptions simply don't apply.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is unfortunate that an imbecile with no knowledge is writing this article. If you want to know something about silver manipulation then read Ted Butler. It will make your head explode but at least it'll fill up what is now empty space.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice way to deal with Wenzel's argument.

      Delete
    2. and GATA knows more than anyone about the precious metal manipulation going on

      Delete
  5. So Andrew Maguire was not a trader with inside knoweledge but merely a person who had mastered time travel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. well said, the whole silver market is manipulated mainly by JPMorgan and the author is no doubt on someones payroll who has an axe to grind

      Delete
    2. yep sounds correct
      on a payroll definatley,awful biased brainwashed article full of nonsense and devastating zombie author

      Delete
  6. If they couldn't find evidence it's only because they never looked. GATA has shown beyond any reasonable doubt that the silver market is indeed manipulated. And as far as the companies not loosing any money, did they ever stop to consider that the U.S. government might just have a motive in seeing that JPM and others had the money that they needed to stay in the game?

    ReplyDelete
  7. So the wolves decided that the foxes were not guilty of all the missing chickens from the henhouse eh ? What a surprise !

    ReplyDelete
  8. "The fall in silver corresponded to the rise in the DOLLAR INDEX. Cash is in demand."

    Good one. Measuring crapola against crapola. You want a real measuring stick? Look at the AUD and NZD. They have hardly budged. Let's face it, manipulation exists - whether we agree it is legitimate or not.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Of course the silver mkt is manipulated. As long a s it is good for JPM and the boys, it will be manipulated. Of course the govt likes it that way. Think of all the profit thatr comes from silver eagle coins.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Is it possible the announced trading losses at JPM in May was smoke and mirrors to cease silver manipulation activity? If so then the price of silver should be gaining more traction on its way to a free market price. Looks like it's trying to take off now.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am joining the board...
    Mr Wenzel, I also look forward to reading and learning from
    your works...

    ReplyDelete