David Schectman

I'd call the explanation most widely given for Friday's price smash, a reaction to the monthly employment report, comical---except there is nothing funny about price manipulation. I say that because there is no economic report that I can think of that should have less bearing on the price of gold and silver than this report. Yes, I know the employment report impacts many markets, including currencies, and that in turn can be said to effect gold and silver.

But that's absurd when you realize the main movers of the gold and silver prices, certainly on Friday, were the technical funds on the COMEX and they rely exclusively on mechanical price signals and not on published economic data for trading decisions. What the reaction to the employment report does do is provide a cover story and explanation for those who refuse to acknowledge that gold and silver prices are set by positioning on the COMEX. The good news is that the changes in positioning indicated in the new COT report and extrapolating for the prospective changes since the Tuesday cutoff are now flashing bullish signals. - Silver analyst Ted Butler

I may be a "charlatan" and "quack" to quote the vernacular of Traitor Dan but I'm still waiting for a plausible explanation for silver opening lower 83.5% of the time on the 6:00 PM access trade open over 3 years, and 97% of the time for most of 2014. To paraphrase Forrest Gump "asinine is as asinine does" and don't let facts get in the way. - LeMetropole Caf�

The bottom line issue in all of the above analysis is the fact that the CME permits JP Morgan to aggressively short paper silver in order to drive down the price and then turn around and aggressively take delivery of physical silver at a price which has been artificially manipulated a lot lower than it would be if the CME, CFTC, SEC and Justice Department enforced the rules that are in place to prevent market manipulation. Yet, the market manipulation in Comex silver is by far the most blatant and extreme in the history of all markets. - Dave Kranzler

Featured Articles

LeMetropole Caf� (Gold can move a good deal higher, with a strong dollar. Look at what it did this January. But, it cannot move up if The Gold Cartel and their allies are determined to take the price down.) (Month to date, JP Morgan has taken down 54% of total silver deliveries for its own account. Clearly JPM is accumulating physical silver. The question is, "why?") (JP Morgan's Giant Silver Fraud)

Ed Steer (We're certainly within spitting distance of the bottom---and I would guess that virtually all the damage will be done by the end of the week.) (Link to three interesting articles) (Links to five critical reads)

Bill Holter

CHARLIE BROWN AND HIGHER INTEREST RATES...

March 11, 2015

Do you remember how Lucy always pulled the football each time Charlie Brown tried to kick it?  To this day, he's fallen on his rear end and every time while Lucy just snickers.  This is exactly what the Federal Reserve has done since late 2009.  If you recall, we heard about "green shoots" in the economy and "recovery" has been the watch word ever since.  The one word you have not heard and certainly not seen is "expansion".

You see, the real economy has never recovered and no matter how massaged or fudged the economic reports are, they cannot be altered enough to show genuine "expansion" when you scrape off the gold plating.  The Lucy/Charlie brown game has been "the Fed will raise rates later this year" ...each and every year for the last five.  They are walking a tightrope where the ugly reality must be polished feverishly but not so much so that markets demand a rate hike.

The following chart (courtesy of friend M. Stevens) was generated directly from the St. Louis Fed website so what we will talk about today is directly from Federal Reserve data.

After glancing at this chart, does anything stand out to you?  What immediately stood out because it is in picture form is the inverse direction of interest rates and total debt.  I of course knew this and so probably did you, but as they say ...a picture is worth a thousand words.  The inverse relationship began back in the 1980's and becomes obvious by 1990, but why?  The answer to this is the very same answer as to why the Fed can NEVER ever raise rates again but we'll get to that shortly. 

Briefly explaining "how we got here", the Fed has been forced several times to drastically lower interest rates since 1980.  We had the crash of 1987, the S and L crisis in the early 90's, the dotcom bust in 2000-2001 and of course the real estate crash/great financial crisis of 2007-2009.  Each one of these booms which led to the bust were "conceived" by the lowered rates employed to alleviate the previous bust.  In other words, the tonic (lower rates) used to fix the current problem has each time led to a future crisis ...until here we are at effectively zero percent interest rates.

I know you are thinking "but I already knew this".  Do you believe the Fed knew this as they were doing it?  I believe the answer is an absolute YES!  "Yes" because they can do math as well as anyone else.   They realized the deficits which really began to swell in the 1980's would lead to an overall debt level so high that nearly any positive interest rate would be unpayable!  Think about the math for a moment, here we are at close to $20 trillion public debt, what will happen if the Fed raises rates to even 4%?  We will be paying interest of $800 billion per year?  How about the unheard of level of 7%?  Do you see the math here?  After paying the interest, what will be left to run, much less improve the country?  Rates have been lowered to zero not to save the real economy but to make the federal debt a manageable budget item!  Don't get me wrong, I understand the lower rates have also enabled the banking system to remain breathing and so far the derivatives blasting cap from going off.  The prime reason for these lower interest rates no matter what anyone tells you ...is so the interest on the federal debt is "affordable".

The purpose in my mind for showing you this chart is because interest rates are now just beginning to creep up on Treasury securities.  I am sure as we always have, soon hear, "higher interest rates will kill gold and silver".  Without going into a full writing on this, it simply is not true.  Interest rates did nothing but go higher during the 1970's when by 1980 gold traded up to $850 and silver $50.  What killed gold and silver were 15-20% interest rates competing with and popping the frothy bubbles.  You must understand this, America could "afford" these higher rates back then because we were not already leveraged up.  Corporations weren't leveraged, neither were individuals.  The Treasury was not highly leveraged with well less than $2 trillion, and derivatives had barely been invented yet.  The U.S. simply cannot "afford" higher interest rates today.

My point is this, we may actually get higher interest rates put upon us by the market place but not by the Fed.  Will the Fed raise rates even one quarter of one percent?  Doubtful but it is possible.  I believe were we to see even a one quarter point rise in official rates, our financial markets will implode in less than a week's time.  Higher rates will throw the $1 quadrillion+ derivatives market so far offside, the credit freeze up in late 2008 will not even be an appetizer but mere crackers to the main dish we will be served. 

On Monday we wrote about Allen Greenspan and Lord Rothschild speaking of "risk" and how higher interest rates will pummel PE ratios.  Higher interest rates (or even the expectation of higher rates) will kill everything.  Stocks, bonds (obviously), make current pricing on real estate unaffordable, derivatives will blow up and destroy banks (brokers etc.) balance sheets ...and last but not least show the U.S. Treasury as insolvent and unable "afford" the debt service.

To close, you will notice I used the word "afford" several times and tried to emphasize it with quotation marks.  I did this for a reason.  While we were not as a nation (world) very highly leveraged in the 1970's, we are now.  We still had the ability to borrow back then, we no longer do.  The world has reached what I originally termed "debt saturation" levels back in 2007.  (As a side note, the flip side of debt saturation also normally means a lack of unencumbered collateral which is also the case today).  Waiting for the Fed to raise rates or you being afraid of these higher rates knocking the prices of gold and silver down are like Charlie Brown thinking he will finally get to kick the football! 

The above said, this does not mean a bond rout cannot or will not happen.  U.S. Treasury bonds have been seen as "safety" during most all of our lifetimes and for good reason for many years.  This is no longer mathematically true.  The U.S. Treasury has more need for borrowings than the collective world wishes to purchase.  Were it not for the Fed (and BOJ and ECB), sovereign treasury securities would be going "un bid" at these current yields.  Instead, these central banks are bidding bond prices into negative yield territory, a truly senseless exercise and one that will blow up in our collective faces.  Were the Fed to announce any tightening no matter how small, our financial markets will be unrecognizable within a week's time in my opinion ...IF, they even remain open!  

Regards,  Bill Holter

GREXIT GUARANTEED!

March 11, 2015 

Fifty years ago this weekend, the first U.S. Marines landed in Vietnam; the result of the so-called Gulf of Tonkin attacks - that in hindsight, were likely just as fraudulent as the Bush Administration's claims that not only did Iraq possess weapons of mass destruction, but directly funded the 9/11 attacks. I've spent two decades reading about the horrors of Vietnam, and truly believe it was this fool's errand, initiated by sociopaths with little regard for the value of human life, that truly marked the beginning of the end of the American empire. By the time the last Marines ignominiously left ten years later, 58,000 American troops were dead, 300,000 were wounded, and the war was lost. Meanwhile, Communism never took over the world as advertised by the propagandists; and care of massive war spending requirements, the U.S. abandoned the gold standard in 1971, sentencing countless billions - present and future - to death by inflation. And worst of all, when our soldiers returned after a decade of horrifying war - many of them disabled and traumatized - they were treated as criminals and outcasts by an ungrateful government, and society at large. And thus, let's all take a minute to salute not only our Vietnam veterans, but the countless hundreds of millions that sacrificed their lives for causes real and fabricated, throughout the course of history.

That said, let's get back to the incurable financial trauma caused by said gold standard abandonment. Which, by the way, should decidedly NOT be blamed solely on the Nixon Administration. And no, I'm not just referring to Lyndon Johnson's budget-busting "guns and butter" spending, but the fact that all Bretton Woods signees sat back and allowed the U.S. to renege on its obligations - based on the same selfish political reasons. In other words, it was a group effort to inflict future generations with inflationary cancer; and thus, all the world's "leading" Central bankers are to blame.

As for said "cancer," it has clearly metastasized throughout the entire world; not coincidentally, entering its terminal stage shortly after the global financial system permanently broke in 2008. More specifically, it was the mid-2011 "global meltdown II" - when European sovereign bonds collapsed, and the U.S. was stripped of its triple-A rating - that catalyzed the real money printing explosion - yielding a torrent of Western inflation exportation that has caused the average global currency to plunge by 40% since. Or in the case of the "fragile five" nations, where a quarter of the world's population resides, their average currency collapse has been closer to 50% - and counting. Not only that, the monetary tsunami - which frankly, started at the turn of the century, when the global economy peaked - was accompanied by the invention of financial "weapons of mass destruction" - like derivatives - that have caused just as much damage as the military, if not more. And no, it's no coincidence that the Glass Steagall Act was repealed in 1999, coinciding with the financial sector commandeering Congress with lobbying rivaled only by the defense and healthcare sectors.

Combined, said money printing and financial engineering has created a virulent, cancerous combination of inflation and deflation that cannot, and will not, be stopped until history's largest, most global fiat Ponzi scheme eventually implodes; which we assure you, it will, just as all 599 previous fiat currency regimes have. In "the direst prediction of all," we discussed how these two vitriolic forces combined to create historic industrial overcapacity that will unquestionably yield massive deflationary pressures for years - if not decades - to come. And as for monetary inflation, "QE to Infinity," on a worldwide basis, is mathematically guaranteed. To wit, 21 separate Central banks have lowered interest rates since year-end alone - and given the rapid pace of global economic collapse, and nuclear acceleration of the "final currency war," we could not be surer that this is just the beginning.

Regarding the former, we can't help but fixate on the ridiculously obvious launch of the new "oil PPT" last month - which relentlessly supports paper oil prices in a manner as blatant, and heavy-handed, as the gold Cartel suppresses paper Precious Metals. This (Monday) morning alone, it has on three separate occasions attempted to push WTI crude above the key psychological level of $50/bbl; but each time failed; as unlike the tiny, opaque gold and silver markets, crude oil markets are as large as they are transparent. In other words, whilst PM investors are kept in the dark about gold and silver inventories and flows (aided by fraudulent Central bank accounting rules); and supposed Precious Metal "experts" publish at best misinformation, and at worst propaganda of the true supply/demand balance; crude oil supply, demand, and inventories could not be more transparent. Not to mention, when the Baltic Dry Index plunges to an all-time low, and tankers visibly sit in the Gulf of Mexico seeking ports to offload unwanted crude cargoes.

Better yet, the paper buying machinations of said "oil PPT" are causing massive distortions the entire market can see - and understand - as discussed here and here. In a nutshell, physical crude oil supply is swamping paper buying as we speak, making it likely that our expectation of a renewed oil price plunge commences shortly. And given that plunging crude is just as powerful an "Achilles Heel" of the TPTB's attempts to maintain the status quo as rising gold and silver prices, don't be surprised if the "end game" of collapsing economic confidence - and currencies - accelerates dramatically. We weren't kidding when we said "crashing oil prices portend unspeakable horrors" - even for low-cost producers; and the scariest part of all, is that we wrote that article back in mid-October, when WTI crude was still $83/barrel.

Of course, plunging crude prices are a trivial matter compared to the epidemic of collapsing currencies we predicted more than a year ago - yielding political, economic, financial, and social havoc the world round. And nowhere more so than in Europe, as a whopping 550 million people currently use the Euro, or currencies "pegged" to it. Let alone, the countless billions whose economic fates are tied to a healthy Europe; and of course, supposedly "TBTF" financial institutions with soon-to-be defaulted PIIGS loans. To that end, it is nearly two years since I espoused "I have ZERO doubt that - one way or the other - Greece will eventually exit the EuroZone; potentially, providing the 'flash point' catalyzing the END of the Western banking system; and with it, FINANCIAL ARMAGEDDON." And here we are in March 2015, despite Mario Draghi's best "whatever it takes" efforts, on the cusp of the end of the Euro.

Two weeks ago, I said the Greek "deal" was not a deal at all, but a pathetic ruse that "not only didn't fix anything, but barely kicked the can a few feet." Well, those few feet have apparently been used up already; as this weekend, the "countdown to Grexit" accelerated dramatically - to the point that it won't be long before the entire world realizes not only its inevitability, but imminence. Given that Greece now appears likely to run out of funds within a week, with the Greek populace on the verge of revolution, it is entirely possible said "Grexit" occurs by month's end; let alone, the so-called four month extension period granted in last week's supposed "deal."

If you recall, said extension was contingent on "troika" - now "institution" - approval of Greek financial reform proposals; which comically, were hastily, ambiguously written by the Eurogroup itself, in a desperate eleventh hour attempt to avoid Greek default. Well, it's barely a week later, and Greece has finally presented some actual details; which, as it turns out, are so comically childish, ECB governing council member Luc Coene said this weekend, "when I hear certain declarations of the Greek government, I ask myself 'what are they still doing in this mechanism'?" Let alone, another Eurozone official's claim that "it's quite hilarious, if it were not so tragic, that this is what a government in an industrialized country comes up with." Such as, for instance, a Greek proposal to hire foreign tourists to act as wired "tax spies."

Consequently, it is all but assured said proposals will be rejected at today's Eurogroup meeting, yielding a very real possibility that Greece will not receive a scheduled $7 billion bailout payment; and thus, debt default by week's end. And no, it certainly didn't help the situation that Greece's Interior Minister, whilst submitting such proposals, claimed "we are war with our lenders - but in this war, we won't proceed like happy scouts ready to follow bailout policies."

Worse yet, both Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis this weekend suggested - or better put, threatened - electoral referendums to resolve said issues, including a potential referendum regarding Euro currency membership itself. That is, if angry Syriza followers don't overthrow Tspiras first, paving the way for the neo-Nazi "Golden Dawn" party to take power. In other words, in the words of ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure, "time is running short for Greece"; and likely, the Euro currency experiment itself, as it becomes painfully clear that the horrifying political, economic, and financial specter of "Grexit" is guaranteed. Or, at the least, the post-2011 "eye of the storm" created by Mario Draghi's "whatever it takes" policies of unprecedented money printing, market manipulation, and propaganda. Ironically, "whatever it takes" to save the Euro involves diluting it with trillions of freshly printed units; and more ironically, ECB QE hasn't even started yet. Yes, it is actually scheduled to start today, after the Euro has already plunged to an eleven year low.

And last but not least, we can't emphasize enough what we have long written of the supposed "strong dollar" - which is only rising due a "flight to liquidity" by a world rife with fear that that the "big one" has arrived. Contrary to propagandists' claims that a soaring dollar index is "PM bearish" - which we long ago quantitatively disproved - the unabashed currency debasement of the Euro and Yen could not be more PM bullish. In fact, we deem such currency volatility and debauchery the "single most Precious Metal bullish factor imaginable."   To that end, using an extreme example, "if a nuclear bomb destroyed Europe" - thus, causing the Euro to go to zero, and the dollar index to infinity - do you think it would be gold and silver bearish, or bullish?

PROTECT YOURSELF, and do it NOW!

Call Miles Franklin at 800-822-8080, and talk to one of our brokers.  Through industry-leading customer service and competitive pricing, we aim to EARN your business.

LeMetropole Caf�

Talk about terrible market action. Gold headed for oblivion last night, dropping to $1153. Then, as it did twice last week, the price made a U-turn to the upside, surging back to $1170. But, just like last Tuesday and Thursday, that rally was stuffed. It wasn't long before the price was back below $1160. Silver was just blah.

The noise today featured the dollar, which continues to surge, rising nearly a point this morning. Whether valid or not, the talk is about how good our economy is and how bad it is elsewhere. The talk here is about when interest rates are going to go up, while Europe is featuring negative interest rates and more QE. King Dollar it is.

Gold can move a good deal higher, with a strong dollar. Look at what it did this January. But, it cannot move up if The Gold Cartel and their allies are determined to take the price down. Part of that determination was setting up the worst technical picture imaginable, one that is very attractive to hedge funds and managed funds who want to short the market. This allows The Gold Cartel forces to gradually cover their positions on the way down.

What else could be said on a day like this? Leave it to James Mc to come through with some goodies...

Ostriches on Parade

Bill

It seems gold bashing has become downright fashionable lately. The usual ostrich crowd has been on parade in all of their obtuse glory. In addition newbie gold bashers like Traitor Dan have arrived on the scene in an attempt to out-asinine the Holy Grail of asinine, Mr. Jeffrey Christian himself. To the gold bashing crowd trite condescension is always the response when faced with factual data and irrefutable proof. It's worth noting that I didn't get a single reply, let alone a single explanation from any denialist for my MOAMOPE essay. I may be a "charlatan" and "quack" to quote the vernacular of Traitor Dan but I'm still waiting for a plausible explanation for silver opening lower 83.5% of the time on the 6:00 PM access trade open over 3 years, and 97% of the time for most of 2014. To paraphrase Forrest Gump "asinine is as asinine does" and don't let facts get in the way.

I'm going to go out on my charlatan limb and revue how utterly insane the paper vs. precious metal markets have become. Anybody clamoring about gold being grossly overvalued right now should consider these FACTS:

* The gold/Dow ratio is currently 15.30-1. As we know it has been as low as 1-1, and even more recently as low as 6-1. At 6-1 gold would be $3,000, and at a 1-1 ratio gold would be $18,000.

* The silver/gold ratio is currently 74-1. Historic ratios show 16-1 is closer to a fair ratio when mining costs are considered. At 16-1 silver should be $73.10. If gold were $3,000 silver would be $187.50. If gold were $18,000 silver would be $1,125 an ounce at its historic 16-1 ratio, very close to the current price of gold.

* The corn/Dow ratio is currently 4,639/1. Up to the 1980's the ratio was closer to 500-1. One Dow unit will currently buy 4,639 bushels of corn, or approximately the entire yield for 27 acres.

* The lumber/Dow ratio is currently 63/1. Up to the 1980's it had been between 10-1 and 4-1. One Dow unit will currently buy 63,000 board feet of SPF framing lumber, or 2 entire truckloads.

* The hog/Dow ratio is currently 27,692/1. A range of 5,000/1 to 12,000/1 has been the norm. One Dow unit will currently buy 27,692 pounds of pork, or 13.85 tons.

Never in history has so much worthless paper bought so much fruit of hard labor. Charles Ponzi himself would blush at the utter mania of derivative-based manipulation. I'll leave it up to history, and not Traitor Dan to decide who the charlatans were. Suffice to say with gold at $1,170 an ounce the only "quacks" to be found are coming from ostriches so desperate to be heard.

James Mc

JP Morgan's Giant Silver Fraud

March 10, 2015

In order to figure out what the elitists are going to do next in order to loot wealth from our system, all you have to do is think like a criminal. - Dave Kranzler, circa 2004

The Comex open interest for May silver (the current "front month" contract for Comex silver) is 535.6 million ounces. The current amount of 'registered" silver - silver that has been designated as available to be delivered - is 68.8 million ounces (LINK). The amount of paper silver for just May is thus 7.78x greater than the amount of physical silver available for delivery. In other words, for every ounce of physical silver held in Comex silver vaults that has been declared available for delivery, there are 7.78 ounces of paper silver issued. The paper short interest in May silver is 778% greater than the amount of physical silver available to be delivered, according to Comex records.

Never in the history of any commodity on any commodity futures exchange in the world has the ratio of paper to actual physical been even remotely close to this out of whack. Suffice it to say that silver is the most manipulated market in the history of the financial markets. While most of us already know this based on observation, the actual data as reported by the Comex confirms the observation.

Interestingly, JP Morgan has taken delivery of 4.7 million ounces of silver for its "house" account (LINK). This would be JP Morgan's propriety in-house account:

The graphic above shows the month-to-date delivery notices for the Comex silver 5,000 oz. contract. I highlighted the line entry for JPM. The "H" means JP Morgan's "House" account and the "S" means "Stopped." This line entry tells us that JPM has taken delivery of 936 contracts worth of silver, or 4.68 million ounces. The "stopped" silver represents silver that JP Morgan is receiving based on the long position in its house account. You see from the line just above that JP Morgan has not "Issued" any delivery notices from its house account. Month to date, JP Morgan has taken down 54% of total silver deliveries for its own account. Clearly JPM is accumulating physical silver. The question is, "why?"

What makes this more interesting is the fact that JP Morgan also happens to be, by far, the largest portion of the short interest on the Comex. Based on the most recent COT report (LINK), the total "commercial" short interest is 89,361 contracts. Unfortunately, the Comex position reporting is prohibitively opaque in that it prevents us from seeing the breakdown of individual firm long/short positions. However, using just "pro rata" analysis, I have estimated that JPM's pro rata share of the commercial short position is around 24,000 contracts (JP Morgan's silver vault has 39.2 million total ounces, which is 27% of the total amount of the 178 million ounces of silver reported in Comex vaults).

This "pro rata" attribution gives JP Morgan the benefit of assuming that its share of the trading is "pro rata." Most of us have reason to believe that JP Morgan's share of trading and of the short interest is far higher than just "pro rata." But, having said that, based on the numbers we have, we can estimate that JP Morgan is short 120 million ounces of paper silver (24k contracts x 5,000 ozs per contract). Against 8.5 million ounces of silver in its registered account, this means that JP Morgan is short 14 ounces of paper silver for every ounce of silver in its registered account.

The bottom line issue in all of the above analysis is the fact that the CME permits JP Morgan to aggressively short paper silver in order to drive down the price and then turn around and aggressively take delivery of physical silver at a price which has been artificially manipulated a lot lower than it would be if the CME, CFTC, SEC and Justice Department enforced the rules that are in place to prevent market manipulation. Yet, the market manipulation in Comex silver is by far the most blatant and extreme in the history of all markets.

Circling back to my quote at the top, the Comex is one of the most corrupted criminal enterprises operating in this country. Given the nominal amount of dollars involved, it makes any of the endeavors of the Mafia look petty by comparison. JP Morgan is being allowed by our Government - which has rules in place to prevent this - to drive down the price of silver on the Comex using fraudulent paper silver and then turn around and accumulate millions of ounces for its own proprietary account.

In applying my "think like a criminal" theorem to the situation with JP Morgan's silver activity on the Comex, I came to the conclusion about a year ago that, more than likely, a couple of these big bullion banks that appear to be catastrophically short paper gold and silver have actually been accumulating a lot of physical gold and silver that is being safe kept at the large new gold/silver depositories in Singapore and Hong Kong.

When the time comes when the hedge funds who are holding the long side of the huge paper short positions held by JP Morgan, HSBC and Scotia, ask for delivery of the metal represented by those contract, the little known "force majeure" clause buried in Comex metal contracts will enable these banks to settle with printed U.S. monopoly paper.

Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account, which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it becomes, marked: 'Account overdrawn.' - from Francisco's "money speech" in "Atlas Shrugged."

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Ed Steer

We're certainly within spitting distance of the bottom---and I would guess that virtually all the damage will be done by the end of the week.  A reader asked me on the weekend if it was a good idea to buy at the moment---and I told her that it might be wise.   I'll certainly be buying more physical silver this week---and probably today, although this U.S. dollar is making life difficult here in Canada, as it is in every country on Planet Earth right now.

Despite the huge rally in the dollar index, precious metal prices certainly want to rise, but are just as obviously not being allowed to.  When will this all end, you ask?  Beats me, but there is a limit to how low precious metal prices can go regardless of what the dollar does, so we just have to wait it out.

Here's the 3-year U.S. Dollar Index chart courtesy of stockcharts.com, so you can see the insanity for yourself.  Don't forget to add about 75 basis points to what you see here.

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Critical Reads

Ed Steer --- Gold Manipulation: The "London Bias" -- 1970 to 2014

GATA board member Ed Steer, editor of Casey Research's Gold and Silver Daily letter, published a detailed report yesterday on the suppression of gold prices in the London market for most years from 1970 through last year even as world gold prices were rising generally.

After presenting a chart of the price suppression, Steer writes:

"The overt market price suppression of the 1960s during the days of the London Gold Pool turned into the covert price-suppression scheme you see here. For those looking for the proverbial smoking gun of the gold price management scheme, it's staring them in the face in this one chart."

"And without doubt, it was -- and still is -- being carried out by the covert and collusive actions of organizations such as the Bank for International Settlements, the Federal Reserve, the Exchange Stabilization Fund, and the U.S. Treasury Department. I'm sure it would be safe to include, at times, the central banks of England, France, Germany, and perhaps Switzerland. In recent years it may also have come to include the People's Bank of China."

Well, dear reader, if I wrote it, then it has to be an absolute must read---right?  I feel that it is, but you be the judge.

******** 

Mike Kosares: Will the Shanghai fix fix the gold market?

China's new involvement in the London gold market and its opening of a physical gold exchange in Shanghai may be meant less to bust the Western paper gold racket than to facilitate the flow of Western gold to Asia that is already underway, USAGold proprietor Michael Kosares writes today.

"I see China's latest forays in the international gold market as an attempt to fuse with and influence the current market structure rather than circumvent or supersede it," Kosares writes. "China, in my view, seeks synthesis, not antithesis, and though some might be disappointed in the strategy, I see it as bracing for gold's future and even more bullish for gold in the long run than a policy of confrontation. By taking its seat at the gold-pricing table, China inadvertently will act as a proxy for gold coin and bullion owners all over the world."

Kosares' commentary is headlined "Will the Shanghai Fix Fix the Gold Market?" and it was posted on the usagold.com Internet site yesterday.

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Lawrence Williams: Knives are out for gold and silver - again

The gold price daily trading pattern has been interesting of late. Up until late last week virtually every day saw the gold price driven up by Asia and then taken back down on European open to levels broadly maintained through the remainder of the Western day - and then perhaps trending down a little in the U.S. late in the day, for the same pattern to repeat the next day. Then on Friday, following the latest, and we have to say statistically dubious (as ever) U.S. non-farm payroll figures - which seem to have conveniently totally ignored the big January and February layoffs in the oil and gas sector - the gold price plunged, and silver along with it. This morning Asia has again taken prices up a little but it remains to be seen how far this rebound will go given the seemingly concerted campaign against precious metals prices.

Already the knives are out for gold with bank analysts beginning to fall over themselves to downgrade their near-term gold price forecasts. And where gold goes silver will follow. The latest to do so is ANZ Bank, which is looking for gold to test the $1,100 level by July. As we have so often noted here before many of the bank analysts are highly reactive to spot prices in their forecasts, which can thus move up and down, like a yo-yo.

This commentary by Lawrie, which also includes an intensive discussion of China's gold demand so far this year, showed up on the mineweb.com Internet site at 2:38 p.m. GMT yesterday afternoon---and I thank Dan Lazicki for sending it.  It's certainly worth reading.

Zero Hedge

White House Admits "Strong Dollar Is Headwind For Growth" As Greenback Surges At Fastest Pace In 34 Years

Submitted by Tyler Durden

Forget 2013's "taper tantrum", FX markets are roiling over a full-blown "rate-hike-rage" as the USD Index surges to a new 12 year high, rising 23% in the last 8 months - the fastest surge since 1981. Not only is this dramatically bad for the US equity earnings picture but the carnage being unleashed across developed and emerging market currencies is almost unprecedented. Despite reassurance from The Fed that a strengthening dollar is positive for US jobs, The White House has now issued a statement that a "strengthening USD is a headwind for US growth."

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The De-Dollarization Axis: China Completes SWIFT Alternative, May Launch As Soon As September

Submitted by Tyler Durden

Following a year of threats that the west would kick Russia out of SWIFT, Moscow finally took the plunge and created its own international payment system alternative. And now, seeing how easy and fast it can be done, here comes China next with its own "China International Payment System" or CIPS, as one after another major global powers wave goodbye to a dollar-based, Washington-controlled (and NSA-supervised) international funds-transfer protocol. One that no longer relies on the US Dollar.

Alan Greenspan Warns Of Explosive Inflation: "Tinderbox Looking For A Spark"

Submitted by Tyler Durden

Greenspan believes that in five years gold will be "measurably higher" than current levels because of the excess liquidity that will eventually be released into the open market. Such an event will undoubtedly lead to riots across America as the general public, woefully unprepared for rapidly rising prices when the pin finally pops the dollar bubble, loses access to affordable critical supplies like food, gas and other resources. The collapse of the dollar, inevitability suggested by Alan Greenspan, will be a game changer that results in the quadrupling of the cost of living for the average American.

How The World Is Being Fooled About Chinese Gold Demand

Submitted by Tyler Durden

There is a story being told to the masses about Chinese gold demand that is grossly incorrect. The huge discrepancy between numbers from the World Gold Council (WGC) and actual gold demand is so wide yet cunningly hidden I must conclude there is essential information about physical gold demand deliberately kept privy.

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Nearly At "Full Employment"? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie

Submitted by Tyler Durden

How can the government be telling us that we are nearly at "full employment" when so many people can't find work? Could it be possible that the government numbers are misleading? It is our contention that the official "unemployment rate" has become so politicized and so manipulated that it is essentially meaningless at this point.

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