Brian4Liberty
03-16-2009, 09:38 PM
The Ted Butler scenario...
http://www.investmentrarities.com/03-10-09.html
How did we get to the point where a big U.S. bank, most likely JP Morgan Chase, has come to manipulate the silver (and gold) market? Why are U.S. banks allowed to speculate in commodity markets at all, when they have caused such havoc already with their failed trading in just about everything they touched? Didn’t they do enough damage with subprime mortgages and credit default swaps? Why should taxpayers subsidize bank commodity speculation and manipulation? When did the regulators stop enforcing the law and switch over to defending the criminal element?
The answers to those questions are contained in observing the news flow, government data, and correspondence from the CFTC to various congressmen and senators in response to those readers who have written to their representatives. I thank all who have done so and urge those who have not yet contacted the regulators and your elected officials to do so, as it really makes a difference. A clear picture is emerging. Allow me to present the findings to date, as I understand them.
In the case of silver, while the manipulation has been ongoing for many years, the criminality kicked into high gear when JP Morgan took over Bear Stearns, at the government’s request, last March. Bear Stearns was the holder of the large concentrated short silver position and it was inherited by Morgan. In JP Morgan’s defense, it does not appear they initiated the concentrated silver short position. It was excess baggage from the forced takeover of Bear. The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve backstopped Morgan and agreed to hold them harmless for financial losses and for criminal involvement in the silver manipulation. The financial system was weak enough at the time of Bear Stearns’ failure, that a blowup in silver had to be avoided. JP Morgan was given the go-ahead to "manage" and control Bear Stearns’ silver short position directly by the Treasury.
While it is understandable that JP Morgan would accept the Treasury Department’s request, and that the avoidance of a potential financial panic is always a good thing, panics are short-term events. A year has now passed, and the manipulation is still in force, stronger than ever. What started as a temporary remedy for a short-term emergency, has evolved into a continuance of the long-term silver manipulation. This is wrong on every level. The U.S. is a nation governed by the rule of law. No one is above the law. Not the Treasury Department, not JP Morgan, not the CFTC. If my findings are accurate, then the passage of time indicates that there is potential real criminality here.
As far as the CFTC, it is a weak agency, incapable of over-ruling a directive from the Treasury Department. They had no choice but to allow the silver market to continue to be manipulated by allowing the transfer of the concentrated short position from Bear Stearns to JP Morgan. Besides, the CFTC already dropped the ball by allowing the concentrated short position to come into existence at Bear Stearns in the first place and denying for years that the silver manipulation existed. They had no choice but to go along. They couldn’t stand up to Treasury if they wanted to.
So how does this end, or can JP Morgan, Treasury and the CFTC allow this crime to continue indefinitely? No one has a lock on the future, but there is no easy way out for them. This cannot be resolved quietly or orderly, but it must and will be resolved. Even if the manipulators don’t blink first, the growing shortages in the wholesale physical market will bring this scam to a head.
http://www.investmentrarities.com/03-10-09.html
How did we get to the point where a big U.S. bank, most likely JP Morgan Chase, has come to manipulate the silver (and gold) market? Why are U.S. banks allowed to speculate in commodity markets at all, when they have caused such havoc already with their failed trading in just about everything they touched? Didn’t they do enough damage with subprime mortgages and credit default swaps? Why should taxpayers subsidize bank commodity speculation and manipulation? When did the regulators stop enforcing the law and switch over to defending the criminal element?
The answers to those questions are contained in observing the news flow, government data, and correspondence from the CFTC to various congressmen and senators in response to those readers who have written to their representatives. I thank all who have done so and urge those who have not yet contacted the regulators and your elected officials to do so, as it really makes a difference. A clear picture is emerging. Allow me to present the findings to date, as I understand them.
In the case of silver, while the manipulation has been ongoing for many years, the criminality kicked into high gear when JP Morgan took over Bear Stearns, at the government’s request, last March. Bear Stearns was the holder of the large concentrated short silver position and it was inherited by Morgan. In JP Morgan’s defense, it does not appear they initiated the concentrated silver short position. It was excess baggage from the forced takeover of Bear. The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve backstopped Morgan and agreed to hold them harmless for financial losses and for criminal involvement in the silver manipulation. The financial system was weak enough at the time of Bear Stearns’ failure, that a blowup in silver had to be avoided. JP Morgan was given the go-ahead to "manage" and control Bear Stearns’ silver short position directly by the Treasury.
While it is understandable that JP Morgan would accept the Treasury Department’s request, and that the avoidance of a potential financial panic is always a good thing, panics are short-term events. A year has now passed, and the manipulation is still in force, stronger than ever. What started as a temporary remedy for a short-term emergency, has evolved into a continuance of the long-term silver manipulation. This is wrong on every level. The U.S. is a nation governed by the rule of law. No one is above the law. Not the Treasury Department, not JP Morgan, not the CFTC. If my findings are accurate, then the passage of time indicates that there is potential real criminality here.
As far as the CFTC, it is a weak agency, incapable of over-ruling a directive from the Treasury Department. They had no choice but to allow the silver market to continue to be manipulated by allowing the transfer of the concentrated short position from Bear Stearns to JP Morgan. Besides, the CFTC already dropped the ball by allowing the concentrated short position to come into existence at Bear Stearns in the first place and denying for years that the silver manipulation existed. They had no choice but to go along. They couldn’t stand up to Treasury if they wanted to.
So how does this end, or can JP Morgan, Treasury and the CFTC allow this crime to continue indefinitely? No one has a lock on the future, but there is no easy way out for them. This cannot be resolved quietly or orderly, but it must and will be resolved. Even if the manipulators don’t blink first, the growing shortages in the wholesale physical market will bring this scam to a head.