-Caveat Lector- Kris: The following may be of interest to you. I think a big story lurks here. Regards xxxxx *** Midas du Metropole "The Gold Market and Precious Metals Commentary" Q. Little Bear is in the 'doghouse'. Which table do you think he'd be under ? A. Gold, of course. But he is hopeful. January 5, 2000 - Spot Gold $280.75 down $1.60 - Spot silver $5.18 down 16 cents Technicals They are meaningless. Here is what the MORNING METAL MONITOR had to say yesterday morning about the gold market: "The talk is of long liquidation by disappointed Y2K "sky-is-falling" longs. We don't buy that explanation. We expect to hear increased talk in the US related to the persistent ability of gold to plunge as soon as the U.S. bond market acts like it is sniffing out inflation. We are not using the word manipulation.but.others will..and we will NOT argue. That's us, folks, and it's nice to see that the "M" word is catching on in gold circles all over the world. Even the beloved Richard Russell of Dow Theory fame is into the act a bit (Jan 4 comment): "Gold acts like Deflation is in the wind. Investors are worried about Inflation, but gold sure isn't." Richard, we know some of your subscribers have told you the gold market is manipulated, but you prefer to say that the market is always right and that the price tells the real story. Perhaps it might be a good idea for you to give the MMM people a jingle and ask them what is going on here. The Comex Commitment of Traders Report showed that the specs were net short 29,000 gold contracts versus 20,550 contracts two weeks earlier. In other words, the specs were getting shorter going into Y2K, so all the mainstream pabulum about gold going down due to disappointed specs is silly. What happened was that Goldman Sachs sat all over the market Friday and, while the U.S gold market was closed Monday, U.S selling showed up in Australia and Asia the night before. We have seen the same sort of raid at other times from the same crowd. That was followed by Japanese intervention on the strong yen and the President reappointing Alan Greenspan. All one big coincidence. Throw silver into the same manipulation boat. The reason given for today's silver sinking was news of Chinese exports that will now hit the market. Problem with explanation is that this Reuters quote -"The central bank, while retaining control, will encourage silver companies to export and may also sell from state reserves in a "planned way," official media reported" - was released Thursday, December 30, 1999 and the silver market moved higher. Fundamentals In the short run, they do not mean much either. In the intermediate term, they will bury the shorts as the monthly supply/demand deficit of 150 tonnes per and the staggering 10,000 gold loan number is a nightmare for the entrenched bears. Frank Veneroso told me today that he expects the monthly deficit to rise to 200 tonnes per month by the end of the year if the price of gold were to stay at these levels. Speaking of Frank Veneroso, here are some snippets from his most recent gold commentary: "We now understand that most market participants believe there is such a large undisclosed seller. Because of the September 24th Washington Agreement by the European central banks, they argue that the European central banks are not the principal parties involved. Therefore, it must be the Fed. A year ago such claims were made only by a fringe group; apparently this view is now widely held.... "Actually, that there is a large undisclosed official seller of gold other than the European central banks does not necessarily imply the Federal Reserve or US Treasury is the seller. There are large holdings in Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, the Vatican, etc, which could be under sustained liquidation. However, though we would prefer not to we can no longer avoid bringing up the possibility of clandestine Fed or Treasury management of the gold price..... "To make Fed manipulation of the gold market likely, there must be a motive. Manipulating the gold price cannot be an end in itself. It must be part of a greater master plan; it must be a sideshow to a greater game." The real precious metals story of the day was this Kitco post. Many of you sent it to me and for good reason. It is a blockbuster. I'll let you read it and then make some comments. It is chilling to think about what GoldBird1 has to say after reading Frank's general comment: Date: Wed Jan 05 2000 04:24 GoldBird1 ( Armstrong-Republic-manipulations ) ID#396247: Copyright © 1999 GoldBird1/Kitco Inc. All rights reserved "Whilst I have read a lot on this site about Armstrong and his supposed short gold position, etc., etc., etc., I just thought everyone should know that it is all BS. I have worked inside Republic Bank and quite frankly the whole thing stinks of a major set up intended to frame Armstrong big time. Armstrong was right about the manipulation of silver and a whole lot more . Not only was silver manipulated, they do it all the time. If you want to know the truth, it was Republic who has been behind almost every manipulation I know of for at least the last 10 years, I've seen it first hand. Buffet is not lily white and this silver purchase of his was not the first. The manipulation by Phibro in 1995 when they exercised the call options way out of the money was executed by Andy Heck who now works for Republic. The CFTC went to Phibro demanding to know who the client was behind the trade and they refused to give up the name. The CFTC did not do their job, as usual, and just walked away demanding that they exit the trade. Phibro was owned by Salomon Bros and the authorization to squeeze silver was given personally by Buffet. Does anyone really think that a small sub like Phibro could do a $1 billion trade without board approval from above? It doesn't end there. Bribes were paid to Russian officials to "recall" platinum so it could be inventoried. Republic helped Tiger corner the market in palladium and stored it for them just like they moved the silver from NY to London for Buffet. This thing even goes back to the manipulation of the US Treas Auctions. The govt boys are so stupid, when they threatened to take the license away from Salomon Bros, Buffet came to the rescue. Ha! He was behind that trade as well and his name was concealed then, as always. Then that trader left and started LTCM and had a real merry old time. Look at who his investors were! Just before it blew up, Buffet agreed to bailout that operation and wrote a letter stating that if his offer were ever revealed, it would be void. That letter was published in the WSJ because it blew up before Buffet could put the deal to bed. The point is, Armstrong was trying to fight the crowd. He knew what was going on and the word inside the bank was that he might even have tapes of conversations between a lot of the players. Everyone is really worried about that for sure. These guys take the market up get all you suckers believing the rally is real and then slam it again. How do you think they make their billions? They don't care about bull markets. They shag the markets to make their billions off of the people who don't have a clue. They rotate between the markets. All the same names were on the short-side in copper. Sumitomo tried to fight these guys. They baited the Japanese into the trades offering them untold credit. They then would short copper against them. Sumitomo tried to defend their position and ended up buying the entire inventory. When they had Sumitomo loaded, they ran to the authorities and did them in calling it a manipulation. They made a fortune on that short trade. To add insult to injury, Sumitomo ran to Goldman Sachs for help, Goldman started selling thousands of contracts in copper that day and then accepted the work out the following day after front-running their own client. Jimmy Goldsmith was involved in this one as well as Safra, Tiger and a host of others. They amazingly are all on the right side of everyone of these trades. Hell - bribes were even paid to bank officials at the Central Bank of Thailand to start the Asian Crisis! That was the evidence the Japanese took to the G7 meeting and demanded controls against the organized hedge funds. The US govt refused to do anything against the group of players because this thing is so dirty nobody wants the truth out there. They told the Japs they would agree to sanctions only. That's why Armstrong is being served up as the Xmas turkey. Quite frankly, he knows too much. Safra was paying bribes to people inside the IMF as well. They all thought they had the IMF in their pocket. That's why they all invested so much into Russia. They even set up Bank of New York on behalf of a rival group of thugs in Russia and because Republic hates Bank of New York because they are not part of the club. These markets are never going to breakout until someone breaks up this organized mob of billionaires. The govt is either too stupid or they are involved with them ==== a high probability! After all, Armstrong had a $1 billion credit line in the bank and everyone knew it. Suddenly, his credit line was pulled and Republic took $500 million of his clients money pretending it was never there. That order came from good old Mr. Safra himself and was carried out by George Wendler personally. And if anyone believes that story about Safra's death, I guess they believe in Santa Claus and a few other sudden deaths when the heat got turned up. If Armstrong or his clients got Safra on the stand, the whole thing could have unraveled. His bodyguard was changed just after this affair started. You fill in the blanks. Armstrong was never short 700 tons of gold. In fact, to get the silver manipulation going, Armstrong was out of the country and they ran their orders through Republic to make everyone think it was Armstrong covering short positions he never had. The records are all there! All this stuff is on tapes, docs and emails. The question is, will the govt go along with the big boys and cover everything up again? If so, they say already Armstrong won't make it to trial. They cannot afford a open trial with everything Armstrong knows. He probably knows far more than what has been written here. They just can't afford for the world to know how rigged this game truly is and how these billionaires really make their money at the expense of everyone else. That's the real story. Take it for what it's worth." End. What intrigue! Is it a set up? For real? Well, while I do not believe in any way Martin Armstrong is just a patsy, I am impressed. Here goes why: I know all about the Phibro silver story. I know Andy Hecht (not Heck). I met his boss at Phibro, Andy Hall, when I took the number two Indonesian Oil Minister (Mr. Wijharto) up to see him in Connecticut about 11 years ago. What happened was that Andy Hecht and his partner, Jimmy DiPizza, sensed that they could pull off a squeeze of the silver market because they believed in the silver supply/demand fundamentals. There was no manipulation. They wanted the silver and wished to make a play in the market.. Hecht and DiPizza got the OK from Phibro CEO, Andy Hall. The trio got the OK from Warren Buffet, Chairman of Salomon, to go ahead. Their maneuver was shocking as they bought silver calls above the market that expired way out of the money. The problem for the shorts was that Hecht declared he wanted the silver anyway. Lots of it. The shorts were stunned and panicked. I cannot recall anyone doing that before. The price of silver soared. But surprise, surprise, the government stepped in because they knew that Phibro really could squeeze the market. They had a powwow with Buffet. Buffet went to Hecht/DiPizza and said we can win this battle, but he could lose the war in a big hassle with the U.S. government, so he had Hecht and Piazza exit the trade. Miraculously, they got out with NO loss. That was a big deal as they had accumulated a sizable position. Did the government take part of the position off its hands? Was that the start of our government's interference in the precious metals markets? Funny thing was that when Buffet left Salomon, he still liked the silver story/trade, so he went back to DiPizza to buy a boatload of silver for his own account and that news surfaced a couple of years ago. As far as I know, he still owns that silver and DiPizza is still his broker. One other corroboration of the posting is the comment about the hedge funds and Thailand. Sources close to the Café told me that they had heard years ago that the hedge funds had a wink and a nod from the U.S Government to go after that market. As far as the rest of it goes, you have heard me describe some hedge funds, some bullion banks and the N.Y. Fed as a "Goon Squad" for the past year; this commentary just fits right in. My only exception to the Kitco post is that it gives one the impression that Martin Armstrong is being overly persecuted. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. Either way, I did some homework today and called Tony Hagen of the Trenton Times in New Jersey. The timing was a coincidence as he was following down my request to look for a document of whether Martin Armstrong traded gold. I heard and learned the following from Tony: 1. Mr. Nathan, the top gun at the CFTC, would not confirm whether Martin Armstrong traded gold and silver or not. Tony said he stuttered while he spoke to him. 2. Somehow, Tony then got his hands on a September 14, CFTC News Release entitled, "CFTC Obtains Asset Freeze and Appointment of a Receiver in Civil Injunctive Action Filed Against Princeton Global Management Ltd., Princeton Economics International. Ltd., and Martin Armstrong." At the time of this release, the newspapers and wire services reported that Armstrong lost money trading in "oil, yen and U.S. Treasury bonds." Many of us remember that because gold and silver was not mentioned BY ANYONE. Then on top of that, Martin Armstrong said the following to GATA: What Will Tomorrow Bring By Martin A. Armstrong © Copyright November 18th, 1999 "Gold is also a key market to watch as to discerning the future that lies ahead. Our short-term outlook warned that the seasonal pattern for gold was an early summer low followed by a rally into an October high. That forecast has proven to be correct. Of course thanks to a lot of false information about shorts and conspiracies, a panic rally to the upside unfolded. To set the record straight, neither the company, any public fund, Japanese client or myself had any short positions in this market. The CFTC never made any such announcement about gold positions. Reports by such individuals on the Internet were simply made up like so many other things GATA reports." In the CFTC Complaint, number 12 is entitled, "Failure to Inform Nichimen of Trading Losses in Accounts: "In addition to providing false monthly account balances, the Cresvale statements that Nichimen received do not reveal futures trading losses incurred by the Nichimen accounts at RNYS. From June 1996 through October 1997, the RNYS PGM K-4 account traded in Japanese yen contracts, as well as Treasury Bond, gold, silver and S&P 500 stock index futures contracts." Armstrong's November 18 comment contradicts the facts. This whole mess gets stranger by the day. Clearly, he was referring to this CFTC document. What he should have said is that the mainstream media kept this fact out of their papers. That would have been true. To compound all of this, the period described above is inclusive of when Buffet made his move in silver, early 1997. This CFTC document does not say he was short at the time, but he was the most vociferous silver bear in the world at the time. Are we expected to believe, he was not short silver? That is what Goldbird1 suggests: "to make everyone think it was Armstrong covering short positions he never had." My head is spinning. What is clear is that this whole thing stinks. The good news is that the stench is beginning to smell SO BADLY that it cannot be overlooked any more. I received calls today from a South African business writer, the British Broadcasting Company and Ferdinand Lips, who is leading the fight to try and defeat the Swiss gold sales. Ferdinand is no lightweight. He is a former Managing Director of the Rothchilds Bank in Zurich, Switzerland, owned his own bank at one time, Bank Lips Ag, and is a Director of Durban Deep in South Africa. Potpourri and the Gold Shares The XAU managed to close up 1.05 today at 66.40. It bobs around like a ball in an ocean. The bond yields ended up the day at 6.64% with no inflation in sight. How can the bond boys be so clueless? Just look at gold. After the close, there were a few more Nasdaq pre-announcement earnings disappointments. The after market futures index dove about 50 points. Some day there will just be "no bids" for some of these stocks that do not make money and might not ever. Wrap up: On a real upbeat note for GATA co-founder, Chris Powell, the rest of the GATA Committee and I: Harry Schultz, publisher of the world's leading financial/geopolitical newsletter says: "There are millions of people who don't like the disgusting depreciation of their paper currencies, year after year. They usually are also pro-gold people who want gold as a backing for currencies, which we all used to have but have had it stolen away from us, without our permission! They are often gold shareholders who are aghast to see their own govts intervene to control the price of gold, a dictatorial act that is astounding & which the media ignores. "What Bill Murphy & GATA have given all these millions of people is HOPE with a capital H...!!! "He gives us/them all inspiration that the political gladiators who sell govt gold that belongs to the people - not them, not the govt, will not prevail. Hope that gold can be returned to its proper role as paper currency backing. Hope that the cannibals who sell gold short to keep the price down will be stopped & punished. That the govts who connive in this illegal game will be exposed and stopped. "For years the monopolists have gotten away with this game. Now, at last, there is hope that they can be brought to book. Bill Murphy & GATA have also shined the spotlight on gold miners who foolishly sold gold short. Now shareholders won't stand for such nonsense any more! HSL started this campaign, but GATA is carrying it into the wide wide world via the internet. "It's a new world. Gold has ALWAYS represented freedom for the individual. That's why the govts are opposed to it. GATA & internet are, in my opinion, going to defeat them. End. Harry, in behalf of GATA and all our "internet" supporters, we thank you for such kind words and your confidence in us. We will not let you down. Midas ------ Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
