Silver Corner

 

  By: banshee on Martedì 29 Luglio 2003 18:39

Come va il Q.I., ingegnere?

 

  By: gianlini on Domenica 27 Luglio 2003 15:34

tgt a 10? possibile?

il balzo in aria dell'argento oggi, - gz  

  By: GZ on Giovedì 24 Luglio 2003 02:43

Tutti si sono voltati a guardare il balzo in aria dell'argento oggi, in % uno dei rialzi maggiori della sua intera storia Sembra l'inizio di qualcosa di grosso anche perchè non è più al traino dell'oro ora in base ai grafici tutto è possibile ora e i titoli dell'argento hanno grafici anche più impressionanti

 

  By: Paolo Gavelli on Venerdì 18 Luglio 2003 13:26

girellando per il web, trovo ^questa pagina#http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/ Exchange/9807/Charts/SP500/Outlook.htm^ che può essere interessante (non mi assumo responsabilità) allego un grafico "stimolante" 2ali

 

  By: banshee on Venerdì 11 Luglio 2003 20:00

Proseguiamo con l'educazione....... ^cliccaqui...#www.kitco.com/ind/Puplava/jul032003.html^ (basta un 30 di Q.I. per la lettura)

 

  By: banshee on Venerdì 11 Luglio 2003 19:23

Mon cher, nel 1980 l'argento schizzo' a 50 $ l'oncia, ed il Comex non salto'. Resero obbligatoria la liquidazione per contanti, ed amen! Se anche stavolta fosse diverso, e saltasse il Comex (che sarebbe cosa buona e giusta, peraltro), ci vorranno parecchi dollari al rialzo prima che cio' accada. Anch'io sarei molto felice di evitare di avere a che fare con certa gente, ma che si puo' fare? I futures sul metallo li negoziano solo li'.............. Il metallo fisico e' poco commerciabile, hai ragione. Molto meno dell'oro, ed inoltre scordati il prezzo spot. Ma qualcosa per i bambini si puo' certamente mettere da parte. Questi sono i prezzi piu' bassi dall'inizio dell'Era Ebraica, ricordatelo. Io prendo qualsiasi moneta che abbia un contenuto d'argento superiore ai 700/1000 che mi capiti davanti ad un prezzo ragionevole, e la metto da parte. Su Ebay con un po' di pazienza si possono trovare buone occasioni. Soprattutto sul sito americano, per i bullion coins. Anche quello tedesco non e' male. Cerca quelli che offrono quantita' maggiori del prodotto, gli stock insomma, o cerca di acquistare dalla stessa persona piu' pezzi e mettiti d'accordo per un'unica spedizione, per ammortizzare i costi postali. Riguardo le azioni, CEF investe i soldi che raccoglie con una proporzione fissa di 50 once d'argento per ogni oncia d'oro. E' un buon surrogato al possesso diretto dei metalli, che comporta anche costi di stoccaggio ed assicurazione, ma da un po' di tempo quota costantemente a premio sul NAV. Se si vuol vivere un po' piu' pericolosamente, poi, ci sono delle azioni che sono delle vere e proprie opzioni senza scadenza sul prezzo dell'argento: SSRI e WTZ (soprattutto quest'ultima). Come produttori gia' attivi, direi WHT e CDE. La prima ha ottime miniere e target esplorativi in Messico, anche se ultimamente si e' sbilanciata di piu' verso l'oro, facendo grosse acquisizioni nel settore. E' ben gestita, e con un buon cash flow. Con la seconda, bisogna un po' turarsi il naso riguardo la pessima gestione, i grossi debiti, e le continue diluizioni per gli azionisti. Ma operativamente sta migliorando progressivamente (ha messo in produzione ottime miniere in SudAmerica), sta riducendo i debiti a vista d'occhio, ed e' pur sempre il maggior produttore mondiale d'argento. Inoltre, ha un pattern grafico di lungo periodo che mi sembra esplosivo a dir poco, ma ti avverto che di grafici non capisco una mazza. Diciamo che mi piace esteticamente parlando! DISCLAIMER Lo scrivente ha posizioni in ognuno degli strumenti d'investimento elencati in questo post. (cosi' facciamo contente anche le Autorita' che proteggono il risparmiatore) HAHAHAHA ODioDioDio ancora! HAHAHAHAHA no no basta basta HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

  By: banshee on Venerdì 11 Luglio 2003 18:46

con le autorità che proteggono il risparmiatore ----------------------------------------------- HAHAHAHA Autorita' che proteggono il risparmiatore....QUELLE? HAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA oDioDioDioDio la mascella.......... HAHAHAHAHAHA DioDioDioDio la vescica........ HAHAHAHAHA troppo bella questa........... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

  By: banshee on Venerdì 11 Luglio 2003 18:41

Ogni volta che leggo Banshee e i suoi post sull'argento penso di aver perso 78 punti di Q.I. Perchè proprio non capisco come faccia un mercato ad essere manipolato per 15 anni sempre e soltanto nella medesima direzione. Proprio non lo capisco. --------------------------------------------------------- Beato te! Quando rileggo i miei post, io di punti Q.I. ne perdo 102 (si, sono leggermente meglio dotato). Perche' proprio non capisco come faccia una materia prima, scarsa, che non si accumula ma si consuma, necessaria in vaste e crescenti applicazioni industriali, ad essere nel suo 15imo anno di deficit consecutivo e sui prezzi piu' bassi degli ultimi 5.000 anni (aggiustati per l'inflazione) nello stesso momento. Proprio non capisco! Ma forse, quel cinese che hai assunto a 5 $ l'ora, riesce a spiegarcelo.......

 

  By: GZ on Venerdì 11 Luglio 2003 12:24

abbiamo notato tentativi di manipolare il prezzo di mercato dell'argento tramite ripetuti, insistenti e sfacciati interventi di propaganda commerciale su questo forum che incitano a comprare detto strumento senza freni e facendo uso di lingue straniere che possono confondere le idee del risparmiatore dato che la Consob vigila e così la SEC, il Comex la FED e altre sigle che ora non ricordiamo e dato che non vogliamo avere problemi legali con le autorità che proteggono il risparmiatore siamo costretti a diffidare detti promotori di argento dal continuare la loro opera rivolta a creare turbative pericolose di mercato

 

  By: Paolo Gavelli on Giovedì 10 Luglio 2003 23:38

the buy of a lifetime ------ Io comprerei volentieri, ma come? Se compro future e si stappa il vaso (di pandora) và a finire che salta il comex e i miei soldi con lui. Se non salta, non si apprezza neanche, perchè significa che il gioco della carta prosegue ancora e chissà fino a quando. Il metallo è poco o niente commerciabile. Titoli italiani, non se ne parla. CEF investe parzialmente in argento (ma soprattutto in oro). Che resta? Illuminatemi. ---------- Se li perdo io vado a meno 28! ---------- Dai lanci, lo so che sei nel Mensa... :-) 2ali

 

  By: lanci on Giovedì 10 Luglio 2003 21:53

*****, come fai a perdere 78 punti di QI? Se li perdo io vado a meno 28! Cos'è sta storia? Vuoi forse dire che c'è qualcuno con più di 55 punti di Q.I.? NAAAAHHHHHH, tu vuoi prendermi per il culo!

 

  By: gianlini on Giovedì 10 Luglio 2003 21:37

Ogni volta che leggo Banshee e i suoi post sull'argento penso di aver perso 78 punti di Q.I. Perchè proprio non capisco come faccia un mercato ad essere manipolato per 15 anni sempre e soltanto nella medesima direzione. Proprio non lo capisco. Anche perchè mi sembra che semmai, il prezzo dovrebbe essere alto e non basso, perchè sia di profitto per i manipolatori, e invece qui sembra avvenire il contrario. Boh!

 

  By: banshee on Giovedì 10 Luglio 2003 20:22

Is Red China the Big Silver Short? By Theodore Butler Sometimes, but very rarely, through sheer intelligence and experience, one is able to pinpoint a future event with remarkable precision. Kind of like the scene in the movie, "The Godfather", where the old Don, wounded and aging, warns and counsels his son-successor to beware of him who comes first to make the peace, as he will be the true enemy. That was the movies, of course, but I have my own silver Godfather of sorts in my friend Izzy. I must say that he is the smartest person I have encountered in my life. For years, he has been counseling me that one of the signs that we were likely to explode soon in price, would be the appearance, out of the blue, of bearish stories on silver. He also said that by analyzing the stories carefully, when they came, we could learn the identity of the big silver short. When I read the following story released today, Izzy's prediction rang loud and clear. After all, who would be more likely to spread bearish stories than a big short? I want to post the entire story here, in the interest of objective analysis: Shanghai, July 7 (Dow Jones) - China's silver exports in 2003 are expected to reach at least 2,100 metric tons as steady gains for spot silver prices in global markets will encourage more exports in the second half of this year, an executive with a Beijing-based think-tank said Monday. Tang Wujun, vice general manager of semi-official think-tank Beijing Antaike Information Development Co., predicted that the upward trend in spotsilver would last through the rest of this year if a global economic recovery took place. Although spot silver has fallen from around $5.10 a troy ounce in mid-2002, it has been posting slight but steady gains recently. It was quoted at $4.67-$4.69/oz at 0700 GMT in London Monday, up slightly from $4.48-$4.52/oz quoted a month ago. Furthermore, "our silver production each year is pretty much larger than our consumption... Therefore, we have to seek overseas buyers to digest our large supply," Tang told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of the China Silver Forum in Shanghai. China is expected to produce a total of 2,400 tons of silver metal from silver ores as well as slightly over 2,000 tons of silver metal from recycled metal scrap, according to Tang. The country's silver consumption is pegged at only 1,800 tons in 2003. Although this represents an increase of 10% from last year, it is still much lower than total output this year. In order to reduce the severe oversupply of silver, the Chinese government was likely to sell less state reserves to the public this year, sources close to the government said. Last year, the government sold 1,600 tons of silver from its reserves, making it the world's largest seller of silver. --- China Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires, (86-21) 6218-3268 djnews.shanghai@dowjones.com Now that you've read the entire story, I'd like to analyze it. First off, it has a distinctly bearish bent. There's no other way to interpret, "the severe oversupply of silver....". Remember, we are talking about a commodity in a documented worldwide deficit. Oversupply and deficit are contradictory. It's either one or the other, you can't have both. You either believe the accepted deficit statistics published by western market sources, which are verified by the decline in visible inventories, or you believe a Communist government's attempt to influence the market. And please don't overlook the obvious. Ask yourself this - why is Red China suddenly so generous and open in sharing sensitive commodity information? Do you think they are trying to help you? As far as the numbers used in story, I will assume them to be correct. China does refine, from ores and recycled material combined, 4400 tons of silver per year, or about 140 million ounces, making them the largest silver refiner in the world. What the story doesn't say is that the bulk of these ores and recycled material are imported into China, as there's no way you can recycle 2000 tons of silver when you consume 1800 tons. As I have previously written about China, it has become the refiner of silver of last resort, due to its blind eye towards pollution. In other words, China is refining silver that was previously refined elsewhere, there has been no net increase in world silver refining production or capacity. The production capacity was switched to China. The story avoided that point - intentionally, in my opinion. Also of interest in the story was the fact that domestic Chinese consumption grew 10% last year, or almost 200 tons. That means if Chinese silver consumption grows by that amount over the next five years (a given, according to consensus expectations), China will be consuming 1000 more tons of silver annually, or an additional 30 million ounces than currently. The most important information in the story was the very last sentence, which stated that the Chinese sold 1,600 tons, or over 50 million ounces, from government holdings. It said that China was the world's largest silver seller. Please think about that for a moment. In spite of an obvious attempt to show how much silver China was producing and exporting, there was the stark reality that the Red Chinese government sold (dumped, via leasing) more than 50 million ounces of silver last year, from official government stockpiles. That is all you need to know. It shows how the talk of oversupply is utter nonsense. It confirms the worldwide deficit in silver. In fact, it does a lot more than that. Recent statistics show a worldwide deficit in silver of around 65 million ounces. That means that just one country, Red China, supplied almost 80% of the existing inventories necessary to balance that deficit. Clearly, without this "donation" from the Red Chinese, silver prices would be much, much higher. If the Chinese didn't dump more than 50 million ounces of existing inventory on the market, the silver would have to come from other sources. If it had to come from other sources, only sharply higher prices could have drawn it to the market. That's how markets work. Stated simply - Red China, just about by itself, has kept silver prices depressed. Two questions should be crossing your mind - one, what would the price of silver have been if China didn't dump 50 million ounces from official holdings? If you believe in the law of supply and demand, then you know what the answer is - a lot higher. The second question is why would the Chinese dump silver (at historically low prices) at all? Especially when so much refining capacity has been shifted to China. After all, you would think the Chinese would benefit from higher prices and would work towards those higher prices. It is in the attempt to answer this question logically, that my silver Godfather's prediction rings true - Red China is probably the big short in silver. If true, there is one thing of which you can be certain - Red China is working hand in hand with one or more of the Silver Managers Why would China (or a group of Chinese companies working together) be the big short in silver? There are several possibilities. One, is to make money. As I wrote recently, the Silver Managers have made billions of dollars from COMEX futures and options. Maybe Red China was the big customer that the Silver Managers were hiding behind and working with. They divided the profits. Profits that came from the technical funds and others. Profits made possible from the market control gained by being the world's largest silver seller. With Red China working in cahoots with the Silver Managers, the CFTC would be tricked into thinking this was legitimate hedging. Legitimate, in a pig's foot. If Red China was the big short on the COMEX, while at the same time dumping inventory to depress the price, that doesn't make the price any less manipulated. It just means that China was the mastermind and/or muscle behind the manipulation. Other possibilities for why China would manipulate silver prices, include an even uglier motivation than just amassing big COMEX trading profits. China is obviously dramatically increasing its share of world silver refining capacity. Perhaps Red China's motive is to keep silver prices artificially low, by dumping silver on the market and shorting like crazy on the COMEX, in order to drive other refining competitors out of business. Motive or not, that is exactly what has occurred. Once enough competition is eliminated, Red China will be in position to set prices to the upside, since they control such a dominant silver refining market share. There are more domestic and international laws that make such predatory pricing and business practices illegal than you could ever name. If it comes out that the CFTC and COMEX management had knowledge that China was, in fact, involved in this manipulative silver scam, they should be drawn and quartered. And if the Silver Managers think they can pass the buck to the Red Chinese, and keep their illicit gains in COMEX silver trading, they better think again. Think of the negative strategic implications of having Red China dictate silver prices, first down, then up. Silver is a vital component in thousands of industrial applications. That means if silver is unavailable, entire production lines will shut down and workers will be sent home. The US Government, and its western counterparts, are now officially out of silver. All run silver deficits. All must import large amounts of silver. Red China is now the largest silver refiner in the world, and is increasing its share. At some point, Chinese industrial consumption will rise to the level where there is no silver available for export. To watch this develop is distressing to me. When there is not enough silver to go around, and factories around the world must close because of that, you can be sure Red China's factories will take preference over US or European factories for China's silver refining production. And, unfortunately, we have had two wars since I wrote about the defense implications of the US Government running out of silver and being dependent upon imports for more than 50 per cent of US consumption. Having Red China emerge as the largest silver refiner in the world, make matters a lot worse potentially. What does this China story mean to silver investors? For one thing, it suggests a major name as the manipulator of a major market. This, I suppose, is how it must be. More importantly, it doesn't change anything. The silver market has been manipulated by leasing and uneconomic short selling on the COMEX. The Silver Managers are still the ringleaders. Having Red China emerge as the customer behind the Silver Managers fits perfectly. Motive, means and opportunity. And it explains (almost) how the CFTC and COMEX could turn a blind eye towards the manipulation right in front of them. Both the CFTC and the COMEX are concerned with futures and options trading. Even though I have presented almost irrefutable evidence of violations of futures trading law (specifically violations of speculative position limits and manipulative COMEX warehouse movements), they have managed to sidestep the issue. But they are definitely not used to dealing with foreign nations involved in dumping. Usually, the Federal Trade Commission or the Commerce Dept. handle dumping charges. But, once it is brought to their intention that a foreign nation, particularly a non-democratic and communist dictatorship, may be involved in both futures law violations and physical commodity dumping, the CFTC and COMEX must open their eyes. Red China is sending unambiguous statements that they are dumping silver and are establishing themselves as the world silver refining powerhouse. If it turns out that China is also a kingpin in COMEX paper trading, that would complete the scam. This should be as simple for the CFTC to prosecute as a paint-by-numbers exercise for a 5 year-old. I will not ask the CFTC and the COMEX if Red China is a big player on the COMEX, as I know what they will say - the law prevents us from disclosing the identity of traders. But the law also demands that they take action when manipulation and dumping are evident. Is their something about full disclosure that is so sacred that it preempts manipulation? Or are the CFTC and COMEX just selectively interpreting the law? Will Izzy's premonition that bearish stories on silver prove to be the timing indicator for the major move? Time will tell, but the reasoning certainly sounds logical to me. After all, why would anyone make up bearish stories at this point? The only answer seems to be to send intentional false signals. Maybe Red China has exhausted its government holdings of silver. It seems they have sold well over 150 million ounces over the past 3 years. They will run out someday. Maybe these intentionally planted stories mean they are out of silver to dump, and they are trying to convince others to sell silver, based upon their phony bearish stories. This too is against US commodity law. The question silver investors must ask themselves is what will happen when the Chinese stop dumping 50 million ounces a year from inventories? We know that must happen, as these, and all, inventories are finite. Where will the silver come from to make up the loss of 50 million ounces of supply? More importantly, what price will be necessary to draw 50 million ounces out of the woodwork, when, not if, China stops dumping silver from inventory? Additionally, my common sense tells me that when China runs out of inventory to dump, it will no longer be the big paper seller of COMEX silver, if they have been the big short. That's a giant double whammy to the upside. Recently, I have read many stories on silver that mention manipulation and the short position on the COMEX. I think this is terrific and I congratulate the authors. I have raised these issues for more years than I care to remember, and it is gratifying to now see others write about them and confirm my analyses. It feels good not to be so alone, as I was for so many years. I think what may have been the catalyst for the recent trend of articles confirming my thesis has been my question, how can a market even be considered free, if it is in a long term deficit without rising prices? I am sure that the only answer to that question is that market must be manipulated. That is why no one, especially the CFTC and the COMEX, have been able to answer otherwise. That's why I asked the question in the first place. I think it is important for silver investors to always put this silver manipulation issue into proper perspective. While you might feel the outrage that I feel about the continuing manipulation, and now the possible involvement of Red China, you must also remember that this manipulation is your best friend. Without this manipulation, you would never have the opportunity to buy silver at such give-away prices. Perhaps it is Red China that has made it possible for you to achieve your financial dreams. But only if you seize the moment and buy real silver. Take it from my Silver Godfather - they are making you an offer you can't refuse.

 

  By: banshee on Giovedì 10 Luglio 2003 20:20

Stock: Argento

THE SILVER MANAGERS By Theodore Butler Lately, natural gas has been in the news. In the last week or so, I've seen the topic on the front page of the NY Times and watched endless stories about it on financial TV. I’ve witnessed a special congressional meeting with Fed chief Alan Greenspan about it, and even heard President Bush lecture on the reason natural gas prices were high and may head higher. Everyone is quick to tell you that natural gas inventories are at 25-year lows, demand is strong and supply is limited. This is a simple and ironclad explanation for soaring natural gas prices. It seems that everywhere you look, we are being given lectures on how the law of supply and demand works. Everywhere that is, except the silver market. In fact, it's kind of funny. Not only are we not being given public lectures about supply and demand in the silver market, government and exchange regulators can't or won't address the most basic question - how can a free market have a deficit and at the same time have flat to lower prices? As with natural gas, silver is at a 25-year low in inventories. However, with silver it’s not just U.S. inventories, but total world inventories. In fact, silver world inventories are at 250-year lows. Natural gas, like silver is also experiencing strong demand and limited supplies. In fact, silver has been in a structural deficit for more than half a century. Current demand has been greater than current production for that entire period. A deficit, by definition, is both strong demand and limited supply. Natural gas and silver are both a vital element of modern life. They are finite, non-replenishing minerals. The only real difference between natural gas and silver, is that the price of natural gas has responded, to the immutable laws of supply and demand, and has rocketed to historic levels in the last few years, while the price of silver has languished. The explanation? Natural gas is in a free market, silver isn't. Silver is strictly controlled in all meaningful measures, including price, by a small powerful group - the silver managers. Who are the silver managers and why are they managing the silver market? The who is obvious - the large financial institutions who dominate every facet of the silver market, including both the physical and paper derivative markets, as well as all aspects of financing. This would include AIG Trading, Bank of Nova Scotia (Mocatta). HSBC and the Morgans (JP and Stanley), among others. These are the big guys in the silver world. They are at the top of the food chain. They are the big concentrated commercial traders. No one denies that these firms are dominant players in the silver market. Why are they managing the price of silver? I'm not a big fan of vast or complex conspiracies. If there's a simple and plausible answer that explains why something is occurring, the odds favor that answer being correct. The silver managers are companies that are financially motivated. They exist to make money by dealing in financial ventures and services. And making money in the silver market is something they do very successfully. From trading COMEX silver futures and options alone, they have made billions of dollars over the past 15 years. There's nothing wrong with that, in general. What's wrong is if anyone violates the law, or the intent of the law, in the quest to turn a profit. In my opinion, the silver managers have crossed the legal line in their quest to earn a profit. I will attempt to prove that the silver managers have violated commodity law, by analyzing just how they do it. The methods and tools at their disposal enable the silver managers to dominate and control many markets, including gold. However, no other market is managed to the same extent as silver. Silver is in a league of its own. It is important to remember that our commodity futures markets are designed to be of the open outcry, auction variety. All trading is to be done in full view, with no backroom deals. There is no allowance for a specialist, or market-making function in commodity futures trading, as there is on the New York Stock Exchange. The whole history and body of commodity law is designed to keep trading open and not be dominated by large interests. The economic purpose for our commodity futures markets is to allow real producers and consumers to legitimately offset, or hedge, their own price risks. The fact that it is easy to identify the big guys in the silver market, and that these kingpins don't produce, nor consume a single ounce of real silver, should strike you as odd. How, in this day and age of supposed financial sophistication, do we even find ourselves in the position where a few big banks and an insurance company have come to control all trading and pricing aspects of the silver market? What happened to the price influence of real producers and users and investors? This is the main intent of commodity trading law, preventing a tight-knit gang of price managers from high jacking the free market. Who put them in charge? Here are the specific methods and tools that are used by the silver managers, to control the silver market: 1. Permission and ability to trade speculatively in unlimited amounts. This is the silver managers' chief weapon. The ability to buy or sell COMEX silver futures and options in unlimited quantities. Wouldn't anyone be able to influence strongly the price of anything, if they could buy or sell as much as they wanted? That's exactly what the silver managers can do in silver (and other markets). Do you need to sell 250 million ounces of silver (that is not already owned) to cap the price, even though that's more than all the visible silver in the world? No problem. The silver managers will sell (or buy) in any paper amount necessary to control the price. That's why silver has been flat as a pancake, price-wise, for more than 15 years. Despite the clear-cut intent of commodity law to limit the size and price influence of large speculators, the silver managers have succeeded in bamboozling the CFTC, into ignoring the law. The law is clear - there must be legitimate speculative position limits in silver. There are no legitimate speculative position limits in COMEX silver, save for the current spot delivery month, of 1500 contracts (7.5 million ounces). That limit should be extended and applied to all months combined. Then 4 or less traders wouldn't be able to sell naked short over 250 million ounces, as they did last year. Why should a bank or insurance company speculating in the silver market, be able to short sell many, many times what the average silver mine can produce annually? You must remember, without legitimate trading limits placed on the speculatively minded silver managers, there are no limits. Margin would be a problem for you or me, but not for the silver managers. Besides having the near ability of creating money out of thin air (these are banks we are talking about), a lot of the time, the managers don't even have to put up margin, since they are clearing firms and post margins on their net position. Since the managers carry the tech funds as customers, their usual opposite positions offset margin requirements. It would not be fair if I did not mention the role of the technical hedge funds on the COMEX, who largely provide the profit incentive for the silver managers' manipulation. Some of these computerized and mechanical trading funds also trade in amounts of paper contracts well beyond what would be mandated by legitimate speculative position limits. Make no mistake, these tech funds, even though they are getting skinned alive by the silver managers, are a big part of this manipulation. The tech funds are the enablers. And, in the quest to figure why these tech funds would donate so much money, through trading losses, to the silver managers, someone asked me a great question the other day - are these tech funds traded by the silver managers? With the magnitude of their consistent losses, I can’t make sense of it or answer questions. What's amazing is that the chief weapon of the silver managers is clearly against commodity law. If the CFTC would uphold and enforce existing law, and insist on legitimate speculative position limits in COMEX silver, the manipulation would end instantly. 2. Domination of the physical markets, including leasing. In addition to the ability to buy and sell in unlimited paper amounts, the silver managers dominate the physical realm, as well. As middlemen, they buy and sell and store and distribute more real silver than anyone. While large concentrated market share isn't necessarily bad, it does create clout, and a greater possibility of anti-competitive behavior. Combined with their paper market domination, the silver managers' physical market domination creates unusual clout. The silver managers, of course, are also the creators and lead operators of the silver (and gold) lease markets, although "markets" is too kind a description for leasing. Metal leasing is inherently manipulative and fraudulent in silver, because the leases can't be paid back with silver, due to there being more silver leases than real silver. But that doesn't stop the silver managers from pretending that all is well. More importantly, because the managers are the controllers of leasing, they can get metal to dump on the market, at will, with no regard to price. What this means is that, in addition to being able to cap the price of silver with unlimited short sales of paper silver, the managers can tap into the central bank of Red China, for instance, for real silver to satisfy any physical demands, caused by the low price. Paper and physical domination are the perfect combination for manipulation. Another example of the silver managers domination of the physical market is their control of the COMEX silver warehouse stocks. Two of the managers, HSBC and Scotia-Mocatta, operate the two big warehouses in New York, which account for the vast bulk of investor-owned silver. Even though all silver inventories have declined dramatically, due to the deficit, and there are currently only 46 million ounces in the registered category in all of the COMEX warehouses, you'd never know that from the deliveries made between the silver managers. Even though the silver just sits there, more than 100 million ounces is delivered and redelivered each year. Three silver managers, HSBC, Scotia-Mocatta and AIG, typically account for 90% of total deliveries. Try as I might, I can not come up with a legitimate economic reason for such frantic turnover of certificates, when the silver (what's left of it) just sits there. Save one - to make it look like there's plenty of silver available. 3. Standing in the financial community. It's no secret that the silver managers are part of the financial system. Some would argue that they are the system. As such, they are given respect and the presumption that they would not intentionally violate the law. Certainly, they work closely with the regulators. In fact, our financial trading system has evolved into a self-regulating model. That means, that in addition to the paper and physical domination of the silver managers, these same managers have been delegated to regulate themselves. I'm not kidding you - the silver managers are their own policemen and judges. The CFTC has given the keys to the family station wagon to a party of teenagers, and has thrown in a case of beer. Because of the combined power and standing of the silver managers, and their unique role in policing themselves, there should be more, not less, scrutiny. Precisely because it is a self-regulating environment, when someone raises a question concerning manipulation, and bases it on public information, it should get more attention. Remember, there is no more important question for any market, than is it manipulated or free? Anyone who could picture the current silver market as free, is not looking at all the facts. I have outlined how the silver managers have the means, motive and opportunity to manipulate the price of silver. What more is there? This is basic forensic investigation. It is what the CFTC and COMEX management should be looking into. These are exciting times in the silver market. Not the price action, of course, but everything else. These are serious issues I am writing about. They concern the basic structure of our markets, economics and law. They concern what is right and what is wrong. I didn't design this article to be a pitch to buy silver, but it is the existence of this very obvious downward price manipulation that has created the buy of a lifetime. The more you understand this manipulation, the better off you will be.