Chris Powell, the Secretary/Treasurer of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) published a fascinating dispatch today. A GATA supporter wrote to a silver mining company’s investor relations officer to complain about apparent indifference to manipulation of the monetary metals markets. The response:
Thanks for your email. We share your frustration about the silver price. However, we don’t attempt to take action against the bullion bankers for manipulation because 1) it is primarily the responsibility of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, not the companies, to regulate these markets, so the companies would have to sue the bullion banks too; 2) manipulation is just too difficult to prove; 3) such a lawsuit would take many years and cost many millions of dollars with no certainty as to the outcome; and 4) every company invests its cash where it thinks it can create the biggest return to shareholders.
In our case, we think investing shareholder money in things we can control, such as growing our business and our profits, is of greater benefit to our shareholders than investing in things we cannot control, such as suing the bullion bankers and the CFTC, both of which have far more financial and human clout than we companies do. They would just outspend us and stall for time.
This response is understandable. A single company can hardly stand against the interests of the Anglo-American hyper-levered fiat financial empire. Nevertheless, the investor relations professional is strictly speaking as an officer at a single company. It would be unwise to downplay the potential impact an alliance of companies could have. If 50 companies across the industry contributed to a trade organization that actually worked both the legal and public relations fronts, much could be achieved. But in order for this to happen, investor relations managers and the entire executive suite at mining firms need to stop thinking as if they only operate as individual companies.
It’s high time to create a new industry trade organization
For less than $50,000 GATA sued the Federal Reserve in a freedom-of-information case and won. While that was not a market-manipulation case per se, Mr. Powell notes it “…demonstrated market manipulation and the monetary metals mining industry did nothing to publicize it and didn’t even complain about what was proved. And while $50,000 was a huge amount to little GATA, many mining companies could squeeze that much out of their tailings pile in a few days if they were so inclined.”
A small number of mining industry executives have the wisdom and testicular fortitude to support GATA. The rest of the industry should be shamed for their indifference and, in some cases, fear of speaking out. Shareholders should demand support of GATA and the creation of a new trade organization truly dedicated to advancing the interests of the entire precious metals mining industry.
The World Gold Council hardly lives up to the mission many industry participants envision. Promotion of jewelry consumption and the creation of exchange traded products can be productive. But the fact remains, investment demand must be the primary focus, and exchange traded products have considerable issues beyond the scope of this article. In addition, the industry is in desperate need of a public relations focused organization that is willing to speak truth to power about rampant and fully documented manipulation. Specific cases of manipulation are more difficult to prove in a court of law, but certainly the management and manipulation of the precious metals market can no longer be disproved. We’re talking about documented United States public policy, with decades of official documents, transcripts, statutory laws, public statements by central bankers and on and on… Anyone that argues the general policy of precious metals market manipulation as not being public policy demonstrates they have not reviewed these documents — or, they have an agenda.
The National Mining Association of America offers a good example of an organization that works not only in the political trenches, but with media as well. But they are much more heavily geared towards coal and the general mineral extractive industries, not precious metals companies. I don’t profess to have all the answers, but I do know the precious metals community would be wise to start thinking more as an industry, and not as companies acting alone. For starters, GATA deserves far greater support and if you’re an industry executive that has managed to read this editorial up to this sentence, you know what your next action should be. In the very least, support GATA.
