You have raised some most interesting questions with your post. i cannot give you definitive answers, just my own thoughts on some of your points.
To begin with, i am taking it that the control of the precious metals markets that you believe is strongly suggested has been to keep the price suppressed. If that is the case, a 10 year rise of some 500+% in gold would suggest that those who would attempt to suppress the price have been extremely incompetent. As i am sure you know, no market goes straight up or down and it seems to me that prices rise when gold is oversold and drop when the opposite is true. There have been, of course, exceptions to this, but it is nevertheless a fairly good rule of thumb to follow when making personal decisions on entering or exiting the market.
Your comment does not really make clear just which banks you believe to be behind the manipulation. If you are referring to the Fed, i would agree that they could have some interest in keeping the price of gold down, given that gold used to represent money not all that long ago and with their non-stop money printing, they might not want to have it appear that there is a viable alternative to the stuff they print. However, with regard the big, private banks, i have my doubts. They would not have the same vested interest that the Fed has and more importantly, i think they are incapable of having plans that take 10 or more years to unfold. The way they are structured, the only thing they are interested in is their quarterly performance reviews, for that is what their bonuses are based upon. And that is being generous. i suspect most of them are unable to see beyond their current trade. To be sure, if they think they can make a quick buck betting against the price going up, they will not hesitate to put out some bullshit report to their clients saying the price is about to take off and then short the market. But that is short term thinking, not some devious master plan of an evil genius.
As for whether control has been lost or not, that is a no-brainer. Control was lost years ago. And there is no way for them to regain it. Their ZIRP is now in its fifth year and will continue for years to come. Their Q.E. programs go on unabated and despite their hollow protestations to the contrary, they cannot stop without the bond market crashing spectacularly. Well, that is only partially true. They could stop and hope that folks would still buy their debt, but 10 year notes would go for a song and offer 15-20% interest. That would force the government to default, so not a very palatable option. As well, there has been absolutely no talk whatsoever of going back to what were generally accepted accounting practices. Mark to market died in April of '09, replaced by mark to model. That enabled the banks to repair their damaged books that would have otherwise forced them into bankruptcy, but it made it impossible for the banks to trust each other. Those are all examples of just how badly control was lost. And believe me, it is gone for good.
Precious metals will respond to all of this and as i see it, they are and will continue to do so. The problem may not be with the markets, but your expectations of what they should be doing. You must remember that unlike bonds which offer interest and stocks which pay dividends, gold and silver just sit there, often costing money to store....There are many interconnected things which move the markets and to be certain, at this stage, very few people are aware of just how precarious the times we live in are. That will change as time goes on. But there are still a number of events that will have to occur before we see the sort of rise in gold and silver that you are expecting. And it will take at least 2 more years before we begin to see the sort of price action some gold bugs are hoping for. (Be careful of what you wish for.) Before that can happen, i believe that first the euro and then the yen will have to collapse. Those events would cause the dollar and inflation to soar (with everyone having money in those places trying to park it in a place they perceive to be safe) and that would make it far too costly for America to service its debt; given that it is all denominated in dollars and so much of it (almost $7 trillion) is owed to foreigners.
With regard your questioning whether or not the authorities have lost control of the situation, as i stated, i believe the answer to that is quite obvious. More perplexing to me is why the citizens of these nations, especially America, have not organized to give the system a proper burial. Allowing it to kill itself only gives them more time to try and save themselves and as we all should know, their attempts to do so mean that ever more of us will be forced into abject poverty, as their only strategy is to squeeze us for our wealth so as that they can keep paying the almighty bond holders.
