No suprise to me ... given the next 1-10 years depending upon how things are managed will be filled with many crises, there is no point blowing your current load to appease market expectations ... for now everything is probably better than expected so a tweak here or there is plenty ... Operation Twist is a magnificent can kicker ... sell the short term treasury's currently in higher demand because of euro volatility and other factors, whilst creating confidence in the medium long term by keeping interest rates from appearing to be of concern in the future ... quite frankly I would have been surprised if more action was taken since there is already too much support for gold then I'm sure the bernank likes.

I think it is quite significant he did anything given recent upward trend in the US$, but he could always suggest it is a brilliant preemptive move in the event of continued or increased European volatility.

From here on in ... it will take a real crisis in the US economy to actually see a real money printing binge ... unless of course gold behaves and drops in value ... make no mistake ... gold will be confisicated and possibly silver within the next 10 years a matter of national security and interest in the US.

My long term prediction ... after gold is confisicated it will be re-valued at a level that takes the western world out of the debt crisis which is very real ... total gold held by the US probably in the neighbourhood of 10-20% of total debt so an ounce will be that value divided by total gold held by the US. 10-20% is way beyond current margin requirments for anything and ensures continued reserve currency status for the west ..

Good thing all of the constitutional rights are being compromised as a precedent for a 1984 style change in what they mean.

orgy