Gold traded around $845 for most of the trading day throughout the world yesterday. The high in London and New York occurred at the London p.m. fix. From there, someone pulled the rug out from under gold and the price cratered by $16...with most of the damage occurring the moment that London closed for the day. So...what else is new? However, by the end of the day, gold was down 'only' $7.60. The gold shares did well, though. We've had a lot of counterintuitive price action in the gold shares lately. I wonder what it all mean?

But most of the devastation came in the silver market where the price crashed over 70 cents in the space of just a few minutes. This, of course, happened the same time as the gold market was being hit. As is the case, volume was razor thin...but did pick up after the crucifixion forced out other margined long players.

This is so typical of a bear raid by JPMorgan. They just pull their bids and the tech funds are forced to sell their long positions into this vacuum...and the price craters. As Ted Butler explained last week, when a correction came, he just wanted you to be aware of why, how...and by whom it was done. Are they through? Who knows. But yesterday was options expiry for the January contract. January is not a big delivery month in either metal. It's noteworthy that platinum was only down a couple of bucks...and palladium was down less than that...so this was a gold and silver specific event.

It's depressing to watch this decades-old crime in progress grind on an on...especially when we all know that there is no one to help us...not the SEC, CFTC or the mining companies themselves. The SEC and CFTC are aiding and abetting this whole thing...and the mining companies are shrouded in a conspiracy of silence. Some are even complicit.

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On Monday, gold open interest rose 291 contracts to 291,022...while silver o.i. fell 698 contracts to 85,219.

No gold or silver news worth noting yesterday...but in the rest of the world, there was lots happening. Here are some of the highlights...although 'lowlights' would probably be a more apt description. Bloomberg (Tokyo)...Japan's manufacturer's confidence slumps the most on record. Bloomberg...Intermodal (finished goods) freight car loadings in the U.S. are down 16.7% year/year. The Telegraph (London)...Jaguar/Land Rover boss David Smith warns of mass layoffs unless it receives emergency state aid. Financial Times (Moscow)...Energy ministers from the 12 leading natural gas producing nations met in Moscow yesterday..."Vladimir Putin, Russian prime minister, who chaired the meeting, warned that the era of "cheap gas" was coming to an end, and said members of the group would co-operate to make the gas market "predictable." Bloomberg (Beijing)..."China cut interest rates for the fifth time in three months after trade growth collapsed because of recessions in the U.S., Europe and Japan."

Since this is the last Casey's Daily Resource Plus until Saturday morning, that gives you three full days to read the four stories that I'm posting here. All are worth your time, or I wouldn't be mentioning them.

The first is a couple of days old, but very much worth reading...especially when I note that Hank Paulson is now looking for the other $350 billion to spread around. It's from yahoo.com and filed from Washington, D.C. The headline reads "Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret"...and the link is here.

The next piece is a wonderful essay by James Grant that was posted on line at The Wall Street Journal. It's a little on the longish side, but I know you have the time, so jump in. The story is entitled "Is the Medicine Worse Than the Illness?...and the link is here.

And now for a couple of stories from the darker side. The first is from Ambrose Evans-Pritchard across the Atlantic at The Telegraph in London. Ambrose writes..."The riots have begun. Civil protest is breaking out in cities across (Greece) Russia, China and beyond." The article bears the headline "Protectionist dominoes are beginning to tumble across the world"...and the link is here.

To top it off is this story about what might be coming down the pipe in "the land of the free, and the home of the brave." With the Patriot Act now hanging over every U.S. citizen, I find this story to be no surprise at all. I urge all of my American readers to ponder this story carefully...and take it to heart. As Doug Casey has said on several occasions..."when that time comes, they're going to lock the U.S. down just like they do their prison at Guantanamo Bay." I sadly have to agree. The story over at newsmax.com is entitled "U.S. Military Preparing for Domestic Disturbances"...and the link is here.

The (Japanese) economy is a disaster...the outlook remains grim. - Masamichi Adachi, senior economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Tokyo - Bloomberg, 23 December 2008

I'd certainly like my last column before Christmas to be more cheerful than what you just read, but if there was a positive economic or financial story out there on Tuesday, I must have missed it. I know I mentioned it in my column on Monday, and will again in my last column of 2008 next week...but I (and many others) are expecting the worst for 2009...and it will start early.

Merry Christmas, and season's greetings from all of us here at Casey's Daily Resource Plus. Enjoy your holiday with as many family and friends as you can.

See you on Saturday.

Casey Research correspondent-at-large Ed Steer is a keen observer of the financial scene and a board member of GATA.org