" IMO, ETF's are just another way of controlling the amount of gold being accumulated by "Joe-six-pack"s". "

I agree, but would re-phrase it:

The gold and silver ETF's are just another form of paper. An honest audit of the gold ETF cannot be made given their own rules. It can only be confirmed that they repeat the info given them by sub-custodians. What physical there really is may just be part of the fractional-physical game many suspect is going on pwith the precious metals.