IMHO, there is no free trade in gold and silver - especially on the Comex. The boyz involved in gold/silver price supression referred to by Ed Steer are the Cartel - now mainly JPMorgan and a little HSBC US. Goldman Sachs is no longer involved but the Japanese banks are still short a lot of gold/silver. I had hoped the Obama administration would put an end to the illegal practice but considering the inmates that they have put in charge of the asylum - Geithner, Summers and Bernanke, who were all involved in gold price suppression for previous administrations - it looks like they are still up to their same old tricks.

The only good news is that at some point in time the Cartel will be ordered to let gold/silver appreciate to help the US government re-inflate our economy out of the deflationary recession/depression that they helped create by suppressing the price of commodities including gold and silver.

At some point in time in 2010 the value of the US dollar will drop from 0.88 to 0.50 and the US will have to consider moving back onto the gold standard which will drive gold to $3000 and silver to $50.