A trip down memory lane...an email I sent to the CFTC Commissioners in October of 2008:

To all,

Our nation stands on the thinnest of ice as the financial crisis unfolds. The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank are openly intervening and manipulating all markets in an attempt to save our economy and the dollar from collapse. They are creating dollars at an unprecedented pace to fund their manipulation and intervention. They have publicly stated that without their bailout efforts, the economy will collapse. The point is, no prudent, honest man can make the claim that the markets are not being massively manipulated by our government and The Federal Reserve Bank at this point in time.

As market manipulation and intervention are so out in the open at the moment, it is not hard to conclude that there is a possibility that silver and gold prices are also being manipulated. Actually, history has provided us with many admissions that this manipulation has been ongoing since the early 1970's. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker had this to say years ago: "In looking back at the rise of gold from $35 to $850 during the 1970s, it was probably a mistake to allow gold to rise so high." Not only does that statement presuppose that our country could have controlled the gold price, but it also suggests the establishment's arrogance in assuming they have a right and obligation to do so. I do not believe any honest person who follows the silver and gold markets can conclude that the markets are not manipulated. The evidence is overwhelming, yet our government's regulatory agencies have long held the position that the markets are free trading. The time has come for a group of ethical, honest regulators to stand up and say enough is enough.

The knowledge of the manipulation of the silver and gold markets is spreading like wildfire and the integrity of our markets is crumbling. This is largely due to the massive manipulation that was put into play in mid July of this year. Demand for physical metal has soared the past 3 months while the CME Group Exchanges' paper price of the metals has fallen hard. The price manipulation at the CME Group Exchanges is so severe, that it has created a situation where people are starting to take physical delivery of metal from the CME Group Exchanges and sell it into the physical market where they are making a very high return on their money. I could go on and on....the point is that the evidence for manipulation is overwhelming. If you have not read Ted Butler's article entitled "The Masters of Destruction", please read it at once. Please read it several times. Here is a link to the article:

http://news.silverseek.com/TedButler/1223916524.php

If you do not wish to read the entire article, I have copied the most important parts of it below.

On a personal note, I have lost half my lifetime savings since July 15th directly as a result of this illegal manipulation. My retirement accounts are decimated. The money I have saved for my two son's college education is almost gone. It has been a very difficult time to say the least. The damage to my country though greatly exceeds my personal losses. The integrity of our government, our banking system and the dollar is under attack. You all have an opportunity to step up and do the right thing by stopping the crime that is occurring on the CME Group Exchanges daily. I know it will be very difficult to fight the establishment but integrity and honesty demand that you do so. Our nation needs men of honor, men of integrity to stand up and fight for what is right. Now is your chance to make a difference, a huge difference in the future of our nation. I will pray for each of you that you will have the courage to be bold. Please do your part to restore the public's faith in our government's regulatory agencies. Your efforts to stop this illegal activity will be noble and heroic.

God Bless each of you.




Excerpt from Ted Butler's Article:

Perhaps the worst collateral damage of the manipulation by the big U.S. bank(s) is not to futures traders, innocent bullion or mining share investors, the miners themselves, or the industrial users. The worst damage inflicted by the Masters of Destruction is to our important institutions, like our licensed exchanges and regulatory institutions, and to our confidence in our markets. Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose.

The CME Group, owners of the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and now the NYMEX/COMEX, is the largest and most important futures exchange in the world. They stand to lose the most of all in the silver manipulation. If there is any silver delivery default or disorderly pricing event, they would appear to be responsible. Especially since they have been repeatedly warned. They have their reputation and potential massive litigation costs at risk. They are the frontline regulator, as dictated by law. Yet they refuse to respond to public allegations of manipulation in the COMEX silver market, in spite of hundreds of us contacting them. That is deplorable.

The CFTC has bowed to public pressure and has initiated an investigation by their Enforcement Division. Obviously, the Commission sees sufficient evidence to investigate, otherwise they would not waste taxpayer money on a useless investigation. Yet the evidence is their own data, which they and the CME Group refuse to explain. That the alleged manipulation is very much a crime in progress inflicting great collateral damage and neither regulator acts against it results in a loss of confidence in our regulators and markets. It diminishes us all.

That a crooked U.S. bank, in the quest to illegally generate a profit, would poison the water for so many unrelated and innocent parties is unconscionable. We have enough financial problems in the world presently with declining asset values. There is no room for the intentional destruction of values and markets. This blatant silver manipulation must not be allowed to stand.

The great financial crisis that currently impacts us all is the direct result of a regulatory failure to restrain a few wheeler dealers on Wall Street, who went hog wild in concocting crazy derivatives for personal profit. Now, we are left to clean up their mess, at great collective cost, both monetarily and to our faith in our institutions. Admittedly, silver is a much smaller market than the mortgage and credit markets, but the same principle applies, namely, many being damaged by a few. Plus, the damage has already been done in mortgages, while silver is ongoing.

In the great financial credit crisis in which we are presently engulfed, there are no simple solutions. In silver, there is a simple and effective solution. We must pressure the regulators to enforce the law and eliminate what remains of the concentrated short position in silver, never to return. Then we must insist that the short manipulator(s) be punished for the full extent of the damage it has inflicted on everyone.

When the CFTC finally admits what is already common knowledge to most observers, that is, that there has been an ongoing manipulation in silver, it will not be sufficient to base any resultant fines on just the damage in the futures market. All collateral damage must be considered. Don’t fine the big U.S. bank $1 billion for their ill-gotten futures market gains, fine them $20 billion or more for all the collateral damage they caused. And the CFTC shouldn’t remit any fines collected to the Treasury. A special fund should be established to compensate actual victims.