So now do you believe me? The stock market was rigged.

It has been a little lonely telling this story over the past few years.

But now that another news organization has finally gotten off its lazy butt, I'll tell it again: Under former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, confidential government information was regularly leaked to select people on Wall Street.

As I've explained many times before, the Post got hold of Paulson's telephone records back in 2009. And the phone logs show that Paulson, the former head of Goldman Sachs, regularly spoke with influential people on Wall Street with whom he shouldn't have been communicating. These phone calls could have been -- let's use the word "enriching" -- for the recipients.

John Crudele has every reason to gloat. He was right all along This piece was posted over at the New York Post yesterday. The headline reads "Fix was in: Bloomberg mag seconds a scoop". It's a short must read that I pulled from a GATA release yesterday...and the link is here.

Treasury prices turned higher on Thursday, pushing 10-year yields under 2%, after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi doused hopes that it would step up purchases of euro-zone bonds.

U.S. equities and the euro fell, leading investors back to the relative safe harbor of U.S. bonds.

Treasuries “continue to trade off of the selloff in domestic equities following a somewhat disappointing ECB announcement — as the central bank failed to commit to more or unlimited bond-buying to support the peripheral sovereign debt markets,” said David Ader, head of government bond strategy at CRT Capital Group.

This marketwatch.com story from yesterday is courtesy of Florida reader Donna Badach...and the link is here.

Murray Pollitt of Pollitt & Co. in Toronto writes that investors, having long been mesmerized by government bonds, are beginning to regain consciousness, realizing that currency (and bond) devaluation is the only way out for over-indebted governments. Pollitt predicts that investors increasingly will move from the bond markets to the stock markets.

Pollitt's commentary is headlined "Mesmerized". It's another item that I lifted from a GATA release yesterday...and I also thank Chris Powell for wordsmithing the preamble. This is well worth reading...and the link is here.

The European Banking Authority has determined that banks in Europe need an additional 115 billion euros to conform with new capital ratio requirements. The sum is higher than an October estimate, largely because of capital deficits found at banks in Germany.

EU leaders increased capital requirements on the Continent in an effort to slow the growing mistrust of European financial institutions. With the euro-zone debt crisis still spreading, banks with large holdings of European sovereign bonds, particularly from debt-stricken countries, have been viewed with suspicion by other financial institutions. Interbank lending has slowed as a result.

Where will all this money come from, dear reader? Out of thin air, somewhere over the rainbow, then take a left at 'Never Never Land'. This story was posted on the German website spiegel.de yesterday...and is Roy Stephens first offering of the day. The link is here.

The European Central Bank acted to soften a looming recession and avert a credit crunch by cutting interest rates and offering banks long-term funds on Thursday but doused hopes of dramatic crisis-fighting action in the euro area.

ECB President Mario Draghi discouraged expectations that the bank would massively step up buying of government bonds if European Union leaders agree on moves towards closer fiscal union at a crucial Brussels summit.

The euro and European shares dived as markets, increasingly convinced that only the ECB has the power to protect the euro zone, focused on what Draghi was cool about rather than the measures he announced.

"One step forward, two steps back," said Alan Clarke, UK and euro zone economist at Scotia Capital. "The euro zone leaders might as well not bother. Pack their bags, go home, enjoy the weekend and do their Christmas shopping."

This CNBC story from yesterday was sent to me by West Virginia reader Elliot Simon...and the link is here.

No matter what happens at the European summit meeting on the euro in Brussels that begins Thursday, Britain is sure to lose.

There is looming recognition at 10 Downing Street that if the euro falls, Britain will sink along with everyone else. But if Europe manages to pull itself together by forging closer unity among the 17 countries that use the euro, then Britain faces being ever more marginalized in decisions on the Continent.

Despite all that is at stake, Prime Minister David Cameron's coalition government looks doomed to be cast in the role of impotent bystander, torn between anti-Europe forces and European leaders’ moves toward greater fiscal integration on the Continent — with or without Britain.

This story was in the Wednesday edition of The New York Times. It's worth the read...and I thank Phil Barlett for bringing it to my attention. The link is here.

Growing Conservative anger over Europe will be further inflamed by a German rejection of Britain’s demand that the eurozone rescue deal must include legal protections for the City of London.

Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland Secretary, broke ranks by declaring that backing a more integrated eurozone would make it “inevitable” that the Prime Minister would have to give voters a say.

Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, said Mr. Cameron would have “absolutely no choice” but to hold a referendum. EU leaders were “in danger of saving the cancer and not the patient”, he said.

This story was posted late Wednesday night in The Telegraph...and I thank Roy Stephens for sharing it with us. The link is here.

Can of worms? Pandora's box? Take your pick but that's what is being opened in Brussels.

Far from saving the euro, historians may come to see this summit as the moment it finally fell apart. They will have the benefit of knowing what comes to pass over the next few weeks as the political cloud from today's talks mushrooms over Europe.

Having ignored the views of the minority about the euro's flaws in the run up to its inception, the 17 members who eventually climbed aboard were happy to proceed during the debt inspired good times of the past decade.

But now they are finally forced to Brussels, again, having similarly failed to grasp the recent sovereign debt crisis.

Until recently, contemplating the break-up of the single currency was thinking the unthinkable. Now those openly discussing it – just about everybody – are merely adopting a mainstream, orthodox view. Even Nicolas Sarkozy is warning that the risk of disintegration has never been greater.

This story was posted in The Telegraph late last night...and is Roy Stephens last offering of the day. The link is here.

Tipped by our friends at GoldCore.com via Twitter, Zero Hedge notes that Market News International reports that the Bank for International Settlements, the Bank of England, and the Federal Reserve sold gold today to smash it back down after it spiked up this morning. Zero Hedge observes: "So much for all those sworn testimony claims that the central bankers do not manipulate the price of gold."

The introduction is courtesy of Chris Powell...but the first one through the door with this story yesterday was reader 'David in California'. It's a must read...and the link to the very short zerohedge.com article is here.

Here's a GATA release from yesterday where Chris has already done the heavy lifting. The link to the KWN Embry blog is imbedded in his comments...and the link to that is here.

South Africa’s mining production contracted sharply in October, falling by 12.7% year-on-year, data released by Statistics South Africa showed on Thursday.

The decline comes on top of a revised 3.9% contraction in September, which the Nedbank Economic Unit said suggested that the impact of weaker global growth was filtering through to the domestic economy.

Platinum-group metals production, which makes up the largest portion of South Africa’s total mining output, fell by 27.3% year-on-year.

Other big decreases were registered in nickel and copper, with output falling 35% and 37%, respectively. Coal output was 9% weaker, diamond production dropped 5% and gold production fell 3.3%

This very short story was posted over at the miningweekly.com website. It's a must read...and I thank Matthew Nel for sharing it with us. The link is here.

In an interview with King World News yesterday, market analyst and mining entrepreneur Jim Sinclair mocked the European central bankers for their constantly changing stories...and warns that the failure of the MF Global brokerage house has impugned clearing houses worldwide. "You must be your own central bank," Sinclair says, "because the system is broken."

That means physical gold and silver in your hand. The introductory paragraph was by Chris Powell...and the link to the KWN blog is here.