I thing the answer lies in trying to stradle the fence with a foot in both camps maybe jumping from one side to the other side of the fence now and then.

Point well taken. I don't have a problem with the case for gold (or silver) suppression. I mentioned elsewhere that the futures market in PM's was set up for that purpose, and it's not like TPTB are trying to hide that. Where I have a problem is with the absolute conviction of the gold & silver pundits who think they can read every nuance of that program, and who never pass up the opportunity to broadcast their insights to whoever will listen. Those people are beyond annoying - they actually do a disservice.

There was an old guy on last weekend's FSN Q-calls asking Jim what to do with the silver he just bought, now that it's worth much less than he paid. You could sense the desperation in his voice, and I was left with the impression he'd plowed everything he had into the metal, probably at a huge premium after reading one or another end-of-world screeds and finally drinking the koolaide, as usual, right at the top. Those are the people getting hurt by this nonsense - not the professionals who know (or ought to know) how to manage risk.

If you're posting to any of these online forums, you're an outsider by definition and can't possibly know the inner workings of the game - it's all conjecture. Anything else is, as Hayak said, a pretense of knowledge. We had enough of that on the old board, and while everyone's entitled to their opinion, they shouldn't be surprised when challenged on it because that's the spirit of this place. That's what makes it different from those other boards, at least as I see it. Lose that, and there's not much point to it, is there? Might as well hang out on SH with the touts and easy marks.

ebear