Hi Richard!

If you look at the coverage on CNBC over stories like Enron, Bear Stearns, the whole CDO/ABCP scam, etc. there is a history of cheerleading all the way through the bubble and then coming back after the scam breaks down to sift through the ashes and try to expose the crooks. CNBC does not want to be critical of any of these scams while they are in full bloom because the participants are also advertisers. Once they have been exposed, then we get the real coverage.

I agree though that there will be people who are anxious to point the blame at specs when gold finaly breaks free. Right now people see high oil prices and blame that for inflation, instead of seeing it as a consequence of high inflation. When gold is rising amid a great selloff in the markets, some people will blame gold and gold specs for the problem, instead of understanding that higher gold prices are a consequence of all that is wrong elsewhere.

I think the regulators are making a big mistake if they wade into the futures markets to put further limitations on spec positions. If they throw the longs under the bus they could undo the ability of the commodities markets to hedge risk and cause much greater damage to market stability over the long haul.

For every problem there is always a quick and easy solution. And it is wrong...

cheers!

mike