Unfortunately the concept of a silver dividend will not work. Firstly, ECU is not in any shape to pay a dividend since they require every ounce of production just to keep the lights on and pay the bills. But lets assume they were making tons of money and could voluntarily withhold silver production, pay a smelter to refine it to pure silver, pay a mint to stamp out small silver coins, and then declare a dividend. The cost to ship that silver out would be huge, since it would require postage and packaging, and insurance. Some shareholders own hundreds of thousands of shares, so do we send them a huge bar or many thousand small tokens? What about the tax consequences? How about the different treatment for US investors and overseas investors?

I am frustrated too with the constant manipulation. I do not think it is something that ECU or even a small handful of companies can resolve on their own. If the government is content to staff the regulatory agencies with inept or corrupt officials, then lots of unsavory scams are going to go unreported and unpunished. To me this is where the real responsibility lies.

Why is it that even when we catch crooks like JPM taking full payment for silver, and then not buying it for their clients, and then even charging for storage fees on non-existant silver, no one goes to jail? A small token fine? Not even an admission of guilt or wrong doing? This is hardly the most sinister scam ongoing but even with this obvious breach of ethics almost nothing is done to send the message that the regulators are serious to restrain this crap.

I can list a dozen examples of this kind of bullshit where individual investors are robbed blind by the institutions and they get away with it. As retail investors we do not have access to trading tickets to see who is selling and how much, and whether there is illegal activity. The regulators are entrusted with that obligation and it appears they are content to allow it to continue.

No institution would dare to enable manipulation if the regulators chose to hammer them hard with real fines and criminal prosecution. The crooks do what they do because they can.

cheers!

mike