My thinking here is that if silver pops above 40 immediately after such a well publicized raid, then the line of bull that is being toted is questioned and the average investor starts to break rank. Silver after 50 is out of the Cartel's control and we were there just 10 days ago.

Another words, the spiral out of control after 50 dollars is a pivotal inflection point that invites the parabolic acceleration phase if not nipped in the bud early. They will keep the metal and the shares on a very short leash from this point forward. Look for incredibly good drill results to make PM stocks go down/flat. It is all about behaviour finance and Pavlovian dog conditioning to make you understand what true pain is and then capitulate. Mining shares will not be allowed to come up for any air from here on out no matter how ridiculously under valued the stock is.

That is my thinking here, that there will be serious resistence at 40 dollars that will go on into the summer and that if we get back to 50 or greater we are going into that long awaited parabolic phase. This phase will be very profitable and quick, but will reinforce itself because it will be a short window to convert your remaining paper assets into hard metal assets. Should you miss this window, your paper will burn .... but metal does not lie and will do better than any stock from this point forward. Price discovery for real metal versus the rigged COMEX price will diverge even more in the future

So therefore the "last line of defense" line - but I am with you - they will do more margin hikes, open more ETFs around the world, more media attacks, pass possible tax/confiscation laws ...... punish longs and bail out shorts......they are very creative and will continually pull many more tricks out of their bag. Ironically, the day that they just lay down and die will probably never happen...... not until total collapse is upon us and noone really cares anymore about making paper profits.