I hesitate to bring 'the subject' up, but nonetheless it it has lurked and does lurk ominously behind the scenes. 'IT' has been discussed ad nauseum over the years and almost forgotten, at great cost to individual investors in the PM sector. It has been rammed down our collective throats and it has ripped us all new bottoms. Do any of us really own anything? Here is a brief reminder, an excerpt from a rebuttal to one protecting the ETF side of the boat...a rebuttal by 'Dave in Denver'. Counterfeiting jumior gold/silver shares is merely 'tinker toys' for the real movers and shakers who are now franitcally in the 'end game'...which they will turn to their advantage...that is why and when an 'AUM' will outperform.

"...Not once did he address the issue of naked short-selling. I would like to remind Mr. Suchecki that several of the APs are owners of the DTCC and have been under fire for several years for corrupted management of the DTCC. That is a fact. Because of the insidious opacity with which the DTCC operates, there is no way to verify for sure to what extent GLD short-interest is naked or not. But I would bet him $10,000 that if I were to ask every single retail brokerage hold of GLD shares if they were the owner of those GLD shares, every single one would say yes.
In fact, as I think this through, the short-selling argument Mr. S tries to dispel with technical pedantry, in fact, would support the view that the AP/bullion bank is using short-sold shares to further implement the fractional bullion scheme, naked or not naked. If you think about it, the original buyer of GLD shares "thinks" he owns his shares. The short-seller then transfers those shares to a new buyer. So now you have two end-buyers who think that they own GLD shares. If there only two shareholders, one with 100,000 shares (minimum basket size for bullion redemption) who is going to be convert those shares to bullion and have it delivered, and a 2nd owner who bought the borrowed shares with the same intent. If they both converted at the same time, then legally, of course, the original buyer would not be entitled to the shares. His shares have been legally hypothecated. BUT, if this situation were allowed to stand without making both end-buyers of the GLD shares whole on their bullion, it would likely trigger a collapse of confidence in the brokerage business because no one in their right mind would ever buy stocks that could be hypothecated and re-sold. It would without equivocation cause the price of gold to go parabolic.