Puzzleman, I have great respect for Norcini, but I offer a slightly different take on what is going on. I submit that those trying to destroy gold are operating at an even more basic level than self-interest, but rather psychological self-preservation.

Do you remember the scene from Jaws where the mayor looks Roy Scheider in the face after they've had to close the beach and says, "My kids were on that beach, too."? He HAD to believe that the water was safe. He had to believe there was no shark. He had to. If he didn't, then the town would shut down, the tourist trade would collapse, he would be a failure as mayor.

He didn't do it because he was selfish, he did it because he couldn't stand the thought of how difficult life would be for him if he was wrong.

Now we have the equivalent of a 30 foot great white shark swimming in the waters of our economy and the people running it are just refusing to shut the beach down. I don't think that they're evil, just scared to death, and unwilling to change.

Sure it is insane what these people are trying to do to gold. They cannot win. Jaws is swimming right at them and all they have is a toy dart gun. Bull