It's happened again.

"Banker stealing."

Big banks are getting another big break as a four-year silver manipulation investigation screeches to a halt. Due to “lack of evidence,” JPMorgan and HSBC are about to get away with their manipulation schemes.

What does this mean for precious metals investors?

Simple. Silver prices will surge to unprecedented levels... all in due time.

Experts and critics alike are certain that big banks have been manipulating silver prices much lower than they should be for decades.

Billionaire Eric Sprott, who just invested $200 million into his silver ETF, says “silver is undervalued” and this is unquestionably the “decade for silver.”

Combine that with the fact that the silver supply is at risk, and you'd be foolish not to believe silver prices were about to skyrocket.

Another legendary investor, Jim Rogers, agrees with Sprott. He is preparing for a shocking devaluation of the dollar and an explosion in the precious metals sector. Rogers said he would purchase silver over any other metal right now. He's long on precious metals, commodities, and investments in farm land.

The price spikes could begin in just a few short weeks, especially if the Fed announces QE3 in September.

Chris Powell, co-founder and Treasurer of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA), recently spoke out about silver and gold market manipulation. Since 1998, this organization has been acting out against any sort of collusion of the Fed to control the price of gold.

Despite their best efforts, it has proved extremely difficult to maintain any sort of power when it comes to averting big bank conspiracy and manipulation.

No more free market for gold and silver?

Giving the illusion that they are complying with the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA), Ron Paul, and the American people who have called for an audit of the Fed, the Federal Government has recently asserted they have been auditing the gold stored at the New York Fed. They're drilling holes in the bars to make sure they're actual gold and not fakes stored with Tungsten inside – a common trend in gold-bullion scams lately.

The government has either purposefully or ignorantly ignored the whole point of the demand for a gold audit. Investors want these audits in order to be sure that the gold hasn't been over-sold or traded and swapped in other markets.

Has gold ownership been over-subscribed or over-pledged?

Powell and many other critics and experts think so. In our modern age of unregulated markets for the exchange of “digital gold," it is not uncommon for investors to be tricked into a trade where they may not actually own physical gold bullion at all. If you don't do your homework, you could fall victim to these scammers.

This was the primary issue behind the lawsuit filed in New York's federal court, accusing UBS Financial Services of misguiding silver investors. UBS charged investors storage fees for metals that were never officially purchased, let alone stored for them. At least not technically, if you read the fine print.

Many investors who don't own physical gold or silver get a false sense of security with ETFs. If you want real security, you'll want real bullion as the foundation of your portfolio. You truly can't trust anyone these days.

Could these crises be avoided if we return to a gold standard?

Absolutely. With currency that was redeemable in gold or silver, the purchasing power or value of a currency would have to be anchored by the gold and silver backing it. For now, we're faced with the challenge of living in a world where we are still trying (and failing) to keep our economies running on fiat currencies backed by nothing.

As long as bankers can keep lying to us and giving us a false sense of confidence despite the evils associated with fiat money, they'll profit from market manipulation while smart investors will rush to fill their portfolios with real gold and silver.

But it can't go on forever...

This manipulation scheme is almost half-a-century old, and look what it's done to our economy so far. More importantly, you should consider what 50 years of silver market manipulation will do to the silver markets.

Banks like JPMorgan would end up bankrupt. According to silver expert Jeff Nielson, “companies which require silver to continue the existence of their businesses will be ready to bid-up the price of the commodity to multiples many times greater than an investor merely making a discretionary purchase.”

A silver default is coming. Are you prepared?

Best wishes for a prosperous future,

Brittany Stepniak

Cheers

W.C. Guy