George, thanks...btw, i never assumed that a financial melt-down would be needed to get gold going. i'm more of the school that thinks if and when gold gets going, a melt-down could result from that. the reason is that a) the gold carry trade would die overnight, which removes a major source of liquidity from the paper assets markets and b) the big investment banks involved in the gold derivatives markets would probably suffer major losses as their computer models as Hathaway suggests once again fail to account for the 'impossible'.
that would lead to an unwinding of all sorts of leveraged positions across various markets.
because of this i am also inclined to lend the claims of the conspiracy theorists some credence, i.e. the gold market has been, and probably still is, subject to manipulation.
unfortunately for those involved in the manipulation, history shows that all attempts to heavily manipulate a market lead to distortions that eventually backfire in a big way. this is true nowadays of both the gold and equity markets. in essence, both are pyramid schemes, the one a bearish, the other a bullish one. the perpetrators are well-funded, exceedingly well connected and have an impressive propaganda machinery at their command.
nevertheless, their schemes have become so complex and led to so many imbalances, that they will eventually lose control over what they have wrought. at that point all hell will break loose, with very little warning.
regards,
hb
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