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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RockyBalboa who wrote (4659)	1/21/2000 9:54:00 PM
From: Sir Auric Goldfinger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

I love a good conspiracy, esp. one about GOLD!: "Greenspan Endeavors To End Rumors Of Gold Conspiracy 1/21/0 19:1 (New York) By Alan Yonan Jr. WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan is trying to end once and for all rumors that the central bank is somehow involved in an international conspiracy to drive down the price of gold. Internet-spread theories regarding gold manipulation began gaining currency in some quarters last spring when prices for the precious metal slumped to 20-year lows. Fanning the flames were announcements by government institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England, that they were planning on selling a portion of their gold reserves. A key participant in the rumor mill was the Gold Anti-trust Action Committee, a private group that claims it has evidence the price and supply of gold is being controlled by a cartel of Wall Street firms and bullion banks with the possible encouragement of the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury. Greenspan himself inadvertently provided fodder for the rumors when he mentioned gold while testifying on the subject of derivatives before the House Banking Committee on July 24, 1998. One of Greenspan's quotes, taken out of context, was picked up by the Gold Anti-trust Committee and used in its literature to fuel the conspiracy theories. The latest attempt to get the rumors to stick came recently when the Gold Anti-trust Committee published an open letter in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, asking Greenspan and Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers to respond to a list of questions dealing with the handling of U.S. gold reserves. When the group didn't get an answer, it asked a number of lawmakers to send letters to the Fed and Treasury chiefs on its behalf. The group got a shot with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. Group member Chris Powell, managing editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Conn., submitted a letter and list of questions to Lieberman, who forwarded them to Greenspan and Summers. The Fed chairman was the first to respond in a letter dated Jan. 19. "The letter asserts that the Federal Reserve has been seeking to manipulate the price of gold by intervening in or otherwise interfering with the free market in gold. This is not true," Greenspan wrote. "The Federal Reserve owns no gold and therefore could not sell or lease gold to influence its price. Likewise, the Federal Reserve does not engage in financial transactions related to gold, such as trading in gold options or other derivatives," the central bank chief continued. He added that the Federal Reserve was in complete agreement with the view that any such transactions aimed at manipulating the price of gold "would be wholly inappropriate." Greenspan also noted that the Gold Anti-trust Committee plucked only one sentence from the 2,500 words of testimony he delivered to the House Banking Committee. "In their original context, these words obviously do not assert that the Federal Reserve itself participates in the gold market in any way," Greenspan wrote in the letter. "