Eight or so years ago when Bush Jr. was about to first take office, there was a good deal of optimism in the gold community that the new President would change the corrupt market-manipulative practices initiated under the Clinton administration by Rubin et al. This latter policy was referred to as a strong dollar policy, but was in fact just a concerted action to suppress the monetary metals (gold and silver), so as to bolster the perception that the value of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency was secure.

Since then, although gold has about tripled in value, you’d have to be a fool (or an investigator for the CFTC) to conclude that manipulation in the gold and silver sector ended. In fact, over the last eight years the manipulation has increasingly become apparent - Ted Butler’s work on concentrated COMEX short positions by banks that have no business in the sector (at least as regards the size of their positions) is but the latest example.

Bill Murphy - a tireless and tenacious investigator, a friend of gold and honest money and the Chairman of GATA - has recently met with Bart Chilton, Commissioner of the CFTC. Bill reports optimistically that Bart listened attentively. Further, Bill’s assessment of Bart’s character was very positive. Now I know Bill to be one of the good guys. He has selflessly help promote my novels - which highlight the farce masquerading as a monetary system in the world through the use of historical content - and is always quick to respond to emails… not to mention the plethora of work trying to uncover ever more corruption in the gold and silver sectors. So in my opinion, Bill’s assessment is to be given considerable weight.

I am not, however, optimistic that changes will come from either Chilton or the new administration under President-elect Obama - unless they are dragged down this road kicking and screaming. Eight years ago I shared the optimism that a new administration might stem some of the corruption in the financial sector; we all see the results, perhaps punctuated by Maddoff, the abhorrent bailout legislation, and many other corrupt practices coming into the light of day recently. So you, the reader, must decide whether an innate pessimism regarding the possibility of benevolent change is warranted.

I was raised with the idea that you judge a man by his actions more so than by his words. As regards Chilton: Okay, he’s been given the facts. Don’t hold your breath that indictments will soon be coming. As regards Obama: His cabinet appointments are very telling. Again weighted with former Goldman Sachs employees, it would take a fool (or again, a CFTC investigator) to conclude that something was going to change. It is precisely the intrusion of corporations and the moneypowers into governance that our Founding Father’s most feared (as regards the fall of the Republic).

The ease at which fiat systems arise is understandable. By their very construction, they start out by empowering and rewarding decision makers - the same decision makers who assess the merits of the policies. To a great degree, fiat systems then grow as a cancer, taking ever more members of the People into the beneficiary class (”Hey, I’m making money; my kids are going to college; my sports team is winning… no way I want to change anything”). Thus, corrupt practices are easy to ignore.

Eventually, and soon on a historical time scale, the fiat system begins to break down. Since it inherently promotes a variety of ills, the system itself is not sustainable: Malinvestment (e.g. pet projects with little or no intrinsic merit funded by Congressmen); Value and energy dislocations (e.g. think shipping a piece of granite to China and back to be processed since it’s cheaper and what that means from net energy considerations); And outright fraud (e.g. siphoning off Treasury money by elitists - dishonest money rewards dishonest behavior and penalizes honest behavior i.e. think interest returns on honest savings).

Not one word about fiat money and its fundamental role in the ongoing monetary collapse has been forthcoming in the mainstream press (feel free to advise me if one or two words have seeped through). This again is no surprise. The press - increasingly owned, operated, and dictated to by mega corporations - are beneficiaries of the fiat system. You cannot cure a disease by quelling a symptom or two.

Until such time as a critical mass of people understand the choices - continue down the current road for ten years of pain or admit the problem now, tighten your belt, implement a solution and look to a renewed renaissance within a year - don’t look for change. Necessarily and in my opinion, obtaining a critical mass of people will require these same people to no longer be beneficiaries of the system (we are making great strides in this regard as the economic pain spreads).

Fiat systems cannot be managed by Man - he is too weak to resist the siren song of infinite wealth. Until such time as a Saint arises to manage such a system, count me in the camp that decries the corrupt nature of fiat systems.

So Mr. Chilton, Mr. Obama and other similar beneficiaries of the current corrupt system, the ball is in your court. Can you rise above the pressures to preserve an unsustainable monetary system, or will you put your country and the good of the People first? Lest there be any doubt, I am not holding my breath.

PM

A few of my novels are left on special… check out the link if you are so inclined (happy holidays).

http://www.axiomhouse.com/specials.htm