My one and only post on the CTFC/Andrew Maguire/GATA/silver manipulation issue

I've had a lot of mail recently asking an opinion on this revelation whistleblower thing revolving around an interview given by a certain Maguire about how the silver market is supposedly manipulated by big banks (JP Morgan front and centre in the firing line) and how the whole cause celebre is getting taken up by the morally challenged Bill Murphy over at GATA. This mail excerpt received this morning from reader MS is a pretty typical example:

".....what do you think of the action at CFTC's metal limits hearings?

(LBMA being 100:1 leveraged, the testimony about JPM manipulating silver market by Andrew Maguire, Christian's assertion that the way to avoid delivery failure at LBMA is to cash settle, etc)

I get that you're no fan of GATA, but those are not just "conspiration theories" anymore, are they?"

Now let's be clear that I have no problem with reader MS or anybody else that has mailed in to ask about this issue...it's always good to ask questions. So to make my position clear on this, here's my answer as written to MS:

Show me a market that doesn't suffer from manipulation in some form or other and I'll care a lot more. Wanna hear some stories about what the metals traders at LME do to the copper pit? Or the nickel? I mean, we know that forces want to skew the monetary value of things for their own benefit and the bigger the back pocket the bigger the weapon....jeesh, big deal!

GATA is a shillers operation that exists for its own benefit and has attracted a clique of tinfoilhatters, period. Great marketing, but a waste of time trying to find life's deeper truths there.

I hope this helps. Mojitos served, the end.