2010 has been an exceptional year for silver. The price has increased over 50% to-date, and the CFTC (the US commodity regulatory body) issued a statement last month admitting that the market price of silver may have been (and still may be) fraudulently manipulated. An investigation is underway.
Ted Butler is one of the pre-eminent commentators on the silver market. In addition to his decades following the metal, he's spent years raising suspicions about silver’s suppression by a few large banks taking on egregiously large short positions. The current CFTC action is a direct result of Ted’s activism.
In the podcast below, Chris conducts an in-depth interview with Ted focusing on the most important aspects that anyone interested in silver needs to know now. In short, Ted predicts the imminent end to the manipulation will ultimately send the price higher - much higher.
The podcast covers:
Why silver has such a compelling value story
The coming silver supply crunch
The argument behind the allegations of silver price manipulation
Drivers behind the recent price action in silver
Why price volatility will increase
The expected outcome of the CFTC’s investigation and why Ted thinks it will be "a bombshell for the silver market"
Within the podcast, Ted mentions how the CFTC is actively soliciting ideas and opinions from concerned citizens regarding its investigation. Those interested can weigh in by clicking here.
In part 2 of this interview, Chris and Ted dig more deeply into the mechanics of how the alleged manipulation has been conducted, as well as Ted's outlook on the future price for silver. The part 2 podcast is only available to PeakProsperity.com enrolled users (i.e. paying subscribers), though any interested listeners can enroll here to gain access to it.
This interview kicks off a new multimedia series focusing on substantial, intelligent exploration of topical events and ideas between Chris and leading thinkers. Expect more to come in the near future.
And expect the sound quality to improve soon, too. Chris is almost done installing a proper A/V set-up that will produce much more polished audio (and video!).
Stay tuned,
Adam
To listen to Part 1 of this podcast interview, simply click the play icon below:
For those encountering issues with the player, we’ve added a direct link below it to download the podcast. We’ve also added a link to report any continued issues with the podcast that will go straight to our technical staff. We’re focused on getting this to work correctly for everybody.
Good to see you posting again. I threw your name out there on the Solar Battery Charger thread - JO has a question I thought you or Rob Hare could answer.
ted butler is very humble in his work. he seems quite un emmotional about everything and perhaps this is what has bought the man so far. When silver does break through and it absolutely will, then ted is the one who we need to thank. People like him make this world a much better place. Thanx for your sacrifice . Steve Australia
Chris,
I think this one of the most interesting and important interviews I’ve listened to this year, even the last couple of years - absolutely fantastic stuff and many thanks (to both you and Ted).
I’m sending the interview link to some friends of mine - who, I’m convinced, think I’ve lost the plot with my passion about what’s been going on in the economy and markets over the last few years! I’ve been long Gold since $330 and Silver since $9 (I’m not crowing about it, just stating, a friend of mine has been long Gold since three days after Gordon Brown sold half of Britain’s reserves!) - I’m still expecting a bit more of a pullback, but soon time to build on those positions.
DavidC,
Congratulations on having the wisdom to invest in Au and Ag.
Given the expectation that Ag will move up into triple digits in the near future, meaning in the next two or three years, does it make any sense to you to invest a chunk in AGQ which is a leveraged silver ETF?
I don’t have the time to watch an investment closely enough to be trading in and out daily. I just wonder if a leveraged ETF in silver makes sense to hold given the long term outlook for silver.
I am in to a certain extent but I am contemplating a more adventuresome commitment which would not just maintain my purchasing power but could be life changing.
Finally got a chance to listen to these podcasts while I raked leaves this afternoon.
Excellent stuff. While I have for some time now had a vague and intellectual understanding of how shorts could keep the price down, Mr. Butler’s 'splanation helped it sink in more completely. One of those “oh, right!” kind of moments.
Ted Butler did what he did for reasons of his own and out of loyalty to his own values. I don’t think he considers that his efforts over the years were a form of self sacrifice in any sense.
I have learned from reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and her essays in The Objectivist Newsletter and The Virtue of Selfishness just how her understanding of ethics differs from traditional, conventional understanding.
As I understand it she holds that each human being has a right to his or her own life and that the moral purpose of that life is his or her own happiness. She rejects the idea of self sacrifice being a virtue. She rejects the idea that one must live for the sake of others and one must hold other people’s interests above one’s own.
I once knew a woman who devoted herself to service to others in her family. She never allowed herself to think of what she might want for herself. She had no goals of her own and suppressed desires of her own. She never married or even dated. She had no career and no goals in that direction. She lived with a married sister who took her to see a psychiatrist for treatment of her emptiness. Man is not a sacrificial animal and cannot live as one.
Ayn Rand proposes a philosophy for living on earth. The prevailing philosophy is incompatible with Man’s nature which explains why we are in the trouble you witness in our society. Altruism justifies sacrificing men for the alleged benefits of others. Need constitutes a claim on the productive and the able. Altruism enables the societal programs which are bankrupting the country.
Watch for the first of a trilogy of Atlas Shrugged recently filmed and in post production.
Better still, read the book to see why it is so high on the best seller list at amazon almost thirty years after its author died and fifty-three years after it was first published in 1957.
Aaarrggghhh…ok enough with the Ayn (Alisa Rosenbaum) Rand sainthood crap.
Her and Nietzsche should have had a kid together and called it Spite.
There is nothing enlightening about being a self serving self centered ass. Its just arrogance and boorishness wrapped up in pop psychology nonsense. People who think they are different than everyone else love this stuff thats why bankers, politician, fascist and college students are soooo attracted to it.
I think it was Dorothy Parker who after reading Ayn Rand quipped : " It (Atlas Shrugged) should not be put down lightly, rather, it should be thrown with great force".