Blythe Masters, who heads up JP Morgan's commodity division, took some time to speak with CNBC this week regarding their massive profits. Surprisingly, she took some time to comment directly on the "blogosphere rumors" that they are directly manipulating the direction of silver prices to make a profit for their trading desk. Her response:
"We have offsetting positions. We have no stake in whether prices rise or decline. Rather we're running a relatively flat or matched book."
I am part of the "blogosphere" that over the past few years has made a case for JP Morgan's manipulation in the silver market. I have written extensive articles discussing their activity, alongside HSBC, both of which at times have taken a short positions that could cover world production out 7,000 years (slight exaggeration, but not much).
Due to Blythe's decision to come public and speak about my accusations, I will dedicate another article soon discussing this fascinating topic. I do not moan and complain about our current financial system and how it is structured but only look to study it and learn how best to profit from it as I discussed in Understanding Fiat Money. I also do not moan and complain about JP Morgan's ridiculous and illegal short position. It has allowed both myself and people I help invest to purchase silver at insanely low prices based on normal supply and demand dynamics.
At some point the short position will be unwound, just as at some point our bankrupt country will not have government bonds issued with printed currency at 1%. Perhaps both will happen simultaneously. Until then, please enjoy the interview by someone who, just like Jon Corzine, is currently running an illegal activity and will never be punished.
As a quick side note for those that have not read any of my previous articles on the subject, I do not think the silver market is 100% controlled or suppressed by these two large banks. I believe that based on the size of the silver market (tiny), and the tremendous amount of data I have reviewed from both sides of the argument, that they have the ability at times to push the market with force through key trading/trigger points that allow their trading desks to front run others in the market. Based on their positions this is almost always done on the short side.
For a quick primer on the other side's response, I would take the time to listen to Jim Puplava's recent interview with Ted Butler discussing the topic in depth.
