[billybudd]

It's amusing how Blanchard pines for a "free market", yet resorts to government power to curtail activities which occurred in the free market. Why aren't Barrick and JPM part of the market? Does strategizing destroy the "normal" laws of supply and demand? Of course not! The free market is manipulation and strategic trading. The "pure and perfect competition" in those Econ 101 textbooks is a myth.

[rohry]

"It's amusing how Blanchard pines for a "free market", yet resorts to government power to curtail activities which occurred in the free market."

Did you read the article? The gold market (like Enron's dealings) is not transparent. Private companies have been borrowing gold from the Treasury (or the Fed) and "leasing" it into the market to suppress the price...

How would you respond if your company made Ford automobiles and the government was buying Chevys and selling them at a huge dicount to force down the price of cars?