No, not that CCP, though it may as well be. The “CCP” in reference Comex paper silver manipulation is the Central Counterparty sub-committee of the CFTC. The CCP is the creation of Chris Marcus’ (Arcadia Economics) candidate for a Nobel Prize of some sort, Ross Benham. The CCP was established to to provide reports and recommendations directly to the MRAC regarding current issues impacting clearinghouse risk management and governance. The MRAC is the CFTC’s “Market Risk Advisory Committee.” Hmmmm…the CCP is a sub-committee established to provide market-risk advisory recommendations to the sub-committee of the CFTC that was established to provide market-risk advisories to the CFTC Commissioners. Sounds like duplicative, over-lapping functions intended as “cover you ass” bureaucracy set-up by a political animal who will be well-rewarded by Wall Street after serving as Wall Street’s fluffer on the CFTF for awhile .
Perhaps the part of this Orwellian or Randian web of propaganda, pomp and circumstance that is least impressive and most troubling is the fact that the co-chair of said “CCP” is Alicia Crighton, the COO of Prime Clearing Services in the U.S. for Goldman Sachs. This title may sound impressive but it’s Wall Street jargon to mean, “figure out the way to maximize profits for the bank from hedge funds.”
Recall that in 2008, Goldman Sachs was almost incinerated from the counterparty risk exposure it created for itself by stuffing AIG to the gills with sub-prime OTC derivatives. Shortly after Lehman collapsed, AIG was set to collapse next and drag Goldman Sachs along with it. But the taxpayers and the Federal Reserve injected several trillion dollars combined to keep AIG, Goldman Sachs and several other TBTF Wall Street banks solvent. At the very least the people at these firms and the executives in charge of these firms should have been required to dis-gorge their enormous bonuses that were funded by fees from the derivatives that ultimately caused the de-facto financial system collapse. Nope. Instead they collected hefty bonuses funded by the taxpayers.
As this relates to the silver market, the CCP was recently established by the “interim” chairman of the CFTC, Rostin Benham. The CCP will “harmonize, coordinate and enhance” the CFTC’s counterparty default risk oversight. If you think I’m being sarcastic with the terminology, see yourself: CCP Risk Management. This is Orwell-speak for advising the CFTC to look the other way while the Comex bank market-makers make an effort to escalate the degree to which they print gold and silver paper contracts in their effort to cap the price rise of gold and silver.
To be frank, Ms. Crighton is is doing nothing more than to prostituting herself to exert control over CFTC oversight activities for the sake of getting paid a lot more money from Goldman. Make no mistake, her compensation from Goldman is tied to directly to her ability to ensure that Russ Benham follows the directives she exerts as handed down to her from her masters at Goldman.
Benham is a lawyer by training. But the more interesting part of his background reveals that he is a political beast, serving as “counsel” to Michigan Senator, Debbie Stabenow. He also worked at the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Note that there is no evidence of any experience whatsoever professional financial markets experience. He was, apparently, inserted as the “interim” chair of the CFTC because he is the ideal Wall Street hand-puppet, as evidenced by his setting up the CCP. The CCP should be unmitigatingly be regarded as a “fox” put in charge of guarding the “hen house.”
This an important back-drop of information that will add depth to the information conveyed in this short podcast produced by my good friend and colleague, Chris Marcus:
To be sure, the manipulation of markets always fails, eventually. When the event that blows up the Comex occurs, it will be the end of the dollar’s reserve currency status and end of the United States as we know it. The prices of gold and silver to do a moon-shot that makes the recent parabolic moves in Bitcon and dogecoin seem like odd-lots. The net worth of those who own and hold physical gold and silver will be life-changing in scale, but it’s unclear if we’ll be able to enjoy it.
I’d rather be a free man in my grave, than living as a puppet or a slave – Jimmy Cliff
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