Treasury, Fed Evade Congressman's Gold Questions So He Presses Them Again, and More


Chris Powell Chris Powell

Chris Powell

September 10th, 2019 Comments

U.S. Rep. Alex X. Mooney, R-West Virginia, is continuing his efforts to get answers from the U.S. Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission about surreptitious interventions by the U.S. government in the financial and commodity markets and particularly the gold and silver markets.

Rep. Alex Mooney

Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV)

Mooney's efforts began with letters sent to the Federal Reserve chairman and Treasury Secretary in April 2018:

https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2018/04/25/house-member-questions-treasury-fed-001463

In July 2018, the Fed and Treasury responded to Mooney but only incompletely, the Fed denying that it was trading in gold but refusing to say whether it is trading in other markets, the Treasury giving a partial denial of gold trading but failing to answer about the government's policy toward gold:

https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2018/07/31/china-gold-market-intervention-001586

In February this year, Mooney asked the CFTC, if it has jurisdiction over manipulative trading undertaken by the U.S. government or brokers acting for the U.S. government, or if such manipulative trading is authorized by federal law:

https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2019/02/05/cftc-silver-market-manipulation-001712

The CFTC has never responded.

Summarizing the major questions that remain unanswered:

1) What is U.S. government policy toward gold? Is the policy still to drive gold out of the world financial system in favor of the U.S. dollar, as State Department records show the policy was in the 1970s?

2) Is the Treasury Department's Exchange Stabilization Fund transacting in gold?

3) What markets are the Fed and Treasury trading in, through what mechanisms, and for what purposes?

4) Does the CFTC have jurisdiction over manipulative trading by the U.S. government or its agents?

5) Has the U.S. gold reserve ever been audited for any encumbrances? If so, what were the findings?

Rep. Mooney's latest letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, sent last month, is here:

https://www.moneymetals.com/uploads/content/mnuchin.pdf

Mooney's latest letter to the CFTC, also sent last month, is here:

https://www.moneymetals.com/uploads/content/tarbert.pdf

Of course, the refusal of the Fed, Treasury, and CFTC to answer the congressman's questions promptly and fully is strong evidence that the U.S. government is deeply and comprehensively involved in market manipulation.

If only mainstream financial news organizations and financial market analysts had the courage and integrity to pose Mooney's questions on their behalf. Then the world might enjoy some actual financial journalism -- and the market rigging and the imperialism the rigging represents might be defeated and free and transparent markets restored along with limited and accountable government.

About the Author

Chris Powell

Chris Powell

Chris Powell is a journalist in Connecticut, where he worked for the Journal Inquirer, a daily newspaper in Manchester, for 56 years, 44 of them as managing editor. He continues to write political columns for that paper and many others in the state. He frequently appears on talk radio programs on four Connecticut stations.

Powell is also secretary/treasurer of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. (GATA), which he co-founded in 1999 to expose and oppose the rigging of the gold market by Western central banks and their investment bank agents. He edits the GATA Dispatch, that organization's daily electronic newsletter, and speaks on behalf of the organization at financial conferences in the United States and abroad.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information and was its state legislative chairman from 2004-2010.