Commodities exchange computer glitch story was a spoof

1:43p ET Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Yesterday's dispatch about the computer glitch at the commodities exchange that was said to be responsible for 12 years of suppression of the price of gold (http://www.gata.org/node/4871) was a spoof of the earlier dispatch of an Associated Press report about the computer glitch at Dow Jones & Co. that was said to have accelerated Tuesday's sharp decline in the U.S. stock markets (http://www.gata.org/node/4867).

Many people didn't get the joke. Maybe people in the precious metal camp are so tired of the lies and tricks of governments and so defensive that we'll believe anything. (Indeed, these days governments really do seem to be capable of anything.) Of course Tuesday was a terribly stressful day for many people involved in the markets. And maybe we should know better than to joke with gold and silver bugs, many of whom are very serious people around the clock.

But at GATA we're bugs too and we need to laugh every once in a while, sometimes more often.

During the Civil War Lincoln famously remarked, "I laugh because I must not cry -- that's all, that's all." At GATA we laugh because we must not scream -- if only because it's bad manners.

To those who got the joke, thank you. To those who were disconcerted by it, our apologies. We'll try not to do it again -- not soon anyway. But please be forewarned. Things get so stupid that sometimes we just can't help it.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

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