Alan Greenspan's Response to GATA and Goldgreenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread |
http://www.gata.org/latest.htmlResponse from Greenspan to GATA and Gold - good read.
-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), January 25, 2000
Please post some text please. That site freezes Netscape at 80% loaded. Thanx.mb
-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), January 25, 2000.
Michael.........Here ya go!Alan Greenspan's Response, and Commentary from GATA Chairman, Bill Murphy and GATA Treasurer/Secretary, Chris Powell.
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
This commentary, and the following letter from Alan Greenspan, were provided by Le Metropole Cafe:
Alan Greenspan has served commentary at the Matisse Table. It is his letter to Senator Lieberman in response to the questions asked of him by The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee on December 9, 1999 in a center spread open letter in Washington's Roll Call newspaper.
A copy of this letter was sent to Alan Yonan Jr. of Dow Jones who forwarded a copy of it to me. GATA found it a bit unusual that Alan Yonan was able to comment on the letter even before we received notice of the letter from Senator Lieberman. It would appear that Chairman Greenspan wanted his side of the story out as soon as possible. Senator Lieberman wrote to Alan Greenspan on January 10th and Greenspan responded to the Senator January 19th.
Here is some analysis from our camp on the letter. It would seem that Mr. Greenspan sidestepped certain questions while agreeing with GATA that it would be inappropriate for the Federal Reserve to manipulate the gold market:
Our questions were directed as such: "Does the Federal Reserve or the Treasury Department."
The Treasury was not mentioned once in Mr. Greenspan's response.
It was most notable that Alan Greenspan stated over and over that the Federal Reserve owns no gold so that it.. GATA knows that the Federal Reserve does not own the U.S. gold. The Treasury does. Why does he keep making the statement?
It would seem that Alan Greenspan is acknowledging that central banks are leasing gold to hold down the price with this statement:..., given the observed willingness of some foreign central banks -not the Federal Reserve - to lease gold in response to price increases. Who are the borrowers?
Alan Greenspan does not deal with the subject that the N.Y. Federal Reserve might be managing the gold market in behalf of the Treasury's gold. He states that the Federal Reserve is not managing the Fed's gold which we all know they do not own.
GATA would still like to know if the N.Y. Fed, a quasi-private institution, is regarded differently than the "Federal Reserve System" itself and are they involved in the gold market in any manner in behalf of the Treasury or foreign central banks.
James Turk made an astute observation about paragraph 3, page 2 in which Greenspan states: "As for question 1, the Federal Reserve does not, either on its own behalf or on behalf of others, including other government agencies, lend gold or silver,.."
James noted the phrase "but not limited to" was left out after "government agencies." In legalese that means Mr. Greenspan has not included the Treasury in his response as it is the government itself, not a government agency.
The world dissects Alan Greenspan's every word. He is known as the master of couching every thing he says. There are no mistakes in his deliveries.
Does Alan Greenspan want to get as far away as possible from the budding scandal about the manipulation of the gold market? Is this his way of saying: I know there will be a big problem some day as the gold loans are too big (10,000 tonnes?) and the bullion banks are in way over their heads? Keep me out of it! ?????
Is he saying: I had nothing to do with the manipulation of the gold market and is saying as such in a discreet a manner as possible? Is he distancing himself from former Treasury Secretary Rubin and present Secretary Summers? Remember, it was Secretary Rubin who was the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and has all the bullion bank connections.
There is much more that will be said about all of this in time. Mr. Greenspan mentioned to Senator Lieberman to let him know if he could be of any further assistance. We will request that Senator Lieberman clarify some of the points brought out above.
In the meantime, we await Treasury Secretary Summer's response.
Stay tuned.
-- kevin (innxxs@yahoo.com), January 25, 2000.
Alan Greenspan's Response, and Commentary from GATA Chairman, Bill Murphy and GATA Treasurer/Secretary, Chris Powell.Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
This commentary, and the following letter from Alan Greenspan, were provided by Le Metropole Cafe:
Alan Greenspan has served commentary at the Matisse Table. It is his letter to Senator Lieberman in response to the questions asked of him by The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee on December 9, 1999 in a center spread open letter in Washington's Roll Call newspaper.
A copy of this letter was sent to Alan Yonan Jr. of Dow Jones who forwarded a copy of it to me. GATA found it a bit unusual that Alan Yonan was able to comment on the letter even before we received notice of the letter from Senator Lieberman. It would appear that Chairman Greenspan wanted his side of the story out as soon as possible. Senator Lieberman wrote to Alan Greenspan on January 10th and Greenspan responded to the Senator January 19th.
Here is some analysis from our camp on the letter. It would seem that Mr. Greenspan sidestepped certain questions while agreeing with GATA that it would be inappropriate for the Federal Reserve to manipulate the gold market:
Our questions were directed as such: "Does the Federal Reserve or the Treasury Department."
The Treasury was not mentioned once in Mr. Greenspan's response.
It was most notable that Alan Greenspan stated over and over that the Federal Reserve owns no gold so that it.. GATA knows that the Federal Reserve does not own the U.S. gold. The Treasury does. Why does he keep making the statement?
It would seem that Alan Greenspan is acknowledging that central banks are leasing gold to hold down the price with this statement:..., given the observed willingness of some foreign central banks -not the Federal Reserve - to lease gold in response to price increases. Who are the borrowers?
Alan Greenspan does not deal with the subject that the N.Y. Federal Reserve might be managing the gold market in behalf of the Treasury's gold. He states that the Federal Reserve is not managing the Fed's gold which we all know they do not own.
GATA would still like to know if the N.Y. Fed, a quasi-private institution, is regarded differently than the "Federal Reserve System" itself and are they involved in the gold market in any manner in behalf of the Treasury or foreign central banks.
James Turk made an astute observation about paragraph 3, page 2 in which Greenspan states: "As for question 1, the Federal Reserve does not, either on its own behalf or on behalf of others, including other government agencies, lend gold or silver,.."
James noted the phrase "but not limited to" was left out after "government agencies." In legalese that means Mr. Greenspan has not included the Treasury in his response as it is the government itself, not a government agency.
The world dissects Alan Greenspan's every word. He is known as the master of couching every thing he says. There are no mistakes in his deliveries.
Does Alan Greenspan want to get as far away as possible from the budding scandal about the manipulation of the gold market? Is this his way of saying: I know there will be a big problem some day as the gold loans are too big (10,000 tonnes?) and the bullion banks are in way over their heads? Keep me out of it! ?????
Is he saying: I had nothing to do with the manipulation of the gold market and is saying as such in a discreet a manner as possible? Is he distancing himself from former Treasury Secretary Rubin and present Secretary Summers? Remember, it was Secretary Rubin who was the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and has all the bullion bank connections.
There is much more that will be said about all of this in time. Mr. Greenspan mentioned to Senator Lieberman to let him know if he could be of any further assistance. We will request that Senator Lieberman clarify some of the points brought out above.
In the meantime, we await Treasury Secretary Summer's response.
Stay tuned.
The Honorable Joseph L. Lieberman United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator:
Thank you for your recent letter from your constituent, Chris Powell, concerning the open letter published in the Thursday, December 9, 1999, edition of Roll Call.
The letter asserts that the Federal Reserve has been seeking to manipulate the price of gold by intervening in or otherwise interfering with the free market in gold. This is not true.
The Federal Reserve owns no gold and therefore could not sell or lease gold to influence its price. Likewise, the Federal Reserve does not engage in financial transactions related to gold, such as trading in gold options or other derivatives.
Most importantly, the Federal Reserve is in complete agreement with the proposition that any such transactions on our part, aimed at manipulating the price of gold or otherwise interfering in the free trade of gold, would be wholly inappropriate.
My testimony before the House Banking Committee and the Senate Agricultural Committee in July 1998 was concerned with the regulation of over-the-counter derivatives and included a phrase at the end of the statement below that has been wrongly interpreted.
The statement merely means that more than one central bank stands ready to lease gold. It does not say that all central banks do so, and, indeed, I presumed it would be understood that the statement was not referring to the Federal Reserve, whose public balance sheets indicate no ownership of gold. I did not think it was necessary to indicate that the Federal Reserve was not part of the group of central banks who do lease gold since the Federal Reserve owns no gold.
"To be sure, there are a limited number of OTC derivative contracts that apply to nonfinancial underlying assets. There is a significant business in oil-based derivatives, for example. But unlike farm crops, especially near the end of a crop season, private counterparties in oil contracts have virtually no ability to restrict the worldwide supply of this commodity. Even OPEC has been less than successful over the years. Nor can private counterparties restrict supplies of gold, another commodity whose derivatives are often traded over- the-counter, where central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise."
The final clause of this statement, highlighted in italics above, was quoted in the Roll Call letter. In their original context, these words obviously do not assert that the Federal Reserve itself participates in the gold market in any way. The observation simply describes the limited capacity of private parties to influence the gold market by restricting the supply of gold, given the observed willingness of some foreign central banks -- not the Federal Reserve - - to lease gold in response to price increases.
The answers to the 11 questions posed in the open letter are straightforward:
As for Question 1, the Federal Reserve does not, either on its own behalf or on behalf of others, including other government agencies, lend gold or silver, facilitate the lending of gold and silver, or trade in any securities, such as futures contracts and call and put options, involving gold and silver. Thus, Questions 2 through 8 are inapplicable because they presuppose an affirmative answer to Question 1.
Question 9 asks whether the Federal Reserve ever owns or deals in derivatives that are connected with precious metals and whether any other agencies write call options against the Federal Reserve's gold holdings. The answer to Question 9 is no; in particular, the Federal Reserve has no gold holdings, as noted above. Question 10 is inapplicable because it presupposes an affirmative answer to Question 9.
Question 11 asks whether the Federal Reserve, either directly or through its management of foreign custody accounts, collaborated with the Bank for International Settlements, the Bank of England, or any other central bank with a view to managing, smoothing, or otherwise affecting the market price of gold. The answer to Question 11 is no.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
ALAN GREENSPAN Chairman
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Copyright (C) 1999 All rights reserved. Alan Greenspan's Response, and Commentary from GATA Chairman, Bill Murphy and GATA Treasurer/Secretary, Chris Powell.
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
This commentary, and the following letter from Alan Greenspan, were provided by Le Metropole Cafe:
Alan Greenspan has served commentary at the Matisse Table. It is his letter to Senator Lieberman in response to the questions asked of him by The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee on December 9, 1999 in a center spread open letter in Washington's Roll Call newspaper.
A copy of this letter was sent to Alan Yonan Jr. of Dow Jones who forwarded a copy of it to me. GATA found it a bit unusual that Alan Yonan was able to comment on the letter even before we received notice of the letter from Senator Lieberman. It would appear that Chairman Greenspan wanted his side of the story out as soon as possible. Senator Lieberman wrote to Alan Greenspan on January 10th and Greenspan responded to the Senator January 19th.
Here is some analysis from our camp on the letter. It would seem that Mr. Greenspan sidestepped certain questions while agreeing with GATA that it would be inappropriate for the Federal Reserve to manipulate the gold market:
Our questions were directed as such: "Does the Federal Reserve or the Treasury Department."
The Treasury was not mentioned once in Mr. Greenspan's response.
It was most notable that Alan Greenspan stated over and over that the Federal Reserve owns no gold so that it.. GATA knows that the Federal Reserve does not own the U.S. gold. The Treasury does. Why does he keep making the statement?
It would seem that Alan Greenspan is acknowledging that central banks are leasing gold to hold down the price with this statement:..., given the observed willingness of some foreign central banks -not the Federal Reserve - to lease gold in response to price increases. Who are the borrowers?
Alan Greenspan does not deal with the subject that the N.Y. Federal Reserve might be managing the gold market in behalf of the Treasury's gold. He states that the Federal Reserve is not managing the Fed's gold which we all know they do not own.
GATA would still like to know if the N.Y. Fed, a quasi-private institution, is regarded differently than the "Federal Reserve System" itself and are they involved in the gold market in any manner in behalf of the Treasury or foreign central banks.
James Turk made an astute observation about paragraph 3, page 2 in which Greenspan states: "As for question 1, the Federal Reserve does not, either on its own behalf or on behalf of others, including other government agencies, lend gold or silver,.."
James noted the phrase "but not limited to" was left out after "government agencies." In legalese that means Mr. Greenspan has not included the Treasury in his response as it is the government itself, not a government agency.
The world dissects Alan Greenspan's every word. He is known as the master of couching every thing he says. There are no mistakes in his deliveries.
Does Alan Greenspan want to get as far away as possible from the budding scandal about the manipulation of the gold market? Is this his way of saying: I know there will be a big problem some day as the gold loans are too big (10,000 tonnes?) and the bullion banks are in way over their heads? Keep me out of it! ?????
Is he saying: I had nothing to do with the manipulation of the gold market and is saying as such in a discreet a manner as possible? Is he distancing himself from former Treasury Secretary Rubin and present Secretary Summers? Remember, it was Secretary Rubin who was the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and has all the bullion bank connections.
There is much more that will be said about all of this in time. Mr. Greenspan mentioned to Senator Lieberman to let him know if he could be of any further assistance. We will request that Senator Lieberman clarify some of the points brought out above.
In the meantime, we await Treasury Secretary Summer's response.
Stay tuned.
The Honorable Joseph L. Lieberman United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator:
Thank you for your recent letter from your constituent, Chris Powell, concerning the open letter published in the Thursday, December 9, 1999, edition of Roll Call.
The letter asserts that the Federal Reserve has been seeking to manipulate the price of gold by intervening in or otherwise interfering with the free market in gold. This is not true.
The Federal Reserve owns no gold and therefore could not sell or lease gold to influence its price. Likewise, the Federal Reserve does not engage in financial transactions related to gold, such as trading in gold options or other derivatives.
Most importantly, the Federal Reserve is in complete agreement with the proposition that any such transactions on our part, aimed at manipulating the price of gold or otherwise interfering in the free trade of gold, would be wholly inappropriate.
My testimony before the House Banking Committee and the Senate Agricultural Committee in July 1998 was concerned with the regulation of over-the-counter derivatives and included a phrase at the end of the statement below that has been wrongly interpreted.
The statement merely means that more than one central bank stands ready to lease gold. It does not say that all central banks do so, and, indeed, I presumed it would be understood that the statement was not referring to the Federal Reserve, whose public balance sheets indicate no ownership of gold. I did not think it was necessary to indicate that the Federal Reserve was not part of the group of central banks who do lease gold since the Federal Reserve owns no gold.
"To be sure, there are a limited number of OTC derivative contracts that apply to nonfinancial underlying assets. There is a significant business in oil-based derivatives, for example. But unlike farm crops, especially near the end of a crop season, private counterparties in oil contracts have virtually no ability to restrict the worldwide supply of this commodity. Even OPEC has been less than successful over the years. Nor can private counterparties restrict supplies of gold, another commodity whose derivatives are often traded over- the-counter, where central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise."
The final clause of this statement, highlighted in italics above, was quoted in the Roll Call letter. In their original context, these words obviously do not assert that the Federal Reserve itself participates in the gold market in any way. The observation simply describes the limited capacity of private parties to influence the gold market by restricting the supply of gold, given the observed willingness of some foreign central banks -- not the Federal Reserve - - to lease gold in response to price increases.
The answers to the 11 questions posed in the open letter are straightforward:
As for Question 1, the Federal Reserve does not, either on its own behalf or on behalf of others, including other government agencies, lend gold or silver, facilitate the lending of gold and silver, or trade in any securities, such as futures contracts and call and put options, involving gold and silver. Thus, Questions 2 through 8 are inapplicable because they presuppose an affirmative answer to Question 1.
Question 9 asks whether the Federal Reserve ever owns or deals in derivatives that are connected with precious metals and whether any other agencies write call options against the Federal Reserve's gold holdings. The answer to Question 9 is no; in particular, the Federal Reserve has no gold holdings, as noted above. Question 10 is inapplicable because it presupposes an affirmative answer to Question 9.
Question 11 asks whether the Federal Reserve, either directly or through its management of foreign custody accounts, collaborated with the Bank for International Settlements, the Bank of England, or any other central bank with a view to managing, smoothing, or otherwise affecting the market price of gold. The answer to Question 11 is no.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
ALAN GREENSPAN Chairman
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Copyright (C) 1999 All rights reserved. Alan Greenspan's Response, and Commentary from GATA Chairman, Bill Murphy and GATA Treasurer/Secretary, Chris Powell.
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
This commentary, and the following letter from Alan Greenspan, were provided by Le Metropole Cafe:
Alan Greenspan has served commentary at the Matisse Table. It is his letter to Senator Lieberman in response to the questions asked of him by The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee on December 9, 1999 in a center spread open letter in Washington's Roll Call newspaper.
A copy of this letter was sent to Alan Yonan Jr. of Dow Jones who forwarded a copy of it to me. GATA found it a bit unusual that Alan Yonan was able to comment on the letter even before we received notice of the letter from Senator Lieberman. It would appear that Chairman Greenspan wanted his side of the story out as soon as possible. Senator Lieberman wrote to Alan Greenspan on January 10th and Greenspan responded to the Senator January 19th.
Here is some analysis from our camp on the letter. It would seem that Mr. Greenspan sidestepped certain questions while agreeing with GATA that it would be inappropriate for the Federal Reserve to manipulate the gold market:
Our questions were directed as such: "Does the Federal Reserve or the Treasury Department."
The Treasury was not mentioned once in Mr. Greenspan's response.
It was most notable that Alan Greenspan stated over and over that the Federal Reserve owns no gold so that it.. GATA knows that the Federal Reserve does not own the U.S. gold. The Treasury does. Why does he keep making the statement?
It would seem that Alan Greenspan is acknowledging that central banks are leasing gold to hold down the price with this statement:..., given the observed willingness of some foreign central banks -not the Federal Reserve - to lease gold in response to price increases. Who are the borrowers?
Alan Greenspan does not deal with the subject that the N.Y. Federal Reserve might be managing the gold market in behalf of the Treasury's gold. He states that the Federal Reserve is not managing the Fed's gold which we all know they do not own.
GATA would still like to know if the N.Y. Fed, a quasi-private institution, is regarded differently than the "Federal Reserve System" itself and are they involved in the gold market in any manner in behalf of the Treasury or foreign central banks.
James Turk made an astute observation about paragraph 3, page 2 in which Greenspan states: "As for question 1, the Federal Reserve does not, either on its own behalf or on behalf of others, including other government agencies, lend gold or silver,.."
James noted the phrase "but not limited to" was left out after "government agencies." In legalese that means Mr. Greenspan has not included the Treasury in his response as it is the government itself, not a government agency.
The world dissects Alan Greenspan's every word. He is known as the master of couching every thing he says. There are no mistakes in his deliveries.
Does Alan Greenspan want to get as far away as possible from the budding scandal about the manipulation of the gold market? Is this his way of saying: I know there will be a big problem some day as the gold loans are too big (10,000 tonnes?) and the bullion banks are in way over their heads? Keep me out of it! ?????
Is he saying: I had nothing to do with the manipulation of the gold market and is saying as such in a discreet a manner as possible? Is he distancing himself from former Treasury Secretary Rubin and present Secretary Summers? Remember, it was Secretary Rubin who was the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and has all the bullion bank connections.
There is much more that will be said about all of this in time. Mr. Greenspan mentioned to Senator Lieberman to let him know if he could be of any further assistance. We will request that Senator Lieberman clarify some of the points brought out above.
In the meantime, we await Treasury Secretary Summer's response.
Stay tuned.
The Honorable Joseph L. Lieberman United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator:
Thank you for your recent letter from your constituent, Chris Powell, concerning the open letter published in the Thursday, December 9, 1999, edition of Roll Call.
The letter asserts that the Federal Reserve has been seeking to manipulate the price of gold by intervening in or otherwise interfering with the free market in gold. This is not true.
The Federal Reserve owns no gold and therefore could not sell or lease gold to influence its price. Likewise, the Federal Reserve does not engage in financial transactions related to gold, such as trading in gold options or other derivatives.
Most importantly, the Federal Reserve is in complete agreement with the proposition that any such transactions on our part, aimed at manipulating the price of gold or otherwise interfering in the free trade of gold, would be wholly inappropriate.
My testimony before the House Banking Committee and the Senate Agricultural Committee in July 1998 was concerned with the regulation of over-the-counter derivatives and included a phrase at the end of the statement below that has been wrongly interpreted.
The statement merely means that more than one central bank stands ready to lease gold. It does not say that all central banks do so, and, indeed, I presumed it would be understood that the statement was not referring to the Federal Reserve, whose public balance sheets indicate no ownership of gold. I did not think it was necessary to indicate that the Federal Reserve was not part of the group of central banks who do lease gold since the Federal Reserve owns no gold.
"To be sure, there are a limited number of OTC derivative contracts that apply to nonfinancial underlying assets. There is a significant business in oil-based derivatives, for example. But unlike farm crops, especially near the end of a crop season, private counterparties in oil contracts have virtually no ability to restrict the worldwide supply of this commodity. Even OPEC has been less than successful over the years. Nor can private counterparties restrict supplies of gold, another commodity whose derivatives are often traded over- the-counter, where central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise."
The final clause of this statement, highlighted in italics above, was quoted in the Roll Call letter. In their original context, these words obviously do not assert that the Federal Reserve itself participates in the gold market in any way. The observation simply describes the limited capacity of private parties to influence the gold market by restricting the supply of gold, given the observed willingness of some foreign central banks -- not the Federal Reserve - - to lease gold in response to price increases.
The answers to the 11 questions posed in the open letter are straightforward:
As for Question 1, the Federal Reserve does not, either on its own behalf or on behalf of others, including other government agencies, lend gold or silver, facilitate the lending of gold and silver, or trade in any securities, such as futures contracts and call and put options, involving gold and silver. Thus, Questions 2 through 8 are inapplicable because they presuppose an affirmative answer to Question 1.
Question 9 asks whether the Federal Reserve ever owns or deals in derivatives that are connected with precious metals and whether any other agencies write call options against the Federal Reserve's gold holdings. The answer to Question 9 is no; in particular, the Federal Reserve has no gold holdings, as noted above. Question 10 is inapplicable because it presupposes an affirmative answer to Question 9.
Question 11 asks whether the Federal Reserve, either directly or through its management of foreign custody accounts, collaborated with the Bank for International Settlements, the Bank of England, or any other central bank with a view to managing, smoothing, or otherwise affecting the market price of gold. The answer to Question 11 is no.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
ALAN GREENSPAN Chairman
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Copyright (C) 1999 All rights reserved.
-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), January 25, 2000.
Whew!! I didn't want you to miss it!! Sorry for the repeats, don't know what happened. Taz
-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), January 25, 2000.