GOLD BUGS V. GARTMAN Monday, March 06, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com
They agreed that the price of gold will continue to rise. But as for how far, how fast and why, forget it. On these and many other issues, two leading gold bugs and a well-known U.S. investment newsletter publisher begged to differ, as they matched wits in Toronto yesterday during a televised debate. The gold bugs were John Embry, precious metals specialist and chief investment strategist at Sprott Asset Management in Toronto, and ally Bill Murphy of Dallas, chairman of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee. Both believe the metal's price has for years been manipulated by a cartel of central banks, dominated by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, that have used their extensive gold reserves to suppress the price in an effort to prop up the value of their currencies. They contend the central banks now retain far less gold than the 31,000 tonnes they claim to have.