Phishing for Phools, page-3

When I read this review, I kept thinking about the behaviour of the retail sellers of gold coins and ingots and the promotion they receive through websites like Zerohedge, Silver Bear Cafe and the like.

It is easy to think of them as malicious and venal. So much of what they publish is little more than baseless scaremongering.

But what choice do they have?

Retail sellers of gold coins and ingots have been subjected to an almost overwhelming competitive attack from the gold ETFs since they emerged in the early 2000's. GLD charges 0.4%, while the retailers are trying to extract margins of anything from 2% to 20%. Retail physical gold can't compete on price.

So did they have any real choice but to mount an attack on the integrity of the ETFs, coining the term "paper gold" and hinting at institutional fraud? It is almost sad to see an industry that has little choice but to lie, or die.