Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee
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The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) is a non-profit civil rights and educational organization. It's charter is to advocate and undertake litigation against illegal collusion to control the price and supply of gold and related financial securities.
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[edit] History
The committee arose from essays written by Bill Murphy, a financial commentator, and by Chris Powell, the editor of a newspaper in Connecticut, which were published at Bill Murphy's Le Metropole Cafe website. Mr. Murphy's essays reported evidence of collusion among financial institutions to control the price of gold. Mr. Powell, whose newspaper had been involved in antitrust litigation, replied with an essay proposing that gold interests should act on Murphy's essays by bringing suit against the financial institutions suspected of involvement in the collusion against gold.
The response to these essays from gold interests throughout the world was so favorable that the committee was formed in 1999. GATA is tax-exempt under section 501-c-3 of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States of America, and is incorporated in the state of Delaware, United States. Bill Murphy is the Chairman of GATA and Chris Powell is the Secretary/Treasurer.
[edit] GATA consultants
- Hepburn, Andrew
- Howe, Reginald H.
- Landis, Robert K.
- Turk, James
- Veneroso, Frank
[edit] GATA supporters
John Embry is a fund manager with Sprott Asset Management Inc., a private asset management firm that is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. John is the first author of a lengthy report entitled Not Free, Not Fair: The Long-Term Manipulation of the Gold Price, in which he endorses the work of GATA. In the press release from Sprott Asset Management Inc., that announced the availability of the report, dated 24 August 2004, John states;
- "We, at Sprott Asset Management, have felt for some time that the gold price has not remotely reflected its true underlying fundamentals. In response, we have conducted a comprehensive study of available information on the subject and have concluded that the evidence strongly supports those who believe that the gold price has been and continues to be suppressed."
Further, in section 2 of the report, John states;
- "A great deal of what follows is based on research completed by the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA). We consider their work to be excellent in scope, yet chronically under appreciated by gold market observers. Disdain for GATA's allegations is not justified in our opinion. Quite the opposite: more than all others, GATA displays an appreciation and understanding of the gold market's structure and dynamics. Whereas consensus forecasters see a free market roughly in equilibrium, GATA has amply shown that the gold market is both controlled and seriously distorted with respect to gold's fundamentals."
[edit] GATA critics
Dennis Gartman is the author of The Gartman Letter, an investment advisory letter which at times, includes specific trading recommendations on the gold market. His website describes the service as follows; "The Gartman Letter is a daily commentary on the global capital markets subscribed to by leading banks, broking firms, hedge funds, mutual funds, energy and grain trading companies around the world."
Dennis has often dismissed the claims by GATA that the gold market has been manipulated, mainly through comments in his advisory letter. From The Gartman Letter, dated 5 January 2004:
- "... The GATA folks are again aflame as they blame the weakness [in the price of gold] upon various market machinations by governments and large Wall Street organizations. This is utter nonsense, of course, but we shall never be able to convince GATA of that fact. ... Even if it is not nonsense, even if GATA were truly on to something, we should care not a whit for the market will move where the market needs to move. The gold market had become far too heavily invested-in by the public, and those public investors have to be taken out."
Dennis Gartman and Bill Murphy have debated publicly on some issues related to gold on Report On Business Television (ROB-TV), a cable television network that airs in Canada. Dennis Gartman and John Embry were publicly scheduled to appear on the Market Call program segment, hosted by Jim O'Connell, on 1 March 2006. The host had also secretly invited Bill Murphy, his appearance on the show was a surprise to both guests, and the viewing audience as well. See the article entitled Gold bugs vs. Gartman from the 1 March 2006 online edition of The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper, for some highlights of their debate.
[edit] External links
- Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Official GATA website
- Gold Rush 21 GATA Conference, 7-9 August 2005, Dawson City, Yukon, Canada
- Le Metropole Cafe Cyberspace Cafe for Gold Investors
- The Freemarket Gold and Money Report by James Turk
- The Gartman Letter by Dennis Gartman
- The Golden Sextant essays on the gold market by Reginald H. Howe
