Bloomberg report on Denver gold conference

12:30p EDT Saturday, October 23, 1999

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

You may enjoy this essay by John Crudele from the New
York Post. While it doesn't directly involve gold, it does
suggest how the market is inclined toward rigging
generally.

With good wishes.

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

* * *

BEARISH ANALYSTS ARE SILENCED

By JOHN CRUDELE
New York Post
October 22, 1999

The bears are dead on Wall Street. I'm not saying that
the bear market is dead. You can tell from yesterday's
stock action that pessimism is alive and well. In
addition to rising interest rates, the investment
community now gets to worry about poor corporate
profits -- a one-two punch that's almost impossible to
achieve.

But while pessimism abounds in investors' heads, you
won't see much of it in the research reports or market
letters put out by brokerage firms. That's because
bearish market strategists are getting the heave-ho.

quot;In the spring and summer, if you were a bear you were
doo-doo,quot; says one strategist who's seen his job go
bye-bye because he tried to offer his unvarnished
opinion of the market's high risks. quot;Right now if you
are a bear on Wall Street, you are definitely seen as a
wet blanket.quot;

You've already read here and other places how Wall
Street analysts are virtually forbidden to put quot;sellquot;
recommendations on stocks. That would be bad for
business at investment houses that want to suck up to
companies so they'll get highly-profitable investment
banking business. So a much nicer-sounding quot;neutralquot;
rating had replaced the dreaded quot;sell.quot;

With corporate stock analysts already censored, Wall
Street is now moving to clamp down on market
strategists who dare to endanger its livlihood. So
market strategists now have only one objective: to give
their reasons why this market bubble will last forever,
even though none has before.

Michael Metz, who's almost as famous as his CIBC
Oppenheimer amp; Co. firm, is allowed to manage money
these days but doesn't issue market reports anymore.

Charles Clough and his pack of bears will leave Merrill
Lynch in a few days. And Don Hays, a very literate
market voice who's been preaching caution, is leaving
Wheat First Union. In a recent market report, Hays told
his readers that when he's gone, not to listen to those
who will have you believe the stock market isn't
dangerous. As brokerage firms see it, strategists like
Hays run the risk of scaring off customers. People
aren't going to open brokerage accounts at firms that
are telling them they might lose money.

Wall Street might not be able to get Alan Greenspan --
or me, for that matter -- to stop warning investors.
But it can certainly handle its own. Says another Wall
Street strategist: quot;If you're bullish and wrong, it's
OK. But if you are bearish and wrong, it's
unacceptable.quot; The strategist added: quot;It's suicide to
be rational in an irrational environment.quot;

Ironically, the killing of bearish voices has
intensified with recent market troubles. The more
dangerous the stock market seems to get, the less Wall
Street wants anyone being frank with clients.

What's wrong with this new sort of Wall Street
research?

First off, it's dishonest. Not too long ago, stock
analysts were allowed to make negative comments about
companies, market strategists felt free to speak their
minds without risking their jobs and even journalists
who were commenting on the market attempted to see past
the spin. How can this new form of research hurt?

For one thing, investors can lose a lot of money
listened to self-serving market outlooks.

And Wall Street can also be hurt by this deception.
Despite the investment professionals' party line, bull
markets don't last forever. And when this one ends, the
financial community could be changed forever if it
loses the trust of investors. Especially now that
people can trade cheaply on their own over the
Internet, the only value brokerage firms add to the
process is honest research.