Wacker v. JPMorganChase

Was JPMorganChase manipulating the price of silver and/.or silver futures in the markets in 2010-11?

I submit that the question is one of historical importance, not of importance merely to the parties directly involved in the litigation captioned above.

Further, I expect that a trial on this question will aid the historians of posterity, bringing to light valuable data on this point, and thus on the significance of precious metals as a Magoffin in the post-Crisis financial world.

If you're a law student, and are taking the Civil Pro course, dear reader, this case might also be a valuable introduction for you into the vagaries of pleadings law.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-jpmorgan-lawsuit-silver-idUSKBN15G4Z

But let's get back to the point: WHY is this case of historical importance? It may clarify judges and parties' attitudes toward the traditional Precious metals, gold predominantly but silver as well, once thought of as the paradigmatic form of Money.

The prices of silver and gold can be volatile precisely because there is a background feeling that they are something other than just another commodity,suitable for jewelry. These are traditional bearers of and metrics for VALUE.

Bryan recommended -- indeed DEMANDED -- the coinage of silver as an alternative to the sacrifice of mankind on a cross of gold. The only alternative to the one metal was bi-metallism. The notion of understanding money as paper issued by a govt or central bank would have struck even the most eager monetary reformers of Bryan's day as wild-eyed.

Sentiment about metals as real money in turn makes the manipulation of silver prices a fraught matter.

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