U.S. Mint's secret gold pricing policy

Coin Update News uncovers U.S. Mint's secret gold pricing policy

Submitted by cpowell on Wed, 2010-06-02 00:59. Section: Daily Dispatches

8:50p ET Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Michael Zielinski, editor of Coin Update News, last week noticed that the U.S. Mint seemed not to have followed its policy for adjusting the prices of its numismatic coins. Calling the mint about it, Zielinski uncovered a secret codicil in the policy that prevented what ordinarily would have been a reduction in prices.

Writing about it today, Zielinski concludes with polite understatement: "When the new pricing policy was introduced, the U.S. Mint Deputy Director stated, 'Transparency, agility, and customer service are the catalysts for our new pricing method.' Having an unrevealed internal policy which can override the published policy doesn't seem consistent with the claim of transparency."

If you think the Mint has some shortcomings with transparency on gold, GATA could tell you, over a beer or two, about the secrecy tightly woven around gold by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department, but we might not finish by closing time. At least Coin Update News didn't have to sue the mint to get an answer.

The Coin Update News disclosure about the mint's secret pricing policy is headlined "U.S. Mint Responds on Numismatic Gold Coin Pricing Policy" and you can find it here:

http://news.coinupdate.com/us-mint-responds-on-numismatic-gold-coin-pric...

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