The Trap of Exchange Traded Funds

I’ve recently been asked by my editors at Q Wealth Report to prepare an article on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) - touted as a simple way to buy and sell gold, silver and other precious metals.
I came across the following excerpt from an article on the excellent Kitco site by Jim Willie which I felt might be of interest to readers. I don’t say I agree with every word here, but it’s certainly worth further investigation:
The Exchange Traded Fund concept is simple. The application is not, especially when criminal motive is executed, protected by USGovt regulators and Wall Street bankers. Any ETFund managed by a US firm or London firm should be regarded as fraudulent unless proven otherwise. To me, it is beyond disbelief, moving toward shock, that the gold community has not attacked the StreetTracks GLD fun for its fraudulent operations. They fail to comply with their own prospectus. They fail to comply with disclosure. They have successfully diverted plentiful physical demand into a fund managed by JPMorgan. Gold believers have been duped. Every day, one can read of some respected analysts who endorse this ETFund vehicle, despite its fraud. Where is the thought process? If the mafia opens up a neighborhood savings & loan after city-wide thefts, then one should harbor suspicion. The Barclays ETFund for silver, named SLV, is another fraud. Jim Turk of GoldMoney has revealed its highly questionable behavior. Both GLD and SLV have probably been using their gold and silver bullion to short gold and silver for a few years. These vehicles keep down the price of gold & silver, or at least neutralize money invested in them in terms of the metal prices. The precious metals community has been hoodwinked, still happening sadly. The gold community does a great job in researching and scrutinizing the track record, competence, and integrity of management when examining a stock for a mining firm, but not for ETFunds like GLD and SLV. Very strange and inconsistent usage of gray matter in my opinion. The Hat Trick Letter provides a special report on this controversial topic in February, with past coverage in the April 2007 report last year.
Read the full article here:
http://www.kitco.com/ind/willie/apr162008.html