US Mint Sold Out of Silver Eagle Bullion Coins Until January 7, 2013

Charleston Voice: US Mint Sold Out of Silver Eagle Bullion Coins Until January 7, 2013

I am quite sure that this story is true BUT could it be spin to increase the price of silver?  The next three weeks, or so, are holiday times, when production would be down,anyway. By putting out this shortage' story peeps will chase any silver they can get which will push up prices.
Then speculators, who have placed forward buy options, will make huge profits selling their contracts early in 2013 and thus pay for their Xmas spending.  It all a game !  There is no shortage of silver although there may be a temporary shortage of coins made from silver.
These artificial shortage stories appear all the time to manipulate the markets. The infamous one being coffee. America takes 4/5 ths of South American coffee production.  So  any rumour of a hard frost, hitting coffee, automatically pushes up the prices!! They may take most of the South American output but  they take far more from other countries which can easily make up for any South American shortfall.   So why?
Well Brazil is nearer than say, Java, in Indonesia and therefore transport cost are cheaper.  Its all a game and we,the people, always loose !!