2010 Congressman Ron Paul's financial statements

He's been buying precious metals mining shares for years.  His gold bug portfolio has done pretty well. /understatement 

http://clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2011/8202687.pdf

Consolidated Financial Statements

Guess which entity had the following "stellar" judgment from its auditor?

Material weaknesses discussed later in our report continued to (1) hamper the federal government’s ability to reliably report a significant portion of its assets, liabilities, costs,and other related information; (2) affect the federal government’s ability to reliably measure the full cost as well as the financial and nonfinancial performance of certain programs and activities; (3) impair the federal government’s ability to adequately safeguard significant assets and properly record various transactions; and (4) hinder the federal government from having reliable financial information to operate in an efficient and effective manner. We found the following:

Certain material weaknesses in financial reporting and other limitations on the scope of our work resulted in conditions that continued to prevent us from expressing an opinion on the accompanying accrual basis consolidated financial statements for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2008 and 2007.

…The federal government did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting (including safeguarding assets) and compliance with significant laws and regulations as of September 30, 2008.

It describes the US government's finances, and the report is given by the Government Accountability Office, who is required to audit financial statements from the US Treasury.

http://www.fms.treas.gov/fr/08frusg/08gao2.pdf

If the government can manipulate markets up...

they can certainly manipulate markets down with intervention in the derivatives markets, whether the underlying asset classes are equities or commodities (precious metals and energy).

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2010/01/06/120796/trimtabs-on-that-%E2%80%98us-government-rigged-stock-market/

Rigged markets force investors to become speculators--trying to front run big players, especially if the 800-pound elephant is Uncle Sam himself. Deciphering financial statements is no longer enough. There is no such thing as a free market anymore, and participants should understand that before venturing down into the deep end of the pool.