The Hunt Brothers -- Actually Heroes of the 1980 Silver Drama?

Last week, I wrote about the Hunt Brothers, Bunker and Herbert, and their 1980 corner of the silver market.  (Click here for original article.)  Call me old fashioned, but I had always assumed that the Hunts were the villains in the episode, since manipulating a financial market is a federal crime, and that the return of silver prices last week to $49 per ounce -- a level not seen since the height of the Hunt brothers' 1980 scheme -- signaled something very wrong with today's US economy.  
I have since discovered -- to great surprise -- that I had it all wrong.  The Hunts were not villains, but actually victims and prophets, seers of the future.  The real villains in the silver story were the banks, the government, and the Federal Reserve, trying to destroy our currency with cheap paper dollars.  Downright unpatriotic.  The Hunts were simply fighting back, standing up for their rights, as any good American should.
And right now, with silver at $46 per ounce and gold topping $1,550, both having enjoyed huge recent price run-ups, it is hard to argue these are not two of the smartest investments around -- unless, of course, they're headed for a crash.
Where's the truth?  Time will tell, and I have suspicions.  But for now, listen to some of the newer voices.  Enjoy--