If gold continued to rise because the dollar’s purchasing power drops, that form of inflation could force interest rates higher despite quantitive easing, as no nation would want to bet its wealth on the value of the dollar without greater compensation, so no nation would buy US notes and bonds at ridiculously low rates of return. The rise of gold could have collapsed the entire US economy if it had continued.

By crashing the gold price, inflation becomes less obvious and interest rates can be slowly elevated so as to allow time for adjustment (government austerity) without a currency collapse, or the government can continue playing the same game for a little longer. Either way, manipulating gold prices downward can buy a little more time, but not much more. At some point, even the idiots who voted a second time for Obama will realize they have been robbed.