Business: Bunker's Busted Silver Bubble

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Many Government officials feared that if the Hunts were unable to meet all their debts, some Wall Street brokerage firms and some large banks might collapse.

Million by million, though, the Hunts have put together a sizable care package for themselves. In January and February a ten-bank consortium loaned a subsidiary of the Bache Group, the brothers' main broker, at least $233 million, which was backed by 17.5 million oz. of silver. By early April Placid Oil, the Dallas oil company owned jointly by Bunker, Herbert and the four Hunt children of their father's first marriage, was negotiating a nine-year $1.1 billion loan.

Some of the sharpest criticism during last week's hearings was directed not at the Hunts but at Chairman Volcker. What was the man who was supposedly stopping speculation doing in a rescue operation to save the Hunts? Rhode Island Congressman Fernand St Germain complained that the Federal Reserve's role in the wings of the Hunts' search for bailout loans showed that when big speculators lose millions, "telephone calls come to Paul Volcker for a quick fix." This week St Germain and Senator William Proxmire plan to introduce new tough legislation that will change the rules for silver trading, which St Germain calls "the high-flying game of financial monopoly."