This morning on Fox & Friends, Eric Bolling cleared up a bit of a mystery when he declared, “I've been a gold trader for 23 years.”

Bolling has previously dropped hints about his financial interests in gold; back in January he said he was “in gold,” while in October 2009 he said that he was “long gold.” But now Bolling has offered a clearer picture of just how connected he is to the gold industry -- apparently he's an active trader and has the jacket he wears on the trading floor to prove it.

And, despite this rather clear financial interest, Fox lets him repeatedly hype gold on its networks without disclosing this information. While most media outlets would forbid someone from reporting on or discussing an industry in which they have a major financial interest, Fox doesn't seem to have a problem with it. In fact, Bolling announced that he's hosting a “gold special” tonight on his Fox Business show. And if it's anything like his performance on Fox & Friends this morning -- during which he hyped gold prices and fearmongered about the government “want[ing] to know where your gold and your guns are” -- it's likely to be an hour-long infomercial for gold.

Media Matters has noted that Bolling's Fox colleague Glenn Beck has also used his television show to plug gold despite his financial interests in the industry. Fox now needs to address its gold problem regarding Bolling and require that he disclose his ties to the industry whenever he's reporting on or discussing gold.