Thanks for sharing this Chris. It’s disappointing in a way like so many other revelations these last several years. The futures paper manipulations, naked short selling, derivatives on derivatives that are pure gambling and yet somehow have senior claim over public’s brokerage accounts, etc., etc. The bansters truly are despicable racoons. Tangible real assets are real. People coming back to valuing things they can touch, feel and hold, authenticity vs staged and produced, etc.
PS It’s 4358 right now. I remember when it was just 358! In fact it might have been around that number when Art Bell was hawking it on his overnight program!
One thing that’s been bothering me about gold coins: The IRS (if it still exists when it’s time to trade your coins) classifies gold coins as “collectibles,” and taxes the gains on them at 28%(!). This is beyond theft; the government forces us to use currency that’s only backed by “the full faith and credit of the U.S. government,” then inflates the crap out of it so saving it is a massive loss over time. Then the government makes rules that rig the “markets” so that both stocks and bonds are rigged, leaving only hard assets (e.g., real estate, precious metals) as savings vehicles, but both are manipulated with paper contracts and both come with inescapable taxation (property taxes for real estate and the “collectibles” 28% tax on precious metals). Nowhere to hide…
It seems that for overseas delivery, the buyers want high-purity bars rather than scrap and junk U.S. coins. With the huge exporting of silver, the refiners are working overtime to keep up with demand. Even so, they’re reportedly 3 months behind.
At the same time here in the U.S., the $50+ price is motivating people who either really need money now or who are not wise enough to hold onto silver to cash in granny’s tea set of grandpa’s coffee can of old coins. Every time I walk into my LCS these days, there’s somebody else selling something or the other.
These two forces are causing a glut in the scrap and junk coin market. I hear that LCSs are offering about 80% of spot to sellers these days.
Paradoxically, this is pushing retail premiums on junk coins down to about 1/4 to 1/2 what they were just a few months ago. This makes it very much a buyer’s market for the small retail customer – once you get your mind over and around the $53 spot price.
that’s not true with certain gold coins such as American Gold Eagels and Gold Buffalos. You should check out this link that explains the 1099-B IRS Reporting requirements. Bottom line - it’s up to you to report to the IRS any “profits” you make on your PMs.
Edit to add: and that is true up to the size of a standard commodity contract. Meaning, as long as you sell less than 100 troy ounces at one time, there is no 1099-B IRS reporting by the PM dealer that you sold to. If you’re selling 100 or more ounces at one time, then you are doing quite well right now.
Yep, it is a simple matter of retail US citizens dumping what they can…
As I wrote on my “Hi Ho Silver!” report back in November 2023:
After the junk and sovereign silver I hold as a re-start hedge for my local economy, I am now preferring .9999 (“four nines”) silver which is one nine better than three 9’s.
Why is this important? Because the electrical industry, such as solar panels, use 0.9999 pure silver, and therefore, in a pinch, the four-nine silver might be more readily placed back into the supply chain as it wouldn’t have to route through a refiner to be immediately useful.
Who knows but that might provide some additional value in the future? It couldn’t hurt, as the premium is about the same as for 0.999 (“three nines”) silver, so why not?
Here is a link & quote concerning the Weimar recast:
SOCIAL INFLUENCES OF THE INFLATION 3231930, which finally regulated the matter) at a rate varying between17 per cent (Berlin) and 29 per cent (Upper Silesia) of the original value of the deposit.12. But although the conception of the decree of February 14th,1924, was praiseworthy, its practical application was undoubtedly very limited. The agitation of unsatisfied creditors did not cease. It induced the German Government to announce a new plan which became law on July 16th, 1925. The chief provisions of the new law were as follows:(a) The normal rate of revaluation of mortgages was raised to 25 percent of the original gold value; (b) the law had retrospective effect for extinct mortgages, if the creditor had accepted the reimbursement with a reservation; (c) for mortgages taken up after June 15th, 1922,the law had retrospective effect even if the reimbursement had been accepted without reservation; (d) the payment of sums due on the basis of this law could be demanded after January 1st, 1932: in the meantime debtors paid interest at 1-2 per cent after January 1st, 1925, 2-5 percent after July 1st, 1925, 3 per cent after January 1st, 1926, and 5 percent after January 1st, 1928; (e) the debtor could obtain a reduction in the rate of revaluation to 15 per cent in cases of straitened economic conditions; (/) those who had bought industrial debentures before July 1st, 1920, received (besides 15 per cent of the gold value of the security) a small share in the dividends of the company; (g) for securities taken up after January 1st, 1918, there was used, as a coefficient for the transformation from paper value to gold value, an average between the dollar exchange rate and the index number of wholesale prices. According to official estimates the gold value of mortgages subject to revaluation according to the law of July 16th, 1925, amounted to about 40 milliard marks.VI. SPECIAL TAXES ON INFLATION PROFITS
This link is a book from Mises which on page 323 describes how Germany (after the Weimar inflation) reset mortgages.
Yeah, it’s a funny preference of Western Europe and North America.
You find bidets in Southern Europe, and obviously all the a** shower toilets in Asia. I don’t know, I think if you don’t grow up using it, you don’t change your habits later on. But in a pinch - sure.
