If you were born before 1955, your Social Security benefits may be wrong right now — and the SSA will not tell you. In this video, I break down exactly how the Social Security Administration calculates retirement benefits, the most common Social Security mistakes that cost seniors over 65 hundreds of dollars every month, and the one form that fixes it.
Every few months, gold or silver rips higher, and every few months the Wall Street Journal runs the same piece: a skeptical think-tank economist explaining why “this time isn’t different,” a chart showing gold’s “poor risk-adjusted returns” versus the S&P 500, and a closing paragraph reminding readers that metals pay no dividend. Rinse, repeat. It’s not an accident. 
Did you know that the number of Americans that are out of work right now is far higher than it was at any point during the Great Recession? I know that sounds crazy, but I will prove it to you in this article. A whopping 111 million Americans do not have a job, and we are spending more than a trillion dollars a year on the social safety net that supports them. Of course we cannot afford to do this, because the national debt has already reached 39 trillion dollars and it is growing at an astounding rate.
A quiet but significant shift is unfolding inside the world’s financial system. Central banks, long regarded as the ultimate anchors of dollar stability, are now signaling a gradual but meaningful reassessment of their currency strategies.
Depositors at Community Bank and Trust, a small institution in LaGrange, Georgia, lost access to roughly $27 million that exceeded federal insurance limits after state regulators shut the bank down on May 1, 2026. The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance seized the institution and appointed the FDIC as receiver, which then transferred insured deposits to Anchor Bank. But for account holders whose balances topped the $250,000 insurance cap, recovery now depends on a claims process with no guaranteed timeline or outcome. 
Gold’s brutal stretch has rattled even seasoned bulls, but Suki Cooper, Global Head of Commodities Research at Standard Chartered Bank, is telling investors not to confuse a liquidity flush with a broken thesis.
Central banks around the world have been buying gold at an unusually fast pace for several years, turning the metal into one of the clearest signals of how official institutions are responding to geopolitical tension, inflation concerns and shifting reserve strategies. The latest survey from the World Gold Council, released June 16, puts a new number on that trend and aligns with Goldman Sachs’ recent view that sovereign demand for gold is still strong.
FED Chair Walsh says inflation risks have receded, easing rate hike expectations to restore gold’s upward momentum.
While ongoing dollar strength remains the primary headwind, investors will keep an eye on Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s speech on Wednesday, according to Saxo Bank. The precious metal is down more than 7% so far this year and more than 24% since the U.S. – Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, 2026. Gold futures for August 2026 deliveries fell 1% at the time of writing.
Here’s What’s Weighing It Down: Gold’s rally has reversed, with the metal flashing a death cross to end the second quarter. The metal had its worst three months in 13 years and saw its highest volatility since the GFC. Higher rates and reduced speculation in the metal have contributed to its price decline.
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