Sierra Madre Precious Metals

Wars are raging and mountains are literally crumbling around us!

While on the road and in the air, I’m going to share with you someone else’s deeper dive into our present state of affairs. I don’t know if the author, who goes by “Lamentor” is a he or a she; but, whatever it is, Lamentor does a detailed job in its article today of orchestrating a thorough summary of the world’s imperiled state, as well as dishing some prudent, albeit standard, advice on being prepared because there is not a whole lot more anyone can do about our present troubles other than take some practical measures of being prepared into you own hands as those above us hand these troubles down to the masses because of their own insanity and deeply corrupted lust for absolute power. Continue reading →

‘The Federal Reserve Bank in Flames’ by Alex Schaefer

Small Mom & Pop stores and businesses and the average working man always suffer the most from these boom and bust cycles that have been continuously manufactured by the Federal Reserve Bank. But one day, they will have pushed one step too far in their scam and place the economy in a total economic spiral, too far gone for any fast recovery, and that is the day we see the one total and final economic collapse of this current corporatist/fascist economy. Continue reading →

The food affordability histrionics surrounding hamburger prices are an interesting example of left-wing hyperbole directed at Donald Trump about a serious long-term problem that the Left has no plans to fix. Like egg and gasoline prices, the goal is to sow midterm angst and fear, regardless of whether President Trump caused the problem, has the power to fix it, or whether the problem is fixable at all. This cynical pattern is profoundly dangerous.

Donald J. Trump did not cause the droughts that have decimated U.S. farms or the COVID-19 processing shutdowns that forced ranchers to feed animals at a loss and liquidate stock. He did not cause the spike in input costs that well preceded the Iran conflict and that soared beginning during the Biden years, helped along by his Orwellian-named “Inflation Reduction Act.” Continue reading →

Lincoln Breaks the Interest Trap – image by ScheerPost

In August 2026, the U.S. debt reached a gravity-defying $40 trillion, with an estimated fiscal year 2026 deficit of $2.1 trillion. Interest on the debt hit a record $1.4 trillion over the last 12 months and now consumes more than any federal program except Social Security and Medicare, eclipsing defense spending for the first time in U.S. history. Paid with borrowed money, interest compounds exponentially, making it the fastest-growing part of the budget, far outpacing economic growth. By 2036, the Congressional Budget Office projects that interest costs will double to $2.1 trillion, with debt held by the public reaching 120 percent of GDP. The CBO director has declared the trajectory to be “not sustainable.”

Increasingly, prominent analysts are saying the United States will have to “print” its way out. But using whose printing press, printing what? Continue reading →

We need taxes to pay for government services. We understand that. But let’s give our hard-working people and their families some breathing room;

Americans persistently say that taxes are too high. In a 2024 Gallup poll, 59% of adults say that the tax burden in America is excessive. That 60% number has been constant for several years. The Trump federal tax cuts and trimming of government have been welcome and certainly going in the right direction, but state tax liability never seems to come down. It only gets worse.

Democrat states have a higher average tax liability, with many substantially higher. A feeling of being surrounded by too much government with their hands out is unsettling. Continue reading →

Congress is running out of time to fix its Social Security problem.

According to the 2026 Trustees Report, the Social Security retirement trust fund is projected to run out by 2032 when it becomes insolvent, impacting more than 60 million Americans.

At that time, the program will be entirely dependent on payroll taxes. And since these taxes will only be able to cover about 78% of benefits, the average American will see a 22% reduction to their monthly check.

But that’s not across the board, as some states will have it worse than others. In fact, a map of the real-world impacts of Social Security cuts shows just how deep those cuts could be across different states. And no state will be spared, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CFRB). Continue reading →

Health Insurance Costs Projected to Rise by Most in Over 20 Years

A survey of employers projects the largest increase in healthcare costs in more than two decades, driven by factors including the growing use of expensive weight-loss drugs and artificial intelligence tools that help medical providers submit more billable claims.

Costs for employer-sponsored health benefits are expected to rise by an average of 8.2 percent in 2027, the largest increase since 2003, according to an Aug. 31 report from consulting firm Marsh.

Workers are expected to bear some of the increase. About two-thirds of large employers plan to increase employees’ share of premium costs next year, while many are considering higher deductibles and other changes that would raise out-of-pocket expenses.

This means that many employees could see their paycheck deductions for health coverage rise by more than the overall 8.2 percent increase, according to Marsh.

The skyrocketing costs come despite planned cost-reduction measures. Employers told Marsh that the cost of maintaining their current plans would rise by an average of 11 percent if they took no action to rein in spending.

The 2027 projection would mark the fifth consecutive year of elevated health benefit cost growth following a decade of more moderate annual increases. It would also be the sharpest increase during the five-year period, up from a projected 6.7 percent in 2026.

Workers are expected to bear some of the increase through higher premiums, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket costs…. (Continue to full article)

Trump’s Policies Are Pushing Social Security Trust Fund Depletion To Just 6 Years Away

Social Security has been on a well-documented path toward a funding shortfall for years, but the policies enacted and proposed during the Trump administration have accelerated that timeline in ways that deserve more attention than they’ve received.

For anyone thinking about smart money moves for seniors, understanding what’s happening behind the scenes is essential. The numbers are becoming harder to dismiss, and they could have major implications for future retirees. Here’s a closer look at the policies, projections, and financial realities driving the concern.

The 2026 Social Security Trustees Report projected that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund — the fund that pays retirement and survivor benefits to more than 54 million Americans — would be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032. At that point, unless Congress acts, beneficiaries would see their monthly payments cut by roughly 22%.

That was already a serious problem. An aging population has been a major contributor: in 1960, more than five workers paid Social Security taxes for every beneficiary, but that ratio has dropped to less than three to one.

Social Security faces a funding gap by 2032, with Trump’s tax law adding to the strain…. (Continue to full article)

How Record Diesel Prices Could Raise Costs for Consumers

The Netherlands Moves 86 Tonnes of Gold Out of US as Experts Warn It Is ‘No Longer Safe‘ Under Trump

The Netherlands has moved 86 tonnes of its gold stock out of the US and Canada to London due to ‘increasing geopolitical unrest’.

The move follows alarming remarks that gold is ‘no longer safe’ in President Donald Trump’s America.

Moving these stores to British soil would ‘spread risks’ and would ensure the ‘quickest’ opportunity for DNB to deploy the sale of gold ‘in a crisis situation,’ the bank wrote in a statement.

Gold reserves held in London could be traded more easily than those held in New York and Ottawa. The transfer would also create a ‘more balanced distribution’ and further help strengthen the bank’s ‘crisis preparedness’.

‘We assume that we will never need to deploy the gold, but it is nevertheless necessary to strengthen our resilience and preparedness,’ said DNB President Olaf Sleijpen… (Continue to full article)

Hospitals Are Quietly Dropping Medicare Advantage Plans, and a New Survey of Hospital Finance Leaders Finds Nearly a Quarter Have Already Cut or Narrowed a Contract

The reality is – that they DON’T Care!

A growing number of hospitals are cutting ties with Medicare Advantage plans, and the finance executives who run those systems say the retreat is only picking up speed. A flash poll of hospital and health-system finance leaders released in mid-August found that nearly a quarter have already terminated, declined to renew, or materially narrowed at least one Medicare Advantage contract. For the more than 30 million older Americans enrolled in these private plans — over half of everyone on Medicare — the shift carries a concrete risk: a hospital or physician who is in network today may not be next year.

The research was a third-quarter flash poll of 112 hospital and health-system finance leaders conducted by Black Book Research. Among the 104 respondents whose organizations carry material Medicare Advantage exposure, 23.1 percent said they had already terminated, declined to renew, or materially narrowed a Medicare Advantage contract. Another 18.3 percent expected to take that step within the next 12 months, and 33.7 percent said they were actively evaluating a pullback.

Taken together, roughly three in four finance leaders reported that their systems have acted, expect to act, or are weighing a retreat from at least one plan, according to the survey reported in an August 14 release. The picture that emerges is not of a few outliers but of a broad industry recalculation, with the split between systems that have already moved and those still deliberating running close to even… (Continue to full article)

When a Carpenter in California Found a Nugget of Gold, It Started a Rush Toward Nothing Less Than the Modern World

The Smithsonian holds a nugget, above, thought to have been discovered by James Marshall in 1848. National Museum of American History

On January 24, 1848, a carpenter named James Marshall found a nugget of gold while building a mill in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. This moment started the gold rush that would bring thousands to the territory known as California. In The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War and the Making of the Modern World, the latest book by prolific historian Nathaniel Philbrick, Marshall’s discovery is a decisive historical moment, sending a fledgling nation “hurtling toward a reckoning not only with slavery but with its geographic immensity.”

In 1849, around 100,000 people reached California looking to capitalize on the rush. That included around 40,000 people arriving by sea, plus 25,000 to 30,000 others traveling by land across the Plains.

Foreigners seeking a piece of the rush included immigrants from China, Mexico, Chile, Hawaii and Europe. In 1852 alone, some 20,000 Chinese immigrants arrived in California, accounting for nearly 30 percent of that year’s immigration to the state.

San Francisco’s growth is illustrative. In 1848, the city’s population was around 850. That number rose to 5,000 by July 1849, and to a whopping 25,000 by December 1849 … (Continue to full article)

Twenty-Five Health Systems Dropped Medicare Advantage This Year, Some Quitting on 30 Days’ Notice

The retreat from Medicare Advantage is no longer coming only from insurers. This year, hospitals and doctor groups have started walking away too. At least 25 health systems across the country have dropped or declined to renew Medicare Advantage contracts in 2026, and in some cases the exit took effect on roughly 30 days’ notice, cutting patients off from in-network access in the middle of a plan year. It is a quieter story than an insurer pulling a plan, but for a patient mid-treatment it can be just as disruptive.

Medicare Advantage plans are run by private insurers that contract with hospitals and physicians to build their networks. For years the friction ran one direction, with insurers dictating terms. Now a growing number of provider systems are deciding the arrangement no longer pays. The two complaints surface again and again: reimbursement rates that trail the actual cost of care, and prior-authorization processes that slow down or deny treatments doctors say patients need.

Prior authorization is the requirement that an insurer approve a service before it is delivered. Health systems report spending heavily on staff to chase those approvals, appealing denials for care that Original Medicare would simply cover. When the administrative cost and the payment shortfall stack up, some systems conclude that staying in a plan’s network is a money-loser and give notice… (Continue to full article)

Mark Cuban’s Pharmacy Steps in After Insurer Denied a 26-Year-Old Heart Transplant Survivor Her Anti-Rejection Drug

In 2025, Americans spent $5.6 trillion on health care, and that number is projected to climb to as much as $8.6 trillion by 2033. For some patients, the biggest financial burden comes after their insurance claim is denied.

That’s what happened to 26-year-old Payton Herres. The heart transplant survivor was left without coverage for a critical drug — and it took viral social media posts and attention from billionaire Mark Cuban for her to finally get more affordable access to it.

Herres underwent a heart transplant when she was just a preteen. One year after her surgery, she began taking a prescription drug called everolimus, a generic version of Novartis’s anti-rejection drug Zortress, off-label.

Her insurance provider, Elevance Health, told her last year that it would no longer cover the drug. That’s when she took to Facebook to share her story… (Continue to full article)

The Price of Ford Cars in 1969. Which Would You Choose?

Copper’s Record Run May Just Be Getting Started

Copper has spent 2026 rewriting its own history books. In early August, the metal pushed above $14,300 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange, a fresh all-time high extending a rally few expected to run this far, this fast.

For Jacob White, Director of ETF Product Management at Sprott Asset Management, the surprise isn’t that copper is at record levels, but how long the setup has been building.

“We’ve been on the copper bull market story for quite a while now,” White said in an interview with Proactive.

White points to a fundamental supply deficit that Sprott expects to widen rather than close. New mine supply is notoriously slow to arrive. White cited an average timeline of 17.5 years from discovery to first production, a lag that leaves the industry structurally unable to respond quickly to demand growth… (Continue to full article)

Rand Paul Inspects Fort Knox Gold, Says Dollar’s 97% Collapse Since 1913 Is Behind America’s ‘Affordability’ Crisis: ‘The Real Point Is…‘

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) toured Fort Knox to inspect the gold reserves on Monday, voicing concerns over the diminishing purchasing power of the dollar.

Paul, in a post on Monday, stated that Fort Knox holds approximately 147 million ounces of gold, which is half of the U.S. gold reserve, but argued its deeper lesson is monetary. Since the dollar left gold in 1971, he says it has lost roughly 85% of its value.

In another post, he pointed out that the dollar has lost 97% of its purchasing power since the Federal Reserve was established in 1913. He equated $100 in 1913 to $3,300 today, blaming this on Congress’s unchecked spending and the Federal Reserve’s money printing.

Paul linked today’s affordability crisis to inflation, citing $2 trillion annual deficits… (Continue to full article)