Sierra Madre Precious Metals

Ex-CIA Officer Found With Over $40M in Gold Bars Pleads Guilty to $194M Fraud
A former high-ranking CIA official who embezzled nearly $200 million from the federal government lied about his military background and education to climb the ranks at the spy agency, federal prosecutors revealed.

David J. Rush pleaded guilty in Virginia federal court to one count of wire fraud. His plea comes months after an FBI raid on his home uncovered 298 gold bars worth $46 million, $2.1 million in cash and dozens of luxury items.

“Federal employees are entrusted with serving the American people, not themselves,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The Trump Administration is committed to rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, including by prosecuting those who foolishly defraud American taxpayers… (Continue to full article)

‘America’s Best Doctor’ Learns His Fate After Stealing More Than $36MILLION From Taxpayers as Fraud Epidemic Continues to Be Exposed
An Arizona doctor will spend nearly eight years behind bars for a massive healthcare fraud scheme that saw his business rake in $36.5 million in just six months.

Dr Irfan Fazil, 54, was accused of being the mastermind behind a multimillion dollar scheme involving bogus treatments, so called ‘phantom billing’ and even siphoning stolen cash overseas to Dubai and Pakistan.

He was indicted in June on a sweeping list of felony charges, including fraud, theft, conspiracy and drug offenses, before admitting his guilt just months later.

Last week, Fazil, who had twice been voted a top kidney doctor, was sentenced in Yuma County Superior Court to seven and a half years in prison, according to Arizona’s state attorney general.

Attorney General Kris Mayes also revealed that he will serve seven years of probation after his release for the scheme targeting the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS).

‘Dr Fazil abused his position as a physician to steal more than $36 million from a taxpayer funded program that exists to provide health care to Arizona’s most vulnerable residents… (Continue to full article)

Trump’s Proposed Social Security Rule Could Cut Benefits for Nearly 400,000 Americans
Many people think of Social Security in the context of retirement plans. But Social Security doesn’t only pay retirement benefits. The program also provides benefits to people with little income or financial resources through Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Congress created the SSI program in 1972, with the first benefit payments issued in January 1974 to provide financial support to low-income seniors and people with disabilities. As of August 2026, about 7.31 million people were receiving SSI payments, according to the Social Security Administration’s latest data.

But now, a new proposal from the Trump administration could significantly reduce monthly benefits for hundreds of thousands of low-income Americans who rely on SSI, and the consequences could be horrendous if the proposed rule becomes law… (Continue to full article)

Me, working on my car in the garage last night to escape the high price of hiring a real mechanic

Well now, let’s sit a spell and talk straight about this here American economy, the way a man might lean on a fence rail and tell it to his neighbor without any fancy talk or Washington double-speak.

Right now, in the fall of 2026, the numbers on the surface look pretty fair. The country’s still growing — factories humming, shops taking orders, folks going to work. About a hundred and sixty thousand new jobs showed up in August alone, and the unemployment line sits at a tolerable four percent and change. Poverty’s down to about one in ten people, the lowest we’ve seen in a long while, and the average family is bringing home more real money than ever before — somewhere around eighty-seven thousand dollars a year after you adjust for the rising cost of everything. Wall Street’s stock numbers keep climbing like a young man full of beans, and the big companies are making profits that would make an old-time banker whistle. Continue reading →

3 Easy Ways to Reduce Pain at the Pump
I’ve always argued that the easiest way for families to gauge the health of the economy is to check the daily gas price. Drivers see the 50-foot-high signs in every community in America. They stare us right in the face.

I call it the affordability index.

In recent weeks, gas prices have hit $4.50 a gallon nationally, and truckers are paying well over $6 a gallon.

That’s a bad look with a month to go before midterm elections across the country. These high prices have put consumers in a bad mood.

It’s worth mentioning that the average gas price while Donald Trump has been president is lower than the average price under former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But when it comes to affordability, voters ask: “What have you done for me lately???” (Continue to full article)

Pennsylvania Police Say Fake Federal Agents Have Stolen $6.5 Million in Gold Bars From Americans Across Multiple States
A pop-up on your computer probably doesn’t signal to you the possibility of a scam that could wipe out your savings. But Pennsylvania State Police say that’s how a fraud scheme spreading across several states started, with victims eventually being convinced to turn their cash into gold and hand it over to strangers.

Police stated that about $6.5 million has already been stolen (1), and they believe there could be more victims who haven’t come forward.

The scheme is particularly unsettling because the people behind it aren’t simply asking for money over the phone. They’re pretending to be federal law enforcement officers and telling victims their own identities and bank accounts are caught up in criminal activity.

WARNING!!! ~ The scam starts with a warning on your computer

According to Pennsylvania State Police, the scheme typically begins with a pop-up appearing on the victim’s computer. The victim is then contacted by somebody claiming to be a federal official.

The caller may say the victim’s Social Security number has been connected to a criminal investigation or that their financial and personal information has been compromised. The goal is to convince the person that their money is in danger… (Continue to full article)

Debt Arising from Central Bank Credit Leads to Economic Crises
According to many economic commentators and various experts, the high level of debt, which surpassed the $40 trillion in August this year, is a major threat to the US economy. A view that debt could pose a threat to the economy originates from the writings of American economist Irving Fisher.

According to Fisher, a major risk is debt liquidation. Fisher was of the view that debt liquidation could cause a decline in the money supply. This decline, in turn, is likely to cause a decline in the prices of goods and services, called deflation, and, in turn, produces an economic slump. According to Fisher, the trigger for this could be a shock such as a large decline in the stock market.

Why however should debt liquidation cause a decline in the money supply? Take a producer of consumer goods who consumes part of his produce and saves the rest. In the market economy, the producer could exchange the saved goods for money. He could then decide to lend his money to another producer. By lending the money, the lender transfers his savings to a borrower for the duration of the lending contract. By means of money, the borrower could now purchase consumer goods to support his life and wellbeing.

Once the contract expires on the date of maturity, the borrower returns the money to the original lender. The repayment of the debt, or the debt liquidation, does not have any effect here on the supply of money… (Continue to full article)

Government Should Liquidate Itself
This should surprise no one: The Social Security Trust Fund is expected to run dry by 2032, at which point benefits will be slashed or taxes increased. Since slashing benefits is political suicide, we can expect Congress to swing into action as the perennial champion of a politically powerful voting bloc.

Like government as such, Social Security is akin to the “Too Big To Fail” mantra that powerful banks have secured for themselves. For these systemic financial institutions Dodd-Frank will not, as promised, take taxpayers off the hook for saving them. The problem is the problem will never go away, absent radical action. Government will keep sending Social Security checks while changing who pays them, when they may be collected, how much they buy, or all three.

Social Security is a claim on a person’s income – any working person. Did this person agree to it? Today, it would strike most people as strange even to ask the question.

A wartime emergency that prompted the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943 has allowed government to loot paychecks before earners even see them… (Continue to full article)

Food Shortages In 2027? The ICC Warns That Global Food Prices Could Rise By Close To 70% – I Asked AI What Would Happen Next
All over social media, people want to know if there will be food shortages in 2027. Coming into this year, the UN was warning that global hunger had reached an unprecedented level. Now we are facing a global fertilizer crisis, a global energy crisis, widespread droughts, a Super El Niño and World War III all at the same time. Of course global hunger is going to get even worse in the months ahead. Nobody can deny that.

Wealthy nations such as the United States will theoretically be in the best shape, but even here in the U.S. approximately 1 out of every 7 people already live in food insecure households. Rapidly rising food prices will definitely be very painful for us, but for millions of people that live in deeply impoverished countries much higher food prices could suddenly make it impossible for them to buy enough food to properly feed their families.

How would you feel if members of your family were extremely hungry but you didn’t have anything to give them?

For many of us, that would be unimaginable.

Unfortunately, such a scenario could soon become a reality in needy households all over the planet… (Continue to full article)

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 →