Your 2021 Quarters May Actually Be Worth $30 to $200 Each
Here’s good news for those looking to make some money with their old coins. Check your old quarters, people. Why? Because your 2021 quarters may actually be worth $30 to $200 each.

According to this report, some quarters minted in 2021 could be worth more than their face value of 25 cents. The quarters feature an image of George Washington crossing the Delaware River on the tail side and the letter “P” next to Washington’s ponytail on the head side. If you happen to have one of these quarters, check out the back of George’s hat. If there is a little extra material on the top of the back part of the hat due to a die chip error, yes, your quarter could be worth anywhere from $30 to $200 each!

If you find one of these valuable quarter coins, you can put it up for sale on eBay or look online to find legitimate companies that buy coins. However, it’s very important to do some research first… (Continue to full article)

Walgreens teams up with GoodRx to cut prescription prices
The drugstore giant is launching a new initiative in collaboration with prescription drug savings platform GoodRx that is designed to reduce prices on nearly 200 prescription medications by an average of 40%, with higher savings available for select medications.

Consumers can now purchase many prescriptions at Walgreens for less than $15 for a 30-day fill, without any deductibles, restrictions, paperwork, approvals or quantity limitations. The new lower prices include medications for heart disease and mental health; as well as categories often not covered by insurance, such as acne, insomnia, men’s health, and weight loss.

Walgreens is building on an existing partnership with GoodRx… (Continue to full article)

Chase Has Now Locked Users Out of Their Accounts
Chase has now locked users out of their accounts according to several customer reports on Friday.

71% of reports are coming in from login issues, 19% from transfer and wire issues, and 10% of reports are still coming in from problems with ATMs.

The chart below shows a view of problem reports submitted in the past 24 hours compared to the typical volume of reports by time of day.

…and if you BELIEVE that this is quite by accident – READ the next column headline… (Continue to full article)

‘Oy Vey’ – The Looting Bankers

Banks Suffer $1,555,000,000,000 in Deposit Flight in One Year As JPMorgan Chase and Financial Giants Fight for Wealthy Clients
New numbers on the global banking system are shedding light on just how much money depositors have pulled out of their bank accounts in the last year.

According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve of St Louis, US banks have faced $605 billion in deposit flight in a year.

As customers pull money out of their banks in search of higher returns, wealthy clients are now doing the most damage to the bottom lines of America’s banking giants, according to a new report from Yahoo Finance.

JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citi all reported deposit outflows in their wealth management divisions in the second quarter of this year… (Continue to full article)

Gas Prices Could Spike to $6 a Gallon Due To ‘Active Hurricane Season’
Many factors influence fuel prices at the pump here in the U.S. Holiday weekends typically bring a spike in gas prices. Oil output among suppliers in the Middle East affects fuel prices worldwide — and, of course, elevated demand (a key factor for holiday fuel price jumps) can increase prices .

This Labor Day weekend saw the highest fuel prices of that weekend since 2012. Drivers filling up for holiday weekend travel paid an average of $3.83 per gallon. “Normally we would be seeing prices coming out of a robust summer travel season more along the lines of $3.50.”

Plus, major oil producers, including those in Saudi Arabia, are extending voluntary oil cuts — in spite of rising prices for crude oil… (Continue to full article)

Oil Price Per Barrel Will Be Heading Back To $5
According to Goldman Sachs analysts, the Oil Price Per Barrel will rise to $107. A gallon of ordinary gas ought to cost around $5, given how gasoline and oil price per barrel are rising concurrently.

The primary reason that oil price per barrel will rise to a much higher level is supply cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia, two of the largest suppliers in the world. The United States is also on this list but cannot pump enough oil to offset these declines. Presumably, Saudi Arabia wants to add more money to its national treasury. The Russian decision is more geopolitical.

Household budgets will suffer first. Households in the lowest and middle classes are especially affected by this. This in turn puts the approaching holiday season in jeopardy. Some retailers only generate money in the final three months of the year… (Continue to full article)

“Stormy Weather” The Nicholas Brothers and Cab Calloway

Brace for higher gas, diesel and energy bills
Crude oil futures have rallied over the past week on news that lower global production will continue into year end. After trading in a very cautious sideways pattern since November of 2022, crude oil futures finally broke out of that range to the upside.

With global crude oil supplies now expected to be lower until the end of 2023, expect crude oil prices, gasoline prices, and even diesel prices to remain elevated into year end. There is not a quick fix to this situation.

There is a whole lot of geo-political drama happening behind the scenes which has motivated Russia and Saudi Arabia to take the steps they took to cut production. I wonder if we are going to see some political games of “chicken” occur between various nations in the coming months… (Continue to full article)

House Financial Services Committee announces ‘Digital Dollar’ hearing as pressure to pass crypto legislation intensifies
H2023 has seen a barrage of federal regulatory action against malfeasance in the cryptocurrency industry. Is Congress finally poised to act?

he year 2023 has witnessed a flurry of activity from federal agencies and lawmakers seeking to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of digital assets. The urgency to implement a cohesive legislative framework has arguably reached a tipping point, spurred by market volatility, investor protection concerns, and the global race to define standards for digital currencies.

The cryptocurrency industry has seen increased attention from Capitol Hill this year, with lawmakers on both sides feeling pressure to act… (Continue to full article)

The Real Reason That Gas Prices May Soon Climb — Again
Gas stations around the country have boosted prices by an average of 26 cents a gallon over the past month as irregular temperatures have made fuel-making more challenging due to the slowing of cooling processes needed to refine crude oil.

Gasoline prices in the United States are at the highest level seen at this time of year in over a decade ― and could soon climb even higher.

After a summer of increases that plateaued only briefly over the past two weeks, prices may soon lurch upward again in response to cuts to the global supply or if more disastrous storms lash the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The price at the pump typically tracks the cost per barrel of crude oil, which is the main ingredient in fuel for automobiles.

On Tuesday, the price of Brent crude ― the benchmark for oil refined in Western Europe ― surged past $90 per barrel for the first time this year… (Continue to full article)

Arkansas hospital sued thousands of patients over medical bills during the pandemic, including hundreds of its own employees
As Covid cases spread in 2020, visitors to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences were greeted by a colorful sign put up by grateful neighbors outside the university’s medical center: “Heroes Work Here.”

The university adopted the message in glossy promotional videos it posted online, introducing viewers to individual nurses, doctors, and health workers who described their jobs. “Sometimes it’s easy for people who pass through here to see our frontline caregivers as the heroes, or our educators as the heroes – it’s really everybody,” Cam Patterson, the university chancellor, declared in one video.

But at least a dozen of the “heroes” that UAMS featured in online advertisements and other videos weren’t just employed by the university – they’ve also been sued by it… (Continue to full article)

Central Bank Gold Buying Continued Hot In July
Globally, central banks reported net purchases of 55 tons in July, according to the latest data compiled by the World Gold Council.

In March, April and May, central banks reported net gold sales, primarily due to Turkey selling 160 tons of gold over that three-month period. According to the World Gold Council, this was a specific response to local market dynamics and didn’t likely reflect a change in the Turkish central bank’s long-term gold strategy.

“Gold will retain its value even when someone cuts off the power to the global financial system, destroying traditional assets based on electronic accounting records. Of course, we do not assume that this will happen. But as the saying goes – forewarned is always insured. And the central bank is required to be prepared for even the most unfavorable circumstances. That is why we see a special place for gold in our foreign exchange management process.”

…and THIS is the reason that gold and silver have declined in value – THEY are trying to control it so that they can buy “on the cheaper”… (Continue to full article)

The Next Recession Moves Further out of Sight
We’ve been on a recession watch here ever since the Fed started hiking rates. Sharp increases in weekly claims for unemployment insurance benefits – especially “continued claims” – are highly correlated with recessions. So we keep an eye on it from time to time. The data did show some weakening from September 2022 into early 2023, but remained in the range of the Good Times lows, and in recent months, the signals backtracked, as unemployment claims fell. The expectations of a recession this year have been cancelled months ago, and by now, there’s no recession in sight.

Maybe next year, maybe whenever…

What the labor market is telling the recession watchers here is that there is no recession in sight. There will be a recession someday – there always eventually is a recession – but it is not in sight, and we’ll just have to keep watching for it…. (Continue to full article)

90 Analysts Now Forecast Gold Going To $3,000 & Beyond!
More and more analysts are projecting that gold will be going at least as high as $3,000/ozt over the next few years.

Some of these “estimates” are purely INSANE – but they are worth the laugh (HAHAHAHA)… (Continue to full article)

Will BRICS Smash the Dollar?
One way the BRICS hope to achieve its goals is to undermine the foundation of US power: the dollar’s global reserve currency status. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva called for BRICS nations to create their own currency, while India is pushing to have its trading partners, including Russia, trade in Indian rupees rather than US dollars. China and other BRICS countries have also reportedly taken steps to explore using gold instead of dollars for international trade.

The rejection of the dollar is also being driven in large part by resentment over the “weaponization” of the dollar’s reserve currency status. The US government uses the dollar’s reserve currency position in order to force other countries to comply with US sanctions against the latest “designated Hitler.” Sanctions are an act of war, so by forcing other countries to follow US sanctions the US Government is dragging them into conflicts that are not in their national interests.

The movement to replace, or at least create alternatives to, the dollar is also driven by concern over the long-term effects of the massive US national debt… (Continue to full article)

“If I had money…” Ahhhh – the Blues!

We’re Living in a Neofeudal Bubble
If you listen to conventional economists, everything’s rosy: thanks to the expansion of alt-energy like wind and solar, energy is getting cheaper, batteries will power the new global economy, we’re getting smarter — just look at the rising number of advanced college degrees, wages are finally growing, inflation is trending down, household balance sheets and corporate profits are strong, debt loads are not an issue yet and GDP is rising.

Conventional economists and the other technocrats maintain their privileged bubble by clinging to a delusionally disconnected-from-the-real-world mindset. There’s always a slew of academic papers or think-tank/corporate reports to bolster the inside-the-bubble confidence that everything’s great, because generating positive narratives that leave the neofeudal structure untouched in the primary industry of the technocrat class.

Sure – if your dose of Delusional is high enough. Then you can go back to complaining about air travel delays, finding someone to repair your pool pump and bragging about how well your investments are doing… (Continue to full article)

Welcome To The Real Estate Industry Apocalypse
Higher interest rates are absolutely strangling the real estate industry, and there is no relief in sight. The sudden shift from a very low interest rate environment to a much higher interest rate environment has paralyzed sales.

Very few homeowners that are currently locked into a mortgage at a low interest rate want to sell, because buying a home to replace the one that they are selling would mean taking on a mortgage at a much higher rate of interest… and millions of potential home buyers have been chased out of the market because of the exceedingly high mortgage payments that they would be facing if they pulled the trigger on a purchase right now.

Sales of previously-owned homes have dropped by more than 32 percent over the past two years. In other words, about a third of the entire previously-owned home market has already been wiped out… (Continue to full article)

Staggering figures reveal 1.2 MILLION US-born workers lost their jobs last month – replaced by 688,000 foreign-born staff – as Joe Biden allows migrants to flood across the border
Data from US Bureau of Labor Statistics show that between July and August, there was a staggering decrease of 1.223 million native-born people in the workforce – which is a low not beaten since the jobs crash when Covid hit in April 2020.

In stark contrast almost 688,000 jobs were secured by foreign-born workers, underlining the difference in Joe Biden’s pro-migration policies versus Donald Trump’s tough border stance.

The data published on Friday shows that the numbers of US-born workers in employment had previously been steadily increasing since January – when the figure sat at 130 million. This jumped to 131.1 million in April, before peaking in July with 132.25 million. Employment in this category was back down to 131.03 millon in August.

While the increase is clearly bad news for drivers, it could have been far worse had the biggest retailers not let their inflated margins from earlier in the year return to more normal levels as wholesale fuel costs went up.”

What the figures suggest is there has been nearly a net-zero increase in native-born jobs created since the Covid economic crash. The job market is only just about reaching the highs seen in October 2019, where employment was 131.72 million (Continue to full article)

Drivers hit by one of the largest monthly fuel price hikes in 23 years
Drivers were hit by one of the biggest monthly fuel price rises in more than two decades in August, new figures show.

The RAC said rising pump prices are being caused by an increase in the cost of oil, which has gone up by nearly 12 US dollars a barrel since the start of July to nearly 87 US dollars due to producing group Opec+ reducing supply.

This led to the wholesale cost of fuel – what retailers pay – going up, which has been passed on to drivers at forecourts.

While the increase is clearly bad news for drivers, it could have been far worse had the biggest retailers not let their inflated margins from earlier in the year return to more normal levels as wholesale fuel costs went up.”

“All we can hope is that this move by many big retailers back to fairer forecourt pricing remains when wholesale costs go down again. Only time will tell.” … (Continue to full article)

Chase Customers Now Unable to Access Money Through ATMs
Numerous Chase customers have been unable to access money through ATMs in California and other parts of the United States, including Texas, Florida, Ohio, New York City, Arizona, and many others.

This past weekend, more than 16,000 Chase ATMs were affected nationwide.

The outage was due to an internal technology-related issue, a source said on condition of anonymity.

Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources including users, said there were reports of around 900 outages at its peak… (Continue to full article)

Contracting for the First Time Since the Great Depression
This Is an Ominous Sign for Stocks!

On the surface, Wall Street offers one guarantee: unpredictability. Since this decade began, the three major stocks indexes — Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 , and Nasdaq Composite – have been whipsawed by two bear markets (2020 and 2022) and a period of practical euphoria (2021) that saw equities rally to all-time highs.

Although there isn’t an economic datapoint or predictive indicator that can, without fail, forecast short-term movements in the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite, there are a number of these tools that have uncanny correlations with directional stock market movements . One of the most-pronounced is U.S. money supply… (Continue to full article)

$114,500,000,000 in US Treasuries Dumped By China and New BRICS Member Saudi Arabia
New numbers from the Treasury Department show that China trimmed its US treasury holdings from $938.8 billion in June 2022 to $835.4 billion in June 2023 – a decrease of about $103.4 billion in just 12 months.

Even though China has been dumping US treasuries over the past year, the country is still one of the largest creditors of the United States, second to Japan’s holdings of $1.105 trillion.

As for new BRICS member Saudi Arabia, the Middle Eastern country reduced its holdings of US debt by $11.1 billion over the same period from $119.2 billion to $108.1 billion.

The decline in the US bond holdings of the two BRICS nations are a fresh sign of opposition to the US dollar’s hegemony… (Continue to full article)

Gas Prices About to Skyrocket, Gas Economics 101
Gas prices have always been a topic of great interest and concern for millions of Americans who rely on gasoline to power their vehicles and homes daily.

A sharp rise in gas prices can directly impact the economy , people’s expenses, and consumer behavior. Recently, events like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have significantly affected gas prices . As we move forward, understanding the complex relationship between geopolitical factors, strategic petroleum reserves, and energy policies is crucial for accurately predicting the future of gas prices.

Considering the current state of strategic petroleum reserves and the administration’s energy policies, increasing gas prices seem likely as SPRs are refilled and gasoline demand continues to grow. However, many factors could influence the final outcome… (Continue to full article)

Stocks are poised to tumble – and many Americans are ‘prisoners in their own homes’ after mortgage rates soared
Stocks are poised to tumble as economic pressures mount, and the historic surge in mortgage rates means many Americans are now “prisoners in their own homes,” David Rosenberg says.

“The bond market has clearly paid a price,” he said in a Monday memo, referring to bond prices slumping in recent months as yields surged. “Round two of the drawdown in the equity market is set to follow. Cash is king.”

The markets guru has been ringing the alarm on a bleak investing backdrop for a while. In July, he compared the speculative mania around stocks to the dot-com and housing bubbles, and warned Americans were close to exhausting their savings and struggling more and more to borrow money… (Continue to full article)

61% Of US Workers Live Paycheck-to-Paycheck, 21% Struggle With Bills
More consumers of all income brackets reported living paycheck to paycheck in July 2023 than last year. Spending shows why…

A notable 29% of Gen Z consumers living paycheck to paycheck cite nonessential spending as one of the factors contributing to their financial distress, with 15% citing it as the top factor, marking them the most affected demographic. In contrast, only 12% of baby boomers and seniors in similar financial situations attribute nonessential spending as a factor for their struggles.

The likelihood of citing nonessential spending as a reason for living paycheck to paycheck decreases with age, making younger consumers more vulnerable to its adverse effects. The study also finds that male consumers are slightly more likely than female consumers to attribute their financial strain to nonessential spending… (Continue to full article)

Our Drunken Sailors Are Drinking Directly from the Punch Bowl: Powell, Did You See That?
Income fuels spending. So here we go: The income from all sources that consumers earned, but without transfer payments from the government (Social Security benefits, unemployment insurance, VA benefits, etc.), has been outrunning inflation since July 2022 – and did so again in July 2023.

So “real” income (income adjusted for inflation) from wages and salaries, interest, dividends, rental property, and personal business, but without transfer payments, rose by 0.2% in July from June and by 1.4% year-over-year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis today. Meaning, consumers out-earned inflation by a significant margin.

The pandemic-era spike of spending is far from being unwound, and instead consumers are spending in parallel the pre-pandemic trendline, but at a much higher rate. This is just astonishing… (Continue to full article)

“I wanna watch you undress…”

Both analysts and retail investors see higher gold prices next week
Gold climbed higher this week, with prices rising over 1.25% as Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report showed an increase in the unemployment rate and the ISM Manufacturing Index indicated continued weakness in U.S. industry.

The latest Kitco News Weekly Gold Survey shows that over two-thirds of retail investors expect gold prices to post gains during the shortened week ending September 8. And after weeks of caution and divided opinions, market analysts are just as bullish as Main Street heading into the Labor Day long weekend.

I think gold is actually going to continue to be capped under the highs, and possibly continue to move lower,” Pavilonis said. “The rationale behind that is some of the data is still coming out relatively strong. You look at core services, non-housing services, there’s some labor indicators that are still pretty strong, in terms of inflationary… (Continue to full article)

Gold: The Anti-Bubble
Just as a standard financial insurance policy is meant to only pay out when bad things happen, gold will only pay out when bad financial things happen. Sure, it’s assigned price can rise with other asset markets, but it’s price related to risk assets will under-perform when said risk assets are in a bull phase or an unbroken bubble.

As you can see, the bubble in policy-making, and thus, risk assets, is unbroken. Insurance has not been needed, yet. Why would anyone want to speculate on gold when its relative performance is so poor?

The answer is, they wouldn’t. Or more accurately, shouldn’t. Unfortunately, many people view gold as a play in the same casino that houses stock speculation. That is where so much frustration about perpetually under-performing gold stocks comes in. Well, their fate is tethered to an insurance asset or, by definition in an asset bubble, an under-performing asset… (Continue to full article)

America’s debt problem is only getting BIGGER
The US officially has a debt problem, in the present and in the future. As we speak, America’s gross national debt stands just below $33 trillion, or 122% of its GDP! The bigger problem, though, is the pace at which it’s doing so, leading to ballooning interest payments.

According to CBO’s projections, interest payments would total around $71 trillion over the next 30 years and would take up 35 percent of all federal revenues by 2053.

If the Fed has to lower rates to accommodate more US government spending, and thus deficits, that would mean excessive economic growth — and it’s already showing signs — and more inflation. That scenario would align more with a “no landing” instead of a “soft landing”; that isn’t exactly what the Fed had aimed for… (Continue to full article)

A “Prolonged Freeze” Has Descended Upon The U.S. Economy
The latest numbers are horrible, and they are going to get even worse if the Federal Reserve pushes interest rates even higher. We were warned that high rates would have an enormous negative impact on the economy, and that is precisely what has happened. Layoffs are way up so far this year, the commercial real estate market is absolutely imploding, and we are witnessing things happen in the housing market that haven’t happened in more than a decade. For example, last week it was revealed that sales of existing homes have fallen to a level that we have not seen since 2010…

Sales of previously owned homes dropped 2.2% in July from June to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 4.07 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Sales were 16.6% lower compared with July of last year. Homes sold at the slowest July pace since 2010…. (Continue to full article)