Posted originally on May 31, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Marty, There seems to be a growing trend with States approving gold and silver coins as acceptable payment methods. You have always said that it would be coins and not bars. However Florida now states that the silver must be 99% pure. How will this affect the pre 65 constitutional coins like dimes, quarters and half dollars generally referred to a junk silver? Junk silver coins will of course be worth more if the price of silver increases however it appears that one may not be able to use them for any daily transactions. Would one be better off selling their junk silver and converting it to silver rounds immediately? What does Socrates or Socrates Jr think on this topic as it is certainly a new wrinkle. Thanks ! JimJ
ANSWER: I understand the act, and it only illustrates my point that when it comes to a silver bar, 99% of the people out there would NEVER know the difference between that and a bar of Nickel. That’s what I said; I prefer the pre-1965 silver coins because the average person can easily identify the date. They are ALREADY legal tender. So they are not demonetizing the silver coins.
The Roll of 20 – 2025 $1 American Silver Eagles are 99.9% silver. However, they are denominated as $1. This may be more confusing to the average smuck on the street. Personally, I have bags of silver coins, and I have a hoard of $20 gold coins that came from a central bank, which found them tucked away in the basement vault. They are all uncirculated 1924 Saints. This was a private offering.
Posted originally on May 30, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
Happening now: @GovRonDeSantis is in Apopka to sign HB 999 which “sets in motion #Florida’s full recognition of gold and silver as legal tender, giving Floridians the freedom to use precious metals for everyday transactions alongside traditional currency.”https://t.co/fRkQpDJE7Dpic.twitter.com/dOMajgwAsj
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared gold and silver legal tender. HB 999 maintains that these precious metals may be used in payments if they meet specific purity standards. The bill goes into effect on July 1, 2026, but many are confused as to what this will entail.
As stated in the legislation: “Legal Tender; Revising the sales and use tax exemption for certain coin or currency; specifying that a person who claims the sales tax exemption bears the burden for determining whether the gold coin or silver coin meets a specified definition; providing a presumption regarding the purity requirements of gold coin and silver coin, etc.”
“We are the first large state to step up and to get this done,” DeSantis said. “And this is right out of the Constitution of the United States. So this legislation will authorize money services business like check cashers or PayPal to transmit and accept payment in gold and silver.” State Rep. Bill Bankson sponsored the bill with the goal to “eliminate the tax burden and make it a functional means of transaction between willing parties.”
To begin, Florida is not the first state to declare gold and/or silver legal tender. Utah passed the Utah Legal Tender Act of 2011, which declared coins of either metal legal tender. Oklahoma passed Senate Bill 862 in 2014, recognizing U.S.-minted gold and silver coins as legal tender and exempting them from taxation. Kansas and West Virginia have similar policies. Texas has recognized these coins as legal tender and enacted legislation to protect them from state seizure. Wyoming treats gold and silver as currency and has exempted it from sales tax. South Carolina and Louisiana have similar policies.
Florida’s approach is a bit more structured. Gold coins must be at least 99.5% pure and silver coins at least 99.9% pure to qualify as legal tender. The weight and purity must be imprinted on the metal with the name or symbol of the mint refiner. Both will be exempt from sales tax. The state government may choose to accept silver and gold coins for payments on taxes, dues, charges, and debts. Yet, these transactions must be done electronically, and the coins will be held by a public depository while processing. A regulatory regime will be established to handle coinage, process insurance, record-keeping, licensing, and consumer disclosure agreements, which the Office of Financial Regulation will oversee.
Will Floridians see people using silver coins to check out at the grocery store? No. The law entails that payments in gold and silver coinage are entirely optional, and no person or business is required to accept them in payments. Merchants will not be required to attain knowledge on metal purity or have scales behind the cash register. The difference now is that businesses are allowed to accept them if they choose to do so. There are numerous tax benefits to choosing metal over cash.
If John Doe wants to purchase a boat from a dealership with gold, for example, the dealership must voluntarily accept the coinage but is in no way obligated to do so. Then the dealership has the burden of verifying the spot price of gold or silver rather than the state. However, if you go to a bank to cash a check, the bank will have the ability to offer clients payments in gold or silver coinage rather than cash. Another aspect to consider is that Florida will no longer add a sales tax on transactions in gold and silver, lowering the cost for businesses and consumers by around 6%.
This signals the ongoing loss of confidence in the federal government. States are rebelling against federal mismanagement and offering residents alternatives to move off the grid. People tend to hoard gold and spend paper. Gold and silver are not practical as daily commerce but are a symbolic store of wealth. We are entering a phase where sovereign debt will become toxic, and states will begin to prepare for the inevitable chaos coming from Washington.
originally on Posted May 30, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
The US economy contracted by 0.2% from January through March of 2025. This is the second Q1 estimate provided by the US Commerce Department, with a third on the way on June 26.
Imports surged into the US during Q1 as corporations aimed to avoid incoming tariffs. The 42.6% uptick in imports marked the fastest pace of goods arriving in the US since Q3 2020. Business investment rose 24.4% in Q1, with business inventories adding 2.6 percentage points to overall GDP. Federal government spending fell by 4.6%, the largest drop in three years, but a deduction from overall GDP calculations.
Real consumer spending rose by 1.2%, albeit far less than the 4% posted during Q4 2024 and revised down from the first reading of 1.8%. Other reports indicate that Americans are spending far more on the essentials like utilities, health care, and housing. The Fed’s preferred inflation measure (PCE price index) rose 3.6%. Persistent inflation has led to cautious consumer behavior and a decline in demand for goods, contributing to the overall weakened reading for Q1.
Discretionary retail fell by 3% this quarter to 23% as consumers are less likely to purchase items like clothing, furniture, and electronics. Durable goods experienced a significant decline of 19%. The University of Michigan’s survey noted that decreased confidence has caused the demand for big-ticket items to decline. A lot of the demand we did see in Q1 was spending to offset anticipated tariffs. Autos, for example, rose by 11% YoY in March alone, and Q1 saw an overall 4.8% in auto purchases. That trend is not expected to continue as consumer sentiment is low.
April’s 2.3% CPI reading was the smallest annual increase since 2021, yet still above the 2% target set by the Fed years ago. The Fed isn’t fighting inflation. That phase is over. What they’re really fighting now is a collapse in confidence in the bond market, the dollar, and in the entire public sector. There will be no soft landing as once anticipated, as we are currently in a stage of stagflation.
Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell met Trump at the White House on Thursday to declare that rate decisions would be based on “careful, objective, and non-political analysis.” “I’ve never asked for a meeting with any president, and I never will,” Powell said. “I wouldn’t do that. There’s never a reason for me to ask for a meeting. It’s always been the other way.” Trump invited Powell to the White House to encourage him to cut rates at the June meeting. The markets were pricing in a rate cut in June but now that does not seem as likely.
Trump fails to realize that the Fed is attempting to preserve confidence in the US, primarily in the debt market. We are witnessing cash deficits of over $1 trillion per quarter. Moody’s recently downgraded the US and no longer believes that Treasuries are a certain bet. The government is broke and the Fed must maintain the illusion of solvency.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Centinel2012 