I'm a stacker. I'm constantly looking at silver and gold prices, the spread, inventories, premiums, derivatives in SLV, etc, etc.
The obvious trend since SVB went down was a move to towards safer assets, let it be a "too big to fail bank (lol)", government securities (lol), and precious metals. Premiums on 1 oz silver rounds (generic) are nearly $5 anywhere you look. My local coin shop (LCS) was charging $4.75 per ounce over spot on generics, which is actually lower than the vast majority on JM bullion and SD bullion.
With silver spot being 24.25 as we speak, a $5+ premium is nearly a 20% premium on the price. Higher premiums almost always mean high demand and low supply. Inventory on the comex is dropping at a pretty staggering rate (277 million oz left) and the entire comex could be drained with a mere $6.6 billion dollars.
My LCS said it's been insane since the banks began to fail. Way more buyers than sellers.
The price of silver specifically has been artificially suppressed by the big banks through derivatives and artificial contracts traded amongst the big banks. As inventory continues to drain, the dollar falls, BRICS grows it's membership, and uncertainty remains, precious metals SHOULD skyrocket.
Ultimately, I don't invest in PMs are a get rich quick scheme, but they really are a great store of value. Not investment advice, but holding silver and gold, while you can still get it, could be an answer to rapidly rising inflation.
Interesting to use a decreasing in value currency to compare. ...
In my region we have started doing business in silver. Farmers, bakers, that sort of thing, accepting silver. And I do too, for the work I do.
Granted, it is not yet perfect, due to the CB manipulation of money, but we are working on comprehending value for goods and services over historic time, while we move slowly towards loosening ourselves from the system.
And, I hear, quite often, people saying: it feels good to pay with value, instead of monopoly money.
It is an apples to apples comparison. It is the purchasing power of what you can buy in gold or silver now, v. the purchasing power of what you could buy in gold or silver then. The dollar association is a bookkeeping term and a number that people understand intuitively. It has nothing to do with what I was showing, which is how much purchasing power gold and silver have retained in the market over time.
That is awesome.