Today, coin shops and bullion dealers will redeem Federal Reserve Notes (dollars) at varying discounts, depending on the volume of trade, and also, depending on their supply sources, such as mints, major wholesalers, or public selling. Some of those supply sources tap directly into the large bullion banks that are the owners of the Federal Reserve and/or who have enormous short positions at the COMEX or in over the counter derivatives, and/or are custodians for the bullion ETFs.
Our markets are so free, that we actually have a de facto private precious metals backing for the current paper dollar. By "de facto" I mean "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law".
My main point is that anyone can exchange their paper money, for silver or gold, on much better terms today, at much less premiums today, than during the vast majority of the time that silver "officially" backed the currency!
The fallacy of thought was that silver could be bought for "zero premium" when it was money, while today, you have to pay an "unfair 5-10%". The truth is that when silver was money, government distortions and monopoly pricing created 400% premiums, also called "seniorage".
Implications? I don't mean that all of our currency is backed by silver. The relative amounts are so different, it's shocking. Dollars in the banks now exceeds $14 trillion, or $14,000 billion, but the amount of money going into physical silver per year, world wide, is only about $1 billion.
I can see the criticism now. People will say that I'm just trying to justify selling silver at up to 10% over spot when other dealers may have it offered at 5% over spot
Of course I am! Every business does that. Quality goods typically cost more.
But the point is that the free market in silver, or multiple sellers and suppliers (not just government currency), is creating the competition that leads to sometimes absurdly low prices, which is great for all silver buyers today.What quality do I offer? Speed & reliability, at a very low price!
You might be able to buy silver cheaper elsewhere than from me, but it may cost you more in terms of time, or you might lose it all in a default. Other dealers still have a 2-5 month delivery delay. Or the other dealers might default, because they might not have the silver, or might be in debt, or their suppliers might not have the silver.
What's worse is that some dealers are slower, less reliable, and more costly than I am!
I have 81,000 oz. of silver that I'm using to deal silver.
Thus, we have the goods, the real silver, ready to deliver upon demand, with zero default risk to you.
If you want to sell your home, and buy silver, you will be a very wise, and rare, customer.
We've heard from a few of our wiser customers, that they've already done exactly that, and they are now renting. In beautiful Grass Valley, CA, in the foothills of the Sierra mountains, where you would be surrounded by evergreen trees and all the modern conveniences of modern life, with access to high speed Comcast Cable internet, you can rent a million dollar McMansion / Ranch on multiple acres, with 5+ rooms, about 4000 sq. feet, for about $2000/month, or even less. We saw one for $1700! Housing must lose about 2/3 of the value, or more, from present day values, to come in line with such rents.
