NBTB is a bank holding company, small potatoes I’m sure...but they have delivered a small dividend for near 500 quarters in a row....its a tiny dividend in relation to all the other companies, but its been an absolutely reliable source of SOME income....
I wish.....we had our home paid off, but then DH decided we needed a huge shop with a large meat shop with a walk in cooler, and we had two weddings plus we gave generous gifts to them....and the tail end of college so we refinanced....we’re ahead....we’re not paying much....but I think I’d rather see my money go to paying off the mortgage then do down the stock market drain...its hard to pull the trigger because I like having a nice 401K
I'm reading many negatives on precious metals. The dollar is finished. The COMEX has disconnected from paper value to actual retail bullion demand. Happens every time a fiat currency begins to collapse.
JPMorgan just paid 920 million in fines with criminal indictments (8) for 100,000s of manipulations. Of course there was just a slap on the hand and our government decided it was in the best interests of everyone (there bank accounts) not to enforce the criminal indictments.
Hard assets and no debt are the first items to prepare with. Silver and gold will be the units of exchange like they always have been when paper money collapses. The value of precious metals have been manipulated by just two banks during the last 20 years. JPMorgan was the primary mover.
I have repeatedly posted about a silver proxy everyone can follow and yet it falls on deaf ears.
Silver war nickels. I was recently surprised to see the value increase 50% in two months. The value of them have now exceeded many baskets of goods including gasoline we use to measure inflation. They are telling us we are in a deflationary death spiral. In two months we went from 3 war nickels to less than 2 for a gallon of gasoline as an example.
Consistent reports from Venezuela show that precious metals and particularly silver for everyday purchase have protected those with the foresight to transfer from the Bolivar before the collapse. Barter will work, however it is very cumbersome. Barter does not reflect the unit of labor that precious metals retain. For example if I buy a new generator for my house, silver and gold will expedite the delivery. Thousands of bullets, outdated cans of food, old clothes, fire wood, labor and other barterable items will not do that.
I am still out on crypto currency. I see the value however as a global asset (ethereum) and not ready for local exchange. Our perceptions on the dollar as a world currency are based on a post WW2
Brentton Woods agreement. Since Nixon decoupled gold from the dollar we have been in a death spiral. Only our military has been able to enforce it. That is coming to an end. Our normalcy bias is the belief the dollar will not collapse.
We need to ask ourselves why world players have been buying gold and silver. China and India have been major purchasers. What is the value of that paper we call the dollar worth? What is the value when our central banks can just type in a trillion here and a trillion there? This was never a loan. This was never meant to be paid back. This was a constant dilution of our savings and a socialist wealth transfer.
But in a SHTF situation where the banks implode the Feds will have to offer up some sort of sacrifice to show the public that they are bailing out the banking system and not the bank owners.
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That may have been true at one time of day. But the arrogant elites in DC don’t give a damn what the public thinks or perceives. Let them eat cake.
And why should our rulers care? Nothing ever happens to them. If we don’t like what they’re doing so what? There is zero accountability in DC. None whatsoever.
Life is good for the DC Insiders.