Via ZeroHedge, it would seem that people in the USA are getting a little fed up with the continued rape and pillage of their currency :

When we had last checked on the total silver sales by the US Mint earlier today, the amount given was 3,407,000 ounces, a number which we had earlier speculated would be a monthly record if sales were maintained at the current pace. And as the number had not been updated we assumed that “either buying interest has ceased overnight (unlikely), that the mint is not updating its numbers (likely), or, worse, that the Mint has now stopped selling any form of silver for reasons unknown.” Indeed, the result was the likely one, and following a quick check today on US Mint sales confirms that sales have once again surged following the Mint’s delayed update. As of today they stood at a whopping 4,588,000, or nearly 1.2 million ounces sold in a few short days. This represents the biggest monthly total sold by the US Mint going back to 1986 when the Mint disclosed its first monthly sales record… And the month is not even over yet. In other words in just the first three weeks of January, the mint has sold more silver than in any month in its history according to its public records going back 26 years.

Smashing a monthly sales record in less than three weeks is certainly going some, especially when the current silver price is hovering around the $30 mark and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this price increase quickly at this rate of buying.

How much longer can the fiat currency system continue in its current completely unbacked form is beyond me but the politicians seem to be happy enough to keep kicking the can a little further down the road while they still have the power to do so.

As is always the case at ZeroHedge, the commenters provide serious discussion as well as entertainment – the following from the same article :

I was at my bank today; there was a short line.
There was just one lady in front of me, an Asian lady who was trying to
exchange yen for dollars. It was obvious she was a little irritated . . .
She asked the teller, “Why it change? Yesterday, I get two hunat dolla fo
yen.
Today I only get hunat eighty? Why it change?”
The teller shrugged his shoulders and said, “Fluctuations.”
The Asian lady says, “Fluc you white people, too.”

Damned funny.