* Guests: Bryan Rust, Kelly Finnegan, Over the past 50 years, Rust Coins has been working to educate customers about precious metals – RustCoinAndGift.com

* Honest Money Report: Gold – $2074.00 Silver – $24.55.

* 22 States To Raise Minimum Wage, Federal standard remains unchanged at $7.25 per hour.

* California Pizza Huts lay off all delivery drivers ahead of minimum wage increase – Sara Chernikoff, USA Today.

* Joe Biden signed an executive order in December giving federal employees an average of a 5.2% increase in pay, the largest increase since former President Jimmy Carter raised federal salaries by 9.1% in 1980.

* 76% of Americans reported that their income is not keeping up with inflation, according to a poll conducted by CBS News and YouGov this month. 56% of Americans polled felt government spending, like the pay increases Biden is giving to federal bureaucrats, is causing high inflation.

* Federal employees already make significantly more money than those working outside the federal government. The average pay for federal employees was $98,943 in 2023, according to data collected by OPM.

* The median salary in the United States was $1,118 per week as of October, which works out to about $58,000 a year. That figure includes federal employees.

* Federal employees can use their salaries to contribute to political campaigns. When federal employees donate, they heavily favor the Democratic Party.

* Russia and China No Longer Using Dollar for Trade – Angeline Tan, TheNewAmerican.com

* Small community banks are feeling the brunt of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes that were put in place to counter sky-high inflation under Biden, according to The WSJ.