Black Coffee: The Summer Solstice Edition

It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe …

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.

Summer is finally here. Hooray! I hope y’all have a great one this year.

Okay, off we go …

Credits and Debits

Debit: I see the IRS is claiming that Lois Lerner’s subpoenaed emails (and those of six others who are being investigated for targeting the Tea Party and other conservative groups) are unavailable because they’re “hopelessly lost.” Unbelievable.

Credit: I can only assume the IRS is now accepting that very same excuse regarding the records of the taxpayers they audit.

Debit: Yes, this is the same IRS that asks us taxpayers to keep our records for seven years — even though they’re required to keep email for only six months because, you know, email isn’t an “official record.” (Hat tip: Hot Air.)

Debit: “It’s lost.” Never mind the technical ignorance of such a ludicrous claim. The blatant corruption, crony capitalism, and utter lawlessness that now seemingly permeates almost every corner of the US government is truly breathtaking. They don’t even try to hide it anymore.

Debit: This is what a banana republic looks like, folks. (And if that ain’t bad enough, so does this.) Oh, I know. I know. Cue Len’s official IRS audit notice in four, three, two …

Credit: Speaking of the IRS, US federal tax revenues continue to run at a record pace. Through the end of May, the US Treasury has taken in a record $1.9 trillion this fiscal year.

Debit: Now the bad news: Despite the massive cash influx, the government is still drowning in a sea of red ink; the deficit is currently $436 billion — and growing. Quickly.

Credit: Hey … You can’t accuse Pope Francis of not being able to connect the dots. Now even he is warning that a worldwide economic collapse is in the cards. (Maybe I should say “house of cards.”)

Debit: The Holy See probably read the Wall Street Journal this week. They observed: “There are more Americans on disability insurance than are working in construction and education, combined.” Yep; a staggering 11 million on the dole now.

Debit: Meanwhile, real hourly wages in the US have seen their first year-over-year decline since October 2012. But wait: it gets worse. The income drop was so severe, Americans’ earning power is back to 2008 levels. Forward!

Debit: Stagnant real wages are a result of the dollar’s falling value, courtesy of the Fed’s relentless money printing. Last month US consumer prices rose at the sharpest pace in 15 months — and beef, chicken, eggs, and fish reached all-time highs.

Debit: Unfortunately, when paychecks can’t keep up with inflation, living standards decline — which probably helps explain why home equity loans increased 8% year-over-year during the first three months of 2014.

Debit: In fact, things are so bad that 47% of people between 22 and 33 are now spending more than half of their paycheck to retire debt. Wow.

Debit: With news like that, it’s no wonder that nearly half of all Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck — and 56% have subprime credit.

Credit: By the way, if you think the modest living-standard decline over the past five years has been bad, just wait until the US implements an overnight currency devaluation. That’s when most folks will finally wake up — a day late and a dollar short.

Debit: So why have stock and other asset prices been steadily rising over the same time period, despite stagnant wages? Because central banks have injected $29 trillion into the markets since then. It’s a mirage.

Debit: This can’t go on forever. I assume that’s why, according to the Financial Times: “Federal Reserve officials have discussed imposing exit fees on bond funds to avert a potential run by investors.”

Debit: Did you see this? Nine in ten people who signed up for Obamacare received government subsidies to help offset those ridiculously expensive premiums — $16 billion in 2014 alone. Yeah … like that’s sustainable.

Credit: Finally … I see Los Angeles city workers recently posted a ‘1 Minute Parking‘ sign on San Vicente Boulevard. Yes, really; one whole minute. (And you thought New York City had brutal parking restrictions.)

By the Numbers

Amaze your family tonight with these tidbits about New York City parking tickets :

9.8 million Number of tickets issued each year in the Big Apple.

63 Percentage of tickets paid within 90 days.

37 Percentage of tickets paid on-line.

36 Average number of days in the appeal process.

15 Percentage of tickets reversed on appeal.

12 Average number of days it takes to get a refund after an appeal.

13 Percentage of tickets dismissed.

Source: New York Parking Ticket (2011 data)

The Question of the Week

[poll id="12"]

Last Week’s Poll Result

Excluding your own, how many current phone numbers do you have committed to memory?

• 7 or more (36%)
• 1 or 2 (23%)
• 3 or 4 (21%)
• 5 or 6 (16%)
• 0 (4%)

More than 300 people answered this week’s survey question and slightly more than half of the respondents have at least five phone numbers memorized. On the other hand, 27% can’t remember more than two numbers. Yes, I’m in that group. It could be worse: At least I’m not among the 4% of those polled who are unable to recall even a single number. Amazing, huh? When I was a kid, I could rattle off dozens of phone numbers. Not any more. I guess that’s to be expected with today’s reliance on smart phones that store everybody’s information.

Other Useless News

Here are the top — and bottom — five Canadian provinces and territories in terms of the average number of pages viewed per visit here at Len Penzo dot Com over the past 30 days:

1. Prince Edward Island (1.85 pages/visit)
2. Manitoba (1.70)
3. Saskatchewan (1.68)
4. Alberta (1.54)
5. Quebec (1.48)

9. Northwest Territories (1.33)
10. Nunavut (1.25)
11. New Brunswick (1.24)
12. Nova Scotia (1.21)
13. Yukon Territory (1.13)

Whether you happen to enjoy what you’re reading (like those cold and crazy canucks on Prince Edward Island, eh) — or not (you hosers living in the Yukon) — please don’t forget to:

1. Click on that Like button in the sidebar to your right and become a fan of Len Penzo dot Com on Facebook!

2. Make sure you follow me on Twitter! And last, but not least…

3. Don’t forget to subscribe via email too! Thank you.

Letters, I Get Letters

Every week I feature the most interesting question or comment — assuming I get one, that is. And folks who are lucky enough to have the only question in the mailbag get their letter highlighted here whether it’s interesting or not! You can reach me at: Len@LenPenzo.com

From Blondie:

I love this blog. I found you when I was Google-ing ‘lending money to friends.’

Aha! So that’s why everybody has been asking me for spare change lately!

I’m Len Penzo and I approved this message.

Photo Credit: brendan-c