Black Coffee: Going for Gold

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.

I hope everybody had a wonderful week. And with that, let’s get right to this week’s commentary, shall we?

The choice is between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the honesty and intelligence of Government. And, with due respect for these gentlemen, I advise you, as long as the capitalist system lasts, to vote for gold.

– George Bernard Shaw

Credits and Debits

Credit: Did you see this? Men are paying off their student loans far quicker than women, who are taking more than a decade to retire their debt, while seeing very little decline in their outstanding loans. For those who are wondering why, the simplest explanation is each sexes’ predominant choice of college major. According to some, the highest paying majors are dominated by men, while the lowest paying are dominated by women. Makes sense. Oh, yeah … for those who are wondering, here’s another perplexing question. Thankfully, social media saved the day as somebody was kind enough to provide an answer:

Debit: Then there’s this: Did you know Great Britain’s electricity bills are among the highest in the world? They are. In fact, Brits pay five times more for their electricity than the Chinese, and twice as much as Americans. One of the biggest reasons: solar company subsidies designed to keep these economically unviable solar farms in business. Hey … I’m not sayin’. I’m just sayin’. That being said, there are those who continue to insist that it won’t be long until the green energy revolution begins rocketing skyward. Or not …

Debit: Meanwhile, back on this side of the pond … a new study of multiple metropolitan US housing markets has found that, in more than one-third of the homes in those markets, homeowners were spending at least 43% of their wages on housing. That level is considered to be “seriously unaffordable” by the study’s authors. Hey … it’s tough all over, folks. Whether we like it or not …

Debit: On a related note, home evictions in the US are up more than 15% compared to the period before the pandemic, as Americans continue to struggle with rising prices. However, the problem is noticeably worse in Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Las Vegas, and Gainesville, where the eviction rate is at least 40% higher than it was before the pandemic started. It makes us wonder what’s wrong with this picture. And this one …

Debit: Speaking of inflation … the typical household is now spending $925 more a month to purchase the same goods and services than they did in the summer of 2021. Needless to say, we’re pretty sure that anybody who buys groceries, fills their car tank with gasoline, buys insurance, rents their home, pays for utilities – or shops at Dollar Tree – already knew that.

Debit: Needless to say, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that a new survey of 80,000 small businesses in the US found that nearly half of them warn that they will not survive “the current economic climate or ongoing inflation.” Then again, large corporations like Tesla are currently dealing with their own issues …

Credit: Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov once again reiterated that the process of de-dollarization can’t be stopped, as many nations are now looking for an alternative to the US dollar (USD) in order to keep their long-term savings secure. Sadly, many people shills are betting on the wrong horse …

Debit: Indeed, while while foreigners continue to purchase US Treasuries, the percentage of foreigners who own American government bonds continues to fall. In fact, a decade ago foreigners owned half of all US Treasuries; today they hold just 30% of US marketable debt. This is just more evidence that – when it comes to fiat currencies – the world is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with using the USD as its long-term store of value simply because it is the cleanest dirty shirt in the laundry. Somebody pass the soap …

Credit: Conversely, according to Sprott, “central bank gold purchases continued at an elevated level for the first quarter of 2024 with 289 tonnes, bringing the trailing seven-quarter average to 309 tonnes vs. the prior decade’s quarterly average of 126 tonnes, or 2.4-fold increase.” Needless to say, they’re buying the yellow metal to protect their fiscal balance sheets; it’s just unfortunate that the general public sees no need to do the same. After all, holding a little physical gold is a far better way to protect your purchasing power than doing this:

Debit: On a related note, we see that Investopedia published a new article last week on what would cause a potential USD collapse – and how it could play out. It wasn’t too long ago the only places you’d see articles like this was on tin foil hat blogs like this one. Now “dollar collapse” stories are springing up everywhere. Imagine that.

Credit: We’ll close this week with macro analyst Bill Holter, who is predicting that, “a great change in ‘global currency’ is about to occur” and therefore you must own precious metals before it happens. As Holter explains, at that point, “You will either be in, or you will be out, likely for the remainder of your financial life.” He’s right, you know. Sadly, those who will be on the outside looking in won’t realize their mistake until it is too late.

By the Numbers

Americans are projected to increase their collective credit card debt by $120 billion this year, and the grand total at nearly $1.3 trillion. With that in mind, a new study has determined the states where consumers take the longest to pay off credit card debt. Here are the five states with the longest – and shortest – payoff times:

50 West Virginia (shortest payoff time)

49 Pennsylvania

48 Nebraska

47 South Dakota

46 Utah

5 Oregon

4 New Mexico

3 Colorado

2 Vermont

1 Alaska (longest payoff time)

Source: Wallet Hub

The Question of the Week

[poll id="546"]

Last Week’s Poll Results

Do you have a bumper sticker on any of your cars?

• No (95%)
• Yes (5%)

More than 1800 Len Penzo dot Com readers responded to last week’s question and it turns out that just 1 in 20 of you have a bumper sticker on any of your cars. Not surprising … they seem to be less popular than they used to be. Why do you think that is?

If you have a question you’d like to see featured here, please send it to me at Len@LenPenzo.com and be sure to put “Question of the Week” in the subject line.

Useless News: Magic Tricks

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump go into a bakery.

As soon as they enter the bakery, Hillary steals three pastries and puts them in her pocket.

She says to Donald, “See how clever I am? The owner didn’t see anything and I don’t even need to lie.” I will definitely win the election.

The Donald says to Hillary, “That’s the typical dishonesty you have displayed throughout your entire life, trickery and deceit. I am going to show you an honest way to get the same result.”

Donald goes to the owner of the bakery and says, “Give me a pastry and I will show you a magic trick.” Intrigued, the owner accepts and gives him a pastry. Trump swallows it and asks for another one. The owner gives him another one. Then Donald asks for a third pastry and eats that, too.

The owner is starting to wonder where the magic trick is and asks, “What did you do with the pastries?” Trump replies, “Look in Hillary’s pocket”

(h/t: Just the Facts via Zero Hedge)

Buy Me a Coffee? Thank You So Much!

For the best reading experience, I present all of my fresh Black Coffee posts without ads. If you enjoyed this week’s column, buy me a coffee! (Dunkin’ Donuts; not Starbucks.) Thank you so much!

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More Useless News

Here are the top five articles viewed by my 49,024 RSS feed, weekly email subscribers, and other followers over the past 30 days (excluding Black Coffee posts):

1. Is Silver Undervalued? The Evidence Is Overwhelming
2. What Are the Most Common Birthdays?
3. A Look at the Benefits of Italian DIY Citizenship
4. 20 Easy Ways to Save $5 a Day
5. This Blue Fruit Cuts $400 Off My Grocery Bill Every Year

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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

After reading a recent Len Penzo dot Com article offering tips to help you improve your credit score, James Rosa left this comment:

I know how it feels to be frustrated by credit report issues. I paid a credit hacker but it didn’t work out for me. Then I decided to fix my own credit the old fashioned way — mainly by paying my bills on time.

Good for you, James! Unlike that so-called “credit hacker,” you can be sure that self-reliance and personal responsibility will never let you down.

If you enjoyed this, please forward it to your friends and family. 😊

I’m Len Penzo and I approved this message.

Photo Credit: public domain