Black Coffee: Worse and Worser

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 an enjoyable week. Without further ado, let’s get right to this week’s commentary …

Never give up. Today is hard and tomorrow will be worse – but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.

– Jack Ma

Credits and Debits

Debit: Did you see this? Since 2020, food costs in American homes have risen by 22%, while restaurant prices are up 27%. We don’t know about you, but our experience is that prices have risen more than that. And not just with food and housing …

Credit: On a positive note, despite more money being spent on food, the average 401(k) contribution rate, including both employer and employee contributions now stands at 14.2%. Even so, 70% of retirees wish they had started saving earlier. Obviously, that’s because with age comes wisdom. Unfortunately, for many it comes far too late.

Debit: In other news, the latest jobs report was released last Friday and it reveals that, since last June, the US has added just over 2 million part-time jobs, but lost 1.5 million full-time jobs. I know … but if you think that’s the sign of a job market that’s going in the wrong direction, well … you’ll probably want to take note of this too:

Debit: But wait; the job situation gets even worse. Well … at least it does for native-born Americans. Get this: The US added 635,000 foreign-born workers, while losing 1.3 million native-born workers – in just the past month! No, really. In fact, that’s the biggest one-month drop in native-born workers since the covid crash! Now for the punchline: The report does not differentiate between legal foreign-born Americans and those who aren’t.

Debit: On a related note, a new Fed survey has found that more Americans are looking for jobs and unemployment worries are at their highest level in a decade. In fact, 28% saying they’ve been searching for a new job over the past four weeks — the highest level since March 2014 and an increase from 19% in July 2023. It’s all very disconcerting. But financial sector CEOs are certainly paying attention, much to the chagrin of their shareholders …

Credit: Imagine this: It’s 1999, and you’ve just retired with a hard-earned $1 million nest egg. You’re looking forward to a comfortable retirement, withdrawing a modest $50,000 annually. After 24 years, how do you think your portfolio would have fared? How much of your million-dollar portfolio is left? The answer depends heavily on your investment allocation. See for yourself (h/t: GoldSilver):

Credit: Perhaps not coincidentally, Bank of America strategists recently said investors following a traditional portfolio strategy of 60% stocks 40% bonds should consider swapping bonds for commodities. The reason: Commodities typically fare better during highly-inflationary periods. They support their claim by pointing out that since 2020, 30-year Treasuries have handed investors losses of 40% while commodities have delivered annualized returns of 14% over the same timeframe. Needless to say, This will be yet another tailwind for gold. Well … if enough people follow this advice. And it looks like some people are …

Debit: Meanwhile, the US National Debt is more than $35 trillion, with another $1 trillion being added now every 100 days – and the pace is increasing exponentially. But, hey … why worry? They can always fix this with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). And more taxes. Or so we’re told …

Credit: Ironically, socialist economist Claudia Sahm asserts that the National Debt “isn’t inherently bad” because the government has unlimited taxing authority. Never mind that the Laffer curve proves that government tax revenue actually falls when tax rates become excessive. I guess we should all chalk Ms. Sahm up among those who will eventually reap the consequences of failing to understand the true value of a dollar:

Debit: Indeed, as economist Daniel Lacalle notes, despite the inflationary effects of America’s growing debt burden, “economists like Sahm assume that the US dollar (USD) will have eternal and unlimited demand. However, global central banks are reducing their holdings of US Treasuries, and international demand is declining. (So) you should be very concerned when someone says that the government has unlimited taxation and printing resources, as that means it has unlimited ways of making you poorer.” He’s got a point, you know.

Credit: Not coincidentally, on Friday gold hit a closing all-time high for the 34th time this year – so the monetary system smoke detector is definitely trying to tell us something. If you haven’t already, maybe you should start to take it seriously. Thankfully, if you’re interested in buying the yellow metal for wealth insurance, it’s still available. But the burning question is: For how much longer?

The Question of the Week

[poll id=”553″]

Last Week’s Poll Result

It’s an ice cream bar! What are you putting in your bowl?

• Vanilla ice cream (21%)
• Chocolate ice cream (15%)
• Whipped cream (14%)
• Chocolate sauce (12%)
• Cherries (10%)
• Chopped nuts (9%)
• Bananas (7%)
• Strawberry sauce (6%)
• Strawberry ice cream (5%)
• Pineapple sauce (2%)

More than 1900 Len Penzo dot Com readers answered last week’s question and it turns out that we’re having a clearance sale on strawberry ice cream and pineapple sauce. Everything must go! Interested parties please inquire within.

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

By the Numbers

Speaking of ice cream, here are some cool tidbits about the frozen treat that you may not have heard before:

12 The number of pounds of milk it takes to make a gallon of ice cream.

50 The average number of licks it takes to consume a scoop of ice cream.

3 Norway’s rank among the world’s top ice cream consuming nations. (US is 1; Australia is 2)

1 Vanilla’s rank among the most popular ice cream flavors. (Chocolate is runner-up.)

1665 Year of the first recorded ice cream recipe (chocolate).

1762 Year that vanilla ice cream made its debut.

1851 Year that industrial ice cream production began in the US.

90 Percentage of American homes that typically keep ice cream in their refrigerator.

9 Height, in feet, of the tallest ice cream cone ever created.

46 Pints of ice cream the average American eats every year.

Source: MyMochi

Useless News: Amen and Hallelujah

On the first day, God created the dog and said, “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of 20 years.”

The dog said, “That’s a long time to be barking. How about only 10 years and I’ll give you back the other 10?” And God saw it was good.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said, “Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a 20-year life span.”

The monkey said, “Monkey tricks for 20 years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back 10 like the dog did?” And God, again saw it was good.

On the third day, God created the cow and said, “You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of 60 years.”

The cow said, “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for 60 years. How about I keep 20 and give back the other 40?” And God agreed it was good.

On the fourth day, God created humans and said, “Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you 20 years.”

But the human said, “Only 20 years! Could you possibly give me my 20, the 40 the cow gave back, the 10 the monkey gave back, and the 10 the dog gave back; that makes 80. What do ya say?”

“Okay,” said God, “You asked for it.”

So that is why for our first 20 years, we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next 40 years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next 10 years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last 10 years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you. There is no need to thank me for this valuable information; I’m doing it as a public service.

Oh … and if you’re looking for me, I’ll be on the front porch.

(h/t: Antonio Fortunato)

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!

.

More Useless News

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

1. Kansas (3.00 pages/visit)
2. Nebraska (2.28)
3. Ohio (2.22)
4. Tennessee (2.12)
5. Illinois (2.08)

46. Vermont (1.50)
47. Hawaii (1.47)
48. North Carolina (1.45)
49. Delaware (1.40)
50. Virginia (1.36)

Whether you happen to enjoy what you’re reading (like my friends in Kansas) — or not (ahem, Virginia …) — please don’t forget to:

1. Subscribe to my weekly Len Penzo dot Com Newsletter! (It’s easy! See the big green box in the sidebar at the top of the page.)

2. Make sure you follow me on my new favorite quick-chat site, Gab! Of course, you can always follow me on Twitter. Just be careful what you say there.

3. Become a fan of Len Penzo dot Com on Facebook too!

And last, but not least …

4. Please support this website by checking out my sponsors’ ads!

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 out to me at: Len@LenPenzo.com

After reading my critically important article explaining why Miracle Whip should never ever be placed on a tuna sandwich, Spencer F disputed my claim that fish is meat:

According to the Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness, fish is for sport only — fish meat is practically a vegetable.

I’d like to argue with you and Ron Swanson, but I’ve got a splitting haddock. (Yes, I said that on porpoise.)

If you enjoyed this edition of Black Coffee and found it to be informative, please forward it to your friends and family. Thank you! 😀

I’m Len Penzo and I approved this message.