{"id":24879,"date":"2014-05-03T10:50:49","date_gmt":"2014-05-03T17:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=24879"},"modified":"2023-03-13T11:20:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T18:20:32","slug":"black-coffee-get-ready-for-my-grand-reopening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id24879-black-coffee-get-ready-for-my-grand-reopening.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Get Ready for My Grand Reopening!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe<\/em> …<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Sometime over the weekend I will unveil my new blog theme. I know. I’m really excited too.<\/p>\n

I think Andrea at Nuts and Bolts Media<\/a> did an excellent job updating the blog’s look and feel while staying true to my requirement for maintaining Len Penzo dot Com’s basic no-frills design.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’d really appreciate it if you could please give my site a bit of a test run and let me know what you think!<\/p>\n

One of the most important features of my new blog design is its ability to work on any platform, from the largest computer monitor to a tiny smartphone — so I’d really appreciate it if some of you could do a quick beta test for me and let me know if we succeeded.<\/p>\n

There may be a few bugs and nits to work out in the early going. If you find any while browsing around the site, please drop me a note at len@lenpenzo.com<\/strong> so I can get them fixed as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Thank you so much!<\/p>\n

Okay, off we go …<\/p>\n

Credits and Debits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> The US created 288,000 new jobs<\/a> in April, bringing the unemployment rate down to 6.3%. Hey … that’s the lowest level since President Obama has been in office. Hooray!<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Unfortunately, that unemployment number — like the economy we’re living in — is illusory. Consider that the labor participation rate is currently at a 35-year low — or that no one works<\/a> in 20% of all American families today. That’s right. No one.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> It gets worse: 41% of all<\/em> working age Americans today don’t have a job<\/a>. Forty-one percent.<\/em> If you don’t think the implications of that are worth worrying about, then you probably enjoy paying income taxes — or you’re one of the 43% who don’t pay them<\/a> at all.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Here’s the problem: Our economy is rotting from within<\/a> — and the pace is rapidly accelerating. That’s because an increasing number of Americans are rejecting personal responsibility and self-reliance in favor of a massive central government that promises to provide for them from womb to tomb.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> I can only assume Big Government Americans believe that they can’t effectively run their personal lives<\/a> without “help” from faraway bureaucrats in Washington, DC. Liberty shmiberty. If this was 1770, King George III would be proud of them.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Of course, as the government behemoth continues to grow with each passing day, the US economy continues to wither. As a result, fewer taxpayers are available to support the nanny-state. Maybe that’s why the White House just did the unthinkable: opening the door for tolls on US Interstate highways<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> The economic rot can’t — and won’t — continue indefinitely. If you don’t believe me, just ask any Venezuelan. Their collapsing socialist economy is in such a state of disarray that a major noodle maker there shut down<\/a> last week because they can no longer acquire wheat.<\/p>\n

Debit: <\/strong><\/span>Even the strongest plow horse will eventually collapse if it’s continually forced to pull a bigger load than it can bear. The plow horse that is the US economy may not be collapsing, but it’s seizing up; GDP growth last quarter was just 0.1%<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Despite the stagnant growth, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the week up 0.9%, including its first record close<\/a> in 2014 on Wednesday — although by Friday it was off 0.4% from that all-time high. In the old days, markets would have tanked on that kind of news.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> The S&P 500 and NASDAQ also finished the week on a positive note<\/a>, up 1.0% and 1.2%, respectively. I guess there’s no need to worry when the Fed is providing the markets with hundreds of billions in fresh cash every year.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Meanwhile, the uber-wealthy are now more willing than ever to pay incredible sums for real estate. A mansion in East Hampton, New York recently fetched $145 million<\/a>, and an unfurnished London apartment — yes, apartment — just sold for $247 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> And it’s not just real estate. Rich people all over the world are increasingly willing to spend outlandish money on art too — like the anonymous bidder who paid a record $58 million<\/a> last November for a sculpture by artist Jeff Koons entitled Balloon Dog (Orange)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Folks who can’t see the forest for trees will blithely dismiss those jaw-dropping sale prices for tangible assets as nothing more than the product of over-heated markets. In fact, it’s another early sign<\/a> that the dollar is on its deathbed, and rapidly losing value.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> More to the point, those high prices are also a reminder that waning confidence in the US dollar — and the rest of the world’s fiat currencies, which today are backed only by blind faith — ultimately affects the wealthy<\/a> too.<\/p>\n

By the Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Balloon<\/a>A few facts for those of you who may be thinking of making an offer on that $58 million orange balloon dog sculpture by Jeff Koons:<\/p>\n

60<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Parts that were welded together to form the sculpture.<\/p>\n

10 <\/strong><\/span><\/span> Height, in feet, of the sculpture. (So it won’t fit in most living rooms.)<\/p>\n

12<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Length, in feet.<\/p>\n

7<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Years required to design and build the final product.<\/p>\n

5 <\/strong><\/span><\/span>Unique Balloon Dog<\/em> versions in existence. (Blue, Magenta, Orange, Red, Yellow.)<\/p>\n

Source and Photo Credit: Christies<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The Question of the Week<\/strong><\/p>\n

[poll id=\"5\"]<\/code><\/p>\n

Last Week’s Poll Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

At what point would gasoline prices cause you to begin limiting your driving miles?<\/p>\n