{"id":29855,"date":"2015-02-28T07:15:33","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T15:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=29855"},"modified":"2024-12-15T09:09:59","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T17:09:59","slug":"black-coffee-you-say-tomato-i-say-lycopersicon-esculentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id29855-black-coffee-you-say-tomato-i-say-lycopersicon-esculentum.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: You Say Tomato, I Say Lycopersicon Esculentum"},"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

Well, I’ve got good news and bad news for everyone. The good news is winter ends in three short weeks. The bad news is that I’ve got some personal business to attend to today, so this is an espresso edition of Black Coffee. I know.<\/p>\n

Hopefully I can make it up to you with a super-sized edition next week.<\/p>\n

Okay, off we go …<\/p>\n

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

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Uh oh. More than 4.5 million people who received Obamacare subsidies in 2013 and 2014 will pay an average of $530<\/a> to the IRS this year because they qualified for a smaller benefit than they thought they were entitled to.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> It’s not just Obamacare enrollees who will be writing an extra check to the IRS this year; as many as six million people<\/a> who refused to buy healthcare insurance in 2014 will be hit with Obamacare’s non-compliance penalty.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Actually, Obamacare advocates insist that there isn’t a penalty for non-compliance. Why? Well, because the “Affordable” Care Act calls it a “Shared Responsibility Payment<\/a>,” that’s why. Heh. Okay.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> You know, George Orwell was right: The great enemy of clear language is<\/em> insincerity.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Then again, no matter what<\/em> you call it, some people suggest that only suckers will actually pay<\/a> the Obamacare fine because the numerous exemptions and the limited IRS enforcement options make the law relatively toothless.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> In case you’re wondering: No, you’re not going crazy — interest rates are ridiculously low right now. In fact, they’re at their lowest point in 5000 years<\/a>. I know. In other news, water is wet and the sun is really really<\/em> hot.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> By the way, you better get used to low rates — some people are saying they’re here to stay. Never mind that those absurd negative rates<\/a> are a telltale sign of a broken monetary system in its death throes.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Despite the extremely bearish tone that near-zero interest rates would be signaling to markets in normal times, February was the Nasdaq’s best month since October 2011<\/a>. Go figure.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> For his part, former Assistant Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts wants to know how any credible financial analyst can support “the official economic fairy tale<\/a> … despite the fact that there is no economic information whatsoever that supports it.” Good question.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> So … Just how disconnected are the markets from reality? Thad Beversdorf recently stumbled upon the answer after checking the news on his iPhone. He was so shocked at what he saw, he took this screenshot<\/a> for posterity:<\/p>\n

\"fantasyland\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Welcome to Utopia, folks; obviously, it doesn’t get any better than this. Just ask Wall Street. But remember, when reality finally does<\/em> reassert itself, it ain’t going to be pretty.<\/p>\n

(The Best of)<\/span> By the Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Forbes, big families are back<\/a> in style. Here are a few more facts on family size:<\/p>\n

74,100,000<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Number of children currently in US who are 17 years-old or younger.<\/p>\n

2.06<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Average number of children per woman in the United States today.<\/p>\n

8<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Average number of children per family in the 19th century.<\/p>\n

36<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Percentage of children under 18 that made up the US population in 1964 — the last year of the so-called post-WWII “baby boom.”<\/p>\n

23<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Percentage of children under 18 that make up the US population today.<\/p>\n

$400,000<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Household income threshold that has seen a significant rise in three- and four-children families.<\/p>\n

$1,000,000<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Estimated lifetime earnings lost by the typical college-educated woman after having just one child.<\/p>\n

36<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Percentage of Americans between 18 and 31 years-old who are currently living with their parents.<\/p>\n

17<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Percentage of children between 20 and 34 years-old who lived with their parents in 1980.<\/p>\n

Sources: Forbes; USA Today<\/a>; Childstats.gov<\/a>; Christian Science Monitor<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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

[poll id=\"50\"]<\/code><\/p>\n

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

How many times, on average, do you go to a movie theater?<\/p>\n