{"id":31205,"date":"2015-05-09T05:15:37","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T12:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=31205"},"modified":"2022-05-19T07:22:49","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T14:22:49","slug":"black-coffee-sorry-but-this-pig-is-going-to-need-more-lipstick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id31205-black-coffee-sorry-but-this-pig-is-going-to-need-more-lipstick.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Sorry, But This Pig Is Going to Need More Lipstick"},"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

Let’s get right to it this week …<\/p>\n

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

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Don’t look now, but Texas legislators are considering a bill that would legalize marijuana<\/a>. Yes, that<\/em> Texas.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Hey, did you see this? According to the latest government statistics, employers added 233,000 new jobs<\/a> last month, bringing the US unemployment rate down to 5.4%. Hooray!<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Unfortunately, as Zero Hedge points out, the quality of all these new jobs is dubious at best: The reported jobs increase was due entirely to part-time positions — that’s because there was a net loss of 252,000 full-time jobs<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> If that wasn’t bad enough, the number of working Americans in their prime career-building years — folks between 25 and 54 — declined again in April. Incredibly, despite the “recovery” — and an increasing population — there are 4 million fewer<\/a> people aged 25-54 working today than in 2007.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> I guess that big bump in part-jobs goes a long way toward explaining why last month there was, sadly, only one manufacturing job<\/a> created for every 26 waitresses and bartenders that were hired. Did I just hear “last call<\/a>” for the US economy?<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> On a related note, for every manufacturing job in Baltimore, there are six<\/em> government jobs. Yes, six. In a productive economy, those numbers would be reversed. In fact, 21% of all jobs<\/a> in Baltimore belong to government bureaucrats.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> One thing is certain: If there were more manufacturing jobs in America — and far fewer government paper pushers — the US wouldn’t have had its worst trade deficit<\/a> since 2009 last month. Our wallets would be fatter too.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> You know the US government is far too big when it’s expected to finish 2015 with yet another budget deficit, despite taking in record tax revenue this year. The IRS picked taxpayers’ pockets for $472 billion<\/a> … in April alone.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Meanwhile, Greece, which straddles three seas — the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the Sea of Red Ink — is imposing a surcharge<\/a> for all cash withdrawals as a last-ditch measure to prevent citizens from making a run on the country’s banks.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Of course, although denial is widespread, the rest of the world is in the same financial boat as Greece — which they’ll discover soon enough. It’s probably why Russia recently joined China in aggressively increasing its gold hoard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span>Can you guess which country currently has the most overpriced housing market<\/a> in the world? Go ahead; I’ll wait while you think about it. If you said, Canada, well … give yourself a gold star.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Then again, if the People’s Democratic Republic of San Francisco was a country it would give Canada a run for its money. A 291-square foot “apartment” there just sold for $415,000<\/a> — after a bidding war increased the price by 40%. Suckers!<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Market froth isn’t limited to housing. Despite April’s dubious employment data, the Dow had one of its best days of the year<\/a>, as it surged 1.5% on Friday. As for the S&P 500, less than 10% of its 500 companies finished in the red. I know.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> I’m not the only one who thinks there’s more than a little irrational exuberance in the markets. For her part, Janet Yellen recently admitted that she thought stock valuations were dangerously high<\/a> too. No, really.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> And finally … This week former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said that another financial crisis was going to happen again<\/a> at some point. He also said it wouldn’t be anything like the last one in 2008. He’s right. It’s going to be worse. Please … prepare accordingly.<\/p>\n

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

Here’s a little postscript on potential impacts to the Lone Star State if the pot legalization effort there eventually succeeds:<\/p>\n

2,000,000<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Pounds of marijuana seized by the US Border Patrol in Texas during the last fiscal year.<\/p>\n

1327<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Prisoners incarcerated in Texas last year for criminal possession or distribution of marijuana.<\/p>\n

$60<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Amount that Lone Star State sheriff offices spend per day for each prisoner.<\/p>\n

$230,000,000<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Estimated taxpayer savings over next five years if marijuana is legalized (due to reduced incarceration and enforcement costs).<\/p>\n

$7,400,000<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Estimated fine and court revenue counties in the Lone Star State would lose annually if marijuana is legalized.<\/p>\n

$76,000,000<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Tax revenue collected by Colorado for recreational and medicinal marijuana in 2014.<\/p>\n

0<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Tax revenue Texas would collect if marijuana is legalized there. The current bill under consideration doesn’t call for any fees or taxes to sell weed.<\/p>\n

Source: KSAT<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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

[poll id=\"60\"]<\/code><\/p>\n

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

How many keys are on your key ring?<\/p>\n