{"id":51743,"date":"2018-11-17T04:15:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-17T12:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=51743"},"modified":"2022-06-29T13:09:28","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T20:09:28","slug":"black-coffee-17-nov-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id51743-black-coffee-17-nov-2018.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Red Ink and Blue Wire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"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

Okay, away we go …<\/p>\n

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“With the exception of only the gold standard period, practically all governments in history have used their exclusive power to issue money in order to defraud and plunder the people.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

— Friedrich Von Hayek<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Every gambler knows that the secret to survivin’ is knowin’ what to throw away, and knowin’ what to keep. Because every hand’s a winner, and every hand’s a loser, and the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— “The Gambler” lyrics by Don Schlitz<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Just in time for cold-weather season: Natural gas prices are at a four-year high<\/a>, after climbing 18% on Thursday — that was the largest one-day percentage gain since 2004, and the largest price increase in dollar terms since 2007. You can bet if prices keep climbing I’ll be asking Santa for a warm coat this Christmas. Or at least a nice sweater.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> I wonder if Santa knows that, according to the US Census Bureau, last year 52% of American children under age 18 lived in households in which at least one person<\/a> received benefits from a means-tested government program. And if you think that’s surprising, more than 115 million Americans of all<\/strong><\/em> ages are receiving some form of government assistance. Ho ho ho.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? Following yet another downgrade by JPMorgan, shares of General Electric fell to $7.99 last week<\/a> — that’s what it was selling for way back in 1995. How the mighty have fallen. Yes, this is the same GE that regularly has the largest tax return in the US; GE’s 2005 return<\/a> was 24,000 pages, and 237 megabytes when submitted electronically. And you thought your<\/strong><\/em> taxes were tough.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Actually, as Michael Santoli notes, GE’s long-term technical position is much worse today than it was in 1995:<\/p>\n

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The latest plunge in $GE<\/a> pretty decisively broke an 86-year uptrend for the stock. (Chart courtesy of Jeff deGraaf of @RenMacLLC<\/a>.) pic.twitter.com\/H0iQc5Urlm<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Santoli (@michaelsantoli) November 13, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n