{"id":51989,"date":"2018-12-01T02:15:21","date_gmt":"2018-12-01T10:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=51989"},"modified":"2018-12-04T05:19:23","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T13:19:23","slug":"black-coffee-panic-at-the-disco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id51989-black-coffee-panic-at-the-disco.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Panic at the Disco"},"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

And away we go …<\/p>\n

“All fiat money eventually returns to its intrinsic value: zero.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Voltaire<\/strong><\/p>\n

“He who panics first, panics best.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Anonymous<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Venezuela: the gift that keep on giving — or should I say, “taking.” Despite being an obscenely oil-rich nation, Venezuela is now suffering from a gasoline shortage<\/a>. No, really. You know … that reminds me of the old joke that says if you put a bunch of socialists in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years the Sahara would suffer from a shortage of sand. Yes, it’s funny. But it’s also true. Forward!<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Then again, the only reason why the US isn’t suffering the same fate as Venezuela is because it happens to be the owner the world’s premier reserve currency — for now, anyway. That exorbitant privilege allows the US to export its inflation globally. Even so, the US government has a growing problem, as the interest payments on its massive debt is fast approaching $2 billion<\/a>. Per day<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Earlier this year, money manager John Mauldin believed a global debt reset was still “one or two years away.” But in an article for Forbes, he says he’s having second thoughts<\/a>. “Recent events tell me the reckoning could be closer than I thought,” he says. Uh oh. Frankly, the fact that John’s concern was even published in Forbes suggests the current monetary system may be closer to total failure than many people want to admit.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Mauldin has a compelling reason for believing a monetary reset is imminent: 50 years ago a dollar of debt added $4 to GDP — today, it boosts GDP by just 44 cents<\/a>. In other words, new debt is only doing more harm than good now — and its adverse effects are growing in magnitude with each passing day. Psst. Do you hear that? That’s the sound of the piper knockin’ at our door. Or something like that:<\/p>\n