{"id":52641,"date":"2019-01-05T03:15:42","date_gmt":"2019-01-05T11:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=52641"},"modified":"2019-01-07T19:10:43","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T03:10:43","slug":"black-coffee-5-jan-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id52641-black-coffee-5-jan-2019.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: The Needle and the Damage Done"},"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

Happy New Year everybody! Let’s get this party started, shall we?<\/p>\n

Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is man’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— from Francisco’s “Money Speech,” in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The modern banking process manufactures currency out of nothing — perhaps the most astounding sleight of hand that was ever invented. If you want to be slaves of the bankers, and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let the banks create currency.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Lord Josiah Stemp<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Despite more than $25 trillion conjured out of thin air<\/a> over the past 10 years by the extremely dubious coordinated central bank policy known as “quantitative easing,” Main Street is still struggling, with fully half of all American workers still making less than $30,533 per year<\/a>. Of course, Wall Street has benefitted greatly from QE; since 2009, the average salary there has steadily climbed to $422,500<\/a>. No, really.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> With 50% of Americans not even earning enough cash in a single year to cover the cost of a modest Nissan Maxima, is it any wonder that more than 3 in 5 US jobs don’t pay enough<\/a> to support a middle class lifestyle?<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Heck … According to a recent study, even people who are in their so-called golden years are having trouble making ends meet, as the number of senior citizens filing for bankruptcy<\/a> has tripled<\/strong><\/em> since 1991.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> In other news, the Dow was up nearly 750 points<\/a> on Friday. That’s after losing 650 points on Thursday — and falling another<\/strong><\/em> 400 points on Wednesday … before a frantic rally saw it end that<\/strong><\/em> session up<\/strong><\/em> 18 ticks. Yes, the S&P and Nasdaq saw similar daily ups and downs last week. And market volatility hasn’t been this bad since 2011, with the S&P trading in an intraday range of more than 2%<\/a> (!) on 15 of the last 21 days.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> In case you’re wondering, the Dow was either up or down by 1% or more just 8 times in 2017. Last year, it happened 64 times<\/a>. Prolonged volatility is typically the result of shifting long-term sentiment. In many cases, the wild swings can also be a sign of a market in troubled waters, as any seasoned cruise ship passenger will tell you:<\/p>\n