{"id":53315,"date":"2019-02-16T02:15:14","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T10:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=53315"},"modified":"2020-12-13T09:16:42","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T17:16:42","slug":"black-coffee-16-feb-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id53315-black-coffee-16-feb-2019.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Bankers, Beggars & Big Spenders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cupIt’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

I hope everybody is having a great President’s Day weekend! Okay, away we go …<\/p>\n

Let us all be happy, and live within our means — even if we have to borrow the money to do it.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Charles Farrar Browne<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Earl Wilson<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? If a task force created by Chicago Mayor Ron Emanuel gets its way, some Chicago families could start collecting a $1000 check every month with no strings attached<\/a>. And why not? “Getting $12,000 worth of free government checks each year to spend on whatever I want will make me want to get off the dole as soon as possible,” said NO ONE EVER.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Apparently, the Chicago task force isn’t aware that Finland’s socialist government just cancelled a two-year program that provided an annual guaranteed basic income (GBI) of more than $7600 to 2000 jobless people after it failed to boost employment<\/a>. Uh huh. The good news, according to officials, is it did<\/strong><\/em> improve the recipients’ well-being. As if anyone would get depressed from two-years worth of free lunches.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> In other words, it took the authorities in Finland two years and $2.5 million to learn what most people with even a modicum of common sense already knew: Redistributing the wealth of productive citizens to people who aren’t is not<\/em><\/strong> a path to Utopia<\/a>. Even so, you can bet that the folks who still think GBI is the answer will also complain that their cash no longer buys what it used to after it’s implemented. (h\/t: NumberNone)<\/em><\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Perhaps the GBI trial balloon released in Chicago is a big reason why Gallup says Americans’ optimism about their personal finances has climbed to the highest level in 16 years<\/a>; 69% now say they expect to be financially better off at this time next year. In fact, there was only one time in 114 previous polls<\/a> since 1977 where Americans were more optimistic about their personal finances. Wow.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> On the other hand, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin isn’t very optimistic. After all, as macroeconomist Lance Roberts observes, “Given that it’s highly unusual for the Treasury Secretary to call the heads of banks and<\/em><\/strong> the ‘Plunge Protection Team’ to try assuage market fears, it raises the question: What does the Treasury know<\/a> that we don’t?” I think I’ve got the answer, Lance. But we should probably ask this guy … just to be sure:<\/p>\n