{"id":54372,"date":"2019-04-27T02:15:48","date_gmt":"2019-04-27T09:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=54372"},"modified":"2025-05-17T09:01:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T16:01:47","slug":"black-coffee-27-apr-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id54372-black-coffee-27-apr-2019.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: The Monster Under the Bed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/black-coffee.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-31075\" src=\"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/black-coffee.jpg\" alt=\"black coffee\" width=\"275\" height=\"206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/black-coffee.jpg 500w, https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/black-coffee-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/black-coffee-50x38.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px\" \/><\/a><em>It&#8217;s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe &#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what&#8217;s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.<\/p>\n<p>Well &#8230; another glorious week comes to an end, so let&#8217;s get this party started, shall we?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong>&#8212; John Maynard Keynes<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong>&#8212; Alan Greenspan<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong>&#8212; Sam Ewing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Credits and Debits<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Debit:<\/strong><\/span> On August 13, 1979, Businessweek published a cover story entitled &#8220;The Death Of Equities.&#8221; Not long after, the 40-year secular bull market in stocks began. Many analysts consider those magazine cover stories to be <a href=\"https:\/\/realinvestmentadvice.com\/contrarian-alert-is-inflation-dead-makes-the-cover-of-businessweek\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">contrarian indicators<\/a>; the logic being that, by the time a trend has gained enough attention to warrant a cover story, the financial worm is ready to turn. And <em><strong>this<\/strong><\/em> week, Bloomberg came out with this:<a href=\"http:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Inflation-Dead-768x1024.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-54387 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Inflation-Dead-768x1024-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"531\" height=\"708\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Inflation-Dead-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Inflation-Dead-768x1024-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 531px) 100vw, 531px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Debit:<\/strong><\/span> In their story, Bloomberg asks, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2019-04-17\/did-capitalism-kill-inflation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Did inflation perish<\/a> of natural causes; a weak economy? Was it killed by central banks with high interest rates? Or is it not dead at all, soon to return with a vengeance?&#8221; The magazine editors suggest <em><strong>their<\/strong><\/em> answer by depicting inflation as a dead dinosaur on its cover. Ironically, here in the real world, most people understand that inflation actually looks more like <em><strong>this<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UkzRXyWF3SY?controls=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Debit:<\/strong><\/span> But, seriously &#8230; It&#8217;s enough to make you wonder if these editors ever shop for groceries, pay rent, go to the doctor, or have kids in college. They obviously haven&#8217;t bought a home lately either &#8212; despite last month experiencing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2019-04-23\/americas-hottest-housing-markets-see-biggest-sale-declines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first year-over-year decrease<\/a> in US home prices since February 2012. I know &#8230; but it&#8217;s still never been a better time to buy a house! At least that&#8217;s what all of the realtors keep saying. Heh.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Anyone who insists that inflation is running at less than 2% annually &#8212; as the government&#8217;s highly flawed CPI figure suggests &#8212; should have their examined. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chapwoodindex.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chapwood Index<\/a>, which reports the unadjusted actual price fluctuations of the top 500 items Americans buy in the 50 largest US cities, currently shows double-digit inflation raging in <strong>21<\/strong> of those 50 metropoles. But, yeah &#8230; inflation is dead, folks.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Credit:<\/strong><\/span> By the way, you can also see inflation in the stock market, which saw both the S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2019\/04\/23\/stock-market-us-ends-all-exemptions-from-iran-oil-sanctions.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hit new all-time highs<\/a> this week. Hey &#8230; who knows? Maybe trees truly <em><strong>can<\/strong><\/em> grow to the sky.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Speaking of inflating markets, after seeing its stock price skyrocket more than 5% on Thursday, Microsoft&#8217;s market capitalization <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2019\/04\/25\/microsoft-hits-1-trillion-market-cap-for-the-first-time-on-earnings.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">surpassed the $1 trillion mark<\/a>. The company joins Apple and Amazon as the only members of the trillion-dollar club. For now. Then again, if trees <em><strong>don&#8217;t<\/strong><\/em> grow to the sky, it&#8217;s possible there will come a day in the near future when <em><strong>nobody<\/strong><\/em> will be in the club.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Of course, the world&#8217;s central banks will continue propping the markets because, if they ever lose their lofty valuations, there&#8217;ll be unacceptable collateral damage. For example, it&#8217;s why the Bank of Japan is not only <strong><em>the<\/em><\/strong> <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2019-04-17\/bank-japan-now-top-10-shareholder-50-all-japanese-companies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">top shareholder<\/a> now in 23 companies, but it&#8217;s also among the top 10 holders for fully <em><strong>half<\/strong><\/em> of all Tokyo-listed enterprises &#8212; and they&#8217;re on pace to own almost <em><strong>all<\/strong><\/em> of them in under three years. No, really.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Debit:<\/strong><\/span> One sure victim of collateral damage from potential falling asset prices are woefully underfunded US government pensions. Consider Chicago: In 2005 there were only 1.4 active government employees for every retired pensioner; today, there are just 1.05. And if the trend continues, in less than two years there will be <a href=\"https:\/\/wirepoints.org\/chicagos-pension-funds-looking-more-like-a-collapsing-ponzi-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more pensioners draining cash<\/a> from Chicago&#8217;s pension funds than active workers putting money in.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Debit:<\/strong><\/span> But wait; Chicago&#8217;s plight is only getting worse. The city&#8217;s population has been in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagobusiness.com\/news\/chicago-still-losing-population\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a steady decline since 2014<\/a>, which means its massive pension debts are falling on a smaller base of taxpayers. Needless to say, most people can see in advance exactly how the Chicago pension story is going to eventually end &#8230; but for those who aren&#8217;t sure, let&#8217;s go to the tape:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9YI0Ct1V4LU?controls=0&amp;start=255;end=277;\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Credit:<\/strong><\/span> On a related note, a recent survey found that 80% of millennials worry <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybell.com\/all-articles\/news-analysis\/a-horrible-future-awaits-for-anyone-who-depends-on-government\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Social Security won&#8217;t be there<\/a> for them when they retire. When you consider the government already admits that, if nothing changes, the Social Security fund will be broke by 2034 &#8212; if not sooner &#8212; then I&#8217;d say those millennials know what they&#8217;re talking about.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Amazingly, despite Americans&#8217; fears over Social Security, 23% of US workers admit that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zackfriedman\/2019\/04\/18\/no-savings-retirement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">they don&#8217;t save a cent<\/a> from their paychecks. Zip. Zero. Nada. How can that be? Well &#8230; 13% blame student loan debt, and another 13% blame credit card debt. Curiously, 0.0% blamed their inability &#8212; or unwillingness &#8212; to save even one lowly dollar per week on misguided personal priorities. Imagine that.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Here&#8217;s the bottom line, folks: If you&#8217;re relying on the government for your financial security in retirement, it&#8217;s time to stop. Now. Because <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sovereignman.com\/trends\/every-1-in-debt-generates-just-44-cents-of-economic-output-23951\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the math<\/a> makes it perfectly clear that the only entity you can count on regarding your future financial security &#8212; especially in your golden years &#8212; is <em><strong>you<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Question of the Week<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><code>[poll id=\"265\"]<\/code><\/p>\n<p><strong>Last Week&#8217;s Poll Results<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What is the best age for a person to get their first credit card?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>21 or older (49%)<\/li>\n<li>18 to 20 (31%)<\/li>\n<li>17 or younger (10%)<\/li>\n<li>Never (10%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>More than 1500 Len Penzo dot Com readers responded to last week&#8217;s question and it turns out that 1 in 10 of them believe that the best time for people to get their first credit card is <em><strong>before<\/strong><\/em> they reach the age of majority. On the other hand, another 1 in 10 think the best course of action is to <em><strong>never<\/strong><\/em> get a credit card. Although I disagree with <em><strong>that<\/strong><\/em> sentiment, when it comes to the best age for getting your first credit card, I&#8217;m not sure there is a right answer; it really depends on a person&#8217;s ability to responsibly handle plastic.<\/p>\n<p>If <strong><em>you<\/em><\/strong> have a question you&#8217;d like me to ask the readers here, send it to me at <strong>Len@LenPenzo.com<\/strong> &#8212; and be sure to put &#8220;Question of the Week&#8221; in the subject line.<\/p>\n<p><strong>By the Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Former MLB star Eric Byrnes played <strong>420<\/strong> holes of golf in <strong>24<\/strong> hours this past Monday and Tuesday at Half Moon Bay Golf Links in California. Here is a breakdown of his world record performance:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><strong>14,367<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Calories burned.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><strong>106<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Miles walked.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><strong>24<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Pars.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><strong>2<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Birdies.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><strong>116<\/strong><\/span><\/span> The score of his lowest round. (Round #8)<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><strong>168<\/strong><\/span><\/span> The score of his highest round. (Round #23)<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><strong>1<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Clubs used. (An 8-iron.)<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><strong>$50,000<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Amount Byrnes&#8217; golfing marathon earned for charity.<\/p>\n<p><em>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/golfweek.com\/2019\/04\/25\/eric-byrnes-golf-420-holes-24-hours-by-the-numbers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Golfweek<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Useless News: Cocktails for Three<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Three blonde party girls sat down at the bar in a tavern. The first blonde tells the bartender, &#8220;I&#8217;ll have a BM, please.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Puzzled, the bartender asked, &#8220;A <strong><em>what?<\/em><\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To which the first blonde replied, &#8220;A Bloody Mary! Duh!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Then the second blonde told the bartender, &#8220;I&#8217;ll have a JC.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Again, the bartender was stumped, so he asked, &#8220;What is a JC?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The second blonde smacked her lips and then responded, &#8220;Duh! It&#8217;s a Jack Daniels &amp; Coke!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the third blonde, asked the bartender for something called a &#8220;Fifteen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the bartender never heard of that drink either, so he said, &#8220;Okay &#8230; you stumped me again. What on Earth is a 15?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Shaking her head in disappointment, the third blonde replied: &#8220;Well, duhhhh! It&#8217;s a Seven &amp; Seven!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>(h\/t: Salamander)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Other Useless News<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here are the top five articles viewed by my <strong>25,643<\/strong> RSS feed, weekly email subscribers, and other followers over the past 30 days (excluding Black Coffee posts):<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id9460-the-5-most-misleading-grocery-items-shoppers-waste-money-on-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The 5 Most Misleading Grocery Items Shoppers Waste Money On<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id4666-the-best-things-i-ever-bought-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The 10 Best Things I Ever Bought<\/a><\/li>\n<li>How to Teach Your Kids to Be Personal Finance Losers (in 6 Easy Steps)<\/li>\n<li>$10,000 Richer, a Georgia Teacher Shows Why It Pays to Read the Fine Print<\/li>\n<li>9 Crazy Tax Deductions that the IRS Eventually Accepted<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Hey, while you&#8217;re here, please don&#8217;t forget to:<\/p>\n<p>1. Click on that <strong>Like<\/strong> button in the sidebar to your right and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LenPenzo\">become a fan of Len Penzo dot Com on Facebook<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>2. Make sure you <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/LenPenzo\">follow me on Twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>3. <a href=\"mailto:lenpenzolist@aweber.com\">Subscribe via email<\/a> too!<\/p>\n<p>And last, but not least &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>4. Consider becoming a <a href=\"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/membership-account\">Len Penzo dot Com Insider<\/a>! Thank you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Letters, I Get Letters <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Every week I feature the most interesting question or comment assuming I get one, that is. And folks who are lucky enough to have the only question in the mailbag get their letter highlighted here whether it&#8217;s interesting or not! You can reach out to me at: <strong>Len@LenPenzo.com<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After reading a recent Len Penzo dot Com post that shared some clever ways to save money on pet care, <strong>Deb<\/strong> left an important tip of her own:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>I would add: Never feed your small dog any fatty people food.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Good point, Deb. And don&#8217;t feed them fatty people either.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>If you enjoyed this, please forward it to your friends and family. I&#8217;m Len Penzo and I approved this message.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"font-size: smaller;\">Photo Credit: brendan-c<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe &#8230; Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what&#8217;s been going on in the world of money and personal finance. Well &#8230; another glorious week comes to an end, so let&#8217;s get this party started, shall we? By [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","pmpro_default_level":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[472],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-54372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentary","8":"pmpro-has-access","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.8 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Black Coffee: The Monster Under the Bed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id54372-black-coffee-27-apr-2019.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black Coffee: The Monster Under the Bed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#8217;s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe &#8230; Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what&#8217;s been going on in the world of money and personal finance. Well &#8230; another glorious week comes to an end, so let&#8217;s get this party started, shall we? 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