{"id":55712,"date":"2019-07-13T02:15:49","date_gmt":"2019-07-13T09:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=55712"},"modified":"2024-09-17T15:24:28","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T22:24:28","slug":"black-coffee-13-july-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id55712-black-coffee-13-july-2019.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Like Taking Candy from a Baby"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"black<\/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

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! In the meantime, let’s get this show on the road so I can start mine …<\/p>\n

Once you believe things are permanent, you’re trapped in a world without doors.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Neil Andrew Megson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Curiouser and curiouser!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Lewis Carroll, Alice Through the Looking Glass<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? The median-wage American worker in eight of America’s largest ten occupations can’t afford a one-bedroom apartment<\/a>. Employees earning the federal minimum wage have to work 127 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom apartment. And the ten jobs expected to see the largest demand through 2030 pay less than the wage needed to afford housing. Other than that, the US economy has never been better!<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> In other news, this week, Rabobank’s chief researcher, Michael Every said, “For a perfect example of the mess we’re in, look at the market reaction to the (positive) June payroll data<\/a>. US Treasury yields naturally went up; and yet US equities went down<\/strong><\/em>. So it seems the stock market would rather have juicy rate cuts than a healthy US economy.” Why? Because cheap money is the only way to keep the illusion going.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Of course, with the global monetary system not only hopelessly broken, but also in its death throes, it’s getting tougher with each passing day to keep that illusion going, as evidenced by a growing number of extremely risky “junk” bonds with negative<\/strong><\/em> yields being offered to the public by dubious entities …<\/p>\n

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Negative-Yielding Junk Bonds Have Arrived in Europe: What causes junk bonds to have a negative yield is not some kind of magic but benighted investors whose brain is malfunctioning after years of NIRPhttps:\/\/t.co\/1FPe81aiqO<\/a><\/p>\n

Wolf Richter (@wolfofwolfst) July 9, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n