{"id":61909,"date":"2020-07-11T02:15:15","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T09:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=61909"},"modified":"2020-07-14T05:15:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T12:15:09","slug":"black-coffee-11-july-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id61909-black-coffee-11-july-2020.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: The Train Keeps a Rollin’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"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

Summer is here, but for most people on Main Street, the financial crisis rages on. Meanwhile, for the suits on Wall Street, there’s plenty of money being made — whether it’s legitimate or not.<\/p>\n

And with that, let’s get to this week’s financial commentary …<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Kate Chopin<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s coming. Something frightful, like a kitchen dragging a village behind it.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? As of this April, a record 32 million American adults were living with their parents or grandparents<\/a>, according to the US Census Bureau — that’s an increase of almost 10% from a year ago. Perhaps even more shocking, it’s also approximately 1 in every 4 households in the United States. Does that officially mean the Boomers are the last generation to be better off than their parents?<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Sadly, American entrepreneurs are struggling too. The Fed’s free-money spigot<\/a> that’s been flooding the market for more than a decade has led to a gross misallocation of capital into speculative — rather than productive — investments. As a result, the growing debt is being increasingly spent on unproductive businesses — while obligations outpace revenue at an exponentially increasing rate. But the Fed train keeps rolling on anyway. Well, until …<\/p>\n