{"id":68836,"date":"2021-09-25T02:15:38","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T09:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=68836"},"modified":"2021-09-27T19:43:32","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T02:43:32","slug":"black-coffee-25-sep-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id68836-black-coffee-25-sep-2021.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Playing With Fire"},"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

I hope everybody had a wonderful week. And with that, let’s get right to this week’s commentary, shall we?<\/p>\n

When you accept money in payment for your work, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the work of others. Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper — which should have been gold — are a token of honor; your claim upon the energy of the men who produce.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Martha Graham<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? FedEx and rival UPS are increasing shipping rates<\/a> for customers at the fastest pace in nearly a decade. And while UPS has yet to quantify its increase, FedEx says the bulk of their rate increases would occur throughout January by around 5.9% or 7.9%, depending on the service. So much for inflation being transitory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> As far as commentator Charles Hugh Smith is concerned, “Clueless economists<\/a> are wringing their hands about the labor shortage without looking at the underlying causes, one of which is painfully obvious: the American economy now only works for the top 10%; the American Dream of turning labor into capital is now reserved for the already-wealthy. As a result the smart crowd is opting out of the conventional workforce’s debt-overwork-deadend-treadmill.” And, apparently, the not-so-smart crowd is too …<\/p>\n