{"id":77708,"date":"2023-03-18T01:15:48","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T08:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=77708"},"modified":"2023-03-22T19:52:26","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T02:52:26","slug":"black-coffee-18-mar-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id77708-black-coffee-18-mar-2023.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Pushing the Panic Button"},"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

Well … another busy week is behind us. So with that in mind, let’s get this party started …<\/p>\n

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The first duty of a man is to think for himself.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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– Jose Marti<\/strong><\/div>\n
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The last duty of a central banker is to tell the public the truth.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Alan Blinder, former Vice Chair of the Fed<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He who panics first, panics best.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Anonymous<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? It’s no secret that America has rested on its laurels ever since it broke the US dollar’s anchor to gold in 1971. In fact, the US has been eating its seed corn ever since – and it has grown soft in the process. James Howard Kunstler warned this week that’s because Americans have been living in an economic fantasy world where “we discontinued the rough and messy business of making stuff, and thereby generating real wealth. But now a klaxon blares<\/a>, signaling the end of dreamtime. And the nation wakes up in a ramshackle house with the floor giving way under the bed.” If you think that sounds ominous, that’s because it is<\/strong><\/em>. And speaking of dreamtime …<\/p>\n

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(h\/t: @CalebFranzen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Now, if you were lulled into believing that the Fed somehow managed to “fix” the Great Financial Crisis in 2008, then you probably also believe that the last decade-plus of easy money via 0% interest rates was not only good economic policy, but that we can also borrow ourselves into prosperity. The truth is, the only<\/strong><\/em> thing that conjuring trillions of dollars out of thin air has done is delay our inevitable day of reckoning. So here we are: Cracks in the dam are appearing<\/a> yet again – and nowhere more so than in the banking system.<\/p>\n