{"id":84062,"date":"2024-07-20T01:00:20","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T08:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=84062"},"modified":"2024-07-22T15:33:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T22:33:47","slug":"black-coffee-20-july-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id84062-black-coffee-20-july-2024.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Debt and Taxes"},"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

First our pleasures die. Then our hopes, and then our fears. And when these are dead, the debt is due.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Percy Bysshe Shelley<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most Americans try to cooperate fully with the IRS, because, as citizens, we feel a strong patriotic duty not to go to jail.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Dave Berry<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? A majority of respondents to a recent Gallup poll say that the cost of a college education is no longer worth it<\/a>. In fact, only 1 in 3 survey participants expressed a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in America’s higher education system. Conversely, the number of people saying it’s better to learn a trade is rising. Although, to be fair, there is another group out there who should not only avoid engineering, math and quantum mechanics text books, but channel locks, electrical panels and carpenter\u2019s belts too …<\/p>\n

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Credit:<\/strong><\/span> For those who continue to insist that inflation is no longer a problem, please explain TikTok user Dakota Neifert, who recently shared a viral video<\/a> about how a month\u2019s worth of groceries from Walmart nearly quadrupled in price over the past two years. Neifert had been looking at Walmart order history when he found an order from two years ago for a month\u2019s worth of groceries for $126. When he selected the option to reorder that exact purchase, those same 45 items cost $414. Anybody care to guess if his wages also climbed 300% since 2022? After all, when you’re ridiculously wealthy, prices become almost irrelevant:<\/p>\n

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Never mind the noise – inflation is woefully apparent at Costco too – look at that price! … (h\/t: @BeesLittleRanch)<\/p><\/div>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> If you\u2019re looking for more inflation evidence, consider Exhibit B: The average supermarket price for ground beef jumped 32 cents<\/a> in June to a new record high of $5.47. For those not scoring at home, ground beef prices have climbed a whopping 38% since January 2021. Then again, it’s not just ground beef …<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Of course, frivolous unfettered printing of the US dollar (USD) on government boondoggles is a primary contributor to the latest bout of price inflation. For example, the US is spending $1.7 billion<\/a> to help manufacturers convert closed and struggling manufacturing facilities to produce EVs or EV components, even though the EV market is being rejected by the broader automobile market. This is on top of another<\/strong><\/em> $12 billion in funding allocated last year for retrofitting other EV production plants. Sadly, we all know how that strategy will probably end:<\/p>\n