{"id":90133,"date":"2026-01-10T01:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T09:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=90133"},"modified":"2026-01-14T13:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T21:35:17","slug":"black-coffee-up-in-smoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id90133-black-coffee-up-in-smoke.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Riders on the Storm"},"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 an enjoyable week. Without further ado, let’s get right to this week’s commentary …<\/p>\n

A storm is brewing and most people have paper umbrellas.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Herman Mills<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? A single-issue special edition baseball card of Los Angeles Dodger superstar Shohei Ohtani auctioned for $3 million<\/a>. The card includes a gold logo patch that adorned a uniform worn by Ohtani to commemorate his 2024 National League MVP Award. Despite the high price tag, it doesn\u2019t come close to the 1952 Mickey Mantle #311 card that sold for a record $12.6 million in 2022. Then again, that’s only because nobody knows about the one I’m still holding in my<\/strong><\/em> private collection…<\/p>\n

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Of course, “ugly” is always in the eye of the beholder.<\/p><\/div>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Then again, there are others who aren’t<\/strong><\/em> in the chips. For example, take the New Jersey firm known as United Site Services. They\u2019re a portable toilet provider that filed for bankruptcy<\/a> after finding themselves in a debt hole to the tune of $2.4 billion. We know what you\u2019re thinking: Since everybody has to take a potty break every now and then, how is this even possible, you ask? Well\u2026 apparently, we can only conclude that Americans aren\u2019t getting enough fiber in their diets.<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> After a full year, the results are in on the 2025 California law that raised the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 per hour. Despite sector grown in the rest of the nation, 18,000 fast food jobs were eliminated<\/a> in the Golden State, while those who managed to remain employed saw their hours decrease by almost two months per year. At the same time, fast food prices in California are up more than 13% since the law took effect. We can only imagine how \u201csuccessful\u201d the law would have been if they had mandated a $100\/hr minimum wage. Besides, the law was probably this guys\u2019s idea…<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Whether it’s meddling in the fast food business or gumming up the private enterprise in other ways, government is indeed the gift that keeps on giving. Unfortunately, the bloated state and federal bureaucracies now controlling every aspect of society doesn\u2019t come cheaply, with the federal debt now quickly approaching $39 trillion<\/a>. Never mind the $100+ trillion in unallocated expenses. Or the clowns who say there\u2019s nothing to worry about because \u201cwe owe the debt to ourselves.\u201d Heh. Right… try telling that to our foreign<\/strong><\/em> creditors.<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Needless to say, nobody should expect US debt accrual to ever slow down, let alone decrease. In fact, US federal spending has skyrocketed from $4.4 trillion in 2019 to $7 trillion<\/a> in 2025. That\u2019s an alarming increase over a relatively short period of time. Then again, you’ll never convince the modern monetary theory (MMT; a.k.a. “Magic Money Tree”) fanboys that’s true \u2013 at least until the current fraudulent debt-based monetary system’s wheels completely<\/em><\/strong> fall off. Oh, look! Here’s one of ’em now:<\/p>\n