{"id":91182,"date":"2026-06-13T01:00:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T08:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=91182"},"modified":"2026-06-12T17:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T00:15:23","slug":"black-coffee-13-june-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id91182-black-coffee-13-june-2026.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Swiping Left on the Economy"},"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\u2019s get right to this week\u2019s commentary, shall we?<\/p>\n

Money may not buy love, but fighting about it will bankrupt your relationship.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Michelle Singletary<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says that just 66% of men age 20 and older are currently employed<\/a> or actively seeking work. That figure has dropped sharply from 73% in 2006 and now sits near levels last seen during the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis. For those not crunching the numbers at home, that means 1 in 3 American men are no longer in the workforce. Yikes. Let’s just hope there’s a really good reason for this. Or not.<\/p>\n

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\nDebit:<\/strong><\/span> Meanwhile, Exxon Senior Vice President, Neil Chapman, offered more<\/strong><\/em> bad news last week when he warned that potential fuel shortages<\/a> are on the horizon because \u201ccommercial inventories of crude oil, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel have all been run down” at an alarming pace during the past 100 days. As a result, he says, \u201cwe\u2019re approaching unheard of low inventory levels.\u201d Now for the punchline: Mr. Chapman says there is an unknown trigger point where inventories will be so low that oil prices will immediately surge roughly 50% from their current levels. Well… if that’s so, it should preclude any fuel shortages. Er, as long as there are no market shenanigans to cap the price.<\/p>\n

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Credit:<\/strong><\/span> So far, Wall Street doesn\u2019t seem to be worried about any kind of supply chain issues, as the major stock indecies continue to flirt with new all-time highs on an almost weekly basis. On the other hand, just 12 US companies have a market value of at least $1 trillion and combined a market cap of $29 trillion<\/a> \u2013 seven short years ago the combined market cap was just $5 trillion. As a result, those 12 US companies make up almost 43% of the total market capitalization of all 500 stocks in the S&P500 index. Or, to put it another way: The other 488 stocks make up just 57% of the S&P’s total value. Nope; no sign of an unhealthy market there. Or here:<\/p>\n

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h\/t: @CharlieBilello<\/p><\/div>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Meanwhile, back in the world of cryptocurrencies, the price of bitcoin closed the week at $XX,XXX<\/a>, which is down a jaw-dropping XX% since reaching its all-time high of $126,000 late last year. Hey… we’re not sayin’! We’re just sayin’. And apparently, we’re not the only ones…<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> In other news, inflation concerns have revealed yet another surprising statistic: The average \u201call-in\u201d spend for a date in America \u2014 including pre-date grooming, gas money, and the cost of the date itself \u2014 has climbed to $189, up 12.5% from last year. This so-called \u201cdate-flation<\/a>\u201d has far outpaced the 2.7% inflation rate over the same period. At $252, millennials reported the highest average cost per date, followed by Gen Z ($205), Gen X ($173) and the boomers ($126). Obviously, the latter generation was assisted by the Denny\u2019s Senior Citizens\u2019 menu and other discount offers for folks in their golden years. As for the younger dating crowd, well…<\/p>\n

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Gary Larson \u2013 The Far Side<\/p><\/div>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Speaking of inflation, the US government’s highly-manipulated Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 3.8% year-over-year<\/a>, which continues to track well with the price inflation waves of the 1970s that occurred after the US dollar\u2019s (USD) anchor to gold was officially broken and the Fed was forced to run protracted loose money policy in order to support its newly-established fiat currency. In fact, even the intentionally-understated CPI has \u201cofficially” increased almost 30% since the pandemic \u2013 which means actual inflation has been running far hotter than that over the past six years.<\/p>\n

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Credit:<\/strong><\/span> As macro analyst David Jensen points out, “The Fed claims that price inflation is caused by shortages. But if that is the case, after shortages during the 2020 to 2022 period abated, why didn’t prices return<\/a> to the pre-2020 level?\u201d Of course, that\u2019s a rhetorical question, folks. The Fed either: A) knows their explanation is a lie; B) is staffed by the world\u2019s dumbest bunch of economists with PhDs; or C) both A & B. As for the answer, it’s probably a safe bet that this<\/strong><\/em> guy knows…<\/p>\n