{"id":91722,"date":"2026-09-05T01:00:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T08:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=91722"},"modified":"2026-09-03T09:37:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:37:38","slug":"black-coffee-5-sep-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id91722-black-coffee-5-sep-2026.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Seeing Is Believing"},"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\u2026 another busy week is behind us. So with that in mind, let\u2019s get this party started!<\/p>\n

The last century shows a steady increase in the amount of public indebtedness. Nobody believes that governments will drag their growing interest payment burden forever. It’s obvious that, sooner or later, their debts will be liquidated \u2013 although not by payment of interest and principal according to the terms of the contract.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2013 Ludwig von Mises<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? According to Swiss bank UBS, there were almost 24 million US millionaires at the end of 2024. That\u2019s a 1.5% increase<\/a> over the previous year. Looking at it another way, there were 379,000 more American millionaires in 2024 than in 2023 \u2013 that means in 2024 there were roughly 1000 new millionaires being created every single day. Too bad a million bucks doesn\u2019t guarantee a lief of luxury for anybody anymore. On the other hand, being a millionaire is nothing to sneeze at. The only question is how you choose to get there. Or not…<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Meanwhile, a new poll is out and it shows that 50% of Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck. Of those, 18% say the reason things are so tight is because they overspend on nonessentials<\/a> (think: Door Dash, etc.). That being said, 59% of Americans have knowingly made a purchase they couldn’t afford. What’s more, despite half the US population admitting they live paycheck to paycheck, 88% of Americans also confess to impulse buying, with nearly 1 in 4 consumers (22%) saying they’ve spent $1000 or more on a single impulse purchase. Frankly, it’s all rather confusing \u2013 although not as confusing as this<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> On a related note, credit card delinquencies<\/a> are at a 15 year high, student loan delinquencies are at a six-year high, and auto loan delinquencies are at an all-time high. Yikes! And if you think the financial news on Main Street is more than a little bit alarming, the asset managers over on Wall Street are saying, “Hold my beer.”<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Of course, the public isn\u2019t the only entity with credit issues; the governments have them too, with Japanese bonds and US Treasury bonds (UST) at multi-decade highs. Compounding the problem is that the cost to service US federal debt is on track to exceed $1 trillion this year. In fact, the federal debt is now so large that every quarter point increase adds approximately $95 billion<\/a> in annual interest costs on the $40 trillion National Debt. Then again, nobody seems to be too worried about this in Congress since the Fed can always print those payments out of thin air. And they will. So there’s that.<\/p>\n

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Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Believe it or not, despite the US National Debt passing the $40 trillion milestone last month, the current administration has cut the federal workforce by 12%<\/a> \u2013 despite<\/strong><\/em> a never-ending desperate cavalcade of exasperating legal roadblocks posted along the way. Ironically, federal spending is currently 3% higher than it was just three years ago. How can that be, you ask? Well\u2026 one of the biggest reasons is that 60% of all federal spending is mandatory. And much of that mandatory spending \u2013 think: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs \u2013 is indexed to inflation. At the same time, other means of reducing deficits \u2013 think: tariffs \u2013 are also being fought tooth and nail by the same suspects. But in the end, it\u2019s all theater…<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> By the way, another financial problem plaguing not only the US government, but the citizenry<\/strong><\/em> too, is the fiat monetary system, which was officially born in 1971 when the US dollar’s (USD) anchor to gold was broken<\/a>, allows politicians to spend with impunity. A fact that is so obvious, everybody<\/strong><\/em> can see it. Well\u2026 okay. Almost<\/strong><\/em> everybody:<\/p>\n