It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little Joe…
Welcome to another exciting edition of Black Coffee, your unusual weekly digest of what’s going on in the world of money and personal finance.
I hope everyone had a nice week. Without further ado, let’s jump right into this week’s commentary…
Always cast your hook. There are fish in the pool where you least expect it.
– Ovid
Credits and debits
Debit: Have you seen this? Rite Aid, once one of America’s largest pharmacy chains, closed the remaining 89 stores this week after filing for bankruptcy in May for the second time in less than two years. The chain was founded in 1962. Now Rite Aid is just a memory, tossed into the dustbin of other failed drugstores. Oh, and speaking of failures…
h/t: @alifarhat
Debit: Let’s get to the point: a total of 249,152 In the United States, individual Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings were made in the first nine months of this year, up 15% compared to the same period last year. Unlike a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which allows companies to continue operating while they resolve their debt problems, a Chapter 7 bankruptcy involves a court-appointed trustee selling an individual’s non-exempt assets to pay off creditors. On the other hand, it seems that even the creditors are once again struggling to survive…
h/t: @alifarhat
Debit: Of course, we could be forgiven for assuming that the number of people filing foreclosures is related to ongoing housing affordability problems. Yes; Housing affordability in America is now the best it has been in more than two and a half years – the problem is that the monthly principal and interest (P&I) for a median-priced home has fallen to $2,148, or 30% of the average American household income, which is still more than five percentage points above the long-term average. In other words: buying a house is still an option for starters priceless. Just think of the electricity bill…
Credit: With that in mind, Maxwell House coffee is temporarily lowering its price for a year and rebranding itself as “Maxwell Apartment” to supply coffee lovers with an entire year’s worth of coffee. No, really. For $39.99, fans can buy four 27.5-ounce cans of Maxwell Apartment coffee on Amazon. Before the marketing gimmick, those four cans would cost about $52. The deal is designed to save coffee lovers more than $1,000 annually, compared to daily cafe runs, which can amount to more than $90 per month. Unfortunately, that gesture probably won’t be enough to get everyone back into the pool…
Credit: In other news, postage costs from Shanghai to Los Angeles fell to $2,311 – that’s the lowest rate since December 2023. In the meantime, US import volumes are expected to continue to decline, expected to reach 19% by January 2026 lower year-on-year (Annual). The price drop is caused by weaker global demand, price wars and excess transport capacity. Some economists warn that it is dangerous to assume that a global recession is underway simply because of shipping costs. Good point. After all, the health of the economy is a mosaic of indicators, which is why it’s so easy to be misled when we don’t see the whole picture. Oh, wait…
Debit: On Wall Street, the stock market got a boost on Friday after President Trump promised to raise tariffs on China. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones lost 1.9%, the S&P 500 fell about 2.7% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 3.6%. They were the most important indices worst trading day since April and it ended with red week for all three, with the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq losing 2.7%, 2.4% and 2.5% respectively over the past five trading days.
Debit: Meanwhile, global debt has soared more than tenfold since 1990, from $21 trillion to an estimated $250 trillion. As a result, this unprecedented mountain of IOUs has become a ticking time bomb that will ultimately end the global debt-based fiat monetary system. In fact, it’s already becoming a problem for the US, which now runs an annual deficit of nearly $2 trillion.
Hey, Peter! Speaking of “busts”… (h/t: @J_Wise_Geology)
Debit: Here in the US, these massive annual deficits are why the national debt is now just $200 billion away from peaking. $38 trillion – a level that will probably be reached by the end of this month. Just don’t expect any changes to this current rotting, corrupt, debt-based monetary system until it completely collapses, because it is hugely profitable for both politicians. And the bankers. And if you don’t believe me, just ask this boy:
Credit: Speaking of the national debt: silver is so cheap that the ratio of silver to US government debt is almost at an all-time low. In fact, macro analyst Jesse Columbo points out that comparing the price of silver to federal deficit spending “is an important measure because it shows whether the price of silver has kept pace with the growth of the national debt – and the answer is clearly ‘no.’ At its peak in 1980, the debt-to-silver ratio was 1,377, but today it’s just 33.” But don’t forget, gold did that too are proportions to also look at…
The numbers here don’t seem to have much meaning. (h/t: Jesse Columbo Substack)
Credit: By the way, Mr Columbo also points out that silver is also ridiculously cheap when the price is compared to the US money supply (M2). For example, even though silver is currently hovering around the same nominal price of $50, its price in the real world is much lower than it was in 1980 and 2011 – in 1980 the ratio was 1038, in 2011 it was 176, and today it is only 66. Imagine that.
Credit: As for the yellow metal, it is now up around 50% on the year – its best annual performance since 1979. Despite this, 40% of fund managers still own zero gold. At some point you would think they would understand that gold exists send a warning about our fraudulent, debt-based fiat monetary system, and the threat it poses to their customers’ portfolios, which have been slowly built up over many years with the hard-earned money of a lifetime of work. Fortunately, most people are still in control of their own long-term savings and making the decision. Hopefully you are one of them. Got gold?
h/t: MetalsDaily.com
By the numbers
A new study analyzed the prices of 26 common groceries in 100 of the largest cities. The analysts then added up these costs and compared them to each city’s median household income to determine the ten cities where people currently spend the largest percentage of their income on groceries:
2.87% Memphis, TN
2.89% Milwaukee, WI
2.90% Cincinnati, OH
2.98% Buffalo, NY
3.00% Hialeah, FL
3.09% Toledo, O
3.16% Newark, NJ
3.28% Birmingham, AL
3.77% Cleveland, OH
3.78% Detroit, i
Source: WalletHub
The question of the week
The result of last week’s survey
Which personality trait best describes you?
I’m introverted 57%
I am ambivert 23%
I am extroverted 20%
More than 1,700 Len Penzo dot Com readers answered last week’s question and it turns out that just over 1 in 5 of you are ambiverts, that is, someone who is able to adapt their personality to introvert or extrovert depending on the situation. Psychology experts claim that almost two out of three people are ambiverts.
If You If you have a question you would like to ask the readers here, please send it to me Len@LenPenzo.com and be sure to include “Question of the Week” in the subject line.
Useless news: friendly skies
The airline had a policy that required the first officer to stand at the door while passengers disembarked, smile and give them the obligatory “Thanks for flying XYZ airline!” gave. sent away.
A pilot on this particular flight rammed his plane extremely hard into the runway.
In light of his bad landing, the first officer had difficulty looking the passengers in the eye as he disembarked, constantly fearing that a passenger would make a smart remark. However, as most of the passengers disembarked from the plane, it became clear – to the pilot’s relief – that they were all too shocked to say anything.
Finally everyone had gotten off the plane, except for one little old lady who walked with a cane. “Sonny,” she said, “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
The pilot said, “Why no, ma’am. What is it?”
The old lady said, “Did you land this plane – or were we shot down?”
(h/t: Susan)
Squirrel Cam
Squirrel gets a nut and then…
.
Buy me a coffee? Thank you very much!
For the best reading experience, I present all my fresh Black Coffee posts without ads. If you enjoyed this week’s column, buy me a cup of coffee! (Dunkin’ Donuts; not Starbucks.) Thank you very much!
.
More useless news
Here are the top five – and bottom – states in terms of average page views per visit here on Len Penzo dot Com in the last 30 days:
1. Georgia (2.28 pages/visit)
2. Kentucky (2.20)
3. South Carolina (2.09)
4. Florida (2.06)
5. Missouri (2.05)
46. New Mexico (1.50)
47. Mississippi (1.39)
48. Rhode Island (1.17)
49.Montana (1.13)
50. Hawaii (1.00)
Whether you enjoy what you read here – or not – please don’t forget:
1. Subscribe to my weekly Just retire dot com newsletter!
2. Make sure you follow me follow me on. And last but not least…
3. Please support this website purchasing my book! Thank you!!!! 😊
Letters, I get letters
Every week I post the most interesting question or comment, that is, if I get one. And people who are lucky enough to have the only question in the mailbox will get their letter marked here, whether it is interesting or not! You can reach me at: Len@LenPenzo.com
Taddy left this comment after reading his personal financial horoscope, which warned him to stay away from Hamburger Helper. (I know… If so Real curious, take a look.)
Oh no! Scorpio here. I’ve been eating cheeseburger helper for almost a month.
Okay. But please vary your diet by occasionally eating some of the other three single food groups: ramen, beer, and mac & cheese.
If you enjoyed and found this edition of Black Coffee informative, please forward it to your friends and family. Thank you! 😀
My name is Len Penzo and I approved this message.
Photo credit: stock photo
#Black #coffee #pool