It’s time to lean back, relax and enjoy a little Joe …
Welcome to another exciting edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what is going on in the world of money and personal finances.
I hope everyone had a great week. And with that, let’s go immediately with this week’s comments, will we?
There are no risk -free paths now.
– Fed chairman Jay Powell
Credits and depreciation
Debit: Have you seen this? First it was France – now it is the US. The White House released a test balloon last week and stated that they are “thinking” increasing retirement age For social security (SS) from 67 to slightly higher to extend its solvency. Something tells us that it will cost something much more substantial than to kick the SS, this time the road can be on the road.
Credit: Besides, the last increase in the SS pension -entitled age performed in 1983 And everyone younger than 45 years – including your real – met on the basis of an increase in graduated age. We suspect that every future age would follow a similar strategy. Again, even as the congress do Increase retirement age, it would probably be wise to exclude social security from your pension planning – in case. Well … unless you are the gambling type …
Credit: On Friday the Dow rose by 0.7%, the S&P 500 climbed by 0.6% and the Nasdaq was 0.4% more – But those profits were not enough to erase a loss for the week. The big question now is whether or not the market will bridge again next week or not.
H/T: @Memeforght
Debit: Speaking of shares, the Dow is 70% fall Of his 2000 peak when priced in golden terms. The good news is that the talking heads continue to tell everyone who will listen to the market for artificial intelligence (AI) everything. Or not …
Credit: After the FED reduced the interest rates for 25 BPS last week, macro analyst Peter Bockvar noted: “When the credit spreads are wide and shares in a bear market, the FED is quickly too easy. demonstration. In a speech from 1955, the FED chair said at the time, William McChesney Martin, said: “The Fed is in the position of the supervisor who ordered the Punch Bowl, just when the party really warmed up.” The Fed now adds more alcohol to that bowl. “Well … at least they admit it …
Debit: With the final step of the Fed to lower interest rates, they have indicated their decision Leave the fight Against inflation to maintain the economy – even with the risk of destroying what remains of the rapidly falling purchasing power of the USD. Meh. Nothing to see there. Or here …
Debit: In other news, the price tag for repairs on the damaged Francis Scott Key Bridge of Baltimore – some of which collapsed after he had been hit by a run -away ship – has risen from an initial $ 1.9 billion More than $ 5 billion the past year. As if that is not bad enough, the projected completion date is also expressed for two years, from 2028 to 2030. But again, something tells us that a good part of that price increase is probably because of, eh, mitigating circumstances …
Hopefully that price tag of $ 5 billion will include one of these signs for the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Debit: Unfortunately, higher prices do not only tease the construction sector. The menu price of a hamburger, fries and a coke from McDonalds is now $ 10. Sixty years ago, the same hamburger, fries and soft drinks 35 cents. For those who do not count at home, that is an increase of 2757%. Au. Needless to say, those enveloping prices for FastFood are just one of the many reasons why it is always better to cook your meals at home.
H/T: Mike Maloney
Credit: But here is the turn: if you have saved silver instead of dollars, you would have that more Power today, no less. In fact, a silver dime and a silver quarter has currently hit a melt value of around $ 10.08 – that is enough to buy exactly the same meal from McDonalds. As macro analyst and precious metal dealer Mike Maloney notes, thousands of years of history proves that gold and silver, also known as’ real money, ultimately known does an accounting From the Fiat currency feed. “It is clear that we are now working on that accounting adjustment.
H/T: @duediligenceguy
Credit: Now for the Real Alarming news: macro analyst Jim Rickards There will be “a financial panic of unprecedented proportions” caused by stablecoins and unregulated digital assets baked in the so-called genius law. Rickards points to that of Vietnam Compulsory biometric IDs And account freezes as the model – a test run for centralized digital control – and says that governments can check, freeze and take up funds once accepted. Well … even accept your bank has The money …
Credit: Here is the Bottom Line: when trust is bursting, holders will dump Stablecoins, sell treasure chests and rush for cash. AI only speeds up the rush. “The best definition of a crisis is when everyone wants their money back,” says Rickards. This time the starting doors can close. It is no coincidence that Mike Wilson, Chief Investment Officer of Morgan Stanley, is now an allocation of 60% of shares, 20% to gold and 20% to fixed income. Yes, people – hell is officially frozen. Do you have gold?
By the figures
Here is a look at the top 10 American states with the highest chance of crashing an animal, based on the number of crashes in which animals are involved per 10,000 drivers:
38 Mississippi
84 West Virginia
104 Pennsylvania
109 Michigan
120 Kansas
129 South Dakota
140 Minnesota
199 Wisconsin
207 Down
236 Montana
Source: State Farm
The question of the week
The poll results from last week
How old are you?
70 or older 30%
I am in the 60s 27%
I am in the 1950s 16%
I am in forty 13%
I am in thirty 11%
29 or younger 3Calculation
More than 1800 Len Penzo Dot Com -readers responded to last week’s question and it appears that almost 3 in 4 of you are 50 or older. This is to be expected because the younger generations have generally left the dinosaur world of blogs, and to newer communication media, such as podcasts, YouTube videos, X (Twitter), Instagram and Tiktok. Believe it or not, blogs have been around for more than a quarter of a century and reached their peak popularity about 15 years ago!
This week’s question was suggested by the reader Steve. When You Have a question that you would like to see here, send it to me Len@lenpenzo.com And make sure you place “question of the week” in the subject line.
Useless news: Doctor conference
Five surgeons from large cities discuss who makes the best patients to work on.
The first surgeon from New York says: “I like to see accountants at my operating table, because when you open them, everything is numbered in it.”
The second, from Chicago, answers: “Yes, but you have to try electricians. Everything in them is color code.”
The third surgeon from Dallas says: “No, I really think librarians are the best. Everything in them is in alphabetical order.”
The fourth surgeon, from Los Angeles, calls: “You know, I love construction workers. Those guys always understand when you have a few more pieces left.”
The fifth surgeon, from Washington DC: “You are completely uneven. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There is no guts, no heart, no balls, no brain and no spine. Plus, the head and the ass are interchangeable.”
(H/T: Dave)
Squirrel
You have to hand it over to the squirrels – they do their best to let us know when the buffet table is empty!
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More useless news
Here the top five articles were viewed by my 51,810 Weekly E -Mail subscribers and other followers in the past 30 days (excluding black coffee costs):
- Items that everyone has to keep in a fire -resistant safe
- Film theater extras that we can all do without
- What did they think? The 10 largest supermarket flops/A>
- How you can save money faster by bragging your change
- Why personal shortage spending can actually be a good idea
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Letters, I get letters
Every week I have the most interesting question or comment, assuming that I get one, that is. And people who are lucky to have the only question in the mail bag, get their letter here emphasized whether it is interesting or not! You can contact me at: Len@lenpenzo.com
Teep This week wrote to dispute my claim that water beds are overestimated as a platform for sex:
What are you talking about? They are great! Push once and kiss for two!
I bet you are a riot on the dance floor.
If you liked this, send it to your friends and family. 😊
I am Len Penzo and I approved this message.
Photocredit: Public Domain
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