Why didn’t the mail come today?
…and where the heck is my banker??
Oh, that’s right, it’s Columbus Day, a day when banks, the post office and some government offices are closed.
Speaking of, many groups like to target Columbus as the pillager and plunderer of the New World. The irony is that he only showed up in the Caribbean and he never set foot in what is now America, not even Florida. He made it to the Bahamas, Cuba, Trinidad and he governed (very badly) Hispaniola, now known as Haiti and the Dominican Republic; it’s an interesting story and you can read about it here. It’s a shame that Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand did not send their daughter with him, because that would really have been the first Princess Cruise in the Caribbean.
So what is happening?
Congress suspended the debt ceiling. That’s like telling your bank to keep cashing your overdrawn checks.
The Dodgers beat St. Louis and are now playing the Giants in a best of 5 format and it is tied 1 – 1.
California mailed out the final installment of covid stimulus to folks that made $75,000 or less in 2020
Where ARE the workers???
The Debt Ceiling
Simply put, Congress (comprised of both the House and the Senate) used to come together to agree on how to run the country, similarly to how you would run your household. Recently though, it’s turned into the War of the Roses (look it up – the movie and English history). One thing they MUST come together on is whether they are going to increase the size of the credit card for the United States because we spend more than we take in. Like the little people (the voters), they must also have a budget but unlike the little people, they can increase their credit card limit, but they have to agree on it.
Congress did approve to suspend the debt ceiling to early December – suspend, NOT increase. At that point, without approval, the country starts having cash flow issues and they start paying things, like social security, interest bond payments and other obligations, later than they are supposed to, leading to a default at worse and a late payment at best. To avoid those issues, they must increase the credit card limit for the country.
There is also a movement to eliminate the debt ceiling entirely; it just gets in the way of spending. Sounds to me like the folks leading that have a 540 FICO.
If it’s not fixed at that point, look for a teensy-weensy bit of volatility in the financial markets in December. Merry Christmas.
Go Dodgers!
Covid stimulus check – you will be pleased to know that the employees you can’t find just got another $600 this past week, courtesy of California. I thought it was supposed to be Alaska that pays you to live in their state. Cash talks…
So, where are the workers? As it turns out, they dropped out of the work force. Well, 60% of them did. Of the 5 million workers that lost their jobs due to Covid, 3 million are no longer part of the workforce. I’ll go into that next week. But where the heck did they find 1500 workers to clean oil off the beaches?
Well, regardless of the challenges facing California businesses, in my 33 years of banking experience, I have found that the optimistic business owner does better than the pessimistic business owner. This, of course, brings to mind a John Wooden quote:
“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”
That sure applies to anyone doing business in California. It’s expensive, but everything is included.
