A weekly newsletter for people who want to understand money without needing therapy afterward. I cover accounting, tax, and finance the way they should be taught. Simple, sharp, and with a sense of humor. If knowledge is power, this one’s your caffeine shot.
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CPI rigged?, Woman sues IRS for her dog, I am a poker pro
Published 3 months ago • 5 min read
Romeo Razi, CPA
Dec 21st
📊CPI report is late
Here's something that happened last week, the CPI report was late (like late, late).
📉 In the world of high-frequency trading and dopamine-fueled demands for instant data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has become the "Bureau of Lag".
Allegedly a "website issue" is why there was a delay in the Consumer Price Index.
what I think when I hear "website Issue"
📊 Keep in mind, CPI isn’t just another economic stat, it’s the prom king of inflation data. It moves markets, mortgage rates, and even J Powell's mood swings.
Obviously, speculation ran wild with Wall Street is asking: Was it hacked? Did someone see the numbers early? Did the BLS forget to hit “publish” because they were watching the latest episode of "Your Friends and Neighbors"?
It's not like the way they calculate CPI is modern to begin with:
🏠 Housing data is basically make-believe ↳ Uses “Owner’s Equivalent Rent,”. Not actual rents. Not actual home prices. Just vibes.
🐢 It’s slow ↳ CPI is already a month old when it drops.
📦 Shrinkflation? What shrinkflation? ↳ Same price, less product, but CPI ignores it. ↳ That 8oz yogurt that used to be 10oz? Invisible to the CPI calculation.
🤖 “Quality adjustments” are delusional ↳ If your new laptop has better specs, CPI says it got cheaper, even if you paid $300 more. It’s inflation by gaslighting.
The irony? This delay came just as the Fed was meeting. It seemed like someone had the numbers, but they just couldn't leak them.
(Maybe they're out there somewhere, floating in the cloud, with the rest of the Epstein Files. 😔siiiiiiigh).
Lady sues the IRS, because she wants a deduction
No cap 🧢
Some lady is really trying to claim her dog as a dependent on her tax return.
The Dog is:
🦮Not some special service dog ↳ a medical necessity, because she's disabled
🐕🦺Not a K-9 hero ↳ This ain't some cartel sniffing drug dog
🥇Not some gold medal winner ↳ not like this dog is special and won first place at doggy-Olympics
Just regular old "Snoopy" should be deductible, because the owner thinks it's unfair🙄.
Don't get me wrong, if Snoopy had a W-2, chipped in part of the rent, and fetched my Amazon packages, I might look the other way. But we all know that Snoopy has been unemployed since the '80s, and I'm pretty sure no judge is giving him a Qualified Child "badge".
But hey, people need to push boundaries. Travis Kalanick created Uber by ignoring Taxi laws. This lady's drawing her line in the sand with Fido.
🏠 Housing Corner
Interest rates jumped the last couple of weeks. All the news is that housing's stagnant, and owners aren't lowering prices fast enough.
On top of that, POTUS meandering in the Middle East isn't instilling any confidence in the housing market back home.
💹
Interest Rates
6.43%
🏡 🏡 🏡 Inventory
705,663
🧊
Days on Market
126 days
Here's a quick list of the housing stats over the last 1 weeks: 🏠 Mortgage rates: 6.43% (up a quarter point) 📈 Inventory: 705,663 homes (up sellers, less buyers) 📉 Price reductions? 33.4% (overall pricing adjustments still going down) 💰 Median list price? $434,900 (but median prices going up) 🕰️ Days on market? 126 (moving a little quicker).
Market Highlights this week
Everything down. Appearantly markets don't like war.
~ S&P 500 $6,369 (-2.81%)
~ Nasdaq $20,948 (-4.16%)
~ BTC $66,468 (-5.75%)
~ Silver $68.90 (-1.48%)
~ Gold $4,489 (+0.40%)
💸 4th Quarter, taxes are due this week!
Just a reminder that, at the time of this writing, we are 4 days away from your 4th quarter tax payment to your 🤡silent partner.
It's due by January 15th, so you still have a few more days to procrastinate.
💸 All payments must now be made electronically
So, if you haven't already, set up an IRS.gov account, and make sure to make ES payment for 2025, Form 1040.
What's been going on with your Favorite CPA
Had a few friends over for poker the other night 🂱 🂾 🂫.
Everyone had fun, joked around, and I was victorious taking each person's $20 bill (barely).
New Podcast dropping
I also recorded another Podcast about dealing with the IRS. Finishing up the final touches on editing and will hopefully have it out in the next week or so.
COMING SOON: Podcast on the IRS and dealing with them.
A weekly newsletter for people who want to understand money without needing therapy afterward. I cover accounting, tax, and finance the way they should be taught. Simple, sharp, and with a sense of humor. If knowledge is power, this one’s your caffeine shot.
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