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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Jobs Report, Homebuyers protection, and Gold.
Published 10 months ago • 3 min read
Romeo Razi, CPA
Sept 7th
💼 Jobs report, part deux. Full of it again!
Hello Everyone,
The jobs report strikes again!
The wizards at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) have once again pulled a rabbit out of a spreadsheet. Last month, they proudly reported a gain of 14,000 jobs for June. Turns out they were off by a smidge. Only about 27,000 jobs. After revisions, June was actually a loss of -13,000 jobs. The first monthly job loss since the turn of the millennium, when dial-up was still a thing and people thought Pets.com was a good investment.
Wait, what about the other months?
July: A whopping +6,000 (legit!)
August: +22,000, but way below the +80,000 economists were fantasizing about.
But don’t worry, they'll revise August down next month too.
By now, it's now become tradition. Just like pumpkin spice lattes and Fed doublespeak.
Daddy, is this Stagflation yet?
It's what stagflation dreams of. Job growth slows to a crawl, and inflation sticking around like gum on a hot sidewalk.
The moral of the story? Never trust a first draft. Especially when it comes from the same folks who missed the housing crash, the inflation spike, and your last birthday.
Thanks again Mr. "Transitory".
Honestly how bad is it?
Here's my boy "QE Infinity" from X.com sharing a TikTok video about how bad the job market is:
For those who don't have time to watch:
Recruiter posted a job, and within 24 hours got 600+ applications, most of them being qualified. She going to have to reject almost all qualified people (i.e. the job market be very "cray, cray" right now.)
🏠 Home Buyers Protection Act
Congress agreed on something. I know, I had to double-check I wasn’t reading The Onion.
Last week, they passed the Homebuyers Protection Act. And, it actually protectsyou.
Here’s the scam they’re shutting down:
First, you apply for a mortgage.
Then, your lender pulls your credit.
Then, faster than your 9 year old with an iPad, you start getting spammed by a dozen other lenders.
Why? Because to credit bureaus, selling your data is a love language.
Congress told them f-off, unanimously. Red and Blue finally teamed up to stop the vultures.
No more selling your info while you’re house-hunting.
What this taught Romeo: miraclescan happen, every 248 years or so.
Day 4,830 of waiting for the housing market to collapse like the GFC, but it hasn't. Maybe next week. Until then, here are the deets:
💹 Interest Rates
6.67%
🏡 🏡 🏡
Active Inventory
860,728
🧊
Day on Market
109 days (3+ months)
Here's the a quick list of this week housing stats: 🏠 Mortgage rates: 6.67% (down a little) 📈 Inventory: 860,728 homes (down around 500) 📉 Price reductions? Up 42.1% (same-ish) 💰 Median list price? $449,000 (same-ish) 🕰️ Days on market? 109 (up by 1 day)
💸 1 Week Left
Two things comings up by Sept 15th:
Extenders: Business S-Corp and LLC tax returns due by Sept 15th
Q3 Estimated Tax Payments due Sept 15th
💸 Last Time You May Pay IRS by Check
Starting September 30th, you may not pay the IRS or receive refunds from them by check anymore.
In the future you will only be able to pay or receive refunds from the IRS electronically.
So, if you haven't already, set up an IRS.gov (and ID.me) account.
Market Highlights
Indexes flat this week
~S&P 500 $6,481 (+0.21%)
~NASDAQ $21,700 (+0.86%)
~BTC 111,289 (+0.062%)
Crackhead Stock of the Week
~LuluLemon (-17.99%)
(because $195 leggings don't slap like they used to)
🟨🟨Gold & Metals is Gigachad-ing YTD
BTC, eat your heart out!
What's been going on with your Favorite CPA
Some friends visited me in Idaho this week, and we went to the Farmer's Market. The veggies were lit🔥
I know, I'm skipping over a lot.
Apparently, Gen Z’s "conscientiousness" is in free-fall, tech is still pretending AI is profitable, the IRS just redefined what a “tip” is, and math is still out here mathing.
But alas, the absurdity never sleeps. And neither do I.
Until next week, please send this to someone you tolerate, they deserve a chuckle too. ❤️
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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