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Because Everybody Built, The Market Was Overbuilt

A report from the Dallas Morning News in Texas. “At this stage of the economic cycle, it’s natural to wonder about a recession or a housing bubble. But take some comfort in the latest results from D.R. Horton, the nation’s largest homebuilder. Horton is on pace to close almost 57,000 homes this fiscal year, finally topping its previous peak in 2006, just before the housing crash.”

“In the quarter ended in June, Horton closed almost 11,000 homes — over two-thirds of its total — for $300,000 or less. For the same period four years ago, Horton had about 6,700 closings below that price. In the June quarter, the average selling price for an Express unit was $242,000; for a Freedom home, the average was $281,000. Those are far lower than the overall averages offered by rivals.”

“Horton’s average selling price is 20% lower than KB Home, over 30% lower than Pulte and almost two-thirds lower than Toll Brothers. ‘It’s all about price,” said Paige Shipp, Dallas-Fort Worth regional director for Metrostudy.”

“Horton has a deep supply of land — 300,000 lots either owned or controlled. And it operates in 87 markets in 29 states. Shipp was ‘pleasantly surprised’ by Horton’s results, given the industry’s long run. But she’s not concerned about a repeat of the mid-2000s, when the housing bubble led to an industry crash and a recession. ‘This cycle is very different than the last one, and the No. 1 reason is the supply,’ she said.”

The Times Free Press in Tennessee. “With a surge in new apartments, Chattanooga added nearly 34% more housing units than it did jobs over the past decade, raising concerns by a housing economist of a potential oversupply in the market. ‘From 2008-2018, the Chattanooga metro area issued permits for an annual average of 3.5 (more housing) units per 1,000 residents and added an average of 2.5 more jobs per 1,000 residents. This places Chattanooga in the range of having an oversupply of new construction,’ said Chris Salviati, a housing economist for Apartment List.”

“Chattanooga’s biggest change in the housing stock has come in apartments, including the addition of 3,223 apartment units and 1,917 beds for students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in and around downtown since 2015 and hundreds of more apartment units still under construction.”

“John Wise one of the biggest downtown apartment developers, said Chattanooga’s rental market has plenty of inventory right now ‘and the party is over’ for developers cashing in on the appeal of downtown housing, at least for the immediate future.”

From Inforum on North Dakota. “Less than six years ago, finding an apartment in the Fargo-Moorhead area wasn’t as easy, according to numbers from Fargo-based Appraisal Services Inc. Apartment vacancy rates in Fargo bottomed out in 2013 at 2.2%. Moorhead hit a 10-year low of 3.2% in June 2014.”

“Those rates helped trigger an apartment construction boom, but some wonder if developers overbuilt. Last fall, vacancy rates hit double digits in Fargo, and applying for permits to build new apartments has all but halted. ‘They probably built more than were needed in a relatively short period of time,’ James Gilmour, Fargo director of strategic planning and research, said of developers.”

“Low borrowing rates also played a roll in developers deciding to build more apartments, said Petter Eriksmoen, director of operations at Appraisal Services. ‘Because everybody built, the market was overbuilt,’ he said. ‘And that’s just exactly what you would expect.'”

The Desert Sun in California. “The Orchard’s short-term rental dispute has placed it at the center of a legal battle now headed for the California Supreme Court. Since 2017, The Orchard’s HOA has sparred in court with a group of homeowners who oppose short-term rental restrictions, first in Riverside Superior Court, then in an appeals court and now at the highest court in the state.”

“In March 2017, it granted the HOA’s petition, approving the amendment. The decision surprised Spencer Wampole, who owns and manages three rentals in The Orchard. ‘It felt like, ‘This can’t be right,’ said Wampole, the president of Travlr Vacation Homes, a local short-term rental management company. ‘It’s really not just about short-term rentals … One of the most important rights in property is your ability to rent.'”

The International Business Times on California. “Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s V-Shaped LA mansion is on sale, reportedly dropping its price from $4.5 Million to $4.2 Million. Why was the price dropped? The price of Musk’s mansion was reportedly a bit high, hence, Hilton & Hyde, real estate agency, could not secure a buyer.”

The Village Idiot on New York. “Get your checkbooks out — it’s bargain time. The average price of a Manhattan apartment has dropped from $1.2 million to $1.1 million. And at those prices, we’re talking about real luxury: a 500-square-foot studio on the fifth floor, with a view of the service entrance of the 30-story building next door, which blocks out all the sunlight except between 11:50 a.m. and noon.”

“It’s in a so-so neighborhood that Uber drivers charge you extra to go to, and has a laundry room in the basement. It has an eat-in kitchen, if ou eat standing up, and a bedroom with room for a queen-sized bed and absolutely nothing else.”

“I don’t know what kind of money you have to make to live in one of these expensive hives, but that’s OK — once you make it on Broadway or Wall Street, you’ll be able to trade up to a $2.2 million one-bedroom in Chelsea with a view of an air shaft!”

“I looked up my old Manhattan ZIP code on Zillow to see how much it would cost me to live in the old neighborhood. The first building that came up was listed at $30 million. And here’s the description of a one-bedroom apartment in my old building: ‘426 sq ft. $1,043,706.'”

“There are stories of entire 20- and 30-story apartment buildings in New York that no one lives in. Oh, the owners, usually from another country, come for a week or two each year, but it is their second or third (or fourth) home. It’s a great place to park their money. If you’re a rich person in an unstable country (or even a stable one), buying a $10 million apartment in the U.S. makes a lot of sense.”

“What’s the worst that can happen? The market crashes and suddenly it’s only worth $9.5 million? Poor dear. But in their own country, a rule change or inflation could make them lose everything overnight. That’s the funny thing about money. The rich worry about losing it, while the rest of us worry about getting it.”

Related Posts

Buyers & Sellers On Different Planets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5g6Dl-9_c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElxiLlN-NEI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOxaVFFS36U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W32Ffu3JHE0

This Post Has 87 Comments

  2. ‘In the quarter ended in June, Horton closed almost 11,000 homes — over two-thirds of its total — for $300,000 or less. For the same period four years ago, Horton had about 6,700 closings below that price’

    Four years, and thousands more shacks for less. So much for the labor shortage and costs of lots. Meanwhile the people who borrowed a ton of money for a new shack in the past few years are now underwater. Foreclosures for everyone!

    2. I see a lot of D.R. Horton developments in the greater Salt Lake area. I can’t speak to the quality, but they seem to have done well at pricing below what their competition is offering. It may be that have recognized the trend towards more affordable earlier while others are still building way out of reach stuff. They seem to be shifting to townhouses/row houses.

      Here is one of their developments where family lived that sold out very quickly:

      https://www.drhorton.com/utah/salt-lake-city/orem/express-lexington-towns

      1. ‘they seem to have done well at pricing below what their competition is offering’

        And below what they sold to suckers in the past few years. Yes, it’s all feel good reporting and affordable! (Funny that it still takes 30 years to pay it off, with interest). But I’ve posted hundreds of articles about FB’s hung out to dry by builders at the end. We saw this in Canada about a year or so ago. People getting whacked 80-100k just on the lot!

        And there’s the HOA games. See, when unsold, the guys who own the lots still get to vote. So if they promised buyers a school, and decide to bail – no school for you! This happened over and over in Arizona. Want to commute to Queen Creek on a fancy new road so it doesn’t take two hours? We changed our minds, sux to be you.

        1. Yeah, there are some shady HOA practices. The only place we have ever owned was a condo, purchased in 2010. It was about 1/2 the price at the peak. We bought for $126k after concessions, even though there were buyers who had purchased for about $220k. The developer lost the project to the bank since it was coming online right at the time of the Great Recession. But he had written himself in as a service provider for the internet on a 5-year contract. But the company wasn’t a legitimate internet service provider. He was simply charging a mark-up on every door and then farming the actual work of being the ISP out to another contractor. It was a way to pad his personal retirement account by takin $10-20 of rent-seeking every month from every door. I was elected president of the HOA when the place did finally fill up and we eventually cut out the contract, but it was a lot of work to cut him off from his gravy train of residual fees for no added-value.

          1. “We bought for $126k after concessions,…”

            Funny coincidence…that’s about what we paid for our California condo after the early 1990s crash. We might consider buying again when they drop to similar levels again.

      2. My inlaws are at the point of lowering the asking price on their home, following no offers after a month on the market. Seems like the market value has dropped, but nobody warned them before they bought another place. They are along the Wasatch Front, maybe 10 miles north of SLC.

        1. Very interesting. I think I posted a couple of weeks ago about my sister and her husband who sold their home for $560k. They bought for about $320k and put about $100k into it over 3 years. This is a nice area on the east bench and he added a lot of value by creating a large, separate rentable basement. The first offer fell through and they were disappointed. But they did get an offer about $20k below their asking, which they accepted because the place did need a new roof.

          They are pocketing the equity and moving overseas to live on the cheap for a couple of years. I think I also posted a few months ago about one of my Airbnb guests who did the same thing and went to Belize. I’ll admit that I am a little jealous of these adventurers who are escaping housing madness.

  3. ‘The average price of a Manhattan apartment has dropped from $1.2 million to $1.1 million. And at those prices, we’re talking about real luxury: a 500-square-foot studio on the fifth floor, with a view of the service entrance of the 30-story building next door, which blocks out all the sunlight except between 11:50 a.m. and noon’

    It’s real easy to wiggle your way into this mess. Getting out, not so much. Why? Cuz when people think they are gonna get rich rich RICH! on the airboxes, nobody pays attention to little things like a million bucks for a sketchy neighborhood. Then – DONG! I paid too much!

    1. Those insane NYC skybox prices are predicated on a limitless supply of Yellen Bux flowing to the Wall Street grifters. In the current political and economic climate, however, such Fed largess to the .1% probably cannot be sustained over time, meaning those nosebleed valuations are going to plummet if and when the flow of “stimulus” gets interrupted.

      1. ‘those nosebleed valuations are going to plummet if and when the flow of “stimulus” gets interrupted’

        Already happened. In 2017 I documented two sales of recently completed airboxes: one in NYC one in Miami Beach. Both owners immediately sold them for near half of what they paid, all cash.

        1. Granted, they’ve dropped from peak insanity, but they’re still ridiculously overpriced, and there are still trillions of Yellen Bux sloshing around the financial system looking for a final resting place. True price discovery isn’t even on the horizon yet for these million-dollar skyboxes which when sanity eventually returns will be selling for a fraction of their current prices.

    2. “It’s real easy to wiggle your way into this mess. Getting out, not so much. Why?”

      Nobody realizes they are going to get stucco until it’s too late.

  4. ‘This cycle is very different than the last one, and the No. 1 reason is the supply,’ she said.”

    Lol…really I promise…cross my heart and hope to die

    1. Metrostudy would like us to forget the over 6,000 finished, unsold shacks in greater Dallas. It was reported in this same paper. Curious that the writer forgot too. Maybe it was an oversight.

      Pop quiz of the day: what market has Metrostudy ever warned builders about in time to prevent overbuilding?

  6. “An apartment building under construction at 1701 Broad Street, adjacent to the Pilgrims Pride processing facility, is seen on Thursday, July 25, 2019, in Chattanooga, Tenn.”

    Wake up and smell the chicken!

      1. Did I hear right

        I think it was in reference to the self-identified “he/him” sensory-sensitive speaker. Ever hear of headphones, dude!

      2. “Did I hear right, that Comrade is gendered language?”

        I’m not sure but it certainly got that old Commie’s panties in a knot.

        2. com·rade
          /ˈkämˌrad,ˈkämrəd/
          noun
          a companion who shares one’s activities or is a fellow member of an organization.
          “an old college comrade”
          synonyms: companion, friend; More
          a fellow soldier or member of the armed services.
          noun: comrade-in-arms; plural noun: comrades-in-arms
          “Hewett turned and rushed to help his comrade”
          a fellow socialist or communist (often as a form of address).
          ““You’re right, comrade””

    2. LMAO! These freakshows are congenially incapable of organizational discipline and cohesion. With the pathological victimization that that is the definitive attribute among their rank-and-file, each affronted hothouse orchid will constantly be triggered by even the most mundane “offensive” word or statement by their “leaders” or fellow collectivists. And I’m supposed to feel threatened by these clowns? They’re a joke.

      1. And I’m supposed to feel threatened by these clowns?

        I’m not threatened at all by them. But I am concerned that crony capitalists could screw things up so bad that the freakshow gets control of an army.

    1. More Mass Shootings? 4 Dead, 38 Wounded In ‘Normal’ Weekend In Chicago

      “[W]e thought it noteworthy that a somewhat ‘normal’ weekend of death and mayhem in Chicago barely even warranted a mention in mainstream media headlines.”

      “What is odd though is the lack of Democratic Party presidential candidates ‘praying for Chicago’ or unleashing hashtags demanding ever more gun control (oh wait isn’t Chicago among the most gun-constrained cities in the country?)”

      “Illinois is one of seven that requires licenses or permits to buy any firearm, and it’s one of five that requires waiting periods for buying any firearm. The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which tracks gun laws nationwide, has given the state a B+ for its gun laws. Chicago itself has some tough laws – there is an assault-weapons ban in Cook County, for example.”

  11. A friend of mine just bought a bunch of Bitcoin, simply because he thinks the price is going to skyrocket.

      1. It makes you wonder did he really just want to kill his sister and make it look like a mass shooting. However, he would have thought he had some chance to escape but that was very unlikely.

  13. I have been doing foreclosure research and after I finished a search in Arizona, I looked around California:

    $448,9364 bd1.75 ba1,921 sqft
    32772 Shipside Dr, Dana Point, CA 92629

    7/5/2019 Foreclosure auction $798,482 unpaid balance

    8/12/2010 Loan issued $938,250

    Price history
    Date Event Price
    7/26/2019 Listing removed $702,000–
    7/5/2019 Pending sale $702,000–
    7/2/2019 Price change $702,000(-3.8%)
    5/20/2019 Back on market $730,000–
    3/28/2019 Pending sale $730,000–
    2/9/2019 Back on market $730,000–
    1/19/2019 Pending sale $730,000–
    1/15/2019 Price change $730,000(-8.6%)
    7/30/2018 Back on market $799,000–
    7/20/2018 Pending sale $799,000–
    7/19/2018 Back on market $799,000–
    7/18/2018 Pending sale $799,000–
    6/24/2018 Price change $799,000(-2.3%)
    6/5/2018 Listed for sale $818,000(+141.3%)
    12/15/2000 Sold $339,000

    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/32772-Shipside-Dr-Dana-Point-CA-92629/25584605_zpid/

    The foreclosure sale is scheduled for 8-26-19, so an auction hasn’t taken place yet. Looks like cash-out refi strikes again.

    2. Unless I am missing something, these are the salient details of the transaction history:

      “12/15/2000 Sold $339,000
      …
      8/12/2010 Loan issued $938,250
      …
      6/5/2018 Listed for sale $818,000(+141.3%)
      …
      7/2/2019 Price change $702,000(-3.8%)
      …
      7/5/2019 Foreclosure auction $798,482 unpaid balance
      …
      7/5/2019 Pending sale $702,000–
      …
      7/26/2019 Listing removed $702,000–”

      What part of that timeline makes any sense?

      1. Why was $938,250 loaned against a $339,000 house?

      2. What made them think they could sell a $339,000 house for $818,000?

      3. After reducing the asked price to $702,000 on 7/02/2019, why did they have a foreclosure auction three days later, on 7/05/2019?

      4. If the home was auctioned on 7/05/2019, why was the listing removed, presumably with no sale, on 7/26/2019?

      5. Who ate the cost of the unpaid loan balance?

      6. Why would any of the above make sense unless we find ourselves in the unwind phase of an epic real estate mania?

      1. I’ve seen this before with foreclosures around San Diego. Somehow the owner managed to borrow against the house with serial loans for much more than the house was worth. It must be some kind of scam but I don’t know how it works or what the motivation is. Maybe they launder the money into another country and leave town.

  14. I see no problems here that the Plunge Protection Team can’t contain.

    Asia Stocks Slide on Trade, Yuan Passes 7 Offshore: Markets Wrap
    By Andreea Papuc
    August 4, 2019, 4:57 PM CDT
    Updated on August 4, 2019, 8:40 PM CDT
    – U.S. stocks had worst week of 2019 on new tariff threats
    – Protests threaten to shut down Hong Kong; Treasuries steady

    Asian stocks fell Monday as investors fretted over President Donald Trump’s escalation of the U.S.-China trade war. China’s yuan tumbled past 7 per dollar to a record low in offshore trading.

    Shares slumped over 2% in many markets across the region and S&P 500 Index futures dipped. Hong Kong stocks led losses as protesters disrupted the city’s transportation system with a call for a general strike. South Korea’s won slid for a third day, hitting its weakest since January 2017. The yen jumped. Ten-year Treasury yields dropped to their lowest since November 2016.
    …

    1. Opinion: If the stock market is irrational, what do you call the bond market?
      By Mark Hulbert
      Published: Aug 3, 2019 2:39 p.m. ET
      It’s even crazier
      AFP/Getty Images

      CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — If you thought stock-market investors were irrationally exuberant, you should take a look at the behavior of those in the bond market.

      To illustrate how exuberant they are, consider which of the following bonds is riskier, and therefore must pay a higher yield to compensate investors for that risk:

      • A U.S. 10-year Treasury note (TMUBMUSD10Y, -2.18%)

      • A Greek 10-year government bond
      …

          1. Precious metals are surging as investors belatedly realize that putting a criminal private banking cartel in charge of our money issuance wasn’t such a hot idea.

      2. fastFT Gilts
        UK 10-year government bond yield sinks to historic low
        Rising appeal of havens and concerns over Brexit have fuelled gilt rally
        Tommy Stubbington in London an hour ago

        A cocktail of trade tensions and Brexit risks has driven UK bond yields to a record low, as investors ignore slightly stronger economic data to pile into haven assets.

        UK debt was swept up in global rally on Monday morning, pushing 10-year gilt yields below 0.5 per cent. The yield has now dipped below its previous August 2016 trough, which came after the Bank of England slashed interest rates to an all-time low in the wake of the vote for Brexit.

        The latest gains for government debt came as the weakening of the Chinese renminbi beyond the closely watched Rmb7 per dollar mark signalled a new phase in the US-China trade skirmish. Investors increasingly fear an all-out currency war with global central banks competitively cutting interest rates.
        …

    2. For the math-challenged, 11 years ago was 2008, at the height of global financial panic.

      The Financial Times
      Renminbi
      Renminbi falls past Rmb7 per dollar for first time in 11 years
      China’s central bank blames tariffs and protectionism as previously defended floor gives way
      Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong 40 minutes ago

      The renminbi weakened beyond Rmb7 per US dollar for the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis, breaching a floor that China’s central bank has previously defended as the prospects of a trade deal between Beijing and Washington fade again.

      The onshore exchange rate for the renminbi, which is permitted to trade 2 per cent on either side of a daily midpoint set by the People’s Bank of China, fell past Rmb7 on Monday morning for the first time since May 2008, dropping as much as 1.3 per cent to Rmb7.0297 per dollar.

      In a statement, the PBoC blamed trade protectionism and tariffs on Chinese goods for the currency’s weakening, without specifically mentioning the US, but added that it “has the experience, confidence and capacity to keep the renminbi exchange rate fundamentally stable at a reasonable and balanced level”.
      …

    3. Opinion: Stock indexes are falling from record highs — and that spells danger
      By Sven Henrich
      Published: Aug 3, 2019 4:30 p.m. ET
      U.S. stocks met resistance and dropped sharply — a harbinger of things to come?
      AFP/Getty Images

      Something important happened in the U.S. stock market this week, and whether you’re bullish or bearish, I suggest you watch closely.

      Full disclosure: We’ve been approaching July from the sell side, and I’ve been transparent about this. In late June, we identified the sell zone; I reiterated it on CNBC July 5, talking about the broadening wedge pattern and discussion the 2,990-to-3,050 zone on the S&P 500 Index as key technical resistance. And throughout July I outlined technical problems with the rally on NorthmanTrader. Last week I talked about an imminent VIXplosion when the VIX (VIX, +18.74%) was at 12; today it hit almost 20 as of this writing.
      …

    4. Bonds News
      August 4, 2019 / 10:25 PM / Updated 8 hours ago
      GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks hit 6-mth lows, bonds boom amid market shakeout
      Swati Pandey, Wayne Cole
      (Adds Chinese shares, updates prices throughout)

      * Asian stock markets : tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4

      * MSCI ex-Japan skids for a seventh day in a row

      * Flight to safety boosts yen, bonds and gold

      * Currency wars feared as China’s yuan breaks past 7 per dlr

      * Markets wager on even sharper U.S. monetary easing

      By Swati Pandey and Wayne Cole

      SYDNEY, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Asian shares slid to 6-1/2-month lows on Monday and the yuan slumped to a more than decade trough as a rapid escalation in the Sino-U.S. trade war sent investors stampeding to traditional safe harbours including the yen, bonds and gold.
      …
      “Everything is selling off right now,” said Ray Attrill, head of forex strategy at National Australia Bank in Sydney. “We have no reason to expect any cessation in selling unless we see any strong action to defend any CNY or CNH weakness.”

      “Our working assumption is that we are unlikely to see any meaningful resolution to the trade dispute anytime soon.”

      Asian share markets were a sea of red with Japan’s Nikkei shedding 2.4% to the lowest since early June. It was the sharpest daily drop since March.

      Australian shares slipped about 1.4% to spend their fourth straight session in the red, and South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 2.2% to hit its lowest since December 2016.

      MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan sank 2.1% to depths not seen since late January.
      …

  15. Happy to hear about DR Horton. This is one builder not to be cynical about. Down here they build in the same regional super developments as other well known builders. Their communities have attractive, slightly simpler designs, fewer amenities but usually a pool, tennis, pickle ball courts, pool bathrooms and maybe a few nature areas. In these large developments their pricing is well below the other builders who aim at a higher demographic and price.

    If it hits the fan, all the builders will be affected, but their more modestly priced housing will likely fare better than the lux and near lux guys. Thier plans are much better values which allow younger and more modest buyers greater opportunities to be in high quality developments. Certainly understand thier good numbers even when overall permits are dropping.

    1. I have to agree with that assessment Jdog. I’ve seen the developments that D.R. Horton puts up and they seem quite attractive at the price point they are shooting for. They don’t go overboard, but things generally look of higher quality and their price point seems much more reasonable than anyone else I see building in our area. It seems like they have good operations and systems in place from an outsider’s view.

    2. “Horton has a deep supply of land — 300,000 lots either owned or controlled”

      That’s the secret sauce. They must have snapped up lots of lots during the crash. Once they have the land, they don’t have to depend on luxury to make a profit, as so many apartment developers did.

      1. That’s the secret sauce.

        So they can produce a few hundred thousand starter homes at 6 x family income. They’ll be fine I guess as long as the Housing Bubble doesn’t pop. Right?

  16. https://www.ocregister.com/2019/07/26/southern-california-home-prices-hit-record-high-despite-sales-slump/

    The drop in mortgage rates and lending standards is prolonging the SoCal bubble. Just when you are sure the bubble is stretched to its tensile limit they somehow manage to get more air into it. If they start in earnest with interest rate cuts this could become a very protracted process. If they can get mortgage rates below 3%, they might be able to get enough asset inflation going to claim victory and extend this thing another year or two. Ughh. Somebody please convince me I’m wrong.

    2. If they can get mortgage rates below 3%, they might be able to get enough asset inflation going to claim victory and extend this thing another year or two.

      That seems to be the goal to get through next year’s election before it all blows up. I’m very skeptical that it can work that way after the peak though. The psychology is all wrong.

  19. I though I was way off predicting recession by end of 2019
    maybe not so crazy……………..

    1. No worrie$ taxpayer, you have friends in high place$!

      INVE$TING
      Morgan $tanley: If the trade war e$calates, a rece$$ion will be here in 9 months

      Michael Sheetz | CNBC | 8/5/19

      “About two-thirds of goods tariffed in this round are consumer goods, which could lead to a more pronounced impact on the US as compared to earlier tranches,” Ahya said. “Trade tensions have pushed corporate confidence and global growth to multi-year lows.”

  20. China needs to depreciate it’s currency so it can deliver the goods to our shores at the same price including the cost of the tariffs. More evidence not is really paying the tariffs due to competitive necessarily. Limited time to post today. So I will add to this post, the MSM is ignoring that the Dayton shooter was a socialist who supported Bernie and Warren.

      2. From the link article:

        “Former high school classmates took to Twitter and Facebook to describe Betts as a bully who liked to scare women”

    3. Eye thought 8 years of Kenyan.Obama was gonna come & take everyone’s Gun$?

      Only takes x1 Twitter allthumbs dtRumpsis tweet to $urpass that theory.

      Gun $tocks $urge after President Trump tweets about tightening regulations.

      MarketWatch | Tomi Kilgore | 8/5/19
      Since peaking in early-to-mid-2016, the industry has struggled and share prices have fallen after the presidential election, as fears of regulatory tightening faded despite multiple mass shootings and some restrictive actions taken by gun retailers.

      2. For some strange reason, we make these evil disturbed shooters into instant international celebrities. Having accomplished that, we go on to make honest, sane people safer by making them defenseless.

        1. Is you suggesting some folks are knot insane or that those of us that have Henry 44 caliber repeating rifles are defenseless?

          (Eye’m as cornfused as a baby in a topless joint.)

  21. On Black Monday, October 19, 1987, a 500+ point drop on the Dow was a big deal.

    By contrast, a 600+ point drop on the Dow today is a mere flesh wound.

    Nonetheless, the CNBC peops are in a dither.

  22. Well iffin’ ya add+ the (-800) Zectron bouncing step$ from previous x3 days it’s 1,400+ … The wound is a tad deeper, might need some neo$porin ointment right$ away!

    1. Ok, it’s a multiple puncture flesh wound. And it looks to be contained to 500 point daily drops on the Dow.

      Better than a gunshot wound…

        1. 25,724.76 @ 1pm Eastern
          (-760)

          Pu$h.it.up!, pu$h.it.up! pu$h.it.waaaaaay.up!

          Go dog.team!, GO!

      2. $peaking of Gun$:

        Opinion: Gun industry’s woes are accelerating on Trump’s watch

        MarketWatch | Paul Brandus | 8/5/19

        Even as U.$. stock$ trade near all-time highs, one industry has taken it on the chin in the Trump era: gun manufacturer$.

        The day before the president was elected, American Outdoor Brands Corp. AOBC, +1.97% (until 2016 known as Smith & Wesson) traded for $28.17 a share. Friday, shares were fetching $8.64, a plunge of 69%. Sturm, Ruger & Company, RGR, -0.46% meantime, has fallen 20% over the same period.

        This is not an isolated matter. The National Rifle Association, the powerful lobbying organization that represents the gun industry, has serious problems too. In June, it was forced to take NRA-TV off the air—the victim of growing financial troubles and political infighting at the troubled gun lobby. And just last week, three NRA board members were pushed out for raising questions about mismanagement, saying “our confidence in the NRA’s leadership has been shattered.”

        The circular firing squad at the Virginia-based organization, can be traced to its chief executive officer Wayne LaPierre, who has been struggling with rivals, including former President Oliver North, who was shown the door in April. Sounds like you need a kevlar vest to work there.

        You may know LaPierre. He’s the guy who sneers at Washington “elites,” despite the fact that he lives high on the hog in a posh Washington-area mansion, traveling like an emperor and raking in a salary that hovers around $1 million—but has swelled to as much as $5 million—a year. He was one of the very first people invited to the Trump White House in 2017, and with good reason: He funneled $30 million+ into the president’s 2016 campaign, a huge bet that paid off big. That kind of legal bribery gets you a seat at the table in this town (and you bought all of Trump’s fake news about how he’d drain the swamp, didn’t you?).

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