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Snapped Up Like Hotcakes By Investors In Previous Years, The Housing Sector Remains Poor

A report from the Times of London in the UK. “Almost 1,000 days after the Grenfell Tower fire killed 72 people, the fallout from 20 years of failed building regulations that allowed the disaster to happen is affecting every flat in the UK. It is hitting buildings of all heights, with any type of cladding, or none at all. Now, The Sunday Times estimates that three million private flats in England could be affected, thanks to the latest government safety advice that is leaving owners unable to sell or get a new mortgage — even if their block is low-rise and safe.”

“Ahead of next month’s budget, The Sunday Times has learnt that ministers are considering loans to fix such blocks. ‘But why should I have to take out a loan to pay off something that isn’t my fault?’ asks Rebecca Fairclough, 37, a solicitor who says she faces bankruptcy to fix dangerous insulation at her Manchester flat. ‘I’m not only facing losing my home. Solicitors cannot be bankrupt: it would also mean losing my career.'”

“They have all become prisoners in their own homes. They can’t move jobs. They can’t get married. They are putting off having children. They can’t retire. They are stuck.”

The Edinburgh Evening News. “Experts say an over-supply is already having a ‘negative impact’ on occupancy levels and room rates, even before a string of proposed new developments across the city are either completed or come up for planning permission. The Edinburgh Hotels Association (EHA), which represents more than 50 of the city’s key players, claims some businesses have been left in a ‘fragile’ state due to dwindling business. It says there is ‘no doubt at all’ that the addition of more than 5,000 new rooms over the past 10 years is to blame for a slump which has left hotels unable to fill beds.”

“EHA spokesman Russell Imrie said the industry was experiencing worrying decline across several key indicators, including occupancy rates and the average daily hotel rates as it also struggled with the lack of control over an ‘explosion’ in the number of properties being marketed for short-term lets on sites like Airbnb. Cliff Hague, chair of the Cockburn Association heritage watchdog, said: ‘This news of an oversupply of hotels will be frustrating to the many households trying to find affordable housing in the city, since sites that could have been used for housing were snapped up for hotels.'”

From ABC News in Australia. “The twin disasters of bushfires and coronavirus have devastated Australia’s tourism industry resulting in a massive decline in visitor numbers and booking enquiries. That downturn is causing some Airbnb operators in the Far North Queensland tourist city of Cairns to rethink their future on the platform. Brian Kovacs, who runs an Airbnb hosting service, said this year is looking particularly grim on the booking front.”

“‘This time last year, we were fully booked for February and half of March was booked as well,’ Mr Kovacs said. ‘February 2020, we’ve got 50 per cent vacancies and we’re struggling to secure a booking.'”

“Mr Kovacs’ business partner, real estate principal Billy Gartner said there were other factors at play, in particular, the oversaturation of listings on the gig economy platform. ‘The one-bedroom, the two-bedroom units, rooms in houses, that’s the part of the market that’s really become saturated,’ Mr Gartner said. ‘What was probably getting $95-a-night two years ago is down to $70-75-a-night for the simple reason that [there are] so many mums and dads with one [an investment property]. They’re competing with each other by dropping the prices and that’s affecting the whole market.'”

The Daily Telegraph in Australia. “You can still snap up properties near the beach for ‘first home buyer’ prices — as long as you’re prepared to travel at least an hour north of Sydney. Research from CoreLogic showed the Central Coast was the only major region within the Greater Sydney area where prices are lower than they were last year, with prices in pockets of some beach suburbs down 15 per cent or more.”

“‘It’s definitely a buyer’s market on the Central Coast,’ realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee said, adding booming sales conditions in premium Sydney areas were yet to hit the coast.”

“Wamberal, which shares a beach with tourist favourite Terrigal, saw its median apartment price drop 38 per cent to $645,000, sales data from realestate.com.au revealed. Bateau Bay unit prices fell 15 per cent and now average under $450,000. The Entrance North had the biggest drops for detached house prices at 13.4 per cent. Unit prices in Ettalong Beach dropped 22 per cent and that entire area through Ettalong and Umina still has properties for around the $650,000 mark.”

From Newshub on New Zealand. “After years of having a housing shortage, Auckland now technically has a surplus of homes, according to the Salvation Army. In the housing section, the report concluded that based on provisional population estimates from Statistics New Zealand, Auckland’s housing shortage ‘has now, at least statistically, become a housing surplus.’ Based on the data, there were around 7,000 surplus houses in Auckland, the charity concluded.”

The Sunday Guardian on India. “The Central and state governments have been paying much attention to housing for the poor section, but the middle-budget and luxury housing segments are still witnessing a rise in unsold units. Data has revealed that the unsold stock of luxury houses has increased to an average of 10% in the top seven cities of the country. As per property data of 2019, at least 89,200 luxury housing units, priced at Rs 1.5 crore, remained unsold across the top seven cities of the country, while in 2018, there were 81,290 unsold luxury units. The total value of unsold luxury housing stock is approximately Rs 1.59 lakh crore—that is 34% of the total value of the entire unsold housing stock.”

“Anuj Puri, chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants, said: ‘Snapped up like hotcakes by investors in previous years, luxury housing sales are still in the doldrums and hinging largely on end-user sales. Even after three years of demonetisation, the sale in the housing sector remains poor in the entire housing segment, but the luxury and mid-budget housing segments are facing the worst situation.'”

From Bloomberg on China. “Home sales in China have been dealt a huge blow by the spreading novel coronavirus with figures showing that transactions plunged in the first week of February. New apartment sales dropped 90 per cent from the same period of 2019, according to preliminary data on 36 cities compiled by China Merchants Securities. Sales of existing homes plummeted 91 per cent in eight cities where data is available.”

“‘The sector is bracing for a worse impact than the 2003 SARS pandemic,’ said Bai Yanjun, an analyst at property-consulting firm China Index Holdings. ‘In 2003, the home market was on a cyclical rise. Now, it’s already reeling from an adjustment.'”

“The downturn will challenge those developers with poor liquidity, even if the coronavirus only crimps sales for several months, S&P Global Ratings said in a note last week, without identifying any firms. Many count on steady cash flows from home sales as a liquidity lifeline, S&P said. ‘For developers, the biggest challenge is the stress on short-term cash flow,’ said Mr Bai. ‘It’s manageable so far, but the situation may suddenly worsen.'”

The Hong Kong Standard. “Centaline Property Agency reported seven second-hand deals over the weekend, four more than the previous weekend, as homeowners lowered prices and analysts forecast more price cut amid the coronavirus epidemic. Owners were willing to cut prices under a low-interest environment, after the PBOC had lowered its required reserved ratio in January.”

“In Ma On Shan, a 736-sq-ft flat at Oceanaire Tower fetched for HK$9.48 million, 9 percent lower than asking price in December after a confirmed case of the coronavirus was reported at the estate. In Tseung Kwan O, a 533-sq-ft flat at Ocean Shores sold for HK$7.8 million, or HK$14,634 per sq ft, HK$400,000 less than the asking price, according to Midland Realty. The price was a 6-month low for two-bedroom flat at the development.”

“There have been seven cases of forfeiture of deposit among new projects so far this month. Among them, a buyer of a 497-sq-ft flat at Seaside Sonata forfeited a HK$417,950 deposit or 5 percent of the price after canceling the purchase while a buyer of a 286-sq-ft flat at Victoria Harbour in North Point forfeited a HK$530,000 deposit, or 5 percent of the total price, after canceling the purchase.”

The St Albert Gazette in Canada. “Jennifer Lucas, new chair of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, said last year continued on as a buyer’s market, but as sellers came down in price and more homeowners were able to qualify for a mortgage, inventory has finally started moving. Continued stabilization could depend on the mortgage stress test, she said – a federal policy in place since 2018 aimed at helping homebuyers ensure they can qualify for a mortgage based on income and expenses. The test sets the financial bar higher than the actual mortgage rate, with the goal of saving borrowers from incurring more debt than they can handle if rates rise. It also put downward pressure on pricing in Vancouver and Toronto, Lucas said, but had a ripple effect across the country.”

“‘Equity was essentially stolen from homeowners because sellers had to lower their price to get to a point where home buyers can actually qualify,’ Lucas said. ‘Some of the sellers said, ‘You know what, I bought here, I had this much equity in it, and I can’t lose money,’ so those went off the market.'”

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This Post Has 137 Comments

  1. ‘Brian Kovacs, who runs an Airbnb hosting service, said this year is looking particularly grim on the booking front.’

    Where’s the shortage Brian? Here’s Billy with a clue:

    ‘What was probably getting $95-a-night two years ago is down to $70-75-a-night for the simple reason that [there are] so many mums and dads with one [an investment property]. They’re competing with each other by dropping the prices and that’s affecting the whole market’

    Interesting that here it’s airbnb, there it’s a virus, demonitization, cladding fires, mortgage stress tests, blah blah. If you got a boom, here comes a bust.

    1. Does Airbnb have a “make offer” button? Because, if I were looking I’d be pitting these greedheads against each other for the lowest offer.

    2. “cladding fires”

      And that story earlier about massive repair bills at condo buildings for years of deferred maintenance. Same thing happened last time (to the tune or $200k per apartment at one building I know). A lot of the bad that was covered up by the bubble got revealed as the bust came on.

      “They’re competing with each other by dropping the prices and that’s affecting the whole market”

      Yeah that’s called capitalism. We’ve had a couple of generations now that have been shielded from this, including the effects (and great benefits) of deflation. It might be a shock but we’ll all be better off.

  2. ‘‘Equity was essentially stolen from homeowners because sellers had to lower their price to get to a point where home buyers can actually qualify…Some of the sellers said, ‘You know what, I bought here, I had this much equity in it, and I can’t lose money,’ so those went off the market’

    Stamp em’!

    2. ‘Equity was essentially stolen from homeowners because sellers had to lower their price

      Wow. Stolen? Unbelievable GREED on display here.

      1. Unbelievable GREED on display here. “It’s Clown World, Jake!” Greed, hope & fear are 3 major characteristics / motivators of most modern people.

  3. “They have all become prisoners in their own homes. They can’t move jobs. They can’t get married. They are putting off having children. They can’t retire. They are stuck.”

    It still alot cheaper than renting!

    1. I’m trying to relate, but just can’t. Faced with such problems, I’d simply turn in my notice and move to another of the growing abundance of rentals competing for credit-worthy renters.

      1. “Loanowners are slaves.”

        Yep, the best type of slavery at that.

        Who owns the slave of today? In today’s world the loanowner slave owns himself. The proceeds of the slave’s labor goes to somebody else just as it did in the olden days but without the necessary care and feeding; This care and feeding of the slave is something the slave is required to do himself.

        So how does a loanowner slave become a slave? In the olden days potential slaves were coerced, they were kidnapped. In today’s world slaves, loaner slaves, are simply persuaded.

        So, you are dying to ask, how is it that a person, an adult, can be persuaded to become a loaner slave? The short answer: Today’s loanowner is the product of our stupid educational system. For a longer answer you will need to drop into my bank for a live demonstration as to just how it is done.

        (On your visit to the bank please bring along a list of marketable body parts.)

        1. “…In today’s world slaves, loaner slaves, are simply persuaded…”

          Excellent essay.

          And that persuasion comes from many sources, REIC, “Suzanne (unhappy wife)” , banks, a ‘must have’ society and culture out of control.

    1. First comment on that article is spot on:

      “ Yes, in the short-term, when there is an atmosphere of market uncertainty, equity markets bail-out into perceived “safe-harbor” assets; things like US treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. That puts temporary downward pressure on mortgage rates and temporarily stimulates housing in the short-run. And if the Fed decides to reverse course and starts purchasing mortgage backed securities again, it will put even more downward pressure on mortgage rates in the short term and will blow one last breath into the US’ big, fat housing market bubble that is just about ready to pop.

      The problem is that the Fed is doubling-down on economic stimulus that is increasing the US money supply at 8% per year. Eventually, that is going to result in rapid and severe upward pressure on inflation which, in turn, will have a rapid and severe upward pressure on mortgage interest rates. But because the Fed has already exhausted all of its monetary & fiscal tools that it once had to fight inflation, once both inflation and mortgage rates start rising, then inflation and mortgage rates will not stop rising for a very, very long time.

      Yes, one day soon, after the temporary mortgage rate dip, the Federal Reserve is going to lose its power to control consumer interest rates. That is when the housing market bubble will begin to pop; and then nothing but falling real estate values will be in our future. So keep going long on real estate people; it’s never too early to buy high and sell low.”

      1. The problem is that the Fed is doubling-down on economic stimulus that is increasing the US money supply at 8% per year. Eventually, that is going to result in rapid and severe upward pressure on inflation

        Been saying this for a while. A large part of why the average person isn’t overly concerned is because they are thinking of ‘price inflation’ – which has been partially retarded by keeping the printed money out of the hands of the 99.9%, and letting the inflation in the money supply be a tool for those with access to it to shift more tangible/hard assets to them.

        1. A large part of why the average person isn’t overly concerned is because they are thinking of ‘price inflation’ – which has been partially retarded by keeping the printed money out of the hands of the 99.9%,

          Disagree with this wholeheartedly. The 99.9% have more access to money – via credit – than ever before. This has driven the price of everything well beyond what wages support. We’ve had massive inflation.

          1. Perhaps I am saying it wrong?

            What I was trying to say is that the average citizen does not have access to borrow QE created money at a cheap interest rate. Large firms and individuals have used access to this very cheap money to purchase (harder) assets including homes, land, and equities, contributing the everything bubble.

            The average citizen does have access to more credit, but not at the same cheapness or quantity. They might by a couple houses to try and flip, while firms like hedge funds or Blackstone are buying tens of thousands of homes. Their activities also contribute to the bubble. What I don’t know how to quantify is how much to allocate to each group.

      2. I had an interesting text exchange last night about the surprising amount of activity in the San Diego with the friend who just sold and bought. She thinks people are motivate to buy now because interest rates are expected to go up after the election. I commented that you can’t refinance a purchase price but waiting a year might get a buyer a bigger MID and lower property taxes. She replied, “You can refi purchase price – a lot of people had their mortgage payments reduced when the job market tanked and banks were flooded with foreclosures. So either you are paying low interest or low taxes – 6 in one, half a dozen in the other.”

        1. surprising amount of activity in the San Diego

          The sellers of the house she bought weren’t expecting this market pace either. They won’t be moving out until the end of June!

        2. She thinks people are motivate to buy now because interest rates are expected to go up after the election.

          We’ve been hearing this tired old trope about “interest rates” for years now. The low rates do not justify the prices by any stretch of the imagination. These people are speculators who believe prices are going to continue increasing. Period.

          1. I never understood buying because of interest rates, either. Over 30 years, there’s a good chance you’ll have the opportunity to refinance lower. You’ll never be able to refinance away hundreds of thousands in negative equity from buying at another artificially blown bubble peak.

            This time, I’m not sure the market will bounce back after the next bust so quickly either.

          2. These people are speculators who believe prices are going to continue increasing. Period.

            Given that this is the only scenario that younger buyers have seen, it isn’t surprising that they think it’s normal.

          3. You’ll never be able to refinance away hundreds of thousands in negative equity from buying at another artificially blown bubble peak.

            People apparently think they can.

        3. “surprising amount of activity in the San Diego”

          Same in LA. Dead before New Years, hopping right now, same pattern every year since 2013. I think it’s that after Jan 1 there are a few newly-qualified people that couldn’t qualify Dec 31, thanks to higher loan limits, lowered lending standards, etc, all competing with each other. By summer this new tier of borrowers is exhausted and the market goes back to dead.

          1. I’ve been waiting for one particular property to relist. Given the activity I’m seeing, I mailed an interest letter earlier this week. 🤞

          2. “I never understood buying because of interest rates, either. Over 30 years, there’s a good chance you’ll have the opportunity to refinance lower.”

            We have had about 40 years when the trend has been down in mortgage rates. Honestly, I do not see that people will get a chance to get lower interest rates, they could easily double from where they are now within a few years and it would not be outside of historical norms. Now, if it occurs it is hard to see how you have home appreciation so it does not argue to rush in but I think many millennials cannot afford either home appreciation or higher interest rates. It really is a question of how much per month and a small rise of either prices them out.

          4. So after continuing to read Ben’s blog, you’re still going to buy right now?

            I know. At the absolute pinnacle peak no less.

          5. you’re still going to buy

            I’m exchanging a home with 20 years of equity after sitting on the sidelines since 2005.

        4. “…because interest rates are expected to go up after the election.”

          For how many years on end already have the used home salespeople used the specter of higher rates just around the corner to scare fence sitters into buying?

          1. And others to refinance to a higher loan balance (cash out “equity”)?

            “I’m Jay Farner with Quicken Loans…”

    2. It is bullish…if those Chinese shack owners die, then obviously they won’t be selling anytime soon 😀

    1. Been waiting on a retro-gaming project which has been held up due to getting revised PCBs made – the factories over there went idle a while a go. Other people saying that the impact is already hitting things like new laptops slated for this fall.

      1. Wait until American companies start laying people off because there are no products on the shelves or supplies for production.

      2. Been waiting on a retro-gaming project which has been held up due to getting revised PCBs made – the factories over there went idle a while a go.”

        and after big PCB fabricators spent Millions on modern manufacturing fab’s in China. If companies shift work back to the US there will be Bottlenecks and screaming managers.

  6. ‘What was probably getting $95-a-night two years ago is down to $70-75-a-night for the simple reason that [there are] so many mums and dads with one [an investment property]. They’re competing with each other by dropping the prices and that’s affecting the whole market.’”

    Gosh, it would be a real calamity for FBs if they have to start slashing their prices to compete with other FBs or lenders desperate to unload their shacks and foreclosures as valuations crater.

  8. Here is a thought. For a few decades the world has seen a global savings glut, driven by hard working people in East Asia who were used to spending less, but who needed save for old age.

    Now those generations are moving into old age. It has been predicted that China’s trade surplus will eventually disappear.

    Obviously, this would be a huge reversal. A whole economic ecosystem that has sprung up would be disrupted. One might have assumed this would happen gradually over 20 years.

    But what if the Coronavirus causes that reversal in one year?

    1. “But what if the Coronavirus causes that reversal in one year?”

      China’s savings rate has actually been slowing the world’s economy. It is the paradox of thrift. If production occurs in countries where people tend to spend more of their earnings, it might even speed up the GDP of the world. I do think it will slow housing spending since the Chinese have bought a lot of houses overseas with their savings not to live in but to “invest” their significant savings.

    2. But what if the Coronavirus causes that reversal in one year?

      It might take longer than that as the manufacturing know how was completely exported. Could we really bring flat panel TV/computer screen production online in a year?

      1. Could we really bring flat panel TV/computer screen production online in a year?’

        probably not already a worker shortage and if they try and low ball the help… nope I don’t see it.

    3. 1. What happened to the savings glut?
      2. Hard to believe the coronavirus death toll has doubled since last Monday.

      Editors’ Pick|3,255 views|
      Feb 10, 2020, 7:20 am
      Coronavirus Risks Sending China Debt To The Moon
      Kenneth Rapoza
      Senior Contributor
      Markets
      I write about business and investing in emerging markets.

      If there is one thing the bears love about China, it’s the threat of a debt bomb sending the currency well over 7 to the dollar, and bond defaults. The Wuhan coronavirus is just what the bear doctors ordered.

      First, the death toll surpassed global SARS levels on Sunday. It is over 820 people as of Monday morning. The number of confirmed cases stands at around 38,000. Those who trust China’s economic data tend to trust the coronavirus numbers. Those that don’t, don’t. And are forced into speculation that has death tolls in the thousands. Most of the problem is occurring in Wuhan, the epicenter of the viral outbreak that occurred in December.

      Coronavirus hits China at a time when it was trying to improve business sentiment, down and out because of the trade war. The People’s Bank of China and the Finance Ministry have been backstopping a slowdown with numerous mini-stimulus measures. If the coronavirus continues to spread as long as SARS spread — that will take China to August. Investors are expecting more stimulus.
      …

      1. If Coronavirus spreads to Mexico or some country that lacks resources to lock down the cities it ‘s going to get really bad.

    1. Twitter bans Zero Hedge after it posts coronavirus conspiracy theory
      By Kate Gibson
      Updated on: February 3, 2020 / 4:15 PM / MoneyWatch

      The financial website Zero Hedge is now barred from Twitter after publishing an article relaying a conspiracy theory that a Chinese scientist might be to blame for the coronavirus outbreak.

      Zero Hedge on Friday wrote that Twitter had notified the site that it had violated the social media platform’s “rules against abuse and harassment.” That followed a report by BuzzFeed that Zero Hedge had shared the identity and personal information — including the email and phone number — of a Chinese researcher it claimed might know about the source of the virus.
      …

      1. It says far more about Twitter and censorship for China’s sake than it says about Zero Hedge. Plus that it an old story link and says nothing about the veracity of the present story on Zero Hedge.

        1. You are entitled to the God-given right to believe whatever conspiracy theories strike you as plausible.

        1. If this story turns out to be correct, it will go down in history as an epic case of self-inflicted societal injury.

        2. “One of the researchers at the WHCDC described quarantining himself for two weeks after a bat’s blood got on his skin, according to the report. That same man also quarantined himself after a bat urinated on him.”

          Clearly inadequate biocontainment precautions.

    2. Russians spilled Anthrax over a remote city years ago. blamed it on bad beef. I think they had weaponized small pox problems also. I read this in a book called “the dead hand” scary stuff.

      1. Sh!t happens.

        ‘One of the largest human experiments in history’ was conducted on unsuspecting residents of San Francisco
        Kevin Loria
        Jul 9, 2015, 10:00 AM
        San Francisco Fog
        The north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge is seen surrounded by fog on September 8, 2013, in San Francisco.
        Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

        San Francisco’s fog is famous, especially in the summer, when weather conditions combine to create the characteristic cooling blanket that sits over the Bay Area.

        But one fact many may not know about San Francisco’s fog is that in 1950, the US military conducted a test to see whether it could be used to help spread a biological weapon in a “simulated germ-warfare attack.” This was just the start of many such tests around the country that would go on in secret for years.

        The test was a success, as Rebecca Kreston explains over at Discover Magazine, and “one of the largest human experiments in history.”

        But, as she writes, it was also “one of the largest offenses of the Nuremberg Code since its inception.”
        …

        2. Combined they don’t have the personality of a turnip and couldn’t fill one of mini Mike’s walk in closets with supporters that weren’t paid.

          Doesn’t help that minis wife looks like a Haggard Jim Comey in drag either. Straight out of a Mel Brooks movie, the whole Dem field.

      1. Trump is at the Daytona 500 today.

        No word on whether any of the Democratic presidential candidates were there asking the drivers where are the door handles?

        1. Drawing overflow crowds, while Biden and Fauxahontus are drawing more media toads than actual supporters.

        1. LOL@ cool story bro. I dropped off my Colorado primary ballot for Bernie today and gave his campaign another $100.

          Bernie is gonna win.

          3. “Bernie is gonna win.”

            With the socialist winning the democratic nomination it’ll be a guaranteed landslide for the incumbent, DJT.

          2. This isn’t Reddit, he/she doesn’t have a downvote button 🙁

            Regards,

            “low-information apartment dweller” who has had the great fortune of meeting, and buying a beer for, the esteemed owner of this blog a few years ago.

          3. Chino, it is strategic voting. I would do it if New Mexico allowed independent voters to vote in primaries. As my story about medicines from China shows we must keep globalists out of power at all costs.

    3. What about Tulsi talk about a woke candidate…..I listened to her on Joe Rogan and she sounded so normal,

        1. Let’s face it ,there are a lot of war mongers in this country. Even though each of these regime change wars has led to disaster we keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Einstein’s definition of insanity.

          1. We never completely demobilized after WWII. It will take some time to dismantle the Deep State that has built itself up over the last 75 years. There is still an army of bureaucrats in Washington that only know one way to solve a geopolitical situation.

          2. “…we keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.”

            Good luck with turning this around.

            Biggest Jump in World Defense Spending in 10 Years: Study
            Chinese military vehicles carrying DF-17 ballistic missiles roll during a parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of Communist China in Beijing, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019. Trucks carrying weapons including a nuclear-armed missile designed to evade U.S. defenses rumbled through Beijing as the Communist Party celebrated its 70th anniversary in power with a parade Tuesday that showcased China’s ambition as a rising global force. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
            15 Feb 2020
            Agence France Presse

            Global spending on defense rose by 4%t in 2019, the largest growth in 10 years, led by big increases from the U.S. and China, a study said Friday.

            Beijing’s military modernization program — which includes developing new hard-to-detect hypersonic missiles — is alarming Washington and helping drive U.S. defense spending, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said.
            …

    1. What happens if the federal reserve’s printing of money results in hyperinflation? Do you think just holding cash is going to be a good thing?

      2. Until the Fed starts dropping pallets of Benjamins on my doorstep, I will worry more about the trillions in debt causing a deflationary depression.

  12. ‘But why should I have to take out a loan to pay off something that isn’t my fault?’ asks Rebecca Fairclough, 37, a solicitor who says she faces bankruptcy to fix dangerous insulation at her Manchester flat. ‘I’m not only facing losing my home. Solicitors cannot be bankrupt: it would also mean losing my career.’”

    After a comprehensive review of your available avenues for recourse, Ms. Fairclough, I have regretfully concluded that in this situation, your best and only option is to stamp your little feet.

  14. – So much cratering. Please pass the crater taters! This housing phenomenon of falling prices is so unfair! I was told that prices only go up! Oh, the horror! Oh, the humanity! And it’s global; it’s almost an economic pandemic or something, with central banks as the vector.

    1) A report from the Times of London in the UK.
    “They have all become prisoners in their own homes. They can’t move jobs. They can’t get married. They are putting off having children. They can’t retire. They are stuck.”

    – Housing, now like virtually any other asset class, can see price movements in both directions. Most homeowners aren’t savvy investors, have no idea about bubble-nomics, and are just following the herd and the dreams of house price appreciation forever (until it isn’t). Learning the painful lesson that prices also go down one flat at a time, then all at once.

    – “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” – John Lennon

    2) The Edinburgh Evening News.
    “EHA spokesman Russell Imrie said the industry was experiencing worrying decline across several key indicators, including occupancy rates and the average daily hotel rates as it also struggled with the lack of control over an ‘explosion’ in the number of properties being marketed for short-term lets on sites like Airbnb. Cliff Hague, chair of the Cockburn Association heritage watchdog, said: ‘This news of an oversupply of hotels will be frustrating to the many households trying to find affordable housing in the city, since sites that could have been used for housing were snapped up for hotels.’”

    – Airbnb is a pox (viral pandemic) upon the planet. When shelter housing morphs into short-term rentals, there be consequences. Caution: shattered dreams and postponed retirements dead ahead!

    3) From ABC News in Australia.
    “That downturn is causing some Airbnb operators in the Far North Queensland tourist city of Cairns to rethink their future on the platform. Brian Kovacs, who runs an Airbnb hosting service, said this year is looking particularly grim on the booking front.”

    – More Airbnb comeuppance. Long overdue. Insert my shocked face here.

    4) The Daily Telegraph in Australia.
    “‘It’s definitely a buyer’s market on the Central Coast,’ realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee said, adding booming sales conditions in premium Sydney areas were yet to hit the coast.”

    – So Sydney is already re-booming courtesy of further government efforts to reflate the housing market and “save” the economy, which like many countries today is a one-trick pony economy of RE and only RE. Question: In what industries do buyers actually work in order to make their loan payments, when RE is the only game in town? Is everyone now an RE speculator/flipper? How does this pencil out in the long-term exactly? Does the government keep subsidizing the market so that prices continue to rise? Forever?

    – Government “help” for the first-time buyer:
    https://www.realestate.com.au/news/firsthome-buyer-changes-whats-new-from-january-1-2020/
    First-home buyer changes: What’s new from January 1, 2020?
    Kirsten Craze | 01 Jan 2020
    “The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme is a government initiative aimed at getting first-home buyers into a home sooner by helping them purchase with a 5 per cent deposit, instead of the 20 per cent down payment lenders usually request.”

    “When you think someone has been trying to get together a 20 per cent deposit and then suddenly they only need five, that person can probably get into the market a lot sooner.”

    “It does pull forward demand, which is also a little unsettling for the market,” she said.

    5) From Newshub on New Zealand.
    “In the housing section, the report concluded that based on provisional population estimates from Statistics New Zealand, Auckland’s housing shortage ‘has now, at least statistically, become a housing surplus.’ Based on the data, there were around 7,000 surplus houses in Auckland, the charity concluded.”

    – I hear the sound of global housing bubble popping from the far off shores of New Zealand. Is there any place on the planet where this isn’t now happening? That would be any place that doesn’t have a central bank. Oh wait, there’s no such place.

    6) The Sunday Guardian on India.
    “Even after three years of demonetisation, the sale in the housing sector remains poor in the entire housing segment, but the luxury and mid-budget housing segments are facing the worst situation.’”

    – Same trend globally: Both boom and bust starts at the high-end and then gradually works its way all the way down. Doesn’t matter where you are, the bust is coming your way.

    7) From Bloomberg on China.
    “Sales of existing homes plummeted 91 per cent in eight cities where data is available.”

    – While one can’t trust Chinese economic data, but isn’t that a lot?

    8) The Hong Kong Standard.
    “There have been seven cases of forfeiture of deposit among new projects so far this month.”

    – Maybe the real problem is that prices were too darn high to begin with?

    9) The St Albert Gazette in Canada.
    “The test sets the financial bar higher than the actual mortgage rate, with the goal of saving borrowers from incurring more debt than they can handle if rates rise. It also put downward pressure on pricing in Vancouver and Toronto, Lucas said, but had a ripple effect across the country.”

    – What? DTI and the financial ability of prospective buyers actually matters? Even in Canada? Insert my shocked face (again) here.

    1. In its original form — renting out rooms or a basement on a primary property — AirBnB isn’t a pox. It became a pox when it morphed into an underground unregulated version of hotels.com. All you need is cities and municipalities to define non-primary residence AirBnBs as hotels, with inspections and taxes and fees and licenses and whatever else. AirBnB will quickly become more trouble than its worth. Of course I expect there will be exceptions for resort areas like beach towns.

    1. American politicians have been absent on the issue of domestic hemorrhaging of drug manufacturing capabilities to China, Gibson said.

      “Nobody did anything about it,” lamented Gibson. “This has been going on for almost 20 years. In fact, no one wanted to even expose it.

      Globalists are traitors. So are their political and media hirelings.

    2. I’m both surprised and disappointed that our government hasn’t has a policy and group playing the long game (and thus somewhat immune to the comings and goings of each administration) to make sure ( as in ‘it would be shame if anything happened to that nice company you have there…’ / secret orders) that more key manufacturing and production of complex/difficult/cutting-edge items remains inside the United States.

      I’m sure it’s being done with some things like key electronics and items used by the military, and related things like deep backdoors in CPUs/Chipsets, but it seems like enough very important things have been outsourced to save a buck that we really are vulnerable. And I’m also sure the CCP is playing the long game to encourage that.

      1. The only manufacturing America is interested in protecting is military equipment.
        In all all other industries MBAs control the destiny with short term interest in maximizing their bonuses. So the supply chain has moved to China and other Asian countries, gutting manufacturing in the US.

        1. Maybe we need to have something like our supply of pharmaceuticals shut off to give the government a wake up call.. not likely though.. everyone’s on the take in one way or another.

  17. From article above, pretty clear W and Obama threw us under the bus:

    “Nobody did anything about it,” lamented Gibson. “This has been going on for almost 20 years. In fact, no one wanted to even expose it. That’s why it took so long to figure this out and to put it out there, to reveal our dependence. It’s really quite remarkable. The American public’s been thrown under the bus.”

    1. It’s greed. Corporate, political and private, but GREED all the same. It’s despicable what they did. They sold Americans down the river to their Chinese enemies. Americans did this to Americans. They should be executed. They’re traitors. All of them.

      1. Americans did this to Americans.

        Please don’t call globalists Americans. They have zero loyalty to America and detest everything it used to stand for.

      2. It’s the government, homie. Get the government out of housing, student loans, healthcare, etc. Then everything will be less expensive.

        1. “Get the government out of housing, student loans, healthcare, etc.”

          That’s how these drug factories got to China in the first place… by allowing the free market to be a little too free.

          1. Exactly. You need the government for certain functions, one being to protect the country from its enemies. I have been incensed my entire adult life that we sold our manufacturing base off to our biggest enemy in the world, and our own politicians and corporations tell us what a good idea it was/is.

          2. Disagree. Monopoly power through copyright protections and patents and a guaranteed buyer (medicare) made protecting quality and trade secrets unnecessary so outsourcing to minimize labor costs and environmental regulations makes huge economic sense. Dump the government enforcement of big pharma monopolies and prices drop while quality improves. And dont say a word to me about the billion dollar fda approval process or I will block you as irredeemably ignorant of econ.

  19. This news bodes ill for coronavirus containment, not to mention the cruise ship industry.

    Coronavirus Infection Found After Cruise Ship Passengers Disperse
    Amid assurances that the Westerdam was disease free, hundreds of people disembarked in Cambodia and headed for airports. One was later found to be infected.
    The Westerdarm docked in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on Saturday.
    Credit…Tang Chhin Sothy/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
    Richard C. PaddockSui-Lee WeeRoni Caryn Rabin
    By Richard C. Paddock, Sui-Lee Wee and Roni Caryn Rabin
    Feb. 16, 2020
    Updated 6:58 p.m. ET

    The cruise ship had been shunned at port after port for fear it might carry the coronavirus, but when the Westerdam arrived in Cambodia on Thursday, the prime minister greeted its passengers with flowers.

    Amid assurances that the ship was disease free, hundreds of elated passengers disembarked. Some went sightseeing, visiting beaches and restaurants and getting massages. Others traveled on to destinations around the world.

    One, however, did not make it much farther than the thermal scanners at the Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia. The passenger, an American, was stopped on Saturday, and later tested positive for the coronavirus.
    …

    1. This stuff would be comical if it weren’t so sad and dangerous. The ineptness of all countries and leaders is stunning.

      1. “…when the Westerdam arrived in Cambodia on Thursday, the prime minister greeted its passengers with flowers.

        Amid assurances that the ship was disease free, hundreds of elated passengers disembarked. Some went sightseeing, visiting beaches and restaurants and getting massages. Others traveled on to destinations around the world.”

        It sounds like as far as anyone could tell, there was no coronavirus on board. And in that case, it seems logical that cruise ship passengers flush with f-u money to spend in port would have been welcome to visit.

        Imagine the shock when one of the passengers tested positive for coronavirus!

    2. In other cruise news…

      Global Health
      44 Americans On The Diamond Princess Cruise Ship Diagnosed With Coronavirus
      February 16, 2020
      2:31 PM ET
      Aubri Juhasz
      Buses arrive at Yokohama Port, near Tokyo, as the Japan Self-Defense Forces prepare to move American passengers from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship on Sunday.
      Jae C. Hong/AP

      Another 70 cases of the coronavirus infection have been confirmed aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, currently quarantined in Japan, according to Japanese health officials.

      This brings the total number of cases aboard the vessel as of Sunday to 355, the largest confirmed cluster outside mainland China. People with confirmed infections have been taken to hospitals in Japan.

      After the ship’s two weeks of quarantine at sea, officials from various countries, including Canada, Italy, Hong Kong and South Korea, are in the process of extracting their citizens from the vessel. The Diamond Princess is reported to have around 3,700 passengers and crew members. About half the passengers are from Japan, according to Reuters.

      Approximately 400 U.S. citizens are aboard the Diamond Princess. According to Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 44 Americans on the cruise ship have been infected, though not all are sick.
      …

        1. If anyone could have foreseen how contagious this would be among cruise ship passengers, I’m sure they would have acted sooner. I believe the confirmed case rate among Americans on board is already up to 11% (44 infected among 400 American passengers). And more cases may emerge before these people are released from quarantine.

  20. Ben Jones, how much does it cost you annually to run this blog?

    I just sent $20 via the PayPal link, more on the way if needed.

    This is gonna be a fun year, watching Realtors starve 🙂

  21. Glenn Kelman: Coronavirus is the best thing to ever happen to housing. Buy now, or be priced out forever!

    1. Here’s the segment of the economy that may benefit from fears of coronavirus, analysts say
      By Andrea Riquier
      Published: Feb 15, 2020 4:18 p.m. ET
      Housing has long been known as making up 15% of the economy but its importance may be more fundamental than that

      As the COVID-19 spreads and the patient count and death toll grow, economists are slashing their once-rosy expectations for global growth in 2020.

      But amid the anxiety, there’s one bright spot in the U.S. that is likely to be immune from the virus fallout. Analysts say the housing market isn’t just domestic in nature. It will also be buoyed by exceptionally cheap borrowing costs, years of pent-up demand, and a residential construction sector that may have finally figured out how to efficiently produce entry-level properties.

      “Year after year, through things like the Greek debt crisis I had a theory that home buyers were going to be spooked, and they just shrugged off the news,” said Glenn Kelman, CEO of home brokerage Redfin (RDFN, +3.72%). “The past few years have made a fool out of anyone predicting higher rates and challenging American exceptionalism. The U.S. economy just keeps on going strong.”
      …

  22. Another day, another 2000 new confirmed coronavirus cases in Hubei province…

    The Financial Times
    Coronavirus
    Coronavirus latest: China’s Hubei province reports almost 2,000 new cases

    1. Novel coronavirus death toll tops 1,770 as US passengers on quarantined cruise ship fly home
      CNN Digital Expansion 2017
      By James Griffiths, CNN
      Updated 10:44 PM ET, Sun February 16, 2020

      Hong Kong (CNN)The number of deaths from the novel coronavirus has risen to 1,770, with an additional 100 deaths reported Sunday in Hubei, the Chinese province at the center of the outbreak.
      There have been more than 71,000 cases worldwide, with the vast majority of those in mainland China. The largest outbreaks outside of China have been in Singapore and Japan, where the Diamond Princess cruise ship has been docked for almost two weeks now, while health officials tested the thousands of passengers and crew on board.

      So far, more than 350 cases have been confirmed aboard the ship, with an additional 70 on Sunday. More are expected before the official end of the quarantine period, after which Japanese officials said it would take two or three days for passengers to disembark, during which they will be tested once again.

      Hundreds of Americans on board were able to leave Sunday, on a specially-chartered flight organized by the US government. They are swapping one quarantine for another, however, with US authorities saying Saturday that on their return stateside, the passengers will have to undergo another two-weeks of observation and testing at one of two military bases.

      The move sparked anger from many passengers, who saw it as yet another delay to getting back to their normal lives. “It’s like a prison sentence for something I did not do,” passenger Karey Mansicalco told CNN from her cabin. “They are holding us hostage for absolutely no reason.”
      …

  25. This is not what you want to hear after having recently disembarked from Delta Flight 611.

    Couple from Japan later diagnosed with coronavirus took Delta Airlines flight
    Coronavirus
    Posted: Feb 16, 2020 / 03:07 PM HST / Updated: Feb 16, 2020 / 03:09 PM HST

    HONOLULU (KHON2) — A couple from Japan who later tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) flew on a Delta Airlines flight when they left Oahu, according to the airlines.

    Delta said that Flight 611 was from Honolulu to Nagoya on February 6, 2020.

    The airline said that they’re working with public health officials, like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local Japanese authorities.

    The airline is also reaching out to passengers who may have flown on the same flight as the couple from Japan.
    …

      1. Not sure…

        Another possible COVID-19 case in the South Bay
        As of Friday morning, there’s been no word from county health officials about the person’s quarantine status or how they might have become infected.
        CORONAVIRUS
        Author: Neda Iranpour (Reporter)
        Published: 6:50 AM PST February 14, 2020
        Updated: 5:26 PM PST February 14, 2020

        SAN DIEGO — There are a lot of questions Friday morning regarding a possible case of COVID-19 in the South Bay. A person was being evaluated at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center and has been released.

        Sharp Healthcare officials say a person under investigation for possible COVID-19 was discharged from Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center Wednesday, but that person is under the supervision of county health officials. The health provider directed all additional questions to the San Diego County Health and Human Services agency.

        As of Friday morning, there’s been no word from county health officials about the person’s quarantine status or how they might have become infected.

        Three people are currently at UC San Diego Medical Center. Two tested positive for COVID-19 and one showed symptoms. They were on a flight from Wuhan, China to MCAS Miramar and were supposed to join the more than 200 others in quarantine on base until next week. Instead, they’re now in isolation at the hospital.
        …

  26. Gregor Mendel’s research assistant similarly fudged numbers to the point where the data overfit the model.

    China’s Coronavirus Figures Don’t Add Up. ‘This Never Happens With Real Data.’
    Updated Feb. 15, 2020 at 7:30 a.m. ET
    By Lisa Beilfuss

    China’s economic data have always been fraught. Now, all eyes are on the coronavirus numbers, which economists and investors are using to estimate the outbreak’s toll—and they are too perfect to mean much.

    A statistical analysis of China’s coronavirus casualty data shows a near-perfect prediction model that data analysts say isn’t likely to naturally occur, casting doubt over the numbers reported to the World Health Organization.
    …

  27. “Gibson went on, “So we can’t make penicillin, and this was the playbook for how we lost aspirin manufacturing, vitamin C, and so many other antibiotics that we rely on. We’re talking about last-resort antibiotics, medicines to treat sepsis, MRSA, [and] C. diff. These are the antibiotics you give to your kids for ear infections, or you take if you have a tooth infection of staph infection.”

    “Gibson warned, “We are so vulnerable. These are infectious diseases, and we depend on China to treat them.”

    Scary

    2. And does anybody really believe that China’s sticking to a strict manufacturing process? These are the people who poison baby formula, dog food, etc.

    3. And the worst part of it all is that as we offshore the production of so many things, we lose both the industrial know how and the infrastructure to make them ourselves.

      It might pay to be friendlier to Mexico. Unlike us, they haven’t offshored everything that wasn’t nailed down. In a pinch we might need to buy more from them.

  28. Forget Sars, the new coronavirus threatens a meltdown in China’s economy
    — Sars’ fatality rate may be higher than Covid-19’s, but economically speaking the new coronavirus is far more deadly
    — This time around, a worst-case scenario of financial collapse, foreign exodus and large-scale bankruptcy cannot be ruled out
    Cary Huang
    Published: 11:00am, 16 Feb, 2020
    Updated: 11:23am, 16 Feb, 2020

    Given the rapid advance of medical science and globalisation of recent decades, the scale, spread and economic costs of human epidemics are rocketing up, even if fatality rates are starting to fall.

    Never before has China paid such an economic price for an epidemic as it has done already with the coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan and causes the disease now officially known as Covid-19. And the damage is spreading.

    It is too soon to assess the full impact of the virus as the data changes day after day and not even the brightest expert can say with any certainty when the outbreak might end. Nevertheless, that has not stopped economists from attempting to forecast the likely economic cost based on precedents such as the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars.

    Sars sickened about 8,000 people and killed fewer than 800 and in these terms has already been surpassed by the new coronavirus, though its fatality rate of 9.6 per cent is significantly higher than that of Covid-19, which some estimates put at around 2.4 per cent. Sars cut two percentage points from China’s real GDP growth in the second quarter of 2003 and caused US$50 billion of damage to the global economy.

    Of course, the economic losses from Covid-19 will depend somewhat on how long the outbreak lasts and on what policy support the Chinese government comes up with to offset the impact. But even at this stage, it is obvious that the economic impact of Covid-19 will be far more severe than that of Sars, or any other previous epidemic, for a number of reasons.

    Firstly, the Chinese economy is four times as big as it was in 2003, so its losses and the impact on the global economy are likely to be correspondingly larger. China’s gross domestic product accounted for around 16 per cent of the global total last year while it was just four per cent in 2003. A rough estimate is that Covid-19 will cause at least four times as big a loss as Sars.

    Secondly, the timing is far worse. The outbreak took place just days before the Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel domestically and internationally to attend family reunions and festive events. Sars happened in the second quarter of the year, when there was far less activity to disrupt. What’s more, China’s economic shift away from manufacturing and exports to concentrate on services and consumption means it will be even more vulnerable to falling domestic demand caused by the epidemic and the government’s responses. Government clampdowns on travel and the behaviour of cautious consumers keen to avoid crowds and social gatherings mean a sharp drop in consumption. Hospitality, retail, air travel, transport, entertainment and tourism will be among the sectors hardest hit.

    Thirdly, China’s rapid urbanisation means Chinese are now much more likely to travel domestically and abroad than two decades ago. This also means that when they stop travelling, the disruption is greater. The country has 288 million migrant workers, who account for about a third of China’s labour force. Many who travelled to rural homes for the holidays will be either unable or unwilling to return to work in the cities. Even if they are not frightened of the health consequences, there are travelling restrictions in force and many flights, rail services and long-distance buses have been halted.

    Fourthly, the magnitude of the government’s response has been unlike anything ever seen before. Whole cities have been locked down, effectively grinding some local economies to a halt since Beijing declared all-out war on January 23. Currently, 30 of China’s 31 provinces have declared a top-level public health emergency, with all major cities and economic hubs effectively shut for weeks. The government has locked down 56 million people in quarantine in Hubei, banned tens of millions more from travelling across the nation, and imposed restrictions on activities in most urban areas. The Lunar New Year holiday has been extended for one or two weeks for most of the country. At the peak, provinces accounting for almost 69 per cent of China’s GDP were closed for business, according to Bloomberg Economics. There were no such measures in 2003.

    Fifthly, rising US-China trade frictions will magnify the economic impact of Covid-19 as the world’s two largest economies remain locked in tariff and technology wars even if they have signed an interim truce. The epidemic may well trigger an exodus of multinational companies, as many firms were already rethinking their presence in China due to the tensions with the US and rising costs.

    Sixthly, for the millions of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China, the nightmare may be just beginning
    . Many small manufacturers fear foreign customers will shift orders to other countries due to disruptions in production and delivery. In a survey of 995 SMEs by academics from Tsinghua and Peking universities, 85 per cent said they would be unable to survive for more than three months under the current conditions. If the disruption goes on long enough, it could trigger a wave of bankruptcy among SMEs, which contribute more than 60 per cent of China’s GDP, 70 per cent of its patents and account for 80 per cent of jobs nationwide.

    Finally, the epidemic will weigh on banks in the form of non-performing loans, adding risk to the banking system and pressure to the country’s towering debt pile, which stood at more than 300 per cent of annual GDP at the end of last year. Given the accumulated costs of decades of state-driven lending, an ever-inflating property bubble, and vast industrial overcapacity, the risk of default on the country’s 99.1 trillion yuan of outstanding onshore bonds is increasing. Corporate bond defaults already hit a record high last year amid an economic slowdown. The lower revenue and land sales income for local governments will in turn hit local government financing vehicles. The disruption will weigh on the capacity of some companies and individuals to repay loans, pushing up delinquency rates. Financially weak SMEs could face additional funding pressure as they are exposed to refinancing risk.

    Unfortunately, as its scale is bigger and spread is faster, this epidemic is likely to go on far longer than Sars did.
    …

  29. ‘Australian Financial Review Political Editor Phil Coorey says “you’re never going to influence an entire housing market unless you socialise it”. Mr Coorey said the first home buyers’ scheme – which allows property to be purchased with a deposit of as little as five per cent – was “the government doing what it can to look responsive”. “We had a lot of greed-fueled panic last year where the market just flattened for a while,” he said. “If you want the government to fix up housing, you’re going to be waiting a very long time.” Mr Coorey said affordability was a “massive problem in this country”.

    https://www.news.com.au/national/housing-affordability-is-a-massive-problem-in-this-country/video/394ddb7f028e55515a1b980866aeaca5

    1. ‘Australian Financial Review Political Editor Phil Coorey says “you’re never going to influence an entire housing market unless you socialise it”. Mr Coorey said the first home buyers’ scheme – which allows property to be purchased with a deposit of as little as five per cent – was “the government doing what it can to look responsive”.

      – Thank you Ben for again focusing on the core problem with global housing markets: Government/Central Bank intervention, the loss of free markets and price discovery, and, sadly, the unavoidable consequences of these actions. This disease permeates most all global economies today, and not just housing, but banking and markets in general.

      Socialism in housing (aka the State takes control of the means of production (finance, construction, media, etc.) is no different than general Socialism in a nation-state; it’s just a microcosm of the larger system, but same dynamic and outcome.

      Socialism is all about power and control of an elite few over the masses; it wipes out the middle class, leaving serfs and oligarchs. Think banana republic. As the U.S. moves more towards Socialism and the abandonment of free markets, we’re seeing the effects: growing income inequality, wealth concentration in the few, and loss of freedoms. The shift towards Socialism is due to the rise of oligarchs, monopolies, and crony capitalism, and not true capitalism and many falsely believe.

      Right now we have Bernie (Socialist) and Bloomberg (Oligarch) at the two ends of the political spectrum with DJT in the middle. How this will end in Nov., 2020 I do not know, but the choices and outcomes (consequences) are clear from history. The Second Amendment will likely be a deciding factor if history is any guide.

      “Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

      “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money [to spend].” – Margaret Thatcher

      “Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.” – Alexis de Tocqueville

      “The enduring lesson of the 20th century is that socialism is a failure, and free markets are a success. But the politicians keep advocating just a little more socialism.” – Milton Friedman

      “In practice, socialism didn’t work. But socialism could never have worked because it is based on false premises about human psychology and society, and gross ignorance of human economy.” – David Horowitz

      1. Can it be any clearer that the Commies are in bed with the Globalist. The first step was to de-wealth the working class in US by Globalism.

        These Elite Progressives want to do away with the Constitution in favor of Elite rule.

        This progressive/commie movement started with Woodrow Wilson. Wilson got the federal income tax enacted. This created the Big Government with the power to tax.

        Don’t ever let your health care be levied by Federal taxes. Obama care tied tax penalty to lack of compliance to purchasing overpriced medical insurance based on income, not on medical Inurance risk.

        Now Bernie wants to take over the health industry and tax to foot the bill. God knows what those taxes would be like in the final analysis. These Commies really don’t explain.

        George Washington would be turning over in his grave at the Commies taking over trying to turn US back into service of the king in the form of the Big State.

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