The Structure Of The U.S. Mortgage Market Is Much The Same As It Was Before The Crisis
A report from the Wall Street Journal. “Ann Winn called her mortgage company to see about pausing payments in late March, soon after she had to shut down the salon she owns in a suburb of Austin, Texas. What followed, she said, were hours of tense calls and emails with Freedom Mortgage Corp. The company agreed to let her skip a few payments—but only if she would repay them all in a lump sum this summer. Ms. Winn didn’t know when she would be back at work, so she declined. ‘I’m just not going to pay my other bills,’ she said, ‘because I don’t want to lose my home.'”
“Ms. Winn and her husband bought their Leander, Texas, home in 2014 using the FHA loan program, which is meant for first-time and modest-income buyers.”
“The virus has forced millions of homeowners to suddenly stop making payments. At the same time, many mortgage companies aren’t built to handle an economic collapse or help their customers through it. Many of them are nonbanks that don’t have deposits or other business lines to cushion them, and they have raised concerns that fronting payments for struggling borrowers such as Ms. Winn will quickly drain them of capital.”
“Years ago, the financial crisis revealed the folly of churning out ‘liar loans.’ Regulators cracked down, and mortgages made today are generally more conservative. What regulators didn’t focus on was the strength of the mortgage companies themselves. Though the loans are sturdier, the infrastructure largely didn’t change.”
“Nonbanks made 59% of U.S. mortgages last year, the highest level on record, according to industry-research group Inside Mortgage Finance. They also made a large proportion of U.S. mortgages before 2008 but many went bust when the crisis hit. Many nonbanks, like United Wholesale Mortgage and loanDepot.com LLC, are barely known outside the industry but dominant inside it. Quicken Loans Inc., one of the few with wide name recognition, ranked as the largest mortgage lender by originations for the first time this year, elbowing out Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase & Co.”
“Nonbanks also have expanded in the crucial business of servicing mortgages. They now service roughly half of them, five times their share from a decade ago, according to the Urban Institute. In good times, that task involves collecting payments from borrowers and handing them to investors that own the loans, plus handling odds and ends such as taxes. In exchange, the servicer gets a slice of the interest. In bad times, servicers are supposed to create new payment plans for struggling borrowers, which takes much more work and expense. When all else fails, servicers initiate foreclosures.”
“For years after the crisis, regulators, mortgage executives and consumer advocates discussed how to improve this market. They floated ideas about changing the way servicers are paid so they collect a bigger fee when a loan becomes delinquent. They also considered having the servicers fund a central utility to handle defaulted mortgages. But those ideas never gained much traction, according to people involved.”
“‘There was a big focus on the consumer experience,’ said Michael Bright, the former head of government mortgage corporation Ginnie Mae, which backs Federal Housing Administration loans. ‘But there wasn’t much focus on the quality of a servicer.'”
“The structure of the U.S. mortgage market is much the same as it was before the crisis. Pools of mortgages are packaged and sold to investors around the world. When a borrower stops paying, servicers are caught in the middle, forced to front payments to the investor, even though they aren’t receiving money from the borrower. The servicer will eventually get reimbursed if the mortgage is one of the roughly two-thirds guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae. But that is a slow process and in some cases can take years.”
“Lawmakers recently outlined how struggling borrowers can request so-called forbearance plans, by which they pause their monthly payments. If the mortgage is government-backed, then companies are generally supposed to grant the request. That has thrust both banks and nonbanks into the position of cushioning the blow for their customers. Nonbanks, which depend on short-term bank loans to fund their daily operations, are struggling to do so.”
“About 7.5% of borrowers had obtained forbearances as of April 26, according to a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association, or MBA. That means about 3.8 million homeowners are skipping their monthly payments with permission. If forbearance rates reach the mid-to-high teens, few servicers are expected to have the cash to meet their advance obligations, according to Warren Kornfeld, who covers nonbank mortgage companies at Moody’s Investors Service. As a result, many are now trying to gain access to additional cash.”
“Mortgage servicers, both banks and nonbanks, were on the hook for about $4.5 billion a month in servicing advances on government-backed loans because of forbearances as of Thursday. That is roughly 25 times more than they were on the hook for at the end of February, according to Black Knight Inc., a mortgage-data and technology firm. The health of nonbanks ultimately depends on keeping their funding. Worried about the surge in borrowers seeking relief, some banks have recently curtailed this lending.”
“Mortgage companies, both banks and nonbanks, are also pulling back on some lending to borrowers. Credit availability in April fell to its lowest since 2014, according to the MBA. Lenders are cutting back in particular for borrowers with lower credit scores, according to the Urban Institute. But the contraction in credit is spreading to all types of loans—from jumbo mortgages to cash-out refinances.”
“Beverly Harris was in the process of buying a home in the Palm Springs, Calif., area in March when the type of unconventional loan she had been pre-approved for suddenly became unavailable. The retiree, who has a high credit score and was planning to put 20% down, was expecting to use a loan that qualifies the borrower based on assets rather than income. She estimates she checked with 15 different mortgage companies and banks. All of them had stopped making those types of loans. For now, Ms. Harris is staying put in her rental.”
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The title of this article:
‘The Mortgage Market Never Got Fixed After 2008. Now It’s Breaking Again.’
‘Many mortgage companies are nonbanks that don’t have deposits or other business lines to cushion them amid the coronavirus pandemic’
This is probably the best we can expect from the REIC to admit there’s a bubble. Never got fixed? Are you freaking kidding? Bernanke’s whole plan was to blow up shack prices. Have you guys never heard of “pedal to the metal” Mel Watt?
We got more subprime loans than last decade by a whopping margin. VA loans alone are up over 1000% from last decade. All it took was a recession and the whole sh$t-cart comes falling down. Actually it was already falling over a year ago.
A report from the Wall Street Journal. “Years ago, the financial crisis revealed the folly of churning out ‘liar loans.’ Regulators cracked down, and mortgages made today are generally more conservative.“
“Though the loans are sturdier, the infrastructure largely didn’t change.”
– I call bull$hit! And this is the WSJ. Behind a firewall. I would have to pay for this “factual reporting.” The entire MSM, financial and otherwise is so much BS/Propaganda today. Maybe always has been.
Thank you Ben for being “a voice in the wilderness.”
“Journalism is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space.” – Rebecca West
“Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.” ~Thomas Jefferson, letter to Nathaniel Macon
“In the real world, the right thing never happens in the right place and the right time. It is the job of journalists and historians to make it appear that it has.” ~Mark Twain
“If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.” ~Author unknown, commonly attributed to Mark Twain or Thomas Jefferson
Loans are sturdier than they were in 2007. In 2007 you could have a low FICO, lie about your income, put no money down at all, get a 10x income adjustable rate mortgage, AND pay even less than the interest, all at the same time. That’s how a $30K strawberry picker household was able to get “into” a $750K house in CA.
Today’s loans don’t get near that. Sure, Mel Watt allowed a buyer to get 5% of the required income from a roomie, and sure there were some no-down loans and some low-FICO loans, but I haven’t seen an I/O or Neg-am in 12-13 years now.
“The federal government has decided it doesn’t want to pursue — and has asked a judge to dismiss — a lawsuit against Utah-based Academy Mortgage Corp. The judge refused. The suit claims the company’s staff would repeatedly feed information into an automated federal underwriting system, manipulating it until the computer gave the green light. ‘Decline is a curse word,’ Plaintiff Gwen Thrower, a former underwriter, quoted a manager as saying. ‘We don’t use it.’”
http://housingbubble.blog/?p=3070
There it is.
There are more subprime mortgages out there today than there ever were.
5% down payment mortgages are subprime by definition.
Kensington, MD Housing Prices Crater 14% YOY As The Subprime Mortgage Implosion Envelops Washington DC Area
https://www.movoto.com/kensington-md/market-trends/
As a noted economist questioned, “Why buy a house when you can rent one for half the monthly cost. Buy it later after prices crater for 70% less.
“Decline is a curse word…”
So Deflation must be a disgusting act?
I’d argue the loans are actually worse this time around, and there are far more of them. Almost 5 years ago now I remember seeing a story on the news where a recent college graduate was buying a house in Seattle, but since her income didn’t support the purchase price she was able to get a couple prospective roommates and pledge their incomes on the loan app. She got the house!
This past week we read of two public school employees in Seattle who had two loans over $500k.
Here ya go WSJ, pull you head out of yer ass:
October 4, 2019 “The federal government has dramatically expanded its exposure to risky mortgages. In 2019, there is more government-backed housing debt than at any other point in U.S. history, according to the Urban Institute. A growing number of homeowners faces debt payments that amount to nearly half of their monthly income. ‘There is a point here where, in an effort to create access to homeownership, you may actually be doing it in a manner that isn’t sustainable and it’s putting more people at risk,’ said David Stevens, a former commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration. ‘Competition, particularly in certain market conditions, can lead to a false narrative, like ‘housing will never go down’ or ‘you will never lose on mortgages.’”
“The Federal Housing Finance Agency, at the time under Director Mel Watt, began working on plans to direct Fannie Mae to purchase loans with higher debt-to-income thresholds, Watt said. ‘It is intuitive – you think the higher somebody’s debt-to-income ratio, the more problems they are going to have,’ he said from his home in North Carolina, where he is now retired. ‘But that’s just not the best criteria to apply to be quite honest.’”
http://housingbubble.blog/?p=2768
Yes, the writing is on the wall as clear as day.
And yet we wait. We wait as car dealers swear on their mother’s graves there is an epic shortage owing to factory closures. We wait as the REIC swears pent up demand will swarm the few listings that come on the market in May. They call buyers savvy and bears jealous. They are flattering sycophants and schoolyard bullies all in one.
We wait. We know better. But it won’t be tomorrow. Or the next day.
Patience, my friends. We have come this far. Just a little further now.
— I may have had a little brandy in my coffee this morning 😉
Federal government expands investigation into money laundering in real estate
FinCEN investigation will last until Nov. 2020, at least
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/federal-government-expands-investigation-into-money-laundering-in-real-estate/
We wait as car dealers swear on their mother’s graves there is an epic shortage owing to factory closures.
Yet the local dealerships are bursting with unsold inventory and the factories are offering incentives.
Our local Toyota dealer had over 120 Tacomas in stock less than 2 months ago. After Toyota upped the incentive to $1,750 and unveiled gimmicks like 0% and deferred payments, they are down to less than 30. I can only imagine that the subprime nonsense is still going, because this makes no sense whatsoever, how they could sell down all those trucks so quickly in such a horrific economic environment.
I can only imagine that the subprime nonsense is still going
That’s probably how they’re moving them.
But the dealers in my little burb are over flowing with trux. The local Ford dealer has 150 F-150’s in stock.
‘There is a point here where, in an effort to create access to homeownership, you may actually be doing it in a manner that isn’t sustainable and it’s putting more people at risk,’
For how long has this been underway? 25 years or so?
IT.NEVER.STOPS.
It’s the FED and .gov working tirelessly to pump asset prices and maintain them at levels well above what incomes and the economy justify.
High asset prices do not foster economic growth and prosperity, they stifle it. Asset price bubbles enrich the top 1%, and few others. It is nearly impossible to start any sort of profitable business during a real estate bubble. The overhead is much too high, so the prices for the goods and services one must charge in order to pay that overhead are not affordable for the masses.
As a lender myself, LTV is, and always will be, the one and only indicator of loan quality to me.
As a hard money lender, at what point does the LTV indicate the “go, no-go” dividing line for you? Just curious.
60% LTV. 65% if I like them. 67% if they over-improved the interior.
They will cut grass and wash dishes before letting something go at 60% LTV.
What kind of rates are they paying in this low rate environment?
Further, what kind of person who has 40% down would need a hard money lender? That’s the kind of buyer any bank wants.
65% if I like them
LOL. I learned not to do “trust” business with people that gave me a bad feeling several decades ago. How old are you?
You can throw LTV out the window when houses are triple their historic DTI ratios.
Not really. Generally speaking, a higher LTV reduces the buyer’s incentive to continue paying off the loan. Why keep throwing good money after bad, if the amount you will eventually get in a sale is far exceeded by the amount that has to be repaid in order to continue HODLing ?
Sadly, in times of Bubble, the Value you once thought you had becomes something else.
L/Vimagined > 1
L/Vreal < 1
Hot Potato.
When they put 20% down and the house crashes 65% in price, they don’t keep paying.
Precisely.
If you overpaid and financed it, you’ve got yourself a subrime mortgage.
If you overpaid and wrote a check, you’re equally as doomed.
Most at 10%, a few at 8%.
You would think banks would want 60% LTV’s, but in order for banks to package loans and sell them, the loan officers have boxes they have to check, and their employees aren’t allowed to grade risk for themselves. If you think everything banks do makes sense…I assure you it doesn’t.
Exactly. And if I correctly recall Oxide’s many explanations of what constitutes subprime lending, then LTV isn’t even taken into consideration, as “subprime” concerns the borrower’s credit rating, not whether the loan amount and terms relative to the borrower’s means and incentives to repay it increase the chance that it will eventually go into default.
May 25, 2018
“In his corner of American finance, where hard selling meets hard luck, Angelo Christian is a star. Each time Christian sells a home loan, the company he works for, American Financial Network Inc., takes as much as 5 percent. Many of Christian’s customers have no savings, poor credit, or low income—sometimes all three. Some are like Joseph Taylor, a corrections officer who saw Christian’s roadside billboard touting zero-down mortgages. Taylor had recently filed for bankruptcy because of his $25,000 in credit card debt. But he just bought his first home for $120,000 with a zero-down loan from Christian’s company. Monthly debt payments now eat up half his take-home pay. ‘If he can help me, he can help anyone,’ Taylor says. ‘My credit history was just horrible.’”
“Christian can do this kind of deal because he is, in effect, making the loan on behalf of the federal government through its most important affordable housing program. It’s a sweet deal: He gets his nearly risk-free commission. Taylor puts no money down. If things go south, the government ultimately bears the risk. Many borrowers ‘are living paycheck to paycheck and, if they lose their jobs, they go into default immediately,’ says John Burns, a housing consultant.”
“One reason more borrowers may be stretching: Real estate prices are soaring again.”
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=10443
Nobody could see it coming.
Can’t…see…coming!
March 26, 2020
“As America heads into a deep recession, the $11 trillion residential-mortgage market is in crisis. Investors who buy home loans packaged into bonds are dumping even those with federal backing because of panic that millions might not make their payments. Yet one risky sector had started to show cracks long before the coronavirus pandemic sparked the worst financial meltdown in 12 years: the federal government’s largest affordable-housing program, whose lenient terms are geared toward marginal borrowers.”
“As real estate prices soared in recent years, working-class adults everywhere have increasingly relied on mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration — and U.S. taxpayers. Since 2007, the FHA’s portfolio has tripled in value to more than $1.2 trillion, almost 11% of the market. While private lenders make these loans, they are packaged into Ginnie Mae bonds, common in mutual funds and pensions.”
“Before Covid-19 started roiling China, a November FHA report found that 27% of borrowers last year spent more than half their incomes on debt, a level it describes as ‘unprecedented.’ The share of FHA loans souring in their first six months has doubled over the last three years to almost 1%.”
“Not long ago, Alex Castillo drove his shiny black Infiniti SUV through an office park north of the San Antonio airport, along a busy seven-mile stretch of highway that loan officers call ‘Mortgage Row’ because of its abundance of small independent mortgage companies that dominate FHA lending. Castillo, who has the words ‘The Dream Starts Here’ stitched into his jacket, works for Pennsylvania-based American Residential Lending. Oddly, amid the pandemic, his business is booming. His customers locked in FHA mortgages after interest rates plunged this month — adding to federally backed mortgage debt.”
“‘If the government tells me you’re good enough to get a loan, I have to trust and believe in the government,’ Castillo said. ‘Then we just hope and pray that the client doesn’t get foreclosed on.’”
“In downtown San Antonio, scores of investors stood on a parched lawn beside the city’s historic granite-and-red-sandstone courthouse. It was the first Tuesday of February, the day of the foreclosure auction. Matt Badders, a San Antonio lawyer who represents lenders, auctioned off two houses. The failed mortgages remind him of the run-up to the financial crisis 12 years ago, when lending to customers with spotty credit nearly brought down the world’s financial system. ‘We’re almost back to 2007, when mortgage originators are waking people up on park benches, saying sign here,’ Badders said.”
“At the auction, the crowd bid on 338 homes, a third with FHA mortgages, according to Roddy’s Foreclosure Listing Service. One house had dual master bedrooms, a game room and granite kitchen counters. It sold for $202,000 — $52,000 less than the homeowner borrowed only two years ago. The taxpayer-backed FHA insurance fund will take a loss.”
“Dave Stevens, FHA commissioner under President Barack Obama and former chief executive officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said a recession will expose hidden risks in home lending. ‘This should be an alarm bell to policymakers,’ Stevens said. ‘Sometimes you get blinded by a good economy and suddenly look at it and see a bubble of defaults coming.’”
“The federal government has decided it doesn’t want to pursue — and has asked a judge to dismiss — a lawsuit against Utah-based Academy Mortgage Corp. The judge refused. The suit claims the company’s staff would repeatedly feed information into an automated federal underwriting system, manipulating it until the computer gave the green light. ‘Decline is a curse word,’ Plaintiff Gwen Thrower, a former underwriter, quoted a manager as saying. ‘We don’t use it.’”
http://housingbubble.blog/?p=3070
October 23, 2019 “A side comment made by a regulator during a congressional hearing Tuesday shows how little is settled when it comes to the fates of the two companies that underpin much of the housing finance market in the United States. ‘If the circumstances present itself to where we have to wipe out the shareholders, we will,’ Federal Housing Finance Agency director Mark Calabria said during a hearing before the House Financial Service Committee, referring to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s shareholders.”
“Calabria frequently noted that Fannie and Freddie were operating at leverage ratios of 500 to 1, while most major banks are only allowed to maintain leverage ratios of 10 to 1. ‘Even if every single loan Fannie and Freddie made were pristine, they would still fail at that level of leverage’ in the event of a downturn, Calabria said.”
November 4, 2019 “The subprime mortgage-backed bond may be dead in America a decade after it helped trigger the global financial crisis, but a security with some of the same high-risk characteristics is starting to take off. It’s called the non-qualified mortgage — basically a loan granted to borrowers whose checkered financial record made them ineligible for conventional mortgages. This surge in issuance of non-QM bonds, as they’re called, comes just as some initial indications of delinquency rates on the loans are starting to emerge. The short answer: They’re high. About 3% to 5% in some bonds, according to Barclays Plc.”
“Fund managers’ willingness to plow money into these securities shows how the intense suspicion that met mortgage bonds after the housing bubble burst last decade is starting to slowly fade. ‘It’s obviously disturbing this late in the cycle to see originations for these loans at the kind of level they’ve kicked up to,’ said Daniel Alpert, managing partner at Westwood Capital. ‘The housing market is not quite ready for a big infusion of this product.’”
http://housingbubble.blog/?p=2768
most major banks are only allowed to maintain leverage ratios of 10 to 1
I believe this hasn’t been the case for decades.
“Calabria frequently noted that Fannie and Freddie were operating at leverage ratios of 500 to 1, while most major banks are only allowed to maintain leverage ratios of 10 to 1. ‘Even if every single loan Fannie and Freddie made were pristine, they would still fail at that level of leverage’ in the event of a downturn, Calabria said.”
What’s keeping the evil twins afloat now that a huge number of American loanowners have stopped paying their mortgages?
Today’s COVID-19 public service announcement:
The Eastern Virginia Medical Group has compiled all the research on COVID and developed a treatment plan. It’s 13 pages long but it’s easy reading with good diagrams. They even have a treatment plan using OTC supplements which “may” alleviate mild cases or even be preventative. Interested parties might want to have a look (h/t to Peak Propsperity). Warning: PDF.
https://www.evms.edu/media/evms_public/departments/internal_medicine/EVMS_Critical_Care_COVID-19_Protocol.pdf
Here’s another:
Gov. Wolf officially signs law banning child marriage in Pa
May 8th 2020
http://origin.wjactv.com/news/local/gov-wolf-officially-signs-law-banning-child-marriage-in-pa
I don’t see what’s unreasonable about this law. You can’t buy cigarettes under 18, so maybe you also shouldn’t be making the most important decision of your life prior to that age either. And if two people are truly in love, surely they can wait a year or two for the fancy party.
There’s definitely some liberal spin on the media coverage, though.
‘On December 12, 1957, Jerry married his third cousin, Myra Gale Brown. A lot of ink has been spilled about his close blood relationship with Myra, and the fact that she was only 13 and still believed in Santa Claus when the pair were married. For a man from his time and place, however, marrying at 13 and marrying one’s third cousin (twice removed) were both fairly commonplace, although Lewis further complicated matters by again marrying before the divorce from his second wife was final.’
https://www.liveabout.com/jerry-lee-lewis-marriage-to-13-year-old-cousin-2523387
Is Wolf going to ban marrying a 13 YO cousin? What’s next, banning moonshine?
Ironically, I was a minor when I got married. It was up to my parents, not the nanny state to judge my fitness.
Old enough to be drafted though.
“Old enough to be drafted though.”
Copy that!
And of all places, the PennDutch willingly submit.
Thanks Oxide.
The EVMS is part of a larger group of efforts to treat the disease. You might be interested in this:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/05/how-treatable-is-covid-19.php
and along similar lines:
https://spectator.org/a-report-from-the-front/
I also read an article saying the HCL works for some people, and not others and explained why, but can’t find the link.
‘Of course, the question boils down to this: is this health emergency sufficiently dire to merit an ongoing lockdown that has turned the entire nation into a minimum-security prison? And unfortunately, there isn’t much information available to Americans that doesn’t come with an agenda.’
‘Why, at a time like this, has the media attacked every move by the president, while defending every move by Democrats? Why is the media defending the fascist regime of China? Why didn’t Americans try the Swedish approach, encouraging social distancing and prioritizing resources to protect the most vulnerable? Why does the United States stand on the brink of economic suicide, when maybe, just maybe, other tactics could have managed the pandemic without destroying the economy?’
‘It’s also not unreasonable to take issue with Newsom’s performance as governor before this crisis began. Apart from doing whatever the public employee unions and his left-wing billionaire donors tell him to do, he really hasn’t pleased anyone. If you work as an independent contractor, Newsom put you out of a job by signing AB 5. This draconian and poorly conceived law, written for the state legislature by the unions, requires companies to hire independent contractors as employees. But that didn’t happen. Instead, and in an instant, most of them lost their jobs.’
‘How does that work, if you’re a “nonessential” writer, musician, or artist, or, more to the point, an “essential” nurse, caregiver, or truck driver? Essential or nonessential, workers need to work. With one signature, Newsom robbed millions of Californians of that right. And that was before the pandemic hit.’
‘Newsom can blame the pandemic for the imploding revenues that doom his state to budget deficits that will make the great recession look like a picnic, but voters should see right through that. Did Gavin Newsom ever stand up to the teachers unions, and tell them they’ll never get another dime until they agree to reform CalSTRS, the teachers’ pension fund? No, but he let these unions successfully advocate for curricula that, among other things, “challenges binary concepts about gender” in third grade.’
‘With a record like that, you’d think Governor Newsom would realize he is on thin ice. But how did he cope with the pandemic? He became King Newsom, issuing executive orders without consulting the legislature. He even spent $1 billion of taxpayer money to buy masks from a Chinese company. The public still doesn’t have the details of that transaction.’
https://amgreatness.com/2020/05/07/california-is-ready-to-get-rid-of-gavin-newsom/
What I want to know is, when is he going to ban child marriage?
Newsom Delivers Stern Warning To Renegade Counties
‘The most significant reopening of the California economy during the coronavirus pandemic started Friday with tens of thousands of businesses cleared to open with limitations and the governor expressing optimism residents may soon be able to eat in restaurants and shop in stores. Nearly two dozen counties want to move further, which the state will allow under strict criteria on the number of cases, deaths and tests, Gov. Gavin Newsom said. Still, his administration sent a stern warning later Friday to three Northern California counties that have moved faster than the state allows, threatening them with losing federal disaster money. Yuba, Sutter and Modoc counties have opened businesses such as hair and nail salons, shopping malls and dine-in restaurants.’
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/05/09/coronavirus-roundup-newsome-warns-renegade-counties-possible-covid-19-link-to-childhood-disease/
Renegade. See, we all belong to the guberment now, according to the boot lickers. See the control freaks for what they are.
There are repercussions for those playing God:
https://electrek.co/2020/05/09/tesla-move-california-to-texas-nevada-coronavirus-response/
If I’m not mistaken, Musk generally supports leftist causes, except this time it was his ox that was gored. Suddenly he’s a Texan.
You nailed it, with style (suddenly he’s a Texan).
It’s one thing to move offices to another state. Moving a factory is a lot more involved, though I could see the Lone Star state making it worth the effort. Will he also move SpaceX?
Will he also move SpaceX?
He expects to move into a modest rental himself.
What kind of businesses thrive in a Depression? Or is the fantasy just on pause?
Just this morning I posted some information to HBB that didn’t come with an agenda. If masks and HCQ/Zn catch on, it will be that much easier and safer to open up the economy.
The masks everybody is wearing are dust masks.
Particle Particle Size (microns)
Typical Atmospheric Dust 0.001 to 30
Viruses 0.005 – 0.3
I had a Zoom conference on Wednesday given by Rady Children’s Hospital entitled “COVID-19 Update and Mental Health Implications.” The reason their employees started wearing masks: to make the public feel more at ease. Rady Children’s Hospital has had six (6!) COVID-positive patients, 2 of whom had cancer and one of those who was on chemo with no white blood cell count. All are fine. The hospital will have access to remdesivir but doesn’t anticipate needing it. No mention of HCQ but that 69 vaccination trials are ongoing. Meanwhile, the hospital is now seeing 1-2 severe cases of child abuse per day, including death.
A “small particle” is 0.3 microns. The N95 mask is expected to remove 95% of those and larger. As I’ve mentioned before, the P100 (99.98%) is a much better choice for dust protection, as when you’re doing foundry work.
Surgical masks are horrible at dust protection. 75%?
The saving grace is (I think) that a virus does not take wing as a solo molecule, like a mosquito buzzing around. It travels in a vehicle of spit. The droplet size distribution of a sneeze is between 0.3 to 0.5 mm = 300 to 500 microns. The doctor wears a mask in surgery to prevent spitting.
I could be off base here, but I don’t think so.
The big droplets are going to the ground before they enter your respiratory system. It’s the little bitsy ones that stay aloft which should concern you, if any.
Blue is right. The virus itself is small, but it has to hitch a ride on droplets. Most of those droplets fall to the ground — or at least away from nose/face level* — after a couple of feet.
(Shoe soles are pretty contaminated.) Six feet was decided as the magic number for social distancing, when most of the droplets have fallen out of the air.
If you wear a mask, that does not protect you 100% from breathing in droplets.** However, the mask does block an infected person from breathing droplets OUT. Some droplets do get through, but the drops travel less than 6 feet. That’s why it’s better for everyone to have masks. It’s not to protect you from contracting the virus; it’s to protect you from spreading it.
Heh. The stuff we learn, eh. When I was in school, the slang for making out was “swapping saliva.” Little did we know that we’re swapping saliva from anyone within 6 feet of us. We’re all making out from with strangers, from a distance! 😘
——————–
*Which raises another question — If a short person talks to a tall person, is that tall person immune, since the droplets have to fight gravity to reach the tall person’s nose? Are short people more easily infected because they catch everyone else’s falling droplets?
**I vaguely remember hearing that a double layer handkerchief blocks or absorbs 50% of droplets, i.e. N-50, but don’t quote me on that.
*Which raises another question
Someone’s bored. Me too.
Stop Forcing People to Wear Masks Over COVID-19 Fears
Whether masks actually prevent the spread of respiratory infection remains a subject of debate. As recently as March, the US Surgeon General was saying face coverings could actually increase one’s risk of infection.
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
…
Seriously? This guy may as well have been arguing about airline security on September 10, 2001.
This guy
Fidgeting fingers frustrate face masks.
Touching a face mask or adjusting the strap still doesn’t give you COVID. The virus has to get into a face hole: mouth, nostril, eyeballs. And even if you adjust your mask, you’re still not breathing in somebody else’s droplets (or not all of them).
The virus has to get into a face hole: mouth, nostril, eyeballs.
And I’ve heard the mouth doesn’t really count if you’re not breathing it in. It just goes to your stomach and gets digested, so you don’t really need to worry about it in your food either. It’s just when it’s airborne into your lungs or rubbed into the mucous membranes of the nose or eyes that it actually gets you. Or so I’ve heard.
the mouth doesn’t really count if you’re not breathing it
Seems to me the lungs and the stomach have a shared driveway.
Seems to me the lungs and the stomach have a shared driveway.
Just saying…from what I’m hearing it needs to be an aerosol until after the driveway splits otherwise it ends up in the stomach.
Just saying
OK. I’m a little slow at times. How can something entering your mouth not encounter mucous membranes? You have hydrochloric acid in your stomach, but not in your mouth. Can I kiss the pretty gal next door if I hold my breath? Are “cold sores” a myth? Just askin.
Could I request to be among the 20% of unmasked people?
Coronavirus
If 80% of Americans Wore Masks, COVID-19 Infections Would Plummet, New Study Says
There’s compelling evidence that Japan, Hong Kong, and other East Asian locales are doing it right and we should really, truly mask up—fast.
By David Ewing Duncan
May 8, 2020
People walk through Piazza Duomo in Milan on May 7th. Some restrictions were lifted this week in Italy.
By Carlo Cozzoli/Shutterstock.
It sounds too good to be true. But a compelling new study and computer model provide fresh evidence for a simple solution to help us emerge from this nightmarish lockdown. The formula? Always social distance in public and, most importantly, wear a mask.
If you’re wondering whether to wear or not to wear, consider this. The day before yesterday, 21 people died of COVID-19 in Japan. In the United States, 2,129 died. Comparing overall death rates for the two countries offers an even starker point of comparison with total U.S. deaths now at a staggering 76,032 and Japan’s fatalities at 577. Japan’s population is about 38% of the U.S., but even adjusting for population, the Japanese death rate is a mere 2% of America’s.
This comes despite Japan having no lockdown, still-active subways, and many businesses that have remained open—reportedly including karaoke bars, although Japanese citizens and industries are practicing social distancing where they can. Nor have the Japanese broadly embraced contact tracing, a practice by which health authorities identify someone who has been infected and then attempt to identify everyone that person might have interacted with—and potentially infected. So how does Japan do it?
…
“successfully advocate for curricula that, among other things, “challenges binary concepts about gender” in third grade.”
I’m going to have you banned from Twitter for criticizing this. Oh, wait. You own this blog.
‘With a record like that, you’d think Governor Newsom would realize he is on thin ice. But how did he cope with the pandemic? He became King Newsom, issuing executive orders without consulting the legislature.’
All of these governors are having their rock star moments, no different than this clown Fauci and every other bloated talking head enjoying their 15 minutes of fame. Every one of these a$$hats is a narcissist feeding their ego. Those are the only types interested in such sleazy positions to begin with. Ever wonder why none of the good people are in charge? It’s because their moral code won’t allow it.
Ever wonder why none of the good people are in charge? It’s because their moral code won’t allow it.
I think most will serve if asked but have no desire to get into the pit and mud wrestle with those who have spent their whole lives preparing to compete for it.
Granite Bay, CA Housing Prices Crater 12% YOY As Double Digit Prices Declines Envelop Sacramento Area
https://www.movoto.com/granite-bay-ca/market-trends/
As a leading economist advises, “Mortgage debt is the most toxic and damaging debt of all. Avoid it at all costs.”
“Granite Bay, CA”
The sweet land of ample breast augmentation.
I haven’t socialized there but just driving through on the way to the Roseville Mall I hadn’t noticed anything unusual there. I’ve looked at a house or two there before and kind of like those old(er) money(ish) neighborhoods though.
Fuh Cough Gruesome/GasbagCuomo/Wolf/Murphy/Lamont
‘Gov. Ralph Northam’s announced plan to begin “Phase 1” of reopening Virginia as early as May 15 is reckless and cruel.’
Angela Ciolfi is executive director of the Legal Aid Justice Center
https://www.justice4all.org/2020/05/06/statement-on-the-proposed-re-opening-of-virginia/
‘The Legal Aid Justice Center partners with communities and clients to achieve justice by dismantling systems that create and perpetuate poverty. Justice means racial justice, social justice, and economic justice. ‘
The SJW and free-sh$tters are all on board with nationwide imprisonment. Oh, unless you work in a grocery store. Which means you are immune.
What is guvnah black-face up to these days?
unless you work in a grocery store.
Thankfully, those who work in the liquor store are immune too, unless you live in PA.
“achieve justice by dismantling systems that create and perpetuate poverty. Justice means racial justice, social justice, and economic justice”
Every time I read a SJW word salad like this I feel a hand reaching into my pocket and extracting my taxpayer dollars.
Don’t forget bathroom justice!
Never will…this travesty transpired when my kids were in high school.
Transgender locker room issue roils Rancho Bernardo High School
The San Diego Union-Tribune
51 months ago
…
A report from the Wall Street Journal. “Nonbanks made 59% of U.S. mortgages last year, the highest level on record, according to industry-research group Inside Mortgage Finance. They also made a large proportion of U.S. mortgages before 2008 but many went bust when the crisis hit.
“The structure of the U.S. mortgage market is much the same as it was before the [current] crisis [, and similar to the last crisis] . Pools of mortgages are packaged and sold to investors around the world.
– So things are “different this time,” but things aren’t “different this time.” Which is it? (hint: the second one)
– Mortgage lending standards were relaxed this time as well, just like in housing bubble 1.0. There are many parallels. Based on the similarities, how can one expect a different outcome?
– There’s an ongoing and concerted effort by the FIRE sector to lobby for non-bank bailouts by the GSE’s (aka taxpayer).
– Let the weaker Co’s. be taken over by the stronger Co’s. Let BK do its job of “creative destruction” and clearing of the bad debts and weak hands. Just like “justice delayed is justice denied,” stretching this out, or “kicking the can,” isn’t solving the problem. Someone might want to look into why this is now a recurring (asset bubble) problem, and which entities are enabling the addicts with financial heroin. Not holding breath though.
This looks like seditious conspiracy.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/08/obama-biden-oval-office-meeting-on-january-5-was-key-to-entire-anti-trump-operation/
“An analysis of the timeline from early 2017 shows a clear pattern of behavior from the federal officials running the collusion operation against the Trump campaign. It also shows how essential media leaks were to their strategy to sideline key law enforcement and intelligence officials and cripple the ability of the incoming Trump administration to run the country.”
And Obama is getting nervous.
https://news.yahoo.com/obama-irule-of-law-michael-flynn-case-014121045.html
For reference: https://www.theepochtimes.com/spygate-the-true-story-of-collusion_2684629.html
People are comparing the handwritten notes released this week about entrapping Flynn to other samples of Obama’s writing. That would be quite the smoking gun.
Since when is law enforcement doing their job entrapment?
Keep up.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/07/doj-dropping-case-against-flynn-following-blockbuster-revelations-of-fbi-corruption/
(emphasis added)
when is law enforcement doing their job entrapment?
Very funny. I guess the morality of it depends on knowing if the trapee is a bad guy or a good guy?
Officer: Do you know how fast you were going?
Driver: I was only going 35!
Officer: Wrong. You were going 38. You weren’t speeding, but you’re going to jail for lying to an officer of the court.
Redpilled,
My gut feeling all along has been that Obama/Biden were behind the Flynn/Trump take out plan.
In fact I think the only reason Biden is running is to block discovery of the misdeeds of those two.
Nobody runs for President at 78 who is half senile and a empty suite like him. I think he has a agenda of self protection ,also for his buddy Obama.
Agree on all points.
New theory being floated out there… It’s the FLU deaths that have been exaggerated through the decades, not so much Covid-19 right now.
Some are beginning to question the numbers we’ve been fed these many years. They’re saying the numbers don’t fit with experience. But why lie about the flu death numbers every year?
Could be many reasons i guess. None of them good.
Give Your Gut a Chance: Microorganisms and Your Immune System | Viome
https://www.viome.com/blog/give-your-gut-chance-microorganisms-and-your-immune-system
Bottom line: “Nurturing our gut ecosystem can be one of the most profound ways we can beef up our immune response.”
Mr. Banker says: The preservatives in much of the food we eat are put there to preserve the food so it won’t get spoiled while being stored. The presence of bacteria is one of the ways food gets spoiled. The genius solution to preventing food from getting spoiled is to put poison with the food so as to kill the bacteria. Problem solved.
But wait! When we eat this food that contains a preservative we also eat the preservative. And what does this preservative do after we eat it? Why, it travels through our intestinal track and kills the bacteria that live there.
Read the above article and learn why this is a big bummer. And then stop eating food that contains preservatives.
Or not; Your choice.
I’m heading to Costco in a little while to restock my kombucha stash.