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At The Moment It’s A Train Wreck

A report from Toronto Storeys in Canada. “Toronto’s real estate market took another hit in April, with the average rent for both 1 and 2-bedroom apartments down on a year-over-year basis, according to new data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. This coincides with rental transactions for both apartment types also dropping more than 50%. Shaun Hildebrand, head of development-tracking market research firm Urbanation, says condo rents in Toronto could be even lower post-COVID-19.”

“‘As rental demand declines as job losses mount, incomes are reduced, and immigration shrinks, the slowing in the GTA rental market that appeared in the last half of March will progress for at least the next few quarters given the current economic outlook,’ said Hildebrand. ‘The impact on rents will be something to watch, which will also be influenced by the timing of the record number of units that were expected to complete this year.'”

From Mortgage Introducer in the UK. “Halifax’s April House Price Index reported a month-by-month fall of 0.6%, but Lucy Pendleton, property expert at James Pendleton has said this should not be a cause for concern. She added that buyers looking to capitalise on uncertainty have been the exception, rather than the rule so far: ‘There have been a small number of buyers seeking price reductions but these have been minor skirmishes prompted by opportunists rather than any reaction to the economic realities being faced by vendors.'”

From The Guardian. “Airbnb has revolutionised travel and since it was founded in 2008 hundreds of thousands of property owners have used the holiday accommodation platform to make ends meet, make a living and, in some cases, make a killing. But while hosts, as they are known, are wringing their hands over the collapse of the travel industry and their loss of income, many city authorities are rubbing theirs at the prospect of thousands of holiday lets returning to the traditional rental market.”

“Ian Brossat, the Paris deputy mayor in charge of housing, said Airbnb listings had ‘collapsed’ in Paris and hosts had registered just 40 stays with authorities in the first three weeks of April, compared to an average of 1,210 a month last year. Airbnb refutes the figures, preferring to focus on supply rather than demand.”

“Meanwhile, a report by the holiday rental analysts Transparent shows a drop of about 98% in reservations in Spain since the lockdown began on 14 March. No one expects a quick recovery and in Spain the tourism industry has effectively written off 2020 and is looking ahead to next year. In order to recoup their losses, owners are now turning to the conventional rental market, with hundreds, possibly thousands, of apartments being offered in Spanish cities for short lets of up to a year.”

The Uganda Observer. “A significant price drop means that oil assets that were being sold at crazy rates a year ago are now available at far less than they are worth. As businesses go under, there will be many on sale for a song for many reasons, including failure to meet their loan obligations. There are going to be many foreclosures as people cannot pay their mortgages. They will want to cash in. Bank loans are going to be hard to get. I believe it is difficult already to get a bank loan today as every projection shows an economy that is not going to recover for some time.”

From Bloomberg. “Singapore expats are often envied for their generous pay packets but facing the prospect of salary cuts as the coronavirus batters businesses, some are tightening their belts and asking for lower rent. Lester Chen is another real estate agent who is dealing with rent reduction requests from expats. One, living in an apartment in Sentosa Cove, a residential area on an island off Singapore’s south coast, managed to get his rent lowered by 20 percent.”

“Some landlords hold out because the types of apartments they own are in short supply or because that rental income goes toward paying their own mortgage. For those who do acquiesce, they’re often ‘willing to close one eye because at least they get some income instead of ending up empty handed,’ Chen said.”

The South China Morning Post. “China Evergrande’s weekend sale of its Emerald Bay flats in Tuen Mun has flopped for the third time in as many months, as Hong Kong’s homebuyers shunned its meagre discounts in anticipation of further price declines. The developer managed to find buyers for 41 flats, or 12 per cent of the 335 units on offer at 8:30pm, according to sales agents.”

“The contrast could not have been more stark in October, when Evergrande’s first real estate project in Hong Kong got off with a flying start, selling all 167 apartments on offer in a day. Hong Kong’s home prices may decline by between 10 per cent and 20 per cent this year amid the slumping economy and expected glut of projects, according to property consultants. Greater job insecurity will decrease desire among prospective homebuyers, they said.”

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. “The coronavirus crisis is hitting the short-term rental accommodation market in Sydney, exposing the weak foundations of some businesses that have sub-let residential properties as Airbnb accommodation. Founder of Weekenda Management Pete Smith, who owns five short-term rental accommodation properties and manages 130 properties for other people, said he knew several Sydney businesses that had ‘gone under.’ He said one business had been unable to pay 60 leases after subletting them for short-term rental accommodation.”

“‘At the moment it’s a train wreck,’ Mr Smith said. ‘We’re down to 12 per cent of where we were last year, but I’m quite optimistic about that because I expected a total wipeout.'”

“‘In the case of those [primary leaseholders] who are subletting in metropolitan markets, I expect all of these are under tremendous pressure and have very quickly reverted to general rental as they still have rents to pay,’ said Australian Short Term Rental Accommodation Association chairman Rob Jeffress.”

“Real Estate Institute NSW President Leanne Pilkington said the pressure to sell short-term rental accommodation is not evident yet. ‘Because the banks have put a hold on mortgages, even though it will cost people more in the long run, it means there isn’t that immediate pressure to sell right now,’ Ms Pilkington said. ‘[But] without the higher return of Airbnb rates, it may mean some people will not be able to afford to have those properties.'”

From ABC News in Australia. “They’re both three bedders with one bathroom, separated by just 100 metres in a sought-after Sydney suburb. They were sold just one month apart, but when it comes to price, real estate agents blame Australia’s coronavirus shutdown for a $200,000 gap. Renters seeking new digs are also potential winners due to a ‘pandemic rate,’ according to Jim Triantos from Elders Real Estate. Mr Triantos said there was a surge of availabilities, particularly around universities due to a decreased number of international students.”

“Since the lockdown, he’s off-loaded over a dozen apartments with year-long leases at a 25 per cent discount. ‘Some of these apartments which were going for $800 were being [leased] for $600 a week,’ he said.”

The Australian Financial Review. “More than half (51.5 per cent) of Tasmanian households were in mortgage stress – the highest proportion in the country – triggered by high property prices relative to income and the closure of the tourist sector in the state. Digital Finance Analytics defines households, whether mortgage-holders or renters, as being in housing stress when their income is less than their overall expenses.”

“South Australia has the second-highest number of households in mortgage stress at 41.7 per cent, followed by Western Australia (40.7 per cent). Two in five (40.2 per cent) households in Victoria were struggling to pay their mortgage, while a third of households in NSW and Queensland were in distress.”

“Digital Finance Analytics principal Martin North, who estimates default risk based on assumptions – including the historical performance of loans in the area, overlaid with the local economy – said this was the highest level on record in the past decade. ‘Running our projections forward and assuming the COVID-19 unlocking proceeds as expected, we still expect to see more than 41 per cent of households in stress by August,’ he said.”

“Households living in the city fringes, often in new high-density estates, were also under mortgage pressure. Mr North said a growing number of more affluent households were also struggling, with 3 per cent at risk of defaulting on their mortgage. ‘We are seeing young and wealthy households that were highly leveraged, with multiple mortgages and investment loans, and have been hit by dividend cuts and sharemarket falls, are now at risk of not meeting their mortgage repayments,’ he said.”

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This Post Has 45 Comments

  1. ‘‘As rental demand declines as job losses mount, incomes are reduced, and immigration shrinks, the slowing in the GTA rental market that appeared in the last half of March will progress for at least the next few quarters given the current economic outlook…The impact on rents will be something to watch, which will also be influenced by the timing of the record number of units that were expected to complete this year’

    Record? Oh dear…

    1. oh and dont worry – CDN govt to the rescue ??

      I believe that the US FHA dude is talking a tough game. But in the end – he will have to cave to the politicians. So hard working folks will have to subsidize the housing speculation industry.

      —
      OTTAWA (MNI) – Canada’s federal housing agency signaled it may need a government bailout as the Covid-19 pandemic triggers a surge in unemployment and mortgage insurance claims, a scenario it long claimed was nearly impossible.

      Canada Mortgage and Housing’s annual report published Tuesday said “increases in insurance claims losses may occur, however we are currently unable to estimate the potential impact on our financial results or condition.”

      “In the event our capital position may be impacted, under the Capital and Dividend Policy Framework for Financial Crown Corporations, the Government would stand prepared to inject capital into CMHC should additional capital be needed to deliver on our public policy mandate,” the report said.

      The agency may also be asked by the government to take on even more risk to stabilize housing markets, CMHC said. “There can be no assurance of the impact or magnitude of these events on our future financial results.”

  2. ‘he knew several Sydney businesses that had ‘gone under.’ He said one business had been unable to pay 60 leases after subletting them for short-term rental accommodation’

    That’s gonna leave a mark.

    ‘At the moment it’s a train wreck…We’re down to 12 per cent of where we were last year, but I’m quite optimistic about that because I expected a total wipeout’

    That comes later Pete, after you sell off all your crap to fight the inevitable.

  4. ‘The developer managed to find buyers for 41 flats, or 12 per cent of the 335 units on offer at 8:30pm, according to sales agents. The contrast could not have been more stark in October, when Evergrande’s first real estate project in Hong Kong got off with a flying start, selling all 167 apartments on offer in a day’

    Gosh, I hope no one paid too much in such an environment.

  5. “Toronto’s real estate market took another hit in April, with the average rent for both 1 and 2-bedroom apartments down on a year-over-year basis, according to new data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. This coincides with rental transactions for both apartment types also dropping more than 50%. Shaun Hildebrand, head of development-tracking market research firm Urbanation, says condo rents in Toronto could be even lower post-COVID-19.”

    Wa?! Oxide told us that rents always go up.

    Is it different in Canada?

    1. Oxide never told you that rents always go up. Oxide told you that in her experience, her rents had never gone down in the same unit. Oxide also qualified that the large number of new units coming online may go counter to her own experience, and that rents might also come down.

      But that’s still a relative term. If the rent for a luxury apartment decreases from $2099/mo to $1899/mo, what does that mean for the working man who can only afford a Grade B unit for $1299? Oh, right, not much.

      1. Oxide never told you that rents always go up.

        Maybe it was more like “rents always will go up”? Omnipotent Landlords & etc.

        Circa Rent vs Buy NYT spreadsheet assumptions.

      1. “Obamagate” ……good word for it.
        Trying to take out a incoming President and General that the people elected. It’s treason .

        1. I’m not sure #ObamaGate adequately reflects the gravity of the situation. It is treason.

        2. It’s treason

          trea·son
          /ˈtrēzən/

          noun

          the crime of betraying one’s country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government.

          We don’t have a sovereign, so go with the rest of it. The difference between a traitor and a hero is who wins, by force.

          1. so go with the rest of it

            This was an attempt to overthrow a duly elected president. The upper echelons of the FBI and DOJ have already been purged. It’s beyond time for the orchestrators of this coup to be held accountable.

          3. My beef with Ohbahma was right from the start he trashed MLK’s legacy by making everything about race first. And even today Moochelle never talks about content of character and behavior.

    2. Mexico’s populist president is also opening a long-overdue investigation into the role of the Obama White House and its corrupt AG, Eric Holder, in the “Fast and Furious” gun-running scheme that saw thousands of “assault rifles” walked across the border by the BATF to arm Mexican drug cartels. This was part of the Obama-Holder scheme to smear gun owners, and has resulted in thousands of dead Mexicans as well as at least two U.S. border patrol agents. None dare call it treason….

      https://www.theblaze.com/news/fast-furious-mexican-president-obama?utm_content=buffer5317a&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=tw-theblaze

      1. I think this is a diversion tactic AMLO is using. It seems that everything he touches turns into excrement these days.

        He still hasn’t been able to unload the presidential Dreamliner, which he tried to sell for top dollar and found no buyers. Good luck getting rid of it now. He has earned the mockery of many for floating a lottery to get rid of it. Have 500 pesos burning a hole in your pocket? You could be the lucky winner! I wonder how much it costs to store a 787 or to maintain it so that it’s flight ready? Sounds like the ultimate white elephant.

  9. The Uganda Observer. “A significant price drop means that oil assets that were being sold at crazy rates a year ago are now available at far less than they are worth. As businesses go under, there will be many on sale for a song for many reasons, including failure to meet their loan obligations. There are going to be many foreclosures as people cannot pay their mortgages. They will want to cash in. Bank loans are going to be hard to get. I believe it is difficult already to get a bank loan today as every projection shows an economy that is not going to recover for some time.”

    – This is Uganda of all places, but it could be anywhere real estate became a bubble, which is, well, most of the known world. Just change “oil assets” to “STR/Airbnb assets” as applicable, and the rest is spot on. It’s like the CCP virus pandemic, only for houses. And yet, no one complained when the bubble was inflating courtesy of central bank largess. Now, all of the sudden, there’s a problem.

    1. “It’s like the CCP virus pandemic, only for houses.”

      This one is definitely man made, by central bankers.

  10. “In order to recoup their losses, owners are now turning to the conventional rental market, with hundreds, possibly thousands, of apartments being offered in Spanish cities for short lets of up to a year.”

    Taking so much housing off the market, while gutting the hotel industry, should never have been lawful in the first place. Die, speculator scum.

  11. The LA rent strike makes for quite the video report with this story.

    New data shows more Americans are having trouble paying their rent

    By Scottie Andrew and Anna Bahney for CNN Business
    Updated 5:53 PM ET, Sat April 11, 202

    Nearly a third of 13.4 million US renters, 31%, didn’t pay their rent between April 1 and April 5. That’s according to data from the National Multifamily Housing Council, a trade association for the apartment industry.

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/09/business/americans-rent-payment-trnd/index.html

    1. Basically the US is now turning into the EU. Every industry pushing for cash subsidies from the govt. Just like the european counterparts – they will re-neg on the commitments to get loans and grants

      I was speaking to friends in WA State this weekend. Boeing did not take the fed offer for 2 reasons. 1. They were able to get a $25B funding from wall street (backstopped by the fed 🙁 ) , 2. There was a hard commitment to retain 9X% of employment – they could not do this while right sizing the company.

      So … who knows what is really happening in the real economy while wall street heads to the moon
      —————
      Her organization is calling for direct rental assistance, in which struggling tenant’s rents are paid to landlords by the government.

      But it’s better than nothing
      “It allows money to move up the ladder,” said Flora Arabo, national senior director of state and local policy at Enterprise Community Partners. “In April, there is still time to get money flowing. What happens when eviction moratoriums are lifted? Now there is a critical window to get emergency assistance to those who need it.”

  13. The world hasn’t run out of suckers just yet.

    Thomas Simms
    8 hours ago
    Bitcoin Tests $10,000, ‘Halving Dump,’ $1M BTC Predicted: Hodler’s Digest, May 4–10
    Bitcoin suffers a “halving dump” after testing $10,000, what the event means for miners, and the latest predictions of where prices will be in 2021 and beyond.

    Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
    Top Stories This Week
    Three reasons for the Bitcoin “halving dump” from $10,000 to $8,100

    We’re less than 48 hours away from “the halvening” — and there’s been no end of drama over the past week. Initially, there was hype as Bitcoin soared, with the world’s biggest cryptocurrency testing $10,000. But over the weekend, a dramatic and sudden sell-off began — a sharp correction that caused BTC to slide all the way back to $8,100. Bitcoin plunged by 9% in a single hour as it failed to tackle the $10,200-to-$10,500 range, which has historically served as a strong level of resistance. Some analysts had been arguing that a sell-off was inevitable because BTC was overbought, but even they were predicting that this would happen after the halving. The big question now is whether that “fear of missing out” remains, whether Bitcoin can bounce back, and whether crypto executives, such as Decred Founder Joseph Young, believe prices will “roughly double” in the short term.
    What the Bitcoin halving means for miners

    It’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the impact that the halving will have on miners. A supply shock is imminent — and once it’s taken place, only 900 new Bitcoin will be entering circulation per day, a sharp decrease from the 1,800 we’ve had for four years. Data suggests that miners are hoarding BTC ahead of the halving, with ByteTree suggesting that higher prices are ahead of us. Many miners will see the expense associated with mining a single Bitcoin rise substantially, far beyond the average of $6,851 reported earlier this year. Some estimates suggest that it could cost anywhere between $12,000 and $15,000 in the not-too-distant future, and this means prices would have to rise if miners have any hope of breaking even.

    https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-tests-10-000-halving-dump-1m-btc-predicted-hodlers-digest-may-410

    1. I though the number of Bitcoin was fixed.

      In any event, it has already failed in its purported mission — serving as a means of exchange with a stable value not subject to government whim. Who would every want to count on paying their rent with a currency that soars and crashing all the time.

      Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has been trying to reduce the value of the dollar, and hasn’t been able to even do it.

  14. U.S. stock futures rise coming off last week’s rally
    Published: May 11, 2020 at 12:05 a.m. ET
    By Mike Murphy

    After starting slowly, U.S. stock index futures were shooting higher late Sunday. As of midnight Eastern, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM00, 0.42%) were up more than 150 points, or 0.6%, while S&P 500 futures (ES00, 0.29) and Nasdaq-100 futures (NQ00, 0.41%) were also up around the same percentages. Stocks rose Friday, and for the week the Dow (DJIA, +1.90%) advanced 2.6%, the S&P 500 (SPX, +1.68%) ended 3.5% higher while the Nasdaq (COMP, +1.57%) advanced 6%, as expectations for an economic bounce-back as businesses gradually reopen outweighed new data showing more than 20 million Americans lost their jobs in April amid coronavirus-related shutdowns.
    …

    1. Is your FOGI (Fear Of Getting In) keeping you on the sidelines of this epic rally?

    2. The Financial Times
      Coronavirus business update 30 days complimentary
      Opinion Inside Business
      The Fed’s Vietnam moment
      What the US central bank has now done in understandable haste, it may end up repenting at leisure
      Robin Wigglesworth
      The Federal Reserve building in Washington
      The Fed’s motives may be pure but a repeat of the pattern of socialised losses and privatised gains is distasteful
      © Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
      Robin Wigglesworth
      2 hours ago

      The US Federal Reserve is right to do whatever it takes to prevent what will undoubtedly be a deep recession from becoming a depression. But the move to buy riskier corporate debt could prove the monetary equivalent of President John F Kennedy’s 1961 decision to dispatch US troops to Vietnam.

      Unprecedented is an overused word, but the size, number and novelty of facilities unveiled by the US central bank in recent weeks is without parallel. The latest salvo came ahead of Easter, when the Fed announced another $2.3tn package of measures.

      “The Fed appears to be working under the premise that in past crises of historic proportion, there are almost no occasions when the monetary authorities are remembered and accused of doing too much,” noted Alan Ruskin of Deutsche Bank. “So why not load the bazooka with the kitchen sink and go nuclear?”

      Mixed metaphors aside, Mr Ruskin is correct. The US central bank’s job is to ensure maximum employment, stable prices and — implicitly — a stable financial system. The coronavirus crisis is a threat to all three. The main burden must fall on governments, but in situations such as this central banks are required to act decisively.

      However, some of the Fed’s recent initiatives take it into treacherous territory, from which an exit it may be difficult. Just as Kennedy’s first escalation of the Vietnam conflict inexorably led to a series of seemingly rational but ultimately ruinous decisions and progressive entanglements in Indochina, future central bankers could end up ruing the Fed’s current path.

      Among a host of facilities announced on March 23, the Fed unveiled two programmes that would allow it to acquire corporate debt. Initially this was just for safer debts judged to be “investment grade” by the big credit rating agencies. But on April 9 the Fed crossed another Rubicon and announced plans to buy corporate debt rated below that threshold — territory often termed pejoratively but not always inaccurately as “junk”.

      Its primary market facility will still only buy bonds that were rated investment grade as of March 22 and have solely been downgraded to junk as a consequence of the coronavirus crisis.

      But the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility will buy exchange-traded junk bond funds. The Bank of Japan has been buying ETFs for a while, and the European Central Bank has hoovered up some high-quality corporate debt, but coming from the de facto global central bank, this amounts to a watershed moment in the history of monetary policy.

      At the same time, a financial crisis-era programme restarted in March was expanded to support top-rated slices of bundles of “leveraged loans” and commercial mortgages. Together, the three facilities come to $850bn — nearly half the size of the Fed’s entire first round of quantitative easing in 2008-10. The intervention has buoyed credit markets, helping a smattering of riskier companies raise financing even before a single dollar has been spent.

      Nonetheless, there are many thorny aspects to the Fed’s recent actions. While the difference between investment grade and junk debt is somewhat arbitrary, the central bank’s move is fraught with hazards, both moral and practical.

      Many lowly rated companies are owned by private equity firms that have layered on unwise levels of debt on their investments to juice their own returns. Even if they haven’t been rescued directly as banks were in 2008, this still arguably constitutes a de facto bailout. The Fed’s motives may be pure — sub-investment grade companies are huge employers — but a repeat of the pattern of socialised losses and privatised gains is distasteful.

      Even if this can be overlooked in the name of rescuing the economy, the Fed has put itself in an awkward position. Its recent move may be cautious — akin to Kennedy sending a few hundred Green Berets to train the South Vietnamese military in 1961 — but if markets choke again, will it feel forced to move even more forcefully into riskier corporate debt? Just how will it decide who deserves to be helped, and who has to fend for themselves? Should an unelected, independent agency even be allowed to take such momentous decisions?
      …

      1. “Even if they haven’t been rescued directly as banks were in 2008, this still arguably constitutes a de facto bailout. The Fed’s motives may be pure — sub-investment grade companies are huge employers — but a repeat of the pattern of socialised losses and privatised gains is distasteful.”

        Instead of more debt, they could have speeded up bankruptcy proceedings on an emergency basis. That would have preserved the companies and jobs, but gotten rid of the C-suiters, debt and equity pillagers.

        Rapid bankruptcy by rule might have been unfair to some in some cases. But hand out money to some via Blackstone will have the same effect on an individual basis, while leading to even more market concentration and inequality on an economy-wide bases.

        But Trump and the Congress would never consider a wipeout. Not even the Democrats. Yes they put conditions on the other bailout money, but not the Fed. And the condition they did put on, no to stock buybacks AND dividends hurts the little guy too. Buybacks are used to inflate executive pay. Dividends are retirement income.

  15. YOLO!

    The Financial Times
    US banks
    Wall St banks’ trading risk surges to highest since 2011
    Coronavirus sell-off drives up key measure of potential losses
    JPMorgan’s daily VaR touched its highest level since the last quarter of 2009 © AFP/Getty Images
    Laura Noonan in New York yesterday

    Daily trading risks at top Wall Street banks hit their highest level since 2011 during the first-quarter turmoil, prompting speculation that their capital-intensive markets businesses would be further scaled back.

    The top five Wall St banks’ aggregate “value at risk”, which measures their potential daily trading losses, soared to its highest level in 34 quarters during the first three months of the year, according to Financial Times analysis of the quarterly VaR high disclosed in banks’ regulatory filings.

    The measure is a key input into the total risk attached to banks’ trading businesses, which determines how much capital must be assigned to future trading activities. Spikes in VaR mean trading units need more capital, particularly in the short term, making them more expensive to run.

    Devin Ryan, an analyst at JMP Securities, said the first quarter was an “extreme example” of this effect, as record volatility “led to substantially more elevated VaRs than we have seen in some time”.

    While markets have been calmer in recent weeks, Mr Ryan added that “if volatility returns and is more lasting, we do think banks could look to further reduce risk, which could drive trading inventories lower”.
    …

  16. Imagine borrowing nearly half a million dollars, with interest, to buy a starter shack only to realize your new neighbors are a drunk, his screaming wife, a couple of delinquent kids and a dog who likes to take a dump on your front lawn every day. Renters can just move.

  17. Hey kidz, don’t try this at home!

    Key Words
    He started the day with $77,000 — by midnight, he owed $9 million
    Published: May 10, 2020 at 8:10 p.m. ET
    By Shawn Langlois
    One investor really took a bath on his oil trades. Everett

    ‘I was in shock. I felt like everything was going to be taken from me, all my assets.’

    That’s Syed Shah (not pictured), a 30-year-old daytrader in Toronto whose ill-fated attempt to dip his toe into the oil pits CL00, -2.26% was covered in a recent story by Bloomberg News.

    On April 20, Shah started with about $77,000 in his account. He put $2,400 toward buying crude, first at $3.30 a barrel, and then more at 50 cents. From there it got interesting. Ultimately, as the historic plunge in oil prices took hold, he was able to load up on futures at a penny each.

    Turns out that penny price tag was pretty expensive.
    …

  19. California assemblywoman hits Elon Musk with an F-bomb after he says he will move Tesla’s HQ out of state

    ‘Musk has voiced his frustrations in recent weeks over California’s “fascist” approach to combatting the coronavirus. He also said Tesla plans to sue Alameda County, where health officials got in the way of employees getting back to work even as lockdown measures statewide began to ease.’

    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/california-assemblywoman-hits-elon-musk-with-an-f-bomb-after-he-says-will-move-teslas-hq-out-of-state-2020-05-10?mod=MW_article_top_stories

    1. Her follow up Tweet: “California has highly subsidized a company that has always disregarded worker safety & well-being, has engaged in union busting & bullies public servants. I probably could’ve expressed my frustration in a less aggressive way. Of course, no one would’ve cared if I tweeted that.”

  20. I guess nobody had Disruption Of Business Insurance, or the Insurance Companies are trying to squeeze out of it.

    The Big Government picking the winners and losers.

    1. Kosminski,

      OMG, thanks for that tape. Starts getting really good about a quarter of the way in. Now that’s a tape that deserves to go viral.

      1. In fact can somebody post this tape on the next thread so people don’t miss it. I don’t know how to do it.

        1. Multiple postings of the same link is, i believe, an abuse of posting privileges in general. So, under most circumstances, i won’t do it.

          But you are correct that the video is close to a must see for just about everyone. It’s important to know how much we’ve been manipulated and how dangerous it is for all of us.

          As i posted before, i believe that the overreaction to Covid 19 is in the process of killing communism and totalitarianism. The posted video is one of the reasons why. People are getting a light dose of authoritarianism and i see that as almost an inoculation against it.

          At any rate, copy and paste the link where ever you want and as many times as you like. The author of the video has given his full permission to use the link in any way you see fit.

          It’s time these dark forces such as “Bill Mark-of-the-Beast Gates” gets exposed fully to the light.

          Keep up the fight. You’re doing the right thing.

Comments are closed.