thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

In Addition To Having More Realistic Expectations, Some Sellers May Give Great Deals Out Of Desperation

A report from Go Banking Rates. “The pandemic has caused people to slow down and rethink their approach to the homebuying process, said Rebecca Brooksher, an agent with Warburg Realty. ‘Everyone has a new perspective, so you are less likely to find the pushy broker or the buyer who will overbid because it’s the perfect house,’ she said. ‘Everyone is on their best behavior. People are grounded and know their priorities.'”

“‘There are certainly prospective buyers who were actively scouring the market pre-pandemic that have now endured severe financial hardship, and may be forced to hold off on buying until they recoup funds that have been lost,’ said Jeremy Kamm, an agent with Warburg Realty. ‘The demographic of first-time homebuyers has likely shrunken to a certain extent, and therefore there is that much less competition, i.e. room for opportunity.'”

“As competition shrinks and real estate inventory rises, homebuyers will have the upper hand. ‘As inventory that appeals to these buyers begins to increase as restrictions are lifted and business resumes, those buyers that remain active and interested will hold much of the bargaining power,’ Kamm said. ‘There will be opportunities for great deals to be made with sellers who understand the new environment that we are in, and are genuinely realistic about selling their homes.'”

“In addition to having more realistic expectations, some sellers may give great deals to new homebuyers out of desperation due to their own changed financial circumstances. ‘First-time homebuyers may run into sellers that must sell to get their cash out,’ said Brett Ringelheim, a licensed real estate salesperson with Compass. ‘In these scenarios, the buyer might be getting a better deal due to unforeseen circumstances that occurred in the seller’s life.'”

“In addition to low mortgage rates, buyers may be able to get better loan terms due to the smaller pool of buyers. ‘Lenders will be more likely to negotiate their fees and costs when issuing loans because there is a lower number of qualified buyers this year compared to others,’ said real estate attorney Rajeh A. Saadeh.”

“‘The pandemic is making it easier for first-time homebuyers to find the right house,’ said John Castle, a realtor with Keller Williams. ‘The demand for short-term rentals has collapsed. Consequently, a large number of condominium apartments have come on the market, and condominium prices in the most expensive cities are down substantially.'”

From Realtor.com. “As more people struggle to find their footing amid financial and economic uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic, many prospective first time homebuyers could be dipping into their down payment savings to cover their everyday expenses. Because of this, millennials — who make up the majority of all mortgage originations — may find their dreams of homeownership delayed until long after the coronavirus situation is under control.”

“In fact, the average millennial would take 9 months to recoup a single month’s expenses that were taken out of their savings. If millennial renters are forced to dip into their down payment savings for several months, their transition to homeownership could be delayed by years.”

“Adding to homebuyer challenges, some lenders are tightening their lending criteria by requiring higher credit scores and minimum down payments for certain types of loans. Major banks have recently changed their criteria for home lending by requiring borrowers to secure 20 percent down payments, significantly higher than the millennial median down payment of 8 percent. The 20 percent wall is likely too far out of reach for many prospective homebuyers, especially first timers, meaning these buyers will have to look for supported loans such as FHA, VA, USDA or Fannie and Freddie loans. The national median listing price in April was $320,000; a 20 percent down payment would be $64,000.”

“Even though San Francisco has the highest millennial incomes in the country, it also has the highest expenses, primarily due to the very high cost of housing. Therefore, saving money becomes even more challenging in that market. In addition to the tight balance of income and expenses, homeowner hopefuls in these markets also face listing prices often much higher than the national rate. Eight of the top ten toughest markets had a median listing price higher than the national price of $320,000 in April.”

“Moreover, if more major lenders increase their minimum down payment to 20 percent, millennials in San Francisco who were aiming for a target of 10 percent would need to save for an additional 16 years to meet that new lending criterion.”

The Arizona Republic. “Banks across the nation felt headwinds even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, and a new, more rigorous accounting rule isn’t helping. Banks could face eroding profits on a scale they haven’t seen since the Great Recession. The October-December report marked a second straight quarter of declining profitability. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, pushing the nation into a recession and raising the specter of loan delinquencies, defaults, bankruptcies and other fallout.”

“Profits already are tumbling. Three of the nation’s biggest banks – Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America – reported combined net income from January through March of about $6 billion, down from about $21 billion in the same period one year earlier. The economic ramifications of the coronavirus outbreak weren’t fully felt in the first quarter. The impact for April through June will be larger.”

“Many banks have started to adjust their earnings lower, reflecting a new accounting standard that requires them to estimate credit losses over the lifetimes of their loans, not just as losses accrue. It’s a big change that will require executives to factor in future losses under various scenarios and incorporating many factors.”

“For the first quarter of 2020, Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America included roughly $17 billion in combined provisions or charges for credit losses, well above the $3 billion or so they had reported one year earlier and explaining much of the profit erosion.”

The Star Advertiser in Hawaii. “‘I’m seeing more interest in single-family homes. Some buyers want more space, and many are finding that condominium maintenance fees are pretty high, even in the old buildings,’ said Margaret Murchie, a Coldwell Banker real estate broker who is based out of the Diamond Head Kahala office.”

“Sales will pick up as more inventory becomes available, she said. However, whether pricing holds will depend a lot upon whether Hawaii’s high unemployment rates and weak economy cause too much inventory to come into the market at once, Murchie said. ‘If the economy doesn’t improve, people who are laid off or furloughed will think about moving. We could get such a glut of inventory that prices go down,’ she said. ‘We’re not seeing it too bad yet, but in the midst of the uncertainty, we are seeing it, depending on the seller’s circumstances. Some buyers are asking for concessions.'”

From Socket Site in California. “With the number of homes newly listed for sale in San Francisco having outpaced the number of purchase contracts that were inked for the eighth week in a row, there are now 1,000 homes listed for sale across the city. That’s 40 percent more inventory than at the same time last year, another 9-year seasonal high, and within 4 percent of hitting a 9-year high in the absolute (keep in mind that inventory levels typically don’t peak until October).”

“The percentage of listings which have undergone at least one official price reduction has been ticked up to 20 percent, which is five (5) percentage points higher than at the same time last year.”

From Bisnow. “In dozens of interviews last week, owners of retail, office, multifamily and industrial properties across the country told Bisnow that early June rent collections were largely keeping pace with April and May, despite fears that this month would be when the country’s unprecedented economic decline started showing fully in rent collections.”

“Apartment owners are faring far better, reporting collections anywhere from just below 90% to nearly 100%. But most of them acknowledge it is not because the economy is healthy, but because of the expanded unemployment benefits from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act passed in March. Those benefits expire in July.”

“‘That stimulus is going to die down in the next four to eight weeks, so hopefully those jobs that are coming back are going to replace that spending in the economy,’ said Sean Burton, the CEO at CityView, which owns more than 6,000 apartments, mostly in California.”

“Acumen Cos. Chairman Abiud Zerubabel, whose company owns over 1,000 apartments in the D.C. and Los Angeles markets, said the firm’s rental income is down about 11%. He said this figure, while still below the 25% he had initially forecast, has worsened over the last month. ‘In April, nobody asked [for help], they may have been unable to pay but were not vocal about it,’ he said. ‘Now, everybody is vocal about where they stand and the challenges they have.'”

“The renters asking for help now, Zerubabel said, are a combination of service industry workers who have lost their jobs, and young professionals who are looking to terminate their lease and move back with their parents. He said more renters have sought to terminate leases in expensive D.C. neighborhoods like Shaw or Columbia Heights, as they now look to find a more affordable option.”

“‘We’re hearing people saying, ‘I’m going to have to move back to my parents’ house or into a more affordable neighborhood,’ Zerubabel said. ‘We’ve seen a number of people raise their hands and ask for deferment or an early termination of their lease if they want to move out.'”

“The same is true in high-cost markets like New York and the Bay Area, where long commute times to downtown offices no longer feel like a fact of life as more companies tell workers they can work from home as long as they want. As a prolific multifamily owner in the thick of the Bay Area, Anton DevCo is seeing firsthand some of the changes possibly coming to the region. A handful of residents at the company’s 394-unit Menlo Park community left, starting the day after one of the city’s largest employers made that an option, Anton DevCo Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer Trisha Malone said.”

“‘Right now, something we’re seeing in the Bay Area is the effects of Facebook’s work-from-home policy,’ she said. ‘We’re seeing an uptick in tenants who are paying the breakage to get out of leases and relocate. There’s a lot of them moving out of state.'”

Related Posts

Time To Change the Stress Test?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrMNlcmep6M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLfSycEjHI8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39rUooeDTCY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ7hQbOeevY

This Post Has 201 Comments

  1. ‘there are now 1,000 homes listed for sale across the city. That’s 40 percent more inventory than at the same time last year, another 9-year seasonal high, and within 4 percent of hitting a 9-year high in the absolute (keep in mind that inventory levels typically don’t peak until October)’

    Wa happened to my shortage bay aryans?

        1. A-yup. Our poor bit tillage practices done made all them bits dry up and blow away. Who knows where they’ll settle.

  2. ‘Major banks have recently changed their criteria for home lending by requiring borrowers to secure 20 percent down payments, significantly higher than the millennial median down payment of 8 percent. The 20 percent wall is likely too far out of reach for many prospective homebuyers’

    The UHS realize they are fooked.

    1. Is financial prudence coming back into fashion, after a couple of decades worth of mad money mortgage lending?

      1. I’d say absolutely not given what the FED is doing right now. Until the low rate nonsense and massive liquidity stops, these asset price bubbles will continue.

          1. Are you sure?

            I’m quite sure. Ben has been posting articles showing people closing on houses even AFTER they lost their jobs. So, they’re giving house loans to the jobless. Ditto for automobiles.

            And then there’s the stock market. The FED employed a 4 TRILLION dollar stick save, and now we have record highs for a few indices as well as many individual stocks, and the DOW is back within a few thousand of its all time high. It could blow past that in a few weeks given its recent trajectory. It’s parabolic over the past month.

            We haven’t even begun to see the pain. We are like pre-Lehman/Bear Stearns right now, for reference, and the FED has indicate they have unlimited resources ie. the printing press. You are going to see the biggest credit/asset price bubble in history.

  3. ‘That stimulus is going to die down in the next four to eight weeks, so hopefully those jobs that are coming back are going to replace that spending in the economy,’ said Sean Burton, the CEO at CityView, which owns more than 6,000 apartments, mostly in California’

    How’s that 5% cap rate looking now Sean?

    1. I saw a great quote in a WSJ article from May 27 (‘Landlords Get Bailout Funding’) about CA property manager/developer Trion:

      “While most of his tenants have paid their rent, Trion depends on revenue from other sources, such as selling buildings and refinancing existing holdings, which have all but dried up.

      ‘We’re not on such a huge scale where we can survive strictly based on operations,’ [co-founder Max] Sharkansky said.”

      A business admitting what has been posted here all along – even with record high rents being paid on time, these landlords could never make a go of it with rents alone. But the cap rate didn’t matter as long as you could refi.

  4. “What if in the middle of the night my home is broken into. Who do I call?” CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota asked Bender after the city council president laid out her vision for a post-police city.’

    “I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors, and I know — and myself, too, and I know that that comes from a place of privilege,” Bender responded.’

    https://news.yahoo.com/minneapolis-city-council-president-claims-145054422.html

    A comment:

    ‘OMG. Are the Minneapolis leaders living in a dream world utopia? I hope to God my brother’s house sale closes soon before his buyer reads this article.’

    1. This really is crazy stuff. Defund instead of expecting law enforcement to obey the law. This IS the state, and the state is out of control? Aren’t most of these cities run by democrats? Don’t they preach big guberment? And now they say we can’t trust guberment. And aren’t they all in on the people who just looted and burned all around the country?

      1. So long as the looters are black, what they did doesn’t matter in the eyes of their Democrat enablers.

        1. It’s more of a Real Journalists problem than it is a race problem, and it accelerated under Obama, who was the worst president for race relations in the history of this country.

          Consider the following #Narratives:

          Trayvon Martin, killed in self-defense by George Zimmerman who Real Journalists magically transformed from being half-Peruvian to being white.

          Michael Brown i.e. “The Gentle Giant” killed by Ferguson, MO police after assaulting a store owner he was robbing and when confronted by police appeared to attack them.

          Freddy Gray, murdered by Baltimore police via a “rough ride” in the back of the paddy wagon. Murdered.

          Eric Garner, strangled by New York City police for selling untaxed cigarettes on the street. Murdered.

          Tamir Rice, shot by Cleveland police at age 12 for waving a toy gun around in a park.

          George Floyd, murdered by Minneapolis police while being arrested for passing a fake $20 bill. George Floyd allegedly worked security at a nightclub with Derek Chauvin, the cop who murdered him. Is there more to the story than this that Real Journalists are not reporting? Was this personal, or was it attributable to the systemic racism endemic to the entire Minneapolis police department, as our betters command us to believe?

          Real Journalists are a bigger problem than the police.

          1. For those not familiar with it, Alamosa is a college town with a majority Hispanic population. It has a very high crime rate. That said, the perp is a white libtard.

          2. My son was offered a partial soccer scholarship to play for Adams State U in Alamosa. Because of the crime and the very low quality of education at Adams St, he passed and went somewhere else.

          3. “My son was offered a partial soccer scholarship to play for Adams State U in Alamosa.”

            If he was offered any kind of scholarship to play soccer he must have been a damn good soccer player. I am sure you put a lot of time into practices and travel yourself and had many good times watching him play.

          4. If he was offered any kind of scholarship to play soccer he must have been a damn good soccer player.

            His club team played at one of those “showcase” tournaments one summer, where college coaches go to scout. Adams St. was the only offer he got and it was just a few thousand. He ended up getting a comparable deal on a academic scholarship at a better (and cheaper) school.

        3. That is where this racism narrative is false. I don’t like white criminals just as much as I don’t like black criminals. I just don’t like criminals. The stats show that in 2019 more unarmed whites we’re killed by the police.

          The thought occurred to me that Police might be avoiding those crime infested areas where they are killing each other weekly. More police should be in those areas . But, everything is just a bogus narrative .

          1. I was listening to NPR today in the car. They had a story on the Chauvin court hearing today. On board was some legal consultant and they asked her what the prosecution is saying. She told them the prosecution says there was no resisting arrest, none at all.

            Odd, since is in writing that there was, in the court document Red posted her a couple of days ago.

      4. All of the cities being hit by rioting, without exception, are Democrat controlled. All Democrat police departments are led and staffed by Affirmative Action or diversity hires who are utterly incapable of leading a big-city police department or running an effective and well-disciplined station house. They can conceal the depth of their incompetence in normal times, but these are not normal times.

      5. Are they just going to contract with the County Sheriff? Small cities with problem plagued police departments shut them down all the time and just contract the job. Never seen it on this scale though.

        1. Cities are creatures of the state. If there is no local police it will be up to the state troopers.

    2. I watched the Minneapolis 3rd precinct police station getting looted and set on fire live on Twitter. Imagine paying property taxes to live in an urban dystopian sh*thole like that. I know I never will.

      “It’s ClownWorld, Jake. Forget about it”

      1. There’s a reason for “white flight.” It’s not PC to talk about, but blacks are violent.

          1. “based upon crime statistics”

            Statistics, which, if you posted them on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, would get you banned from the platform. Or that if you published in a newspaper that you write for, would get you fired from your job.

            I treat people based on the content of their character on an individual basis, as MLK said a half century ago.

            I lived in poor neighborhoods in early adulthood. Now that I have the means not to, I don’t.

          2. Shylocks destroy what’s left of our economy and culture with the help of their pet orcs.

          3. I treat people based on the content of their character on an individual basis, as MLK said a half century ago.

            As do I. But the sad fact is that the African American community is in trouble through a lot of fault of their own. There is a glaring lack of focus on education and personal responsibility. It’s always somebody else’s fault.

            I’m sure everybody here has that one person in their friend/family network who blames everybody but themselves for their life’s failings. It’s annoying. And that’s what we have going on in the media as it pertains to the African American community as a whole. Until there’s a sea change in how they raise their children, nothing will improve.

            We could give them all a million bucks each, and most would be broke in a matter of months to years, with the same issues lingering. Look no further than the countless stories of flat broke ex-athletes who had hundreds of millions of dollars at one point. There was almost no amount of money that could save them from themselves. A lot of them are on the streets. It’s sad, but like they say, “stupid hurts.” Nobody’s going far without an education.

            This isn’t stuff I normally even like to talk about, but it’s pertinent to what’s going on right now, and it does tie in with the whole economic situation.

          4. “I lived in poor neighborhoods in early adulthood.”

            Same here. It’s not fun to have to constantly watch your back, but having affordable housing was nice.

          5. having affordable housing was nice.

            It’s nobody’s first choice, but it’s critical for everyone that it’s an option. If China beats us a big reason for it will be that a poor but motivated Chinese person can always find a cheap place to sleep fairly close to where the jobs are. And their safety net encourages motivation for everyone.

          6. The hood is more heavily policed than the trailer park hence many crimes committed by poor whites don’t result in arrests or prosecutions. The rednecks out here where I work not are no less violent than the black and brown people back in Fresno where I used to work.

          7. “The hood is more heavily policed than the trailer park…”

            The War on Police is about to end that.

      2. Ok, didn’t the Dems call for getting rid of ICE, now the police. They allow the homeless to shit in the streets and loot up to 900 buck with out response from the police.

        This is the party of open borders, sanctuary cities, and health care free to the ilegals.

        The whole welfare racket the Dems are in deep with and that’s how they bribe their voters. At the same time the Globalist Money changers support these nuts because they support this looting by Big Business.

        Suffice to say the Dems support the rich and the poor and the hard working middle they could care less about.

        These people have gotten more deranged as time has gone by. It’s simply not the Dems party we knew years ago. They also got highjacked by the Commies, it’s really bizarre watching them and what they say.

    3. “What if in the middle of the night my home is broken into. Who do I call?” CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota asked Bender after the city council president laid out her vision for a post-police city.’

      Not me.

    4. “When seconds count, the police will be there in minutes”

      …tens or hundreds of minutes, in some cases.

      Time to learn to shoot.

    5. So IIUC, it’s okay to break into a white person’s house because they’re white? After all it’s just reparations and they had it coming, right?

  5. “the average millennial would take 9 months to recoup a single month’s expenses that were taken out of their savings”

    Sounds like an unsustainable lifestyle problem.

    REALTOR, I have so much money left after “throwing money away on rent” every month that I don’t know where to throw it.

  7. There is more terrible real world economic news out today, which portends well for further gains on Wall Street. Remember: The worse the real economic situation gets, the more stock prices will rise.

    1. Imagine the kind of stock market rally we could get if the looters managed to torch an entire city or something. Wall St. would love it.

      2. Dems/deepstate will probably unleash some sort of chemical weapons attack against the country prior to the election. They should have some left over from their war on Syria.

        1. LMAO! And Col-on Poo-well who never saw a deep state war he didn’t like is probably sourcing the stuff as we speak while crying that Trump is a liar, lol! Yeah – he lied to the deep state to make you think he was one of you.

          Never trust a guy who cant pronounce his own name. Does he go to his doctor for a Call-in-oscopy? Another affirmative action loser.

        2. Soon Lord Soros shall unleash the Lizard People, fulfilling The Prophecy! IT HATH BEEN FORETOLD!

    2. The Financial Times
      Coronavirus business update 30 days complimentary
      Emerging markets
      Emerging economies forecast to shrink for first time in 60 years
      Millions will be thrown into extreme poverty by coronavirus, World Bank warns
      Shopkeepers wait for customers in a mall after the government eased a coronavirus lockdown in New Delhi, India.
      Shopkeepers wait for customers in a mall after the government eased a coronavirus lockdown in New Delhi, India
      © AFP via Getty Images
      James Politi in Washington
      2 hours ago

      Emerging and developing economies will shrink this year for the first time in at least 60 years, according to the World Bank, highlighting the mounting economic toll from the coronavirus pandemic as it spreads across the world.

      Millions of people in the developing world will be tipped into extreme poverty by the forecast 2.5 per cent contraction in emerging markets’ gross domestic product, the bank said, with incomes per capita set to shrink by 3.6 per cent globally. The bank defines extreme poverty as an income of less than $1.90 a day.

      In recent weeks coronavirus has spread from developed economies to major emerging nations including Brazil, Russia and India, and shutdowns to tackle the spread of the disease are taking an increasing economic toll.
      …

      1. Walking arm-in-arm with anti-police protesters confers instant immunity. CNN assures me of this.

    2. COVID-19 don’t care…

      U.S.
      California and Some Other States See Coronavirus Cases Rise
      As some hard-hit places keep their daily numbers down, new cases climb elsewhere; New York City prepares to reopen Monday
      Coronavirus Update: California Cases Rise, Poll Shows Partisan Split on Pandemic
      As New York city reopens Monday, California and some other states see coronavirus cases rise; a new poll reveals partisan divides over the pandemic; Brazil, a global hotspot for the virus, stops reporting coronavirus numbers.
      WSJ’s Shelby Holliday has the latest. Photo: Richard Vogel/AP
      By Talal Ansari and Brianna Abbott
      Updated June 7, 2020 5:00 pm ET

      Nearly three months since the U.S. declared a national emergency over the new coronavirus, some states are reporting a rise in new cases as they lift restrictions meant to slow the virus’s spread.

      California, Utah, Arizona, North Carolina, Florida, Arkansas and Texas, among others, have all logged rises in confirmed cases, according to a Johns Hopkins tabulation of a five-day moving average. Meantime, New York City, the U.S. area hit hardest by the pandemic, has seen a drop in cases and deaths and plans to begin reopening its economy Monday.

      “It’s a very mixed picture,” said Wafaa El-Sadr, an infectious-disease specialist and epidemiologist at Columbia University. “In some places we have made amazing progress, and there are other places where I remain very concerned about what’s going on.”
      …

      1. I had 3 relatives die from it. Might have had a super mild case myself… but that’s all I know of. Mortality charts I watch have been going sideways for the US overall.

      2. Funny how the vast majority of deaths are in a few dem controlled states where they forced senior care facilities to take infected people. No coincidence there, noooo.

        Oh, but a 12 year has funny looking toes!!! Shut down society NOW!

        Some of those chunky purple haired Karens protesting over the past week might be screwed. If they get an affirmative action doctor all bets are off.

        1. “…chunky purple haired Karens…”

          There’s some great video of “karens” being lit-up with a cop’s tazer when they try to climb back into their car during a roadside stop. They have difficulty obeying until that voltage hits ’em. Nothing funnier than seeing a hog rolling and squealing on the pavement!

    4. Are COVID-19 cases rising or falling in your area?

      I think this whole thing is disappearing. I could be wrong, of course, I am not a disease expert. But to the untrained eye it appears to be rapidly diminishing, even in the face of opening everything back up. Hasn’t it been over 3 weeks in most places? You’d think we’d have heard of some massive spike by now. Haven’t seen it.

      1. My non-expert take:

        – Up until quarantine measures were widely adopted at the end of March, case counts were doubling in under a week in many parts of the U.S.

        – Since the adoption of quarantine measures, the U.S. new case growth rate slowed to linear, with very gradual decline (most recent seven-day rolling average new case rate is 21,480, as of June 6)

        – Given scant evidence that enough Americans have been exposed to COVID-19 to collectively develop herd immunity, the prospective reopenings plus non-socially distanced social unrest raise the prospect of a substantial increase in the new case growth rate.

        – The U.S. death toll recently surpassed 100,000 and continues to steadily rise.

        1. P-bear, I think you’re right. That is, we flattened the curve, but didn’t defeat the virus completely. So what if the cases count decreases, to, say 15 cases? If we reopen fully, those 15 cases will simply re-start the curve and shoot up again, like they did in March. In fact we’re already seeing increases from parties on Memorial Day.

          But this time, we might get away with it. If we keep going with the masks, and better testing and possibly a treatment, we should be able to keep the cases down … until the kids go back to school…

          1. One problem, I believe, is a societal failure to connect the dots between the social distancing measures that went into effect at the end of March and the drastic slowdown in the rate of case count increase. Despite these draconian measures, COVID-19 transmission has not died out, but has merely slowed. I see no reason why it wouldn’t return to exponential growth again (i.e. doubling the number of cases at regular time intervals) if social distancing measures were eliminated at this point.

          2. I see no reason why it wouldn’t return to exponential growth again

            Because maybe it’s going away like viruses do?

          3. They go away after having infected a critical mass of a population. It seems doubtful that has happened yet, though. For reference, it took the 1918 flu pandemic a couple of seasons to work its way through the world population, and that was with a lot less social distancing measures to slow its spread.

            And contrary to a populist misconception, this is not the flu, which is much less contagious and goes away in the spring every year when people stop spending so much time together indoors. It hasn’t gone away or stopped spreading as summer approaches. Global growth appears to be exponential, despite some successful local containment measures.

          4. They go away after having infected a critical mass of a population.

            Like SARS? Oh, wait…

          5. SARS was a lot less contagious. SARS also didn’t have asymptomatic transmission. SARS went away because they were able to contract trace it and catch people with symptoms.

            The only way this virus will go away is if it mutates to something less contagious. If it mutates to something less virulent, it will probably be with us forever. The compromise prediction is that this will be like another flu; uncomfortable but not deadly, possible vaccine with temporary immunity.

          6. No, not like SARS.

            Although both SARS and COVID-19 are due to coronaviruses, there is a critical distinction: SARS was only transmissible by those with symptomatic cases. This made it easy to identify those with the illness and isolate them from the population. Once this policy began, the rate of new cases plummeted. The SARS outbreak began and ended between November 2002 and July 2003, with 8,098 probable cases and 774 SARS-related deaths worldwide.

            By contrast, COVID-19 is a much bigger problem to contain, due to a long period of asymptomatic case transmission and a range of symptoms from mild to fatal. And we’re only in the first inning.

          7. “The only way this virus will go away is if it mutates to something less contagious.”

            It could happen, but will take some time. Mother Nature favors parasites who don’t kill their hosts, but COVID-19 may be an exception, since the same strain that produces mild symptoms in some is lethal in others.

          9. Although both SARS and COVID-19 are due to coronaviruses, there is a critical distinction: SARS was only transmissible by those with symptomatic cases. This made it easy to identify those with the illness and isolate them from the population.

            The spread of coronavirus by people not showing symptoms “appears to be rare,” a World Health Organization [WHO] official said Monday.

            https://www.foxnews.com/science/coronavirus-asymptomatic-spread-rare-who

          11. Is 30%+ of cases what the WHO considers “rare”? No wonder the President wants to stop sending them money.

            Health
            COVID-19
            Nearly Half of Coronavirus Spread May Be Traced to People Without Any Symptoms
            A blood sample is held during an antibody testing program at the Hollymore Ambulance Hub of the West Midlands Ambulance Service in Birmingham, Britain, on June 5, 2020.
            Simon Dawson—EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
            By Alice Park
            June 5, 2020 12:21 PM EDT

            One of the more insidious features of the new coronavirus behind COVID-19 is its ability to settle into unsuspecting hosts who never show signs of being sick but are able to spread the virus to others.

            In a study published June 3 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers at the Scripps Research Translational Institute reviewed data from 16 different groups of COVID-19 patients from around the world to get a better idea of how many cases of coronavirus can likely be traced to people who spread the virus without ever knowing they were infected. Their conclusion: at minimum, 30%, and more likely 40% to 45%.
            …

          12. Unfortunately the WHO has already lost all their credibility with their coddling of China and their 180 on masks. Not to mention all these “experts” like Fauci or Tedros or The Lancet 😒 who use their fancy science degrees as cover for everything except actual science.

            Did this esteemed lady give any actual evidence that asymptomatic transmission was rare? How did they figure it out? Genetics? Air-tight testing? Experiments on mice? Controlled exposure on people? Or do they think we’re too dumb to understand all that toughie science-y stuff? I see no reason to trust an expert whose only evidence is that they wrote a thesis 20+ years ago.

            So I’m going to assume widespread asymptomatic transmission until proven otherwise.

          13. So I’m going to assume widespread asymptomatic transmission

            Based on those same “experts” who use their fancy science degrees as cover for everything except actual science?

          14. “…the WHO has already lost all their credibility…”

            Like the UN they’re just another honorary income stream for the well connected.

          15. Did the WHO change its tune on asymptomatic transmission to provide political cover to the protesters? Coronavirus don’t care.

            World Health Organization
            Published 3 hours ago
            WHO believes protests important amid coronavirus pandemic
            By David Aaro | Fox News
            WHO now says asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is ‘very rare’
            World Health Organization changes its tune on asymptomatic patients spreading COVID-19; reaction from Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel.

            The World Health Organization momentarily paused its discussion of the coronavirus pandemic to address the worldwide protests taking place against police violence and racial inequality.

            The demonstrations have moved towards Europe and Africa and have continued in the U.S. following the death of George Floyd — after officer Derek Chauvin was seen kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25.

            “WHO fully supports equality and the global movement against racism. We reject discrimination of all kinds,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a media briefing on Monday.
            …

          16. “Based on those same “experts” who use their fancy science degrees as cover for everything except actual science?”

            No, based on assuming worst case scenario. Which is the safer thing to do. Fancy degree or no.

        2. cases will simply re-start the curve and shoot up again, like they did in March

          Here in NY, we implemented our partial lockdown just as the death count peaked. If we flattened the curve, we did it after the curve headed down. It’s ironic.

          2. hard to separate cause from effect

            Not always. Not if you think about the time delay from spread of infection to deaths. I know the narrative is strong. The logic is not.

          3. Agreed with the time delay point. For example, if one sees a big COVID-19 spike in majority Democratic precincts within a few weeks near riot areas, one might reasonably infer that taking to the streets increased community spreading.

          4. if one sees a big COVID-19 spike in majority Democratic precincts

            Assuming the rioters were natives.

          5. Good point. There could be lots of COVID-19 spreading to Democratic strongholds in other parts of the country.

          6. if one sees a big COVID-19 spike in majority Democratic precincts within a few weeks near riot areas It has been over 10 days since the first riots. Some kind of a COVID-19 spike should now be apparent (the beginning of another peak patient load) but it does not seem to be happening. Italian health authorities have gone on record as thinking the virus behavior has changed.

    5. “Are COVID-19 cases rising or falling in your area?”

      I would have to see the Hospital bank account and find out how many $13,000 and $39,000 payments Medicare had made.

    6. “Are COVID-19 cases rising or falling in your area?”

      – Quite a few new cases. I’m sure that the riots didn’t help here. We’ll know more in a couple of weeks. I’m still wearing a face mask when out in public. For everyone’s protection. Face masks should be mandatory in public until this is over, which may be a year or more from now.

      https://twitter.com/zck/status/1269849113966698497
      Zak Kukoff
      @zck
      Get ready for COVID wave two — now with an impossible to enforce shelter-in-place

      https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
      Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count
      By The New York Times Updated June 8, 2020, 2:08 P.M. E.T.

      1. “Get ready for COVID wave two — now with an impossible to enforce shelter-in-place”

        The Democrat-endorsed rioters shot the Democrat social distancing sponsors in the foot.

      2. If this virus mutates into a much deadlier second wave and starts hitting the under-40s like in 2018, you can be sure that it will be MUCH easier to enforce shelter-in-place.

        1. There was a confounding factor in play during the 1918 pandemic which isn’t present in the current situation, which is the temporary housing of a large number of under-40 soldiers living in squalid, cramped conditions in the WWI trenches, providing a sort of human petri dish for the virus’s rapid spread and adaptation to target a younger age class of victims. After the war, the soldiers who had lived in these trenches went back to their homes in other parts of the world, spreading the mutated virus strain with them.

          However, young people taking to the streets in protest or living in overcrowded housing situations could have a similar effect today with respect to COVID-19 adaptation, favoring variants that more effectively attack younger hosts. And our much more developed air transportation system than in 1918 certainly helped facilitate the spread of the virus in the present day.

        2. California
          In California’s ‘salad bowl,’ farmworkers crowd into homes, spreading the coronavirus
          Farmworker Odilia Leon, a single mother of five, picks strawberries for $420 a week after her hours were cut due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
          (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
          By Melissa Gomez
          June 9, 2020
          5 AM

          SALINAS —

          A bed fills most of the room that Odilia Leon shares with her five children. In one corner, a dresser spills over with clothes.

          For the cramped room in a two-bedroom unit behind a house in east Salinas, she pays $1,050 a month. It’s what she can afford as a fieldworker picking strawberries, her job for the last nine years. A couple with three children rents the other room. In all, 11 people share a living room and kitchen. There is one bathroom.

          Every day, Leon, 40, is gripped with fear that she could bring home the coronavirus, infect her children and possibly spread it to the rest of the household. The couple in the other room also works to cover their half of the rent, she said.

          “Every time I leave the house in the morning, I worry about how I can come back and hug my kids,” she said on a Thursday evening after arriving home from work.
          …

        3. ‘Really scary’: experts fear protests and police risk accelerating Covid-19 spread
          Public health scientists say teargas, pepper spray, close contact and masks’ limitations mean virus could spread during protests
          Jessica Glenza
          Wed 3 Jun 2020 06.30 EDT
          Last modified on Wed 3 Jun 2020 19.10 EDT
          Protesters in Manhattan at the weekend. Covid-19 can be spread by asymptomatic carriers as well as those with symptoms. Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Reuters

          Two public health emergencies have collided in the United States: the Covid-19 pandemic, and the epidemic of police violence against people of color, particularly black Americans.

          As social unrest spurred by the police killing of George Floyd sweeps America, public health officials and government departments are grappling with the fear that demonstrators and police risk accelerating the spread of the coronavirus, which also disproportionately affects minority communities.

          “This is the worst possible thing that could happen,” said Dr Howard Markel, director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and an expert on pandemics. “It’s hard to know how many of those people are asymptomatic carriers, and that’s really scary.”
          …

      3. Face masks should be mandatory in public until this is over I am about to start a personal policy of wearing them in public for the rest of my life, as has been common in the Far East.

  11. Covid was a PLANDEMIC, nothing more than a flu strain created by man and released to cause social unrest to interfere with Trump’s presidency.
    1. Dirty Clinton paid for Dosier
    2. Mueller report
    3. Impeachment
    4. Corona China flu
    5. Social Riot disguised as protest

    recap- FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL, next up

    The economy will fluctuate but will not collapse, housing will take a 20-30% hit and it’ll be business as ussual in 2021-2022.

    1. housing will take a 20-30% hit and it’ll be business as ussual

      20% doesn’t even remotely begin to make things affordable. Middle class areas sporting $800,000 houses in a lot of cities need to get cut in half at the bare minimum, but likely 2/3.

      1. PS Since you believe coronavirus = flu virus, is it safe to assume that you are not a medical expert?

    3. housing will take a 20-30% hit and it’ll be business as ussual in 2021-2022

      30% would be a good start. But maybe a 10% won’t come to reality in some markets.

      pretty soon the air bnb mini empires will be rolling in the money again.

  12. ‘Everyone is on their best behavior. People are grounded and know their priorities.’”

    I certainly do, Rebecca. I’m being as inoffensive as possible as I wait here on my lawn chair for the real cratering to begin. My priority is to let all the speculators and FBs pay for their sins before I pick up a shack when prices hit bottom.

    1. for the real cratering to begin. My priority is to let all the speculators and FBs pay for their sins before I pick up a shack when prices hit bottom.

      how is that gonna happen when uncle FED has some Deep pockets, very deep. I would hold my breath for the major cratering. I’m 36 and I can wait a few years, but for people over 55 waiting is a waste of life. They might be dead before a dip in houses to buy!!!

      1. Given that the Fed has created a precedent for propping up housing, it wouldn’t be surprising to see it happen again. Investors are acting as though this is a done deal.

        1. Housing prices fell 45%+ during the last minor correction irrespective of the fed.

          Ooooph…

          Charlotte, NC Housing Prices Crater 14% YOY On Surging Crime And Mortgage Defaults

          https://www.zillow.com/charlotte-nc-28202/home-values/

          A noted economist stated, “Get what you can get for your house today because it’s going to be less tomorrow for decades to come.”

          1. Yeah, that’s something that’s hard to understand. If they really are just as great and powerful as the Wizard of Oz, and QE truly is Unlimited, why don’t markets always go up 100% percent of the time?

      2. I’m 36 and I can wait a few years, but for people over 55 waiting is a waste of life.

        Try not to get depressed but I started reading this blog when I was 38. I’m in my 50s now. Still waiting. But that’s ok. My life is still much better than it would have been, even as a renter.

        1. I think I started reading this blog back in 2005 or 2006. Almost everything in my life has changed since then. I’m tired of renting, particularly given the last 3 months.

          1. I’m tired of renting

            It can get tiring, but I like the fact that I can just leave and go somewhere else any time I want to. When you own a house, you have to go through some major headaches to move.

          2. some major headaches to move

            I’m the last person who needs to be reminded of this. As an only child, I inherited my single mother’s lifetime of stuff.

          3. back in 2005 or 2006. Almost everything in my life has changed since then.

            Same here.

            I’m tired of renting

            Of course. The years that I rented and didn’t spend several $K a month on loan payments wasn’t as financially tiring as the mortgaged years. I banked the money and retired on it. Some people have little use for money, let them buy overpriced houses with borrowed funds.

          4. let them buy overpriced houses with borrowed funds

            This last week has been really challenging. My 10yo autistic son is gladly back in diapers (women’s incontinence underwear to be exact). The cause: social isolation and lack of services because of coronavirus stay-at-home orders. At this point, I’m willing to overpay for a home that has a yard and pool. I won’t be using borrowed money though.

        2. Why didn’t you buy back in 2009-2013 window?

          Well, this is not the 80s or 90s anymore where you everybody wanted to be in America to live the American Dream… The world is Global now. I’m just keeping my powder dry in 2-3 years I’ll make the decision to buy here or move abroad.

          1. Well, this is not the 80s or 90s anymore where you everybody wanted to be in America to live the American Dream… The world is Global now.

            Tell that to all the illegals and the millions on waiting lists for for work visas and green cards.

            Remember the caravans? Of course, since Soros and Friend stopped funding them illegals have switched back to the old methods.

  13. ‘The demographic of first-time homebuyers has likely shrunken to a certain extent, and therefore there is that much less competition, i.e. room for opportunity.’”

    Sure, Realtor Boy. Buying now is a great opportunity to massively overpay before the real cratering kicks in. I’ll pass.

  14. ‘Lenders will be more likely to negotiate their fees and costs when issuing loans because there is a lower number of qualified buyers this year compared to others,’ said real estate attorney Rajeh A. Saadeh.”

    Maybe mortgage brokers and realtors can negotiate bulk rates on ramen noodles.

  15. “If millennial renters are forced to dip into their down payment savings for several months, their transition to homeownership could be delayed by years.”

    Try a lifetime.

  16. “Moreover, if more major lenders increase their minimum down payment to 20 percent, millennials in San Francisco who were aiming for a target of 10 percent would need to save for an additional 16 years to meet that new lending criterion.”

    Let’s pretend America is going to be around in 16 years.

      1. Not unless there’s a major backlash against the globalists and their collectivist stooges.

    2. There will be something called America. It’ll be communist or fascist, depending on which tribe gets the upper hand.

      2. It’ll be communist or fascist

        Liberty is ours to lose. It’s not cheap but it’s worth having.

  17. ‘If the economy doesn’t improve, people who are laid off or furloughed will think about moving. We could get such a glut of inventory that prices go down,’ she said.

    Gosh, I’m sure glad that’s specific to Hawaii.

  18. “‘That stimulus is going to die down in the next four to eight weeks, so hopefully those jobs that are coming back are going to replace that spending in the economy,’ said Sean Burton, the CEO at CityView, which owns more than 6,000 apartments, mostly in California.”

    Your hopes of a miracle recovery are about to die in the arse, Sean.

  19. I am not expecting a housing crash, or anything crash (stock market).
    I don’t know a single person with a white-collar job that lost it… not one! here in the South Santa Clara county area. They’re all happy at working from home and gardening and such. They’re spending big at Lowes, home depot, remodeling, and doing landscaping redesigns.

    This recession isn’t even 10% of that of 2008, as far as housing goes. I remember seeing rows of signs on every street on both sides. Now I can’t even find one for sale house/foreclose even if drive around for blocks and blocks.

    1. “I am not expecting a housing crash, or anything crash (stock market).”

      – Global housing bubble (U.S. housing bubble 2.0) was already deflating as early as H2, ’18, BEFORE the pandemic.
      – U.S. stock market bear market also began in H2 ’18, BEFORE the pandemic.
      – The pandemic only brought forward what was going to happen anyway, since the collapse was already “baked into the cake” by 10+ years of cheap credit and easy/printed $.
      – Asset bubbles always pop. Housing takes longer that stocks, since illiquid asset. U.S. stocks are buoyant due to massive, continuing Fed interventions and Pavlovian response of “investors”, such as Robinhood cohort to easing/stimulus (aka financial heroin). Fed can’t (yet) buy stocks. $4T printing only 10% of $40T market cap. Not enough + can’t buy stocks. Only drives investor psychology (behavioral economics).
      – Fundamentals matter in the long-term. Asset prices don’t go “to the moon,” because of affordability and valuations. “Buy low, sell high” doesn’t equal “buy high, sell low.”

      “In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” – Benjamin Graham

      – We’re still in an alternate reality (bizarro world) for houses and stocks, fueled by hopium and a lot of printed $. We should all hope for change, since our children can’t afford to live here right now, and I for one don’t want to live in a banana republic. The current situation is not sustainable. It will be resolved one way or another; through the political system, or by an equivalent “Bastille Day,”
      – Let’s see how things look in September/October, ’20. I can afford to wait.
      – History shows that centrally-planned, command-and-control economies don’t work or survive. It’s not different this time either.

      1. Yeah. Also. All those loans to small businesses and Large businesses that DON’T need it, a good amount of businesses will NOT pay the money back. It’s FREE money for the winners, and taxes for the losers.

        The FED will print and print and print everything there’s a dip, while simultaneously impoverishing the whole population to the benefit of maybe 5% percent.

      2. “or by an equivalent “Bastille Day”

        I’m more than halfway through reading A New World Begins — The History of the French Revolution by Jeremy Popkin.

        If millennial voters and other antifa trash get their way, this is the future I wish upon them, i.e. when the revolution eats itself. Remember, even Robespierre got the guillotine.

        Every single one of them, all of them, believe they will be the ones working in an air conditioned office making Very Important Decisions about production quotas, not working outside under the hot sun with a pick and shovel.

        The sense of entitlement of these people is nauseating.

    2. Never, ever underestimate the effects of nearly 10 TRILLION from the FED and .gov in a few short months. That’s A LOT of cabbage that was shoved into the markets and eCONomy.

    3. The poors aren’t gonna starve away quietly. When things get bad for them, they’re gonna take it out on somebody. The riots were not all about police brutality.

      1. starve away quietly

        Do you do your own food shopping? A person in America could eat quite well on what “poor” people spend on cable and internet.

        I watched some of the looting videos. I didn’t see anybody going for potatoes.

  20. San Francisco, CA Housing Prices Crater 24% YOY As Rental Rates Plunge And Inventory Surges On Bay Are Tech Layoffs

    https://www.zillow.com/san-francisco-ca-94123/home-values/

    *Select price from dropdown menu on first chart

    One Bay Area Broker Conceded, “If you’re a buyer, the broker is lying to you. I know liar when I hear one. I’ve been lying my entire life.”

  21. The Inner Party Revolution

    https://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=20664

    One of the difficult things for people living in an ideological society is that they are suspended in a solution of propaganda. All of the information they receive is warped by the currents of the prevailing ideology. Everyone has some interest in shaping opinion, so all effort is put into promoting one thing or another. Since all parties are advancing a cause at odds with reality, truth becomes an enemy. The normal person trying to figure out what is happening is left to swim in a sea of lies.

  22. Maoist “struggle sessions” come to America, courtesy of the globalist-collectivist-oligarch axis of evil.

    https://www.rt.com/op-ed/491183-maoist-struggle-sessions-self-abasement-floyd-death/

    During the Maoist Cultural Revolution, in struggle sessions, the guilty party – accused of selfishness, ignorance, and the embrace of bourgeois ideology – was pilloried with verbal and sometimes physical assaults by her comrades–until she broke down and confessed her characterological and ideological flaws. ‘Autocritique’ or self-criticism often began with voluntary submission of the guilty party, who subjected herself to a brutal verbal self-inspection and denigration before the jury of her comrades. Autocritique and struggle sessions could lead to imprisonment or death as the comrade was often found to be insufficiently pure. Today, they lead to diminished social standing, public humiliation, and the loss of jobs.

    1. This sounds like the undergraduate curriculum for any major that contains the word “studies.”

      I’ll contradict my earlier post on this thread quoting MLK about judging people based on the content of their character on an individual basis. If you are a white, urban millennial, I assume you are completely worthless and irredeemable, until proven otherwise.

    1. Covers better than the originals.

      Disturbed – The Sound of Silence

      No. Not by a long shot.

      1. Disturbed – The Sound of Silence

        No. Not by a long shot.

        I gotta go with RR, and I’m not a Disturbed fan. But he did a great job on that song.

        My favorite remakes would be:
        5 Finger Death Punch, Bad Company
        Sara Bareilles, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
        Johnny Cash, Hurt

        Can’t think of the rest off the top of my head…

        1. not a Disturbed fan

          Neither am I. I like the original but I really like the rawness of this singer’s voice juxtaposed with the instrumentation.

        2. Hey, I’ve even seen Disturbed in concert. It’s not that I don’t like them, and it’s a decent cover, but better than the original is a huge stretch in my opinion. But that’s all it is, opinion.

      1. Mia:
        I do believe Marsellus Wallace, my husband, your boss, told you to take ME out and do WHATEVER I WANTED. Now I wanna dance, I wanna win. I want that trophy, so dance good.

    1. “US entered recession in February…”

      Phew, glad it’s over with and it’s all “to the moon and beyond” now!

      1. The Financial Times
        Coronavirus business update 30 days complimentary
        Markets Briefing US equities
        US stocks erase all losses for the year
        S&P 500 closes up 1.2% amid optimism over reopening as Nasdaq hits new record high
        Stocks were boosted on Monday after an unexpected rise in US jobs in May
        Trading on the New York Stock Exchange continued to reflect optimism from the unexpected rise in US jobs in May
        © AP
        Harry Dempsey and Bryce Elder in London and Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong
        2 hours ago

        US stocks have recouped all of their losses for the year thanks to a rally spurred by central bank stimulus and optimism among investors that economic activity may be rebounding.

        The S&P 500 advanced 1.2 per cent on Monday to close at 3,232.39, back above their level at the start of 2020, building on gains from Friday’s unexpected rise in US employment in May.

        The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.7 per cent thanks largely to Boeing, on hopes of a rebound in air travel, while the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite added 1.1 per cent to set a new closing record of 9,924.75.

        US stocks have climbed more than 40 per cent from a mid-March low, with the Nasdaq up 10.6 per cent since the start of the year and the S&P 500 now little changed. The rebound has come in spite of the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest in the US after the killing of George Floyd.

        “The history of markets is that they always overshoot both ways,” said Lee Spelman, head of US equities for JPMorgan Asset Management. “What you’re seeing is an expectation of a V-shaped recovery and that may prove to be too optimistic.”

        Stanley Druckenmiller, a former hedge fund manager, said that “the excitement of reopening is allowing a lot of these companies that have been casualties of Covid to come back and come back in force”.

        Support by the US Federal Reserve has also helped to alleviate the economic strain. The central bank has slashed interest rates to zero, launched an unlimited bond-buying programme and announced 11 lending facilities.

        “I would also say I underestimated how many red lines, and how far, the Fed would go,” Mr Druckenmiller said, in an interview with CNBC.
        …

      2. The official narrative suggests the recession with the most sudden and deep onset in history ended before it was even officially recognized.

        2. Isn’t it wonderful that the FED figured out that money just flows from heaven and eliminates recessions?

      3. Welcome to Cloud KooKoo land everyone! It’s all sunshine and kitten farts from here to forever!

  25. Hey Jonesy….. With the way housing prices and rental rates are cratering everywhere now, will you be issuing a State Of The Crater address? Maybe a mid-year State Of The Crater address?

    1. Here you go …

      Meteor Crater Natural Landmark
      Interstate 40, Exit, 233, Winslow, AZ 86047

      2. Been there. My family was unhappy that I took them many miles off the trail from the Grand Canyon to the Crater in order to visit it. However, they somewhat enjoyed the visit once we arrived.

    1. Yeah, the normally deranged leftists on the comments board have either disappeared or boarded the MAGA train. Its funny how us normals were trying to warn people that cities and blue states were crumbling – this fake virus+rioting just exposed the lies people were living. Once the door opened for WFH, everybody books it like the roadrunner with the bug eyed Beetlejuice mayor as the coyote only able to see the trail of dust on the horizon. Who knew people didn’t want to spend exorbitant amounts of money to live amongst deranged people, feces and dirty needles?

  27. Zillow email today: “[B]eginning on July 1, 2020, listing properties in select states** with Zillow Rental Manager will cost $9.99 per week per listing. Your first listing is free*** — this change will start with your second listing.”

    They must be hurting for money.

  28. (Bloomberg Opinion) — The era of the U.S. dollar’s “exorbitant privilege” as the world’s primary reserve currency is coming to an end. Then French Finance Minister Valery Giscard d’Estaing coined that phrase in the 1960s largely out of frustration, bemoaning a U.S. that drew freely on the rest of the world to support its over-extended standard of living. For almost 60 years, the world complained but did nothing about it. Those days are over.

        1. Dumb question of the day: Is the Fed deliberately destroying the dollar, or are they doing it unwittingly?

          1. Economist John Williams says, “The system is bankrupt, and they are just spending the money to prevent an immediate collapse as opposed to having it collapse right now. They have cut reserve rates back to 0%. The bailout of the banking system of the ‘Great Recession’ didn’t work. So, now, they are just printing money and bailing out whatever they have to. People have done this throughout history including the Weimar Republic (Germany hyperinflation) and Zimbabwe (also had hyperinflation). . . . We effectively have a Zimbabwe Fed.”

            https://usawatchdog.com/federal-reserve-now-zimbabwe-john-williams/

          2. They have cut reserve rates back to 0%.

            Reserves have not been a real requirement for many years.

    2. If these countries are so sour on the dollar, then why not simply stop buying dollars? They could buy Euros or Yen. Or better yet, just stop buying foreign bonds altogether and put the money into their own country’s productivity and extract a yield through taxes. Or just give up entirely and buy physical gold.

  29. Not to worry…it’s all contained!

    Millions Of Americans Skip Payments As Tidal Wave Of Defaults And Evictions Looms
    June 3, 2020 5:00 AM ET
    Heard on All Things Considered
    Chris Arnold
    Jonathan Baird and his wife, Nichole, say they’ve had to decide between making their car payment and buying food since she lost her job in the pandemic. His mortgage and auto lenders told him he didn’t qualify for help.

    Americans are skipping payments on mortgages, auto loans and other bills. Normally, that could mean massive foreclosures, evictions, cars repossessions and people’s credit getting destroyed.

    But much of that has been put on pause. Help from Congress and leniency from lenders have kept impending financial disaster at bay for millions of people. But that may not last for long.

    The problem is that these efforts aim to create a financial bridge to the future for people who’ve lost their income in the pandemic — but the bridge is only half-built. For one thing, the help still isn’t reaching many people who need it.

    “My wife has filed, certified every week for her unemployment for 10 weeks now, and they have done nothing,” says Jonathan Baird of Bruceton, Tenn. “We’ve struggled.”

    Baird is a disabled veteran, not injured in wartime, who gets a small disability pension. When the pandemic hit, his wife lost her job as a home health aide. That was most of their income. And like many other contract workers, she has run into long delays trying to collect unemployment.

    Meanwhile, Baird says his mortgage company told him that he didn’t qualify for a federal program to postpone payments. Many homeowners have been given wrong or misleading information from lenders about that. And it appears that is what happened in Baird’s case.

    Baird also called Ford to try to get a break on the payments for his pickup truck. “When I contacted them, they told me that there was nothing they could do,” he says. “Just basically make your payment or suffer the late fees.”
    …

  30. There has never been a better time to HODL.

    The Financial Times
    Opinion US economy
    Rising markets and inequality grow from the same root
    Covid-19 puts workers under immense strain, while asset owners feel much less pain
    Robert Armstrong
    WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 07: Thousands of protestors lie in the middle of the recently renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House during demonstrations over the death of George Floyd while in police custody on June 7, 2020 in Washington, D.C. This is the 13th day of protests since Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody on May 25. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
    It is wrong to dismiss worries about the disconnect between the stock price gains and political unrest © Samuel Corum/Getty
    Robert Armstrong 15 hours ago

    Was the market right all along?

    Until last Friday, it looked as if stock markets had lost all track of reality. In the world, we saw spiralling unemployment and political disarray. In the markets, especially the huge American market, exuberance.

    Within finance, the consensus on this disconnect was that the market was pricing in a lot of good news about a fast recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. This is a bit worrisome, but not too bad, because the market is never a simple barometer of the economy. And as for the political issues, the market is amoral, focusing solely on profits. No need for concern there, either.

    Then came a much better than expected US jobs report, showing a gain of 2.5m jobs in May. The consensus was reframed. The market had not assumed the good news, it knew it was coming, and it has proved itself, once again, to be an amazing economic barometer. It still doesn’t care about justice, of course, so China’s latest crackdown in Hong Kong, a US president threatening to set the military on his citizens and the Brexit shambles remain irrelevant to future market rises.

    The new consensus is wrong. The jobs report was unexpectedly terrific, but the unemployment rate, at 13.3 per cent, remains well above the worst part of the 2008 financial crisis and there are concerns that the numbers were affected by classification errors. Consumer spending has plummeted. The course of the virus is unknown. We need to see more swallows before we declare it summer.

    The market, however, is already acting like it is the fourth of July. The S&P 500 has risen to within 5 per cent of its all-time high.

    Most importantly, it is wrong to dismiss worries about the disconnect between the stock and political unrest. Observers are shocked by the market’s insouciance not because they misunderstand how markets work but because they see it as a symptom of how society works.

    Covid-19 has put working- and middle-class people under immense strain, while the asset-owning classes have felt relatively little pain: the big equity drops in March came after a decade of historic increases in asset values. Although the middle-class participates in markets through pensions, this does not offset the imbalance. In the US, almost 90 per cent of equities are owned by the wealthiest 10 per cent of households, according to the Federal Reserve.
    …

    1. ‘The biggest used car price falls recorded by classified websites Auto Trader and eBay Motors Group have been revealed exclusively to Car Dealer. The research from the top two biggest used car advertising portals shows that three year old Audi A3s have dropped 4.3 per cent and Volvo V40s have fallen 4.0 per cent. Both websites assessed asking prices from franchised and independent dealers on their respective websites for Car Dealer and we can reveal the top 10 fallers below.’

      https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/used-cars-dropped-price-lockdown-exclusive-research-reveals/194975

  32. These left wingers will never talk about what a bad idea the Welfare State was. So it’s a big racket for the Dems party. Washington DC is a den of sin whereby taxpayer funds are used to prop up voters who are Ward’s of the State.
    What happens to these dependent welfare people is they end up hating their nanny government that put them in the welfare box.

    Now all the ideas to extend welfare to ilegals is the new way of getting voters at the expense of current Citizens.

    Is it surprising that they demand more and more,even getting rid of the Police, and Whites have to kneel for being privileged.
    The real truth is people earn what they get usually, but it’s the welfare takers for generations now who didn’t earn their daily bread and created gang infected hell holds instead.

    The real truth is long term welfare corrupts. Paying women to have babies out of wedlock over and over again was another great idea from the welfare State-NOT

    No way does the Dems party want people uplifted by jobs out of the welfare racket . No way does the left want to discuss how the Globalist robbed the USA of jobs and manufacturing so as to rob everyone. Call it a police problem to distract from the real issues.
    Maybe for every job the Globalist take from the USA they should be charged a welfare tax rather than the Society paying for it in crime and now reverse discrimation toward Whites.

  33. Isn’t it weird how all this rich folks can afford to hoover up intrinsically worthless stocks to the point where their prices are back up to pre-covid levels, at the same time that fine wines are selling at a 30% discount?

  34. There’s more terrible economic news out today that should buoy stock prices to new heights.

    1. World Bank Sees EM Economies Shrinking for First Time Since 1960
      By Eric Martin
      June 8, 2020, 8:00 AM PDT
      Updated on June 8, 2020, 8:57 AM PDT
      – Global growth seen contracting 5.2% after pandemic lockdowns
      – Emerging and developing economies to see worst drop on record

      The global economy will contract the most since World War II this year and emerging nations’ output will shrink for the first time in at least six decades due to the Covid-19 pandemic, reducing incomes and sending millions of people into poverty, the World Bank said.

      Global gross domestic product will probably shrink 5.2% in 2020, the Washington-based development organization said in its semi-annual Global Economic Prospects report Monday. Emerging and developing economies will shrink 2.5%, their worst performance in data that starts in 1960, it said.

      Per-capita output will contract in more than 90% of countries, the biggest share since 1870. This decline may push 70 million to 100 million people into extreme poverty, Ceyla Pazarbazioglu, the World Bank’s vice president of equitable growth, finance and institutions, told reporters by phone.
      …

    2. Bulls incessantly running their mouths at high volumes is an excellent contrarian signal for future stock market declines.

      1. Somebody please wake up this codger and inform him that we just entered the worst recession in 80 years.

        Need to Know
        Here’s the only thing investors need to know about the stock market right now, says 50-year veteran
        Published: June 9, 2020 at 7:16 a.m. ET
        By Barbara Kollmeyer
        Critical information for the U.S. trading day
        …
        Investors look ready to press pause on the stock rally, a day after the S&P 500 (SPX, -0.96%) finally moved into positive territory for the year, and the Nasdaq (COMP, -0.27%) marked its first record close since Feb. 19.

        Possibly dampening the mood is a World Bank forecast predicting 2020 will see the worst global recession since World War II, which adds weight to the argument by some that markets and the economy are in a total disconnect right now.
        …
        That likely won’t scare Capital Wealth’s market strategist Jeffrey Saut, who brings nearly 50 years of experience and has been sticking to his bullish stock call for years. In our call of the day, he predicts a new high for the S&P by year-end, with one message for any jittery investors: “It’s a bull market.”
        …

        1. “I’m just printing money,” Portnoy said.

          “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” —Proverbs 16:18

  35. Also, don’t get me started on the Deep State Government workers in DC that think they run the government. They are a bunch of overpaid entities that have become a special interest group in themselves for big government. They serve themselves and the bigger the government the more they thrive.

    The problem is if you don’t have a productive private sector job force you don’t have enough tax money to support all the parasites of the systems.
    Add to this the price sitting monopolies and rigged Ponzi scheme markets and it’s just a set up for a fall, that the Commies want so they can take over

    1. ‘you don’t have enough tax money to support all the parasites of the systems.’

      Do we really need tax money? Can’t they just print? Bowell says we can.

Comments are closed.