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They Didn’t Want The Faucet Of Money To Get Turned Off

An editorial from Jonathan Miller in Forbes. “When the Covid-19 crisis began half way through March, the Manhattan housing market was placed on ‘pause,’ as were many housing markets around the country. That was the beginning of the problem this crisis posed for the industry that lives and dies on sales and rental transactions. Then a startup agent trade group (NYRAC), made up of some of the most productive agents in the market and includes many of my long-time industry friends, pushed to hide the days on market metric from the public for what turned out to be a self-serving reason. I love what they stand for, but this was a strategic error that I could not support.”

“When the government ordered lockdown hit New York City, and real estate agents were not allowed to provide in-person showings, market activity immediately stalled. NYRAC pressured various platforms to hide days on market (DOM) information from listings. They still wanted users to be able to drill down and uncover the details, but at first glance, the DOM information was to be hidden.”

“Streeteasy (owned by Zillow), the de-facto Manhattan multiple listing system in the eyes of the consumer, and the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), the leading real estate trade group with their own platform known as RLS, initially balked at the manipulation but eventually caved to NYRAC pressure.”

“NYRAC made a strategic error that further damaged the long-term credibility of the real estate brokerage industry with the consumer. Not all brokers agreed with this strategy either, but this group placed enough pressure on these platforms to make the change happen.”

“NYRAC and several real estate agents said to the effect, ‘the buyer or seller can still look at the listing history to know how long a listing has been on the market. That data was never removed.’ I always respond with ‘Then why hide it in the first place?’ To brokers in favor of this temporary rule who wonder why I appear to be obsessing about a nuance I say, it is never appropriate to manipulate data, made even worse by the primary motivation behind this action.”

“This ‘solution’ ignores the buyer’s position in a sales transaction and yet last time I checked, buyers are on the other side of every sale. Any effort to partially or fully hide DOM results or any other market metric conveys the wrong message and smacks of the old ‘information gatekeeper’ mentality, no matter the state of the market.”

From ABC News in Australia. “An economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) considered asking private firms to stop telling Australians about slumping property prices, when the early period of coronavirus panic stoked fears of a housing market crash. In a release of highly classified documents from inside Australia’s central bank, economists discussed the need to treat the housing market as dysfunctional — and potentially shut down data sources letting investors know.”

“Lindsay David, the founder of LF Economics, said it was shocking the central bank would contemplate asking private sector data collectors to stop informing the public. ‘I personally think it’s absolutely disgraceful conduct by the RBA that they have appeared to resort to giving what appears to be a manipulation of the information members of the public do and do not have access to in relation to house prices and debt.'”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Vancouver has always had a pretty disreputable past when it comes to the real estate game of flipping properties for fast profit. According to Jesse Donaldson, author of Land of Destiny: A History of Vancouver Real Estate, the Jungle Book author returned to the rapidly growing city to find that he’d been scammed out of his investment.”

“‘The rules of the game haven’t changed, and the way it operates haven’t changed much at all,’ he says. ‘The only question now is who is doing it and where they are from.'”

“He wanted to help his generation understand how the gap between incomes and real estate prices got so absurdly wide. He discovered that the city’s cozy relationship with property development goes back to its founding, more than 130 years ago. Foreign buying and the local wealth and tax revenues made from frenzied development is nothing new. Foreign buyers from Britain and the United States flooded into the province from 1908 to 1913. In the building boom of 1912, there was one realtor for every 100 citizens, according to his book. Half of Vancouver’s city council were in the real estate business, including the mayor, an American-born realtor named Charles Stanford Douglas.”

“That same year the city had revenue of $19-million from the issuance of building permits. He tells how politicians and Canadian Pacific Railway employees with inside knowledge made vast sums of money as they speculated on properties ripe for development. ‘We’ve had an interesting approach in this country; allowing people to do stuff because they have a lot of money and [government] wants investment – but they don’t want to regulate those interactions in any way. And so, you get the mess we’re in now,’ Mr. Donaldson said.”

“The beginnings of the current mess, he says, can be traced back to the 1980s when government began courting Asian wealth in earnest. One of Mr. Donaldson’s sources is University of British Columbia geography professor David Ley, who wrote about the government’s intentional courting of Asian investment in his book, Millionaire Migrants: Trans-Pacific Life Lines.”

“The Pacific strategy culminated with Expo 86, as ‘place marketing’ for the Vancouver region, Mr. Donaldson said. ‘It was a ton of taxpayer money that put on a big showing for rich people to invest, and they did. They were given supergood sweetheart deals that nobody else could compete with,’ he said. ‘It worked very well, so a lot of the same people came together and did the whole thing again for the 2010 Olympics. They were basically two big marketing campaigns for the real estate industry.'”

“UBC School of Architecture and Landscape professor Patrick Condon also published a book in the past year, called Five Rules for Tomorrow’s Cities. ‘Vancouver now presents an attractive but largely false image to the world, an image that suggests comfortable citizens housed in gleaming glass towers enjoying brilliant mountain views,’ he writes. ‘Unfortunately, this image conceals the reality where many of those high-rise units sit empty – nothing but ‘cash boxes in the sky’ for investors – while wage earners crowd into small apartments, often devoting well over 50 per cent of their after-tax income to rent.'”

“Mr. Donaldson also looks to senior government to get back to protecting its citizens with robust housing programs. As to why government didn’t intervene sooner, before we entered crisis mode, he can’t help but be cynical. ‘There have been plenty of people who’ve raised the alarm about it over the years. … And it seemed silly that nobody really noticed for as long as they did, because it had been happening for so long, the exact same pattern writ large. The most charitable interpretation that I have is that they didn’t ask any questions because they didn’t want the faucet of money to get turned off.'”

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This Post Has 172 Comments

  1. ‘NYRAC pressured various platforms to hide days on market (DOM) information from listings. They still wanted users to be able to drill down and uncover the details, but at first glance, the DOM information was to be hidden’

    ‘Streeteasy (owned by Zillow), the de-facto Manhattan multiple listing system in the eyes of the consumer, and the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), the leading real estate trade group with their own platform known as RLS, initially balked at the manipulation but eventually caved to NYRAC pressure’

    How many reports dd we see after the CCP virus hit that local MLS’s were doing away with DOM? Zillow, a shack flipping enterprise, is also counted on for data. But what happened to the price reduced info we used to get every month?

    The REIC is very real and as corrupt as it gets. And as the Australian article shows, it extends to the central banks.

    2. I’m pretty zillow has been scrubbing some of their transaction data too. For example, there are some obvious flips where the flip transaction isn’t shown. They don’t show whether the house has been foreclosed either.

    3. MLS and other listing manipulation is rampant here, homes that failed to sell having their histories wiped clean and re-listed like Ground Hog Day.

      If you spend enough time watching a particular zip code you can have fun spotting them.

      Seller delusion in this area is putting May of 2018 to shame at the moment. Asking prices in higher income zip codes are unbelievably stupid, homes are starting to pile up. Will probably take another month or two to work pandemic shutdowns out of the calculus and get a more accurate picture of market health.

      2. I don’t un save when Zillow takes a home Im watching off the market. When they relist it as “new” I will already show that it is saved. This is a glitch on their end but it helps to know its really been on the market at least 3 months and didn’t sell.

        1. Yeah, I’ve seen that too. And sometimes I saved it as a rental and then it pops up for sale a year later after the lease is up and I see it as something I already saved in the past.

    5. I remember that years ago realtors could pull a listing for a single day and the DOM would reset when it was relisted…that was reformed at some point but looks like we are back to the deception unsurprisingly

  2. ‘There have been plenty of people who’ve raised the alarm about it over the years. … And it seemed silly that nobody really noticed for as long as they did, because it had been happening for so long, the exact same pattern writ large. The most charitable interpretation that I have is that they didn’t ask any questions because they didn’t want the faucet of money to get turned off’

    It’s that simple. Remember when the Canadian press and UHS would howl “racist!” if anyone mentioned the large number of Chinese money launderers? You don’t hear that crap anymore, because it was true and everyone knows it.

    1. It’s not unlike the Dems who screamed “RACIST!” at Trump when he cut off flights from China. Then, he was later criticized by the same people for not shutting flights down from Europe soon enough.

      In my opinion, there are not enough ramifications for falsely accusing somebody of racism. That’s an extremely serious charge, and one that heavily damages a reputation. Those who engage in such seedy practices should be vilified themselves.

      1. ‘Attorney General William Barr said he expects some “developments” later this summer in U.S Attorney John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the FBI’s counterintelligence Russia probe. Barr said Durham has been pressing ahead with his investigation “as hard as he can,” despite facing barriers posed by the CCP virus pandemic, which had delayed some aspects of the probe.’

        “It’s been stunning that all we have gotten from the mainstream media is sort of bovine silence in the face of the complete collapse of the so-called Russiagate scandal, which they did all they could to sensationalize and drive,” Barr said. “And it’s, like, not even a whoops. They’re just onto the next false scandal. So, that has been surprising to me that people aren’t concerned about civil liberties and the integrity of our governmental process.”

        https://www.theepochtimes.com/developments-in-durham-investigation-likely-by-this-summer-barr-says_3397522.html?ref=brief_News&__sta=vhg.uosvpxluwwnwpjoqnhklkm%7CUJJ&__stm_medium=email&__stm_source=smartech

  4. ‘it is never appropriate to manipulate data, made even worse by the primary motivation behind this action. This ‘solution’ ignores the buyer’s position in a sales transaction and yet last time I checked, buyers are on the other side of every sale’

    And note that this wasn’t revealed by a consumer protection regulator. So considering this is the “most expensive purchase you’ll ever make”, why is it allowed to be run by a bunch of self-interested, greedy crooks? Why is the guberment financing this sham?

    I’ll give you an example of how deep this corruption runs: last decade, Fannie and Freddie suddenly couldn’t produce financial statements – before prices had even started to fall! At the time I asked, why haven’t they been delisted from the stock exchanges? That’s the rule. Why were they allowed to continue to package huge amounts of bonds? Bonds that were junk, failed, and had to be bought up by – ta-da – the central bank.

    So the SEC was in on it, the Federal reserve, pretty much all of DC without any discussion or input. Did you know the plan to put the GSE’s into receivership was hatched in the spring of 2005? Do you know that a criminal investigation of Fannie Mae execs was launched by the DOJ in the fall of 2004, and quickly closed without comment? That’s right swamp, I’ve got the posts to prove it.

      1. Yup, I saw that in the Washington Compost. Of everybody in the comment section, only a few brought up that Raines had had to pony up to avoid prosecution. The rest were all fawning “thank you Mr Raines vote bloo no matter hoo”

        1. The rest were all fawning “thank you Mr Raines vote bloo no matter hoo”

          I recently met one of these types. She was speaking of the rally in Tulsa and actually said “I hope they all get COVID.” Horrible people.

    3. Ben, I remember you posting articles about those investigations at the time way back in around 2005.

      1. The GSE’s were lobbying congress, while congress was investigating them. How could both Fannie and Freddie fail at about the same time, with prices not having started down? And then we found out about the Enron style off-shore special purpose entities. Fannie had around 1,000 of them. Did anyone get to the bottom of that? Did the complicit media say boo?

        1. None of these questions is ever answered. I do not think there is a way out of this corruption short of a complete and total failure of the system. And then, it might even be replaced by something worse, like Socialism (worse than we have now).

  7. Seattle mayor relents, will end CHOP zone and send police back into neighborhood | Just The News
    https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/seattle-mayor-relents-will-end-chop-zone-and-send-police-back-neighborhood

    (snip)

    Mayor Jenny Durkan once proclaimed autonomous zone as center of ‘summer of love’ but after violent weekend says police shouldn’t be banned from any location to keep the peace.

    Seattle’s mayor on Monday dramatically reversed course on the city’s police-free zone after a weekend of deadly violence, saying the lawless, make-shift protest area would be dismantled and officers sent in to restore order.

    “There should be no place in Seattle that the Seattle Fire Department and the Seattle Police Department can’t go,” Mayor Jenny Durkan told a news conference as she announced plans to end the “Capitol Hill Organized Protest” zone, also known by its acronym CHOP.

    The announcement was a remarkable turnabout for a Democratic mayor who received significant criticism for allowing rioters and protesters to take control of the neighborhood two weeks ago and then suggesting on CNN that the CHOP might become the epicenter of a long “summer of love.”

    Her change of heart came after a weekend with two shootings, one fatal, in the zone, which has kept businesses in the area closed, neighbors on edge and police barricaded outside. A 19-year-old man was shot dead in the zone on Saturday.

    “The cumulative impacts of gatherings and protests and the nighttime atmosphere and violence has led to increasingly difficult circumstances for our businesses and residents,” Durkan said. “The impacts have increased and the safety has decreased.”

    1. Meanwhile in Seattle Real Estate … I just dont get it. My only explanation is the Amazon and MSFT employees making a killing on stock grants/options. It make no sense – specially since property taxes will go up significantly and WA state will have to introduce a state income tax.

      ——
      From: Urbnlivn weekly newsletter:

      The craziest bidding war story last week was this mid-century modern with a pool off Rainier that had 16 offers within 30 hours. Meanwhile I was surprised to see a $3.75m floating home go pending in one day! It will likely be a record sale, as the most expensive floating home sale was $3.575m in 2018. Other great homes went pending quickly like this NW contemporary bordering Carkeek and a Meadowbrook mid-century with a pool. Or how about this Yarrow Point home that just sold for $8.8m when it sold for $6.95m two years ago!?

      Last week we saw more new listings and buyers going under contract than any other week this year (charts) – showing continued enthusiasm for Seattle real estate.

      1. I just dont get it

        It’s easy to “get.” The FED just hammered rates to zero, and that drew in the last batch of suckers. Rates can’t go lower, so it’s ballgame after this batch of fools is exhausted.

        1. Not to mention the fact that the FED is forcing people into hard assets with their policy of going Zimbabwe.

        4. Rates can’t go lower

          🙁 Aww, I was hoping someone would pay me to take out a mortgage!

      3. “…and WA state will have to introduce a state income tax.”

        For what, more frivolous spending?

  9. ‘Wirecard’s former boss has been arrested on suspicion of falsifying its accounts, after the German payments firm disclosed a $2.1 billion financial hole and questioned whether trustees had actually held money on its behalf.’

    ‘Markus Braun turned himself in on Monday night after Munich prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest. A judge ruled on Tuesday that the 50-year-old Austrian could be released as soon as he posts 5 million euros ($5.7 million) in bail.’

    ‘In his 18 years in charge, Braun transformed an offshoot of the dot-com boom, known for handling payments for online gambling and adult entertainment sites, into a $20 billion-plus ‘fintech’ that won a place in Germany’s blue-chip DAX index.’

    ‘The former consultant traded in a suit for a black roll-neck and portrayed himself as a tech visionary, telling New York investors last autumn that Wirecard would increase revenues by six times by 2025 as digital payments boom.’

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/international-business/european-business/article-former-wirecard-ceo-arrested-accused-of-falsifying-revenue/

    1. It’s interesting how young people don’t have checkbooks and instead rely on services like Wirecard to exchange cash with each other.

      1. Who in their right mind is scribbling on pieces of paper to move money in 2020?

          1. National coin shortage: Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters part of latest COVID-19 shortage
            Kelly Tyko | USA TODAY

            Break out your piggy banks, the latest COVID-19 shortage involves pocket change.

            The coronavirus pandemic has caused a nationwide coin shortage, according to the Federal Reserve.

            Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday the shutdowns caused by the pandemic have raised concerns about circulation of coins, which the Fed’s 12 regional banks are in charge of supplying to commercial banks.

            “With the partial closure of the economy, the flow of funds through the economy has stopped,” Powell said during a virtual hearing with the House Financial Services Committee. “We are working with the Mint and the Reserve Banks, and as the economy re-opens we are starting to see money move around again.”
            …

          2. Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters part of latest COVID-19 shortage

            Most of them cost more to make than they’re worth. I would drop them all but the quarter. But government doesn’t want to do that because it’s afraid it will prove the dropping value of the dollar. So what? Why keep up the facade? The dollar IS dropping in value, and pennies are a joke. There is NO reason to keep them and very little reason to keep coining (printing) nickels and dimes.

          3. “Or passing around paper money or coins?”

            Both of which are increasingly valuable as the price of everything continues to fall.

            San Francisco, CA Housing Prices Crater 24% YOY As Rental Rates Plunge On Ballooning Housing Inventory

            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.”

          4. It would be nice to have $5 and $10 coins.

            Those would be a nice tip. And you could do the thumb flip with them for a really grand gesture.

          5. I know 20s are deeply embedded in our culture, but I think we only need four denominations. Dime and dollar coins, and $10 and $100 bills. That’s it. If we weren’t trying to go all electronic $1000 bills would make sense but that’s not gonna happen.

          6. nice to have $5 and $10 coins

            We had those when I was a kid! They were called the Nickle and Dime.

            Exaggerating a bit, but not really very much.

          7. $1000 bills would make sense

            The US $1000 bill featured Grover Cleveland.

            The $5,000 James Madison.

            The $10,000 was for a time Andrew Jackson.

            The $100,000 had Woodrow Wilson, but you were never allowed to have one. All the rest are still legal tender.

          8. It would be nice to have $5 and $10 coins.

            No reason it couldn’t be done. Currency units should be flexible enough to practically serve the needs of people for transactions in the economy.

            Pennies are no longer practical. It would be simple enough to just stop making them. And if the dollar should ever start gaining value for a long period of time, it would also be simple enough to just start making them again.

            The real problem now is the lavish amount of dollars that can be created, not the units that will be used to represent them. In other words, pennies are a minor problem compared to the new zero reserve requirements.

          9. the new zero reserve requirements

            They are indeed dangerous, but not new by a long shot. What’s new is that the Fed doesn’t require the big banks to pay a fee for not having reserves, which it used to pass on to the US Treasury. This doesn’t serve to multiply the currency supply further, it simply helps the (big) banks be more profitable.

            The banks are in trouble. They need all kinds of propping up.

          10. This doesn’t serve to multiply the currency supply further

            No, but it now allows it whenever they want to.

          11. whenever they want to

            I think that hasn’t been lacking for decades., and they’ll extend credit until the house of cards falls in on itself.

          12. I think that hasn’t been lacking for decades.

            It’s been lacking since March 26, 2020 when zero reserve requirements went into effect.

          13. March 26, 2020

            It has been the reality for years. There was only a Technical Reserve Requirement for Big Banks, not one in practice. They only had to have reserves at night and only on checking accounts (demand accounts). None of the rest of it had any reserve requirements. The Fed “loaned” these reserves to the banks overnight. Without this the whole “Fed Funds Rate” would be meaningless.

            I fail to see how ending this farce is a portal to another reality. I think we’ve long been through the portal. The Fed has written papers about this. It’s no secret. They say they have “other tools” to better control the money supply.

          14. It has been the reality for years.

            I know what you’re saying. But being accommodated time and again after bumping into a rule isn’t really the same as having no rule. Now there’s no rule to bump up against. The technicality you speak of, is gone. I don’t think this will turn out to be as minor a detail as you think it is.

            Here’s a quote from another site:

            “This action eliminates the need for thousands of depository institutions to maintain balances in accounts at Reserve Banks to satisfy reserve requirements”

            To me, that’s significant. And i admit that to others (such as yourself) it isn’t.

            As you said, this doesn’t automatically mean that they’re going to create a mountain of dollars. But it makes it easier to do so.

            I think the FED sees a huge amount of debt that’s going to have to be monetized. They have cleared what i believe is the last hurdle to create an almost unlimited amount of dollars. Can they still show restraint? Yes. Will they? I doubt it.

  11. ‘NEW! 6-19-20 Governor’s Face Covering Guidance for Lincoln County’

    ‘Order 6/17/2020 – Face Covering Directive (signed directive in Supporting Documents – below)
    General directive: All individuals in Lincoln County are required to wear face coverings during any indoor public setting or outdoor public location where a person will be in within six feet of another individual, who does not share the same household.’

    ‘Exceptions:…People of color who have heightened concerns about racial profiling and harassment due to wearing face coverings in public.’

    https://www.co.lincoln.or.us/hhs/page/face-covering-directive

    1. I’m surprised there’s been no talk about clear plastic face shields. Just as good as a cloth mask. Tons of stock online. They’re reusable so you only need one or two. They don’t obscure your face, so no fear of racial profiling. And with a little effort, I guess you could eat and drink with them on.

      Research from 2016 shows a face shield is very effective blocking 8.4 micron particles. (not sure what size droplets a COVID needs to ride on). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24467190/#:~:text=During%20testing%20of%20an%20influenza,of%20a%20respirator%20by%2097%25.

      1. a face shield is very effective blocking 8.4 micron particles

        A face shield is not a filter.

      2. The masks are meant to keep your cooties in. While the big sneezes may largely stick to the inside of the shield, the cooties you exhale would be set free to infest more victims.

        ..and nobody wants to see a shield with big sneezes stuck to the inside of it.

        1. Like wearing one of those sneeze guards at a salad bar. Maybe worth it to have a pair of tongs hanging off the side – for croutons of course!

    2. Ben, I did read the directive. It is just guidance with no enforcement. It states there are no grounds for the issuing of a citation, etc. They are still petty tyrants…

  12. Should I visit Mt Rushmore next month returning from my Midwest road trip?

    I have a feeling it might not be there a year from now.

      1. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake

        Lately it seems like everything is going their way. Many who disapprove of what is happening hold their tongues out of fear of being cancelled and having their employment terminated. Millions of unemployed now expect the government to pay their bills into perpetuity. Looters and arsonists run free, while the MSM claims that white supremacists are behind the riots and looting. Thugs beat 90 year old women and are immediately released.

        Now, we might think that this will lead to a backlash at the ballot box in November, but I’m not so sure. And even if it does, the Supremes can throw a wrench into the works, like they just did with DACA.

        I tend to agree with Apt 401: this country is finished.

        1. ‘The CEO of a billion-dollar investment firm said his company is moving away from Seattle following weeks of unrest and the establishment of downtown’s so-called Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, or CHOP. “The unrest that has taken place in the city of Seattle … there is really is not a downtown business community today,” Smead Capital Management President and CEO Cole Smead told KTAR on Monday.’

          ‘Smead said that Phoenix will offer his employees a better quality of living and quality of life. “We’re hearing rumors of 40-story buildings that will be only 20-percent occupied by October,” he told the local station. “My colleagues can pick the socio-economic rung of life that they want … live their lives, build their households and have a family if they’d like,” Smead said. “Where we’re coming from just wasn’t like that.”

          ‘On Monday, some CHOP members said they would like to implement a curfew and other measures in an attempt to reduce the violence and destructive behavior at night. “We would like to acknowledge that no organizations, protests, or revolutions are perfect,” the group wrote. “We must all be willing to collectively learn and react quickly to mistakes made within our movement. We do not want to see what was started with the intention of lifting the BLM message destroyed before us all.”

          https://www.theepochtimes.com/investment-firm-ceo-says-company-is-leaving-seattle-following-unrest_3398824.html

          1. Phoenix will offer his employees a better quality of living and quality of life

            I’m considering relocating down there (from Las Vegas) myself. TBH, one factor is the very different demographics down there.

            Those Seattle folks will be in for a “culture shock” from the climate.

          2. I am looking forward to reading another thousand articles like this one.

            Kiss your tax base GOODBYE!

          3. TBH, one factor is the very different demographics down there

            I looked at the demographic info for Vegas and Phoenix and the racial breakdown seem very similar. Do you mean age?

          4. “Phoenix will offer his employees a better quality of living and quality of life. “

            In what universe? Phoenix is one of the least livable cities in the developed world. Good luck getting top tier talent to move there.

          5. We’re already seeing the departure of companies from Seattle area…. Now Seattle housing prices are cratering.

            Seattle, WA Housing Prices Crater 13% YOY As Amazon And Microsoft Layoffs Accelerate

            https://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa-98102/home-values/

            *Select price from dropdown menu on first chart

            As a noted economist stated, “You’d have to have rocks in your head to buy a house in the last 15 years.”

        2. The Beginnings, w/slight variation (Rudyard Kipling):

          It was not part of their blood,
          It came to them very late,
          With long arrears to make good,
          When the Saxon began to hate.

          They were not easily moved,
          They were icy — willing to wait
          Till every count should be proved,
          Ere the Saxon began to hate.

          Their voices were even and low.
          Their eyes were level and straight.
          There was neither sign nor show
          When the Saxon…………………..

          http://www.europeanamericansunited.org/school1/Fiction/kipling/awakened.htm

        3. I don’t think that the country is finished, just the cities, with Seattle being an extreme example of the coming de-gentrification. A person would have to be insane to buy property in any of the formerly hot cities like NYC, SF, Denver, Boston, etc., all of which were starting to teeter even before the virus and the riots. It will be sad to see them degrade to the level of Baltimore as the police stop working, crime skyrockets and the remaining unfortunates are left to fight over the scraps of what’s left. At least they will finally be affordable for the masses.

    2. I have a feeling it might not be there a year from now.

      If Creepy Joe wins, anything is possible. I could see the Antifaliban blowing it up, while the Dem leadership conducts a secular liturgy and grants absolution to all who made its destruction possible.

      1. One problem is that western South Dakota isn’t really an Antifa stronghold…I would expect some local resistance at that site. Perhaps very strong resistance.

        1. True, they would require some heavy duty backup. Which is why it would take a creepy Joe victory to happen.

          Destroying Mt Rushmore does seem extreme, but nothing seems to surprise me anymore.

  13. Any thoughts on what will happen when the greatest ever rally on terrible fundamentals runs out of steam?

    1. The Financial Times
      Coronavirus business update 30 days complimentary
      Equity valuation
      How the stock market rally is feeding on itself
      Technical factors have propelled the rebound in equities, just as they did the sell-off
      While the rise of day traders has helped the market rise, volatility-sensitive investors are also exacerbating peaks and troughs
      © FT montage
      Robin Wigglesworth yesterday

      The emergence of brash retail traders who think stocks only go up has been one easy explanation for the surprisingly strong market recovery since March.

      Some analysts, however, argue the rebound has more to do with the same technical factors that exacerbated the initial bear market — the rise of volatility-sensitive investors and the increasing influence of derivatives on financial markets.

      “Positioning played a huge role in the extent of the sell-off, and has been a big part of the rally as well,” said Bankim Chadha, chief global strategist at Deutsche Bank.
      …

      1. The emergence of brash retail traders who think stocks only go up

        How could anyone believe this? There have been big market declines within the last 15 years. If they’re a little older, maybe they remember Black Monday. And didn’t they ever hear about the great crash and depression in the 20’s and 30’s?

        I suppose they believe “it’s all different now.”

        1. Well it is kinda different when the Federal Reserve just prints money to buy stocks. The financial youtubes are wondering if it truly can go on forever. None of them have an answer.

  14. There’s more crater now than there every was in 2009. The magnitude of this crater is that of 1990-1994…….

    Cratering housing everywhere.

  15. TOP DEM DONOR AND PAL TO EPSTEIN/CLINTON/GATES LEAPS TO DEATH FROM 27TH FLOOR APT

    Adan Salazar | Infowars.com – JUNE 23, 2020

    Millionaire philanthropist, film producer and friend of Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Clinton, Steve Bing, reportedly leapt to his death from his 27th floor Los Angeles apartment building Monday.

    LA Times reports:

    Bing, 55, fell to his death from a high-rise building in Century City, according to a law enforcement source who was not authorized to comment. Foul play is not suspected.

    A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department said it responded to a call around 1 p.m. regarding the death of a man in his 50s in the 10000 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in Century City.

    https://www.infowars.com/top-dem-donor-and-pal-to-epstein-clinton-gates-leaps-to-death-from-27th-floor-apt/

    Somebody is already trying to make money from this tragedy.

    https://www.teepublic.com/sticker/2478969-dirty-handprints

    1. “The only thing more dangerous than being an enemy of the Clintons…is being a friend of them.”

    3. So are we still thinking Jeffrey Epstien strangled himself to death? He just kind of dropped right off the radar, didn’t he?

      Takes a determined man to strangle himself…

    4. “…friend of Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Clinton… Foul play is not suspected.”

      Interesting!

    5. We still don’t know what blackmail worthy evidence was collected from Epstein’s estate although I just saw another headline a few days ago, and the title’s marquee photo depicted a Viagra red-faced William with his arm around someone’s K12 aged daughter. In the middle of the story was a wide-eyed prince Andrew.

    6. In the realm of gallows humor, one of his movie credits is listed as “The Big Bounce”, which is a about an RE scam…

      Art imitates life, which imitates art…

  16. 1031 exchange update: Banks are being ridiculous. Citibank won’t loan to the GST because it’s irrevocable. Bank of America is requiring the we qualify for our current monthly rent in addition to the future monthly payment and property taxes. Of course our monthly rent is huge liability; we live in California. We have excellent credit scores, enough money to buy the house outright without the 1031 exchange, and looking at a 13.7% LTV. Yes, 86.3% equity. (I like 3 significant figures.)

    1. Without the 1031 exchange, I’m looking at a tax liability of $80K. Is that a lot? Serious question. I’ve never been involved in a real estate transaction so this is all new to me. And, I’ve got some unusual circumstances thrown in.

      1. A Sacramento friend whose brother is 5150 was able to keep the family’s home tax base when the father passed away, but a move wasn’t involved.

        Does the new place have ADA compliant appurtenances, fixtures, etc., to necessitate the move?

        1. The big sticking point seems to be the irrevocable part of the trust and a bank having adequate recourse in the case of foreclosure. I spoke with my financial manager today and he said that the slim margin banks are getting on loans at these low interest rates is causing them to limit loans to nearly perfect applications.

          1. What happens if you put the balance in in cash instead of a loan and split the technical ownership of the house.

          2. if you put the balance in in cash instead of a loan

            In order to avoid tax liability, a 1031 exchange requires equal liability and equal equity. We may need to loan the trust money if a bank won’t. I need to explore that option.

      2. Red, could you buy the target house with no mortgage in order to do the 1031, then take out financing later after finalizing the sale? It might be a more straightforward deal to finance and you wouldn’t be under pressure to get the financing done under the terms/time frame of the 1031.

        GST? Is that an irrevocable trust where you would need to acquire non-recourse financing?

        1. Yes, it’s an irrevocable generation-skip trust. Non-recourse financing? My Citibank mortgage broker said Citibank refused to lend to a GST 6-7 months ago claiming if it needed to foreclose it would have problems. The attorney working on that deal called BS but figured out a work-around. The mortgage broker noted that Citibank doesn’t have a trust division like most other big banks so it isn’t as familiar with that area of the law. I really wish the trust attorney who set this up would get back to me.

          My husband suggested that we loan the trust the money, establish a lease and tenancy so the property has cashflow, then refinance. It would have fewer moving parts than it does right now.

    2. Curious. I recall reading stories here about unemployed people being able to get loans.

    3. If they’re looking at it as an investment property, which it is, shouldn’t they also consider the potential income stream from the investment property? If we were to rent out the replacement property, the rent would more than cover the mortgage, property taxes and insurance.

    1. not just attributable to more testing

      The article does say that, but doesn’t substantiate it. I’ve looked up the hot spots, Florida, Texas and Arizona. They’ve got plenty of cases. What they don’t have is plenty of people dying.

      I know, the end of the world is just two weeks away, as usual. Just keep moving the “hot spot” around and nobody will notice.

        1. by about a month

          Well, that wasn’t our experience here at the center of the virus universe. Cases, hospitalizations and deaths all peaked at the same time in the first week of April.

        2. How long ago were them non-socially distanced riots?

          Of course, black lives impacted by COVID-19 don’t matter, so long as they were incurred during riots.

        1. then it must be false. Right?

          You must know by now that depends on how many times it is repeated, not on the substance of the story.

  19. When the brown envelope crowd gets caught:

    Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar Arrested on Federal RICO Charge that Alleges He Agreed to Accept At Least $1.5 Million in Illicit Benefits.

    https://www.ihatethemedia.com/los-angeles-city-councilman-jose-huizar-arrested-on-federal-rico-charge-that-alleges-he-agreed-to-accept-at-least-15-million-in-illicit-benefits?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

    that, as part of the criminal enterprise, he and his associates violated a series of laws, including bribery, honest services fraud, extortion and money laundering.

    Oh my! But wait. there’s more!

    This is number two. In May LA City Councilman George Esparza, 33, of Boyle Heights, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute.

    And we all know that the rest of the LA city council are up to the same thing.

    2. Did some digging on those two. Huizar is some big shot lawyer who came to the US illegally as a child. He’s a poster boy for DACA. He even served on the Princeton board of trustees.

      Esparza appears to be some sort of Huizar protege since 2013, per an LA Times article. They were indeed connected. And our favorite topic, real estate, was involved:

      In one, Esparza and the councilman enriched themselves with the largesse from the billionaire head of a major Chinese real estate company, who paid more than $1 million in bribes in exchange for help clearing the way for a 77-story skyscraper the company wanted to build downtown, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

      You’d think that being a hot shot lawyer he’d know what could happen. The allure of brown envelopes was just too much to resist.

  20. What next…BLM peops given blanket permission by Dems to desecrate likenesses of white Jesus?

    1. So next up, desecration of cathedrals and churches? Stained glass windows smashed?

      Will the Orthodox Church get a pass? In a lot of their icons, Jesus can look olive skinned.

      1. Several Junipero Serra statues around SoCal have been defaced or torn down. Catholic dioceses are recommending that all “artwork” be moved indoors at this time. I won’t bother Ben on vetting links; they are easy to find from the LAT and other “news” sources.

        I’ve been re-reading “Atlas Shrugged” over the past month and the frisson I’m feeling from a matching of events is off the charts. I dimly recall a poster who used the “John Galt” handle here, I think.

      2. get a pass?

        Seriously? Wasn’t their silence violence? What’s coming at us wants to tear down everything, so it can build new.

  21. this is 15 minutes but its very informative to what police are up against today ttps://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/police-chief-tampa-officers-injured-in-separate-ambush-attacks/

  24. Moving backwards through time
    Never learn, never mind
    That side’s yours, this side’s mine
    Brother you ain’t my kind

    You’re a black soldier, white fight
    Won’t you fill up the tank, let’s go for a ride
    Sure’d like to feel some pride
    But this place just makes me feel sad inside

    Soul Asylum – Black Gold

    https://youtu.be/KpiFDrFEGvE

  25. The girlfriend of Bubba Wallace thanked NASCAR fans on Instagram for their support after a noose was left in his garage stall before a race in Alabama

    As Carter wrote on Instagram, ‘The fact I date a black man does not exempt me’

    By ALEX RASKIN SPORTS NEWS EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

    PUBLISHED: 10:43 EDT, 23 June 2020 |

    However, the real story occurred when the other drivers pushed his No. 43 car to the front of the grid along an infield emblazoned with ‘#IStandWithBubba’ stenciled into the grass. A tearful Wallace punctuated the moment by sharing a hug with car owner and NASCAR legend ‘The King’ Richard Petty.

    ‘I wanted to show whoever it was, you are not going to take away my smile,’ Wallace said.

    While Monday evening may have been a joyous and unifying moment, Carter warned her Instagram followers that ‘there is so much work to be done.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8451265/Bubba-Wallaces-girlfriend-says-white-people-including-examine-prejudices.html

    1. FBI says Bubba Wallace not a target of a hate crime

      By David Close and Jill Martin, CNN

      Updated 8:41 PM ET, Tue June 23, 2020

      (CNN)The FBI said Tuesday a noose found in the team garage of NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace at the Talladega Superspeedway has been there since last year and he, therefore, is not a victim of a hate crime.

      NASCAR, mentioning the FBI report, described the item as a “garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose.”
      “The FBI learned that garage number 4, where the noose was found, was assigned to Bubba Wallace last week,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “The investigation also revealed evidence, including authentic video confirmed by NASCAR, that the noose found in garage number 4 was in that garage as early as October 2019. Although the noose is now known to have been in garage number 4 in 2019, nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned to garage number 4 last week.”

      Wallace had not publicly responded to the FBI’s finding as of early Tuesday night. NASCAR said he never saw the noose.

      https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/us/nascar-noose-not-hate-crime-bubba-wallace/index.html

      1. Jemele Hill Condemns NASCAR Noose Incident: ‘Disgusting Reminder of Who This Sport is for’

        By Rudy Takala
        Jun 22nd, 2020

        320 comments

        “As someone who has attended several NASCAR races, it’s hard for people of color to feel comfortable in these environments when you see the Confederate flag everywhere, when you just get this sense that you’re at something that you’re not welcome at,” Hill, a writer for The Atlantic, said in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “As much as NASCAR may try to distance itself from that, it is a living, breathing part of their sport.”

        “This reminder is [a] very stunning, shocking, appalling, disgusting reminder of who, again, this sport is for,” Hill added. “I’m very curious to see how NASCAR handles this, because based [on] everything I’ve read … this had to be an inside job, because this garage was only open to essential personnel. So, somebody associated with NASCAR likely may have been the culprit.”

        https://www.mediaite.com/news/jemele-hill-condemns-nascar-noose-incident-disgusting-reminder-of-who-this-sport-is-for/

    1. The stock market and COVID-19 cases always go up.

      The Financial Times
      Alice Woodhouse 5 hours ago
      Asia stocks mixed as new US coronavirus cases hit 2-month high

      Stock markets in Asia-Pacific started mixed on Wednesday as investors weighed new US coronavirus cases reaching a near two-month high against signs of economic recovery.

      In Japan, the Topix was down 0.2 per cent, the Kospi in Seoul rose 0.9 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2 per cent.

      Almost 33,000 people tested positive for coronavirus in the US on Tuesday as California and Texas each reported more than 5,000 new infections.

      Overnight in the US, the S&P 500 index ended up 0.4 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.7 per cent to end at a record high.

      Shares in Europe gained on better-than-expected purchasing managers’ indices for June for France, Germany and the UK that showed an improvement in business activity following the relaxation of lockdown measures. The European Stoxx 600 index closed up 1.3 per cent.
      …

  28. ‘Massive’ Forgery Helped Hide $3 Billion Hole in Energy Trader’s Books

    Report by court-appointed administrators says Hin Leong Trading manipulated inventory and accounts receivable

    ‘A distressed energy-trading company overstated its assets by more than $3 billion using “routine and pervasive” forgery, while its founder oversaw years of disastrous bets on oil derivatives, a report filed with a Singapore court said.’

    ‘The study by interim judicial managers, or court-appointed independent administrators, offers the first detailed account of the implosion of Hin Leong Trading Pte. Ltd., a closely held Singapore company that owes $3.5 billion—mostly to banks, including HSBC Holdings PLC.’

    ‘The administrators, from PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services Pte. Ltd., estimated Hin Leong’s true assets at just $257 million, or about 7% of liabilities, raising the prospect of steep losses for creditors.’

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/massive-forgery-helped-hide-3-billion-hole-in-energy-traders-books-11592993288

    1. Telegraph.co.uk
      Deutschland despairs as Wirecard becomes ‘the German Enron’

      Wirecard’s share price dropped 21pc, but rather than take the allegations seriously, the BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator, chose to launch an investigation …
      33 mins ago

    2. Fabrication was so widespread, the administrators said, that “every document had to be scrutinized in order to check and verify whether it was genuine.”

      Seems like a number of executives need a good caning.

  30. Downtown Denver is a toilet:

    “Tents line the sidewalk surrounding Morey Middle School and neighbors are fed up with the growing homeless camp.

    “There are several encampment areas in the city where we’re seeing unsafe, unhealthy, and unclean conditions. This site is among them,” said Nancy Kuhn, a spokesperson for the City of Denver.

    Several residents reached out to Contact7 to express their concern about drug use, trash and fighting in the area.

    Over the past month, the Denver Police Department responded to 26 calls for service in the 800 block of E. 14th Ave. All of those calls involved people who were experiencing homelessness and 20 calls involved trespassing complaints.”

    https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/contact7/residents-worry-about-growing-homeless-camp-in-front-of-denvers-morey-middle-school

    LOL@ millennials who bought a $750,000 starter home in Capitol Hill and learn who their new neighbors are.

  31. It’s a precautionary sign for the day trader brigade when the direction of Wall Street futures aligns with bad real economic news.

    PS My daughter let me know yesterday that since losing his job in the oil industry, her boyfriend has been doing quite well as a day trader. Hopefully he will have the good judgment to get out before the next day of reckoning.

    1. Dave Portnoy picks his stocks by pulling Scrabble letters out of a bag. This is the market now.

      1. Sounds like a great strategy when all stocks are going up all the time…except for today, that is.

    2. “Worse than expected” economic news in the face of the worst downturn since the 1930s must be pretty bad.
      Can unlimited deficit spending and monetary expansion in the face of rapidly shrinking GDP save us all? I guess time will tell.

      The Financial Times
      Coronavirus business update 30 days complimentary
      Coronavirus economic impact
      IMF slashes economic outlook and warns of public debt burden
      Recovery more gradual than previously expected as government finances take the strain
      Shoppers wait in line to enter a Bloomingdale’s store in New York as the city’s retailers begin to reopen to customers
      © Bloomberg
      Aime Williams in Washington 31 minutes ago

      The coronavirus crisis will have an even bigger negative impact on the global economy than initially thought, the IMF said on Wednesday, warning that government deficits were set to soar as a result.

      The global economy will shrink by 4.9 per cent in 2020, the IMF said, a downward revision of 1.9 percentage points from its last forecasts in April.

      The crisis has so far cost governments around the world more than $10tn in lost revenues and support measures such as additional spending, business loans and guarantees, the fund estimated. As a consequence global public debt is expected to hit a record 101 per cent of gross domestic product this year, up 19 percentage points year on year, it warned.

      The global economy is experiencing “a large adverse aggregate demand shock from social distancing and lockdowns, as well as a rise in precautionary savings”, the IMF said. In addition, the fund noted that “investment is expected to be subdued as firms defer capital expenditures amid high uncertainty”.

      By the end of next year global GDP is set to be 6.5 percentage points smaller than it was at the start of 2020, the fund said.

      In April the IMF said 2020 would be the worst global economic contraction since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and estimated that advanced economies’ GDP would be left 5 percentage points lower than pre-coronavirus forecasts, even after a sharp recovery in 2021.
      …

    4. Whether it’s going up or down, it’s hard to enjoy a market besot by gut churning volatility. It reminds me of the last family whale watching trip we took, in January 2019. There was a ten foot swell, and lots of the passengers spent the day below deck, trying to not lose their breakfasts. Not all were successful.

    1. Excellent clip.

      And a welcome reminder to never pay property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes to any municipality that tolerates this.

  33. ClownWorld Chronicles, Colorado Springs Edition:

    “Red Rock Canyon Open Space is left permanently damaged after it was vandalized over the weekend, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.

    The department shared photos on Facebook of “Black Lives Matter Too!” written on the rock formations along with “BLM.”

    “While we can clean our headquarters, the natural sandstone rock formations at Red Rocks Canyon Open Space are permanently damaged. We are thankful to serve Colorado Springs and only ask that all of us, together, take care of our beautiful city,” the department posted.

    https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/red-rock-canyon-open-space-permanently-damaged-after-recent-vandalism

    I learned how to rappel here. Another piece of nature destroyed by Soros employee antifa trash.

  34. The thing that i have noticed about liberal Cities is that they never solve problem no matter how much money they throw at it.

    Normally in a sane World if you fail you correct, but not them. The homeless problem and crime problems only get worse so the answer to them is go softer on crime. So, the lawful citizens get screwed. The don’t seem to care at all about small business owners.

    And Big Business just gets more of a market share everyone small business is a victim of lawlessness and poop in front of their business..

    So the party of Welfare and never solving problems only sees votes from what are the misfit of this Society.

    So, the misfits and the Rich looting Globalist support the false narratives that are designed to keep corrupt systems going. .

    Also,, I don’t appreciate this reverse discrimation against the White race. This is no doubt a ploy by the Communist to break down Civil Society and take over.
    Getting rid of history and words is so Commie, along with using misfits to break down law and order.

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