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You Have Developers In The Mood, They Want To Close ‘Em Out

A report from Arlington Now in Virginia. “What a difference a few months can make. We’ve certainly seen the COVID-19 pandemic make its mark on the Just Reduced column. At the beginning of the year we were seeing only a handful (seven or eight homes) reduced in price on a weekly basis. Now, very much in the heart of the pandemic, we are easily seeing three to four times more homes reduced each week. The bottom line: folks are still needing to sell their homes and, given the current climate, are being aggressive price-wise.”

From CBS Miami in Florida. “The coronavirus impact in the US and Latin America has driven some condo developers east of I-95 to offer discounts as high as 20 percent on existing units. ‘You have developers in the mood, they are closing out buildings, they want to close ‘em out,’ said Craig Studnicky, CEO of International Sales Group. Condo investors who buy and them rent them out a short term basis are shying away because tourism has been crippled and no one knows how long it will last.”

“There is also a second factor. ‘Condos with short term rentals have no ability to manage social distancing,’ said Studnicky.”

The Star Advertiser in Hawaii. “HILSTRA President Munro Murdock said members collectively represent 1,500 legal short-term rentals statewide that before COVID-19 brought in more than $20 million in annual tax revenue per year. Murdock, as the founder of Love Hawaii Villas has personally experienced substantial coronavirus-related downturns. Murdock said the continued shutdown of short-term rentals on Oahu has hurt his business, the clients that he represents and the 15 local workers that he employs.”

“‘We’ve had to lay off or furlough just about everybody,’ Murdock said. ‘Our business is still struggling.'”

From Boston.com on New York. “The three-bedroom, 3.5-bath home Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen owned in New York’s Flatiron District is back on the market, the New York Post reports. The Post said the home at One Madison, which overlooks Madison Square Park, was sold to ‘a mystery buyer for $13.87 million in 2018.’ It’s now on the market for $13.7 million.”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “Actor Shemar Moore has sold his longtime home in Encino for $2.4 million. The property came up for sale in March for $2.596 million but saw its price cut by $100,000 the following month. Moore bought the house in 2007 for $2.5 million, records show.”

From Livable in California. “The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles declined for the fourth consecutive month in July to $2,140, according to Zumper. Compared to July 2019, rents are down four percentage points. Two-bedroom rent sank on a year-over-year basis, the median asking price plummeted 6.9 percent. Median rents were down a whopping 16 percent year-over-year in Santa Monica and 9 percent in WeHo. Other Los Angeles County cities that recorded significant yearly price drops were Glendale (-15.7 percent), Redondo Beach (-13.9 percent) and Santa Clarita (-11 percent).”

From The Real Deal. “Residential landlords fear that rent collection rates will freefall in August following the expiry of the $600 in supplemental federal unemployment benefits. But a recent California-Berkeley study shows that small-time landlords are already facing financial hardship. The majority of landlords surveyed have at least one unit where no rent is paid, according to the study, and 39 percent fear they will not be able to cover operating costs over the next quarter.”

“Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation and the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, a San Diego-headquartered trade group, conducted the study. It surveyed 380 landlords and property managers in 31 different states between June 29 and July 9, with California home to 22 percent of the respondents. Of the members surveyed, 80 percent were landlords with portfolios totaling fewer than 20 units.”

“Of the smaller landlords, one in four have had to take out a loan to cover operating costs, and one in ten responded that less than half their tenants paid rent last month, the survey claimed. California Apartment Association CEO Thomas Bannon has warned that one tenant not paying rent to a landlord with a handful of units could be ‘crippling.'”

From Bizwest on Colorado. “The ongoing pandemic has caused turmoil in the student housing rental segment in Fort Collins, Greeley and Boulder, and the constant threat of a return to online-only instruction remains one last major wild card before universities kick off their newest year. James Woody, owner of Woody Investments LLC, operates about 600 bedrooms for rent in Greeley with a majority rented by students attending the University of Northern Colorado.”

“A resurgence in the disease that forces UNC to close is the biggest worry for Woody for his business and for the greater Greeley economy. The area already is suffering from the historically low demand for oil as travel is discouraged during the pandemic, and losing the add-on revenues when students spend money for food and entertainment will cut even deeper into the city’s economic picture.”

“‘With the university, couple those two together and I think it’s going to be much more devastating to Greeley than it would be to most other college towns because we got a double whammy,’ he said.”

From Realtor.com. “Fans of Bravo’s many ‘Real Housewives’ franchises know that these women love to live large. Over the years, we’ve followed all the off-camera drama of their real estate transactions. While the dwellings are almost always opulent, even over-the-top, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re easy to sell. Some have lingered on the market for years in search of a buyer who appreciates the ‘Housewives’ fantasy.”

“Kyle Richards. Location: Bel-Air, CA. Price: $5.95 million. Their beautiful Bel-Air abode has been on and off the market since 2017, when it debuted on the market for just under $7 million. In 2018, the price was dropped by exactly a million bucks. It then came back on the market in June with a tiny price adjustment.”

“Melissa Gorga. Location: Montville, NJ. Price: $2.9 million. Initially, the couple were asking for $3.5 million for the 9,100-square-foot mansion. In 2018, they dropped the price to $3.3 million. Then it popped back on the market last year for $2.95 million. Now, it’s for sale yet again, at the ever-so-slightly lower asking price of $2.948 million.”

“Dorit Kemsley. Location: Beverly Hills, CA. Price: $6.9 million. The couple have moved to their new address, but their 8,600-square-foot mansion in the 90210 needs a buyer. The home first came on the market in 2017 for $12.75 million. Since then, the price has dropped precipitously—it re-emerged in 2019 for $7.5 million. Currently available for just under $7 million, the six-bedroom home has 8,679 square feet of living space.”

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This Post Has 134 Comments

  1. ‘we are easily seeing three to four times more homes reduced each week. The bottom line: folks are still needing to sell their homes and, given the current climate, are being aggressive price-wise’

    Eat yer crowz taxpayer.

  2. ‘sold his longtime home in Encino for $2.4 million…Moore bought the house in 2007 for $2.5 million’

    That’s a lot of bubbly years gone poof.

    2. Actor Shemar Moore:
      – bought the house in 2007 for $2.5 million
      – added extensive updates
      – sold his home in 2020 for $2.4 million

      Hehe…at least the weather was nice!

    3. I wonder how many B and C listers are dumping their shacks because there is no work to be had. They can’t even go to fan conventions to sell autographs and photo ops because those have all been cancelled.

  4. Jim “Jo-Jo the Clown” Cramer, one of the financial media’s most infamous pitchmen in the run-up to the 2008 financial crash, suffered severe damage to his professional reputation with his “Bear Stearns is fine!” diatribe shortly before Bear Stearns crashed from $60 a share to $2, before being wiped out altogether. Now even Cramer is expressing disbelief at the Fed’s Ponzi markets. However, per The Narrative, he is not allowed to blame the Fed for retail investor muppets piling into the Fed’s Ponzi markets to seek yield as the Fed escalates its War on Savers and further destroys Americans’ purchasing power.

    ‘Clueless’ investors just keep driving this ‘stupidly bullish’ stock market higher, CNBC’s Jim Cramer says

    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/clueless-investors-just-keep-driving-this-stupidly-bullish-stock-market-higher-cnbcs-jim-cramer-says-2020-08-05?mod=MW_article_top_stories

    That’s CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer shaking his head at ‘clueless’ investors who ignored multiple warning signs to buy up stocks during Tuesday’s bullish trading action.

    “Never underestimate the power of enthusiastic buyers who do not know what they’re doing,” he said after the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the session with a triple-digit gain.

    “Are any of these moves the fault of the Fed?” Cramer wrote in a separate take. “No, the fault, as Cassius tells us, is not in our stars like Trump or Powell, but in the buyers themselves.”

    2. More good news is out today for Wall Street stock HODLerz. Bad news on Main Street is music to the ears of Wall Street bulls.

      The Financial Times
      Mamta Badkar 6 hours ago
      Emoticon
      US private sector payrolls miss expectations

      The US private sector created fewer jobs than expected last month signalling the recovery in the labour market slowed as coronavirus cases began to rise across the south and west.

      Non-farm private employers added 167,000 jobs last month, according to a report from payroll processor ADP. While the figure was below expectations for a gain of 1.5m, it followed a sharp upward revision to June’s figures, which showed private payrolls grew by 4.3m (compared with 2.37m previously).

      The service sector drove the bulk of last month’s increase, adding 166,000 jobs, with the biggest gains in the professional and business and education and health category. Financial and information-providing sectors were the only ones to shed jobs.

      Large companies with 500 or more employees and small companies with fewer than 50 employees both reported job growth, while mid-sized companies cut roles.

      “The labour market recovery slowed in the month of July,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice-president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “We have seen the slowdown impact businesses across all sizes and sectors.”

      A resurgence in coronavirus cases in the US and a stimulus stalemate in Congress has raised fresh concerns about the US labour market and the broader economy.
      …

  5. “There is also a second factor. ‘Condos with short term rentals have no ability to manage social distancing,’ said Studnicky.”

    Apparently they have no ability to manage gunplay between “guests,” either.

  8. Stupid market? It’s going be substained until the election. Me? I’m finally going to dump my Apple stock that I got on a split adjusted basis of less than a penny a share. Going to have to establish residence in a state that doesn’t tax capital gains.

    1. Stupid market? It’s going be substained until the election.

      I don’t think so. The Wall Street-Federal Reserve Looting Syndicate is setting up the next Great Muppet Reaping, while simultaneously executing its globalist oligarch handlers’ prime directive of engineering a stock market crash timed to eliminate Trump’s chance of re-election. The Fed will try to keep its Ponzi markets levitated until mid-to-late October, but with all the black swans taking flight, may not be able to prevent a crash before then.

      1. Scenario I: The Fed and Treasury keep the stock market levitated through mid-October, but let it crater just in time to sink Trump’s reelection prospects.

        Scenario II: The Fed and Treasury keep the stock market levitated through mid-November, just long enough to guarantee Trump’s reelection prospects.

        Which is it going to be?

        1. Which is it going to be? C’mon, PB, you’re not that clueless.

          Globalists control the Fed and the financial sector. Globalists detest Trump and want a pliable stooge back in the White House. Corrupt corporate Democrat Biden, the parrot on Obama’s shoulder during the 2008 bailout and beyond, is a proven lackey of Wall Street and the corporatocracy. So it doesn’t take a penetrating analysis of your scenarios above to determine how this is going to play out. The only wild card is what black swans might emerge between now and the election that could implode the Fed’s house of cards built on debt and fictitious valuations.

          1. LMAO! The sitting prez demanded the Fed reduce interest rates to prop up asset bubbles. But he’s not a “lackey of Wall Street”?

  9. 56% is that alot?

    “As the pandemic drags on, many businesses have outlasted federal financial relief and initial enthusiasm to adapt to a stay-at-home way of life. Recovery appears further away than many restaurants believe they can hold on. The restaurant industry already had a reputation as a challenging market with low margins and high turnover. The latest survey by the Colorado Restaurant Association found that 56% of restaurant members fear that if coronavirus conditions don’t improve, they’ll permanently close within three months.”

    https://coloradosun.com/2020/08/04/colorado-restaurant-coronavirus-recovery-limbo/

    “This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush

    1. “Running on fumes,” no pent-up demand for $500,000 starter homes happening here:

      “Small businesses with fewer than 500 workers employ about 58 million people, almost half the private workforce, ADP Research Institute data show. PPP at some point supported businesses representing most of them, according to the Small Business Administration, which runs the program.

      But “hundreds of thousands” more jobs remain on the edge in the next few months without a deal from Congress, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

      ADP Research Institute data Wednesday cast a shadow over expectations, showing just 167,000 jobs were added in July, below all economists’ forecasts. Businesses with fewer than 500 workers added 38,000 people, compared with almost 2.5 million in June.”

      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/u-s-job-losses-set-to-mount-with-small-firms-running-on-fumes

      1. “Small businesses with fewer than 500 workers employ about 58 million people, almost half the private workforce, ADP Research Institute data show.

        These small businesses and their employees are disposable. What’s important is that the Fed must emerge as the buyer and seller of last resort, further consolidating its role as the oligarchy’s all-powerful central planners. To make an omelet, you have to break some eggs, to quote every collectivists’ favorite ideologue Vladimir Lenin.

      2. “Small businesses with fewer than 500 workers employ about 58 million people, almost half the private workforce, ADP Research Institute data show.”

        – Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are the main engine for job creation, efficiency, and innovation in most countries, including the U.S. Recall that Apple started in a garage, for example.

        – SMEs mostly got the shaft from the stimulus monies, while large corps. got bailed out. This is due to a lot of factors, but includes a Byzantine bureaucracy and conditions for SME PPP funds, along with the Cantillion effect.

        https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/the-cantillon-effect-why-wall-street
        The Cantillon Effect: Why Wall Street Gets a Bailout and You Don’t
        Matt Stoller | Apr 9, 2020

        The result is further concentration of capital in the large tier Cos., which does nothing for innovation and creativity, but rather contributes to corp. bloat, and keeps many “zombie” companies alive; they’re all becoming “too big to fail.” Meanwhile SMEs are struggling, which will translate into a weaker economy in the long-term. Each cycle it’s getting worse.

        – Add to this growing government intrusion into the economy at large, and the growing size of government, which further squeezes out the remaining productive private sector, and what’s left is declining wealth and prosperity for citizens at large and the nation as a whole. Recall that government, the public sector, produces nothing, and adds no value to the economy, but rather parasitically extracts wealth from a nation for the increasingly protected elite classes. Welcome to my world. Government owning the means of production, aka Socialism, always leads to a reduction prosperity and freedoms, but the elites/oligarchs/plutocrats like it that way. “Know your place, peasant!” This works until it doesn’t. We’ll know more soon enough.

    2. There’s a mom-n-pop Mexican place nearby. They seem to do brisk business, as every “covid table” is full and there is a throng waiting for takeout when I go there. Of course it helps that they are good and inexpensive.

  10. More financial Clown World news.

    Disney reported a $5B loss for the quarter and its stock is up 11% today and is only down 11% YTD.

    Other than its streaming channel, what is going well for them?

    The cinema business is dead in the water, and they are hoping that people will pay $30 to watch the Mulan remake on pay per view on Sept 4. Good luck with that.

    The theme park biz is operating at diminished capacity in Orlando and Disneyland in Anaheim is still closed.

    Even though sportsball has restarted, TV viewership is way down (keep kneeling, boyz) so ESPN is still hurting.

    At best they might reduce the bleeding next quarter.

    1. LOL@ paying *anything* for content, ever, or even being forced to sit through an ad for free content.

      I paid to see Joker in the theater last fall (well worth it) but I’ll continue on my lifetime trajectory toward paying nothing, ever, to multinational corporations in the “news” or entertainment business. They’re all rapists and pedophiles who vote and donate 100% to one party, just stop giving them money.

      2. My kids 100% consumer user-generated content and ZERO traditional media. It’s incredible how much that landscape has changed in ten years. Apparently this was the first viral youtube video and it really doesn’t feel that long ago.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRhTeaa_B98

        My son’s hero is Tfue, who we occasionally used to run into around Pinellas. I read a few websites here and there and listen to some podcasts. I love the shift, frankly. It’s awesome.

        Get a laptop, crank on a topic, make a living…

  11. Ok, I have a nice chunk of change I like to consider compensation for my FL troubles. Where shall I park it for a year, or better yet, how can I get rich by clicking a few buttons?

      1. A day before the Fed’s Unlimited Quantitative Easing policy was announced would have been a good time to invest in any risk asset.

      3. My husband had our financial advisor do that for some of his money just around that time. He’s very pleased with the returns.

    3. Where shall I park it for a year, or better yet, how can I get rich by clicking a few buttons?

      If anybody had that answer, why would they share it? Everything looks toppy. I picked up an ounce of platinum today, purely speculative. When silver crests $30, I’m going to sell it all off and put it into platinum. Of all the metals, it seems like it has the most upside given today’s prices. It’s more industrial, but it’s lower than 2006 prices right now. And silver’s too big. It’s hard to hide. I can hide 50 ounces of platinum fairly easily.

      1. Strictly speaking, 50 ounces of silver weighs exactly as much as 50 ounces of platinum, without only a slight difference in volume. 🙄

        I think you mean $50K worth. 😜

    4. Where shall I park it for a year

      Harry Browne’s Permanent Portfolio. Bet on and protect against all possible outcomes.

        1. Wow, I was admittedly neck deep while relocating my family during a pandemic and oblivious to the stock market. I just researched (Suzanne!) opening a permanent portfolio on TD using iShares and it looks like all four of the funds have doubled+ since March and are at all time highs. I’d be buying at tippy top IMHO.

          This is all so odd given a 1/3 of the economy has vanished and corona still looms. Meanwhile the Southern Vermont home-buying frenzy continues. NY’ers are buying cash and foregoing inspections.

          Is cash still king? Feels poofy

          ** I acknowledge all are “not giving investment advice.” **

          2. I just researched (Suzanne!) opening a permanent portfolio on TD using iShares and it looks like all four of the funds have doubled+ since March and are at all time highs. I’d be buying at tippy top IMHO.

            Perhaps, but with this portfolio something always looks overvalued. But money has to flow somewhere, and the premise is the portfolio includes all of the “somewheres”.

            Obviously I’m not in a position to advise you, and don’t want to. But look at the historical performance of the PP or other lazy portfolios on portfoliocharts.com. Lots of good info there.

            Full disclosure: most of my money is in a 4×25 PP. I’ve been very happy with it over the past 5 years. (and yeah, this year is going great! 🙂

          3. I’ve been very happy with it over the past 5 years. (and yeah, this year is going great! 🙂

            Of course, because the last 5 years are like the best in history.

          4. How are these “permanent portfolios” destined to perform when negative bond yields ultimately normalize?

          5. Of course, because the last 5 years are like the best in history.

            Not sure how you get that. Stocks easily outperformed lazy/all-weather portfolios the first few years. Basically since 2009.

            A question was asked and I threw a suggestion out there. I’m not selling anything here — folks should make their own choices of how to allocate their savings. Go all cash, go 100% in on TSLA puts, I don’t care. Just throwing an “unconventional” option out there I think meets the requirements posed.

    1. At this point I want a MASTER bedroom with a confederate flag on the ceiling. I want to specialize in the replacement of defective slave cylinders in manual transmission vehicles, and I want to wear 100% cotton wherever I go, because I’m sure that’s “raciss,” too. Before I eat each meal I’d like to pledge allegiance to the flag while standing, just because. I’m sure I’m missing some things, but you get the point.

  14. Are you missing the chance to HODL stocks and profit during the Fed-fueled Everything Bubble?

    2. The Financial Times
      Coronavirus business update 30 days complimentary
      Markets Briefing Gold
      Gold keeps its shine as investors shun dollar
      Precious metal has risen for 13 of the past 14 days while European and US stocks advance
      Gold struck a peak of $2,048 a troy ounce on Wednesday
      © Bloomberg
      Philip Stafford and Sarah Provan in London and Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong 33 minutes ago

      Gold pressed further higher on Wednesday after breaking the $2,000 milestone and global stocks rose as upbeat data from Europe counterbalanced a less optimistic report from the US labour market.

      The precious metal has risen for 13 days in the past 14, and a 1.1 per cent gain led it to a fresh all-time high of $2,040 a troy ounce. Silver followed in gold’s slipstream with a fourth day of records, rising 3.7 per cent to $26.95 to bring its 2020 increase to more than 50 per cent.

      The gains came as some investors grew nervous after several months in which the stock market has recovered most of its losses, and the yield on government debt in the most economically advanced countries fell towards zero.
      …

    1. Cool I’d love a nice place in Loomis or Lincoln with a pool at a discount given we are not going back to office anytime soon.

  19. Been too buys to read or post much lately, but came across a few things I though would be worth sharing for this crowd.

    Over on reddit r/realestate a few days ago I saw a thread, which I cant seem to find anymore with a few searches (looks like it may have been deleted) where the poster was saying “gee, all these people I know have suddenly decided to start a new career as a realtor…”

    Comments included discussion of people who lost their jobs due to the shutdown, etc. But we know here as a clear sign of things overheating before it all goes ‘boom’,

    Another thought I can’t get out of my head is how all the current money pumping is making the inequality and pricing out between those who already own and those who don’t (but hope to someday) a lot worse.

    To go along with that, it seems like the widening divide in terms of job/income/opportunity is being further wedged by the virus and shutdown. Mrs Spiffy and I are doing better than ever and if anything are even more secure. Mrs Spiffy works at a Fortune 10 company that is benefiting from the current situation and has placed her talents in even higher demand and I’m looking at contracts to carry me through 2022, while the cold calls/recruiting pings from the big tech companies has exploded in the last couple weeks.

    While I should be happy about it in a Mr. Burns sort of way I supposed, I find it more depressing than not, and I can’t get all the worry other people I know and see out of my head. And that’s not including our kids, seeing how we have 5 to get launched into the world this decade.

    So melancholy is the flavor of the day I guess. I’d rather have Mint chocolate chip.

  20. Off topic, filed under: People suck.

    I ordered some new Danner boots online. I got notification they were delivered, however I did not receive them. Turns out they sent them to the wrong address. They had the correct address, it’s just that whoever was entering the shipping info into their computer fat-fingered the address.

    When they were delivered to the wrong address, the person signed MY NAME, which was on the shipping label, so they could steal them. Disgusting. The company is sending me a new pair, but I hate thieves.

    1. The delivery driver carries a GPS computer, so they know the thief’s exact location. They will receive a legal notice and a return shipping label in the mail before it is escalated. Mail fraud and forgery over a pair of boots doesn’t add-up; they’ll settle.

      1. I sure hope so. I can’t believe they signed my name. What scumbags. I have the address they were sent to. Makes me want to send the person a note telling them I know they signed my name and that karma is a beyatch.

      1. Pandemic pods for kids on the spectrum? A private teacher could be good. Or enroll in san Juan capistrano district and check the box that you’re homeless on student info. They cant refuse you entry. Word is if cases continue to decline, OC students will be back in buildings September 1st.

    1. The Financial Times
      Coronavirus business update 30 days complimentary
      Coronavirus pandemic
      Florida coronavirus cases pass 500,000
      Fears of another flare-up prompt New York City to impose quarantine checkpoints for travellers
      New York has asked travellers from states with high rates of Covid-19 infections to quarantine upon arrival in the state © AFP via Getty Images
      Peter Wells and Matthew Rocco in New York and Lauren Fedor in Washington 5 hours ago

      Florida has become the second US state to confirm a half-million coronavirus cases, while New York City is trying to keep the virus from flaring up again by setting up checkpoints to ensure that travellers from places with high numbers of infections comply with quarantine rules.

      The rising cases in Florida underline the ferocity with which the latest wave of infections has hit the southern and western parts of the country, touching off fears of similar spikes in other parts of the US — including some that have already grappled with devastating outbreaks, like New York.

      Over the past 24 hours, 5,409 people in Florida tested positive for Covid-19, the state’s health department revealed on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases there to 502,739. The Sunshine State’s case tally is second only to California, which had confirmed 524,772 cases as of Wednesday.

      Within the past two weeks, the total confirmed Covid-19 caseloads in the three most populous US states — California, Texas and Florida — each overtook New York, which had been the early hotspot for the virus in the country.

      The three states have been at the forefront of a surge in cases across the US sunbelt region over the summer. While there are signs that daily new cases are easing back from peak rates in July, all three have reported record daily increases in deaths from the virus within the past week. California reported more than 200 deaths on Wednesday and 5,295 new cases.

      The US reported a further 1,401 coronavirus deaths — the most in a week — and 51,825 new infections on Wednesday, according to Covid Tracking Project data.
      …

      1. people in Florida tested positive

        Unfortunately these are the media headlines, and favorites for the headlines repeaters. Florida’s website shows a decline in the past two weeks, both in tests, positives and deaths (per day died).

        So much “news” is not news at all.

        1. Are you claiming these data were fabricated by the Financial Times writers?

          “Over the past 24 hours, 5,409 people in Florida tested positive for Covid-19, the state’s health department revealed on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases there to 502,739.”

          1. Local News
            Florida coronavirus cases surpass 500,000 as school year approaches
            State reports 225 new COVID-19 deaths
            Thomas Metevia, Digital Content Producer, Orlando
            Published: August 5, 2020, 11:44 am

            ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida surpassed 500,000 positive coronavirus cases as the school year approaches and students prepare to hit the books either in-person or remotely.

            The Florida Department of Health reported 5,409 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in Florida to 502,739. The total number is a running total since the virus was first detected in Florida in March.
            …

          2. Seems like lotsa news sources are reporting those same numbers.

            News
            Coronavirus: Florida surpasses 500,000 COVID-19 cases, reports 225 more resident deaths
            Lower case totals come after weekend when many test sites were closed
            David Selig, Digital Executive Producer
            Published: August 3, 2020, 10:42 am
            Updated: August 5, 2020, 11:53 am
            Tags: Coronavirus, Florida, Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach County, Monroe County (Florida)
            Shayna Weiss directs drivers at a kosher food drive-thru distribution site, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, at the Greater Miami Jewish Federation building in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
            (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

            TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida has surpassed 500,000 positive cases as of Wednesday, and has reported 225 more residents’ deaths from COVID-19.

            The state also added 5,409 new cases. The new case totals reported Monday (4,752), Tuesday (5,446) and Wednesday were the lowest for Florida since late June, but they come after a weekend when many coronavirus testing sites were closed because of Tropical Storm Isaias.

            Local News
            Coronavirus: Florida surpasses 500,000 COVID-19 cases, reports 225 more resident deaths
            Lower case totals come after weekend when many test sites were closed

            David Selig, Digital Executive Producer
            Published: August 3, 2020, 10:42 am
            Updated: August 5, 2020, 11:53 am
            Tags: Coronavirus, Florida, Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach County, Monroe County (Florida)
            Shayna Weiss directs drivers at a kosher food drive-thru distribution site, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, at the Greater Miami Jewish Federation building in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
            Shayna Weiss directs drivers at a kosher food drive-thru distribution site, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, at the Greater Miami Jewish Federation building in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

            TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida has surpassed 500,000 positive cases as of Wednesday, and has reported 225 more residents’ deaths from COVID-19.

            The state also added 5,409 new cases. The new case totals reported Monday (4,752), Tuesday (5,446) and Wednesday were the lowest for Florida since late June, but they come after a weekend when many coronavirus testing sites were closed because of Tropical Storm Isaias.
            …

          3. “Are you claiming these data were fabricated by the Financial Times writers?”

            There’s only 5000 people in the world according to one of the elites in the sigourney weaver movie, “Half Moon Street.”

          4. *THE key scene that opens Paul Theroux’s novella ”Doctor Slaughter” and is buried in the early sections of the film version, entitled ”Half Moon Street,” introduces the story’s heroine to a charmingly opinionated dinner-party companion named Van Arkady, who voices the idea that there are only 5,000 people in the world – or at least, only 5,000 who matter. It’s a sentiment that the elitist Dr. Lauren Slaughter, a onetime beauty contestant nee Mopsy Fairlight, can wholeheartedly share.

          5. Are you claiming these data were fabricated by the Financial Times writers?

            The hysteria is fabricated. Florida has been running 10,000 cases per day. A few days of 5,000 does not equal “The rising cases in Florida underline the ferocity…”

            Look at the Florida Dashboard if you care.

          6. ‘The hysteria is fabricated. Florida has been running 10,000 cases per day. A few days of 5,000 does not equal “The rising cases in Florida underline the ferocity…”’

            You are talking about the daily rate of new cases staying roughly constant, and they are talking about a constantly high rate of new case growth leading to rapid increase in total cases.

            For perspective, the daily increase in Florida cases roughly matches the total number of cases worldwide in the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak that occurred over the course of many months.

  24. Business News
    August 5, 2020 / 4:05 AM / Updated 21 hours ago
    As dollar slides, some investors fret about its status as world’s reserve currency
    Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
    FILE PHOTO: Four thousand U.S. dollars are counted out by a banker counting currency at a bank in Westminster, Colorado November 3, 2009. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo

    NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some investors are worried the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic is dealing a body blow to the dollar, potentially accelerating what has so far been a slow erosion in the greenback’s status as the world’s dominant reserve currency.

    Investors and analysts, including billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio and Goldman Sachs Group strategists, are among those who have warned that massive U.S. government spending in recent months could hurt the dollar.

    At the same time, rock-bottom U.S. interest rates for the foreseeable future and concerns over a potential rise in inflation are denting the dollar’s appeal.

    These factors are already weighing on the dollar, which stands 9% below its high of the year and notched its worst monthly performance in a decade in July.

    Changes that may affect the dollar’s reserve currency status “have historically been glacial,” said Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at Deutsche Bank AG. “Lately, they have been speeding up.”
    …

    1. Dumb question of the evening: When the Fed claimed that Quantitative Easing was now Unlimited, did they factor in eventual dollar devaluation if they pushed the Unlimit?

      1. The dollar is close to a Wile E. Coyote moment when it drops off the cliff & plummets – Peter Schiff
        5 Aug, 2020 15:06 / Updated 18 hours ago

        Gold prices have reached a new milestone, topping $2,000 for the first time ever. Still, most people don’t really understand the significance of the rise and what it means for the US dollar, says veteran stockbroker Peter Schiff.

        In his latest podcast, Schiff says that “in reality, gold is the only asset that’s not in a bubble because of negative real interest rates.” The only thing that really surprised him about the precious metal exceeding $2,000 is that it took so long to get there.

        “But I think that the thousand-dollar milestones are going to start dropping like dominoes here. And I think people are going to take notice, because today, very few people are noticing or commenting on the significance of gold going over $2,000 because they don’t understand it.”
        …

        1. I’m hoping to see at least one more pullback. All we need is a day or two of good medical news.

          2. You’re right. I lost interest in buying a house in late 2011, when prices had fallen considerably.

        2. The only thing that really surprised him about the precious metal exceeding $2,000 is that it took so long to get there.

          +1, but it seems to be off and running now. The question is: how far will it run? It’s at $2075 as I type this on Thursday morning.

    2. If only money grew on trees!

      Can We Create All the Money We Need?
      Stephanie Kelton attempts to educate the public on a novel economic theory.
      by J.W. Mason
      July 14, 2020
      Kelton argues that, for a country that issues its own currency, there is never a danger of debt spiraling out of control.
      The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy
      By Stephanie Kelton

      PublicAffairs

      Over the past decade, government debt in the U.S. and elsewhere has reached unprecedented heights. Yet the supposed costs of this debt are nowhere to be seen. Excessive debt, we’ve been warned, will lead to mass flight by investors and spiking interest rates, or else spiraling inflation and a collapse in the currency. But in the U.S. and elsewhere, record-high public debt has been accompanied by record-low interest rates and low inflation.

      These developments have opened the door for a revival of old-fashioned Keynesian views, in which government deficits are seen not as a problem to be solved but a useful tool of demand management—and today an essential source of economic recovery.
      …

  25. Key Words
    Biden gets involved in hubbub over cognitive testing: ‘Why the hell would I take a test? Come on, man’
    Published: Aug. 5, 2020 at 3:27 p.m. ET
    By Victor Reklaitis
    CBS reporter’s question appears to raise ire of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee
    CBS News reporter Errol Barnett talks with Joe Biden.

    ‘Why the hell would I take a test? Come on, man’

    That line came from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in an interview that due to air in full on Thursday.

    After President Donald Trump drew all sorts of attention last month for talking up his performance on a cognitive test typically used to screen for dementia, CBS News reporter Errol Barnett asked his rival in the 2020 White House race if he had taken such a test, as well.
    …

    1. Conservatives are convinced that the DNC will try to use COVID to cancel the debates because they don’t want Biden to go face-to-face with Trump.

      1. The United States as a whole cannot afford a debate between two old men with dementia. It would show the whole world where we are. Government of, by, and for the worst generations in U.S. history, now also going insane.

  26. Is it safe to assume that this time is different, and historic relationships between economic fundamentals and stock prices will be henceforth permanently overridden by Unlimited Quantitative Easing?

    Or might fundamentals soon overwhelm ongoing efforts to override them?

    We’ll know before much longer which version of reality rules.

    1. History has not dealt kindly with the aftermath of protracted periods of low risk premiums.

      — Alan Greenspan

    2. The Wall Street Journal
      Heard on the Street
      What the History of Very Low Interest Rates Can Tell Investors
      The plunge in real interest rates is bad news for stocks, if historical relationships between the two hold
      By Mike Bird
      July 30, 2020 6:52 am ET

      Real interest rates are back on investors’ minds with the collapse in yields on inflation-protected securities helping raise gold prices to records in recent days.

      But the impact of deeply negative real interest rates—usually defined as returns to safe government debt after anticipated inflation—doesn’t stop with precious metals.

      Financial historian Elroy Dimson has noted that there is a relationship between real rates and equity returns. Negative real interest rates were a reality for large chunks of the 20th century, and even parts of the 18th and 19th centuries.

      The news isn’t good for stock buyers: Periods with the lowest real rates have been followed by some of the worst average equity market performances. Historically, an investor with a portfolio of 60% equity and 40% bonds could expect a real return of perhaps 2% in the years ahead, according to Prof. Dimson. Notable examples of low or negative real returns on equity were seen in the 1910s, not just during World War I, but before it began, and during the 1970s.

      Since the financial crisis, this worrying relationship has appeared to break down somewhat. But there are good reasons to think that is an aberration. Goldman Sachs analysts have demonstrated that the market capitalization of U.S. equity as a share of total U.S. assets is a good predictor of 10-year S&P 500 returns: When market cap is higher, lower returns follow. Equity allocations, which plunged to near record lows of 15% in the aftermath of the financial crisis, have risen above 30% in recent years, and remain high even after this year’s drop. Unlike in the early postcrisis years, both low real rates and high equity allocations are now sending a bearish signal on future stock returns
      …
      History doesn’t determine the future in investing. But the relationships that have been seen over decades or centuries bear watching closely, and investors expecting a different outcome might want to ask themselves why this time is different.

      1. “Equity allocations, which plunged to near record lows of 15% in the aftermath of the financial crisis, have risen above 30% in recent years, and remain high even after this year’s drop.”

        No bubble here, folks. Move along…

    3. Need to Know
      Here’s the worrying message the market is sending about the economic recovery
      Published: Aug. 6, 2020 at 7:19 a.m. ET
      By Steve Goldstein

      One way to look at what the market is saying about the economic recovery is to simply observe that the S&P 500 (SPX, +0.64%) has jumped 49% from the lows of March and is only 2% below where it stood in mid-February, when the coronavirus began spreading outside of China.

      Beneath the surface, however, things aren’t looking as great, as market breadth has declined. The percentage of what Ned Davis Research calls its “Rally Watch” indicators — things like the percentage of stock markets above their 50-day moving averages — has declined. Meanwhile, valuations have gotten more stretched.

      Tim Hayes, chief global investment strategist at Ned Davis Research, says the rise in gold (GC00, 1.04%), elevated stock (VIX, 2.96%) and high-yield corporate bond market volatility, and the fall in bond yields (TMUBMUSD10Y, 0.518%) are all signs that confidence in the economic recovery is waning.
      …

  27. Behold the future of U.S. housing demand.

    Coronavirus ‘baby bust’ could be worse than expected
    Empty cradle.
    Stock image via Shutterstock.
    By Matt Hadro

    Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 5, 2020 / 05:00 pm MT (CNA).- Amid steady forecasts of demographic decline, one economics professor told CNA that a COVID-related “baby bust” could be worse than people predicted.

    A Brookings Institution report published in June said that the economic shock caused by the coronavirus, combined with the social effects of the pandemic itself, could trigger a sharp decline in births.

    Those predictions should not be dismissed, Dr. Catherine Pakaluk, a professor of social research and economic thought at the Catholic University of America, told CNA, noting that economic uncertainty can have a direct correlation with the birthrate.

    “The money and the numbers tend to correlate with all the things we think matter for human flourishing,” she said, such as the “ability to grow and form families.”

    In the Brookings report, authors Melissa Kearney and Phillip Levine warned that the coronavirus pandemic might cause a “baby bust” rather than the “baby boom” some assumed could follow months of lockdowns.

    They said that two events—the surge in deaths and anxiety brought on by the pandemic, and the economic decline resulting from lockdown measures—would both cause a drop in the birthrate from “300,000 to 500,000 fewer births next year.”
    …

    1. I’ve been hearing about this “baby bust.” But it always seems to be an estimate from some think tank, etc. Has anyone done an actual survey asking couples if they have decided this year not to have a child?

    2. Why is a drop in birth rate such a bad thing? We don’t need an ever-increasing amount of labor; we have machines. And I don’t buy the BS about “we need more workers to pay into social security.” Why? We’ll just print it. And any of taxes these new workers pay is just soaked up by the taxes they consume by educating their kids and sending police out with Narcan. The economy doesn’t need more workers. It needs smarter workers making more money each.

        1. Same here. I like the frugal gals who’d rather save the money for something more sensible – the types who eschew the social media “look at me!” garbage.

          1. You will have no trouble finding frugal gals. You’ll find them weeping in their one-bedroom condos with their cats.

            The spendthrift Instagram ladies are the hot ones, and those are the ones guys go for.

          3. You will have no trouble finding frugal gals. You’ll find them weeping in their one-bedroom condos with their cats.

            Haha! But how would I ever find them when they’re weeping in the comforts of their cats?

      2. Modern gimbals are amazing, for $100 you can get one for your phone that works really well.

    2. She should be happy, the “fundamental transformation” that Bathhouse Barry promised is finally here: America’s cities are smoldering ruins, tens of millions unemployed, and racial hysteria is at an all time high.

      Forward.

    3. Ironic that she is probably the one woman in the country who could lift the depression of a lot of people. Just call up her friend Joe. But she’s not doing it.

  31. ‘In mid-April, doctors arrived at Sacramento’s Sleep Train Arena, which had been hurriedly converted into a field hospital, and were told to prepare for 30 to 60 coronavirus patients to arrive within days. They spent the weekend working feverishly to get ready.’

    ‘California officials envisioned the cavernous former stomping ground of the Sacramento Kings and an adjoining facility as a place where hundreds of patients could be treated, but in the first week just one arrived. The pace never increased, and the 250 assembled medical workers — physicians, nurses, pharmacists and administrative staff — found themselves wondering what to do.’

    “People began to question within themselves whether they were really needed or not,” said Dr. Charles Moore, a retired internal medicine physician who worked there for about six weeks. “There were no plans for what would happen if you gave a party and no one came.”

    ‘Ultimately, just nine patients arrived over 10 weeks. The cost to care for them was a staggering $12 million.’

    ‘Newsom didn’t mention that the state was paying the Kings rent and to provide services, a cost of $1 million over two months. The state spent another $7 million on mechanical, electrical, plumbing and other improvements, according to the Department of General Services.’

    ‘The state also spent at least $2.8 million on staff, nearly $500,000 on personal protective equipment and about $1 million on other expenses.’

    ‘The California Health Corps, a volunteer initiative started by Newsom, provided 199 workers at a cost of about $563,000. The state spent another $428,000 on just five pharmacists and five pharmacy technicians under a contract with Aya Healthcare, a San Diego-based travel nursing company.’

    ‘Their payment included housing, benefits and per diem allowances, said Rodger Butler, a spokesman for the California Health and Human Services Agency.’

    https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-06/california-sleep-train-arena-sacramento-hospital-coronavirus

    1. ‘Ultimately, just nine patients arrived over 10 weeks. The cost to care for them was a staggering $12 million.’

      It matters not. The coronavirus scamdemic enabled Newsome and California Democrats to vastly expand the scope of their patronage and graft rackets, to include signing a billion-dollar deal for defective PPE with their ideological comrades in the CCP. The Democrats saw an opportunity to bolster their power and influence, and exploited it. The public health issue was always a secondary consideration.

    2. ‘Newsom didn’t mention that the state was paying the Kings rent and to provide services, a cost of $1 million over two months. The state spent another $7 million on mechanical, electrical, plumbing and other improvements, according to the Department of General Services. The state also spent at least $2.8 million on staff, nearly $500,000 on personal protective equipment and about $1 million on other expenses.’

      All that for nothing, plus a 10 percent pay cut for state workers. Those are some interesting spending priorities!

  32. I saw the movie 1984 last night and talk about depressing .

    These people want to socially engineer a World that nobody would like, but of course Michelle gets to live in a multi-million dollar mansion.
    Who could like these fake leaders that would never live the equity life they propose for the rest.
    You can see how nuts they are with their Big Government attempt to pick the winners and losers with their vicious ideas of what equality even means. .
    They don’t like hard working law abiding citizens because they represent a World where you earn your lot in life by the choices you make.
    I think they like criminals because they have a criminal mentally . Misfits really that have a vision of free stuff taken by force.
    They love the Globalist Looters and the Commie welfare State Looters because they want to tear down all merit based systems of attainment.

    If they get rid of White culture in favor of rule by the minorities than how fair would that be? The fact that they picked a senile corrupt old man like Biden is a reflection of what they are as a party that offers nothing but a USA that will fail because they have decoupled from reality.

    1. 1984 isn’t like LotR, where you can get most of the story from the movie. For 1984, you really need the book.

      However, there is one scene that the movie does particularly well: the morning calisthenics where the fitness matron castigates the main character, through the telescreen, for not bending enough.

      I bring this up because there is a new fitness product called The Mirror, which is exactly the same thing!

    2. hese people want to socially engineer a World that nobody would like

      It’s like they want the whole world to become South Africa.

  35. Would you like fries with your Corrona Mask Meal?

    McDonald’s: ‘Face mask’ found inside Aldershot store’s chicken nugget

    August 2020

    A six-year-old girl nearly choked on a chicken nugget from McDonald’s which contained a blue surgical face mask her mother has claimed.

    Maddie was eating a Happy Meal her mother Laura Arber, 32, bought from the Aldershot, Hampshire, branch of the fast food giant on Tuesday.

    She managed to get the chicken nugget out of her daughter’s mouth and said: “It was a mask, it was absolutely baked into it”.

    McDonald’s said it is investigating.

    Ms Arber told the BBC: “I had to put my finger in her mouth to make her sick and it came up all speckled with blue.

    ‘Disgusting’
    ”
    I couldn’t work out what it was but I looked at the box of nuggets and could see something blue sticking out of another one.

    “It was a mask, it was absolutely baked into it, it had gone like chewing gum. It was disgusting.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-53617762

  36. So glad that I love to cook. I learned 50 new recipes and use my wok and rice cooker to make cheap nutritious meals. Costs me $2-5 per meal for two people depending on whether I use cheaper cuts of meat or shrimp/beef.

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