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Real Estate Is Not Really Their Area Of Expertise, Loaning Make Believe Digital Money Is

A report from the Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania. “The deal was simple: Property mogul Chris Rahn got to buy a bundle of 22 vacant, publicly owned lots on the cheap. In exchange, records show he was expected to build homes for the financially needy on eight of them. Five years on, most of those 22 lots — including one of the parcels where he’d agreed to build affordable housing — have been developed into apartments pulling in big rent checks. The other properties where Rahn was to build affordable homes, however, remain empty, weed-filled eyesores. That’s because the officials who arranged the sale let him shirk his end of the bargain.”

“Rahn and his wife, Christine Pasieka are facing a fusillade of lawsuits, seven at last count.”

From Home Town Station on California. “Buying a run down distressed property in Los Angeles, fixing it up and then selling it for a tidy profit is more popular than ever. There are even specialized agents operating in this domain called REO agents. REO stands for ‘real estate owned’ and is a property owned by a bank or other financial lender that was in default, financial distress or disrepair.”

“Lenders generally don’t like to hold onto properties like this because real estate is not really their area of expertise. Loaning make believe digital money is. So this would be the first place to look if you were trying to find someone who was trying to offload a property at a discount.”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “Weary after months of sleeping on other peoples’ couches, Martha Escudero walked through the broken door of an empty home in El Sereno and started bringing it back to life.Her homesteading, part of an organized effort by tenant activists in March, was illegal, but it worked. The L.A. Housing Authority this fall granted occupancy rights to the family of Escudero and others who had seized numerous homes that the state acquired as part of now-abandoned plans to extend the 710 Freeway.”

“Aided by activists armed with bolt cutters and drills, some have descended again and again on vacant homes in El Sereno. These days an uneasy calm hangs over the community. Some residents have confronted the activists and hung signs outside their homes saying, ‘Squatting is not the answer.'”

“‘The first time around it was very shocking,’ said Marie Salas, who lives across the street from the house Escudero occupied. ‘But the audacity, the carelessness, the I-don’t-care attitude about the neighborhood to say, ‘We’re going to break in again?’ It’s just disgraceful.'”

“Neighbors in the community of well-maintained properties in the $675,000 range express mixed feelings about the escalating tension. Some support the effort to sell or rent the homes to needy families, but strongly oppose the methods of the families and their activist allies. After hanging a banner protesting the home seizures on her fence, Salas said she has had rocks and empty beer cans thrown in her frontyard. Another neighbor, Aaron Mauricio, said drill-wielding activists shoved him while he was trying to stop them from getting inside a vacant home on his street.”

“‘There’s families here. There’s kids here. They were breaking the law and they had no right to do what they were doing,’ said Mauricio, 48, a middle-school teacher.”

From Counterpunch. “In response to the state of Oregon’s latest extension of the partial ban on evictions, the landlord lobby here is suing for 100% of back rent. So to put this analysis of a lawsuit momentarily in Marxian economics speak that I learned during my one year of college, the landlord lobby believes in socializing their expenses, sharing this burden among those least able to do so, while maintaining laws and social norms in such a way that they may privatize all of their profits.”

The Palm Beach Post in Florida. “The dramatic and deadly rise in coronavirus cases has led to a surge in homelessness, said Pamela Payne, chief executive officer of the Homeless Coalition of Palm Beach County. ‘It’s a catch-22,’ Payne said. ‘Working can lead to the spread of the virus. But unemployment is a big culprit in homelessness. If you don’t have work, you don’t have a home.'”

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. “Four years ago Daniel Grollo was feeling invincible. His Melbourne-based construction and development company Grocon had been named preferred bidder by Infrastructure NSW for Sydney’s sprawling Central Barangaroo development precinct, a deal the company expected to soothe the financial stress the storied builder had been suffering for about two years.”

“But a senior adviser to the group came to Grocon’s Melbourne office with a warning about speculation in property circles that could destroy his plans to turn the company around. ‘Don’t worry about it, he’s a friend,’ Grollo blithely replied with the confidence that several sources, who have known the man for years, say is one of the marks of his character. The adviser shot back: ‘I hate to disappoint you, but Packer has no mates.'”

“Grollo would in late November and in the midst of this legal fight place large parts of Grocon into administration, firmly blaming Infrastructure NSW for the company’s financial woes.”

The Wall Street Journal. “A Chinese asset market that barely existed three decades ago is now one of the world’s largest and most important centres of leverage and economic activity. The country’s property sector has developed at a breakneck pace, construction and asset prices have surged, and the country’s top real-estate developers have become some of the largest firms in the world.”

“The real-estate industry now accounts for about 7% of Chinese GDP, having climbed steadily upward from around 4% or below at the time of the big bang privatizations of the 1990s, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. China’s large banks, once primarily financiers of industry, are increasingly devoted to the mortgage industry. Real estate-related lending now makes up 37.5% of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China’s book, from below 30% as recently as 2014, and below 20% in 2004, according to S&P Capital IQ.”

“Large developers such as China Evergrande, Country Garden Holdings and China Vanke have loaded up on debt to different degrees, but the sector is heavily leveraged across the board. Taking on debt allows the companies to bid aggressively in land auctions.”

“Following the global financial crisis of 2008-09, Beijing’s stimulus sent credit surging, with much investment finding its way into residential real estate. During the following years, China’s ‘ghost cities’ became internationally famous: districts and sometimes entire towns in which residents had never arrived, leaving developers burdened with enormous inventory.”

“And though developers have learned their lesson when it comes to building properties that won’t be purchased, the vacancy rate of urban Chinese housing—at over 20%, according to the China Household Finance Survey—still exceeds that of some vacation hot spots in southern Europe, where second homes are common.”

“Dealing with overburdened real-estate developers is tough for the central government, but middle-class Chinese families who have borrowed large sums to invest in property are a far more sensitive issue. Chinese household debt sat below 20% of GDP until 2009, but has climbed aggressively since. Despite rapid economic growth, the metric stood at 59.1% as of June 2020.”

“The International Monetary Fund forecast in 2019—before this year’s surge in household debt—that the climb would continue, reaching about 68% by 2024. Chinese households are now far more heavily leveraged than other East Asian economies at a similar stage of development, and debt is largely concentrated in real estate.”

“Much recent lending and purchasing has been done by families who already own at least one property, with additional apartments regularly left empty. Some will be passed onto the next generation, but China’s awkward demographics mean the population will soon begin to shrink, worsening the equation. Repeated efforts by the central government to restrain the industry have floundered, with the incentives of households, developers and local bureaucrats all aligned to keeping the show on the road.”

“As time goes on, the risks aren’t just of losses and defaults, but waste: Plowing large proportions of the country’s income into an asset market with no yield has consequences for prosperity and productivity.”

From News.com.au. “China has barely been out of the news in the last few months. Headlines have been fuelled by the increasingly strident administration of President Xi Jinping cracking down on human rights, slapping tariffs on overseas goods and its diplomats undiplomatically throwing shade on any nation that doesn’t acquiesce to Beijing’s demands.”

“By all accounts the powers that be in China are chuffed with themselves, feeling this more forceful approach is just the thing for battering nations into doing its bidding. You might call it a take no prisoners approach – except Beijing seems quite keen on taking as many prisoners as possible – including a number of Australians some of which have yet to be charged.”

“But while the Chinese Government’s approach may win it friends within the Communist party hierarchy; aboard it’s losing friends faster than a septuagenarian going out for coffee while waiting for a COVID test result on Sydney’s northern beaches. The strategy may be one of Beijing’s biggest strategic miscalculations yet.”

“After many years of China’s star rising, attitudes towards the nation are plummeting to new lows. And that’s making it harder for countries to be seen to capitulate to its demands. Nowhere is this starker than in Australia. ‘Negative views of China increased most in Australia, where 81 per cent now say they see the country unfavourably, up 24 percentage points since last year,’ stated a report from the US Pew Research Centre, a think tank.”

“China has a word for its relatively recent and forceful style of international relations: ‘wolf warrior’ diplomacy. The term was coined from a Rambo-style Chinese action film, Wolf Warrior 2. The slogan of the movie was: ‘Whoever offends China will be punished, no matter how far they are.'”

“It has seen China not only lash out at any criticism levelled it but also to deliberately provoke nations that have displeased it. Beijing’s dealings with Canberra – from refusing to take Australian minister’s phone calls to leaving lobsters to die at airports while spurious customs checks take place – have hardly been polite. But perhaps the clearest example of the ‘wolf warrior’ strategy was a tweet from Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian which showed a doctored image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of a young child.”

“Communist Party mouthpiece The Global Times has praised the wolf warrior approach, declaring it a push back against ‘fake news.’ ‘This change in China’s diplomatic style has won a round of applause as many Chinese people want to see diplomats responding to Western accusations with not just humble explanations or inactive silence, but also the ability to resolutely to fight back against the stigmatisations and to bravely challenge Western hegemonic bullies.'”

“The West will adjust to China’s new assertive and confident diplomatic style one day when they genuinely accept peaceful coexistence with a powerful China, and admit that containment and confrontation against China is both meaningless and useless.’ The hope is that bashing nations into submission will ultimately see Beijing emerge victorious in international disputes. It appears it may be a vain hope.”

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This Post Has 103 Comments

    1. The Mechanics Behind the Electronic Vote Steal Operation

      https://www.bitchute.com/video/OJrljwQFcIvc/

      https://twitter.com/tom2badcat/status/1325126091460268032

      https://archive.vn/KPwUa

      https://everylegalvote.com/country

      https://hereistheevidence.com/

      “Dominion-izing the Vote”

      https://www.bitchute.com/video/qlEUbPLvW98w/

      Eric Coomer Explains How To Alter Votes In The Dominion Voting System

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtB3tLaXLJE

      Eric Coomer, Dominion’s head of product and strategy, has disappeared.

      ‘Representatives from Dominion also did not attend a court hearing in Pennsylvania on November 19. Its US headquarters in Denver was also suddenly closed and moved away. Their employees deleted their names from LinkedIn.’

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oYQeeNCzZM

      https://www.theepochtimes.com/poll-watcher-describes-pennsylvania-election-irregularities-including-47-missing-usb-cards_3594549.html

      Here’s the testimony on video:

      “Baggies of USBs” – PA Witness Gives Explosive Testimony

      https://www.bitchute.com/video/AdaglXlcuqYt/

      Dem Ballot Inspector Says She Was Threatened with Violence for Speaking Up About Suspicious Activity

      “The majority inspector threatened to slap me in the face,” said Olivia Jane Winters, a registered Democrat and minority ballot inspector in Pennsylvania, testifying to Pennsylvania State Republicans Wednesday that she had been threatened and harassed by other election officials after she asked about suspicious activities during the 2020 election.’

      https://www.bitchute.com/video/_KrpyDlHTe8/

      Crowd Gasps after Finding out about Absurd Spike of Votes in Favor of Biden

      https://www.bitchute.com/video/jmNUAx8wQYdO/

      Sen. Doug Mastriano closing remarks PA state legislature meeting.

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

      https://censoredbyjack.com/channel/evidence-of-widespread-election-fraud

      https://www.deepcapture.com/2020/11/election-2020-was-rigged-the-evidence/

      ”We began to look and realized how easy it is to change votes.”

      ‘Election security expert @RussRamsland
      has performed many investigations on US election machines.’

      ‘The most *shocking* thing about this interview is it took place just days BEFORE the election. Watch’

      https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1327511568993701888

      Col Phil Waldron Confirms Experts Witnessed Dominion Communicating with Frankfurt on Election Day

      https://www.bitchute.com/video/n7j5lg9fYyzz/

      Dominion forensic report from Michigan (PDF):

      https://www.depernolaw.com/uploads/2/7/0/2/27029178/antrim_michigan_forensics_report_%5B121320%5D_v2_%5Bredacted%5D.pdf

      1. ‘KRAKEN is DOD cyber warfare program.’

        ‘They cheated & got caught!’

        Sidney Powell
        🇺🇸
        ‘Who knew?’

        https://twitter.com/SidneyPowell1/status/1331435411286192128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1331435411286192128%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fheadlines360.news%2F2020%2F11%2F24%2Fsidney-powells-kraken-is-department-of-defense-cyber-warfare-program%2F

        I did some digging around and found this (WARNING) PDF:

        https://www.dacis.com/budget/budget_pdf/FY20/RDTE/F/1203110F_294.pdf

        It’s dated Feb. 2019. If you word search Kraken (‘respond’ category), you’ll find it twice on page 4. This unit 305 person is in the affidavits in Powells lawsuit.

        WARNING PDF with filing:

        https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mied.350905/gov.uscourts.mied.350905.1.15.pdf

        Zuckerberg on page 15. Obammie on page 8.

        ‘Response: Yes, our “White Hat” hackers – they have that traffic and the packets.”

        https://twitter.com/themodalice/status/1333505965857984512

        ‘Ruby Freeman Makes Video of herself Showing MOUNTAINS of GA ABSENTEE BALLOTS With NO RETURN ADDRESS’

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFYaxvxdfXY&feature=youtu.be

        Example

        Note the vote spike at the Atlanta treason:

        https://twitter.com/EricTrump/status/1334812236322381826/

        Corrupt Georgia Election Worker Seen Loading Same Ballots 3 Times into Machine

        Poll Worker Ruby Freeman Loads Up The Same Stack Of Ballots To Be Counted 3X

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiREC3Zy20E

        Ruby Freeman – “I need an attorney”

        “This is bigger than me. I need an attorney.” at 4:55.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsU-CXcJ4Lg

        Some videos worth watching:

        https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1341948764068704256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

        Rudy Giuliani Shuts Down Every Single Democrat And Troll In 6 Minutes

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUQqLNmap9c

  2. ‘Whoever offends China will be punished, no matter how far they are’

    F-you Xi, and the horse you rode in on.

    1. ‘And though developers have learned their lesson when it comes to building properties that won’t be purchased’

      F-U too WSJ, you globalist hatchet holder.

  3. Government, especially Philadelphia, doesn’t follow basic laws anymore. They allow looting and burning and massive voter fraud to name a few.

    Why should anyone else?

    “The deal was simple: Property mogul Chris Rahn got to buy a bundle of 22 vacant, publicly owned lots on the cheap. In exchange, records show he was expected to build homes for the financially needy on eight of them…. The other properties where Rahn was to build affordable homes, however, remain empty, weed-filled eyesores. That’s because the officials who arranged the sale let him shirk his end of the bargain.”

    1. Read this story to see how commie “affordable housing” really works. And this couple left a string of a$$-pounded lenders behind too, as we’ve seen in a recent post.

    2. These officials at the Philadelphia Housing Development Corp. don’t hand out the gravy deals to anonymous businessmen. There’s wives using maiden names on corporate boards, son-in-law developers, brown envelopes, etc., just follow the money.

  5. ‘As time goes on, the risks aren’t just of losses and defaults, but waste: Plowing large proportions of the country’s income into an asset market with no yield has consequences for prosperity and productivity’

    See, you “liberals” who support Dpedo either are deceitful hypocrites or fudging idiots. Oh tell us all about climate change! “We’re all gonna die!” These Chinese clowns have over 60 million empty units and counting. They can’t breath the air, their rivers will kill ya. Workers have no rights, only a handful of billionaires do, and that can be taken away as fast as they can throw you off the roof.

    Luckily, the President won by a landslide and we’re gonna hang a bunch of traitors who would sell us out to the communists.

  7. Let’s see…

    They have been brainwashed since childhood into believing socialism and voting for socialists is the answer…

    Don’t seem to like it when they scrimp and save to afford a house and someone gets it for free right across the street.

    “Neighbors in the community of well-maintained properties in the $675,000 range express mixed feelings about the escalating tension…”

  8. ‘Neighbors in the community of well-maintained properties in the $675,000 range express mixed feelings about the escalating tension. Some support the effort to sell or rent the homes to needy families, but strongly oppose the methods of the families and their activist allies. After hanging a banner protesting the home seizures on her fence, Salas said she has had rocks and empty beer cans thrown in her frontyard. Another neighbor, Aaron Mauricio, said drill-wielding activists shoved him while he was trying to stop them from getting inside a vacant home’

    What a klassy place! And yer guvnah says “no soup for you!” Yes, the same guvnah that lectured us on how everybody wants to be like them.

    Do you realize what a joke and embarrassment you’ve become? Good luck with those 600k peso houses that people are taking over.

    1. Rampant homelessness, draconian lock downs, squatting, everything is expensive, millions of illegal aliens and lawlessness everywhere. What is there to not love about LA?

      1. What is there to not love about LA?

        Having lived there, what is there to love? I honestly can’t think of one thing.

        1. “I honestly can’t think of one thing.”

          So, you take the weather for granted? 🙂

          I’ll have you know that it took a full 25-min to thaw my daughter’s Honda Accord Coupe at 10:00am this morning before she headed back to lefty Bellingham, WA.

  9. Kinda like America too.

    As long as the cheap and easy free money flows…

    “As time goes on, the risks aren’t just of losses and defaults, but waste: Plowing large proportions of the country’s income into an asset market with no yield has consequences for prosperity and productivity.”

  10. What exactly is the “west” going to do with a senile chinese bought and paid “President Elect” agent about to take power?

    The west got what it wanted. No more bad orange man. Now live with the consequences.

    “The West will adjust to China’s new assertive and confident diplomatic style one day when they genuinely accept peaceful coexistence with a powerful China, and admit that containment and confrontation against China is both meaningless and useless.’ The hope is that bashing nations into submission will ultimately see Beijing emerge victorious in international disputes. It appears it may be a vain hope.”

    1. ‘The latest indicator of China’s economic woes is the number of credit bonds nationwide that could not be repaid on time—164 of them, involving a sum of 160 billion yuan (about $24.43 billion). Borrowers include state-run enterprises who were previously rated AAA by Chinese bond rating agencies. The Chinese market has three types of bonds: government bonds that were issued by different level governments; credit bonds issued by companies; and convertible bonds, issued by listed companies and which can be converted into shares of common stock in the issuing company or cash of equal value.’

      ‘Chinese state-run media Economic Observer reported the latest bond market statistics collected by Wind, a Chinese private financial services company. “164 credit bonds that were issued by 27 enterprises were in repudiatory breach by Dec. 18 in this year,” it reported. “Among them, the sum breached by state-run enterprises was 51.897 billion yuan ($7.92 billion), or three times more than the figure in 2019, 12.93 billion yuan ($1.97 billion).”

      ‘The overdue bonds are another reflection of China’s downtrodden economy. State-run website China Real Estate reported on Dec. 21 that office and store rentals have gone down in all Chinese first-tier cities. The report quoted real estate agencies in China’s commercial hub of Shanghai, which said roughly ten percent of offices in the city’s busiest areas were empty, while 40 percent of offices were empty in relatively rural areas of the city.’

      ‘British commercial real estate services firm Debenham Thouard Zadelhoff (DTZ) released its Beijing Q3 market report on Sept. 28, noting that the rental rate of offices kept decreasing in Beijing. Meanwhile, the vacancy rate reached the highest point in the past ten years.’

      https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinese-firms-owe-roughly-24-billion-in-overdue-credit-bonds_3627932.html

  11. ‘So to put this analysis of a lawsuit momentarily in Marxian economics speak that I learned during my one year of college’

    ‘It’s a catch-22,’ Payne said. ‘Working can lead to the spread of the virus. But unemployment is a big culprit in homelessness. If you don’t have work, you don’t have a home’

    It’s pretty simple actually. Unless you want to live in Juarez style shanty’s, you better get these people back to work. I’m critical of the REIC. But I also have managed rental properties for years. It’s a constant process of maintenance and management of the people that live there. Sometimes peoples lives go haywire. What was a peaceful family begins to tear sh$t up and they got to go. You have to build up reserves, think ahead. Do you want to live without heat or cooling? Hot water? Put up with roaches, rats? Because that’s what happens sometimes. And even if you take care of your place, if the shack next door goes to hell, you’ll wish there was a real capitalist running it.

    1. But, what’s happening isn’t what the people voted for if you believe they rigged the election, which I believe.
      If they get away with the election fraud, than no telling what they will cram down our throats.
      These people behind the power grab of epic proportions don’t believe in democracy, but rather force.
      The thought of that senile old corrupt Traitor/Puppet Biden in Command is the worst thing I have ever witnessed. The power that Washington DC Swamp has to alter your life is enormous, especially when the check and balance is corrupted. And using a flu to take all rights from Citizens is evident.
      Someone was saying in summary that this madness roots back to Agenda 21 from 25 years ago. Agenda 21 was all about top down control and social engineering for what they said was a sustainable earth objective, that wasn’t voted on. The masterminds wanted to move the populations to five major City Centers for control. Apparently the agenda has altered to Commie and Foreign Enemies getting in on the agenda for their own agendas.
      I though Agenda 21 was absurd when I first saw it 15 years ago. It was a One World Order idea under the idea of sustainable earth, that wasn’t voted on. It even had a agenda of reducing the populations to what they deemed sustainable, they figure was something like a half of billion World wide.
      So now you hear talk about the new Covid vaccine could affect fertility.
      I don’t trust these unelected Power Mongers . Nut cake rich people trying to play God where they want to pick the winners and losers.

    2. Even just skimming that Counterpunch article made my head hurt. TL;DR version: The landlord lobby is demanding that renters pay rent; how dare they. The landlord lobby is refusing the “share the burden;” how dare they. The landlord lobby is asking the government to cover them during these trying times; how dare they. We’re all in this together.

  13. Her homesteading, part of an organized effort by tenant activists in March, was illegal, but it worked.

    Notice how the Left and their MSM Real Journalist allies are subverting the language to make their thievery and freeloading seem more legit. “Homesteading” instead of “illegally trespassing” or “breaking and entering.”

    1. That’s the whole idea to change the meaning of language, so their offensive to rights power grab isn’t perceived for what it is.

    2. Notice how the Left and their MSM Real Journalist allies are subverting the language

      I hope they are compassionate and understanding when they find squatters homesteaders living in their homes upon returning from a vacation, and find it next to impossible to evict them.

  14. From the Los Angeles Times piece: “Martha Escudero with her daughters Meztli, 8, left, and Victoria, 10, stand in the window of a vacant state-owned house they occupied in March in El Sereno.”

    Where is Julio the provider?

    2. in the window of a vacant state-owned house they occupied

      State owned? What does that mean? Are they confiscated property from drug busts? Why would the state of Cal own vacant houses?

      That said, one can see why those houses are being targeted for squatting: the state won’t try to evict them.

      2. “Why would the state of Cal own vacant houses?”

        They were likely purchased under eminent domain laws so that the 710 hwy extension could be built-out, but the courts have stalled the project indefinitely.

      3. This came up in a discussion a couple of years ago – Minneapolis enacted a vacancy tax on empty properties, only to discover the city actually owned 19 of the vacant properties (article didn’t explain how this came to be), and the county owned more than that due to tax foreclosures. It probably happens more than we think.

        1. “It probably happens more than we think.”

          Governments frequently enact policy that conflicts with previous policy. The lawyers win, again.

  15. Lenders generally don’t like to hold onto properties like this because real estate is not really their area of expertise.

    They don’t like it because they don’t like bleeding money, which is what holding real estate does.

  16. ‘Buying a run down distressed property in Los Angeles, fixing it up and then selling it for a tidy profit is more popular than ever’

    But UHS says can always sell?

    ‘There are even specialized agents operating in this domain called REO agents’

    There may be a few but things have changed for the time being. Almost everything (prior to the forbearance sham anyway) is being run through pre-foreclosure auctions. And now a lot of that is online.

    So step right up you savvy investors! Buy sight unseen! It’s cheaper and less risky for the loan holder. They know what’s inside, you probably don’t. And it’s as-is! Isn’t that wonderful? Plus Mr Smokes A Lot may be living there free and guess what? You can’t evict him!

    The trade off is within a given pool of people at the auction, if they are smart they’ll factor in a unknown cushion to protect themselves. And if enough do this the opening reserve bids won’t materialize and back to REO it goes.

    1. Meanwhile, across the pond (12/27/20):

      “The coronavirus crisis poses the greatest threat to mental health since the second world war, with the impact to be felt for years after the virus has been brought under control, the country’s leading psychiatrist has said.

      Dr Adrian James, the president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said a combination of the disease, its social consequences and the economic fallout were having a profound effect on mental health that would continue long after the epidemic is reined in.

      As many as 10 million people, including 1.5 million children, are thought to need new or additional mental health support as a direct result of the crisis.

      “This is going to have a profound effect on mental health,” James said. “It is probably the biggest hit to mental health since the second world war. It doesn’t stop when the virus is under control and there are few people in hospital. You’ve got to fund the long-term consequences.”

      https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/27/covid-poses-greatest-threat-to-mental-health-since-second-world-war

      Happy nine month anniversary of “two weeks to flatten the curve”

      2. Comment on the Reddit thread that this Guardian article was linked from:

        “It’s also much worse when you see your friends, family, and millions of Americans completely disregard all precautions while you continue to isolate. It feels like a slap in the face and makes me sad, frustrated, angry. Not sure what I can do, but we’re going to need to continue these precautions for at least another 6-12 months.”

        This is the third top comment on the thread, with 219 upvotes as of now. Another 6-12 months? Really?

        Lockdown Lovers are anti-life, anti-humanity. Lockdown Lovers have no soul, and they want to destroy yours…

        1. “It feels like a slap in the face and makes me sad, frustrated, angry.”

          Hehe…get ready to turn your other cheek as you’ll be last in the queue for the vaccine as the irresponsible [need] it first because, well…they’re at higher risk than the crackers who obey.

        3. The lockdown lovers verses the lockdown haters. The vaccine takers verses the non vaccine takers.
          Just some new ways to create division between people and get them turning on each other when the race narrative doesn’t work.
          All this division with false narratives to distract from this power grab, so Citizens don’t Unite in rebellion against these Monsters.

        4. That commenter also has purple hair, problem glasses, a nose ring, multiple tattoos and clinical obesity.

  18. From the CounterPunch piece: “If the partial eviction ban is lifted without a real solution to the billions of back rent owed, we can look forward to many, many more struggles such as the one that has been unfolding at Portland’s Red House.”

    The real action is likely to take place between the mortgage holders and the banks. The lawyers will harvest tall cotton.

    1. “Evidence of withdrawal through financial holes of millions of dollars stolen from the Ukranian people, laundered with the help of banks and laundromats in various jurisdictions and their subsequent transfer to the accounts of the company belonging to the Biden family.”

      And this news is coming straight from Ukraine.

    2. Still watching this, but the evidence is clear as day. They have the bank statements, they have the people involved, they have everything. It’s clear the US govt and justice system is completely corrupt, and in the bag for Pedo Joe. They are hiding this. Truly sickening.

      2. in the bag for Pedo Joe

        Joe is no popular hero. He may be quite expendable. The timing of this is interesting.

      3. but the evidence is clear as day

        The video does not have an introduction. There is no indication that these men are government officials, or who they are. Apparently no coverage on this “Bombshell” anywhere, not in Ukraine news or RT either. “Trumpet News” = “Blazing Press”? Nothing on their website about this.

        Skeptical.

        1. So unless it’s lying “government officials” or the lying mainstream media, you don’t believe it? Hah.

    3. “Surprisingly, the Office of Foreign Assets Control is aware of these facts. Still, the laundered money is not blocked, and the US authorities are not investigating it.”

  21. Notable to me was the author’s own call out to their single year in college. It appears clear from the way the article is written they didn’t have the mental horsepower to keep it up. There is a clear case of Dunning-Kruger, someone who doesn’t know what they hell they are talking about shouting the loudest that they have the answers.

  22. Journalist Hounded After Pointing Out That Only Old And Sick Die From COVID

    by Steve Watson
    December 28th 2020, 5:01 am

    A British journalist has been targeted by an angry online mob after pointing out that only a relatively small amount of healthy people have died from COVID, and suggesting that the complete destruction of our way of life is not an adequate response.

    Talk radio host Julia Hartley-Brewer used the National Health Service’s own statistics to point out that “Just 377 healthy people under 60 have died of Covid.”

    “That’s not a typo. There are no zeros missing,” Hartley-Brewer noted urging that while it is sad, it shouldn’t justify the shutdown of the economy and the house arrest of the entire country.

    She further noted that pointing this out doesn’t mean she is saying “to hell with the old and sick”.

    Some people just will not hear it, however, raging that Hartley-Brewer is a despicable human being:

    https://www.infowars.com/

    2. And I’m not convinced that Covid was the culprit that killed healthy people under 6o.
      First, I’m glad Covid was not a big killer to all age groups. Second, knowing it was mostly older people made it easier to isolate that group and give protection.
      But no, they shut down the entire US instead.
      The 1957/1968 Hong Kong and Asian flu hit younger people. A lot of older people had Immunity to it that they think came from a Russian flu outbreak years before.
      Some guy named Karr that was in the insurance business was the one that started counting the deaths from a flu by subtracting the amounts of deaths in a normal year from the pandimic year to derive how many died .
      When one starts doing some research on some of this stuff it becomes apparent that a lot of it is guesswork.

    1. And public transportation was the very thing that the masterminds wanted people to move to as they where trying to usher people to City Centers.
      So, I’m just saying that some of the fall out from Covid ,that they are using for this power grab, doesn’t mix with their overall plans. People are fleeing the Cities and they wanted the bulk to populate Cities.

    2. Public transport is also a big part of owning nothing and being happy. It’s a lot harder to rent out your living room for business meetings if the business people can’t get to your living room. Heh, I wouldn’t be surprised if the urbanization isn’t part of some plot to empty out the arable land so that TPTB can take it over.

      Come to think of it, the W@H movement might achieve the last thing these globalists want — the dispersion of families across flyover, to small communities and/or their own plots of land and fixed-up houses. Once you get a little homestead with a house on it, a nice internet connection to W@H, and a vehicle to get to the local farmer’s market and Wal-Mart/Tractor supply, you tend to not give it up to some hoity-toities who say they’re better than you.

      I’m surprised that Klaus hasn’t opposed W@H yet.

      1. Right oxide, some of this stuff might backfire on the big plans of these Masterminds.
        They rely on people being zombies, but it could backfire and wake people up .People could get turned off to the medical cartel thats oppressing them. A whole number of backfires could happen.

      3. Heh, I wouldn’t be surprised if the urbanization isn’t part of some plot to empty out the arable land so that TPTB can take it over.

        Check out the Growth Management Acts in many states to see that there is a war on the rural areas.

        1. Indeed, the UN’s plan is to empty out the rural areas and move more and more people to the cities where they can be tracked, monitored, and more easily controlled.

          Looks like they have a lot of social engineering in mind, too. It’s interesting how they think that they should have more control over countries and their borders than the inhabitants of those countries do.
          —————————-

          “Resilience Safety is of key relevance in the 2030 Agenda, which aims for “a world free of fear and violence” “where human habitats are safe” with a number of SDG 11 targets making specific reference to safety. The Strategic Plan recognizes the relevance of safety in ensuring overall improved urban living conditions, social inclusion, inequality reduction, and eliminating social and territorial exclusion patterns.”

          https://unhabitat.org/our-strategy

          —————–

          I wonder what they mean by “territorial exclusion patterns.”

          2. Exactly, BlueSkye. Donald Trump was never a threat. Those who’ve opposed him (and his supporters) are a very real threat.

  24. The think I keep thinking about is how betraying these power grabbers are.
    Most of them got rich by the start that the USA gave them. It was the consumer/worker that made it possible to amass wealth.
    Guys like Gates, Soros, Claus Schwab , Big Globalist Corporations, want to force their creepy pain and suffering on the masses, when they wouldn’t be anything without the people.
    I don’t think Trump ever disconnected from the workers that made it possible for him to become rich. The rumor goes he didn’t like Globalist and didn’t give them much access when he became President.
    Also this “False Flags” concept is becoming more believable . After the Russian Hoax, fake impeachment, rigged election,and not following the Science lockdowns, false flags and false narratives are evident.
    Alex Jones was talking for years about the false flags and false narratives and the Globalist take over plans. He seemed so far fetched but here we are.

    1. false flags and false narratives are evident

      I called the Nashville bombing a dead lone wolf before the MSM did.

      2. And it looks evident, at least to me, that the explosion occurred underground, which is why those panel covers on the sidewalk were blown out. If you watch the video in slow motion and stop it at various points, it does not look like the ignition point was the motor home.

        Is it possible that the guy was already dead in his RV and they just used him to be the fall guy? It would be great to see video from around there to see if anyone else got out of that RV before the shooting/countdown happened. I would also like to see what the underground tunnels looked like after the explosion.

  26. “‘The first time around it was very shocking,’ said Marie Salas, who lives across the street from the house Escudero occupied. ‘But the audacity, the carelessness, the I-don’t-care attitude about the neighborhood to say, ‘We’re going to break in again?’ It’s just disgraceful.’”

    You live in a Bolshevik-controlled state, Marie. You’ve got far worse in store as the collectivists consolidate their uni-party regime.

    1. The graffiti in South Denver is getting worse every day. Every closed business gets tagged with some unreadable jungle ape scriggle of alleged language. No wheel, no fire, no written language. Just destruction of other people’s property.

      Buy a house in Denver, and this is what you’ll get.

      1. The tribe loves them because they chase after a ball really well and along with their violence distracts us from the crime the tribe commits. That, and their adrenochrome.

    2. Homeless numbers are increasing in my hood, which has been happening for a while. But recently for the first time I saw homeless setting up tent shelters on the side walk embankment at a major intersection.

      1. Drove through Hollywood on 101 on the way to downtown LA a couple days ago. The homeless had completely taken over some of the spaces around the interstate including at least one overpass I saw that was supposed to be a road but was completely blocked with tents and old RVs.

    3. You live in a Bolshevik-controlled state, Marie.

      That made me think of the scene in Dr. Zhivago where he returns home to find that the proles have moved into his home, and his family is barricaded in a single bedroom.

  27. Will China be the first country where the Keynesian central planners lose control?

    Chinese Retailers See Rise in Loan Rejections, Beige Book Says

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-28/chinese-retailers-see-rise-in-loan-rejections-beige-book-says?srnd=premium-middle-east&sref=ibr3A0ff

    Smaller Chinese companies and those in the retail industry are struggling to access credit amid a weak recovery in consumer spending, according to China Beige Book International, a provider of independent economic data.

    Loan rejection rates for retail businesses increased to 38% in the final quarter of 2020 from 14% in the previous quarter, according to the latest quarterly report from CBBI. Rejection rates for small and medium-sized businesses rose to 24% in the final quarter, double the rate posted by large companies during the period.

    1. struggling to access credit

      That’s what happens when the government puts a moratorium on payments. Yes, China is doing this too and it is hard on the banks.

      Some recovery!

    1. “…in Aspen, leaving 3500 customers without heating.”

      Wonder how many will lose their water pipes to freezing?

    1. ‘I’m open to suggestions’: Democrat star Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms admits she doesn’t know how to stop alarming crime wave as seven-year-old girl is shot dead and city faces deadliest year in decades”

      How about this, call rioters peaceful protesters, don’t arrest looters, eliminate bail, call the police racist and defunded them.

    3. Libtards reaping what they voted

      Given the amount of election fraud uncovered, you might need to change your line.

    1. “Newsom’s order to prohibit “private gatherings of any size” was never going to play well before Christmas, but Newsom’s own behavior has given residents the green light to ignore the other restrictions he imposed.”

      What a costly meal. 🙂

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