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Is It Simply Madness And This Is Another Real Estate Bubble?

A weekend topic starting with the Orlando Sentinel in Florida. “Foster Algier, a real estate agent and owner of First Alliance Capital in Orlando, points to low-interest rates as one of the main drivers of the housing shortage, with 30-year mortgage rates falling to less than 3% last year. ‘When money gets cheap, home prices go up,’ he said. Algier also pointed to a glut of buyers and investors as reducing options. ‘We’re paying more because we’re competing against buyers who will buy anything,’ he said.”

“‘We have investors calling us nonstop,’ said Tammy Kerr of Sand Dollar Realty Group.Kerr, who has worked in Orlando real estate for 20 years, said one advantage to the current market: flippers don’t have to do much work fixing up houses they sell. ‘People are buying up anything, they don’t care,’ she said. ‘They’ll do the work for you.'”

From KTNV in Nevada. “According to Zillow, the denial rate in Nevada for Hispanic applicants was 12% in 2017, compared to 9% for all applicants. ‘Some people are putting 15 to 20 thousand over the listing price, they’re waiving the appraisal contingency, mean that if the house doesn’t appraise, they don’t care, they’re going to pay more for that and then there are some sellers that don’t want to do repairs,’ said Kely Rojas, a real estate agent.”

“Alex Vazquez, her real estate agent, said that more Latinos are now becoming homeowners, a trend that he has observed during the last 5 years, and that it’s important to have a lender and a real estate agent to help you with the process. ‘And let you know of how much of a home you qualify for, what the bank will loan you to purchase that home. The lender will also guide you on what programs are available in order for you to qualify for that home or either reduce the interest rate or get some money out of pocket to help cover your closing costs and in many cases you down payment as well,’ expressed Vazquez.”

From Bizwest on Colorado. “The sales-price-to-list-price ratio for single-family homes in Boulder County is above 100%. Indeed, in each of our weekly sales meetings, we hear agents describe a veritable frenzy of buyers offering often between 20% and 30% above asking price for ‘average’ homes in our market and making breathtaking concessions to sellers (e.g., completely waiving their right to conduct an inspection, agreeing to cover any appraisal gap, etc.). I have heard of buyers offering $350,000 over a home’s asking price, waiving every conceivable contract right, and still not getting the house.”

“And so, it is fair to ask whether our current market is like Shakespeare’s Hamlet: ‘Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t,’ or is it simply madness and this is another real estate bubble?”

“Third — and most importantly — home values in our area will continue to be supported by the fact that, under current zoning regulations, we are nearly out of land upon which to build. As a matter of basic economics, when the supply of a desired good becomes scarce, its value increases. According to Freddie Mac, in terms of housing, Colorado is the second most undersupplied state in the country, and Boulder County is the epicenter of that lack of supply.”

From Summit Daily in Colorado. “After a yearlong delay due to COVID-19, Economic & Planning Systems representatives David Schwartz and Rachel Shindman showcased the data, which highlighted the region’s current housing needs.
A look at Summit’s housing supply. In general, Shindman said 70% of the county’s housing supply is vacant homes and 30% is occupied housing. From 2010 to 2018, which was the most recent data available when the study was commissioned, Shindman said these percentages were exacerbated because long-term housing was not added to the market.”

From ABC News. “If the rate of Australian home price rises is bringing a tear to your eye, you are unlikely to find much sympathy from South Koreans trying to buy in their country’s capital. Seoul’s property market is on a tear. Apartment prices in the metropolis of nearly 10 million people rose by an extraordinary 22 per cent in 2020, outstripping all other cities in Asia.”

“Seoul residents Park Jong-hui and Oh Hye-jin kept being outbid for every place they were interested in. After months of disappointment, they have finally managed to secure a place. But it is much further from Seoul’s centre than they would have liked. In the traffic-plagued city, it means a long commute. ‘It will now take one hour and a half to go to work, which is disappointing, said Jong-hui.”

“The Parks are relieved they have managed to secure their own place, even if it comes with a massive mortgage. ‘The reason why we decided to buy a house now is because we think house prices will just keep going up.'”

“Koreans only need to look across the East Sea to see the danger of unsustainable property price rises. Japan experienced one of the greatest property bubbles and crashes in recorded history. After World War II, the value of Japanese real estate skyrocketed, with a particularly frenzied period during the 1980s. Investors ploughed cash into the market, seemingly thinking prices would just keep rising.”

“Infamously, at the property market’s peak, all the land in Japan — which is roughly the size of California — was worth four times the value of all the land in the United States. Then the crash came. Prices plummeted. Japanese home owners saw their properties lose 70 per cent of their value between the peak in 1991 and 2001.”

From The Tyee in Canada. “Patrick Condon’s new book ties public health to the price of land. Condon starts with the fact that the value of urban real estate has become detached from local incomes, because as global elites acquire and concentrate wealth, they seek places to park it. Condos are the new stocks and bonds and Krugerrands, and that gives all the more impetus to a species well known in these parts — the land speculator.”

“In the face of such forces, merely relying on the market to solve housing unaffordability is pointless, argues Condon, because as soon as land is upzoned for densification its value rises, those costs jacking up the price of units. Condon: ‘The housing issue in California is the same one as we have here: out-of-control land price inflation. Although ours is worse, because our salaries are much lower on average making it much harder for people making average incomes to afford homes. Urban land prices have shot up between 200 and 500 per cent in most parts of the Bay Area in just the past seven years. This is reflected, naturally enough, in higher home prices statewide.'”

“‘The California legislature, in an attempt to reduce home prices, is considering a law, SB9, that would overrule city zoning laws statewide, allowing much higher density everywhere in the state. YIMBY (‘Yes in my backyard’) advocates and the big tech companies are all for it, arguing that opening up low-density areas for higher density will lead to lower prices. They reason that homes cost too much is because too few are getting built. That is, if you add enough supply to satisfy demand it will lead to lower prices.'”

“‘I and many others are arguing that the evidence does not support this. Certainly here in Vancouver we have seen no evidence of this. We have added enough housing in the downtown for 40,000 new residents, prices go up. We have added thousands of units along our arterial streets, prices go up. We have legalized secondary suites citywide, prices go up. We have legalized lane houses, prices go up. We have allowed four dwelling units on every so-called single-family lot in the city, prices still go up. We have added more housing units than population over the past 10 years and prices have doubled. Over 20 per cent just this year.'”

From Mansion Global on California. “It could only happen in Los Angeles: Celebrity plastic surgeons are getting into the megamansion-building business. The latest entrant to the market is Alex Khadavi, a 48-year-old dermatologist. With the market heating up in the early 2010s, many wealthy people with well-positioned parcels of land began building properties geared toward foreign buyers and billionaires, says Stephen Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency, who is not involved in the home. Suddenly, everyone was a developer, including those with limited or no real-estate experience. That boom resulted in an oversupply of spec homes.”

“The rush of new contemporary spec homes built in the Los Angeles area has put downward pressure on prices. Dr. Kanodia recently slashed the asking price of his home to $99 million from $180 million. Developers like Nile Niami, known widely as the king of Los Angeles spec homes, handed the keys over to his lenders on at least one project and is facing default on others.”

“The spiraling costs of Dr. Khadavi’s project also had consequences. While he initially thought he might live in the property, Dr. Khadavi says he is now selling it largely because he can’t afford to keep it. It’s also too large for him, his girlfriend and his goldendoodle Cheetos. ‘I don’t have a large family, and I don’t have the financial capability to enjoy the house,’ he says. ‘I borrowed a lot of money to get it to this level, and I can’t afford living in it.'”

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  1. ‘The reason why we decided to buy a house now is because we think house prices will just keep going up’

    ‘Urban land prices have shot up between 200 and 500 per cent in most parts of the Bay Area in just the past seven years’

    And there’s yer bubble. As I documented at the time, land prices doubled and tripled starting around 2011. Not in just urban areas, little towns and burgs all across the US. Did the REIC media say boo? Nope.

    1. A lot of the lots that builders are throwing these shacks up on were purchased at cheap prices back in 2011, etc. Now they’re able to gouge $450k+ lot premiums out of dirt they probably paid less than $30k per finished lot for.

  2. Also from the UHS in Colorado:

    ‘Second, the COVID-19 pandemic has added fuel to the above desirability fire. It has sped a transition to remote work for many people, allowing them (especially knowledge workers) to keep their jobs and move to higher quality of life locations. It has also caused many city dwellers to seek less concentrated areas with more land, and Boulder County certainly offers that. In fact, the average price of a home in the suburban plains has jumped almost 50% from last year’

    Again, you read that right: the CCP virus CAUSED this. I see numbers like this every day. How on Jeebus’s Earth can shacks go up 50% in a year and it not be a bubble? At the same time, some bubbles have popped, years ago:

    ‘recently slashed the asking price of his home to $99 million from $180 million. Developers like Nile Niami, known widely as the king of Los Angeles spec homes, handed the keys over to his lenders on at least one project and is facing default on others’

    1. Boulder is the best local example of vote like California, become California. It’s the virtue signal capital of Colorado, where everybody has a COEXIST sticker on their car but they sure don’t COEXIST with any poor people living in Boulder.

      1. I believe a “plague” is typically involved — if that is an appropriate term for the loose lending necessary to fuel a mania.

        1. Like a plague of locusts, descending upon the earth by the trillions and consuming everything in sight.

    3. In fact, the average price of a home in the suburban plains has jumped almost 50% from last year’

      Prices have not gone up 50% in Larimer or Weld counties. Maybe 20% (which is still unreasonable).

    4. It seems curious how the high end of the market can experience a massive crater event when the low end keeps going up like hot cakes. I suppose government lending programs are a major factor driving a wedge between the bottom and top ends of the market, with the the low end largely driven by government intervention to qualify people to buy houses they can’t afford and the top end driven by competition between a handful of market participants with millions of dollars available to blow on housing.

      1. t seems curious how the high end of the market can experience a massive crater event when the low end keeps going up like hot cakes.

        Well, they are somewhat different markets that target very different demographics. And as many here have noted, almost everything being built these days is “luxury”.

  3. This is an interesting time for this blog as the issues have been laid bare:

    ‘The lender will also guide you on what programs are available in order for you to qualify for that home or either reduce the interest rate or get some money out of pocket to help cover your closing costs and in many cases you down payment as well’

    “Helping” people get loans, with no money in their pockets. What could go wrong? Oh but there’s no funny business going on.

    1. ““Helping” people get loans, with no money in their pockets. What could go wrong? Oh but there’s no funny business going on.”

      Nothing says subprime like MT Pockitz. They were dead broke before they bought a house. Then dead broke and deep in debt as the losses to depreciating mount, month after month.

      Orlando, FL Housing Prices Crater 26% On Soaring Subprime Mortgage Defaults And Appraisal Fraud

      https://www.movoto.com/fl/32809/market-trends/

    2. “The lender will also guide you …”

      … because he gets to collect a hefty fee for doing so …

      “… on what programs are available in order for you to qualify for that home or either reduce the interest rate or get some money out of pocket to help cover your closing costs and in many cases your down payment as well.”

      Like it, love it, want more of it.

      1. Each additional homebuyer the lender can “help” to qualify for borrowing a massive sum of money generates another origin fee for the lender. And if the loan can be securitized, the lender doesn’t have to wonder whether the borrower will be able to continue making payments five years down the road.

        Small wonder that lenders are so very “helpful” and creative when it comes down to qualifying for supersized mortgages to purchase overpriced houses.

        2. When I was looking at buying in 2018 I was astounded how most realtors told me they could help me find a lender to qualify for a mortgage.

  4. ‘According to Freddie Mac, in terms of housing, Colorado is the second most undersupplied state in the country’

    ‘in general, Shindman said 70% of the county’s housing supply is vacant homes’

    1. ‘in general, Shindman said 70% of the county’s housing supply is vacant homes’

      Imagine being dumb enough to believe that a rotting depreciating house isn’t costing you an arm and a leg whether it’s empty or not?

      I wonder how these wallet emptying ideas get started.

      1. “I wonder how these wallet emptying ideas get started.”

        No Child Left Behind.

    3. ‘in general, Shindman said 70% of the county’s housing supply is vacant homes’

      FWIW, Summit County is ski resort country, so I would expect that there would be a lot of properties that are not occupied.

  6. This is a “Clown World comes to ranch country” article.

    CPR — In Custer County, Owners Of Tenacious Unicorn Ranch Pack Heat And Build A Fence In The Face Of Harassment (5/7/2021):

    “The 40-acre property, apart from its status as a working sheep and alpaca ranch, also serves as “a trans and queer haven” southeast of the small mountain town of Westcliffe. Nine people live on the site currently, less than half of the planned occupancy long-term. Logue and Nelson hope to build a sustainable and scalable business not only through selling their agricultural products; they also want to one day establish properties in multiple rural places where trans people can feel safe, welcome and isolated from the discrimination they face in the traditional, cisgendered world.”

    https://www.cpr.org/2021/05/07/in-custer-county-owners-of-a-trans-friendly-ranch-pack-heat-and-build-a-fence-in-the-face-of-harassment/

    Note the photo of the prominently displayed Antifa flag, that the article does not mention.

    Antifa are communist terrorists, and this whole article is a pearl clutching victim narrative.

    There are rural parts of the country where cutting your d*ck off doesn’t win you a trophy.

    1. There are rural parts of the country where cutting your d*ck off doesn’t win you a trophy.

      They sure chose an odd place to setup shop. The cognitive dissonance is strong with them (which isn’t surprising) :

      they also want to one day establish properties in multiple rural places where trans people can feel safe, welcome and isolated from the discrimination they face in the traditional, cisgendered world

      If that’s what they wanted they should have stayed in Cindy CdeBaca land. They get a huge parade there every June.

      1. All this is is an attention whoring LOOK AT ME virtue signal, with its own GoFundMe, of course, because they want free money.

        “They sure chose an odd place”

        You are correct. Custer County is all Trump flags, thin blue line flags, and coal rollers, it is not a ski town. I have visited Westcliffe over fifty times over the past decade, this is a place where Antifa and communist terrorists are made to feel unwelcome.

        Clown World is beyond repair at this point. There is no escape from the moral and social rot. The degenerates profiled in this article are emblematic of a civilization in terminal decline.

        1. Article for Mothers Day.

          The Blaze — Liberals are pushing ‘birthing people’ phrase and social media erupts with laughter and ridicule (5/6/2021):

          https://www.theblaze.com/news/birthing-people-liberals-twitter

          Laughter and ridicule. Nobody cared when the narrative was “consenting adults in the privacy of their own bedroom” but Rick Santorum was right.

          Someone should explain to these communist child rapists about The Science™ of the sheep and alpaca they are raising, that the new ones don’t come from a “birthing animal” they come from a female with XX chromosomes.

        2. this is a place where Antifa and communist terrorists are made to feel unwelcome

          I wonder how long until they throw in the towel and head back to Dumver. I mean, how far is it to the nearest Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s?

          1. They could have picked many other locations in Colorado to buy a ranch. This seems too conspicuous, like they’re doing it here specifically to antagonize the locals, garner sympathetic press from Real Journalists, and cash in on the GoFundMe.

            Open support of Antifa does not play out in Custer County, people live their because it is a non-Portland environment. I have complimented people there in parking lots for having stickers on their trucks that would result in having their windows smashed out if displayed in Denver.

          2. Note the ostentatious display of assault rifles. Not to mention building a wall and trying to “colonize” a conservative area with even more bluehairs. That is, they’re pretending to be conservative while simultaneously thumbing their nose at conservatism. That is not going to win them any friends. If they had just shown up and farmed alpacas, I don’t think it would have been an issue. But the arrogance and mockery is what will make them enemies.

  7. “‘We’re paying more because we’re competing against buyers who will buy anything,’ he said.”

    With money they do not have.

    Leverage + ignorance = Interesting results. And a hefty fee generated for me to enjoy.

    😁

    1. Paying more creates equity wealth for the comps. This equity wealth is something that can be cashed out, meaning borrowed. When this equity is borrowed I get to collect a hefty fee.

      1. One ignorant puke can create enormous quantities of equity wealth for the many comps. The greater the ignorance the greater the equity wealth produced.

        What’s really fun to watch are the bidding wars; This is when the magical creation of equity wealth really goes into full swing. Fill a room with ignorant pukes who have somehow obtained access to money and – presto! – entire neighborhoods will enjoy the creation of enormous quantities of wealth being conjured up from – from nothing.

        2. I did a Zillow and learned that (according to them) over the past thirty days my home value increased over nine-thousand dollars; That’s over three-hundred dollars a day.

          I managed to convince myself (and only myself) that I must be a financial genius to cause this miracle to happen.

  8. Since the MSM serves as the propaganda mouthpiece of the globalists and their Democrat stooges, it’s not surprising the oligarchs who own them are demanding gub’mint handouts.

    Biotech Mogul Behind L.A. Times Says Papers Need Government Aid

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/biotech-mogul-behind-la-times-says-papers-need-government-aid/ar-BB1gtRIe

    (Bloomberg) — The owner of the Los Angeles Times is calling on the government to throw its support behind newspapers, saying the loss of advertising to tech companies and declining readership threaten local journalism.

    “The government needs to step in a little bit,” Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire biotech entrepreneur who bought the Times in 2018, said in an interview.

    1. who bought the Times in 2018

      You invested poorly, Patrick. Eat your losses.

      1. Perhaps buying the L.A Times wasn’t intended to make money out of the deal but instead it was for controlling the narrative.

        1. Exactly. The cabal told him that it was his duty to buy the latimes and keep it running. It’s obvious he’s getting tired of losing money and wants a bailout. As Bill Gates told Homer in an old Simpsons episode, he didn’t get rich writing checks.

        2. Whatever the reason, the billionaire wants to keep his profits and socialize the losses. F him.

  9. “According to Zillow, the denial rate in Nevada for Hispanic applicants was 12% in 2017, compared to 9% for all applicants.

    Sound lending standards are rayciss.

  10. Denver Post — Quit celebrating Colorado’s rising home values. This inflation isn’t good for anyone (5/7/2021):

    “Colorado’s housing market is insane.

    And while most homeowners watch with amusement and a sense of security as the feeding frenzy descends on a new listing in their neighborhood, the Colorado property tax assessments that started arriving in mailboxes across the state last week should give everyone a cold dose of anxiety.

    Property taxes are going up, up, up, and unless our local elected officials start proactively managing their local tax rates we are all going to start feeling the pain. It’s true that unless you are unlucky enough to live in a metropolitan district, Coloradans enjoy extremely low property taxes. But just like with college tuition, if property taxes start creeping up by 5% to 10% a year, eventually it’s going to catch up with low-income homeowners.

    So yes, the worst part of housing inflation is that it keeps low-income households from the economic benefits of homeownership. But the second-worst part of increasing home values is the monthly mortgage creep that slowly makes people house poor.”

    https://archive.is/YMLlg

    Comment from a Denver Reddit thread about this article:

    “Home “equity” isn’t really worth anything. You pay for having it via property taxes, which is another crime in itself. Equity is stuck in your house and you can’t use it.

    The only people who believe that people with home equity are “rich” are those that believe their homes are ATMs where they can pull money out of it. They will always be broke and despise the “rich.”

    1. The ones getting it in the backside are the chumps who buy a house in a “Metropolitan District” (basically all new construction), which is Colorado’s version of California’s Mello-Roos, but worse, as their property tax rates do not have TABOR protections.

  11. ‘The housing issue in California is the same one as we have here: out-of-control land price inflation.

    The MSM studiously ignores the true cause of land inflation: the Fed’s easy money policies.

  14. We have added enough housing in the downtown for 40,000 new residents, prices go up.

    The only solution I see to reversing price appreciation is me buying a house.

    1. That’s how I see the solution to high stonk or crypto prices: The minute I finally realize that I should yield to my FOMO and start buying is the very point when the market is certain to crater.

      1. I started the year 100% in cash, and spent the first three months of the year dollar cost averaging into FTBFX, FZIPX, and FZROX. My more recent purchases of GLD and BRKB were in response to the froth and potential overvaluation of the broader market.

        I did not “sell in May and go away” but I am on pause for now with any future purchases.

    1. Clownifornians getting exactly what they voted for. Note that Clownifornia has experienced its first ever population decline. It’s the most impoverished state in the country.

      1. San Diego lost population last year as well. Yet housing prices continue to defy economic gravity. Go figure!

      2. Clownifornians getting exactly what they voted for.

        Hence my schadenfreude at “poetic justice” stories like these. Libtards turned California from the Golden State into a Bolshevik-malgoverned failed state spiraling into dystopia. They deserve everything they get, and more.

        Venice’s world-famous beach and boardwalk have been ‘crippled’ by HUGE increase in robberies and a homeless camp has resulted in spikes in shootings, arson and even DOG attacks, say locals

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9557069/Residents-Los-Angeles-Venice-say-world-famous-beach-boardwalk-crippled-crime.html

        Residents of Venice Beach in Los Angeles say soaring crime rates and the exploding homeless population have made life in the elite beachside community unbearable.

        A ‘catastrophic’ increase in homelessness in Los Angeles has seen hundreds of tents line the beach’s famous boardwalk.

        1. I was up in central Denver earlier today and there is a new encampment on 2nd Ave between Broadway and Lincoln. About a dozen tents (on both sides on 2nd Ave), shopping carts, bicycles (probably stolen) and massive overflowing piles of garbage.

          This is in Baker which is a very hipster neighborhood. And as far as I’m concerned, they’re getting exactly what they voted for (laughs in Arapahoe County).

    2. I’m trying to figure out which was worse, this 2:20 from Los Angeles’ homeless encampment or the video from earlier in the week of the black dude attacking the 2 Asian ladies and hitting them in the head and face with a brick.

      https://twitter.com/BoardwalkVenice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1382347335397642240%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fus%2Flos-angeles-venice-homeless-shootings-stabbings

      Two Asian women beaten with cinder block in Baltimore

      By Jesse O’NeillMay 5, 2021 |

      https://nypost.com/2021/05/05/two-asian-women-beaten-with-cinder-block-in-baltimore/

      1. The epidemic of vibrant-on-Asian violence doesn’t fit The Narrative that the only racially-motivated violence is perpetrated by white supremacists; hence, such attacks are quickly swept under the rug by the MSM and our globalist-collectivist overlords.

      2. I thought all Asians were master martial artists, and that even little Asian women could take down a platoon of burly thugs with nothing more than their feet and fists.

        Kidding aside, I wonder how long until an Asian victim pulls out a gun and shoots the future doctor/astronaut vibrant that wants to hurt them? Of course, any such event will be sent to the memory hole.

    3. I thought Venice Beach was a seedy armpit decades ago. Only fitting that it has turned into this. Keep your neighborhoods “weird”, Leftists, and enjoy the vibrancy.

  16. “As a matter of basic economics, when the supply of a desired good becomes scarce, its value increases.”

    As a matter of journalists trying to understand basic economics, there is no distinction between a physical shortage, due to insufficient physical structures to meet the need for shelter, and a perceived shortage, due to an influx of yield chasing investors outbidding one another to snap up any and all houses coming onto the market in order to capture a slice of rapid price appreciation.

    Mania demand creates its own shortage, much as a large fire can create its own weather.

  17. Explode the deficit by paying ‘Muricans to sit on their ass at home and freeload while devastating the productive economy. The globalists and their Democrat Quislings must be orgasmic.

    Stay-at-Home Americans Sow White House Angst on Big Jobs Miss

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-08/stay-at-home-americans-sow-white-house-angst-on-big-jobs-miss?sref=ibr3A0ff

    Portia Roberson says it’s “disheartening.” Employers in Michigan are calling her social services group looking for recruits to fill job openings. But, she adds, federal assistance payments are contributing to depress demand for those opportunities.

    “There are some people who are quite honestly, right now at least, with the stimulus package,” preferring to stay at home, Roberson, head of Detroit-based Focus: HOPE, said in an interview. “I think that that will shift when some of that money begins to run out more,” said Roberson, who worked at the Justice Department during the Obama administration.

    1. Big Jobs Miss

      If a public company missed expectations this much, their stock would plummet. Because public messaging sets expectations, it’s an indication that the public messaging is far from reality.

  18. “After World War II, the value of Japanese real estate skyrocketed, with a particularly frenzied period during the 1980s. Investors ploughed cash into the market, seemingly thinking prices would just keep rising.”

    With dwindling interest rates and risk premiums in other asset classes, there is a lot of this yield-chasing investor activity driving real estate prices skyward once again.

    “Infamously, at the property market’s peak, all the land in Japan — which is roughly the size of California — was worth four times the value of all the land in the United States. Then the crash came. Prices plummeted. Japanese home owners saw their properties lose 70 per cent of their value between the peak in 1991 and 2001.”

    I wonder if it will take an outcome this drastic and protracted to lay to rest the 25 year (so far) U.S. real estate bubble?

    1. Japanese demographics plays a huge role, e.g., birth rates declining while medical advances increase the average age.

  19. “Is It Simply Madness And This Is Another Real Estate Bubble?”

    From Bizwest on Colorado. “The sales-price-to-list-price ratio for single-family homes in Boulder County is above 100%. Indeed, in each of our weekly sales meetings, we hear agents describe a veritable frenzy of buyers offering often between 20% and 30% above asking price for ‘average’ homes in our market and making breathtaking concessions to sellers (e.g., completely waiving their right to conduct an inspection, agreeing to cover any appraisal gap, etc.). I have heard of buyers offering $350,000 over a home’s asking price, waiving every conceivable contract right, and still not getting the house.”

    “And so, it is fair to ask whether our current market is like Shakespeare’s Hamlet: ‘Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t,’ or is it simply madness and this is another real estate bubble?”

    – The duck test:
    “If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s a duck!” – Robin Cook, Crisis

    – I can’t help but wonder if this is all some nefarious wealth transfer scheme by the Fed and the cabal of bankers and moneyed elites to once again draw “investors” in, and then pull the rug out from under them, and so enabling PE and other wealthy interests to snap up RRE for a song after the next crash. Maybe I’m too cynical here, or maybe not…

    “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” – Charles Mackay

    “I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” – Isaac Newton

    “Every time everyone’s talking about something, that’s the time to sell.” – George Lindemann

    1. “– I can’t help but wonder if this is all some nefarious wealth transfer scheme by the Fed and the cabal of bankers and moneyed elites to once again draw ‘investors’ in, and then pull the rug out from under them, and so enabling PE and other wealthy interests to snap up RRE for a song after the next crash.”

      Bingo!

      It’s a private club, and you ain’t a member.

    1. The Wall Street Journal
      Finance
      What Happens to Stocks and Cryptocurrencies When the Fed Stops Raining Money?
      An unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus led by the Federal Reserve is fueling a new investor euphoria. Is this a new bubble? And when could it burst?
      By Greg Ip
      May 8, 2021 12:00 am ET

      To veterans of financial bubbles, there is plenty familiar about the present. Stock valuations are their richest since the dot-com bubble in 2000. Home prices are back to their pre-financial crisis peak. Risky companies can borrow at the lowest rates on record. Individual investors are pouring money into green energy and cryptocurrency.

      This boom has some legitimate explanations, from the advances in digital commerce to fiscally greased growth that will likely be the strongest since 1983.

      But there is one driver above all: the Federal Reserve. Easy monetary policy has regularly fueled financial booms, and it is exceptionally easy now. The Fed has kept interest rates near zero for the past year and signaled rates won’t change for at least two more years. It is buying hundreds of billions of dollars of bonds. As a result, the 10-year Treasury bond yield is well below inflation—that is, real yields are deeply negative —for only the second time in 40 years.

      There are good reasons why rates are so low. The Fed acted in response to a pandemic that at its most intense threatened even more damage than the 2007-09 financial crisis. Yet in great part thanks to the Fed and Congress, which has passed some $5 trillion in fiscal stimulus, this recovery looks much healthier than the last. That could undermine the reasons for such low rates, threatening the underpinnings of market valuations.

      “Equity markets at a minimum are priced to perfection on the assumption rates will be low for a long time,” said Harvard University economist Jeremy Stein, who served as a Fed governor alongside now-chairman Jerome Powell. “And certainly you get the sense the Fed is trying really hard to say, ‘Everything is fine, we’re in no rush to raise rates.’ But while I don’t think we’re headed for sustained high inflation it’s completely possible we’ll have several quarters of hot readings on inflation.”
      …

    2. The Motley Fool
      This Figure Suggests Cryptocurrencies Are in a Massive Bubble
      Are Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin about to fall off a cliff?
      Sean Williams
      May 7, 2021 at 6:06 AM

      For more than a century, Wall Street has been unrivaled in the profit column. Although we’ve witnessed short periods where housing and commodities like gold have outperformed equities, stocks have handily surpassed the average annual return of all other assets over the very long run.

      But things changed when cryptocurrencies made their debut a little over a decade ago. Since then, a number of high-profile digital currencies have run circles around the broader market and even the top-performing stocks.

      For example, Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, could once be purchased for less than $1. As of May 5, it would cost more than $57,000 to buy a single Bitcoin.

      The same can be said for Ethereum and Dogecoin, which round out the three most popular cryptocurrencies. In September 2015, a single Ether token could be purchased for about $0.50. This week, those same tokens surpassed $3,500.

      As for Dogecoin, it could be purchased for $0.0001 (that’s one one-hundredth of a penny) as recently as 2015, but now goes for almost $0.65. That’s a 650,000% return in six years. Put another way, if you purchased $155 worth of Dogecoin at $0.0001 in 2015, you’re now a millionaire with it at $0.65.

      The euphoria surrounding these leading cryptocurrencies varies by the coin, but many share a couple of common denominators. For one, there’s the strong belief that the future of payments lies with blockchain — i.e., the digital and decentralized ledger responsible for recording transactions without the need for a third-party provider.
      …

      1. Only retarded greedheads fall for the blockchain story.

        If you want to play in crypto, just realize that you are picking up imaginary nickels in front of a steamroller, and once it starts rolling, lots of recent investors will get crushed.

    3. The image at the top of this story of a house inside of a bubble is worth a thousand realtor lies.

      Trends
      Home Prices Have Hit a New High—Is the Housing Market About To Crash?
      By Clare Trapasso
      May 3, 2021

      With home prices at a new record high and homes flying off the market in hours in some cases, it’s no wonder that Google searches for “when is the housing market going to crash” have spiked dramatically in recent weeks. After all, the mania seems reminiscent of the run-up to the housing bubble in the mid-2000s—and we’ve all been told that what goes up must eventually come down.

      However, housing is likely to keep defying common sense. Experts say there’s no reason to prepare for a crash landing like we experienced in 2008 and 2009. This time around, the reason for the out-of-control prices is simply that there are many more buyers than there are properties for sale. Another simple rule: Prices rise when there is more demand than supply. Crazy, it seems, is the new normal.

      “I find it difficult to say we’re not in a housing bubble, but I [also] find it difficult to say home prices are going to crash,” says Ali Wolf, chief economist at building consultancy Zonda. “Today’s prices feel unsustainable, today’s frenzy feels unsustainable. But that doesn’t mean there’s going to be a crash. That’s bad news for a lot of shoppers who are hoping for prices to come down.”

      Nationally, median home list prices shot up 17.2% year over year in April, to hit a new record high of $375,000, according to Realtor.com® data. Meanwhile, incomes haven’t risen anywhere near as much.

      Still, “There are a lot of people sitting on the sidelines desperate to buy a home,” says Wolf. “If the market stabilizes, there are a lot of [buyers] who are going to come out of the woodwork to soften the blow.”
      …

    4. It’s pretty interesting to compare the early 2020 outlook for commodities prices to the May 2021 situation, after more than a year’s worth of pandemic stimulus.

      1. The Financial Times
        Opinion Commodities
        Commodities may not stay cheap forever
        There are many reasons for the US dollar to weaken, which would cause commodity prices to rise
        Rana Foroohar
        January 12 2020

        There are plenty of expensive assets in the world today. The past decade of loose monetary policy and central bank money dumps have created the infamous “bubble in everything”. This is one reason we now have the bizarrely yo-yoing investment environment that we do, in which everything from risky stocks to safe gold is rising at the same time.

        But one thing has remained reliably cheap — commodities. While the US equity market, which keeps ratcheting up to new highs, is almost as expensive as in the past 150 years, commodities are about as cheap relative to stocks as they’ve been in the past century.

        Part of this is natural — and structural. Over the past 200 years, the real price of industrial commodities has been trending downwards. That’s because every time a new peak in prices disrupts what is usually a long-term bear market, companies and consumers adjust. They might substitute in a cheaper commodity for a more expensive one, develop technologies that allow more efficient extraction or (gasp) actually try conserving energy. On that note, who in my generation can forget Jimmy Carter’s 1977 presidential plea, amid an energy crisis, for Americans to turn down their thermostats, which he delivered from the White House while wearing a thick cardigan?

        With the exception of a couple of spikes, industrial commodity prices have been falling relative to the S&P 500 ever since. And most people think there’s good reason for that to continue.

        In a deflationary world, at the tail-end of a recovery cycle, with ageing populations consuming less and a global economy that’s less dependent on commodity-heavy manufacturing relative to services, there are plenty of factors keeping commodities cheap, even if we don’t experience a recession in the US or the rest of the world.
        …

      2. Finance
        A New Commodity Super-Cycle?
        Oil, copper and other industrial metals recorded spectacular performance over the last few months, a reversal not without consequences.
        Charles-Henry Monchau
        Entrepreneur Leadership Network Contributor
        CCO of Flowbank
        April 16, 2021 5 min read
        Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

        While most investors have their eyes on the Nasdaq or Bitcoin, it is interesting to note that the best performing asset class since the beginning of the year (excluding cryptocurrencies) is commodities. The price of Brent crude oil is back above $60 a barrel, copper is at an 8-year high, and palladium is back to where it was 6 years ago.

        After being shunned in asset allocations for more than a decade, the idea of a return to grace for commodities is starting to gain momentum among strategists. Indeed, JP Morgan has just published research according to which commodities have started a new “super-cycle.”
        …

    5. May 5, 2021 – Economy & Business
      The new housing bubble
      Dion Rabouin, author of Markets
      Illustration of houses floating in bubbles.
      Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

      Today’s mortgage market is much more regulated and has much stronger fundamentals than during the housing bubble of the mid-aughts, but it’s not a story that’s as simple as rising demand and low supply.

      What’s happening: Unlike the environment ahead of the 2008 crash, housing prices are not being driven higher by a raft of underqualified borrowers getting mortgages they can’t afford from unscrupulous banks.

      – They’re being driven by government and central bank intervention — radically increased money supply, mortgage forbearance, stimulus checks, low taxes and low interest rates.
      …

    6. THE SCIENCE OF WEALTH
      We are heading into bubble trouble
      The question is: When will it burst? Because if it does not, the natural implication is that it will only get bigger
      Sat, May 08, 2021 – 5:50 AM
      Samuel Rhee

      TALK of bubbles everywhere – travel bubbles and asset bubbles. Some will burst, some will deflate and then reflate again. Bubbles are a part of life, and cannot be avoided. But it is important to know how to navigate through it – with the help of diversification, proper planning and a long term mindset.

      This is the second time that the travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong has been announced, only to be threatened by an outbreak that may cause the bubble to burst before the quarantine-free travel programme even begins. Just when we thought that increased vaccinations would lead to a semblance of normalcy in our lives, new outbreaks of new strains from distant shores arrived on our doorsteps to threaten our daily life. This may be the new norm that we live in – one in which the future remains uncertain and life will never be normal again.

      Speaking of bubbles, financial bubbles are also deflating and then reflating just as quickly, driven by news flow, sentiment and fund flows. The year is only a few months old, yet we have already seen a sharp correction in equity markets due to fears of the tech bubble bursting before bouncing back; a sharp pull-back in fixed income markets caused by fear of inflation and rising interest rates; and a sharp fall in many crypto currencies from concerns about regulations.

      We have also seen the many meme stocks like Gamestop collapse then rebound, the popular ARK funds suffer extended losses, and Archegos lose US$20 billion in a matter of days.

      Yet property and real asset prices are headed to new highs across many parts of the world, and commodities have also seen a major rebound to multi-year highs – with the exception of gold. Gold has definitely lost its lustre as it seems to be permanently losing out to digital gold (read crypto currencies) or other real or physical assets which are not only more exciting but also provide a yield – which does not exist with gold – on top of the returns. It also shows how chasing latest fads in investing does not work. Gold was all the rage for a while, but now it is just so last year.
      …

    7. After a quick look around in cyberspace, I’ve concluded the number of articles about financial bubbles is too big to post.

      That’s a pretty remarkable development, given how in the early aughts, economists generally agreed that bubbles were theoretically unpossible.

    8. This time really is different, because everyone and his dog can see financial bubbles blowing up every direction in plain view.

      Except for the people who work at the Fed. LMFAO!

      The Wall Street Journal
      Finance
      From Dutch Tulips to Internet Stocks, How to Spot a Financial Bubble
      Long before SPACs and NFTs, investors clamored for everything from exotic bulbs to Pets.com. What history shows is that an inventive corner of the financial world can turn into a mania that attracts swindlers and wipes out investors.
      By Jon Hilsenrath
      Updated May 7, 2021 2:01 pm ET

      About 300 years ago, financiers in Europe found themselves agog about the financial prospects of novel trading companies granted special rights in international commerce by the governments of France and England. The shares of these trading vehicles—England’s South Sea Company and France’s Mississippi Company—soared and then collapsed in 1720, wiping out hordes of angry investors.

      Episodes like that have some economic historians wrinkling their brows about what is happening in financial markets today, with Wall Street once again in the embrace of perplexing crazes for new investment vehicles.

      The price of bitcoin, the cryptocurrency, has risen more than sixfold in the past year. Meantime, shell companies called special-purpose acquisition companies—also known as SPACs, which list on a stock exchange and then buy target companies—have raised more than $100 billion this year, according to Dealogic. Investors are also clamoring for nonfungible tokens, digital certificates to online collector’s items, like art or autographs.

      Do these instruments signal a bright new world in finance, or something else?
      …

      1. It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.

        — Upton Sinclair

  21. Denver, CO Housing Prices Crater 21% On Surging Unemployment and Foreclosures

    https://www.movoto.com/co/80222/market-trends/

    As a noted economist said, “I can ask $50k for my run down Chevy truck but where is the buyer at that price? So it is with all depreciating assets like houses and cars.”

  22. Went out to dinner and a movie last night. Restaurant was maybe ten percent occupied and most of the surrounding restaurants were closed. The movie theater had ten masked audience members in attendance in a theater that could seat upwards of 300.

    Tentative conclusion: Pandemic economic depression continues, at least in the restaurant and movie theater sectors.

    1. “theater had ten masked audience members”

      This is what I was referring to on a previous thread when I stated that I have ceased all discretionary spending for goods or services at businesses requiring masks.

      If it is optional to me, and you require a mask, I am not spending money at your business.

      1. I don’t believe the businesses are requiring masks on their own, but are following government rules. I can’t blame them…business is tough enough without the added burden of paying fines for mask violations.

        1. Around here (NY) the chains all have a blanket mask requirement. The locally owned store are split, with some asking for masks and some saying a mask “If you can’t social distance”. The latter tend to be places that people who get their hands dirty frequent.

    2. Restaurant was maybe ten percent occupied

      Picked up some Mexican takeout the other day. The restaurant was almost full.

      1. Mexican takeout

        I made sure to support my local spots during the pandemic. I can’t have them going out of business.

        1. We’ve frequented local restaurants and movie theaters to the maximum extent possible throughout the pandemic. The movie theater situation is quite dismal, and lots of restaurants are closed.

          But as long as we have helicopter drops of Biden and Powell bux blanketing the economy, I guess it doesn’t matter what happens at local businesses.

          1. I meant independently owned and local Mexican spots. I can’t go long without a carne asada burrito or taquitos.

        2. Independently owned local businesses.

          These entrepreneurs and small business owners got financially raped by the Lockdown Lovers.

    1. Thanks for posting. I just posted below before I read this post.

      Living in metro Denver, if I try to escape or defend myself from a Burn Loot Murder carjacker, I’m the one going to jail.

      Also note that many of the Portland communist terrorists who got bailed out from GoFundMe, but later had their charges dropped, get to pocket the bail money and walk away free to go spend it on fentanyl.

      I wish I could tell my now deceased uncle (1919-2008) that this is what he fought in World War II for.

  25. Are there any bubbles in history that did not experience a significant correction?

      1. The California population appears to have achieved a permanently high plateau.

        US & Canada
        California’s population falls in first-ever yearly decline
        Published 1 day ago

        California’s population fell between 2020 and 2021 in the first yearly decline ever reported since officials began counting the figure.

        On Friday the state’s Finance Department said the population now stands at just below 39.5 million residents, – a drop of 182,000.

        The reasons are varied but involve the pause on migration due to the pandemic, officials say.

        It comes after the once-in-a-decade US census recorded slowing state growth.

        The decline of 0.46% came between January 2020 and January 2021. The loss represents approximately twice the population of the city of Santa Barbara.

        Since joining the US in 1850 amid a gold rush, California has become the most populous in the country.

        Officials say this is the first time the population has declined since 1900.

        The Golden State’s growth began to slow after the end of the Cold War and as US defence spending declined. For the last thirty years, more people have moved out of the state than in, demographers say.

        The recent decline comes as the state sees an increase in yearly deaths due to the coronavirus and as the US birth rate continues to fall.

        The state also saw negative numbers of international migration last year, such as new university students from abroad, which officials attributed to Trump administration policies.
        …

        1. “The reasons are varied but involve the pause on migration due to the pandemic, officials say.”

          I suppose insane housing prices, confiscatory state taxes, open door immigration policies, miserable freeway traffic, and
          steadily worsening wild fire risk have nothing to do with it?

  26. With the tremendous burden so many American households face to have to repay money they borrowed month-in, month-out, wouldn’t it be great for the economy to simply relieve them of these unfair loan repayment obligations? This need not be limited to student loan debt, but could also include car loans, mortgages, and credit card debt as well. Under the guidelines of Modern Monetary Theory, the electronic printing press could be used to pay down any and all household debts. And the economic stimulus unleashed could support unprecedented levels of economic activity and drive housing and asset prices skyward, creating wealth effects beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

    Is there any the downside to my plan?

    1. $10,000 or $50,000 student loan forgiveness: Could Biden eliminate debt through executive order?
      Will President Biden cancel student loan debt? Here’s what’s happening.
      Oscar Gonzalez
      May 8, 2021 4:00 a.m. PT
      The gift of student loan debt forgiveness could be on its way.

      Since taking office, President Joe Biden has expressed support for canceling up to $10,000 per student in loan debt. Some Democratic leaders are looking to go higher, to $50,000. And a new Change.org petition is calling for Biden to go even further and cancel all federal student debt in 2021 through an executive order. The survey has more than 1 million signatures.
      …

      2. I have this gut feeling that student loan forgiveness is going to spark public outrage from those who paid-off their debts.

        2. I suspect that is why it won’t happen. If it was, Biden would have already signed the executive order. I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that his puppet string pullers have told him to forget about it.

    2. Once the Pandora’s box of government-sponsored race-based discrimination in loan forgiveness is opened, I don’t know how they will be able to close it again.

      For the record, my wife’s white ancestors were driven off their properties and out of the Midwest by a forced migration, due to religious persecution, which, by the way, was banned by the U.S. Constitution before slavery was. So far I haven’t heard of any proposed reparations for Utahns. Maybe being a majority Republican state disqualifies them?

      1. Business News
        ‘Legitimate reason’ behind debt relief for minority farmers, says Vilsack
        By Chuck Abbott
        5/6/2021
        Two Black farmers stand near a hay bale

        The USDA will proceed with $4 billion in loan forgiveness for socially disadvantaged farmers despite lawsuits that want to add white farmers to the program, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday. The assistance is intended to address the cumulative effect of ingrained discrimination against Blacks and other farmers of color, said Vilsack at the White House.

        “So I think there is a very legitimate reason for doing what we’re doing,” he told reporters. “I think it has to be complemented with additional steps … an equity commission to take a look at whether or not there are systemic barriers that need to be removed at the department, and also taking a look at how we might be able to create better technical assistance, better access to land, better access to markets for socially disadvantaged producers and for local and regional food production. We’re going to proceed forward.”
        …

  27. Have you berated an unvaccinated person today?

    Vax Live: How to watch Global Citizen’s COVID-19 vaccine equity concert on ABC

    Thursday, May 6, 2021 5:14PM

    LOS ANGELES — This weekend, ABC is airing “Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World,” a concert special that’s part of Global Citizen’s campaign to help medical workers in the world’s poorest countries quickly receive COVID-19 vaccines.

    ABC is airing the concert on Saturday, May 8, at 8 p.m. ET/PT | 7 p.m. CT. Watch it on this ABC station, on this page or wherever you stream: Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku.

    The event, hosted by Selena Gomez, includes performances by Jennifer Lopez, Eddie Vedder, Foo Fighters, J Balvin and H.E.R.

    Prince Harry, Ben Affleck, Chrissy Teigen, Jimmy Kimmel, Sean Penn and David Letterman appear as special guest speakers.

    https://abc7.com/vax-live-concert-watch-stream-what-is-selena-gomez/10580037/

    1. When did it turn, that people follow entertainers and celebrities advice to get vaccinated, vs following the scientists whose job it is to study and understand this subject

      1. There’s a reason companies pay celebrities to endorse their products, i.e., because the masses mimic their behavior.

    3. Now they’re telling us “how to watch” TV?

      That said, Maryland is being seen as a model for their “equity” vaccine program. Mostly, it’s bringing pop-up clinics or mobile vaccine clinics to underserved neighborhoods. These are the people who aren’t unwilling to get one of the vaccines, but can’t be arsed to get off their duff.

      This is one equity program that I’m not against. The more unhesitant people they vaccinate, the closer we can get to herd immunity. They might be able to reach, say, 70% with willing people. Then they can leave the refusers alone.

      1. get to herd immunity

        Questionable concept. It’s not even clear if we will be granted individual immunity.

        1. The concept is not questionable at all. The 95% of people who are vaccinated against measles is why the 5% of people

          1. vaccinated against measles

            Ironically, we had a state of emergency in 2019 in NY over a measles outbreak.

            “Herd Immunity” is one of the new concepts that have been made up within the past year. I don’t think I’ve previously heard this term applied to the herd of humans.

            Pick whatever Fauci lie you like about it. Is it 70%? Apparently 80% of the population already had immunity to SARS before the drama started. Then how was an epidemic even possible? How many of the “vaccinated” lack immunity? Nobody has a clue. 80% of that cruise ship passengers never got sick. Why didn’t they have “herd immunity”?

            I still have questions, so I consider the imaginative construct questionable no matter your collage of beliefs.

  28. Another Marxist trash carjacking.

    Breitbart — BLM Protesters Block Major Intersection in North Texas City (5/8/2021):

    “One of the drivers being blocked becomes angered and confronts the protesters. “Get the f**k out of my way,” the angered driver yells at one protester.

    The driver then turns his attention to a Plano Police Department officer who appears to be unable, or unwilling, to clear the intersection. “Get these f**king people out of the way,” the man yells at the officer. “Get them out of here.”

    The protesters respond by confronting the man and the officer steps in to attempt to separate the opposing sides. The protesters continue to confront the man as the officer moves him back toward his vehicle.

    The Texas Legislature is currently considering legislation to make blocking a roadway a state jail felony if the protester blocks passage of an emergency vehicle or the entrance to a hospital, the Texas Tribune reported.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/05/08/blm-protesters-block-major-intersection-in-north-texas-city/

    I’m not that familiar with Dallas but this is somewhere in the north suburbs. I read an excerpt of an Andy Ngo Tweet (that got deleted by globalists Marxists) about this incident that stated Burn Loot Murder pulled a gun on this guy (with photo) and the cops stood by and did nothing.

    Clown World gonna clown.

      2. It doesn’t look and sound like he knew what he was going to do with the vials and went to a biotech incubator facility.

      3. Do these conspiracy theorists even bother to do even the most cursory duckduckgo search before going on tirades?

        The statement from the Moderna CEO is not some state-sponsored conspiracy. China released the DNA sequence of the virus*, and Moderna “took two days” to DESIGN the mRNA sequence that they eventually used in the vaccine. “Examine” sounds like it was lost in translation from French to English. I read this in the news 16 months ago — longer than most memories, I guess. And if they are so concerned about Moderna, then why did doofus take a vial of J&J?

        And doofus just walked off with a vial of vaccine without a lab set up in advance to analyze it, and these guys want him to lay low? As I said, that vial is good for only 12 hours outside of refrigeration (again, public info). Even if he put it back in the freezer at home, there’s no way to know whether the analysis will be valid.

        They aren’t going to find an murderous agent in the vial, unless you count Ad26. We already know what’s causing the blood clots. Injection into a blood vessel –> Ad26 interacts with platelets –> body develops an immune response to platelets –> attack platelets –> low platelets and clots. Also in the news.

        These conspiracy theorists are mighty stupid. If they really wanted to prove that the vaccine is a murder weapon, they should have bribed a vial of vaccine from a lab clinician on the down low, instead of making a scene in a drugstore.

        —————
        *which strongly supports the “lab leak” theory. They had already sequenced the virus.

        1. They had already sequenced the virus.

          Sure that’s not sliding into a conspiracy theory?

          It doesn’t matter. The CCP knew what they were doing when they let this spread all over the world.

        2. Lab-leak is a conspiracy theory with real evidence. Chris Martenson looked at the sequence of the virus itself and found a ferrin(sp?) cleavage site for which there is no zoonotic explanation.

          Using the vaccine to systematically kill us off — not seeing much evidence of that yet.

      1. He sounds so smug, as if he’s going to find out some state secret. Information for patients, clinicians, and the trial results has been available online for months. Maybe he thinks he’ll find something new. I hope he knows he has about 12 hours to take it to the lab. After that it will start to deteriorate. Holding the vial in his warm hand while he dances around isn’t helping. And that’s only because it’s J&J. If it had been Pfizer or Moderna it would have started deteriorating long before that.

        The clinicians there aren’t afraid that he’s going to discover anything. They are objecting mainly because he just made off with enough vaccine for five people.

  30. I’m personally seeing more and more despair among people as of late. In fact, an acquaintance just killed himself a few days ago. He left behind a wife, a child and many sad friends and family members.

    I’m also hearing more and more people who are downtrodden over the fact that house prices have run away from them, and they are hopeless in terms of ever buying. And rents have now started some miracle recovery – at least asking rents on sfrs. I don’t know what to think about all of this other than “this country sucks” these days. It’s hard to stay positive with an illegal COUP running it.

    1. It’s hard to stay positive

      That’s a choice. You either work on it that way or give up.

    2. “I’m also hearing more and more people who are downtrodden over the fact that house prices have run away from them”

      That myth that reverberates from sob stories written on the internet.

      “I can’t buy a house. I’m ‘downtrodden’.”

      Anyone else believe that?

    3. I’m sorry to hear about your friend. That’s terribly sad.

      It’s ok to feel sad. In the face of difficult circumstances, you don’t have to be upbeat and positive EVERY day. Maybe aim for one day a week to look on the bright side?

      Also, being positive takes energy, and sometimes that energy is already used up by being outraged or depressed by things on the news, on social media, even stories posted here. Maybe give yourself a break from the awful news so you have the energy and space to notice the good things that are still around.

      Also old sitcoms always cheer me up! (if you’re in the mood to be cheered up, which you don’t have to be.)

      Take care. We’re here for you.

    5. “I’m also hearing more and more people who are downtrodden over the fact that house prices have run away from them, and they are hopeless in terms of ever buying.”

      It’s a lifestyle choice whether to define happiness in terms of belonging to the club whose members take on massive debt to buy supersized houses.

      I would never join a club that would have me as a member.

      — Groucho Marx

  31. Elon Musk explains Dogecoin on SNL: Is it ‘the future’ or ‘a hustle’?
    Nathan Bomey
    USA TODAY

    If you were looking for insights on whether Dogecoin is a legitimate investment or totally worthless, you might still be puzzled after Elon Musk’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live.”

    The billionaire Tesla CEO, SpaceX entrepreneur and cryptocurrency proponent played the role of “financial expert” “Lloyd Ostertag” in a sketch during his hosting gig on SNL on May 8.

    The premise of the “Weekend Update” sketch was to explain Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency created in 2013 as a joke that has recently taken off in value after Musk began promoting it on Twitter.

    The hosts of “Weekend Update,” Michael Che and Colin Jost, repeatedly pressed Musk’s character to explain the perplexing nature of Dogecoin.

    “It’s the future of currency,” Musk responded once. “It’s an unstoppable financial vehicle that’s going to take over the world.”

    Pressed again, he said, “I keep telling you, it’s a cryptocurrency you can trade for conventional money.”

    “Oh, so it’s a hustle?” Che replied.

    “Yeah, it’s a hustle,” Musk joked.

    “To the moon!” he said as the segment wrapped up.

    As he was hosting the show, Dogecoin briefly slumped nearly 30%. Analysts say it was likely a “buy the rumor, sell the news” strategy, an old market adage based on the belief that the price of an asset may rise as speculators buy it amid rumors of an event, then stagnate or fall when investors sell that asset to make a profit after an event.
    …

    1. Gotta hand it to Elon…he’s pretty funny, and knows how to host a comedy show, and make clever cryptocurrency jokes that make light of the strangeness of our financial situation.

      1. “…the strangeness of our financial situation.”

        Indeed. The animators have entertained us for years with the likes of Wile E. Coyote running beyond the cliff’s edge and not falling until realizing where “terra firma” ended.

    2. This guy is an extension of the monolith government , government installs these guy as folk hero’s , governments own words ” we engage in full spectrum dominance ”. another ideologist fascist install !!! elon musk is a turd wrapped in gov.com , no censorship here !!!

      1. wrapped in gov.com

        Karl Hansen, a former Tesla security employee, has confirmed he’s protected by the government. Tesla is a RICO operation.

  33. One thing is for sure , the dollar will lose its purchasing power , and the broad money supply will increase exponentially , and the real estate market will reflect that , the real estate market is a derivative of the exploding debt market , welcome to asset class hyperinflation !!

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