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Another Horrible Deal, With The Glittery Promises Clearly Anything But Gold

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “‘Our housing market is showing signs of stabilizing,’ says Dave Walsh, the 2021 president of the California Association of Realtors. Walsh says we now have a median selling price in Santa Clara County of $1,625,000—down slightly from the $1,750,000 peak we saw in July.”

“Home sales typically slow this time of year, and they have in the D.C. metro. Online home searches by potential buyers have slowed, and showings by real estate agents are down 6.5% from a year ago. All of that points to what could now be buyer fatigue. ‘Even though inventories have declined, prices are rising but sales are a little weaker. It’s as if buyers are saying to themselves, ‘You know, at these higher prices, let me think a little more carefully, and look a little more thoughtfully. I don’t have to feel pressure to buy the first thing I see,’ said Elliot Eisenberg, a real estate economist with Bright MLS.”

“Central Texas realtors called the summer an ‘abnormal’ period for housing. Some buyers are looking to take advantage of a less-crowded market after being hit with multiple rejections over the summer. ‘I think we’ve kind of gotten to that point where we’re seeing buyer fatigue,’ said realtor Roman Novian. ‘Where people are just saying, you know, we’re going to go rent for a while and then we’ll revisit buying later on.'”

“A sprawling four-bedroom estate that’s been featured in papers and magazines across the country had a $1,000,000 price drop this week. Hortulus Farms, built in 1795 to include a four-bedroom stone farmhouse, a pond, an all-weather porch, two barns, and an extravagant garden now has a price tag of $4,200,000.”

“The sellers of a historic Winnetka mansion have slashed its asking price by nearly $2 million since first listing the home for sale this summer. The property was last sold for $3.2 million in 2004 to a corporate entity controlled by Reza Toulabi. In 2019, First Midwest Bank filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the property owners. That suit was dismissed in December 2019. Then, in December 2020, the LLC through which Toulabi bought the property was dissolved involuntarily. In June, the property was listed for sale with an asking price of $5.45 million. That was reduced last week for the fourth time to just under $3.5 million. Its annual property tax bill is about $56,000.”

“Thirty-one senior living borrowers have missed a payment on their municipal bond debt for the first time in 2021, representing about $1.6 billion of muni bonds in default and tying the record number of senior housing defaults set last year. More ‘spectacular failures’ are almost certain to occur in the sector, Shankh Mitra, CEO of Welltower, said on the real estate investment trust’s most recent quarterly earnings call.”

“Buyers looking to negotiate their new home can try to take advantage of a seasonal dip in asking prices, new figures have revealed. Rightmove said the average asking prices of homes newly listed for sale fell by £2,044 in the past month. ‘Sellers who come to market this close to the distractions of Christmas often have a pressing reason to sell, so naturally price more attractively to grab the attention of prospective buyers who may be otherwise occupied,’ said Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property data.”

“Hussein Mohamed knew he had hit the jackpot when investors started buying expanses of land in Kitengela and Kiserian, Kajiado County. His ten-acre piece of land was a heaven-sent investment, after all. It was in 2016 when he first decided to sell the land, aiming to smile all the way to the bank. Five years down the line, the smile remains just a pipe dream. Any signs of the big smile were extinguished by a market that has constantly shown an unwillingness to match his price and take the land.”

“‘Sometimes I feel I may be forced to reduce the price I intend to sell the piece of land at, to a value way below market rate. This does not sit well with me,’ he says. ‘It has been difficult finding someone interested in buying land. I have had to revise the price downs, time and again.”

“For two years, Cynthia, also a landowner in Kitengela, has tried to sell her land with little success. Like Hussein, she no longer likes to talk about it. It is an open wound. She knows she will sell it way below her target price unless a miracle happens. And miracles are not common in this age. Hussein and Cynthia are not the only two landowners suffering. Meanwhile, Hussein and Cynthia hope to find a panacea to their problems. Next time, they promise, they will look before they leap into another horrible deal, with the glittery promises of real estate clearly anything but gold.”

“After years of expansion in Hong Kong, cash-strapped Chinese developers are reducing their presence in one of the world’s most expensive property markets, allowing firms in the financial hub to scoop up some of their assets at distressed prices. There’s more to come – Aoyuan Group, which this week extended the redemption date of onshore asset-backed securities, is trying to offload more Hong Kong properties to raise capital, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.”

“The deal is expected to be sold at less than what Aoyuan paid for it, the sources added. This will follow a deal in mid-November, when Aoyuan sold some assets in a residential development in the Mid-Levels to a Hong Kong investor at a loss of HK$177 million. Once deep-pocketed Chinese developers had moved aggressively into Hong Kong, outbidding their cross-border rivals for prime sites in the city. ‘It’s a reversal of the trend,’ said Reeves Yan, CBRE head of capital markets in Hong Kong. ‘Chinese developers with liquidity crunch are now selling, and it is expected that there will be more selling in the next few months (in Hong Kong).'”

“Wild swings in Chinese real estate stocks and bonds are keeping investors on edge — these news headlines could cause troubles in the sector to spill into the rest of the economy, says S&P Global Ratings. Rather than companies making announcements during the worst of the sell-off earlier this month, Jennifer James, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors said she often learned about how they were doing through news reports, days or weeks later. These include meetings with the government. ‘I’m not quite certain the regulators and authorities understand the damage this does to the offshore market, because a lot of investors won’t return,’ said James.”

“For investors left in the dark, the ensuing anxiety meant they’d rather sell than stay invested. ‘The problem is when you have a market impact that has gone far beyond what anyone would have reasonably expected at the beginning of October, you have to start asking, ‘What is the macro impact?’ Jim Veneau, head of fixed income, Asia at AXA Investment Managers, told CNBC.”

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  2. Taking stupid to the next level.

    New York Post — Plot of digital land in the metaverse sells for record $2.43 million (11/25/2021):

    “A plot of virtual land in the online world known as Decentraland sold this week for a whopping $2.43 million, more than double the previous record set for the price of virtual real estate.

    Decentraland is a popular online environment where users can exchange cryptocurrencies for land and buildings. Users can also walk around the digital world and meet other users through customizable avatars.

    Decentraland exploded in popularity last month after Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta, to reflect the company’s commitment to growing its offerings in the so-called Metaverse, which has become the latest corporate buzzword to reflect what some executives think will be the next iteration of the internet.”

    https://nypost.com/2021/11/25/digital-land-in-the-metaverse-sells-for-record-2-43m/

    1. It’s a crying shame that this inaginary crypto investing landscape is destined for eventually collapsing in a deafening chorus of foot stamping.

  3. I’m not quite certain the regulators and authorities understand the damage this does to the offshore market, because a lot of investors won’t return’

    They already have yer money Jen. They would rather you shut up and scram.

    For investors left in the dark, the ensuing anxiety meant they’d rather sell than stay invested. ‘The problem is when you have a market impact that has gone far beyond what anyone would have reasonably expected at the beginning of October, you have to start asking, ‘What is the macro impact?’

    Yer macro fooked Jim!

    1. At a glance, Euros, Yen and Swiss francs seem to be the only places to hide. The dollar not so much, due to the risk of the Fed slow walking QE removal program if risk asset gamblers need more support.

  5. This is a pearl clutching article.

    New York Times — New Variant Prompts Rapid Travel Bans on Southern Africa (11/26/2021):

    “A number of countries — including Britain, Israel, Italy and Singapore — were moving on Friday to restrict travel from South Africa and other countries in the region, a day after South African authorities identified a concerning new coronavirus variant with mutations that one scientist said marked a “big jump in evolution.”

    In the past, governments have taken days, weeks or months to issue travel restrictions in response to new variants. This time, restrictions came within hours of South Africa’s announcement — and hours before health officials from the country were scheduled to discuss the variant with the World Health Organization.

    Britain and Israel announced bans on flights from South Africa and several neighboring countries on Thursday, citing the threat of the new variant. Britain’s flight ban applies to six countries — South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe — and begins at noon local time on Friday.”

    https://archive.md/3xxZv

    Vaccines don’t work.

    The vaccine *IS* the virus.

    2. I don’t believe anything they say about variants anymore. Do they even have the proof of the original Covid strain ?
      I was listening to a a Lady who use to work for the UN for about 20 years. She said the UN got hijacked by Corporations and front group organizations and foundations under the sustainable earth objectives. About one thousand multinational Corporations started infiltration from about 1992 onward.
      When the lady was asked if she thought a depopulation program was part of the program, she said YES.
      So basically you have capture by Corporations , where they are telling Governments what to do , as they act in lock step World wide based on the Agenda 21 objectives that they now call Agenda 30.
      The Great Reset, the 4th industrial Revolution, with Klaus Schwab being a big Spokesperson for that nonsense. Gates and Fauci being figure heads for the Pandemic and Gates also talking about the Climate Change nonsense.
      So, you can see the entire act in lockstep Global Medical Tyranny response to Covid 19 being a pre planned take over using Pandemic or Climate Change as a means of bringing on this One World order Dictorship by these unelected hijackers. Monopoly Fraud news to censor any dispute, all in lockstep.
      I wouldn’t be surprised if Covid was faked, or toxins were released here and there, no telling and China must of been in on the Scam, as the early footage from China was just not very credible. And the obvious suppression of cheap drugs that cured Covid , for the warp speed vaccine solution and Dr Fauci killer drugs protocols in hospitals. Care Act bribes given to Hospitals for Covid deaths.

      The thing that I have noticed about these Entities is they always loot the tax coffers and charge the people they are assaulting. They get Government to do the dirty work for them while wealth is transferred to them . Bill Gates making 200 billion for starters on Vaccines. Monopolies all enriched by the lockdowns , while smaller business destroyed.
      They rig Elections, that’s pretty obvious now.
      But on the plus side , the populations they are attempting to enslave can not comply and object to this Innsurrection by hijacking psychopaths.

    3. new coronavirus variant with mutations that one scientist said marked a “big jump in evolution

      It took the labs long enough to develop this new one. We’ll see if this time they got it right and if we’ll finally have to use the “bring out yer dead carts”

    4. In the spirit of the times, Ima gonna launch a start-up where you can rent faux pearl necklaces to clutch whenever something non-Narrative Compliant rears its ugly head. If I put “blockchain” in my initial news release & wear my black turtleneck sweater, venture capitalists will swoon as they throw their Yellen Bux at me. “You’ll own nothing and you’ll like it” will be my sales pitch. Oops, already taken, I see.

        1. It’s sorta implied with my new marketing approach. Say, wanna get in on an exclusive ground-floor opportunity with BooCoin?

    5. The vaccine *IS* the virus.

      Nobody died until people started receiving the vaccines. We just had a spate of 400,000 motorcycle accidents.

      1. I think you’re missing the big picture. We’ll never know how many people died of the CCP Flu who wouldn’t have died without it. That all who died with a positive chromatography test in their file were labeled Covideaths is no insignificant matter. It is unlikely in the extreme that the number was 400,000, or even that order of magnitude.

      2. Since Biden came to office, we’ve also had a national epidemic of boating accidents where millions of firearms were lost in the watery depths. Correlation does not equal causation, I should note.

    6. It’s entirely possible that vaccines won’t work against the new strain. The question will then become whether the “health officials” take a chance on going through the route of forced lockdown and vaccination again, or finally giving in and allowing ivermectin. That’s assuming ivermectin still works.

        1. Well, as we all know, this isn’t about ending the pandemic, because clearly that is the las thing the PTB wants to happen.

          And now with the Omicron variant, they have a piping hot new batch of fear pron.

      1. Given the number of mutations, there’s some question as to whether natural immunity will hold up too. Likely better than the vaccines, but not a slam dunk.

  6. “‘Our housing market is showing signs of stabilizing,’ says Dave Walsh, the 2021 president of the California Association of Realtors. Walsh says we now have a median selling price in Santa Clara County of $1,625,000—down slightly from the $1,750,000 peak we saw in July.”

    Isn’t Santa Clara one of the ground zeros for the virus gaining a foothold in the US? Seems somehow fitting that their real estate prices also caught the mania virus…

    1. Santa Clara County had the highest per capita Covid death rate in Bay Area
      November 19, 2021 11:08 am
      BY EMILY MIBACH
      Daily Post Staff Writer

      Santa Clara County has the highest Covid-related death rate per capita in the nine-county Bay Area despite some of the toughest restrictions, data from the state shows.

      Meanwhile, San Mateo County has the second-lowest rate of Covid-related deaths.

      A total of 1,901 of Santa Clara County residents have died due to the virus, according to state Department of Public Health records, or 96.6 per 100,000.

      Santa Clara County was the first county to initiate a lockdown and impose tough restrictions during the pandemic.

      At one point, the county advised workplaces to have employees eat in their cars instead of the lunchroom.

      Santa Clara County health officials were also quick to fine businesses for not following the county’s rules. The Mercury News reported in April that businesses in Santa Clara County were 13 times more likely to get slapped with a fine than any other Bay Area county.

      And the amount of fines was 50 times more than the next highest county, San Mateo. Santa Clara County, however, was also one of the first places where Covid cases occurred, with the county’s first case being reported on Jan. 31, 2020 and first death occurring on Feb. 6.

      The county discovered the Feb. 6 death in April, which made that woman the first Covid-related death in the country.

      According to the same state data, Santa Clara County was the first county in the Bay Area to report a Covid-related death by about a month. Santa Clara County counts its first Covid death as occurring on Feb. 6.
      …

      1. As I correctly stated above, the vaccine *IS* the virus.

        Efficacy does not just drop to zero, it drops to below zero, meaning 6+ months out from your last poison dose, you become *more* likely to die from CCP Flu than had you never been injected with the poison in the first place.

        See also: Alex Berensen and Steve Kirsch’s Substack articles.

        1. you become *more* likely to die from CCP Flu than had you never been injected with the poison in the first place

          The timing of the new South Africa strain seems very opportune.

          1. The new, more deadlier strains are going to keep coming, as each one justifies ever-increasing government surveillance and control measures. This was never about your health.

          2. justifies ever-increasing government surveillance and control measures

            News anchors will remind us that hospitals are bursting at the seams, even when it’s not so; while they implore us to get the jab, even though they are already admitting it isn’t effective against the new strain. And don’t forget to get your next booster!

        2. Also, they are going to want to control information even more as their Fake Narratives get more ridiculous by the minute. Come on, Plizer CEO wanting people arrested if they say anything negative about the fake vaccines.

          1. Come on, Plizer CEO wanting people arrested if they say anything negative about the fake vaccines.

            Mass depopulation doesn’t happen by itself. It requires a well coordinated PsyOp. and they can’t have anyone undermine that by sharing opposing points of view.

      2. Stanford Hospital and a slew of clinics are in Santa Clara County.
        Some of the first cases were out of Stanford but it’s all hush hush.

        1. If there is a thing called Covid.
          Draconian measures skyrocket the so called cases keeping people indoors etc.
          now the big boogy monster scare is a deadly new variant — no doubt cooked up by Fauci if there is one.

          1. now the big boogy monster scare is a deadly new variant — no doubt cooked up by Fauci if there is one

            I’m sure millions will be diving under their beds.

  7. ‘a median selling price in Santa Clara County of $1,625,000—down slightly from the $1,750,000 peak we saw in July’

    Dave also said: ‘we are moving from a ‘white hot’ market into a plain old ‘red hot’ market’

    1. It’s all hot cakes from here to the crater, which nobody could see coming and which will only become visible through the lens of the rear view mirror.

  8. ‘Once deep-pocketed Chinese developers had moved aggressively into Hong Kong, outbidding their cross-border rivals for prime sites in the city’

    Winnahs!

  9. ‘last sold for $3.2 million in 2004 to a corporate entity controlled by Reza Toulabi. In 2019, First Midwest Bank filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the property owners. That suit was dismissed in December 2019. Then, in December 2020, the LLC through which Toulabi bought the property was dissolved involuntarily. In June, the property was listed for sale with an asking price of $5.45 million. That was reduced last week for the fourth time to just under $3.5 million. Its annual property tax bill is about $56,000’

    Somebody put in a big pool along the way. How many months can you use a pool up there?

    Well, it was cheaper than renting Reza.

      1. If it’s heated, Memorial Day to Labor Day, roughly.
        That is the time period that most city pools in Chicagoland stay open. (Even the unheated ones, at least “back in the day.” )

  10. https://bizwest.com/2021/11/23/market-station-general-contractor-sues-developer-claims-it-owes-38m/

    Oh dear…

    Flash mob smash-and-grabs continue at high-end stores in Los Angeles

    https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-25/flash-mob-smash-and-grabs-continue-at-high-end-stores-in-los-angeles

    Smash-and-Grab Thieves Hit High-end Retailers in San Jose, Hayward, Walnut Creek and San Francisco

    https://www.sanjoseinside.com/news/smash-and-grab-thieves-hit-high-end-retailers-in-san-jose-hayward-walnut-creek-and-san-francisco/

    Looters ransack stores across Bay Area

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/looters-ransack-stores-across-bay-area/ar-AAQZS7v

    Weather!

    1. Real Journalists have informed that you’re not allowed to discuss the race of the looters.

      Spoiler: they are majority black males in their teens and 20s.

      Cloward-Piven is real. A few generations of substituting Big Government for having a biological father in the home, and this is what you get…

      1. Saying your not allowed to talk about this, that , or the other thing is taking the First Amendment. Did Congress pass a Bill that the First Amendment is gone?

        These are just Big Monopolies with Monopoly Fraud News in collusion controlling the narratives by making it a crime to oppose or dispute their ridicules narratives .

        Over half the Country being labeled domestic terrorists, by that traitor in the White House Biden , and all the other treasonous attacks on US Citizens by the Biden sell out Administration.
        Obvious Biden is in with the Klaus Schwab “Build Back Better “, BS, which is just code word for Corporate Take Over One World Order Dictorship, never voted for by population that would be the victim of its psychopathic dictates.

          1. Well, the High Court would strike it down if they passed a law like that. Why do you think Biden and Dems want to pack the High Court.

    2. Apparently a small groupbroke into one of the local Walmarts yesterday. Not sure what they intended to grab, as there are no designer shoes, bags or clothes to be had. I heard they were caught in the act.

        1. What is your gripe with Floridians? Are you magically superior to be able cast aspersions on a whole group of people? People who live in glass houses should not cast stones.
          Signed: A Native Floridian and proud of it.

  11. How Low Will They Go?

    $30k slice on City Terrace Traditional; $30k cut on Highland Park 3-bedroom; $100k chop on Mount Washington Mid Century

    Here are some examples, followed by a breakdown by neighborhood, of recent price cuts on homes, condos, apartments and other Eastside properties.

    City Terrace Traditional: $30,000 slice on 3-bedroom home with 2 bathrooms, a 2-car garage, and a studio with a kitchen and bath on bottom floor. Now $719,000.

    Highland Park 3-bedroom: $30,000 cut on cul-de-sac home with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathroom, an updated kitchen, a new fence, and an ample backyard. Now $850,000.

    Mount Washington Mid Century: $100,000 chop on newly landscaped home that includes 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, new carpet, fresh paint, and a deck offering neighborhood views. Now $1,295,000.

    ‘Which home remains the most overpriced?’

    https://www.theeastsiderla.com/real_estate/real_estate_reductions/30k-slice-on-city-terrace-traditional-30k-cut-on-highland-park-3-bedroom-100k-chop/article_c29ddf90-4655-11ec-936b-efc763310203.html

  13. “‘Our housing market is showing signs of stabilizing,’ says Dave Walsh, the 2021 president of the California Association of Realtors.

    That’s realtor-speak for “We are in the incipient phase of a housing bubble bust.”

  14. It’s as if buyers are saying to themselves, ‘You know, at these higher prices, let me think a little more carefully, and look a little more thoughtfully. I don’t have to feel pressure to buy the first thing I see,’ said Elliot Eisenberg, a real estate economist with Bright MLS.”

    Translation: the gullible & stupid have already signed on Mr. Banker’s line which is dotted, oblivious that their financial destruction awaits. The rest of the herd senses danger, which is going to make “always be closing” more problematic.

  15. The property was last sold for $3.2 million in 2004 to a corporate entity controlled by Reza Toulabi.

    Corporate entities should be barred by law from buying shacks. 2008 showed what happens when greedy, reckless speculators with access to unlimited cheap Yellen Bux create dangerously destabilizing debt-based asset bubbles.

  16. “Thirty-one senior living borrowers have missed a payment on their municipal bond debt for the first time in 2021, representing about $1.6 billion of muni bonds in default and tying the record number of senior housing defaults set last year.

    I’d hate to see what the globalist elites have in store for the olds, once they can no longer extract any wealth from them and they become a net negative on the balance sheets.

    2. what the globalist elites have in store for the olds

      Euthanasia with potential for “recycling” as a food source.

  17. Any signs of the big smile were extinguished by a market that has constantly shown an unwillingness to match his price and take the land.”

    If it’s any consolation, seeing greedhead dreams of unearned speculative windfalls go up in smoke always puts a big smile on my face.

  18. – Two options, but no good outcomes.

    https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/582720-jerome-powells-own-poisoned-chalice
    Jerome Powell’s own poisoned chalice
    By Desmond Lachman, Opinion Contributor — 11/23/21 08:00 AM EST 79

    “There are two reasons for thinking that Powell has dealt himself an exceedingly challenging second term as Fed chair.”

    “First, Powell’s excessively aggressive monetary policy response to the pandemic, at the very time that the country was receiving its largest peacetime budget stimulus, has contributed to the country’s highest inflation in the past 30 years. Indeed, consumer price inflation is now running at over 6 percent, well in excess of the Fed’s 2 percent inflation target. That in turn is making inflation-adjusted interest rates significantly negative in real terms, which risks allowing today’s uncomfortably high inflation to become entrenched.”

    “Second, Powell, along with the world’s other major central bankers, has created a global asset price and credit market bubble of epic proportions. He has done so by aggressively buying U.S. Treasury and mortgage-backed securities. It took Bernanke’s Fed six years to increase the size of the Fed’s balance sheet by some $4 trillion; it took the Powell Fed less than a year to do the same thing.”

    “As a consequence, U.S. equity valuations are at lofty levels experienced only once before in the past 100 years, and U.S. housing prices even in inflation-adjusted terms are now significantly higher than their 2006 peak. In addition, borrowers of questionable creditworthiness both at home and in the emerging market economies have borrowed vast amounts of money at low interest rates that hardly compensate for the risk of default.”

    “All of this will put Powell in an unenviable position as he begins his second term. If he chooses not to raise interest rates soon to levels that are significantly positive in inflation-adjusted terms, he would risk allowing inflation to become entrenched, if not to accelerate.“

    “That in turn would set up the economy for a particularly hard landing when he is eventually forced to slam on the monetary policy brakes to restrain inflation.”

    “Alternatively, if Powell were to raise interest rates early, as would seem to be the right thing to do in today’s inflationary environment, he would risk bursting today’s asset price and credit market bubbles. That would almost certainly invite sharp criticism, especially in the run up to next year’s midterm elections.”

    – The Federal Reserve System = Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius
    – The current “Everything Bubble” is the third serial asset bubble in roughly twenty years, all of which are the result of easy Fed policies, and the outcomes were and are “baked into the cake” by these policies, and why asset bubbles always burst.
    – A centrally-planned, command-and-control economic system (aka Socialism/Communism) can’t possibly hope to keep a complex system of a national economy, with millions of active participants, making millions of daily, real-time financial decisions “smoothly functioning.” Only free markets can do this, but there are too few opportunities for those in power for graft and corruption. No, economic recessions haven’t been eliminated, but rather the current expansion since the GFC has been artificially extended by the loose money polices of central banks, and esp. the Fed. Asset bubbles always burst. The fact that “The Everything Bubble” (stonks, bonds, housing, etc.) has been going for 13 years now doesn’t mean it’s permanent, but rather the crash will be greater, since from a higher peak. Recall that the Fed didn’t prevent the crashes after the dot com bubble or housing bubble 1.0. Now it’s dot com bubble + housing bubble 1.0 + a whole lot more.
    – Since investors are now “all in” this time, there’s no chance of a systemic bailout, but rather a full reset looks like the most likely outcome.
    – Two options, but no good outcomes: The Fed doesn’t raise rates and “The Everything Bubble” bursts under it’s own weight a little later, or the Fed raises rates and “The Everything Bubble” bursts under it’s own weight a little sooner.
    – Reference: John Law and the Mississippi Bubble.

    1. This has been a gradually evolving problem that is specifically the purview of the Fed. Why this inaction?
      Paul Volcker has a similar situation but smaller scale and he controlled it.
      So was this monster too big to see?

  19. “‘Sometimes I feel I may be forced to reduce the price I intend to sell the piece of land at, to a value way below market rate. This does not sit well with me,’ he says.

    Mr. Market doesn’t care what sits well with you, Hussein. The market value is set by what a buyer is willing to pay. Congratulations on setting the new, lower market rate, Hussein, you trendsetter, you.

    1. That reminds me of what I thought of the rifle info we discussed recently. I appreciate the simplicity of the double action S&W revolvers. They still used the technology of the 1800’s. You won’t shoot unless you mean to. Won’t go off no matter how far it’s dropped. You can get a pew pew or a cannon.

      And I likes me a good shotgun. Lot’s of variation for any circumstance. I had a 10 gauge magnum once, shells were pricy. But I like the 20 and 12 gauge most.

      2. “…revolvers.”

        Revolvers are not ideal for close contact as the perpetrator might quickly grab the pistol by the cylinder preventing the trigger from being pulled, i.e., mechanical disadvantage.

    1. Looking at the one month chart for $hitcoin, down from a high of $67,130 on November 9 to $54,000 and change today.

      1. The new variant is sending the market into a tiz. As a result, safe-haven gold rose a bit and dropped a bit. This is common when investors sell gold for quick liquidity to settle margin calls. But bitcoin dropped 8.4%. That seems too much of a drop to come solely from selling for margin calls. Maybe bitcoin isn’t the safe-have asset they thought it was.

        1. Margin debt is at or near all-time highs. The margin-call liquidations haven’t even begun yet. It’s coming, though.

  22. Stock Market going down a thousand points or more. Apparently over news of new scary African variant Covid mutation.
    You just knew they were going to come up with something to justify more lockdowns, as well as cover up vaccine death and injury. Its so predictable. Gotta do something to rig the mid term elections, scare people again and get them under control before to many people start to rebel against the Medical Tyranny.

      1. The obvious explanation, citizen, is that Gaia shines her face upon us and confers more natural immunity from the flu as a reward for 81 million ‘Muricans voting for Joe Biden.

        1. Because we wore masks, which prevents us from touching our faces with contaminated fingers. The end.

          Have you been out in the world, oxide? People wearing masks fiddle with them constantly, touching their faces far more frequently than they would without masks.

        2. Please, the lost of oxygen and false sense of security by wearing masks.
          Now, washing your hands is always a wise thing to do before you eat.
          Look they have never locked down healthy people before during a so called Pandemic, and follow the money who gained by the lockdowns. Never locked down Globe over a virus that was only a life threat to such a small % , mostly elderly with co morbidities. Children don’t need whatever that fake vaccine is. Never ever, the whole Globe has to be vaccinated , with expiermental vaccines, so this is just some scam for one World Order Governments acting in lock step.

          2. “What is the truth, then?”

            “To stand up for truth is nothing. For truth, you must sit in jail.” —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

    2. “new scary African variant”

      The have to do it. People are starting to ask how come Africa has done much better with a much lower vaccination rate….

      1. Yes, the people are awakening and starting to rebel in millions in Europe. They got to scare the people again. I think its just made up because these so called variants are developing faster than anything historically that happened with mutations.
        Keep the never ending medical emergency going, shift to social unrest mayhem, Climate Change narrative, back to medical tyranny, on and on.
        Never allow populations to get back to normal.
        Need your new booster shot, which doesn’t address the fact that the warp speed fake vaccines were designed for the so called original Covid, not the African mutation. So, in every way what they say doesn’t even make sense.
        I don’t even believe they got as much compliance on the vaccines as they state.

      2. Almost no obesity, very young population, lockdowns and “work from home” were never an option in poorer nations, which accelerated achieving herd immunity, AND most importantly almost nobody has the clot shots.

        The vaccine *IS* the virus.

  23. I heard somebody in essence say that all the populations have to do is everybody throw their smart phones and laptops away at the same time, to make it impossible for them to implement their plan. Just get a basic phone.
    Don’t know what it will come to , but why not throw away their weapons of mass destruction, if the time ever comes.

  24. You don’t get cast in Hollywood movies unless you parrot globalist lines & DNC talking points.

    ‘It’s called living in a big city’: Seth Rogen faces backlash for ‘privileged’ response to crime in Los Angeles after YouTuber said his cars were broken into and belongings including decorations for his daughter’s birthday party were stolen

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10244697/Seth-Rogen-slammed-privileged-response-shrugging-Los-Angeles-crime.html

    Actor Seth Rogen is being slammed for his ‘privileged’ comment after shrugging off Los Angeles YouTuber Casey Neistat, who tweeted about having his car getting burgularized, referring to the crime as ‘part of ‘living in a big city.’

    Neistat, 40, who used to be a prominent YouTuber in New York before moving to the West Coast, took to Twitter on Wednesday to tell his followers that ‘our cars got robbed,’ and blamed the city for being a ‘crime riddled 3rd world s**thole of a city.’

    1. Citizen! Globalist propaganda flagship The Washington Post informs us the WauKesha tragedy was “caused by an SUV.” Have you never read Stephen King’s “Christine” wherein a possessed car runs amok? The career criminal driver was just a hapless occupant of a deranged vehicle, per The Narrative. This calls for more common-sense SUV control.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10243585/Woke-Washington-Post-blasted-claim-Waukesha-tragedy-killed-six-caused-SUV.html

    2. CNN lightened his skin to make him appear white. That one photo is widely circulated. CNN does this regularly in these circumstances.

    1. As someone who self-identifies as a Yemeni lesbian, I of course am absolved of the sins of the fathers that must be visited upon you all you progeny of the larcenous genocidal palefaces.

  27. Land stolen so they get to steal it and give it to Commie rioters? Didn’t your mommy tell you two wrongs don’t make a right?
    Anyway, all earth land stolen back and forth for thousands of years. So, who is the original owner of lands that have gone back and forth in capture and ownership. Those original hunters that roamed the earth?
    So, its appears that about a thousand Multinational Corporations want to own and control everything , so talk to them about how they want nobody to have anything and like it.

    2. It is a little sad to watch the Clown state steadily descend into anarchy. What will the 40 million clowns who live there do when retailers, especially grocers, find it impossible to do business there, throw in the towel and close all their stores?

      And I mention grocery stores because it wouldn’t be surprising for a flash mob of thousands to show up and loot stores clean, as happens in South Africa.

      1. I’m not sad.

        California’s biggest exports to the rest of the U.S. are Democrat Party voters, Hollywood pedophilia, illegals, air pollution, and A.I.D.S.

        Couldn’t happen to a more deserving state as far as I’m concerned. I wish they would do the rest of us all a favor and sink into the Pacific Ocean when “the Big One” finally hits 10.0 on the Richter Scale.

        2. Sad not so much for the Clown inhabitants, but for the state itself. California used to be an awesome place. Now, I avoid it like the plague,.

      2. So much food is not even getting to the stores these days. The looting of farm equipment and produce by the truckload in the Central Valley is a big problem.

    3. There are videos everywhere in cities and all traffic lights. These looters could be found if law enforcement were honest.

  29. There are several Jeep $90k – $100k jeep Wranglers and Gladiators driving around the town I live in with factory or custom lift kits, huge rims and tires and every off road add you would need to climb the nastiest of rock courses all with stunning paint jobs and not one of them will go any further off road than the Nissan Versa my youngest daughter bought to get through nursing school.

    They should have just bought a Jeep Compass which is more like the discontinued Jeep-Liberty and saved $60k, at least then they might be able to get some of the off road experience to jump in through the sunroof.

    https://youtu.be/mXUjSgWBhy8

  30. Another “Oh dear” moment in time….

    Hong Kong’s secondary home prices fall by the most in 14 months in October as banks turn cautious on valuations

    https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3157518/hong-kongs-secondary-home-prices-fall-most-14-months-october-banks-turn

    Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices dropped by the most in 14 months in October after peaking in August, with buying sentiment cooling as banks become more cautious in valuating property.

    Prices fell 0.85 per cent to 394.8 last month, according to an index published by the Rating and Valuation Department on Friday.

    1. Aboriginals in Australia, although IIRC Canada has also been jabbing kids without parental consent. Here in the US, some states have reduced the age of consent to circumvent parental consent. I’ve been trying to keep abreast of this so please let me know if there is evidence otherwise.

      1. coercing the jabs without consent is bad enough, but holding someone down and forcing them to take the jab is as low and terrifying as it gets.

        these tyrants have to be stopped. i just read a couple days ago that a couple national governments have backed off the mandates because things were getting too violent. resisting them at all cost does seem to work. and that’s why some countries are pushing the mandates so hard, so fast. they know they are running out of time and once they lose control they might never get it back again. they are also worried that they might just hang.

  32. The Financial Times
    Capital markets
    New coronavirus variant shakes investors out of pandemic slumber
    Discovery of mutated virus abruptly pulls Covid back on to market radar
    Global stock markets fell sharply on the news of a new coronavirus variant © FT montage; AFP/Getty
    Tommy Stubbington and George Steer in London and Robin Wigglesworth in Oslo 2 hours ago

    Investors have spent the past year learning to relax about the pandemic, lulled by abundant stimulus and expectations that vaccines would keep the virus in check. That sense of calm was shattered on Friday.

    Global stock markets tumbled by the most in a year, shaken by the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in Botswana which was found to be spreading elsewhere. Many investors had, until this point, shrugged off rising infection numbers in various countries — and the reimposition of travel bans and lockdowns in some — but Friday’s news rattled that confidence.

    “A more virulent mutation has always been a risk but one which the market has been prepared to look through,” said Michael Metcalfe, global head of macro strategy at State Street. “Whatever happens now the market is going to be a little bit more wary and watchful of the Covid narrative.”
    …

      1. “….created in a lab?”

        Or, created on a computer
        Or, created in some mind
        Or created at the last meeting with Klaus Schwab, Dr Fauci, and Bill Gates.
        Or, created by a test

      2. Probably not a lab. They haven’t nailed down Patient 0 yet, but they do have a hypothesis. They think that the Omicron variant developed in someone who contracted COVID, fought it for a long time, but eventually died from it. Possibly someone who was immunocompromised, for example untreated HIV (South Africa is 5-10% HIV). The long residence time would allow the virus to multiply and mutate to its heart’s content without being defeated, either by an immune system or by killing the host. So evidently, all it takes is ONE person to be “the lab.”

        1. Feeding your cognitive dissonance . . .
          https://twitter.com/RWMaloneMD/status/1464303315265761280: “All four had been fully vaccinated”
          Any assertions that the emergence of the B.1.1.529 (Nu) variant emerged in unvaccinated or HIV-infected individuals in Africa is pure propaganda. This is yet more DISINFORMATION being pushed by legacy media such as “The Guardian”.

          P.S. The Guardian received at least $12,951,391 in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

          1. So, Malone has issued his papal edict that Omicron developed in those vaccinated travelers. Well then I guess there’s no more discussion to be had, is there.

            I think it’s more likely that Omicron developed in an unvaxxed person — Patient 0 — and that those travelers caught it from somewhere in the cluster surrounding Patient 0. Time will tell.

          3. “They” are the career bench scientists who are actually doing the work. Not some rogue researcher with an agenda who gets off when his sheep bleat contentedly.

          4. Not some rogue researcher with an agenda who gets off when his sheep bleat contentedly.

            Says the media brainwashed idiot.

    2. The Financial Times
      Oil
      Oil prices drop more than 10% as virus variant threatens blow to demand
      Brent and WTI crude grades record biggest one-day losses since April 2020
      Friday’s move in oil prices reflected ‘fear that the new variant will lead to widespread travel restrictions’
      © Bloomberg
      Derek Brower in New York and Neil Hume in London 5 hours ago

      Oil prices plunged more than 10 per cent on Friday as reports of a virulent new coronavirus variant sparked fears of more pandemic lockdowns and another blow to fuel demand, just as the US plans to release more supplies on to the market.

      West Texas Intermediate, the American oil benchmark, dropped by 13 per cent to settle at $68.15 a barrel as US traders returned following the Thanksgiving holiday. The international benchmark Brent fell 12 per cent to settle at $72.72 a barrel.

      Both of the oil markers had their biggest one-day declines since the WTI price briefly went negative in April 2020 at the height of the pandemic.
      …

    3. New coronavirus variant shakes investors out of pandemic slumber

      And how do you know this variant isn’t a pretext to crash the market?!

    1. I love me some Covid-19 Super Spreader energy drinks.

      Tower control to Real Journalist Airlines on taxiway number two, your takeoff has been canceled due to the new Covid variant. Return to the terminal, run in circles while flapping your arms and screaming, leave your masks on until you arrive at your homes and continue to do so until further guidance is issued.

    2. Tanzania made a fool of the UN so he has been killed.

      “President John Magufuli has cast doubt on the country’s coronavirus testing process after he allegedly submitted secret samples from invalid subjects, including a goat and a papaya (yes, the fruit), that came back as “positive” for the virus.

      Magufuli suspended the head of testing at Tanzania’s national health laboratory in response to the alleged errors on Monday, one day after revealing that he had flooded the lab with a variety of samples from things the virus shouldn’t be able to infect.“

  35. Well, well … from CBS News

    Pfizer says it’s already testing a vaccine against the Omicron variant, and the they will be able to start producing it in 100 days.

    They are already testing? I thought the new variant was just discovered.

    Call me a skeptic, but how is that possible, unless they already knew about this “variant” for quite some time? But not to worry, billions of people around the globe won’t question that and will be begging for this new version of the jab, and will trip over each other to get it first.

    1. how is that possible,unless they already knew about this “variant” for quite some time?

      No need to go conspiracy theory here. They didn’t know about the variant. But they have known about the MUTATIONS for quite some time. They’re basing the new vaccines on mutations. Follow the logic:

      1. SARS-CoV-2 has a defined set of mutations which are both chemically stable and troublesome to humans. A “variant” just picks from that pool of troublesome mutations.
      2. It’s well known that Beta, Gamma, and Mu variants can escape the Alpha vaccine.
      3. Beta, Gamma, and Mu have the E484 and K417 mutations.
      4. Therefore, any other variant that contains E484 and K417 mutations might escape the Alpha vaccine.
      5. Pfizer knows this. Therefore, Pfizer has been developing a new vaccine that contains these troublesome E484 and K417 mutations.
      6. When the body develops immunity to E484 and K417, the body will be able to fight off any future variant that contains E484 and K417.
      6. Omicron is a new variant that contains the E484 and K417 mutations.
      7. Therefore, the new Pfizer vaccine might work against Omicron. They are testing it now.

      So you see, they didn’t need to know specifically about Omicron.
      They predicted that something LIKE Omicron would pop up, so they began to prepare against it. And now, their hard prepper work is paying off.

        1. Yes, the TRAVELERS were vaccinated, and the travelers were not HIV+. But the travelers are not Patient 0, who is likely in South Africa and not from Botswana. We still don’t know about Patient 0 or whether Patient 0 is HIV+.

          And so what if the travelers had breakthrough cases? That’s precisely why everyone is worried. They don’t say which vaccine it was either, but that part of Africa had a lot of J&J. J&J is not an mRNA vaccine.

      2. SARS-CoV-2 has a defined set of mutations which are both chemically stable and troublesome to humans. A “variant” just picks from that pool of troublesome mutations.

        The Dunning-Kruger effect is a type of cognitive bias in which people believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are. Essentially, low ability people do not possess the skills needed to recognize their own incompetence. The combination of poor self-awareness and low cognitive ability leads them to overestimate their own capabilities.

        1. smarter and more capable

          In my younger years I was extremely smart and capable. As every year goes by, I see that I’m not that all so much.

  36. Any thoughts on why the Dow futures are off by over 3%, after yesterday’s brutal selloff? And it’s early in the weekend…

    Would now be a good time for dips to buy?

    Is the Plunge Protection Team going to show up soon to save risk asset HODLers’ bacon?

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