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Almost All Will Be Lost

A report from the LA Daily News in California. “Rampant housing inflation means the federal government will now back almost million-dollar mortgages — including deals in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Note that mortgages made for vacation homes and second residences can be bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so these higher loan maximums apply. It’s also worth noting that restrictions on agency purchases of mortgages for properties that aren’t the borrower’s primary residence were recently eliminated.”

“The real estate transaction industry, from mortgage makers to real estate agents, will cheer this slice of government intervention because it’s good for their bottom lines. Without these government mortgage giants, homebuying would be a very different endeavor. And you could argue, federal ‘help’ — making financing cheaper — actually boosts prices and hurts the chances of many homeowner wannabes. Will anybody ever want to discuss how misguided government support for housing can be? Ponder this example: In an era of a purported housing shortage, why provide any financial support for second-home purchases, no less upping the size of the subsidized mortgages?”

From National Mortgage News. “While some companies with cyclical growth prospects such as non-qualified mortgage specialist Angel Oak continue to report expansion, thinning profit margins and layoffs at companies like Better and Interfirst suggest housing-finance companies are more generally experiencing a squeeze in their bottom lines and are budgeting less for personnel as result. ‘Cost cutting is again becoming a priority for issuers and vendors as we head into 2022,’ said Chris Whalen, chairman of Whalen Global Advisors.”

From CNN Business. “Better.com CEO Vishal Garg announced the mortgage company is laying off about 9% of its workforce on a Zoom webinar Wednesday abruptly informing the more than 900 employees on the call they were being terminated just before the holidays. ‘If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off,’ Garg said. ‘Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.'”

From the University of Dayton. “My husband and I had heard all the exciting stories. We never in a million years thought we’d get lucky enough to profit off it. That is, until our tenants called one night. ‘We’re moving to Florida,’ they said. My husband couldn’t believe our good fortune. Four years prior, we couldn’t give away this house. Now, not only would we finally be able to sell it, but we would make some money off it.”

“As soon as we hung up with our tenants, we sped dialed our realtor—the cold hard cash from this burgeoning housing market already burning holes through our pockets. We would book our dream trip to Hawaii, pay off those college loans from twenty years ago and buy that Peloton I had my eye on. Our rental house officially hit the market a few days later, and we waited three whole hours for our full-price offer and subsequent bidding war to roll in.”

“After three weeks, our house sat empty. Not even one showing. ‘Why don’t you bring the price down a little bit?’ the realtor asked us after the fourth week of no showings. ‘What, like a thousand dollars?’ I asked. We ended the conversation by agreeing to cut twenty thousand dollars off the asking price. Bye-bye, trip to Hawaii. A week later, we had a few more showings but no offers.”

“With no other choice, since the house’s mortgage bills were coming in faster than my daughter’s crooked teeth, we cut another five thousand dollars off the asking price. Price cut after price cut, we were creeping dangerously close to what we initially overpaid for it. A few weeks later, we finally got the call. ‘Full price?’ I asked. ‘Not exactly,’ the realtor said. We settled a month later. In case you’re wondering, we don’t own a Peloton.”

From Bloomberg. “Austin is at the center of America’s great migration. That’s sparking the biggest homebuilding boom in Texas history. ‘We’re calling this the high-risk, high-reward part of the cycle — this is the time you can make a lot of money,’ said John Burns, a building-industry consultant based in Irvine, California. ‘The risk if you’re a homebuilder buying land is that if the market turns you’re stuck with it.'”

The Vancouver Sun. “Bank of Canada deputy governor Paul Beaudry last week expressed concern about the way investors have flooded into housing. But, as Vancouver housing market analyst Steve Saretsky says, the Bank of Canada is not taking responsibility for the way it has encouraged people during the pandemic to pour money into housing by setting extremely low interest rates and, through a process known as quantitative easing, has effectively been printing $5 billion worth of new money each week, to head off a slowdown. The bank has finally said it intends to stop doing so.”

“Saretsky said: ‘We’ve now tried a foreign buyers tax, empty homes tax, speculation tax, mortgage stress test, record new home completions, and yet house prices continue to push higher. We’ve tried everything but raise the cost of borrowing money. Imagine that.’ ‘Remember in 2018, mortgage rates hit 3.5 per cent and everyone thought they were going to four per cent? What happened that year?’ Saretsky asks. ‘Home sales in Greater Vancouver fell to an 18-year low. And in the Greater Toronto area, home sales fell to their lowest total in a decade. Not surprising that two highly levered housing markets slumped as borrowing costs ramped up.'”

The Telegraph. “The Bank of England is poised to loosen mortgage lending rules introduced in the wake of the financial crisis, in a move economists have warned risks sparking a housing bubble. Martin Beck at the EY Item Club said the move would be ‘odd given how loose mortgage lending has been – it has not been hard to get a loan.'”

From The Street. “Late on Friday, the time companies release news if they want it to be buried, Evergrande released a statement warning that, given its current financial situation, ‘there is no guarantee that the Group will have sufficient funds to continue to perform its financial obligations.’ Time ran out on Monday for a much-smaller developer, Sunshine 100 China Holdings. The Beijing-based developer had already missed payments for the principal and premium on convertible bonds that came due on August 11. The outstanding principal of US$170 million and accrued unpaid interest of US$8.925 million was deferred to December 5. But the company is still unable to pay back the principal or the accrued interest, even given that extension. ‘As a result, an event of default has taken place,’ the company said.”

From Bloomberg. “One risk is that Beijing may not have a full picture of how indebted Evergrande and its peers have become. The Shenzhen-based developer indicated in its exchange filing on Friday that it may not be able to fulfill its pledge to guarantee payment on a $260 million note issued by joint venture Jumbo Fortune Enterprises, an obligation that many Evergrande investors didn’t even know existed until a few months ago.”

From Express. “Dr Marco Metzler, senior analyst for Deutsche Markt Screening Agentur (DMSA), said $23.7billion in international bonds is now at risk. Dr Metzler, who has also invested in Evergrande, had previously told Express the property giant had missed five deadlines for bond interest repayments. The five repayments total £110million and Dr Metzler warned the collapse of Evergrande could send shockwaves throughout the global financial system.”

“Commenting on Evergrande’s statement to the stock index, Dr Metzler said: ‘We are vindicated by this official statement. We have still not received the interest on our bonds, although it has been widely reported in the press that interest payments have been made on bonds where interest payments were past due in October and November 2021. This declaration represents an event of default for all 23 outstanding international bonds valued at $23.7billion. Almost all will be lost and also has huge implications for the CDS markets and Evergrande bonds used as a collective, as mentioned in my last two posts.'”

From New Zealand City. “A new survey shows more than 80 percent think house prices are too high … in light of the average price doubling to one-million dollars in seven years. Forty percent of people think the Government needs to intervene and force prices down. But Independent Economist Tony Alexander says that’s ridiculous. He says they’d have to strip independence off the Reserve Bank which would have seriously bad consequences.”

From Telangana Today in India. “In a tragic incident, four of a family committed suicide in Sangareddy district on Thursday night. The victims were identified as Chandrakanth (39) and Lavanya (35), natives of Garlapally in Munipally Mandal and their children Pratham (8) and Sarvagnya. Chandrakanth, who was working as Software Engineer in TCS Company at Gachibowli, had settled down in the BHEL area in Ramachandrapuram Mandal. However, Chandrakanth reportedly invested in real estate recently, but he did not get desired profits in the business.”

“When he was struggling financially, Chanrakanth and his wife had a serious argument on the same issue on Thursday night. In a fit of rage, Lavanya left their home at Garlpally along with his two children. When she called his neighbours to know what Chandrakanth was doing, the neighbours told her that Chandrakanth committed suicide by hanging.”

“Shocked over the development, Lavanya has jumped into Andole tank after throwing her two children on Thursday night. On Friday morning, the fishermen found two dead bodies floating in the water body. After informing their family members, the fishermen also fished out another body. A pall of gloom descended on Garlapally village as an entire family ended life.”

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This Post Has 112 Comments

  1. I don’t like to post about suicides, but this isn’t a game. Lots of this happened last decade and it will happen again:

    ‘He says they’d have to strip independence off the Reserve Bank which would have seriously bad consequences’

    There’s going to be serious consequences all around. That’ what happens when you turn shacks into a casino for decades.

  2. From the second link:

    ‘With a larger number of nondepository lenders having gone public amid the past year’s unprecedented — but now waning — refinance boom, the industry also could be under pressure because it’s partially dependent on a stock market that’s looked less favorable recently, Whalen noted in a recent report.’

    “Secondary stock offerings for all issuers, including [independent mortgage banks], have basically disappeared in the past several months,” he said.’

  3. ‘may not be able to fulfill its pledge to guarantee payment on a $260 million note issued by joint venture Jumbo Fortune Enterprises, an obligation that many Evergrande investors didn’t even know existed until a few months ago’

    People who aren’t familiar with accounting may not grasp how fudging unbelievable this stuff is. It’s a complete failure of the financial system. Who is auditing this crap? Note there is no reporting on things like, did the company admit that they were a lion? It is just said, they didn’t know!

    Along those lines:

    ‘We have still not received the interest on our bonds, although it has been widely reported in the press that interest payments have been made’

    The globalist scum media is still not reporting the truth. Why cover China’s a$$ in this? I’ll say it again, the situation is far worse than we are hearing, based on this “didn’t know debts existed” crap.

    1. One thing I heard is that if a company says anything bad about China, then China won’t play ball with them. This keeps big companies like Nike quiet – you don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you. I guess it’s the same with the press and the goverment.

      1. This Shenzhen-based developer will likely find himself standing before an expressionless man seated at a simple wooden table in a makeshift courtroom.

  4. ‘That’s sparking the biggest homebuilding boom in Texas history. ‘We’re calling this the high-risk, high-reward part of the cycle — this is the time you can make a lot of money,’ said John Burns, a building-industry consultant based in Irvine, California. ‘The risk if you’re a homebuilder buying land is that if the market turns you’re stuck with it’

    Here’s what John left out: ‘if the market turns’ is just a matter of time. It’s ‘when the market turns’, they’ll be fooked like every time before.

    1. “Here’s what John left out: ‘if the market turns’ is just a matter of time. It’s ‘when the market turns’, they’ll be fooked like every time before.”

      Naw, this time is different. Trust me.

      😁

      1. Mr. Banker will be sending all his clients this Christmas [custom fitted, of course] a brand new pair of knee pads for future office visits to Mr. Banker.

    2. ‘The risk if you’re a homebuilder buying land is that if the market turns you’re stuck with it’

      Paying much more than nothing for something where there’s a globe full of supply is a relatively new phenomenon. Where Fools lead, fools will follow.

      Orlando, FL Housing Prices Crater 20% YOY As Sellers Slash Prices Double Digits Across Florida

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

      1. IIRC homebuilders had the same problem in ~2009-ish. They had all bid up options to buy land for more spec-shax. But when the market turned and nobody was buying spec-shax and they were stuck with the land/options. So I guess all the hopeful hippie homesteaders should wait a year or so and then pick up acreage cheap?

  5. A reader just sent this in:

    ‘The CEO of an online mortgage lender fired 900 of his employees in a brutal Zoom call – then slammed them for being so ‘lazy’ they effectively ‘stole’ from customers.’

    ‘Vishal Garg axed around nine per cent of Better.com’s workforce last Wednesday – three weeks before Christmas – including its entire diversity, equity and inclusion team, which deals with complaints about racism and sexism in the workplace.’

    ‘The 43-year-old said that the ‘market has changed’ meaning savage cuts to the $7 billion company’s workforce were needed to avert disaster.’

    ‘One angry worker filmed the call and shared it online, complete with a moment where they cursed at the CEO as he confirmed the mass ‘termination’ of employees from the Manhattan-headquartered mortgage provider.’

    ‘The unidentified male worker could be heard to say ‘F**k you dude. Are you f**king kidding me?’

    ‘Garg, who has been accused of being ‘erratic’ by workers, later doubled-down in a scathing blog post which saw him lay into his staff for ‘stealing’ through laziness.’

    ‘The father-of-three wrote on professional network Blind: ‘You guys know that at least 250 of the people terminated were working an average of 2 hours a day while clocking 8 hours+ a day in the payroll system?’

    ‘They were stealing from you and stealing from our customers who pay the bills that pay our bills. Get educated,’ he added.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10278811/Better-com-fires-900-employees-zoom-call-despite-750-million-cash-infusion.html

    ‘Avert disaster’? Yer harshing my red hotcakes Vish.

    1. “Vishal Garg axed around nine per cent of Better.com’s workforce last Wednesday – three weeks before Christmas – including its entire diversity, equity and inclusion team, which deals with complaints about racism and sexism in the workplace.”

      Bahahahahahaha … say good bye to the Snowflakes.

    2. You mean to tell me working from home leads to this? Is this why 90% of employees are demanding it, and the vast majority of employers hate it and are going to put an end to it? Who knew???

      1. Easy to measure their productivity: how many loans did they get to close? It wouldn’t take more than a month to identify any slackers.

        1. When I refi-d my mortgage a couple months ago, my case was transferred among several people during the process, e.g., the initial people I talked to were not the same as the closers. So you can’t use closings as a metric for everyone. Evidently they *were* looking at productivity data like missing meetings and calls.

          A couple weeks ago I mentioned that w@h employees would pragmatically be the easiest to terminate, since you don’t have to go through the box-and-escort rigmarole. Just cut off access and let them keep the bricked laptop. I wonder if this is what they did here.

          2. Still, all those people are assigned to multiple loans. It should be easy to tell if they are becoming a bottleneck in the pipeline.

    3. If you’re “working from home”, you won’t be working for very long.

      Clearwater, FL Housing Prices Crater 21% As Soaring Mortgage Defaults Ravage Florida

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

      As one real estate economist explained, “Get what you can get for your house today because it’s going to be less tomorrow for years to come.”

    4. From the article:
      —————-
      “Garg told Fortune that four weeks ago the firm started reviewing employee productivity data, including missed telephone call rates, number of inbound and outbound calls, employees showing up late to meetings with a customer, and other metrics.”

      “In August, The Daily Beast reported that one of his closest executives, Elana Knoller, was given stocks potentially worth tens of millions of dollars, $8,000 per month for two homes and other perks. Knoller was eventually placed on administrative leave for bullying. The Daily Beast also reported that Garg told a former business partner that he was ‘going to staple him against a f**king wall and burn him alive.'”
      ——————

      So we have CEO who’s (probably) banging his bully assistant, making nasty threats, and then laying people off on reasonable productivity metrics. I’m not sure what to think here.

  6. ‘the federal government will now back almost million-dollar mortgages — including deals in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Note that mortgages made for vacation homes and second residences can be bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so these higher loan maximums apply. It’s also worth noting that restrictions on agency purchases of mortgages for properties that aren’t the borrower’s primary residence were recently eliminated’

    This is some serious risk layering. Of course, the GSE’s have zero skin in the game. It’s the biggest loan cap increase – evah! It’s pretty obvious it’s not needed, if yer goal is affordable housing – which it really isn’t.

    Ever once in awhile it needs to be repeated: these corporations are deeply corrupt. They haven’t been reformed or even had their wrists slapped. Is it really a big surprise they are doing this? I’m reminded of the CEO of Fannie IIRC, who in May of 2005 had a press conference where he bragged they were going all in on subprime. I less than 2 years they admitted they had been broke since the spring of 2005. That’s both Fannie and Freddie.

    1. “I’m reminded of the CEO of Fannie IIRC, who in May of 2005 had a press conference where he bragged they were going all in on subprime. I less than 2 years they admitted they had been broke since the spring of 2005. That’s both Fannie and Freddie.”

      From deep inside the Memory Hole …

      Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Were Into Subprime Lending, and Lied About It – Competitive Enterprise Institute
      https://cei.org/blog/fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac-were-into-subprime-lending-and-lied-about-it/

      (snip)

      “One of the regular claims from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac apologists . . . is that the two entities were blameless” for causing the mortgage meltdown and financial crisis, as these two “Government-sponsored enterprises” (GSEs) supposedly “weren’t involved in subprime” mortgages and were forbidden to buy them. This false and dishonest claim has now been refuted. In charging the former heads of Fannie and Freddie with fraud, “the Securities and Exchange Commission has decided that not only could the GSEs buy subprime, but they did in fact do so and, even worse, they lied about it.”

    2. And if I remember correctly one minority top toad got a hundred or two hundred million dollar golden parachute.

      1. Franklin Raines, another piece of work. IIUC he collected millions, had to give up some of the millions in the ensuing lawsuit settlements, but still had millions left over. He should be rotting in jail.

  7. ‘Saretsky says the Bank of Canada is not taking responsibility for the way it has encouraged people during the pandemic to pour money into housing by setting extremely low interest rates and, through a process known as quantitative easing, has effectively been printing $5 billion worth of new money each week, to head off a slowdown’

    5 billion K-dn pesos a week. Oh but the slow down – that the guberment created out of thin air. The central banks purposefully create these bubbles and crash inevitably follow. Are they held to account? Punished? Actually they get more power each time. Is it really a surprise they keep doing it?

  10. Oh dear….

    China’s Evergrande teeters on brink of default as deadline looms

    https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/12/6/chinas-evergrande-teeters-on-brink-of-default-as-deadline-looms

    Developer’s recent comments raise expectations of direct state involvement and managed debt restructure.

    After lurching from deadline to deadline, China Evergrande Group is again on the brink of default, with pessimistic comments from the property developer raising expectations of direct state involvement and a managed debt restructuring.

    Having made three 11th-hour coupon payments in the past two months, Evergrande will again face the end of a 30-day grace period on Monday, with dues this time at $82.5m.

    1. ‘Having made three 11th-hour coupon payments in the past two months’

      But that’s a lie. Also as an accountant, if you missed payments in August, yer already in default.

      2. But that’s a lie. Also as an accountant, if you missed payments in August, yer already in default.

        I remember last meltdown when there was a “credit event” that triggered a derivatives default which was lied about and not treated as such. Lots of financial fakery going on. These people rip each other off. Imagine being the person in line to get paid in the event of a default, but then being told “no, it didn’t really happen.”

    2. ** ” Evergrande will again face the end of a 30-day grace period on Monday, with dues this time at $82.5m.”

      82 million: are you kidding me?! that’s a rounding error, mere pocketchange for a big chinese company.
      all the money/profits are long dong gone in Vancouver sky safe-deposit boxes, Fremont, CA houses. . and countless other hidey-holes.

  11. Globalist propaganda flagship The Washington Post is running scathing critiques of Brandon’s comically unqualified, epically incompetent diversity hire VP. Are the elites maneuvering to swap Harris for Crooked Hillary – the globalists’ favorite – to position the unelectable Ms. Clinton to replace Biden when he’s trundled off to the eldercare facility?

    Kamala Harris is branded a ‘bully’ and accused of inflicting ‘constant, soul-destroying criticism’ on staff by ex-aides who claim she refused to read briefings, then scolded them if she was slated for being unprepared as ‘FOUR’ staffers head for the exit

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10277113/Even-aides-Kamala-Harris-eyeing-exits-new-report-reveals.html

    Kamala Harris has been branded a ‘bully’ who inflicted ‘constant-soul destroying criticism’ on her office staff in a damaging expose by a liberal newspaper.

    The Washington Post piece – a result of interviews with 18 people connected to the VP – also alleges that she’d fail to read briefings they’d prepared, only to turn on them if she was subsequently criticized for being unprepared.

    2. Kamala Harris is branded a ‘bully’ and accused of inflicting ‘constant, soul-destroying criticism’ on staff by ex-aides

      I seem to recall reading studies showing that most women would rather have a male boss.

    1. A related article …

      I lost my entire life savings on dodgy Squid Game cryptocurrency as scammers plundered $2million from investors
      https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/16600792/lost-life-savings-dodgy-squid-game-cryptocurrency/

      (a snip and a comment or two)

      “Tech website Gizmodo had previously warned that the coin was likely to be a scam but not before scammers were able to make an estimated $2.1 million.”

      😁

      “Squid was minted as a cryptocurrency that can be used to play an online game based on the Korean series but those who bought it soon realised they were unable to cash out.”

      Bahahahahahaha … reminds me of the Hotel California.

  13. Tax the rich ? Or just tax everyone and claim it’s taxing the rich .

    “Under the American Rescue Plan Act, people who sell goods or services on platforms like Etsy, eBay and other sites that use third-party transaction networks – like PayPal, Cash App and Venmo – will be issued a tax form called a 1099-K for online sales totaling $600 or more starting next year.Nov 16, 2021

    1. that’s why a national sales tax made sense to me even drug dealers hookers have to spend it on everyday items from toilet paper to lambos.

      1. VATs always start out small, and over time they grow and grow. 20% is the typical VAT in most of the world. So on top of paying up to 10% local sales tax, there would also be a VAT. And don’t think for a second that income taxes will go away.

        No, thanks.

    2. The Biden administration insists that audit rates for those making less than $400,000 would not go up and that the program was focused on collecting unpaid taxes from the rich.”

  14. FWIW, Steve Kirsch was just asked on his Substack if he is familiar with reports of graphene oxide in the jab and Dr Andreas Noack from Germany. Steve’s response: “None of the people I work with think that is legit. We’ll soon see. We have vials.”

    1. ** “FedEx ‘appalled’ after more packages found dumped in Alabama”

      damn! no wonder my FEDEX package tracking shows stuck in BFE Alabama. I was really counting on that package to get me thru the carpool lane, not to mention neighbor Lars needs an extra for gin rummy.

    1. “1,359. That’s how many Covid cases were confirmed on U.S. cruises from June 26 to Oct. 21, according to a report from the CDC. Most of those were breakthrough cases among fully vaccinated passengers.”

    2. Anyone else notice how all these cases are just “tested positive?” They NEVER tell you what sort of symptoms (if any) these folks are having.

        1. I won’t disagree, but “it’s different now,” since so many people have been vaccinated in the past year. How many of those breakthrough cases were asymptomatic positive tests, which would have been symptomatic before the vaccine/symptom reducer?

          [cue redhead boiling over with berensonmalonemccullogh linx in 3…2…1… 😱😱😱😱]

          3. asymptomatic positive tests

            People who are not symptomatic shouldn’t be tested for this very reason. If they’re not symptomatic, they’re not infectious. Asymptomatic spread was more fearmongering.

          4. A key distinction between chemistry and biology is life. Predictability and reproducibility become much more difficult at that point. Ask any baker who has worked with yeast. Humans are orders of magnitude more complicated than yeast. Engaging in a hypothetical involving such a dynamic and complex system seems futile.

          5. Asymptomatic spread was more fearmongering.

            It’s all fear mongering. Sometimes, if I have nothing better to do, I’ll watch the local news just to see how much time is dedicated to fearmongering. I have found it depends on if it’s been a slow news day. Slower days have at least 5 minutes of Covid fear pron. But even when there is something “big”, like a high school shooting, they still slip in some Covid fear.

          6. “An unanswerable hypothetical.”

            Modelers and risk analysts answer unanswerable hypotheticals on a daily basis.

          7. Modelers and risk analysts answer unanswerable hypotheticals on a daily basis.

            Good for them. I don’t.

          8. Modelers and risk analysts answer unanswerable hypotheticals on a daily basis.

            I have to admit, that is absolutely hilarious!

          9. Modelers and risk analysts answer unanswerable hypotheticals on a daily basis.

            If the models are flawed, and there is no way to know if they are other than to compare them with real world results, then the results are quite worthless.

            I always chuckle when in Sci Fi shows they do “simulations” to see if something will work. There’s a reason why at the end of the day you have to do real world testing to shake out the bugs. You don’t just test a new airliner in a simulation and if it passes it goes into service.

          12. You are correct about vaccine/symptom reducer. However, in this case it’s applicable. The vaccine/symptom reducer can turn a severe case into a mild case, and turn a mild case into an asymptomatic case.

          13. The vaccine/symptom reducer can turn a severe case into a mild case

            Well, that’s the Narrative, I guess. I, of course, have no way to verify or disprove such claims. So I either trust the “experts”, or I don’t. And given all the goal post moving and gaslighting, I choose not to trust.

            Also, the recently released (due to a court order) Pfizer vaxx safety report, which they hid while claiming that the vaxx was safe, further erodes any trust that I might have had left. And that’s just the short term adverse effects report. I don’t even want to think about the long term problems.

          14. Well, “It would have been worse if we hadn’t taken….” is a lie, because there is no way to know that.

          16. That’s what the modelers and risk analysts are for.

            Just ask the folks at Zillow who sell thousands of flips at a heavy loss.

          17. So . . . I’m ridiculed for following and sharing credible physicians and scientists as opposed to The Science, while oxide is late to the club with obvious observations and engages in worthless unanswerable hypotheticals. After 22 months of this, there shouldn’t be any question as to why I’m pointedly caustic at times.

        2. It’s why many people think COVID is a hoax or a casedemic. Not every positive PCR result equates to clinical disease and/or infectiousness. Case numbers were used to fearmonger after people caught on that COVID deaths included those dying with, not necessarily from, COVID.

          1. When the PTB resort to threats and fearmongering, you just know that there is an agenda behind it all.

  18. “With no other choice, since the house’s mortgage bills were coming in faster than my daughter’s crooked teeth, we cut another five thousand dollars off the asking price. Price cut after price cut, we were creeping dangerously close to what we initially overpaid for it. A few weeks later, we finally got the call. ‘Full price?’ I asked. ‘Not exactly,’ the realtor said. We settled a month later. In case you’re wondering, we don’t own a Peloton.”

    It was still cheaper than renting. At least you didn’t own Peloton stocks!

    1. and she doesn’t have to worry about Peloton repo’ing the bike . . like the newly sodded lawn. damnitt, dick!

    1. I see you’re going Old School with “a bucket of 11 herbs and spices….. and a herd of falling prices.” from the old Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial.

      Now I thought about going with Madge and Falling house prices? You’re Soaking In It. From the old Palmolive dish soap commercial but decided to go with the kid in the Oscar Mayer commercial instead.

      House Prices have a first name,
      It’s C-R-A-T-E-R
      House Prices have a second name,
      It’s F-R-A-U-D
      I love to watch them everyday,
      And if you ask me why I’ll say,
      Cause’ Housing Prices have a way to crash when people O-V-E-R-P-A-Y

      https://youtu.be/rmPRHJd3uHI

      3. We can go anywhere, go anywhere
        But first it’s your chance
        Take my hand
        Come with me
        Double your price
        Double your fun
        It’s the right one
        The Doubleprice house
        Double your price
        Double your fun
        It’s the right one
        The Doubleprice house
        Refreshen your life debt
        It’s the right debt
        The Doubleprice house, house
        Double your price
        With Doubleprice Doubleprice house

        1. I think the Doublemint twins I watched on commercials as a kid were the reason I let those two girls I danced with at bar in Lantana back in the 80s talk me into, oh never mind. 🙂

  20. New York City to mandate vaccines for all private sector workers.

    All private sector employers in New York City will now be required to implement a Covid-19 vaccine mandate by December 27, the city’s mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.

    They won’t give up until there’s a needle in every arm.

    “The more universal they are, the more likely employees will say okay, it’s time. I’m going to do this. Because you can’t jump from one industry to another or one company to another,” de Blasio said. “It’s something that needs to be universal to protect all of us.”

    They are trying to demoralize the resisters, so that they will give up and get the kill shot.

    1. “It’s something that needs to be universal to protect all of us.”

      From what?

      I know, hell I’m sure most people know a double vaxed believer who tested positive for Covid after two jabs and passed it along anyway. Then again, maybe he just had the flu and passed that along, who knows? Didn’t an energy drink just test positive for Covid?

      “protect all of us.”

      More like…

      Papers please!

      1. More like…

        Papers please!

        Exactly.

        This reminds me of a sci-fi short I saw on Dust (on youtube). The story was about a dude who had been living in some 3rd world sh!thole for years, who comes back to the US. His brother picks him up at the airport. The car has a built in breathalizer to start. As they are driving home the car informs his brother that he committed some kind of infraction and the car can no longer be driven until the fines are paid, so they have to walk home. Other despotic incidents follow, and the returning brother is shocked at what has happened in the US. A few days later he tries to leave, but can’t due to some minor fines he has to pay, but he has no digital credits to pay them with. His brother is not allowed to pay them, but his sister in law finds a way to do it, though she gets into trouble. He boards the plane and leaves the country, to never return.

          3. There was also some 1984 style surveillance in their home. The only safe place to talk is in one of the bathrooms, were the system was on the fritz and hadn’t been repaired yet.

            Anyway, if they can eventually force us to get jabbed, no doubt there will be other intrusions to follow.

          3. “This one?”

            Too good

            Too scary

            Too close to being reality

            “From my cold dead hands”

            Let’s Go Brandon!

      1. It’s better than two or three baby daddies paying spousal support and fighting over visitation schedules.

    3. What kind of guy is ok with his lady doing XXX on camera for creepers? That’s a big NO EFFING WAY in my book. Of course, I like a lady in a nice fitting sweater and jeans, not one who lets her junk hang out.

  22. This is what happens when narcissistic psychopathic governments have a monopoly on currency with no backing , they print and create prosperity in the present at the cost of destroying the future , and ,
    ” welcome to the future ”

  23. NPR has reported its Washington office was vandalized overnight. Six piglet heads were strewn across the entrance with a note. The note said “Little leftie fake journalist pig, we know where you live. And your little piglets too.”

    Yours truly,
    A fed up citizen

    A reckoning in in the wind.

  24. Man Claiming to Have Invented Bitcoin Wins Dispute, Gets to Keep $50B in Crypto
    By Ayumi Davis On 12/6/21 at 4:21 PM EST

    Craig Wright, a computer scientist claiming to be Bitcoin’s creator, won a civil lawsuit Monday, allowing him to keep about $50 billion in cryptocurrency, or 1.1 million Bitcoin, according to the Associated Press.

    The Bitcoin in question was among the first to be manufactured through mining and could only be owned by whoever or whatever was involved with the cryptocurrency since its start, like Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s creator.

    The lawsuit was won against the family of David Kleiman, a deceased business partner who claimed they were owed half of the 1.1 million Bitcoin. A Florida jury found they were not owed the Bitcoin, but gave them $100 million in intellectual property rights to a joint venture between Kleiman and Wright. According to the AP, this is only a fraction of what Kleiman’s lawyers asked for during the trial.
    …

    1. How do you prove anyone has $50B in Bitcoin? I thought the whole idea behind crypto was its secrecy. It’s not like there would be a Wells Fargo or Fidelity statement that would show that.

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