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The Party Is About To End As Central Banks Look To Take Away The Punch Bowl

A report from the New York Post. “Better.com became a pandemic darling as city dwellers sought to flee to greener and larger spaces in the suburbs, fueling a boom in the housing market and associated lenders. CEO Vishal Garg laid off some 900 employees on a Zoom call. The 43-year-old said that the ‘market has changed’ and that the company had to slim down to remain nimble enough to adapt to the evolving housing market, which appears to be cooling after a pandemic-boosted boom. ‘We should have done this three months ago,’ he said.”

From The Union. “Tahoe Sierra MLS president and Tahoe Luxury Properties agent Amie Quirarte said that she has seen a shift in the market for the past couple of months. ‘…things have started to taper off a bit … it seems that since there is some resemblance of normalcy,’ Quirarte said. ‘So that’s really shifted and I think that the frenzy has come and gone, so what we’re battling with now is where prices are gonna go.'”

“Quirarte said that in her experience the market has always been through its highs and lows, but she does not believe that there will be a crash or any dramatic dips in the market anytime soon. Her prediction is that in the next year the market will deescalate and become less competitive than it has been in the past two years. ‘I do think that we will see a decrease in property prices, which is a good thing because what was happening was not sustainable.’ Quirarte said.”

The Center Square. “According to Illinois Realtors, the housing market has slowed down considerably heading into next year. Officials at Realtor.com believe home prices will slightly increase and will remain high in 2022, but Northbrook real estate agent Katie Spaniak disagrees. ‘What I do see is that prices are going to come down,’ Spaniak said. ‘The one other thing you need to keep in mind as both a buyer and as a seller is those interest rates are going to go up. People who are in Illinois, a lot of them want to move out of Illinois. Not everyone, but a lot of people are, especially those empty nesters.'”

From Realtor.com on Hawaii. “Maui’s County Council is considering legislation to phase out a large portion of short-term rentals in apartment-zoned districts across the Valley Isle. Short-term rental owners say this is an example of government overreach. ‘It will pull the rug out from under us,’ an anonymous Luana Kai condo owner wrote in public testimony explaining that when she and her husband recently purchased the condo they had to take a large home equity loan on their primary residence in Seattle with the hope that their short-term rental income would offset Seattle’s high monthly expenses.”

From Bisnow New York. “A former real estate private equity firm CEO has been sentenced to five years in prison for fraudulently convincing hundreds of investors to collectively put $58M into funds he controlled. Eric Malley, the CEO and founder of MG Capital, was sentenced this week by U.S. District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos for securities fraud. He pleaded guilty in May.”

“Malley had created MG Capital Management Residential Fund III in 2014 and MG Capital Management Residential Fund IV in 2017. He claimed the funds had hundreds of income-producing properties across Manhattan, that were debt-free and were set to be leased to tech firms and a university. In truth, the funds had only mortgaged properties that had leases with individuals rather than corporations.”

“They also had fewer properties than he claimed, and they were not fully protected from loss as he had promised. About 60 investors put $23M in Fund III, and approximately 275 investors backed Fund IV for $35M. Fund III suffered net operating losses of about $860K, and its investors never received anything back. The holdings are now being liquidated. Malley will also have to make restitution payments of $33.2M and forfeit $5.6M.”

The Financial Post. “Low-interest-rates loving Canadians have lapped up $193 billion in new mortgage debt during the pandemic, taking total household debt to a record $2.5 trillion. But the party is about to end as central banks look to take away the punch bowl: The U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada have both signalled a faster return to monetary tightening next year as they pull the interest rate levers to tame inflation.”

“Another red flag: ‘low-quality’ mortgages now make up a quarter of all mortgages, compared to 14 per cent in 2019, underscoring the vulnerability of some households to higher rates. Other issues in Canada’s housing market are all emerging, with Bank of Canada blaming investors for frenzied market activity in the real estate market, and the federal government looking to squeeze out the ‘house flippers.'”

“More Canadian households are expected to be sensitive to interest rate movements as a quarter of outstanding mortgages by September 2021 were on a variable rate — from 18 per cent in February 2020. ‘The share of new mortgages with a loan-to-income (LTI) ratio above 450 per cent jumped to 22 per cent in late 2020, led by an increase in highly leveraged, uninsured mortgages,’ Oxford economists said. ‘This is well above the recent peaks in 2016 and 2017, and more recent data from the Bank of Canada suggests this share rose further to over 25 per cent in early 2021.'”

From News.com.au. “As more people take on dangerous levels of debt, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has issued a chilling warning to the nation’s homeowners, urging them to have a mortgage ‘buffer.’ Almost a quarter of people with a new loan owed the bank at least six times what they earned, official data from the banking regulator has revealed. And, with the median Australian house and unit price now at $698,170, an average-income earner would struggle to repay their loan.”

“Research director at RateCity, Sally Tindall, noted that ‘Australians are increasingly taking on eye-watering levels of debt compared to what they earn to get into an overheated property market. Record-low rates have enabled Australians to borrow more from the bank than ever before,’ she said.”

From Scoop New Zealand. “Rising interest rates, combined with further tightening of credit availability appear to be dampening the enthusiasm of investors and first home buyers. While house values continue to rise, what lies beneath QV’s latest figures is growing evidence that price pressure has shifted from the lower valued properties popular with investors and first home buyers, onto the higher valued housing stock where buyers are less impacted by credit availability and affordability constraints.”

“QV general manager David Nagel commented: ‘While the November numbers look extremely bullish there are growing signs that this property growth cycle is starting to transition. Real estate agents are reporting a significant upswing in listings, while open home attendance rates are falling. Some properties are being passed in at auctions, which was unheard of a few months ago. This isn’t a surprise given rising interest rates, changes to LVRs last month and now a further tightening of credit rules from December. This has taken a number of buyers out of the market, just as stock numbers are starting to increase, which is resetting the supply demand equilibrium.'”

“Residential property values in Rotorua have increased by an average of 7.5% this spring, reaching a new mean average home value of $742,615. Despite this, property consultant Derek Turnwald said local agents had been reporting falling numbers of participants at recent auctions and open homes. ‘It does appear that first-home buyers are being marginalised now, due to changes to the LVRs, rising interest rates and increased debt funding criteria of the banks. Investors also seem to be losing interest,’ he said. ‘Although the number of requests for appraisals is reasonable and it looks as though the traditional increase of listings over the summer months will occur, confidence does appear to be going from the market, with FOMO being replaced by a fear of paying too much.'”

From BBC News. “Concerns are growing over potential multi-million-dollar debt defaults by two of China’s biggest property companies. Investors are waiting for news about tens of millions of dollars of overdue interest payments owed by crisis-hit industry giant Evergrande. If, as the BBC understands, Evergrande did fail to make these payments on time, the stage could be set for a massive default by the world’s most indebted property developer.”

“It could trigger a so-called ‘cross default’ on Evergrande’s roughly $19bn of international bonds, putting it at risk of becoming China’s biggest defaulter. A cross default is a provision in a bond or loan agreement that puts a borrower in default if they default on another obligation.”

From ABC News. “Evergrande did not make payments on some $US bonds at the end of a month-long grace period, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters, setting the stage for a massive default by the world’s most-indebted property developer. No-one who invested in two bonds — issued by China Evergrande Group’s unit Scenery Journey Ltd — had received payment as of 1am AEDT on Wednesday, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.”

“Evergrande has not issued any communication to bondholders about the missed payment, one of the five sources said. ‘From our point of view, it has been a question of when, not if [because of] the scale of the interest payments and then early next year redemption payments has made this [default] seemingly inevitable,’ said one bondholder, who declined to be named.”

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This Post Has 135 Comments

  1. ‘It will pull the rug out from under us,’ an anonymous Luana Kai condo owner wrote in public testimony explaining that when she and her husband recently purchased the condo they had to take a large home equity loan on their primary residence in Seattle’

    Oh dear…

    1. “recently purchased the condo they had to take a large home equity loan on their primary residence”

      Precisely what drove the minor bump of the last 9 months….. on the way down a long flight of stairs.

      Ooooph.

      Granite Bay, CA Housing Prices Crater 27% As Sacramento County’s Fraud Hobbled Housing Market Gasps Its Last Breath

      https://www.movoto.com/granite-bay-ca/market-trends/

    2. “…had to take a large home equity loan on their primary residence in Seattle…”

      She’ll really be upset when their Seattle shack starts losing value!

  2. ‘The U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada have both signalled a faster return to monetary tightening next year’

    And Australia, and New Zealand. Others too, Korea. AND they are tightening loans in a thousand cuts. It always happens. But this time, these same central banks said in unison, you’ll own nothing and like it.

    So they set up a huge bender, allowing bat sh$t crazy price increases, and then break it off in their a$$es.

    1. Incessant jawboning about tightening, and actually tightening, are two very different things. Remember Yellen the Felon’s “Lucy and the Football” routine of talking up mythical pending rate hikes, then always finding some lame reason to defer? All of these central bankers should be in prison for their fiat currency fraud.

      1. Incessant jawboning? It was only a couple months ago or less, they were saying it’s pedal to the metal into next year and beyond. So no, this rate hiking is brand new. Now I’m not sure about the inflation thing. Gas prices going up and then down later is not inflation. If it has reared it’s ugly head that would be a multi-decade change.

        These central banks are all onboard with the current genocide too. We really need to stop playing along with the globalist scum media narratives. These people don’t “save” or stop anything. They create bubbles to pop them and make money and power afterward. Look up how the great depression happened. Flood markets with credit, pull it back suddenly – crater. And they don’t care how many people suffer.

        1. “Look up how the great depression happened. Flood markets with credit, pull it back suddenly – crater. And they don’t care how many people suffer.”

          Don’t look too close for malice for what can be explained by extreme mass stupidity.

          1. I used to think they were stupid. What changed was a couple of things. Remember when Albuquerque blew up by over 30%? I said, but that’s a sh$thole. Not putting down the great state of New Mexico, just saying these yuuuge increases in a place with no “story” or possible way to sustain it is bound to collapse. I think they did that on purpose. And this happened in many sh$tholes everywhere.

            The other thing that convinced me was the “no new normal/reset” thing. They all said it about the same time, even Jerry. That means coordination.

            Additionally, they didn’t say, I think this or I propose guberments pass a law that says yadda. They said it flat out like we got no choice in the matter. Yep, we’re going to reshape human existence, forever, because some pencil necked a$$holes say so. Guess what Klaus, you ain’t the boss of me or anyone else. And that’s why he’s hiding in his bunker these days and will for the rest of his life.

          2. ‘Launched by Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum in 2004,[1] the Young Global Leaders are governed by a board of twelve world and industry leaders, ranging from Queen Rania of Jordan to Marissa Mayer of Yahoo! and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales.[2] Schwab created the group with $1 million won from the Dan David Prize,[3] and the inaugural 2005 class comprised 237 young leaders. Young Global Leaders participate in the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, established in 2007 and known informally as “Summer Davos”, alongside Global Growth Companies and other delegations to the World Economic Forum.[4]’

            Notable members and alumni of Young Global Leaders include:[9]

            Jacinda Ardern
            Lera Auerbach
            Sergei Brin
            Anderson Cooper
            Bilge Demirköz
            Leonardo DiCaprio
            Ólafur Elíasson
            Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
            Sebastian Kurz
            Ashton Kutcher
            Jack Ma
            Emmanuel Macron
            Larry Page
            Michael Schumacher
            Charlize Theron
            Leo Tilman
            Fasi Zaka
            Mark Zuckerberg
            Sandeep P Parekh

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Global_Leaders

          3. Reply to:

            Ben Jones
            December 8, 2021 at 9:54 am

            These are some of the best comments on some of the best threads on the HBB that I can ever remember. And I’m too busy now doing the capitalist pig work thing to read or reply to many of them in the daytime. But please keep bringing it so we can read it in the evening…

        2. “Now I’m not sure about the inflation thing. Gas prices going up and then down later is not inflation.”

          Precisely. It’s no more inflation that appraisal fraud is. It’s a real hoot to hear people scream “inflation” with their hair on fire and arms flapping though. Screaming inflation simply serves as DebtDonkey salve….. Donk-eze.

  3. ‘If, as the BBC understands, Evergrande did fail to make these payments on time’

    Hey, globalist scum media. These clowns haven’t been making payments for months. So where did all these claims they made “last minute payments” come from? They made it up.

    ‘the stage could be set for a massive default by the world’s most indebted property developer…’

    Worse!

    ‘It could trigger a so-called ‘cross default’ on Evergrande’s roughly $19bn of international bonds’

    Worser!! Is that a lot of goldfish?

    1. Worst of all: A bunch of rich guys who invested in Chinese real estate development bonds are going to be left holding the bag on the Evergrande default with nobody to bail them out.

      1. “left holding the bag”

        Fun info via Wiki. There are two explanations for the term, both applicable in this case.

        Explanation Number One:

        “The expression ‘left holding the bag’ originated in eighteenth century Britain and spread throughout the English-speaking world. In this context, a person left holding the bag is stuck with the stolen goods, taking the blame from the police while the rest of a criminal gang escapes.”

        Explanation Number Two:

        “The phrase is also used in association with the fool’s errand known as a snipe hunt, a practical joke in which an unsuspecting newcomer is led outdoors and left ‘holding the bag’ in which to catch a creature that does not exist.”

        Bahahahahahaha … “in which to catch a creature that does not exist” …

        “As an American rite of passage, it is often associated with summer camps and groups such as the Boy Scouts.”

        I’d like to add the financial community to this list.

        2. “Snipe hunt . . . as an American rite of passage, it is often associated with summer camps and groups such as the Boy Scouts.”

          DeMolay also. Texas. mid 70’s.

        1. I didn’t say the wouldn’t, but he/she/bot is conflating the two regions, which is like saying what is happening in Los Angeles is because of subprime loans in Phoenix.

  5. From the first link:

    ‘Garg reportedly has built a reputation for having high expectations and punishing employees over tiny infractions. Office managers were once reportedly criticized for failing to keep the mini-fridge stocked with Fiji and Perrier water. ‘Why do we have biscotti here like this??’ he once demanded from office managers.’

    ‘In another email obtained by Forbes last year, Garg wrote: ‘You are TOO DAMN SLOW. You are a bunch of DUMB DOLPHINS and…DUMB DOLPHINS get caught in nets and eaten by sharks. SO STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME.”

    Does this sound like a company that can back up billion$ in shack loans? I bet he doesn’t even have goldfish.

    2. Don’t go broke, go public.

      “The company announced in May that it plans to go public through a SPAC, or special-purpose acquisition company, at a $7.7 billion valuation.”

      Going public is where the real money is made: Insiders award themselves shares then sell these shares to outsider investors, many of whom are mere managers of other people’s money.

      Currently (and stupidly) Price equals Value. Push up the price of your shares and you magically create value. This “value” can then be distributed among (choke) investors via The Great Wealth Redistribution Machine, aka the stock market.

      PFM (Pure F*cking Magic).

      1. SPAC, or special-purpose acquisition company

        From Investopedia (emphasis added): A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is a company that has no commercial operations and is formed strictly to raise capital through an initial public offering (IPO) for the purpose of acquiring or merging with an existing company. Also known as “blank check companies,” SPACs have been around for decades, but their popularity has soared in recent years. In 2020, 247 SPACs were created with $80 billion invested, and in just the first quarter of 2021, a record $96 billion was raised from 295 newly formed SPACs. By comparison, only two SPACs came to market in 2010.

      2. “Insiders award themselves shares then sell these shares to outsider investors, many of whom are mere managers of other people’s money.”

        This is why a 401K is a terrible investment. Well that and the government telling you it’s great! Why let your money be managed by someone enriching themselves. Invest post tax and manage it yourself.

  7. “And, with the median Australian house and unit price now at $698,170, an average-income earner would struggle to repay their loan.”

    The whole world is in a bubble, but Australia and New Zealand seem to be in a class all their own. Their economies are based on mining, tourism and agriculture. Aside from Rio Tinto and a couple banks I don’t think I could name another company in those countries.

    1. The Aussies once manufactured cars. That is long gone. All their cars are imported now.

      Mexico’s economy is more diversified.

  8. Electing Democrat DAs yields predictable results.

    Pueblo Police Chief: Thefts under $2,000 cannot result in jail time

    https://krdo.com/news/crime/2021/12/03/pueblo-police-chief-thefts-under-2000-cannot-result-in-jail-time/

    PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — In 2021, theft and larceny in Pueblo is up 11%. Auto theft has almost doubled in the city, going up 46%. However, thanks to a current policy in place, some thieves can avoid jail time.

    In a crime report given to Pueblo City Council in November, Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller said, “the current policy of the Pueblo County Jail is to accept only those felony charges with the exception of DUI or domestic violence,”

    He adds, “in the case of thefts, a person can steal up to $1,999.00 of merchandise from store or person and will not be taken to jail.”

    1. Pueblo has long been a hive of scum and villainy. The current policies are just the cherry on top.

  10. This would make a perfect HQ for the Clinton Foundation.

    Who would want it? Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ‘Zorro’ sex ranch is still on the market for $27.5million six months after it was first listed

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10287719/Jeffrey-Epsteins-New-Mexico-sex-ranch-market-27-5m-six-months-listed.html

    The 10,000 acre property in New Mexico where Jeffrey Epstein allegedly trafficked several women is still on the market for $27.5 million six months after it was first listed.

    The Zorro Ranch, located around 35 miles from Sante Fe, was first put up for sale in July by the Neil Lyon Group at Sotheby’s.

    But half a year later, the estate is still up for sale after it emerged the late pedophile and financier allegedly used the property, where he reportedly trafficked girls, as a playground for his VIP guests.

    1. It would be a wise purchase by the Clinton Foundation, I’m sure Bill’s “DNA” is all over that place.

  11. I’m shaking my head at how my inverse 1:1 REIT ETF is STILL going down, and frankly frustrated that I got in and kept buying way too early (down about 40%). I think the only thing propping up REIT’s at this point is that they aren’t cash.

    But looking at all the latest, it seems ridiculously underpriced and I’m tempted to put another year’s annual bonus into it, too.

    1. Economist John Maynard Keynes famously said, “The stock market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.”

      A friend of a friend was shorting Tesla about 6 years ago. He was probably right even way back then.

      1. That’s a good quote, all true.

        After the bust, I’m going to let someone else manage my money. I’m too much of a perma-bear to be trusted in markets over time. But I need this one, last time, to die on this hill (or emerge victorious).

        1. There is definitely the real danger of becoming a permabear. A friend and I were both convinced in 2005 that the housing market was going to collapse and take down everything with it, so we pulled everything out of the markets and started shorting the markets (as with you, a little too early). When everything crashed in 2008 we both went back long, but then he almost immediately got bearish again and started shorting and lost quite a bit of money. He remained bearish for many years. Eventually we stopped talking about investing and for all I know he has remained bearish till today.

          1. “…got bearish again and started shorting and lost quite a bit of money.”

            Yep, the fed has demonstrated a dislike of shorty.

      1. Ugh, it seems every day brings another story of these b@st@rds “speculating in the breadstuffs of the nation,” as Andrew Jackson said. Why can’t these bankers get their rocks off by investing in tulip bulbs, instead of things needed by ordinary people?

        1. In a desperate search for yield, these pigs would crowbar grandma’s knee, step on her neck and break the fillings out of her teeth if they had to.

  13. https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/12/thomas-dilorenzo/americas-dr-mengele/

    ‘The pharmaceutical industry “remunerated Incarnation Children’s Center . . . for supplying children for the tests,” writes Kennedy. The “tests” involved giving the children experimental drugs that were “toxic – they’re known to cause genetic mutation, organ failure, bone marrow death, bodily deformations, brain damage, and fatal skin disorders” (p. 246). Torture is not too strong a word to describe what happened to these children. “If the children refuse the drugs,” says Kennedy, “they’re held down and force fed. If the children continue to resist, they’re taken to Columbia Presbyterian hospital, where a surgeon puts a plastic tube through their abdominal wall into their stomachs. From then on, the drugs are injected directly into their stomachs” (p. 246). This wasn’t science fiction or a sick horror movie, says Kennedy, but Fauci-funded “AIDS research.”

    ‘Many of these children died as a result of the “research.” Investigative journalist Vera Sharav, who spent years investigating all of this, told Kennedy that Fauci “just brushed all those dead babies under the rug. They were collateral damage in his career ambitions.” She said that at least 80 children died from Fauci’s drug torture chamber in the Manhattan foster home alone.’

    ‘You probably never heard of this, but the BBC produced a documentary of “the savage barbarity of Dr. Fauci’s science projects” in 2004 entitled “Guinea Pig Kids.” A BBC investigative journalist said in the documentary that “I found the mass graves at Gate of Heaven cemetery in Hawthorne, New York . . . . I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a very large pit with AstroTurf thrown over it . . . . Under it one could see dozens of plain wooden coffins . . . there may have been 100 of them” (p. 247).’

    ‘The New York City Administration of Child Services commissioned a four-year investigation of Fauci’s Dr. Mengele-style “experiments” and found that 80 of the 532 children who participated in Fauci’s “clinical trials” died, and 25 died while enrolled in a medication trial (p. 251). By 2003 Fauci’s NIAID was running 10,906 clinical trials involving children in ninety countries (p. 257). Today Fauci, his longtime vaccine-manufacturing billionaire partner Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the World Economic Forum are desperately campaigning to have every child in the world – even infants – injected with their latest “vaccine.” These are the same people who have publicly fantasized about all humans someday having an implanted “digital I.D.” in their bodies to achieve their goal of “transhumanism.” They say they want a “digital I.D. implanted into everyone for purposes of government monitoring of all human behavior by some kind of super, international, government institution.’

    ‘Another charming fact about Fauci that Kennedy discuses is that Fauci has also funded (with your hard-earned tax dollars) experiments where Beagle puppies had their heads locked into cages where they could be eaten to death by flies. He also gave University of Pittsburgh “researchers” $400,000 to “graft the scalps of aborted fetuses onto living mice and rats” (p. 253).’

    It goes on with numerous atrocities.

          2. “Initially, the researchers mistakenly listed NIAID as a funder when they published a paper in a scientific journal in late July.”

            Mistakenly. Uh huh.

          3. Fauci and company are grasping at straws to distance themselves from their cruelty.

            “Milbank took NIAID’s claims at face value. But there’s reason to be skeptical of NIAID’s position.

            In 2019, NIAID paid the researchers who conducted the disputed experiment $167,000 to fund experiments on beagles in Tunisia, with the aim of developing a vaccine for the disease ZVL. 👉🏼The disputed experiment that was reported in the media was conducted by the same scientists and also involved beagles in Tunisia infected with ZVL.👈🏻 The experiment appears to be related to the research that NIAID acknowledges funding; certainly the researchers, who credited NIAID with funding it under the 2019 grant, believed it to be.

            However, the disputed experiment did not directly involve a vaccine — a detail that NIAID, and its defenders in the media, apparently believe lets the institute off the hook. Once the experiment began receiving negative publicity, NIAID sought to distance itself from the project. Because the 2019 grant was for research into a vaccine, and the disputed experiment did not directly involve a vaccine, NIAID now claims that it did not fall under the scope of the grant and should not have been reported as such.

            It’s a technical distinction without a difference, but it was enough for a willfully credulous Milbank to dismiss not only the Tunisia experiment, but the entire story of the decades-long history of NIAID-funded animal experimentation as part of “an endless game of gotcha by Fauci’s right-wing critics.”

            https://leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/p/fauci-funded-yet-another-cruel-beagle

          5. distance themselves from their cruelty.

            Ironically, we don’t disapprove of animal testing in general. However, this is Beagles. Cute Beagles!

          6. “Ironically, we don’t disapprove of animal testing in general. However, this is Beagles. Cute Beagles!”

            I don’t approve of animal testing in general, only if it’s absolutely necessary, and this include testing on rats, mice, etc.

            There are plenty of unnecessary, cruel experiments being funded with taxpayer money.

            https://www.whitecoatwaste.org

          2. Bannon was on Beanie Boy again last night. I enjoy listening to Bannon but still would feel better with verification.

        2. “Someone else’s computer” could be on prem, as opposed to 3000 miles and many routers and switches away. Some opt for this, even though it costs more than conventional cloud.

          As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

      2. And now, with 2-factor authentication increasingly mandated, phone outages will result in admins for major systems getting locked out. And the phones have many points of failure.

        I have not yet heard about this, but just wait and see.

        1. Critical system admins have digital smart cards with user photos rather than rely on smartphones. There’s also the dual key vault with yubi keys for an TEOTWAWKI scenario.

  16. “…the company had to slim down to remain nimble enough to adapt to the evolving housing market, which appears to be cooling after a pandemic-boosted boom.”

    Someday I hope to hear a great explanation of exactly how a pandemic can boost a housing boom. MSM financial writers regularly recite this as a tenet of faith, but the idea reeks of complete nonsense.

  17. ‘I do think that we will see a decrease in property prices, which is a good thing because what was happening was not sustainable.’

    It’s starting to dawn on the second hand home sellers that if prices don’t come back down to earth, they won’t be able to eat.

    1. But if prices do come down to earth then the reason for all this forever-price-rise speculative madness vanishes which sours the market and thus the house sellers still don’t get to eat.

      1. It sounds like the previously lived in home sellers are screwed from here on out, no matter what. Chalk it up to the addition of residential housing to the list of assets for Wall Street financiers to trade like poker chips.

        1. This may help explain why the list of people we personally know who either recently left California or have near term plans to leave include some who are REIC industry workers.

    1. The Financial Times
      Chinese society
      Chinese weddings fall to 13-year low as demographic crisis brews
      Gender imbalance and high cost of tying the knot blamed for fewer couples getting married
      A bride and groom walking hand in hand near the Forbidden City in Beijing
      A study of five provinces found the average value of engagement gifts for rural couples had surged to at least $47,000 over the past seven years
      © Greg Baker/AFP/Getty
      Sun Yu in Shanghai yesterday

      China’s efforts to lower the cost of marriage and boost birth rates have failed to lead to more weddings, dealing a blow to a crucial policy intended to combat a rapidly ageing society.

      The world’s most populous country faces a demographic crisis as authorities grapple with the economic challenges caused by a shrinking population. Chinese census data released this year showed the population had increased at its slowest pace in decades.

      The Ministry of Civil Affairs in April launched an education drive to make marriage more affordable in 29 cities, as the cost of tying the knot had risen beyond the reach of average families.

      “A drop in marriage will affect birth rates and in turn economic and social development,” said Yang Zongtao, a senior official at the MCA last year. “We are hoping to . . . actively create favourable conditions for more people of suitable ages to walk into marriage.”

      But new marriage licences fell to a 13-year low of 5.9m in the first three-quarters of 2021. The number of marriages has declined for eight consecutive years.
      …

    1. Very visually dramatic, but the vertical scale may be misleading, as it appears to capture a range of values from 110.4 to 109.0. In other words, nothing much has changed.

  20. FDA Says It Now Needs 75 Years to Fully Release Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Data

    ‘That timeline would take it until at least 2096, Aaron Siri, a lawyer working on the case, said in a blog post.’

    “If you find what you are reading difficult to believe—that is because it is dystopian for the government to give Pfizer billions, mandate Americans to take its product, prohibit Americans from suing for harms, but yet refuse to let Americans see the data underlying its licensure,” Siri said.’

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/fda-says-it-now-needs-75-years-to-fully-release-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-data_4145410.html

    It’s not a vaccine. Mandates aren’t laws.

        1. The entity that filed the FOIA probably said something silly like “Give us everything you have.” Yes, well, everything they have is hundreds of thousands of pages, and yes, it will take years to redact for public release.

          Instead of screeching “cover up,” the entity that filed the FOIA needs to narrow down what they want to look at. Fewer documents –> less time to release. If I were filing that FOIA, I would ask for only those documents which were signed by specific individuals in FDA, or for emails which contain the words “cardiac” or “myocarditis,” or only for adverse event data tables. FDA could probably find and release those in a couple of months. No coverup needed.

          1. PHMPT’s Complaint, p. 2, Items 5 & 6

            Relevant federal law (emphasis added):
            21 C.F.R. § 601.51(e) provides that after a biological product is licensed, the following information shall be made
            available for immediate disclosure absent extraordinary circumstances: “(1) All safety and effectiveness data and information. (2) A protocol for a test or study . . . . (3) Adverse reaction reports, product experience reports, consumer complaints, and other similar data and information . . . . (4) A list of all active ingredients and any inactive ingredients . . . . (5) An assay method or other analytical method . . . . (6) All correspondence and written summaries of oral
            discussions relating to the biological product file . . . . (7) All records showing the manufacturer’s testing of a particular
            lot . . . . (8) All records showing the testing of and action on a particular lot by the [FDA].”

          2. Instead of screeching “cover up,”

            Instead of commenting on something you know absolutely nothing about, do some simple searches or shut up.

        1. Military Times
          Commentary
          A eulogy for Operation Warp Speed
          By Brendan Borrell
          Monday, Nov 29
          FILE – On Feb. 4, 2021, Tech. Sgt. Joseph Anthony, of the 911th Aeromedical Staging Squadron, holds a COVID-19 vaccine vial at the Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station, Pennsylvania.
          (Joshua J. Seybert/Air Force)
          Editor’s note: This piece has been updated to reflect the correct rank and title for Matt Clark and Matthew Hepburn.

          On the day after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, a new set of orders came down the chain of command to the Operation Warp Speed team working under Gen. Gustave Perna: The signs must come down. With the efficiency that one would expect from the program that had delivered three coronavirus vaccines to the country in record time, the Operation Warp Speed signs were all stripped from the walls of headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services and placed inside a locked room.
          …

        3. That’s a veiled attempt to blame Trump while neglecting that his administration had a multi-prong approach that included generic pharmaceuticals as well as monoclonal antibody therapeutics. The jabs were intended for the most at-risk population. See Peter Navarro’s In Trump Time. The Biden administration is the one violating the constitution by mandating the jabs and ushering in totalitarianism, but you wouldn’t know that because you follow and believe MSM, Reuters and Snopes that have been shown to have strong financial ties to Pfizer.

          1. Peter Navarro Washington Times Opinion (emphasis added)

            Dr. Fauci’s deadly lie of omission
            He knew COVID-19 may have originated in a Wuhan lab and decided not tell anyone

            On May 11, 2021, Dr. Anthony Fauci lied to Senator Rand Paul and Congress about the gain of function experiments his agency funded at a Wuhan bioweapons lab. For that alone, Dr. Fauci belongs in an orange jumpsuit. Yet Dr. Fauci’s far bigger lie is one of omission.

            Dr. Fauci’s big lie of omission may be traced to January 31, 2020. As I document in my new book In Trump Time, that’s three days after my first of many showdowns with Dr. Fauci.

            On January 28, I had gone to the iconic White House Situation Room to elicit on behalf of President Donald J. Trump support from the as yet informal Coronavirus Task Force for the president’s proposed travel ban on incoming flights from Communist China. Like the president, I was deeply concerned that we had a pandemic on our hands – I had written about the possibility years earlier – and the only prudent course was to close our borders.

            When I entered the Situation Room that day, I had never met Dr. Fauci and had no idea that he was an icon. I just saw a nondescript guy sitting across from me at high noon with who I would quickly get into a violent argument.

            Dr. Fauci’s insisted the virus was low risk, and travel bans didn’t work. I saw it as the height of stupidity to allow 20,000 Chinese nationals a day into America when China itself was locked down tighter than the snap ties on a Uighur prisoner and when Wuhan’s crematoria were working overtime.

            Of course, the travel ban Dr. Fauci opposed would turn out to be one of the president’s most prescient and courageous decisions, one that would save millions of lives. But the much bigger story began three days later with an email from Kristian Andersen of the Scripps Research Institute warning Dr. Fauci that the Wuhan virus looked genetically engineered.

            With that morning message from Mr. Anderson, Dr. Fauci almost certainly knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that the virus likely came from the Wuhan lab, which his agency had funded. Dr. Fauci also must’ve known that the virus may well have been genetically engineered using the gain of function experiments Dr. Fauci and his accomplice, NIH Director Francis Collins, had both lobbied for. (Mr. Collins has already resigned in disgrace.)

            At that critical point, Dr. Fauci had a moral, ethical, and patriotic duty to immediately go to President Trump, the White House National Security Council, and the task force itself to disclose these possibilities. Instead of coming clean, Dr. Fauci kept quiet.

            At NO time at any briefing with the president or the task force did Dr. Fauci indicate any possible role of his own agency in spawning the pandemic. This lie of omission alone is sufficient to convict Tony Fauci for the crime of treason as it would result in the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

            Indeed, if we had known what Dr. Fauci declined to tell us, we would have adopted a completely different strategy to fight the pandemic, one that included a much more aggressive attitude towards Communist China to pressure it to full disclosure. That different strategy would likely have saved millions of lives worldwide and hundreds of thousands of Americans as we would have gotten to the truth behind the virus and its genetic code much more quickly.

            Dr. Fauci not only lied by omission. He backed Mr. Andersen off while orchestrating a coverup through cutouts like Peter Daszak of the Eco-Health Alliance. To wit: Using prestigious publications like the Lancet, Mr. Daszak was behind a letter-writing campaign to promote the false Communist Chinese Party narrative that the virus came from nature, not the Fauci-funded Wuhan lab.

            Dr. Fauci MUST be immediately removed from the National Institutes of Health. He must be strapped into a chair on Capitol Hill to confess his crimes and then moved into courts of law – both civil and criminal – and held accountable for the laws he has broken, including lying to Congress. He is a sociopath, narcissist, and criminal that this country has had quite enough of.

  22. Not buying it, globalists & Big Pharma.

    Explosion in New Heart Conditions Explained as “Post Pandemic Stress Disorder”

    https://summit.news/2021/12/08/explosion-in-new-heart-conditions-explained-as-post-pandemic-stress-disorder/

    Experts in the UK say that an explosion in new heart illnesses in younger patients can be explained by a new condition called “post-pandemic stress disorder.”

    Yes, really.

    A London Evening Standard report quotes senior vascular surgeon Tahir Hussain, who works at an NHS hospital in London.

    “I’ve seen a big increase in thrombotic-related vascular conditions in my practice,” said Hussain. “Far younger patients are being admitted and requiring surgical and medical intervention than prior to the pandemic.”

    Hussain said that the cases are “a direct result of the increased stress and anxiety levels caused from the effects of PPSD (post-pandemic stress disorder).”

    1. As I said yesterday, it was even more stressful last year. Remember how you could get arrested in the UK just for walking in the woods? Or the cop arresting a guy walking alone on the beach? There were no vaccines and people were losing their jobs left and right. But no surge in heart attacks.

      Now you can travel, there are plenty of unfilled jobs and there are AMAZING vaccines that will save you from the virus!

      I’m gonna go with the vaxx as being the cause.

      And I wouldn’t be surprised if Dr. Hussain was informed of the Narrative he was to convey, or else.

    2. I guess all those 30 year old European soccer players that keep dropping dead on the field just can’t handle the stress.

      1. Newsom took his family to Cabo, Mexico. It’s suspected he was there for stem cell treatments for his vaccine-induced GBS.

  24. I guess the really want everyone to leave.

    Starting in January, banana peels, chicken bones and leftover veggies won’t be allowed in most California trash bins under a mandatory food recycling program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from landfills.

    And what exactly are they going to do with the banana peels?

    However you dispose of organic materials, they are going to decompose and emit CO2. Burning them won’t help.

    This sounds like the brainchild of six figure gooberment types who can’t solve a single problem, and who usually just make things worse.

    1. Who’s going to enforce this nonsense? Are the street-level trash collectors going to rifle through each and every trash bag so that they can match each particular banana peel to its corresponding offensive house? Are apartment-dwellers with communal dumpsters exempt?

      And yes, this is clearly the brainchild of six-figure gooberment management. The staff-level types aren’t this wak. And the ones who are, usually make it into the management level pretty fast.

    2. “And what exactly are they going to do with the banana peels?”

      They will be composted along with all the other organic leftovers.

      “However you dispose of organic materials, they are going to decompose and emit CO2. Burning them won’t help.”

      The recycling plan is meant to prevent the organic material from fermenting and thus generating methane gas. It is true that decomposing via aerobic decay or burning will generate carbon dioxide gas but this moderately evil carbon dioxide gas has been deemed to be a less deadly threat to the planet than the truly evil methane gas.

      1. prevent the organic material from fermenting and thus generating methane gas

        Fermentation generates alcohol. Anaerobic digestion creates methane.

        We have the technology to harvest methane from landfill gas. I used to work on these systems…Vacuum Swing Adsorption.

        1. From the net…

          “What is methane fermentation?”

          “Methane fermentation is a versatile biotechnology capable of converting almost all types of polymeric materials to methane and carbon dioxide under anaerobic conditions. … Anaerobes play important roles in establishing a stable environment at various stages of methane fermentation.”

          1. Good for you and the net.

            I’m sorry, but anaerobic digestion is not fermentation. Fermentation is sugar converted to alcohol by yeast. The way things get changed these days, perhaps I’m not keeping up with the young idiots.

  25. “We really need to stop playing along with the globalist scum media narratives.”

    Nominating this for its own weekend thread. Hopefully a Sunday thread because I work on Saturdays.

  26. Why do the globalists and their Democrat-Bolshevik Quislings feel the need to constantly be expanding their Orwellian surveillance & data collection on us?

    A New Subaru Lawsuit Says Forester DriverFocus Violates Your Privacy

    https://www.torquenews.com/1084/new-subaru-lawsuit-says-forester-driverfocus-violates-your-privacy

    A lawsuit filed against Subaru claims new DriverFocus technology in 2022 Forester, 2022 Outback, and 2022 Legacy violates your privacy by illegally collecting biometric data. Check out the full report here.

    1. Imagine your insurance rates if they knew you dipped your french fries in the little catsup cup between your knees while holding the big mac in the other hand?

      1. The bottom of the steering wheel wouldn’t be at knee-height if this wasn’t an intended use case/scenario!!!

  27. Any Deplorables who find themselves in the clutches of our globalist-subverted “Justice” system can expect to face nightmarish incarceration conditions, while Democrat DAs high-five the real criminals and insurrectionists on their way out the revolving door. The Establishment GOP is of course AWOL when it comes to fighting the systemic abuses and miscarriage of justice in our Democrat-corrupted judicial & penitentiary systems.

    Reps. Greene and Gohmert Finally Met the J6 Political Prisoners: What They Saw Isn’t Pretty

    https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/kevindowneyjr/2021/12/07/reps-greene-and-gohmert-finally-met-the-j6-political-prisoners-what-they-saw-isnt-pretty-n1539714

    Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene today released “Unusually Cruel- An Eyewitness Report From Inside The DC Jail,” her report about what she saw when she was finally allowed to meet the January 6 political prisoners.

    Reps. Greene, Gohmert, Gaetz, and Gosar tried, unsuccessfully, to visit the January 6 political prisoners twice earlier this year. They were turned back for no stated reasons. They sent a congressional letter and forced a confrontation with the D.C. mayor’s office and the Washington D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC) staff just so they could inspect a jail that “they have the right, prerogative, and duty as of Members of Congress to inquire and inspect.”

  28. Every D-voter is an accessory to this. Deal with them accordingly.

    America’s deadly year: Philadelphia now has more murders than NYC and LA and a DOZEN major US cities smash annual homicide records (and they are ALL Democrat)

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10289355/Americas-deadly-year-Philadelphia-murders-NYC-LA.html

    Philadelphia has shattered its 30-year-old record for annual murders, surpassing the much larger cities of New York and Los Angeles as a dozen major cities post all-time records for homicides — all of them with Democratic mayors.

    As of December 6, Philadelphia had recorded 521 homicides for the year, surpassing New York’s 443 and Los Angeles at 352.

  29. Both wings of the Republicrat duopoly are equally worthless when it comes to fiscal responsibility.

    Republicans just needlessly handed Democrats a blank check on the debt limit

    https://nypost.com/2021/12/08/house-passed-bill-to-raise-debt-ceiling-without-republican-vote/

    Since President Joe Biden took office in January, the national debt has increased by $1.2 trillion. Legislation enacted since the Democrats took complete control of Washington will add at least another $2 trillion to deficits — and this does not include the gimmick-ridden Build Back Better plan being negotiated in the Senate.

    Despite winning all levers of federal power in the last election and using them to add trillions to the debt, Democrats have refused to take responsibility for their actions and increase the debt limit without Republican help.

  30. Here is another fine report from my favorite Millennial housing market Cassandra. Keep warning the greater fools away from their folly before it’s too late for them!

    2. “Description
      REPORT WARNING! Americans Can’t Afford Rent / 2022 Housing Crash Inevitable
      Reventure Consulting
      11,265 views
      Premiered 3 hours ago
      The latest BLS Jobs Report has a big MARKET CRASH SIGNAL Buried in the Fine Print. Home Prices are up 20%. Rental Rates are up 14%. Yet Hourly Wages are only up…5%?

      America’s in a big Housing Bubble at the end of 2021 – and perhaps on the edge of a Housing Crisis. Mortgage Payments and Rental Rates are at all-time highs. Many are now wondering whether the Housing Market, along with the Rental Market and US Economy, will crash in 2022.
      …”

  31. BlueSkye
    December 8, 2021 at 5:31 pm
    distance themselves from their cruelty.

    Ironically, we don’t disapprove of animal testing in general. However, this is Beagles. Cute Beagles!

    “Leap Year” quotes (2010)

    “- Declan: I’m wondering where it is that you think chickens come from?
    – Anna: The freezer section.”

    1. Didn’t read my reply, I guess. So you’re okay with Fauci funding excessively cruel, unnecessary experiments. Got it.

      Not sure why anyone is surprised that someone that funds such experiments (Fauci) , has no problem using humans as guinea pigs.

      “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
      Mahatma Gandhi

  32. Funeral Director Describes “Alarming Rise” in Blood Clot Deaths Since Covid Vaccine Rollout

    by Adan Salazar
    December 8th 2021, 12:22 pm

    Posting an update to social media, the director of Milton Keynes Family Funeral Services, John, described seeing an “unnatural” rise in the deaths since the vaccine rollout.

    “What we’re seeing is an unnaturally large number of deaths due to heart attack, stroke, aneurysm, and these are all as a direct result of thrombosis, embolisms in the lungs, the legs, various places thus causing these deaths. And these are well documented across the country,” the funeral director said.

    @Revelation2041
    Funeral Director Talks About His Recent “Clients” ☠ (Part 1/4)

    https://twitter.com/Revelation2041/status/1468015628208553985?s=20

    “Nobody seems to be concerned by the alarming rise in them. I used to see blood clots very, very rarely and now I’ve seen more this year than I have seen in the previous 14, to give you an idea.”

    https://www.infowars.com/posts/funeral-director-describes-alarming-rise-in-blood-clot-deaths-since-covid-vaccine-rollout/

  34. FDA Now Says Pfizer Clinical Data Will Take 75 Years to Release

    by Paul Joseph Watson
    December 9th 2021, 5:50 am

    Lawyer calls agency’s behavior “dystopian.”

    Lawyers representing a group of doctors calling themselves Public Health and Medical Professionals have demanded to know why it took the FDA just 108 days to study Pfizer’s documents but it will take 20,000 days to make the same documents public.

    The FDA claims it doesn’t have enough resources to accelerate the process and that devoting more time to the issue would take away from other FOIA requests.

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