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Buyers Are Ending Up In A Stronger Position, With More Time, Choice And Leverage

A report from Mortgage News Daily. “Black Knight’s latest Mortgage Monitor report was released this morning. One of the two key pieces of additional data is the average mortgage payment associated with the average-priced home.  After all, rates are lower now than they were at the last price peak in 2006.  Nonetheless, the difference in prices has now more than offset the difference in rates. The second key piece of data from Black Knight compares median incomes to average home prices to come up with a payment to income ratio.  In other words, how much of the median family’s income is needed to afford the average-priced home (20% down, 30yr fixed)?”

“As the chart suggests, this ratio was only ever higher for a few years leading up to the mortgage meltdown and financial crisis of 2008.”

From Bankrate. “Prices in February rose by the fastest annual rates on many items that consumers regularly buy. Among them were service-based sectors, such as car repair costs and meals out at restaurants — adding to fears that inflation in motion tends to stay in motion. ‘We’ve had price stability for a very long time and maybe come to take it for granted,’ said Fed Chair Jerome Powell. ‘But now we see the pain.'”

From Consumer Affairs. “‘When we see a significant increase in calls from people calling about foreclosures, we know that it is going to have a negative impact on home sales, housing starts, and mortgage applications,’ said Legal Shield CEO Jeff Bell in an interview with ConsumerAffairs. He notes that this increase closely correlates with the expiration of eviction moratoriums and forbearance programs that were enacted years ago to minimize economic damage caused by the pandemic. Now that those programs have ended, the extent of the economic damage and consumer stress is being revealed.”

“‘It was a particularly regressive policy decision to tell people to shelter at home or to lock down,’ Bell said. ‘By that I mean people who can only make their living by leaving the home were adversely affected. It was especially hard on women.'”

The Business Times in Colorado. “Property foreclosure activity continues to pick up in Mesa County. Annette Young, the administrative coordinator at Heritage Title Co. in Grand Junction said 80 foreclosure filings and seven foreclosure sales were reported in the first quarter. That’s up from two filings and seven sales for the first quarter of 2021. While eye catching, the increase isn’t surprising, Young said. ‘This was to be expected as catch-up following the moratorium.'”

From Cal Matters. “When California legislators voted last June to again extend eviction protections, they promised the third time would be the charm. But the state’s rent relief program continues to lag. ‘Enough is enough,’ said Christine Kevane La Marca, CalRHA president. ‘By halting applications for those in need, and extending the eviction moratorium, rental housing providers are being forced to carry the financial weight of the pandemic and some of them will lose their properties as a result.'”

From Westfair Online. “A Hyde Park real estate development company that has $103 million in assets and only $14 million in liabilities has nonetheless filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Kenwood Commons LLC said it is facing an imminent foreclosure, according to a declaration by manager Jacob Frydman, but intends to reorganize the project either by refinancing or selling properties. Kenwood Commons is based at Frydman’s $45 million house in Hyde Park but the proposed development is at the former 75-acre campus of the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Albany.”

“Kenwood Commons bought the property for $18 million in 2017, according to news accounts, and the following year proposed a $500 million project with condominiums, townhouses apartment buildings, hotels, and an arts and cultural center. The project stalled as it was beset by overdue taxes, money owed to contractors and loan debt, according to a Historic Albany Foundation timeline.”

The Voice Online in Canada. “The NDP said that on Monday afternoon, BC Liberal MLA Bruce Banman said of BC’s housing market: ‘In my neck of the woods, I’ve talked to a few realtors… it’s cooling off.’ Banman was speaking against the BC NDP’s bill to introduce a Homebuyers Protection Period that would protect people who are buying a home in BC’s high-pressure market. Banman said the measure ‘really isn’t actually needed as much as people think it is’ because of the ‘cooling’ market.”

From Yahoo Finance. “‘People who overstretched themselves to get into the property market recently could feel the heat of the upcoming rate hikes,’ RateCity research director Sally Tindall said. ‘Many variable borrowers will have to put their expenses under the microscope to see where they can trim the fat.’  Tindall warned that borrowers who’d had a change in circumstances, like a new baby or change of career, could also struggle to make higher monthly repayments.”

“‘A lot of people who bought recently are already mortgaged to the hilt and the RBA is acutely aware of this,’ Tindall said. ‘The central bank is not going to hike the cash rate so far and so fast that people start defaulting on their mortgages en masse.'”

From Reuters. “Australia’s central bank on Tuesday opened the door to the first interest rate increase in more than a decade as it dropped a previous pledge to be ‘patient’ on policy, a major surprise that sent the local dollar to nine-month highs. ‘The retirement of the ‘patience’ mantra and is an acknowledgement that like the rest of the developed country complex, inflation in Australia has and will surprise with its magnitude and momentum,’ said GSFM investment strategist Stephen Miller. ‘The RBA wishes to avoid meeting an inflation target by causing a recession, or allowing high and potentially destabilising inflation to persist well into 2023.'”

From Stuff New Zealand. “The weakening trend was evident nationwide, and most areas had minor price declines or slight increases. CoreLogic head of research Nick Goodall said regional differences were showing through as the market downturn set in, and there had been an earlier than expected power shift to buyers. ‘Listings are higher, but it is not because significantly more are coming on to the market. It’s because properties are not selling at the same rate. As properties stay on the market longer and expectations of weaker conditions increase, buyers are ending up in a stronger position, with more time, choice and leverage than at any stage in the last couple of years. “

From Bloomberg. “China Evergrande Group agreed to pay the adviser fees of a bondholder group working with the cash-starved property developer to restructure debt, and to share more information with the creditors, according to people with knowledge of the agreement, who asked not to be named discussing private deal talks. The company’s offshore bonds are trading for pennies on the dollar on the cloudy outlook for a restructuring. Its 9.5% 2024 notes, the debt subject to the delayed payment in October, last traded around 13 cents on the dollar, according to Trace.”

The Charlotte Business Journal. “Movement Mortgage is staying mum on a report saying the company recently laid off more than 150 employees. A Housing Wire report said Movement is laying off operational staff nationwide, cutting about 170 employees in March, including those in processing, underwriting and closing. The report cited multiple company sources. It is unclear how many of those layoffs were at the local office.”

“This latest news presents a different picture from a few months ago. The company hired more than 520 loan officers in 2021 and funded $33 billion in home mortgages that year. Layoffs in the mortgage industry are a growing trend nationwide, as interest rates start to rise and origination volumes cool down.”

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This Post Has 117 Comments

  1. Gateway Pundit — It’s Beyond ANY Shadow of a Doubt That the Vaccines Are Causing LARGE NUMBERS of Deaths (4/4/2022):

    “It’s unequivocal, and I’m a card-carrying epidemiologist. I’m telling you, the vaccines are causing large numbers of deaths,” he repeated with emphasis.

    As McCullough has warned previously, the damages from this vaccine will linger for years to come. These people who pushed it are criminals and need to be held accountable for this evil.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/beyond-shadow-doubt-vaccines-causing-large-numbers-deaths-dr-peter-mccullough-video/

    The Day Of The Rope is coming.

    Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, Anthony Fauci, you are all going to hang.

    2. Gateway Pundit — We Need to Out These People… They’re EVERYWHERE: Dr. Malone Says its Time to Start “Doxing” The World Economic Forum’s Globalist Cabal – “Let’s Go Get Them” (4/5/2022):

      “What I have found has been layers of lies, one on top of another, which seem to require an amazingly coordinated and globally comprehensive control and shaping of information in the form of propaganda and censorship on a scale which was previously unimaginable.

      Total information control, and total unrestricted, all encompassing information warfare. Modern media manipulation of thought and minds without boundaries, and without any ethical constraints.”

      1. Dr. Malone did not sugarcoat things when he was describing what needs to start happening to this network of shadowy figures who are manipulating governments behind the scenes across the globe.

        “We need to out these people,” Dr. Malone said bluntly. “I mean, the term that’s used is doxing. As far as I’m concerned with these folks, doxing is good; let’s go get them. Let’s find out who they are and make sure they are not in our government because their loyalty is not to the American constitution. It’s not to the Nation-State.”

        https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/need-people-everywhere-dr-malone-says-time-start-doxing-world-economic-forums-globalist-cabal-go-get-video/

        Out them, doxx them.

        Then 4chan publishes the addresses.

        Then, if anybody with a terminal cancer diagnosis, or any other random Lone Wolf just decides it’s Go Time, have at it boys. EVERY GLOBALIST NEEDS TO DIE.

        P.S. to the Glowie getting paid to read these threads, your wife is getting plowed by Chad right now. You don’t turn her on and she doesn’t love you 🙁

        1. I believe Glowies generally watch Chad hammer it home and then bring the spent duo a cool drink and cigarettes.

      1. “It’s only after you lose everything that you’re free to do anything.”
        — TYLER DURDEN

        (Be careful what you wish for, globalist scum.)

  3. “‘A lot of people who bought recently are already mortgaged to the hilt and the RBA is acutely aware of this,’ Tindall said. ‘The central bank is not going to hike the cash rate so far and so fast that people start defaulting on their mortgages en masse.’”

    Runaway inflation gets a vote, RBA Keynesian fraudsters.

  4. ‘this ratio was only ever higher for a few years leading up to the mortgage meltdown and financial crisis of 2008’

    Check out the charts at this first link.

    ‘A lot of people who bought recently are already mortgaged to the hilt and the RBA is acutely aware of this…The central bank is not going to hike the cash rate so far and so fast that people start defaulting on their mortgages en masse’

    Sally: ‘They aren’t going to break it off in yer a$$!’

    ‘Australia’s central bank on Tuesday opened the door to the first interest rate increase in more than a decade as it dropped a previous pledge to be ‘patient’ on policy, a major surprise’

    Surprise! They are gonna break it off, sooner than they said! Remember this clown? Oh we’ll raise in 2025, maybe 2024.

    DONG!

    1. Nice younger couple across the street literally top ticked last summer. Told the wifey that they will be lucky to break even in 15 years.

      1. Got the same here in my neighborhood, moved from WA. Noticed they just bought a new car. Didn’t get the memo about black cars and 110+ degrees temps. That’s two strikes.

        1. They had family help. They will need more family help with the decisions they are making. That’s life. You learn the hard way I guess

  5. ‘We’ve had price stability for a very long time and maybe come to take it for granted…But now we see the pain’

    You know jerry, there are a dozen articles out there this morning celebrating the many cities where shack cost triple or double what they did a few year back. Is that the price stability yer talking about?

    There’s many ways to look at this. But a major mistake was making shacks a financial instrument for “wealth creation” like stocks.

    2. You know jerry, there are a dozen articles out there this morning celebrating the many cities where shack cost triple or double what they did a few year back. Is that the price stability yer talking about?

      It’s RealtorBabble….gyrating pretzeling doubletalk comingled with revisionist history and peppered with a little tap dancing and foot stamping when called out for the lie that it is…. and all of it consumed by the HousingHens.

      Clearwater Beach, FL Housing Prices Crater 14% As Floridas Fraud Riddled Housing Market Staggers

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

      BTW…. have you noticed the internet getting saturated with reports of falling housing prices?

    1. “The Left in about a year has negated American gas and oil independence. Biden, who promised to end America’s use of fossil fuels on his watch, cast adrift millions of his fellow citizens to choose between driving and eating. Much of what the Left had traditionally demonized and wanted gone from American life—from gasoline to beefsteak to new pickup trucks—became so inflated in price as to be nearly unattainable.

      The electrician now pays five times more for his wire, the carpenter eight times more for his plywood, the plumber six times more for his pipe—as all three have to pay off-the-books cash for rare workers who prefer to get checks from the Biden Administration. The Biden printing press has destroyed both the idea that all citizens will work if there are just good-paying jobs, and that affordable necessities for life—food, fuel, and shelter—form the basis for a middle-class life.

      If the Left did all that in 14 months, imagine what it can still do before losing the Congress in 2022.”

      https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/03/the-nihilism-of-the-left/

      “They’re not sending their best”

    2. This is what they wanted. Jimmy was low energy low brainpower. Now we get to do it again.

  10. “In other words, how much of the median family’s income is needed to afford the average-priced home (20% down, 30yr fixed)?”

    Did they also look at what share of buyers were putting 20% down? I’m guessing not very many, in today’s runaway train market. Or if they did make a sizable downpayment, they borrowed it somewhere else or were gifted the money.

    The main possible exception is Californians liberating equity as they leave the state, but rising interest rates are soon going to put the kibosh on that dynamic.

    1. the other interesting thing in the article is the table of price increases. When you see it listed in black and white – it is just so brutal.

      “Notably, the annual growth rate was at least 10% in all of the nation’s 100 largest markets for the first time on record, with the top five slots (Tampa, Austin, Raleigh, Phoenix, Nashville) all over 30%.”

      Even #100 – Minneapolis was at 10% price growth.

    1. First-Time Buyers: Should You Buy A House With Inflation On The Rise?
      E. Napoletano
      Korrena Bailie
      E. Napoletano, Korrena Bailie
      Contributor, Editor
      Updated: Mar 25, 2022, 4:41pm
      Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors’ opinions or evaluations.

      If you’re a first-time homebuyer, the current economy could be putting a damper on your homeownership dreams. With rising home prices and inflation upping the cost of life’s basic expenses, is now really the time to dive into your first mortgage? And if you wait, could you be priced out of the market completely?

      The good news is that, according to experts, first-time buyers still enjoy several advantages in the current housing market if they choose to buy.

      While taking on a mortgage might not make sense for all buyers right now, here’s how to better understand what’s going on in the housing market, and tips to make the most of your home search—despite the inflationary market.

      The Case for Buying a Home Now

      Looking at real estate listings can be entertaining. From the comfort of your couch, you can scroll through photos of perfect homes in beautiful neighborhoods and imagine how it’ll feel to unload your groceries into that brand new stainless side-by-side fridge.

      But then there’s the downside of looking at those listings. Your favorite homes probably fly off the market in hours, if not days. Homes are selling for over listing price—sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars more. And the groceries you want to stuff in that fridge cost more each week thanks to inflation.

      But Mark Zipperer, managing broker and founder of The Zip Group in Chicago, says there’s often one thing his buyers don’t think about in today’s fast-paced housing market.

      “When a first-time buyer tells me that they’re not sure about buying in this market, I always ask, ‘Is your rent going down?’” says Zipperer. “A predictable mortgage payment each month not only helps you hedge against rising prices elsewhere in the economy. Homeowners typically have a net worth that’s 40 times greater than renters. Buying, even if you have to start small, is a path to building wealth.”
      …
      https://www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-finance/first-time-buyers-should-you-buy-a-house-with-inflation-on-the-rise/

      1. Things UHS forget:
        1) Their verbal promises (“you can always refi later”, etc) are worth the paper they’re written on
        2) Confusing consumer price inflation with asset price inflation: these are separate. We’ve had asset (stock, house, etc) price inflation for about a decade, due to low interest rates and a tsunami of money. Now that rates are up & (if) we get QT, we’re going to get asset price deflation.
        3) Rents can go down, big time, when (not if) we get a recession. Like 30% drop. Does your mortgage payment drop if your house value goes down?

    2. “Buying a home is the path to riches.”

      There are other unrealized expenses that will bite, e.g., we had a powerful windstorm yesterday, and roughly 1/3 of my 3-tab roof shingles are scattered across my backyard lawn. 🙂

        1. Called around, a “square of shingles” is $93, up roughly 20% from this time last year! On the other hand, my conservative retirement account is losing its purchasing power by the month these days, so it’s time to replace our 23-yr old spec 3-tab roof with some 30-yr laminate shingles in a “antique black” color to increase the attic air temperature for our predominantly colder climate.

          1. Mine had old cedar shingles under a layer of elephant ear. Had that removed and put metal down. Enough insulation to make the outdoor temperature irrelevant.

          2. We have roughly 16-inches of blown-in fiberglass in the attic, and it performs well, but raising the attic temperature also increase the convective airflow up mitigating any moisture issues.

            We use multiple electric plug-in oil radiator heaters to warm the various rooms differently with-in our house, and only run our variable speed R-410A HVAC heat pump system during the hottest two or three months of the year since it is a mechanical system.

  14. ‘In my neck of the woods, I’ve talked to a few realtors… it’s cooling off.’

    A little – but still super high and super inconsistent with the wages even for the upper middle class. Did it take 2 years from 2005 to 2007 for the crash to fully develop? Wondering?

    Toronto: “The average selling price of a home slipped over 2 per cent from the month before to just under $1.3 million, bucking a seasonal trend. However, prices are still up 18 per cent from the same time last year, underscoring a worsening affordability issue amid a tight market.”

    Vancouver: “Residential home sales were down nearly 24 per cent year-over-year at 4,344 units last month, according to data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. While the sales tally was below the record, the board noted it is still historically high and was up nearly 27 per cent from the 3,424 homes sold in February. The board added that there was elevated home buyer demand in the Metro Vancouver area. The benchmark price came out to $1.36 million, a roughly 21 per cent increase from March last year.”

    2. Did it take 2 years from 2005 to 2007 for the crash to fully develop? Wondering?

      It was a process. Some peg the top at 2005 but the first big bankruptcies of the sub prime finance companies didn’t happen until 2007. Even then everyone tried to ignore it. In the summer of 2008 gas prices ramped up to a peak and then in the fall it all started to crash. It wasn’t until 2009 that it was accepted that things had changed. The bottom didn’t come until around 2013-2014 depending on the region. Similar scenarios occurred with mortgage firm layoffs and yields etc leading up to bankruptcies.

      Eventually they will trot out some sort of gender confused muppet to explain why the banks need a bailout and Joe Biden needs 10% while telling you it is still a good time to buy. A Tim Geithner in drag. This will be the sign.

      1. Nope. Different areas cratered at different times, e.g. Silicon Valley peak pricing was 2005, 2007 starting to come down, bottom about 2010, 2012 starting to go up. Because of Obama trying to reflate the bubble, prices never fully corrected.

        Right now, Silicon Valley is already starting to stall. Condos & townhomes have been flat for years. Maybe there’s still significant inflation for hot SFH’s, but low end homes aren’t zooming up.

        This time the decline might be faster, given the steep increase in mortgage rates, the steep decline (start in Feb 2021) of previously trendy, money losing “tech” companies’ stock prices, and massive out-migration due to WFH and the ridiculous cost of living.

      2. I recall that 2005 was when the upward trend started to slow, and I would say that true price peak was spring 2006. At that point, banks ran out of buyers; even the fog-a-mirrors were tapped out and the smart money wasn’t taking the bait. But prices were stable because the FBs still had a year or 2 left on the ARM/I-O/neg-am grace period.
        The first hint of a banking crisis was in August of 2007, when banks got nervous about Alt-A (mid-grade between subprime and prime), froze credit overnight, and got a cash infusion. Crisis averted, for the moment. It was spring 2008 when the grace periods started to run out and people had to sell. It only takes one fire sale to drop the comps, and that’s when the dominoes started falling.

  15. Some more nonsense. So, Sequoia and Tiger Global are looking to invest in a new company at $100B value that 1) takes advantage of dingy little companies in China, 2) exploits a well meaning change in US tax law. Masters of the universe strike again with cheap money!


    Shein said to be raising $1 billion at $100 billion valuation

    Yes, you read it correctly. The fast fashion e-commerce company that few in the tech industry had even heard of two years ago is aiming to raise $1 billion at a valuation of $100 billion.

    Shein is in talks with General Atlantic for this new funding round, according to Bloomberg. The company counts Tiger Global, IDG and Sequoia among its existing investors.
    …
    What separates Shein is the responsiveness of its supply chain, a vast network of loyal and agile dingy workshops around Guangzhou, a major metropolitan in south China where most of its operations are. The company tests a great variety of cheap clothing in small batches, and if data shows that something is selling well, it quickly places more orders with these suppliers to sell even more. This demand-driven approach allows Shein to maintain low inventory costs.

    Shein also manages to reduce costs by taking advantage of customs rules. In 2016, the U.S. raised the de minimis value threshold, which allows individuals to buy import goods tax-free, from $200 to $800. The law was supposed to help small American businesses lower import tax but ended up benefiting global business-to-consumer e-commerce platforms like Shein, as a higher amount of their shipments can enter the U.S. with no duty and faster border clearance.

    https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/04/shein-said-to-be-raising-1-billion-at-100-billion-valuation

      1. Forever it should be. We need double digit rates and a depression to cleanse the palate

    2. Mortgages below 5?
      My personal guide point lender is at a 5.25% rate, 5.375 APR with 20% down and FICO of 740 and a 45 day lock. Primary Home loans (not condos)

    4. I was predicting 6% in Sept – but it now might be 6.5% in Sept. Starting to get very interesting.

      from CNBC today:

      The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage just crossed 5%, now standing at 5.02%, according to Mortgage News Daily. This is the first time it has crossed that threshold since 2011, save two days in 2018. It stood at 3.38% one year ago today.

      Mortgage rates, which follow loosely the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury, have been climbing since the start of the year, partially due to the Federal Reserve’s policies to curb inflation as well as the global economic turmoil resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

  17. The Fed’s rhetoric suggests they are quite serious about removing the punchbowl this year.

    Of course if they don’t follow through with their announced plans, it could have the opposite effect. Think of Lucy pulling away the football as Charlie Brown steps up to kick it.

    1. The Financial Times
      US interest rates
      Expectations grow that Fed will deploy jumbo-size rate rises
      Economists project US central bank to pick up pace of tightening in the face of worst inflation in four decades
      Wall Street has moved to revise its forecasts for monetary policy this year
      © AP
      Colby Smith in Washington March 27 2022

      Expectations are rising that the US Federal Reserve will make jumbo, half-point interest rate increases this year, as central bank officials signal that they may soon need to step up efforts to reduce the highest inflation in 40 years.

      Wall Street economists moved en masse this week to revise their 2022 forecasts for monetary policy, projecting the Fed will double the pace at which it is raising rates at one or more of its forthcoming meetings. The central bank delivered its first increase since 2018 this month, lifting the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a new target range of 0.25 per cent to 0.50 per cent.

      The economists took their cue from some of the most senior policymakers on the Federal Open Market Committee, who this week were explicit about the central bank’s willingness to take aggressive action given price pressures.

      “The signalling clearly has been very much on the hawkish side for some time, but that has gotten to a feverish pitch in recent days,” said Simona Mocuta, chief economist at State Street Global Advisors.
      …

    2. Looks to me like all the elements are in place for the Wall Street-Federal Reserve Looting Syndicate to execute yet another massive wealth transfer from the retail investor muppets. The Fed has blown the most insane speculative asset bubbles & Ponzi markets in human history; now all that needs to happen is for the Fed’s oligarch & private equity accomplices to take out massive short positions against these rigged, broken “markets,” then order their prison bitch Jerome Powell to hike rates sharply enough to cause the Fed’s financial house of cards to implode under the weight of its own debt, fraud, and mark-to-fantasy accounting. Reminder: Since 2000, such engineered boom/bust cycles have been the most efficacious means for Wall Street to plunder & asset-strip Main Street, yet somehow the sheeple never see it coming. But my spidey senses tell me there’s some new Fed f*ckery afoot.

  18. The Financial Times
    Federal Reserve
    Fed to begin ‘rapid’ balance sheet reduction as soon as May, says top official
    Lael Brainard suggests US central bank is prepared to take ‘stronger’ action on raising interest rates
    Lael Brainard pictured at the White House in November 2021
    Lael Brainard, who is awaiting Senate confirmation to become the next vice-chair, says moderating prices is the central bank’s ‘most important task’
    © Reuters
    Colby Smith in Washington an hour ago

    The Federal Reserve will begin a “rapid” reduction of its $9tn balance sheet as soon as its next policy meeting in May and is prepared to take “stronger” action when it comes to raising interest rates in order to bring down inflation, a senior US central bank official has said.

    Lael Brainard, who sits on the Fed’s board of governors and is awaiting Senate confirmation to become the next vice-chair, said on Tuesday that the central bank’s “most important task” was to moderate the recent rise in consumer prices, which had disproportionately burdened low- and middle-income families.

    “It is of paramount importance to get inflation down,” she said in prepared remarks delivered at a conference hosted by the Fed’s Minneapolis branch. “Accordingly, the committee will continue tightening monetary policy methodically through a series of interest rate increases and by starting to reduce the balance sheet at a rapid pace as soon as our May meeting.”
    …

    1. Recall that Brainerd was the dovish maven of Modern Monetary Theory. If she’s gone hawk, Katie bar the door.

    2. also San Fran Fed Pres Daly (another dove) today

      Later in the day, Daly said inflation running at a 40-year high “is as harmful as not having a job.” Speaking to the the Native American Finance Officers Association, she assured the group that the Fed is on the case.

      “Most Americans, most people, most businesses, hopefully people in tribal nations, you all have confidence that we’re not going to let this go forever,” Daly said. “But if you don’t have that confidence, let me give it to you.”

      She assured those in attendance several times that interest rates are heading higher, though she added that she doesn’t think it will cause a recession.

      Raising rates “is what is necessary to ensure that again, [you] go to bed at night, you’re not worrying about whether prices will be higher, considerably higher tomorrow,” Daly added.

    2. but won’t lift a finger to actually combat it

      How much is global sovereign debt? How much interest would the US treasury have to pay at say 8% interest? Remember, most of the debt is short term, so it will get rolled over sooner than later.

      1. arggg

        why the jeepers did you mention this? It will just give congress the justification to raise taxes for the good of the country. It is not like they will reduce program spending

  22. How do the Keynesian fraudsters at the Fed intend to shrink their bloated $10 trillion balance sheet when only someone of Kamala Harris’s rare and wondrous intellect would buy such monetized debt at deeply negative real interest rates?

    When Fed Gov Brainard Talks, Markets Listen! Brainard Says Fed Will Shrink The Balance Sheet At A Rapid Rate (10Y Treasury Yield Rises 16 BPS As Nasdaq Falls 300 PTS) Mortgage Rates Will SOAR!!

    https://confoundedinterest.net/2022/04/05/when-fed-gov-brainard-talks-markets-listen-brainard-says-fed-will-shrink-the-balance-sheet-at-a-rapid-rate-10y-treasury-yield-rises-16-bps-as-nasdaq-falls-300-pts-mortgage-rates-will-soar/

    1. As Nasdaq Falls 300 PTS) Mortgage Rates Will SOAR!!

      Did Mortgage Rates Collapse the previous day when Nasdaq was up 300 points?

  23. people who can only make their living by leaving the home were adversely affected. It was especially hard on women

    Reminds me of that Rush Limbaugh joke– If the WashPost reported on the end of the world, the headline would be “World Ends, Women and Minorities Hardest Hit.”

    1. Women can only make money by “leaving the home” and going out into the streets. Interesting.

    2. These fakkin journos like to pretend that these heroic women service and retail workers were suddenly cut off with no pay at all. When in fact, didn’t all these folks continue to get paid, either by PPP cheese or $2400/mo federal unemployment, on top of state unemployment? $2400 goes a long way if you don’t have to pay rent or utilities or college loans and there are food banks every couple of blocks.

  24. A member of our captured Republicrat duopoly puppet show is bloviating about making Yellen the Felon acknowledge being disastrously wrong on her lies about “transitory” inflation. That’ll be the day.

    GOP lawmaker wants Yellen to admit inflation ‘mea culpa’ in House testimony

    https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/gop-lawmaker-wants-yellen-to-admit-inflation-mea-culpa-in-house-testimony

    Treasury Sec. Yellen set to testify in front of Congress Wednesday

    1. Transgender residents in Palm Springs, California are eligible to receive a UBI of up to $900 per month solely for identifying as transgender or nonbinary — no strings attached.

      Twenty transgender and nonbinary Palm Springs residents will receive the free money funded by the taxpayers for 18 months, with advocacy-based health center DAP Health and LGBT advocacy group Queer Works managing the program.

      A six-month design period will be the precursor of the program’s implementation, in which the group Mayors for a Guaranteed Income will be involved providing guidance.

      DAP Health CEO David Brinkman claimed to reporters that the transgendered population is “one of the most marginalized populations in our city who face some of the highest levels of housing insecurity, joblessness and discrimination.”

  27. Speaking of Dumver aquifers running dry:

    https://coloradosun.com/2022/03/29/douglas-county-water-aquifers-growth/

    Groundwater from aquifers makes up about 65% of the water used by Parker Water and Sanitation, which is the provider for Parker and parts of Lone Tree and Castle Pines, and by Castle Rock Water. Centennial Water uses about 20% groundwater. Those ratios can change depending on drought conditions.

    It’s gonna be fun once their aquifers are tapped out. Good bye Kentucky blue grass lawns, hello gravel.

    1. They hid. They concealed. They redacted.

      Sounds just like the current administration, so they are perfectly in lockstep. Nothing is going to come of this, because the USA is OVER WITH.

      1. Nothing is going to come of this

        An informed populace has the ability to stop this and hold those accountable. Rather than throwing your hands up in the air, why don’t you forward this information to everyone you know. If you’re not helping, you’re part of the problem.

        1. I do. Most people I know do the “cover their ears and say I can’t hear you”

          Take gas prices. They say “What can the president do?” I tell them that he could allow drilling on federal land again, and remove other restrictions. But falls on deaf ears.

          It’s ideology. They believe in Leftism.

          1. I do.

            That’s all you can do. The willfully blind will only have themselves to blame.

    2. The entire multi trillion dollar medical mafia empire is is being propped up by alleged viruses that can not be purified and isolated anywhere , there is no documentation proving this , the PCR tests shows normal cell particles breaking down , 80 billion cells die off everyday in humans and thats what the PCR test is collecting , I mean how far down the rabbit hole do you want to go !!

      1. alleged viruses that can not be purified and isolated anywhere

        This crap again. 🙄

        PCR test is collecting

        Tell me you don’t know what you’re talking about without saying it.

          1. You don’t have to deny science to recognize that Pharma has captured the scientific and medical communities as well as our regulatory and public health agencies.

      1. She’s the perfect caricature of the U.S. with that over-fed caboose, fake nails, gaudy platform sandals, etc., not the slightest hint of personal fiscal responsibility.

        1. I was thinking of a single word to describe these “people of Walmart”. The word I came up with was “grotesque”

          And speaking of that, during one of my rare forays into broadcast TV channel surfing I saw an ad for Sonic. In the ad a very obese couple are scarfing burgers in their car. I don’t remember what they said or what the sales pitch was, all I remember was that those people were so fat that in comparison I must look like an athlete. I would think their state of obesity would be a huge incentive to NOT eat at Sonic, or any fast food place, but I am sure that I would be wrong.

    5. Platform heels are technically not heels. Those are more like 3-inch heels. As to her “shape,” just ask yourself how many obese people you see over the age of 70.

  32. Oh dear….

    Building near deadly Surfside condo collapse ordered evacuated

    https://thehill.com/news/3259067-building-near-deadly-surfside-condo-collapse-ordered-evacuated/amp/

    A North Miami Beach, Fla., apartment complex near the Surfside condo building that collapsed last year was evacuated after engineers determined that the structure was not safe.

    On Monday, the city of North Miami Beach received a letter from Bronislaus P. Taurinski Structural Engineers saying that the five-story building, known as Bayview 60 Homes, was “structurally unsafe” and called for an immediate evacuation, the city said in a statement.

  33. American Mind — It’s not a conspiracy theory if there really is a conspiracy (3/31/2022):

    “This entitlement to other people’s kids is what convinces Disney executives that they not only can but must trans children’s psyches everywhere. Their aspiration is not simply that a small minority of adults should be able to make private choices in peace. It is that no person, anywhere, should be allowed to harbor reservations about any other person’s sexual habits, however unusual. So children must imagine and long for a world which is more gender-fluid even than the one we currently occupy. Hence the urgency of piping colorful fantasies of a sexualized future into television sets around the country.

    It all starts to sound very quickly like grooming on a mass scale, glossed over with a sinister veneer of tolerance and fun. In other words, a hyper-powerful cabal of monied predators.

    Now it turns out that children are in fact being catechized into a monstrous doctrine of confusion and self-mutilation. When parents resist, they are both patronized and villainized. If Q really is a problem, it’s because wealthy groomers really are coming for your kids. But we don’t need conspiracy theories to tell that story anymore. The groomers are telling it themselves.”

    https://americanmind.org/salvo/trueanon/

    LOL@ if you voted for Biden this is what you voted for.

    “They’re not sending their best”

  34. MAD MONEY 4/5 at 25:00 – Cramer said, “Last week I told you house prices are probably headed lower in the not to distant future, perhaps much lower as I said at the top. At least for single family homes. Geez, mortgage applications keep going lower and lower. Rising mortgage rates, sticker shock, and more inventory coming online. I expect the housing market to take a real hit by the end of summer at the latest.”

    1. Ha ha…Cramer has been a fun Wall Street pundit to watch since before the first round of Housing Bubble collapse, circa 2005. This time he’s way out ahead of all the paid housing cheerleaders, warning on what’s coming. Good on him.

    1. DC Elites Flock Around Obama

      Now tell me he’s not in charge. They’re flaunting it in front of our faces.

      1. It sure look like it is, though at the end of the day it’s Dementia Joe who signs the bills and the executive orders. Granted, “Dr. Jill” probably just tells him to “sign this”.

  38. OK, a new level of stupid has been reached (from the Colorado Sun):

    A Longmont farm wants to teach people how to grow food under solar panels. Jack’s Solar Garden will use $40,000 from the Boulder County Sustainability Tax to fund educational initiatives

    Why is there any need to do this? Is there a shortage of arable land? And if not all land is suited for framing, then how about building the solar farms on that land?

    Good heavens, this seems so impractical. But it figures that the People’s Republic of Boulder would pony up $40K to fund such a boondoggle. It’s not like there aren’t other, real problems where that money could have been spent.

  39. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-startup-Fast-shuts-down-17059453.php

    So it has began …

    “The company, despite having raised about $124 million in two rounds of early-stage funding with the aid of the wildly successful fintech company Stripe, according to TechCrunch, seemed to be struggling, according to recent reports. The Information reported last week that the company, once valued at nearly $600 million according to NPR, had only generated $600,000 in revenue — and was looking for a buyer after an unsuccessful fundraising round.”

    2. once valued at nearly $600 million according to NPR, had only generated $600,000 in revenue — and was looking for a buyer after an unsuccessful fundraising round

      🤣

      1. “The age of start ups beginning in a garage or a basement are long over.”

        It never existed in the first place. It was a cutesy narrative while it lasted though.

        Anacortes, WA Housing Prices Crater 14% As Seattle And Vancouver, BC Subprime Mortgage Meltdown Accelerates

        https://www.movoto.com/wa/98221/market-trends/

        2. It never existed in the first place. It was a cutesy narrative while it lasted though.

          I’ve worked in a couple of them. In the first one, other than the owner I was the only employee.

    3. The age of start ups beginning in a garage or a basement are long over. Now a “start up” is provided millions in funding, which almost certainly goes down the rat hole. One would be surprised at the number of young engineers who have never worked on a product that actually shipped.

      1. One would be surprised at the number of young engineers who have never worked on a product that actually shipped.

        And beyond that, saw it evolve based on user feedback with new features, maintenance, etc, to learn how to build good + robust software

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