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A Familiar Script For Long-Time Observers Of The Boom-And-Bust Cycle

A report from The Hill. “‘Higher prices and higher mortgage rates have boosted the required monthly payment to buy a home; it’s up by more than 40 percent from a year ago. This affordability challenge will shrink the buyer pool.’ National Association of Realtors chief economist Dr. Lawrence Yun wrote to The Hill.”

The Augusta Free Press. “Over the past few weeks, rates have risen faster than they have in nearly 30 years. In the second week of April, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit 5 percent for the first time in 11 years. ‘Mortgage rates are rising more quickly than anticipated and will likely rise further during the year,’ says Virginia REALTORS® Chief Economist Ryan Price.”

“In March, Virginia’s inventory expanded with an uptick in new listings and a slight slowdown in buyer activity. At the end of March, there were about 1,500 more active listings statewide across Virginia, a 12.1 percent increase from the end of February. ‘It is likely that Virginia’s inventory of homes for sale will expand over the coming months,’ says Virginia REALTORS® 2022 President Denise Ramey. ‘Many sellers are feeling pressure from increasing mortgage rates, which will lead some to list their home for property now, before higher rates lead to less buyer interest.'”

The Press Enterprise. “The typical 30-year mortgage payment for a median-priced Southern California home increased to $3,157 last month. Thanks to the double whammy of rising prices and rising rates, that’s up $1,000, or 47%, from a year ago. Using words like ‘buyer fatigue’ and ‘sticker shock,’ agents say buyers are getting more cautious and are less likely to waive escape clauses like loan and inspection contingencies. More homeowners are backing out of deals after getting caught up in the frenzy of bidding, then recalculating what the monthly payment is going to be.”

“‘Some buyers are getting priced out because of rising rates,’ said Myiesha Majors, a sales agent with Berkshire Hathaway in Rancho Cucamonga. ‘But not as many as some people would think. … This time last year, I would see 30 (offers) easily. Now, it’s five or six. So, it’s drastically reduced but still multiple.'”

The Real Deal on New York. “Wendy Madden sold the Trump Palace condo she walked away with after her divorce from shoe mogul Steve Madden — for about half what the couple paid for it a decade ago. The sprawling 4,000-square-foot condo at 200 East 69th Street sold for $8.8 million at the end of March.”

The Orlando Sentinel. “Scott Silver is behind on his mortgage. Like tens of thousands of Floridians, the former technology salesman and his partner lost income during the pandemic and were unable to keep up with the bills. So when Florida opened a portal in February for people to register for mortgage relief, Silver signed up on the first day. Since then, all Silver says he’s received from the state is platitudes and silence.”

“‘All I have is just a registration number,’ said Silver, who’s been warned he could face foreclosure. ‘I can’t even get to an application. We’re going on two months.’ Silver received a letter from his mortgage carrier on April 1 informing him that the nearly $10,000 he owes is enough to begin foreclosure proceedings on the home where he raised his three children. ‘We went through March, we’re about to blow through April, and I can’t even get the next step,’ he said. ‘It shouldn’t have come to this point. You don’t wait seven weeks at the bank for loan approval.'”

The San Francisco Business Times in California. “San Francisco-based Blend Labs Inc. said it’s cutting about 10% of its workforce at the fintech that works with some of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders, including Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank. Blend is laying off about 200 employees in addition to cutting expenses elsewhere in its operations.”

“Things look even uglier for the mortgage lenders themselves. In a much-publicized move, New York-based Better.com cut 900 employees over Zoom last December. The New York mortgage lender cut another 3,000 jobs in March.  The mortgage-related layoffs occur as venture capitalists are urging their portfolio companies to conserve cash as prospects grow that it will be more difficult to raise another round of capital — and often at a lower valuation. This is a familiar script for long-time observers of Silicon Valley’s boom-and-bust cycle.”

“Earlier this year, Wells Fargo declined to comment on the prospect of layoffs in its huge mortgage operation. But CEO Charlie Scharf told investors on last week’s earnings call that trouble could lie ahead. ‘The mortgage origination market experienced one of its largest quarterly declines that I can remember, and it will take time for the industry to reduce excess capacity,’ Scharf said. ‘We’re focused on making sure that we’ve got the right level of expense relative to the revenue and volume that we’re seeing.'”

The Globe and Mail. “In nearly two decades of Google data, the only times ‘recession’ searches have been more prevalent than they are right now have been either just before or during contractions in the Canadian economy (2008-2009, 2015 and 2020). At very least, that the general public has become unusually concerned about the risk of a recession, even in the midst of what is, by many measures, an economic boom.”

“The big trigger appears to be the rapid rise of interest-rate expectations, as central banks get serious about fighting inflation. Those concerns came to a head last week, as the Bank of Canada took the unusual step of raising its key rate by 50 basis points (0.5 percentage points), the first time in more than two decades that it has made such a large rate increase. Normally, the bank’s rate changes are confined to 25 basis points at a time.”

“‘I think there is a gnawing realization that after dramatically over-easing, the central banks are going to end up overtightening,’ said veteran Canadian economist David Rosenberg, who has been warning about the risk of a central-bank-induced recession for months now.”

From Interest New Zealand. “This is going to be like a kind of rolling mortgage earthquake. While we are all rightly gobsmacked by the idea of an inflation rate with a ‘7’ in front of it for the first time in 30 years, those among us with mortgages are facing potentially much worse carnage when it comes to refixing the rate with our bank. The upshot is that someone who took out a 30-year mortgage last May (2021) fixed for a year, and who is now looking to refix, could find their monthly payments will go UP BY EXACTLY A THIRD.”

“Those bigger mortgage payments are going to see reduced spending in the economy. Some people might put their houses on the market, thus increasing the slump already starting to emerge. And so it goes on. I’m not talking here about in the years to come either. This situation is upon us now and I think it will all start to happen pretty quickly.”

The South China Morning Post. “The surge in the US dollar as markets brace for a series of interest rate increases is likely to heap further misery onto Hong Kong’s flagging property market, according to industry watchers. As the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US currency, this in turn will end the era of cheap money that has fuelled Hong Kong’s housing market for the last two decades and made it one of the least affordable places on the planet to own a home, Albert Wong, an honorary consultant at AA Horses Mortgage Brokerage Services said.”

“‘Hong Kong home prices have in the long term been inversely correlated to the strength of the US dollar,’ said Wong. ‘It will mark the end of the low interest rates enjoyed by Hong Kong in the past 20 years, that have propelled the city’s home prices sharply upwards.'”

From Bloomberg. “The income that local authorities in China get from land sales slid in the first quarter, a sign that a housing slump is crimping government finances. Fitch withdrew its ratings on three more Chinese developers, highlighting ongoing transparency issues that may curtail further gains for stocks and dollar bonds in the sector. Elsewhere, two holders of Sunac China Holdings Ltd.’s 2023 dollar bond with interest due Tuesday said they had yet to receive it as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, a week after the Chinese developer failed to meet the initial deadline on another offshore coupon payment.”

“Fitch withdrew its ratings on three more Chinese developers, highlighting ongoing transparency issues that may curtail further gains for stocks and dollar bonds in the sector. The firm separately announced the moves involving Sunac, Shimao Group Holdings Ltd. and Logan Group Co. on Wednesday, saying the trio stopped participating in the ratings process. They were downgraded a combined five times in March by Fitch, moving them all below the single-B range.”

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This Post Has 135 Comments

  1. ‘The typical 30-year mortgage payment for a median-priced Southern California home increased to $3,157 last month. Thanks to the double whammy of rising prices and rising rates, that’s up $1,000, or 47%, from a year ago’

    I like a good double whammy in the morning. Is 47% a lot?

    1. It’s BC (before coffee), so my math might be incorrect, but the way I view the situation is the fellow with $2,157 a month available to buy a home can now only afford to finance 2157/3157 = 68.3% of what he could have afforded last year with the same monthly payments. That’s a 31.7% decrease in the amount of financing he can bring to the closing table off a 30-year mortgage.

      And this is before the Fed has even seriously warmed up its rate hikes chain saw.

      1. I did a similar mortgage calculator exercise a few years ago. If interest rates rose from 4% to 7%, how far does the house price have to fall to keep the same monthly PITI? Turns out a $300K would drop to ~$220K give or take. That’s not far off from your 30% financing drop.

        1. ‘Turns out a $300K would drop to ~$220K give or take. That’s not far off from your 30% financing drop.’

          And if that $300K price will not budge, then the seller cannot have the proceeds potentially to buy into another house. Not unless a buyer comes along who can take on the higher monthly cost.

    2. I’m still seeing houses with my criteria closing in April well above listing price. Did these people lock in rates? When should I expect rates to translate into sales?

      1. 60 day locks the normal. So if it closed in April they locked in Feb.
        Wait another 45 days

      3. That is the mystery of it all! Who can still follow through with purchase plans, now that rates have blasted off into the stratosphere?

        – Buyers who locked in financing previously?
        – End users who brought equity from another sale (e.g my friend moving down from The OC)?
        – Investors bringing cash financed with other people’s money?

        There are others in the purchase demand pool besides Joe Sixpack coming in with his government guaranteed loan. But going forward, Joe won’t provide much support for last year’s prices.

        1. I’ve seen three sales in my neighborhood with new mortgages more than the homes were worth 2 years ago. Even considering $300K of upgrades, this one is insane!

          13647 Orchard Gate Rd, Poway, CA 92064

          4/1/2022 Sold $2,450,000 (+11.4%)$634/sqft
          2/22/2022 Pending $2,199,000$569/sqft
          2/16/2022 Listed for sale $2,199,000 (+62.9%)$569/sqft
          3/30/2020 Sold $1,349,900$349/sqft

          Mortgage via MLS: $1.868M

    3. I got a craving for some cheese puffs while in the grocery store yesterday. I don’t eat that stuff often. A medium size bag of cheese puffs was $4.79. I went without.

      1. Supermarkets really mark that stuff up. You can get big 18 oz bag of cheetos at Sam’s Club for $3.98. Pirate’s Booty costs more: $6.48 for 18 oz.

        Probably best to skip the Cheetos.

      2. “…I got a craving for some cheese puffs…” “…$4.79…”

        $4.79?? 98% of a cheese puff is empty space, the other 2% is toxic chemical waste. Good lifestyle decision….

        Quick after thought: I wonder if cheese puffs’ could substitute for blow in insulation in your typical crap shack?

          2. Thanks Donk but I wipe out those minibags in less than a minute. I do the mega bag deals at Market Basket.

          1. Think of the mouse

            I don’t worry about the mouse. If he ate my cheetos, I don’t think he’d live long.

    4. I like a good double whammy in the morning. Is 47% a lot?

      No worries, I’m told Blackrock is picking up all the slack – cash buyers of course – and that the market is to-the-moon from here.

  3. ‘saying the trio stopped participating in the ratings process’

    I don’t know if I’ve ever read such a thing before.

          1. No worries, plenty of bugs for everyone to eat.

            Then crawl into your globalist issued cocoon for a good nights sleep.

  5. “‘Some buyers are getting priced out because of rising rates,’ said Myiesha Majors, a sales agent with Berkshire Hathaway in Rancho Cucamonga.”

    These are borrowers not buyers…. and no amount of clucking from the Housing Hens will change that. Renting from the bank at twice the monthly cost of renting on the open market is a guaranteed lifetime of irrecoverable losses.

    Waltham, MA Housing Prices Crater 13% YOY As Inventory Soars Triple Digits Across Boston Area

    https://www.movoto.com/waltham-ma/market-trends/

  6. ‘the required monthly payment to buy a home; it’s up by more than 40 percent from a year ago’

    Has anything like this ever happened in such a short time Larry?

      1. And hence the market hasn’t had time to adjust. We’re all the point in the Roadrunner cartoon just after the Coyote has overrun the edge of the cliff, but before the Roadrunner has had the chance to hand him the lead anvil. It’s a suspenseful moment for real estate experts and real journalists, who aren’t quite sure what will happen next.

        A friend recently mentioned he is house hunting, as he and his wife are moving to San Diego from The OC. I suggested that he stand back and stand by until the market regains its equilibrium. But long-time Californians I know have learned to ignore my real estate advice like the Boy Who Cried Wolf was ignored when the wolf showed up.

        2. It’s a suspenseful moment

          Indeed. Our situation is getting more untenable by the month. Now that our landlady has passed away, we’re absorbing maintenance costs so as not to trigger a massive rent increase from her children. A yard for our autistic son is also a necessity as he’s outgrown indoor play places and playgrounds.

          1. It’s not a great option, but there’s always the option to leave the state. There are a lot of blue states with good programs for autistic children if you can handle comparatively cooler weather.

          2. You could always move to a “poor” state (e.g. New Mexico, West Virginia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Louisiana) and realize huge cost savings.

          3. You can do it…hang in there!

            The good news iscthat it feels like the market is at the breaking point. The bad news is that past experience suggests that it takes maybe 5+ years for California prices to bottom out, once a real estate bust gets underway (1991-1996, 2007-2012, for recent examples).

          4. RE: “It’s not a great option, but there’s always the option to leave the state.”

            Of course. I may have mentioned the ten or so families we know who did this in the past couple of years. And I may not have mentioned that I caught wind that a major church organization in San Diego is redistricting because of so many families recently leaving the state.

            But the are much worse places to live than Poway, CA, and I totally understand the appeal of sticking around if you can stand the traffic and afford the lifestyle.

          5. You could always move to a “poor” state

            IIRC, she stays put for the Poway schools autism programs.

          6. Moving is not an option for at least another 10 years. Because my son requires 24-HR supervision, I get nontaxable income from the state for his care. Any other state with a cost of living savings would be much worse for him. It’s the silver lining of living in a progressive state.

          7. How are SFH rents in your area? Up here (SF East Bay), they’ve been stable or decreasing on Craigslist, with reasonable supply. (Moving from a long term rental with an understanding landlord will typically cause big rent jump – but here, it’s still a LOT less than a jump to buying a comparable house).

          8. How are SFH rents in your area?

            As a property manager, my husband’s seeing his properties rent for 15%+ over Zillow’s estimates (e.g., $3,600 in Chula Vista for a <1300sf 3bd/2ba 1-car garage). We pay less than that in Poway for a 2,400sf 4bd/2.5ba 3-car garage. Market rate would likely be twice what we pay. Inventory is tight. I suspect that people leaving LA and SF but not leaving CA are moving here.

          9. @ProfessorBear – looking back here, 2010 was about as low as it got (so the best deals were in 2010-2011, 2012 was starting to go up), so it easily could be 2-3 years to decent prices. However, prices never dropped below bubble levels (only from really ridiculous to ridiculous). I think it will be worse this time, because Silicon Valley (and maybe most of the West Coast) is going to be hit by two collapsing bubbles (RE + “tech”), based on what the stock market is doing (look at Netflix yesterday 🙂 )

            @RPRH, we’re renting from a friend of my wife’s, but at around market price. Based on how long homes are on CL, and on some price drops, I’d say rentals aren’t going over asking. A ~1300 SFH 3/1 would likely be $2500-$3500, while a 2400 ft2 would likely be $4000 – $5000.

          10. I was through WVA last week. Wow. Rough time for Appalachia. Pretty area from a scenery perspective. But its been a tough few centuries for that area

          11. I was through WVA last week. Wow. Rough time for Appalachia. Pretty area from a scenery perspective. But its been a tough few centuries for that area

            The housing bubble has made life even more untenable for these no-job areas. The misery index is pegging the stop.

          12. Does that income travel anywhere in the state? Are there lower-cost areas of CA? But then, I suppose those less–populated areas don’t have the same education programs.

          15. @BearCat

            Point taken. IIRC, Ben Bernochio aimed his QE firehose at the mortgage market beginning in 2012. Perhaps word was already out before then that the Bernanke put would extend to housing?

          16. @RPRH, understand about jobs. My wife’s job is pretty portable, but jobs in my field aren’t wide spread, can’t be done remotely, and I really do like it (other than being paid a normal wage, not Google $$$$).

  7. ‘We went through March, we’re about to blow through April, and I can’t even get the next step,’ he said. ‘It shouldn’t have come to this point. You don’t wait seven weeks at the bank for loan approval’

    Scott, are you saying they were quick to lock you in but are slow to unlock you?

    2. He’s expecting the government to be 1) efficient and 2) timely. In other words, he is going to learn the hard way that such expectations are pure folly.

  8. A pair of globalist censorship articles.

    Glenn Greenwald — Former Intelligence Officials, Citing Russia, Say Big Tech Monopoly Power is Vital to National Security (4/20/2022):

    “A group of former intelligence and national security officials on Monday issued a jointly signed letter warning that pending legislative attempts to restrict or break up the power of Big Tech monopolies — Facebook, Google, and Amazon — would jeopardize national security because, they argue, their centralized censorship power is crucial to advancing U.S. foreign policy. The majority of this letter is devoted to repeatedly invoking the grave threat allegedly posed to the U.S. by Russia as illustrated by the invasion of Ukraine, and it repeatedly points to the dangers of Putin and the Kremlin to justify the need to preserve Big Tech’s power in its maximalist form. Any attempts to restrict Big Tech’s monopolistic power would therefore undermine the U.S. fight against Moscow.

    While one of their central claims is that Big Tech monopoly power is necessary to combat (i.e., censor) “foreign disinformation,” several of these officials are themselves leading disinformation agents: many were the same former intelligence officials who signed the now-infamous-and-debunked pre-election letter fraudulently claiming that the authentic Hunter Biden emails had the “hallmarks” of Russia disinformation (former Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Obama CIA Director Michael Morrell, former Obama CIA/Pentagon chief Leon Panetta). Others who signed this new letter have strong financial ties to the Big Tech corporations whose power they are defending in the name of national security (Morrell, Panetta, former Bush National Security Adviser Fran Townsend).”

    https://greenwald.substack.com/p/former-intelligence-officials-citing?s=w

    Ukraine is not an ally of the United States.

    I’m not a citizen of NATO, I’m not a citizen of the World Economic Forum, I never voted for a penny of my taxpayer dollars going to that sh*thole, and ZFG Russia can burn that place to the ground, and nothing of value will be lost…

    1. Breitbart — Barack Obama Embraces ‘New Role’ Promoting Censorship (4/20/2022):

      “Former President Barack Obama will deliver a speech at Stanford University on Thursday that embraces his “new role” of policing the national debate over whether social media companies should censor political opponents.

      Obama “is expected to add his voice to demands for rules to rein in the flood of lies polluting public discourse,” the New York Times reported. “In private meetings and public appearances over the last year, the former president has waded deeply into the public fray over misinformation and disinformation, warning that the scourge of falsehoods online has eroded the foundations of democracy at home and abroad.”

      The Times noted it is not the first time Obama has delivered a speech on the topic. Last month, Obama spoke at an event organized by the University of Chicago and the Atlantic. Obama said during the speech that social media companies should censor what “we don’t think are good for society.”

      “I think it is reasonable for us as a society to have a debate and then put in place a combination of regulatory measures and industry norms that leave intact the opportunity for these platforms to make money,” Obama continued. “But say to them that there’s certain practices you engage in that we don’t think are good for society.”

      https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/04/20/barack-obama-embraces-new-role-promoting-censorship/

      Nobody coronated you King, @sshole.

      The only good globalist is a dead globalist 🙂

    2. Facebook is critical to our national security?! Maybe we need to unplug the inter webs and go back to the way things used to be.

      1. Loose lips sink ships, and I guess the loosest lips are… well I guess on Tik Tok and OnlyFans. If you ask me, maybe this flood of misinformation is a GOOD thing. Bury the truth in plain sight under such a mountain of misinformation from all sides that our enemies can’t figure out the truth. Or us either.

        That said, does anyone else get the impression that Obama just wants to party for the next 20 years, and only puts out a speech to top up his booze fund?

  9. “Things look even uglier for the mortgage lenders themselves. In a much-publicized move, New York-based Better.com cut 900 employees over Zoom last December. The New York mortgage lender cut another 3,000 jobs in March.

    It was cheaper than renting a job?

  10. ‘Hong Kong home prices have in the long term been inversely correlated to the strength of the US dollar,’ said Wong. ‘It will mark the end of the low interest rates enjoyed by Hong Kong in the past 20 years, that have propelled the city’s home prices sharply upwards.’

    The most expensive in the world cuz of easy money. Not a shortage, no pent up demand. Who wants to live in Hong Kong anymore?

  11. This is a Mass Formation Psychosis article.

    More Than Half Of Americans Say Biden Not Tough Enough On Russia (4/21/2022):

    “Many Americans still question whether President Joe Biden is showing enough strength in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, even as most approve of steps the U.S. is already taking and few want U.S. troops to get involved in the conflict.

    A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 54% of Americans think Biden has been “not tough enough” in his response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Thirty-six percent think his approach has been about right, while 8% say he’s been too tough.

    But as the war has dragged on, Americans’ desire to get involved has waned somewhat. Thirty-two percent of Americans say the U.S. should have a major role in the conflict. That’s ticked back down from 40% last month, though that remains slightly higher than the 26% who said so in February.”

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ap-poll-biden-russia-ukraine-war_n_6260fed0e4b0e900dcd1e7c8

    Do you have a son? A daughter? Some grandchildren?

    WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Send them to Ukrainistan NOW. And pay for it out of your own pocket.

    Your family needs to DIE for Zelensky dancing in leather pants and heels.

    Your family needs to DIE for Klaus Schwab.

    Just imagine the amount of Reddit karma points you will receive when you add a Gold Star Mother “pieces of flair” emoji to your Reddit username.

    That is as close to self-actualization you can ever hope to be, you virtue signalling armchair warriors.

    1. Is this from the same pollsters who tell us more than two-thirds of Americans support keeping mask mandates for air travel? Or that Biden was our most popular president ever?

    3. We should be working with Russia in order to counter China who we should really worry about. Everything is ash backwards!

  12. “Scott Silver is behind on his mortgage. Like tens of thousands of Floridians”….

    That isn’t the problem Scott. You simply borrowed too much to buy a rapidly depreciating asset. You got donked. You got donked but good.

    Safety Harbor, FL Housing Prices Crater 14% YOY As Gulf Coast Florida Housing Turns Toxic On Soaring Mortgage Defaults

    https://www.movoto.com/safety-harbor-fl/market-trends/

  13. “The big trigger appears to be the rapid rise of interest-rate expectations, as central banks get serious about fighting inflation.

    Piddly .25 or .5 interest rate hikes when real inflation has soared into the double digits isn’t getting serious about fighting inflation. It’s a joke.

  14. I see what you did there, globalists.

    Germans Told to Take Fewer Showers as Energy Costs

    Bitehttps://summit.news/2022/04/19/germans-told-to-take-fewer-showers-as-energy-costs-bite/

    Reduce your living standards to ‘stand with Ukraine’.

        1. Spaniards have a reputation for not bathing in Latin America.

          A few years ago I flew on Lufthansa to Germany. The dude who sat next to me had some serious BO. Fortunately the flight wasn’t full and he promptly moved to another seat shortly after takeoff. I don’t know if he was German or what, he never said a word.

          That would have been a LONG flight had he not moved.

          1. Carry fresh coffee grounds and “accidently” spill the bag on the floor. I had a kind stewardess do that for me when a baby puked in the seat next to me.

  15. Lets punish those Russians by keeping them from playing tennis. That will save the lives of the Ukes. First they came for the tennis players and I said nothing.

      1. The mental illness that has taken over this world is astounding. Orwell would be shocked. It’s that bad.

        3. When I first read 1984, it struck me as absurd, especially the blatantly contradictory IngSoc slogans. “Who would believe such things?” I wondered. But now we are told that men are women, and everyone in the media nods their heads while Apple releases a pregnant man emoji. The gaslighting (we’ve always been at war with EastAsia) seemed ridiculous. Surely people would remember that EastAsia used to be an ally? Yet here we are, the media is constantly gaslighting us, about everything. We even have a two minute hate.

          1. I’m still trying to figure out how a baby can emerge from a man’s bung hole. Maybe the geniuses at Apple know how this works?

          2. Maybe the geniuses at Apple know how this works?

            According to IngSoc2022, of which Apple is a charter member, men have uteri, ovaries, fallopian tubes and vaginas. Funny, I don’t have any of those parts. Does that mean I’m a woman? I think the next time I visit my doctor, I will ask him what am I. I can’t wait to hear his answer.

      2. And punish their accomplished, peace loving artists for the bellicose acts of their dictatorial leader…

  16. The Federalist — As Crime Grows, Biden’s Radical War On Self-Defense Is Alienating Voters (4/21/2022):

    “Among the unpopular policy positions dragging down his presidency is his myopic focus on gun control instead of crime control. The Biden White House has pursued the most far-reaching and radical gun control agenda of any president, previously naming a gun control lobbyist to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) whose nomination was defeated when not even all Senate Democrats could support the nominee …

    many voters aren’t behind Biden’s radical gun control agenda. Support for gun control is dropping. After high-profile criminal incidents that captured the news cycles, including the New York City subway attack and the gang-related murders in Sacramento, Calif., voters are seeing that gun control isn’t the pressing issue. Crime is.”

    https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/21/as-crime-grows-bidens-radical-war-on-self-defense-is-alienating-voters/

    Here in Denver, murder is legal if you are Antifa:

    https://denver.cbslocal.com/2022/03/21/matthew-dolloff-charges-dropped-2020-protest/

    Denver voted 79.55% for Pedo Joe in 2020.

    Murder is legal if you are Antifa.

  17. ‘Higher prices and higher mortgage rates have boosted the required monthly payment to buy a home; it’s up by more than 40 percent from a year ago. This affordability challenge will shrink the buyer pool.’

    Got home purchase budget shrinkage?

  18. LIBS OF TIKTOK – THE VERY WORST COMPILATION (4/20/2022) 56m06s:

    https://www.bitchute.com/video/ECNKvmShpzSv/

    These people are obsessed with children, they are obsessed with YOUR children.

    It’s in the Old Testament of the Bible, and the term for it is “abomination.”

    “They’re not sending their best”

    1. Remember how Robert Bork was ridiculed for his book “Slouching Towards Gomorrah”?

      Well, we are well past slouching.

      1. I don’t want to live in the same country with these freaks.

        We go the Yugoslavia route, and they get to stay alive in their own Freakistan.

        Or if we don’t, and they keep coming after the kids, there will be an indiscriminate bloodletting, and no quarter given.

        They are kiddy diddlers.

        1. To be honest, I would have thought that where we are now would have been enough to start a reaction. Sure, some parents are complaining at school board meetings, only to have grim faced FBI agents visit them at home.

          Given what is happening, I would have expected a mass exodus out of public education, into private, parochial and home schooling, but it isn’t happening, at least not on the scale I was expecting.

          My only takeaway is that most parents either refuse to believe what is happening (our local public schools are not like that) or they flat out just don’t care. As long as the babysitting is “free”, it’s good enough for them.

          1. Not too much info because doxx, but one of our managers just left to move to a middle tier city in a red state in the southeast U.S. because of what was happening to his 15 year old child in one of the larger suburban Front Range school districts.

            It’s a good thing I’m not a parent, because if I was there would be a trail of dead bodies in my wake.

            This country, this whole civilization, is pretty much over.

            “This sucker could go down”

          2. middle tier city in a red state

            I’m not certain that public schools in those states are still “safe”. Sure, Florida banned grooming, but only through 3rd grade. 4th grade and beyond and the kids are fair game.

          3. Many people are living paycheck to paycheck. Enrolling in private schools is not feasible for many. Also, most of this CRT stuff came to light in the last year. Let’s see what happens after this school year finishes.

            My church (big church) floated the idea of a hybrid homeschool/private model about 6 months ago. The response was so overwhelming they are launching it this fall and I’m guessing there will be hundreds of kids enrolled in the first year. The number will likely be limited by the church’s ability to hire enough teachers.

          4. “My only takeaway is that most parents either refuse to believe what is happening…”

            I think the vast majority of people are in denial and suffer from normalcy bias. They don’t want to believe what is occurring in front of their eyes because it will utterly destroy their concept of the future and their kids’ future.

  21. Powell late to the game as usual – just admitted to the 50bps rise. But according to the CNBC take i was watching – would consider ‘tight’ condition – so above the 2.5% fed funds rate they consider neutral.

    We are so f’ed – they cant even get inflation under control – he basically said we cant control energy, food and supply chain issues out of China, so they wont try.


    “It is appropriate in my view to be moving a little more quickly” to raise interest rates, Powell said while part of an International Monetary Fund panel. “I also think there is something to be said for front-end loading any accommodation one thinks is appropriate. … I would say 50 basis points will be on the table for the May meeting.”

    Did you guys know about the following change to fed policy – this is no legislation that allows for them to consider this – they are just making it up.

    The Fed had resisted raising rates through 2021 even though inflation was running well above the central bank’s 2% longer-run target. Under a policy framework adopted in late 2021, the Fed said it would be content with letting inflation running hotter than normal in the interest of achieving full employment that was inclusive across income, racial and gender demographics.

    1. food

      Mexico imports 20 million metric tons of corn from the US every year. That’s 40 billion pounds of corn. Which is 317 lbs of corn for every person in Mexico, almost one pound per day. Cut that off and Mexico has a BIG problem. Of course, Mexico can pay more for scarce corn on the world market, but what will happen to poorer countries?

      This is going to get really ugly. Of course the MSM will blame it on Russia.

        1. I wonder if poor countries will make do with gmo cattle quality corn? Maybe they will have no other choice?

    2. Powell late to the game as usual

      Powell is talking one thing, and doing the exact opposite. This clown and his crooked buddies just couldn’t decide between a 25 or 50 basis point hike last time, in the face of the worst inflation in almost half a century, so decided to go with a puny 25 basis points. It’s like black comedy listening to him speak at this point. He doesn’t have a shred of credibility left.

  23. BWAHAHAHAHAAAA! Learn to code, Real Journalists.

    The most busted name in news! CNN+ streaming service is shut down three WEEKS after $300m launch because only 150,000 people signed up: 200 reporters and big name hosts like Chris Wallace and Eva Longoria are left in lurch

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10740161/CNN-shut-WarnerBros-Discovery-just-150-000-people-signed-up.html

    Warner Bros Discovery will shut down CNN+ after just three weeks because the $300million flop failed to take off.

    CNN CEO Chris Licht said it would be pulled at the end of April due to consumers wanting ‘simplicity and an all-in service’ rather than ‘standalone offerings’.

    1. the $300million flop failed to take off

      That isn’t just a sunk cost, it’s in Davey Jones Locker.

      I can only imagine the hushed tones at HQ when the numbers came in, because they know this will affect more than just CNN+, there will be huge cuts in other parts of Warner to offset that loss. HBOMax hasn’t exactly been a roaring success either.

      1. That’s an air-force or navy sized screw up. How do you blow 300M on green screens, teleprompters and big hairs?

    2. Real market demand for CNN has now been shown to be close to zero. Good thing they shut it down fast before the cable networks find out. I think it is actually negative demand in terms of cable networks because people are cancelling the entire package just to rid their homes of CNN. When I cancelled my AT&T internet I told them it was because they owned CNN. May they all burn in hell together.

    1. While I’m glad he’s sticking it to them, there is some real potential for losing billions for Musk. He’s probably borrowing the money using his assets as collateral. This could turn out really bad for him.

      1. I don’t care about how much money Elon Musk loses, but I am love love loving to watch Blue Checkmark Twitter foam at the mouth and sh*t the bed over all of this, couldn’t happen to an any more deserving bunch of globalists and censorious freaks.

        “They’re not sending their best”

  25. Russia Today — Mark Zuckerberg barred from Russia (4/21/2022):

    “Responding to US sanctions against Russian government officials and their family members, Moscow has sanctioned 29 US citizens, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Vice President Kamala Harris. They are banned from entering Russia indefinitely.

    In addition to Zuckerberg, Moscow has blacklisted LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky, as well as the presidents and CEOs of military industry giants Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, L3 Harris Technologies, Leidos, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Aerojet Rocketdyne. Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries and drone-maker AeroVironment have also been sanctioned. The director of the Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies and the president of the Bank of America were also on the blacklist.

    Moscow also sanctioned US politicians and their spouses, starting with Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klein, State Department spokesman Ned Price, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, vice-chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Christopher W. Grady, and the deputy health secretary, listed as “Richard/Rachel Levine.”

    https://www.rt.com/russia/554283-zuckerberg-sanctioned/

    LMFAO@ that last one, nasty nasty tranny.

    “They’re not sending their best”

    1. A fair number of those they sanctioned from entering Russia have family roots in Russia. Look at their last names: Zuckerberg, Roslansky, Emhoff, Klein, Levine, etc.

    1. Strictly speaking, the Easter season does not end until June 5th this year, which is Pentecost Sunday.

    1. The Financial Times
      US interest rates
      Jay Powell signals Fed is prepared to raise rates by a half-point in May
      US central bank chair says it should be ‘moving a little more quickly’ to tighten policy
      Jay Powell prepares to testify at Congress in March 2022
      Jay Powell said it was ‘absolutely essential to restore price stability’ amid the highest inflation in 40 years
      © Jonathan Ernst/Pool/AFP/Getty
      Colby Smith in Washington yesterday

      Jay Powell has sent his strongest signal yet that the Federal Reserve is prepared to raise interest rates by half a percentage point at its meeting next month as the US central bank steps up efforts to fight soaring inflation.

      “It is appropriate in my view to be moving a little more quickly,” the Fed chair said at a panel hosted by the IMF on Thursday. “We make these decisions at the meeting and we’ll make them meeting by meeting, but I would say that 50 basis points will be on the table for . . . May.”

      Powell’s comments underscored a shift in tone from several Fed officials, who have recently embraced the need for the central bank to take more forceful action to tame the highest inflation in 40 years.

      The view that the Fed should “front load” increases to its main policy rate so it quickly reaches a “neutral” level that does not stimulate growth was held only by the most hawkish officials, but it has become more widely accepted.

      Powell on Thursday indicated tacit support for that approach, suggesting multiple half-point rate increases could be implemented this year.

      “We’re really going to be raising rates and getting expeditiously to levels that are more neutral and then that are actually tightening policy if that turns out to be appropriate once we get there,” he said.
      …

  31. Psaki Breaks Down in Tears Over Anti-Groomer Laws: ‘Makes Me Completely Crazy’

    Infowars.com
    April 20th 2022, 4:23 pm

    When asked by “News Not Noise” podcaster Jessica Yellin about laws passing in Republican states restricting schools on teaching LGBT ideology and giving parents more control of their child’s education, Psaki didn’t hold back her tears.

    “I’m going to get emotional about this issue because it’s horrible…This is an issue that makes me completely crazy,” Psaki said.

    “It’s like kids who are bullied and all these leaders are taking steps to hurt them and hurt their lives and hurt their families,” she wept.

    “The political games and harsh and cruel attempts at laws, or laws that we’re seeing in some states like Florida, … that is not a reflection of the country moving to oppose LGBTQ+ communities,” she added.

    Former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany ripped into Psaki’s emotive performance on Tuesday, noting there are far more pressing domestic and international issues at play with much greater consequences than the right slowing down the left’s grooming agenda.

    “Of all the issues to cry and get upset about, there’s a war in Ukraine, there is bloodshed in our streets – children dying on the streets from crime that is totally out of control and rampant,” McEnany said on “Hannity.”

    “If you wanna cry, don’t cry about forcing sexuality on kindergartners. That is sick,” McEnany added.

    Greg Price
    @greg_price11
    Jen Psaki literally breaks down in tears over state laws that ban children from undergoing sex changes.

    https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1516827287844446210?s=20&t=4z5gP2hFDZKvORInd-6yAg

    1. If I were to talk about my sexuality at the office, I would be terminated before the day was over. But somehow, it’s OK for teachers to talk to small children about their sexuality. And if you tell them they can’t do that, high level officials like Psaki lose their minds.

      We are ruled by truly evil people. This is a dark moment in American history.

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