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It’s A Very Different Conversation In February Than It Will Be In June Because The Market Has Completely Changed

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Nearly one in five sellers dropped prices during the four week period ended May 22, Redfin Corp. said. ‘The picture of a softening housing market is becoming more clear, especially to home sellers who are increasingly turning to price drops as buyers become more cost-conscious under higher mortgage rates,’ said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist.”

“‘Rising mortgage rates have caused the housing market to shift, and now home sellers are in a hurry to find a buyer before demand weakens further,’ said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. Sellers clearly see the market softening. ‘We used to get 10 to 15 offers on most houses,’ said Lindsay Katz, a real estate broker at Redfin in the Los Angeles area. ‘Now I’m seeing between two and six offers on a house, a good house.'”

“While home sellers were in the driver’s seat barely six months ago, they are now seeing far less competition from buyers. ‘I met with sellers in February who are going to sell in June, and it’s a very different conversation in February than it will be in June because the market has completely changed,’ said Katz.”

“Pending home sales, a leading indicator of the health of the housing market, declined for the sixth straight month in April. The news follows a drop in both new and existing home sales. ‘Pending contracts are telling as they better reflect the timelier impact from higher mortgage rates than do closings,’ said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. ‘The latest contract signings … are at the slowest pace in nearly a decade.'”

“Andrew Sachs, a Keller Williams broker in Newtown, Connecticut, says he has begun to notice signs of a cooler market. ‘There are fewer bidding wars. Maybe the seller gets asking price, but they don’t get eight bids that push it over asking price,’ he says. ‘A seller can’t ask for the world and get it, so everything is going to be more negotiable.'”

“Monica Fowlds, a Real Estate Agent with Century 21 Selling Paradise, actually let us track two of her Fort Myers listings in the Reflection Isles community. Fowlds expected both houses to sell in no time. In total, it took seven days to get both homes sold and under contract. Fowlds said it could be a sign that the market is slightly slowing down. ‘They’re still coming in at full price or over ask, the offers. We’re just not seeing 47 offers to have to juggle and figure out. We’re seeing 1,2,3…7…something like that.'”

“The other house actually had no showings so the sellers decided to drop the price after 24 hours. ‘It was at $535,000…we got it under the threshold of $500,000. We went at $499,900 and then showings started coming in,’ Fowlds said.”

“The national and local housing market surge is finally cooling. Over the past two years, Lehi has been averaging only 30 available homes for sale at any given time. That number has risen to 108 available homes listed for sale on Monday, May 23. The state has also seen a rise in inventory. Utah had an average of 2,767 active listings in May 2021, compared to 5,009 active listings as of today. Builders are starting to eliminate their weekly bidding programs and are moving back to a first come first serve system. Lehi started the year with a median sales price of $581,000. May is currently sitting at a median sales price of $600,000. This number is Lehi’s highest monthly median sales price in history, despite the seller-to-buyers’ marketshift.”

“Investor sentiment has started to cool for new Toronto condos, the latest sign that the sharp rise in borrowing costs is slowing the country’s frenetic real estate market.’Buyers won’t be as willing to absorb higher prices because of diminished profit outlook and rents not covering expenses,’ said Urbanation president Shaun Hildebrand. ‘As preconstruction buyers see that the resale market is starting to slow and inventories are rising, they become more cautious as expectations about future growth are tempered.'”

“Simeon Papailias, senior partner with real estate brokerage REC Canada, which specializes in condo sales, said retail investors are nervous about interest rates and the federal government’s plans to crack down on real estate speculators with a tax on preconstruction condo sales. As well, so-called end-users, or those who intend to use the condo as their primary residence, are in wait-and-see mode. ‘You have both camps waiting for the shoe to drop. It’s just fear right now,’ he said.”

“Look around the world and a quite different picture emerges, for several of the hottest markets in property have suddenly become very much cooler. In Canada, house prices fell by six per cent in April, the second monthly decline in a row. In Australia house buyer sentiment has collapsed to its lowest level since 2008, with the Westpac, the Australian bank, saying: ‘The housing downturn foreshadowed in our previous reports is now underway, having been pulled forward and accelerated by an earlier and more aggressive interest rate tightening cycle.'”

“New Zealand Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr has plotted a course to much higher interest rates, despite acknowledging the risk of a recession. The Reserve Bank is forecasting the economy will keep growing every quarter but Orr said a recession ‘sat within a range of possible outcomes, of course it does.'”

“ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said it had thought the Reserve Bank ‘would come out swinging’ but its statement was still more hawkish than expected. ‘The Reserve Bank’s new OCR forecast profile implies both a higher OCR peak than we had expected and a more rapid pace of tightening to get there,’ Tuffley said.”

“National Party finance spokesperson Nicola Willis said rising interest rates would be difficult for people battling ‘the cost of living crisis.’ We have known since last year – well before the Russian invasion of Ukraine – that New Zealand had an inflation problem but the Government’s only response has been to put more fuel on the fire with more spending,’ she said. ‘Now the Reserve Bank has no choice but to increase the OCR, pushing up interest rates across the whole economy and creating more pain for mortgage holders.'”

“A Chinese property company long considered among the nation’s most resilient shocked investors with a proposed dollar-bond payment delay, raising fresh doubts about the financial strength of the industry’s higher-rated borrowers. Greenland Holdings Corp., whose shareholders include the Shanghai government, is asking holders of a $488 million dollar note due June 25 to delay repayment by a year, a rare sign of stress at a state-linked firm. Its bond price tumbled from highs of 92 cents on the dollar to a record low of 41 cents in recent days as fears of an extension were confirmed.”

“Signs of stress at a firm like Greenland, China’s 11th-largest builder, is a worrying sign that even borrowers which enjoy some level of state backing may no longer rely on support when they run into trouble. The builder’s extension proposal ‘signals quasi state-owned developers aren’t immune to a liquidity crisis caused by prolonged Covid-zero lockdowns and heightened refinancing pressure due to market shutdown for weak developers,’ wrote Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Dan Wang and Daniel Fan in a report.”

“SOEs, companies that are backed by local or provincial governments, have so far been spared from the credit crisis sweeping the real estate sector as authorities moved to clamp down on these debt-saddled borrowers. A payment failure at Greenland may prompt a drastic repricing of risk among state firms and ‘an onslaught of rating downgrades could happen and lead to systemic risk for the financial system,’ Wang and Fan wrote.”

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This Post Has 88 Comments

  1. ‘The other house actually had no showings so the sellers decided to drop the price after 24 hours’

    But days on market?

    ‘It was at $535,000…we got it under the threshold of $500,000. We went at $499,900 and then showings started coming in’

    Watching some of these videos lately, this is how lots of people see it. Oh what a bargain, I can’t resist!

    500,000 pesos is a sh$tload of money for Fort Myers. On one video yesterday I saw the median in Queen Creek AZ is 650,000.

  2. ‘Buyers won’t be as willing to absorb higher prices because of diminished profit outlook and rents not covering expenses’

    The K-dn REIC covers up the past. Remember when there were 20,000 airboxes in Toronto under construction? What ever happened? They still are cash flow negative? You got a real mickey mouse operation up there.

    1. On the ground in downtown Toronto. Those (and more) condo units are being built quite aggressively – with lots having been signed as pre-construction purchases with 5% deposits paid.

      Theoretically – the builder can come after you for any $ difference, if you walk away. But will they?

      1. “Theoretically – the builder can come after you for any $ difference, if you walk away. But will they?”

        There are firms that buy various liabilities, e.g., debt for a fraction of the face value. There are usually solid assets tucked away behind a couple of “corporate veils.”

  3. ‘Over the past two years, Lehi has been averaging only 30 available homes for sale at any given time. That number has risen to 108 available homes listed for sale on Monday, May 23. The state has also seen a rise in inventory. Utah had an average of 2,767 active listings in May 2021, compared to 5,009 active listings as of today’

    Harry Potter, this is getting ridiculous.

    ‘Builders are starting to eliminate their weekly bidding programs and are moving back to a first come first serve system’

    This quietly happened in Phoenix recently.

    ‘Lehi started the year with a median sales price of $581,000. May is currently sitting at a median sales price of $600,000’

    This is the deleted URL for this link that got a name change from what’s above:

    https://lehifreepress.com/2022/05/23/housing-market-shifts-from-sellers-to-buyers-market-prices-staying-steady/

  4. ‘Rising mortgage rates have caused the housing market to shift, and now home sellers are in a hurry to find a buyer before demand weakens further’

    You know Diane had a tough time typing this out.

    3. There was a post (maybe on Facebook) a few days ago, where someone posted an advert copied from a Reic group that offered quality work in coming up with documents. A few hundred $s and you could get the entire package required for a mortgage.

      Apparently Adobe skills can be lucrative. What a mess!!!!!

    4. Ottawa proper are holding up fine

      A friend there has been without power for 8 days. A big storm knocked things out from Windsor to Montreal.

  7. “A Chinese property company long considered among the nation’s most resilient shocked investors with a proposed dollar-bond payment delay, raising fresh doubts about the financial strength of the industry’s higher-rated borrowers.”

    I’m shocked, shocked I tells ya.

  8. Re-post from the last thread.

    Washington Post — Ukrainian volunteer fighters in the east feel abandoned (5/26/2022):

    “Ukrainian leaders have projected and nurtured a public image of military invulnerability — of their volunteer and professional forces triumphantly standing up to the Russian onslaught.”

    It was all lies, and you are losing.

    “Ukrainian forces have succeeded in thwarting Russian efforts to seize Kyiv and Kharkiv and have scored battlefield victories in the east. But the experience of Lapko and his group of volunteers offers a rare and more realistic portrait of the conflict and Ukraine’s struggle to halt the Russian advance in parts of Donbas.”

    The obvious solution is for you to surrender.

    “In a video uploaded to Telegram on May 24, and confirmed as authentic by an aide to Haidai, volunteers said they will no longer fight because they lacked proper weapons, rear support and military leadership.”

    Ukraine belongs to Russia.

    “in recent weeks, he said, the situation has gotten much worse. When their supply chains were cut off for two days by the bombardment, the men were forced to make do with a potato a day.”

    Russia is winning.

    “The situation is controllable but difficult,” Khrus said. “And when the heavy weapons are against us, we don’t have anything to work with. We are helpless.”

    Helpless? Sounds like Russia is winning.

    “We’re ready to fight and we will keep on fighting,” Lapko said. “We will protect every meter of our country — but with adequate commandments and without unrealistic orders. I took an oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people. We’re protecting Ukraine and we won’t let anyone in as long as we’re alive.”

    That’s cute.

    An oath of allegiance? As a United States citizen, I owe you NOTHING.

    https://archive.ph/qBl7q

    Archive link provided because we do not give clicks or revenue to globalist scum media.

    The Washington Post is nothing more than a marketing brochure for the Military Industrial Complex and Big Pharma.

    1. Did somebody say Military Industrial Complex?

      Russia Today — US may send heavier artillery to Ukraine (5/27/2022):

      “As early as next week, the Biden administration could announce an escalation in the weapons supply to Ukraine, possibly allowing deliveries of MLRS and HIMARS long-range multiple rocket launchers, CNN reported on Thursday, citing multiple officials.”

      This is treason.

      “Ukrainian officials have listed both systems among the weapons they want the US and its allies to donate to their fight against Russia.”

      Donate?

      Like, a donation to Goodwill or a food bank?

      “A number of shellings and helicopter raids have targeted Russian territory in the past several weeks, which Moscow blamed on the Ukrainian side.”

      World War III: it’s what’s for breakfast.

      “Pentagon officials met with the CEO of Lockheed Martin to discuss the potential ramping up of production of the MLRS, one source said.”

      Lockheed Martin? They buy and sell members of Congress like they are baseball cards.

      “Kiev has been losing territory recently and is now saying that things look bad for it in the eastern region of Donbass.”

      Yeah, no sh*t, because Russia is winning.

      https://www.rt.com/news/556179-us-rocket-artillery-ukraine/

    2. Once upon a time in the early 1990’s…

      USA: Hey, Ukraine? Do ‘ya wanna sell us your nukes? Greenspan just printed a fresh batch of $$$.

      Ukraine: Yeah, we really need the money, but we also need to keep a few nukes handy to keep Russia at arms length.

      USA: It’s all or nothing. Besides, we’ll provide you with assistance if Russia becomes a menace. You can count on us!

      Poland: Hey Ukraine, how’s that U.S. military support working out?

      1. how’s that U.S. military support working out?

        The US has sent lots of toys over that are 40 years old. Who could have imagined that the batteries are dead.

        1. The blue and yellow flags of TREASON are everywhere around Denver.

          Flags, yard signs, bumper stickers everywhere.

          Ukraine isn’t a country, it’s a virtue signal.

        2. “The US has sent lots of toys over that are 40 years old.”

          That old schitt has been sitting in Europe for decades, and you and I are probably paying top dollar for it. The new “fire and forget” weapons are being re-flashed with East Slavic legible firmware, regional GPS coordinate maps and complementary training at Ft Benning, GA.

  9. Die, speculator scum.

    Welsh tourism bosses say ‘devastating’ new rule that second homes and holiday lets must NOT stand empty will drive up prices and cripple holiday trade</strong?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10860161/Welsh-tourism-bosses-say-devastating-new-rule-cripple-holiday-trade.html

    Tourism leaders in Wales have reacted with horror to confirmation of new occupancy rules for second homes and holiday lets.

    From April 1, 2023, the Welsh Government will insist that self-catering properties are let for at least 182 days each year in a move critics say will ‘decimate’ the Welsh tourism industry.

  10. Oh dear. Let’s see how the globalist Quisling regimes in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, and the sheeple who elected them, react to bursting housing bubbles.

    Fearful buyers flee plummeting New Zealand housing market

    https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2022/05/fearful-buyers-flee-plummeting-new-zealand-housing-market/

    The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has released data on mortgage finance commitments, which shows that buyer demand is collapsing fast.

    In April 2022, only 13,939 mortgages were issued, which is the third lowest monthly total since the RBNZ began producing this series in 2014.

    In dollar terms, mortgage commitments collapsed 30% in the year to April 2022 – a sharp turnaround from the 128% annual growth recorded in May 2021:

    1. They will ‘fix’ it all right. They will provide additional gobmint support…..lower rates, create 40 yr mortgages..anything….but they will ‘fix’ it. The houses must go up in prices…it’s the second item in the WEF handbook.

      2. We’ll see just how committed central banks are to fighting inflation vs. propping up the everything bubble.

        1. Citizen! There is no need for the central banks to fight inflation, since Yellen the Felon assures us inflation is going to revert back to normal levels (2% per our fake, Soviet-style CPI stats) by the end of the year. How this miracle is supposed to take place, I haven’t a clue, but remember, if inflation spikes instead, it’s all Putin’s fault.

          YELLEN: Well, I expect inflation throughout much of the year 12-month changes to remain above 2%. But if we’re successful in controlling the pandemic, I expect inflation to diminish over the course of the year and hopefully to revert to normal levels by the end of the year, around 2%.

          https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/20/cnbc-exclusive-cnbc-transcript-united-states-treasury-secretary-janet-yellen-speaks-with-cnbcs-closing-bell-today.html

          1. if we’re successful in controlling the pandemic

            The pandemic didn’t print all that money Janet, you and your cronies did.

          2. But that means prices are still higher than they are now, after the big inflation rise. Not that prices go back to “normal” at all.

          3. Not that prices go back to “normal”

            They always slip with knife when cutting up the pie and take the larger piece. “Wow, that was an unfortunate accident!” Now the smaller piece is your standard size, maybe a little smaller next time. Always.

          4. Now the smaller piece is your standard size, maybe a little smaller next time.

            Nice metaphor 🙂

        2. Honestly if they were serious about inflation, the rates would have been 5 or 6% by now and QT started late last year. They are not serious about inflation at all and IMO it’s for below 2 reasons:

          1. They truly believe that supply/chain is a significant contributor to the spike in inflation. There’s nothing they can do about it.
          2. Everything bubble has been the ‘economy’ last 13 years. What else is there? They killed everything, so they have to play the music until they CANT.

  11. For the Blue Check zombies…

    “In Stunning Shift, WaPo Admits Catastrophic-Conditions, Collapsing-Morale Of Ukraine Front-Line Forces”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/military/wapo-stunning-first-admits-catastrophic-conditions-collapsing-morale-ukraine-forces-front

    “But for the first time The Washington Post is out with a surprisingly dire and negative assessment of how US-backed and equipped Ukrainian forces are actually fairing. Gone is the rosy idealizing lens through which each and every encounter with the Russians is typically portrayed. WaPo correspondent and author of the new report Sudarsan Raghavan underscores of the true situation that “Ukrainian leaders project an image of military invulnerability against Russia. But commanders offer a more realistic portrait of the war, where outgunned volunteers describe being abandoned by their military brass and facing certain death at the front.”

    “…admits the avalanche of propaganda based in a pro-Kiev, pro-West narrative from the outset: “Videos of assaults on Russian tanks or positions are posted daily on social media. Artists are creating patriotic posters, billboards and T-shirts. The postal service even released stamps commemorating the sinking of a Russian warship in the Black Sea.”

    “We shot 30 bullets and then they said, ‘You can’t get more; too expensive,’” one volunteer described. And more: “When we were coming here, we were told that we were going to be in the third line on defense,” Lapko said. “Instead, we came to the zero line, the front line. We didn’t know where we were going.”

    Yes, Russia is winning.

    1. +1

      I am an American.

      I’m not a citizen of NATO and I’m not a citizen of the World Economic Forum. I owe NOTHING to Ukraine.

      And yes, Russia is winning.

      1. The Davos crowd was undoubtedly expecting Russia to fold like a house of cards under their sanctions. Instead, they are having to buy oil and natgas from Vlad under his conditions. Also., let us not forget that the WEF is openly discussing mandating that its citizens have electronic implants installed.

        I think I know who the bad guys are.

        1. “its citizens”

          The World Economic Forum thinks it is its own sovereign country now?

          No Glowie, but I reject your defeatism i.e. the Hydra has many heads.

          It’s gonna take a Steve Bannon “Fourth Turning” to defeat the WEF, but it’s going to happen. Those 300 million guns in the hands of American civilians aren’t going anywhere, globalist scum.

          1. The World Economic Forum thinks it is its own sovereign country now?

            I thought that was obvious by now. That said, not everyone is onboard. The US will be hosting a “Summit of the Americas” and several countries are threatening to not attend.

  12. Oh dear….

    Australian home builders are dropping like flies

    https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2022/05/australian-home-builders-dropping-like-flies/

    The crisis facing Australia’s residential construction industry continues to worsen.

    So far this year, we have witnessed several high profile residential builders collapse. These include major players like ABG Group, Privium, Probuild and Condev, alongside smaller firms like Home Innovation Builders, Next and Hotondo Homes Hobart.

    Yesterday it was reported that one of Queensland’s biggest home builders – Pivotal Homes – has also gone into liquidation, leaving more than 200 new home builds in limbo:

  13. “‘Rising mortgage rates have caused the housing market to shift, and now home sellers are in a hurry to find a buyer before demand weakens further,’ said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. Sellers clearly see the market softening.

    I fear that in such a scenario, FBs who financially overstretched to win bidding wars might stampede for the exits, putting more downward pressure on prices. This would be a calamity.

        1. No. My comment was only offering a situation that may be a reason for prices not to crater.

          1. may be a reason

            My point is that if you’re not first in line to get all the printed money from the government and have to earn it like the rest of us you will be crushed by inflation. Take a mini-inflation. Gas, food, clothes creep up to double and your pay does not. You will not buy a grand house because you have less to spend on housing. Will hyperinflation be more of this or the opposite?

  15. ‘You have both camps waiting for the shoe to drop. It’s just fear right now,’ he said.”

    This fear you speak of…not feeling it.

  16. ’ We have known since last year – well before the Russian invasion of Ukraine – that New Zealand had an inflation problem but the Government’s only response has been to put more fuel on the fire with more spending,’ she said.

    Sounds like the Brandon regime. But Yellen the Felon assures us that such drunken-sailor spending isn’t inflationary.

  17. More extend-and-pretend from Evergrade. Color yer money gone, “investor” baggies.

    Evergrande discussing staggered payments, debt-to-equity swaps for US$19 billion offshore bonds, sources say

    https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3179454/evergrande-discussing-staggered-payments-debt-equity-swaps

    China Evergrande Group is considering repaying offshore public bondholders owed around US$19 billion with cash instalments and equity in two of its Hong Kong-listed units, two sources said, as the world’s most indebted developer looks to emerge from its financial woes.

    Evergrande, whose entire US$22.7 billion worth of offshore debt including loans and private bonds is deemed to be in default after missing payment obligations late last year, said in March that it will unveil a preliminary debt restructuring proposal by the end of July.

    1. One knuckle samich comin’ right up!

      I love how after beating the idjit senseless he just goes right back to work, preparing orders.

  19. The plot thickens.

    Retired federal agent who was member of Buffalo supermarket shooter’s private race-hate forum may have known in ADVANCE of massacre but failed to report it – as cops investigate user called ‘Sandman’ who tutored killer on guns

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10859677/Retired-federal-agent-known-Buffalo-supermarket-shooters-plan-ahead-massacre.html

    Investigators believe a retired federal agent may have been privy to the Buffalo supermarket shooter’s plot more than 30 minutes before he opened fire in the grocer and killed ten people.

    The former agent, believed to be from Texas, was one of six people who regularly communicated with accused murderer Payton Gendron, 18, in an online racist hate forum, law enforcement sources told The Buffalo News.

    1. There is no way to replace the global ICE fleet with electric. But that is not by accident. They want you to take the bus.

          1. The hardcore “environmentalists” actually believe that the best way to eliminate ICE vehicles is to make the price of gasoline prohibitively expensive. It won’t affect them since they don’t need a car–they don’t even need a job, they live with their parents.

            But the average American can’t survive without their cars and they are getting pretty pissed off now that gasoline prices have gone through the roof.

            Biden says the “benefits” from these energy price increases far outweigh the costs. But since when has anyone even seen one benefit from the battle to stop globull warming? Let’s see, no car means no job. But the climate will be so much better!!

            They’ve finally Jumped The Shark and it’s going to take down the climate change juggernaut.

          2. In around 1913 the Elites thought that cars were only going to be for the upper upper class….
            Then Henry Ford won a lawsuit, which allowed for his mass production of cars cheap enough for the common wage earner.

            Than Henry Ford raised wages to 5 bucks a day, that than put pressure on other industry to do same.
            So many other industries evolved from the car, such as hotel, restaurant , travel etc.
            Now the Elite don’t want people to have cars or fuel . The Rich and Elite seem to resent the populations having any luxury items, anything that makes life easier for them, because that’s reserved for the Rich.
            But , in spite of the Rich becoming rich over a consumer consumption based economy, they now want to take it away from humanity. Now you will own nothing and eat bugs and be happy.

          3. The hardcore “environmentalists” actually believe…

            They don’t think very far. Double the price of oil and you automatically double the price of your electric cart, your food & etc.

          4. Then Henry Ford won a lawsuit, which allowed for his mass production of cars cheap enough for the common wage earner.

            Are we certain this was a good thing?

            Looking at shifts in technology, I’ve come to believe not all are good/beneficial. Perhaps cars and broader travel is part of that?

          5. You probably think that the invention of the electrical grid and the light bulb was a mistake, too. Since that led to the creation of fossil fuel power plants which led to pollution and caused globull warming.

            Take your thin as a piece of paper wisdom elsewhere.

          6. “Are we certain this was a good thing?”

            Go ahead and park your jalopy for a month and get back to us.

            Hows that Falling Housing Price Web Crawler app coming along?

          7. Well when you look at the 30,000 or so people killed every year on the highways, not to mention untold injuries and frazzled nerves, plus the vast sums spent on highway construction and maintenance, insurance, gas, oil, and car repairs, you do have to wonder whether automotive technology is a net plus, or if we’re really using it to our best advantage.

            I guess cars are better than horse and buggies, but sometimes you do have to wonder. I’ve been without a car for a few weeks now and it s*cks. It would be best if we could take advantage of the technology without letting it rule our lives.

          10. I guess cars are better than horse and buggies, but sometimes you do have to wonder. I’ve been without a car for a few weeks now and it s*cks. It would be best if we could take advantage of the technology without letting it rule our lives.

            Thank you for considering the comment in the spirit it was intended.

            Yes, being without a car in this world sucks — as the world is built for cars. Just as being without a cell phone and/or internet is a huge inconvenience. There are definitely pros to these things, but there are definite cons as well.

            I’m not sure where we net overall, but it’s interesting to contemplate.

      2. Much like ammo. Can’t remove the guns? Make ammo impossible to get. Have banks stop doing business with suppliers. Shipping companies stop shipping.

        But I tell you what Elitist scum, real Americans will share ammo for the chance to put some lead in your skulls.

  22. Ok, so the evidence shows that prior to the Covid Panademic , they did a trial run simulation of a Covid type pandemic.
    Now the evidence shows they did a similar test run simulation of a monkey pox panademic in 2021. Over six months ago Bill Gates was predicting that terrorist could release small pox in airports.
    In that money pox is considered a rare pox disease, one wonders why this was chosen for the simulation .
    I don’t know how much evidence you need that these bastards are creating these pandemics, and who knows if they are faked or released.
    A mike Stone has pointed out that one of the side effects listed on the Pizler list of adverse reactions to the vaccine is festering blisters.
    And the money pox vaccine is the small pox vaccine, but they are talking about combining the Covid vaccine with the pox vaccine.
    And tell me, who wants some expiermental gene altering type pox vaccine that they might come up with under emergency use .
    So, if you combine this with Biden wanting to turn over Health authority to the corrupt WHO, who could force mandate of their bogus vaccines under a Treaty that supersedes the US constitution, and they could force global lockdowns also, you can see where this is going.
    Rand Paul is starting to talk about the One World Order. I was wondering when any politician was going to start bringing up this elephant in the room.
    Ok, so you even have some Governors announcing that their State isn’t going to go along with the WHO.
    But it becomes more apparent everyday that they are trying to use contrived medical emergencies to create a One World Order Dictorship by this group of people like the WEF, that advocate Private Party Corporate Rule. Same with the Climate Change false narrative as grounds to deprive populations of energy.
    What is mindblowing is they outlined all these methods of taking over, over a hundred years ago.
    Like HG wells in the 30’s outlined what they had to do to take over and what they had to eliminate.
    They had to destroy family structure, destroy religion, destroy traditions and reference to history, destroy capitalism, etc etc.
    They recognized way back over 100 years ago , that the conservatives would be their biggest obstacle to their ONE WORLD ORDER Dictorship.
    And all their writers are depopulation advocates.
    Unreal .

    1. I enjoy reading these posts.

      “destroy family structure, destroy religion, destroy traditions and reference to history, destroy capitalism”

      Marxism 101.

      1. Don’t forget that everything is “destroying our democracy”, trying to magically disappear our constitutional republic.

        1. “destroying our democracy”

          I think that’s backwards. When it is said that something is “destroying our democracy” they seem to mean that thing is frustrating their efforts to tear down the Constitution.

  23. There is a lot to un-pack from this article, and I will re-post it on the weekend threads.

    Servant of the Corrupt (5/27/2022):

    “the portrait of the Ukraine President as a democratic paragon whitewashes the real Zelensky and conceals a vast web of corruption and international skullduggery of which Ukraine is situated in the centre. Understanding the real Zelensky, requires seeing him as a creation of Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. He is, in truth, a puppet of intrigue.

    It might be hard to believe now, but revelations from documents in the Pandora Papers — millions of files from offshore service providers leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with partners around the world — sent Zelensky reeling last year, threatening to end his political career. Though the actor-turned-politico campaigned as an anti-corruption reformer, the Pandora Papers showed him to be just as crooked as his predecessors.

    Of more than 300 politicians and public officials, including several current and former national leaders, in more than 91 countries and territories to whom the documents were linked, Ukraine was home to more secret offshore holdings than any other, including Russia. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which contributed to the investigation, found that just before Zelensky was elected president, “he gifted his stake in a key offshore company, the British Virgin Islands-registered Maltex Multicapital Corp., to his business partner — soon to be his top presidential aide. And in spite of giving up his shares, the documents show that an arrangement was soon made that would allow the offshore to keep paying dividends to a company that now belongs to his wife.”

    As it was with crackdowns on free speech and political opposition, Zelensky’s office attempted to justify the use of offshores by blaming the specter of Russian aggression. An adviser to Zelensky’s chief of staff said the offshores were necessary to “protect” the group’s incomes against the “aggressive actions” of the “corrupt” regime of former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in a US-backed color revolution in 2014.”

    https://im1776.com/2022/05/27/servant-of-the-corrupt/

    1. More:

      “Shortly after taking the reins, Zelensky and his Servant of the People party began firing, supposedly for inefficiency, Ukrainian ministers with reputations as anti-corruption reformers. Daria Kaleniuk, head of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center, told the Washington Post in March 2020 that the affair sent the message that Zelensky “can fire a person who takes a risk, for doing the right things, and blame this person for inefficiency.” Kiev-based reform reporter Oleg Sukhov echoed the sentiment last year, writing that “Zelensky has consistently protected corrupt officials from prosecution and killed anti-corruption reforms.” On the other hand, when faced with a petition calling for his dismissal, Zelensky refused to fire Oleh Tatarov, his deputy chief of staff, who had been charged with bribery …

      In 2019, just after Zelensky won his election, Kolomoisky signaled that he was prepared to pour oil over troubled waters and make peace with Russia. The civil war in eastern Ukraine has so far claimed more than 14,000 lives. The oligarch said it was enough: “They’re stronger anyway. We have to improve our relations,” he said about Russia and Ukraine according to the New York Times. But he also saw an obstacle: “People want peace, a good life, they don’t want to be at war. And you [Washington] are forcing us to be at war, and not even giving us the money for it.”

      The war has completely reinvented Zelensky, thus saving his scandal-plagued presidency marked by broken promises. As a Kyiv International Institute of Sociology poll showed, just 24 percent of voters supported him in late January. But now, thanks to the West’s embracement of the actor’s new persona which often places him beyond reproach, Zelensky has become the recipient of unqualified adoration and enormous amounts of international aid money. “Before the war the U.S. was sending $300 million per year to Ukraine,” said to NPR Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for International and Strategic Studies. “Now, we’re providing $100 million a day” to what was until recently considered “the most corrupt nation in Europe,” reports (of all newspapers) The Guardian.”

      Most corrupt nation in Europe?

      “They’re not sending their best”

  25. Has the Fed come around to realize that a little double digit inflation is more tolerable than charges by angry bulls on Wall Street that the Fed is not adequately supporting their HODLings?

      1. The Financial Times
        Markets Briefing European equities
        Wall Street stocks snap seven-week losing streak
        S&P 500 has best showing since November 2020 as investors bet on more dovish Fed
        A trader working at the Frankfurt stock exchange
        Even after the past week’s gains, the S&P 500 is down 12.8% this year
        Joe Rennison and Kate Duguid in New York and Naomi Rovnick in London 4 hours ago

        US stocks snapped a seven-week losing streak on Friday, as investors bet that softening economic data would be enough to slow the Federal Reserve’s tightening of monetary policy.

        The blue-chip US equities index, the S&P 500, finished the week 6.6 per cent higher, its best showing since November 2020, ending the longest run of weekly losses since 2001. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite also rallied, up 6.8 per cent for the week.

        Weaker economic data, coupled with early signs that inflation may have peaked, gave investors enough reason to dial back their expectations for how aggressively the US central bank will raise interest rates. Higher rates raise borrowing costs for companies and can curtail future earnings.

        Despite the bounce in stock prices, some investors remain wary. The positive narrative only holds if softening data does not foretell a recession, and if the Fed’s campaign to curb inflation is successful before it cuts too far into growth.

        “We still think this is not the end of the downdraft, but more a bear market bounce,” said Alex Veroude, chief investment officer at Insight Investment.

        Tuesday was the only day stocks recorded a loss, following weak manufacturing data and a report of lower-than-expected new home sales. That data added to nervousness following a number of weak first-quarter earnings reports from marquee retailers such as Target and Walmart last week.

        And on Wednesday the release of minutes from the Fed’s latest monetary policy meeting confirmed a hawkish tone, but still not as aggressive as some analysts had expected.

        On Thursday, markets were encouraged by better than expected earnings from large retailers Macy’s, Dollar General and Dollar Tree, helping to offset last week’s concerns about the sector.

        Friday offered another boost when official data showed personal spending — a sign of inflationary pressure in the US economy — eased slightly.
        …

        1. Does it seem like Mr Market won’t get out of the woods until the dips buyers capitulate?

          Definitely not there yet…

  28. So, regarding the car, that was being discussed above.
    You see its all part of the Agenda 21/30 plan of transferring people to 5 population center Cities, where they live like sardines, where you take a bus.
    This is the end game plan.
    In spite of a good part of US being car dependent to get to work, warm and cool homes, etc, they want you to live in Cities as their end game. They can keep closer tabs on you that way also.
    For me the car always expanded my options.

    The thing about the Biden Puppet, is he is trying to take away fossil fuel, when those bastards don’t have a proper replacement for it.
    The basic statement is they are going make necessary fuels unaffordable or limited, so end game your bankrupted into forced into the cities.
    For Biden to say buy a electric car for 55 thousand, or bankrupting people by fuel costs, or freezing them out is all part of game plan.
    And you can add the hunger games to their little bag of tricks, along with pandemics.
    I predict they are going to declare famine as a global health emergency. Than the rationing , than you have to have a a ID to track your consumption of food, or something like that.
    There is a whole range of things they can pull .
    Unfortunately these bastards are in operational mode. They have to be stopped because they are inhumane , and don’t care how much suffering they inflict . In fact, in their playbook they like suffering, so they can present themselves as saviors, as long as you do what they say.
    Sadistic bastards.

  29. I remember seeing a child interviewed in a previous mass shooting and there was someone off camera giving them signals to remember the rehearsed answers they gave in the interview. You could see the kids eyes looking off camera and then immediately giving very descript accounts of what happened. But that happened years ago.

    ‘We were just scared’: Third-grader describes terrifying moments inside Uvalde school | NewsNation

    May 26, 2022

    Some children witnessed the unthinkable this week in Uvalde, Texas. A third-grade boy described being inside the elementary school during the shooting.

    https://youtu.be/GNS8d2AG9Xk

  30. Is China’s lockdown policy working to contain the spread of COVID-19 without stifling economic growth?

    1. The Financial Times
      Chinese economy
      China industrial profits fall as lockdown pain spreads
      Contraction heaps more pressure on government that insists on sticking to zero-Covid strategy
      A worker in protective gear looks at a child leaving a Covid-19 mass testing centre in Beijing
      The Chinese government is employing mass testing, lockdowns and quarantine in its battle to eliminate coronavirus
      Thomas Hale in Hong Kong
      May 26 2022

      China’s industrial groups posted their worst decline in profits in two years in April, in the latest sign of the economic and corporate pain stemming from a wave of coronavirus lockdowns.

      Industrial profits dropped 8.5 per cent in April compared with the same period a year earlier, the measure’s worst fall since March 2020, when China was also gripped by restrictions to combat the initial outbreak of the virus.

      The contraction piles greater pressure on the government, which has insisted on maintaining its zero-Covid policies that seek to eliminate infections through mass testing, lockdowns and quarantine.

      The strategy is a priority for President Xi Jinping this year as he bids for an unprecedented third term in power, but its mounting economic costs pose a grave threat to the country’s growth target of 5.5 per cent for 2022.

      Official data last week showed a fall in overall activity in April at a time when Shanghai, China’s financial hub, was closed off and residents were confined to their homes. Retail sales, an important gauge of consumption, collapsed 11 per cent while industrial production also fell. Unemployment hit 6.1 per cent, its highest level in two years.

      Lockdowns are estimated to have affected dozens of cities and hundreds of millions of people. Restrictions are also being imposed in Beijing, which is reporting dozens of daily cases.

      Premier Li Keqiang this week issued a stark warning over the state of the economy and called for “reasonable growth” in a speech to more than 100,000 officials that did not explicitly address the zero-Covid strategy but mentioned virus prevention. He added that corporate liquidation was up 23 per cent in April.

      China’s latest outbreak has been centred mainly around Shanghai, which has reported about 63,000 infections, and where many residents are still confined to their homes. Officials have emphasised the need for quick citywide responses to the highly infectious Omicron variant.

      Zhu Hong, a senior statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics, said that in April the outbreak “had a large impact on the production and operation of industrial firms”, and added that for manufacturing companies specifically, profits fell 22 per cent.
      …

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