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Now Anger Meets Fear

A report from the News & Observer. “Summer has warmed up in South Carolina, but the same can’t be said for its housing market. To some realtors, the higher interest rates and the higher sales prices themselves have begun to finally slow demand in the state and Columbia. ‘I think that is an accurate depiction … there is a slight slowdown,’ said Karen Yip, owner of Yip Premier Real Estate in Columbia. Brad Allen, CEO of The ART of Real Estate in Columbia, said he had also started seeing a shift in the market. ‘Homes are sitting a little bit longer now and I’ve even seen a few price reductions,’ Allen said.”

From CNBC on New York. “The rental market in the Hamptons is facing an unexpected chill this summer. Median rental prices in the first quarter fell 26%, according to Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel. Brokers say some owners are slashing prices by 30% or more just to fill their properties. ‘There is a tremendous amount of inventory and people are not renting it,’ said Enzo Morabito of Douglas Elliman. ‘And it’s across all segments, from the very low to the very top of the market.'”

“‘The assumption that rents would be sustainable at these elevated levels has been proven to be false,’ Miller said.”

The Shore News Network on Florida. “United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the return of an indictment charging Evelisse Hernandez (40, Kissimmee) with four counts of bank fraud and four counts of aggravated identity theft. According to the indictment, Hernandez, in her capacity as a licensed mortgage loan officer, created and executed a mortgage fraud scheme targeting the financial institution where she worked. To ensure that otherwise unqualified borrowers were approved for mortgage loans, Hernandez falsified the borrower’s income through completely fabricated or inflated monthly child support payments on mortgage loan applications that she signed and certified to the financial institution’s underwriting department.”

The Orange County Register. “A unique, low-entry mortgage may be a salve for high Southern California home prices, offering one option that most affordable housing loan programs don’t address. The loan, a first that I’ve ever seen, is offered through Community Development Financial Institutions and doesn’t care what applicants look like or where they want to live. The minimum combined loan amounts range from $150,000 to a maximum of $3.5 million. (The first loan cap is $3 million and the second $500,000).”

“The income portion of this particular mortgage application is a blank slate. Volatile, irregular or transitional employment (due to COVID, for example), cash businesses, retirees, seasonal or gig workers and even recent immigrants may qualify. Proving the ability to repay is a non-starter. This is NINJ (no income, no job) with a small down payment.”

The Toronto Sun in Canada. “For the most part I get it — Toronto real estate is brutal, almost intolerably so over the past two years of the pandemic. And, of course, underscoring all of this is the near-religious belief in the idea that it’s OK to leave it all on the dance floor and spend every penny the bank will give you because real estate will only ever go up, up, and … up. The love notes in my inbox are certainly not helped by the inescapable reality that there are few people as widely reviled as real estate agents.”

“And now, as all signs point to a sharp market correction underway, no one knows how long it will last or where the bottom could be. Now anger meets fear. And all the while there are cringey agents all over social media posting videos of themselves, none-too-subtly flexing their fancy cars and conspicuous consumption, declaring ‘now, now, now’ as the best time to buy. It’s unclear if they are simply unaware of the shifting market or if it’s possible that they’re just in complete denial, but of course it’s easy to think it’s their greed talking.”

From What Mortgage on the UK. “There are signs of the housing market starting to slow down, according to Zoopla, which has revealed evidence more buyers are being forced to knock down their asking price. Average new asking prices were around 9% below the original, said the property website. According to Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, the fact sellers are being asked to knock ‘tens of thousands’ off their asking prices and sales were taking longer provided strong evidence the market had hit its peak.”

“However there is another factor showing price growth was slowing – down valuations. This is where the mortgage lender’s valuation, carried out after a sale has been agreed, is lower than the asking price. She added: ‘The brokers I’ve spoken to say another key sign of a slowdown in price rises is the number of mortgage valuations that are coming in under the asking price. The mortgage company has to carry the can for any overpricing, so they’re the ones with a keen eye on the objective value of a property. If an estate agent, buyer and seller are all getting carried away, it’s the valuer who brings reality crashing down on them. Valuers have been thinking that houses are over-priced for a while.'”

From Bloomberg. “A sharp slowdown in Swedish commercial property transactions has become the latest sign that the sector’s golden era of rising real-estate values and cheap financing is coming to an end. Deal volume in the Nordic region’s biggest economy slumped by more than 60% last month to about 10 billion kronor ($1 billion) after a record year in 2021, according to data.”

“The Swedish market has seen ‘a number of participants pulling out from negotiations in May,’ according to Arvid Lindqvist, the head of research at Catella Corporate Finance Sweden. ‘Sentiment has changed quite markedly over the past month and it’s becoming more difficult to get financing,’ Lindqvist added.”

From Stuff New Zealand. “A total of 92 companies in the building sector have gone into liquidation in the year to May 23, according to figures from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Chief executive of Master Builders David Kelly said it was possible the sector was experiencing a short spike in liquidations, but it was likely to be part of a broader trend towards the later part of another boom-bust cycle.”

“One of them is Cladtech Plastering Ltd – a family-run Christchurch plasterer focusing on residential properties operating since 2014. The husband and wife who owned and operated the company said disruption started with Covid-19 delays and snowballed. The couple have not been named to avoid undue stress. The late payments created a cash flow issue, which required the company to take out business loans. The pair sold a number of personal items. ‘We decided it’s either keeping these, and we wait for someone to close the doors and take everything, or we sell them and use them to pay,’ the wife said.”

From All Homes on Australia. “The property market has weakened since last autumn’s boom, but with plenty of competition around for the most outstanding homes, agents say it has turned into a more normal market. In Melbourne, Barry Plant executive director Mike McCarthy said buyers were quick to adjust once they saw other properties passing in, and may not bid as strongly, meaning sellers needed to look at very recent results to work out where their home sat rather than relying on nearby sales from late last year that may no longer be achievable.”

“The Agency chief executive of real estate Matt Lahood said a normal property market was one where there was a buyer for each seller, rather than numerous buyers willing to overextend themselves to win the competition for a property. ‘This thing about having 10 people register and the first bid hitting the reserve that we’d been seeing, we all knew that was unusual,’ he said. ‘People potentially may be re-rated with their buying power as the interest rates continue to rise. They might have a loan application for $1 million today [and] in another [period of time] that $1 million becomes $900,000.'”

The Bamboo Works. “Co-working operator UCommune International Ltd., dubbed the ‘the Chinese WeWork,’ recorded a massive loss of 2.13 billion yuan ($333.7 million) for 2021, the company said. Huge losses in the past years indicate that UCommune’s transition efforts are still falling short. The company has seen losses grow since 2018 and has accumulated 3.92 billion yuan in net losses and has not yet turned a profit.”

“Investor patience is running out. UCommune, which listed on the Nasdaq in November 2020 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), has seen its share price tumble, closing at $3.34 earlier in May, giving the company a valuation of $14.6 million. To avoid being forced to exit the market for a share price consistently below $1, the company combined 20 common shares into one on April 21. So, its share price is already 98% below the closing price on the day of its listing in 2020. Investors who bought in early have suffered major losses.”

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This Post Has 120 Comments

  1. ‘This is NINJ (no income, no job) with a small down payment’

    There’s some crowz circling.

    1. This person is one of the longest running columns on shack loans and one of the very few in a major paper. He said a few months ago that “fog a mirror” loans were back.

    3. Same as the last time. I was in the biz before the last crash and it was ‘05 and ‘06 that the really crazy non-conforming stuff started showing up on our desks. And it did give the market legs for a few more months. But it’s like the bright flame out just before the meteor vanishes. Adios!

      1. That last little dash of easy credit helps the big shots exit the market before the turnstile is clogged with little people.

  2. ‘its share price is already 98% below the closing price on the day of its listing in 2020. Investors who bought in early have suffered major losses’

    They are still renting f&%$ing desks!

    1. In the beginning of the pandemic, WeWork allowed all of its own employees… to work remote, thus ironically torpedoing their own business model. There’s something to be said for in-person interaction, but office space and commuting are starting to act like luxury items, nice to have but not need to have. Small start-ups will likely use their sparse cash for something other than office space.

      1. There’s something to be said for in-person interaction, but office space and commuting are starting to act like luxury items, nice to have but not need to have.

        The people who actually work for a living would disagree. Try building a house in your fooking pajamas. I can’t wait until all these WFH clowns get sh!tcanned.

  4. came across this last night he drives around Philly and the people its depressing……

    I would like to show you both the positive and the negative aspects of America. The reason why I post the “negative” portrayal is that because I wish to shine an honest light on this side of American life. It is u

    https://www.facebook.com/KimgaryPH

    1. I have an odd fascination with that and have been watching for a couple years. A few notes… the streets are cleaned every week and are back to wrecked in a day or so. The faces constantly change. Every week a few die and new ones take their place. A couple weeks ago a junkie couple was decapitated when a car slammed into them at over 100mph. Their shrine lasted a day or two and then they were forgotten. New junkies now sit in the same spot. Some say this is what raw freedom looks like while others see it as anarchy. BTW there are some good ones on Phoenix and Vegas too. The zombie outbreak is spreading. The scary thing is that they say over 100k died in the past year nationwide from O.D. but places like this are busier than ever. It’s probably fine, I’m sure Kamala is working on it.

      1. I have a similar fascination/curiosity. How are we making so many new junkies? This is an honest question; I really don’t know. They can’t ALL be people who suffered a medical injury and accidentally got hooked on Percocet. Doctors are much more conscious of this now. And IIUC, the new Fentanyl ODs are from someone taking other types of pills which were contaminated; i.e. they just went straight to death, no junkie phase. So where is all this coming from?

          2. I’m referring to the junkies themselves. How is everyone getting hooked?

            Hopelessness and despair. It’s what happens when you flood the country with drugs and then the top 1/10 of 1% rob the country blind and steal the future.

    1. The grandma-finally-died house on my block is still sitting without a nibble. I’m not sure where they will go next. I’m guessing they have room for another $30K price drop to still make a decent profit from the reno-flip.

  6. ‘And now, as all signs point to a sharp market correction underway, no one knows how long it will last or where the bottom could be’

    These markets are really fascinating in how it played out in January and February. The so-called CCP virus boom had run up a good bit, then exploded especially in these “cottage” towns. Now FB lawsuits are more common than penguins. I have rarely seen such a swift pull back in shack prices. A sign of a mania BTW.

  8. “a licensed mortgage loan officer, created and executed a mortgage fraud scheme targeting the financial institution where she worked. To ensure that otherwise unqualified borrowers were approved for mortgage loans, Hernandez falsified the borrower’s income”

    🙄🙄🙄

      1. Those of us who were responsible enough to pay off our student loans, will we be getting a refund?

      2. “enact $10,000 in student debt cancellation for those earning less than $150,000 per year.”

        There’s an income threshold, somewhere around $30K(?), that low-income workers don’t want to rise above because they would lose too many low-income benefits. They are basically punished for working. While there is some resentment that they stay home, I at least understand the logic of it.

        We’re starting to see the same phenomenon at around the $100-$125K income level. COVID stimmies, child tax credits, proposed gas subsidies, proposed UBI, and now student loans. Instead of being rewarded for education and work, this slightly-upper middle class is now being punished for “being fortunate” and “having privilege.” Gonna be interesting to see how this middle class votes.

  10. To ensure that otherwise unqualified borrowers were approved for mortgage loans, Hernandez falsified the borrower’s income through completely fabricated or inflated monthly child support payments on mortgage loan applications that she signed and certified to the financial institution’s underwriting department.”

    I guess this time is different, as it seems like such practices were standard in the runup to the 2007-2009 financial collapse.

    1. The Wall Street Journal
      Asia Economy
      China’s Slowdown Poses Credibility Test for Economic Data
      Growth has collapsed in a sensitive political year for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, causing many economists to question how closely official figures will hew to reality
      China’s slowing economy is causing some economists to question whether they can trust the country’s official data. A scene in Changzhou, China, earlier this month.
      Photo: Sheldon Cooper/Zuma Press
      By Jason Douglas
      May 30, 2022 7:38 am ET

      SINGAPORE—A severe slowdown for China’s economy during a year of acute political sensitivity for Chinese leader Xi Jinping is testing the credibility of Beijing’s official economic data.

      Figures this month illustrated an economy in free fall in April as lockdowns shut stores and factories, snarled logistics networks and kept millions of people cooped up at home for weeks. That bleak picture was broadly in line with the signals coming from business surveys, corporate earnings and a host of nonofficial data sources that previously pointed to a dramatic slowdown.
      …

      1. Where is AlbuquerqueDan when you need someone to put in an encouraging word about China’s economic growth miracle in the face of ongoing pandemic lockdowns?

    2. The Financial Times
      Coronavirus pandemic
      How China’s lockdown policies are crippling the country’s economy
      By Ed White, Andy Lin, Dan Clark, Sam Joiner and Caroline Nevitt
      4 hours ago

      After months of rolling lockdowns in scores of Chinese cities that have forced hundreds of millions of people to remain in their homes, it is clear that President Xi Jinping is prepared to pursue his policy of zero-Covid at the expense of all other concerns.

      That includes the widespread damage the policy is wreaking on the world’s second-biggest economy and most important manufacturing engine, and the political risks it is creating by further limiting the freedom of 1.4bn people.
      …

  12. Another day, another plunge deeper into the CR8R on Wall Street…when will the carnage end!?

    1. Markets
      Wall Street Prepared To Open Broadly Down
      Published
      May 31, 2022 8:03AM EDT

      (RTTNews) – Case-Shiller Home Price Index, FHFA’s House Price Index for March, Consumer Confidence report for May as well as the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey for May are the major economic announcements on Tuesday. The Fed’s Beige Book, the monthly jobs report, and manufacturing and service sector reports will get special attention this week.

      Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open broadly lower.
      …
      https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/wall-street-prepared-to-open-broadly-down

  13. Is it safe at this point to assume that all of the jawboning by central bankers about getting inflation under control has successfully brought inflation under control?

    1. The Financial Times
      Eurozone inflation
      Eurozone inflation hits record 8.1%
      Higher than expected price rises pile pressure on ECB to speed up rate increases
      ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany
      The sharp rise in eurozone inflation has increased the pressure on the European Central Bank to take action
      Martin Arnold in Frankfurt
      5 hours ago

      Eurozone inflation soared to a new record high of 8.1 per cent in the year to May, piling pressure on the European Central Bank to speed up the pace of its exit from ultra-loose monetary policy.

      The jump in eurozone price growth, from 7.4 per cent in April, was much higher than forecast by economists, who had expected 7.7 per cent, according to a Reuters poll. The core number, which excludes more volatile energy and food prices and is closely watched by ECB policymakers, also rose above expectations from 3.5 to 3.8 per cent.

      The higher than expected core measure, which signals price growth is gathering pace across most categories of goods and services, could tip the balance at the ECB’s meeting in Amsterdam next week in favour of raising interest rates at a more aggressive pace than currently outlined.
      …

    2. The Financial Times
      US interest rates
      Senior Fed official calls for higher rates that start to stunt US economy
      Christopher Waller brushes off concerns sharp monetary tightening could hurt labour market
      Fed governor Christopher Waller testifies before congress in 2020
      Fed governor Christopher Waller: ‘By the end of this year, I support having the policy rate at a level above neutral so that it is reducing demand for products and labour’
      James Politi in Washington yesterday

      A senior Federal Reserve official has called for the US central bank’s main interest rate to rise to a level at which it starts to stunt economic growth by the end of the year, brushing off concerns that a sharp monetary tightening would hurt the labour market.

      In a speech at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany on Monday, Christopher Waller, a Fed governor, said he backed increasing interest rates by another 50 basis points “for several meetings” and would not stop that pace “until I see inflation coming down closer to our 2 per cent target”.

      “By the end of this year, I support having the policy rate at a level above neutral so that it is reducing demand for products and labour, bringing it more in line with supply and thus helping rein in inflation,” Waller said.
      …

      1. Many don’t remember or never knew that the AIDS epidemic in this country was due mainly to the fact that gay men in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles were having sex with a large number of anonymous partners. The gay bathhouse and bar scene was engine behind this behavior.

        The early cases of AIDS were all linked to the gay bathhouses and bar scene. Early epidemiological studies found that gay males with AIDS had a median number of sexual partners in the HUNDREDS! I won’t go into detail because it is too nauseating, but the bathhouses were a central fixture in many gay men’s lives in those days especially in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

        The Los Angeles County Health Department closed the bathhouses citing that they were a danger to public health. San Francisco never did close their bathhouses. Virtually ALL of the gay males that were frequenting the bathhouses and picking vast numbers of anonymous sexual partners in the bar scene got AIDS and died. In those days AIDS was virtually 100% fatal.

        But the CDC and the news media never reported this because they didn’t want to “stigmatize” gay men. So instead they decided that it would be better to let them all become infected and die.

        IV drug abuses who SHARED needles were another source of the early epidemic. However, health departments reacted quickly to stop transmission in these drug abusers by providing bleach needle cleaning kits and discourage drug users from sharing needles. And those efforts were largely successful

        The other BIG LIE that the CDC spread was that AIDS was going to breakout into the heterosexual population. That, rightly, got a lot of people terrified. But it could never happen since heterosexuals didn’t behave the way gay men were when it came to having huge numbers of anonymous sexual partners. There was no straight bar scene were people picked up a different partner every night of the week. There were no straight bath houses.

        So the AIDS epidemic never did spread in the heterosexual community. Most people in America were at essentially ZERO risk of contracting AIDS. People were 10,000 times more likely to get killed in a car accident or being murdered.

        The point of this rambling post, is that the government’s response to Covid-19 was a replay of the game they played back in the 1980-1990s with AIDS. Back then it was, “You’re going to get AIDS if you have any sex.” Today it’s, “Your going to die of Covid-19 unless you get vaccinated and also receive boosters.”

        1. And some people testify to the fact that high dose medication they gave to gays killed a bunch of gays.
          They later on lowered the dose.
          The programs under Dr Fauci were not exactly safe.

          1. That’s totally false. In the early years of the AIDS epidemic, AIDS was 100% fatal once a person came down with an opportunistic infection (e.g., PCP pneumonia) or Kaposi Sarcoma. Then the protease inhibitors came on the scene–they were the first drugs that were able to slow the course of AIDS. One of the first high profile people to get the new treatment was Magic Johnson. He never did progress to clinical AIDS and he’s still alive and healthy today.

            HIV infection today is no longer a death sentence like it was in the 1980s and early 1990s. That’s one reason why it has dropped completely off the public’s radar screen.

            Fauci had nothing to do with the development of the protease inhibitors or other AIDS therapies. The Feds can’t take credit for the development of these new classes of drugs.

          2. In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, 100% of patients were diagnosed and treated in hospitals. Usually when they were admitted, they already had full blown clinical AIDS. These patients were VERY sick.

            There were NO treatments for AIDS then, and so patients died relatively quickly. It was a short one way highway to the funeral parlor. The situation was really ugly and a big mess. A close friend of mine was doing his internal medicine residency at UCSF during this period. The UCSF Internal Medicine program rotated their residents through the UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco General Hospital (the county facility) and the VA. So he admitted and treated a lot of AIDS patients. Any rumors or conspiracy theories about how AIDS came to the USA, how it spread and how it killed so many Gay males (and quite a few IV drug abusers) is just complete BS.

            Go back and read the published literature–you can literally put the entire genesis of the AIDS epidemic together if you want (it will take you a long time). The very first reported case in the world was made in Los Angeles County and reported to the CDC by the LA County Health Dept. AIDS didn’t even exist then and the report was just a few sentences long about an unusual case (I think the person had Kaposi Sarcoma and immune deficiency). No one gave it much attention–then all kinds of cases started popping up in L.A., San Francisco and New York. And the rest is history….

          3. That’s totally false.

            See Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s The Real Anthony Fauci. A number of chapters are dedicated to HIV, AIDS and AZT.

        2. Your information is so false. Both the CDC and the media widely reported that the early cases were related to gay men. In fact, AIDS was originally called GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency). The name was changed however, because it was clear that it would infect others, as it was spread through the exchange of bodily floods like blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk. Straight people did get it through sex, notably Magic Johnson. Fortunately, the message got out and many people began using condoms which dramatically stopped the spread in straight populations.

          1. So how do you know how Magic Johnson got infected? How old are you? Were you in the public health, infectious disease or other clinical related medical fields in 1987? Several things you state are absolutely wrong. I happened to be working for a health department in California when all of this went down.

            Nobody has to believe me, just go look up all of the published professional articles about AIDS back in those days. It’s there for everyone to see. Unfortunately, there are millions of people living today that weren’t even born when AIDS arrived on the scene. Or they were just 2 years old….

          2. So how do you know how Magic Johnson got infected?

            He was very promiscuous.

          3. He was very promiscuous.

            But was heterosexual promiscuity a risk factor for becoming infected with AIDS (HIV hadn’t been discovered yet)? Of the AIDS cases that were not gay/bisexual males or IV drug abusers, how did they become infected? Male cases were either hemophiliacs (received tainted blood products) or they received infected blood transfusions. Females who weren’t IV drug abusers had infected male partners (hemophiliacs/transfusions), received tainted blood transfusions or were the sex partners of bisexual or IV drug abusing men.

            In other words, the heterosexuals that did have AIDS did not get infected because they were promiscuous. The data clearly showed that there were virtually zero heterosexual cases that were promiscuous. All heterosexual cases became infected from these other routes.

            The fallacy still exists today that promiscuous heterosexuals helped fuel the AIDS epidemic. Sorry, but promiscuity in heterosexuals is not equal to promiscuity in gay/bisexual males with respect to HIV transmission. There are dozens of reasons why this is so, but it’s not worth the effort to explain here. Just let your imagination run wild.

            So the question is, if Magic Johnson was promiscuous, just who was he having all that sex with? Or, put it another way, if there were virtually zero heterosexual male cases who became infected by having sex with women who weren’t from a known risk group (i.e., transfusion recipient, infected male partner through IV drug abuse or blood products, etc), is it likely that Magic Johnson was terribly unlucky and got it from one of his female partners, or maybe he just had sex with a male(s).

            HIV transmission is not an equal opportunity disease with respect to hetero and homosexual sex practices. Nature does not care about “fairness”. Homosexual males have orders of magnitude increased risks of infection compared to heterosexuals. In this case, “promiscuity” (the heterosexual kind) isn’t relevant.

          5. I may have only been a teenager at the time but I had a front seat on numerous fronts: mother worked for a testing lab; family friend was a prominent infectious disease physician (Magic Johnson may have been a patient?); another longtime family friend had been a promiscuous SF gay man who later married into a wealthy family then died of AIDS when his daughter was young; and, volunteered during college for someone connected to Bob Gallo putting together IRB documents for an AIDS cocktail protocol.

          6. someone connected to Bob Gallo

            Who invited me to a performance of Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos at the Hollywood Bowl that I stupidly declined.

          7. someone connected to Bob Gallo
            Yeah, but Gallo got beat out for the Nobel Prize by Montagnier and Barré-Sinoussi. Every time Gallo was interviewed back in those days, he only seemed to talking about the Nobel Prize. I hear there’s a big monument at the NIH dedicated to Gallo and it cries a river every hour.

          8. but Gallo got beat out

            At the time, it was a big f’n deal. Hindsight is 20/20.

          9. At the time, it was a big f’n deal. Hindsight is 20/20.
            A Mexican-American friend of mine was working as an intern at the Health Department back in the early days of the AIDS epidemic. I learned later that her brother had recently died of AIDS. Before he died, he asked “Why didn’t anybody warn him of the risks he was taking”. You see he was from the wrong side of the tracks–a poor working class Mexican-American family in the Central Valley. At the time, the CDC, State and local health departments were spending no time on real public health education campaigns targeting high risk groups (e.g. homosexual men and IV drug abusers). The Gay Mafia/Lobby back then, run by wealthy connected white gay males put heavy political pressure on the government and health authorities to NOT inform the public that we were actually dealing with a “Gay Plague”.

            In fact, all of the PSA and other things produced specifically left out ANY mention of homosexual men. The message was universal, “ANYBODY can get AIDS.” Does this sound familiar? The Gay Lobby didn’t want any negative PR from the AIDS epidemic. They wanted the public to believe that white gay men were as pure as the wind blown snow on a convent roof. It was a 100% CON JOB.

            The white gay lobby made sure that not educated Mexican American gay males in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley would never figure out that they were at high risk. And the general public got scammed too. Even affluent college coeds were scared to death that they were going to get AIDS from their boyfriends.

            So instead of worrying about the deadly effects of HIV infection, the CDC and @ssholes like Gallo were more worried about their stinkin reputations and personal delusions of grandeur–Gallo only cared that the world would recognize HIM as the discoverer of HIV. Gallo, Fauci and the rest of the CDC/NIH, politicians and the liberal left didn’t give a rat’s ass if people like my friend’s brother got infected and died.

            You weren’t there looking at piles of CRFs (Case Report Forms) and stacks of death certificates–mostly all were of young men who dropped dead. Everybody back then had their own agendas and saving the lives of the average joe wasn’t one of them.

            So I hope that Gallo drowns in a vat of cheap Gallo wine. Yeah, it was a big fvcking deal.

            BTW, my friend went on to get her MD and now works on the Central Coast where she’s a family medicine physician. Her patients are like her family was when she was a kid. She isn’t getting rich but she’s devoted to caring for those that don’t have the savvy, knowledge or resources like many of us on this forum have.

          10. At the time, it was a big f’n deal. Hindsight is 20/20.
            That Gallo and others were worrying about a truly worthless “prize” while thousands (and then millions) of people were dropping dead left and right is the definition of moral bankruptcy. Pure evil and selfishness, the worst kind right out of the Bible.

            It made absolutely NO DIFFERENCE WHO “DISCOVERD” HIV! It was going to be identified by somebody–who that somebody was was completely irrelevant. Gallo is the classic example of why many people hate scientists–Gallo is the epitome of the jerk who lived in an Ivory Tower.

            He never expressed any despair, compassion or concern about the raging AIDS epidemic. He only cared about himself and that he would get the prize. He was like the Generals in WW I eating off of fine China and drinking fine wines while their men were sleeping and eating with rats. And then in the morning, the Generals would look down at their men in disgust because their last attack failed. “10,000 men died?! That means nothing! They are all cowards.”

            As you can see, the memories from those bad old days are still with me. That’s the major reason why I left government service.

          11. zzy, you stated that CDC and the news media never reported this because they didn’t want to “stigmatize” gay men. This is revisionist history. The NY Times reported back on July 3, 1981 that doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer. I was alive back then and remember this article, and for you to state that it wasn’t reported is not accurate. Other news media also reported this as well, and there were tons of articles on it.

        3. “There was no straight bar scene were people picked up a different partner every night of the week.”

          Yep, the ladies make a guy grovel, gotta earn it!

          1. Yep, the ladies make a guy grovel, gotta earn it!
            And also, most straight men don’t want to have sloppy seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths etc. How come all discussions about AIDS turn into filthy things that make you want to go wash up with alcohol and bleach?

        5. Zzy please also look into the widespread use of Amyl nitrite in the gay male bathhouse and club scene as a possible cause of the skin lesions and AIDS symptoms. To be followed by AZT for the death sentence.

          1. CorporateShill, poppers may suppress natural killer (NK) cell functions which increases vulnerability to infections agents, but this effect is minimal. What poppers do is produce a euphoria that reduces inhibitions, increase sexual drive, and intensify the sensations of orgasms. It is more comparable to alcohol that way, which is not good for your liver, but the bigger risk is that it reduces inhibitions and makes for poor judgement when one is under the influence.

    3. Groomers gonna groom.

      Paramount+ sponsors drag event where child dances on stage for money (5/30/2022):

      “The video making its rounds online of DragCon is disturbing to say the least. At least two children are seen on stage with one dancing, “dropping it low,” and collecting money from a crowd of grown adults cheering the child on.”

      https://thepostmillennial.com/watch-paramount-sponsors-drag-event-where-child-dances-on-stage-for-money

      “They’re not sending their best”

    4. In Maryland there is an age minimum of 16 to legally consent to have sex.
      There is no age minimum to change your sex.

  15. The Globalists enemy are trying to get legislation that the unvaccinated will get a punishment tax. Also they want to make new laws that if any Doctor percribed medications not endorsed by the Medical Dictorship, they will be violating the law…

    So, all those Drs that saved thousands of lives by their protocols that actually worked in treating Covid would be barred legally from any discretion to save lives that isn’t the vaccine or killer meds dictates.
    This would be the final draw in the corruption of the Medical system to forced Drs into compliance with killer vaccines and meds.
    They did a simulation on monkey pox about 15 months ago , so surprise surprise that’s the new health threat .
    I suspect that soon they will start pushing massive testing for monkey pox , using the same PCR type testing that’s a bogus testing tool.

  16. Grabbers gonna grab:

    NBC’s Chuck Todd: Second Amendment Right ‘Does Not Exist’ (5/31/2022):

    “Whether it’s guns, or climate change, or protecting our democracy, we no longer have a politics that can meet these crucial moments that we face.”

    And the host blamed Americans, lamenting that “no member of Congress has been voted out of office for being too pro-gun. Not one!”

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/nbcs-chuck-todd-second-amendment-right-does-not-exist

    Chuck Todd and NBC are globalist scum media.

    1. Well this open attack by fake and brainwashing news to take all amendments and Constitutional protections of Citizens is in operational mode.

      Its has all been for the final destruction of the individual rights of the individual laid out by the Founding Fathers of US Constitution .

      A One World Order Dictorship , where individuals have no rights at all , is the plan.
      You are the collective that has to do what the Dictorship mandates. Free will is over , and you will be forced by this Innsurrection of unelected private parties and rich Corporations to comply with their anti humanity goals, and outright genocide.
      Fake news, financed by the very group that wants to destroy you , is getting so obvious now. .

      Taking the first amendment , so they can defraud and dupe the public is one of their weapons , as they label any dispute to their narratives disinformation.
      That is why they are going to double down on any information that is contrary to their absurd narratives.
      They are pissed that they didn’t get total compliance on their Vaccine campaign.
      They offer nothing but death and destruction and slavery in this Dictorship by fraudsters and psychopaths that has been pre planned.
      Hard to believe I know and outright shocking what they want to pull off.

  20. And some people testify to the fact that high dose medication they gave to gays killed a bunch of gays.
    They later on lowered the dose.
    The programs under Dr Fauci were not exactly safe.

    1. It’s still well above last year’s levels and the fertilizer shortage will further contribute to food shortages.

      Did you hear about the train of potash that derailed in Alberta last week or the massive fire that just broke out in Minnesota at a poultry farm that supplies eggs to major supermarkets?

          1. Interference with the production and transportation is accurate.

            There is no “shortage” of anything.

          3. And when those temporary artificial interferences are removed, supply soars and prices plummet.

          4. a shortage

            Ironically, the supply disruption in this case was caused by our own government. When does THAT ever happen?

          6. the supply disruption in this case was caused by our own government. When does THAT ever happen?

            When it’s deliberate.

  22. ‘The problem was, it was all hooey. According to Sussmann’s indictment, researchers worried they “couldn’t make any claims that would fly public scrutiny,” with one complaining: “The only thing that drives us at this point is that we just do not like [Trump]… Folks, I am afraid we have tunnel vision. Time to regroup?”

    ‘No such luck: instead of regrouping, the campaign boldly submitted the nonsense to the FBI, along with a white paper by Fusion-GPS, before leaking this bilge to the media with, we now learn, the explicit approval of Hillary Rodham Clinton.’

    ‘The idea that Trump was communicating in a super-secret way via inscrutable beeps and bops with a Russian bank was so stupid that multiple normally dependable anti-Trump outlets, including the Times and a few writers at the Washington Post, were unable to find a way to take the claims seriously.’

    ‘However, as the above video shows, there were plenty of big media fish that still bit on this most ridiculous of hooks. Rachel Maddow, in keeping with her pattern through this period, was the most extravagant offender, making the inadvertently revealing statement about the Alfa tale that “This could be the missing link” proving collusion, the long-sought “Holy Grail” of proof. She is also seen telling New Yorker writer Dexter Filkins, one of the primary press marks (along with Slate’s Franklin Foer) trusted by the campaign to be dumb enough to shepherd this absurd story into print, “We are blessed as a country to have journalists as talented as you and Franklin Foer writing about this.”

    ‘MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle was still more deranged, declaring that Alfa’s “server was found in Trump Tower… give me a break,” as if a Russian server was literally discovered in Trump’s bedroom. Deep state spokesmodel Natasha Bertrand yuks, “What more evidence do you need?” We also see Evelyn Farkas, who at one time served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia under Barack Obama, muttering, “I feel like there are a lotta dots here.” She’s referring not to her humorously unfocused, marble-like eyes, but the idea that these “dots” would someday add up to evidence. Farkas remember once went on MSNBC and insisted she had firsthand evidence of Trumpian collusion — “I knew there was more” — only to later admit under oath before congress, “I didn’t know anything.”

    https://taibbi.substack.com/p/shouldnt-hillary-clinton-be-banned?s=r

    2. The media outlets hire editors who are supposed to vet information prior to publishing it especially during an election season. Maybe the FCC needs to revoke a few MSM broadcast licenses?

      3. How about the Pulitzer-winning reporting by the New York Times and the Washington Post for their investigative prowess?

  24. Linked from Western Rifle Shooters.

    Globalists have entered the kill phase of Great Reset (5/26/2022):

    “I am calling this 12-month window the opening salvo in the kill phase of the Great Reset.

    Schwab opened the meeting at Davos by saying “the future is not just happening; the future is built by us, by a powerful community, as you here in this room.”

    Schwab said “we must prepare for an angrier world,” which I take as a bad sign that the globalists are getting anxious, feeling that if they don’t take drastic action soon all their plans to erect an end-times global government could be wasted …

    The plan is to price you out of everything to the point where you are renting a small apartment in the city next to a rail line, replacing your SUV with a mini electric car (if you can afford that) or even a bicycle. Look at China. That’s the future they have planned for us.

    The more pain that is caused, the closer the elites get to being able to implement their Great Reset, with digital QR codes attached to every human being containing all your health records on a cellphone app and connecting that app also to your bank account and your ability to log onto the internet. That’s the goal …

    the most unsafe places to live over the next three years will be the United States and the U.K., followed by Germany and then the rest of the E.U. nations. This population forecast was so controversial, showing population reductions of 80 percent in the United States and between 50 and 80 percent for almost every Western European country”

    https://leohohmann.com/2022/05/26/globalists-have-entered-the-kill-phase-of-great-reset-remember-the-deagel-population-forecast-it-now-makes-total-sense/

    Globalists gonna globe.

    1. for almost every Western European country

      No planned population reduction for any of the Communist countries? Interesting.

    2. showing population reductions of 80 percent in the United States

      How would the US be able to continue throwing its weight around the world after such a sudden population reduction? Could we even keep the lights on?

      And how will they kill off so many, so quickly? The jab? Even projected casualties from a nuclear exchange are not that high.

        1. Disease, famine and war.

          In most countries, I would agree. But the US is a net food producer. It would probably take a full nuclear strike to take out that many Americans.

          While the WEF is indeed evil, they are also very patient. Plus it wouldn’t do them any good to destroy the world and send it back to a radioactive stone age. They want a nice, pristine Earth for themselves.

        2. Disease, famine and war.
          80% of the populations didn’t die in Germany, Soviet Union, Japan, The Philippines or anyplace during WWII. Not even 80% of the population of Hiroshima and Nagasaki died after being bombed with atom bombs!

          All of these scenarios are ridiculous. Even if 10% of Americans died of famine or war, that would mean that at least 60% of the population would be sick, weak and disabled. That could occur only as a result of a total thermonuclear war with the Russians. Of course we would unleash all of nuclear weapons on Russia and they would be even worse off. We’d probably turn Iran, North Korea and Pakistan into sheets of glass. And we’d probably take out all of China’s nuclear forces.

          And Europe would be a smoking pile of rubble with a 100,000,000 dead. Nothing would really matter then since civilization will be destroyed with up to a billion dead. There would be no electricity or utilities. The internet would be gone forever.

          And Bill Gates and the rest of the Bozos would be hung from the nearest street lamp. But other than that, things would be okay.

        3. An EMP strike will disable all electronics and most all of the electric grid. Back to the stone age in short order.

      2. This is the million dollar question on how they are going to pull off such a massive extinction of US and European populations.
        My question is how much is China in on this?
        But my guess is the corrupt WHO , will play a big role in the implementation of this kill off.

        1. Ever wonder how they know so much ahead of time? Because its all pre planned and they conduct their simulations as test runs.
          These are not random events or happenstance.
          Dr Harari actually said in summary that Doctors will be replaced by A. I.
          So all you Doctors that think going along with these fraudsters is going to spare you , you better think again.

    3. The elites may have security but the security who protect them have families. They might want to think about that.

      1. but the security who protect them have families

        I wonder if security types are chosen (in part) because they don’t have a spouse or children?

        1. I wonder if security types are chosen (in part) because they don’t have a spouse or children?

          It wouldn’t matter if they did choose men that way. In fact, single non-attached ex-military combat security personnel are the least reliable. Take a look at the greatest and strongest military force in history–that’s the US Armed forces in WWII. What made them great and tougher than the enemy? The force was made up of normal everyday American men, all who came from that stereotypical American family. Rich, poor and in between, it didn’t matter.

          My dad’s outfit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, was great because they had cohesion and a strong sense of family and traditional values. My dad used to say that the worst men in combat were the “tough guys” who pushed their weight around in training. When the first shell landed, or the first machine burst went 2 inches above their helmets, those men turned into jelly donuts. That was without exception. Tough guys don’t stand a chance against an 88 shell. When the guys in the next foxhole were literally blown into a million pieces, those tough guys became “Combat Fatigue” casualties.

          So the last guy I’d hire for a security detail would be a loner without a family. He’s the guy who would cut my throat at the first opportunity he had to take over.

  25. ZH: Ukraine Fires Own Human Rights Chief For Perpetuating Russian Troop ‘Systematic Rape’ Stories (no link)

    “And now on Tuesday, Interfax, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, and others are reporting that Lyudmyla Denisova has been fired – precisely for floating and perpetuating fantastical claims of mass rape but without providing evidence…”

    “That Ukraine’s parliament took the drastic step of dismissing her in such a public manner also speaks volumes – strongly suggesting that Ukrainian officials themselves don’t believe the bulk of the ‘systematic rape’ claims.”

  26. Are recession fears holding you back from pouring money into the stock market CR8R?

    Repeat after me:
    – It’s time to buy the dip.
    – The stock market always goes up.

    1. Markets
      CNBC TV
      Investing
      Wall Street veterans offer 3 trading strategies for investors worried about a recession
      Published Tue, May 31 2022 11:38 PM EDT
      Updated 4 Hours Ago
      thumbnail
      Weizhen Tan
      Key Points
      — Talk of a recession is heating up, with Wall Street veterans flagging the rising risks of a downturn — and offering advice on how to invest during this cycle.
      — Investment bank Morgan Stanley said that while a recession isn’t its base case, it is its bear case because the risk of one has “gone up materially.”
      — Major stock indexes have posted steep declines since peaking late in 2021 and early this year, with the Nasdaq well into bear market territory.
      A person walks through the Wall Street subway station near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York on May 27, 2022.
      Countries like the U.S. and U.K. are grappling with inflation that has risen to multi-year highs as the Ukraine war has caused energy prices to spike and food prices to rise.
      Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

      Talk of a recession is heating up, with Wall Street veterans flagging the rising risks of a downturn — and offering advice on how to invest during this cycle.

      Investment bank Morgan Stanley said that while a recession isn’t its base case, it is its bear case because the risk of one has “gone up materially.”

      “Needless to say there are numerous shocks hitting the economy right now that could tip us over into a recession at some point in the next 12 months,” said the investment bank in a May report. It cited factors such as an escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war that may push oil prices to $150, the extremely strong dollar, and crushing cost pressures on companies.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/01/trading-strategies-for-investors-worried-about-rising-recession-risks.html

      1. The Financial Times
        Oil
        Diesel and gasoline supply crunch sets off sharp rally in crude oil market
        Declining exports of fuels from Russia combines with lack of global refining capacity to lift prices
        An oil pump jack works in the Permian Basin oilfield on March 12 2022 in Midland, Texas
        © Joe Raedle/Getty Images
        Harry Dempsey yesterday

        Oil prices have renewed their rise in the most sustained ascent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a fuel supply crunch adds pressure to a market that had already been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

        The disturbance to flows of oil and related products from Russia has rippled through energy markets as refineries are racing to pump out petroleum products to meet the needs of a global economy that is still emerging from the shock of Covid-19.

        The supply and demand imbalances pushed the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, up by more than 10 per cent last month in the biggest rise since January. Brent for July delivery hit a high of $123 on Tuesday compared with less than $80 at the start of this year.

        The rise underscored persistent supply challenges in the market for refined products such as gasoline and diesel, which had been building even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February.

        “The crude oil price is $120 per barrel but the product price — what you and I pay for petrol and diesel — is much, much higher. The overarching theme is the lack of investment,” said Amrita Sen, founding partner and chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects.

        “We are in this for the long haul: potentially a decade.”
        …

    2. Yahoo Finance
      Why buying the dip is no longer a ‘foolproof’ strategy for investors
      Ines Ferré
      Tue, May 31, 2022, 11:16 AM·2 min read

      Investors should no longer just close their eyes and buy the dip, says one market strategist.

      Advice that stands in contrast with a habit formed by many over the last decade-plus in the stock market.

      “I think [buying the dip] became a reflexive strategy among many people, and a very good one actually, because it was almost foolproof,” Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick told Yahoo Finance Live.

      “When the Fed was pumping money into the system and when there was fiscal stimulus, there was this constant flow of money. So, really every dip was a buying opportunity,” he said.

      But this year, with stocks down for the year, dip buyers have not been rewarded.
      …
      https://news.yahoo.com/buy-the-dip-no-longer-foolproof-strategy-181621633.html

    4. The Financial Times
      Chinese economy
      Shanghai retailers prepare for shopping spree as Covid restrictions ease
      Lockdowns across Chinese cities to combat Omicron have led to a sharp economic slowdown
      Four women celebrate the end of lockdown in Shanghai
      Women celebrate the relaxation of Covid restrictions in Shanghai on Wednesday. The city’s lockdown confined most of its 25mn residents to their homes
      Jennifer Creery, Gloria Li and Thomas Hale in Hong Kong an hour ago

      Shanghai’s shoppers flocked back to stores for the first time in two months as the city’s struggling retailers prepared for a rebound in demand following the easing of lockdown measures.

      Customers queued at shopping malls and pedestrians took to streets that had been deserted for months after officials relaxed some of the most extensive lockdown measures in China since the start of the pandemic.

      The closure of Shanghai, which formally began on March 28 and confined most of the city’s 25mn residents to their homes for weeks, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to a zero-Covid strategy that aims to eliminate cases through lockdowns, mass testing and quarantine.

      But the severity of measures across Shanghai and other Chinese cities to combat an outbreak of the highly infectious Omicron variant has led to a sharp economic slowdown. Beijing is now under pressure to address a decline in consumer spending, rising unemployment and mounting pressure on small businesses.

      Retail sales, the country’s main measure of consumer activity, fell 11 per cent in April from a year earlier — the sharpest decline in more than two years — and the impact of Shanghai’s tentative reopening measures on confidence is uncertain given the prospect of further infections.

      Adam Cochrane, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Research, said the rebound in Chinese consumption would not be as strong as it had been in 2020. “The severity of the lockdowns combined with ongoing uncertainty on the future Covid policy is likely to make consumers more nervous,” he said.
      …

      1. There’s no reason to fear the Chinese recession will prove globally contagious. What happens in China stays in China…just like the WuFlu did.

      2. Up next: Chinese shopping spree leads to a surge in new cases, and renewed lockdown measures.

    5. The Financial Times
      US Inflation
      Janet Yellen admits she was ‘wrong’ about inflation threat
      US Treasury secretary’s comments come as Biden signals seriousness about tackling rising prices
      US president Joe Biden meets Jay Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in the Oval Office
      President Joe Biden, centre, with Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell, left, and Treasury secretary Janet Yellen in the Oval Office on Tuesday
      James Politi in Washington yesterday

      Janet Yellen, the US Treasury secretary, conceded she was “wrong” last year about the threat posed by rising inflation while insisting that Joe Biden’s administration has quickly focused on taming soaring prices.

      “I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take,” Yellen told CNN on Tuesday, in a rare admission of error from a senior US official.

      “There have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy that have boosted energy and food prices and supply bottlenecks that have affected our economy badly that I didn’t — at the time — didn’t fully understand, but we recognise that now,” she added.

      Yellen’s remarks came after she attended a meeting at the White House during which Biden told Jay Powell, chair of the US Federal Reserve, that he would respect the “independence” of the central bank as it moves to tighten monetary policy, effectively giving it a green light to fight inflation with sharply higher interest rates.

      As with many private forecasters and the Fed itself, Yellen and White House economists believed the inflation spike of 2021 was related to the rapid recovery triggered by the first round of Covid-19 vaccinations and would fade relatively quickly. It has instead persisted and even worsened in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

      A US Treasury spokesperson said Yellen was “pointing out” that there had been economic shocks “which couldn’t have been foreseen 18 months ago”.

      “As she also noted, there has been historic growth and record job creation and our goal is now to transition to steady and stable growth as inflation is brought down,” the spokesperson added.

      Biden met with Powell at the White House for the first time since renominating the Fed chair to a second term, a sign of the president’s growing concern about high inflation and the threat it is posing to the economic recovery.

      “My plan . . . to address inflation starts with a simple proposition: respect the Fed, respect the Fed’s independence, which I have done and will continue to do,” Biden told Powell as they gathered in the Oval Office.
      …

      1. The Fed has a dual mandate to keep unemployment low and keep inflation in check.

        With unemployment at near record low levels and inflation running amok, I wonder where they will focus their policy adjustments in the coming months?

  27. Las Vegas, NV Housing Prices Crater 29% YOY As Desperate Sellers Send Inventory Soaring And Prices Plunging Across Southwest States

    https://www.movoto.com/nv/89146/market-trends/

    As one broke seller lamented, “Whenever I think about how much money I lost on this house I just want to kill myself.”

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