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The Hangover From Loose Monetary Policies

A weekend topic starting with Mises.org. “Paul Volcker (1927-2019) became Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board 43 years ago on August 6, 1979. The 20th-century Great Inflation, stoked by the Federal Reserve and the other central banks of the day, was in full gallop in the U.S and around the world. In the month he started as Chairman, U.S. inflation continued its double-digit run—that August suffered a year-over-year inflation rate of 11.8%. On August 15, the Federal Reserve raised its fed funds mid-target range to 11%, but that was less than the inflation rate, so a nominal 11% was still a negative real interest rate. How bad could it get? For the year 1979, the December year-over-year inflation was an even more awful 13.3%. At that compound rate, the cost of living would double in about five years.”

“‘The best professional judgment among leading economists was that Americans should view the problem of inflation as being…intractable,’ wrote Volcker’s biographer, William Silber. Leading Wall Street forecaster Henry Kaufman, for example, was pessimistic in 1980, opining ‘that he had ‘considerable doubt’ that the Fed could accomplish its ultimate objective, which is to tame inflation. He added for good measure that the Fed no longer had ‘credibility in the real world.’ Those days are now most relevant. Although Silber could write in 2012, ‘Inflation is ancient history to most Americans,’ today it is upon us once again. What can we re-learn?”

“In September 1979, Arthur Burns, who had been Fed Chairman from 1970 to 1978, gave a remarkable speech entitled ‘The Anguish of Central Banking.’ Discussing ‘the reacceleration of inflation in the United States and in much of the rest of the word,’ ‘the chronic inflation of our times,’ and ‘the world wide disease of inflation,’ he asked, ‘Why, in particular, have central bankers, whose main business one might suppose is to fight inflation, been so ineffective?'”

From Newsweek. “House prices across the country have broken records over the past decade, as single-family home prices doubled on average in almost 70 metros. The average homeowner became a property millionaire in three Californian metros, with prices crossing the $1 million threshold. The Detroit metro area topped the list for the most substantial percent increase in value, rising 356 percent from an average of $53,800 to $245,700 for a single family home – an increase of $48 per day. Compared to 2011, the median price of a single family home increased by more than 300 percent in Boise, Idaho and more than doubled in 69 other metros. Single home prices in Naples, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; and Cape Coral, Florida, jumped more than 250 percent in the last decade.”

“Home prices in San Jose; San Francisco; and Anaheim, California, more than doubled and crossed the $1 million psychological barrier in the last decade, with urban Honolulu, Hawaii, joining the ranks in 2022. Between January 2011 and December 2021, home prices in San Jose increased by an average of $266 per day, with San Francisco homes adding an average of $208 every day to the value of their homes over the last decade. With a 544 percent increase in condo prices since 2011, Atlanta blew all other metros out of the water.”

From Market Place. “Listener Brayden Leaverton asks: If inflation is an issue due to too much money in circulation, why can’t [the Federal Reserve] just burn off money to offset inflation?  Inflation rose 8.3% year over year in August; in June it reached a 40-year high of 9.1%. Sure, the Federal Reserve could do whatever it wants with the money it has in its possession, said Ahmed Rahman, an associate professor of economics at Lehigh University.”

“‘They could have a nice bonfire in front of the Federal Reserve building,’ Rahman said. ‘Sort of a big gesture of ‘We’re serious about inflation.’ But before creating such a bonfire, the Fed needs to buy the money back. ‘That’s the real key to the goal of tamping down inflation,’ he explained. ‘The Federal Reserve can’t simply confiscate money willy-nilly.'”

From Pro Build. “These factors are undoubtedly influencing both the demand for, and the rise of, single-family rentals (SFRs) across the U.S. Seeking to capitalize on the craze, an increasing number of players are pouring exorbitant amounts of capital into the sector, either buying up existing homes at premium prices to convert into rentals or delivering new communities of varying quality. The question today centers on how the currently overheated sector will fare in the long term.”

“Others label their business model ‘built-for-rent’ though they don’t actually build anything at all. Instead, they buy homes in bulk, typically from production builders churning out value-engineered, grid housing designed for quick sale and monetization. Neither of these parties are particularly focused on a quality product and service but rather volume and profits. This is also a major and well-documented issue as these firms overpower the regular consumer by being well funded and hyper-fast acting.”

The Globe and Mail. “More than 81,000 people have been laid off from the tech sector worldwide this year, including thousands at Canadian companies like Shopify and Wealthsimple, and further cutbacks are likely. AlayaCare had some promising acquisition candidates lined up at the start of 2022. Then, one of Canada’s fastest-growing startups had a rude awakening.”

“By the time summer hit, the leadership team of the home-care software provider realized its lagging growth rate – 80 per cent of target – wasn’t just a blip, after the third quarterly miss in a row. Many businesses are now getting lean and focused, hoping to achieve something sorely lacking in boom times: profits.“ When capital was so cheap, you wouldn’t have to think that way, because money was just thrown at you,’ says Barbara Dirks, partner at Framework Venture Partners.”

From Business Insider. “Wall Street’s most influential chief executives from Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon to JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon are ready to cull under-performing staff. Record sales in the bond market, a deluge of initial public offerings thanks in part to the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) boom, and trillions of dollars in private-equity cash meant happy days for M&A bankers in 2021. But that has come to a screeching halt.”

From USA Today. “The Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes may be intended to give the housing industry a ‘reset,’ as chair Jerome Powell wanted, but it also may have further confused home buyers and sellers on what to do next. As early as fall, Neda Navab, president of brokerage operations at real estate company Compass in New York, tells USA TODAY she believes that sellers ‘may come back with a more realistic view on pricing as they realize the pedal-to-the-metal days of last summer have passed.'”

Fox Business. “Rates for the 30-year mortgage increased again this week, jumping to the highest level since October 2008, experts said. ‘For buyers watching their take-home pay shrink due to higher prices, and shopping budgets diminish due to rising rates, today’s housing market remains highly unaffordable,’ said George Raitu, Realtor.com’s chief economist. ‘In many locations, price cuts may be the only viable option to restore housing balance and affordability.'”

The Naples Daily News in Florida. “Dr. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS® announced that ‘the Federal Reserve is set to do another big rate increase [75 basis points], then another one after mid-term elections [50 basis points], and another hike in early 2023 [50 basis points].’ Yun went on to say that for our area, half the homes are being sold at list price or above, but the other half needed a price concession to get a contract. ‘If a home sits on the market longer than three months, the average reduction is 11 percent so it’s important to price the home correctly at the start.'”

NBC San Diego in California. “Interest rates are around 6%, and for some San Diegans, that is still too much for purchasing a home. Although interest rates are high, Cameron Harper of California Mortgage Lending said home prices took a dip in August by about 6%. According to Harper, the average home price fell to $910,000 from $970,000. On the flip side, those higher rates are impacting home sale prices in the county. It’s a ripple effect Jason Rooney experienced when he sold his home this summer.”

“‘Yeah it was a little frustrating,’ Rooney said. ‘More trying to sell our old home versus buying a new home.’ He shared that he ended up lowering his selling price by $150,000. ‘It was just trying to get the price point we wanted for it because the market was slowing down or people weren’t as eager to buy,’ Rooney said.”

The Dallas Morning News. “Some of the nation’s largest homebuilders are lowering prices, providing discounts and pulling out of land deals as higher mortgage rates on top of already sky-high home prices continue to take a toll on buyer affordability. ‘The interest rate movements were very sudden and adjusted very quickly, and that suddenness has always led to a pullback in housing demand,’ said Stuart Miller, executive chairman of Lennar Corp. ‘Part of the pullback is driven by simple affordability, and part of the pullback is driven by the psychology of the sudden and aggressive interest rate hike causing either monthly payment sticker shock or a sense of having missed the boat.'”

“KB Home — which builds in 47 markets across the U.S., including Dallas-Fort Worth — has already seen a softening in orders due to the most recent spike in mortgage rates since Labor Day. Its cancellation rate, or the amount of deals that fell through after the contract was signed, was 35% last quarter compared to 9% in 2021. ‘The No. 1 reason for cancellation was buyer’s remorse,’ said Jeffrey Mezger, CEO of KB Home. ‘It was not necessarily that the buyers did not qualify. They did not feel comfortable moving ahead with the purchase.'”

From NBC 26. “As the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates to get inflation under control, buyers are slowing down. However, realtors are saying, maybe they shouldn’t. ‘Offers are coming in over list price right now,’ said Judd Stevenson, owner of Stevenson Appraisal and former president of the Realtors Association at Northeast Wisconsin. In 2008, property values were increasing by 6 to 12% in Neenah. Now, ‘we’re seeing 18% appreciation rates… is that sustainable?’ asked Stevenson.”

From CTV News. “There will be ‘people on the street’ globally unless steps are taken to protect the most vulnerable from inflation, International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva warned on Wednesday. ‘It is important to think that this compounded impact of multiple crises is already testing the patience and resilience of people. And if you don’t take action to support the most vulnerable, there would be consequences. If we don’t bring inflation down, this will hurt the most vulnerable, because an explosion of food and energy prices for those that are better off is inconvenience — for the poor people, tragedy. So we think of poor people first when we advocate for attacking inflation forcefully.'”

“Fiscal policy, if it goes generously to help everybody, will be actually in the way of monetary policy, it would be the enemy of monetary policy, because you increase demand and that pushes prices again up, and then there has to be more tightening,’ the IMF chief said. ‘The critical question in front of us is to restore conditions for growth, and price stability is a critical condition.'”

From Fortune. “Even after a more than 21% drop in the S&P 500 this year, Wall Street’s best minds still think stocks have further to fall. ‘The worst is yet to come,’ Carl Icahn, who boasts a net worth of $23 billion, told MarketWatch. The investor argues the Federal Reserve boosted asset prices to unsustainable levels amid the pandemic using near-zero interest rates and quantitative easing—a policy where central banks buy mortgage backed securities and government bonds in hopes of spurring lending and investment.”

“‘We printed up too much money, and just thought the party would never end,’ he said, adding that with the Fed switching stances and raising rates to fight inflation, he now believes ‘the party’s over.’ The hangover from the Fed’s loose monetary policies, according to Icahn, is sky-high inflation, which rose 8.3% from a year ago in August. ‘Inflation is a terrible thing. You can’t cure it,’ Icahn said, noting that rising inflation was one of the key factors that brought down the Roman Empire.”

“Rome famously experienced hyperinflation after a series of emperors lowered the silver content of their currency, the denarius. The situation then dramatically deteriorated after Emperor Diocletian instituted price controls and a new coin called the argenteus, which was equal in value to 50 denarii. The result of Roman emperors’ unsustainable policies was an inflation rate of 15,000% between A.D. 200 and 300, according to estimates by some historians.”

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This Post Has 143 Comments

  1. The first link is worth reading in full. It’s interesting how much of history surrounding St Volcker is misremembered.

  2. ‘The No. 1 reason for cancellation was buyer’s remorse…It was not necessarily that the buyers did not qualify. They did not feel comfortable moving ahead with the purchase’

    Oh dear…

  3. As I read these aggravated news reports, it occurs to me that we could very well see a bursting housing bubble within our lifetimes.

  4. ‘Between January 2011 and December 2021, home prices in San Jose increased by an average of $266 per day, with San Francisco homes adding an average of $208 every day to the value of their homes over the last decade. With a 544 percent increase in condo prices since 2011, Atlanta blew all other metros out of the water’

    And then a minor respiratory illness was rumored and to the moon Alice!

  5. “More than 81,000 people have been laid off from the tech sector worldwide this year, including thousands at Canadian companies like Shopify and Wealthsimple, and further cutbacks are likely.

    Gosh, I hope none of those people have mortgages to pay – especially the “winners” of recent bidding wars.

      1. Canada does well because its easier to immigrate and work there .

        My company has that problem with engineers and the US lottery so we send them to Canada if they cant stay in the US. Also overheard HR saying high turnover in Vietnam.

    2. I still can’t come to terms with companies that do not sell technology being called “tech firms”. Ride sharing firms sell point to point transportation, not technology.

        1. Who doesn’t? I can order pizza on an app and have it delivered to my door. Who would have thought that Domino’s and Pizza Hut were Tech Firms?

  6. ‘Others label their business model ‘built-for-rent’ though they don’t actually build anything at all. Instead, they buy homes in bulk, typically from production builders churning out value-engineered, grid housing designed for quick sale and monetization. Neither of these parties are particularly focused on a quality product and service but rather volume and profits. This is also a major and well-documented issue as these firms overpower the regular consumer by being well funded and hyper-fast acting’

    Like the steaming pile of zillow?

  7. Former intern for Democrat representative falls victim to the rampant vibrancy enabled and encouraged by his Bolshevik comrades.

    Surveillance video released in killing of Temple graduate Everett Beauregard near Drexel

    https://6abc.com/everett-beauregard-murder-north-35th-street-shooting-temple-alumnus-killed-drexel-university/12255510/

    PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Philadelphia police have released surveillance video showing the moment a 23-year-old Temple University graduate was shot and killed near Drexel University.

    According to police, Everett Beauregard got off a train at 34th and Market streets, a few blocks from his house, just before 12:30 a.m. Thursday after leaving a get-together with friends at a South Philadelphia bar.

    That’s when he encountered the suspect.

    “Tragically, Mr. Beauregard’s life was cut short by this horrific act of violence and for no apparent reason whatsoever. This was not a robbery attempt as we initially believed,” Philadelphia Police Captain Jason Smith said during a Friday afternoon press conference.

    1. Seems like a fair amount of the debt deflation costs are landing on risk asset HODLers (i.e. investors in stocks, bonds, housing, cryptocurrency, etc.)

  9. UK sheeple keep electing stooges of the corporatocracy, who then turn around and bugger them. Truly you can’t fix stupid.

    Property guardians: companies accused of doubling rents

    https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/sep/24/property-guardians-rents-increases

    Firms that house residents in buildings that would otherwise sit empty have been accused of raising costs during the cost of living crisis, with one company reportedly increasing some fees by more than 100%.

    It means property guardians – those who live in empty buildings such as ex-factories, offices, care homes and condemned housing – are facing steep increases. Some fear being made homeless.

  10. Finance Economy
    Contrarian economist Larry Summers was right all along about inflation. His ominous new prediction for what’s next.
    To fight inflation Summers believes that we need a shorter, shallower downturn in the months ahead, rather than a prolonged period of pain.
    BY Shawn Tully
    September 23, 2022 3:30 PM EDT
    Summers thinks things will have to get a lot worse before they get better. Robin Marchant—Getty Images

    Too far, too fast? That’s what some portfolio managers griped as the stock market plunged following the Fed’s latest rate hike on September 21. “We continue to believe that the Fed is making yet another policy mistake,” Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Management, told Fortune, arguing that the central bank’s interest rate hikes are now overly aggressive.

    But Larry Summers, the cerebral Harvard economics professor and former Treasury secretary, has a very different view. In a long sit-down interview with Fortune at his home outside of Boston, he argued that the Fed will have to go much higher than most are expecting to cool runaway inflation. In fact his greatest worry is that the Fed will back off too soon. It will simply be too painful—too many lost jobs, too many 401(k)s crashing, too much blowback. He compares it to fighting an infection. “Most of us have learned that [when] the doctor prescribes you a course of antibiotics and you stop taking the course when you feel better rather than when the course prescribed is over, your condition is likely to reoccur. And it’s likely to be more difficult to eradicate the next time because the bacteria have become more resistant.” Summers worries that if the Fed backs off, “inflationary expectations will become entrenched,” and the eventual cure will be far more costly than shouldering what could be a shorter, shallower downturn in the months ahead. This reiterates what he said in June: “We need five years of unemployment above 5% to contain inflation—in other words, we need two years of 7.5% unemployment or five years of 6% unemployment or one year of 10% unemployment,” Summers said in a speech in London according to Bloomberg.

    Summers never bought the “transitory” argument, that inflation was a passing phenomenon caused by supply-chain bottlenecks and COVID-related shutdowns.

    For Summers, the chief source of today’s heavy inflation is over-the-top demand caused by too much money chasing too few goods. So to throttle a runaway consumer price index, the Fed must keep tightening monetary policy to the point where demand falls—sharply. Just how far does Summers think the Fed needs to go?
    …
    https://fortune.com/2022/09/23/economist-larry-summers-inflation-economy-prediction/

    1. “For Summers, the chief source of today’s heavy inflation is over-the-top demand caused by too much money chasing too few goods.”

      “… too much money …”

      https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ln7YhLQv&id=9D7DFDFAF1F61E789D9FFF86B4411353D82E3DC5&thid=OIP.ln7YhLQvR9lmc_ErVJrlswHaEj&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wealthstreet-advisors.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F01%2FM1-Supply.png&exph=1252&expw=2035&q=m1+money+supply&simid=607998074869863718&form=IRPRST&ck=77B020ADFA0F03DC0959A3F30C854EBB&selectedindex=0&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0&cdnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FR.967ed884b42f47d96673f12b549ae5b3%3Frik%3DxT0u2FMTQbSG%252fw%26pid%3DImgRaw%26r%3D0&vt=0&sim=11

      1. They tried to drown the economy in liquidity, and what they got for it is high inflation.

        Big shocker!

    2. There’s been runaway inflation for years in Health Care, Housing, Transportation (cars, trux) and Upper Education, the things we need in a modern society. Why don’t they talk about that?

  11. While the really big criminals on Wall Street and inside the Beltway commit felonies with impunity, the Brandon regime is sending its FBI Chekists after anyone who defies globalist diktats or agendas.

    Biden’s FBI Sends 25-30 Agents to Home of Pro-Life Author and Father of 7 – Arrest Him for Reportedly Protecting His Son from an Abortion Escort

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/09/bidens-fbi-sends-25-30-agents-home-pro-life-author-father-7-arrest-reportedly-protecting-son-abortion-escort/

    A father of seven and pro-life warrior was arrested this morning in Pennsylvania by 25-30 FBI agents for protecting his son from crude actions reportedly made against his son by an abortion escort.

      1. I think it’s a group of thugs who keep protestors away from an abortion clinic, using violence if needed.

  12. The Wall Street Journal
    U.S. Economy
    U.S. Home Sales and Prices Fell in August as Mortgage Rates Rose
    The housing market has slowed from a red-hot pace as the Federal Reserve aggressively raises interest rates
    Should You Rent or Buy a Home?
    Economists have long said that renting and investing in the stock market is a better investment than owning a house, and in 2022 that could be especially true.
    WSJ’s Dion Rabouin explains.
    Photo illustration: Elizabeth Smelov
    By Nicole Friedman
    Updated Sept. 21, 2022 3:17 pm ET

    The U.S. housing market slowed for a seventh straight month in August, the longest stretch of declining sales since 2007, as higher mortgage rates continued to undercut buyer demand.

    Home sales look poised to decline further in the coming months, economists say, as mortgage rates recently topped 6% for the first time since 2008, when the U.S. was in a recession. Many first-time buyers have been priced out of the market, and existing homeowners are opting to stay put rather than give up their current low rates.
    …

    1. You keep using that word “elected” I don’t think that word means what you think it means.

      If elections could actually change things, they wouldn’t let them go on.

      1. “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter” — Winston Churchill

  15. “In the month he started as Chairman, U.S. inflation continued its double-digit run—that August suffered a year-over-year inflation rate of 11.8%. On August 15, the Federal Reserve raised its fed funds mid-target range to 11%, but that was less than the inflation rate, so a nominal 11% was still a negative real interest rate. How bad could it get? For the year 1979, the December year-over-year inflation was an even more awful 13.3%. At that compound rate, the cost of living would double in about five years.”

    This reminds me: How far below inflation is the Fed’s current policy rate? Small wonder they have developed a sudden fondness for 75 bps rate hikes every six weeks.

    1. What is the current U.S. inflation rate?
      Learn the current inflation rate, why it is rising and tips for fighting it.
      Man in grocery store looking at receipt
      Denys Kurbatov/Shutterstock
      Dina Al-Shibeeb
      By Dina Al-Shibeeb
      Sep. 16, 2022

      By the end of 2022, inflation will be the year’s biggest buzzword. Not only in the U.S., but around the world.

      Luckily, U.S. inflation has slightly eased for the second month in a row, reaching 8.3% in August. This is down from 8.5% in July, according to a Sept. 13 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

      The August figure was the lowest in four months, preceded by a forty-year high of 9.1% earlier this year.

      While Americans are feeling the rising prices almost everywhere they look, some sectors are being hit harder than others. The cost of energy and gas fell 5% month-over-month but food prices saw major upticks.

      “The food index increased 11.4% over the last year, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending May 1979,” the bureau said.
      …
      https://moneywise.com/news/economy/inflation-rate

    1. The 2020 election was stolen.

      Other things you can’t post on Facebook:

      COVID vaccines are poison.
      Replacement theory is not a theory.
      There are only two genders.
      Joe Biden is a pedophile.

    1. I will pray a Rosary tonight for a victory tomorrow for Mrs. Meloni. If I no longer post here, I suppose it might be because I was arrested since the Rosary is now a deadly weapon according some on the Left.

      1. All the HBB posters guilty of BadThink probably have voluminous dossiers being compiled on them by the Alphabet Bois.

  18. You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead – your next stop, the Cone of Uncertainty.

    Tropical Depression 9 forms in the Atlantic; Florida in projected path of possible hurricane

    Sep 23, 2022

    https://youtu.be/jh2GXGtknZ8

  19. Globalist propaganda outlets shilling hard for the REIC as Always Be Closing gets more problematic.

    House prices: Why now is the time to buy a mansion – if you can stomach it

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/interest-rates/house-prices-why-now-is-the-time-to-buy-a-mansion-if-you-can-stomach-it/news-story/2dcf28d4e064fc1ecdc68cbbaeb95fe8

    There’s one type of Aussie property that’s dropped more than others – and now is the time to buy it and bag a bargain.

    1. Yahoo
      Yahoo Finance
      How to survive the worst bear market of all time
      Andy Serwer with Dylan Croll
      Sat, September 24, 2022 at 4:49 AM·7 min read

      In Tom Wolfe’s famous essay about the 1970s, “The Me Decade,” he wrote about how Americans had abandoned communal thinking in favor of personal wealth. “They took their money and ran,” he wrote.

      In fact, there wasn’t much money to take.

      Today, with the stock market in meltdown mode, it’s natural to look back at other times of financial woe: The Great Recession of 2008-2009. The bursting tech bubble in 2000. The crash of 1987, never mind 1929 — and all manner of mini-downturns and flash crashes in between.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-to-survive-the-worst-bear-market-of-all-time-120034754.html

    3. Markets
      Up and Down Wall Street
      Tumbling Stocks and Bonds Imperil Tech, the Dollar, and Private Equity
      By Randall W. Forsyth
      Sept. 23, 2022 8:34 pm ET

      The world has been hooked on cheap money for years. Now we’re witnessing what withdrawal looks like.

      Lifting interest rates from nil has produced a historic crash in bonds, observes Bank of America’s strategy team, led by Michael Hartnett. This year’s losses rival the worst bond drops since the aftereffects of the two world wars (1949, culminating with the Marshall Plan, and 1920, coinciding with the Treaty of Versailles), as well as the Great Depression’s impact (with the failure of Creditanstalt, a major European bank, in 1931).
      …
      https://www.barrons.com/articles/tumbling-markets-imperil-tech-the-dollar-and-private-equity-51663979655

    4. The Financial Times
      US equities
      Investors pile into insurance against further market sell-offs
      A surge in put options reflects fears of more asset price falls as central banks take action against inflation
      More than 2,600 US companies’ share prices hit new 52-week lows this week
      Eric Platt and Nicholas Megaw in New York 2 hours ago

      Investors are buying record amounts of insurance contracts to protect themselves from a sell-off that has already wiped trillions of dollars off the value of US stocks.

      Purchases of put option contracts on stocks and exchange traded funds have surged, with big money managers spending $34.3bn on the options in the four weeks to September 23, according to Options Clearing Corp data analysed by Sundial Capital Research. The total was the largest on record in data going back to 2009, and four times the average since the start of 2020.

      Institutional investors have spent $9.6bn in the past week alone. The splurge underscores the extent to which big funds want to insulate themselves from a sell-off that has dragged on for nine months, and has been supercharged by central bankers across the globe aggressively raising interest rates to tame high inflation.

      “Investors have realised the [US] Federal Reserve is very policy constrained with inflation where it is and they can no longer count on it to manage the risk of asset price volatility, so they need to take more direct action themselves,” said Dave Jilek, chief investment strategist at Gateway Investment Advisors.

      Jason Goepfert, who leads research at Sundial, noted that when adjusting for growth in the US stock market over the past two decades, the volume of equity put option purchases was roughly equivalent to the levels reached during the financial crisis. By contrast demand for call options, which can pay out if stocks rally, has tailed off.
      …

  23. A reader sent these in:

    Americans Still Tap Home Equity Amid Record Jump in Refi Costs – Bloomberg

    https://twitter.com/AlessioUrban/status/1573427879177773068

    “There is a high probability in my mind that the market at best is going to be kind of flat for 10 years. Sort of like 66 to 82 time period.” – Stanley Druckenmiller

    https://twitter.com/GoldTelegraph_/status/1570738647254831105

    “Once inflation gets above 5%, it has never come down unless Fed Funds Rate has gotten above CPI”

    https://twitter.com/GoldTelegraph_/status/1570744277508165639

    A 30 year mortgage lasts longer than most US marriages. Many pandemic buyers got the equivalent of an arranged marriage when they viewed a home for 10 min, didn’t inspect, or bought sight unseen. But sure, they’ll stay married to that home 30 years because they got a low rate…

    https://twitter.com/texasrunnerDFW/status/1572955304954068994

    “You don’t know what you’re talking about bro, overpaying for property doesn’t matter if you’re locked in.” Airbnb properties:

    https://twitter.com/FinanceLancelot/status/1573177217760247810

    “Bro, this isn’t 2008 cause like people didn’t sign up for subprime mortgages and stuff” Me: Literally all the houses sold the last 3 years are subprime. 🤣

    https://twitter.com/FinanceLancelot/status/1572954247590813701

    English bonds are collapsing. It will break the chart.

    https://twitter.com/AlessioUrban/status/1573266375367335937

  24. Martha’s Vineyard Resident Calls Police To Report A Hispanic In The Neighborhood Not Operating A Leaf Blower

    Sep 15, 2022 · BabylonBee.com

    “Hello, is this 911? Yes, there are brown-looking Latinx people outside my 20,000-square-foot seaside home, and they aren’t even carrying leaf blowers,” said a terrified Mavis McWhite to the dispatcher. “They aren’t even holding so much as a rake. They’re up to no good. I’m scared! Please send help!”

    https://babylonbee.com/news/marthas-vineyard-resident-calls-police-to-report-a-latino-in-the-neighborhood-not-operating-a-leaf-blower

    2. China’s Mortgage Protest Grows
      China Uncensored
      Sep 24, 2022 As China’s housing crisis deteriorates, people have stopped pay mortgages on their unbuilt homes. This is a huge problem for the CCP, because if the real estate sector goes south, the Party’s legitimacy could be challenged. In this episode of China Uncensored, we look at what led to the crisis, how people are protesting, the government’s response to the protests, and why it’s unlikely to get better any time soon.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBC3JzlYrJ8

      12 minutes.

      1. I still can’t believe that anyone is stupid enough to take out a mortgage on a non existent airbox. I thought our FB’s were stupid, using their houses like piggy banks which they can raid, but at least they get something in return: vacations, motorcycles, boats, boob jobs, etc. But the Chinese FB’s sign on Mr. Banker’s dotted line, begin making payments and all they get is a promise.

        1. As I said before, this seems to not jive with previous years. In 2016 the ADV China guys did a video on unfinished airboxes in China. Middle of nowhere, tower after tower, but they said purposefully left incomplete. Concrete shells. No one finished them cuz it would just all go to heck (no windows, etc.) They were standing commodity investments. No one was stopping payments then, that I heard. I’m sure they could sell these unfinished boxes before. (Like Toronto or Florida airboxes). Probably would happen more than once. So why the change? I’m guessing they could no longer sell, or the price had deteriorated so much that it’s underwater. I don’t think it has much to do with finishing the construction. (IMO that’s not going to happen. There’s no money for that, the towers are bound to be crap and now it’s 7 year old crap.) It may just be a lot of little feet stamping trying to get out of the loan in this commie gulag. Keep in mind pretty much everything in China has gone to sh$t in the past 9 or so months.

          Dan: “this is how China builds new cities!” I told ya then Dan, these things are rotting in the sun.

          1. My understanding is that not even the basic structure exists, just a “coming soon” sign. It’s one thing to put down an earnest deposit on that, and quite another to take out a mortgage on a non existent structure, and start making payments before ground is even broken.

            But yeah, these are all speculative purchases. No one intends to ever live in them, and as the ADV guys showed in their videos, the buildings are empty shells. They also showed what these speculative purchases look like after just a few years. There was one video where they showed fairly new unoccupied houses quite literally crumbling and falling apart. In another video, they showed what happens to buildings that people actually live in: after a few years the exterior and common areas all go to hades in a handbasket.

  27. Middle Tennessee home builder offers new cash incentives to attract buyers
    WKRN News 2
    Sep 23, 2022 Mortgages just got more expensive after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates this week, and one Middle Tennessee home builder is saying they are having to adjust.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G10U_o9y__4

    2 minutes.

  28. Globalist imports have no qualms about defrauding their hosts.

    DOJ: 47 in Minnesota’s Somali Community Charged with Stealing $250M in COVID-19 Funds from Child Nutrition Program

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/09/23/doj-47-in-minnesotas-somali-community-charged-with-stealing-250m-in-covid-19-funds-from-child-nutrition-program/

    Forty-seven individuals, primarily in Minneapolis, Minnesota’s large Somali community, have been charged for their roles in allegedly stealing $250 million in COVID-19 federal funds meant for a child nutrition program.

    1. Gotta give ’em some credit for scheming a massive financial fraud rather than doing the porch monkey thang and self pity party.

  30. Oh dear…this sounds like the kind of zombie apocalypse that gives zombie apocalypses a bad name.

    Zombie apocalypse: 1 in 5 Hong Kong-listed companies not earning enough to pay the soaring interest on their debts

    https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3193547/zombie-apocalypse-1-5-hong-kong-listed-companies-not-earning-enough-pay

    Higher interest rates will weigh on Hong Kong’s mortgage borrowers and corporate debtors, as the costs of servicing their debt soar with the key interest rate at a 14-year high.

    Some corporate borrowers in particular face a perilous fate. Unable to generate enough cash to pay the interest on their loans, let alone the principal, these firms find themselves branded “zombie” companies.
    Last year, 462 of Hong Kong’s 2,500 listed companies fell into the category, with an Ebit-to-interest-expense (earnings before interest and tax) ratio of less than 1, based on Bloomberg’s data.

    1. Now do the S&P 500 companies or the NASDAQ. I bet the numbers are AT LEAST that bad.

      Lot of zombie companies out there.

      And when their bonds roll over and they have to refinance at MUCH higher rates, they are done. Profits? what’s that?

      1. And when their bonds roll over

        I suspect that for most management teams that falls under the category of “someone else’s problem” as they will be retired when the SHTF

  31. UK Daily Mail calls Lil’ Fidel “Justine.” Too funny.

    One of most powerful storms EVER to hit Canada slams into Nova Scotia: Former hurricane Fiona brings 100mph winds, leaves 79% without power and forces Justine Trudeau to postpone Japan trip – as cops say it’s not safe to be on roads

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11245523/Powerful-storm-Fiona-hits-Canadas-Nova-Scotia.html

    Powerful storm Fiona slammed into eastern Canada on Saturday with hurricane-force winds – nearly a week after devastating parts of the Caribbean – as hundreds of thousands are without power in one of the strongest storms ever to hit the country.

    The National Hurricane Center said the center of the storm, now called Post-Tropical Cyclone Fiona after being downgraded from a hurricane, was crossing eastern Nova Scotia, bringing high winds – some the level of a Category 1 hurricane – and heavy rains.

    2. “why plant-based meat’s sizzle fizzled in the US:”

      It seems to be having an affect on plant-based executives.

      Beyond Meat exec charged after biting man’s nose during road rage fight

      By Dee-Ann Durbin
      Published September 20, 2022

      A top executive at plant-based food company Beyond Meat has been charged with felony battery after a fight outside a college football game in which he was accused of biting a man’s nose.

      The police report alleges that Ramsey got out of his vehicle and punched through the back windshield of the other driver’s car. The driver told police that he got out of his car and Ramsey pulled him close and began punching him. Ramsey also bit the tip of the other driver’s nose, ripping the flesh, according to the police report.

      The driver and witnesses told police that Ramsey threatened to kill the other man. Occupants of both vehicles got out and separated the two men.

      Ramsey, 53, spent more than 30 years at Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods before joining Beyond Meat as chief operating officer late last year. He held top leadership positions at Tyson, including president of its poultry division and president of its global McDonald’s business.

      At Beyond Meat, he has guided partnerships with fast food companies including McDonald’s and KFC.

      https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/beyond-meat-doug-ramsey-road-rage-bite-mans-nose

      1. Beyond Meat

        My two kids and I like to BBQ the Beyond Meat patties, and I have a box of ’em in the freezer. I cooked myself two Butterball Turkey Onion patties a couple of days ago.

        Raising grass fed beef is terribly inefficient, an argument similar to lithium ion mining for batteries.

        1. Beyond Meat patties

          Why do you need to pretend you’re eating meat? It’s OK if you’re at the milk and mush stage of life. That’s not at all like poisoning the rivers with lithium tailings.

    3. It’s a dramatic reversal of fortune. Just two years ago, Beyond Meat, its competitor Impossible Foods and the plant-based meat industry at large seemed poised to start a food revolution.

      Poised my keister. Sure, there was a lot of MSM propaganda, but when I saw those frankenburgers appear on menus, I knew they were doomed.

      1. We went to Culver’s in Centennial for lunch this week and it was the busiest I’ve ever seen it, over 10 minutes in line (inside, never the drive thru) just to order.

        Double Deluxe Butterburger combo meal for $11.

        I used to go to Cherry Cricket a few times a year, before CCP Flu and the Brandon inflation. A burger there with a few toppings is now over $20.

        1. I haven’t been to Culvers for a while. Their drive thru line is still short.

          Imagine paying $20 for a frankenburger.

  33. Even the Coast Guard is under mandate to take the fake vaccine.
    And in spite of the overwhelming evidence that the vaccines are killing and injuring people in epic amounts, people are still being fired if they don’t take a lethal jab. .
    Its now up to 32 doctors in Canada dying of sudden death after the mandated 4th jab.
    But , the US is proceeding with the roll out
    of new Booster Shots , with no human trials approved by the FDA.
    So , you have Pharmaceutical Companies , under immunity for their product, engaging in mass murder and injury , because the Heath and protection agencies
    are approving this genocide.
    And, in spite of thousands of Doctors and Scientists calling for taking this poison off the market, they are censored and ignored. The data has been sent to these Agencies, but they just ignore the data.
    Hospitals are still enforcing their killing protocols in hospitals, in which now some lawsuits are emerging where victims are suing over these mal practice deaths.

    So, they really think they are going to get away with this, and they are proceeding as if they are going to get away with it, and they can continue to murder the Public.
    The One World Order/Great Reset Entities are proceeding with famine and energy withdraw as the next method of mass destruction with captured governments implementing the destruction of current systems.
    And it looks like these Entities expect that the people will revolt, and that will be the excuse for Marshall law enacted.
    People globally are going to become desperate as they are increasing deprived by these Entities that plan to have a One World Order Dictorship forced on the World.
    Nothing else explains the break down we are witnessing daily, other than this One World Order / Great Reset take over , with Governments acting in collusion with it.
    How to stop them is the question?

    1. So, they really think they are going to get away with this

      Yes, they do. You can tell when they think they can’t, because that is when the industrial scale gaslighting begins. Incriminating articles are scrubbed from the internet and anything that was saved before being sent to the memory hole is labeled as “fake”.

    1. The Financial Times
      US economy
      US couples ask wedding guests for help with mortgage downpayments
      Cash funds replace traditional gifts such as salt shakers and towels as property prices rise
      Guests at Camille and Corwin Hemming’s wedding contributed to a cash fund for a mortgage downpayment
      Roughly one-third of guests at Camille and Corwin Hemming’s wedding contributed to a cash fund for a mortgage downpayment
      Imani Moise in New York 7 hours ago

      As they prepared for their wedding this year, New Yorkers Alexa Feneque and Silvio Tellez kept their list of desired gifts brief. Forgoing the usual hand towels and salt shakers, they asked their guests for just one thing.

      “We are working so hard to save for our first home and any contribution towards that will always be sincerely appreciated,” they wrote on their online wedding list, or registry as is it known in the US.

      The request netted the couple roughly $30,000, and underscored a trend — the growing use of wedding registries to raise funds for mortgage downpayments as US housing costs soar.

      “We’re in the midst of house hunting now,” said the new Mrs Tellez, 29, a bank analyst who lives in the Long Island suburbs of New York City with her architect husband. “We didn’t really have anywhere to put all the stuff that we would have gotten if we would have done a registry.”

      Wedding planning web sites such as Zola and The Knot say couples are increasingly tapping their wedding guests for cash to cover housing or other expenses rather than asking for household items.
      …

    1. It’s a real tragedy since these conscripts don’t stand a chance against technology that’s easily 30-yrs ahead of theirs. Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, etc., will target them from the other side of the planet and proceed to wipe ’em out, day or night in all weather conditions.

    1. I rarely watch broadcast TV, but when I do there is an endless flow of ads for the latest “miracle drugs”, all of which have a list of ominous sounding side effects as long as your arm. And those are only the ones they report.

    2. 2 thoughts…

      1 – That Project Veritas chick who gets these idiots to spew the truths that were never meant to see the light of day must be hot.

      2 – How does this guy not have a bunk in the Gulags next to one of the grandmothers who was waved in by the Capitol Police to take a walking tour on January 6?

  38. U.S. crude in SPR hits lowest level since January 1985
    Reuters

    August 22, 2022

    https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-crude-spr-hits-lowest-level-since-january-1985-2022-08-22/

    How low can Joe go?

    US ‘Oil Buffer’ at Historic Low in Wake of Joe Biden’s ‘Unprecedented’ SPR Release Strategy

    by Sputnik
    September 24th 2022, 9:52 am

    For the first time since 1983, the emergency stockpile of petroleum maintained by the United States Department of Energy holds less oil than commercial storage.

    The US Energy Department said on September 19 that it would sell up to 10 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, for delivery in November. In March, Joe Biden announced that he was releasing one million barrels a day from the SPR for six months in an attempt to lower soaring fuel prices.

    The US has been drawing crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) at such a rapid pace this year that it is running out of its oil buffer, The Wall Street Journal reported.

    1. The US has been drawing crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) at such a rapid pace this year that it is running out of its oil buffer, The Wall Street Journal reported.

      And it barely made a dent in prices, which are rising again.

      It crosses my mind that if there is indeed a red wave this November, that we will be getting a lot of “mostly peaceful” protests, which Dem mayors and Governors will do nothing to stop.

    2. Sounds like oil prices may soon spike up again, once the rapid SPR drawdown policy literally runs out of gas. Glad I’m still HODLing the energy stock mutual fund shares I snapped up during the pandemic CR8R event, as it has held up relatively well compared to other CR8Ring risk assets this year.

    3. “For the first time since 1983, the emergency stockpile of petroleum maintained by the United States Department of Energy holds less oil than commercial storage.”

      But the progressive election year!

  39. New York City police officers scored a big win in their fight against the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate that cost some their jobs, with a Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruling that the mandate—as it applies to members of the Police Benevolent Association (PBA)—is “invalid” and fired cops must be given back their jobs.

    Judge Lyle Frank said in the Sept. 23 ruling (pdf) that PBA members who lost their jobs for refusing the jab must be “reinstated to the status they were as of the date of the wrongful action.”

    PBA President Patrick Lynch hailed the decision in a statement, calling the ruling a victory for the freedom of members to make their own medical decisions.

    “This decision confirms what we have said from the start: the vaccine mandate was an improper infringement on our members’ right to make personal medical decisions in consultation with their own health care professionals,” Lynch said.

    “We will continue to fight to protect those rights,” Lynch added, with his remark about the PBA’s fight against the mandate not being finished as New York City authorities filed an immediate notice of appeal, effectively putting the judge’s decision on ice.

    The ruling was also praised by the heads of two FDNY union chiefs—Uniformed Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbro and Uniformed Fire Officers Association President James McCarthy—who said in a statement on Friday that they would fight to win back firefighters’ jobs lost for refusing to get the vaccine.

    “It was only a matter of time before a common sense Judge concluded that the COVID-19 vaccination mandate was never a condition of employment,” the two union heads wrote.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/vaccine-mandate-ruled-invalid-for-police-association-members-in-new-york_4752436.html

    1. Nuremberg Trials v2.0.

      And for non United States citizens, just skip the legal proceedings and escort the guilty straight to the gallows. Klaus Schwab, Yuval Harari, Albert Bourla, the Day Of The Rope is coming…

      1. skip the legal proceedings

        Personally, I’d like to live in an America that respects basic human rights. One of those is a “speedy trial”.

        1. The three names named above are not U.S. citizens, and as far as I’m concerned are classified as enemy combatants ☠️

  40. Parents speak out about prosthetic breast wearing transgender teacher
    True North
    Sep 23, 2022 Parents, students and local residents converged outside Oakville Trafalgar High School on Friday to protest the high school and school board for defending the giant prosthetic breast-wearing transgender shop class teacher.

    After footage emerged last week of the teacher in class, the story went viral around the world and Canada became the punchline of the world’s jokes. When parents wrote to the school to voice their frustration, the high school defended the biological male teacher instead of siding with the students.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jFX9hehUNA

    4:33.

    1. Canada is a lost cause.

      When are people in Texas going to do something about this and deliver some frontier style justice?

      “A “kid friendly” drag brunch for all ages was guarded against protests by armed Antifa militants carrying AR-15s. The drag event was held at the Anderson Distillery and Grill in Roanoke, Texas.

      Kris Cruz from Blaze TV reported that Antifa militants armed with AR-15s acted as “bodyguards” and escorted attendees to their vehicles. He added that Antifa and the staff worked together to provide “protection” for attendees.

      Kruz also reported that Antifa was placed strategically during the “kid friendly” drag show and “was armed like snipers on the 3rd floor of the parking garage.”

      https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-heavily-armed-antifa-militants-stand-guard-outside-texas-kid-friendly-drag-show

          1. “There is no possible mediation. Yes to the natural family. No to the LGBT lobbies. No to the violence of Islam, yes to safer borders, no to mass immigration, yes to work for our people, and no to major international finance,” said Meloni at a campaign event. Meloni’s political beliefs means the EU may respond with extreme sanctions against Italy if her party comes to power.

            This is why Europe still practices genocide.

  41. Tapped-out debt donkeys still using their shacks as ATMs. What could possibly go wrong?

    Americans Are Tapping Home Equity Despite Jump in Rates

    https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/americans-still-tap-home-equity-173652662.html

    (Bloomberg) — Soaring mortgage rates aren’t stopping plenty of US property owners from tapping home equity — even if it means locking in a steep increase in their monthly repayments.

    In July, 86% of refinance deals required homeowners to pay a higher interest rate, the biggest share on record, according to data from Black Knight Inc., an analytics firm for the mortgage and home-equity industry. The rate increased by an average of 1.3 percentage points, also a record high, the data show. Two years ago, virtually all refinance loans lowered the mortgage rate even if they pulled equity too.

    1. Eventually these tapped out home equity borrowers will find themselves underwater and pandering for bailouts, just like in the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

    2. This “yella fella” is overly confident that the fed is going to step in and save the housing market…and his job.

  42. The iBuyer Collapse? | How iBuyers are Handling The Shift
    Caitlin McKeague – Phoenix
    Sep 23, 2022 The ibuyer collapse! iBuyers such as Opendoor, and OfferPad are seeing the results of their actions. For a long time these ibuyers have been purchasing homes and now they have too munch inventory.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ALjmoMfQps

    11:21. Says appraisers are treating these like distressed sales, not taking the crater into account as much. It’s different Phoenix!

    1. It would be great for inventory levels and prices if the iBuyers got wiped out in the bust and had to sell their HODLings to reimburse creditors at pennies on the dollar.

  45. The Federalist — Grocery Shop With Me To Fact-Check Biden’s Inflation Up ‘Hardly At All’ Claim (9/23/2022):

    “While doing some personal shopping, I took inventory of basic items (universal brands if the store had them), some of which were “on sale.” I documented each item’s regular price. Then, using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), I cross-referenced those prices with grocery costs during a comparable time in recent memory: the last midterms in 2018 under President Donald Trump — a year and a half into the presidency and during a time of strong political incentives to keep Americans happy.

    I avoided produce, most of which the BLS doesn’t keep consistent records for and which has such a short shelf-life that prices vary widely. I did, however, check in on other essentials across a variety of categories: baking items such as flour and sugar, meat, eggs, cheese, and other staples such as bread and pasta. And let’s just say after running the numbers, an 8 percent increase would have been welcomed. The real hikes were insane.

    Let’s start with breakfast, as you do. In September 2018, bacon cost $5.50 per pound, according to BLS averages. Today, those delicious piggy strips will run you about $7.99 per pound for your run-of-the-mill brand.

    Milk is even worse. In 2018, one gallon of whole milk cost $2.98. Now, the grocery store’s off-brand milk costs $4.89, a price increase of almost 70 percent.

    Milk is an input into multiple other foods, such as cheese, sour cream, cream for your morning coffee, and more. So when milk goes up, it has a big effect on the prices of many other edibles.

    Eggs are some of the worst offenders of all. Americans paid $1.65 for a dozen of Grade A, large eggs in 2018. Now, those eggs cost $3.49 for 12.

    I’ll spare you the math. That’s a nearly 112 percent spike that’s coincided with the current president’s time in office. The cost has more than doubled.

    Bread and pasta used to be reliably inexpensive staples of the American diet. It’s why go-to meals for lower-income families often include PB&Js for lunch and spaghetti for dinner. But they’re not so inexpensive anymore.

    Wheat bread in 2018 cost $1.95 per pound. Now it costs $3.19, a 64 percent rise.

    The cost of white bread has skyrocketed. Four years ago, it ran consumers just $1.29 per pound. Today it’s $2.79. That’s a 116 percent spike.

    And while the price of spaghetti in September 2018 was $1.20 per pound, America’s go-to pasta now costs $1.84, meaning it’s risen in price by more than half.

    Speaking of rising by half, that’s also what’s happened to the price of sugar. Four years ago, it cost just 58 cents per pound. Now it costs 87.

    Chicken breasts cost an average of $2.90 per pound during the Trump midterm era. During Biden’s midterm season, they are running at $4.99 per pound. That’s a 72 percent increase for what was arguably one of the most basic, versatile, and affordable of poultry proteins. The upward trend started about the same time the Biden administration took the reins of the U.S. economy.”

    https://thefederalist.com/2022/09/23/grocery-shop-with-me-to-fact-check-bidens-inflation-up-hardly-at-all-claim/

    At least there’s no more mean tweets now, right?

    1. WH Spox on Lowering Food Prices: We’ll ‘Continue to Implement These Important Bills’

      IAN HANCHETT
      24 Sep 2022

      During an interview with ABC on Friday, Principal Deputy White House Communications Director Kate Berner responded to a question on what the Biden administration can do to lower energy and food costs by pointing to declining gas prices and measures on energy and saying they’ll “continue to implement these important bills that are giving families more breathing room, lowering costs across the board.”

      https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2022/09/24/wh-spox-on-lowering-food-prices-well-continue-to-implement-these-important-bills/

    2. I don’t keep such fastidious records, but my overall impression is that the price increases so documented are right in line with my own personal shopping experiences. In fact, increased prices presented might be conservative. (I live in Irvine, Calif)

    3. Grocery Shop With Me To Fact-Check Biden’s Inflation Up ‘Hardly At All’ Claim

      Anyone who wields a shopping list knows just how bad it is. I have little doubt this is why restaurants and drive thrus are so empty in my neck of the woods: discretionary dollars are getting gobbled up by massively increased prices at the supermarket and elsewhere. Even dinner at the Olive Garden is suddenly a luxury for many.

      1. “…Anyone who wields a shopping list knows just how bad it is….”

        Have had price increases of some of my favorites of 100%+ since start of Pandemic.

        I am very health conscious, so I rarely eat the junk available at drive thru’s. However, was super busy a few weekends ago and got a single no frills hamburger from a local drive chain. It was over $7. The bun size was smaller than I remembered. Basically, just a few mouthfuls. What a rip.

        1. smaller than I remembered

          Count your blessings. In my experience if you only resort to the fast food burger once in a long while, it can really upset your digestive system.

          1. Yep. Fast food now. DI track pays for it later. Does anybody known what’s *really* in those things? Supposedly its all regulated, but who knows?

  46. Strange article on the night Xi Jinping rushed home causes a lot of speculation
    China Revealed
    Sep 24, 2022 The CCP’s General Secretary Xi Jinping hurriedly ended his 3-day visit to Central Asia, going directly from the venue of the Shanghai Cooperation Conference (SCO) in Samarkand to the airport to return to Beijing. On the same day, Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong published an article in a party publication calling for allegiance to Xi. These moves have sparked a lot of speculation.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoUBxDdG3d4

    4 minutes.

  48. “2.1.8.SSH.9: Define vaginal, oral and anal sex.”

    Will this be on the SAT?

    NJ school districts could face discipline over sex ed non-compliance

    Sep 21, 2022

    School districts could face disciplinary actions if they refuse to implement New Jersey’s new sex education standards, state officials said. Toni Yates has the story.

    https://youtu.be/vJv3LlR8mAs

  50. Poetic justice that cities lousy with libtards are seeing the biggest property crashes.

    The fastest-cooling real estate markets in the US: Sales drop 34% in Seattle as crime ravaged West Coast sees prices tumble amid exodus of residents – and people return from pandemic refuges

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11246035/The-20-fastest-cooling-real-estate-markets-crime-ravaged-West-Coast-sees-prices-tumble.html

    Seattle’s housing market is slowing faster than any in the country, a new study has revealed – as cash-strapped buyers increasingly shy away from home purchases.

    The study, from real estate firm Redfin, ranked the nation’s most populous hubs using metrics such as prices, price drops, and supply – and found that the real estate market is cooling fastest primarily along the West Coast.

  52. “China’s ‘Zombie’ Housing Market Could Persist Due To Lack Of Marriages”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/chinas-zombie-housing-market-could-persist-due-plunging-number-marriages-country

    (snip)

    For the most part, everybody understands that China’s property market is in a precarious position, suffering from a massive inventory glut and little demand.

    But what most people haven’t considered is that the lack of demand may actually be attributable to a “decline in the number of marriages” in the country, SCMP pointed out this week.

    A revival of the industry “won’t work” because the government, despite being able to cut debt costs and ease financial pressure for developers, can’t revive the marriage rate, the report says.

    SCMP notes how marriage creates demand for the housing market:

    The industry has enjoyed an incredible combination of huge volumes and high prices for so long partly due to the unique dynamics of China’s modern marriage market – men looking to marry were expected to own property, preferably debt-free.

    The man’s parents and grandparents tended to pitch in, often exhausting their savings. The prospective bride’s family, free of financial pressure, would often push for purchase regardless of the price. Debt was sometimes used to plug the cash shortfall, borrowed under the names of the groom’s parents. Such demand has been a pillar of the property market.

    The report then notes that marriages have fallen to a record low of 7.6 million last year, about half of what it was during its peak in 2013.

    In China, the financial burden for housing has traditionally fallen on the groom, which has acted as a tailwind for the property market.

    But now, marriage has become more expensive and demand has “plummeted”. With traditional ideas of marriage and financial responsibility being questioned, social change is taking place that has slowed the rush to elope and, in turn, the rush to collectively own property.

    Author Andy Xie writes that China’s real estate industry is simply becoming a “zombie” – and so are “many local governments”.

    And while he makes the argument for China to restructure its economy, China is unlikely to do so, he says.

    Instead, he predicts a “long slog” before the market returns to any type of normalcy. Xie says that if every marriage leads to a property purchase in the country, and if marriages don’t fall further, it would still take about 10 years to run through the inventory currently on the market.

      1. LWorld
        China records fewest marriages since 1986, adding to fears of population crisis
        By Jessie Yeung, CNN’s Beijing Bureau
        Published 1:41 AM EDT, Thu September 1, 2022
        A couple on the promenade of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, on February 24.
        A couple on the promenade of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, on February 24.
        Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images
        CNN —

        China last year registered the fewest marriages since its public records began more than three decades ago – adding to concerns the country faces a looming demographic crisis.

        There were 7.6 million marriage registrations in 2021, data released by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs last week shows.

        That’s the fewest since 1986, when the ministry began publicly releasing the figures, according to state-run tabloid Global Times. It is a 6.1% decrease from the previous year and the eighth consecutive year marriage rates have fallen.

        At the same time, the average age of newlyweds is inching up, with nearly half of those married last year age 30 and above.

        The figures reflect a trend that is increasingly a cause for concern among officials in the world’s most populous nation, home to 1.4 billion: young people, especially millennials, are increasingly choosing not to get married or have children – and even when they do, they tend to do so later in life.
        …
        https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/01/china/china-marriage-registration-record-low-intl-hnk/index.html

  53. Yahoo
    Yahoo Finance
    Housing expert: Home sale cancellations ‘have spiked tremendously’
    Dani Romero
    Sat, September 24, 2022 at 9:51 AM·3 min read
    A sign points to new homes in Hesperia, California on August 18, 2022. U.S. home sales fell nearly 6% in July, 2022 as the housing market slides into a recession.
    (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)

    Home sales have been falling through for many sellers since the beginning of the summer, according to one analyst, as many homebuyers are retreating from the housing market.

    “June is when many builders will tell you they have seen an inflection in the housing market,” Deepa Raghavan, senior equity analyst at Wells Fargo Securities, told Yahoo Finance Live. “Their metrics started going down from June. What we will tell you is July and August, those metrics actually took a turn for the worse. In talking to people on the field, it feels like cancellation rates have spiked tremendously.”

    With the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates up another 75 basis points and fears of a recession on the horizon, more and more homebuyers have become hesitant about purchasing a new home.

    New listings of homes for sale slid 15% in the four weeks ending Aug. 21, marking the biggest decline since the start of the pandemic, Redfin reported. Consequently, that’s pushed supply for homes down, as for-sale homes dropped to 0.6% from the previous four-week period.

    Sellers are trying boost sales by luring hesitant homebuyers by mortgage rate buydowns, free amenities, and price reductions.

    “The builders have just now started to get on the price competition bandwagon,” Raghavan said. “Incentives or discounting have increased tremendously… In some communities, builders are incentivizing or discounting to the tune of 15% of list prices. Now in some communities, although it’s still at the margins, it could be as high as 25%.
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/housing-expert-home-sale-cancellations-165152762.html

    1. “I’m feeling well and symptom free,”

      So, in other words, he’s not sick and the test was a false positive.

  56. Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You

    by Sugarloaf

    Songfacts®:

    Sugarloaf, famous for their 1970 hit “Green-Eyed Lady,” found themselves without a label in 1974. They made some calls, trying to find a taker, but couldn’t get much interest. This song recounts that experience, using many industry clichés they heard along the way. A big part of the game was getting a foot in the door by buttering up the A&R guys at the label, with lines like, “I got your name from a friend of a friend.” The reply is the classic blowoff: “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

    The group ended up getting signed to the Claridge label, which was rewarded when this song became a hit, reaching #9 in 1975.

    Don’t Call Us We’ll Call You – Sugarloaf

    https://youtu.be/HjH-db8qnVM

    1. DOW 30 -1.62%
      S&P 500 -1.72%
      NASDAQ 100 -1.66%

      Bonds are in the midst of their worst crash since 1949, and the fallout could unravel some of the market’s most crowded trades, Bank of America says
      Matthew Fox
      12 hours ago
      Trader at NYSE
      A trader works at the New York Stock Exchange NYSE in New York, the United States, on March 9, 2022. Michael Nagle/Xinhua via Getty

      – The worst bond market decline since 1949 is set to disrupt the stock market, according to Bank of America.
      – The bank said soaring interest rates will unwind the most crowded trades in the stock market, including long US tech.
      – “Bond crash in recent weeks means highs in credit spreads, lows in stocks are not yet in,” BofA said.
      …
      https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/bonds/worst-bond-crash-since-1949-upset-stock-market-crowded-trades-2022-9

    2. September 23, 20225:40 PM PDT
      Last Updated a day ago

      Stocks tumble, dollar soars and bonds plunge as recession fears grow
      By Herbert Lash, Amanda Cooper and Tommy Wilkes
      5 minute read
      A man is silhouetted in front of a board displaying the Japanese yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar outside a brokerage, after Japan intervened in the currency market for the first time since 1998 to shore up the battered yen, in Tokyo
      New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) building after the start of Thursday’s trading session in New York
      A screen displays market news as traders work on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York City
      American flags hang from the facade of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) building after the start of Thursday’s trading session in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., January 28, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar
      Summary
      – Dow poised to confirm bear market
      – MSCI All-World index hits 2-year low
      – Dollar reaches new two-decade high
      – Sterling and gilts sell off after UK ‘mini-budget’

      NEW YORK/LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) – U.S. and European stocks tumbled on Friday, the dollar scaled a 22-year high and bonds sold off again as fears grew that a central bank prescription of raising interest rates to tame inflation will drag major economies into recession.
      …
      https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/global-markets-wrapup-1-2022-09-23/

    3. As rates rise, the antidote to volatile stocks could now be bonds. Here’s why.
      Medora Lee
      USA TODAY
      – After logging one of the worst performances in history, bonds are making a comeback, analysts say.
      – Rising yields and stabilizing inflation are positives for bonds, they say.
      – In contrast, higher rates and possible recession will hurt corporate earnings and stocks.

      While many wonder whether the stock market has seen its lows this year, there’s a rebound happening in the bond market that people might be missing, analysts say.
      …
      https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2022/09/22/fed-rates-rise-bonds-outperform-stocks/8074989001/?gnt-cfr=1

    4. nvesting during a Great Depression
      Chris Farrell 14 years ago
      Subscribe to our Newsletters

      Question: How do you depression-proof your assets. My husband says there’s no way; that’s what a depression means. My grandmother who survived the Depression said to just keep working and hang onto what ever real property you can; she never has believed in stocks, bonds, or anything “that I can’t see”. Nancy, Columbus, OH
      …
      Obviously, stocks did horribly during the Great Depression. But bonds did well. Interest rates and bond prices are two ends of a seesaw. When bond yields are rising (usually from investors anticipating higher inflation), bond prices go down–and vice versa. Bond prices soared as bond yields came down sharply during the depression. For instance, the prime corporate bond yield average went from 4.59% in September 1929 to 3.99% in May of 1931. By June of 1938 the average corporate bond yield fell to a new low of 2.94%. Bonds returned 6.04% during the 1930s. Short-term fixed income securities or bills returned 3.39% over the same time period. But even fixed income investors are wary of deflation since unwary creditors absorbed huge losses during the 1930s as cash-strapped corporations and municipal governments defaulted on their debts.
      Two Wall Street tycoons that ended up with “pockets full of money” after the Crash were Alfred Lee Loomis and his partner and brother-in-law Landon Thorne. The two had been leading financiers for the new electric power industry in the 1920s. Loomis was also a scientist, and he became a major supporter of some of the century’s greatest scientific minds at his Tuxedo Park home. By early 1929, the two partners had liquidated all their stock holdings and put the gains into long-term Treasury bonds and cash. The reaction by their peers, so many of them forced out of business, seemed more like envy than admiration since “in the midst of so much despair, with the economic situation deteriorating day after day, Loomis and Thorne continued to profit handsomely,” writes Jennet Conant, author of the Loomis Biography Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street tycoon and the Secret Palace That Changed the Course of World War ll.
      …
      https://www.marketplace.org/2008/09/30/investing-during-great-depression/amp/

    1. Business
      The U.S.’s Low Birth Rate Means the Nation is Headed For a Demographic Crisis
      While the number of babies born in the U.S. increased in 2021, it’s still too low to prevent an aging society.
      By Linda Carroll • 05/25/22 5:30am

      While the number of babies born in the U.S. ticked slightly higher in 2021, the increase wasn’t enough to turn the tide on a decades-long trend of Americans having fewer children than it would take to replace themselves.

      For the nation’s population to reproduce itself, the “total fertility rate” needs to be at least 2,100 births per 1,000 women, or just over two children for every woman, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

      In 2021 the rate was 1,663 births per 1,000 women, 1 percent more than the previous year, but still too few babies being born to keep the population stable, according to the CDC statistics.

      If the trend isn’t halted, by 2035 the proportion of people over 65 will be greater than those under 18, according to a 2018 report from the US Census. That imbalance could overtax retirement and healthcare systems, said John W. Rowe, a professor of health policy and aging at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The solution most likely will involve both changes to immigration rules and the implementation of policies that could encourage people to have more children, Rowe said.
      …
      https://observer.com/2022/05/the-u-s-s-low-birth-rate-means-the-nation-is-headed-for-a-demographic-crisis/

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