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There’s A Very Good Chance They’ll Be Left With Nothing

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “‘What we did during the pandemic, that wasn’t sustainable. That was an anomaly. That was not what’s normal,’ said Realtor Stephanie Grable. ‘Right now the bidding wars don’t exist.’ The median home sales price in Utah was $492,000 in October. Prices have fallen from the peak of $539,000 in May of this year. The number of homes available for sale in Utah jumped nearly 94% from this time last year to 12,237 active listings.”

“The days of buyers purchasing homes sight unseen and forgoing inspections seem to be over, area agents said. ‘There’s not multiple showings on the first day,’ said Kyle Kershner, the owner of Killington Pico Realty. ‘We’re not seeing those bidding wars.’ ‘It’s taken a little longer to sell and prices have leveled off,’ said Nathan Mastroeni, the broker at Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty in Killington. ‘The price acceleration has really calmed down. If you’re priced too high, you may be sitting.'”

“Brittney Pino doesn’t quite want to call Baton Rouge a buyer’s market for home sales. She doesn’t really want to call it a seller’s market, either. Instead, Pino — a 20-year real estate veteran — referred to it as a ‘freeze market’ because both buyers and sellers are nervous about rising interest rates. ‘Before, it was much easier where you could just kind of list the home and it would sell,’ Pino said with a laugh. ‘Now it won’t be so easy.'”

“It’s taking almost twice as long for homes to sell in South Florida. On a month-to-month basis, however, prices are slowly starting to moderate or decline across the area. For example in Palm Beach County, the median sale price of a home in July was $600,000, before decreasing to $565,000 in August. In September it reached $580,000, before decreasing to $570,000 in October. ‘I think what is happening is that sellers realized that if they need to sell, they have to reduce the price,’ added Patty DaSilva, broker with Green Realty Properties in Cooper City. ‘The buyers are slower to make a move. They have more to chose from now and they don’t need to move as fast.'”

“Clark County’s average home price continued to trend downward last month. Terry Wollam, managing broker at Wollam and Associates, said this downward trend is not surprising. ‘I think that there’s a sentiment from buyers that they’ve seen some drops in pricing and they’re hoping that those prices would continue to drop,’ Wollam said. ‘Statistically, it’s hard to reject that.'”

“California Association of Realtors data shows the typical price for single family homes across Southern California is about $743,000. That’s down about 8% from a peak in May. ‘If somebody actually put a 20% down payment and, one third of their income for housing costs, for Orange County for example, we’re looking at a household income of roughly about $278,000,’ said Oscar Wei, the deputy chief economist for the California Association of Realtors. Redfin found the annual salary needed to afford a typical mortgage in Anaheim, for example, would be more than $254,000. The typical annual household income is in Anaheim is about $77,000.”

“Independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported a net loss of $624 on each loan they originated in Q3 of 2022, down from a reported loss of $82 per loan in Q2 of 2022. ‘The average pre-tax net production income per loan reached its lowest level since the inception of MBA’s report in 2008, which is sobering news given that the third quarter is historically the strongest quarter of the year,’ said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s VP of Industry Analysis. ‘The industry continues to struggle with a perfect storm of lower production volume and revenues and escalating production costs, which for the first time exceed $11,000 per loan. Companies are responding to tough market conditions by reducing excess capacity, including staff.’ Including all business lines (both production and servicing), 46 percent of the firms in the study posted pre-tax net financial profits in the third quarter, down from 57 percent in the second quarter.”

“Mortgage quotes for investment properties dropped 60 per cent in October from September, according to Victor Tran, a mortgage specialist. ‘Investor demand is definitely down,’ Mr. Tran says. One reason for the caution is that people are watching to see what the Bank of Canada does at its next rate setting confab on Dec. 7. Many investors are already seeing negative cash flow – meaning the rent they collect does not cover their mortgage payments, taxes and other expenses. Now they are worried that property prices will continue to decline. An investor who buys now with a 20-per-cent down payment risks seeing the price of the asset continue to slide until they have no equity at all, Mr. Tran points out. ‘There’s a very good chance they’ll be left with nothing.'”

“Sahil Jaggi, a broker with Re/Max Realtron Realty is watching to see if the trickle of properties for sale in the Toronto-area real estate market turns into a wave. He points out that builders have been hit by the high cost of construction in the past couple of years in addition to today’s rising interest rates. A builder who paid $1.5-million for a parcel of land and put $1-million into construction, for example, is likely trying to sell the newly finished house for $3-million or more to make a little bit of profit. Sales in that segment are very slow. ‘A lot of people who built luxury, expensive houses are being hurt the most. They’re probably going to have to sell for a loss.'”

“First-time buyers face being locked out of the market next year after Virgin Money became the latest bank to stop lending to borrowers with small deposits. The lender has ‘temporarily’ pulled all mortgages requiring a 5pc deposit and Help to Buy deals for new borrowers. Samuel Mather-Holgate, of mortgage broker Mather and Murray Financial, said 5pc was a ‘wafer thin layer of equity’ in a falling property market. He said: ‘I would expect to see the end of these types of mortgages for the next 12 months. Considering some economists think the worst-case scenario could be a fall in house prices of up to 30pc, I am surprised that 10pc deposit mortgages are still available.'”

“The Riksbank raised borrowing costs by 75 basis points and signaled more tightening is needed to tame inflation even as it predicted a worsening slump for Sweden’s economy. ‘This is a development we haven’t seen in living memory,’ central-bank governor, Stefan Ingves told reporters in Stockholm. ‘You probably have to go back to the early 1950s to find anything similar.’In what may be the most obvious real-economy effect of rate hiking, house prices have dropped by 14% from a peak earlier this year. Property values ‘will continue to fall in the coming years, to around the level prevailing prior to the pandemic,’ the Riksbank said. ‘There is a risk that the process of adapting will be more abrupt and that housing prices will fall more than is being assumed now.'”

“Nearly 150 suburbs have lost their $1 million property price tag as the real estate downturn takes hold across the country. New data from PropTrack found that 144 suburbs in Australia have been kicked out of the million-dollar property club since interest rates began rising in May, along with a crackdown on loans and the increasing cost of living crisis. The top 10 suburbs with the largest drops in price came from Brisbane, the NSW Central Coast (north of Sydney) and Canberra. However, the largest drop in value was just over 16 per cent, which means not all the gains from last year have been wiped out.”

“The market correction has been bad news for Stafford residents, in Brisbane’s north, with the median house price falling more there than anywhere else. Stafford’s 16.9 per cent drop saw properties in the area go from being worth a median of $1.127 million in May, to just $937,000 by October. That means those properties lost $191,000 worth of value. Other Brisbane areas that lost value included Upper Mount Gravatt and Salisbury both in the city’s south, losing $149,000 and $140,000 respectively. Nudgee in Brisbane’s north went from being worth $1,044,327 to $903,383, a 13.5 per cent drop.”

“Then in NSW, the Central Coast was named and shamed as the area rapidly losing value. Ettalong Beach, Umina Beach, Blackwall and Lisarow all made it on to the list. For Ettalong, it came second, as a result of shedding $190,000 worth of value in the past six months. The others lost $180,000, $159,000 and $153,000, respectively. Over in Canberra, two suburbs got an honourable mention for losing the most amount of money. Gowrie and Oxley went from being worth over $1 million down to $870,000 and $894,000 respectively. The former fell by 14.7 per cent while the latter dropped by 13.7 per cent.”

“New Zealand‘s house prices are forecast to fall more than previously thought this year and next with a peak-to-trough slump of 18% as aggressive interest rate hikes weaken an already-slowing housing market, a Reuters poll found. ‘The fall has been very orderly so far,’ said Sharon Zollner, chief economist at ANZ. ‘Even a 20% fall could be considered a soft landing. A hard landing would likely require an employment shock and forced sales, and we are not seeing any evidence to suggest this is happening en masse.'”

“Asked how much average house prices would fall from peak to trough, analysts who answered an additional question gave a median estimate of 18%, with forecasts in a 14%-23% range. ‘In percentage change terms, this sounds rather drastic, but it’s still only a partial unwinding of the COVID period run-up,’ Zollner said.

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This Post Has 109 Comments

  1. ‘I think that there’s a sentiment from buyers that they’ve seen some drops in pricing and they’re hoping that those prices would continue to drop’

    That’s the spirit!

  2. ‘Before, it was much easier where you could just kind of list the home and it would sell,’ Pino said with a laugh’

    Sound lending!

  3. ‘prices have dropped by 14% from a peak earlier this year. Property values ‘will continue to fall in the coming years, to around the level prevailing prior to the pandemic,’ the Riksbank said. ‘There is a risk that the process of adapting will be more abrupt and that housing prices will fall more than is being assumed now’

    Years? At least they are openly stating the CCP virus boom is going bye bye. Now we find out how many fools got the FOMO. Shacks were in a bubble before CCP virus, so how low will it go?

    1. Shacks were in a bubble before CCP virus, so how low will it go?

      Shacks were already in an outrageous bubble in 2018. I remember my speculator neighbor was already deep into the Kool-Aid.

  4. ‘If somebody actually put a 20% down payment and, one third of their income for housing costs, for Orange County for example, we’re looking at a household income of roughly about $278,000′

    Dick (can I call you Dick, Oscar?) you know they aren’t putting 20% down. That’s why they’re fooked!

    1. I love how used home sellers always trot out these strawman examples of nonexistent wealthy buyers.

    2. we’re looking at a household income of roughly about $278,000

      You’re going to be looking for a long time, boy.

  5. ‘Independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported a net loss of $624 on each loan they originated in Q3 of 2022, down from a reported loss of $82 per loan in Q2 of 2022. ‘The average pre-tax net production income per loan reached its lowest level since the inception of MBA’s report in 2008, which is sobering news given that the third quarter is historically the strongest quarter of the year,’ said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s VP of Industry Analysis. ‘The industry continues to struggle with a perfect storm of lower production volume and revenues and escalating production costs, which for the first time exceed $11,000 per loan. Companies are responding to tough market conditions by reducing excess capacity, including staff’

    On the bright side Marina, you got almost no business.

    1. ‘The average pre-tax net production income per loan reached its lowest level since the inception of MBA’s report in 2008,
      I filled out these surveys for half a dozen years as well as others for the MBA.
      The level of detail is excruciatingly painful, plus, every company defines things slightly differently so what i put in expense bucket A you might put in expense bucket B, so variances in expense categories can occur. But the totals are mostly the totals, as you tie to the mortgage groups bottomline.
      Of course, there are variance on how each Corp. treats their mortgage lines (ex. Corp. O/H, allocation/cost of space and IT expense to name a few) so there are still variances but i still think these numbers are pretty good, not perfect, but good for comparison. And obviously, there are big loses this year and a huge decrease in profitability from last year.

    2. On the dark side, even with no sales, you still have the fixed costs of running a business, including salaries, benefits and coffee.

  6. “‘What we did during the pandemic, that wasn’t sustainable. That was an anomaly. That was not what’s normal,’ said Realtor Stephanie Grable.

    Which is exactly what you told your “clients” buying into the bubble blown by the tsunami of Yellen Bux “stimulus” during the pandemic, right, Steph?

  7. The number of homes available for sale in Utah jumped nearly 94% from this time last year to 12,237 active listings.”

    Is that a lot?

  8. ‘The price acceleration has really calmed down. If you’re priced too high, you may be sitting.’”

    Stop lying, Realtor Boy. The data shows shack prices’ downward velocity is accelerating.

  9. Instead, Pino — a 20-year real estate veteran — referred to it as a ‘freeze market’ because both buyers and sellers are nervous about rising interest rates.

    Mr. Market doesn’t give a sh*t what terms lying mendacious realtors use to obfuscate the obvious: this is the Wile E. Coyote moment before the bottom drops out.

  10. ‘I think what is happening is that sellers realized that if they need to sell, they have to reduce the price,’ added Patty DaSilva, broker with Green Realty Properties in Cooper City.

    A deep thinker, that one.

  11. Redfin found the annual salary needed to afford a typical mortgage in Anaheim, for example, would be more than $254,000. The typical annual household income is in Anaheim is about $77,000.”

    One of these things is not like the other.

  12. Many investors are already seeing negative cash flow – meaning the rent they collect does not cover their mortgage payments, taxes and other expenses.

    Die, speculator scum!

  13. A reader sent these in:

    The Kobeissi Letter

    Latest Layoffs:
    1. Twitter: 75% of employees
    2. Meta: 11,000 employees
    3. Amazon: 10,000 employees
    4. HP: 6,000 employees
    5. Robinhood: 30% of employees
    6. Intel: 20% of employees
    7. Snapchat: 20% of employees
    8. Apple: Hiring freeze
    Corporations are signaling recession.

    https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1595807232566104064

    The headlines lately have been so absurd, we have to actually wonder sometimes which are parody and which are real …🤡🌎

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1595845519729127425

    Japan dumping Record US Treasuries! 🔥💵🔥
    China is selling, the Fed is selling, the Social Security trust fund is selling (because it has to) … Who is going to buy US debt if all the previous major buyers are now also selling ?

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1595779280679489538

    Buyers and investors are pulling back from the US housing market… Meanwhile there is a record amount of apartments under construction… massive inventory overhang coming as they are finished.
    Then construction collapse.😰

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1595749070890573826

    SBF is not even remotely the biggest criminal speaking at the NY Times Dealbook event. Who do you think is the biggest criminal at this event and why? 🔥🔥🔥

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1595714425515827200

    Here’s the letter from SF Fed prez Mary Daly approving Fed Reserve System membership (SWIFT and wires) for the bank that SBF bought.
    That’s Deltec Chairman Jean Chalopin on the Board, as is Gemini Chief Compliance/Operating Officer Noah Perlman. Burn. It. The. F*ck. Down.

    https://twitter.com/EpsilonTheory/status/1595916161526468609

    Steve Saretsky

    Some units selling several hundred thousand below their 2016 pre-sale price on Vancouver West side. Six years of dead money.

    https://twitter.com/SteveSaretsky/status/1595953308803694593

    Went from eggs and toast to Brrrr bros, loud music and gun fire

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1595840881151873025

    14th largest non institutional mortgage lender (PRMI) lays off 2/3 of its mortgage loan originators in local news. Also, some 1 in 3 real estate agents haven’t closed a deal in 2022 and are behind on rent or payments. I love your boots-on the ground reality checks on the Fed! ❤️

    https://twitter.com/KingRobertK/status/1595648252803747840

    “If we knew everything a year ago that we knew today, yes I think we should have started tightening interest rates sooner to withdraw the stimulus…” Source:

    https://twitter.com/GoldTelegraph_/status/1595595855486132224

    FTX is this year’s Credit Suisse! The gift that will keep giving! Happy thanksgiving!
    Quote Tweet
    Nov 24
    Alameda bought a US bank (Farmington State) connected with Deltec and Tether, and then transferred it to FTX. There’s no way that the regulatory approval of a Bahamian HF buying a US bank was legit. No way. FTX was a criminal enterprise from the start.

    https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1595836708112986112

    How to get away with fraud

    https://twitter.com/ParikPatelCFA/status/1595912681315524613

    The Kobeissi Letter

    SBF, the CEO of FTX, had an estimated net worth of $26 billion just 1 month ago. According to WSJ, SBF planned to donate most of his money to charity. SBF has gone from being a philanthropist to one of the biggest cases of fraud in history in just 2 weeks.

    https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1595962223624495104

    I’ve been worn out by trying to stay on top of the #FTXScandal this week. 1st new FTX CEO reports substantial assets lost/stolen. Then we found out SBF’s lawyer parents were gifted $100+mil in properties. Now, SBF will be a featured speaker at the NYT’s upcoming event. Pure nutso

    https://twitter.com/menlobear/status/1595557195445174272

    Real excess disposable income is gone 👇 (BBG)

    https://twitter.com/MichaelAArouet/status/1595356947959742464

    This looks like a hardest soft-landing in decades 👇

    https://twitter.com/MichaelAArouet/status/1595054379845181445

    Tick, tock… (FT)

    https://twitter.com/MichaelAArouet/status/1594976669760368640

    Rudy Havenstein, CFO, Farmington State Bank.

    Hey @jeromehpowell – How’d your meeting with Sam Bankman-Fried go?

    https://twitter.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1595939793124270081

    Rudy Havenstein, CFO, Farmington State Bank.

    Democracy dies in relentlessly promoting a world-class scam artist.

    https://twitter.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1593288171638300673

    Hi, I’m a brazen financial criminal with no fear of being arrested despite running an insane billion dollar ponzi scheme. Now pay $2500 to watch me talk and pretend I’m not a criminal at the NYT summit.

    https://twitter.com/_whitneywebb/status/1595791740958642179

    Rudy Havenstein, CFO, Farmington State Bank.

    Andrew has justifiably blocked me, but if this CNBC kleptocracy shill is actually able to ask @SBF_FTX any questions before Federal Marshals cuff and arrest Scam Bankster-Fraud, we will know for certain that the corruption is far worse than even I have imagined.

    https://twitter.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1595688169621852161

    Thanks for the kind words, Mark! But I’d also say that FinTwit in general provides 100x more info and reporting than MSM. Not just on SBF/FTX, but really everything associated with markets and investing today. It’s pretty amazing tbh!!

    https://twitter.com/EpsilonTheory/status/1595906457936986112

    The Babylon Bee

    U-Haul Builds One-Way Bullet Train From California To Texas

    https://twitter.com/TheBabylonBee/status/1595515445699702784

    OUCH! FTX Collapse tarnishes Sequoia’s reputation, prompts apology: Top partners at the powerful VC firm apologized to their investors in a conference call Tuesday for backing FTX w/investments totaling $214mln across 2 funds.

    https://twitter.com/Schuldensuehner/status/1595221228473704448

    From my contacts:
    1. Adelaide credit union staff are being asked to work more hours to deal with customer enquiries resulting from them not being able to pay their mortgages. Also
    2. Local Adelaide sheriff is repossessing 7 houses per week now and was only doing 1 per week prior

    https://twitter.com/smcconville86/status/1595964121081843712

    With bonds trading at 20¢?

    https://twitter.com/sunchartist/status/1595937382423236608

    COVID restrictions are rapidly expanding in China amid worsening outbreaks. Reopening? Not for this winter…

    https://twitter.com/CathyYuanZhang/status/1595411726794895362

    Currently reading through Westpac’s November housing report and my suspicion that collapsed volumes have been supporting Sydney property prices in recent months has been confirmed. We have seen the largest drop in turnover in at least a decade.

    https://twitter.com/AvidCommentator/status/1595320563576475648

    Zelman now predicting a massive 20% drop in housing prices nationally which means Armageddon for the bubble markets

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1595495784468078594

    Ben Rabidoux

    👀 “We need lower house prices to restore balance to
    Canada’s housing market” -@bankofcanada

    Couldn’t be more clear. Declining prices is an intended outcome.

    https://twitter.com/BenRabidoux/status/1595236854810427393

    We’re thankful this year that Chair Powell and the Fed saved us from COVID-19, low inflation, affordable rents and goods, responsible fiat hodlers and free market capitalism, among other things, by pumping trillions of dollars to Wall Street the past few years. Thanks so much!

    https://twitter.com/OccupytheFeds/status/1595938627762409472

    Only because the Fed effectively bought it with $2.7 Trillion in mortgage-backed securities purchases and helped their rich cronies on Wall Street buy up the rest…

    https://twitter.com/OccupytheFeds/status/1594853232479989761

    As Canadian’s foot the bill … 🚨

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1596023272650465280

    1. “If we knew everything a year ago that we knew today, yes I think we should have started tightening interest rates sooner to withdraw the stimulus…” Source:

      This cvck is paid to read the tea leaves and act accordingly. It’s his only job. Yet hundreds of millions of unpaid armchair hacks around the world saw what was happening but he didn’t? I’m calling bullsh!t. These central bankers are lying through their teeth. They did this intentionally.

    2. Zelman now predicting a massive 20% drop in housing prices nationally which means Armageddon for the bubble markets

      A 20% drop doesn’t even take all of the froth out of some bubble markets, but I guess nationally means some markets will be down much more than others. A 60% correction is needed in some areas at the current interest rates just so the median income buyers can afford the payments.

  14. And another one gone and another one gone, another one bites the dust!

    ‘Buckled under pressure’: All State Construction Solutions collapses owing $2m

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/buckled-under-pressure-all-state-construction-solutions-collapses-owing-2m/news-story/46531ecee73cb015556b6c6a60f2e4e1

    The crisis-hit construction industry has racked up another casualty, with another company going under after it “buckled under pressure”.

  15. What a difference 9 months can make.

    Video is 3:55 but if you don’t have that much time hit the $ line at 3:01

    Homebuyers camp out to secure new lots in Palm Beach County

    WPTV News – FL Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast

    Feb 8, 2022

    https://youtu.be/ef9K5N5jcXU

    1. I have a client who lives in Florida during the winter. He has 3 houses there. He was trying to sell at the peak this spring, but missed it. Then the hurricane came and wiped out the house he wanted to sell.

      1. Ian created more scarcity which means he will be able to sell his fixer upper for even more money now! Buy now or be priced out forever.

    1. It’s Now Clear That QE Was a Colossal Policy Mistake
      Analysis by Allison Schrager | Bloomberg
      November 23, 2022 at 11:08 a.m. EST

      The great quantitative easing experiment was a mistake. It’s time central banks acknowledge it for the failure it was and retire it from their policy arsenal as soon as they’re able.
      …
      Looking objectively at the evidence, it’s still not clear that all this bond buying ever did much for the economy. As Ben Bernanke once said, “The problem with Quantitative Easing (QE) is that it works in practice but not in theory.”

      In cases where a market is in trouble, having the central bank step in and buy bonds can provide needed liquidity. But using QE to boost the entire economy, to lower unemployment or boost inflation, has a more dubious record. One study, called Fifty Shades of QE, assessed the many research papers that measure the impact of QE on the economy. It found that all the research coming from central banks view QE as a great success, but only half of the research from academics finds any benefits to economic output or inflation. When they do find some benefit, it tends to be smaller than the bank research claims.

      Meanwhile, there are substantial costs. First there are direct costs: QE is essentially taking a leveraged bet that won’t pay off if interest rates increase. The Fed pays interest on the reserves it holds for banks, and it uses those reserves to finance its purchases of long-term bonds. Now that the interest rate has increased to fight inflation, the Fed must pay more for reserves than it’s getting from the bonds in its portfolio, and it’s losing money.

      The indirect costs of QE could be even worse. Using QE to keep interest rates low distorts risk assessment since bonds are considered the risk-free assets in the economy — they’re used to price assets and act as a barometer on risk-taking. Long-term bonds are among the most systematically important assets in the economy, and when their price is distorted, risk prices have less meaning.

      The Bank for International Settlements published a paper arguing that lowering long-term rates made corporate debt cheaper, which propped up zombie companies. The Fed’s interference in the mortgage-backed-securities market during the pandemic may distort the housing market for years.

      Hanno Lustig, a finance professor at Stanford’s business school, is concerned that suppressing government borrowing rates “jams the signal” markets would otherwise give when the government is borrowing too much. “Bond traders have an incentive to invest more in figuring out what the central bank will do, less in figuring out what the [market] fundamentals are,” he said.

      QE blurs the relationship between fiscal and monetary policy and threatens central bank independence because the Fed is essentially monetizing government debt. It also makes it very hard to follow monetary policy rules.

      There was a long-running debate among macro economists over how the Fed should do monetary policy. Should it just respond to conditions as they unfold, depending on the monetary policy currently in fashion? Or should it follow pre-set rules based on data, such as setting the interest rate with a formula that accounts for inflation, unemployment and GDP.

      Many economists think rules are better in most situations because they maintain the Fed’s credibility and promote transparency. There is no such formula or rule for QE; it’s always ad hoc. That may be necessary in an emergency like the financial crisis. But the persistent use of QE shows central bankers will then extend that emergency action into normal times.

      Ending QE won’t be easy. Central banks now have enormous balance sheets that will take years to whittle down. And as we see in the UK, when a central bank stops buying bonds, it can throw markets into chaos. Now that QE has become the norm, the next time there is a recession markets will expect more QE, and if doesn’t happen that could cause more trouble in the debt market.

      That’s why central banks need to admit QE was a mistake. Their credibility is already at stake after they underestimated inflation. Now is the time to take a hard look at monetary policy over the last decade and rethink what worked and what didn’t. Otherwise we’ll be stuck with QE forever.
      …
      https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/its-now-clear-that-qe-was-a-colossal-policy-mistake/2022/11/22/aae44470-6a6c-11ed-8619-0b92f0565592_story.html

      1. ‘That’s why central banks need to admit QE was a mistake. Their credibility is already at stake after they underestimated inflation’

        Interesting that two things that were pulling ‘assets’ out of their a$$ lost credibility at the same time.

        1. ” propping up zombie companies…”

          Bernanke followed the Japanese experiment. The Japanese central bank is refusing to raise interest rates because quite a lot of the propped up mega companies will will be bankrupt , resulting in loss of jobs. The ruling party will be voted out, by the people who bought housing at 1% to 2% interest rate for 40 to 50 years. This is the reason, why their central bank is selling US treasuries and mopping up Yen. It will be fascinating to see how it will play out next year.

          1. A couple more Shinzo Abe “meet your maker” situations, and these central bank cvckolds might start singing a different tune.

      3. As Ben Bernanke once said, “The problem with Quantitative Easing (QE) is that it works in practice but not in theory.”

        Gotta save this one right next to, “Privatize the profits and socialize the losses.”

    2. Why Europe is scared of quantitative tightening
      Thu, November 24, 2022 at 4:19 AM·4 min read

      Central Banks are finally getting into the swing of quantitative tightening (qt). The Bank of Canada has shed a fifth of its balance-sheet this year. The Bank of England held its first gilt auction on November 1st. The Federal Reserve’s balance-sheet shrank by $85bn in October, twice the size of the reduction three months earlier. But in Europe, where officials have flirted with qt for months, the European Central Bank (ecb) is yet to let go of a single bond.

      The continent’s central bankers have sent mixed messages about when qt will arrive. In September Christine Lagarde, the ecb’s president, said details would be provided after the bank finished raising interest rates. At a meeting on October 27th the ecb promised to lay out “key principles” in December. Five days later, Joachim Nagel of the Bundesbank said that Germany expected qt in early 2023. Pablo Hernando de Cos of Spain’s central bank sharply retorted that a longer wait was required.

      qt is a nerve-racking experience for all central bankers. When buying bonds during quantitative easing (qe), policymakers were unsure about the impact of their growing balance-sheets. In reverse, the uncertainty is greater, particularly given the fragility of financial markets and the global economy. Experiments with qt have gone wrong in the past, as in 2019 when the Fed roiled the Treasury market.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-europe-scared-quantitative-tightening-111942315.html

      1. if you can’t sell all the crap you bought, even at higher or lower prices maybe, just maybe your economy is a giant scam.

        Just a thought

    1. FTX owned an $11.5 million stake in a tiny rural bank in Washington state with just 3 employees, bankruptcy hearing shows
      Pete Syme
      Nov 24, 2022, 4:18 AM
      Fields of Whitman County, WA composed next to Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX
      The Palouse hills in Whitman County, Washington, where FTX’s investment is located. Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

      – Farmington State Bank had 3 staff and was the 26th-smallest bank in America out of a total 4,800.

      – Then FTX bought an $11.5 million stake in the bank, it has emerged during FTX’s bankruptcy case.

      – That stake was more than twice the bank’s previous net worth.

      FTX has come under more scrutiny after it emerged that the collapsed crypto giant owned an $11.5 million stake in one of America’s smallest banks – more than double the bank’s previous net worth – the New York Times reported.

      Farmington State Bank, which is based in the small town of Farmington in the rural farming region of Whitman County, Washington, was described as “no-frills” by local newspaper The Spokesman-Review in 2010. Its then-president, John Widman, told the newspaper that it had stopped making mortgage loans because the paperwork was too much effort.

      Its single branch had three employees until this year, and didn’t offer online banking or even credit cards. It instead specialised in agricultural loans to farmers.

      FTX’s investment came to light during the crypto firm’s bankruptcy case, and is raising red flags about its financial strategy.

      Ties between the farmers’ bank and the crypto exchange began in March this year, when FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research, invested in Farmington’s parent company, FBH. The purchase was led by Ramnik Arora, one of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, who was often responsible for much larger deals.

      At the time, it was the 26th-smallest bank in America out of 4,800. With a net worth of $5.7 million, FTX’s stake was worth more than double the bank’s value.

      The town of Farmington has just 146 residents, and is so small that Google Street View doesn’t cover the whole town.

      For a decade, Farmington’s bank held around $10 million in deposits. In the third quarter this year, deposits jumped to $84 million – 85% of which came from just four accounts, according to FDIC data cited by the Times.

      Online, the bank now appears as “Moonstone Bank,” a name which was trademarked a few days before FTX’s investment. Moonstone doesn’t mention cryptocurrency, but does say it wants to “support the evolution of next generation finance.”

      Questions are being asked over how FTX got federal approval to buy its stake in Farmington. Banking veterans told the New York Times that it was hard to believe regulators would have knowingly allowed the crypto firm to do so.
      …
      https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-owned-stake-in-tiny-rural-bank-bankruptcy-hearing-shows-2022-11

    2. The Financial Times
      Opinion Cryptocurrencies
      Regulators can’t keep turning a blind eye to crypto craziness
      Stopping a hyped-up project that promises to disrupt the status quo requires decisiveness and courage
      Adam Tooze
      FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried with Tony Blair and Bill Clinton in the Bahamas
      From left, Tony Blair with Bill Clinton and Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas at an FTX Salt event
      Adam Tooze 3 hours ago
      The writer is an FT contributing editor and writes the Chartbook newsletter
      …
      The Roman who is thought to have first uttered the words “fortune favours the brave”, was Pliny the Elder, on witnessing an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79. Rather than doing the obvious thing and running for cover, Pliny commanded his flotilla to head straight toward the inferno in the hope of rescuing survivors. He died amid plumes of toxic volcanic gas.

      No such fate will befall Matt Damon, nor Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen, who endorsed FTX, the stricken cryptocurrency exchange. Nor will true believers in the crypto crowd be deterred by a bankruptcy or two. It is up to the US authorities not only to tidy up the mess left by FTX, but to reach a judgment on crypto’s self-proclaimed historical mission. Doing so is inescapably political.

      Stopping any hyped-up technological project promising to disrupt the status quo and deliver a bright new future requires decisiveness, courage and actual authority. And there is no guarantee of success.

      In the case of crypto the politics are particularly tricky. The inconvenient truth is that in the recent midterm elections the corporate management of FTX were some of the largest donors to the Democratic party. It is far-fetched to suggest that this materially affected the outcome. But try telling that to Republican firebrand Senator Josh Hawley who seems determined to turn Sam Bankman-Fried’s dealings into a cause célèbre.

      Nor did the Democrats simply take money from FTX. A vocal faction in the US Congress was pushing legislation to define a new regulatory regime for crypto. While the banking regulators remained aloof, and the Securities and Exchange Congress looked askance, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission seemed keen to take on the task. It received encouragement from the very top in the form of an executive order by President Joe Biden, which declared digital assets a field in which the US must not fall behind international competitors.

      By the summer of this year it seemed that the push to recognise and regulate crypto might acquire the same kind of momentum that led, in the name of modernisation, to the disastrous deregulation of Wall Street in the late 1990s.

      The shambles revealed at FTX should stop that bandwagon. The most radical alternative would simply be to let crypto self-combust. Allow the Ponzi schemes to collapse under their own weight. Pursue fraud through the usual prosecutorial channels but offer no regulatory oversight. Make clear to anyone dabbling in crypto that they do so entirely at their own risk.

      Given crypto’s insulation from the rest of finance, such malign neglect may not pose serious systemic risks, but the cost to retail investors could be serious and with it the political fallout. Letting crypto burn down may no longer be realistic. If that is the case, the urgent imperative is for the regulators no longer to turn a blind eye, but instead to draw the clearest possible line. They should not simply deny regulatory endorsement, they should bar regulated financial institutions from tangling with crypto altogether. If there is to be regulation it should be under the rubric of gambling, not banking. That will antagonise the crypto lobby, who will charge the regulators with squandering America’s priceless lead in a world-changing technology.

      The best response to this rhetoric of historical necessity is to answer it head on. If it is true, as Damon warned, that history is “filled with almost”, this is not simply down to a lack of nerve or good fortune. Most historical ventures, like most businesses, fail because they are ill-conceived or because they run up against too-powerful opposition. Blockchain may have some limited uses. Crypto tokens in their most basic form will never be money. Sensibly downsized, they may serve as a form of online gaming. What they should have no role in, however, is serious finance, let alone complicated and opaque financial engineering. It is time to consign that chimera to history’s dustbin.

    3. Economics
      The Unbearable Uselessness of Crypto
      Nov 25, 2022
      Andrés Velasco

      Thanks to FTX’s collapse, the world may have woken up to the grim reality that the crypto “industry” is nothing but a get-rich-quick lie, wrapped in hype, bobbing on an ocean of libertarian technobabble. Will anyone do something about it?

      LONDON – Forgive the appalling cash management (or was it fraud?) that caught FTX with less than $1 billion on hand at a time when short-term liabilities were $9 billion. That sort of thing has also been known to happen to banks.

      Forgive the opaque accounting, the incestuous loans with fictitious collateral, and the $8 billion that someone “accidentally” misplaced. Such mishaps occur as well in Russia’s Bratva, Italy’s Camorra, and Japan’s Yakuza.

      Forgive the hyped-up database technology, for many purposes slower, more expensive, and more cumbersome than established, 30-year-old ways of doing things. Someone will someday find a use for all those blockchains.

      Forgive the hyperbolic rhetoric about crypto as the miracle tonic not only for economic growth, but also for “reducing war and corruption and bringing about greater happiness.” Crypto nerds are not the only ones talking rubbish.

      What is truly unforgivable is that in the 14 years since Bitcoin appeared, the crypto industry has failed to produce anything of value. What factories have been built with crypto? Which new goods and services are available? What government has raised money through crypto? Certainly not El Salvador, which adopted Bitcoin as legal tender and is now on the verge of debt default.

      Even worse, the central promise of crypto – better money – has proved to be entirely bogus.
      …
      https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ftx-collapse-exposes-cryptocurrencies-uselessness-by-andres-velasco-2022-11

      1. World
        El Salvador
        Why El Salvador’s Bukele Is Doubling Down on Bitcoin Despite the Crypto Crash

        President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele speaks during the inauguration of the ISA World Surfing Games 2021 on May 29, 2021 in La Libertad, El Salvador. (Rolan Barrientos— APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images)
        By Ciara Nugent
        November 25, 2022 9:41 AM EST

        The cryptocurrency crisis, worsened by the dramatic collapse of fast-growing crypto exchange FTX in mid-November, has raised questions about the future of these digital currencies. Bitcoin, the largest and most well known among them, has fallen to a two-year low in recent days. But one of the cryptocurrency’s most prominent backers is doubling down.

        On Nov. 17, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who last year made his country the first in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, responded to the crypto slide with a pledge that the government would purchase one Bitcoin every day going forward. On Nov. 22, Bukele’s administration sent a bill to El Salvador’s Congress that would allow it to sell $1 billion in so-called “volcano bonds”—government debt, denominated in U.S. dollars and paying out 6.5% interest a year to bond holders—in order to buy even more of the cryptocurrency and build a coastal “Bitcoin City.”

        It may be difficult to understand why Bukele remains so enthusiastic about a policy that has been, by almost all metrics, a disaster. Bukele’s attempt to get Salvadorans to use the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency has left the country looking like a much riskier place to invest. The policy has stalled El Salvador’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $1.3 billion loan, needed to plug big gaps in its public finances. Bukele’s government has been courting alternative sources of cash, announcing new trade talks with China on Nov. 9. But few economists believe Salvadoran vice president Félix Ulloa’s claim that China is willing to help El Salvador with the all-time-high $21 billion debt burden it owes to foreign lenders. If it can’t find new creditors to help service that debt, El Salvador runs the risk of a default early next year.

        Though Bukele has refused to disclose how much taxpayer money he has spent on Bitcoin, the best guess, based on his purchase announcements, is $107 million, with a further $200 million on administration and infrastructure—equivalent to nearly 4% of the developing country’s 2023 budget. El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings are now worth less than $40 million.
        …
        https://time.com/6236899/el-salvador-bukele-bitcoin-crash/

    4. The Nation
      Democrats
      Cryptocurrency
      Corruption

      The Democrats Have a Crypto Problem
      The high costs of taking money from Sam Bankman-Fried.
      By Jeet HeerTwitter
      November 18, 2022
      Sam Bankman-Fried, cofounder and chief executive officer of FTX, in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (Lam Yik / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

      As the second-largest donor to the Democratic Party, Sam Bankman-Fried had reason to be proud on election night on November 8 as his preferred party outperformed expectations. Still only 30 years old, Bankman-Fried (popularly known as SBF) had amassed a net worth estimated in the neighborhood of $24 billion thanks to his founding of FTX, a crypto currency exchange based in the Bahamas. His wealth turned him into an instant power player. SBF had donated at least $40 million of his own money to the Democrats in the midterms. Colleagues at FTX had also spent $70 million lobbying Washington on pet causes, including beefing up pandemic prevention and crypto deregulation.
      …
      https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/democrats-crypto-sam-bankman-fried/

    6. The FTX story reeks of high level corruption.

      The rule of law is gone in the US. But hey, at least they’re going after those tax-dodging EBay sellers who are making more than $600 per year. The Joe Biden Crime Family is a disgrace.

    7. Opinion – FA Playbook
      Op-ed: Cryptocurrency isn’t a smart investment — and hasn’t been for a while
      Published Fri, Nov 25 2022 9:30 AM EST

      Key Points

      – Cryptocurrencies are suffering from a spectacular fall from grace and are now drawing increasing regulatory scrutiny and investigations around the globe.

      – A lack of clear and uniform cryptocurrency regulation — both within and across countries — creates tremendous uncertainty for long-term investors.

      – Cryptocurrencies have failed to demonstrate either “safe haven” or inflation-fighting properties and are also problematic from an environmental, social and governance perspective.

      The collapse of FTX, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, has rippled through the world of digital currencies.

      Once valued at $32 billion, FTX filed for bankruptcy protection and founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned as its CEO after reports alleged that the company had loaned billions of dollars in customer funds to his own trading firm, Alameda Research. This has fueled a flurry of withdrawal requests across platforms as investors braced for possible contagion.

      With more than $2 trillion in cryptocurrency value wiped out since the 2021 high-water mark, cryptocurrencies are suffering from a spectacular fall from grace and are now drawing increasing regulatory scrutiny and investigations around the globe.

      Michael Barr, the Federal Reserve’s vice chair for supervision, said recent events in crypto markets “have highlighted the risks to investors and consumers associated with new and novel asset classes and activities when not accompanied by strong guardrails.”

      This is in stark contrast to just a few months ago, when crypto enthusiasts were advocating for, and in some cases implementing, cryptocurrency’s inclusion in institutional portfolios and 401(k) plan accounts.

      If any investors out there are still tempted to enter the cryptocurrency orbit at a potentially attractive, lower price point, consider this: The most profound risks to cryptocurrency investing may still lie ahead, rather than in the rear-view mirror. This is something we have highlighted in our conversations with clients for some time, but it bears repeating. Investors contemplating a long-term allocation to cryptocurrencies should remain wary for three primary reasons.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/25/cryptocurrency-hasnt-been-a-smart-investment-for-a-while.html

    8. Coindesk
      Opinion
      Mansplaining Your Way Through the Crypto Crash at Thanksgiving
      No, you don’t have to accept any personal responsibility for suggesting Anchor was just like a savings account.
      By Daniel Kuhn
      Layer 2
      AccessTimeIcon Nov 23, 2022 at 2:18 p.m. MST

      Daniel Kuhn is a features reporter and assistant opinion editor for CoinDesk’s Layer 2. He owns BTC and ETH.

      Crypto investors are set to eat a lot of humble pie at this year’s Thanksgiving table. This time last year, as bitcoin and ether were setting new all-time highs, you probably looked like a genius for being able to explain what a “decentralized autonomous organization” or non-fungible token is. Well, times have changed.

      The crypto economy has collapsed but you could still come out looking smart this holiday. And what better way to ease tense conversations than by explaining your way through them. This is CoinDesk’s definitive guide to explaining what broke in crypto this year and why it was in no way your fault. No way, no how!
      …
      https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/11/23/mansplaining-your-way-through-the-crypto-crash-at-thanksgiving/

  20. Remember, this is what the globalists want in the United States.

    HuffPaint — Beijing On Edge As City Adds New COVID Quarantine Centers (11/25/2022):

    “Residents of some parts of China’s capital were emptying supermarket shelves and overwhelming delivery apps Friday as the city government ordered faster construction of COVID-19 quarantine centers and field hospitals.

    Uncertainty and scattered, unconfirmed reports of lockdowns in at least some Beijing districts have fueled demand for food and other supplies, something not seen in the city for months.

    Improvised quarantine centers and field hospitals hastily thrown up in gymnasiums, exhibition centers and other large, open indoor spaces have become notorious for overcrowding, poor sanitation, scarce food supplies and lights that stay on 24 hours.

    Most residents of the city have already been advised not to leave their compounds, some of which are being fenced in. At entrances, workers clad head to toe in white hazmat suits stop unauthorized people and make sure residents show a recent negative COVID-19 test result on their cellphone health apps to gain entry.

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/covid-outbreak-china-beijing_n_6380cd47e4b082d8e6d06919

    Globalists gonna globe.

    1. At entrances, workers clad head to toe in white hazmat suits stop unauthorized people

      I would expect this maybe for something like Ebola, but the coof?

    2. I don’t get the quarantines, they don’t work, the illness doesn’t kill. Why not just let it run its course?

          1. Everything is fear-based. That’s how they aim for compliance – scare the living bejeezus out of people who will then submit. Just say “no” to all of this fear-mongering bullsh!t.

    3. Most residents of the city have already been advised not to leave their compounds, some of which are being fenced in.

      This is where AR-15s come in. As they are fencing you in, you pick them off one by one. Oh, China has been disarmed? Bummer…..

  21. The way this is going, it’s a white-collar recession we have a glut of $30-40 hr workers and a severe shortage of $15 hr workers

      1. The way this is going, it’s a white-collar recession we have a glut of $30-40 hr workers and a severe shortage of $15 hr workers

        True right up to the point all those $30-40 workers lose their jobs and are forced to go back to barrista and waiter service jobs. MBAs as Wallyworld greeters will become a thing again.

        1. Wallyworld greeters

          Do those still exist? I don’t set foot in WallyWorld very often, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a greeer.

          1. They don’t right now at mine because they’re all still gainfully employed elsewhere, but that’ll change soon enough.

          1. Liberals’ minds are blown that Elon can deep six 80% of the employees and the wheels don’t fall off. Keep the coders, and get rid of the content moderators and the diversity and inclusion department and the climate change panel etc etc, and surprise- Twitter still works.

          2. I remember when Jesse Jackson was visiting Silicon Valley, and he looked around and said, “There’s not enough diversity here!” LOL

            Silicon Valley probably has the most diverse workforce in the history of mankind on the planet, but his rainbow coalition was intent on financial shakedown rather than discuss the realities of the “digital divide.”

          3. deep six 80% of the employees and the wheels don’t fall off

            Where exactly are these expendables going to find replacement, presumably six-figure, jobs?!?!

          4. Where exactly are these expendables going to find replacement, presumably six-figure, jobs?!?!

            I know a woman who had a brief, great paying job during the dot com boom. When it ended she found that she could not find another comparable job. She became a school teacher, at a much lower pay rate.

      3. Govt, and govt-adjacent are still around – and they are increasing hiring.

        In WA state, a bunch of us were wondering what grads from progressive, activists colleges (like Evergreen State College etc) would end up. It turns out that there are all sorts of pseudo govt agencies – Like Sound Transit that were hiring a ton of these grads for office work, community outreach officers etc. It turns out that are not allowed to differentiate between a real school like UW or WSU and these 4 yr ‘colleges’

        Watch out

        1. At WWU in Bellingham the students may carry “comfort animals,” e.g., guinea pigs, rabbits, etc., to lectures.

  22. Joe Biden’s America.

    New York Times — This Holiday Season, the Poor Buckle Under Inflation as the Rich Spend (11/25/2022):

    “November has been busier than expected at the Langham Hotel in Boston as luxury travelers book rooms in plush suites and hold meetings in gilded conference rooms. The $135-per-adult Thanksgiving brunch at its in-house restaurant sold out weeks ago.

    Across town, in Dorchester, demand has been booming for a different kind of food service. Catholic Charities is seeing so many families at its free pantry that Beth Chambers, vice president of basic needs at Catholic Charities Boston, has had to close early some days and tell patrons to come back first thing in the morning. On the frigid Saturday morning before Thanksgiving, patrons waiting for free turkeys began to line the street at 4:30 a.m. — more than four hours before the pantry opened.

    The contrast illustrates a divide that is rippling through America’s topsy-turvy economy nearly three years into the pandemic. Many well-off consumers are still flush with savings and faring well financially, bolstering luxury brands and keeping some high-end retailers and travel companies optimistic about the holiday season. At the same time, America’s poor are running low on cash buffers, struggling to keep up with rising prices and facing climbing borrowing costs if they use credit cards or loans to make ends meet.

    https://archive.ph/8lnKK

    Democrat Party loves the poor.

    They love them so much they love creating more of them.

    1. New York Times — This Holiday Season, the Poor Buckle Under Inflation as the Rich Spend (11/25/2022):

      “You will own nothing and be happy” happened even sooner than they could have imagined. Now the rich are setting the prices on everything. As the poor fall away, manufacturers are happy to create new pricing structures only the wealthy can afford. This country is finished.

      1. Reminder that the globalists at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia last week were eating wagyu beef.

        I just picked up some Burger King for lunch, which if these globalists get their way, will soon be made illegal.

        Central bank digital currency controls (from which all globalists will be exempt) will soon allow a burger ration of only one burger every three months.

        Globalists gonna globe.

        3. I just picked up some Burger King for lunch, which if these globalists get their way, will soon be made illegal.

          Not illegal, but they will make meat utterly unaffordable. That way the rich can chow down on their $200/lb steaks while everyone else eats bug paste.

      2. A full access season pass to Aspen Snowmass is $3099 if you buy after Dec 3. The one day a week pass is around $1400. Please remember to budget for sales tax and parking. If you need two, you’re looking at close to 7k.

        Denver has a luxury scenic train that goes to Moab, a two day ticket on it is $1553. https://rockytrain.com/rocky-mountaineer-tours/denver-moab-rail/

        Disney World annual pass is $1299 for the any time pass.

        The interesting thing is that they seem to be selling plenty of them. It must be all of those AirBNB moguls. If you are too poor for reality there is always the Metaverse. The new Meta Quest Pro headset is only $1499 on Amazon right now.

        1. The last time I bought a season pass was for Loveland 2015-2016 season, for about $400.

          This included unlimited days at Loveland, and three bonus days each at Monarch, Powderhorn, Crested Butte, and Purgatory. The days of getting any kind of deals are now over. I haven’t been skiing at a resort since before CCP Flu, and if I ever do again it would likely be one or two days a year.

        2. Granny Yellen is smiling. So is Blackrock Jay, and Bubbles Bernanke. Greenscum slobbered his approval as well.

        3. Disney World annual pass is $1299 for the any time pass.

          My understanding is that Disney has been limiting the number of annual pass sales, both in California and Florida, as AP’s crowd the parks, they don’t stay in Disney resorts and tend to spend very little per visit. They have also raised daily and multiday ticket prices. From what I have read, the objective is to have fewer people in the parks who spend more. We’ll see how that works out for them.

          1. the objective is to have fewer people in the parks who spend more

            Well, yeah! If any organization can figure it out, Disney can.

  24. This will never get abused. WE PROMISE.

    San Francisco may let police robots use lethal force (11/25/2022):

    “A new draft policy would, for the first time, allow the San Francisco Police Department’s robots to use lethal force against suspects as a last-resort option.

    Mission Local first reported that the Law Enforcement Use of Equipment Policy, which is scheduled to be voted on by the full San Francisco Board of Supervisors next week, was originally silent on whether the department’s 17 remote-controlled robots could use lethal force. Supervisor Aaron Peskin then added a line reading, “Robots shall not be used as a Use of Force against any person,” but an SFPD revision changed that language to “Robots will only be used as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers are imminent and outweigh any other force option available to SFPD.”

    Peskin ultimately voted to advance the draft policy to the full board, telling Mission Local that the police argued “there could be scenarios where deployment of lethal force was the only option.” SFPD did not immediately respond to an SFGATE request for comment.

    https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/sf-police-robots-lethal-force-17610531.php

    2. Those robots are gonna be so racist that they will have to make it so they only shoot white people. 🙁

    1. World
      As anger rises and tragedies mount, China shows no sign of budging on zero-Covid
      By Selina Wang and Nectar Gan, CNN
      Updated 9:01 AM EST, Fri November 25, 2022

      Beijing CNN — 

      Zhou, an auto dealer in northeastern China, last saw his father alive in a video chat on the afternoon of November 1, hours after their home on the far outskirts of Beijing was locked down.

      At the time, they didn’t even realize the snap Covid restrictions had been imposed – there was no warning beforehand, and the apartment building where Zhou’s parents and his 10-year-old son lived did not have any cases, he said.

      The family found out the hard way, when Zhou’s father was denied immediate emergency medical help after he suddenly began struggling to breathe during the video call. Zhou and his son made a dozen calls for an ambulance, he said, claiming security guards blocked relatives from entering the building to take the 58-year-old grandfather to a hospital.

      An hour later, an ambulance finally arrived to drive Zhou’s father to a hospital just five minutes away. But it was too late to save him.

      “The local government killed my dad,” Zhou told CNN in his Beijing home, breaking down in tears. He said he’s received no explanation about why the ambulance took so long to arrive, just a death certificate stating the wrong date of death.

      China is caught in a zero-Covid trap of its own making

      Zhou’s anger is part of a growing torrent of dissent toward China’s unrelenting zero-Covid lockdowns, which officials insist are necessary to protect people’s lives against a virus that, according to the official count, has killed just six people from tens of thousands of symptomatic cases reported in the last six months.

      But increasingly, the restrictions – not the virus – are being blamed for heartbreaking deaths that have sparked nationwide outrage on social media.
      …
      https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/25/china/china-zero-covid-discontent-reopening-mic-intl-hnk/index.html

      1. I’m sitting in a mall in downtown SLC
        Nobody is wearing a mask, and nobody is coughing. If Covid is present, it’s well hidden. People are merrily going about their holiday business as though the pandemic never happened.

        Thank God for American freedoms. Thank heavens we are not ruled by a communist dictatorship that imposes socially harmful pandemic restrictions.

        1. “Thank heavens we are not ruled by a communist dictatorship that imposes socially harmful pandemic restrictions.”

          Um, you do live in the People’s Republic of California right? Almost time to reapply the masks!

      2. Americans will never tolerate this level of tyranny.

        Never. This isn’t the UK or any other Commonwealth country. This isn’t the EU. And it will never be communist China.

        1. The Globalists Cult does want to take over the World, and China is the mode!.
          The One World Order will be worst than any tyranny that has ever existed.
          Another thing that I am noticing is that China doesn’t have this sudden death , injuries from jab.
          I keep saying it that China is not mass vaccinating with the fake vaccine to their population.
          China produced some vaccines for other countries, but lockdowns are their current trip, in spite of having one of the lowest Covid death rates.
          Ask China how much sudden death cases they have or young people with heart problems. Ask China if they had a 40% increase in mortality with the 18 to 59 age group is having in the US.
          Or take any Country that didn’t have a mass vaccine program and that’s your control group ….
          But, in spite of this Covid being declared as a global pandemic, ,this kind of Data doesn’t matter to the corruption with WHO ,and other Health Agencies…

          Your Government is advancing the agenda of the One World Order / Great Reset which is a War against 7 or 8 billion people to be killed or enslaved, all pre-planned by this group of wackos.
          Don’t comply with their insanity , enough is enough.

          1. Another thing that I am noticing is that China doesn’t have this sudden death , injuries from jab.

            Or maybe they are not reporting it.

      3. The Financial Times
        Coronavirus pandemic
        China’s Covid protests grow after apartment blaze kills 10
        Social media posts allege fire services’ response was hampered by coronavirus restrictions
        Residents in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, protested against Covid lockdowns after a fatal fire in an apartment block
        Thomas Hale in Shanghai, Gloria Li in Hong Kong and Edward White in Seoul 52 minutes ago

        Scenes of protest from the locked-down western Chinese city of Urumqi have spread on social media after a fire killed 10 people, as nationwide unrest over the country’s strict Covid policies continues to build.

        Social media posts alleged that restrictions in the capital of Xinjiang province, which has been locked down since August, hampered rescue efforts and the ability of residents to escape the fire in an apartment block on Thursday evening.

        Unverified videos of protests in the city on Friday evening were widely circulated. Officials on Saturday denied some of the claims about the fire and said certain images online of locked doors were fake, China’s state media agency Xinhua reported.

        The social media outrage over the incident in Urumqi reflects wider frustration in China over pandemic prevention measures that have largely kept the virus at bay for almost three years but are now under severe pressure.

        President Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid approach is at a critical juncture with authorities continuing to impose harsh lockdowns, often inconsistently depending on the region, as daily case numbers rise to record highs and signs of discontent grow.

        On Saturday, the country reported just under 32,000 new cases nationwide — the third consecutive daily record — and some of its biggest cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou and Chongqing, are recording their biggest outbreaks.
        …

  27. ‘The fall has been very orderly so far,’ said Sharon Zollner, chief economist at ANZ. ‘Even a 20% fall could be considered a soft landing’

    Proverb: only the white man thinks he can cut off the top of the blanket, attach it to the bottom, and have more blanket.

    This was originally addressed to day light savings time. I learned that in Flagstaff Arizona!

    2. Even a 20% fall could be considered a soft landing

      A ‘soft landing’ is when the airplane lands without incident, then after a quick turnaround at the gate it takes off again.

      A ‘20% fall’ is when you hit the runway so hard that the landing struts snap and the airliner slides to a calamitous halt, while you pray that it doesn’t explode before you can get off.

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