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Real Estate Is The Biggest Mafia

A weekend topic starting with the Marin Independent in California. “The median price of a detached home in Marin County fell to $1.675 million last month, nearly wiping out the gains for the year, according to the latest county data. The price was only slightly higher than in October 2021. It also marked a 21% decline since April, when the median price broke through the $2 million threshold and reached nearly $2.12 million. One property that sold near the median price last month was a four-bedroom hillside home in Mill Valley. The owner listed for $1.8 million in early July, but by then prices had started to slide. The seller received a single offer about three months later and accepted $1.65 million.”

“Listing agent Audrey Moira Shimkas, a broker with Berkshire Hathaway, said the market erosion is clear and sellers need to adjust their hopes. ‘Right now, if I’m going in for a listing, I’m going up against sellers’ expectations, and I better have my statistics in order,’ she said. ‘Statistics don’t lie, and what they’re telling you is, it’s a correction.'”

From Hawaii Business. “The buyers who purchased condominiums in Kōʻula, the sixth tower built by The Howard Hughes Corp. in its 60-acre Ward Village in Honolulu, finally got their keys this fall, nearly four years after sales began. Dozens of those buyers immediately put their new condos back on the market. But if they were hoping to turn a profit, they may find disappointment in Hawaiʻi’s current real estate environment marked by slower sales and higher interest rates. More than 50 units are listed for sale and four are in escrow, all seeking prices higher than what the seller paid the developer. So far, one resale has closed.”

“‘It’s all about the timing and about the project,’ says May Tyrrell, broker in charge at Jack Tyrrell & Co., which has four listings for units in Kōʻula, including a three-bedroom penthouse with an asking price of $3.1 million. ‘Some people think they could be a fairy-tale story to buy and flip it right away. This is not the market at all.'”

“Some buyers run into trouble if they don’t have the money to complete the purchase of a new condo at closing – because perhaps they were counting on an immediate flip – or they don’t have the money to hold on to the unit during the time it takes to sell, which right now can be months, not days or weeks. Still, Tyrrell sees Kōʻula as a good investment to hold. She’s so bullish on the building that she and her husband, Jack Tyrrell, bought three units in Kōʻula themselves as investments.”

From Fortune. “After a pandemic-inspired move to the New Jersey suburbs, Rebecca Goldberg Brodsky was itching to get back to Brooklyn. An interior designer, she missed the vibrancy of New York City, and the connections she made while living there. Goldberg Brodsky and her husband searched Brooklyn neighborhoods for six months, but had no success with their budget of around $400,000. So they decided to ‘go all in,’ she says, moving around their assets so they could spend significantly more. Eventually, they found a three-floor apartment—it is located in what used to be a church—for $1.1 million in Park Slope and moved in in Sept. 2021.”

“Goldberg Brodsky was willing to overlook the old flooring, lead paint, and the dizzyingly-high price tag. That is, until her ‘new’ refrigerator didn’t work—and an exterminator found the apartment was infested with mice. ‘It was a lot more expensive than we expected to be,’ says Goldberg Brodsky, estimating they spent around $30,000 on the kitchen renovation. During the hot housing market of the past year, with many buyers taking whatever home they could get and price rising exponentially, spending seven figures was often just the start of the financial journey. ‘I’m okay with it mentally as long as this economy holds up, and it doesn’t turn out to be a catastrophic event,’ says Goldberg Brodsky. ‘My hope is five, 10 years from now I can say it was worth it.'”

The Craig Daily Press. “It’s a common story: Candace McNatt of Durango, in southern Colorado, kept losing bidding wars to buy a house. She finally settled on a tiny home of just 350 square feet. McNatt works as an operating room nurse and is a single mother of two teenagers, one about to go to college. Though she landed on the home ownership ladder at one of its lower rungs, she’s relieved. ‘But this is not how I saw myself approaching the age of 40,’ she muses.”

“These days, real estate prices in Durango, as in so many Western towns, have outrun most workers’ ability to buy or even rent modest digs. McNatt, for example, makes $85,000 annually, which places her at over 90% of the area median income. Adding to the housing crisis is the boom in short-term rentals, compounded by second-home owners snatching up houses once rented to students at the local Fort Lewis College.”

“McNatt tells the story of two clinical experts at the hospital, each making $160,000, who ‘have looked for a house forever. And he’s like, I refuse to pay $1 million for a house.’ In the end, ‘they paid over $1 million and are now house poor.'”

From KPHO in Arizona. “A shootout was caught on camera at the intersection of Howe and Judd Streets outside of a Tempe Airbnb early Saturday morning. Police arrested two people unrelated to the shots fired, but the shooters are still on the loose. No one was hurt by the shooting. Since that night, neighborhood groups and residents in the area are calling for increased regulation of short-term rentals. ‘We are concerned about who are these people coming in and what could happen,’ said Justin Stewart, who was awoken by the sound of gunshots. ‘I think its time to find solutions instead of pointing the blame right now.'”

“Ron Tapscott with the Tempe Neighborhoods Together not only points to noise complaints, public intoxication, and shootings, but he also said big business is ruining the fabric of Valley neighborhoods and furthering the affordable housing crisis. ‘It destabilizes communities. Let’s be clear, communities are for people associating with each other, raising their families, and when you have these kind of products come in,’ said Tapscott. ‘And you have ownership now that is corporatized and industrialized.'”

From The Hill. “This is about a $1 trillion government-sponsored enterprise built upon a myth — the myth of the American home. It is also about reform on the way. We have become familiar with the term ‘greenwashing,’ defined by Investopedia as: ‘The act of providing the public or investors with misleading or outright false information about the environmental impact of a company’s products and operations.’ ‘Homewashing’ is the same concept, except the object of the deception is housing rather than the environment.”

“The most prominent purveyor of homewashing is the massive government-sponsored enterprise known as the Federal Home Loan Banks. There are 11 regional FHLBs from Boston to San Francisco and points in between. They and their 6,500 member institutions follow a simple business model. The FHLBs borrow at a deep discount due to their government status. They then pass part of the government subsidized discount on to their members in the form of low-cost advances. As of Sept. 30, the FHLBs had over $1 trillion in taxpayer-subsidized debt outstanding. Subsidized advances to members stood at $655 billion, an 86 percent increase over year-end levels.”

“It is all based on a myth. The first part of the myth is that the subsidized advances to members are used for housing. This was the original purpose of the FHLBs when they were created by Congress in 1932. In truth, the FHLBs’ subsidized advances can be and are used for anything the members wish to use the funds for. This was confirmed by the Government Accountability Office many years ago when it found: ‘Another challenge facing the system is that there is limited empirical information on the extent to which FHLBank advances and other services benefit housing and community finance.’ Yet, the myth persists, presumably because the words ‘Home’ and ‘Loan’ are misleadingly embedded in the names of all 11 FHLBs.”

“The second part of the myth has to do with affordable housing and community development. By statute, the FHLBs are required to set aside a small portion of their earnings for this purpose. However, when one contrasts the taxpayers’ estimated $6.3 billion taxpayer subsidy of the FHLBs with their paltry contributions to affordable housing and community development.”

“What it says is that for every $20 of taxpayer support for the FHLBs, only $1 is set aside for affordable housing. The other $19 goes directly to the FHLBs and indirectly to the FHLBs’ members. It is worth noting here that each of the CEOs of the 11 FHLBs receives million-dollar pay packages. This is for distributing a government benefit to their members. This disconnect would embarrass the most egregious greenwashers in the market today.”

“But it gets worse. Banks that take advances from their FHLBs, that is most banks, do so in lieu of paying higher interest rates to their own customers. You’ve probably asked, “How can banks get away with paying on average 0.19 percent on savings accounts when the yield on 1-year treasuries is 4.75 percent?’ The answer lies largely with the FHLBs. In sum, taxpayers’ dollars support the FHLBs in exchange for which the taxpayers receive little to no benefit. Meanwhile, the FHLBs suppress the taxpayers’ returns on their bank accounts thus enhancing bank profits.”

“Bankers think this is a fine arrangement and it should be left alone. ‘Don’t mess with success,’ the American Bankers Association has warned the public.”

The Financial Post. “Canadian banks are attempting to ease the burden on homeowners who can’t keep up with the rapid rise in interest rates by extending mortgage amortizations and, in some cases, adding unpaid amounts onto the loan principal, tools that can stave off default in the short term but that may come with longer-term consequences. Federal rules stipulate that mortgages must be amortizing — meaning borrowers must be repaying principal — but lenders have three options once a trigger-rate threshold is reached: raise monthly payments, require a lump-sum pre-payment on the mortgage, or allow borrowers to slip into negative or reverse amortization for a period under rules set by banking authorities and mortgage insurers.”

“Negative or reverse amortization occurs when mortgage payments aren’t sufficient to cover interest due, and the excess amount is added to the principal owed on the loan, a procedure that could leave homeowners with a larger outstanding balance at renewal. The extent to which the triggering of larger payments becomes a problem will be determined by the actions of the Bank of Canada, said Robert McLister, a mortgage analyst and strategist.”

“If the central bank takes rates over five per cent, ‘we could have an unexpected arrears problem,’ he said. ‘In that case, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the government announce some type of measure to help distressed borrowers.’ One way they could do that is by formally allowing amortization extensions up to 40 years for borrowers with high debt ratios, something McLister says mortgage default insurers support.”

From Stuff New Zealand. “A low point in Nichole Lewis’s life was at the tail-end of the global financial crisis when, in 2010, the family home she was building on five acres of land went to mortgagee sale. Valued at roughly $1 million, it did not sell for 18 months, and then the bank stepped in, foreclosed, and sold it for about $650,000. The property investor and coach said she had learnt from her mistakes during the last housing market downturn, and this time she is in the position to capitalise on distressed sales. Next week she will be helping a client settle on a three-bedroom property in Avondale with an estimated value of $950,000, which they were getting for $600,000​.”

“The downturn was likely to put a lot of inexperienced investors in financial difficulty, she said. ‘Talking to sources of mine that I’ve got at the bank, they are preparing for customers to be under hardship.’ To explain why more distressed sales may be on the horizon, Lewis talked about a central premise to her book, Property Quadrants​. The central concept was that there are four types of property investments. Quadrant two were properties that investors purchased that didn’t stack up on the cash-flow front.”

“Now, interest rates were going up, taking mortgage repayments with them, rents are stalled due to frozen population numbers, and investors are facing higher tax bills. ‘They accidentally become cash-poor.’ Issues were compounded by price falls. ‘Suddenly you’ve got a negative equity, and then the bank comes knocking on the door, and you go ‘oops, oh I’m in trouble’”

“Lewis has already seen the early signs of trouble. ‘In fact the client I just got off the phone with said ‘I bought these investment properties years ago, I’ve read your book, I’ve bought in quadrant two, and I’m worried. Interest rates are going up, we can’t deduct, I feel like I’m completely stuck. Help me, what can we do?'”

The Cyprus Mail. “It is reassuring to hear a senior politician talk honestly about the irresponsible political exploitation of the foreclosures law by the political parties. In an interview published in Monday’s Politis, finance minister Constantinos Petrides slammed the latest suspension of the foreclosures law. The antics of the opposition parties, which suspended this law until the end of January, has made a joke of the law. Petrides said for the EU, another suspension was not justified as ‘we no longer have a temporary arrangement, which was initially implemented because of the pandemic, but a permanent, dangerous situation for the banking sector, as it establishes a culture of borrowers not honouring their obligations.'”

“Petrides also asked a pertinent question: ‘How many truly vulnerable people have lost their primary residence because of foreclosure?’ He also gave the answer: none. Vulnerable families had been protected and the populist suspension of foreclosures for farmland and business premises was totally unjustified. What started out as a plan to protect primary residences has been expanded to cover business premises and farmland, which in effect means it has been protecting strategic defaulters.”

From Dawn. “Former premier Imran Khan said on Tuesday that real estate is the biggest mafia in Pakistan, as it grabs government land, sells it to the general public and then transfers the proceeds abroad. ‘You can’t imagine how powerful they are,’ said Mr Khan while addressing a seminar on Tuesday via video link. Cadastral mapping, which shows land records with boundaries in digital form, ordered by the last PTI government, showed land worth Rs1.2 trillion had been encroached upon by the land mafia in Islamabad alone. ‘The situation is the same all over the country,’ he said.”

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This Post Has 153 Comments

  1. ‘This is about a $1 trillion government-sponsored enterprise built upon a myth — the myth of the American home’

    While horrible that this could go on for decades, it’s is financially a fly spec on the cow turd that is the Fannie/Freddie/FHA criminal enterprises. Together (good morning mortgage banker filth!) they sit preying on everyone with central bank ‘liquidity’, basically making life miserable for everybody but those with their snoot in the slop bucket.

    1. “… they [bankers] sit preying on everyone with central bank ‘liquidity’, basically making life miserable for everybody but those with their snoot in the slop bucket.”

      A beautiful thing to behold. If you do not agree then it is obvious you are positioned incorrectly.

      Bankers rule, others drool.

    2. The 2018 midterm election was stolen also.
      They have stolen our lives for the last three years. They have looted trillions, they destroyed thousands of businesses.
      But, the worst thing they did was kill millions of people and babies born dead and people injured and disabled for life..
      And they have the nerve to say “get the shot ,,get the booster..”
      They pre-planned this poison like a weapon of war.
      They rig elections so they can destroy the Good Old USA. They want to kill you or enslave you, bankrupt you , deprive you.

      Other than that, have a nice day..

      1. “have a nice day”

        It is a nice day.

        Every day is a nice day to discuss these globalists, who they are, and what they are trying to do.

        Always be naming.

        Name them. These people have names.

          2. Home is off-limits, IMHO.

            Unless you’re the CCP, bashing your way into somebody’s private space to arrest and haul them off to the IODF (Involuntary Organ Donor Facility).

      2. GOP is not a perfect answer as the USA is to far down the leftist path to bring it back but there is an old saying:
        “When you are in over your head it is wise to stop digging”.
        US politics is a binary choice. Choose the side that is the least bad.

  3. Linked from Revolver News:

    “Just in the past few days, at the G-20 Bali summit, Klaus Schwab instructed heads of government – almost all coming from the Young Global Leaders for Tomorrow program of the World Economic Forum – about the future steps to be taken in view of establishing a world government. The president of a very powerful private organization with enormous economic means exercises undue power over world governments, obtaining their obedience from political leaders who have no popular mandate to subject their nations to the delusions of power of the elite: this fact is of unprecedented gravity. Klaus Schwab said: “In the fourth industrial revolution the winners will take it all, so if you are a World Economic Forum first mover, you are the winners” (here). These very serious statements have two implications: the first is that “the winners will take it all” and will be “winners” – it is not clear in what capacity and with whose permission. The second is that those who do not adapt to this “fourth industrial revolution” will find themselves ousted and will lose – they will lose everything, including their freedom. In short, Klaus Schwab is threatening the heads of government of the twenty most industrialized nations in the world to carry out the programmatic points of the Great Reset in their nations. This goes far beyond the pandemic: it is a global coup d’état, against which it is essential that people rise up and that the still healthy organs of states start an international juridical process. The threat is imminent and serious, since the World Economic Forum is capable of carrying out its subversive project and those who govern nations have all become either enslaved or blackmailed by this international mafia.

    In light of these statements – and those of others no less delusional than Yuval Noah Harari, Schwab’s adviser – we understand how the pandemic farce served as a trial balloon for imposing controls, coercive measures, curtailing individual freedoms, and increasing unemployment and poverty. The next steps will have to be carried out by means of economic and energy crises, which are instrumental to the establishment of a synarchic government in the hands of the globalist elite.

    And here, dear friends, allow me to speak as a bishop. Because in this series of events that we are witnessing and will continue to witness, your commitment could risk being thwarted or limited by the fact of not being able to see its essentially spiritual nature. I know that two centuries of Enlightenment thought, revolutions, atheistic materialism and anticlerical liberalism have accustomed us to thinking of Faith as a personal matter, or that there is not an objective Truth to which we all must conform. But this is the fruit of a propaedeutic indoctrination, one that happened long before what is happening today, and it would be foolish to believe that the anti-Christian ideology that drove the secret sects and Masonic groups of the eighteenth century had nothing to do with the anti-Christian ideology that today drives people like Klaus Schwab, George Soros, and Bill Gates. The driving principles are the same: rebellion against God, hatred for the Church and humanity, and destructive fury aimed against Creation and especially against man because he is created in the image and likeness of God.

    If you start from this evidence, you will understand that it is not possible to pretend that what is happening before our eyes is solely the result of profit-seeking or the desire for power. Certainly, the economic part cannot be disregarded, considering how many people have collaborated with the World Economic Forum. And yet, beyond profit, there are unstated purposes that stem from a “theological” vision – one that is turned upside-down, it’s true, but still theological – a vision that sees two opposing sides: the side of Christ and the side of the Antichrist.”

    https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/abp-vigano-the-covid-pandemic-farce-served-as-a-trial-balloon-for-the-new-world-order/

    The Antichrist?

    1. Leo XIII had a vision that foretold the current state of the world. He wrote a prayer that was recited at the end of every Mass until Paul VI rescinded his order:

      “Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.”

      1. I am not a religious person, but I am very sympathetic to Christianity as an institution / belief system in that it is the only major religion that it is not only allowed, but is encouraged to criticize, to insult, and attack.

        What unites these globalists is their hatred, their inborn, innate hatred of Jesus and Christians.

        And it is a critical component of Replacement Theory, the subjugation and destruction of Christianity.

        I don’t write these posts to specifically be pro-Jesus, but to cast light upon who these globalists are, and what they are trying to do.

        And when it starts involving the sexualization and mutiliation of children, I’ll even call it Satanic.

        I don’t know if Satan exists or not, but what these globalists want to do with children, with your children, is EVIL.

    2. Arrest Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, George Soros, and the rest of these Infiltrators that
      have conspired to rule the World.
      Arrest all the CEO’s of 1000 International Mega Corporations that belong to the Terrorist Cult called the World Economic Forum.
      Suspend the UN, and the WHO , that was corrupted and plots to take over sovereign states with lockdowns,police state and mandated fake vaccines.Biden signed a treaty with WHO that they get to dictate health policy in US when the next panademic hits. . The UN is riddled with unelected enemies of the US.
      Its makes you sick when you see Klaus Schwab and Gates shaking hands with
      the head of WHO ,, after Bill Gates donates millions to WHO to get a vaccine in every arm.
      Just like Cares Money used to bribe Hospitals and Doctors to lable everything Covid , and kill people by mal practices treatment.
      Bribery and extortion and fake emergencies of Pandemics and Climate Change , all pre planned so Trillionaires can rule and have a One World Order, great reset con job .
      Arrest them now, before these wackos do more damage.

    3. at the G-20 Bali summit, Klaus Schwab instructed heads of government

      Who elected Klaus Schwab the Grand Wizard of the world? Somebody chop this muthertrucker’s head off already. I’m tired of the gas emissions from his pie hole.

    1. For That ‘Uncle’ Who Likes Trump,
      This may explain why I wasn’t invited to Thanksgiving dinner by my brother (actually his wife) this year.

      1. “…(actually his wife)…”

        I’ve learned that when sharing unpopular viewpoints among friends to first ensure the wives are out of earshot.

      2. I’ve learned that when sharing unpopular viewpoints among friends to first ensure the wives are out of earshot.

        I’ve learned that sharing unpopular viewpoints is a bad idea altogether. Last housing bubble I realized how talking about an imminent house price collapse went over like a wet fart in church – most people were speculating and celebrating their rapidly appreciating shack, and I was a doom and gloomer who was trying to take their magic money tree away.

        These days I keep my mouth shut about almost everything, though I am very vocal with close associates about the fact that I will not get jabbed. Nope, the government and the PTB are not going to mandate what I put into my body – EVER.

  5. Dozens of those buyers immediately put their new condos back on the market. But if they were hoping to turn a profit, they may find disappointment in Hawaiʻi’s current real estate environment marked by slower sales and higher interest rates.

    Die, speculator scum.

    1. I know a woman near retirement age who bought a condo during the pandemic in Hawaii to “Airbnb it.” It was a big part of her retirement plan. Shortly after she closed, either the association or the city/town she was in were working to ban short term rentals altogether. It was all I could do to know break into laughter.

  6. “She’s so bullish on the building that she and her husband, Jack Tyrrell, bought three units in Kōʻula themselves as investments.”

    She needs to learn from successful drug dealers and not do your own drugs.

    1. She’s so bullish on the building that she and her husband, Jack Tyrrell, bought three units in Kōʻula themselves as investments.”
      I worked with a woman who, with her husband, bought 6 high end condos in S/ FL last bubble. I heard there was a lot of stress and loss of sleep struggling to pay for them. The company got sold and I moved on so I don’t know if they made it without being foreclosed on.

      1. My uncle owned an absolutely gorgeous condo in SW Florida. We got to stay there for vacation a few times when I was a kid. He sold it last year. I don’t know what he made, but I’m sure he got absolute bank for it.

    2. we are just down the street from this building. Important to remember that it is a mixed building with most units at market rate and some at discounts for working class. This was basically forced by zoning negotiations with the city/county of Honolulu.

      This will be a shit show going forward – trust me. Are there any honest RE agents that will provide accurate disclosure to potential buyers.

      “The buyers who purchased condominiums in Kōʻula, the sixth tower built by The Howard Hughes Corp. in its 60-acre Ward Village in Honolulu, finally got their keys this fall, nearly four years after sales began. Dozens of those buyers immediately put their new condos back on the market. But if they were hoping to turn a profit, they may find disappointment in Hawaiʻi’s current real estate environment marked by slower sales and higher interest rates. More than 50 units are listed for sale and four are in escrow, all seeking prices higher than what the seller paid the developer. So far, one resale has closed.”

  7. ‘I think its time to find solutions instead of pointing the blame right now.’”

    Spoken like a true brain-dead libtard. You can’t find solutions until you first establish accountability.

  8. She finally settled on a tiny home of just 350 square feet.
    What? Makes no sense. There is noway I could live in a place that small, let alone with 2 teenagers. Lots and lots of benefits to renting.

  9. “Canadian banks are attempting to ease the burden on homeowners who can’t keep up with the rapid rise in interest rates by extending mortgage amortizations and, in some cases, adding unpaid amounts onto the loan principal, tools that can stave off default in the short term but that may come with longer-term consequences.

    Extend & pretend.

  10. ‘In fact the client I just got off the phone with said ‘I bought these investment properties years ago, I’ve read your book, I’ve bought in quadrant two, and I’m worried. Interest rates are going up, we can’t deduct, I feel like I’m completely stuck. Help me, what can we do?’”

    I’d disconnect the phone & leave town under cover of darkness if I was you, Lewis.

  11. Misinformation is any information that obstructs the globalists mission of the destruction of Christianity and the nuclear family.

    Repent. Get right with God.

    And understand that these globalists, want they want, what they are doing, is intrinsically EVIL.

  13. The Salon article I posted (via Archive) the other day quoted Townhall columnist Kurt Schlichter, and what he effectively said was that some nutjob shooting up a gay bar is not some kind of green light for child grooming and promoting pedophilia.

    And he is correct. More and more people are noticing. They are noticing the patterns. They are noticing patterns so consistent that they’re not coincidences.

    The Salon article also references the Anti Defamation League, an organization that traces its founding to the legal defense of a child rapist.

    These patterns are not coincidences.

    You can’t un-notice what you’ve started to notice.

    And a reminder, Jonathan Greenblatt does not have any kind of governing authority whatsoever. The Anti Defamation League has no legitimate authority over anyone or anything.

    Embrace Christ. Reject globalism.

  17. Although for me the NFL will forever remain on the trash pile, I have watched a couple of college football games recently including most of last weeks UCLA USC game and the FSU Florida game last night and I noticed one thing that is different from when I started watching as a kid to a couple of years ago when I stopped.

    They don’t show the cheerleaders anymore. They used to be part of the telecast, after a TD, after a turnover, when the crowd was getting loud for a 3rd down. When I was a kid the USC squad doing their “All Right Now” routine after a turnover was something to look forward to.

    Showing good-looking college girls for 5 second at a time 25 times a game must be too heterosexual for the choose your pronoun Woke crowd who practice their grooming or brainwashing in the production of everything we see.

      1. “Hands down, Dallas had the prettiest troupe.”

        I don’t know how the NFL is handling it I think I’m on year 3 of not viewing or supporting those Woke kneelers.

    2. Of course this Dr has the exact right attitude about this unforgivable harm and murder done to millions.

      2. This 100%. Once you notice, you can’t stop noticing how ti’s all a giant scam. Lots of money goes out, but no one gets any better. All the operations are scams and all the billing is.

        I have taken my last shot of any type that’s for sure.

  21. Videos of executed Russian POWs appear authentic – UN

    25 Nov, 2022

    The footage, consisting of two clips stitched into one video, surfaced on social media last week. It shows a dozen unarmed Russian servicemen surrendering to Ukrainian troops and lying down on the ground, a separate man apparently opening fire on the Ukrainians, and the first dozen soldiers lying dead in pools of blood.

    https://www.rt.com/russia/567194-prisoner-video-authentic-un/

    1. Biden asks for more than $37 billion in Ukraine emergency aid

      Politics Nov 15, 2022 3:50 PM EST

      House Foreign Affairs committee chairman Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said the new emergency request was “urgent to make sure that we get them everything that we can possibly get into the omnibus so that they have the weapons to continue the momentum moving through the winter.”

      He expressed concerns that Ukraine funding could be jeopardized with the GOP in charge of the House.

      “I would hope that if they do take over, that their leadership will get them in line so that we can preserve democracy and not allow Russia to win,” he said.

      https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/biden-asks-for-more-than-37-billion-in-ukraine-emergency-aid

      2. Russia is winning.

        Russia stands for Christianity and the history and tradition of European civilization.

        Ukraine and The West stand for globalism, for Marxism, for the destruction of Christianity.

        BTW, Zelensky is not a Christian.

        1. There’s nothing Christian or civilized about what Russia is doing in Ukraine, or what they’ve done in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia, etc. Read up on the Orthodox church’s “collective soul” concept. They are pulpit prostitutes for whoever sits in the Kremlin.

          1. Orthodox church’s “collective soul”

            Would you provide a link? I have never heard of such a concept, and google turned up nothing.

            They are pulpit prostitutes for whoever sits in the Kremlin.

            That would be the Russian Orthodox Church. I’m pretty sure that the other autocephalous Orthodox churches would take umbrage at that remark

    2. “…two clips stitched into one video…”

      Bucha was clearly a site of civilian massacre, and the Russian soldiers captured there died miserably. Tit for tat?

      Up in the north-east around Sverdlovsk where the much vaunted (and feared for their cruelty) paratroopers were relocated, it is easy to imagine civilians there are in grave danger. Both sides are said to be suffering high numbers of causalities with the Russian body count three times in number.

    1. “IRS warns Americans over $600 threshold to report Venmo, PayPal payments”

      Looks like my HBB donations will have to be reported on a 1099-K, and Merrick Garland will have me listed as a threat to democracy.

      1. Wait until the Fed gets its CBDC linked to your social credit score, and a Comrade of Proven Worth (D) can expropriate your money and cut off your access to the financial system for BadThink.

    2. Wasn’t it just yesterday that Joe Biden was strutting around like a proud peacock, bragging that there are no new taxes on people making less than $400k? The people voting for him are getting exactly what they deserve. If you can’t see through the filthy lies, that’s on you.

    3. That used jacket you just sold on EBay for less than you paid for it is now “income,” unless you can dig up that old receipt from years ago proving it’s not.

      Let’s not forget that Granny Yellen was pushing hard for government snooping on any bank account transaction of $600 or more. We are living in a police state, folks.

    4. IRS warns Americans over $600 threshold to report Venmo, PayPal payments”

      The IRS says its 87,000 new hires could help collect as much as $1 trillion — by forcing tax cheats to pay up.” 600 bucks 🤣 yea that’s how they do it

  23. Who are the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti Defamation League?

    Who are they? That is a question that you will never see discussed in any kind of globalist media.

    Who granted them their authority? Nobody did. They don’t have any actual authority, it’s a delusion.

    A casual reader of the Washington Post will see these organizations referenced in articles, and perceive that they have authority, because the narrative is structured to lead the reader to believe that they have authority, when in fact they don’t.

    1. One thing seems clear: A crypto whale is pegging Bitcoin to $16,500 until the dust settles on the FTX implosion.

      Too bad they have to throw dollars down a rathole to support the peg.

      1. Cryptocurrencies
        Wall Street Is Saying ‘No’ to a Bitcoin Rebound. Bearish Bets Are Piling Up.
        By Jack Denton
        Nov. 23, 2022 1:27 pm ET

        Bitcoin has been licking its wounds from two-year lows in the wake of crypto exchange FTX’s bankruptcy this month. Sentiment may be cautiously improving in the digital-asset world, but investors on Wall Street expect more losses.

        Data indicate that traditional investors are piling into bets against Bitcoin’s price, suggesting the outlook remains gloomy even though crypto markets have already suffered big declines in 2022.
        …
        https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-price-bearish-bets-51669227977

      2. One thing seems clear: A crypto whale is pegging Bitcoin to $16,500 until the dust settles on the FTX implosion.

        This is what’s so hilarious – the blatant rigging.

    2. FTX Crypto Turbulence
      Cryptocurrency
      Wall Street Sours on Coinbase, Signaling Broad Crypto Doubts
      Prices of exchange’s bonds and stock reflect anxieties after collapse of rival FTX and sharp declines in bitcoin
      By Sam Goldfarb
      Updated Nov. 17, 2022 4:27 pm ET

      A year ago, cryptocurrencies were roaring and Coinbase Global Inc., (COIN -2.83% decrease; red down pointing triangle) considered the Charles Schwab of crypto exchanges, was fresh off an IPO that valued the firm at $85 billion. Today, one market-based measure suggests that investors have doubts about whether the company can survive.

      As a publicly traded entity, the U.S. firm, which originated in San Francisco but says it has no headquarters, seems to have steered clear of the complex financial maneuvers that helped fell FTX, a competitor whose stunning collapse has rocked an already-reeling industry. Nonetheless, Coinbase (COIN -2.83% decrease; red down pointing triangle) has been burning through its cash and losing the confidence of investors. Its shares are down 81% since the start of the year, its market capitalization has shrunk to $11 billion, and its bonds are trading at a little more than half their face value.

      The declines raise questions about the future of digital currencies and the companies attached to them.
      …
      https://www.wsj.com/articles/wall-street-sours-on-coinbase-signaling-broad-crypto-doubts-11668652436

        1. The Fintech Files
          The real-life ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ is now a crypto guru. That’s a sign of a looming reckoning
          Reputational issues have piled pressure on the digital assets sector in recent weeks. Can it withstand the pressure?
          Belfort’s $40,000 crypto workshop earlier this month is another warning sign that the sector has a credibility problem Alamy
          By Trista Kelley
          Tuesday April 19, 2022 12:57 pm

          Critics of the cryptocurrency industry have long said that bitcoin and other digital assets are barely discernible from a Ponzi scheme.

          Is that fair? Yes and no.

          Some recent headlines surely don’t help crypto’s image. Take Jordan Belfort, a convicted felon whose penny-stock scams were dramatised in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street.
          …
          https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/the-real-life-wolf-of-wall-street-is-now-a-crypto-guru-thats-a-sign-of-a-looming-reckoning-20220419?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D90424944106902854781551461485547852289%7CMCORGID%3DCB68E4BA55144CAA0A4C98A5%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1669483310

      2. The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort: I Was Wrong About Bitcoin Going to Zero
        Author: Felix Mollen
        Last Updated Aug 29, 2022 @ 00:47

        Jordan Belfort sure knows a scam when he sees it. Now he recognized he was wrong when he thought Bitcoin was one.

        On August 27, Jordan Belfort, the man that inspired the award-winning movie The Wolf of Street, said during an interview with Yahoo Finance that he was wrong when he claimed that the price of Bitcoin would reach Zero.

        As Belfort put it, when he made that claim in 2017, he “hated cryptocurrencies” because the market was surrounded by scams. This has been slowly changing over the years but remains an adverse effect of decentralization.

        “At the time that I really hated crypto, I stand by everything I said about crypto in 2017 except for one thing, I was wrong about Bitcoin going to zero, but I didn’t look closely enough because I just said it’s a scam because it just seemed like that because in all the ear markings of that,”
        …
        https://cryptopotato.com/the-wolf-of-wall-street-jordan-belfort-i-was-wrong-about-bitcoin-going-to-zero/

      3. Inside The Criminal Past Of Jordan Belfort, The Wolf Of Wall Street
        Jordan Belfort
        Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
        By Dylan Hofer/July 5, 2022 3:02 pm EST

        Jordan Belfort was dubbed the Wolf of Wall Street for his less-than-ethical money-making ventures, involving pump-and-dump schemes in the stock market (via Insider). Belfort used numerous techniques that turned out to be quite lucrative, such as the “Kodak pitch.” The pitch involved Belfort telling his employees at Stratton Oakmont to convince investors to invest in relatively stable stocks that are almost certain to guarantee a profit — also known as blue-chip stocks (via Investopedia) — before attempting to get the investors to put their money in lesser-known markets, according to Insider.

        Read More: https://www.grunge.com/917116/inside-the-criminal-past-of-jordan-belfort-the-wolf-of-wall-street/?utm_campaign=clip

    4. The Financial Times
      Cryptocurrencies
      Miami nightclubs mourn absence of high-rolling crypto entrepreneurs
      ‘Revenge of the nerds’ screeches to a halt after collapse in value of digital currencies
      Cryptocurrency entrepreneurs had flocked to Miami nightclubs such as E11even, pictured, before the crash in the value of digital currencies
      Madison Darbyshire in New York yesterday

      It was the spring of 2021, and Miami’s hottest night clubs were inundated with phone calls from cryptocurrency entrepreneurs that no one had heard of. They wanted to reserve lots of tables — or rent an entire venue for a whole evening at a cost of half a million dollars or more.

      With the price of bitcoin then at $60,000 and crypto becoming mainstream, its biggest beneficiaries descended on the Florida city to flaunt their wealth at lavish parties.

      “Out of the blue, all these kids from crypto started coming down and spending a lot of money — like, an insane amount of money,” said Andrea Vimercati, director of food and beverage at Moxy Hotel group.

      “They were booking tables for $50,000, and it was like, who the hell are these people,” added Vimercati, former director of Groot Hospitality, which operates some of the hottest night clubs in Miami including Liv, Story and Swan.

      The new partygoers were “95 per cent men, young . . . with a kind of nerdy style,” he said. “You couldn’t tell they had a lot of money if they were just walking around.”

      A little more than a year later, the phones have stopped ringing after the collapse of Bahamas-based exchange FTX roiled the market and cast a pall over the industry. The crypto revellers frequenting Miami’s clubs have “completely disappeared”, Vimercati said.

      Those on the dance floor had behaved as though there was no tomorrow. In the event, it turns out they might have been right. “They wanted to show that they didn’t have any limits,” recalled Vimercati. “They were ordering 12 or 24 bottles of the most expensive champagne and just showering themselves without even drinking.”

      In June last year, one group who claimed to have just sold their cryptocurrency company celebrated the windfall at E11even, a neon-lit night spot with troupes of trapeze dancers and burlesque shows. “50 Cent was performing, and their spend was more than a million dollars,” said Gino LoPinto, operating partner at the club. “They paid in crypto.”

      LoPinto recalled: “They had bathtubs of champagne brought out, and gave 50 Cent a bunch of cash to throw.”
      …

      1. To make a lot of money gambling, you have to have a lot of money to start with, and bet big. People didn’t start with a few hundred bucks and end up reserving tables for $50,000. They were wealthy to begin with.

  25. The People of China Have Finally Had Enough!
    China Fact Chasers
    Nov 26, 2022

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa0wmmrJ4F4

    this is the censored version. We did this because Youtube age restricted our Podcast. If you want to see the full uncensored version please visit this link:

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

    First link is 29 minutes. The second link is 2 hours 15 minutes and has clearer video.

    These are the ADV China guys, who have a few channels now. They are covering what’s happening better than anyone. Some background: you can’t do anything in China unless your phone clears you. What they’ve done is CCP virus lockdown status can be changed if you are in a protest to red (mandatory indefinite quarantine). Serious police a$$ kicking. I’m going to watch the longer version next.

    1. This is from the second video:

      BREAKING! – Huge Uprising – The People of China Fight Back – Episode #136
      The China Show
      Streamed live on Nov 24, 2022
      Massive uprisings start in China, and it’s the biggest ones we’ve ever seen. This could be the start of something big.

      1. The Democrat-Bolsheviks would be horrified to see their CCP ideological clones toppled by a popular uprising.

      2. Its would be the most wonderful thing if say a billion people under this China tyranny rise up ,overthrow their dictators, throw off their chains , and get something better..
        You never know.

        1. Governments rule by force and fraud. Once the fraud no longer works, force is required. When unarmed protestors go up against heavily armed security forces, it usually doesn’t end well for them. There’s a reason Brandon & the Democrat-Bolsheviks are pushing gun control as a prerequisite to taking their tyranny to a whole new level.

      3. Huge Uprising – The People of China Fight Back

        China has a surplus of close to 50 million males with no hope of getting laid. Imagine the anger when a young man grows up and realizes he’s never getting any.

  26. This blog gets a lot more attention than you might think.

    I am an avid reader of 4chan, but I’ve actually never posted anything there. It’s more fun to just read and harvest the dank memes.

    That being said, I have seen my own words, and that of other HBB posters, copied and pasted on 4chan threads.

    We have more influence than you know. I do not know if there is any regular Glowie monitoring, but I expect that there is likely monitoring and screen shotting being done by both the Anti Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. They may even have an intern getting paid to read the HBB.

    Information is power. Do not allow organizations that do not have any legitimate authority make you believe that they decide what you are and are not allowed to think about or discuss.

    1. You may think you don’t have power, that it is impossible to confront amd defeat these globalists, but you do have a voice.

      And you are probably less cancelable than you think. Ask yourself, what exactly is it that these globalists are going to cancel you from?

      Unless you’re in public office or some kind of position of prominence, there isn’t much you can be cancelled from.

      But with your voice, you can help de-legitimize these organizations. That’s your most powerful weapon.

      And have those conversations in persons. Talk to people you know well, and talk to people who may only be slight acquaintances.

      De-legitimize these globalists. This is how we will win.

    2. ‘I have seen my own words, and that of other HBB posters, copied and pasted on 4chan threads’

      Interesting.

      1. I’ve seen memes I’ve created show up on Tweets from some heavy-hitters on the right, not all of whom I agree with, but kind of gratifying nonetheless. We’re fighting a trillion-dollar globalist propaganda machine with dank memes and based commentary.

    3. That being said, I have seen my own words, and that of other HBB posters, copied and pasted on 4chan threads.

      I have to be honest – I don’t even know what 4chan is.

  27. On the topic of 4chan, we discuss many of the same topics here that are discussed there, but here with more guidelines regarding profanity or excessively offensive language.

    This not being globalist social media, there are no “gatekeepers” deciding what can and can not be discussed.

    And the globalists hate this. It makes them seethe. “Shut it down” isn’t just a meme, it’s a demand, it’s an order.

    But the globalists making that demand, making that order, they don’t have legitimate authority.

    Nobody crowned them the Language Police.

    2. I’ve never been on 4Chan. Wonder how much sites like 4Chan and Gab are growing as more and more white males get red-pilled.

  28. Are the bulls mistaking the storm warning of a deeply inverted yield curve as a buy signal?

    It didn’t work out so well for investors in Japanese stocks who made the same mistake when their bubble collapsed in the early 1990s. (In full disclosure, I was one of these greater fools…)

      1. Bye-Bye, Bear Market? The Worst Could Be Over for Stocks

        The FED tried to print a new floor under asset prices. It remains to be seen if it worked.

    2. The bear market in stocks will spill over into 2023 and it won’t be over until 3 things happen, Goldman Sachs says
      Matthew Fox
      Nov 26, 2022, 5:30 AM
      NYSE Trader
      A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S., March 3, 2020. Andrew Kelly/Reuters

      – The global bear market that hit stocks in 2022 may spill over into next year, according to Goldman Sachs.
      – The bank said investors are about to enter the “hope” phase as attention turns to a slowdown in interest rate hikes.
      – These are the three factors Goldman Sachs wants to see to believe that the bear market is finally over.
      …
      https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-2023-bear-decline-resumes-interest-rates-inflation-2022-11

  29. Here is an article with am interesting point of view …

    “It Was Never About Ukraine”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/it-was-never-about-ukraine

    (a snip)

    If Ukraine is about Russia, Russia is about China. The “Russia Problem” has always been that it is impossible to confront China if China has Russia: it is not desirable to fight both superpowers at once. So, if the long-term goal is to prevent a challenge to the US led unipolar world from China, Russia first needs to be weakened.

    1. While I understand this argument, Go Back To Reddit nailed it far better:

      Russia stands for Christianity and the history and tradition of European civilization.

      Ukraine and The West stand for globalism, for Marxism, for the destruction of Christianity.

      1. Russia, Hungary, and now possibly even Italy as well.

        I read books, a lot of books, and history is one of my favorite subjects to read.

        History can not be changed, but the narrative of how it is described can be re-structured, and this is often done via strategic omission, omossion of actual events and facts that do not support the globalists re-structured narratives.

        I’m not a “collector” per se but I do own a lot of paper books, many of which were written and published in the pre-woke era of the 20th century.

        I would never rely on electronic “books” or electronic reading devices, because they could be selectively edited or erased, at the whim of the globalists.

        They have much, much less power than they think they have. And the strongest weapon against them is happening right here, with a discussion of how their perceived sense of power is, in fact, not legitimate.

        Marxism is an existential threat, it is anti-humanity.

        And we’re not going to stop discussing that.

  36. Image file for Jeff, I am sitting where this photo was taken right now:

    https://ibb.co/zQsPkJ3

    And LOL@ every post since about 8:30 today was posted while hiking alone in the forest.

    And to the finger wagging scolds who would tell me “enjoy nature and stop posting on the HBB” while in the forest, I do take a lot of breaks for food and water and to rest, and to yes, post on the HBB.

    Nature time is also thinking time, especially when alone out here…

  37. Genocide is Christianity and a European tradition, e.g., the crusades. As for Russia look no further than the 1932-33 Ukrainian holodomor.

  38. Exclusive Video: Western Leaders Have ‘Misplaced Optimism’ in Ability to Defeat Russia, Says German MEP

    KURT ZINDULKA
    26 Nov 2022

    Western leaders have “misplaced optimism” in their ability to defeat Russia in Ukraine and oust Vladimir Putin from power, a German Member of the European Parliament (MEP) told Breitbart London.

    In an exclusive interview, Dr Gunnar Beck, MEP for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, said that there is a lack of calls for peace in Ukraine in Europe and America because politicians have made the miscalculation that Ukraine can prevail and that the Russian people will turn against Vladimir Putin.

    “There is a lot of triumphalism right now, talk of Russia being pushed back to its pre-conflict borders and I think that’s misplaced triumphalism. What we need in Ukraine, above all, is a genuine compromise peace as soon as possible,” Dr Beck told Breitbart London.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/11/26/exclusive-western-leaders-have-misplaced-optimism-in-ukraines-ability-to-defeat-russia-says-german-mep/

    1. “And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”

      ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn , The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

        1. Not well, hopefully. An anti-American kneeler begging for the US to come save her is the most beautiful example of karma in recent memory.

    2. FJB.

      Seriously, f* this guy and the cabal of grabbers he is surrounded by.

      And a reminder, look at what happened during the CCP Flu scamdemic in Canada, UK, EU, AUS, NZ.

      Because they were unarmed…

  40. On Mike Adams podcast , he just posted that a medical journal is asserting that the unvaccinated are causing blood clots in the vaccinated by scaring them.

    This is ridiculous, but they will do anything to try to cover up vaccine damage from the fake vaccines.
    Science is bought off, has been for a long time.
    They shut down a professor in a college that proved that aluminum in vaccines is causing autism in young people. Pulled this researchers money, and drove him out of his position at that college.
    So, the evil ones have no regard for truth or Science. Your a lab rat for rigged science, like just about everything has been rigged. .
    Big Pharmaceuticals is listed as third cause of death in US, even before Covid.
    Now they want to force their injections..

    1. a medical journal is asserting that the unvaccinated are causing blood clots in the vaccinated by scaring them.

      So now we have gone from climate change being the culprit to the unjabbed are scaring people dead.

  41. What a great thread today HBB’ers.

    Another topic I would like to explore is that if given a choice between living under a globalist, cultural Marxist government, or living under a Christian nationalist government, and those are your only two choices allowed, which would you choose, because I can say without any deliberation that I would choose the latter.

    Marxism is an existential threat.

    There can be no negotiation with Marxism. None. Never. The only option is its complete and total extermination.

    1. I was raised Catholic. I was a skeptical and inquisitive boy who left the church in my early teens, much to the chagrin of my parents, mostly my mother who went to church until her dying day.

      As I have watched this great evil sprout up around me, I have thought of going to church again. I never thought I would even say that.

    1. I would call it an insult to the intelligence of Americans, but I’ve been realizing the intelligence level of Americans is disappointing to the downside.

    2. Before 2022, the federal Form 1099-K reporting threshold was for taxpayers with more than 200 transactions worth an aggregate above $20,000. However, Congress slashed the limit as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and a single transaction over $600 may now trigger the form.

      This was never about some Chinese Bat Flu.

  45. ‘Right now, if I’m going in for a listing, I’m going up against sellers’ expectations, and I better have my statistics in order,’ she said. ‘Statistics don’t lie, and what they’re telling you is, it’s a correction.’

    Statistics lie and sometimes they tell you the trend, but as we say in accounting, all estimates are guaranteed to not be the actual number.

    2. Another moron liar uneducated realtor who never learned calculating statistics and never learned calculus

      Classic text How to Lie With Statistics.

      How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff

      Ill bet this moron believes fraudski and got triple jabbed too.

      1. Ditto. And take off the beanie indoors. It’s ok to run to the grocery store when it’s cold out, but really weird to wear it indoors all the time.

    1. The Financial Times
      Charts that Matter Corporate bonds
      Investors pump almost $16bn in to US corporate bond funds
      November inflows would be highest since July 2020 after inflation data ease rate rise worries
      Dollar bills
      A further $10.9bn shifted into US corporate bond funds in the fortnight that followed the consumer price index report on November 10, EPFR data show
      Harriet Clarfelt in New York
      16 hours ago

      Investors have poured almost $16bn in to US corporate bond funds this month, underscoring how signs of easing inflation have helped brighten sentiment after a brutal sell-off in much of 2022.

      Funds holding high-grade bonds have garnered $8.6bn of new client money in the month to November 23, while those focused on riskier junk-rated debt have posted net inflows of $7.1bn. The combined figure is set to be the highest monthly inflow since July 2020 if the trend holds in the final week of November, according to data provider EPFR.

      The surge of inflows into credit funds comes as Wall Street markets have staged a late-year rally after data released earlier in November showed the pace of consumer price growth has started to ease, prompting hopes that the Federal Reserve may soon slow down its aggressive rate rises.
      …

    2. The Financial Times
      Opinion The Long View
      Bonds are (sort of) back
      After a tumultuous year, investors are daring to believe the asset class might be worth another shot
      Katie Martin
      Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
      This year the real insult is that bonds have failed in one of their most basic tasks in a portfolio: they have fallen at the same time as stocks
      Katie Martin yesterday

      Investors are at that point in their long, messy break-up with bonds where they’re tottering on a bar stool, tucking in to their third martini of the evening and asking their dearest friend whether it would be crazy to give the relationship another try?

      It has certainly not been a happy marriage this year. After four decades of stability, ballast in times of uncertainty and reliable returns (in nominal terms at least — no relationship is perfect), government bonds have done the dirty on fund managers in 2022.

      Soaring, sticky inflation dealt a blow, eating away at the fixed interest payments that bonds generally provide and lining up a series of startlingly aggressive rises of benchmark interest rates. This is bad enough: since the 2008 crisis, fund managers had become conditioned to expect vanishingly low levels of inflation and supportive central banks.

      Sure, investors have whinged about bonds in the past, particularly when benchmark interest rates sank so low that yields turned negative, meaning fund managers ended up buying them in the certain knowledge that they would lose money if they held them to maturity. 

      But this year has been particularly cruel. Even super long-term government bonds have taken a hit. This is unusual in itself, especially with a potential recession around the corner, and weakness in this pocket of the markets has chewed up and spat out investment products labelled as supremely safe. These things are supposed to be boring and reliable. They’re not supposed to lose your life savings.

      It’s not just long-dated government debt that is to blame. The Bloomberg US Aggregate index comprising a range of dollar debt has dropped by about 13 per cent so far this year — comfortably its worst year in decades.

      And the real insult is that bonds have failed in one of their most basic tasks in a portfolio: they have fallen at the same time as stocks. Brief periods like this do happen, but not for this long. It has turned a bad year for investors into a terrible one.

      But after this historic rout, investors are slowly making their way back. Ten-year US Treasuries, to pick the global benchmark, yield 3.7 per cent. That’s not nothing, and it’s way above the 1.6 per cent we began 2022 with. 

      Could prices fall further? Sure, if inflation revs up again. “Inflation is incredibly hard to predict,” said Emiel van den Heiligenberg, head of asset allocation at Legal & General Investment Management. “You have armies of PhDs looking at this at central banks and they get it wrong all the time.”
      …

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