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Why Do You Want To Buy Something That You Expect To Become Cheaper?

A weekend topic starting with the Atlantic. “This coming recession, if it does come, will largely be an artifact of policy, with a handful of unelected bureaucrats based in Washington choosing to increase unemployment and bankrupt businesses in order to cool off the country’s high inflation rates. ‘We’re never going to say that there are too many people working, but the real point is this: inflation. What we hear from people when we meet with them is that they really are suffering from inflation,’ Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, said in September. ‘If we want to set ourselves up, really light the way to another period of a very strong labor market, we have got to get inflation behind us. I wish there were a painless way to do that. There isn’t.'”

“If it triggers a recession without getting inflation under control, that would be something known as stagflation. It is a ‘central bank’s worst nightmare,’ said Ryan Sweet, the chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. ‘The global economy is slowing down,’ Sweet told me, pointing to data showing that the United Kingdom and the euro zone are slipping into a contraction, and that China is already in a “growth recession” because GDP is expanding too slowly to stop unemployment from rising. ‘This could be the first recession in recent memory where the rest of the world goes down and pulls the U.S. economy down with it.'”

From Fox Business. “‘The time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting,’ Powell said during a speech. ‘Given our progress in tightening policy, the timing of that moderation is far less significant than the questions of how much further we will need to raise rates to control inflation, and the length of time it will be necessary to hold policy at a restrictive level.’ Although he acknowledged that inflation has shown early signs of cooling – consumer prices rose 7.7% in October from the previous year, the slowest pace since January – Powell pushed back against any assumptions that inflation will continue to moderate.”

“‘It will take substantially more evidence to give comfort that inflation is actually declining. The truth is that the path ahead for inflation remains highly uncertain,’ he said, adding: ‘Despite the tighter policy and slower growth over the past year, we have not seen clear progress on slowing inflation.'”

From Bloomberg. “Fed policymakers appear determined to see their tightening campaign through to peak of about 5%, after being caught out by the intensity and staying power of price pressures. That’s bad news for an economy that looks set to contract at some point next year. ‘There’s a lot more pain that has to come through,’ said Justin Burgin, director of equity research at Ameriprise Financial. ‘We’ve barely seen the lag effect of the fastest rate hike in history.'”

From CBS News. “Some 250,000 people who took out a mortgage this year to buy a home are now underwater, meaning they owe more on their loan than the home is worth, Black Knight, a mortgage software provider, found. Another million have less than 10% equity. ‘A clear bifurcation of risk has emerged between mortgaged homes purchased relatively recently versus those bought early in or before the pandemic,’ Black Knight said. All told, 8% of mortgages taken out this year are underwater — about one in 12 homes purchased in 2022.”

“The situation is much worse for homebuyers who purchased with government-backed mortgages, with 25% of those buyers this year now underwater, according to the report. In Colorado Springs and Honolulu, more than 30% of mortgaged homes bought this year are underwater. In Virginia Beach, about 22% are worth less than what is owed. The figure is 20% in the California cities of Bakersfield, Riverside, San Diego and Stockton — cities with a large military presence where many people buy homes with government-backed mortgages.”

“‘It’s not actually markets that are seeing prices come down the most — it’s markets that are using more of this low down payment types of lending’ that are most affected, said Andy Walden, Black Knight’s president of enterprise research. The portion of underwater borrowers tripled in October, he noted. ‘Unfortunately the folks who first get hit when home values go down are those who couldn’t put down a lot,’ said Selma Hepp, lead economist at CoreLogic.”

From WAVY. “Foreclosures in Virginia are up 175% from this time last year, according to Better Homes and Garden Real Estate Broker Susan Jenkins, as pandemic-era loan forgiveness programs come to an end and purse strings tighten. ‘What’s occurring is the current owner of the property has defaulted on the payments. We understand is  there is a lot that’s going on in our current economy that’s causing that. Inflation is a big part of it  people are really running up credit card debts and dipping into their 401k’s just to make ends meet,’ Jenkins said. ‘Even though we have seen historic lows in interest rates, it’s still becoming difficult for some people to make those house payments.'”

“Jenkins recommends that people facing foreclosure should take advantage of resources such as those available through HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. She said realtors can also mediate discussions with lenders, and assist in preparing your home for the market. ‘There are so many options that are available to them but its coming past that fear and lack of knowledge and asking the tough questions,’ she said.”

CBS Bay Area in California. “The pendulum is shifting in what many have described as a ‘roller coaster’ real estate market. Sellers are no longer in the driver’s seat and buyers have an edge. In San Mateo, Tommy Yang is in the process of selling his home. He’s had the house on the market for about a month and has yet to receive a full price offer. His real estate agent translated for us. ‘He believes it is a challenge to sell right now,’ his agent said. ‘Compared to a year or two years ago, houses like this could get 10 offers, plus. The average house would sell like a hot cake. Right now, even the good houses, probably just get one or two offers – solid ones.'”

“Yang hopes he gets the right offer. Bigger picture, he’d like to see interest rates go down. ‘He hopes that the housing market will recover,’ his agent said. ‘He hopes that the interest from the Fed will not go so fast and so high and hopes it will come down at some time.'”

Coastal Illustrated on Georgia. “The previous year was a banner on for real estate in the Golden Isles, but it didn’t go as expected, said Realtor Chandra C. Kendall. ‘The expectations were not met,’ she said. ‘We saw the market start to cool during the summer, due to the reduction of inventory and the increase in the mortgage rate.’ ‘The influx of buyers we had in 2021 was unprecedented,’ she said. ‘The first part of this year, the most active price range was $500,000–$600,000,’ she said. ‘Now it is $300,000–$400,000. The market has been and will continue to change subject to the economy and mortgage rate changes.'”

“While it was a strong seller’s market, that has changed. ‘Price reductions are happening more often and less homes are selling for full price,’ she said. The inventory of available homes is also an issue. ‘The first six months of 2022 we had 1,104 residential units sold,’ she said. ‘The last six months of the year so far we have seen 693 sales. This is a substantial drop in sales, almost 50%.'”

“Realtor Ann Dempsey said 2021 was the busiest year in her more than 40 years as a Realtor in this area, and her expectations were high coming into 2022. ‘Last year and the first part of this year we saw properties go under contract within an hour of being listed,’ she said. ‘We saw many properties have multiple offers as soon as they were listed.’ Homes were selling for more than their listed prices, and this was during a housing shortage. ‘There were showings using FaceTime and videos, and sales without the buyers ever physically seeing the properties,’ Dempsey said. ‘My real estate year has actually been even better than last year until several months ago. Then it changed.'”

From Yahoo Finance. “Even as higher borrowing rates take a toll on the real estate market, Canada’s biggest banks appear to be brushing off any signs of housing-related stress on their balance sheets. Many Canadians with variable-rate mortgages have seen their amortization periods lengthen beyond the 25-year maximum as rates increased. At ome of the banks, including Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, nearly a third of their residential mortgage loans now have an amortization of longer than 30 years. It’s unclear if there are any legal restraints against these longer amortizations.”

“‘Ideally, they want you to stick to that initial amortization commitment. But what I took from that commentary was, ‘absolutely, we are very flexible, and we will make sure that we help our clients get through it,’ Mike Rizvanovic, a research analyst at KBW, told Yahoo Finance Canada. ‘It’s a function of the risk management process. They don’t want to obviously take possession of homes. And so as long as the person can carry that debt, there’s no reason to go to the extreme. And it sounds like what they’ll do is they’ll just extend amortizations to the point that’s necessary.'”

The Leader Post in Canada. “Jennifer Fuller spent this fall navigating an unexpected move, after being evicted suddenly due to a landlord defaulting on her rental property’s mortgage. ‘We felt like the rug had been pulled out from under us,’ Fuller said. Cameron Choquette, CEO of the Saskatchewan Landlord Association, hasn’t heard concerns from members regarding mortgage arrears but said continued cost-of-living increases could put specifically small- to medium-sized landlords at risk of such financial strain.”

“Non-payment and eviction rates are increasing, Choquette said, noting that rental arrears can situationally lead to mortgage arrears. ‘A mortgage is one of the biggest expenses a landlord will face,’ he said. ‘And if those costs are passed onto the tenants, and there’s insufficient revenue to pay those bills, then the cost of living crisis hits the landlord there as well.'”

From NBC News. “A dire and potentially deadly humanitarian emergency is endangering millions across Britain. More than 200 miles north of London, in seaside Morecambe, Dusty Thomas says he spends many of his days quietly starving. He is 60, a veteran of the 1982 Falklands war and the sectarian “Troubles” in Northern Ireland. ‘Sometimes I’ve gone two or three days without food,’ he said, huddled under a cartoon-themed blanket in his chilly first floor-floor home just outside of town, where the heat hasn’t been switched on in three years. ‘A few times I’ve used tricks like drinking quite a lot of vinegar, which shrinks the sides of your stomach and takes your appetite away.'”

“Thomas is not alone. Britain is the world’s sixth-largest economy, a top-tier industrialized power that still sees itself as a cradle of the postwar welfare state. But its stagnant economy has likely just entered what the Bank of England says could be the longest recession and sharpest drop in living standards on record, and it’s the only G-7 nation whose GDP is still lower than before the pandemic. Britain once compared itself to giants like France and Germany; today many of its metrics more closely resemble Eastern Europe’s weaker economies. The financial calamity enveloping the U.K. is so widespread that there are few escaping its pull.”

“One in 6 British households are on social security checks, and almost a third of British children live in poverty, government figures show. One in 4 are facing financial difficulty or are already mired in it, and almost 1 in 10 have missed paying bills, according to the Financial Conduct Authority regulator.”

“This nationwide crisis is driven by spiraling food and energy prices, plummeting wages and crumbling public services. Coupled with months of industrial strikes that have often crippled institutions from the railroads to the courthouses, Britain in 2022 is a place where, for millions of people, everything feels like it’s broken — and is about to get worse this winter.”

“Few places illustrate this crisis as starkly as parts of Morecambe, a former bustling seaside town nestled on England’s northwest coast, which today contains some of the country’s most deprived streets in terms of jobs, wages and education. Here and across the country, millions of working families with cars and mortgages are struggling to stay afloat; teachers worry more about feeding students than educating them; and proud but desperate people are taking extreme action simply to stay alive — let alone with dignity.”

“In the 1990s, said Joanna Young, service development director for Citizens Advice North Lancashire, people would seek advice from her organization about faulty toasters and vacation mix-ups. Now they mostly arrive on the brink of destitution. They are ‘using credit to pay for basics like food, heating and hygiene, with no earthly way to pay off their debts,’ said Young.”

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. “The Reserve Bank has lifted interest rates eight times this year – the most aggressive cycle of rate rises since 1994. The following six graphs help explain why and what it means for mortgage holders.When the RBA lifts the cash rate target, commercial banks soon follow suit. According to RateCity calculations, this means someone who took out a $500,000, 25-year mortgage in April on a variable rate of 2.86 per cent will go from paying $2335 a month to $3169 if their lender passes on the rate rises in full. That’s an $834 difference on their monthly payment. Someone with a $750,000 mortgage will be paying an extra $1251.”

The South China Morning Post. “Four years ago in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district, home to the headquarters of tech giants Tencent and Baidu, nearly 1,000 applicants braved long queues in hot weather for a chance to buy one of 167 flats. Each hopeful had deposited 5 million yuan (US$715,000) to participate in the city’s first public housing lottery – a scheme specially designed for situations where demand from interested buyers far exceeded supply. Today in the same neighbourhood, the queues are gone, and surplus homes abound. The One Bay development by state-backed Tagen Group recently managed to woo only 387 buyers for 416 units on offer, despite an average price of 96,000 yuan per square metre.”

“‘You cannot imagine how poor sales are in other cities in China if the hottest market dipped into a freeze like this,’ said Tommy Wu, senior China economist with Commerzbank. Now observers hope the property sector – teetering on piles of unpaid debts, unfinished homes and stagnant sales – can bottom out sometime next year with support from the central government’s rescue measures.”

“‘The golden era where long queues and lucky draws were needed for home sales is gone, and I do not see that there is a way of it coming back,’ said Michael Zhang, a veteran property agent in Zhongshan, in Guangdong province. Zhang has not brokered a single deal, new or lived-in, in November, and managed only three in October. A property agent for 11 years, Zhang recalls bringing in a record 21 deals in the month of September 2018, when Zhongshan was first named as one of the cities in the new Greater Bay Area concept outlined by President Xi Jinping. At the time, home seekers from Macau, Hong Kong and Shenzhen were coming to the city in organised house-shopping groups.”

“‘Now sales centres are full of discounts and promotion gimmicks,’ Zhang said. ‘But none of these are luring them back. After all, why do you want to buy something that you expect to become cheaper?'”

“In other words, China will see its first price crunch for homes in more than a decade. That translates to paper losses for homebuyers who bought in the past couple of years. But for Zeng Xiaolu, a distressed home auction broker, it translates to more business. ‘Recently, it is not possible to find a buyer without a sharp discount as people are expecting home prices will continue to fall,’ Zeng said. ‘Thus, people who had debts to clear would just choose to give up their homes to the creditors through distressed auctions.'”

“Zeng expects his business to double by the end of next year. ‘In rosy days, people who need money at short notice can always dump their homes on the secondary market quickly for a rather decent price,’ he said. ‘But it is a different market now.'”

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This Post Has 210 Comments

      1. As soon as they finished banning Trump, Twitter execs started processing new power. They prepared to ban future presidents and White Houses – perhaps even Joe Biden. The “new administration,” says one exec, “will not be suspended by Twitter unless absolutely necessary.”

        Roth’s report to FBI/DHS/DNI is almost farcical in its self-flagellating tone:
        “We blocked the NYP story, then unblocked it (but said the opposite)… comms is angry, reporters think we’re idiots… in short, FML” (f*ck my life).

        Here, the FBI sends reports about a pair of tweets, the second of which involves a former Tippecanoe County, Indiana Councilor and Republican named @JohnBasham claiming “Between 2% and 25% of Ballots by Mail are Being Rejected for Errors.”

        41. Meanwhile, there are multiple instances of involving pro-Biden tweets warning Trump “may try to steal the election” that got surfaced, only to be approved by senior executives. This one, they decide, just “expresses concern that mailed ballots might not make it on time.”

        42. “THAT’S UNDERSTANDABLE”: Even the hashtag #StealOurVotes – referencing a theory that a combo of Amy Coney Barrett and Trump will steal the election – is approved by Twitter brass, because it’s “understandable” and a “reference to… a US Supreme Court decision.”

        A comment:

        Is it time to throw the tea in the harbor yet.

    2. As of right now, on the main page of the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Guardian websites, there is zero mention of this story that has been developing over the past week, with more files scheduled to be released this weekend.

      The 2020 election was stolen.

      And Real Journalists refuse to acknowledge this.

    3. I’m puzzled. Elon made his takeover offer months in advance, and Elon’s opinions and intentions were very clear. And yet, it seems that Elon found these damning censorship files — intact — as quickly and easily as he found those woke T-shirts.

      Seriously, did NOBODY at Twitter even attempt to wipe those files clean? Did NOBODY at Twitter even think to pause throwing public sads — on Twitter no less — long enough to look for another job? Did they do NO preparation whatsoever?

      Even FedGov isn’t this lazy.

      1. Modern horizontally scalable database engines (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.) are loaded with audit logging features, and they’re spread across cloud servers around the planet, so I doubt anyone would want to be involved in easily traceable and potentially illegal deletion activities.

      2. Elon made his takeover offer months in advance

        He spent months and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to get out of the deal. On the eve of his deposition, he accepted the obvious legal outcome: specific performance. IIRC, the deal closed October 28th.

        1. This isn’t about whether Elon tried to get out of the deal. This is about a months-long timeline during which Twitter made no effort to wipe any incriminating files.

          Unless, you think that Parag and Vi-Jay sat around all summer saying: “You know, Elon is trying to get out of this deal, maybe we won’t have to shred those censorship files after al… Oh crap, here he comes with the sink! Too late to shred now!”

          Of course it was Twitter itself that sued to be sold to Elon.

          1. As rms pointed out above, it’s not that easy to “shred” the documents. Not only do the databases leave a transaction record, they are backed up, many times.

          2. no effort to wipe any incriminating files

            Re-read your own sentence. Does that sound legally advisable?! At the direction of the FBI, Twitter was censoring free speech in violation of the First Amendment and interfering in elections.

          3. You have a simplistic understanding of corporate acquisitions in general as well as the capital structure and the legal machinations of this transaction in particular. Many people, including Elon himself, thought he could get out of his pissing contest with Parag. Elon is sophomoric and has a documented fascination with 69 and 420, hence the $54.20/share price.

      3. When you believe your control the narrative you would not think anything other than your point of view is correct. Meaning you could not consider that you would need to hide anything from us bitter clingers because we hange out in trailers and drink beer all day. I have and do work for Silicon Valley companies and large banks. The young wokesters at silicon Valley companies are left of left.

  2. ‘The situation is much worse for homebuyers who purchased with government-backed mortgages, with 25% of those buyers this year now underwater…‘It’s not actually markets that are seeing prices come down the most — it’s markets that are using more of this low down payment types of lending’ that are most affected’

    Annnd the ‘there’s no subprime’ horse hockey has been destroyed. What percentage of total buyers, during the cray cray, put less than 20% down? I’d bet it’s the majority.

    1. ‘The situation is much worse for homebuyers who purchased with government-backed mortgages, with 25% of those buyers this year now underwater’

      Well, at least their loans are federally guaranteed.

      Sadly, my understanding is that they cannot do HELOCS, and they can’t sell without bringing cash they likely don’t have to the closing table.

      I guess you could say they got stucco.

  3. ‘Recently, it is not possible to find a buyer without a sharp discount as people are expecting home prices will continue to fall,’ Zeng said. ‘Thus, people who had debts to clear would just choose to give up their homes to the creditors through distressed auctions’

    But Zeng, these were the winnahs? Are you saying they rode in on a big bus from Hong Kong, dropped 700,000 US pesos and are walking away? Probably the damn thing isn’t even built.

    1. I want to know where these folks are getting $700K, in China. Aren’t these Chinese supposed to be serf-level labor that worked for peanuts, and that’s why American manufacturers went there in the first place? Even an entire multigenerational family shouldn’t be able to scrape together that kind of scratch.

    2. FWIW, a take on airboxes as investment vehicles, and an alternative Chinese lifestyle model.

      From last sentence reference. At 96K yuan per square meter, that’s still $2M for a 1400 square ft unfinished airbox. Not my cup of tea, would require too much obligation up front in exchange for a non-producing asset. Violates asset diversification principle, if personal consumption can be considered an asset.

      The Chinese have been around a long time. I believe they have thereby demonstrated resilience. We don’t get the good stuff on MSM, just the frenzy. I was impressed with a photo-illustrated response on Quora showing a multiple-acre closed-system farm. It was written by a Chinese graduate student, showing where he grew up.

      The farm is open air, and uses waste from one product as feedstock for the next. The farm produces five crops/products (to the best of my memory). Apart from the initial design and setup, the farm is self-sustaining with enough product for sale after the first harvest to support a family. The state provides funding for initial setup. It is a systems-intensive farm on a human scale. It is not a proof-of-concept or a diagram. It (and many others like it) have been functioning for a generation or more. I don’t know how they solved the problem of efficient distribution to non-local markets. You can’t circulate one original money unit in a closed system forever and expect everybody to prosper.

      I don’t want to get all hippy-like. However, we have seen recently how useless much of the mass-consumption tech space is. Inward-focused, lacking measures of utility – delusional.

      In the event the PTB escalate this current conflict beyond the point of no return, I see that “hi-tech” closed system farm as a human-scale, alternative model for living. Assuming we get the die-off towards which Klaus Schwab et. al. aspire, there’ll be plenty of vacant land. At that point, our weapons will be sticks and stones (hat tip to Einstein) and we will have lost much of the useful tech we previously had.

      IMO, Mafia Blocks is correct in his observation that there is an abundance of land. Much of it is not arable (west of Mississippi, lacking accessible water). Much of the rest of it is/has been being gobbled up by corporate and foreign interests. It will take another generation to raise snowflake awareness. It will take yet another generation to re-acquire the skills to de-ambition and get hands dirty. It will take hundreds of years of focused effort to turn exclusion zones and deserts into habitable land.

      By that time, the world may be close to the WEF ideal population. From a multi-generational surviving/thriving viewpoint, airboxes or other consumption items may not comprise the highest and best use of all of our resources.

      The Chinese have capabilities worth emulation. Just saying.

  4. ‘The figure is 20% in the California cities of Bakersfield, Riverside, San Diego and Stockton — cities with a large military presence where many people buy homes with government-backed mortgages’

    Let’s revisit the good old subprime VA loan. Obammie and Mel Watt lifted to loan cap to – infinity! Yep that coast guard guy or gal could borrow a million smakeroos fer a shack in San Diego. In the 2000’s VA was under 2% of total shack loans. Last I heard it was over 12% of total purchases, but I have not seen an update for a while. Could be more.

  5. ‘Jenkins recommends that people facing foreclosure should take advantage of resources such as those available through HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac’

    Sure Susan, turn to the rats who got you in this mess fer ‘counseling.’

    ‘She said realtors can also mediate discussions with lenders, and assist in preparing your home for the market. ‘There are so many options that are available to them but its coming past that fear and lack of knowledge and asking the tough questions’

    Better get some boxes.

  6. This is the type of “news” that globalist scum media chooses to report.

    The Guardian — Concern as US media hit with wave of layoffs amid rise of disinformation (12/10/2022):

    “A wave of layoffs have hit the beleaguered American media industry as several major companies, including CNN, BuzzFeed and Gannett, have laid off hundreds of workers in recent weeks citing economic volatility and uncertainty.

    The job losses are the first major slate of cuts since the beginning of the pandemic, when a handful of companies laid off workers over the unpredictability of Covid’s impact on the economy. As the economy rebounded with the introduction of the Covid vaccine in 2021, the news industry saw the lowest number of layoffs in years.

    But this year, after inflation rose to historic highs and the Federal Reserve hawkishly raised interest rates to temper it, many media companies have started conducting layoffs, triggering fresh worries over the health of the US media at a time of democratic crisis and the rise of disinformation.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/dec/10/media-layoffs-cnn-buzzfeed-gannett-recount-protocol

    Translation of that last sentence: triggering fresh worries that the slaves are leaving the plantation.

    We don’t need you. Why get information from globalist gatekeepers when you could get it from:

    The Epoch Times
    Gateway Pundit
    Revolver News
    Breitbart
    Russia Today
    Western Rifle Shooters
    Communities dot win
    Bitchute
    Rumble
    Twitter for the last few weeks
    And too many more to list all of them…

  7. Really ?

    Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
    By Fred Dunkley – May 09, 2022, 12:00 PM CDT Crypto

    Despite recent volatility, there is rising conviction that cryptocurrency is on track not just to continue to enter the mainstream with increased momentum–but some predict it will surpass traditional investing within a decade. 
    A new survey by crypto exchange service Bitstamp of 28,000 investors worldwide finds that the majority see crypto going fully mainstream in the next 10 years. 
    Some 88% of institutional and 75% of retail investors surveyed believe that crypto will undergo mainstream adoption in a decade. A further 80% of institutional investors agreed that cryptos will overtake traditional investment vehicles.

    1. “Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?”

      Articles like this show why regulators should stand back and stand by while crypto burns to the ground. Otherwise, imaginary pet rock HODLers may never be able to work through their cray cray.

    2. “…crypto will undergo mainstream adoption in a decade. … cryptos will overtake traditional investment vehicles.”

      Whether crypto is widely adopted as a technology seems quite unrelated to whether Ponzi scheme investment in electronic pet rocks overtakes traditional financial investments in popularity.

      1. Mr. Wonderful aka Kevin O from Shark Tank did a great interview on CNBS Squawk Box this week that was quite irritaining (youtube has it). He details how he was paid 15 million in magic beans and still defends SBF. If you watch it, don’t be afraid to yell expletives at the screen and get into it. What a douche-nozzle! I can’t wait for the hearings but I might have to make sure there isn’t anything throwable near by. It seems every single person involved with this crypto crap is a charlatan.

        There was also a great one this week from Michael Saylor who quickly shreds the entire crypto space (except for bitcoin of course) and details the multiple types of fraud that SBF has committed. Definitely worth a look if you enjoy this sort of thing. Just wow.

    4. crypto will undergo mainstream adoption in a decade…. cryptos will overtake traditional investment vehicles.

      I’ve asked this question multiple times, and never got a real answer: Is crypto an investment asset, or a currency? You don’t “adopt” a share of 3M or Ford.

      1. It is neither, it is simply a fraud. This will become clear to everyone at some point in the future when the money is all gone.

        1. I think it will become clear once it becomes clear that Bitcoin’s only backing is “full adoption,” and then it becomes clear that no country will allow full adoption of Bitcoin (not even El Salvador). That is, people will realize that there IS no backing for Bitcoin, and they will try to unload it quick, before anyone else figures this out. But once the game is up, Bitcoin will go to 0, once and for all.

          1. There’s a huge dark market online that needs blockchain money in order to conduct business. Besides, how is the CIA going to engage in business with Viktor Bout again now that he’s back in the game?

  8. “This coming recession, if it does come, will largely be an artifact of policy, with a handful of unelected bureaucrats based in Washington choosing to increase unemployment and bankrupt businesses in order to cool off the country’s high inflation rates.”

    Central banks are facing a Hobson’s choice of progressively higher inflation or increased unemployment. In the 1970s, they followed a high inflation path to higher inflation, which eventually led to painful back-to-back recessions to contain inflation. They seem determined to not let inflation spiral out of control again this time.

    1. “…bankrupt businesses…”

      How much is the world going to miss high risk gambling operations like FTX that can’t survive interest rates returning to historic norms? Nobody on the left acknowledges the War on Savers that funded the risk asset boom.

    2. …a handful of unelected bureaucrats based in Washington choosing to increase unemployment and bankrupt businesses in order to cool off the country’s high inflation rates…

      Sounds like a billionaire hooknose is pissed off that the FED just took away his free cheese.

      1. Yeah, that stock phrase “unelected bureaucrat in Washington” is a dead giveaway. Of course, Jay Powell isn’t directly elected, but he was nominated by an elected President (two actually), and confirmed by elected Senators. This is called delegation of authority, and it’s been happening since … well I think Ancient Rome.

        I bet the hooknoses complain about “stifling innovation” too. Yeah, wouldn’t we all like to innovate our own laws.

  9. ‘It’s unclear if there are any legal restraints against these longer amortizations’

    Supposedly they are illegal in K-da.

    ‘Ideally, they want you to stick to that initial amortization commitment. But what I took from that commentary was, ‘absolutely, we are very flexible, and we will make sure that we help our clients get through it…It’s a function of the risk management process. They don’t want to obviously take possession of homes. And so as long as the person can carry that debt, there’s no reason to go to the extreme. And it sounds like what they’ll do is they’ll just extend amortizations to the point that’s necessary’

    Get out the red rubber noses and multi-colored wigs, cuz K-da has become clown world when it comes to igloo loans. Fer years, they wagged their fingers and bragged about their ‘rock solid lending’. (Money laundering, cough cough). Based on – the ‘stress test!’

    And at the very first ripple of trouble, they quietly dumped the stress test like it never existed. But worry not penguin feeders, they are doing this to ‘help’ you! Just keep making those payments and forget yer 20-40% underwater with prices still sinking like a turd in an icy well.

    1. ‘It’s unclear if there are any legal restraints against these longer amortizations’

      If someone willingly signs a piece of paper agreeing to a future lifetime of debt slavery, isn’t that their God-given right?

  10. Do you wish you hadn’t invested in illiquid risk assets, like bubble-priced real estate or real estate investment funds that can lock up your money during a crash?

    1. The Financial Times
      Blackstone Group LP
      How the gates closed on Blackstone’s runaway real estate vehicle
      Redemptions from Breit accelerated in July as Asian property markets plunged and interest rates rose
      Signage outside Blackstone’s headquarters in New York
      The real estate fund has grown to account for about 10% of Blackstone’s fee-paying assets under management, according to analysts
      Antoine Gara and Sujeet Indap in New York and Kaye Wiggins in London December 5 2022

      In July, Blackstone chief executive Stephen Schwarzman recounted a surprise meeting with an investor in the firm’s $69bn-in-assets private real estate vehicle designed for wealthy individual investors.

      The person had approached Schwarzman to tell him the fund, called Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, or Breit, was his largest position. “I love you people. This is so amazing. All of my friends are losing a fortune in the market and I’m still making money,” recounted Schwarzman of the meeting on a quarterly earnings call.

      In fact, investors were pulling money from Breit at the time, alarming close watchers of Blackstone. Investors withdrew more than 2 per cent of its net assets that month, according to sources familiar with the matter and securities filings, exceeding a threshold at which Blackstone can limit investor withdrawals.

      Asian investors had been pulling cash from the fund during the spring and summer as property markets in the region plunged. Some carried high personal leverage and were hit with margin calls, said two people familiar with the matter. Breit, the value of which has risen this year, could be sold at high prices to meet the cash calls.

      As the selling intensified and moved beyond Asia, Schwarzman and Blackstone’s president Jonathan Gray each added more than $100mn to their investments in Breit this summer, said a source with knowledge of the matter. Blackstone declined to comment on the purchases.

      Blackstone chose to not place any limits on investors hoping to withdraw money from Breit in July. Though it has always told its investors the product is only semi-liquid, such a move could have sparked fears among investors that they could not easily get their money out. But a growing tide of redemption requests forced Breit to announce on Thursday it would finally raise “gates” — allowing the fund manager to limit the volume of assets redeemed — through to the end of the year.

      The move has sent shockwaves inside Blackstone, tarnishing what has become the biggest engine of asset and fee growth inside the world’s largest alternative asset manager. On Thursday, Blackstone’s shares fell more than 7 per cent and a host of analysts downgraded their outlook on the company over fears that the decision could cause its growth to stall.

      “The Breit outflow bear case is playing out,” said Michael Brown, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. “[We] expect it to remain an overhang on shares in the coming quarters.”
      …

      2. I’m not sure Robert Schumann is a good role model, but Professor Bear and Get Stucco do offer unique perspectives on the real estate CR8Ring process underway.

    3. The Financial Times
      Blackstone Group LP
      Blackstone may slow launch of private equity fund after investor withdrawals
      Asset manager’s real estate and credit vehicles have been hit by wave of redemption requests
      Blackstone’s headquarters in Manhattan
      Blackstone has told wealthy investors that it may wait for fundraising conditions and financial markets to improve before launching BXPE
      Antoine Gara in New York 4 hours ago

      Blackstone has warned of the risk of delays to the launch of a new private equity fund designed for wealthy individuals, as it copes with heavy investor withdrawals at two other funds in real estate and credit aimed at a similar clientele.

      The New York-based investment manager has been preparing to open a fund called the Blackstone Private Equity Strategies Fund, or BXPE, that would become its flagship strategy for rich individuals to participate in its private equity business. Blackstone has historically catered to institutional clients such as pension funds.

      Blackstone has in recent days informed wealthy investors and their financial advisers that it may wait for fundraising conditions and financial markets to improve before launching BXPE, according to people familiar with the matter. Clients of Blackstone’s other “retail” products told the Financial Times they had expected the fund to be launched by early 2023.

      The potential delay comes days after the group limited withdrawals from its $69bn Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust after a spate of redemption requests from its wealthy individual investors. In 2021 Blackstone launched a similar product designed for credit investments that has also received redemptions.

      The curbs on withdrawals from the real estate fund have raised concerns over its future growth and hit Blackstone’s share price. Blackstone declined to comment.
      …

      1. Too bad, so sad for the wealthy Blackstone clients taking an ass pounding in real estate funds especially designed to separate the rich from their dollars.

    4. The Financial Times
      Blackstone Group LP
      Blackstone chief dismisses concerns over $69bn real estate fund
      Stephen Schwarzman calls Breit vehicle ‘some of our best work’ after limits on investor withdrawals
      Stephen Schwarzman said recent redemption requests for its Breit fund came from overleveraged investors in Asia
      Antoine Gara in New York
      December 7 2022
      Due Diligence
      Blackstone’s Breit investors want their money back

      The head of Blackstone has spoken out for the first time since the investment group restricted withdrawals from a $69bn property fund, tying a spate of redemptions to investors facing stress in Asia.

      The outlook for the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, or Breit, has riveted Wall Street after the group limited withdrawals last week. Blackstone’s stock has slid more than 10 per cent since the announcement.

      Blackstone chief executive Stephen Schwarzman on Wednesday disputed the idea that the restrictions reflected problems at the fund, which has $125bn of assets mostly invested in warehouses and apartments in the US when accounting for leverage.

      “The idea that there is something going wrong with this product because people are redeeming is conflating completely incorrect assumptions,” Schwarzman said at an industry conference. “This was not meant to be a mutual fund with daily liquidity. These are pieces of real estate.”

      He confirmed that many of the redemption requests came from Asia, where investors tend to use more borrowed money to back positions and needed to raise cash to meet margin calls when markets soured earlier this year. Those investors faced “excruciating financial pressure”, Schwarzman said.

      Blackstone limited investor withdrawals from Breit after breaching monthly and quarterly limits on redemptions. The announcement has cast doubt on the future expansion of the fund, which has grown quickly in recent years and accounts for a fifth of the group’s fee-based earnings.

      Breit was launched in 2017 as a way for wealthy investors to gain access to its real estate investment platform and offer them the same ability as large institutions to diversify away from public markets.

      As a trade-off, they would have to accept giving up some liquidity rights. The fund allows for 2 per cent of total assets to be redeemed by clients each month, with a maximum of 5 per cent allowed in a calendar quarter.

      In October, Breit received $1.8bn in redemption requests, or about 2.7 per cent of its net asset value, and has received redemption requests in November and December exceeding the quarterly limit.

      It fulfilled 43 per cent of redemption requests it received for November. Investors will be allowed to redeem just 0.3 per cent of the fund’s net assets this month.

      Schwarzman acknowledged Breit could face continued pressure and slower inflows amid rising market volatility.

      “[We] are in a cycle where retail investors are less apt to be investing in things . . . [People] get scared. It is completely normal and not a concern,” he said. “I look at this and say this is just a pause — an expected pause — of people pulling money out.”

      Schwarzman said Breit’s portfolio continues to perform well, with income from its properties rising 13 per cent this year.
      …

      1. “…many of the redemption requests came from Asia, where investors tend to use more borrowed money to back positions and needed to raise cash to meet margin calls when markets soured earlier this year.”

        What is this talk of Asians using borrowed funds to get into a fund explicitly designed for wealthy people? I thought all Asians were rich and only made all cash investments, but I stand corrected.

  11. “he spends many of his days quietly starving”

    World Economic Forum loves this, they want more of this.

    1. Coming soon to a town near you, via 30%+ food production decreases.

      Some of you will starve to death, but that’s a sacrifice we are willing to make to save the world* – The WEF

      *and when you do starve to death, we will blame it on climate change and lock down every country we can.

      1. Coming soon to a town near you, via 30%+ food production decreases.

        IF the FED pivots (too soon), which a large majority of financial talking heads predict, the tsunami of free money still sloshing around but on the sidelines is poised to run straight into commodities and all needs-based assets.

        This will be the final nail in the coffin for the working class and the poor as the pigmen run the cost of living into the stratosphere, hoovering every last nickel into their possession.

        This has been nothing but a massive wealth transfer from “The Great Financial Crisis” on forward. They rigged the system, paid no price for their sins, and doubled down.

        1. This has been nothing but a massive wealth transfer

          It is that, but more. Reducing the world’s food supply by 30% or more guarantees that millions, if not billions, will die of starvation. They know this and are moving forward anyway.

        2. It is all about how to increase their wealth for these people. They need control to do this. Control the air waves (do not tolerate dissent), control public policy (Fed, environment), control elected officials and regulators – all for increasing their wealth.
          Notice how none of the reporters ever ask simple direct questions when billionaires and unelected government officials nonchalantly spin a narrative.
          The way the nullify an honest person is to promote them or their dumb spawn to a position beyond their capabilities. The honest person knows that they or their spawn do not deserve the position so they start toeing the line. Another way to buy the opposition. That is what has happened with all the government agencies such as the education system, the judicial system, FED, SEC etc.

  12. ‘China is already in a “growth recession” because GDP is expanding too slowly to stop unemployment from rising.’

    Where’s Albuquerque Dan when you need someone to put in a good word about Chinese economic prospects?

    1. Bloomberg: Business News Daily
      End of Covid Zero Threatens to Overwhelm China With Infections
      – China is rapidly giving up on policies that suppressed Covid
      – Deaths may reach 2.1 million, according to research firm
      Bloomberg News
      December 8, 2022 at 3:30 PM PST
      Updated on December 8, 2022 at 7:28 PM PST

      China faces a daunting task after abruptly giving up on Covid Zero, with infections set to surge and deaths predicted to top 2 million.

      The world’s most populous nation is rapidly abandoning the mass testing, lockdowns and centralized quarantine that defined the stringent, three year-old policy. Yet little time has been spent putting in place the mitigation measures needed to deal with the resulting explosion in cases, which could total 5.6 million a day at the peak, according to some estimates. 

      Unlike the whack-a-mole pattern of the outbreaks that took place in the US and Europe over months and years, China is likely to see a wave of infections engulf the country all at once in a population that until now has largely avoided exposure to the virus. 

      The result of China’s acceptance of Covid will be like nothing the world has seen in the pandemic. 

      Experts in science to economics paint a picture of impending chaos, with absenteeism paralyzing factories, serious disease overwhelming hospitals and outbreaks forcing residents to hunker down in their homes. Between 1.3 million and 2.1 million people may die, based on Hong Kong’s earlier experience with the omicron variant, according to an estimate by London-based research firm Airfinity.
      …
      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-08/end-of-covid-zero-threatens-to-overwhelm-china-with-infections

      1. This is globalist scum propaganda. They made 1.4 billion people live worse than dogs and are backtracking so they don’t end up with pooh bears head on a stick.

        1. Speaking of, as bad as the puddle watching revelations are, what about ivermectin? You got people killed Dorsey. Did you know Dr McCullough is still banned? Did you know that murdering rat bashtard Fauci has never treated one patient?

          2. It’s a medical genocide.

            And these globalists think that we’re going to just forget about all of it, be quiet, and go away.

            These people all have NAMES.

            Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, Justin Trudeau, people like that have security details.

            Middle tier health “experts” do not have security details. People who write for the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, Salon et cetera do not have security details. The overwhelming majority of pre-Elon era Blue Checkmarks do not have security details (and more importantly, everything they have ever tweeted is archived).

            And in the absence of any real justice system to prosecute, convict, and execute them, extra-judicial solutions may become necessary.

            Anyone who participated in this medical genocide needs to live in fear for the rest of their lives. They know they are responsible for the deaths of millions, and with the “vaccines” likely tens of millions or hundreds of millions.

            Never forgive. Never forget.

          3. You got people killed Dorsey.

            Have you noticed that this creep tries to distance himself from what was going on at Twitter, like it wasn’t him?

        2. They listened to the protesters, but were able to arrest each and every one because of cell phone tracking.

          2. If you’re going to do something that the PTB might be interested in, FFS leave the cell phone/FBI tracking device at home.

            we live in the dumbest timeline.

      2. “Experts in science to economics paint a picture of impending chaos, with absenteeism paralyzing factories, serious disease overwhelming hospitals and outbreaks forcing residents to hunker down in their homes. Between 1.3 million and 2.1 million people may die”

        Thanks for the laugh. The experts!

  14. A reader sent these in:

    CarDealershipGuy

    This is getting absolutely ridiculous… WTF

    https://twitter.com/GuyDealership/status/1601350382751744000

    The Kobeissi Letter

    Bond markets have truly been the leading indicator throughout this bear market. We saw bonds get crushed as the Fed raised rates. Now, bond markets began trading like the Fed pivoted over a month ago. The Fed pivot is already priced in. Next comes the recession and deflation.

    https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1601313217237569536

    Danielle DiMartino Booth

    The edifice is crumbling. @Lennar circulating lists of 5,000 properties to potential acquirers. Many of the properties located in Southwest & Southeast, w/the builder giving landlords chance to acquire entire subdivisions in some cases.

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1601317392277471232

    It is politics like this that will eventually lead to the collapse of the US Dollar. We have almost $32 trillion in debt (more unofficially) and they keep piling on at $2 trillion per year. Our economy is not growing fast enough to support the debt. Now at 130% debt to GDP.😰

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1601094292063375360

    Janet Yellon standing in front of freshly printed US Dollars to pay for our deficit spending and the Ponzi scheme … 🔥🔥🔥 “our currency should reflect our country” 🤣… 😰 none of own enough silver and gold.

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1601269082300776449

    He is so f*cked
    Quote Tweet
    Elon Musk
    @elonmusk
    If the Fed raises rates again next week, the recession will be greatly amplified

    https://twitter.com/eliant_capital/status/1601299387367686144

    So one of the most criminal unions in history is gonna get a bunch of taxpayer money from one of the more criminal administrations in history. Do I have that right?

    https://twitter.com/Stimpyz1/status/1600968697597698048

    Lance Lambert

    There’s no doubt about it: The Southeast was the epicenter of home price growth over the past year. Florida is No. 1 at $77,000 average year-over-year equity gain. Idaho—the epicenter of the Pandemic Housing Boom—is last at $4,000 equity gain.

    https://twitter.com/NewsLambert/status/1601245371166240768

    Some Millennials are worse than others…

    https://twitter.com/PeterZeihan/status/1601243589807259650

    Nearly 70% of Americans struggling to pay grocery bills, per Fox Business News.

    https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1601197721548988417

    Redfin

    (4/5) Homebuyers who remain in the market are getting better deals than earlier this year. Twenty-five percent of homes sold above their final list price, down from 42% a year earlier and the lowest level since June 2020.

    https://twitter.com/Redfin/status/1601281967609511936

    After listening to @DiMartinoBooth Dr. Lacy Hunt would likely say experiment of QE failed miserably. All the Fed & Tsy did was rack up debt and losses and the economy got nothing for it. Policy should be implemented so that the Fed is never allowed to do this again. Policy shift.

    https://twitter.com/nwtSwaps4CL/status/1601286653855006720

    Rick Palacios Jr.

    Interesting that FHA mortgage delinquency rates are rising this quickly without widespread job losses.

    https://twitter.com/RickPalaciosJr/status/1601277071388340225

    People have no idea how much the FHA subsidizes mortgage credit risk. And of course after a few years of good results, they talk about lowering their credit fees. Very pro-cyclical.

    https://twitter.com/trader_mtg/status/1601296813482729472

    So you want to be a landlord? Client has a tenant who hasn’t paid rent since the rent moratorium was put in place. Current unpaid amount…. $50k. Tenant is an unemployed trust funder.

    https://twitter.com/Cribdilla/status/1601302879729381386

    Lyn Alden

    Based on a number of metrics, banks’ overall lending willingness is in contraction, and resembles what tends to happen leading into recessions. Of course, every cycle is different and has its own nuances.

    https://twitter.com/LynAldenContact/status/1600992342525124608

    Someone’s on verge of writing an open letter to JPOW about more rate increases

    https://twitter.com/OptionsMir/status/1601305632443084801

    Danielle DiMartino Booth

    “The transatlantic automaker, formerly known as Fiat Chrysler, said the plant will cease production as of Feb. 28. The more than 1,200 workers at the facility, which produces Jeep Cherokee SUVs, will be placed on indefinite layoffs.”

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1601318421731368961

    Elon and Cathie Wood make a good lobbying team. Similar brands.

    https://twitter.com/donnelly_brent/status/1601342580499046400

    Zestimate meet reality

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1601343966678433793

    The @federalreserve screwed up here. Not in their latest actions.

    https://twitter.com/JeremyWhittaker/status/1600833724652097536

    Peter Schiff
    @PeterSchiff
    Replying to
    @elonmusk
    That’s true, but if the #Fed doesn’t raise rates #inflation will be greatly amplified, which will ultimately amplify the #recession even more.

    https://twitter.com/PeterSchiff/status/1601302824104574976

    John Wake

    Remember, on the way up we had all those Californians and others paying WAY above list price and creating a new, high comp and driving up prices for the whole neighborhood? Will those same people be crazy on the downside too and sell way below comps and drive down house prices?

    https://twitter.com/JohnWake/status/1601333773047455745

    HousingWire

    CoStar Group trims about 100 employees and UpEquity slashes 25% of its workforce as the housing industry continues to rightsize.

    https://twitter.com/HousingWire/status/1601388732459909120

    2. So one of the most criminal unions in history is gonna get a bunch of taxpayer money from one of the more criminal administrations in history. Do I have that right?

      Birds of a feather fly together

    3. Elon Musk
      @elonmusk
      If the Fed raises rates again next week, the recession will be greatly amplified

      Nearly 70% of Americans struggling to pay grocery bills, per Fox Business News.

      Maybe the former should read the latter. I’m sick of billionaire fearmongering designed to protect their bottom line. Cry me a river, greedhead.

    4. Client has a tenant who hasn’t paid rent since the rent moratorium was put in place. Current unpaid amount…. $50k.

      Well relatives die and leave assets and a judgment can be renewed, plus the interet compounds

  15. Re: long queues and lucky draws were needed for home sales

    Is that supposed to be a “golden era” to be brought back?

    It is also interesting how the term “golden” was subconsciously used. In fact, the real golden era was when currencies represented real gold and silver.

    Since Nixon reneged on Bretton Woods and turned the US dollar overnight into a worthless piece of paper representing nothing (like the stock certificate of a defunct company) it has been seeking its logical level, i.e., zero, in an asymptotic manner which has not penetrated the skulls of the bunch of morons called economists . . .

  16. Going to 2:30 of the video gives you a look at the Twitter employees “work?” day.

    TUCKER CARLSON: Musk’s experiment showed at least 80% of Twitter’s payroll wasn’t doing much

    Tucker reveals how Twitter employees spent their days before Musk’s takeover

    By Tucker Carlson | Fox News
    Published December 9, 2022 10:01pm EST

    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-musks-experiment-showed-80-twitters-payroll-wasnt-doing-much?cmpid=prn_newsstand

    1. TUCKER CARLSON: Musk’s experiment showed at least 80% of Twitter’s payroll wasn’t doing much

      Sure they were. They were speculating all day in crypto while searching for their 3rd Airbnb purchase. Only is the FED’s ridiculous money-printing scam was this possible.

  17. “‘It will take substantially more evidence to give comfort that inflation is actually declining. The truth is that the path ahead for inflation remains highly uncertain,’ he said, adding: ‘Despite the tighter policy and slower growth over the past year, we have not seen clear progress on slowing inflation.’”

    Inflation can’t and won’t slow until the Keynesian fraudsters at the Fed stop increasing the money supply. Issuing new debt that is paid for by Yellen Bux created out of thin air to pay for the Brandon regime’s drunken-sailor spending will more than offset the deflation caused by tapped-out consumers tightening their belts.

    1. Inflation “too much money cashing too few goods” The FED can get rid of too much money but the other part is broken and not as easy to fix

      1. Especially when global leadership is doing everything it can to discourage the production of goods, including energy and food.

  18. Joe Biden’s America (keep paying those property taxes, suckers).

    New York Post — 50 shell-shocked teachers, staff flee chaotic Florida school district (12/9/2022):

    “Violent and disrespectful classroom behavior has led to a staggering 50 teachers and bus drivers to quit a Florida school district in the last two years.

    Brevard County School District, the state’s 10th-largest, held a heated meeting Thursday that offered an unvarnished and often disturbing glimpse into the state of its classrooms.

    “On an everyday basis I am deflecting being attacked, scratched, headbutted, pushed, hit,” teacher Alicia Kelderhouse said as her voice choked with emotion. “I’ve had my hair pulled, and pulled down to the ground. I’ve had my throat gone for on multiple occasions. It’s on an everyday basis right now.”

    One student began masturbating inside a classroom, an act that was recorded by a classmate and posted to a group chat.

    Another teacher was hit in the face with a tape dispenser, while a colleague suffered a bite mark the “size of an orange” after a student munched on her arm.

    Another educator frequently had to remove all furniture from her class because kids were routinely chucking it around the room or at each other.

    One district teacher said behaviors have markedly worsened since the pandemic — but the classroom behavior was already plunging before COVID-19.”

    Two weeks to “flatten the curve” did you say?

    “The pandemic was an accelerant to a fire that was already raging,” he said.

    The same staffer asserted that sexual misconduct, drug use, theft, violence, targeted spitting and property destruction had become the demoralizing hallmarks of his profession.

    Several speakers pointed to the ubiquity of cellphones as a driver of classroom disorder, casting many students as screen addicts no longer capable of sustained attention.

    Asserting that a culture of “unbelievable disrespect” has taken hold, one teacher said her kids look at their devices “hundreds” of times each day and keep their earbuds in while lessons are in progress.

    “Our students cannot look away from their phones,” she said. “They cannot stop texting.”

    https://nypost.com/2022/12/09/staff-quit-school-district-over-violent-and-unruly-kids/

    “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon” — Barack Hussein Obama

    2. Asserting that a culture of “unbelievable disrespect” has taken hold, one teacher said her kids look at their devices “hundreds” of times each day and keep their earbuds in while lessons are in progress.

      The globalists & their Neo-Bolshevik stooges at the DNC must be orgasmic to see our NEA indoctrination mills churn out future commies and Democrat dependency voters.

  19. In Colorado Springs and Honolulu, more than 30% of mortgaged homes bought this year are underwater.

    Is that a lot? So far most of the greedheads of CoS aren’t budging on their delusional wish prices. About a third of the shacks are “price reduced,” but the reductions typically under $10K. NP, greedheads, I’ve got all the time in the world – you don’t.

  21. People are really running up credit card debts and dipping into their 401k’s just to make ends meet,’ Jenkins said.

    But…but…the ice cream connoisseur-in-chief said our economy was “strong as hell.” One of these things is not like the other.

    1. the ice cream connoisseur-in-chief said our economy was “strong as hell.”

      It is if you are part of his Nomenklatura

  22. “Foreclosures in Virginia are up 175% from this time last year, according to Better Homes and Garden Real Estate Broker Susan Jenkins, as pandemic-era loan forgiveness programs come to an end and purse strings tighten.

    Is that a lot?

  23. Many Canadians with variable-rate mortgages have seen their amortization periods lengthen beyond the 25-year maximum as rates increased.

    Lil’ Fidel’s WEF puppet regime has really been pushing assisted suicide for Canadians who are no longer “economically viable.”

    1. If Clownifornia owes reparations to anyone, it’s to the local Indian tribes. But we all know that won’t be happening.

      1. While RE is tanking, the homeless population is becoming violent, the middle class cannot afford groceries, the real economy is headed for a years long recession and Gavin Newsom wants to saddle taxpayers with reparations? LMFAO!!

        1. If the objective is to make everyone as miserable as possible, then his actions make perfect sense. And here is a scary thought: he might be president someday.

        3. the middle class cannot afford groceries

          Hence the California Middle Class Tax Refund Cards that just arrived in the mail. Never mind they’re contributing to inflation.

  25. “Even as higher borrowing rates take a toll on the real estate market, Canada’s biggest banks appear to be brushing off any signs of housing-related stress on their balance sheets.

    Criminally negligent to the bitter end. Same as the gold collar criminals at the Fed.

  26. Property taxes? Did someone mention property taxes? Because when you buy a house, your property taxes are paying to promote this in the public schools.

    Where were all these alleged tranny children thirty years ago before the internet was widely available?

    Where were all these alleged tranny children twenty years ago before smart phones and mobile social media was widely available?

    And why do you never hear globalist scum media ask either of those questions?

    Marxism. Because under Marxism children are property of the state.

    New York Times — Transgender Americans Feel Under Siege as Political Vitriol Rises (12/10/2022):

    “Language about pedophiles and “grooming” of young children has intensified a movement, reminiscent of campaigns dating to the 1970s, that seeks to turn transgender people into a political wedge.

    Since far-right social media activists began attacking Boston Children’s Hospital over the summer for providing care for transgender children, the hospital has received repeated bomb threats. Doctors across the country who do similar work have been harassed.”

    They’re not doctors. They are mutilators.

    “Conservatives say they are trying to protect children from irreversible treatments and ensure women’s sports remain fair; in midterm election ads, right-wing groups argued that transition care amounted to “radical gender experiments” and that allowing transgender athletes to compete on teams matching their gender identity would “destroy girls’ sports.”

    “We know that they are animated by what they’re seeing in online spaces,” Oren Segal, the vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, said of anti-L.G.B.T.Q. attackers. “Those online narratives, the propaganda that is disseminated by these bad actors, is informed and often legitimized by other voices in our public discussion, whether it’s elected officials or others.”

    Oren Segal were you elected to govern anything? No. Oren Segal were you appointed by a government agency to a position requiring Congressional approval? No. Where is your alleged authority over anything derived from, besides your own delusions, because you have no legitimate authority over anything.

    “Conservative commentators, however, have continued to focus on it. Tucker Carlson had a guest on his Fox News show after the Colorado shooting who said violence would continue unless transgender advocates’ “evil agenda” stopped. The commentator Matt Walsh told his 1.2 million Twitter followers that people were “soulless demons” if they responded to the attack by denouncing those “who don’t think children should be exposed to drag shows.”

    People tend to become more accepting when they know L.G.B.T.Q. people personally. But Lindsey Clark, the deputy director for the Human Rights Campaign’s Transgender Justice Initiative, who is transgender and nonbinary, said it was hard to ask transgender people to reach out when doing so could put them in danger.

    Jay Brown, the Human Rights Campaign’s senior vice president of programs, research and training, said, “We need to hurry up history.”

    https://archive.ph/LiKAC

    Hurry up history? What do you mean by that Jay Brown?

    When Marxists overthrew the Czar in Russia 1917, they embarked on a genocidal campaign to hurry up history. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they embarked on a genocidal campaign to hurry up history.

    Rick Santorum was right.

    He was mocked and belittled by globalist scum media for speaking out a decade ago, but he was right.

    See also: the collapse of the Roman Empire.

    And P.S. keep paying those property taxes, slaves.

    1. New York Times — Transgender Americans Feel Under Siege as Political Vitriol Rises

      They got impatient and jumped the gun. Still, the Bolsheviks have their backs, at least in the Blue parts of the country.

  27. Britain once compared itself to giants like France and Germany; today many of its metrics more closely resemble Eastern Europe’s weaker economies.

    Since the end of WWII, the UK sheeple have elected globalist Quislings who flooded the once “green and pleasant isle” with unassimilable 3rd world migrants. The heritage population voted for their own demise and replacement, and now they’re reaping what they voted, pure and simple.

    1. The heritage population voted for their own demise and replacement, and now they’re reaping what they voted, pure and simple.
      Sadly, I see this as a possible forecast for the US.

      1. “a possible forecast”

        Based on how voters age 18 to 30 voted in the 2022 elections, it’s not a possibility, it’s a certainty.

        See also: the collapse of the Roman Empire.

    2. now they’re reaping what they voted, pure and simple

      My UK relatives fully support this. They think it’s wonderful that England is undergoing a “fundamental transformation”

  28. “One in 6 British households are on social security checks, and almost a third of British children live in poverty, government figures show. One in 4 are facing financial difficulty or are already mired in it, and almost 1 in 10 have missed paying bills, according to the Financial Conduct Authority regulator.”

    Decades of socialism and globalism have destroyed everything that used to be great about Great Britain. Coming soon to a Neo-Bolshevik malgoverned country near you.

    1. One in 6 British households are on social security checks

      Over there “social security” is the dole. What we call Social Security they call “old age pension”

    2. almost a third of British children live in poverty, government figures show.

      Helluva job. Now keep bending thy knee to the antiquated monarchy and paying for their clown show while you can’t afford heat.

  29. After all, why do you want to buy something that you expect to become cheaper?’”

    Why indeed. The Wile E. Coyote moment approacheth.

  30. ‘Thus, people who had debts to clear would just choose to give up their homes to the creditors through distressed auctions.’”

    Isn’t central planning grand?

    2. It is self evident to anyone that food prices have been rising faster than inflation. A few items that make it to my shopping cart:

      Milk: up 30+%
      Eggs: up 100%
      Poultry: up 20%
      Steaks: up 30%
      Produce: 30-50%

      YMMV by your location.

      1. We are very fortunate to have a young adult child living nearby who maintains a flock of egg-laying hens.

      3. Pretty soon everything but bugs will be cost prohibitive for you serfs but it’ll still be lobster, filet mignon and private jets for the election stealers.

      4. I dunno i got 2 nice vacuum sealed roasts for $2.99 lb, with didgital coupon, nomally $7.99 this week 3.99 then $1 of course the use or freeze by date is in 2 weeks. thats usually the catch but i have 3 accounts so ill get a 3rd monday , same with 80% hamburger $2.99 this week

        1. use or freeze by date is in 2 weeks

          Means it’s been in transit for 4 to 6 weeks already. The miracle of vacuum packaging.

        2. Picked up fresh lobster for $5.99 last week too. Best part is they steam it in the store at no cost.

        3. I’m talking about stuff that’s not on sale. Apples to apples. Once in a while Safeway has T-bones for $6.99/lb, but the normal price is $18.

          1. Well… remember that quote, “I can ask $50k for my 10 year old chevy pickup but where is the buyer at that price”?

            Same applies here. The price is $6.99/pound.

    3. 18 pack of store brand eggs jumped to $7.50 (12 pack to $5) from $5 last week (which is still outrageous, but it’s been at $5 for a few months now)

      they were less than $2 less than two years ago.

      That’s what, 250% inflation in 18 months?

      it’s not like anyone needs to eat or anything. Hey look TV’s are down 4%

      1. A doz eggs (large) has come down from $4.39 to $3.67. That’s over 15% in about a month.

        The price of grains is well off from bubble peaks earlier in the year. So goes the price of our food. Provisioning the boat for next season might be a lot easier than it was this year.

    1. The demented bald perv is fireproof and he knows it. He will keep doing cr@p like this to remind us that we are powerless to stop him.

  35. Ada County median home price drops year-over-year for first time since 2014
    KTVB
    Dec 9, 2022
    For the first time since October 2014, the median sales price for homes in Ada County has dropped year-over-year.

    The median price during the month of November 2022 was $525,000, down 2.5% compared to November of 2021, according to data from Intermountain MLS. That price is also 6.5% less than the median for October of this year. Median indicates the point at which half the homes in the county sold for less and half sold for more.

    When the string of year-over-year increases that ended last month began back in 2014, the median sales price in Ada County was a little less than $209,000, less than half what it is now. Still, the latest dip is a clear indicator that what’s been a white-hot real estate market continues to cool.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHy6wEAyB2E

    35 seconds.

    2. The median price during the month of November 2022 was $525,000, down 2.5% compared to November of 2021, according to data from Intermountain MLS.

      At today’s rates, half of that price is probably still too high.

  36. “Why Do You Want To Buy Something That You Expect To Become Cheaper?”

    With so many top real estate experts predicting price declines of 20% or so in 2023, wouldn’t it seem logical to stand by and stand back until prices stop dropping like a rock? What’s the hurry, especially when rents are also expected to decline?

    1. Finance ·Housing
      Where home prices are headed in 2023—this map shows CoreLogic’s revised outlook for 392 housing markets
      BY Lance Lambert
      November 22, 2022 at 1:56 AM PST

      When a buttoned-up Fed economist says the U.S. housing market has entered into a “difficult [housing] correction”, it’d be wise to believe them. When it comes from the lips of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, it’s more of a warning.
      …
      https://fortune.com/2022/11/22/housing-markets-where-home-prices-are-headed-in-2023-corelogic-forecast/

    3. Yahoo Finance
      Rent prices fall for a third straight month in November: RealPage data
      Dani Romero
      Wed, December 7, 2022 at 5:48 AM·2 min read

      Apartment rents across the U.S. recorded a third consecutive monthly decline in November, signaling a further cooldown in the U.S. housing market.

      The latest data from real estate platform RealPage showed asking rents for new leases nationally fell 0.59% in November, the third-largest monthly cut since 2010 outside of the pandemic-altered months of April and May 2020.

      While rents typically dip this time of year “this isn’t just normal seasonality in 2022,” Jay Parsons, VP, Head of Economics & Industry for RealPage, said in a release.

      On a year-over-year basis, national effective rent growth for new leases came in at 6.5%, the lowest since June 2021, and down from the peak of 15.7% in March 2022, according to RealPage.

      According to Parsons, the biggest factor weighing on rents today is a lack of new household formation, not renters swapping a rental for a purchase. In fact, renter turnover in November came in at the second-lowest level on record, according to RealPage’s data.

      “Inflation and economic uncertainty are having a freezing effect on major housing decisions. When people are uncertain, human nature is to go into ‘wait and see’ mode,” Parsons wrote. “Net new housing demand is dependent on household formation — which drove the 2021 housing surge but appears to have frozen earlier this year.”
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rent-prices-fall-november-2022-134838504.html

      1. “…asking rents for new leases nationally fell 0.59% in November, the third-largest monthly cut since 2010 outside of the pandemic-altered months of April and May 2020.”

        A one month decline of 0.59% occurs at an annualized rate of decline of
        1-(1-0.0059)^12 = 6.9%.

        I wouldn’t mind paying 7% less rent per month in 2024, after our current lease expires.

          1. That depends on the second derivative in logs.

            But my calculations should be interpreted as a change of units, not a prediction or extrapolation. If the rate of price decline stayed constant over the next twelve months, this is how much prices would fall. But as you noted, this is not likely to happen. In fact, as more buyers become aware of how fast prices are dropping, the rate of price decline is likely to accelerate.

          2. accelerate

            Something to at least be prepared for. I’ve seen a lot of business investments go badly when conceived by people laying yardsticks on a large piece of paper.

    4. With San Diego starter homes recently selling for $1 million or so, a 20% price decline would save buyers $200,000 on a home purchase. That’s approximately 3X the median San Diego household after tax income.

      Who wants to work another three+ years to pay for a house you could have bought for 20% less, if you had only been more patient?

      1. Who wants to work another three+ years

        Irrelevant. With a mortgage that exceeds your take home by a significant amount, you’ll never make it even close to that point. The house wouldn’t be still standing without maintenance either.

    5. “‘Recently, it is not possible to find a buyer without a sharp discount as people are expecting home prices will continue to fall,’ Zeng said. ‘Thus, people who had debts to clear would just choose to give up their homes to the creditors through distressed auctions.'”

      Distressed auctions seem like a great way to dump falling knife real estate when retail buyers are missing in action. There is almost always some price at which a buyer will be willing to pay for a shack, and auctions are a very good way to identify that one buyer’s willingness to pay.

    6. Have you tried telling people to wait? To have patience? To sit back and watch, there’s no hurry, there’s no big rush?

      it’s like talking to a wall

      Noooooo, gotta have a house now, now now now. Must buy now.

      Just like 08, nobody wants to hear it.

      1. I love to hear the wailing from people who are underwater. My reply – “you just HAD to have it, remember?”

  37. “Yang hopes he gets the right offer. Bigger picture, he’d like to see interest rates go down. ‘He hopes that the housing market will recover,’ his agent said. ‘He hopes that the interest from the Fed will not go so fast and so high and hopes it will come down at some time.’”

    If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

  38. I read the /r/coronavirus sub-Reddit so you don’t have to, and share these links as examples of Mass Formation Psychosis.

    COVID-vaccinated disdain unvaccinated, multi-country surveys find (12/9/2022):

    “People around the world who are vaccinated against COVID-19 look down on the unvaccinated as much or more than they do often-marginalized groups such as immigrants, drug addicts, and ex-convicts, while the unvaccinated display little rancor toward the vaccinated, suggests a study of more than 15,000 people from 21 countries with broad vaccine access.

    In the study, published yesterday in Nature, researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark conducted three linked assessments using YouGov and Ipsos surveys of 15,233 participants during Omicron variant predominance—within about the past year.

    Across the globe, sizeable groups are still unvaccinated, even in countries with easy vaccine access, the authors noted, and thus vaccination has been a subject of heated debate and protest in some countries. “Furthermore, vaccination status is consistently aligned with other political opinions such as trust in science and the authorities, and, in the case of the US, partisanship,” they wrote.

    When asked to rate how unhappy they would be if a close relative were marrying an unvaccinated versus a vaccinated person, on average, vaccinated respondents were 13 percentage points (country-level range, 1 to 36) more unhappy.

    Vaccinated participants’ desire to exclude unvaccinated from family relationships (13 percentage points) was 2.5 times stronger than the desire to exclude other groups often marginalized in many Western countries, such as immigrants from the Middle East (5 percentage points).

    “Unvaccinated targets face significantly more exclusionary reactions than immigrants in 11 out of 21 countries, while immigrants do not face significantly more exclusionary reactions in any of the countries,” the researchers wrote. “We do not suggest that the characteristics of these groups are comparable but this finding nonetheless suggests that the substantive size of the exclusionary reactions facing the unvaccinated is high.”

    There were large differences in the effects of vaccination status among vaccinated participants on fear of infection (38 percentage points) and perceptions of untrustworthiness (13 percentage points) and incompetence (14 percentage points).

    Vaccinated respondents showed antipathy toward the unvaccinated, even in a neutral evaluation task without any indication that participants would physically meet the fictitious targets. Across all six countries, vaccinated respondents disliked unvaccinated targets more than vaccinated targets by, on average, 14 percentage points.

    On average, the unvaccinated were disfavored as much as drug addicts (15 percentage points) and significantly more so than ex-convicts (10 percentage points), atheists (7 percentage points), and those with mental illness (6 percentage points).

    In study 3, a YouGov survey fielded only in the United States asked 1,448 respondents to assess five pairs of targets in terms of whether they thought they should be denied fundamental rights such as being allowed to move into their neighborhood, sit by them on public transportation, receive US citizenship, receive unemployment or welfare benefits, or freely express their political views on social media.

    Vaccinated respondents had greater antipathy toward their unvaccinated peers (16 percentage points) and were also 28 percentage points less likely to respect their freedom of movement, 10 percentage points less likely to respect their freedom of residence, 8 percentage points less likely to support their application for citizenship, and 7 percentage points less likely both to respect their freedom of speech and support their application for welfare benefits.

    The animosity could have serious repercussions for society, the researchers said. “The conflict between those who are vaccinated against COVID-19 and those who are not threatens societal cohesion as a new socio-political cleavage, and the vaccinated clearly seem to be the ones deepening this rift,” lead author Alexander Bor, PhD, said in the release.

    Vaccinated people resent those who they view as refusing to do their part in securing the public good. “The vaccinated react in quite a natural way against what they perceive as free-riding on a public good,” Petersen said. “This is a well-known psychological mechanism and thus a completely normal human reaction. Nonetheless, it could have severe consequences for society.”

    https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/covid-vaccinated-disdain-unvaccinated-multi-country-surveys-find

    If you have been “excluded” by people injected with mRNA poison, wear it like a badge of pride.

    And maintain your exclusion by not attending their funerals.

    1. The exclusive gatherings must be getting smaller. 90% of Americans rejected the latest “bipolar” booster so are not up to date.

  40. We need to add a Toyota 4Runner Limited to our fleet, leather seats, something my wife and daughter can go shopping without thinking about road conditions. Our Tacoma Access Cab manual trans, manual transfer case is too complicated, and there’s no place to securely store things in the back.

    Our city’s snow plowing services have really fallen short this year despite increased property taxes. The snow is at least a foot deep of slush on top of an ice layer on our neighborhood streets, and front wheel drive with studded snow tires doesn’t cut it because of a lack of ground clearance. The main roads are plowed, and they’re busy enough that the asphalt surface is exposed.

      1. Six months ago they were easily getting $60k for them, but they are struggling to get $54k right now, and hopefully closer to MSRP next spring. I’ll have one by next winter if the invisible hand get its way.

      1. It blows me away that the 4Runner still has (old man) wood grain trim on the interior. WTF, Toyota, ever hear of carbon fiber? 🙂

        1. Worse than that, a 270 hp 4 liter V6 returning 16 mpg? And it’s a dog. That’s pathetic in this day and age. The 3.5 liter Ford Ecoboost is putting out 400 hp and 500 ft lb of torque while STILL getting better mileage. Toyota got lazy on their engines.

          1. I’ll bet that normally aspirated Toyota engine will last at least twice as long as the Ford turbo, if not three times as long.

          2. One doesn’t buy Toyotas for their handling, acceleration or looks (personally, I think they’re ugly). The value proposition of any Toyota is durability and reliability. You expect it to last up to 300,000 miles. No one expects a Ford Explorer to last that long.

          3. I’ll bet that normally aspirated Toyota engine will last at least twice as long as the Ford turbo, if not three times as long.

            While I really like Toyotas, I think you’re grossly exaggerating. I’m not a Ford guy, but I was using the engine as an example for performance reasons.

            My BIL Has 160k trouble free miles on his 7 year old F150 with the Ecoboost. There are many reports of 300k+. The Toyota, while a good engine, is not going to go 600k, much less 900k. Most cars today are good for at least 250k miles.

          4. An hour each way to the city on snowy roads is hard on an AWD Haldex clutch while the full time 4×4 transfer case has no issue, and the repeated pounding on icy “washboard” roads is also hard on a uni-body suspension.

          5. That Toyota will definitely be a good rig for you. They’re made in their Japan plant, and the quality of construction is very high.

          6. It’s getting really difficult to find vehicles without the CVT these days. And I don’t want a 4,000-lb car powered by a 1.6-liter turbo engine either.

          7. “They’re made in their Japan plant, and the quality of construction is very high.”

            This is true. The problem with the “300k miles with no problem” notion with any rig is two fold; The rest of the ride falls apart mechanically(and interior) long before 300k miles, irrespective of brand. Secondly, and what everyone will find out is these little engines, many of them forced induction now, are more hydraulic pumps than they are IC engines. They require high level filtration and the hydraulic fluid as it were, requires much more frequent changes. GM is already dealing with this. Toyota has been for quite a while with it’s ring sticking problem resulting in oil consumption.

            If it’s forced induction and/or variable valve arrangement rig with complex hydraulic circuits in it, it’s gonna die an early death without diligent and frequent oil swaps…. in particular powerplants that are highly tuned by the factory a ‘la Fords twin turbo or Toys new twin turbo.

        2. Faux wood vs Faux carbon fiber

          Both are plastic

          Faux carbon fiber is the builder grade gray laminate of interior trims

          1. Faux wood vs Faux carbon fiber

            Yes sir, I realize that. Toyota uses faux carbon fiber in their Premium and TRD off-road class 4Runners, but not in their Limited luxury trim level, no choice. 🙁

            When I see that faux wood trim it conjures images of old Las Vegas gamblers, cigarette and bourbon, already dead but you can still see some light, etc.

  41. 2023 Toyota 4Runner Limited
    2 mi.
    $51,494 MSRP $51,494
    Hot Car
    Home Delivery
    Virtual Appointments
    Hot Car – this car is popular and expected to sell soon.

    It’s gonna cost you, pilgrim.

    1. “It’s gonna cost you, pilgrim.”

      Yep, the Tacoma will go first, but that’s okay as it’s the 4-cyl model, not the 6-cyl.

      I checked up and down the west coast for 4Runners on Craigslist for “owner” ads, and they’re asking more than the dealers are right now, so the squeeze is underway! I can install a front hitch receiver on the 4Runner’s frame for the hang glider similar to the Tacoma’s setup.

  45. ‘Compared to a year or two years ago, houses like this could get 10 offers, plus. The average house would sell like a hot cake. Right now, even the good houses, probably just get one or two offers – solid ones’

    ‘Yang hopes he gets the right offer’

    So you didn’t get a solid offer.

  46. ‘Non-payment and eviction rates are increasing, Choquette said, noting that rental arrears can situationally lead to mortgage arrears. ‘A mortgage is one of the biggest expenses a landlord will face,’ he said. ‘And if those costs are passed onto the tenants, and there’s insufficient revenue to pay those bills, then the cost of living crisis hits the landlord there as well’

    So you didn’t pass those costs on to the tenant and can’t pay them yerself.

    1. “Non-payment and eviction rates are increasing, Choquette said…”

      They’ll never see a penny of it either. Best to just get ’em out even if you have to rent a truck to do it.

  47. ‘Zeng expects his business to double by the end of next year. ‘In rosy days, people who need money at short notice can always dump their homes on the secondary market quickly for a rather decent price,’ he said. ‘But it is a different market now.’

    That’s the spirit!

    1. Can the Chinese file bankruptcy to welsh on their debts and expect new credit cards to arrive in the mail à la USA?

  49. There is hope:

    Peru’s leftist president Pedro Castillo was impeached and removed by Peru’s congress.

  50. Ana Paula Pereira
    8 hours ago
    SBF tried to destabilize crypto market to save FTX: Report

    Trades made by Alameda Research were reportedly focusing on depegging Tether’s stablecoin.
    SBF tried to destabilize crypto market to save FTX: Report
    News
    Collect this article as NFT

    Tether executives and Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao worried that Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), former FTX CEO, was attempting to destabilize the crypto market aiming to save the now-bankrupt exchange, according to reports on Dec. 9.

    Messages seen by The Wall Street Journal of a Signal group chat named “Exchange coordination” reveals an argument between CZ and SBF on Nov. 10 about Tether’s stablecoin USDT. 

    According to the report, CZ and others in the group worried that trades made by Alameda Research were focusing on depegging the stablecoin, which would have a ripple effect in crypto prices.
    …
    https://cointelegraph.com/news/sbf-tried-to-destabilize-crypto-market-to-save-ftx-report

    1. Federal Reserve
      The Economy
      Buckle Up: It’s Going to Be a Hard Landing
      By Megan Cassella
      Updated Dec. 10, 2022 11:32 am ET / Original Dec. 9, 2022 4:50 pm ET
      A spate of recent data is telling the Fed it has to go higher, and will probably have to raise interest rates beyond the 5% terminal rate they had previously forecast.

      The Federal Reserve’s heavily telegraphed move to slow its pace of monetary-policy tightening next week risks sending a message to markets that the central bank is well on its way to reining in inflation and guiding the economy to a soft landing. Investors would do well to re-evaluate.

      Regardless of the Fed’s pace of monetary-policy tightening, the more consequential message the economy is sending now is that the central bank probably will have to raise interest rates beyond the roughly 5% range that markets are expecting in order to wrestle the current bout of inflation back closer to its target level. And that, in turn, suggests that at least a mild recession looks increasingly necessary for prices to finally cool off.

      “We’re headed for a hard landing. And it’s a tough story to sell because the data look good,” says Aneta Markowska, chief financial economist with Jefferies. “That’s going to change.”

      The optimist camp argues that the combination of October’s mild cooling in the consumer price index, the subtle drop in labor demand, and the Fed’s own downshift suggest that the economy is softening in all of the right ways, reacting to tighter policy without dropping off a cliff. But what this argument misses is how much further inflation and the labor market must fall—and how painful that drop will be.
      …
      https://www.barrons.com/articles/economy-recession-interest-rates-fed-51670622600

    2. Treasuries
      Treasury Yields Rise as Data Raise Concern About Inflation
      By Lawrence C. Strauss
      Dec. 9, 2022 10:54 am ET
      The latest CPI data raised hope that the Fed will slow down in raising interest rates as it fights inflation.
      Photograph by STR/AFP/Getty Images

      The Treasury market had a blunt message for anyone who thinks inflation is going in the right direction. Don’t be so sure.

      Yields on Treasury debt were inching higher following the release of the latest producer price index data, a key inflation measure closely watched by the Federal Reserve.

      “What PPI is showing us is that it’s going to be a choppy journey,” said Marvin Loh, senior global macro strategist at State Street. “Year-over-year numbers are still a little bit better, but certainly it’s a disappointment.”

      The core November PPI, which excludes food and energy, increased by 0.4% from the previous month, above the consensus call for a 0.2% gain among economists surveyed by FactSet. It rose by 6.2% year over year, exceeding the consensus forecast of 5.9%.

      But headline PPI increased by 7.4% year over year, down from 8.1% last month.

      “Easing producer prices foreshadow an improving inflation environment,” Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial, said in an email, reflecting a more upbeat view of the data. He said, though, that “the monthly increase in producer prices illustrates the need for continued tightening, albeit at a slower pace.”

      The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which reflects expectations about the economy and inflation, was at 3.55% on Friday morning. Before the data’s release, it had been at around 3.47% at one point. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

      The two-year Treasury’s yield, meanwhile, was at 4.35% on Friday morning, up from around 4.25% before the PPI’s release, according to FactSet.
      …
      https://www.barrons.com/articles/treasury-yields-ppi-inflation-51670601171

      1. “The core November PPI, which excludes food and energy, increased by 0.4% from the previous month,…”

        The annualized rate of core PPI inflation is 1-(1-0.004)^12 = 4.7% … still quite a bit more than 2%.

  52. Bloomberg Crypto Podcast • Browse all episodes
    Current Groupthink of the Crypto Faithful

    Financial markets can be subject to a fair amount of groupthink. The herd effect. Mob mentality, even. There’s actually some really interesting research into this: check out for example the paper, “Bubbles, Human Judgment, and Expert Opinion” by Robert J. Shiller. Here’s additional research into herd effect: Herding behaviour in digital currency markets: An integrated survey and empirical estimation.] Crypto investors are no exception: and their in-group behavior also features a lot of catchphrases. Like the famous “GM”, and the infamous “have fun staying poor.” Or the tongue-in-check “Bitcoin will fix this”, where “this” is basically any social or economic issue you can imagine. In this episode Bloomberg senior markets editor Mike Regan and crypto blogger Emily Nicolle assess the mood among the crypto faithful – and explain why some of them are now evangelizing cold wallets. 
    Dec 08, 2022
    …
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2022-12-08/current-groupthink-of-the-crypto-faithful-podcast

  53. I am reflecting on the commemtor that said that the HBB had become politicized. I have to say it was not us with classical liberal, conservative, libertarian, AnCap views that politicized the entire world. We just wanted to be left alone and now we have to figure out how to survive and thrive in a world where kid phuqing monsters who praise the CCP and have busts of Lenin on their desks try to turn the world into an anti-human dystopian hellscape. You broke it. You bought it.

    2. More than that: we started talking about election fraud because we couldn’t talk about it elsewhere. We talked about the CCP virus hoax for the same reasons. That hospitals were killing thousands of people by closing to those about to die without surgery. That this injection, that one couldn’t criticize on the internet, was actually an experimental gene manipulation. I’m more glad everyday I didn’t let any of those murdering bashtards get near me with a needle.

      Oh and those lockdowns, that are still killing millions, weren’t necessary and actually very damaging to everyone involved, especially children, the poor and elderly. That all of our civil and legal rights had been violated for years. Here we could talk about the marxists riots that went on forever. All these things we weren’t ALLOWED to talk about in the globalist scum media. Imagine that, in the good old US of A.

      So pardon me if I refuse to be shamed by some anonymous troll who pops by once every 10 years. What rock have you been under? When we have our most critical rights, our ability to put food on the table, denied us by an out of control bunch of lying globalist scum, we should be talking about it on every street corner and blog we can.

          1. Black coupe at the end of microwave video is a Hyundai Tiburon 2nd generation, likely 2006-2008 based on taillights

  54. WTF happened to Tom Brady today? Jebus, losing to the 49ers second string quarterback? We didn’t get to see the game on our “west coast” programming, and I’m too Scotch for a premium sports channel.

    But we did see the Seahawks lose at home to the Falcons. 🙂

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