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Pay Less Attention To, Or Even Ignore, What Sellers Are Asking For

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “‘The phone’s barely ringing,’ said real estate agent John Silva of John Silva Realty & Associates in Orlando. ‘Those high, skyrocketing prices we saw months ago, they aren’t moving anymore. They’re just sitting on the shelves.’ Silva said his sellers have had to drop their prices. He said one who was asking $750,000 for her house was accepting an offer for $620,000. However, Silva said that it’s not impossible to move a house. ‘Anything that’s listed in good condition at the right price, it sells,’ he said. ‘But it’s a buyer’s market now.'”

“Nearly 4,500 North Carolina homes were flipped — or resold within 12 months of purchase — in the third quarter of 2022. The new data doesn’t deter Alyssa Upchurch and her husband, who are known as The Cash Offer Couple. ‘We’ve been in it awhile. We knew the market shift was coming,’ she said. ‘What  used to be say $80,000 profit, $40,000 profit is now $20,000 or $40,000 profit.’ The Cash Offer Couple are still in business, even if fairytale profits are a thing of the past. She and her husband are holding on to some of the homes they bought and renting them out instead.”

“Through the end of November, Eagle County’s real estate sales have slowed somewhat from the frantic pace set in 2021. That’s probably a good thing. ‘Properties that are priced close to the market are still seeing good absorption,’ said Matt Fitzgerald, president of Slifer Smith & Frampton’s Vail Valley operations. ‘An aspirationally priced unit… those are going to sit.'”

“A new Houston Association of Realtors report shows sales in every housing segment suffered in November. Many home sellers are also taking their homes off the market or lowering their asking price as the local market continues to slump. ‘When you put that next to what their home was worth one or two years ago, they’re still really happy with what they can get, even if it is a tad bit less than what their neighbor got three months ago,’ HAR Chair Jennifer Wauhob said. ‘We are still one of the more affordable cities to live in. The fact that we didn’t see the same price escalation as for example Austin. They had such an influx of people from high-priced states that really drove their home prices up and now they’re really seeing their home prices come back down.'”

“Just over 9% of recent Sacramento homebuyers would be underwater with a 4% price drop, the highest share of the metros in this analysis. ‘Home prices have dropped quickly and substantially after skyrocketing during the pandemic. It has been a shock to the system for homeowners and sellers, though they’re getting used to the new reality,’ said Sacramento Redfin agent Alison Williams. ‘In a way, a correction like this was inevitable; prices can’t keep going up by double digits forever.'”

“It’s been a wild year for Bay Area real estate — and not in the way we’ve grown accustomed to. ‘There is more choice and less competition than there has been for many years, which means greater opportunities for buyers,’ Compass Chief Market Analyst Patrick Carlisle said. ‘Pay less attention to, or even ignore, what sellers are asking for and make offers at the price you want to pay. Some beautiful homes, luxury and ultra-luxury houses and condos, are selling at large discounts off asking prices. A buyer who can close the deal currently holds the balance of power.'”

“Canadian home prices fell for a ninth straight month. The benchmark price for a home fell 1.4% to C$744,000 ($546,880) in November, the Canadian Real Estate Association said. That brings the cumulative price drop from February’s peak to 11.5%, on a seasonally-adjusted basis. ‘November’s housing data from across Canada came in as expected — still pretty quiet — and that is unlikely to improve this winter with the Bank of Canada raising rates again last week,’ said Shaun Cathcart, the real estate board’s senior economist. ‘It will be interesting to see what buyers do when listings start to come out in big numbers in the spring.'”

“In a separate release Thursday, Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. said builders started work on an annualized 264,159 units in November. Total housing starts remain elevated compared to historical levels, pushed higher by multifamily construction.”

“Trade Me Property has recorded its biggest year-on-year drop in house prices in five years. Wellington’s average asking price was down 9% in November compared to the same month in 2021, at $879,600. Auckland’s average price dropped 7% to $1.161 million. The biggest increase in the number of homes for sale was in Nelson/Tasman, up 77%. That was followed by Waikato, up 56% and Northland up 54%.”

“‘These supply and demand changes really show us how the market has been flipped on its head,’ said Trade Me Property sales director Gavin Lloyd. ‘After years of seeing supply failing to keep up with sky-high demand, we’re now seeing the total opposite. Demand has fallen off while supply is skyrocketing, and prices are tumbling as a result. It appears buyers are waiting to see how far prices will fall, before they make a move.'”

“As the tide goes out on an easy money era that inflated Europe’s real estate market, some of the world’s most-feared short sellers have turned their attention to the region’s landlords. Vivion Investments this week became at least the fifth European real estate company publicly lambasted by short sellers in little over a year after Muddy Waters published a critical report. The company, which owns hotels and offices in Germany and the UK, joins a list that also includes Germany’s Adler Group SA, UK-based Civitas Social Housing Plc and Home REIT Plc as well as Swedish landlord Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB, or SBB.”

“The scrutiny comes just as rapidly rising interest rates are hitting property values and threatening landlords who need to refinance mountains of cheap debt. Much of that debt was issued through bond markets that had been distorted by the European Central Bank’s asset purchasing programs that kept borrowing costs down and boosted demand for riskier issuers. ‘This sector was almost nonexistent in the credit index 10 years ago,’ said Benoit Soler, a high yield fund manager at Keren Finance. ‘Then we had quantitative easing which allowed the sector not only to exist but then balloon in size.'”

“After a crypto-driven building boom, the rapid decline of digital currencies has operators of bitcoin-mining data centers scrambling to find new uses for their increasingly distressed real estate. ‘In this environment, a lot of landlords are probably thinking about alternate uses for those spaces. It will probably be just like malls where you’re going to have to come up with alternate use cases for some of that data center space,’ said Barry Kupferberg, managing partner at Barkers Point Capital Advisors. ‘Potentially there’s a lot of space that will have to be repurposed.'”

“Experts predict contraction and consolidation across the bitcoin mining sector, with a wave of bankruptcies and liquidations looming in the near future. The casualty count has already started.”

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This Post Has 172 Comments

  1. ‘Pay less attention to, or even ignore, what sellers are asking for and make offers at the price you want to pay’

    That’s the spirit Pat!

    1. ‘Pay less attention to, or even ignore, what sellers are asking for and make offers at the price you want to pay’

      “That’s the spirit Pat!”

      – My! My! My! How quickly things have changed.
      – FOMO, waived inspections, bidding wars, overpaying, love letters, and on and on…
      – Everyone loves the asset bubble on the way up. Not so much on the way down. Enjoyed the boom? Now enjoy the bust.
      – The Government + the Fed, as their agent, directly caused this + the previous two bubbles. No one’s holding them accountable. They’re (intentionally) destroying the economy.
      – New vocabulary additions for Realtor-speak: “Learn to code,” and “Do you want fries with that?”

  2. ‘The scrutiny comes just as rapidly rising interest rates are hitting property values and threatening landlords who need to refinance mountains of cheap debt’

    Fraud? In eurostan?

    ‘Much of that debt was issued through bond markets that had been distorted by the European Central Bank’s asset purchasing programs that kept borrowing costs down and boosted demand for riskier issuers. ‘This sector was almost nonexistent in the credit index 10 years ago,’ said Benoit Soler, a high yield fund manager at Keren Finance. ‘Then we had quantitative easing which allowed the sector not only to exist but then balloon in size’

    It is different this time.

  3. ‘When you put that next to what their home was worth one or two years ago, they’re still really happy with what they can get, even if it is a tad bit less than what their neighbor got three months ago,’ HAR Chair Jennifer Wauhob said. ‘We are still one of the more affordable cities to live in. The fact that we didn’t see the same price escalation as for example Austin. They had such an influx of people from high-priced states that really drove their home prices up and now they’re really seeing their home prices come back down’

    We’re taking an a$$pounding in Houston, but way better off than Austin!

  4. ‘The phone’s barely ringing…Those high, skyrocketing prices we saw months ago, they aren’t moving anymore. They’re just sitting on the shelves’

    Was it like somebody flipped a switch?

    ‘Silva said his sellers have had to drop their prices. He said one who was asking $750,000 for her house was accepting an offer for $620,000’

    Dammit John, yer giving it away.

  5. ‘Just over 9% of recent Sacramento homebuyers would be underwater with a 4% price drop, the highest share of the metros in this analysis.

    The whole state is off double that.

    ‘Home prices have dropped quickly and substantially’

    via GIPHY

    1. I would like to know the numbers in Florida. It seems that everyone I talk to bought their first house with 3.5%.

      2. It seems that everyone I talk to bought their first house with 3.5%.

        I think first time buyers using FHA has been typical for decades. Worked OK when housing markets were stable. Now, not so much.

  6. I sense a great disturbance in the force, as if trillions in Yellen Bux “equity” screamed in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

    California Screamin’! 2022 Home Prices Crashed Mostly In California As Fed Withdraws Monetary Stimulus (Austin TX And Seattle WA Also Crashed Hard)

    https://confoundedinterest.net/2022/12/15/california-screamin-2022-home-prices-crashed-mostly-in-california-as-fed-withdraws-monetary-stimulus-austin-tx-and-seattle-wa-also-crashed-hard/

  7. “Canadian home prices fell for a ninth straight month. The benchmark price for a home fell 1.4% to C$744,000 ($546,880) in November, the Canadian Real Estate Association said. That brings the cumulative price drop from February’s peak to 11.5%, on a seasonally-adjusted basis.

    Nothing like a bursting housing bubble to make Canadian cucks turn on their globalist Quisling government.

    1. turn on their globalist Quisling government

      They tried that earlier this year, and failed. Protesting accomplishes nothing.

  8. It appears buyers are waiting to see how far prices will fall, before they make a move.’”

    But…but that means shacks will go bidless & the downward velocity will only accelerate. (Insert concerned face emoji here).

  9. Much of that debt was issued through bond markets that had been distorted by the European Central Bank’s asset purchasing programs that kept borrowing costs down and boosted demand for riskier issuers.

    Wut? You mean to tell me the Keynesian fraudsters at the central banks have created systemic risks to the financial system – again?

    1. That’s their specialty, along with pretending the crisis situation just happened out of the bly without ever acknowledging their active complicity to create systemic risk.

    1. ‘My favorite is the journalist screaming “what are you going to do to protect our jobs“. That is actually their belief system and expectation.’

      1. What did these smug woke tw*ts tell the coal miners in W. VA who lost their livelihoods under the Brandon regime’s green energy lunacy? Oh, right: “Learn to code.”

      2. ‘My favorite is the journalist screaming “what are you going to do to protect our jobs“. That is actually their belief system and expectation.’

        – Journos are merely pawns; useful idiots without a moral compass. Yeah, I think they’re scum and hope they get their just deserts.
        – Reality bites.
        – #LearnToCode

  11. ‘After a crypto-driven building boom, the rapid decline of digital currencies has operators of bitcoin-mining data centers scrambling to find new uses for their increasingly distressed real estate. ‘In this environment, a lot of landlords are probably thinking about alternate uses for those spaces. It will probably be just like malls’

    How the mighty have fallen.

    1. There is a real interesting comment on the zerohedge article on this that says it’s from someone involved with this. The aquarium has been there for 20 years, no issues, but this year the german government said no heating of the lobby at night (it’s a hotel). Of course the aquarium is still heated and the water inside is quite hot while the air around it gets colder and colder. What could go wrong?

      1. but this year the german government said no heating of the lobby at night

        But they’re saying that their natgas storage is completely full and that the “crisis” was averted.

        I suppose it’s easy to keep those tanks full if you don’t turn on the heating.

      2. “Of course the aquarium is still heated and the water inside is quite hot while the air around it gets colder and colder.”

        That’s a special glass, somewhat ductile, similar to a high rise building that’s able to withstand a high temperature gradient between its two surfaces and offers insulating properties. The likelihood of deliberate destruction is my bet.

  13. “Ante up or we burn your cities to the ground.” Message received. Somehow I can’t get too perturbed at seeing Bolshevik-run California urban centers reaping the whirlwind.

    ‘Comply or it’s going to be a serious backlash:’ Activist demanding $800,000 for every black resident issues warning to California’s reparations task force

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11544937/Deon-Jenkins-California-senate-candidate-warns-backlash-reparations-debate.html

    3. Why don’t we just give them a reservation in the desert? Not only would it be benevolent but it would also provide some entertaining consequences. Win-win!

      1. I would suggest giving them a whole state, they could rename it Wakanda. The downside is that once they all begin to starve they will go to other state.

    1. If Ardern and her party are not “re-elected”, I will be very surprised.

      New Zealand has gone from being a “bunker country” to being a penal colony.

  16. Realtors are saying that things are improving. 30 yr fixed have gone from 7.3% to 6.2% 🙂

    what a bunch of chuckle-heads….

  17. Are there unique features of cryptocurrency firms that create unusually difficult accounting challenges?

    1. The Financial Times
      Cryptocurrencies
      Audit group Mazars halts work with crypto clients
      Firm had been hired by Binance and other crypto exchanges to conduct ‘proof of reserves’ report
      Binance emphasised its plans to deliver proof of reserves to its customers but did not commit to a timeline
      Scott Chipolina, Martha Muir, Michael O’Dwyer and Joshua Oliver in London 56 minutes ago

      Mazars is halting work with its crypto clients, including Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, as the sector comes under heightened scrutiny following the collapse of FTX.

      The auditor had been hired by Binance to conduct a “proof of reserves” report — something all crypto exchanges are under pressure to produce as they seek to persuade nervous clients that they hold sufficient assets to match all customer deposits.

      “Mazars has indicated that they will temporarily pause their work with all of their crypto clients globally, which include Crypto.com, KuCoin, and Binance. Unfortunately, this means that we will not be able to work with Mazars for the moment,” Binance said in a statement on Friday.
      …

      1. “…hold sufficient assets to match all customer deposits….”

        Backed up with assets in what? Thin air?

    2. Business
      Binance was once FTX’s rival and possible savior. Now it’s trying not to be its sequel
      December 16, 20225:00 AM ET
      David Gura
      On Monday, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by police in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government.
      Mario Duncanson/AFP via Getty Images

      Fallout from the catastrophic collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX continues to spread, and fear and panic has now turned to FTX’s one-time rival, Binance.

      Approximately $1.14 billion was withdrawn from Binance on Tuesday, as the crypto world digested news that FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, had been arrested in the Bahamas, along with a report about government scrutiny of Binance.

      The company’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, who is better known as “CZ,” dismissed the outrush of cash as “business as usual” for the world’s largest crypto exchange.

      “We have seen this before,” he wrote on Twitter. “Some days we have net withdrawals; some days we have net deposits.”

      The company offered reassurances in a statement that the withdrawals were “managed with ease.”

      There were also signs, though, of uneasiness, when Binance halted withdrawals of a so-called “stable coin” called USDC, for about eight hours on Tuesday.
      …
      https://www.npr.org/2022/12/16/1143086648/binance-cz-ftx-crypto-bankruptcy-fallout-alameda-bitcoin

    3. LIVE COVERAGE
      Stock Market Today: Futures Drop; Mazars Pauses Crypto Work
      The Wall Street Journal’s full markets coverage.
      Dec 16, 2022 at 8:31 am ET
      …

    4. Future Tense
      No One Is Happier About Sam Bankman-Fried’s Downfall Than the Bitcoin People
      A philosophical schism about the point of crypto has erupted into a “boiling guerrilla war.”
      By Nitish Pahwa
      Dec 15, 20225:55 AM
      Illustration of a cracked FTX logo on glass.
      Photo illustration by Slate. Image by C-mere/iStock/Getty Images Plus. 

      The crumbling of Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire doesn’t seem to be done kicking up debris. More than 100 companies were included in the FTX bankruptcy filing, and many of them are now begging for bailouts from their peers. Even their most promising potential savior, the crypto exchange Binance, is facing increasing regulatory scrutiny. At a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Wednesday, plenty of lawmakers seemed ready to come down hard on the entire cryptocurrency sector.

      Amid these travails, there’s one interested party that doesn’t seem too worried about where the digital economy will end up: Bitcoiners.
      …
      https://slate.com/technology/2022/12/ftx-sam-bankman-fried-bitcoin-vs-crypto.html

    5. Policy
      US Rings Crypto Warning Bell That Regulators Say Only Congress Can Silence
      The latest report of the Financial Stability Oversight Council says the risky sector needs Congress to intervene, though crypto hasn’t yet posed a danger to the wider financial system.
      By Jesse Hamilton
      Dec 16, 2022 at 8:45 a.m. PST
      Updated Dec 16, 2022 at 9:46 a.m. PST
      …
      https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/12/16/us-rings-crypto-warning-bell-that-regulators-say-only-congress-can-silence/

      1. needs Congress to intervene

        What do these crypto heads want the government to do, tell people to stop being stupid?

  20. Housing?

    Yes, housing, because when you buy a house your property taxes are paying to promote this in the public schools.

    Independent Journalist Exposes Disturbing and Blatantly Sexual “All Ages” Drag Queen Christmas Show in Texas (Explicit Photos):

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/independent-journalist-exposes-disturbing-blatantly-sexualized-ages-drag-queen-christmas-show-texas-explicit-photos/

    As the HBB’s resident Online Safety Expert, I ask that you please stop noticing.

    Please, just stop. We decide what you are and are not allowed to notice.

    P.S. keep paying those property taxes.

    1. Markets
      DOW 33,202.22 -2.25%
      S&P 500 3,895.75 -2.49%
      NASDAQ 10,810.53 -3.23%

      Fear & Greed Index
      Why stocks keep tumbling: Good news and bad news are bad
      Analysis by David Goldman, CNN
      Updated 8:13 AM EST, Fri December 16, 2022

      New York CNN — 

      The good vibes on Wall Street are fading fast: US stocks tumbled yet again Friday as investors come to grips with a souring economy.

      Dow futures were down 400 points, or 1.3%. S&P 500 futures fell 1.4%, and Nasdaq Composite futures were 1.1% lower.

      CNN Business’ Fear and Greed Index, a measure of market sentiment, dipped perilously close to “Fear” Friday. The market had been in “Greed” mode for weeks.

      Stocks had been riding high this month on weaker-than-expected inflation and a number of stronger-than-expected reports on the broad economy and the job market. Investors were hopeful that the Federal Reserve could slow its historic pace of rate hikes and inflation could right itself sometime next year without tipping the economy into a recession.

      That excitement continued right up until Fed Chair Jerome Powell crashed Wall Street’s party Wednesday with some tough news: Economists at the Fed believe US gross domestic product, the broadest measure of America’s economy will barely grow next year. And they predict the US unemployment rate will rise to 4.6% by the end of 2023, which means roughly 1.6 million more Americans will be out of work.

      Compounding fears from those dour Fed forecasts was a worse-than-expected retail sales report Thursday that sent stocks plunging. The Dow lost 765 points Thursday, or 2.3%, the index’s worst day in three months. The S&P 500 lost 2.5% and the Nasdaq tumbled 3.2%, their worst days in a month.

      Now, economists at Moody’s Analytics predict America’s economy will grow at an annualized rate of just 1.9% in the fourth quarter, down from its previous estimate of 2.7%. Weak manufacturing and retail reports spooked Moody’s analysts, who also lowered their 2023 GDP forecast to just 0.9%, much lower than 2022’s 1.9% estimate.

      “This leaves little room for anything to go wrong,” Moody’s economist Matt Colyar wrote in an analysis.

      Sentiment on Wall Street can change on a dime, and this week is clear evidence of that: The Dow has tumbled about 1,100 points, or 3.4%, since the Fed’s policy update at 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, and the market hasn’t even opened yet Friday. Not helping stocks: It’s December. Many traders are on vacation, volume is low and tiny moves can get exacerbated.

      But, as my colleague Matt Egan notes, the market may be in a lose-lose situation. Good economic news has been bad news for investors, because the Fed is trying to cool down the economy as part of its inflation-fighting campaign. But bad economic news is also bad for investors – and everyone – because it raises the risk of a recession.
      …
      https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/16/investing/dow-stock-market-today/index.html

      1. “…the market may be in a lose-lose situation.”

        All economic news is bad when the easy money tsunami tide is washing back out to sea.

        1. The Financial Times
          Markets Briefing Equities
          European stocks tick lower as central banks point to more challenging 2023
          Investors feel the hangover as monetary policymakers temper optimism around cooling inflation
          A sign outside the headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt
          The ECB, along with the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, slowed the pace of interest rate rises while warning that further tightening of monetary policy would be required
          George Steer 3 hours ago

          European stocks and US futures slipped further on Friday after a sharp sell-off in the previous session triggered by warnings from multiple central banks that interest rates are likely to remain higher for longer to battle inflation.

          The regional Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.2 per cent in early trading and London’s FTSE 100 lost 1.1 per cent. Contracts tracking Wall Street’s S&P 500 and those tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell 1.3 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.

          The moves come after a week in which the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank all slowed the pace of their interest rate rises while warning that further tightening of monetary policy would be required.
          …

        2. “…the market may be in a lose-lose situation.”

          “All economic news is bad when the easy money tsunami tide is washing back out to sea.”

          – “Our economy is strong as hell.” – Not legitimately elected Pres. Joe Biden, said while eating ice cream…

        3. yea I remember reading long ago when interest rates go up only option is cash.

          maybe its different this time ?

    1. My husband and I living off half our gross income waiting for it to keep dropping so we can buy a house with our stashed cash: 😀

  24. Glenn Greenwald:

    “This is a brilliant exchange by @NancyMace yesterday in Congress. There is a tiny group of hateful left-liberal fanatics whom have been arbitrarily dubbed “Online Safety Experts” and constantly warn hateful rhetoric incites violence. Yet they’re the most hateful people around.”

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1603051934746820608.html

    How dare he attack our noble profession! This scoundrel needs to be silenced.

    SHUT IT DOWN.

  25. Russia Today — EU threatens Elon Musk with sanctions (12/16/2022):

    “The EU has warned Elon Musk that Twitter could be targeted by sanctions after the platform owned by the entrepreneur suspended several journalists for allegedly sharing real-time location data about the billionaire and his family.

    “News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” wrote EU Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova in a tweet on Friday. “EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights,” she said, adding that these rights are reinforced under the recently adopted European Media Freedom Act.”

    https://www.rt.com/news/568376-eu-musk-twitter-sanctions/

    Media Freedom Act?

    Did you know it is illegal to discuss the migrant rape epidemic in Europe?

    It’s illegal. It’s go to jail illegal.

    But seriously, stop noticing.

  27. New York Times — Opposition to School Vaccine Mandates Has Grown Significantly, Study Finds (12/16/2022):

    “For generations of most American families, getting children vaccinated was just something to check off on the list of back-to-school chores. But after the ferocious battles over Covid shots of the past two years, simmering resistance to general school vaccine mandates has grown significantly. Now, 35 percent of parents oppose requirements that children receive routine immunizations in order to attend school, according to a new survey released Friday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.”

    SHUT. IT. DOWN.

    “Forty-four percent of adults who either identify as Republicans or lean that way said in the latest survey that parents should have the right to opt out of school vaccine mandates, up from 20 percent in a prepandemic poll conducted in 2019 by the Pew Research Center. In contrast, 88 percent of adults who identify as or lean Democratic endorsed childhood vaccine requirements, a slight increase from 86 percent in 2019.”

    SHUT. IT. DOWN.

    “The latest survey was based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,259 adults and was conducted from Nov. 29 through Dec. 8.

    It showed disappointing rates of uptake of the latest Covid booster, a “bivalent” shot that targets both the original coronavirus and the Omicron variant and has been available since September. Just four in 10 adults said they had either gotten the booster or intended to do so. Among those 65 and older — the age group at the highest risk — about one in four said they had been too busy to get it or hadn’t found the time to do so.

    Even among adults who had received previous Covid vaccines, the survey found that more than four in 10 said they felt they did not need this latest shot.”

    https://archive.ph/iilGb

    1. ust four in 10 adults said they had either gotten the booster or intended to do so.

      That many? I thought only 10% were getting the latest jab.

      1. the survey found that more than four in 10

        It’s the NYT. Start with the narrative and work your way into it.

      2. Most of that is “intended,” not “gotten.”

        As for vaccine mandates, they really need to distinguish between vaccines that stop spread (measles) and vaccines that just reduce symptoms (COVID). I think you’d see very different answers.

        1. Most of that is “intended,” not “gotten.”

          As for vaccine mandates, they really need to distinguish between vaccines that stop spread (measles) and vaccines that just reduce symptoms (COVID).

          What are they waiting for? Another winter of “severe illness and death”?

          As for the jab mandates, they had nothing to do with logic. It was Orwell’s “a boot stomping on a face, forever”

        2. vaccines that just reduce symptoms (COVID)

          Which makes it not a vaccine. Reducing symptoms is a flimsy construct anyway. The sickest people I know who are getting the CCP are all “vaxed” up. It is likely that the shots just destroy the immune system.

          1. It is likely that the shots just destroy the immune system.

            It sure does look like that.

            A relative who is all jabbed up got knocked on his keister by Omicron. It’s weeks later and he still feels like cr@p, which he blames on everything but the jab.

          4. Just because most people don’t understand the mechanism, doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

          5. “A relative who is all jabbed up got knocked on his keister by Omicron.”

            Sounds like my two adult children’s experience from their 4th of July trip to San Jose.

        3. Maybe we could start by agreeing on a definition of “immunity.”

          vac·cine
          /vakˈsēn,ˈvakˌsēn/
          noun
          a substance used to stimulate immunity to a particular infectious disease or pathogen, typically prepared from an inactivated or weakened form of the causative agent or from its constituents or products.

  29. Washington Post — Senate passes defense bill that arms U.S. allies, ends vaccine mandate (12/15/2022):

    “The defense bill, which passed in the House last week by a vote of 350 to 80, came together after a series of high-stakes negotiations this fall, resulting in the Biden administration giving ground to Republicans on some key initiatives — including the Pentagon’s politically divisive mandate, issued in August 2021, that all military personnel be vaccinated against the coronavirus.”

    SHUT. IT. DOWN.

    “Democrats were forced to capitulate to GOP demands to curtail the vaccine mandate after a large segment of the party threatened to withhold their support for the legislation otherwise. Republican leaders who cheered the deal to strike the mandate have since pledged to seek retribution for its existence, demanding reinstatement for service members discharged for refusing to take the vaccine, and warning they will investigate President Biden and his advisers for having ever instituted the requirement.”

    https://archive.vn/gT2xb

    1. resulting in the Biden administration giving ground to Republicans on some key initiatives — including the Pentagon’s politically divisive mandate, issued in August 2021, that all military personnel be vaccinated against the coronavirus

      Isn’t this a case of closing the barn door after cow already got out since 90+% of the military is already jabbed?

      1. Joe Biden plans to sign a Treaty with the WHO in January , giving that corrupt Health Agency the power to dictate the global health response to the next panademic.
        The WHO could dictate lockdowns, masks and forced mandated vaccines that supersede sovereign state powers.
        The head of WHO is a Commie puppet of the CCP, WEF, and Bill Gates donates millions to that entity. The Head of WHO isn’t even a Doctor, yet he will have the sole power to dictate response to any pandemic.
        Just at a time where the death and injury count on the last fake vaccine is hard to hide, and how much censorship and false information was employed to get a vaccine in every arm, they are planning the next panademic.
        On OCT 23 2022, Bill Gates did another trial drill simulation on a Pandemic that would come out of Brazil, would be far .more deadly than Covid , and attack children .
        Are they going to release a virus, or a poison or toxin, or fake another invisible
        enemy attack ? Is a new pandemic launched a attempt to blame fake vaccine damage on a new virus.?
        I wouldn’t put anything pass these criminal killers trying to take over the World.

        1. They don’t have to manufacture anything but the news. Most people are trained now to follow the instructions.

  30. My boss made his yearly appearance on site to drop off bonus checks this week. He’s lives in the high rent district in Fairfield county CT. I asked him how the housing market is there….. He said and I quote….. “it’s cratering”.

    I about fell out of my chair.

  31. eBay CEO: ‘I supported the American Rescue Plan–but a little-known provision will hurt millions of Americans who buy and sell used goods online’

    Will this affect all the flash mob stolen goods sold on Ebay ? Will they get 1099K’s ?

  32. People who skipped their COVID vaccine are at higher risk of traffic accidents, according to a new study”

    Super happy government is spending time and money on these valuable studies 🤣🤣🤣

    1. Managing Your Career
      Why Companies Do Layoffs Around Christmas
      December is often the second-highest month for job cuts. January is worse.
      PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ELENA SCOTTI/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL; ISTOCK, PIXELSQUID
      By Katherine Bindley
      Updated Dec. 16, 2022 11:41 am ET

      As job cuts ripple through industries such as tech and media, it is hard not to notice how the holiday season is a really unfortunate time for workers to be getting pink slips. 

      There is arguably no good time for companies to lay off employees, of course, but as farewell-to-my-job posts continue to populate LinkedIn, many are wondering, why did they have to do this the week before Thanksgiving or right before Christmas?
      …
      https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-companies-do-layoffs-around-christmas-11671120912

      2. Big Red had a pretty good quarter. Other than in underperforming and overstaffed business units I’m not anticipating any layoffs.

    2. The Financial Times
      US banks
      Goldman Sachs prepares to lay off almost 4,000 employees
      Chief executive David Solomon is trying to boost profitability amid economic headwinds
      Goldman chief David Solomon is trying to improve the bank’s stock market valuation, which has lagged behind peers for several years
      Brooke Masters in New York and Stephen Morris in London 17 hours ago

      Goldman Sachs is preparing to lay off as many as 3,900 employees starting in January as chief executive David Solomon seeks to boost the bank’s profitability amid economic headwinds.

      The plans are still being drawn up, and it is possible that the current target for a cull of “up to 8 per cent” of its 49,000 global workforce will be slimmed down if the business outlook improves, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

      Wall Street is contending with sharply reduced dealmaking and capital markets activity after a bumper 2021 that resulted in big hiring surges and large bonuses. Investment banking fees have tumbled 35 per cent in the year to date, according to Refinitiv data.
      …

  35. Biden wants 8 billion to shut down coal power in Africa? Is Biden the leader of South Africa? Another opportunity to steal money , bribe or whatever.
    Do they want South Africans to have less energy than they already have?
    We need a criminal panel, much like a Grand Jury on Covid to determine if Climate Change is real .
    Governments taking away energy and means of survival that would cause famine
    and collaspe of functioning without proper replacement , would be crimes against that population of people. .

    2. Biden wants 8 billion to shut down coal power in Africa?

      What our MSM rarely reports is that the “global south” is resisting the mandates of the west and especially the US. Mexico is resisting the push to green energy and the US is threatening Mexico with billions in sanctions.

      I think the engineered famine is going to be used as a tool to get the rebellious nations into line. Hungry? Then do as we tell you, and we’ll send you some scraps.

    1. I thought people wouldn’t have to pay those back, especially if the money was used to buy luxury vehicles, boob jobs, etc.

  38. WATCH: Activist Warns of ‘Serious Backlash’ Unless California Offers $800,000 Each in Reparations

    JOEL B. POLLAK
    16 Dec 2022

    An activist and political candidate warned a California state committee on reparations for slavery this week that there will be a “serious backlash” unless the state agrees to pay $800,000 to every eligible recipient.

    Deon D. Jenkins, a self-described “grassroots hip hop organizer for reparations,” testified at a hearing in Oakland (via the UK Daily Mail) that $800,000 was the appropriate amount, given the average home price in the state.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/12/16/watch-activist-warns-of-serious-backlash-unless-california-reparations-800000/

    1. $800,000 was the appropriate amount, given the average home price

      There is no surer way to ruin a family than to gift them an $800,000 house.

  39. When inflation, both MoM and YOY, comes back to around 2%, if ever, the price increases never reverse. For instance, if the annual inflation is 7% for 2 years in a row, prices have increased by about 14.5%. I am not sure that supply and demand will bring down the increase for food, clothing, medical insurance, tuition, electricity etc. when compared to oil products (gas, diesel, and heating oil).
    My question is how do normal households adjust to this without a wage increase?

    1. Learn to live like their great grandparents did, is one answer.

      Also, it is not a natural law that prices once gone up can never go down. Prices isn’t inflation anyway. What actually reverses real inflation is contraction, default and failure. When speculative asset prices collapse you will have your price reductions. One follows the other. It is already in progress. Stay out of debt. That’s another answer.

      1. Honestly, I don’t think we’d be in this mess if companies were allowed to fail flat out in 2008. No bailouts.

      2. Learn to live like their great grandparents did, is one answer.

        If asked what they did, the great grandparents would have replied: “we did without”

        1. “we did without”

          Not exactly in my opinion, being now a grandparent and having lived with my grandparents. They did without some things that they considered weren’t necessary and focused on others that they wanted. And lazy wasn’t part of their calculus.

      3. My point is: once inflated prices are very sticky coming down. I think that there is no incentive for companies to reduce prices unless demand falls drastically.
        I live within my means, frugally in many respects and have no debt. I am wondering about the effect of bringing down the inflation to 2% YOY after prices have gone up 14.5% in 2 years. Because, it means that prices will be 16.8% in year 3. In other words, price have to fall by 14.4% to get back to year 0. From all signs, it is unlikely that this will happen to food prices in general.

    2. This is all correct.

      The catchup wage increases will have to wait until after the period of inflation containment, if ever.

    3. My question is how do normal households adjust to this without a wage increase?

      Let’s see … no Iphone, unload the luxocar and replace it with a beater, no eating out, shop at thrift stores, turn the thermostat down in the winter, eat cheaper, junkier food, get a second job.

  40. John Hill, Descendent of AP Hill, Exposes the Monument Corruption of BLM Mayor Levar Stoney

    by Frankie Stockes | National File
    December 16th 2022, 2:02 pm

    National File spoke with John Hill, the closest living relative of Confederate General AP Hill, after his ancestor’s headstone monument was torn down and his remains were ordered dug up by Richmond, Virginia’s BLM-aligned Mayor, Levar Stoney.

    https://www.infowars.com/posts/john-hill-descendent-of-ap-hill-exposes-the-monument-corruption-of-blm-mayor-levar-stoney/

    1. Times of San Diego
      Posted in Business
      Monthly Mortgage Costs Doubled Since 2019, Far Outpacing Wage Growth
      Avatar photo
      by Editor 2 hours ago
      Housing market
      A home for sale in Hillcrest. Photo credit: Staff photo

      Typical monthly mortgages in San Diego are $4,457, up 105% since 2019, according to a survey of the housing market.

      That pace, powered by housing demand and rising interest rates, has made home ownership far more costly, while putting the goal out of reach for many residents in the region.

      Though wages are up in California over that same period, they rose by just over 18%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank, far trailing the rise in mortgage costs.

      Inflation also has eaten away at the real value of the wage gains. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that consumer prices – notably in fuel and energy costs – jumped 9.1% in the 12-month period that ended in June.

      Zillow.com, in its November housing survey, acknowledged “affordability challenges” that “are keeping markets cool.”

      Other findings from the survey:

      – San Diego’s typical home value is $877,278, down 7% from its peak.
      – Median time on the local market before listings shift to pending is 23 days, 15 days longer than a year ago.
      – Inventory is 17.2% higher than in November 2021, but still down 30.9% since 2019. 
      – Typical rent is $3,056, down 0.8% month over month.
      …
      https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2022/12/16/monthly-mortgage-costs-doubled-since-2019-far-outpacing-wage-growth/

  42. One of my many fans on tewyube posted in response to a falling housing price post, “I hope you die a slow painful death you __cking big fat loser.”

    🤣🤣🤣

  43. Storm only just beginning in the real estate investment market and two other trouble spots

    Martin Pelletier: Investors should watch these three areas with caution and consider some alternatives for each
    Author of the article:
    Martin Pelletier
    Published Dec 12, 2022 • Last updated 4 days ago • 4 minute read
    From an investment standpoint, there are some sizable cracks finally starting to appear in the real estate sector that could easily turn into the biggest risk in 2023.
    Photo by Tyler Anderson /National Post

    A portfolio manager’s job is to always flush out risks and factor them into the investment decision-making process, though year-end is naturally a time to look back and ahead.

    Looking at things from a risk-per-unit-of-return basis has served us very well in markets such as the current one. With that in mind, here are three areas you may want to keep a very close eye on along with what we think are some much better alternatives.

    Private real estate equity and debt markets

    We think the storm is only just beginning in the real estate market and it could wreak havoc once this year’s rate hikes fully kick in and people wake up to the reality that we may not be going back to pre-2022 levels.

    For example, Toronto housing market sales in November collapsed by 49 per cent from a year ago, and yet the composite benchmark price was only down 5.5 per cent during the same time frame.

    From an investment standpoint, there are some sizable cracks finally starting to appear in the sector that could easily turn into the biggest risk in 2023.

    For example, Romspen Investment Corp. recently announced it will “temporarily defer payment” of redemptions from its $2.8-billion Romspen Mortgage Investment Fund. Starlight Group Property Holdings Inc., which owns $25-billion worth of apartment buildings and multifamily properties in Canada and the United States, just announced it is halting monthly payouts from two funds and has also started gating investor withdrawals.

    And, even more notable, Blackstone Inc.’s US$69-billion real estate fund started limiting withdrawals last week. We read that the fund was somehow able to post a net 9.3-per-cent return over the first three quarters of the year while publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) dropped 20 to 30 per cent in value. It isn’t a surprise that investors would cash in at a gain while comparable public market investments are down considerably.
    …
    https://financialpost.com/investing/storm-only-just-beginning-in-the-real-estate-investment-market-and-two-other-trouble-spots

  44. ‘the European Central Bank’s asset purchasing programs that kept borrowing costs down and boosted demand for riskier issuers’

    Sound lending!

    ‘This sector was almost nonexistent in the credit index 10 years ago,’…a high yield fund manager

    via GIPHY

  45. Thanks to Elon Musk, the public is now aware that Twitter suppressed early treatment options for COVID-19, and vaccine safety concerns, Dr. Peter McCullough alleged in an interview that aired on Newsmakers by NTD and The Epoch Times on Dec. 14.

    Further, thanks to the Twitter Files—a collection of internal emails and communications made public by Musk—the cardiologist said there’s proof that government agencies were working against him (McCullough) personally.

    “I didn’t violate any of Twitter’s rules,” McCullough stated. “And what we’re learning is that secret emails between government agencies and Twitter were working to, in a sense, shadow-ban me, censor me, and inhibit my ability to exercise my rights to free speech and disseminate scientific information.”

    McCullough said Musk’s takeover of Twitter is a “welcome change,” especially for healthcare professionals like himself.

    “Twitter had become an incredibly biased and censored platform, where the public knew they weren’t getting a fair, balanced set of information on a whole variety of developments—including the early treatment of SARS-COV2 infection and a balanced view of safety and efficacy of the vaccines,” McCullough claimed.

    The cardiologist further claimed that he was censored and finally suspended for sharing scientific “abstracts and manuscripts,” which didn’t fit the accepted political view. Plus, McCullough remarked, he wasn’t the only doctor targeted.

    Musk lifted the suspensions of McCullough and mRNA vaccine technology contributor Dr. Robert Malone—suspended from Twitter in 2021 after criticizing the effectiveness of the mRNA vaccines—after completing his Twitter purchase.

    According to McCullough, when a social media company has a COVID-19 warning or labels a post “misinformation,” that’s a sign of government censorship and control.

    “Facebook, Instagram, and the other platforms. … Anytime a message is posted, and it says, ‘See the COVID information center,’ or it labels it ‘COVID misinformation,’ that actually indicates that there’s government interference. There’s government censorship going on,” McCullough asserted.

    He added that when a user witnesses the above, they need to call out that platform. Moreover, McCullough believes there needs to be a “complete overhaul” of social media leadership and a “cleansing” of all forms of censorship on social media sites.

    He said explicitly regarding healthcare that a past U.S. Supreme Court ruling guaranteed physicians free speech and medical authority, and social media platforms are violating that ruling.

    “Physicians, including myself, our rights to free speech were guaranteed in a Supreme Court ruling. We have medical authority, and the public is looking to our analyses and our guidance through the rest of this pandemic.”

    Regarding the safety of vaccines and the pushback he received when he voiced his concerns, McCullough stated, “There is no drug or vaccine that is free of side effects. There’s no drug or vaccine that’s perfectly effective.

    “So, when Americans were seeing advertisements that said ‘safe and effective,’ of course, immediately, we were jumping and making the case based on the peer-reviewed literature that that’s not correct.”

    McCullough further noted that he and author John Leake have released a book called “The Courage to Face COVID-19″—detailing the true story of the “intentional suppression of early treatment [of COVID-19] by what we call the biopharmaceutical complex.”

    McCullough explained that what he meant by “biopharmaceutical complex” is the amalgamation of Big Pharma, government interests, and foundations, including everything up to the World Economic Forum.

    He further alleged that this complex had one mission—mass vaccination—so they purposefully buried early treatment “to favor the vaccine strategy.” McCullough acknowledged that his allegation was “complex and mind-blowing” but said Americans know it’s reality and not a conspiracy.

    McCullough also stated that creating a Public Health Integrity Committee by Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis (ostensibly to make sure politics don’t suppress public health information in the future) is a validation of doctors like himself.

    Since taking over Twitter, Musk has become increasingly vocal about transparency and the need for people to see what happened behind the scenes at the tech company. To that end, he released secret emails and discussions about shadow-banning or removing accounts that didn’t toe the party line.

    As part of its reporting, The Epoch Times sought comment from the DOJ and FBI on the Twitter Files revelations and their involvement with social media companies.

    The FBI National Press Office replied, “The FBI regularly engages with private sector entities to provide information specific to identified foreign malign influence actors’ subversive, undeclared, covert, or criminal activities.

    It is not based on the content of any particular message or narrative. Private sector entities independently make decisions about what, if any, action they take on their platforms and for their customers after the FBI has notified them.”

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/twitter-suppressed-early-covid-19-treatment-information-and-vaccine-safety-concerns-cardiologist_4929265.html

    1. I appreciate Dr. McCullough’s endless fight against this monumental scam, but despite all of the evidence that is exposed, I fear there will be no consequences for the perpetuators of these crimes against humanity.

  46. To every laid off Washington Post writer:

    We need somebody to walk around our jobsite and pick up all the trash and debris. Bring your B.A. from Brown or U Penn, the shovel is right over there.

    1. Yahoo Finance
      Stock market sell-off: Investors ‘are changing their focus,’ market strategist explains
      Brian Sozzi
      Fri, December 16, 2022 at 10:32 AM PST·3 min read

      The stock market is on track to take a leg lower this week as investors swerved to assess what kind of damage the Federal Reserve has already done to the economy following a series of aggressive inflation-fighting rate hikes.

      “We believe that yesterday was yet another example of how investors are changing their focus… from what the Fed is going to do… to what the Fed has already done… and what their significant tightening policy will do to the economy in 2023 (now that it is finally beginning to have its real impact),” Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, explained in a client note on Friday.

      Maley’s caution comes after a two-day major downdraft in markets following the Fed’s rate decision on Wednesday.

      In the past two days alone, the S&P 500 has shed more than $1.1 trillion in total market value. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 4% since Wednesday. Apple stock (AAPL), a market bellwether, has fallen more than 4% since mid-week.

      Selling accelerated after the Fed delivered a 50 basis-point interest rate hike, bringing the benchmark rate to the highest level since 2007. The central bank also surprised market watchers in two more ways.

      First, the Fed’s updated economic forecasts showed that officials see rates peaking at 5.1% in 2023. That’s an extra 50 basis points higher than they predicted back in September.

      Second, Fed Chair Jerome Powell sounded more hawkish on the central bank’s policy path than some expected.

      And the dour read on holiday retail spending for November also didn’t help the increasingly fragile market sentiment.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-sell-off-investors-are-changing-their-focus-market-strategist-explains-183207244.html

      1. “The Fed has downshifted the pace of tightening, but they’re not done yet. In addition to how much further they have to go, the major question is how long rates will have to stay at peak levels to ensure inflation pressure is sufficiently quashed. Our near-term rate call is under review (with risk tilted to the upside), and we see no rate cuts through the remainder of 2023. The Fed will over-tighten before it prematurely backs off.” – Robert Kavcic, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets
        …
        https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/federal-reserve-hikes-interest-rates-again:-what-the-experts-are-saying

        1. This doesn’t sound like a favorable outlook for risk asset dip buyers. Good luck to Cathie and her faithful flock of sheep!

    2. Yahoo
      Fortune
      Elon Musk is using Tesla as his personal ‘ATM machine’ after cashing out another $3.5 billion in stock. It’s a ‘train wreck situation,’ Wedbush’s Dan Ives says
      Will Daniel
      Thu, December 15, 2022 at 10:26 AM PST·3 min read

      Elon Musk sold another $3.58 billion in Tesla stock this week, bringing his total sales since November of last year to nearly $40 billion—and investors aren’t happy about it.

      Wedbush’s tech analyst Dan Ives argues that Musk is using his “golden child” Tesla to fund not only the initial $44 billion cost of his Twitter acquisition, but also to backstop the social media giant’s losses.

      “The Twitter nightmare continues,” he wrote in a Thursday research note. “Musk uses Tesla as his own ATM machine to keep funding the red ink at Twitter, which gets worse by the day.”
      …
      https://www.yahoo.com/now/elon-musk-using-tesla-personal-182605991.html

      1. “Musk uses Tesla as his own ATM machine to keep funding the red ink at Twitter, which gets worse by the day.”

        This statement is vaguely reminiscent of something that recently happened in the cryptoverse. I can’t quite put my finger on it…

        1. something that recently happened in the cryptoverse

          Just me but I don’t think selling one’s own stock is equivalent to embezzlement of customer funds. Imagining the guy hobbled off to jail for opposing government sponsored political censorship maybe.

          1. Just me but I don’t think selling one’s own stock is equivalent to embezzlement of customer funds.

            +1000

            It is breathtaking to see how quickly Musk went from being the Left’s hero to zero. And he’s still fundamentally a liberal.

            I’m sure there is a lot of pressure at NASA to decouple from SpaceX. Unfortunately for them, Boeing, Lockheed and ULA aren’t delivering the goods.

          3. using SpaceX

            Not “likely” but maybe you’ve got a lawsuit if billing is inappropriate. I’ve seen plenty of sister companies lending hotshots for special needs, and there’s usually a bill.

          4. sister companies

            Sharing a CEO doesn’t make the companies sisters, particularly when other shareholders are involved. Musk has a history of using company resources inappropriately. Just one example from WSJ in 2018 (no link):

            Elon Musk’s New Boring Co. Faced Questions Over SpaceX Financial Ties

            SpaceX investors including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund questioned use of resources to support the tunnel-digging venture

          5. Like I said you might have a case. No matter what, I think what he’s doing at Twitter is awesome and entertaining.

            How the Libs, who held him up like a hero before, are attacking him on all fronts, is hilarious. You are very consistent, but I say let him do his worst on this one.

          6. Watching him destroy his brand is admittedly entertaining, but his pyramid should have collapsed long ago.

      1. ETFs
        Cathie Wood Loses Big Money On Every Stock She Owns
        MATT KRANTZ 10:25 AM ET 12/15/2022

        Even in a bad year, most investors at least have a few stocks they can brag about. Not so this year with Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK).

        The popular $7.1 billion-in-assets ETF currently holds 30 stock positions. And all of them are down this year. And not by a little. The average drop of the stocks in the ETF’s portfolio is nearly 60%, says an Investor’s Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith.

        ARK Innovation’s total loss this year is nearly 63%, says Morningstar Direct. That’s the largest drop among the more than 230 actively traded diversified ETFs. The S&P 500, in contrast, is down just 14.4% including dividends.

        Struggles of one of the most popular actively managed ETFs this year underscore how quickly and dramatically the market changed this year. Many of the hottest stocks during the 2020 rally fueled by low interest rates are the biggest victims to rising rates.

        “The more narrowly focused thematic ETFs suffered the most and perhaps are too concentrated for many shareholders,” said Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi.
        …
        https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/etfs/cathie-wood-loses-money-on-every-stock-she-owns/

        1. “Not so this year…”

          Not to worry! I have heard there’s a Santa Claus rally scheduled for the remainder of 2022.

          It will only help you if you believe in Santa Claus, though.

    4. Bitcoin’s 2022 realized losses is almost double the size of realized profit
      with insights from Glassnode Glassnode

      Bitcoin investors’ capitulation in 2022 resulted from macroeconomic and industry-specific factors that impacted the price performance of the digital asset.
      Oluwapelumi Adejumo and James Van Straten
      Dec. 11, 2022 at 3:00 pm UTC
      …
      https://cryptoslate.com/research-bitcoins-2022-realized-losses-is-almost-double-the-size-of-realized-profit/

      1. William Suberg
        14 hours ago
        Bitcoin dips under $17K as ‘craziest rumors’ over Binance sink BTC price

        Bitcoin traders stay wary over Binance “FUD” triggering overly bearish BTC price action.
        Market Update
        Collect this article as NFT

        Bitcoin (BTC tickers down $16,678)
        fell below $17,000 on Dec. 16 as traders warned of overreaction to “FUD” involving exchange Binance and others.

        Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it put in multi-day lows of $16,928 on Bitstamp.

        The pair retraced its entire run to one-month highs courtesy of the latest macroeconomic data and policy update from the United States.

        Amid ongoing concerns over the solvency of largest global exchange Binance, market sentiment showed what traders argued was a clear case of cold feet.

        The evidence, they suggested, simply did not stack up in bears’ favor.

        “The craziest rumours and FUD going around on literally everybody in the crypto exchange business,” Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, tweeted on the day.
        ..
        https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-dips-under-17k-as-craziest-rumors-over-binance-sink-btc-price

    2. Lucien Sarti worked for the French-Corsican heroin trafficker and convicted Nazi collaborator, Auguste Joseph Ricord. It was claimed by the journalist Stephen Rivele, that Antoine Guerini organized the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. According to his contact, Christian David, the killing was carried out by Sarti and two other members of the Marseilles mob. It is believed Sarti fired from behind the wooden fence on the grassy knoll. The first shot was fired from behind and hit Kennedy in the back. The second shot was fired from behind, and hit John Connally. The third shot was fired from in front, and hit Kennedy in the head. The fourth shot was from behind and missed.

      Lucien Sarti was officially killed by Mexican police in Mexico City on 27th April, 1972. His death was not reported in the United States at the time. However, it was in France’s leading newspaper, Le Monde. It reported that the killing of Sarti was the result of a “close Mafia-police-Narcotics Bure collaboration” in the United States to “shatter Corsican influence in the worldwide narcotics traffic, and create a virtual monopoly for the U.S.-Italian Mafia connection, whose key figure was Santo Trafficante.”

      https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKsarti.htm

      1. The first shot was fired from behind and hit Kennedy in the back. The second shot was fired from behind, and hit John Connally. The third shot was fired from in front, and hit Kennedy in the head. The fourth shot was from behind and missed.

        That doesn’t jive with a 2017 declassified FBI document.

        The One Paragraph You Need to Read From The JFK Assassination Files Changes Everything

        “POTITO said the ‘Surgeon General’s report’ on the assassination stated the first bullet entered the President’s throat below the adams apple clearly showing that two persons were involved with the first shot being fired from the bridge across the park way in front of the car. To further substantiate this, POTITO said there was a bullet hole in the wind shield of the President’s car.”

  51. THE TWITTER FILES: Twitter… The FBI Subsidiary

    FRIDAY, DEC 16, 2022 – 04:08 PM

    In the latest release of ‘THE TWITTER FILES,’ journalist Matt Taibbi details how Twitter acted as a ‘subsidiary’ of the FBI.

    As a reminder, parts 1-3 of the series covered respectively, Twitter’s decision to interfere in the 2020 election by censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story, how the company created secret blacklists, and how they justified removing former President Donald Trump despite internally agreeing that he didn’t break any rules (parts one, two and three).

    Continued:

    3. Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary.

    4. Between January 2020 and November 2022, there were over 150 emails between the FBI and former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth.

    5. Some are mundane, like San Francisco agent Elvis Chan wishing Roth a Happy New Year along with a reminder to attend “our quarterly call next week.” Others are requests for information into Twitter users related to active investigations.

    6. But a surprisingly high number are requests by the FBI for Twitter to take action on election misinformation, even involving joke tweets from low-follower accounts.

    7. The FBI’s social media-focused task force, known as FTIF, created in the wake of the 2016 election, swelled to 80 agents and corresponded with Twitter to identify alleged foreign influence and election tampering of all kinds.

    8. Federal intelligence and law enforcement reach into Twitter included the Department of Homeland Security, which partnered with security contractors and think tanks to pressure Twitter to moderate content.

    9. It’s no secret the government analyzes bulk data for all sorts of purposes, everything from tracking terror suspects to making economic forecasts.

    10. The #TwitterFiles show something new: agencies like the FBI and DHS regularly sending social media content to Twitter through multiple entry points, pre-flagged for moderation.

    11. What stands out is the sheer quantity of reports from the government. Some are aggregated from public hotlines:

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/twitter-files-twitter-fbi-subsidiary

    1. Financial Times
      Cryptocurrencies
      The FTX files: US authorities outline sprawling case against crypto exchange
      The criminal and civil charges as three markets regulators bear down on the golden boy of the industry
      Joshua Oliver in London and Stefania Palma in Washington yesterday

      A year ago Sam Bankman-Fried ditched his trademark shorts and T-shirt for a suit and sat before the US House of Representatives as the acceptable face of crypto. Lawmakers could not see that under the table, his shoelaces were untied.

      Bankman-Fried had much more than sloppy dressing to conceal. This Tuesday, the man once welcomed in Washington for his innovative regulatory vision was due to testify again, but this time to explain why his FTX cryptocurrency exchange, valued at $32bn only in January, had imploded.

      Now his public appearances in coming months will be reserved for courtrooms. Hours before he was due to testify, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and charged with fraud by three separate US authorities. The 30-year-old, once crypto’s golden boy, faces criminal and civil cases and potentially a prison sentence of over 100 years. One US prosecutor this week called it “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history”.
      …

    2. Crypto trading and Bitcoin prices: evidence from a new database of retail adoption
      BIS Working Papers | No 1049 | 14 November 2022
      by Raphael Auer, Giulio Cornelli, Sebastian Doerr, Jon Frost and Leonardo Gambacorta
      PDF full text (821kb)
       | 28 pages

      Focus 

      Cryptocurrencies are volatile assets that have gone through multiple boom-bust cycles. To date, people do not use cryptocurrencies widely to make payments, to measure value or to finance real-world investments. Yet despite this, retail investors continue entering into crypto exchanges to trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. What explains this adoption?
      …
      https://www.bis.org/publ/work1049.htm

    3. The Financial Times
      Opinion Cryptocurrencies
      The great crypto crisis is upon us
      Any regulation needs to look at what tangible economic benefits the industry actually offers
      FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The collapse of FTX, and other falling dominoes in the sector, has led to much soul-searching among crypto promoters

      Hyun Song Shin yesterday

      The writer is economic adviser and head of research at the Bank for International Settlements
      …

    4. Guggenheim’s Minerd Warns of ‘Another Shoe to Drop’ in FTX Fallout
      Yueqi Yang
      Wed, December 14, 2022 at 1:17 PM PST·1 min read

      (Bloomberg) — Guggenheim Partners Chief Investment Officer Scott Minerd is warning investors there will be more shakeouts to come following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX as years of easy money end.

      “There’s another shoe to drop – I can’t tell you where it is,” Minerd said during a Bloomberg Television interview ahead of Wednesday’s rate decision from the Federal Reserve. “The reason is this is just like any number of periods where we had easy money and a lot of speculation; the weakest players fall first. Crypto was obviously something that is crazy.”

      Minerd, who in May predicted Bitcoin would fall to $8,000, said he has confidence the crypto system will move forward despite the recent collapse of prices and high-profile firms.

      “A year ago we were talking about crypto, and there were approximately 19,000 coins,” he said, “there is going to be wash out just like the Internet bubble.”

      “We will have survivors – the digitization of currency is just in its infancy and how this evolves now is going to require a regulatory framework to legitimize it,” he added.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/guggenheim-minerd-warns-another-shoe-211737258.html

      1. require a regulatory framework to legitimize it

        Government backing of a “currency” people “make” at home, out of nothing. Don’t hold your breath.

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