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The Market Will Not Go Back To What It Was, Because What It Was, Was Insane

A report from the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah. “It’s just two weeks into 2023, and Utah real estate agents are already being told to look to 2024 for things to improve. Hundreds of them broke into a slow nervous laugh Friday when one of the state’s top housing economists offered them advice after delivering a series of forecasts of more interest rate hikes, falling home sales and other bleak markers this year. ‘Just hang in there,’ Jim Wood of the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute told. ‘2024 will be better.’ The median sales price for single-family homes, condominiums, town homes and duplexes combined in the county fell to $485,829 in December, from $565,600 in May.”

“Home prices are dropping relative to their big run-up since 2020 — and nearly a decade before that, for that matter — and they’ll probably keep ticking downward well into this year. But sustained drops amounting to a housing bubble are, in Wood’s words, ‘extremely unlikely.’ Gary Cannon, a veteran broker, joked that an era of relatively challenge-free residential sales was over. ‘It’s nice to see all these faces again,’ Cannon said, ‘working after five or six years of paid vacation.'”

The Deseret News. “The West was ground zero for the pandemic housing frenzy and has also been one of the first areas to see home listing prices getting slashed as the market corrects. In Utah, housing prices have begun to decline, down from their peak in May, when the median sales price of Salt Lake County homes was $565,600. After the next seven months, the median price fell by 14% to $485,829, erasing month-over-month percent increases until ‘finally turning negative 2.1% in December,’ Wood wrote in his report.”

CNBC on Florida. “On ultra-exclusive Fisher Island, there is one crane on one construction site. It is the last plot of land available for development and an unlikely bet on luxury real estate at a time when the housing market appears to be in freefall. Jorge Perez, also known as ‘the condo king of Miami,’ and his Related Group are behind the 10-story, 50-unit project that boasts a sell-out price of $1.2 billion. They paid $122.6 million for the land, at the top of the market. He does, however, worry about the broader economy and the broader real estate market.”

“‘Of course, it bothers me. It bothers me every day. I wake up every day thinking about you know what is going to happen in the economy,’ said Perez. ‘We’re thinking that interest rates and inflation has pretty much peaked. We’re going to have a rough, in my opinion, one year to a year and a half, two years. And we are ready to weather that storm should it happen.'”

The Denver Post. “Single-family home sales declined by a fifth and condo and townhome sales were down by 23% in Colorado last year, while price increases softened and the inventory of properties available for sale surged, according to a monthly update from the Colorado Association of Realtors. ‘To say this was a strange year for housing would be the largest understatement I could say about housing. What started out as another year of record-breaking price increases and buyers getting slaughtered, ended as a year where sellers saw values flip, buyers began getting concessions, price drops and double the inventory to choose from,’ said Colorado Springs-area Realtor Patrick Muldoon.”

The Albuquerque Journal in New Mexico. “The Albuquerque metro area’s real estate market remains hot, but signs of cooling continued to show as December brought a fourth straight month where the median sales price on a single-family detached home dropped. According to the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors, the median sales price stood at $326,750 last month — the fourth lowest median sales price in 2022 and a drop from $328,000 in November. The median sales price is much lower than in the spring and summer, when the metro area market hovered in the $334,000 and $340,500 range, according to GAAR data.”

“Carrie Traub, the GAAR president for 2023, told the Journal an indicator of the market cooling is looking at the inventory in December, which stood at 1,105. That number is up more than 50% from the previous year. ‘Our inventory is up from (December 2021) about 50%, which is good because we need more inventory,’ Traub said, adding that she’s also ‘seeing corrections in prices.'”

The Odessa American. “Texas’ manufactured-housing industry ended the year on a low note, according to the latest Texas Manufactured Housing Survey. Respondents unanimously noted a decrease in business activity relative to November. The industry extended a year-long pullback on production as higher interest rates shocked demand and reset the housing market more broadly. ‘Housing manufacturers are still grappling with decreased demand, forcing them to cut payrolls and reduce workweeks,’ Wesley Miller, senior research associate at the Texas Real Estate Research Center, stated in the press release. ‘Inventories are building up on the retail side, resulting in fewer orders for manufacturers until more homes are moved.'”

The Santa Barbara Independent in California. “We started this year’s market in a very interesting way. National headlines show doom and gloom and recession, and while our local market has changed quite a bit since January of last year, it continues to move and remain strong. One of the struggles is some buyers are operating in the future. They feel that pricing will go down, rates will drop, and then they will jump in. At the same time, we have sellers that are operating in the past. They feel that the last two years’ pricing can still be attained and they are still fully leveraged.”

“The only thing we can say for sure is that a market shift is always happening, and it is shifting now. I heard a great quote from Peter Rupert talking about recession at the State of Santa Barbara County Chamber Event at the end of November. He was showing some great evidence, with a strong labor market and strong consumer spending, that we are not in a recession, but I loved his answer to are we in a recession. ‘If we are not in one, we are heading towards one, of course. Dumb question.'”

The Almanac in California. “A surprising trend is expected to hit one Menlo Park school district in the next five years: significant enrollment decline. The Menlo Park City School District student body will stand at around 2,500 students in 2027, down 7.4% from 2,700 today, according to a report by Demographer Thomas R. Williams presented to the school board on Dec. 15. Current kindergarten enrollment is the lowest since before 2006, despite the impacts of the pandemic otherwise easing this year, demographers said. District students come from Menlo Park and Atherton, which boast some of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the country.”

“‘All of my clients are hemorrhaging kids,’ said Williams. ‘You’re actually doing better than everybody else. Cupertino is down thousands of kids. … It’s been a crazy few years.'”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “The fog of uncertainty that has kept real estate sellers and buyers on the sidelines in recent months will start to clear in 2023, predicts Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC World Markets. With stability in the market, sellers will be encouraged to list in greater numbers, Mr. Tal expects, and some distressed borrowers will add to the supply. ‘I have little doubt the delinquency rate will rise,’ he says. Mr. Tal also expects obstinate sellers to become more realistic about the price they will accept when they realize the conditions that led to the February 2022 peak won’t be returning soon. ‘The market will not go back to what it was, because what it was, was insane.'”

“In Toronto, Patrick Rocca, broker with Bosley Real Estate Ltd., has been hearing from some homeowners who are gearing up to list out of the gate in 2023 after a dismal December. Most of the homeowners he is hearing from understand that prices have dropped 20 per cent from their peak in midtown Toronto, he says. ‘Some want to sell, but at early 2022 prices,’ he says. ‘It’s a very short conversation.'”

“In the Leaside and Davisville neighbourhoods where he does much of his business, a semi-detached house that would have fetched $1.9 million at the peak can now be had for $1.5 million or so, he says. Mr. Rocca believes prices are likely near the bottom, but he is concerned about the possibility that homeowners who have high mortgage debt may be forced to sell. Even in Toronto’s most established neighbourhoods, where prices tend to be more stable, he knows of people who are fearful about whether they will be able to hold onto their houses.”

“Broker Davelle Morrison of Bosley says the new year is a time when people tend to ruminate about their focus in life and where they want to be in the coming months. She has been hearing from the full spectrum of buyers, including first-time, move-up, and downsizing. Some are people who moved out of the city early in the pandemic and now want to return. Traffic in the GTA has become monumentally worse in the past couple of years, she points out, and some workers have returned to offices downtown. ‘If you’ve got to sit through traffic hell, you may start to wonder, why did I move so far out?'”

“Sellers in the coming weeks will need to set an asking price in line with the current reality, she says. ‘If sellers go out with overheated expectations, they will not get showings,’ she says. ‘Buyers have wised up.'”

From CTV News. “As Toronto’s real estate market continues to struggle amid the Bank of Canada’s aggressive campaign to hike interest rates, some agents say that they are increasingly hearing from buyers of pre-construction condos who are worried about closing the deal. Realtor Jordan Scrinko, of precondo.ca, a website portal for pre-construction projects in Canada, said several of his clients have expressed concerns about being able to afford their pre-construction investment, which many purchased when interest rates came in at under two per cent.”

“Last month, Scrinko and his team worked with roughly 70 clients who had purchased-pre-construction units in two large Toronto condominium developments. ‘Everyone successfully closed, but it was a lot of work. … There was a lot of putting out fires,’ he said, adding in some cases clients used private lenders to complete their deal. ‘There were definitely some clients who came to us to liquidate their units before closing,’ he said, adding that he and his team always advise buyers to do everything possible to hold on to their investment.”

“Like Scrinko, Ara Mamourian, a broker and the managing director of The Spring Team Real Estate, said some of his clients have also begun inquiring about how they can get out of their developer purchase agreements. Mamourian said it is OK for buyers who are closing soon to feel concerned about how they’ll be able to afford their pre-construction property. But, he said it ‘is not the time to panic.’ ‘A lot of people are very scared about interest rates, but they can still close. … There are so many options out there one way or the other to not lose a property,’ he told CP24.com. ‘Most people should do what ever they can to complete the deal. My number one advice is to do what ever you can to hold on to a property. Your future self will thank you.'”

“Mamourian said this especially applies to those in the Toronto market, where the average price of a home across all property types has now declined by 9.2 per cent year-over-year. ‘I’m expecting good news from the Bank of Canada, maybe not (an interest) rate drop, but I think there will be a halt to the hike cycle, hopefully by March,’ he said. ‘We’ve seen worse times in the (housing) market. … In the grand scheme of things, the market as a whole will be okay.'”

“Research from Urbanation has suggested that a record 32,000 new condominium units will be completed in the GTA in 2023. Mamourian, whose firm does roughly 20 per cent of its business in pre-construction condos, said people who invested in the market with a long-term intention of holding, moving in, or renting it should be in good shape. However, those who purchased this type of property to make a quick buck without fully understanding what they were getting into, could face some challenges, he conceded.”

“‘There are some people who are in a lot of trouble and are going to lose money in this market now,’ he said, adding in many cases those buyers put their faith in a ‘bad apple’ agent who did and said whatever it took to make a deal.”

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This Post Has 112 Comments

  1. ‘down from their peak in May, when the median sales price of Salt Lake County homes was $565,600. After the next seven months, the median price fell by 14% to $485,829, erasing month-over-month percent increases until ‘finally turning negative 2.1% in December’

    Another sh$thole rolls over YOY.

      1. Ukrainian EOD technicians are reporting that unexploded Russian missiles landing in Ukraine have Cyrillic inscriptions saying “Realtors are liars.”

        2. “Ukrainian EOD technicians…”

          I imagine those guys and their dogs will be very busy for several years. Probably an opportunity for foreign teams to also gain some live experience too. The clustering munitions from decades ago had a high rate of unexploded bomblets.

    2. But my local Salt Lake realtor told me the Californians would come with buckets of cash. What happened???

    3. “‘Just hang in there,’ Jim Wood of the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute told. ‘2024 will be better.’”

      Is it a job requirement for real estate professors to double as industry cheerleaders? WTF!?

      1. Is it a job requirement for real estate professors to double as industry cheerleaders?

        I suppose it depends on who butters his bread.

  2. ‘They paid $122.6 million for the land, at the top of the market. He does, however, worry about the broader economy and the broader real estate market…’Of course, it bothers me. It bothers me every day. I wake up every day thinking about you know what is going to happen in the economy,’ said Perez. ‘We’re thinking that interest rates and inflation has pretty much peaked. We’re going to have a rough, in my opinion, one year to a year and a half, two years’

    Who’ll give me three?

  3. ‘In the Leaside and Davisville neighbourhoods where he does much of his business, a semi-detached house that would have fetched $1.9 million at the peak can now be had for $1.5 million or so, he says. Mr. Rocca believes prices are likely near the bottom, but he is concerned about the possibility that homeowners who have high mortgage debt may be forced to sell. Even in Toronto’s most established neighbourhoods, where prices tend to be more stable, he knows of people who are fearful about whether they will be able to hold onto their houses’

    Wa happened to my equity Toronto?

      1. It’s a DebtDonkey styled guess. Typical.

        No mention of construction costs. Not that I would expect a DebtDonkey to know anything about it.

  4. “One of the struggles is some buyers are operating in the future. They feel that pricing will go down, rates will drop, and then they will jump in. At the same time, we have sellers that are operating in the past. They feel that the last two years’ pricing can still be attained and they are still fully leveraged.“

    Fully leveraged might be an ideal position especially in a sinking market since you could just mail ’em the keys and walk away.

  5. “Current kindergarten enrollment is the lowest since before 2006, despite the impacts of the pandemic otherwise easing this year, demographers said. District students come from Menlo Park and Atherton, which boast some of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the country.”

    The peninsula from Mountain View up to San Francisco is simply too expensive to have mom at home raising children.

    1. No parent who loves their child is going to put them in our NEA indoctrination mills to be prey for the groomers.

  6. 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆, 𝗪𝗔 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟰% 𝗬𝗢𝗬 𝗔𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝘁𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲

    https://www.movoto.com/spokane-valley-wa/market-trends/

    𝘈𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥, “𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘦.”

  7. A reader sent these in:

    Elon Musk

    I wonder what would have happened in 2009 if the Fed had raised rates instead of lowering them 🤔

    https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1614105828205760513

    The Kobeissi Letter

    Housing market update:
    1. Mortgage demand lowest since 1997
    2. Housing affordability index below 2008 low
    3. New home inventory highest since 2008
    4. Home price to income ratio at record high
    5. Home sales down 32% in 2022 to record low
    The housing market is in a recession.

    https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1614320536510775298

    Tesla bulls are giving the world a masterclass in what it looks like to be totally twisted by sunk costs, and how it’s downright emotional. It’s hard to see straight when you have invested so much that gets vaporized, even when that reality is hitting you in the face.

    https://twitter.com/chancery_daily/status/1613952146470309898

    Call the police
    There’s been a homicide
    An entire profession is being wiped out before our eyes
    The occupation…Real Estate Broker

    https://twitter.com/CaseyMericle/status/1614280503678443520

    And they will have accomplished, what? What is the point of saving the US economy from inflation if you need free money to keep the lights on? There isn’t one. Forget zero rates and QE. They are never coming back.

    https://twitter.com/Stimpyz1/status/1614071119946076161

    Warren Buffett on interest rates: “They power everything in the economic universe.”

    https://twitter.com/FoundersPodcast/status/1613968024733614095

    The collapse of California
    “But just days into his second term, that dream appeared to be ending. Tuesday, Newsom announced California likely won’t collect enough money in taxes to pay for all of its obligations, leaving a $22.5 billion hole in its budget”

    https://twitter.com/TheMaverickWS/status/1614411780733927424

    This might be the most important charts/indicators in real residential estate. Payment nation

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1614407602238283778

    CarDealershipGuy

    Sending thoughts and prayers

    https://twitter.com/GuyDealership/status/1614381109105819649

    “There were no real estate IPOs in 2022, marking the first year with no REIT IPO since 2008.”

    https://twitter.com/avikXm/status/1614359062434709504

    🇨🇦’s economy is booming. 🤷‍♂️😂 At the peak of the economic cycle, the social contract feels broken & people begin to reject authority & consequences. Think crime in the early 90s. If you did everything right & are still screwed—you DNGAF.

    https://twitter.com/StephenPunwasi/status/1614356674348736519

    Redfin

    Pending home sales were down 32% year over year to the lowest level on record. Among the 50 most populous metros, pending sales fell the most in Las Vegas, Jacksonville, Phoenix, and Austin

    https://twitter.com/Redfin/status/1614313168385314819

    Bear market rally explained in just few seconds

    https://twitter.com/MichaelAArouet/status/1614163650679549952

    Danielle DiMartino Booth

    No doubt there will be fewer places to hide come Q1 earnings time.

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1614331634983079938

    Danielle DiMartino Booth

    Fabulous observation. Supply chain disruption kept manufacturing humming longer than otherwise
    Biden stimulus slush fund to wealthy pumped $164B into economy via underserved business income tax refunds
    Lowest paid stayed out of workforce keeping wages up
    Credit card EXPLOSION

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1614339478931349504

    This is the highest mortgage cost as a percentage of household income in decades…another reason home ownership is unaffordable for many. Prices have to come down as rates aren’t likely to do so soon.

    https://twitter.com/Mayhem4Markets/status/1614438060199911425

    Behind CPI: Real Wages have Fallen Now for 21 Months in a Row 🚨🚨🚨 People feel this and know they are falling behind and becoming poorer, despite the official narrative that tries to mislead.

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1614420193673089025

    The official narrative is meant to isolate people into thinking there’s something wrong with them, because no one else is hurting. This causes many people into debt, just to keep up with the Jones’. Debt is the last thing you want today

    https://twitter.com/Jimstonewall/status/1614458943786586113

    $2mm Oklahoma, $2mm Calgary. 🤷‍♂️

    https://twitter.com/MPelletierCIO/status/1614317090202349568

    “Millennials living paycheck to paycheck with issues paying their monthly bills report average savings of $3,731”
    This is the group we’re told will buy 800k homes from all the boomers in the next decade

    https://twitter.com/texasrunnerDFW/status/1614326778960420866

    1. This is the group we’re told will buy 800k homes from all the boomers in the next decade

      “This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush

    2. “California likely won’t collect enough money in taxes to pay for all of its obligations, leaving a $22.5 billion hole in its budget.”

      When Wall Street CR8Rs, California’s progressive Soak the Rich taxation scheme fails, as it is highly dependent on capital gains taxation. It’s worser this time, given that the wealthy have left California in droves over recent years.

    4. Warren Buffett on interest rates: “They power everything in the economic universe.”

      The other interest rate quotes are gold too:

      —The value of every business-the value of a farm, an apartment house or any other economic asset-is 100% sensitive to interest rates.

      —That’s because all you’re doing when you’re investing is transferring money to someone now in exchange for a stream of money which you expect to come back in the future. And the higher interest rates are, the less that present value will be.

      —Interest rates are to asset prices sort of like gravity to the apple.

      —When interest rates are low there is little gravitational pull on asset prices.

      —Interest rates power everything in the economic universe.

      1. Interest rates power everything in the economic universe.

        Silly me, I thought it was business profits.

        BTW, do apples experience changes in gravity?

    5. If you can’t beat them, join them. If you can’t join them because you weren’t born into an excessively wealthy family, eat them. If you can’t eat them (the rich) because they’re people and that’s illegal, steal from them. And then brag about it on Twitter.

      The central banks really f**ked things up this time.

  8. “It’s just two weeks into 2023, and Utah real estate agents are already being told to look to 2024 for things to improve.

    What is the basis for expecting things to improve in 2024? The long-deferred financial reckoning day is bearing down on the Fed’s Everything Bubble, and the wealth destruction is going to be downright Biblical.

  9. ‘Just hang in there,’ Jim Wood of the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute told. ‘2024 will be better.

    Hope was the last and most dangerous thing in Pandora’s box.

  10. But sustained drops amounting to a housing bubble are, in Wood’s words, ‘extremely unlikely.’

    These lying REIC scum are recyling all the same lies they told as Housing Bubble 1.0 was imploding.

  11. ‘We’re thinking that interest rates and inflation has pretty much peaked.

    You keep telling yourself that, Perez.

  12. Mamourian said it is OK for buyers who are closing soon to feel concerned about how they’ll be able to afford their pre-construction property. But, he said it ‘is not the time to panic.’

    Die, speculator scum.

  13. “‘There are some people who are in a lot of trouble and are going to lose money in this market now,’ he said, adding in many cases those buyers put their faith in a ‘bad apple’ agent who did and said whatever it took to make a deal.”

    Anyone who put their faith in a UHS or the “experts” of the REIC shill media deserve to get financially annihilated.

    1. It’s Marxism.

      Washington Examiner (1/13/2023):

      “New parents have a lot on their minds: getting the baby to eat, functioning on 1.5 hours of sleep and five cups of coffee, and finding a pediatrician who specializes in LGBTQIA+ infants. At least, that’s what Harvard University thinks is a top priority for new parents.

      According to a course offered by Harvard Medical School, it’s important to “focus on serving gender and sexual minority people across the lifespan, from infants to older adults.”

      https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/lgbt-babies

      Our betters inform that this is some logical next step of a civil rights movement, a long arc of history including ending slavery and segregation, allowing women to vote, and most recently under King Obama, allowing gay adults (just adults now, but they’re working on expanding that) to marry.

      Anything that denies the basic biological realities of gender, destroys the nuclear family, and seizes custody of children because they are the property of the state, we are told is “on the right side of history.”

      You’re not gonna vote your way out of this. The solution is secession, and ropes. Ropes? Yes, ropes.

      The Day Of The Rope is coming…

  15. New York Times — Davos Confronts a New World Order (1/14/2023):

    “The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, finds itself navigating troubled waters. Long the affluent symbol of a globalizing world where the assumption was that more trade would bring more freedom, it now confronts international fracture, ascendant nationalism and growing protectionism under the shadow of war in Europe and sharp tensions between the United States and China.

    The post-Cold War era, dominated by the idea that Western liberal democracy and free-market capitalism held all the answers, is over.

    The gathering in the Swiss mountains next week of politicians, business leaders, technology gurus, environmentalists and other Davos patrons, only the second in person after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus, will wrestle with questions once unthinkable.

    To what degree is the world de-globalizing as the threat to supply chains has become evident through Covid-19 and war? Is it possible to end the trench warfare in Europe that has already taken tens of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian lives and led to talk, far-fetched but insistent, of possible nuclear “Armageddon,” a word used by President Biden last year? If the conflict in Ukraine persists through 2023, as now appears plausible, how can a war-induced global recession be avoided as investment-curtailing uncertainty persists and prices soar?”

    https://archive.ph/SoYg3

    Related article from last year’s Pigmen meetup:

    “Just a stone’s throw away from the main Davos Congress Center, the fancy Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvedere was charging punters 49 Swiss francs ($51) for a burrito on its “snacks” menu.

    It was accompanied by a small bowl of guacamole and salsa. For comparison, a burrito in Taco Bell can cost as little as $2.

    A portion of French fries was also on offer at the Belvedere for 21.50 Swiss francs ($22.41).”

    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/26/over-50-for-a-burrito-worlds-elite-splash-the-cash-on-snacks-at-davos-.html

    1. “The Swiss army has begun deploying in Davos, south-eastern Switzerland, to support security for the upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) on January 16-20.

      Ten days before the 2023 edition, the military has begun work on security installations, the defence ministry said on Friday. Like every year, the military is supporting the civilian authorities in canton Graubünden in preparation for the major event.

      It notes that the Swiss parliament renewed approval for 5,000 members of the Swiss army to guarantee the security of some 3,000 WEF participants for the years 2022 to 2024. The high-level event attracts wealthy, high-profile business and political figures from around the world, along with academics and other leaders of society. Last year’s edition was attended by the likes of US climate envoy John Kerry, Microsoft mogul Bill Gates and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Donald Trump also came when he was US President.

      Current US President Joe Biden will not attend this year’s event, the US embassy in Bern said on Friday. But Washington is sending a high-level delegation including Kerry.”

      https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/swiss-army-starts-security-deployment-ahead-of-world-economic-forum/48186102

      5,000 is that a lot?

      Globalist scum media never asks WHY these alleged elites are so hated, eating $50 burritos while the Little People can’t afford eggs…

      1. The Swiss army has begun deploying in Davos

        Couldn’t they just post St. Greta at the entrance to town and have her shriek “How dare you!?” at anyone who tries to enter uninvited?

        5000 soldiers. Not cops (I’m sure there will be plenty of those too), but soldiers. I wonder how many Patriot missile batteries will be stationed there?

        1. I wonder how many Patriot missile batteries will be stationed there?

          The leaders who talk tough, start wars and then hide when hillbillies show up at the white house. Rinse repeat

    2. The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, finds itself navigating troubled waters

      Where’s an errant nuke when you need one? Wipe all of these people off the face of the map and the world just got a whole lot better.

    3. it now confronts international fracture, ascendant nationalism and growing protectionism under the shadow of war in Europe and sharp tensions between the United States and China

      The war in Ukraine most definitely has the Davos seal of approval. In fact, I think all of the above are their doing, except maybe the China thing. Bring everything crashing down and then they can usher in the Great Reset.

    4. Yer peasants eat yer maggot burger to save the environment while we dine and fly in our private jets … Don’t forget to own nothing and be happy 😁

  17. Will the last taxpayer leaving California please turn out the lights?

    Los Angeles Times Editorial Board — Yes, it really will take billions of dollars a year to solve homelessness in California (1/15/2023):

    “Gov. Gavin Newsom has said that addressing homelessness is his top priority. It should be. California has 30% of the country’s homeless population and 50% of those who sleep outside as opposed to in shelters or temporary housing.

    Newsom’s budget proposal for the 2023-24 fiscal year contains $3.4 billion in homelessness funding. Because of the slowing economy, the state has a projected $22.5-billion deficit and Newsom, for the first time since he became governor, is having to cut spending. But the administration said no homelessness funding programs have been cut for the upcoming fiscal year. The question is whether $3.4 billion is enough to turn the corner on homelessness.”

    https://archive.ph/AkHS2

    1. So billions for the homeless, billions for reparations, billions for CRT training, and a few bucks for cops and prosecutors to pretend that there is still law and order in Cali. No wonder “everyone wants to live there®”.

      1. billions for reparations

        Depending on the payout amount (some are proposing as much as a million per head), that could easily top a trillion.

      2. No wonder “everyone wants to live there®”.

        Newsom will cut these worthless spending projects and As long as the public unions get paid off its all good, no matter what this clown of a governor says they control the state .

  18. You will eat nothing.

    New York Post — Bill Gates says fake meat products will ‘eventually’ be ‘very good’ (1/15/2023):

    “Microsoft co-founder turned billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said he is hopeful that fake meat products will eventually be a “very good” option for consumers even though the share of products in the “meat” market is small.

    “I think eventually these products will be very good even though their share is small today,” Gates said in a Reddit forum on a question relating to tackling the climate crisis, first reported CNBC.

    Gates said innovations like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, which are plant based food options that range from burger to chicken nugget alternatives, and the food technology company, Upside Foods, which takes animal cells to then grow meat in a laboratory environment, are crucial steps for reducing animal consumption.”

    https://nypost.com/2023/01/15/bill-gates-says-fake-meat-products-will-eventually-be-very-good/

    What’s on the menu at Davos this week? At the G20 in Bali last year the attendees dined on wagyu beef.

    1. nahhhhh i tried JU ST Egg made with pea protein, got 2 jars free…….never had so much gas in all my life and tossed the 2nd jar out.

    2. grow meat in a laboratory environment

      Sounds kind of stupid compared to letting cattle run around eating grass in the sunshine.

      1. It’s about control:

        You will roll up your sleeve
        You will eat bugs
        You won’t be allowed to have a car
        You will need permission to travel (keep that carbon footprint way down or you won’t get permission)
        You will stay at home when we say so
        You will eat fake meat, fake dairy, fakes eggs, fake everything.

    1. Remember the first Pedo Joe White House Christmas?

      They had Christmas stockings for all the acknowledged grandchildren, and when people #Noticed that there wasn’t one for the bastard granddaughter, they took them all down as best to not highlight her rather unfortunate existence.

  20. New York Post — Rep. Jim Jordan probe to zero in on FBI communications with Twitter (1/14/2023):

    “Rep. Jim Jordan’s looming investigation into the “weaponization” of the Department of Justice will zero in on a trove of documents sent by the FBI to Twitter just hours before The Post published bombshell revelations about Hunter Biden, the lawmaker told The Post in an exclusive interview.

    The 10 documents were fired off by Special Agent Elvis Chan to Twitter head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth on Oct. 13, 2020 via a one-way communications channel, Teleporter.

    “Elvis Chan and Yoel Roth were doing their direct communications,” Jordan said. “It’s one of the things we want to get access to, those communications via Teleporter that took place in the run-up to the election.”

    Yoel Roth, that’s a name you don’t hear much recently from the globalist scum media.

    Where are you, Yoel Roth? Just two months ago you had the FBI, DHS, CIA all on speed dial, and Real Journalists expect the sheeple to just forget you ever existed.

    “The FBI’s supposed guidance at the time was used as justification by Twitter officials to ban The Post’s exposé of Hunter Biden infamous laptop just weeks before the 2020 presidential election.

    The pugnacious Ohio Republican will have a full plate this session. He is widely expected to become the chair of the new select sub-committee that will probe FBI and DOJ weaponization, in addition to his role chairing the powerful House Judiciary Committee.

    Jordan is planning to open his marquee select committee probe with an avalanche of FBI whistleblowers. The original roster of 14 he boasted of in November has now ballooned into “dozens” of agents who have come forward to tell their stories.

    They “want to go public. It looks to us that many have already been retaliated against by the FBI,” Jordan said, saying some had been suspended or had their security clearance revoked as punishment for speaking to his office.

    “One of them, his statement to our staff was that at the highest levels of the FBI, It’s rotted at its core. This is a guy who is a proud agent, doing this because he wanted to serve and now he’s saying his leadership is rotted at its core.”

    https://nypost.com/2023/01/14/jim-jordan-probe-to-zero-in-on-fbi-communications-with-twitter/

    The FBI is Democratic Party Gestapo. And Attorney General Merrick Garland is a domestic terrorist.

  21. Washington Examiner — Zelensky pushes for Western aid to fight Russian ‘army of about 2 million people’ (1/13/2023):

    “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s requests for additional Western military aid have gained urgency as Western officials monitor Russia’s plans to mobilize a massive force of new conscripts to attack Ukraine.

    “We have this appeal from Ukrainian leadership to help them to defend [Ukraine] in case Russia will come again with a big, big force … this is what we will most probably see in the springtime,” a senior European official told the Washington Examiner.

    “About 500,000 more Russians will join the Russian Armed Forces, which will allow the terrorist country to create strategic reserves,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Defense Intelligence unit said Friday. “The scale of enlistment activities conducted by the aggressor country indicates the plans of its leadership to create an army of about two million people.”

    “Now we need even greater mobilization — in the whole free world,” Zelensky said Friday in an address to Lithuania’s parliament. “We need urgent decisions by our entire anti-war coalition. New defensive decisions that will give Ukrainian warriors the opportunity to drive the Russian army out of our land. And this concerns, first of all, modern tanks and effective artillery.”

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/zelensky-russian-army-two-million

    The whole free world? Our entire anti-war coalition?

    Here’s a reminder of who is making these demands (2m50, warning nudity):

    https://www.bitchute.com/video/zOv4m3rAuEvF/

    The Christian Nationalist Homeland that emerges from the ashes of Weimar America will *NOT* be contributing to or participating in any phony wars in Ukrainistan.

    Globalist Marxist occupied Congress wants to put a bust of this unelected, CIA-installed tyrant on display in the U.S. Capitol.

    Keep paying those federal income taxes, slaves, because you’ll never be seen as anything more than cattle to these globalists.

    1. I read Ukraine is now getting main Battle tanks from Great Britain and probably Germany. I think this war will ramp up and that’s not good.

  23. “The median sales price for single-family homes, condominiums, town homes and duplexes combined in the county fell to $485,829 in December, from $565,600 in May.”

    May through December is 7 months. So the annualized rate of decline through December 2022 was
    1-($485,829/$565,600)^(12/7) = 23%.

    I’m not sure how that compares to how fast Utah housing prices crashed in the 2007-2009 period. I do recall my inlaws’ place going from the low $300Ks to $800K+ in the runup to the last bust.

    “Home prices are dropping relative to their big run-up since 2020 — and nearly a decade before that, for that matter — and they’ll probably keep ticking downward well into this year. But sustained drops amounting to a housing bubble are, in Wood’s words, ‘extremely unlikely.’”

    Housing bubble reflation was from 2012 through 2022. Now a bust is ‘extremely likely.’

    1. “…down from their peak in May, when the median sales price of Salt Lake County homes was $565,600. After the next seven months, the median price fell by 14% to $485,829, erasing month-over-month percent increases until ‘finally turning negative 2.1% in December,’ Wood wrote in his report.”

      Notice how real estate cheerleaders never feel the need to explain their math? I’ll take my well-explained 23% annualized rate of decline calculation over Wood’s mysterious negative 2.1% figure any day of the year.

    3. It’s pretty interesting to see a million dollar gap between the estimates of two of the leading online real estate sites. How do they come up with these?

      Small wonder they couldn’t make the iBuyer line of business work out.

      1. 7 Real Estate Stocks That May Not Survive 2023
        Housing might get really ugly this year
        3d ago · By Josh Enomoto, InvestorPlace Contributor
        – It’s time to face the music with real estate stocks to sell.
        – Redfin (RDFN): Poor financials dog Redfin’s upside prospects.
        – Zillow (Z, ZG): Nobody feels sorry for Zillow’s poor choices.
        – Douglas Elliman (DOUG): Poor luxury home sales may impact DOUG.
        – Opendoor (OPEN): Opendoor has a serious viability problem.
        – Matterport (MTTR): Matterport lost significant relevance.
        – Rocket Companies (RKT): Rocket faces the loss of prospective buyers.
        – LendingTree (TREE): Smart money is moving away from TREE.

        Although the housing market soared through the first two years of the post-pandemic new normal, the challenge now is that the paradigm shifted, necessitating a discussion about real estate stocks to sell. Understandably, the topic of dumping publicly traded companies rarely sparks the warm and fuzzies. However, please note that this narrative centers on self-preservation.

        Fundamentally, the concept of real estate stocks to sell deserves special consideration because of harsh monetary realities. Back when the coronavirus first capsized society, the Federal Reserve responded through liquidity injections. Naturally, this move spiked up the real M2 money stock. But now, the central bank is committed to tackling the subsequent inflation through higher interest rates.

        Now, inflation didn’t become truly awful until 2022. That was when the velocity of money stock jumped dramatically higher. Because people started to spend the money saved through stimulus checks and not commuting to work, more dollars chased after fewer goods. Thus, the Fed may get even more aggressive with interest rates this year.

        That wouldn’t be good for housing. Therefore, investors should pay attention to the below real estate stocks to sell.

        RDFN Redfin $5.80
        Z ZG Zillow Group $42.35
        DOUG Douglas Elliman $4.24
        OPEN Opendoor $1.42
        MTTR Matterport $2.92
        RKT Rocket Companies $8.20
        TREE Lendingtree $28.87
        …
        https://investorplace.com/2023/01/7-real-estate-stocks-that-may-not-survive-2023/

  26. The Financial Times
    North American prime property
    High and dry in Manhattan: buyers and sellers in housing market stand-off
    Rising mortgage rates deter buyers while even homes in New York’s most glamorous neighbourhoods struggle to sell
    Hugo Cox January 11 2023

    Charlotte, who is in her late sixties and impatient to move to Florida, has cut the price of her two-bedroom Upper East Side apartment by a fifth, to $2mn. After three months without a suitable offer, Amy Schwab Owens gave up trying to sell her Chelsea apartment — despite cutting the price by $300,000, to $3.25mn — and has started renting it out instead. Since she listed it in September, Jen Insardi has been waiting for an acceptable offer on her $7.995mn, four-bedroom condo in Tribeca, which she has spent more than two years renovating.

    All are caught up in Manhattan’s housing market slowdown. As rising US mortgage rates curb what buyers can afford — or are willing to pay — many sellers of high-value homes are making large discounts to achieve a sale. Others are sticking fast to what they think their homes are worth — or taking them off the market entirely.

    The combination of intransigent sellers and wary buyers means the number of agreed sales in Manhattan between October and December last year was about half what it was in the same period the year before, says New York estate agent Serhant.
    …

    1. High and dry in Manhattan: buyers and sellers in housing market stand-off

      Nobody has to buy a house, especially in those tony nabes. Buyers can simply wait it out and let wannabe sellers twist in the wind. Every month, sellers have to fork out mucho dinero to feed the alligator, while buyers decide to just take a tropical vacation.

  27. When Wells Fargo says it is exiting the mortgage business, what it really means is they won’t be giving mortgages to white people:

    “Expand its retail team by focusing on existing bank customers and underserved communities.
    Invest an additional $100 million to “advance racial equity in homeownership.”
    Deploying additional Home Mortgage Consultants in local minority communities.”

    https://nypost.com/2023/01/11/wells-fargo-to-focus-on-home-loans-for-minorities/

    1. Amazing how much money large firms are willing to lose to appease the woke mob. Of course, they know they won’t be getting people to sign on the dotted line for a while, so the loses were already baked in.

      1. My list of companies to boycott is getting so long that I have about two places left- Chic-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby lol.

      2. Amazing how much money large firms are willing to lose to appease the woke mob.

        Only in bubble times of zero rates is that possible. In normal times you have to earn your business.

        1. Amazing how much money large firms are willing to lose to appease the woke mob.
          For the banks it is CRA credit.

    2. The $70K price cut is cute.

      “You gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers in this racket”

  30. 𝗣𝗵𝗼𝗲𝗻𝗶𝘅, 𝗔𝗭 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟲% 𝗬𝗢𝗬 𝗢𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗮𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀

    https://www.movoto.com/phoenix-az/market-trends/

    𝘈𝘴 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥, “𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘴.”

  31. ‘There were definitely some clients who came to us to liquidate their units before closing’

    That’s the spirit!

  32. Fox Business
    Tesla owners feel ‘duped’ after company slashes prices
    Timothy Nerozzi
    Sat, January 14, 2023 at 8:42 AM PST·2 min read
    In this article:

    Many Tesla owners are expressing frustration with the company after a surprise series of price cuts.

    The electric automaker has reportedly cut prices on some models by nearly 20%, according to the Wall Street Journal. The move is seen as a way to grab new buyers at a time when Wall Street is concerned appetite for the vehicles is weakening.
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-owners-feel-duped-company-164220802.html

    1. Does a 20% price cut on new Tesla reduce the market value of a used version of the same model by over 20%?

      That would be my guess, as used late model cars tend to either be lemons or repos. Who wants to buy a defaulting debt donkey’s foreclosure vehicle?

  33. “At the peak of the economic cycle, the social contract feels broken & people begin to reject authority & consequences. Think crime in the early 90s. If you did everything right & are still screwed—you DNGAF.”

    See also: post-WWI, post-hyperinflation Germany.

  34. For anyone interested in the Idaho 4 murders, may I suggest Andrea Burkhart on YT. Her latest (no link): Cell Phone Data – Criminal Defense Attorney Analysis – Idaho v. Kohberger.

    1. It seems like the court of the MSM has already tried and convicted the defendent on no evidence except hearsay.

      1. You should read the probable cause affidavit. Not only is it probable cause for his arrest, his DNA is on the knife sheath left at the scene. OOPS.

        1. DNA is on the knife sheath left at the scene

          On the knife sheath. Left at the scene. Not as strong as you think it sounds.

          1. Probably Cause Affidavit at page 18:
            “On December 27, 2022, Pennsylvania Agents recovered the trash from the Kohberger family residence located in Albrightsville, PA. That evidence was sent to the Idaho State Lab for testing. On December 28, 2022, the Idaho State Lab reported that a DNA profile obtained from the trash and the DNA profile obtained from the sheath, identified a male as not being excluded as the biological father of Suspect Profile. At least 99.9998% of the male population would be
            expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father.”

      2. the court of the MSM

        How’d that turn in Kyle Rittenhouse’s case?! Precisely why I suggested a credible source.

    1. The Financial Times
      World Economic Forum
      Top global companies write down billions as deals make way for gloom
      Business leaders prepare to meet in Davos as a third of the world economy is forecast to be in recession this year
      Davos Congress Centre will host the World Economic Forum against the backdrop of what has been called a ‘polycrisis’
      Stephen Foley in New York
      11 hours ago

      Some of the world’s biggest companies are facing multibillion-dollar writedowns on recent acquisitions as a wave of dealmaking gives way to a new era of economic uncertainty and higher interest rates.

      With a third of the global economy forecast to be in recession this year, world leaders will this week gather in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss what the World Economic Forum has called a “polycrisis” as business leaders engage in a painful reckoning over their empire building.

      US media and healthcare companies are among those to have slashed the value of business units in the past few months and accountants are warning that more cuts could be imminent as the annual reporting season gets under way.

      Companies are required to assess the carrying value of intangible assets at least once a year, using assumptions about future cash flows and comparisons to stock market valuations, which fell sharply in 2022.

      With higher costs owing to inflation and a weaker outlook for demand, many recently acquired businesses may struggle to justify their valuations, even before factoring in higher interest rates, which further reduce the present value of future cash flows.

      “It’s a pretty deadly combination,” said Jasmeet Singh Marwah, managing director at Stout, a valuation services company. “For many businesses . . . they made the acquisition and the performance has not been at par with what they expected or budgeted for.”
      …

    3. WSJ News Exclusive
      The Outlook
      Economists in WSJ Survey Still See Recession This Year Despite Easing Inflation
      Forecasters put 61% probability of recession in next 12 months
      Four Key Market Metrics That Signal Investors Are Prepping for Recession
      A look at the markets shows asset managers are moving money around in ways that suggest they see a recession coming. WSJ’s Dion Rabouin explains what to look for and why they tell us investors are increasingly pricing in a recession.
      Illustration: David Fang
      By Harriet Torry
      and Anthony DeBarros
      Jan. 15, 2023 5:30 am ET

      Despite signs that inflation has started to recede, economists still expect higher interest rates to push the U.S. economy into a recession in the coming year, according to The Wall Street Journal’s latest quarterly survey.

      On average, business and academic economists polled by the Journal put the probability of a recession in the next 12 months at 61%, little changed from 63% in October’s survey. Both figures are historically high outside actual recessions.
      …
      https://www.wsj.com/articles/despite-easing-price-pressures-economists-in-wsj-survey-still-see-recession-this-year-11673723571

    4. Opinion
      Opinion: Don’t be fooled, a recession really is coming
      Opinion by Lakshman Achuthan and Anirvan Banerji
      Published 12:58 PM EST, Fri January 13, 2023
      Editor’s Note: Lakshman Achuthan and Anirvan Banerji are co-founders of the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI), which determines recession dates for 22 economies around the world. The views expressed in this commentary are their own. View more opinion on CNN.
      CNN — 

      Recession concerns in the US are widespread these days. Yet, some economists argue that the strength of the labor market — as well as household balance sheets — will keep the economy strong enough to avoid a recession.

      We disagree. Despite the relatively robust job growth we’ve been seeing, the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI), which we co-founded, has been predicting recession since last spring, and it remains our expectation that the US economy will enter a recession this year.
      …
      https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/13/opinions/us-economy-recession-achuthan-banerji/index.html

    5. Yahoo
      First Signs of Recession Pain Look Set to Emerge from Earnings
      Farah Elbahrawy
      Sat, January 14, 2023 at 6:00 AM PST·5 min read

      (Bloomberg) — Just as investors are celebrating the prospect of peak inflation and potential for a soft landing, this earnings season is likely to show there’s still plenty that should keep them up at night.

      With costs still on the rise, interest rates starting to bite and consumer spending declining, results are expected to reveal the start of a US earnings recession, which will last until the second half of 2023, according to Bloomberg Intelligence strategists.

      While analysts have been busy slashing their forecasts over the past few weeks, the consensus for corporate profits in 2023 remains “materially too high” with or without an economic recession, according to Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson, who warns that stocks can fall about 25% in the first quarter under pressure from poor earnings and guidance.

      Madison Faller, global strategist at JPMorgan Private Bank, expects management to provide cautious commentaries given rising recession risks, higher than normal inventories and wage pressures.

      “With developed economies slowing, we think Street estimates will likely continue to move lower, but not collapse immediately,” Faller said. “Margin degradation will likely continue into 2023 and will be the focus in management discussions with investors.”
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-signs-recession-pain-look-140000378.html

    6. DOW FUTURES -0.02%
      S&P 500 FUTURES -0.06%
      NASDAQ 100 FUTURES -0.17%

      A closely watched indicator of a coming recession is blaring its loudest warning in over 40 years
      Jennifer Sor
      Jan 9, 2023, 6:27 AM
      Trader NYSE
      A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

      – The Treasury yield curve on the 2 and 10 year notes is at its deepest inversion in over 40 years.
      – The yield curve is a notorious predictor of a recession, and preceded the downturns of 1990, 2001, and 2008.
      – That means it’s hard to argue stocks will have strong performance in the near-term, DataTrek said in a note.
      …
      https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/recession-warning-economic-outlook-inverted-yield-curve-fed-rate-hike-2023-1

  37. The Financial Times
    Interested in China? Explore our specially curated China hub for the latest news & analysis
    FTX Trading Ltd
    Enron, Madoff and now FTX: New York’s Belfer family strike out again
    Wealthy oil dynasty were shareholders in collapsed crypto group after previous investments turned sour
    Renee Belfer and Robert Belfer
    Family patriarch Robert Belfer and his wife Renee are known for their philanthropic donations
    Joshua Oliver in New York yesterday

    A New York oil dynasty that was a client of the legendary fraudster Bernard Madoff and lost billions in the demise of Enron has been embroiled in the collapse of FTX, according to court documents.

    Investment firms for the Belfer family, whose name sits above galleries at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, were included in a list of shareholders of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its US business that were released in court documents this week.

    FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been accused by US prosecutors of orchestrating “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history”, drawing comparisons to the Ponzi scheme architect Madoff and sprawling bankruptcy of Enron, which sank amid fraud allegations. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty.
    …

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