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The Housing Market Is Unraveling As Prices Come Down From Their Peak

A report from the San Francisco Chronicle in California. “Ben Jiang retrieved a key from a lockbox and worked to untangle a mass of chains securing the front gate of his house. Inside, raunchy graffiti covered several walls and doors, fixtures remained broken, rodent droppings dotted the nasty carpet, and a strange stench filled the air. He bought the fixer-upper in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood in October 2020, imagining the dream home it could one day become. Instead, it’s turned into a nightmare. ‘Welcome to the House of Horrors,’ Jiang told me. ‘We’re still as permit-less as ever,’ Jiang told me, adding that the squatters keep coming back, too.”

“Jiang and his wife, Jennifer Sun, continue to cough up huge sums of money — for their apartment rent, the mortgage and property taxes on both their homes, the permitting fees and the costs of securing the Bernal Heights home. The couple said it’s draining their bank accounts and causing major stress during what should be a happy time of expecting a baby. ‘From a financial standpoint, we’re not in a good place, and from a peace-of-mind standpoint, we have none,’ Sun said.”

“Jiang said he’ll probably try to sell it after he secures his permits — and if he can’t break even, he might do the remodeling work and then try to sell it again. But the real estate market isn’t as hot as when he bought the house, and he’s unsure if he’ll have any takers. (Redfin says it’s worth $70,000 less than what the couple purchased it for.) Asked if he regrets ever buying the House of Horrors, Jiang said, ‘Definitely. 100%.'”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “With Los Angeles County’s pandemic eviction moratorium set to lapse in days, the Board of Supervisors has voted to extend the countywide renters protections once more. The moratorium will now expire at the end of March. This, county leaders say, will be the last time they push the end date. Many landlords and property managers called in to Tuesday’s meeting, urging the board to let the moratorium expire in a week as they had originally intended.”

“‘I saw schools and day-cares reopen and still no rent. I registered new Porsches to our garage on two accounts that I haven’t seen payment on in nearly three years,’ said property manager Crystal Beard, adding she’d seen a few renters with over $100,000 in unpaid rent leave to purchase houses. ‘It is enough. It must stop. We need to put an end date to it.'”

Go Banking Rates. “A Realtor.com report found that while starter homes — which it defines as all two-bedroom listings — seem unaffected by the current correction in the housing market, luxury homes have been feeling the full effects. For example, a luxury home in Salt Lake City, Utah, was priced at $1.15 million-plus in December 2022, and the change from the 3-year price peak was down 28.1%.”

Queens News in New York. “In Long Island City, the average apartment price fell 4% over the past year to $1,106,614, with 29% fewer closings than the previous year. Close by in Astoria, at $567,422, the average apartment price was 4% lower than a year ago. ‘Prices have fallen in many neighborhoods over the past several months, which, combined with lower mortgage rates, gives buyers more purchasing power,’ said Gregory Heym, chief economist for Brown Harris Stevens. ‘Prices should continue to drift lower for the next few months as inventory rises and the economy is most likely headed toward recession.'”

CBS Colorado. “Affordable housing continues to be an issue in Colorado’s mountain communities as neighborhoods near Breckenridge are concerned about a proposed cap on short-term rentals. Some claim the proposal could hurt their property values and isn’t the solution to the housing shortage. A meeting in Summit County grew heated on Tuesday as the proposal was discussed. ‘It’s just not fair, it’s not the open dialogue that we would expect,’ said resident Rich Mason.”

“Mason is not in danger of losing his short-term rental property because people with licenses will be grandfathered in but he is worried that a cap on the number of places that can have short-term rental licenses will hurt his neighbors. ‘A lot of them their retirement is wrapped up in their home, I think a small percentage need that income to keep their home. I think a lot of people will be hurt by it,’ said Mason.”

Boca News Now in Florida. “House ‘sold prices’ dropped for both the quarter and the year in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, according to the Elliman Report prepared by Miller Samuel appraisers and advisors. The average closing price of a house in Boca Raton for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $1,246,270. That’s down 1.4 percent from the previous quarter, and 3.9 percent from the same time in 2021. Contributing to the lower selling prices: inventory. There were 627 homes on the market during the fourth quarter of 2022 in Boca Raton, but only 250 a year earlier.”

From Spotlight PA. “Pauletta Fajinmi had been waiting for more than six months. In April, she applied to a Pennsylvania program that promises to help homeowners recover from the financial impact of the pandemic. After Fajinmi’s husband died of COVID-19, in the spring of 2021, she found herself responsible for more than $5,000 in late mortgage payments on the house they had lived in together. She felt like she was living in ‘survival mode.’ The stress and grief made her hair fall out in clumps. She checked online for updates on her application every day, sometimes twice a day. ‘It was a nightmare,’ Fajinmi recalled.”

“One woman, who asked not to be named, told PAHAF in April that her lender had accused her of making the program up. The problem, public records show, was a minor mistake she had made on a crucial form. Even after the confusion was resolved, however, an official at the credit union told the woman that the company was not hearing back from PAHAF. ‘I don’t even know who to talk to up there anymore?’ the credit union worker said. By this point, the woman was almost five months behind on the mortgage. ‘We should have been foreclosing by now,’ he warned. (The credit union declined to comment.) “

From CTV News. “The Bank of Canada’s eighth rate hike in less than a year is coming at a tough time for many Albertans. The central bank raised its overnight ate by 25 basis points Wednesday, moving its policy rate to 4.5 per cent. The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy says in Alberta, there was an 8.5 per cent year over year insolvency jump in November. The 1,402 filings in the month mark the highest volume since March 2020. Experts say the rising cost of living and increasing debt are the culprits.”

“‘People are not getting (wage) increases at all during a time when they’re forking out over six per cent more in their expenses,’ Bromwich and Smith’s Laurie Campbell said. ‘So how are people bridging the gap? They’re using credit, unfortunately, and that, as we all know, only turns into a downward spiral.'”

The Financial Post. “‘Those who argue that another 25 basis points increase will not kill the economy forget that at this stage of the business cycle, the impact of further hikes is not linear. In other words, the marginal increase could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,’ wrote National Bank economists Matthieu Arseneau and Taylor Schleich. Homebuyers, struggling with the highest borrowing rates in almost 20 years, may also soon face tougher mortgage rules. Canada’s banking watchdog, Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions or OSFI, has proposed a number of measures beyond the existing mortgage stress test including loan-to-income and debt-to-income restrictions and debt-service coverage restrictions.”

“‘It’s going to be an interesting spring,’ said Victor Tran, a Rates.ca mortgage expert. Tran  predicts that if the Bank hikes the expected 25 bps and the variable-rate hits new highs the spring market may see a surge of investors forced to sell condos, possibly double the usual number. That and a glut of new builds coming into the market in 2023 could bring condo prices down further. A increase in mortgage fraud is also possible as people stretch to buy or renew a mortgage under the higher interest rates, he said.”

Newshub New Zealand. “Loan-to-value ratio (LVRs) restrictions place a cap on how much a bank can lend relative to a purchase point. Currently, most people seeking a loan from a bank to buy a property they will occupy will need a 20 percent deposit. Just 10 percent of a bank’s total lending is allowed to go towards what’s called ‘high-LVRs,’ meaning the loan is more than 80 percent of the property’s” price. For investors, most have to stump up a 40 percent deposit and just 5 percent of banks’ lending can go to high LVRs (meaning a loan of more than 60 percent of the property value).”

“LVRs were removed in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when forecasts for the housing market were weak and the RBNZ wanted to ensure a steady flow of cash. However, after prices instead rose rapidly, LVRs were reinstated – and then tightened – to limit the amount of mortgage borrowing. Kelvin Davidson, CoreLogic NZ’s chief property economist said he doesn’t expect the LVRs to be loosened this year. ‘The current housing downturn isn’t triggering major financial stability risks (such as widespread mortgagee sales) – and technically those would have to be apparent before looser lending rules would start to be pondered by the RBNZ,’ he said. ‘Indeed, in a falling housing market, looser LVRs might actually create their own risks, e.g. greater chance of negative equity if people only require small deposits.'”

From Sky News. “Westpac Chief Economist Bill Evans says the housing market is ‘unravelling’ as house prices come down from their ‘peak.’ ‘We’ve already seen the housing market unravelling, house prices down around eight per cent from the peak and Sydney of course has suffered a lot more than that,’ Mr Evans told Sky News Australia.”

The Korea Times. “Korea’s housing price valuation index is on the gradual decline after hitting a 10-year high in the second quarter of 2021, as the real estate bubble is showing clear signs of bursting on successive key rate hikes over the past year, data from the Bank of Korea (BOK) showed. ‘When loan interest rates rise, this comes as downward pressure on housing prices,’ an official from the BOK said. ‘The high interest rate affects the housing market in a way to alleviate overvaluation.'”

“Starting from August 2021, the BOK ended its cycle of freezing the key rate due to the pandemic. The central bank has since increased the key rate to 3.5 percent, which the monetary authority said played a central role in speeding up the housing market crash.”

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This Post Has 185 Comments

  1. 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻, 𝗠𝗧 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟲% 𝗬𝗢𝗬 𝗔𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝗸𝘆𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗮

    https://www.movoto.com/livingston-mt/market-trends/

    𝘈𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥, “68% 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩.”

  2. ‘The average closing price of a house in Boca Raton for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $1,246,270. That’s down 1.4 percent from the previous quarter, and 3.9 percent from the same time in 2021’

    That’s a lot of cray cray gone poof right there.

  4. ‘Welcome to the House of Horrors,’ Jiang told me. ‘We’re still as permit-less as ever,’ Jiang told me, adding that the squatters keep coming back, too…I saw schools and day-cares reopen and still no rent. I registered new Porsches to our garage on two accounts that I haven’t seen payment on in nearly three years’

    These articles remind me: I thought you guys were going to join K-da or Mexico or something. Please renew yer efforts, it’s embarrassing watching you disintegrate.

      1. Don’t hate people for wanting children; hate the economic system which doesn’t allow for even one child. A couple years ago, we even had one instance here on HBB where an anonymous someone considered aborting a WANTED baby because it was too expensive. (we don’t know the outcome of that) If we don’t want to live in Idiocracy, we’re going to need to figure this out better.

        Meanwhile, again, these folks should have sold these albatrosses while the market was hot and moved on. Instead, they just let the hold dig itself deeper. But anyway, here’s hoping for a healthy baby.

  5. ‘She felt like she was living in ‘survival mode.’ The stress and grief made her hair fall out in clumps. She checked online for updates on her application every day, sometimes twice a day. ‘It was a nightmare’

    We’re all in this together! Wa a clusterfark. Meanwhile the state is doing what they all have done: sat on the money!

    1. Pauletta’s husband died in spring 2021, but she didn’t apply for aid until a year later. And even if she had gotten financial aid during that time, how long would it have lasted? Another year, maybe? She must have known that she could never sustain the mortgage herself for very long. If she had sold that POS shack ASAP into a hot market, she could have paid off the mortgage, taken any leftover cash, and move anywhere where there was a Help Wanted sign. Nope, she sat there for a year and waited for the moratoriums to run out, then she applied for cheese, and now she’s complaining. I have to wonder.

      2. she sat there for a year

        I know people who were in a deep depression for longer than that after losing a spouse.

  6. ‘predicts that if the Bank hikes the expected 25 bps and the variable-rate hits new highs the spring market may see a surge of investors forced to sell condos, possibly double the usual number. That and a glut of new builds coming into the market in 2023 could bring condo prices down further. A increase in mortgage fraud is also possible as people stretch to buy or renew a mortgage under the higher interest rates’

    Well aren’t you the Debbie Downer these days Victor.

  8. ‘the gradual decline after hitting a 10-year high in the second quarter of 2021, as the real estate bubble is showing clear signs of bursting on successive key rate hikes over the past year, data from the Bank of Korea (BOK) showed. ‘When loan interest rates rise, this comes as downward pressure on housing prices,’ an official from the BOK said. ‘The high interest rate affects the housing market in a way to alleviate overvaluation’

    AKA breaking it off in yer a$$.

    ‘LVRs were removed in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when forecasts for the housing market were weak and the RBNZ wanted to ensure a steady flow of cash’

    They did it again!

    2. Has anyone been able to confirm if Jordan Trishtan Walker is legit? As of last evening, people were claiming that they couldn’t find him and Google was wiping search results. Very well. But if Walker is who he said he was, there should be DOZENS of employees who would have recognized him, colleagues who would have networked with him at various events and conferences, basic research papers blasted all over the Elsevier and Springer search engines, and a bound thesis book in a dusty library at a well-known university. It should have been easy to find him. Until I see more information, I’m skeptical.

      1. Project Veritas is legit. They are not going to phony something up. They have a huge reputation to worry about.

      2. ‘Has anyone been able to confirm if Jordan Trishtan Walker is legit? As of last evening, people were claiming that they couldn’t find him and Google was wiping search results’

        Would they be wiping the results if he wasn’t? Isn’t this the medias job?

      3. https://twitter.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1618435991211233282?cxt=HHwWhMDSvbG96_UsAAAA”

        We’ve obtained internal Pfizer docs verifying Jordan Walker as Pfizer Director, Research & Development Strategic Operations

        Graduated Yale 2013

        Doctor Med at U of Texas Southwestern medical school.

        His supervisor reports to Mikael Dolsten who reports to Albert Bourla, CEO

        https://brianoshea.substack.com/p/who-is-jordon-trishton-walker?utm_campaign=auto_share

        1. a real MD

          Anyone in the biomedical field can tell Jordan Walker knows what he’s talking about. It’s not like Musk with technobabble.

          1. Unfortunately, for Jordan and Pfizer, it looks like Jordan fell into Project Veritas’ gay honeypot.

          3. another Pfizer employee

            How many men, particularly gay men, make it to a third date without rounding a few bases along the way? Talk about taking one for Team Humanity! I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the honeypot’s become a whistleblower.

        2. I do not “believe a pretend doctor.” I believe the real-doctor information that the pretend doctor is reporting on.

          Anyway, thank you for the information on Jordan Walker. So, I guess he’s legit, but he must be quite brilliant indeed to become a director at Pfizer not 10 years out of school.

      5. “Until I see more information, I’m skeptical.”

        Don’t you wish you had said that a couple years ago rather than rolling up your sleeve?

        1. No, I searched the literature, watched the interviews, reduced my own risk, and made an informed decision. No regrets here.

          1. I searched the literature

            Like the adverse effects data sheet that said “This page intentionally left blank”?

      6. Jeff Childers, who has done much Covid litigation in Florida, said he would be cautious with this latest news. He said if he wouldn’t take this and use it to litigate in court because it’s just TOOO perfect. We’ll wait and see what comes of it as the week goes on and into next week.

        2. it’s just TOOO perfect

          Or so well-planned? This isn’t PV’s first rodeo. PV has stellar attorneys with good connections.

        3. Like hell YOU might wait, some of us don’t need to, we already know. And I’m not waiting on some ding dong who “gives the benefit of the doubt” away — theee is NO doubt

          1. He’s successfully won multiple lawsuits against different county entities and has ins with people in the government. I think if the lawyer says to wait a minute then he knows more than you- unless you have the same track record?

        1. through a consulting firm

          How convenient. Using “consulting firms” and CROs helps with compartmentalization.

    3. I’ve intentionally avoided the vax fray with the exception of gov committing crimes agains US citizens…. and the occasional mocking of pretend Doctor Donk Craterton.

      I know a guy(🤣)…. but I really know him…. best friends thru high school, best man at my wedding, our parents were friends, fathers worked together…… so this guy develops mRNA potions. He owns the lab and also chairs the biotech dept at ___(that’s all I can disclose). I’m understating who he is and what is background is but I trust him intuitively because I know him like a brother. What I can say is there are going to be a lot of pissed off people if and when this stuff drips out. Big pharma lied, lied and lied and the gov amplified the lies.

      1. He should give Dr. Robert Malone a call. There can’t be too many degrees of separation between them. Having your work used to commit crimes against humanity has got to be the hardest pill to swallow.

        1. IMHO, there is some vindication for anti-vaxxers and absolutely none for pro-vaxxers.

          Gov destroying lives is something else entirely.

      2. The vax mandate was criminal. At the time of the vax mandate, we already had two safe treatments, the myocarditis in young men was already well known from Israeli data, and there was mounting evidence that vaccines developed for wild type COVID did not prevent spread of Delta COVID. The last point alone negates any justification for requiring a vaccine based on public health.

        1. Funny, you said you made an informed decision with no regrets 6 minutes before this. I’ve provided plenty of insight the last 3 years that you’ve chosen to ignore in favor of “Dr” John Campbell.

          1. You fail to recognize that science, scientific publications and our regulatory agencies have been captured by the pharmaceutical industry. It’s been done via interlocking directorates and the WEF.

          3. You miss being a lawyer and making lawyer arguments; I can tell.

            I made the decision to forgo an mRNA vaccine in favor of a non-mRNA vaccine. The cause of the J&J clots is well-known and preventable.

            And a question: if J&J had “captured” FDA and CDC, then why did FDA issue a letter requiring a patient throw a fit in order to get a J&J shot? It was clear that it was Pfizer who captured the FDA, not pharma in general (at least in this instance). Pfizer had a tight enough grip on FDA’s balls they FDA knocked out some competition at Pfizer’s behest.
            competition.

            Pfizer’s money-grubbing ways were further confirmed when again used the FDA to force the mRNA shots on children, and now they want to screw with the virus to sell even MORE vaccines.

          4. You miss being a lawyer

            Actually, I don’t. I’m compelled to discredit you whenever you opine on COVID matters lest a non-HBBer take you seriously. You’re a glutton for punishment because there’s a simple solution.

          5. J&J has also been proven to have money grubbing ways. That said, I’m glad you’ve only had the one shot and had no side effects.

  10. “WWIII” trending on Twitter. Oh the irony: The Soy who voted for Brandon cuz free sh*t end up getting drafted to fight the Russians in Ukraine. Better yet, the Brandon regime drafts all those blue-haired “woke” muh-body-muh-choice harpies in the name of “equality” and throws them into the meatgrinder under officers and NCOs selected on the basis of “inclusivity” and “diversity” rather than competence and merit.

    https://twitter.com/search?q=WWIII&src=trend_click&vertical=trends

  11. The couple said it’s draining their bank accounts and causing major stress during what should be a happy time of expecting a baby. ‘From a financial standpoint, we’re not in a good place, and from a peace-of-mind standpoint, we have none,’ Sun said.”

    From my comfy rental I’m trying to muster some vicarious angst, but I’m just not feeling it.

  12. ‘A lot of them their retirement is wrapped up in their home, I think a small percentage need that income to keep their home. I think a lot of people will be hurt by it,’ said Mason.”

    Die, speculator scum.

  13. Tran predicts that if the Bank hikes the expected 25 bps and the variable-rate hits new highs the spring market may see a surge of investors forced to sell condos, possibly double the usual number.

    Oh the pathos, the tragedy! (Die, speculator scum.)

    1. wait, a quarter point raise sends everyone running for the exits? Wow, talk about not putting any room for movement in the deal. a quarter of a point.

      Maybe the whole economy is fraud if it can’t survive a 1/4 point raise.

      1. can’t survive a 1/4 point raise

        It’s the debt plus the declining prices. It’s not the 1/4 point. That is just the message that help is not on the way.

        1. help is not on the way.

          💯 The only way they can hang onto the condos is to roll over their debt at interest rates like 2%. A 1/4% raise is still over 4%. But unlike the folks who can’t pay the water bill, at least these guys know that 2% rates aren’t coming back anytime soon and they need to cut their losses now.

  14. 100 K behind in the rents, and they buy new cars and even a house? Think we are all glad not to live on the Left coast…

    1. Remember, We are all in this together!

      Wanna bet that the ‘final final’ March deadline will be extended?

    2. When I lived in SLC, my neighbor’s young child let it slip they didn’t pay their rent because they were saving for a house. This nonsense is everywhere.

      The neighbor had an excellent job, too.

        3. This isn’t nonsense, it’s stealing.

          And it goes to show that it’s not just vibrants who have no moral compass anymore. Anyway, lawlessness inevitably leads to collapse.

          1. Great comment InColorado. This is absolutely the long term issue. Whether it is folks skipping out on their rent, folks barely working and expecting huge paychecks or students not wanting to take exams —- it is going to impossible without a huge event to put things back in the genie bottle.


            And it goes to show that it’s not just vibrants who have no moral compass anymore. Anyway, lawlessness inevitably leads to collapse.

    2. From the article: “Bivalent shots are now the only available Covid vaccines in the US.”

      I did not know this. So you can’t get a J&J or Novavax shot even if you wanted to? I also notice that J&J hasn’t made any noises about updating their shot. Either they gave up on the FDA or they don’t think Omicron is serious enough. Probably both.

      And for a shot that’s supposed to target Omicron, 50% for an omicron variant is effin’ lame. And it’s under 40% for people 65+, the ones that need it most. Hard pass.

      1. people 65+, the ones that need it most

        No thanks. Too many lies have been told and too many payoffs made.

      1. He and his wife stared at each other in ‘disbelief’ when they realized they’d both been selected to go to, “The Island.” We won, we won! Hahahahaha!!

      3. Said he worked there more than 11 years on an H1-B visa.
        Guess he couldn’t be bothered to apply for a green card or citizenship so now can go back to whence they came.

  20. From the LA piece: “Without protections, community members are at great risk of displacement and being left on the streets,“ said Daniel Jimenez, director of community organizing with InnerCity Struggle, which serves families on the Eastside. “We need to ensure tenants are protected. We need to ensure tenants are housed.”

    Daniel Jimenez has no idea how a market economy works. He’s another socialist adding to the ruin of the country.

  21. Washington Post Brands Gov. DeSantis ‘Full-Blown White Supremacist’

    JOSHUA KLEIN
    25 Jan 2023

    Gov. Ron DeSantis (FL-R) is a “full-blown white supremacist” for banning from Florida’s schools an African American studies AP course allegedly containing radical content, according to a Washington Post piece accusing him of “harassing Black voters,” “playing to White grievance,” and “engaging in extreme gerrymandering to reduce the voting power of minorities.”

    The Monday opinion essay by Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, titled “In blocking an AP Black studies course, DeSantis tells us who he is,” begins by accusing DeSantis of a series of offenses. She wrote:

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/01/25/washington-post-brands-gov-desantis-full-blown-white-supremacist/

          2. Dangit. I have been telling people that would root for the Washington team if they did two things:
            1. Change the awful name
            2. Get a new owner who isn’t a pr*ck.

            Well they changed the name, but the owner will just shift from one pr*ck to another. Never mind, I can’t watch the game anyway. Just too many injuries and suicides now.

      2. Actually, it is not Jeff driving this on his own. Many folks around Seattle have got to know him over 20+ years. He was very hard core about efficiency etc., and did not really care about politics (except if it directly impacted Amazon).

        It was his wife (now ex) and his gf that have/had significant influence. He just does this stuff to placate them. I would say in the last 5 years that he cared more about becoming buff and working out, than being woke.

  22. 𝗞𝗶𝗿𝗸𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗪𝗔 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟵% 𝗬𝗢𝗬 𝗔𝘀 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝘁𝘆 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗼 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗔𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮

    https://www.movoto.com/kirkland-wa/market-trends/

    𝘈𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥, “𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦.”

    1. The Financial Times
      Blackstone Group LP
      Blackstone fails to stem property fund withdrawals as profits fall
      President of alternative asset manager says ‘tone’ of conversations with investors ‘is much improved’
      Blackstone headquarters in New York City
      In its fourth-quarter results, Blackstone posted a sharp drop in profits as its fee-based earnings were hit by falling performance at Breit and worsening economic conditions.
      Antoine Gara in New York 4 hours ago

      Blackstone has failed to stem redemption requests from its $69bn real estate investment fund, which limited withdrawals at the end of last year as investors rushed to pull cash from the world’s largest alternative asset manager.

      Jonathan Gray, president of Blackstone, said in an interview with the Financial Times that it was “a little early” to say redemption requests were slowing at the fund, called Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, or Breit.

      “We have a backlog from November and December,” said Gray. “I will say the tone of the conversations with our advisers is much improved.”

      In December, Blackstone limited investor withdrawals from the fund, as investors grew concerned about the long-term health of the property market.
      …

    2. The Financial Times
      KKR & Co LP
      KKR real estate fund curbs redemptions in echo of Blackstone move
      Restrictions suggest ‘broadening contagion’ as retail investors cash out of private vehicles
      Trading information for KKR displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
      The investment manager KKR’s Krest fund is aimed at wealthy retail investors
      Antoine Gara in New York January 19 2023

      KKR has become the latest investment manager to limit withdrawals from a property fund, following rival Blackstone Group in imposing curbs after a surge in redemption requests from clients.

      The $1.6bn KKR Real Estate Select Trust fund disclosed in a filing that it fulfilled just 62 per cent of investors’ requests for the quarter ended December 1. Investors had sought to redeem the equivalent of 8.1 per cent of its overall net assets, breaching a 5 per cent quarterly limit the fund places on redemptions, KKR said.

      The KKR vehicle, known as Krest, is a private fund aimed at wealthy retail investors. The restrictions are further evidence that they are clamouring to get their hands on cash amid fears over a fall in commercial property values.
      …

    3. The Financial Times
      Blackstone Group LP
      Blackstone faces $5bn of withdrawal requests from more property funds
      Private equity group already contending with investors wanting to pull cash from Breit
      Blackstone headquarters in New York City
      In its fourth-quarter results, Blackstone posted a sharp drop in profits as its fee-based earnings were hit by falling performance at Breit and worsening economic conditions
      Antoine Gara in New York 9 hours ago

      Blackstone is facing more than $5bn in redemption requests from another set of property funds, adding to pressure on the world’s largest alternative asset manager as investors try to pull out their cash.

      Blackstone Property Partners, a real estate offering for big institutions such as pension funds and endowments, is facing redemption requests equal to 7 per cent of its $73bn net asset value, the New York group said on an earnings call on Thursday.
      …

      1. I wonder how much Blackstone money is tied up in CR8Ring US residential real estate? Hopefully it is alot, and they are now eating massive losses, thanks to the artificial shortage they helped create.

  24. Business
    University of California’s $4-billion real estate investment will worsen housing crisis, unions say
    People walk and hold signs saying “UAW on Strike. Unfair Labor Practice.”
    Unionized academic workers across the University of California’s 10 campuses picketed in November, calling for better pay and benefits. Unions representing 110,000 university employees say UC’s Blackstone deal will only make housing more unaffordable.
    (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
    By Melody Petersen
    Staff Writer
    Jan. 20, 2023 7 AM PT

    With property values sinking, investors rushed to withdraw money from a real estate fund managed by private equity giant Blackstone last month. But the fund soon found a savior in the Golden State: The University of California poured in $4 billion even as other investors fled.

    University officials said they believed the privately negotiated deal would provide profits and benefits for the college system, students and employees for years.

    UC employees and housing advocates dispute that. They point out that the fund has been buying up homes and apartments in California and other states, which they say is causing rents to rise and making the cost of housing even more unaffordable.

    “Through this new partnership with Blackstone Inc., the University will become a major driver of this affordability crisis for the UC community and the rest of California,” wrote unions representing 110,000 university employees in a letter to administrators last week.
    …
    https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-01-20/university-california-blackstone-real-estate-fund-housing-prices

    1. “They point out that the fund has been buying up homes and apartments in California and other states, which they say is causing rents to rise and making the cost of housing even more unaffordable.”

      There’s your California housing shortage, courtesy of the University of California.

  25. With robust GDP growth and low unemployment, is it safe to assume that further rate hikes are baked in for the foreseeable future?

    1. The Financial Times
      US economy
      US economy beats expectations with 2.9% growth
      Resilient fourth quarter data come as Fed’s rate rises weigh on business activity
      Workers assemble a house on a construction site in Trappe, Maryland
      The US economy expanded 2.9% on an annualised basis between September and December
      Colby Smith in Washington 41 minutes ago

      The US economy logged better than expected growth in the final quarter of 2022, even as the Federal Reserve’s aggressive campaign to raise borrowing costs began to weigh more heavily on business activity.

      The world’s largest economy expanded 2.9 per cent on an annualised basis between September and December, according to data published by the commerce department on Thursday, slightly higher than economists’ forecasts of a 2.6 per cent increase. That marked a slowdown from 3.2 per cent growth in the third quarter, reflecting the steps the US central bank has taken so far to damp demand.

      Since March, the Fed has raised its policy rate by more than 4 percentage points, repeatedly moving in 0.75 percentage point increments in a bid to catch up to inflation that proved far more intense than expected.
      …

    2. Yahoo
      Bankrate
      5 benefits of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike
      Mark Hamrick
      Wed, January 25, 2023 at 9:52 AM PST·4 min read
      Jerome Powell Federal Reserve
      Alex Wong/Getty Images

      Interest rates are going up. The Federal Reserve raised rates seven times in 2022 in an effort to curb inflation, and more rate hikes are on the way. On average, economists predict that the Fed will lift rates to 5.35 percent in 2023, according to Bankrate’s Fourth-Quarter Economic Indicator poll.

      Sure, the increases mean it will cost more to borrow. But it also means a better payout on savings account products.

      Healthier returns on savings are only one of several gains from the Fed’s rate-raising campaign. Let’s look at a few more.

      1. Higher returns for savers

      If you’re a saver, low interest rates have brought about the financial equivalent of a long drought. Historically, the average rates on savings products, including CD rates, had been on a downward trend. Any improvement is welcome and overdue.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-benefits-federal-interest-rate-175234009.html

  26. “‘…People are not getting (wage) increases at all during a time when they’re forking out over six per cent more in their expenses,’… … ‘So how are people bridging the gap? They’re using credit, unfortunately, and that, as we all know, only turns into a downward spiral….’”

    Here’s a novel idea.

    LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS

    What, you mean I can’t buy that IPhone 14? Can I get a govt’ handout?

  27. Linked from Revolver News.

    Ukraine got its tanks. Now it wants jet fighters too (1/26/2023):

    “With U.S.-built Abrams and German-made Leopards now headed for the front line following months of bickering among Western allies, military planners in Kyiv are turning their attention to what they see as the logical next step in their effort to repel Russian invaders — shipments of modern fighter jets.

    Conversations with more than half a dozen Western military officials and diplomats confirm an internal debate about supplying Ukraine with jet fighters is already underway, pushed by Ukrainian officials with support from hawkish Baltic states.”

    https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy-russia-war-after-tanks-the-west-mulls-discussion-on-fighter-jets/

    Zelensky is a war criminal.

    2. There is no way the DOD can train enough Ukrainians to operate and maintain all these high tech weapons HIMARS, Abram tanks, etc. within the relevant time constraints. By the end of the year, I think the Pentagon will be forced to admit that US has boots on the ground in Ukraine.

      National guard and Army require 22 weeks of training to be an M1 tank crew member.

      https://www.nationalguard.com/19k-m1-armor-crewman

      https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/career-match/ground-forces/tanks-machinery/19k-m1-armor-crewman.html

  28. “Jiang said he’ll probably try to sell it after he secures his permits — and if he can’t break even, he might do the remodeling work and then try to sell it again. But the real estate market isn’t as hot as when he bought the house, and he’s unsure if he’ll have any takers. (Redfin says it’s worth $70,000 less than what the couple purchased it for.) Asked if he regrets ever buying the House of Horrors, Jiang said, ‘Definitely. 100%.’”

    Jiang, at least it was still cheaper than renting….wait

    1. he might do the remodeling work

      During the boom, money was made just by taking time. Losses will work the same on the way down.

  29. Video: Immigration Reform Head Says “Biden Administration Are Co-conspirators With The Drug Cartels”

    “Democrats are invested in trying to reengineer the electorate through mass illegal immigration”

    Published 1 min ago on 26 January, 2023
    Steve Watson

    Federation for American Immigration Reform President Dan Stein charged Wednesday that the Democrats are purposefully flooding the country with illegal immigrants in order to change the political electorate and keep themselves in power for the next half a century.

    Appearing on Fox News, Stein urged “This is happening on purpose. The Biden Administration are co-conspirators with the cartels, who are operating with impunity all across America now.”

    “We have no interior enforcement, no immigration law enforcement, obviously criminal aliens are being released en mass in part because there is no criminal detention,” Stein continued.

    “They are paroling in people under phoney asylum claims by the millions, and incentivising cartels to keep smuggling people in,” he added.

    Stein labeled new Arizona governor Katie Hobbs a “smuggler”, adding that “she’s operating like a travel agency to bring people in and send them all over the country, it’s happening for a reason and to expect the Biden Administration to voluntarily change course when they want this to happen is ridiculous.”

    https://summit.news/2023/01/26/video-immigration-reform-head-says-biden-administration-are-co-conspirators-with-the-drug-cartels/

    1. Trump was the last hope and he/we failed. A coup has occurred and we must now adapt and try not to die. Even if we collectively put a stop to this tomorrow, which we clearly won’t, the consequences of what has already occurred will be with us for a very long time. There’s no going back at this point. We are now just a really big open border economic zone. Try not to get trampled.

      1. Many years ago, in the San Diego area I had a rather young illegal knock on my door. He asked me in Spanish if I could spare something to eat. I made him a quick lunch on a paper plate with a can of soda and sent him on his way. I never saw him again.

        Anyway, with the tsunami of invaders being brought in I expect this will become a more common occurrence. Given how Blue mayors are howling that their cities are being crushed by new arrivals I suspect it might be already happening.

      2. Try not to get trampled.

        I expect this will be especially bad in the warmer states. I wonder if the recent -20F temperatures helped Dumver convince new arrivals that they didn’t really want to stay here. I can only imagine what that cold must have felt like to some shmuck from tropical Venezuela. You thought El Paso was cold, amigo? Welcome to the north pole!

          1. The Somalis stayed for the free sh!t. Now, cities are broke and they are putting these people on buses.

        1. People that live far away from the border don’t realize how big the scale of the problem really is. The reality of it is that the consequences are already baked in and it no longer actually matters what anyone’s opinion on it is. Even you folks in the far north states will soon see that you get to deal with it whether you want to or not. The course has been set over many decades and will continue. It’s not so much giving up as just accepting reality. You will soon see them flooding into your area too if you haven’t already. As they do, imagine the true size of this invasion to cause them to even become very visible in upstate NY. It’s a historic migration of people that will secure a chapter in future history books on how this country was settled.

          1. Just for a quick reference point, California’s official foreign born is 27% of the population which is around 10 million people in just one state. Most of them came illegally. That is the official number so the real number is going to be higher and is increasing steadily. There is rapid cultural change occurring all over the state. Now think of Arizona and Texas etc. The numbers are huge. We are way passed giving up. The replacement is real.

          2. “People that live far away from the border don’t realize how big the scale of the problem really is.”

            Which is why many local governments are shipping them out of their metros. Many virtue signalled, figuring no one would actually show up, until they did.

  30. Published January 26, 2023 7:00am EST

    Pelosi slammed for selling Google stocks right before DOJ announced antitrust suit: ‘Convenient timing’

    One Republican lawmaker commented that the trade ‘tells you exactly how she became worth $200+ million on a government salary’

    Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was slammed on Twitter Wednesday after it was reported that she sold 30,000 shares of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, one month before the Department of Justice announced an antitrust investigation lawsuit against the tech giant.

    Between Dec. 20 and Dec. 28, 2022, Pelosi reported three separate transactions of selling Google stock which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon. Each of the transactions included the sale of 10,000 shares of Alphabet and involved an amount between $500,001 and $1,000,000 and yielded capital gains of more than $200 — although it’s unclear how large the profit was.

    On Tuesday, the DOJ and eight states announced a lawsuit against Google, which alleges the tech giant had a monopoly over internet search traffic and took anticompetitive action.

    https://www.foxnews.com/media/pelosi-slammed-selling-google-stocks-right-before-doj-announced-antitrust-suit-convenient-timing

    1. Pelosi slammed for selling Google stocks right before DOJ announced antitrust suit: ‘Convenient timing’

      Don’t get caught with your heels up on her desk!

    2. Pelosi slammed for selling Google stocks right before DOJ announced antitrust suit: ‘Convenient timing’

      Funny how the SEC doesn’t seem too concerned.

    1. Business
      San Diego’s median home price ends year almost $100K off its peak
      Pictured: Homes line the hillside in Bay Park on Dec. 19.
      (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
      San Diego County’s median was down for the seventh month in a row. Experts point to higher interest rates as the reason.
      By Phillip Molnar
      Jan. 26, 2023 5:30 AM PT

      San Diego County’s median home price ended the year down nearly $100,000 from its peak.

      The median home price was $756,000 in December, CoreLogic reported Thursday. That’s down from the record-high $850,000 reached in May. The median includes all single-family homes, townhouses, condos and is a mix of new and resale homes.
      …
      https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2023-01-26/san-diegos-median-home-price-has-nearly-dropped-100k-in-8-months

      1. May (5th month) through December (12th month) is seven months, not eight.

        1 – (756/850)^(12/7) = 18.2% annualized rate of decline. That translates into alot of money when the base price is $1 million or more.

        For example, Zillow sez the 40 year old home we rent is currently worth a million fifty, down $19,000 over the last 30 days. It seems like I saw Zestimates as high as $1.2 million for comps in our tract home development community during the peak of the pandemic mania.

        1. 1-(1-$19,000/$1,050,000)^12 = 19.7% annualized rate of decline on our landlord’s shack. This seems right in line with the annualized seven month rate of decline in the San Diego median.

          I guess all real estate is not local anymore?

        2. For example, 18.2% of $1 million is $182,000, which is more than a year’s worth of pretax income for all but a small minority of San Diego households.

          Try not to catch yourself a falling knife, if you haven’t already done so.

  33. In the news.
    FDA claims the vaccines are not causing sudden death.
    They don’t offer any proof of their position, or can they explain the massive death and injury following vaccine rollout. .
    ” Safe and effective”” thats their story and thats what they are sticking to.

    Isn’t it time that a neutral third party of forensic Doctors investigate the criminal FDA instead of them investigating ,
    the results of their criminal mal practice
    approval of a fake lethal vaccine.??

    1. This why I scoff when the media says the WEF is falling into irrelevance, when in fact their grip is tightening around our collective necks.

  34. https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2023/01/26/dave-rubin-shares-eye-opening-thread-about-whats-happening-bans-bugs-etc-at-twitter-under-elon-musk/

    “[The engineers at Twitter are] working nonstop, and both times I met [Elon Musk] were after midnight. … Elon was bringing people in and out constantly and seems to be aware of pretty much every issue.”

    Some of us are so old we can remember this is what an actual tech company looks like, as opposed to a life support system for DEI/HR departments.

    “They also don’t know for sure why things got so much better once Elon made the acquisition and why it seems far worse now.”

    Deep state sponsored cyberattacks starting when Musk stepped out of line?

    “What’s also really crazy now having seen under the hood is that Jack Dorsey repeatedly said they don’t shadowban. The entire machine behind Twitter is designed to shadowban. It’s almost as if that was the primary goal rather than the product itself.”

    Huh.

    1. The Financial Times
      US Dollar
      US dollar hits reverse gear as Fed cedes rate-rise ‘driver’s seat’
      Focus has shifted to the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan after last year’s big increase in US borrowing costs
      Federal Reserve building in Washington
      Central banks elsewhere have picked up the mantle from the US Federal Reserve, most notably the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan
      Kate Duguid in New York 5 hours ago

      The US dollar has wilted against its peers in the opening month of 2023 as the Federal Reserve fades as the key driver in currency markets and investors focus on the policies of other major central banks.

      The Fed’s campaign of big rate rises captivated investors in the first nine months of 2022, igniting a rush into the dollar. But as the US central bank has slowed its increases in borrowing costs, the currency has slid against its peers.

      The dollar has fallen 1.4 per cent in January against half a dozen major currencies, leaving it on track to record its fourth-straight monthly decline. It is now trading at levels last seen in May 2022.
      …

    2. The Financial Times
      Markets Briefing Equities
      Wall Street stocks rise after data show US economic resilience
      World’s biggest economy grew more than expected in final three months of 2022
      Share prices imposed over a photograph of people walking across London Bridge
      A report from the US labour department showed claims for first-time jobless benefits fell to 186,000 last week
      George Steer in London and Kate Duguid in New York an hour ago

      Wall Street equities rose on Thursday after data showed the US economy proved to be more resilient than expected in the final quarter of 2022.

      The benchmark S&P 500 rose 1.1 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.8 per cent. In Europe, the region-wide Stoxx 600 finished the day 0.4 per cent higher and London’s FTSE 100 added 0.2 per cent.

      The gains came after the US commerce department said the world’s biggest economy grew at an annualised pace of 2.9 per cent in the final three months of last year. That was above the 2.6 per cent economists had forecast, marking a milder slowdown from 3.2 per cent in the previous quarter.
      …

  36. i always loved reading this

    This is a big one. The major brands of ice cream last did a major downsizing 15 years ago when Breyers, Edy’s and others took a full cup out of their 56-ounce containers and made them 48 ounces. Now Turkey Hill is dropping two additional ounces making their containers 46 ounces.
    https://www.mouseprint.org/

    1. What’s funny to me is that this gimmick doesn’t work long term. If you keep shrinking it, at a certain point all you’ve done is made the large a small, and you don’t offer a large anymore. It’s stupid. I see it in potato chips. All of a sudden, there are no more big bags. And then somebody comes out with “GIANT” or something, because they realize they needed the big bag all along.

      1. If you keep shrinking it,

        The reality is that you are shrinking. They’ll sell you what you can afford.

        1. The reality is that you are shrinking. They’ll sell you what you can afford.

          You can speak for yourself on this matter. You don’t know me.

          1. People in general. Perhaps you and I can afford whatever we want, but the majority in the store only have so much to spend.

            I learned something in Japan. Their servings at the store were miniscule.

    3. I found this out some years ago when my freezer died. Take one of these ice cream tubs and leave it out for a day or so. Keep the lid on so your pet doesn’t try to eat it. You’ll discover it doesn’t actually melt, like real ice cream does, it just turns into foam. God knows what it is.

  38. Report: George Soros Funds Global ‘Fact Checking’ Empire

    ALLUM BOKHARI
    26 Jan 2023

    Over the past few years, a cottage industry of “fact checkers” and “misinformation” experts has emerged to advance the left’s mission of silencing dissent to its agenda around the world. Analysis of the funding of these organizations leads back to a familiar figure: left-wing billionaire George Soros.

    The New York Post broke down the trail of Soros dollars linking a global network of organizations intent on suppressing and discrediting conservative voices online.

    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2023/01/26/report-george-soros-funds-global-fact-checking-empire/

  40. Is it safe to assume that anyone with an ounce of common sense in their noggin steered clear of the CR8R that formed when FTX collapsed?

    1. We finally know whom FTX owes money to: Wall Street elite, Big Tech, airlines, and many more
      By Allison Morrow, CNN
      Updated 1:08 PM EST, Thu January 26, 2023

      New York(CNN) Newly unsealed bankruptcy documents revealed thousands of creditors to whom FTX owes money after the once-mighty crypto exchange collapsed in November.

      Wall Street heavyweights including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan were named in the creditor list, which includes businesses, charities, individuals and other entities in a 116-page document filed late Wednesday. FTX is now at the center of a massive fraud investigation.

      Also included in the creditors list are media companies, such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, commercial airliners, including American, United, Southwest and Spirit, as well as several Big Tech players, including Netflix, Apple and Meta.
      …
      https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/investing/ftx-creditors-wall-street/index.html

      1. “…Wall Street elite, Big Tech, airlines, and many more…the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, commercial airliners, including American, United, Southwest and Spirit, as well as several Big Tech players, including Netflix, Apple and Meta…”

        No wonder the financial elite are working the cryptocurrency pump-and-dump so hard! They are sitting on massive losses…

    2. 3 minute read
      January 26, 2023 3:17 PM PST
      Last Updated 4 hours ago
      FTX opposes new bankruptcy investigation as it probes Bankman-Fried connections
      By Noele Illien, Tom Wilson and Dietrich Knauth

      ZURICH/LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) – FTX has objected to a U.S. Department of Justice request for an independent investigation into the once-prominent crypto exchange’s collapse, saying it is already conducting a wide-ranging probe that includes family members of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. FTX said in a court filing in Wilmington, Delaware, late on Wednesday that the DOJ’s proposed review would only add cost and delay to its bankruptcy case. FTX acknowledged “fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, misconduct, mismanagement, and irregularity” in its past conduct, but said that its previous wrongdoing is already being probed by the company’s new management, its creditors and law enforcement agencies.

      As part of its own investigation, FTX asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey, who is overseeing its Chapter 11 proceedings, to help it secure documents from Bankman-Fried, members of his family and other insiders with information about FTX transactions that used “misappropriated and stolen” funds. These transactions, it said, include a $16.7 million Bahamian real estate purchase under the name of Bankman-Fried’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried.

      FTX is also seeking information about political donations connected to Bankman-Fried, asking wide-ranging questions about Mind the Gap, a political action committee founded by Barbara Fried, and Guarding Against Pandemics, an advocacy organization founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and his brother, Gabriel Bankman-Fried. FTX said Guarding Against Pandemics’ multimillion-dollar Washington, D.C., headquarters was purchased with misappropriated funds.

      Bankman-Fried and members of his family could not immediately be reached for comment.

      A spokesperson for Mind the Gap said it did not receive direct contributions from Sam Bankman-Fried, although Bankman-Fried made donations to some political causes it recommended to its donor network.

      FTX, once among the world’s top crypto exchanges, shook the sector in November by filing for bankruptcy, leaving an estimated 9 million customers and other investors facing total losses in the billions of dollars.
      …
      https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-treasury-financial-watchdogs-companies-among-ftx-creditors-filing-shows-2023-01-26/

      1. “FTX has objected to a U.S. Department of Justice request for an independent investigation into the once-prominent crypto exchange’s collapse, saying it is already conducting a wide-ranging probe…”

        Is it typical for the Justice Department to authorize a company to investigate itself, rather than having the investigation be conducted independently?

    3. Everything was peachy at FTX up until Novemer 2022, when SBF commited a cardinal sin: he lost Wall Street money.

  41. Did you try to buy the dip on meme stocks, only to find yourself sinking towards the bottom of a ginormous CR8R?

    1. Yahoo Finance
      Bed, Bath & Beyond discloses loan defaults, weighs bankruptcy, shares tank
      Alexandra Semenova
      January 26, 2023, 1:10 pm

      Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) stock cratered Thursday after the embattled retailer revealed in a new regulatory filing it was hit with a default notice from JPMorgan and does not have adequate funds to repay its loans.

      This coming while the company again warned it may be forced to seek bankruptcy protection amid its ongoing financial struggles.

      Shares of the company fell as much as 33% on Thursday afternoon, at one point prompting a brief halt. The stock closed Thursday’s session off 22%. Though well off its early January lows closer to $1.30 per share, the stock is still trading near its lowest levels since 1993.
      …
      https://news.yahoo.com/bed-bath–beyond-discloses-loan-defaults-weighs-bankruptcy-shares-tank-211050771.html

    2. 2 minute read
      January 3, 2023 2:43 PM PST
      Last Updated 23 days ago
      Ex-CFO pleads guilty to stealing from SPACs to trade meme stocks, cryptocurrencies
      By Jonathan Stempel
      Representations of cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ethereum and DogeCoin are placed on PC motherboard in this illustration taken June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

      NEW YORK, Jan 3 (Reuters) – A former chief financial officer of multiple special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $5 million from them, and losing almost all of it trading meme stocks and cryptocurrencies.
      …
      https://www.reuters.com/legal/ex-cfo-pleads-guilty-stealing-spacs-trade-meme-stocks-cryptocurrencies-2023-01-03/

    3. Yahoo Finance
      Meme stocks are likely in big trouble in 2023: Morning Brief
      Brian Sozzi
      December 12, 2022·4 min read
      Today’s newsletter is by Brian Sozzi, an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance.

      By any traditional analytical measures, meme stock names such as GameStop, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Blackberry are still wildly overvalued at current levels despite a rough 2022.

      GameStop’s third quarter yet again fundamentally stunk. The company’s management team and alleged savior Ryan Cohen are running a clinic on everything not to do to turn around a challenged entity. Seven minute earnings calls? Who does that?

      But head over to GameStop’s ticker page on Yahoo Finance, click the “statistics” tab, and you will find that the stock trades at about six times book value per share. Objectively, what has GameStop done the past five years to warrant that relative premium to its hard assets?

      Bed Bath & Beyond is on its last legs, as I continue to report. At least the market appears to have a realistic view on this home goods business, judging by the company’s well below market valuation metrics.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meme-stocks-are-likely-in-big-trouble-in-2023-morning-brief-102506108.html

    1. The Financial Times
      Opinion Federal Reserve
      The Fed finds itself in a nasty hole
      America’s central bank should have been quicker to tackle the risks of its post-crisis policies
      Efi Chalikopoulou illustration of seven columns of gold coins on a red background. The blue patch of the US flag with the stars is propped on the first four columns, and the other three are standing parallel to it with the third one falling apart.
      Gillian Tett 12 hours ago

      There is never a good moment for the US government to hit its ceiling for debt issuance — and spark speculation about a potential looming default if Congress refuses to raise it.

      Now, however, is particularly inopportune timing for this fight. That is partly because big foreign buyers have quietly trimmed their Treasury purchases in the last year, and this might accelerate if chatter about a possible default grows louder.

      It is also because liquidity has repeatedly vanished from the Treasuries sector at times of stress in recent years, because of underlying vulnerabilities in the market structure. This could easily reoccur in a debt-ceiling shock, since these structural problems remain (lamentably) unaddressed.

      But the biggest reason to worry about the timing is that the financial system is at a crucial stage in the monetary cycle. After 15 years of accommodative monetary policy, during which the US Federal Reserve expanded its balance sheet from $1tn to $9tn, the central bank is now trying to suck liquidity out of the system, to the tune of about $1tn a year.
      …
      A recent report from the American lobby group Better Markets outlines the wider backdrop well. This entity first shot to fame during the 2008 global financial crisis when it became a thorn in the side of Wall Street and Washington regulators because it complained loudly — and correctly — about the follies of excessive financial deregulation. Since then, it has continued to scrutinise the more recondite details of US regulation, complaining, again rightly, that the rules have recently been watered down.

      However, in a striking sign of the times, it now has another target in its sights: the Fed. Most notably, it thinks that the biggest danger to financial stability is not just the finer details of regulation, but post-crisis loose monetary policy. This left investors “strongly incentivised, if not forced, into [purchases of] riskier assets”, it “decoupled asset prices from risk and ignited a historic borrowing and debt binge”, the Better Markets report argues. Thus, between 2008 and 2019 the amount of US debt held by the public rose 500 per cent, non-financial corporate debt increased 90 per cent and consumer credit, excluding mortgages, jumped 30 per cent.

      Then, when the Fed doubled its balance sheet in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic, these categories of debt rose by another 30, 15 and 10 per cent respectively. And the consequence of this exploding leverage is that the system is today highly vulnerable to shocks as interest rates rise and liquidity declines — even before you factor in a debt-ceiling row.

      “The Fed is in many ways fighting problems of its own creation. And considering the scale of the problems, it is very difficult to solve without some damage,” the report thunders. “Although the Fed monitors and seeks to address risks to financial stability and the banking system, it simply failed to see — or didn’t look or consider — itself as a potential source of those risks.”
      …

    2. Currencies
      Dollar higher as strong U.S. data backs a hawkish Fed
      Published Wed, Jan 25 2023 11:20 PM EST
      Updated Thu, Jan 26 2023 4:01 PM EST

      The dollar edged higher against the euro on Thursday after data showed the U.S. economy maintained a strong pace of growth in the fourth quarter, backing the case for the U.S. Federal Reserve to maintain its hawkish stance for longer.

      Gross domestic product increased at a 2.9% annualized rate last quarter, the Commerce Department said in its advance fourth-quarter GDP growth estimate. The economy grew at a 3.2% pace in the third quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP rising at a 2.6% rate.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/26/dollar-near-eight-month-low-ahead-of-central-bank-meetings.html

      2. Yep, no good excuse to cut rates when the economy is still growing @ 2.6%. They’re gonna have to jimmy those stats better!

  43. So I saw more heat pump propaganda in the Colorado Sun. Even if they do work in the cold, there is a problem:

    There are two kinds of heat pump systems: Those that take heat out of the air and geothermal systems, which rely on tapping the steady heat below ground.

    An air-source system — including a compressor, ductwork or individual wall and ceiling units linked to the compressor — can run from $15,000 to $30,000. The ground source heat pumps, which rely on wells drilled as deep as 300 feet below home, are more efficient but are twice as expensive.

    30 grand? This just goes to show how utterly out of touch the left is. You can buy a gas furnace that can heat a 3000 sq ft house for as little as 4-5K.

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