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The Gargantuan Phalanx Of Flimflammers And Rug-Pullers

A weekend topic starting with Time. “The idea that banking mistakes could plunge the U.S. economy into a recession is familiar—the Great Recession that began in 2007 was caused when banks made risky home loans and then sold to lenders who did not understand exactly what they were buying. Indeed, the current banking crisis has some parallels to 2008, says Neil Fligstein, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley who has extensively studied the financial crisis.”

“‘Banks are finding themselves with investments that are losing big money, and when depositors come in, they can’t turn them into something liquid fast enough to pay back people who want their deposits,’ he says. ‘That’s what happened in 2008—people had all these mortgage-backed securities and no one knew what they were worth.'”

From Reuters. “An executive who also serves on the board overseeing the New York Federal Reserve warned on Friday of potentially systemic problems in the real estate finance market and called on the industry to work with authorities to avoid things getting out of hand. Noting there is $1.5 trillion in commercial real estate debt set to mature in the next three years, Scott Rechler, who is CEO of RXR, a large property manager and developer, tweeted: ‘The bulk of this debt was financed when base interest rates were near zero. This debt needs to be refinanced in an environment where rates are higher, values are lower, & in a market with less liquidity.'”

“‘If we fail to act, we risk a systemic crisis with our banking system & particularly the regional banks’ which make up over three quarters of real estate lending, which will in turn put pressure on local governments that depend on property taxes to fund their operations, Rechler wrote.”

Yahoo Finance. “If there is anything commercial real estate owners don’t need right now, it’s a banking crisis. Now they face the prospect that beleaguered banks, especially smaller ones, could get more aggressive with lending arrangements, giving landlords even less room to breathe as they try to refinance a mountain of loans coming due. ‘There were already liquidity issues. There were fewer deals getting done,’ Xander Snyder, First American senior commercial real estate economist, told Yahoo Finance. Forced sales of more trophy buildings at large discounts are expected in the coming years as owners struggle to refinance at affordable rates. ‘Sellers will want the price that everyone was getting [back] in December 2021, and buyers are kind of even afraid to buy something right now cause they don’t even know what the price of these buildings are,’ Snyder said.”

Bisnow Atlanta in Georgia. “The lender on a fully occupied Alpharetta office building has moved to foreclose on its owner, a move that shows just how aggressively some banks are trying to remove office debt from their books. ‘There is some upcoming vacancy later this year, but the bank does not appear to be interested in office loans anymore,’ Brian Granath, a partner at OA Management’s parent company said in an interview. ‘Competitors are in our shoes and facing the same thing. All of these 4.5% interest rate loans are rolling at 6.5% to 7%. And now with the banking crisis, banks are unwilling to lend cash.'”

The Real Deal on California. “Redco Development and AEW Capital Management have walked away from San Francisco’s historic First National Bank building after failing to make their mortgage payments. The San Francisco-based Redco and Boston-based AEW Capital have filed a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure for 1 Montgomery Street, the San Francisco Business Times reported. They flipped the keys of the vacant building to lender Square Mile Capital, now known as Affinius Capital, based in San Antonio.”

“‘The combination of lack of tenants, doubling of interest rates and decline in value is lethal,’ Ken Rosen, chair of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley, told the Business Times.”

From News.com.au. “A tech consulting giant, that reported a whopping revenue of $US61.6 billion ($92.1) last year, has revealed it will slash 19,000 jobs including in Australia. The grim news just doesn’t stop with Accenture with the ‘tech wreck’ getting a whole lot worse with Amazon announcing that 9000 jobs will be slashed adding to the 18,000 roles it cut just two months ago.”

The Globe and Mail. “Years from now, historians may say that March 10, 2023, marked a pivotal day in the history of the global economy, when Silicon Valley Bank was forced to shut down amid one of the largest bank runs in U.S. history, a prelude to a global banking crisis. I think the world has entered a long and deep bust cycle, the magnitude of which will exceed the 2000 dot-com crash and 2008 financial crisis. We’re coming off a 13-year bull market fuelled by low interest rates and easy money. Many managers have known only good times. Private equity and the venture-capital sector have attracted too much capital, propping up unreasonable valuations for growth stage and ‘pre-IPO’ financings – fuelling bloat, froth and bad business models.”

“The past decade has seen an explosion in the number of startups and venture-capital funding. The focus was on growth at all costs, and many startups were burning cash without any clear path to profitability. Quibi, Jawbone, WeWork – the list of companies that raised $10-million, $100-million or $500-million before failing goes on and on. Investors were chasing unicorns, and founders were living in a bubble. However, this unsustainable model is starting to unravel. The bubble has burst, and reality has set in. Since no active investors today have experienced working in a high-interest-rate world, everyone needs to learn.”

The American Prospect. “About five years ago, a man I’ll call ‘Ben’ took a marketing gig for a startup called Blockchain Terminal (BCT), which claimed to have raised $15 million to become the Bloomberg of cryptocurrency. A few months later, BCT owed Ben $150,000, the titular CEO quietly left, the real founder turned out to be a convicted Canadian felon who had served time in prison for perpetrating an $800 million Ponzi scheme, and it became abundantly clear that the ‘Bloomberg of blockchain’ wasn’t going to be produced, nor did it need to exist. ‘There was something clearly wrong with every single person I was meeting,’ Ben says of his travels in crypto land. ‘There was clearly a systematic deeper rot at the heart of all this I didn’t quite know how to process.'”

“He would ultimately call ‘the FBI and the SEC and the DOJ and any other authority I could think of.’ But first, he called Signature Bank to advise it to immediately cut ties with BCT, and conduct thorough due diligence on any other crypto clients it might consider taking on. Ben is not sure who he ended up speaking with, but everyone at Signature was good at making clients feel heard; that was their thing. The rep said cheerily, ‘We really appreciate you letting us know.'”

“By the time BCT’s founders were indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges in early 2020, Signature Bank had reinvented itself as one of the crypto-friendliest banks in America, possibly to offset an unusual slump in its previous client base, the New York City landlord class. But while the big bet had shrunk its stock price, Signature seemed to have weathered Crypto Winter all right until a hysterical billionaire bank run took out Silicon Valley Bank on March 10. As almost an afterthought, they announced the closure of Signature, which had seen a run on its deposits, and the bailout of its landlords as well.”

“The two banks shared some critical traits: explosive growth during and after the pandemic, a high proportion of uninsured depositors, a large portfolio of low-interest loans to private equity and venture capital funds (turns out Signature had poached the department of SVB that doled out so-called ‘capital call’ loans to investors in private companies in 2021), and of course, the lobbying victory of 2018, when large regional banks won exemptions from the drudgery of annual stress tests and certain capital and liquidity requirements. So it goes with the gargantuan phalanx of flimflammers and rug-pullers who sold America’s debt-enslaved youth on the fever dream of the blockchain.”

The Los Angeles Times. “It turns out high-income people are also fleeing the state — a new twist in the California exit. Many descendants of last century’s arrivals now see better opportunities for the good life in other states. California is too expensive, and their earnings can buy more elsewhere. That said, our big cities are still jampacked. And we’ve got more people than our available water and electrical grids can often handle, contributing to the departures. Entering the 21st century, when California’s population was about 34 million, we were predicted to reach 45 million by 2020 and 59 million by 2040. So much for that. We hit a peak of 39.6 million in 2019 and have been losing population ever since.”

“Until now, we’ve been in denial, telling ourselves that college-educated, upper-income people weren’t leaving. Our progressive tax base and growing economy were secure. The departees were lower-to-middle-income people who weren’t the heavy taxpayers or big job producers. Everyone seemed to buy into that, although many could cite anecdotal evidence to the contrary.”

“I plead guilty. This is what I wrote two years ago: ‘More affluent people have been moving here than departing. They can afford our escalating costs of living. Political spin about wealthy people abandoning California is fake news.’ That was what the think tanks were saying. Now one has dug into the latest data and discovered that people of all economic classes are leaving, including the wealthy.”

“The median price of a single-family home in California was $735,480 last month, according to the California Assn. of Realtors. That’s out of many people’s reach even though it was nearly 5% lower than the previous February. Since then, mortgage interest rates have risen dramatically. The net loss of high-income people is relatively small, says Public Policy Institute of California demographer Eric McGhee. But the number leaving California ‘increased dramatically’ to 220,000 in 2021, he reports.”

“It wouldn’t take many fleeing rich people to hurt the state treasury. The top 1% of earners pay nearly 50% of the state income taxes. The top 10% kick in roughly 80%. ‘Taxes definitely are part of the story’ why high-income people are leaving, McGhee says. ‘Taxes is the last straw that pushes them over the edge.'”

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This Post Has 90 Comments

  1. The American Prospect article is worth reading in full.

    ‘Until now, we’ve been in denial, telling ourselves that college-educated, upper-income people weren’t leaving. Our progressive tax base and growing economy were secure. The departees were lower-to-middle-income people who weren’t the heavy taxpayers or big job producers. Everyone seemed to buy into that’

    ‘I plead guilty. This is what I wrote two years ago: ‘More affluent people have been moving here than departing. They can afford our escalating costs of living. Political spin about wealthy people abandoning California is fake news.’

    As a casual observer of this giant sh$thole, my question is why did you buy into that? You couldn’t see that bum urine toppling lamp posts might be a problem?

    1. Just wait till those reparations bills come due in the form of higher state taxes. The producers will flee in mass, and the takers will flood in trying to get their own piece of the cheddar.

  2. ‘The past decade has seen an explosion in the number of startups and venture-capital funding. The focus was on growth at all costs, and many startups were burning cash without any clear path to profitability. Quibi, Jawbone, WeWork – the list of companies that raised $10-million, $100-million or $500-million before failing goes on and on. Investors were chasing unicorns, and founders were living in a bubble. However, this unsustainable model is starting to unravel. The bubble has burst, and reality has set in’

    I’ve asked this whole decade: is it possible the huge increase in money losing, desk renting fools just happened to coincide with the largest increase of phony money in human history? Or was it the cause?

  3. ‘The two banks shared some critical traits’

    There’s a lot of ‘common traits’ floating to the surface as these ships go down. How many times have we read ‘unsustainable’ in the past few weeks? There was a bubble in bonds, stocks and real estate, especially commercial. From 2014 to 2016, the price of New York City commercial property doubled. A crash was baked in the cake and it looks to me like a lot of this ‘unsustainable’ has converged.

  4. Off Guardian — 40 Facts You NEED to Know: The REAL Story of “Covid” (3/24/2023):

    “It is not just pharmaceutical companies that have profited from Covid, since the beginning of lockdown the wealthiest people have become significantly wealthier.

    In October 2020, Business Insider reported that “billionaires saw their net worth increase by half a trillion dollars” in just the first six months of the pandemic.

    By April 2021 Forbes was reporting that 40 new billionaires have been created “fighting the coronavirus”.

    That process has only accelerated.

    As of May 2022, the number of new billionaires created by the pandemic stood at 543. Or roughly one every 30 hours for the previous two years. That includes 40 new billionaires in the pharmaceutical sector alone.

    Meanwhile, the share of the world’s wealth held by billionaires has increased from 10% in 2019 to 14% in 2022, a greater increase than the previous 16 years combined.

    Altogether, the richest people in the world increased their collective wealth by over five trillion dollars in the past three years, all thanks to Covid.”

    https://off-guardian.org/2023/03/24/40-facts-you-need-to-know-the-real-story-of-covid/

    “We’re all in this together”

    1. Altogether, the richest people in the world increased their collective wealth by over five trillion dollars in the past three years, all thanks to Covid wholly corrupt governments and central banks.

      Fixed it.

  5. And some good news for a Saturday.

    Russia Today — Ukraine not ready for offensive – Zelensky (3/25/2023):

    “Ukraine has not yet accumulated enough resources to stage an offensive, President Vladimir Zelensky has admitted.

    In an interview released on Saturday by the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri, Zelensky said that the situation on the frontline “was not good,” explaining that Ukraine was lacking enough ammunition for successful operations.

    Commenting on a potential dialogue with Russia, Zelensky insisted that “absolutely no conditions have been formed for this,” suggesting that Russian forces would have to leave the territories Ukraine claims as its own first. Moscow has repeatedly said that it is open to talks with Kiev on condition that it recognize the “reality on the ground,” referring to the new status of four former Ukrainian regions as part of Russia.

    https://www.rt.com/russia/573571-ukraine-not-ready-offensive/

    Nobody in the United States outside of the Beltway supports Ukraine.

    American taxpayers don’t support Ukraine, they know they are being robbed blind to continue dumping taxpayer money into the most corrupt nation in Europe “as long as it takes” for an endless war unanimously known that Ukraine can not win.

  6. Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections
    This article is more than 1 month old

    ‘Team Jorge’ unit exposed by undercover investigation
    Group sells hacking services and access to vast army of fake social media profiles
    Evidence unit behind disinformation campaigns across world
    Mastermind Tal Hanan claims covert involvement in 33 presidential elections

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/15/revealed-disinformation-team-jorge-claim-meddling-elections-tal-hanan

    1. “The Team Jorge revelations could cause embarrassment for Israel, which has come under growing diplomatic pressure in recent years over its export of cyber-weaponry that undermines democracy and human rights.”

      Sounds about right.

  7. Cats, boxed wine, and SSRI anti-depressant medications.

    The Hill — Politics are increasingly a dating dealbreaker — especially for women (3/25/2023):

    “women, in particular, are considering politics more when deciding who to date, are less likely to date across the political aisle and are more cautious when approaching dating than they were in the past.

    Americans as a whole say that political divisions have become a bigger obstacle to pursuing relationships of late. Eighty-six percent think it has grown more difficult to date someone who supports the opposing political party in recent years, according to a 2020 YouGov-Economist poll.

    And most Americans would be unwilling to date someone with political views different from their own, another YouGov poll found the same year.

    But that feeling was especially strong among women — and Democrats. While more than half of men said they would date someone with different views, just 35 percent of women said the same thing. And only 40 percent of Democrats said they would date across party lines, compared to 48 percent of Republicans and 49 percent of independents.

    Opposing political views appear to be becoming more of a problem for daters, especially in the wake of Trump’s presidential win. And support for the former president himself seems to have become a major dealbreaker for many.

    “I think that there are very few issues that are really dealbreakers in relationships for most folks, even for folks that identify as quite liberal,” said Daniel Cox, director of the Survey Center on American Life. “But again, Trump is an absolute dealbreaker.”

    Surveys back up that claim. More than 70 percent of Democrats who were single and looking would not consider dating someone who voted for Trump, according to a 2020 Pew Research Center poll”

    https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/arts-culture/3917348-politics-are-increasingly-a-dating-dealbreaker-especially-for-women/

    Cats, boxed wine, and SSRI anti-depressant medications.

    1. this was something a learned long ago dealing with anchors celebrities, ( so it will apply to dates) do not spout the party line on either side or they will be polite and walk away. They have heard it al before, so you have to be different do your homework, come up with a different angle, and its amazing how they will be gad to see you every day. I never asked Johnny Cochran an OJ question and he appreciated that .

      1. In a past life I worked in a bar that had an oldies show come through that was all lookalikes of expired legends doing their thing. I thought I was so clever and original when I asked Buddy Holly what it was like being dead. Buddy apparently had had enough of that particular question and got really pissed off. Luckily Marilyn Monroe was standing next to me and she sweetly told me it was ok.

        That odd encounter has helped me keep my mouth shut many times over the years. The lesson is that we are rarely as original as we want to think we are and people get tired of hearing the same b.s. Whenever I am in the company of someone notable, Buddy Holly yelling at me always crosses my mind. 🙂

    2. “Women are less likely to date across political isles.”

      No s**t, Sherlock…

      I’m more middle of the road…conservative on some issues and more liberal on others. What sucks is, I’ve been noticing women of interest will get bent out of shape if I take an opposing view on ANY of their entrenched politically-related beliefs.

      Their knee-jerk, negative, emotional blowback just kills romantic interest in them and I bail. Doesn’t matter how nice you try to present your point either. I’ll say something like, “well, actually, what I’ve read/heard is this…” but they’ll fire back with something like “No! it’s blah, blah, blah,” then presents flawed resources or no resources at all to back up their point.

      To be honest, I’m missing the increasingly rare women who understand the importance of being diplomatically respectful regarding politics…thereby limiting their emotionally heated debates to topics like which piece of lingerie she should wear to bed…Smiles!

  8. A reader sent these in:

    There is something utterly repulsive in seeing these ZIRP made-up starlets cry to be bailed-out of their misery. They made fortunes out of thin air and want to see the whole country burn in a decade of inflation to save their filthy money

    https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1639167093705781249

    Now do rejection rates for mortgage refinancing via fresh data from @NYFedResearch. It’s a startling illustration of homeowners’ desperate dash for cash that they’re trying to refinance at higher mortgage rates.

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1639341972673421317

    “Five-year CDS on ⁦@DeutscheBank were trading at their highest levels since early 2019 and on Thursday saw their largest one-day rise on record, according to ⁦@Refinitiv
    ⁩ data.”

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1639329999370215424

    Got Dumpster Fire? “This regional banking crisis is just throwing fuel on the fire,” ⁦@danjmcnamara said in a telephone interview. “I just don’t see a way out of this without a lot of pain in the office sector.”

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1639292287627796482

    A new front in the battle opened up this week – life insurers. The fundamental rationale is CRE and financials exposure even if they don’t have the HTM issues of the banks.

    https://twitter.com/boazweinstein/status/1639261527357177861

    Cell mate: What are you in for?
    Bank CEO: I bought 10y UST in 2021.

    https://twitter.com/jsmauro13/status/1636758466487533570

    Every single one of these sh*tty RE gurus has the same secret, and it’s just debt.😂

    https://twitter.com/asymmetricfin22/status/1639349749311496208

    Massive industrial site in Dysart outside of Phoenix. No work occurring.

    https://twitter.com/m3_melody/status/1639329146533974016

    the trickle down effect of the 2021 boom in valuations and easy VC money is now showing in candidate comps. met a super bright, amazing candidate who should get around $120k – $130k base for their experience, was drawing $180k ++, startup is dead and now their entire lifestyle is geared around that comp. We would’ve loved to hire them, but not at that comp. The 2020 – 2022 fake valuation bubble has fake valued team members contribution as well.

    https://twitter.com/utekkare/status/1638580874332758016

    #TheSurge that never was 😂

    https://twitter.com/NipseyHoussle/status/1638937666602536960

    They’re conceding me a BIFURCATED AIRBNBUST 😂 “Rather than a collapse of the industry, the increasingly bifurcated state of the market — a bust for some, a boom for others — is a clear sign that we have hit a turning point in the long-running battle over short-term rentals”

    https://twitter.com/texasrunnerDFW/status/1638895273236725762

    Apple is tracking employee attendance (via badge records) and will give employees escalating warnings if they don’t come in 3x per week. ALSO: Elon Musk sent Twitter employees an email at 2:30am saying the “office is not optional” and noting SF was half empty yesterday.

    https://twitter.com/ZoeSchiffer/status/1638677318104408064

    78% of Americans surveyed by the WSJ said they don’t feel confident that life for their children’s generation will be better than their own, the highest share since the survey began asking the question every few years in 1990.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1639290124872695813

    Collapses of Large Banks on Fridays:
    – Friday, Mar. 14, 2008: Bear Stearns hit by liquidity crisis
    – Friday, Sept. 12, 2008: Last trading day before Lehman Brothers declares bankruptcy
    – Friday, Sept. 26, 2008: Washington Mutual seized by regulators marking largest bank collapse in US history
    – Friday, Mar. 10, 2023: SVB seized by regulators, marking 2nd biggest bank failure in US history
    – Friday, Mar. 10, 2023: Signature Bank sees $10 billion in withdrawals, seized by regulators 2 days later
    – Friday, Mar. 17, 2023: UBS bids for Credit Suisse, $CS, to avoid its collapse
    – Friday, Mar. 24, 2023: Deutsche Bank, $DB, credit default swaps hit 4-year high on contagion fears
    Just about every large bank failure in recent history has occurred on a Friday. This can’t be a coincidence.

    https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1639263569253367809

    What happens when CRE price discovery vanishes into vacuum? We’ve no idea how to quantify downside. “The cost to protect debt of Lincoln National, MetLife & Prudential Financial from default jumped Friday as concerns about financial-sector stability weighed on insurance firms.”

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1639404903834570752

    Canada Drives, the company once touted as the “Carvana of Canada”, has officially filed for bankruptcy.

    https://twitter.com/GuyDealership/status/1639241362598928384

    Charles Schwab Says It Could Ride Out a Run on Deposits 🤡🤡
    CDS swaps (insurance on default) say otherwise 🤨

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1639384938054049792

    Deutsche Bank has been a lousy bank stock since 2007. $140 to $8 in that time frame. Their derivatives have been a disaster for many years.
    The only surprise here is that Credit Suisse collapsed first. The problem is, Deutsche Bank might be too big.

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1639280051467214854

    These protests in France are getting intense. Fires by police station and the sub-prefecture in Lorient 🔥🔥🔥 This is about more than just pension reform. The people of France are revolting against the entire system. Pension reform was just the spark.

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1638938091426553864

    Significant losses are also expected for the coming years. The Dutch Central Bank does not expect to be able to achieve a profit again until 2028. Due to the higher interest rates, the central bank itself has lost more money, while yields have tumbled on bonds purchased in droves in recent years.

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1638919876738727936

    Central Banking is broken around the world. In the past these national banks were profit machines for their governments. 💰💵 The Fed used to pay profits of $50+ billion per year to the US Treasury. Now the Fed is losing record amounts of $$$ in payouts for reverse repos.

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1638917046464307202

    Fun Fact Friday♟ Rep. Dan Goldman has been a US politician for 80 days
    In those 80 days, he’s already filed $12.5M of trades which averages to $156k/day
    He also happens to sit on the House Oversight & Accountability Committee

    https://twitter.com/PelosiTracker_/status/1639289703609532416

    1. “met a super bright, amazing candidate who should get around $120k – $130k base for their experience, was drawing $180k ++, startup is dead and now their entire lifestyle is geared around that comp”

      No “pent-up demand” for $800,000 starter homes happening here.

    2. “78% of Americans surveyed by the WSJ said they don’t feel confident that life for their children’s generation will be better than their own, the highest share since the survey began asking the question every few years in 1990.”

      Turn down that thermostat, Zelensky needs another $5 billion.

    3. 78% of Americans surveyed by the WSJ said they don’t feel confident that life for their children’s generation will be better than their own, the highest share since the survey began asking the question every few years in 1990.

      That’s what money-printing and asset bubbles do, they destroy society. The clowns running things turned shelter into a luxury item.

      1. The clowns running things turned shelter into a luxury item.

        I don’t disagree with you, but I find it tragic that peak debt seems to equal peak despair. People did this to themselves. It is not all the dealer’s fault.

        I hope the younger generation will observe the traps their parents and grandparents willfully fell into with disdain, avoid debt slavery and lead a better life.

  9. Property taxes?

    Colorado is now a Groomer State. The legislature decriminalized fentanyl in 2019, Denver police do not conduct *ANY* effective law enforcement, Colorado is NUMBER ONE in the country for auto theft, and these are the legislative priorities of state government:

    “In the past few years, what was initially a trickle of legislation restricting the rights of transgender children and their families has become a torrent. During just the current state legislative sessions, state lawmakers across the country have introduced more than 400 bills nationwide that the American Civil Liberties Union considers to be anti-LGTBQ. They include bills that take aim at gender-affirming care for young people, transgender children’s participation in sports, and their access to bathrooms and books.

    Newly passed laws include restrictions on transition-related medical care for minors in Tennessee, South Dakota, Mississippi and Utah. The laws contradict guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups.

    Colorado appears to be moving in the opposite direction. Democratic lawmakers recently unveiled legislation intended to protect access to gender-affirming care, as well as abortion, from out-of-state threats. A bill introduced by Republican lawmakers, which would have banned students from participating in sports teams that didn’t correspond with their sex assigned at birth, failed easily in the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature.

    Still, families express concern that the disappearance of care options in other states could threaten access here and make wait times longer for care that is often time-sensitive. Some providers that provide transition-related care for children in Colorado have stopped publicizing it, which could make it harder for families to access care when they need it.”

    Translation: time-sensitive = we need to mutilate your child NOW.

    “Rep. Brianna Titone, a Democrat who represents Jefferson County in the state legislature, is co-sponsoring a bill aimed at shielding providers of gender-affirming care and their patients from being criminally charged or otherwise penalized by laws restricting care in other states.

    The surge of anti-trans policies is a concern for Coloradans on a number of levels, said Titone, who is the state’s first openly transgender legislator.

    “Just because we have good policies here in Colorado doesn’t mean that people feel safe seeing these policies pass in other states,” she said in an interview. “There are just so many [such policies] right now, and some of them are just really, really egregiously dangerous.”

    https://coloradosun.com/2023/03/25/transgender-children-colorado-health-safety/

    Look at the jawline and burly man-hands on that thing. You’re not fooling anybody, and you’re certainly not in any position to lecture the public about “health care.”

  10. U.S. banking crisis looms over the commercial real estate market
    Yahoo Finance
    Mar 24, 2023
    This segment originally aired on March 24, 2023.
    Yahoo Finance’s Dani Romero joins the Live show to discuss how the commercial real estate market is being impacted by rising interest rates, and Silicon Valley Bank’s fallout.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kncxpma8Bfc

    3:31.

  11. How To Stop Foreclosure Process In Aliso Viejo | Short Sale Realtors In Aliso Viejo
    Homes For Sale
    Mar 24, 2023
    Short Sale Realtors In Aliso Viejo!

    If you are facing foreclosure in California, there are several steps you can take to stop the process and potentially save your home. Here are some options:

    Contact your lender: The first step is to contact your lender as soon as possible. Explain your situation and ask if there are any options available to you, such as loan modification, repayment plan, or forbearance.

    Hire an attorney: Consider hiring an experienced foreclosure attorney who can guide you through the legal process and help you negotiate with your lender.

    Seek assistance from a HUD-approved housing counselor: A HUD-approved housing counselor can provide free counseling and assistance to help you understand your options and work with your lender.

    File for bankruptcy: Filing for bankruptcy can provide temporary relief from foreclosure proceedings and give you time to catch up on missed payments. However, it is important to note that bankruptcy should only be considered as a last resort, and it can have long-term impacts on your credit.

    Sell the property: If you are unable to keep up with your mortgage payments, consider selling the property. A short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure may be options to consider.

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

    51 seconds.

  12. This is rich: the globalist oligarchs who fund the Democratic Party are now seeing their commie creatures in California turn on them as “soak the rich” becomes the new Marxist slogan. Would be a cryin’ shame if Venezuela-style socialism taking root in ‘Murica meant high-net-worth libtards saw millions of Yellen Bux value being lopped off their West Coast mega-mansions.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11900385/Huge-LA-mega-mansion-approaches-deadline-WEEK-seller-loses-fortune.html

    1. Those mansions will be abandoned (as they will be unsellable at any price) and will fall into disarray, as many did in places like Detroit

    2. Couldn’t have happened to better person.

      “Jeffrey Feinberg, the millionaire head of Feinberg Investments and former managing director of George Soros’ hedge fund, is facing down a new mansion tax set to be imposed on Los Angeles’ lavish real estate market.”

  14. Asheville, NC Housing Prices Crater 22% YOY On Soaring Housing Inventory Soars As Panic Selling Emerges Across The Carolinas

    https://www.movoto.com/asheville-nc/market-trends/

    As one North Carolina broker explained, “Our entire market is pre-retirement owners and 95% of want out right now. They see the handwriting on the wall.”

  15. “The idea that banking mistakes could plunge the U.S. economy into a recession is familiar—the Great Recession that began in 2007 was caused when banks made risky home loans and then sold to lenders who did not understand exactly what they were buying.

    What a crock. The TBTF banks knew they could be as reckless & greedy as they wanted to be, since the Fed & middle class taxpayers had their backs.

  16. “‘Banks are finding themselves with investments that are losing big money, and when depositors come in, they can’t turn them into something liquid fast enough to pay back people who want their deposits,’ he says.

    It’s not even fractional banking anymore, since the Keynesian fraudsters at the Fed have allowed banks to maintain a ZERO ratio reserve requirement. Once bank runs turn to bank sprints, millions of depositors are going to learn the hard way that in a time of universal fraud, “if you don’t hold it, you don’t own it.”

  17. ‘The bulk of this debt was financed when base interest rates were near zero. This debt needs to be refinanced in an environment where rates are higher, values are lower, & in a market with less liquidity.’”

    Gosh, what happens if lenders refuse to finance CRE in an environment where collateral value is anyone’s guess, and the Brandon-mismanaged, oligarch-looted economy is in free-fall?

  18. “Indeed, the current banking crisis has some parallels to 2008, says Neil Fligstein, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley who has extensively studied the financial crisis.”

    Neil must be dull if it took more than an academic semester to identify the issues and players involved in the 2008 crisis.

    1. I was in college during the ’09-’10 semester and took a course on financial crises. Every 3 weeks we got a different professor to share research and academic writing on the topic. By the end of the semester I easily understood what happened.

      But then again, as a student my salary didn’t depend on not understanding!

  19. And now with the banking crisis, banks are unwilling to lend cash.’”

    Gosh, but if lending locks up due to a liquidity shortfall, and depositors start yanking their funds from the banks en masse to avoid getting Corzined, won’t that trigger the next Great Financial Crisis that Yellen the Felon assured us was un-possible?

  20. “‘The combination of lack of tenants, doubling of interest rates and decline in value is lethal,’ Ken Rosen, chair of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley, told the Business Times.”

    Wa? The Fed can’t just print all that away?

    1. I’d like to hear Ken’s opinion regarding COVID Eviction Moratoriums that continue to this day in several California cities.

      1. “COVID Eviction Moratoriums”

        See also: my CCP Flu excerpt from the Off Guardian posted above.

  21. The focus was on growth at all costs, and many startups were burning cash without any clear path to profitability.

    It was only Yellen Bux. Easy come, easy go.

    1. many startups were burning cash without any clear path to profitability

      The party is fun while it lasts: huge paychecks, even for those who produce nothing of value, bonuses, great parties and all kids of perks.

  22. This event will be very different than 2008. The banks will be made whole by the FED. So, inflation will skyrocket. People will lose faith in the currency. Hard assets ( real estate, precious metals, farm land ) is the way forward. It will be a recession with outsized inflation for years.

      1. If it means things get bad enough that We the People finally excise the cancer that is the Fed, it’ll be worth it.

        1. Food inflation, specifically.

          The catalyst was a female policewoman slapping a college graduate who didn’t move his vending cart – the only way he could eke out an existence – fast enough once she barked her orders. The vender self-immolated in protest, triggering mass unrest from the sympathetic populace.

    2. It will be a recession with outsized inflation for years.

      I think we’ve seen this movie before: Stagflation.

    3. outsized inflation for years

      Isn’t that what always happens after a big inflation, another bigger inflation?

    4. Hard assets ( real estate, precious metals, farm land ) is the way forward.

      Right. In a time of super high rates, everybody’s going to run out and buy rate sensitive real estate. Horrible take, man. Real estate is in the process of crashing.

  23. Is it safe at this point to assume that inflation is contained, and the Fed will soon lower interest rates to pre-pandemic levels, making real estate affordable once again?

    1. The Financial Times
      Federal Reserve
      Fed officials double down on rate rise decision citing high inflation
      Central bank pressed ahead with tightening campaign this week despite banking turmoil
      Raphael Bostic, president of the Atlanta Fed, said on Friday: ‘At the end of the day, what we decided was there’s clear signs that the banking system is sound and resilient’
      Colby Smith in Washington and Kate Duguid in New York yesterday

      Federal Reserve officials on Friday defended their decision to press ahead with their monetary tightening campaign this week despite ongoing stress across the US banking sector, citing continued concerns about elevated inflation.

      On Wednesday the central bank raised rates by a quarter point for the second time in a row, lifting federal funds rate to a new target range of 4.75 per cent to 5 per cent, even as midsized lenders struggled to weather the fallout from the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank.

      “There was a lot of debate . . . but at the end of the day, what we decided was there’s clear signs that the banking system is sound and resilient,” Raphael Bostic, president of the Atlanta Fed, said in an interview with NPR on Friday. “And with that as a backdrop, inflation is still too high.”
      …

      1. They are in a tough spot, as in the 1970s, as pausing now could both fuel the flames of inflation, which are already burning hot, plus inadvertently signal that the Fed sees storm clouds on the horizon.

          1. I do remember the price of gas tripling in the 70s. Also the cost of a stamp. We were sure the currency couldn’t survive any more inflation. Bought gold and silver.

          2. “Bought gold and silver.”

            A good friend played gold when it became uncoupled, and made a handsome profit.

  24. Meet Peter Tuchman, the most photographed stock trader on Wall Street
    Morgan Chittum
    Mar 25, 2023, 5:45 AM
    NYSE trader
    Peter Tuchman has worked at the New York Stock Exchange for nearly 38 years. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
    – Peter Tuchman, one of the most recognizable stock brokers on Wall Street, has been at the NYSE for over 37 years.
    – Although he’s known for his commentary on the markets, Tuchman previously owned a jazz record store in New York.
    – In the 1980s, Tuchman also worked as an accountant at a Norwegian oil company in West Africa.

    Peter Tuchman has been the face of Wall Street’s best and worst moments for almost four decades.

    Tuchman, who has been at the New York Stock Exchange for nearly 38 years, is the most-photographed broker on the trading floor. His reactions are often the literal face of the biggest moves in financial markets, with one publication describing his expressions as “the aspirations and disappointments of investors the world over.”

    The Einstein-y hair. The animated persona and Hermes ties. The enthralled reactions, shifting with whatever news is jolting markets. They’re all what make him the face of the stock exchange.

    Tuchman has weathered the stock market crash of 1987, the bursting of the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s, the global financial crisis of 2008, the COVID-19-fueled plunge in 2020, and now, the ongoing banking turmoil following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this month.
    …
    https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-most-photographed-trader-peter-tuchman-wall-steet-nyse-2023-3

  25. Between high debt levels, high inflation, CR8Ring risk asset prices,
    unaffordable housing, and recession risk, does it seem like the economy has turned into a meat grinder?

    1. MoneyWatch
      High anxiety: More than a third of U.S. adults are stressed out over money, poll shows
      March 24, 2023 / 4:26 PM / CBS/AP

      More than a third of U.S. adults say the fragile state of the economy is stressing them out, with the impact of high inflation a particular concern, a new poll shows.

      About half of U.S. adults in households earning less than $60,000 annually and about 4 in 10 of those in households earning $60,000 to $100,000 say they’re very stressed by their personal finances, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Roughly a quarter of those in higher income households report worrying about money.

      Overall, 36% of adults say the national economy is a major source of anxiety, found the poll, conducted March 16-20, of 1,081 adults.

      “Few adults are very confident they can keep up with their expenses, pay an unexpected medical expense, have enough to retire or find a job,” the polling group said.

      Beverly Lucas, 76, of Cary, North Carolina, said she sees how inflation has hemmed in the lives of her fellow seniors on fixed incomes.

      “There’s no comfort zone in their finances — no vacation. They’re just getting by,” she said. “Medications are expensive. Groceries. No one’s living large or having fun. They should be having fun.”

      Lucas, a retired Christian education teacher who lives off Social Security and a pension, said she is moving to downsize and save $500 a month. If she had stayed in the two-bedroom where she had lived, she said, her expenses would have gone up this year.

      About three-quarters of adults across income groups say their household expenses are higher now than they were a year ago. Those in households earning less than $100,000 a year are more likely than those in higher income households to say they also have higher debt. Those facing a combination of rising debt and expenses overwhelmingly say their financial situation is a major source of stress.

      The poll also finds that people in households earning at least $100,000 annually were more likely than lower income earners to predict their finances will improve in the year ahead, 39% to 26%. By contrast, people in lower income households were more likely than those earning more to expect their financial situation to worsen, 28% to 18%.

      Inflation around the U.S. rose at an annual rate of 6% rate in February, three times the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Many economists also worry that the Fed’s remedy for higher prices — raising interest rates — is likely to trigger a recession later this year or in early 2024.

      Debt + inflation = stress

      Tyronda Stringer, 28, who works as a truck loader at Walmart in Banks, Alabama, said her debt has increased in the past year due to medical expenses she’s still paying off. Stringer, a single mother of two, said the stimulus payments and child tax credits during the pandemic had helped her financial situation, but that now inflation and the cost of childcare have her back living paycheck to paycheck. She’s also struggling with high medical bills.

      “I used to do three grocery trips a month,” she said. “Now it’s one and a half at the most. We’re just gonna have to cut back on a lot of things. I can see that. Things we’re used to or things we need, we’ll be getting different brands and things. The only thing I can think of.”

      Consumers racked up $180 billion in new credit card debt in 2022, the most debt ever added in a single year, according to a recent study from personal finance website WalletHub. The average household’s credit card balance was $9,990, up 9% from in the fourth quarter of 2021.

      The AP-NORC poll finds that just 1 in 10 of those in households making less than $60,000 a year say their savings have increased over the past year, while about 6 in 10 say their savings have decreased.

      Only 20% of adults in that group say they are very confident they can keep up with their expenses, compared with 30% of those making between $60,000 and $100,000 and 46% in households making more than that. Four in 10 adults in lower income households say they are not confident they can keep up with their expenses. About 6 in 10 are at least somewhat confident.
      …
      https://www.cbsnews.com/news/money-stress-debt-personal-finance-adults-poll/

      1. Where did all those home equiity and stock market wealth gains that were supposed to make everyone rich go? They dried up like the Colorado River in a multiyear drought.

      2. “The average household’s credit card balance was $9,990, up 9% from in the fourth quarter of 2021.”

        WTF are these imbeciles thinking?

      3. The amount of human misery and deprivation in that article… sounds like a World Economic Forum success story.

        And if these people think they have it bad now, wait until the “climate change” economic lockdowns begin.

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

        1. And if these people think they have it bad now, wait until the “climate change” economic lockdowns begin.

          Keep an eye on Europe, it’s already happening there.

  26. They got a clip now of Dr Fauci saying he felt like shit after he took his second jab..
    First, no way that monster took the expiermental jab.
    Some attempt to normalize adverse reactions , and Dr Fauci suffered like the rest of you to save the planet from the invisible enemy. We are in it together.
    Some people believe that wrestling isn’t show time either.
    And than Biden wants to bail out Moderna on their Patten infringement legal liabilities, in spite of the billions Moderna profit made off the fake vaccines…
    So now you have the bail outs by Biden to insure a higher profit margin for Moderna, and sticking the taxpayer with legal penalty for doing something wrong..
    Why dont the Taxpayers pay for their Davos trips where they plot taking over the WWorld……oh wait, we do pay business expense, including the hookers..
    How much evidence do you need that Big Money high jacked governments and want to loot you, enslave you and probably kill you. . Just saying!
    f

  27. Does it seem like COVID-19 has infected the global banking system?

    Will Deutsche Bank be the next victim to succumb to the ravages of The Virus?

    1. Deutsche Bank shares slide after sudden spike in the cost of insuring against its default
      Published Fri, Mar 24 2023 5:05 AM EDT
      Updated Fri, Mar 24 2023 12:36 PM EDT
      Elliot Smith

      WATCH LIVE
      Key Points
      – The German lender’s shares retreated for a third consecutive day and have now lost more than a fifth of their value so far this month.
      – The emergency rescue of Credit Suisse by UBS, in the wake of the collapse of U.S.-based Silicon Valley Bank, triggered contagion concern among investors, which was deepened by further monetary policy tightening from the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday.
      Deutsche Bank shares slide as cost of insuring against its default rises

      Deutsche Bank shares fell on Friday following a spike in credit default swaps Thursday night, as concerns about the stability of European banks persisted.

      The Frankfurt-listed stock was down 14% at one point during the session but trimmed losses to close 8.6% lower on Friday afternoon.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/24/deutsche-bank-shares-slide-8percent-after-a-sudden-spike-in-default-insurance-costs.html

    1. A quote from Gab:

      “I’m so afraid of him coming in the shower with me that I’ve waited until late at night to take a shower” — Ashley Biden diary, pages 67-68

      2. Via Telegram:

        Hunter Biden’s list of 25,000 personal sex photos and videos included the following pedophile content:

        Lady Gaga smoking crack cocaine.

        Malia Obama (minor at the time) having sex with Hunter Biden.

        Hunter engaging in sexual activities with Caroline Biden (his cousin) and Natalie Biden (his niece) and even Ashley Biden (his sister).

        1. Yeah, the Malia thing was a surprise. Brought her CC and doggie.

          Natalie Biden, aka “Footsie B.” Can you imagine your uncle complimenting you on a particular act, saying “You did that as well as a professional”?

          Hunter engaging in sexual activities with Caroline Biden (his cousin) and Natalie Biden (his niece) and even Ashley Biden (his sister).
          Ugh, that I didn’t know there were more participants in the game the whole family can play (Caroline and Ashley). WTH?

          3. Ugh, that I didn’t know there were more participants in the game the whole family can play (Caroline and Ashley).

            Disgusting, though not unexpected.

        2. We’re not talking about rumors or suspicion. This is from 25,000 personal sex photos and videos on Hunter Biden’s laptop from hell.

          1. Gotta admit that he has figured out how to put that little head in most of the women around him not to mention the one night stands. He should publish his techniques.

    1. Brandon doesn’t like people who attend Trump rallys.

      Gloves off, Biden embraces tough tone on ‘MAGA Republicans’

      By SEUNG MIN KIM
      September 8, 2022

      At a Democratic National Committee meeting in Maryland Thursday night, Biden said, “Extreme MAGA Republicans just don’t threaten our personal and economic rights, they embrace political violence,” referencing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

      “They refuse to accept the will of the people,” he said. “They threaten our very democracy.”

      1. threaten our very democracy

        It’s a Republic you evil idiot.

        Our free country was born in violence.

        1. It’s a Republic you evil idiot.

          The use of “democracy” (i.e., mob rule) is very deliberate.

      2. they embrace political violence

        There they go, projecting again. Of course, BLM and Antifa are “mostly peaceful”.

  32. “The San Francisco-based Redco and Boston-based AEW Capital have filed a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure for 1 Montgomery Street, the San Francisco Business Times reported. They flipped the keys of the vacant building to lender Square Mile Capital, now known as Affinius Capital, based in San Antonio.”

    Sounds like they walked away and dropped off the keys…like in the post-2008 episode.

    “‘The combination of lack of tenants, doubling of interest rates and decline in value is lethal,’ Ken Rosen, chair of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley, told the Business Times.”

    Gotta love an economist who shoots straight from the hip with no BS.

    1. Denver has set aside some cash t “study” converting empty downtown office buildings into “housing”, and by housing they mean homeless housing. If anyone thinks downtown Dumver is bad now, they ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

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