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You Can Only Kick The Can For So Long, At A Certain Point, You’ve Got To Pay The Check

A report from CBS Colorado. “Two brothers, Grant and Greg Brunner, who died Nov. 28 in a murder-suicide case in Parker, were facing at least eight lawsuits accusing them of running a phony ‘fix-and-flip’ real estate scheme that cost friends who lent them money an estimated $5 million over the last two years. ‘They took the easy way out,’ said one investor who lost $200,000 but asked not to be identified. He said he fell victim to an ‘elaborate scheme.’ ‘He robbed Peter to pay Paul,’ said Michael Drennen, a long-time friend of Grant Brunner. He said when Brunner approached him a second time, he again invested $225,000 which he never got back. Drennen, who is planning to retire later this week, said the money was supposed to support his retirement. ‘I’m angry. I am getting ready for retirement and that’s a little chunk of my retirement nest egg going out the window.'”

The Charlotte Observer. “North Carolina rules make it easy for HOAs to foreclose on homeowners. State law allows them to force the sale of homes for any amount of unpaid dues, no matter how small. Our investigation shows how often it’s happening – and how it can it’s devastating homeowners. Todd Harris, a 59-year-old maintenance mechanic, doesn’t like to drive near his old neighborhood. It reminds him of all he has lost. Almost 20 years ago, Harris borrowed from his 401(k) to make a down payment on a new two-story house that had everything he wanted just 15 minutes northeast of downtown Raleigh. He’d planned to retire there. But Harris fell behind on paying his dues to the Pine Hall Plantation HOA several years ago.”

“Unlike many who lose their homes to HOA foreclosures, Harris did get a sizable check from the sale — a little over $100,000. But he lost much more than he gained. He lost more than $200,000 of the equity he’d built, he said. He lost the home where he’d hoped to retire. He moved into a rented, 10-by-10-foot bedroom in Morrisville, where he sleeps on an air mattress. His old house, meanwhile, was sold to new owners this April for $540,000. ‘To take everything I worked for the last 20 years …’ said Harris, now 59, leaving his sentence unfinished. ‘It’s been rough.'”

Newsweek on California. “Vacation rental investor and the owner of several Airbnbs in the U.S, Rohin Dhar’s analysis of the market has been based on the fact that prices have dropped significantly in many American cities. On X, he brought up the example of a condo in San Francisco that lost significant value in recent years. ‘San Francisco six unit apartment building in Hayes Valley neighborhood,’ he wrote. ‘Purchased in 2016 for $6MM. Sold this week for $3.75MM.'”

The News Tribune in Washington. “Real estate development company Harbor Custom Development, based in Tacoma, on Monday announced it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The NASDAQ-listed company, known for multifamily housing development in the region and upscale housing development in other parts of the country, said in a news release it had ‘voluntarily filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the Western District of Washington at Tacoma … to pursue an orderly wind down or restructuring of its business.’ The company said it would continue ‘to market and sell finished lots and homes and to operate multi-family projects as they work towards stabilization.’ The company abandoned plans for a luxury apartment development in Tacoma over the summer.”

KUTV in Utah. “It’s coming down. Ogden City officials confirm an unfinished apartment complex which has been called an eyesore by many nearby residents is set for demolition. They said the developers have told the city they intend to tear the building down, but they haven’t determined when or how it’s going to happen yet. Several bars and restaurants surround the complex on 25th Street in Ogden. James Bradford is the Executive Chef at Table Twenty Five, and he thinks it’s a shame it didn’t get finished. ‘To see it 80 percent of the way complete, then come to a stop and get torn back down to zero… I mean, it’s rough,’ he said.”

Bisnow Atlanta in Georgia. “The new year is likely to bring grease to the wheels of investment sales as lenders get tougher on delinquent borrowers in the commercial real estate sector and beef up staffing to handle a deluge of foreclosures, a panel of industry experts warned during Bisnow’s Atlanta forecast event last week. The distress and foreclosures are also spreading beyond the embattled office market and into multifamily, panelists said. ‘We need to understand that we’ve been dealing with cracks in the industry since Covid,’ said Woodvale Managing Partner Rahim Charania, whose firm raised a $100M fund to buy distressed real estate. ‘Lenders have just been very good this time around compared to 2008 at being able to say, ‘OK, listen, let’s find a creative way of working things out. Let’s keep this thing going. Let’s not sound off the alarm and then race to the bottom on pricing. You can only kick the can down the road for so long. At a certain point, you’ve got to pay the check.'”

“Alex Bertles, a vice president at CRE investment platform Slate Asset Management, said lenders have held back on foreclosing on bad loans and working with borrowers for the simple reason that they have lacked the manpower to handle the workouts. ‘You think about multifamily as 18 months ago, 24 months ago having the tightest cap rates. Those cap rates are 50%, 60% higher than they were, and so it’s only natural that the dam is going to start to crack,’ Bertles said. ‘Atlanta, for example, rents moved backwards last year on the multifamily front. And that doesn’t tend to work out. If you’ve got, you know, 2020, 2021 deals that are highly leveraged with floating-rate debt, that just doubled.'”

Macleans in Canada. “Two jobs, no money: How mortgage rates have pushed one Toronto father to the brink: Evelin and I both have decent jobs: I’m a social case worker with the province and Evelin is an administrator at a private school. Still, getting into the housing market was no easy feat. We had a combined income of $117,000 and about $37,000 in savings, but initially we could only get approved for a mortgage on a $500,000 home—nowhere near enough to secure a decent place in the city. Luckily, Evelin’s father chipped in for our down payment and, in January of 2022, we managed to qualify for a mortgage on a $668,000 two-bedroom condo townhouse in downtown Toronto—our first home. We were so happy to be owners; it felt like a remarkable milestone.”

“Evelin was still on maternity leave when we moved in that winter, so our cash flow was tight but comfortable. We had a 1.3 per cent variable mortgage rate, which amounted to two payments of $1,275 each month, plus $370 in monthly maintenance fees. We started discussing the possibility of having a second child, but our optimism was short-lived. The first sign of trouble came in late February, when we noticed that our biweekly payment had gone up by $25. The increase didn’t ring any alarm bells at first—it was just a few dollars more, right? But in March, more letters arrived: our interest rate had gone up once again. My sister, Milynda, bought a house in Toronto in 2013, and she reassured me that it wasn’t unusual for a variable mortgage to go up every now and then. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. So we didn’t.”

“Over and over again, we heard from bankers, mortgage brokers and politicians on the news, people we trusted to know more about this stuff than us. They all echoed the same sentiment: The rate hikes won’t continue. Eventually, they’ll hold and maybe even come down. We decided to stick with our variable rate. July rolled around and our payment increased yet again. A couple days later, I went to buy gas for our car, thinking Evelin and I had $600 in our joint account. To my surprise, there was only $100 in there. That’s when panic set in. Evelin had since returned to full-time work, but we were stretched so thin that every dollar counted. We drastically cut down on our food costs, favouring non-perishables like pasta over fresh produce. It didn’t help that Elisamarie was about to start daycare, another huge cost. Unless we changed something dramatically, I was convinced we’d lose our home within two months.”

“I decided to take on a second job to keep up with our family’s rising expenses, though it wasn’t really a choice. I had some prior hospitality experience from working as a busser and host at the Keg, so later in the summer, I got a job as a bartender and server at Nodo, an Italian restaurant. For the last year and a half, I’ve worked my day job (in social work) from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., then headed to Nodo to start my night shift. Most weeknights, I’m usually not home until well past 1 a.m., so I only have a half-hour to myself before I head to bed. I work 75 hours a week and we’re still scrambling to keep up with our payments.”

“I know Evelin and I bear the brunt of the blame for our situation. We’d never been homeowners before our big purchase and we didn’t do enough homework—we were stupid, in all honesty. The financial experts we consulted were relying on past trends when they gave us advice, but these are unprecedented economic circumstances. Evelin and I considered selling our place in October, but our realtor advised us against it. Breaking even was the best he’d be able to do. If interest rates do go down, we could chip away at the principal or sell the house and make a profit. At the moment, we’re too far in to leave, even if we wanted to.”

“I was born and raised in Toronto, down the street from where I’m living today, and buying a modest home in which to raise my own family has pushed me to the brink, emotionally and financially. Before this, I never would have considered moving to another country. Now, Evelin and I are seriously weighing our options. Recently, we took a family vacation to Mexico, our last before the baby comes. I was hesitant to go, but Nodo didn’t schedule me for an entire week, so we found a Black Friday deal and pounced. I still feel guilty about the expense—and took three extra shifts after we got back to make up for it—but we desperately needed the time off, and I can’t just slave away forever. There’s more to life than surviving.”

From Essa News. “Official data from 2022 indicate that the number of people covered by the Chinese state-subsidized health insurance system decreased by a staggering 19 million. Experts caution that this downward trend is projected to persist in 2023. A drop was noted in the first nine months of this year in seven provinces, relative to the corresponding timeframe from the previous year. A rural construction worker from the central Hubei province, mentioned by ‘FT,’ disclosed that he ceased his annual premium payments of 380 yuan (around $59) this year after several months of unemployment. ‘I need to maximize the use of my limited savings. Health insurance isn’t my priority,’ remarked Li.”

“It seems that this issue could potentially negatively influence the recovery of the world’s second-largest economy, which has struggled to uplift consumer sentiment due to a prolonged slump in the real estate sector and weaker exports. In October, experts pointed out that China’s housing sector was undergoing a ‘significant slowdown.’ From peak levels in 2020-2021, sales have plunged by around 30% and started construction by 60%. Property prices in numerous cities have declined by 10-20% relative to their 2019-2021 peaks. Analysts highlighted that approximately 5.6 billion square feet of property is under construction or has been completed but remains unsold.”

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This Post Has 94 Comments

  1. ‘he thinks it’s a shame it didn’t get finished. ‘To see it 80 percent of the way complete, then come to a stop and get torn back down to zero… I mean, it’s rough’

    Tearing down new airboxes: check!

  2. ‘That’s when panic set in. Evelin had since returned to full-time work, but we were stretched so thin that every dollar counted. We drastically cut down on our food costs, favouring non-perishables like pasta over fresh produce’

    Ah-HA! You are eating. You and Evelin need to decide if you have what it takes to be a winnah!

    3. $117K seems rather low for two incomes combined, especially in Canadian dollars. $600K is far too much for their income, even if rates stayed low forever. My guess is they’ll eventually move in with wife’s dad.

    4. OMG how horrible. pasta………….
      and they got enough money to go to Mexico……..

      They are right about one thing though, they are stupid.

  3. ‘San Francisco six unit apartment building in Hayes Valley neighborhood,’ he wrote. ‘Purchased in 2016 for $6MM. Sold this week for $3.75MM’

    How do those 4% cap rates look now?

    1. At least they lost less than 50%…unless you include ownership and sales transaction costs in your calculation and adjust the sales price for inflation since 2016.

  6. ‘Lenders have just been very good this time around compared to 2008 at being able to say, ‘OK, listen, let’s find a creative way of working things out. Let’s keep this thing going.

    Seeing the long-deferred financial reckoning day arriving in all its fury is going to be a thing of terrible beauty. Long buttered popcorn.

  7. “Over and over again, we heard from bankers, mortgage brokers and politicians on the news, people we trusted to know more about this stuff than us. They all echoed the same sentiment: The rate hikes won’t continue.

    When I read about the sheeple who trusted REIC shills, corrupt policymakers, and “analyst” touts on globalist scum media getting their heads handed to them, I feel schadenfreude at its most sublime.

  8. “I know Evelin and I bear the brunt of the blame for our situation. We’d never been homeowners before our big purchase and we didn’t do enough homework—we were stupid, in all honesty.

    You don’t bear the brunt of the blame – you 100% brought this on yourselves through your own gullibility and stupidity. But I don’t doubt you’re still trusting the same sources for your news & information, because that’s how the lemmings roll.

      2. https:// nitter.poast.org/ EpsilonTheory/ status/ 1172839570377007104#m

        The MIT prof who took Jeffrey Epstein’s money and had her grad students make a thank-you gift is married to …

        wait for it …

        Bill Ackman.

        Bill Ackman’s wife took $$ from noted art philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein for her “nature-inspired designs” at MIT.

        Larry Summers’ wife took $$ from noted literary patron Jeffrey Epstein for her “poetry foundation” at Harvard.

        It’s almost as if there’s a ruling class.

        #BITFD

        1. How many insurrections have there been since January 6th? How many in just the past two months?

          Insurrection and rioting are LEGAL as long as it’s not done in support of Orange Man Bad, because reasons.

    2. A ‘severe recession’ may be coming in 2024 as the stock market, job market flash warning signs, strategist says
      Jennifer Sor
      Dec 11, 2023, 8:27 AM PST
      worried trader
      AP Photo

      – The US could be in for a “severe recession” in early 2024, Briley Wealth’s Paul Dietrich warned.

      – That’s due to an array of recessionary signals that are flashing in the economy.

      – The stock market’s explosive rally is one such sign the economy could soon contract.
      …
      https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/recession-2024-economy-stock-market-signal-sp500-rally-inflation-unemployment-2023-12

      1. How many times will the Fed cut rates? Here’s what Wall Street expects for the key stock-market driver in 2024.
        Matthew Fox
        Dec 11, 2023, 8:48 AM PST
        Fed Jerome Powell
        Reuters

        Interest rates have soared since the start of 2022, as the Federal Reserve sought to delicately tame inflation without derailing the economy by hiking rates.

        Since its last interest rate hike in July, it seems the Fed has made solid progress in lowering inflation without hurting the labor market and broader economy. This has spurred many analysts on Wall Street to forecast significant interest rate cuts next year.

        – After an aggressive rate-hiking cycle that lasted nearly two years, the Fed is expected to start cutting rates in 2024.

        – Moderating inflation and a resilient economy suggests the Fed could cut rates several times.

        – Here’s what Wall Street expects the Fed to do next year with a key input for the US stock market and economy.
        …
        https://www.businessinsider.com/interest-rates-2024-outlook-rate-cut-predictions-wall-street-stocks-2023-12

      2. Special Report
        How Should I Invest if Interest Rates Are ‘Higher For Longer’?
        As the misplaced notion of transitory inflation recedes ever further into the distance, talk turns to taking advantage of a new monetary paradigm
        Ollie Smith
        13 December, 2023 | 10:51AM

        Paradigms are powerful, but they also tend to die embarrassing deaths. At the end of 2021 the rough consensus of central banks and analysts was inflation would be “transitory”.

        They were wrong.

        Today, the phrase du jour is “higher for longer”, a middle-ground scenario that pushes runaway price rises out the window but also fails to immediately return inflation to central bank targets. Like Covid-19, it is another thing we are going to have to learn to live with.

        Having called the situation incorrectly so many times, the voice of Bank of England (BoE) governor Andrew Bailey may not be one that markets really want to listen to, but as Jeremy Hunt was delivering the UK’s Autumn Statement speech last month, Bailey was quietly frank with the Treasury Select Committee, whose inquiries into UK finance and regulation remain one of the few political finance theatres still worth listening to.

        Markets are, Bailey said, underestimating the threat inflation poses. So as another year ends and talk turns to the risks and opportunities investors face in 2024, it’s prudent to ask whether the issue is widespread. Moreover, investors deserve to have some semblance of how they can take advantage of it – if they can at all.

        What Are the Professionals Saying?

        Views on interest rate cuts differ. Markets expect a hold on interest rates tomorrow when the Bank of England and European Central Bank (ECB) make their next monetary policy moves, but it’s worth a note of caution here. For its part, the UK’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has wrong-footed investors once already this year. That could happen again.
        …
        https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/243831/how-should-i-invest-if-interest-rates-are-higher-for-longer.aspx

    5. ‘Magnificent 7’ mania is like the dot-com bubble, setting up stocks to slump and recession to strike by summer, veteran wealth advisor says
      Theron Mohamed
      Dec 13, 2023, 6:36 AM PST

      – The “Magnificent Seven” stocks remind one wealth advisor of the dot-com bubble in tech names.

      – Ted Oakley expects the stock market to slump and a recession to hit within six months.

      – Warren Buffett’s record cash pile and recent stock sales should worry investors, he says.
      …
      https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/magnificent-seven-dot-com-bubble-crash-stocks-recession-consumer-economy-2023-12

  11. We are approaching a buyers’ markets with no buyers: CIBC’s Benjamin Tal
    BNN Bloomberg

    15 hours ago

    Looking ahead to Canada’s housing markets in 2024 and beyond, Benjamin Tal, Deputy chief economist, CIBC says, housing market activity will continue to deteriorate and won’t rebound until early to mid-2025.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frWniVDkqp8

    7:31.

  12. Harvard President can apparently say anything,or not say it ,and get away with it ,just because she’s a Blk woman ?
    And meanwhile , in Washington State ,they teach in Public schools ,that men can get pregnant,all by themselves, ha ha ha,should be some cheap real estate out there , at some point….

  13. Falling behind on payments, whether HOA, property tax, mortgages can sometimes be the fault of the demand issuer. Once the matter is handed over to a debt collector they don’t care about this. In Texas, I came across a situation where the debt collector was also listing the properties for sale. That is a clear conflict of interest, and local governments should stamp this practice out.

      2. Sounds like a condo HOA story. Explaining your case might resemble an armed fugitive talking to a K9 police dog.

  14. 2024 Election Year Variant.

    Washington Post (via Archive) — Covid and flu rising ahead of holidays, increasing ER visits (12/12/2023):

    “Respiratory viruses are rebounding in the United States on the precipice of the end-of-year holidays, with emergency room visits for covid-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus collectively reaching their highest levels since February.

    Among the three viruses, covid continues to be the biggest driver of hospitalizations, settling into a familiar rhythm of causing periodic waves without wreaking havoc on the health-care system as it once did. Hospitals reported more than 22,000 new covid admissions the week ending Dec. 2, the highest since the peak of the summer wave in September.”

    https://archive.is/tQleg

    CCP Flu is back better print a few more trillion.

    1. CCP Flu is back better print a few more trillion.

      Aren’t they already printing a trillion every quarter? It seems like we have gone past the point of no return. It’s only a matter of time until we have hyper inflation.

  15. “But Harris fell behind on paying his dues to the Pine Hall Plantation HOA several years ago…His old house, meanwhile, was sold to new owners this April for $540,000. ‘To take everything I worked for the last 20 years …’ said Harris, now 59, leaving his sentence unfinished. ‘It’s been rough.’”

    This appears to be the house:

    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5317-Duckwing-Dr-Raleigh-NC-27604/65333172_zpid/

    4/27/2023 Sold $540,000
    3/24/2023 Listed for sale $539,900
    7/13/2022 Sold $115,500
    4/16/2004 Sold $252,500

    HOA fee: $265 ANNUALLY. This is HIS fault. Yet another fake news sob story. 🙄

  16. Paul Krugman informs the poors that the chocolate ration had been increased from 20g to 15g.

    New York Times (via Archive) — Watch What People Do, Not What They Say About the Economy (12/11/2023):

    “In recent years, Americans have been extremely negative about the national economy but much less so about their local economies. And everything we know about what Americans are doing, as opposed to what they tell pollsters, suggests that on average they’re feeling pretty good about their own situation: Consumer spending is strong, new business formation is high, and so on.

    Journalists are frequently reluctant to acknowledge that public views of the economy are at odds with reality, lest they be called elitists citing fancy government statistics rather than listening to real people. And I keep seeing almost desperate efforts to find bad news in the economic data.”

    https://archive.is/vDhI9

    Screw your data. Half the country can’t afford food or gas or a place to live in the Joe Biden Economy.

  17. Communism.

    Politico — The price tag of COP28’s renewable energy pledge (12/13/2023):

    “COP28 wrapped on Wednesday with officials touting a pledge to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030. It even came twinned with a vow to double global energy-saving efforts over the same period.

    If world leaders are serious about these pledges, they’ll have to put their money where their mouth is (or convince private investors to do so) and mobilize nearly $30 trillion in green investment between now and 2030, with buildings and the industrial sector taking the lion’s share of these funds.

    Pricey, perhaps, but still probably cheaper than environmental catastrophe.”

    https://www.politico.eu/article/cop28-renewable-energy-efficiency-targets-data-paris-agreement-climate-change-global-warming/

    $30 trillion is that a lot?

    1. with buildings and the industrial sector taking the lion’s share of these funds

      I recall an article about buildings in Dumver being required to make super expensive changes and upgrades to be “energy efficient”

    3. Which attendees will fall on their swords and voluntarily ride a bicycle to the next COP meeting rather than relying on fossil fuel powered transportation?

      1. One of these clowns was on video about a year ago getting out of their limo and walking the last thousand feet into the conference building, all for the virtue signal.

    2. This guy was probably mandated to take the clot shot or get kicked out of the Air Force.

      The alleged “journalist” who croaked in the link you posted above, that guy deserved to die, hopefully with as much pain and suffering as possible.

      1. This guy was probably mandated to take the clot shot or get kicked out of the Air Force.

        He got out in 2009. Of course he might have been a reservist afterwards, the article didn’t say what he did after he got out. Of course, the article won’t tell us if he was jabbed and boosted. That said, when a young, lean and healthy looking dude just keels over with no warning, the odds are that the jab was responsible.

        2. “A father-of-six died suddenly while rocking his baby daughter to sleep in suburban Kansas.”

          A friend of mine from Hamilton, MT died doing exactly the same thing following a very long drive through an active snow storm to his wife’s parent’s home in Bend, OR. I reported about it on one of Ben’s earlier blogs, which was well before COVID happened.

  19. Russia Today — Ukraine was never going to win – US senator (12/13/2023):

    “Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Tuberville was asked whether cutting off funding to Kiev could result in Ukraine being defeated. The senator replied that he personally “never thought they can win to begin with,” especially with the way the US “eased into” the conflict.

    Tuberville also dismissed claims by Kiev’s backers that Russia will advance elsewhere into western Europe once it defeats Ukraine’s forces. The Republican argued that Moscow “can’t beat Ukraine on the eastern side,” and questioned how it was expected to push further across Europe.

    “I’ve never believed that scenario. I think it’s a good selling point to send more money,” Tuberville suggested.

    https://www.rt.com/news/588986-ukraine-never-win-senator/

    Russia is winning.

    1. The Narrative changes so quickly that you might get whiplash if not careful. At one moment it’s “half of Russia’s army is destroyed and Moscow is ready to surrender” to “Russia is preparing to march in to Europe”

      I think Speaker Johnson wants the war to end, and knows that the Dems will never agree to securing our southern border, so making it a prerequisite for more cash for Ukraine is brilliant. Plus all the progs are in love with Hamas now and Ukraine is fading away.

      1. Even if Sarin nerve gas was used in Gaza nobody in Congress would erect a roadblock or speed bump in the path to the jooz funding.

        1. I wish Republicans defended our country as vociferously as they do Israel. I’ve been watching some of the recent hearings and they’re demanding black and white answers to a very grey issue. If the conflict were so black and white shouldn’t it have been resolved long ago?

  20. From the article:

    ‘He said he received his original investment, plus interest, within a couple of months. Drennen now believes Brunner paid him with money taken from another investor in a Ponzi scheme scenario.’ “He robbed Peter to pay Paul”, said Drennen. He said when Brunner approached him a second time, he again invested $225,000 which he never got back’

    I’d bet the amount he got back at first was a lot smaller than the 225k they got on the real con.

  21. ‘Lenders have just been very good this time around compared to 2008 at being able to say, ‘OK, listen, let’s find a creative way of working things out. Let’s keep this thing going. Let’s not sound off the alarm and then race to the bottom on pricing. You can only kick the can down the road for so long. At a certain point, you’ve got to pay the check’

    Smart lenders Rahim, they waited to foreclose and the bottom has fallen out of rental airboxes.

  22. ‘You think about multifamily as 18 months ago, 24 months ago having the tightest cap rates. Those cap rates are 50%, 60% higher than they were, and so it’s only natural that the dam is going to start to crack,’ Bertles said. ‘Atlanta, for example, rents moved backwards last year on the multifamily front. And that doesn’t tend to work out. If you’ve got, you know, 2020, 2021 deals that are highly leveraged with floating-rate debt, that just doubled’

    You know Alex, I have to admit. Lately even I have started thinking apartments aren’t the holy grail of investing.

  23. ‘We started discussing the possibility of having a second child, but our optimism was short-lived’

    But Dad, yer priorities were straight. You are a winnah!

  24. ‘The financial experts we consulted were relying on past trends when they gave us advice, but these are unprecedented economic circumstances’

    Bernanke Janet and Jerry used the word unprecedented a lot over the years. So I guess one definition of that is yer fooked amigo!

  25. DOW 37,000 for the first time ever on Daddy Fed talking three 0.25% rate cuts next year.

    I’m opening another CD at my credit union at 5.25% APY soon, better hurry.

  26. ‘Official data from 2022 indicate that the number of people covered by the Chinese state-subsidized health insurance system decreased by a staggering 19 million. Experts caution that this downward trend is projected to persist in 2023. A drop was noted in the first nine months of this year in seven provinces, relative to the corresponding timeframe from the previous year. A rural construction worker from the central Hubei province, mentioned by ‘FT,’ disclosed that he ceased his annual premium payments of 380 yuan (around $59) this year after several months of unemployment. ‘I need to maximize the use of my limited savings. Health insurance isn’t my priority’

    A big supposedly rich communist country.

  27. Brampton, Mississauga & Durham Real Estate Update – Sellers Must Be Terrified (Dec 6, 2023)
    Team Sessa Real Estate
    29 minutes ago

    In this episode we take a look at the current Brampton, Mississauga, Ajax, Whitby, Pickering Real Estate home prices and market trends for week ending Dec 6, 2023. We also discuss presenting offers in person and how it could be a beneficial tactic for buyers.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llc6zSI8nWs

    18:51.

  28. BREAKING NEWS: Jim Jordan, James Comer Take Victory Lap After Impeachment Inquiry Passes House
    Forbes Breaking News

    1 hour ago

    Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. James Comer (R-KY), and Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) speak to reporters after the impeachment inquiry into President Biden passes the House.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTs1X7_OMro

    3:39.

    1. While the evidence is much, much stronger here, it looks no less partisan than the two Trump impeachments.

        2. As does the intelligence community. Remember, Hunter’s laptop was “Russian disinformation.”

  31. Rantz: Seattle student failed quiz for saying men can’t get pregnant

    Dec 10, 2023, 7:54 PM | Updated: Dec 13, 2023, 6:01 am

    BY JASON RANTZ
    The Jason Rantz Show, 3pm-7pm on KTTH

    An activist history teacher failed a Seattle student on a quiz for saying only women can get pregnant and that only men have penises.

    A 10th grade Ethnic Studies World History teacher at Chief Sealth International High School in Seattle gave students a quiz titled, “Understanding Gender vs. Sex.” The quiz provided a series of statements to label true or false, or questions with multiple choices.

    Many of the questions focused on personal pronoun use (When someone uses ‘they/them’ pronouns, what does that mean about their gender identity?”) or assumptions one may make around gender identity (“True/false: Transgender people are gay”). Two questions, however, are objectively false, but students are taught the opposite.

    Question 4 was a true or false question with the statement, “All men have penises.” The student labeled the statement “true” since it is, in fact, true. But the teacher penalized the answer, marking it incorrect. The teacher claims women can have a penis.

    Similarly, Question 7 was a true or false question with the statement, “Only women can get pregnant.” Again, the student marked the statement “true” because only women can get pregnant. Again, the teacher penalized the student, insisting the answer is false. The teacher believes men can get pregnant.

    Student’s mom is concerned
    The student’s mother wrote to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH expressing “frustration and anger.” She says she expressed concerns to the school, but was “met with silence.”

    “I keep trying to wrap my head around how it is legal to teach inaccurate information and force students to answer against their beliefs or receive negative scores,” she said to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. She asked for anonymity for fear her son would face retribution.

    The mom told the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH that she worries about the school routinely allowing teachers to bring political beliefs into the classroom. The gender identity issue is just one example. She also said her child, who is white, routinely faces scrutiny for his skin color and so-called privilege.

    She said various teachers have called her son, “f****d and racist,” a “product of the patriarchy that teaches young boys not to care about anything,” and that “he shouldn’t use the term straight to identify as because its offensive.”

    https://mynorthwest.com/3942486/rantz-seattle-student-failed-quiz-for-saying-men-cant-get-pregnant/

  32. Fox Business
    San Francisco gym owner describes ‘unrecognizable’ city after returning to den of homelessness, drugs
    Madeline Coggins
    Wed, December 13, 2023 at 4:20 AM PST·3 min read
    Less than a month after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, San Francisco is reverting to a den of homelessness and drugs, according to locals.

    “It’s recognizable. San Francisco, same as before. Anyone they pushed out of important zones has just slowly crept right back in,” Crossfit Golden Gate Gym owner Danielle Rabkin said on “Varney & Co” Tuesday.

    In November, President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jingping met during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) in San Francisco for a much-anticipated face-to-face — the first since the two leaders met in Indonesia in November 2022.

    Prior to the event, the host city was cleaned up for the arrival of foreign leaders, including President Xi.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., was criticized on social media after admitting that San Francisco, nationally infamous for homelessness, timed a massive cleanup effort ahead of the important U.S.-China summit.

    “I know folks are saying, ‘Oh they’re just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming to town.’ That’s true, because it’s true,” Newsom said last month at the unveiling of a new program to plant trees in urban neighborhoods as part of his Clean California initiative launched in 2021.

    Crossfit Golden Gate Gym owner Danielle Rabkin spoke out against the resurgence of homelessness and drug use on city streets despite clean-up efforts last month.

    He added, “It’s also true for months and months and months before APEC, we’ve been having different conversations, and we’ve raised the bar of expectation between the city, the county, and the state and our federal partners.”

    Despite the clean-up efforts, Golden Gate City has gone back to “business as usual,” leaving business owners like Rabkin to deal with a “tremendously difficult” reality.

    “I have vagrants lying in front of the business all the time,” the gym owner said. “It’s unpleasant. People don’t want to live here.”
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/san-francisco-gym-owner-describes-122048125.html

  33. Now that China has weathered their real estate debt crisis, is it safe to assume the Chinese banking system is once again on a sound and prosperous basis?

    1. Yahoo
      Business Insider
      China’s banking system is in free fall and the country’s real estate losses could hit $4 trillion, veteran investor says
      Jennifer Sor
      Tue, December 12, 2023 at 8:09 PM PST·2 min read

      – China’s banking sector is in free-fall, according to market veteran Kyle Bass.

      – The Hayman Capital CIO estimated China could see at least $4 trillion in real estate losses.

      – An unchecked boom in real estate development in China has led to a deep crisis, experts say.

      China’s banking system is collapsing, and the real estate crisis in the country could end up wiping out $4 trillion from its financial system, according to veteran investor Kyle Bass.

      In an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC on Monday , the Hayman Capital Management CIO pointed to China’s property sector, which has been reeling in recent years as debts from major property owners sour and some firms default on their bonds. The real estate crisis has left enough empty homes in China to house 3 billion people, a former top Chinese official said, and the flood of unused supply will generation huge financial losses in the real estate sector.

      Those losses are bound to have a big impact on China’s banking system, which is highly-levered, Bass said. Meanwhile, China’s local real estate market is mostly financed through local government financing vehicles, a market worth around $13 trillion, though much of that debt financing now in default, Bass said.

      That suggests China’s banking losses could dwarf those seen in the US during the Great Financial Crisis, when US banks lost around $700 billion.

      “”We think that [China’s] real estate losses are $4 trillion at least. And the local government financing vehicle market, we don’t even know where the bottom to that market is,” Bass said. “To have a properly functioning capital market, you have to understand the banking system, and their banking system is in freefall right now.”
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-banking-system-free-fall-040910136.html

      1. “The real estate crisis has left enough empty homes in China to house 3 billion people, a former top Chinese official said,…”

        Is 3 billion people alot?

        “Those losses are bound to have a big impact on China’s banking system, which is highly-levered, Bass said.”

        Is leverage a good thing to have when prices are CR8Ring?

        “Meanwhile, China’s local real estate market is mostly financed through local government financing vehicles, a market worth around $13 trillion, though much of that debt financing now in default, Bass said.”

        Is $13 trillion alot?

  34. Yahoo
    Fortune
    The cracks in the housing market are growing larger as sellers slash prices, Redfin says. But beware the all-cash bids
    Alena Botros
    November 10, 2023·4 min read

    After more than a year of deteriorated affordability that’s priced out so many would-be buyers, their luck could be reversing as more and more cracks are visibly forming within the housing market. Mortgage rates have dropped from just above 8% to 7.41%, the share of sellers dropping prices is at a record high, and there’s an “unseasonal uptick in the total number of homes for sale, which is at its highest level since the start of the year,” according to a report from Redfin. Mortgage rate purchase applications, which have been on a steady decline, are even up 3% week-over-week on the news.

    What’s behind the cracks? For one, nearly 7% of home sellers dropped their asking price in the four weeks ending Nov. 5, which is the highest share on record (tied with the four weeks ending Oct. 29), according to Redfin. In an average month, 3.6% of homes lower their prices.

    Sky-high prices and what seems to be higher-for-longer mortgage rates are to blame. Home prices rose substantially during the pandemic-fueled housing boom, and the average 30-year fixed rate has more than doubled, making it increasingly difficult for the average person to buy a home. Sellers are taking notice as buyers pull back, and are lowering their asking price in response.
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cracks-housing-market-growing-larger-110000350.html

    1. Yahoo
      Bloomberg
      Sell S&P 500 in ‘Every Scenario’ Looms as Rally Is Overheating
      Jan-Patrick Barnert and Michael Msika
      Wed, December 13, 2023 at 3:56 AM PST·2 min read

      (Bloomberg) — Even a slight push back from the Federal Reserve on interest-rate cuts could unravel the relentless stock rally since late October.

      Equity markets in Europe and the US look stretched on every front: flows, momentum and technical levels — leaving little headroom if the message from Chair Jerome Powell disappoints. With the S&P 500 just 3% short of a record and the Euro Stoxx 50 Index near its highest level since 2001, the stakes haven’t been this elevated before a Fed meeting since the rates pause in July.

      A speedy switch from short-to-long equities by commodity trading advisers, who usually trade on market momentum, has been a major factor behind the $4.6 trillion rally in US stocks since Oct. 27. The shift has now left CTAs sitting on a $106 billion in long bets, which Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says leaves them more inclined to sell, rather than buy.

      “We have this cohort modeled to sell S&P 500 in every scenario over the next week,” Goldman’s derivatives and flow specialist Cullen Morgan wrote in a note to clients. It follows a warning from his colleagues last week that dangerously high optimism on stocks means there are “no longer any bears left.”

      Read more: ‘No Bears Left’ Is Worrying Refrain Coming From Wall Street
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sell-p-500-every-scenario-115619651.html

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