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So How Exactly Does An Economy Recover To A Bubble?

A weekend topic starting with Strong Towns. “In 2008, the list of investors swimming naked was long. Among them were America’s banks, big and small. Their reserves were investments believed to be the most secure, including AA- and AAA-rated mortgage-backed securities (MBS). By the end of the year, it was clear those beliefs were wildly wrong. By the end of 2008, the discount rate was all the way down to 0.5%, kicking off an extended period of what came to be known as zero interest rate policy (ZIRP). It would be more than six years before interest rates moved higher.”

“Adding to ZIRP’s massive distortion of financial gravity was the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing (QE) program. It was announced the same month as the TARP pivot. With QE, the Federal Reserve was able to do what the Treasury Department with TARP could not: create a market for MBS by buying them in unlimited quantities. They bought them from Fannie and Freddie, who continued to buy them from everywhere else. This essentially laundered the market’s questionable securities until prices stabilized.”

“This was all initially done in the service of market stabilization. At some point, the goal of stabilization morphed into a new goal: recovery. Yet what exactly did it mean for the housing sector to recover? The period between 2000 and 2008 is called a ‘housing bubble.’ Even the country’s most senior economic officials used that term. So how exactly does an economy recover to a bubble? What is it that is being restored?”

From Wealth of Geeks. “It’s not just your imagination. Housing prices really are getting more expensive — to the tune of 423% higher since 1985. From 1985 to 2022 — the last full year for which housing and income data are available — home values grew 1.9 times faster than income. During that time, the median U.S. home price increased 423%, while the median household income increased just 216%, according to a new study from Home Bay. Worse yet, the disconnect between home prices and income seems to be accelerating. Since 2000, home prices have skyrocketed 162% — from $165,300 to $433,100. In the same time frame, income increased a relatively meager 78% — from $41,990 to $74,580.”

“Crunching these numbers shows that home prices have grown 2.1 times faster than income since 2000. According to the survey, the median U.S. home costs just over $433,000, while the median household income is $74,580, which translates to a home-price-to-income ratio of 5.8. That’s more than double the level deemed affordable. With a home-price-to-income ratio of 5.8, buying a home is 66% more expensive than in 1985 and 49% more expensive than in 2000.”

“In 2021, a home-price-to-income ratio of 2.6 or below existed in six of the 50 most populous U.S. metros: Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Birmingham, and Cincinnati. Two years later, all six had shot past that mark. None of the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas has a home-price-to-income ratio below the 2.6 ratio financial experts recommend. four of the most prohibitively expensive markets are in California, while one is in Florida. San Jose is the most unaffordable city, where the tech boom has produced a home-price-to-income ratio of 12.1. San Francisco is in second place at 10.4, followed by San Diego at 9.5, Los Angeles at 9.0, and Miami at 8.6.”

“‘Buy with a like-minded home buyer,’ says Cindi Hagley, a real estate agent in the Bay Area. ‘Share the down payment and expenses, sell after a couple of years, split the equity, and move forward with a solo purchase. Or offer the seller a higher interest rate to carry the loan interest-only for a year or so until you’ve built up equity to refinance into a conventional loan.’ Measures like these, which use a hot market to generate capital to buy into it, may become more common if prices continue to climb.”

Middlesex East in Massachusetts. “‘There’s not a month that goes by where there aren’t one or two sales we hear about and our jaws just hit the floor…You have this [phenomenon] now where neighborhood appears to be becoming less and less important,’ said Brian Macdonald, Stoneham’s former chief appraiser, back in Dec. of 2020, referencing a new trend where odd-shaped lots, completely dilapidated homes, and even parcels riddled with ledge and other development obstacles began to sell at a premium. ‘I’ve long since abandoned trying to interpret what people are paying for when they buy into a community. I don’t know if it’s schools. I don’t know if it’s the air of eliteness,’ commented longtime Reading Town Assessor Victor Santaniello in an interview back in 2020. ‘What I do know is that every year I’m amazed at what people pay for homes.'”

“Noting that almost every community in the state is experiencing a similar explosion in property values, Burlington officials during the town’s annual tax classification hearing argued the community actually remains quite affordable. ‘Being a resident and business owner in Burlington, I cannot describe how good this is for all of us. These taxes are not going to scare residents and commercial property owners off. These rates are very reasonable,’ stated Select Board member Joseph Morandi during that late November public hearing.”

“Ten years ago, the typical single-family home in Reading was valued at about $446,100 and local residents were paying around $6,828 in real-estate taxes. However, since that time, assessed home values have climbed on average by some $413,000 to $859,000 and Reading residents can expect their annual tax bill to surpass the $9,000 mark in FY’24 for the first time in the community’s history.”

From Deseret News. “Between 2020 and 2022, there was a price increase of 49% in the average median home price here in Utah. Only 15% of Utah’s renter households have enough income to purchase a modestly priced $300,000 to $400,000 home” (which, let’s be honest, is the low end of the housing cost distribution). Combine all this with a high 7+% mortgage interest rate and home ownership looks hopelessly out of reach.”

KERA in Texas. “Home prices in every corner of Dallas have increased over the past five years — with prices rising fastest in the lowest-cost neighborhoods, according to a new analysis commissioned by the city. The median sales price of a home rose from $133,300 in 2018 to $395,788 in 2023. In the least expensive areas, home values have more than quadrupled. In 2018, these neighborhoods had a median sales price of $41,500. By 2023, the neighborhoods with lowest home sales prices saw the median at nearly $193,000. These neighborhoods represented about 15% of the Census block groups analyzed in the study, and are located mostly in southern and southeastern Dallas.”

“The city’s most expensive neighborhoods also saw a rise in housing prices, though less dramatic than in the least expensive areas. They saw median home sale prices of $1.4 million in 2023, up from just over $1 million in 2018, a roughly 40% increase. These areas – representing about 4% of the census block groups analyzed – are concentrated in north and northeast Dallas. In a city with a median family income of $58,200, fast-rising home values are dampening the dream of homeownership for more and more Dallasites.”

The Union Tribune in California. “At one free food pantry in Vista, visits by hungry San Diegans swelled by 900 more households in October, November and December. At a free produce distribution point in Sorrento Valley, tomatoes and berries have been flying off the tables, as more than 800 households stock up there every month. Back in 2022, the weekly traffic was less than 100. Donors are squeezed as well. ‘With this increase in numbers served, the San Diego Food Bank is definitely experiencing its greatest need/demand for assistance since the height of the pandemic,’ Casey Castillo, the bank’s chief executive, wrote in an email. ‘We rely so much on grassroots donors. And those are the donors that are heavily impacted by where the economy is, and specifically, inflation. I think the loss in those donors really can be attributed to the economy, and the lack of disposable income.'”

“The region remains prohibitively expensive for people earning $20 an hour, said Kyra Greene, the executive director of the Center on Policy Initiatives, a research and action nonprofit. ‘Even with the new $20-an-hour minimum wage, a fast food worker will have to spend 66 percent of their pre-tax pay to afford a two-bedroom apartment in San Diego County. This leaves little for food and other necessities,’ she said.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Pierre Poilievre is strong at observing that skyrocketing home values have driven ‘a colossal wealth transfer from the working wage earner to the wealthy asset owner.’ He described those who have gained especially large windfalls as ‘landed aristocrats.’ He may mean people like me. My home has increased in value by $1.5-million. This windfall came from ‘doing absolutely nothing,’ as Mr. Poilievre rightly observed. My gain is a loss for those who enter the housing system after me, because they must pay higher rents and larger mortgages.”

“We can start by calling out those among us who fail to show sympathy for younger Canadians struggling with housing. Like one person who left a comment on my last column. The commenter mocked: ‘My wife and I are finally empty nesters and are putting our home to work for us. One of the spare bedrooms is a reading room, another is my audio listening room and the third is the cat’s bedroom.’ A bedroom for the cat? Perhaps the individual means to be funny. Spare bedrooms may not yet be the sign of a housing aristocrat. But it is an increasing marker of the housing ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots.’ As one younger reader responded to the commenter’s belittling comment: ‘I really envy the life your cat seems to live.'”

The London Free Press in Canada. “London-area home sales in 2023 hit the lowest level in more than 20 years, the latest local market snapshot shows. Blame interest rates for the less-than-banner year on the home sales front, LSTAR president Adam Miller said Friday. ‘It’s been two decades since we’ve seen numbers like this. It’s a bit deceiving too because 20 years ago the population of London was quite a bit smaller,’ Miller said. ‘It’s a pretty significant down year as a whole. . . . They wanted the interest rate hikes to slow the housing market and it certainly did, with a sledgehammer.'”

“The average local home prices last month and through the fall were far off the record set in early 2022, before a series of Bank of Canada interest rate hikes to address inflation put the brakes on the runaway market. Average home prices in the LSTAR area hit $825,000 in February 2022, dropping to $762,400 by May and hitting $648,000 by August 2022.”

The Daily Hive in Canada. “An Ontario home re-listed for sale nearly a dozen times and eventually sold at a massive loss shows just how much prices tend to fluctuate in the GTA real estate market. The detached home, located at 1099 Caldwell Avenue in Mississauga’s Lorne Park neighbourhood, has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a two-car garage. In June 2021, the property was sold for approximately $400,000 over asking at $2.65 million. From there, the home was listed and re-listed 11 times over the next two years as the sellers repeatedly attempted to get the property sold — ranging its price from $3.39 million to $1.99 million.”

“After several attempts, the home was finally sold for $1.8 million in December 2023 through a power of sale, roughly $800,000 less than it was sold for just two years prior.”

Related Posts

How Much Have Home Prices Declined?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWUw5ypPq6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB7fcyDUpM8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfTWr9_lQyU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyi0hDSe7Bo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7hrKQDr-TY

This Post Has 74 Comments

  2. BTW, this blogs software is acting screwy. I need to update a bunch of plug ins this weekend, so let me know if that causes a disaster.

    1. For anyone using the JT extension, chances are non-zero that plugin updates will break something in the JT. So try disabling it before telling Ben something’s broke!

  3. The Washington Post is the enemy of the American people.

    Washington Post Editorial Board (via Archive) — Three years later, beware dangerous revisionism of Jan. 6 (1/5/2024):

    “The third anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob comes amid troubling indicators about public opinion on that event. A Post-University of Maryland poll published this week shows a sizable share of Americans accept lies about the 2020 election and the insurrection that followed on Jan. 6, 2021. Only 62 percent say Joe Biden’s victory was legitimate, down from 69 percent two years ago, and far lower than after the contested 2000 election. One-third of U.S. adults say they believe there’s “solid evidence” of “widespread voter fraud” in the 2020 election. Regarding Jan. 6 itself, 28 percent say former president Donald Trump bears no responsibility, 21 percent say the people who stormed the Capitol were “mostly peaceful” and 25 percent say the FBI probably or definitely instigated the attack.”

    The 2020 election was stolen.

    “These are minority views, but that’s cold comfort. Disproportionate numbers of Republicans hold them, showing just how corrosive Mr. Trump’s repeated lies, amplified by a right-wing media echo chamber, have been. The devotion of the GOP base to this alternative history helps explain why Mr. Trump has avoided meaningful accountability, why he is still the front-runner, by far, for the Republican nomination — and how dangerous he could be back in power.”

    The 2020 election was stolen.

    “The truth must be told. Mr. Biden won the 2020 election, fair and square, and no credible evidence has emerged of widespread voter fraud.”

    The 2020 election was stolen.

    “For now, a mere 46 percent of Americans said Jan. 6 should disqualify Mr. Trump from the presidency and 33 percent said his conduct that day is “not relevant.” In between, 17 percent say Mr. Trump’s actions “cast doubts on his fitness for the job but are not disqualifying.” That segment could decide the election. What they, and all voters, must understand is that, just like in 2020, the 2024 elections will be free and fair.”

    The 2020 election was stolen.

    “Audit after audit has shown the U.S. election system is secure, and none of Mr. Trump’s 2020 legal challenges panned out. They also need to understand the real chance that he could win, legitimately, but that there is still time, and an effective way — via the ballot box — to prevent that.”

    https://archive.is/sZXWO

    You are living under an illegitimate, occupation government, that has no legitimate authority to govern anything.

    1. ‘Only 62 percent say Joe Biden’s victory was legitimate’

      Overwhelming current polling proves the senile corrupt pedophile didn’t win, and it validates that President Trump won in a landslide and is about to do it again.

      ‘the insurrection that followed’

      The first unarmed insurrection in history. And despite over a thousand kangaroo court cases, no one has been charged with insurrection.

      1. It’s the Washington Post, and with this piece authored by its Editorial Board, it represents the beliefs of this alleged “news” publication.

        They lie to the American people every single day.

    2. Expecting subscribers to pay for globalist propaganda and DNC talking points might not be a viable business model when millions of former sheeple are becoming red-pilled.

      “In addition to churning subscribers and losing $100 million a year, the Washington Post is also failing to engage audiences. Four years ago, the Post boasted 139 million monthly visitors. By the end of last year, it had less than 60 million.”

      https://redstate.com/bonchie/2024/01/05/the-washington-post-is-in-big-trouble-n2168357?

      1. ‘Four years ago, the Post boasted 139 million monthly visitors. By the end of last year, it had less than 60 million’

        And they want to lecture us.

  4. “The period between 2000 and 2008 is called a ‘housing bubble.’ Even the country’s most senior economic officials used that term. So how exactly does an economy recover to a bubble? What is it that is being restored?”

    1. Unaffordable housing prices for average Americans
    2. Balance sheets of lenders who supported bad loans that defaulted en masse
    3. Mass perception that residential real estate investment is a one-way path to riches, guaranteed by a Fed put
    4. Rising rates of outdoor living

    1. “Rising rates of outdoor living”

      Outdoor living? That sounds quaint.

      Portland had a Shigella outbreak among its outdoor livers. I won’t explain what that is in case any of you were about to eat breakfast 🤮

      1. “How does letting in Millions of illegals help with housing or anything else?”

        It doesn’t. And it never will.

        Note how many of the articles about these criminal invader familias include 7 months pregnant birthing persons.

        Once that sprog gets dropped on U.S. soil they get free everything for life.

        1. We physically deport the mother and father, and mom and pop will decide if they are going to take their children with them or abandon their children in the United States and place their children in foster care. The parents decide what is in the child’s best interest. Bleeding hearts say we cannot separate the parents from their children, but the parents are the people who are the “Decider in chief” regarding their children.

  5. “‘Buy with a like-minded home buyer,’ says Cindi Hagley, a real estate agent in the Bay Area. ‘Share the down payment and expenses, sell after a couple of years, split the equity, and move forward with a solo purchase.”

    How does that plan work if market values are dropping by $10K or so a month, like North County San Diego Zestimates suggest they are?

    “Or offer the seller a higher interest rate to carry the loan interest-only for a year or so until you’ve built up equity to refinance into a conventional loan.”

    Would that plan work if rates stayed higher for longer?

    1. Financial Times
      Federal Reserve
      Fed officials said rates could remain high ‘for some time’
      December meeting minutes appear to dampen prospect for cuts to start in March
      Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
      The dovish tone of the Fed’s December meeting led many investors to bet that rate cuts could start within months
      Claire Jones in Washington and Harriet Clarfelt in New York January 4 2024

      Most Federal Reserve officials wanted to keep borrowing costs high “for some time”, according to minutes of their meeting in December, adding to doubts that the US central bank is poised to begin cutting interest rates as early as March.

      While officials expressed optimism that the Fed was quelling inflation, they were also careful not to commit to any immediate loosening of monetary policy, according to a record of the meeting published on Wednesday.

      Rate-setters “reaffirmed that it would be appropriate for policy to remain at a restrictive stance for some time until inflation was clearly moving down sustainably toward the [Federal Open Market] Committee’s objective”, the minutes showed.
      …

      1. the Fed was quelling inflation

        I am pretty sure the money creation still goes on, despite reports from the cooked books. Also, rates are not “high”.

    3. If you’re going to buy a house with someone, you’d better have an ironclad contract. Even married couples nearly kill each other trying to divvy up a house.

  6. “Buy with a like-minded home buyer,’ says Cindi Hagley, a real estate agent in the Bay Area. ‘Share the down payment and expenses, sell after a couple of years, split the equity, and move forward with a solo purchase. Or offer the seller a higher interest rate to carry the loan interest-only for a year or so until you’ve built up equity to refinance into a conventional loan.’

    This is a realtor’s solution. Yeah….that’s sustainable.

  7. So how exactly does an economy recover to a bubble? What is it that is being restored?”

    Bankers don’t go broke even if they make terrible decisions. A dysfunctional club where the rules don’t apply to members. Mistakes are fixed at the expenses of whats left of the middle class. Not good and not safe.

  8. ‘the median household income is $74,580, which translates to a home-price-to-income ratio of 5.8. That’s more than double the level deemed affordable. With a home-price-to-income ratio of 5.8, buying a home is 66% more expensive than in 1985 and 49% more expensive than in 2000’

    ‘In 2021, a home-price-to-income ratio of 2.6 or below existed in six of the 50 most populous U.S. metros: Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Birmingham, and Cincinnati. Two years later, all six had shot past that mark. None of the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas has a home-price-to-income ratio below the 2.6 ratio financial experts recommend. four of the most prohibitively expensive markets are in California, while one is in Florida. San Jose is the most unaffordable city, where the tech boom has produced a home-price-to-income ratio of 12.1. San Francisco is in second place at 10.4, followed by San Diego at 9.5, Los Angeles at 9.0, and Miami at 8.6’

    How does this happen. Only one way: subprime lending. You could even say this is the definition of subprime.

    ‘Measures like these, which use a hot market to generate capital to buy into it, may become more common if prices continue to climb’

    AKA self licking ice cream cone.

    1. “How does this happen.”

      Not only government-guaranteed, Fed-backstopped lending explains the current bubble wave. Record low interest rates were also a key driver.

      1. Historical Mortgage Rates: See Averages and Trends by Decade
        See how mortgage rates have changed over time and how rates have impacted the housing market in modern history with these interactive charts.
        By Erika Giovanetti
        Nov. 22, 2023
        U.S. News & World Report
        Even though today’s mortgage rates are high compared with a few years ago, they’re actually typical from a historical perspective. Getty Images

        Mortgage rates have been historic in their own right during the past few years. The average 30-year fixed rate reached an all-time record low of 2.65% in January 2021 before surging to 7.79% in October 2023, according to Freddie Mac.

        But when someone points out that mortgage rates are painfully high right now, a well-seasoned homeowner is quick to chime in, “When I bought my first house in the ’80s, the interest rate was 13%!” In fact, mortgage rates have gone as high as 18.63% in October 1981.

        By historical standards, today’s mortgage rates are pretty on par with what homeowners have paid in the past. Since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in April 1971, the median 30-year mortgage rate is 7.41%. However, it’s still true that rates are high by modern standards, since the typical rate observed over the past decade is under 4%.
        …
        https://money.usnews.com/loans/mortgages/articles/historical-mortgage-rates

        1. One interesting detail on that 30-year mortgage chart is the 1975 spike to mortgage rates around 10%, followed by a slight decrease to a temporarily high plateau of 9% or so, followed by a march upwards to around 18% during the Volcker era, which began in 1979.
          We know that inflation was running out of control at double-digit levels during the period.

          Given the Fed’s strongly worded commitment to contain inflation this time through higher for longer interest rates, it seems premature to assume 30-year mortgage rates will magically fall back to below 5% sometime soon and make the rate daters seem like the smartest guys in the room.

    3. I thought the definition of sub-prime was a FICO score below a certain number, but that ship sailed 15 years ago.

      Price/income ratio depends too much on interest rates. A better measure is PITI/income ratio.

  9. Article came out that the IQs of college graduates are no better than the general population, at around 102.
    The article goes on to reflect that CEO’s should take note of this.
    So, no doubt justification for Industry to pay lower salaries to the college educated.
    While college education went up in price dramatically in recent decades, it didn’t improve IQs or critical thinking ability.
    So all the brainwashed, dumbed down, useless degreed , overpaid for higher education people, are being downgraded by industry.
    But hasn’t this been a elaborate effort on the part of the Powers that Be to downgrade humans in general, while they loot the systems. and than demean humans as useless.
    And the scheme to demonized co2 emissions and blame humans for causing doomsday Climate Change predictions is all part of the One World Order fraudulent narratives.
    Humans are also diseased virus carrying entities that need mandated fake vaccines, and lockdowns and muzzled with masks.
    Look at all the social engineering to destroy the family, destroy the male/female relationship, promotion of division like racism, and other disfunction and teardown of sanity.
    So, now a downgrade of college students who overpaid for crap degrees ,with low critical thinking skills, while the Parasites looted the higher education
    Scams.
    IN OTHER WORDS, everything is designed to put humans on the level of useless and disposable and diseased, and the blame for the bogus Doomsday Climate Change.

    1. That’s because “college grads” includes everybody from PhD astrophysicists to a two-year degree in general studies from community college. As usual, nobody breaks this stuff down by major.

  10. LOL@ the AARP is recommending the olds to get their 6th booster (8 total injections) of the Jim Jones CCP Flu Flavor-Aid.

      1. The poisoned drinks served at Jonestown were made with Flavor-Aid, not with Kool-Aid.

        But “drinking the Kool-Aid” sounds much better, sadly.

    2. Well, if you can send boomers and older to an early grave it will help with keeping Social Security solvent.

  11. Moneywise
    ‘I wouldn’t let him manage a candy store’: Kevin O’Leary blasts California Gov. Gavin Newsom after Chevron projects up to $4B profit hit due to state’s energy policies
    Bethan Moorcraft
    Sat, January 6, 2024 at 5:30 AM PST·3 min read
    In this article:
    ‘I wouldn’t let him manage a candy store’: Kevin O’Leary blasts California Gov. Gavin Newsom after Chevron projects up to $4B profit hit due to state’s energy policies
    ‘I wouldn’t let him manage a candy store’: Kevin O’Leary blasts California Gov. Gavin Newsom after Chevron projects up to $4B profit hit due to state’s energy policies
    “Shark Tank” investor and businessman Kevin O’Leary has a message for California governor Gavin Newsom: “Wake up and smell the hydrocarbons.”

    California’s climate change policies have come under fire this week after Chevron revealed it faces a profit hit of up to $4 billion due to restrictive regulations in the Golden State. The regulations “have resulted in lower anticipated future investment levels,” the company said in a filing on Jan. 2, per Bloomberg.

    In an interview on Fox Business, O’Leary slammed the state’s “uncompetitive” energy policies and called California’s management “the worst of every state in the union.”

    Despite claiming to “like” Newsom after meeting him in person, O’Leary described the democratic governor as “clueless to the competition” in the energy market between states — adding, “I wouldn’t let him manage a candy store.”

    He called California “a very bad place to do business” for energy companies and their investors. Is O’Leary right?
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wouldnt-let-him-manage-candy-133000295.html?guccounter=1

    1. SEC approval of crypto ETFs will fix the problems of imaginary CEOs running imaginary coin investment firms (snark)…

      2. Financial Times
        Opinion On Wall Street
        Bitcoin ETFs miss the point
        Given existing options to gain listed exposure like MicroStrategy, the real problem is finding a use for the crypto assets
        William Cohan
        Bitcoin
        The problem with bitcoin isn’t that there hasn’t been a way to speculate on it. The problem with bitcoin is that it’s all about speculation
        William Cohan yesterday
        The writer is a former investment banker and author of ‘Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon’

        The cryptoworld has been abuzz in recent weeks about the likelihood that the Securities and Exchange Commission will soon greenlight a bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

        The idea that such an ETF will soon be offered to hungry, if misguided, US investors has helped provide a year-end kicker to the remarkable rally in bitcoin from the depths of its latest “winter” in late 2022. It became one of the best performing investments of 2023, rising around 160 per cent over the past year to nearly $44,000.

        That is quite a turnaround given the crypto world has been on the ropes reputationally often during the past year or so. Not only has there been the bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX and the criminal conviction of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, but also its chief rival Binance agreeing to pay $4.3bn in penalties related to money laundering and breaching international sanctions. That was one of the largest corporate penalties in US history. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao also pleaded guilty to failing to protect against money laundering and resigned from his position.

        But if you think about it, there has already been a way for investors to play the bitcoin rollercoaster for years: by buying, or selling, the stock of enterprise software company MicroStrategy which has hitched its fortunes to bitcoin, rendering its sales of enterprise software somewhat irrelevant to its stock market valuation.

        Under a strategy driven by the company’s 58-year-old, MIT-educated executive chair Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy has been buying bitcoin since 2000. “Due to its limited supply, bitcoin offers the opportunity for appreciation in value if its adoption increases and has the potential to serve as a hedge against inflation in the long term,” it said at the time. MicroStrategy is thought to be the largest listed holder of bitcoin in the world. The company owns 189,150 bitcoins, purchased over the years at an aggregate price of around $5.9bn, as of the end of December.

        MicroStrategy’s software operations have brought Saylor into the regulatory spotlight. In 2000, he agreed to pay $8.3mn plus a $350,000 penalty to settle SEC charges of materially overstating software revenues and earnings. But when bitcoin was riding high, say around November 2021, when its price hit $69,000, he drew a lot of attention. He even bedazzled Tucker Carlson for more than an hour about the wisdom of the cryptocurrency before the television anchor was defenestrated from Fox.

        Saylor is a true believer, and an articulate one at that. His interviews about bitcoin are lengthy and spellbinding. He speaks in complete paragraphs. You come away from listening to him convinced that bitcoin is the next great innovation in the financial world. And then, you step back, give it a thought or two and remember that Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, said of cryptocurrency, “If I was the government, I’d shut it down.”
        …

        1. “…the real problem is finding a use for the crypto assets…”

          Not a problem. They already provide a convenient toetag home for Powell bux to die in.

        2. The “inherent value” of Bitcoin is the anticipation of it becoming a fully adopted currency to the point of fully replacing other currencies. Once it becomes apparent that Bitcoin will never replace any significant currency, the value of bitcoin will finally go to zero and stay there.

        3. “Saylor is a true believer, and an articulate one at that. His interviews about bitcoin are lengthy and spellbinding. And then, you step back, give it a thought or two and remember that Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, said of cryptocurrency, “If I was the government, I’d shut it down.”

          Bitcoin is not “crypto”. They are not interchangeable.
          Michael Saylor is a legitimate genius billionaire. Jamie Dimon is a obvious known criminal.
          BTC is the anti-Fed frequently wished for on this blog. Research BTC for 100 hours. Truly understand what Saylor is saying with his vast engineering and economic understanding and buy the Fed killer. 🙂

          2. I guess it’s a religion.

            It’s easier to fool people than convince them they’ve been fooled.

      3. HEARD ON THE STREET
        Bitcoin Rose on Rumors in 2023. How to Predict What Comes Next.
        A price run-up ahead of what are expected to be the first approvals of spot bitcoin ETFs could set up a hangover for 2024
        By Telis Demos
        Dec. 22, 2023 5:30 am ET
        Illustration: Dan Page

        Bitcoin may be a relatively new technology. It can still follow some pretty old market maxims.

        Back in October postings on X, formerly known as Twitter, suggested that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had finally approved the listing of a BlackRock
        exchange-traded fund that would directly track the price of bitcoin. It was quickly clear that this wasn’t correct. The SEC has delayed decisions on so-called spot ETFs, with some key deadlines now in 2024.

        But in a year of many challenges for crypto—from the trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, to government actions against several big players—the momentum that has been building toward the regulatory approval of spot bitcoin ETFs has the market primed for this to eventually be true. By mid-October, the price of bitcoin had already jumped from over $16,000 at the start of 2023 to around $28,000—and is now over $43,000.

        “We’ve seen the market price in ETF approval in advance,” says Clara Medalie, director of research at crypto market data provider Kaiko.

        Now the question is whether bitcoin might follow an old Wall Street adage in 2024: If the market bought on the rumor this year, could it sell on the news next year?
        …
        https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/bitcoin-rose-on-rumors-in-2023-how-to-predict-what-comes-next-d1771f59

  14. Their reserves were investments believed to be the most secure, including AA- and AAA-rated mortgage-backed securities (MBS).

    No ratings agency officials were ever held accountable for defrauding “investors” who bought toxic-waste AAA-rated MBSs from Goldman Sachs & its ilk.

    The Big Short – Ratings agency scene

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xZx1lf2tvs&t=6s

  16. I once chatted with Joe Biden in 2019 while he was on the Campaign trail ,and at that time, he was struggling, but seemed like a nice old man ,never expected him to make it as far as he has….

    2. “never expected him to make it as far as he has….”

      He didn’t, they installed his senile @ss.

  17. ‘In the least expensive areas, home values have more than quadrupled. In 2018, these neighborhoods had a median sales price of $41,500. By 2023, the neighborhoods with lowest home sales prices saw the median at nearly $193,000. These neighborhoods represented about 15% of the Census block groups analyzed in the study, and are located mostly in southern and southeastern Dallas’

    Good luck in south Dallas speculators!

  18. ‘In June 2021, the property was sold for approximately $400,000 over asking at $2.65 million. From there, the home was listed and re-listed 11 times over the next two years as the sellers repeatedly attempted to get the property sold — ranging its price from $3.39 million to $1.99 million. After several attempts, the home was finally sold for $1.8 million in December 2023 through a power of sale, roughly $800,000 less than it was sold for just two years prior’

    We have a winnah!

    1. From the comments and I have pondered the same thing.

      @blitz_zen
      53 minutes ago
      I am struck by how little any of us seem to be able to do to correct or bring any of this to justice. Yeah, YT shows us videos and we are are all disgusted and angered….BUT none of this seems to do anything to bring any of this to justice. Maybe exposing it is the start but sometimes I wonder if watching these videos is a part of accepting corruption and true dissension.

      1. BUT none of this seems to do anything to bring any of this to justice

        Proof that we are living in a tyranny.

  20. Ben Bergquam – Real America’s Voice (RAV-TV) News
    @BenBergquam

    This might be the most insightful and terrifying interview I’ve ever done. Iranian national who crossed illegally into Jacumba, California, warns me and America of what’s coming. You must watch the whole thing! Listen to what he says about Trump versus Biden, it truly is… Show more

    https://x.com/BenBergquam/status/1743450902755770497?s=20

  21. Did Zillow take down its Zestimates!?

    Maybe the optics of San Diego homes renting for $5000/month while the Zestimate is falling over $10,000/month weren’t appealing to would-be home buyers?

    I’d be curious to know the back story on this…

  22. Economy
    Housing
    The Rise of the Forever Renters
    Americans who would traditionally be homeowners are instead renting. They’re sparking new kinds of neighborhoods, changing savings patterns—and even buying different light fixtures.
    Ark Homes for Rent is developing several build-to-rent communities around the U.S. such as this one in Dawsonville, Ga. Elijah Nouvelage for The Wall Street Journal
    By Rachel Wolfe
    and Veronica Dagher
    Dec. 22, 2023 9:00 pm ET

    The Scranton Lace factory closed in 2002 and sat abandoned for about two decades—a relic of the industrial Pennsylvania city’s glory days when its workers churned out more Nottingham lace curtains, tablecloths and napkins than anywhere else in the world.

    Today, about 1,000 people have said they’d like to rent 32 luxury apartments built inside the factory’s original walls for $950 to $3,600 a month, said project property manager Michael Basalyga, who collected sign-ups in an online registration form. As of December, about two-thirds of the units were preleased. Renters get granite countertops, at least 12-foot ceilings, high-end stainless-steel appliances as well as access to a hot yoga studio, a spa, a dog park, pickleball courts and room service via an on-site restaurant.
    …
    https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing/the-rise-of-the-forever-renters-5538c249

    1. It’s somehow reassuring to be part of a growing trend.

      Later in the article, the rental situation of the Cary Beale family is discussed. He rents a $4.5 million 5 bedroom oceanfront home for $7500 a month. A little math shows this is a gross return of 2%, which must not look like much of a return at all after subtracting out ownership expenses.

      Wouldn’t it make better financial sense for the owner to sell his investment and park the $4.5 milion proceeds into risk-free Treasury bills yielding over 5%, with ownership expenses of $0?

      1. What would be the return on a $1.2 million San Diego home which rents for $4500 a month but whose market value is falling by $10,000 a month, roughly describing the situation many San Diego landlords face?

        12*(4500-10,000)/1,200,000 = -5.5%.
        And that is before considering ownership costs.

        Seems like an excellent time to be a renter!

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