The Era Of Cheap Money Is Firmly A Thing Of The Past

1. ‘The apartments developers have in the pipeline were designed with younger, high-paid tech and professional workers from California and other states in mind. They likely won’t meet the needs of refugees coming from places like Afghanistan and Venezuela. Making a shift from urban ‘luxury’ units to working-class affordable options could take years and will be tougher to pull off financially’

   It won’t happen without foreclosures. And then you get the high rise slums full of illegals. Joy!

   1. Favelas!

   2. I’ve noticed EVERY apartment is a “luxury” apartment now. Apartments that have been in my city for 5 decades with minimal upgrades are now “luxury”. I don’t even know what the word means anymore.

      1. I don’t even know what the word means anymore.

         It means it’s unaffordable.

         1. And still a dump. Welcome to the land of slumlords.

            1. “Welcome to the land of slumlords.”

               That would include Bellingham, WA.

   3. high rise slums full of illegals

      Meanwhile, the rest of us paid hard-earned money to stay in considerably less-luxury accommodations. At one complex we had a pool that opened on Memorial Day weekend. Within 2 days we all got a notice that the pool would be residents only with proof of residency and limited guest passes would cost $2. I can guess what happened during opening weekend.

      1. I don’t care what it costs, I’ll pay as much as it costs to live in a shack as far away from the lower class as i can. And I’m from the lower classes and I’ll never go back there again.

2. ‘‘I can’t do anything about homelessness. I can’t solve their problems. All I can do is try everything possible to protect my residents,’ Asher said. ‘And sometimes that is impossible.’ Of the people who are trespassing or causing issues, Asher said: ‘That’s all they want – somewhere to do their drugs or a place to be warm. They’re not trying to hurt anyone’

   I can remember when articles in this paper would be about the glitz, the shiny new airboxes selling for mucho pesos.

3. ‘And this came while Apex’s former manager for Ellis Lakeview, Boruch ‘Barry’ Drillman, pled guilty to participating in a vast, multiyear real estate fraud with four other unnamed co-conspirators. All together, they fraudulently obtained more than $165 million in loans’

   It’s a sign of the times when a $165M fraud is local news. Senator running deer is heap angry Barry.

4. ‘Nexii Building Solutions Inc., a green building startup that boasted a $2-billion valuation less than two years ago, has been granted protection from creditors as it seeks a buyer to rescue the money-losing operation…Nexii’s downfall has been quick, as had its ascent to unicorn status’

   Jerry bucks go off to money heaven.

   1. It was valued at $2 billion before, but what is its value now? Equiring minds like numbers.

      1. but what is its value now?

         My best guess is negative, how much probably only means something to the lenders/creditors.

         Will we saying the same thing about Bitcoin soon?

5. ‘Their multimillion-dollar contemporary home in one of Queensland’s richest beachside markets in going under the hammer on February 2, 15 months after they bought it. PropTrack data shows the median value of houses in Mermaid Beach has dropped 20 per cent over the past 12 months to $2.63m’

   Yer fooked Nathan and Rachel.

6. Property taxes.

   1. Denver Gazette (1/21/2024):

      “Despite Gov. Jared Polis approving several property tax relief bills after the failure of Proposition HH, Colorado homeowners may still pay an average of 25% more in property tax increases, according to an analysis by the Common Sense Institute.

      Voters in November did not support the tax relief measure, which was estimated to save the average homeowner $1,200 in the next three years.

      Following Proposition HH’s defeat, Polis held a special legislative session to discuss alternatives.

      The session concluded lowering the residential assessment rate for the 2023 tax year, altering the rates from 6.7% to 6.765%. The change allows homeowners to exempt $55,000 of their home values from being taxed.

      CSI concluded that statewide property tax revenue will “very likely” outpace inflation.

      The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood Consumer Price Index rose 8% in 2022 and 5.22% in 2023, higher than national inflation.”

      https://denvergazette.com/news/government/colorado-25-percent-property-tax-increase/article_d07ae376-b8a7-11ee-8622-6b46b65e07b4.html

      1. “…statewide property tax revenue will “very likely” outpace inflation…”

         After all, who is going to pay for all those underfunded government pensions? (At least that is the way it works in Calif)

         1. We have this pesky constitutional amendment called TABOR. Most of the increased property tax collections will have to be refunded on April 15. This year’s refund will be almost $1000 per taxpayer.

            1. yeah, filer, not property tax payer.

               So someone who just rents (yes i realize they “pay” property tax) gets the same refund as someone who paid 10 grand in property tax alone.

               it’s become another income redistribution program

            2. it’s become another income redistribution program

               Unfortunately yes. The Dems know they can’t keep the TABOR surplus, so it they changed the distribution a bit. Still better than them keeping it.

               Anywho, as property values continue to drop in the Centennial state, so will property taxes.

      2. Colorado homeowners may still pay an average of 25% more in property tax increases

         Meaning the TABOR refunds will be even bigger next year.

7. [Here is another non-housing related article posted here so as to piss off as many of you people as possible.]

   Shocking Poll Exposes How Much the Elite Hate Us

   Three quarters want food and energy rationing, majority want to ban foreign holidays.

   https://modernity.news/2024/01/21/shocking-poll-exposes-how-much-the-elite-hate-us/

   A shocking poll exposes the utter contempt the elite holds the general public in, with more than three quarters wanting to ration food and energy to combat ‘climate change’ and a majority wanting air travel for holidays banned.

   The survey was conducted by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity (CUP), a Maryland-based non-profit advocacy group.

   The organization polled members of America’s 1 per cent – defined as people who have a postgraduate degree and an annual income of more than $150,000.

   77 per cent of elitists who were asked, “To fight climate change, would you favor or oppose the strict rationing of gas, meat and electricity?” said they would favor such a policy.

   That figure rises even higher to 89 per cent amongst Ivy League graduates.

   Presumably, their wealth will ensure they are exempt from such rationing while poor people can go whistle.

   In addition, 69 per cent of elitists want an immediate ban on gas stoves, while 81 per cent want gas powered vehicles outlawed.

   A majority also want the government to forbid the use of air conditioning and non-essential air travel, effectively outlawing vacations, rules that presumably won’t apply to their private jets and luxury compounds.

   67 per cent of elitists also believe that teachers should decide what children are taught compared to 26 per cent who think parents should decide.

   The poll also reveals how the elite are totally at odds with the general public in both lifestyle and beliefs.

   When canvassed on how much freedom the United States should bestow on its citizens, 47 per cent said people had too much freedom compared to 21 per cent who said there was too much control.

   In comparison, 57 per cent of voters said there was too much control compared to 16 per cent who said there was too much freedom.

   74 per cent say their finances are getting better, while just 20 per cent of the general public say the same.

   A whopping 84 per cent also approve of the job Joe Biden is doing as president, while recent polls show Biden has an approval rating of around 39 per cent with general voters.

   “The people who run America, or at least think they do, live in a bubble of their own construction,” write the poll’s authors. “They’ve isolated themselves from everyday America’s realities to such a degree their views about what is and what should be happening in this country differ widely from the average America.”

   As Chris Morrison notes, the poll results are likely to be mirrored across the western world, in a similar way to how the backlash against the elite’s policies are replicated in numerous different countries.

   1. “The people who run America, or at least think they do, live in a bubble of their own construction”

      Globalists gonna globe.

   2. The Elite are the biggest “haters” with their constance “hate speech” toward the masses.
      You wouldn’t even do to a dog what the want to do to humanity.
      They think the masses are,
      >diseased- which they cause
      >useless eaters
      >hideous carbon emitters
      >humans are destroying mother earth
      >humans need to be hacked
      >humans need to eat bugs and fake food
      >humans need to be surveyed 24/7, like in prison
      >Humans need to be replaced by AI and Robots
      >Humans need to be deprived of energy, food, travel, freedom , air conditioning,
      >humans need to live under a One World Order Dictorship by sadists and psychopaths mandating fake poison vaccines, to rid the world of them.
      >People need to be sterilized, can’t let them reproduce.
      > People need to be censored and shouldn’t be able to defend themselves with guns, or hunt or fish.
      > Humans should live in dense housing like cattle.
      >NO cars for the humans, own nothing and like it
      > on and on
      As I was saying the other day, usually dictators lie and promise the people a better life. Not the Davos group, who offer a living hell life for those humans.
      It’s outrageous that this group of Monopoly Corporations and Rich Elites, royalty, Banks, Big Pharma, etc. actually think that the hated humans should comply with their forced agendas.
      In truth they are homicidal power mongers that infiltrated Governments to collude with their mentally ill attack on humanity. THEY are definitely showing the HATE.
      And their Great Narratives of the grand Reset, build back better enslavement, deprivation, and genocide of populations of the World , is the warp vision of a evil that knows no bounds.
      No, humans are evil, not them and they are saving the earth for themselves with their “Sustainable Earth Agenda.”
      It’s not enough that they were parasites who looted the human race with their rigged systems, they now want to steal life from humans.
      How do you like this fraudster criminal Cult of malicious sadistic serial killers that like to poison people.

      I was saying the other

      1. +1 sounds about right.

   3. The organization polled members of America’s 1 per cent – defined as people who have a postgraduate degree and an annual income of more than $150,000.

      That pretty much describes every household on my street and no one I know thinks like that. I’m expecting to see plenty of pro Trump signs on lawns this summer. Granted, my little burg isn’t Boulder or even Fort Collins.

      1. It also describes almost anyone who has a post-graduate degree and 10 years of experience. 77% in favor of banning meat? Either the survey was rigged, or they are too smart to resist being brainwashed.

         1. Elite doesn’t mean income It’s bout station in life.

   4. “To fight climate change, would you favor or oppose the strict rationing of gas, meat and electricity?”

      They could start by volunteering to fall on their own swords.

      1. “To fight climate change, would you favor or oppose the strict rationing of gas, meat and electricity?”

         I might as well stand on my head, it would be equally ineffective.

8. Cause, effect: “Food deserts” are happening for a reason.

   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12990993/oakland-burger-closing-profit-crime-rates-unsafe.html

   1. In-N-Out Burger is closing its only Oakland restaurant, citing ongoing issues with crime despite “taking repeated steps to create safer conditions” for customers and workers at the Oakport Street location of the popular fast-food chain.

      In a statement, Denny Warnick, In-N-Out’s chief operating officer, said that patrons and employees are “regularly victimized by car break-ins, property damage, theft and armed robberies” at the location, close to Oakland International Airport. In-N-Out’s last day in Oakland will be March 24.
      “We are grateful for the local community, which has supported us for over 18 years, and we recognize that this closure negatively impacts our Associates and their families,” Warnick said. “Additionally, this location remains a busy and profitable one for the company, but our top priority must be the safety and well-being of our Customers and Associates — we cannot ask them to visit or work in an unsafe environment.”

      https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/in-n-out-burger-closing-oakland-location-citing-crime-safety-issues/ar-BB1h2Mj3

      1. Oakland has svcked for decades, but now it seems to have become a “no go zone”

      2. This marks a new phase in Ookland’s doom loop. Now even busy profitable businesses are fleeing. Soon all that will be left is lots of ooking noises from the local population while they shuck around looking for food. How progressive.

         1. “ooking noises from the local population while they shuck around looking for food”

            LOLZ

      3. ‘In-N-Out Burger is closing its only Oakland restaurant, citing ongoing issues with crime despite “taking repeated steps to create safer conditions” for customers and workers at the Oakport Street location of the popular fast-food chain.’

         Will that also help with the climate change, by reducing beef consumption?

         1. Not to worry, they are opening new ones in my neck of the woods. And the have looooong lines.

            1. Double double is still good but the fries are lukewarm and taste like cardboard.

            2. In-N-Out fries suck!

            3. Kinda limp? 🙂

      4. “Additionally, this location remains a busy and profitable one for the company, but our top priority must be the safety and well-being of our Customers and Associates — we cannot ask them to visit or work in an unsafe environment.”

         Seems like Oakland is suffering economic harm due to the absence of law and order.

9. A Real Journalist finds out who controls the media.

   https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/nobody-can-fire-me-abc-host-antoinette-lattouf-before-exit/news-story/a115fa046d9f2abe0eeb1f065491d830

10. So how do you get so dumb as to fall out of a basket , like happened in India ? Tech people are not that smart, hope this means I’ll get less calls now, about my expired car warranty………..

11. “Redfin estimated last summer that someone purchasing a median-priced home nationally could expect to pay $630 more a month than if they rented a comparable property. In Denver, that premium to own versus rent came in at $1,663 a month, or 58% higher. That gap was the largest outside of California metros and Seattle, surpassing the gap seen in places like New York City and Boston.”

    That premium for a 3br 1800 sq ft home in North County San Diego is on the order of $4000 a month / $50,000 a year. Who can afford to pay an extra $50 grand a year for pride if ownership?

    1. $1,663 a month is that a lot?

       1. Not compared to $4000.

12. MarketWatch
    Home
    Investing
    Stocks
    FA Center
    Is Warren Buffett’s stock market view reflected in Berkshire Hathaway’s $150 billion cash hoard?
    Published: Jan. 22, 2024 at 7:15 a.m. ET
    By Mark Hulbert
    Berkshire’s cash allocation hasn’t been constant, but has fluctuated in a narrow range

    Warren Buffett’s company may be sitting on a record amount of cash, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the famed investor thinks the stock market is overvalued.

    It’s important to point this out in order to counter the narrative that has emerged since the latest quarterly report from Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway BRK.A BRK.B. Some financial advisers are asserting that the conglomerate’s huge cash hoard — more than $150 billion in cash and short-term investments, largest ever in the company’s near-60-year history — indicates…
    …

    1. Denial ain’t a river in Egypt.

13. The Denver Post in Colorado.

    “Redfin estimated last summer that someone purchasing a median-priced home nationally could expect to pay $630 more a month than if they rented a comparable property. In Denver, that premium to own versus rent came in at $1,663 a month, or 58% higher. That gap was the largest outside of California metros and Seattle, surpassing the gap seen in places like New York City and Boston.”

    – Well, it was cheaper than renting. Oh, wait…

    “Denver is among the major metros, along with Salt Lake City, Philadelphia and Seattle, that John Burns Research & Consulting listed last year as having a small out-migration now becoming a ‘big out-migration.’ Being a ‘migration loser’ should result in less housing demand on both the purchase and rental sides.”

    – “migration loser” – Just shorten that to “loser.”

    “The apartments developers have in the pipeline were designed with younger, high-paid tech and professional workers from California and other states in mind. They likely won’t meet the needs of refugees coming from places like Afghanistan and Venezuela. Making a shift from urban ‘luxury’ units to working-class affordable options could take years and will be tougher to pull off financially.”

    – “…tougher to pull off financially.” How about impossible? You can’t get blood from a turnip. Here come the high-rise tenement ghettos. BK.

    – Denver, CO is a typical example of a deep blue, leftist government, metro that was once a good place to live, but now being transformed into just another 3rd world sh*t-hole. This is always the outcome of Socialism. Denver voters take note. You voted for this. Are you aware that you’re being used as pawns – useful idiots – as forwarding the Communist agenda in America, or are you completely ignorant and just plain idiots?

    – WFH is a new normal now, so CRE, ex MFH is also screwed. MFH is now becoming Section 8 housing for the illegal immigrant invaders. “Lux!” Ha! Ha! Ha! Office space is very difficult to convert to MFH, so that’s likely going to eventually be a demolition.

    – Why would anyone want to live in a major blue U.S. city now? What’s the incentive? Only the invaders would want to live there.

    – What used to be economically sustainable is now highly dependent on taxpayer funds. Outmigration is a feature, not a bug. See Clownifornia at the State level. These are taxpayers leaving. What remains can’t fund the Socialist system. Next step: Collapse.

    “The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” – Margaret Thatcher

    1. “or are you completely ignorant and just plain idiots?”

       Vote blue no matter who!

       1. Plus as long as they have their government /corporate jobs, the house, a late model car, can take vacations, it’s all good. They don’t even see the homeless or the invaders, they tune it out.

          1. Rose colored glasses.

14. While Biden claims he is saving Democracy, by his allegence to the One World Order, the One World Order wants to eliminate Representative Governements. Davos Group and their co conspirators want to force their pre planned take over of the globe.
    Humans shall have no choice in the One World Order Agenda.
    John Kerry implied at Davos that no government, no nothing, can stop them, because market forces will prevail.
    He must be talking about rigged market forces by Monopolies/Elites that can force the Agenda.
    The classic Monopoly model of destroying all competition, so the Monopoly rules.
    Arrest this insurrection by Monopoly.

    1. While Biden claims he is saving Democracy

       If you use the crazy NorKo fat dictator’s definition of “democracy” then that is what Brandon is saving.

    2. It would be nice to see John Kerry and his ilk end up in jail like the Colonel at the end of Boogie Nights.

       Boogie Nights – SHUT UP, COLONEL

       https://youtu.be/zlevTGlGr6s?si=CApXFwx3LD559yr8

    3. I remember the time, about 2000-2010, when we were voting for the genteel, the agreeable, the scions of both the Republican and Democrat parties. It was then when the education, medical, housing bubbles blew up, when offshoring became huge, a torrent of wealth and technology flowing to outside the US, when manufacturing of physical goods became very poor quality.

       Only now, when we’re voting for more disagreeable people, are things starting to show glimmers of change for the better.

       1. One of the pundits — I believe it was Charlie Kirk — did an analysis of media and found that the frequency of all the divisive social buzzwords skyrocketed right around 2011-2012. The theory is that media companies shifted to social justice issues in order to distract from the Occupy Wall Street movement. Occupy was getting too close to the important people, you see. Also 2010 was right about the time that social media took off.

       2. when offshoring became huge

          I saw large scale tech offshoring well before 2000. I saw Hewlett Packard’s former Greeley campus, where flatbed scanners and enterprise storage systems were designed and made become completely hollowed out by 2000, after which it closed. What little was left from both the Greeley and Loveland campuses was moved to the Fort Collins campus, which became a ghost town by 2010. From what I have heard the campus isn’t even 20% occupied these days.

15. News report came out that
    five thousand mostly white Brits died by freezing.
    As if the poorest of Society can choose between eating or freezing .
    This doesn’t sound like equity or social justice to me. This looks like elimination of a vunerable group.
    What about the famine that’s baked in the cake, pursuant to 30% reduction in crops, massive slaughter of livestock, and all the other policies being forced.

    1. What about the famine that’s baked in the cake

       Depopulation, baby. Convince young people to not form families nor have kids, get as many people as possible to roll up their sleeves for the kill shot, and starve the rest. Before you know it population will be dropping like a brick, and the media, while telling us it was sad that so many died, will emphasize that in the end it was for the best.

16. Andrew Kerr
    @AndrewKerrNC

    NEW: Fani Willis, accused of sleeping with the married man she hired at an exorbitant rate to prosecute Trump, promised in 2020 she wouldn’t sleep with her staffers.

    She also said it would be “unfortunate” if taxpayers had to pay for an elected official’s sexual misconduct.

    5:14 PM · Jan 19, 2024

    https://x.com/AndrewKerrNC/status/1748468888793174425?s=20

    1. Fani Willis

       I still doubt she will suffer any consequences.

17. Is homeownership still the sure road to riches in America that it always was, at least since the start of the Housing Bubble circa 1996?

    1. Millennials Regret Buying Homes
       Jan 22, 2024 at 11:05 AM EST
       By Suzanne Blake
       Reporter, Consumer & Social Trends

       Despite a housing shortage, many millennials have purchased homes in their 20s and 30s, just like their parents before them.

       But for those who do, it’s often not the homeowner’s fantasy they once dreamed of.

       A whopping 90 percent of millennials have regrets about their first home purchase, according to a new report from the Real Estate Witch. That’s a slight increase from last year’s report, which saw only 82 percent say the same thing.

       The regrets about the first home range widely. Around 27 percent said they regretted choosing a bad location, while 26 percent said they came to regret the bad neighbors their home is near. Just under that, 25 percent of millennials, which comprise those born from 1981 to 1996, said high interest rates caused them to have regrets about their home purchase.

       Jason Gelios, a realtor with Community Choice Realty in Southeast Michigan, said millennials are already a buying group that will get hit the most when it comes to higher mortgage rates because of the rising costs of goods in other areas like groceries.

       “Millennials are willing to accept a higher interest rate because the majority of them will be putting less money down on the home,” Gelios told Newsweek. “With this thinking, it could cause millennials to have some buyer’s remorse because of the higher payment and overall cost of owning a home.”

       Even for millennials who haven’t purchased a home yet, high interest rates, which have neared 7 percent, appear to be wreaking havoc on their choices.

       Roughly two-thirds of millennials said high interest rates made it a bad time to purchase a home, with 96 percent of millennials adjusting their plans accordingly.
       …
       https://www.newsweek.com/millennials-regret-buying-homes-housing-market-1862807

       1. I’m so over the interest rate narrative. It has been a crappy time to buy for the last 4 years and that has everything to do with home prices and very little to do with interest rates.

          1. You will own nothing.

18. Are you missing the chance to buy the bit dip?

    1. Stock Market Today
       Dow Jones Gains As Tesla Suffers Blow; Cathie Wood Buys This Bitcoin Play Amid 23% Plunge
       MICHAEL LARKIN 03:24 PM ET 01/22/2024

       The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit fresh highs Monday as components Walt Disney (DIS) and Apple (AAPL) outperformed. Tesla (TSLA) fared worst among the Magnificent Seven after it suffered another blow. And famed investor Cathie Wood bought a Bitcoin play despite recent sharp negative action.
       …
       https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-gains-as-tesla-stock-suffers-blow-cathie-wood-buys-this-bitcoin-play-amid-23-percent-plunge-apple-stock-disney-stock/

19. Assassination threat in the images. He’s a moron but now has daddy’s money and power.

    https://nitter.poast.org/AlexanderSoros/status/1749234395192414308#m: Last year, the crime and inflation crises largely evaporated. So did the leading theories about what had caused them.

    1. He’s a moron

       https://youtu.be/cGFjNLJ0yTI?si=—1hb-htMEOBUb0 (48s)

20. Ok, at recent Davos/WEF meeting, speakers attacked coffee, that causes co2 emissions, and should be eliminated.
    I don’t know about the rest of you, but I love coffee.

    But, maybe they just play games of take-a-way diversions, just to say something like “Well ok, we will let you keep coffee.”
    Fight over coffee, while they take the bulk of the marbles and resources .
    But, I wouldn’t be surprised if they might be serious also . NEXT, they will begrudge that you get water, and wanting air is pretty demanding.

    1. Funny how these “people who matter” couldn’t meet via Zoom and instead had to fly in their private CO2 belching machines. They of course will dine on the finest foods and have beautiful courtesans in their beds while they are there.

       But as we know, the rules do not apply top them. As far as they are concerned the Earth belongs to them and them alone. The rest of us are just trespassers.

       1. ‘the rules do not apply top them. As far as they are concerned the Earth belongs to them and them alone. The rest of us are just trespassers’

          So that’s how they frame it. But why make this public? They can’t give a parking ticket. It’s a psyop IMO.

    2. Take away Americans’ coffee? Please proceed, Klaus.

       1. “Take away Americans’ coffee? Please proceed, Klaus.”

          \\

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_bnRD7aaok
          Men In Black: Alien stole Edgar’s skin
          Binge Society
          8.15M subscribers
          935,653 views Sep 25, 2020

          What’s happening in this movie clip?
          Edgar (Vincent D’Onofrio) is killed and gets his body taken by an alien creature.

          \\

          Men in Black (1997)

          Bug : Place… projectile weapon… on the ground.
          Edgar : You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.
          Bug : Your proposal is acceptable.
          Bug : [Grabs Edgar, tears off his skin]

21. Could honest property tax assessments help restore housing affordability, by requiring out-of-state investor-owners to pay their fair share for the privileges of in-state ownership?

    1. Housing
       Housing Market
       Nebraska
       Property
       Taxes
       House Prices Could Plunge Under New Property Tax Proposal
       Jan 22, 2024 at 9:22 AM EST
       By Giulia Carbonaro
       US News Reporter
       A new Nebraska bill to alleviate the property tax burden on the state’s homeowners could end up bringing down home prices, experts told Newsweek.
       …
       https://www.newsweek.com/house-prices-could-plunge-under-new-property-tax-proposal-1862727

22. ‘a buyer’s market trend with housing inventory returning to pre-COVID levels. In Manatee County, the year 2023 saw an inventory of more than 2,000 homes for the first time since 2018’

    So they shot past the minor respiratory illness entirely. I for one will be glad when we don’t have a minor respiratory illness benchmark with every gotdam statistic.

23. ‘We are feeling like prices are high, which we knew. But it feels like the prices are really high for what you get. We have been consistently disappointed in the quality of the houses,’ lamented Sarah Webber, director of marketing and communications with the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. She said the couple isn’t averse to putting money into fixing up a home, but they want a discount on the front end’

    That’s the spirit Sarah! UHS know how to stick in the knife when the time is right.

24. Victor Davis Hanson: This is the most amazing political comeback in American history

    Jan 17, 2024
    Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson reacts to the liberal media refusing to air former President Trump’s Iowa caucuses victory speech on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3LpW_vlGeQ

    4:35.

    1. “the dangerous rural people” — VDH

       Tear it down, rebuild, and become one of THEM? Sure why not sign me up for some of that 😎

25. Who knew Zuck was a survivalist?

    1. Benzinga
       Mark Zuckerberg Spent $187 Million Secretly Buying 1,600 Acres of Hawaii Land, And Now He Is Reportedly Building A Massive Self-Sustaining Apocalypse Bunker
       Caleb Naysmith
       Mon, January 22, 2024 at 11:11 AM PST·3 min read
       In this article:

       Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly constructing an extensive compound in Kauai, Hawaii, featuring a unique blend of luxury and survivalist elements. The compound, known as Koolau Ranch, is set to include a 5,000-square-foot underground bunker, complete with its own energy and food supplies. The bunker’s design incorporates a metal door filled with concrete, a feature commonly found in bunkers and bomb shelters.

       The project, which reflects a growing trend among Silicon Valley elites for preparedness and luxury, is estimated to cost around $100 million to build on top of the $170 million spent acquiring the land. This brings the total investment to approximately $270 million, according to Wired.
       …
       https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-spent-187-million-191118946.html

       1. In today’s news cycles, this is old news. Go back and see my post on his beer and macadamia fed beef.

26. Novak Djokovic’s Response to Heckler’s Nasty Attack Is Perfect
    The Rubin Report
    2 hours ago

    Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” shares a DM clip of Novak Djokovic responding to a heckler demanding he get vaccinated at the Australian Open in the most perfect way possible.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgseDIBxr6s

    3 minutes.

27. Supreme Court allows federal agents to cut razor wire Texas installed on US-Mexico border

    Conservative court?

    1. Hasn’t the border patrol been cutting the wire for months? At least until the Texas national guard refused to let them do it? WIll Abbot back down?

       But yeah, pretty disappointing. When the SC is loaded with leftists they have no problem with being political, but when they are “conservatives” they are expected to be fair and unbiased.

       1. Or as the saying goes: When the administration is GOP, they are “in office”, when it’s the Dems they are “in power”

    2. Pretty disappointing even taking into account at least one of them can’t tell you what a woman is.

       Kindergarten Cop (1990) – Boys Have a Penis Scene (3/10) | Movieclips

       https://youtu.be/k96h1dYQrj0?si=Wq3h_Ii0-1Q6vpG8&t=146

    3. The only reliable conservatives on SCOTUS are Thomas and Alito.

       1. Two of the three liberals are morons.

28. Given that the era of cheap money is firmly a thing of the past, is now a good time to back up the truck and load up on US stocks?

    1. New York Post
       Steel yourself — the stock market is irrationally exuberant again
       By Social Links for Desmond Lachman
       Published Jan. 22, 2024, 7:20 p.m. ET
       The markets set new record highs as if there were no tomorrow.
       Golden House Images – stock.adobe.com

       Reflecting on the stock market, Sir Isaac Newton famously remarked he could calculate the movement of the heavenly bodies, but he could not calculate “the madness of man.”

       We have to wonder what he’d be saying about today’s US stock market.

       While major economic and geopolitical risks to the economic recovery are in plain sight, the markets set new record highs as if there were no tomorrow.

       The Dow closed Monday above 38,000 for the first time, and the S&P 500 had a record finish too.

       How quickly markets have forgotten how off guard they were caught in 2008 with the US subprime and housing market bubbles bursting.

       Those events led to the sharpest market decline since the 1929 stock-market crash.

       The major economic risk now confronting us is the result of the Federal Reserve’s hawkish monetary-policy stance and the COVID-19 pandemic’s fallout on work and shopping habits.

       From June 2022, the Fed has engaged in the most aggressive interest-rate-hiking cycle in the postwar period.

       In the short space of 15 months, it raised interest rates by 5¼ percentage points.

       At the same time, it reduced the size of its balance sheet by more than $1 trillion through quantitative tightening.

       That sent interest rates sharply higher and caused major damage to the banks’ balance sheets by reducing the value of their bond portfolio.

       Thanks to the Fed’s actions, the banks have bond mark-to-market losses estimated in excess of $600 billion.

       We’re also seeing rising default rates on auto loans, home mortgages and credit-card debt due to higher interest rates.

       The COVID pandemic has markedly upended the $20 trillion commercial real-estate market.

       Employers have found they don’t need to have their workers come to the office every day.

       As a result, office-vacancy rates have jumped to a record high of almost 20%.

       In New York alone, vacant office space is estimated to be the equivalent of 30 Empire State buildings.

       And retail space is under considerable pressure as the trend to online shopping accelerated during the pandemic.

       At last year’s start, we had a regional-bank crisis centered on Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank that required Fed intervention.

       High interest rates and plunging commercial real-estate prices now pose a very real risk of triggering a more vicious round of the regional-bank crisis.

       It’s especially a danger since commercial-property lending accounts for almost 20% of the regional banks’ loan book and it’s difficult to see how property developers are going to be able to roll over the estimated $500 billion in loan maturities that fall due this year.

       In a disturbing sign of possible things to come, major property developers like Brookfield and Blackstone are handing back the keys to the lenders.

       A recent National Bureau of Economic Research paper estimates that high interest rates and a prospective wave of commercial-property loan defaults could result in the failure of almost 400 small and medium-sized banks.

       If that were to occur, the all-important small and medium-sized enterprise sector that accounts for close to half the US economy would be starved of credit.

       As if these economic risks were not worry enough, we have a combination of geopolitical risks of a severity not experienced in decades.

       The Russia-Ukraine war constitutes the largest European land war since 1945.

       The Israel-Hamas war risks spreading to the rest of the Middle East.
       see also

       The Houthis are threatening to block the vital Red Sea passageway to the Suez Canal.

       The Chinese are expressing their displeasure about the recent Taiwanese presidential election.

       That raises the risk of souring already-strained US-Chinese relations and increasing tensions in the South China Sea.

       Yet despite all these major economic and geopolitical perils, the stock market remains on a tear.

       It is setting all-time highs and trading at stretched valuations.
       …
       https://nypost.com/2024/01/22/opinion/steel-yourself-the-stock-market-is-irrationally-exuberant-again/

    2. Home Investing Stocks Mark Hulbert
       Mark Hulbert ★MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
       The latest from the ‘Single Greatest Predictor of Future Stock Market Returns’
       Published: Jan. 22, 2024 at 11:52 a.m. ET
       By Mark HulbertFollow
       A sobering story about the stock market’s long-term future return

       The S&P 500’s SPX total return over the next decade will be 0.7 annualized percentage points below inflation.

       That’s the implication of where the “Single Greatest Predictor of Future Stock Market Returns” currently stands. This indicator, introduced in 2013 by the anonymous author of the Philosophical Economics blog, is based on the average investor allocation to equities. The author claimed that it had a better record predicting the market’s 10-year return than any other valuation indicator of which he/she was aware.
       …
       https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-latest-from-the-single-greatest-predictor-of-future-stock-market-returns-af45b2ed

       1. “…0.7 annualized percentage points below inflation.”

          Is that alot?

          Would it perhaps be better to HODL gold or, dare I say it, sh!tcoin?

       2. The latest from the ‘Single Greatest Predictor of Future Stock Market Returns’
          Provided by Dow Jones
          Jan 22, 2024 8:52 AM PST
          By Mark Hulbert

          A sobering story about the stock market’s long-term future return

          The S&P 500’s SPX total return over the next decade will be 0.7 annualized percentage points below inflation.

          That’s the implication of where the “Single Greatest Predictor of Future Stock Market Returns” currently stands. This indicator, introduced in 2013 by the anonymous author of the Philosophical Economics blog, is based on the average investor allocation to equities. The author claimed that it had a better record predicting the market’s 10-year return than any other valuation indicator of which he/she was aware. I have extensively studied the indicator and have been unable to find another indicator that does better.

          The indicator is contrarian, so higher values are bearish and lower ones bullish. The latest reading of 45.9% is one of the highest since data began being collected in the early 1950s, and therefore is sending a bearish message. Specifically, the latest reading is higher than 93% of all prior ones.

          The accompanying chart plots the average investor allocation on a quarterly basis since December 1951 along with, at each point along the way, the S&P 500’s annualized inflation-adjusted total return over the subsequent 10 years. The 0.7% annualized total real return that I derive from the indicator’s latest reading is based on a simple econometric model whose inputs are all the values plotted in this chart.

          Note that this indicator relies on none of the variables on which other well-known valuation indicators rest, such as earnings, dividends, sales, book value, and so forth. My hunch is that the indicator works because it is a proxy for investor sentiment: When investors become pessimistic, they become way too pessimistic and thereby create the preconditions for a major uptrend. And just the reverse is the case when the average investor’s equity allocation is at or near record highs.

          This is especially important to keep in mind today, with the S&P 500 at a record high. To the extent that the current bull market has been propelled by investors’ trend-chasing behavior, it means that the market is more vulnerable than it otherwise would be.
          …
          https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20240122131/the-latest-from-the-single-greatest-predictor-of-future-stock-market-returns

    3. DOW 30 +0.36%
       S&P 500 +0.22%
       NASDAQ 100 +0.09%

       US Markets Loading
       The stock market could crash 23% this year if these 3 risks become reality, UBS says
       Matthew Fox
       Jan 22, 2024, 10:27 AM PST
       Reuters/Brendan McDermid

       – The stock market has a downside scenario that could spark a S&P 500 crash of more than 20%, according to UBS.

       – The bank highlighted three big risks investors should be aware of even as record highs are hit.

       – A potential recession, rising inflation, and geopolitical turmoil are all looming over investors.
       …
       https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-sp500-crash-recession-inflation-russia-china-israel-2024-1

    4. Are you missing the chance to profit from the Li Qiang stock market rescue plan?

       1. Investor’s Business Daily
          Chinese Stocks Surge On Market Rescue Plan Report
          ED CARSON 09:42 PM ET 01/22/2024

          Chinese stocks rebounded as authorities reportedly mull rescue efforts for its long-ailing financial markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged with stocks that trade in the U.S., such as Alibaba (BABA), JD.com (JD), Nio (NIO), XPeng (XPEV) and BYD (BYDDF), up strongly.

          Chinese policymakers are looking to tap some 2 trillion yuan ($278 billion), mostly via Chinese state-owned enterprises, to buy shares onshore via the Hong Kong exchange link, Bloomberg report, citing sources. They also are planning to use some 300 billion yuan in local funds to invest in onshore shares.

          That comes after Premier Li Qiang urged “forceful” steps to buoy stock markets.

          Authorities, also mulling other options, could announce at least some initiatives as soon as this week.

          Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, which has multiyear lower, jumped nearly 3%. Alibaba stock rose nearly 5% in Hong Kong, with JD.com up 6%. Chinese EV makers Nio leapt over 7% and XPeng 9%. BYD stock popped almost 4%.
          …
          https://www.investors.com/news/chinese-stocks-surge-on-market-rescue-plan-report/

       2. Commodities
          Reuters-Logo
          METALS-Most base metals rise on improved sentiment as China weighs measures for stock market
          Credit: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
          January 22, 2024 — 10:12 pm EST
          Written by Mai Nguyen for Reuters ->

          Jan 23 (Reuters) – Most base metals rose on Tuesday, buoyed by improved risk sentiment as top consumer China weighed measures to increase funding and stabilise its stock market.

          Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 rose 0.3% to $8,368.50 per metric ton by 0230 GMT, while the most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 fell 0.1% to 67,950 yuan ($9,463.00) a ton.

          Chinese authorities are considering a package of measures to stabilise the slumping stock market, seeking to mobilise about 2 trillion yuan, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

          Meanwhile, China’s cabinet on Monday pledged to take more effective measures to stabilise market confidence, including stepping step up medium- and long-term fund injections in the capital market.
          …
          https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/metals-most-base-metals-rise-on-improved-sentiment-as-china-weighs-measures-for-stock

       3. ChatGPT 3.5

          User
          Do government stock market rescues work?

          ChatGPT
          The effectiveness of government stock market rescues can vary. In some cases, interventions may stabilize markets and restore confidence, while in others, the impact might be limited. It depends on the specific circumstances, policies implemented, and the overall economic environment.

          User
          Did Japan’s government stock market rescue in the 1990s work?

          ChatGPT
          Japan’s government stock market rescue efforts in the 1990s, often associated with the bursting of the economic bubble, faced challenges. While interventions were made to stabilize the market and financial system, the impact was mixed. The prolonged economic downturn, known as the “Lost Decade,” suggests that the measures didn’t fully address underlying issues, and recovery was slow.

       4. DOW FUTURES -0.07%
          S&P 500 FUTURES -0.03%
          NASDAQ 100 FUTURES -0.08%

          US-listed Chinese stocks crash to decade lows as concerns about the world’s second-largest economy mount
          George Glover
          Jan 22, 2024, 2:45 AM PST
          People walk near the Nasdaq building in Times Square on January 24, 2023
          Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/VIEWpress

          – The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index is trading near its lowest level since 2013.

          – It’s plummeted 14% already this year amid signs the world’s second-largest economy is faltering.

          – Policymakers in China are battling deflation, weak demand, and a property-market crisis.

          US-listed Chinese stocks have slumped to their lowest level in over a decade as Beijing struggles to reverse deflation, revive growth, and end a seemingly never-ending property-market crisis.

          The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index – which tracks the price of shares in Alibaba, Baidu, and 67 other US-listed Chinese companies – has dropped over 14% in 2024, extending its losses for the past 12 months to 30%.

          Other than a brief blip in October 2022, the gauge hasn’t traded at such a low level since June 2013, according to data from Refinitiv.

          Chinese stocks have tumbled at the start of this year, worsening a multi-year rout that’s wiped out over $6 trillion in valuation since 2021.

          Figures published last week showed that the world’s second-largest economy expanded by 5.2% last year, slightly above the official target, but China is also battling deflation, sluggish demand, and spiking youth unemployment.

          Major property developers Evergrande and Country Garden have also collapsed in recent years after piling up huge debt, sparking a crisis that economists have warned could take over a decade to fix.

          The Hong Kong Hang Seng index has also had a rough start to 2024, tumbling nearly 9% to trade at its lowest level since 2009.

          In contrast, the US’s benchmark S&P 500 set a new all-time closing high Friday. The AI investing craze has fueled massive gains for US Big Tech stocks like Microsoft and Nvidia over the past year, while investors are also betting that the Federal Reserve will soon start slashing interest rates with inflation now close to the central bank’s 2% target.
          …
          https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/us-listed-china-economy-deflation-stocks-nasdaq-golden-dragon-index-2024-1

    5. Yahoo
       Fortune
       Billionaire CEO sees $1 trillion in commercial real estate defaults coming for ‘very, very ugly market’ over next 2 years
       Will Daniel
       Mon, January 22, 2024 at 1:20 PM PST·2 min read
       Scott Olson—Getty Images

       Rising interest rates, the remote work trend, and the dominance of e-commerce sellers have combined to hammer the commercial real estate market over the past few years. Sky-high office and retail space vacancies are plaguing owners in this new environment, rents are plummeting, and borrowing costs have soared. As a result, U.S. commercial real estate prices have fallen 11% since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in March 2022, the IMF reported last week, the worst decline in over 50 years.

       The outlook for the sector is now so bleak that Cantor Fitzgerald’s billionaire chairman and CEO Howard Lutnick is predicting between $700 billion to $1 trillion of defaults over the next two years unless interest rates fall quickly—and he sees that as unlikely.

       “I think it’s going to be a very, very ugly market in owning real estate over the next 18 months, two years,” Lutnick told Fox Business last week, arguing that there’s going to be a “generational change” in real estate.

       To his point, there’s an estimated $1.2 trillion in commercial real estate debt maturing by the end of 2025, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, and 25% of that debt is in the hands of struggling office and retail space operators. With interest rates rising more than 5 percentage points in the past two years, that’s a recipe for defaults.

       Lutnick, who is also the chairman and CEO at the brokerage and fintech company BGC Partners, warned that the Fed’s interest rate hikes are like a ”steamroller” that is hitting the real estate market and the economy.

       As Fortune previously reported, some real estate experts fear that rising commercial real estate defaults could trigger a doom loop that impacts regional banks with the most exposure to the sector, and eventually the entire economy.

       In its Jan. 18 report, the IMF detailed its own doom loop fears, warning that financial supervisors “must continue to be vigilant” in order to ensure that the commercial real estate sectors’ issues don’t become an economy-wide problem.
       …
       https://finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-ceo-sees-1-trillion-212035854.html

29. Eagles – In The City (Official Video)

    https://youtu.be/J39LK_wDzKw?si=Ik6K-huNKiw9yGbG

30. Victim of Love (2013 Remaster) · Eagles

    https://youtu.be/AFdomKzAPTY?si=xRG99w8QCLzd1EeU

31. The Last Resort (2013 Remaster) · Eagles

    https://youtu.be/4ETN21RZwwI?si=ZbwEW5EQ2EzWMOU4

32. – The globalists are worried. Davos was a dud, other than that huge infusion of money into the Swiss economy from all of the hookers (ahem, escorts) for the elites. Probably in the ballpark of 10% of Swiss GDP or something.

    – Populism is a thing. It turns out that God-given, not guberment-given rights are a thing. As long as citizens act like people 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 and not like sheep 🐑 or snowflakes ❄️, there’s hope.

    \\

    https://twitter.com/profstonge/status/1749421326522102140
    Peter St Onge, Ph.D. @profstonge

    The Davos elite think Trump will win. In fact, they think populism will win across the West.

    So they’re doing everything they can to lock in their revolution, to insulate it from the voters.

    But it’s not working — already some of their biggest rats are jumping ship.

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1749421326522102140

    6:18 AM · Jan 22, 2024 · 504.8K Views

    1. already some of their biggest rats are jumping ship

       Au contraire! Jamie Dimon has political aspirations. The Davos elite will not go down without a fight. Alex Soros has brazenly put out the call to assassinate Trump. Buckle up!! 2024 is going to be a wild ride!

       1. Soros’ tweet appears to be unintentional, but I do love lefties being wrongfully accused. Nice for a change.
          https://twitter.com/BigRedCeltTT/status/1749486903919800699

          1. Oh, it’s quite intentional! The images are from The Atlantic and Alex Soros knows exactly what he’s doing.

             1. The Atlantic, The Economist and Financial Times are the 3 preeminent globalist publications.

             2. Well, I’m going for the simplest explanation. Alex S. seems vicious, but not too bright. When you tweet, X does grab the first picture. He was tweeting about reductions in crime and inflation from some BS article in The Atlantic, true, but I can see that his tweet combined with the pictures from the article may have resulted in an unintended threat. I can’t believe I’m defending “err um y’know”. He sucks 🤮

    2. Context: Linda Yaccarino is the CEO of Twitter.

       https:// nitter.poast.org/ lindayaX/ status/ 1749560004556759154#m:

       Our mandate at @X is clear: we must protect free speech, safeguard information independence while tackling antisemitism and hate speech.

       https:// nitter.poast.org/ GeorgeGammon/ status/ 1749623115892641969#m:

       According to Linda the “mandate at X is clear” protect free speech via censorship.

       Seems crystal clear.

       She’s starting to revert to her WEF doublespeak.

       https:// nitter.poast.org/ GeorgeGammon/ status/ 1749624778003022093#m (emphasis added):

       I’m not saying Twitter isn’t less censored now, it obviously is, but let’s please drop the whole free speech absolutist marketing bullshit.

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