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They’re Set Up To Lose A Lot Of Money

A report from the Dayton Daily News in Ohio. “The amount of homes sold in the Dayton area declined in 2023 compared to the previous year. The local housing market last year saw buyers making fast offers and then sometimes having ‘a little bit of buyer’s remorse’ afterward because they felt so highly competitive with multiple offers on many properties, said Kelly McCormick, president of Dayton Realtors. She said the housing market tilts a bit toward a seller’s market because of housing demand amid a lack of inventory. Austin Castro, a team leader at Coldwell Banker agreed, but added that the current home buying market is not as one-sided and ‘reckless’ as it was 18 months ago. ‘We’re still seeing multiple offers to some extent, but we’re not seeing $50,000 over this price, no inspections, no appraisal. That’s not here, so it’s a much better environment to buy,’ he said.”

ABC 12 in Michigan. “Fourteen months after a fire heavily damaged a building at the Fairways at Woodfield apartment complex, internal repairs haven’t started in earnest. For the condo co-owners, those completed repairs are still a long way off and they need help. The dues include a significantly increased insurance premium since the fire. ‘We won’t ever be whole from this situation. Like, it just keeps getting worse. When we think it can’t get any worse, something else gets thrown at us,’ said Amanda Adritsis, who used to live in the building.”

“Adritsis, a mother of two, said she feels caught between a rock and a hard place. ‘I need to figure out what I’m going to do — if I’m just going to walk away from the property and let it be foreclosed on, if I’m going to have to file for bankruptcy,’ she said. ‘Like, there’s no way I’ll be able to afford long-term paying for two places to live and then paying that much for dues.’ Andritsis said selling her unit isn’t feasible at this point because those high fees on top of the mortgage would turn away most buyers.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania. “June 5 marked the 10-year anniversary of one of Philadelphia’s deadliest mass casualty events, when a building being demolished on Market Street collapsed onto a Salvation Army thrift store next door. The catastrophe killed seven people, injured 12, and raised an outcry for reforms. But, in the years since, construction-related collapses — and fatalities — have continued. Cookie Hopkins, 65, lives in the two-story rowhouse her parents bought in 1947. The house adjoining hers had been deteriorating. In 2022, a developer removed the facade and left the front semi-exposed. This house was Hopkins’ retirement plan. Now, she worries that it could collapse. ‘I’m like a sitting duck here,’ she said. Her daughter wants her to sell and get out. ‘It’s easier said than done when you’re older and you don’t have the money.'”

From CalMatters. “The fire-insurance premium for Bill King’s home has risen 145% since 2017 — from $399 to $979 — under the California FAIR Plan, the state’s last option for homeowners seeking fire insurance. Add that to the increase in his auto-insurance premium, and King, who lives in Running Springs in the San Bernardino Mountains, is worried. ‘What do I do?’ asked King, a retiree who will turn 70 years old this summer. “Do I move out of California? At some point I’m going to have to look at things… Will I be able to face future increases depending on how long I’ll live?’ A former Orange County employee, he said he’s having a tough time wrapping his head around the situation: ‘It’s hard when you’ve planned your retirement and your insurance company comes along and threatens your economic well-being.'”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “Two years ago, YouTube star Luan Palomera paid $1.5 million for a chic vacation home in Palm Springs. Today, he’d be lucky to get $1 million for it. As L.A. continues its crackdown on Airbnb, city officials can turn toward the desert for an example — perhaps a cautionary tale — of the potential side effects of curbing the short-term rental market. In Palm Springs, a cap on short-term rentals in specific high-demand neighborhoods has all but frozen the market in those communities. Sales are down. Homes languish on the market for months. And investors who bought up Palm Springs properties during the COVID-19 pandemic are facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.”

“Michael Slate, a local real estate agent, said most agents don’t even bother hosting open houses for listings in capped neighborhoods. ‘No one shows up,’ he said. ‘Buyers are aware of the cap, and properties on the market in those neighborhoods don’t get a lot of activity.’ Slate has one client who paid $1.1 million for a home and spent $300,000 on renovations. Then the cap kicked in. Now, she’s not sure she’d be able to sell it for $1 million.”

“Real estate agent Tim Sarlund said some investors who bought homes during the pandemic are facing foreclosure. ‘Homes that used to pull $1.2 million are struggling to get $800,000,’ Sarlund said. ‘My neighborhood has dropped 30% to 40% in value.’ He’s currently representing a seller who paid $1.16 million for a house in the Gene Autry neighborhood with plans to put it on Airbnb, but they weren’t able to secure a permit before the ordinance kicked in. The house hit the market less than a year later asking $1.4 million. Five price cuts and 10 months later, it’s still waiting for a buyer at $875,000. More price cuts are probably on the way. ‘They’re set up to lose a lot of money,’ Sarlund said.”

CTV News in Canada. “Home sales in some major markets in northeastern Ontario fell sharply last year, according to the Ontario Real Estate Association. The biggest drop was in Timmins, where sales were down 32.8 per cent compared to December 2022. ‘Home sales were 44.4 per cent below the five-year average and 36.6 per cent below the 10-year average for the month of December,’ the CREA said. The average price of homes sold in December 2023 was $250,988, a decrease of 8.3 per cent from a year earlier.”

From Time Out in the UK. “At Time Out, we’re big fans of all things London – who knew? – but it’s no secret that this city’s housing market can be a waking nightmare. Rent prices in some postcodes skyrocketed last year, while property prices have fluctuated a whole lot too. But we can’t look at the city as just one place. Average house prices across the capital might’ve dropped by six percent overall, but there is massive disparity between different areas and boroughs. Some saw a rise of four percent, but others saw a drop of 28 percent, according to the Standard.”

“For plenty of other areas in the city – particularly the wealthiest ones – things haven’t been looking quite so healthy. In fact, a study by Savills found that homes valued at £5 million fell by as much as 13 percent. The City of London, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster, three of London’s most expensive boroughs, have all seen prices drop the hardest. The average cost of a house in these areas has been reduced by 27.7, 17.6 and 14.6 percent respectively. But it’s not just these mega-pricey boroughs that have experienced drops. Lots of areas in the city’s outskirts have witnessed lower prices too. Ealing saw a 9.7 percent drop, and Croydon, widely considered one of London’s most affordable (though – apparently – depressing) boroughs, had a 7.9 percent drop. Hammersmith and Fulham were also down, with a drop of 6.8 percent.”

News.com.au in Australia. “Another building company has collapsed, leaving homeowners, tradies and staff in limbo with debts of $3.5 million. News.com.au can reveal that last Thursday, Alpha Building Group Pty Ltd went into liquidation. All staff have been sacked and 10 homeowners across the Greater Melbourne area have been left with unfinished projects following the company’s demise. Blake*, a dad-of-three, has been left devastated by the news, with fears his plans for a $1.8 million dream home have gone up in smoke.”

“‘Me and my wife have been saving for six years, we’ve just started a new business, it’s really come at a terrible time,’ the 39-year-old homeowner told news.com.au. To date, the family have paid $350,000 to Alpha by way of progress payments, causing him to lament ‘all we have to show for it is a slab of concrete.’ The young dad, with three kids under the age of nine, also said in the days leading up to the liquidation appointment, the company’s phone number became disconnected.”

“A staggering 2349 construction firms have collapsed in the past year — with fears more may fall soon. Shamefully, in 96 per cent of cases where small and medium sized businesses go under, only between zero and 11 cents is recovered for every dollar owed to out-of-pocket creditors.”

From Bloomberg. “The deep freeze in what was the world’s hottest property market is prompting a significant shift in strategy by homeowners in Hong Kong. With prices approaching a seven-year low and sales the fewest in nearly three decades, many owners are choosing to rent out second or third properties rather than sell, hoping that the downturn will end when borrowing costs fall and China’s economy improves. Even the government has suspended residential land sales for the first time in 14 years due to poor demand. These days, the market is only going in one direction, weighed down by a flood of distressed properties.”

“Super luxury prices in Hong Kong have fallen by 25%-30% in the past 18 months and may decline a further 15%-20% over the next 12 months, Savills plc said in a November report. Chen’s house, like many others bought by Chinese real estate moguls, was seized last year by a creditor after he fell into financial difficulties amid China’s property market slump. ‘Mainland clients who were key buyers in the last decade are now lying low,’ said Landscope CEO Keng Shing Koh. ‘The market may only go up again when the economy in the region recovers.”

From Reuters. “Chinese Premier Li Qiang went to the World Economic Forum in Davos last week with a mission to present a positive image of the economy and schmooze financial elites: Investing in the Chinese market is not a risk, but an opportunity.’ The message fell flat. As soon as Chinese markets reopened the next day, a years-long sell-off in stocks and other assets accelerated, even as official data confirmed Li’s surprising early reveal that economic growth comfortably hit last year’s target. ‘The news was not the data. It was Li Qiang in Davos,’ said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis. ‘It was really underwhelming and bewildering. It doesn’t show confidence. To just give a number that everybody was expecting … it’s bewildering. Was there anything else?'”

“The disconnect between the positive official messaging and the concerns that nervous investors and penny-pinching Chinese citizens are raising over the economy is growing. Alfred Wu, associate professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, says one of the root causes is the concentration of power in President Xi Jinping’s third term, which creates hesitation at lower levels in making policy choices, as well as communicating with the public. ‘The information flow through the system has become very slow in Xi’s third term. The market started to worry, but no policies came out. And when policies were announced, they were too late,’ said Wu. ‘As a market player, you have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow. That’s a scary thing. At the end of the day, it’s confidence – people don’t believe the narrative.'”

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      1. Remember ‘shovel ready jobs’? I used to get so annoyed by those two charlatans going on about shovel ready jobs. Like they would know anything about it. The leftists loved it tho, a promise of future work without ever having to do any because they never came up with any. Clown world.

        1. There were many shovel ready jobs done around here. Repaving roads that didn’t need it, resurfacing a local airport that didn’t need it, and some new or improved water treatment plants.

          1. “Repaving roads that didn’t need it…”

            All of our paved roads are in poor condition. Potholes are filled with aggregate and chip seal by lazy Millennials but not properly compacted. Motorcyclists have to keep their head on a swivel these days.

    2. The Federalist — No, You Are Not Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago (1/24/2024):

      “In the closing moments of the final presidential debate just days before the 1980 election, Republican candidate Ronald Reagan asked a question of the American people so pointed and so prescient that it has become the standard in every election since.

      “Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls and will stand there in the polling place and make a decision,” he said, looking straight into the camera and straight into the eyes of millions of voters. “I think as you make that decision it might be well if you would ask yourself: Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

      As Unelected Occupant marks three years in office in this, the beginning of another presidential election year, Reagan’s famous question is again worth answering; especially since once again it is painfully clear that you are not better off than you were four years ago.

      Nowhere is the pain of inflation more acutely felt than at the grocery store, where food prices have grown to the point that the average American family now spends $270.21 there every single week. That’s a staggering increase from the $160.35 per week the average family was spending four years ago.

      All told, the typical American household must spend an additional $11,434 annually just to maintain the same standard of living it had in January 2021, according to a Republican analysis of government data.

      Large numbers like $11,434 annually in additional costs for an average household are sometimes difficult for the mind to fully comprehend, so it’s helpful to break them down a little further. Think about your own monthly household budget — the mortgage, car payment, groceries, utilities, all of it — and now imagine that you had a sudden $952.83 expense. That might be difficult to cover, and you might have to dip into your savings. Now imagine that same $952.83 expense every single month. That’s what you are paying, on average, in the cost of inflation.

      Breaking that down even further, it comes out to $219.88 in additional expenses every single week … or $31.30 per day, every single day of the year. This is the ultimate cost of Bidenomics, and the ultimate answer to the most basic question ahead of the 2024 election: You are not better off than you were four years ago, and it’s not even close.”

      https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/24/no-you-are-not-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago/

      2. For those with short memories, nearly $3.5 trillion in pandemic-related spending was approved by Congress and signed into law by Trump. This includes the first two rounds of direct stimulus payments (and he complained that the second one was “only $600” instead of $2000).

        While the next administration and the last two Congresses have added, he got the ball rolling very well. And I’d wager the subsequent spending still would have occurred if he were still in the WH.

        If you create trillions out of thin air and pump it to the masses, then add other impacts of the pandemic & reaction, inflation was inevitable.

        https://www.cms.gov/files/document/accounting-federal-covid-expenditures-national-health-expenditure-accounts.pdf

        https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/531632-trump-signs-relief-bill-despite-criticism/

        1. The budget deficit is going to get worse just on demographics alone. The late 80’s and 90s were great decades because the Baby Boomers were a very healthy 30-something and 40-something, they were at peak earning years, they were paying peak taxes, and they were buying things for their precious Millenial babies. Plus in the early 2000s they were stuffing money into 401Ks like crazy, which is part of why companies in the S&P500 were so flush with cash (on top of low interest rates).

          Well, now half of these Baby Boomers are no longer contributing to 401K, no longer paying taxes, no longer buying stuff, and now they’re going to suck healthcare for 15-20 years.

          1. It appears that there are just as many GenXers around as baby boomers. There are even more Millennials. Same goes for GenZ.

            Our greatest threat is debt and corruption (redundant).

          2. Yeah, and there’s that minor matter of the $96 Trillion of unfunded liabilities of SS/Medicare that has been dumped on the GenX/GenZ/Millennials.

            Funny thing though, that’s not actually a real debt. We could just repudiate it. Will we?

          3. In 2005 the US central bank put out a paper saying the US guberment debt was mathematically impossible to pay back.

  3. ‘Real estate agent Tim Sarlund said some investors who bought homes during the pandemic are facing foreclosure. ‘Homes that used to pull $1.2 million are struggling to get $800,000,’ Sarlund said. ‘My neighborhood has dropped 30% to 40% in value.’ He’s currently representing a seller who paid $1.16 million for a house in the Gene Autry neighborhood with plans to put it on Airbnb, but they weren’t able to secure a permit before the ordinance kicked in. The house hit the market less than a year later asking $1.4 million. Five price cuts and 10 months later, it’s still waiting for a buyer at $875,000. More price cuts are probably on the way. ‘They’re set up to lose a lot of money’

    Again, short term rentals always crash. Here’s a big thing the usual ‘debate’ doesn’t touch. Why are these shacks and airboxes crashing? Cuz they got bid way up on the airbnb-crappola hype. Nothing to do with using them part time or helping to make mortgage payments. Just straight out stupid greed. With the foreclosures, every loanowner takes a hit.

    2. Gotta love it: a mini-bubble (within the larger housing bubble) created by greedy people hoping to operate illicit hotels.

    3. “…the Gene Autry neighborhood…”

      A singing cowboy with full white teeth and a round belly, a caricature much like our western 6’2″ alabaster Jesus.

  4. ‘This house was Hopkins’ retirement plan. Now, she worries that it could collapse. ‘I’m like a sitting duck here,’ she said. Her daughter wants her to sell and get out. ‘It’s easier said than done when you’re older and you don’t have the money’

    You got this all wrong Cookie. Selling yer shack is gonna be the big payday! Yer ship has come in.

    1. “the two-story rowhouse her parents bought in 1947. ”

      I sense some cash-out refi money. I bet there’s 20+ years of deferred maintenance too.

      1. At a minimum, she needs to hire a structural engineer if she’s worried about the safety of the house.

      2. “Hopkins raised her daughter there. Years ago, they went to college together to become teachers. “I was so proud of her. She was so proud of me,” Hopkins said. But Hopkins’ bad back made standing all day impossible. Now, she relies on disability benefits.“

        Wonder how long Hopkins has been riding the gravy train?

    1. The last market based on fundamentals was the well-deserved dot-bomb crash in summer 2001. That was the start of the Greenspan Put, fueled by the squawk box on CNBC.

      1. The dotcom crash started in March 2000, and Greenscam had been feverishly printing money all through the 90’s, in a desperate attempt to distract attention from the endless scandals of the far-left Rodham administration.

        1. Meanwhile (from the Colorado Sun)

          Top Republican in Colorado House resigns from leadership a week after news about his 2022 DUI arrest

          “I am stepping down because it is the right thing to do — because I have become a distraction for my caucus and that is getting in the way of the hard work that we have to do in this building,” Lynch said.

          Has that Georgia DA, Fani Willis, who was sleeping with a contractor she hired, resigned?

          4. Fani has to pay for her pony rides.

            Indeed! And have the ex-wife air all the dirty laundry.

  6. When we think it can’t get any worse, something else gets thrown at us,’ said Amanda Adritsis, who used to live in the building.”

    But at least you’re not throwing away money on rent, Amanda.

    1. You will live in the pod.

      You will eat the bugs.

      You will take the vaccines.

      And you will be happy.

  9. And investors who bought up Palm Springs properties during the COVID-19 pandemic are facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.”

    Die, speculator scum.

    1. I’m fairly confident I know a couple in this boat. The husband’s a partner in a large local accounting firm. The wife’s very competitive and unquestionably a social climber. I confess to having a bit of fun messing with her.

  10. Slate has one client who paid $1.1 million for a home and spent $300,000 on renovations. Then the cap kicked in. Now, she’s not sure she’d be able to sell it for $1 million.”

    My heart bleeds for the housing speculator scum who have brought the STR pestilence into quiet residential neighborhoods.

    1. The article is confusing. We aren’t sure if that $1.1M house is an STR, or just a house in the same languishing neighborhood.

      1. I don’t think it matters. If the permits aren’t transferable in change of ownership, then the values of all the houses are in question.

  11. ‘My neighborhood has dropped 30% to 40% in value.’

    Fake wealth created by fake money. This was never going to end well.

  12. ‘These days, the market is only going in one direction, weighed down by a flood of distressed properties’

    The most expensive residential real estate in the world.

  13. The average cost of a house in these areas has been reduced by 27.7, 17.6 and 14.6 percent respectively.

    Is that a lot?

    1. In reality, Biden’s gaffes have been widely covered in the MSM. As have Trump’s gaffes, but the Trump faithful ignore those.

          1. Biden’s gaffes are not on the nightly news. You have to seek them out in less read more intellectual lefty type publications and websites that actually question Biden’s competency.

    2. Sounds like he said, “Don’t mess with the women of America unless you want to get the benefits.” Not much of a threat.

  15. On healthcare. A post from yesterday. To give more people a chance to come up with an explanation of why the cost of healthcare in us is so incredibly expensive compared to all other countries in the world.

    I only have to say two things about health care is US. It’s a broken, corrupt, but also abused system like nowhere else on the planet.
    The real cost is merely a fraction of what they charge, the insurance companies keep the vast majority of the money as profits, the doctors are more abused than your immigrants from the south working with no benefits on the farms. It’s bankrupt system based on fraud, greed, and more fraud.

    I have no idea how a modern country can’t resolve this issue. What is so difficult about having 4-5 levels of insurance?

    1. super luxury with large personal hospital rooms, with hoards of people entertaining you, stripers , room for all your extended family, private shows, etc.
    2. 3. 4.
    5. basic accommodation with large shared rooms, with all the care you need to get you on your feet as quick as possible.

    Turns out, the system is based on extortion. You either pay the most luxurious plan available, or they’ll make sure to deny you any kind of care. They spend more effort barring people from any care than trying to come up with a system that works for all.
    I’m not sure how the free people don’t see and can’t realize what’s going on.

    You really can’t just blame it on immigrants all the time. How about the system?
    I went to Malaysia with a friend many years ago. She was sick with dengue fever for a week. She was hospitalized for 5 days. I spent a lot of time in that hospital with her. Nice doctors, plenty room for everyone, nothing luxurious just plane shared large rooms, very clean and pretty modern in any way.
    When she was released, she had to pay a staggering 124 dollars for five days. And that’s because she was a foreigner. That’s all. And that’s an Islamic country considered second tear or less. How come those guys can do it but it’s so impossible to do it in the great USA?

    Also, I have an American fried living in Milano region. She doesn’t want to be a permanent resident because of high taxes. If she were a resident health care would be free for her, but the taxes higher. She chose to buy private insurance. She pays 137 euro a month because she is a non resident.

    Again, how do all these European countries do it, and why is it so difficult in USA? I would really like to know.
    Thanks!

    Mr. InColorado implied that healthcare in Europe is not free. it is not, but is merely a fraction of the price in US, and it it payed with taxes. The major difference, the taxes withheld from you paycheck are a small fraction of your premiums . Europeans will laugh in disbelieve if you told them you’re paying 500$ for your health care, and 2000$ for a family.

    Also, in Europe, if you don’t work, you’re still covered. In a way, you pay when you can, and are always covered. Nobody goes bankrupt over some healthcare bills. There are always some associated expenses that one may have to pay out of his own packet, but we are talking small change.
    The hilarious part about US is that even with insurance, you still pay out of pocket, for one occurrence, more that an European pays his entire life for additional health expenses.

    1. Health care in the United States is FREE, but only if you are in the country illegally and pay zero in taxes.

      The Cloward-Piven Strategy.

    2. “I only have to say two things about health care is US. It’s a broken, corrupt, but also abused system like nowhere else on the planet.
      The real cost is merely a fraction of what they charge, the insurance companies keep the vast majority of the money as profits, the doctors are more abused than your immigrants from the south working with no benefits on the farms. It’s bankrupt system based on fraud, greed, and more fraud.”

      – I think you answered your own question here.

      – Virtually every institution in the U.S. Is now corrupt and FUBAR. This is due to a combination of crony capitalism and creeping Socialism / Communism.

      – U.S. healthcare costs are roughly 2x any other OECD country and with WORSE outcomes. There’s plenty of data out there to verify this.

      – The insurance companies virtually print their own money. Medical billing aids and abets this feature, since excessive charges and opaque.

      – Congress isn’t providing oversight. See corruption and crony capitalism.

      – In my view, costs have reached a breaking point. Trees don’t grow to the sky. This is generally true across all aspects of American life now.
      It’s almost like the Progressives are out to destroy America or something.

    3. Part of the reason for high costs is risk aversion in the US. An example:

      Some 10 years ago I had a condition known as “trigger finger”. Sometimes a cortisone shot can fix it, but sometimes surgery is required.

      So I needed the surgery. I went to the clinic, changed into one of those delightful hospital gowns, was placed on a gurney and had an IV inserted. Before putting on the gown I wiped my entire body with some sort of sterilizing cloths. During the procedure I was sedated. and unconscious. After the procedure once I was lucid and after the doctor checked up on me I was sent home. They don’t even let you walk back to your ride (they won’t let you drive home yourself) and you are wheelchaired right up to the car.

      My brother in law in the UK had the same procedure. No gown, no gurney, no IV. He sat in a chair and after the doctor gave him a local sedative (probably novocaine) and doing a quick desterilize on his hand, he performed the procedure as my BIL watched

      1. I am not. I bounce on and off on occasions. I just know enough. All I have to say, it’s a great to be at times and the pretty bad for families with children than need healthcare.

    1. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if In-N-Out pulled completely out of Clownifornia, the state where it was founded, due to high costs and safety concerns?

  17. New York Post — CVS store to close after DC thieves ransack location for months, leaving shelves bare (1/24/2024):

    “A Washington DC CVS store will close its doors after a group of sticky-fingered teens routinely ransacked the store, leaving the shelves bare.

    The closing comes months after videos surfaced in Oct. 2023 of row after row of empty shelves at the CVS store after a group of shoplifting teens ransacked the store.

    The rampant theft has gotten so bad at the CVS location that customers have begun shopping at other locations for necessities.

    “It makes me not want to shop there to be honest. I just go in there and get my prescription and then when I need other things, I go elsewhere because there’s nothing there to get,” Ilana Miller, a CVS customer, told WTTG-TV.

    According to staff who work there, 45 or more kids regularly go into the store to steal chips and drinks before school, after school, and late at night.

    CVS employees allege that the teen thieves are aware of when new shipments come in and when to best target the store.

    Fox 5 was told that “street vendors are allegedly paying people to go in and steal stuff so they can resell it.” The station reported that they saw street venders selling items that once filled the now-empty shelves at the pharmacy.

    They noticed people selling toothbrushes, men’s and women’s body wash, car fresheners, and laundry and cleaning supplies along the streets just steps away from the CVS.

    https://nypost.com/2024/01/24/news/cvs-store-to-close-after-dc-thieves-ransack-location-for-months-leaving-shelves-bare/

    “They’re not sending their best”

    1. A Washington DC CVS store will close its doors after a group of sticky-fingered teens routinely ransacked the store, leaving the shelves bare.

      Dang Amish kids!

  18. On Healthcare in America.

    I have been noticing here in California that there are so many Pharma commercials right now, that it’s insane.
    They are marketing Pharma drugs and vaccines like they use to market food and cleaning products back in the day.
    Just take this drug and you will be dancing around , enjoying life , never mind the side effects .
    But, it means Big Pharma owns the stations and the narratives.
    A friend of mine went to doctors office the other day and 4 people in that office tried to push a vaccine on him.
    Healthcare providers running around with needles just waiting to inject you with their magic ingredients. Never mind what you went into the Dr’s office to get treated for.
    Big Pharma owns the Health care system, the media, and the World Health Organization that wants to mandate the globe to take expiermental vaccines not fit for human consumption.

    1. It’s nationwide. I rarely watch TV anymore, though I will occasionally watch the local evening news to see what the current narrative is, and when I do I see the pharma ads. Drugs for maladies I’ve never heard of. I love how the ads show people living life to fullest, thanks to fookitol. Ask your doctor if fookitol is right for you!

      1. I threw out my TV 2 years ago and don’t miss it. All I have is one dumb TV from 2009 for playing music and movies.

        But I’m not missing out on the pharma commercials. They’re all over YouTube too. Especially if you follow any low-carb keto diet channel. Jardiance has a big story to tell.

    2. The US and New Zealand (!) are the only countries that allow drug companies to advertise prescription drugs to the public.

  19. Is it true there is a 2 out of 3 chance the stock market will keep bubbling up into the sky in 2024? Don’t let your FUD crowd out your FOMO and keep you away from this opportunity to profit!

  20. “Real estate agent Tim Sarlund said some investors who bought homes during the pandemic are facing foreclosure. ‘Homes that used to pull $1.2 million are struggling to get $800,000,’ Sarlund said. ‘My neighborhood has dropped 30% to 40% in value.’”

    Homes in our hood that sold for $800,000 before the pandemic rocketed up to over $1.2 million after the extreme pandemic era rate cuts.

    Now that rates have reverted to long term norms, I wonder if prices will settle back to below $800,000 before this period of market adjustment ends.

  21. Healthcare in US.
    After US gave Big Pharmacy immunity on vaccines, that was the set up for a Pharmacy Industry to have license to kill.
    72 vaccine shots or more on the children’s vaccine schedule.
    But, it appears that the Covid 19 scam was to get forced mandated shots for adults, booster after booster yearly.
    Adults forced to take vaccines numerous times per year would of been trillions yearly for that industry, and expand that out to the globe. AND, no liability for their fake vaccines.

  22. This is not going well.
    Rental started at $4,500 last September, reduced to $2,900 at end of the year. Lots of extra costs, too.
    zillow.com/homedetails/ 3 73 4-Meadowcrest-Dr-Las-Vegas-NV-89121/7060319_zpid/

    1. I don’t know about Nevada, but around here when a driveway looks like that it’s about to disintegrate

        1. Up here too. Caliche swells in the winter when submerged in snow and water, and the uplift forces crack the concrete.

  23. ‘I need to figure out what I’m going to do — if I’m just going to walk away from the property and let it be foreclosed on, if I’m going to have to file for bankruptcy,’ she said. ‘Like, there’s no way I’ll be able to afford long-term paying for two places to live and then paying that much for dues.’ Andritsis said selling her unit isn’t feasible at this point because those high fees on top of the mortgage would turn away most buyers’

    I sense you are clearly exiting the bargaining stage Amanda.

  24. ‘What do I do?’ asked King, a retiree who will turn 70 years old this summer. ‘Do I move out of California? At some point I’m going to have to look at things… Will I be able to face future increases depending on how long I’ll live?’ A former Orange County employee, he said he’s having a tough time wrapping his head around the situation: ‘It’s hard when you’ve planned your retirement and your insurance company comes along and threatens your economic well-being’

    How many are in Bill’s exact situation in K-fna right now? Is it half a million, a million? This property insurance thing has just begun.

    1. I was talking with a colleague in Clownifornia and he said his homeowners insurance went up 200% in just a couple of years

  25. ‘Me and my wife have been saving for six years, we’ve just started a new business, it’s really come at a terrible time,’ the 39-year-old homeowner told news.com.au. To date, the family have paid $350,000 to Alpha by way of progress payments, causing him to lament ‘all we have to show for it is a slab of concrete’

    I’d say yer at the anger stage Blake*, dad-of-three.

    ‘The young dad, with three kids under the age of nine, also said in the days leading up to the liquidation appointment, the company’s phone number became disconnected’

    Phones are always the first to go.

    1. “Phones are always the first to go.“

      Wasn’t it the missing 5-gal bottled water machine, with the hot and cold spigots, that signaled it was time to edit your résumé?

  26. ‘The message fell flat. As soon as Chinese markets reopened the next day, a years-long sell-off in stocks and other assets accelerated, even as official data confirmed Li’s surprising early reveal that economic growth comfortably hit last year’s target. ‘The news was not the data. It was Li Qiang in Davos,’ said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis. ‘It was really underwhelming and bewildering. It doesn’t show confidence. To just give a number that everybody was expecting … it’s bewildering. Was there anything else?’

    No Alicia, that was it. Yet another GDP growth target that exactly hit CCP projections. They never fail.

    This is really kind of a funny moment in globalist scum history. They are standing there with their pants down to their ankles wondering, how did our communist utopia go so wrong?

      1. I sure wouldn’t want to the PR schmuck who thought it was a good idea to bring that shaman all the way to Davos.

  27. Arizona GOP chair resigns after Kari Lake bribery allegation, says she threatened him

    In audio of the 2023 exchange, Jeff DeWit can be heard telling Lake “very powerful people” could give her “an incredible opportunity” if she put her political ambitions on ice.

    Jan. 24, 2024, 3:10 PM EST
    By Vaughn Hillyard and Dareh Gregorian

    The chairman of the Arizona GOP resigned Wednesday after the release of an audiotape on which he offered Kari Lake, a top Trump ally and a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Arizona, lucrative job opportunities to take a two-year pause from politics.

    “He’s got to resign. We can’t have someone who is corrupt and compromised running the Republican Party,” Lake told NBC News on Tuesday, referring to state chair Jeff DeWit.

    DeWit posted a letter on X saying he was resigning “as Lake requested” — while also claiming her people had threatened to release another incriminating tape if he didn’t comply.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/arizona-gop-chair-resigns-kari-lake-bribery-allegation-says-threatened-rcna135492

  28. ‘The information flow through the system has become very slow in Xi’s third term. The market started to worry, but no policies came out. And when policies were announced, they were too late,’ said Wu. ‘As a market player, you have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow. That’s a scary thing. At the end of the day, it’s confidence – people don’t believe the narrative’

    First of all Alfred, there is an objective reality we should all strive for. Narratives undermine that. Second, communism always ends in horror and death. So you say China is communism with some capitalism thrown in? I can confidently say that communism with some capitalism thrown in also ends in horror and death.

  29. ‘Michael Slate, a local real estate agent, said most agents don’t even bother hosting open houses for listings in capped neighborhoods. ‘No one shows up,’ he said. ‘Buyers are aware of the cap, and properties on the market in those neighborhoods don’t get a lot of activity.’ Slate has one client who paid $1.1 million for a home and spent $300,000 on renovations. Then the cap kicked in. Now, she’s not sure she’d be able to sell it for $1 million’

    You live in a sh$thole Mike.

  30. GTA Condo Real Estate Update – Facing Legal Trouble: Is Your Condo Being Sued? (Jan 17, 2024)
    Team Sessa Real Estate
    31 minutes ago

    In this episode we take a look at the current GTA Condo Markets – Toronto, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Brampton, Mississauga, Ajax, Whitby, Pickering. We also look at market trends for week ending January 17, 2023. We also discuss condo’s being sued or suing others. This is often very scary for potential buyers and sellers when finding out this information but the details matter. While some lawsuits could drastically affect unit owners, others are much more common than most people assume and are not so scary once understood.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4IGwVaEHEE

    15:44.

    1. I’ve seen and heard of people who walked away after being assessed a huge amount of money to repair condo balconies, common areas etc.

      They have beautiful views of the ocean but 10, 20 or 30 years of that salty ocean breeze constantly blowing on those buildings located right on the coast or barrier islands eats concrete, rebar and metal like nobody’s business.

  32. “Although the Constitution requires the government to provide solid proof of criminal activity before it can deprive a citizen of life or liberty, the government has turned that fundamental assurance of due process on its head.”
    “Each and every one of us is now seen as a potential suspect, terrorist and lawbreaker in the eyes of the government.”

    Watchlisted: You’re Probably Already on a Government Extremism List

    By John & Nisha Whitehead
    January 23, 2024

    According to the FBI, you may be an anti-government extremist if you’ve:

    a) purchased a Bible or other religious materials,

    b) used terms like “MAGA” and “Trump,”

    c) shopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods, Cabela’s, or Bass Pro Shops,

    d) purchased tickets to travel by bus, cars, or plane,

    e) all of the above.

    In fact, if you selected any of those options in recent years, you’re probably already on a government watchlist.

    That’s how broadly the government’s net is being cast in its pursuit of domestic extremists.

    We’re all fair game now, easy targets for inclusion on some FBI watch list or another.

    When the FBI is asking banks and other financial institutions to carry out dragnet searches of customer transactions—warrantlessly and without probable cause—for “extremism” indicators broadly based on where you shop, what you read, and how you travel, we’re all in trouble.

    Clearly, you don’t have to do anything illegal.

    You don’t even have to challenge the government’s authority.

    Frankly, you don’t even have to care about politics or know anything about your rights.

    All you really need to do in order to be tagged as a suspicious character, flagged for surveillance, and eventually placed on a government watch list is live in the United States.

    https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/watchlisted_youre_probably_already_on_a_government_extremism_list

    1. For Property Investors, the Price of Homes Is Still Not Right
      Higher interest rates, record home prices are cited for pullback in buying
      By Will Parker
      Jan. 23, 2024 5:30 am ET
      The decline in business purchases mirrored falling sales activity in the overall housing market.
      Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News

      Investor purchases of single-family homes tumbled 29% last year, as higher interest rates and record home prices compelled even deep-pocketed investment firms to pull back.

      Businesses large and small acquired some 570,000 homes in 2023, down from 802,000 in 2022, according to national research from Parcl Labs, a real-estate data and analytics firm. Fourth-quarter investor purchases of 123,000 represented the lowest quarterly total in the eight quarters tracked by Parcl.

      In a separate analysis of sales for the first nine months of last year, Realtor.com said 2023 was on track for the largest annual drop in investor buying activity in at least 20 years.

      The decline in business purchases mirrored falling sales activity in the overall housing market. Existing-home sales of any kind were down 19% last year, hitting the lowest levels seen since 1995, the National Association of Realtors said last week.

      That slump might represent a bottom for sales. Rates on a 30-year mortgage have fallen by more than a percentage point since peaking in the fall, and home-shopping activity has already started to edge higher.

      Yet many analysts expect institutional investor purchases to remain muted in 2024, resembling the levels of last year. Expectations are similar among smaller businesses: 82% of small investors say they plan to buy the same number of rental properties as they did in 2023, or fewer, according to the results of a recent survey by lending company RCN Capital and real-estate analytics firm CJ Patrick Co.

      Institutions have signaled that, for now, they see few opportunities to buy large numbers of homes in a market defined by tight inventory, high prices and slowing rent growth.
      …
      https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/for-property-investors-the-price-of-homes-is-still-not-right-e6ab67c8

  35. Would you shift your portfolio to bitcoin if the stock market failed to generate investment returns?

    1. Technology
      Bruised by stock market, Chinese rush into banned bitcoin
      By Vidya Ranganathan and Summer Zhen
      January 24, 2024 7:26 PM PSTUpdated 4 hours ago
      A woman stands at the counter of a Crypto HK office in Hong Kong, China January 22, 2024.
      REUTERS/Summer Zhen/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

      SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Dylan Run, a Shanghai-based finance sector executive, started moving a bit of his money into cryptocurrencies in early 2023, when he realized that the Chinese economy and its stock markets were going downhill.

      Crypto trading and mining has been banned in China since 2021. Run used bank cards issued by small rural commercial banks to buy cryptocurrencies through grey-market dealers, and capped each transaction at 50,000 yuan ($6,978) to escape scrutiny.

      “Bitcoin is a safe haven, like gold,” says Run.

      He now owns roughly 1 million yuan worth of cryptocurrencies, accounting for half of his investment portfolio, compared with just 40% in Chinese equities.

      His crypto investments are up 45%. China’s stock market, meanwhile, has been sinking for 3 years.

      Like Run, more and more Chinese investors are using creative ways to own bitcoin and other crypto assets that they believe are safer than investing in crumbling stock and property markets at home.

      They operate in a grey area. While cryptocurrency is banned in mainland China and there are strict controls on capital movement across the border, people are still able to trade tokens such as bitcoin on crypto exchanges such as OKX and Binance, or through other over-the-counter channels.
      Mainland investors can also open overseas bank accounts to buy crypto assets.

      After Hong Kong’s open endorsement of digital assets last year, Chinese citizens are also using their $50,000 annual forex purchase quotas to move money into cryptocurrency accounts in the territory. Under Chinese rules, the money can only be used for purposes such as overseas travel or education.

      China’s economic downturn “has made investment on the mainland risky, uncertain and disappointing, so people are looking to allocate assets offshore”, said a senior executive of a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange, who declined to be identified due to sensitivity of the topic.

      Bitcoin and crypto assets have attracted such investors, he said: “Almost everyday, we see mainland investors coming into this market.”

      As retail investors make a dash for cryptocurrencies, China’s brokers and other financial institutions aren’t far behind. Starved of growth opportunities at home, many of them are exploring crypto-related businesses in Hong Kong.
      “If you are a Chinese brokerage, facing a sluggish stock market, weak demand for IPOs, and shrinkage in other businesses, you need a growth story to tell your shareholders and the board,” said the exchange executive.

      The Hong Kong subsidiaries of Bank of China, China Asset Management (ChinaAMC) and Harvest Fund Management Co are all exploring businesses in the territory that deal in digital assets.

      Access to bitcoin isn’t that difficult on the mainland, according to Reuters’ checks of online crypto exchanges and interviews with retail investors.
      Exchanges such as OKX and Binance still offer trading services for Chinese investors, and guide them to use fintech platforms such as Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay to convert yuan into stablecoins with dealers, to trade cryptocurrencies.
      OKX and Binance did not reply Reuters requests for comment.

      Crypto data platform Chainalysis says crypto-related activities in China have bounced, and its global ranking in terms of peer-to-peer trade volume jumped to the 13th place in 2023, from 144 in 2022.
      Despite being banned, the Chinese crypto market recorded an estimated $86.4 billion in raw transaction volume between July 2022 and June 2023, dwarfing Hong Kong, which witnessed $64 billion in crypto trading, Chainalysis said. And the proportion of large retail transactions of $10,000-$1 million is nearly twice the global average of 3.6%.

      Much of China’s crypto activity “takes place through over-the-counters or through informal, grey market peer-to-peer businesses,” Chainalysis said in the report.

      Brick-and-mortar crypto exchange stores, have sprouted in Hong Kong’s busy business and shopping streets. These offline shops are lightly regulated.

      At Crypto HK, a popular crypto store in the Admiralty district, customers can buy cryptocurrencies with a minimum HK$500 ($64) and are not required to provide any identity documents.
      The underground crypto market in China is thriving.

      Michael Wang, a dealer who helps individuals buy digital assets, says daily volumes run into several million yuan or even dozens of millions.
      Charlie Wong, a 35-year-old buy-side equity analyst, bought bitcoin via the Hashkey Exchange, an officially recognised marketplace in Hong Kong.
      “It is hard to find opportunties in traditional fields. Chinese stocks and other assets perform poorly … the economy is undergoing a crucial transition,” he said.

      China’s crackdown on the property sector over the past three years has battered prices of homes, which were traditionally the mainstay in household savings portfolios. The stock market has fared even worse, with the benchmark CSI 300 Index (.CSI300), opens new tab down by half its value since early 2021.

      Bitcoin, by contrast, has leapt 50% since mid-October, and is known for its wild swings.

      Wong believes Chinese officials are cognisant of how disruptive bitcoin can be and yet aware of its huge potential, and hence their endorsement of crypto trading in Hong Kong, to keep a toehold in the crypto business booming in financial centres such as Singapore and New York.

      Hong Kong, though autonomously governed, is a Chinese special administrative region.

      Chainalysis reckons the developments “have created speculation that the Chinese government may be warming to cryptocurrency and that Hong Kong may be a testing ground for these efforts.”
      …
      https://www.reuters.com/technology/bruised-by-stock-market-chinese-rush-into-banned-bitcoin-2024-01-25/

      1. “Bitcoin, by contrast, has leapt 50% since mid-October, and is known for its wild swings.”

        Isn’t it fascinating how digital gold is known for wild swings and actual gold is known for its stable value, yet the financial press assures us they are both as food as gold?

  36. Wow, we are really living in weird times.
    At the Davos meeting they had a witch doctor do some kind of strange ritual.
    Dr Harari, the esteemed member of WEF in summary said humans aren’t free, that’s just a story.
    They are giving live elbola vaccines to health personnel in Colorado.
    In Canada apparently the government convinced 50 thousand people to commit government assisted suicide.
    Trucks headed to Texas to stop invasion of Texas Borders.
    No coffee to wash bugs down with because Davos speakers have condemned coffee as emitting co2.
    John Kerry at Davos expressing that nobody can stop them.
    Davos nuts saying biggest threat is misinformation.
    And it’s likely the Dems are going to run Michael Obama for President, who is probably a man posing as a women, to become the first felmale president(NOT).
    Very strange times we are living in.

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