I’ve Been Ruined, Our Life Savings Are Gone

1. ‘I knew that the market was hot, so I offered asking price,’ Daniels said. ‘It’s not even a market right now to where you can really go in under asking price. I got a great home for the money.’ ‘I’ve been following the real estate trends,’ Daniels continued. ‘And in a period of just over six months, the house is already greatly appreciated in value, and I got it locked in at a decent interest rate, before the interest rate really started to skyrocket.’

   ‘The December 2023 real estate market report released by the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors showed new listings were up 20.1% in 2023 compared to December of 2021. Chris Ward, the broker in charge of Beach Connection Realty said luckily the company has seen an increase in inventory. ‘We have a lot of new construction,’ Ward said. ‘And single-family residential homes on the market.’

   Don’t listen to Chris Ted, you are a winnah!

   1. I’m actually going there today for work…trade show. I hope that place crashes so hard! They are building everywhere…..out of state tags every 5 car…mostly up north. How many Fing people live up north? There can be anyone left….they filled up both Carolina’s. Please crash this RE market….please!!!! I’m so sick of traffic jams every Fing day.

      1. i worked for wbtw tv 13 Florence about a year and the only time gf and I lived in a trailer park on east palmetto. that’s no longer there

      2. It’s the same in Florida. You’d think the majority of America lived in the NE.

         1. After my last trip to Orlando I came to the conclusion that most Floridians are not Americans.

            1. Sure they are, South Americans.

               It’s why I left there in 2018.

            2. Welcome to Cook County, Illinois, home of Chicago! My suburb somehow remains native and marginally conservative but the rest of the place is migrants from every corner of the earth living in a dystopian nightmare where nowhere knows their neighbor and few speak English at home. If it weren’t for my little hamlet and 6,500 sq foot lot, among 40,000 like minded people, I’d be living in a lake house community in Wisconsin year round somewhere.

      3. At just a 5% population growth rate, the population will double in approx 14 years. Each doubling of the population requires more resources than all of the past doublings combined. No one ever talks about this, they only talk about getting rich and then wonder why traffic is so bad and why their kids are moving away.

         1. With US birthrates plummeting I don’t see these massive growth rates being sustainable. Granted, the invaders could help keep it going, and they would probably feel more at home in the South than in frosty Denver.

            But if you want to get away from traffic jams and growth, might I suggest Wyoming or the Dakotas. Yeah, the winters can be rough, but they scare away the invaders. Cost of living is lower too.

            1. Invaders aren’t having babies either with easy access to abortion and birth control. and they’re all poor, live off pennies and their kids get free breakfast and lunch at schools.

         2. The boomer pig is still in the python. I think we’re going to see a different story in 15 years, when most of the Boomer men are dead (age 80) and the boomer women finally let go of the house for assisted living.

            TBH, I’m a bit worried about whether these new arrivals (and kids) will be able to maintain our standard of society. I think there are enough in the trades to keep the infrastructure going, and we’ll have plenty of content creators and activists, but what about the extremely high-skill jobs like medical research or maintaining sophisticated military equipment, even, sacré bleu, running the Federal Reserve and SEC, and even the CDC?

            1. be able to maintain our standard of society.

               There’s no reason to think they can, and no reason to think we will be able to afford it anyway. The people running the show are tearing down our society intentionally.

            2. There’s more than enough people, the wealthy communities of high achievers of both Ds and Rs are thriving, more than ever before, as they engage in an eugenics experiment unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. For thousands of years, people married in their religion, or ethnicity, or social class. But today people marry with similar education backgrounds: dual income households with high achieving children that are blowing everyone else out of the water. As one comment I saw on twitter said, these people’s children are doing Cheerleading better than anything most people will ever do in their entire lifetimes. And their children are going to marry other like minded children, whose children will marry other like minded children, and before you know it, the ‘reversion to the mean’ will be proven nonsense as there’s an entire class uber elite of 130 IQ people running the country. This is a real thing: upper middle class students in America perform almost as high in worldwide tests as the best students in Asian and around the world. My local high school is just a rando high school, and we have the best competitive cheer in the state, the best trial advocacy, the best football team, the best swimming teams, the best volleyball teams, some of the highest SAT scores, and so on. Its going to be pretty crazy in 3 or 4 generations when the highest performing women and men in the country mate to make the highest performing children in the world.

            3. Most of the high achievers I know have at most 1 kid, and many have none.

   2. That’s not the story where my sister lives in N. Myrtle. Her condo that she paid $300K for 3 years ago would probably sell for that or lower now. Reason being is her HOA went from $650/month then to $1525/month now. No thanks.

      1. “Reason being is her HOA went from $650/month then to $1525/month now.”

         Maybe in a skyscraper with a view of the harbor. Insanity!

2. New immigrant families in Denver must exit shelters as the city scales back aid. Many have nowhere to go (2/4/2024):

   “About 140 people are expected to exit hotel shelters on Monday, Feb. 5 alone, Department of Human Services spokesperson Jon Ewing told Denverite.

   Throughout the week, more than 450 people will likely have to leave the temporary comfort of these shelters, according to a presentation to City Council’s Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee.

   With the city currently sheltering 3,870 new immigrants, mutual aid organizers worry that more children will have to brave the rest of the winter outside as their families work to or try to secure housing.

   Some of these people, now homeless, will accept bus tickets to other cities. In January alone, the city purchased more than 2,000 tickets, sending people to other destinations within the United States, most going to New York City and Chicago.

   Not every new Venezuelan immigrant has another city to go to, though. Some are hoping to move in with a Denver host family.

   Others plan to work under-the-table jobs and rent a place in a city where locals have increasingly said they cannot afford to rent.”

   https://denverite.com/2024/02/04/denver-new-immigrants-families-children-hotel-shelter-exits/

   Move in with a Denver host family?

   That’s optional, for now. Denver City Council *WILL* be identifying households with vacant rooms, and those rooms will be awarded to invaders, and if you dare protest, they’ll confiscate your house.

   1. Related image file:

      https://ibb.co/gWRWg1C

   2. Denver Gazette — Denver council approves contract for up to $25M to house immigrants (2/5/2024):

      “A roughly $400,000 contract to provide shelter for newly-arrived immigrants in Denver has now ballooned to up to $25 million, another sign of the crisis that has placed the city under tremendous fiscal strain within the past year.

      Under the contract that the Denver City Council approved on Monday, Denver guarantees to spend at least $23.4 million between the beginning of 2023 and June 30, 2024, and perhaps up to $25 million.

      The contract with Colorado Hospitality Services will pay for hotel units for immigrants arriving in Denver after illegally crossing the country’s southern border.

      The council originally approved $378,486 back in May to pay for rooms, laundry and front desk employees. Back then, the city was housing around 400 immigrants, according to the city’s immigration dashboard.

      As of Monday, the city is housing 3,782 immigrants.

      The money will come from the city’s Border Crisis Special Revenue Fund and the council will consider a $25 million cash infusion from the general and capital improvement funds.”

      https://denvergazette.com/news/denver-additional-immigration-housing-funds/article_a2e8d9de-c489-11ee-801d-6f4e8ad17791.html

      From the general and capital improvement funds, did you say?

      No municipal services for you, cattle tax slaves!

   3. “In January alone, the city purchased more than 2,000 tickets, sending people to other destinations”

      All according to plan. But I think it’s going to a while before they start confiscating rooms in homes.

      1. At the shelters, though, a blunt message is inscribed on a poster in Spanish: Denver’s cold winter weather is dangerous. The shelters are full. The city does not anticipate having shelter space in the future. It’s illegal to camp in the streets of Denver. We recommend you find another destination. Ask about bus tickets to other parts of the country.

         When virtue signalling actually costs money, the previously welcomed are now being told to go away.

         I suspect that the city leaders expected the invaders to find jobs the way previous illegals did. What they weren’t counting on is that these people grew up in a communist state and have no desire to work, they want to join the Free Sh!t Army the NGO workers told them wais awaiting in the US. One of the people at city hall even said that after four months they expected these people to “be on their feet”, but now they realize that Venezuelans and other communist south Americans are not Mexicans and have different expectations.

         1. Also saw this in the article:

            Some of these people, now homeless, will accept bus tickets to other cities. In January alone, the city purchased more than 2,000 tickets, sending people to other destinations within the United States, most going to New York City and Chicago.

            “We do not cover travel outside the U.S., but we would ask for support from our community providers should this be requested,” Ewing explained.

            They are shipping them out, wholesale, probably after telling them “we can’t help you and if you stay you will freeze to death”. Also very interesting about travel outside the US, I presume this means that some are asking to be sent home.

         2. Even if these new arrivals are willing to work, are there even enough jobs for them? The previous illegals already have all the jobs.

            As for “host families” taking these young illegal men in, I don’t think it will happen. Even the most virtuous of the virtue signalers know what would happen if they agreed to take in a “family” of migrants. Any home would very quickly turn into a flophouse for 20-30 migrants who will take anything not bolted down, including the cars.

            1. As for “host families” taking these young illegal men in, I don’t think it will happen.

               That is just wishful thinking. All those people with the woke signs on their lawns (“No one is illegal”, “migrants welcome here”, etc.) won’t even write a lousy check for $20 to help them. Take them into their homes? As if!

            2. Apparently there was a strong-arm robbery in San Jose’s tony Willow Glen district yesterday, and the victims, a couple walking to their car in a shopping center, were beaten by three men described as Latin males of central or south American origin.

3. I will own nothing

   1. You will own nothing.

4. “The problem is that when you inflate supply and not demand, deflation results. A lot of those homes or office buildings go unsold. Prices fall. Owners become insolvent. And so here we are.”

   One might argue that California has the opposite problem: Too much demand with limited supply, leading to prices that make it unaffordable to live there.

   “This dilemma won’t solve itself. Until China’s leaders confront it head-on and alter their model towards a more demand-focused one, the economy is likely to keep slowing.”

   Hair-of-the dog stimulus on the way…

   1. Financial Times
      Chinese equities
      Chinese equities rebound on hopes of support from Beijing
      Regulators release a series of announcements in a bid to stabilise markets
      A montage of the Shanghai skyline and a chart going up
      Chinese equities staged a rebound as state funds vowed to step up share purchases
      Cheng Leng in Hong Kong 5 hours ago
      Keep up with the latest news on Asia’s biggest economy.Explore the China Focus hub

      Chinese equities staged a rebound on Tuesday as state funds vowed to step up share purchases, spurring investor hopes that Beijing might be ready to offer more support to put a floor under months of sliding prices.

      Shares began climbing after Central Huijin, an investment arm of China’s sovereign wealth fund, said it would expand its purchases of exchange traded funds.

      The China Securities Regulatory Commission also said it would encourage institutional investors to hold A-shares for a longer period of time, as it worked to stabilise a sell-off that has wiped out almost $2tn in market capitalisation from a 2021 peak.

      The CSRC said it would punish “malicious” short selling and stop “illegal behaviour” that hindered stable stock market operations. It further barred securities lending and short selling in a separate notice. It also vowed on Monday to closely monitor the risk of forced liquidations on pledged shares.

      The onshore benchmark Chinese stock index CSI300 closed 3.2 per cent higher on Tuesday. The broader CSI500 index and its small-cap counterpart CSI1000 index both closed about 7 per cent higher following Central Huijin’s announcement.

      The Hang Seng index closed 4 per cent higher, its biggest rise since July 25, while the Hang Seng Tech index closed with gains of 6.8 per cent.
      …

      1. “‘The US government, please help Chinese stock investors”

         That’s pretty funny. The Chinese citizen weren’t complaining when they were taking jobs from blue-collar workers in the US and building a new city every 10 days.

5. “The alleged squatter living inside has filed more than 30 motions in court to tie up Holmes’ efforts to get him out. ‘If I can’t bring this to some type of resolution, I’ll be in jeopardy of filing bankruptcy,’ Holmes said. 1timePaymentHomes is running a New Year’s special: $1,400 for keys and a lease so as a squatter you can ‘stack money and turn ya life around.’ ‘It makes you feel like, ‘Why do you play by the rules if everyone doesn’t have to?’ Holmes said.”

   Hell yes. My people will rise up.

   1. I’ve stopped feeling bad for landlards.

      1. Same here. The pandemic showed us that a significant proportion of renters are scumbags.

         1. Sometimes people ask me, in my line of work, how will I rent an apartment if I have bad credit? And I explain to them, that if landlords wanted to only rent to tenants with good credit, their apartments would remain empty.

         2. Plenty are, but plenty of landlords are equal scumbags who deserve what they’re getting.

      2. According to Wikipedia: “Rent-seeking is the act of growing one’s existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth. Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society.”

         No need to feel sorry for them, they only see you as a speculative bet.

         1. rentier /räɴ-tyā′/
            noun

            A person who lives on income from property or investments. One who has a fixed income, as from lands, stocks, or the like. An individual who receives an income, usually interest, r

6. Property owners and managers say the squatting problem has exploded over the past year in metro Atlanta. ‘It’s like I gave away $200,000, I feel,’ homeowner Michael Holmes said. ‘It’s been a nightmare.’”

   It’s almost like City Hall and the DA encourage & enable parasitism, while having no respect for the property owners who comprise the tax base.

   1. There’s a certain kind of person who will charge up $5,000 on a Capital One credit card and then default and move on to the next thing, not giving two craps about the consequences or ramifications to their credit, as a result of their actions. These kinds of people have been elected to high political office in major cities because of the color of their skin, and they’re going to treat governance like they treat their captial one credit cards before they default.

7. SC, is still a slice of the old America , If you get caught stealing ,at the Grocery store, or at Walmart ,you will be cuffed and hauled off to jail overnight, and banned from that store. and if you try and squat in a house and not pay rent, it takes less then a month, to get you out….Upstate SC ,is a booming ,decent area ,that’s why people are moving in,in droves, Just stay off I-85 ,the Atlanta-Charlotte Corrider, it’s not a safe roadway,

8. How are things looking for Wall Street’s rate cut cargo cult?

   1. LYahoo Finance
      Stock market today: US stocks close lower as early rate cut hopes fade
      Karen Friar and Ines Ferré
      Tue, February 6, 2024 at 2:29 AM PST
      In this article:

      US stocks dipped on Monday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell put a chill on prospects for an early interest rate cut, raising the stakes for a packed week of corporate earnings to keep the recent rally alive.

      The S&P 500 (^GSPC) ended the session down 0.3%, signaling a slight pullback from the benchmark’s record-setting run. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) shed about 0.7% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell 0.2%.

      Stocks slumped after a rollercoaster week that ended in weekly wins thanks to a blowout January jobs report and strong high-profile earnings updates. Those high spirits took a knock after Powell, in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday, doubled down on his midweek message that the central bank will tread cautiously in deciding when to cut rates. He said the “danger of moving too soon is the job’s not quite done” in quelling inflation.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-today-us-stocks-close-lower-as-early-rate-cut-hopes-fade-210114813.html

   2. US Markets Open
      Dow Jones -0.71%
      Nasdaq -0.17%
      S&P 500 -0.32%

      Real Estate
      Homebuyers searching for a bargain should target these 10 cities where home prices are down even as the housing market heats up
      James Faris
      Feb 1, 2024, 3:01 AM PST

      – Real estate activity promises to pick up as mortgage rates come down and home prices stabilize.

      – Home affordability is still a challenge, but buyers are in a better environment than 2023.

      – Here are 10 metropolitan areas in the US where houses became cheaper in January.

      The US housing market is showing signs of life again after the weakest year for home sales since the financial crisis.

      Home transaction volume tanked in 2023 as buyers and sellers became dissatisfied with the state of the real estate market. Would-be buyers became renters as mortgage rates surged to levels not seen since the turn of the century, hurting home demand and frustrating sellers.

      But in the first month of 2024, those frustrations have started to fade into the background.

      The real estate market may be in Goldilocks territory after an ugly year

      Property prices rose by 1.4% year-over-year to $410,000 in January, according to a report from Realtor.com published on February 1. That steady growth threaded the needle in a departure from last year, as it seems to be neither unmanageable for buyers nor unacceptable for sellers.

      To that point, the number of US homes listed jumped by 7.9%, Realtor.com found. New listings rose across the US, including 20% spikes in large cities like Denver, Seattle, and Miami.

      An increase in housing supply is welcome news for buyers, considering the headaches that stemmed from the nation’s long-standing home shortage. That development seemed to spur more transactions, as the listings site noted that the time houses spent on the market was almost two weeks shorter than in January 2019, and four days shorter than last year.

      “We are seeing increases in inventory and, importantly, gains in newly listed homes for sale indicating sellers are more ready to make moves,” Danielle Hale, the chief economist at Realtor.com, said in a statement for the report. She added, “time on market fell, signaling that buyers are ready to make offers on these new options.”

      More properties to choose from and lower borrowing costs may lead to a modest resurgence in the housing market. Mortgage rates are down over one percentage point from their fall peak, though they’re still much higher than they were throughout the 2010s.

      However, the picture isn’t all rosy for buyers. Home prices and mortgage rates are still above where they were last January, which means the monthly payment for a typical home with a 20% down payment is up 5.4%, or roughly $108, in the past 12 months — not counting tax and insurance costs. The silver lining is that growth is slowing, as costs in December were up 6.1%.

      10 cities where prices are down

      The outlook for buyers is finally improving, especially in cities where home prices are falling. Realtor.com tracks property statistics in the 50 largest real estate markets in the US and found that in January, 10 metropolitan areas saw their median listing price decline from 2023.

      Below are those 10 cities with sliding property prices, along with the median home price, year-over-year growth for median home prices nominally and on a per-square-foot basis, the share of homes with reduced prices, and the growth of the share of homes with lower prices.

      1. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
      Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, downtown skyline in the late afternoon.
      Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Sean Pavone/Shutterstock

      Median home price: $320,000

      Median home price growth: -5.7%

      Median home price per square foot growth: -0.5%

      Price reduced share: 19.5%

      Price reduced share growth: 3.4 percentage points

      Source: Realtor.com

      2. Miami, Florida
      Miami Florida
      Alexander Spatari/Getty Images

      Median home price: $565,000

      Median home price growth: -5.1%

      Median home price per square foot growth: 1.1%

      Price reduced share: 18.2%

      Price reduced share growth: 2.6 percentage points

      Source: Realtor.com

      3. San Jose, California
      San Jose, California, view from downtown to the north and San Jose International Airport at sunset.
      San Jose, California, view from downtown to the north and San Jose International Airport at sunset. stellamc/Shutterstock

      Median home price: $1,288,000

      Median home price growth: -4.5%

      Median home price per square foot growth: -4.4%

      Price reduced share: 5.1%

      Price reduced share growth: -4 percentage points

      Source: Realtor.com

      4. San Francisco, California
      San Francisco, California skyline.
      San Francisco, California skyline. Sean Pavone/Shutterstock

      Median home price: $944,000

      Median home price growth: -3.5%

      Median home price per square foot growth: -1%

      Price reduced share: 7%

      Price reduced share growth: -3.7 percentage points

      Source: Realtor.com

      5. Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas
      Aerial view of Kansas City, Missouri, skyline at dusk, viewed from Penn Valley Park.
      Kansas City, Missouri. Mihai_Andritoiu/Shutterstock

      Median home price: $418,000

      Median home price growth: -3.4%

      Median home price per square foot growth: -1.2%

      Price reduced share: 10.9%

      Price reduced share growth: -0.4 percentage points

      Source: Realtor.com

      6. San Antonio, Texas
      San Antonio river walk
      The San Antonio river walk. Adam Jones/Getty Images

      Median home price: $336,000

      Median home price growth: -3.3%

      Median home price per square foot growth: -0.5%

      Price reduced share: 21.5%

      Price reduced share growth: -1.5 percentage points

      Source: Realtor.com

      7. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
      Milwaukee, Wisconsin
      Murat Taner/Getty Images

      Median home price: $342,000

      Median home price growth: -2.3%

      Median home price per square foot growth: 1%

      Price reduced share: 10.2%

      Price reduced share growth: -4.1 percentage points

      Source: Realtor.com

      8. Memphis, Tennessee
      Downtown Memphis Tennessee Skyline at Sunset
      Memphis, Tennessee. Connor D. Ryan/Shutterstock

      Median home price: $320,000

      Median home price growth: -1.4%

      Median home price per square foot growth: 3.5%

      Price reduced share: 18.4%

      Price reduced share growth: 0.6 percentage points

      Source: Realtor.com

      9. Raleigh, North Carolina
      Downtown Raleigh, North Carolina skyline
      Downtown Raleigh, North Carolina skyline. Kevin Ruck/Shutterstock

      Median home price: $440,000

      Median home price growth: -1.3%

      Median home price per square foot growth: 5.1%

      Price reduced share: 11.6%

      Price reduced share growth: -6.5 percentage points

      Source: Realtor.com

      10. Dallas, Texas
      Dallas, Texas cityscape with blue sky at sunset, Texas
      Dallas, Texas. f11photo/Shutterstock

      Median home price: $431,000

      Median home price growth: -0.7%

      Median home price per square foot growth: 1.5%

      Price reduced share: 19.3%

      Price reduced share growth: -3.4 percentage points

      Source: Realtor.com
      …
      https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-housing-market-home-price-outlook-mortgage-rates-supply-2024-2

      1. “The real estate market may be in Goldilocks territory after an ugly year

         Property prices rose by 1.4% year-over-year to $410,000 in January, according to a report from Realtor.com published on February 1. That steady growth threaded the needle in a departure from last year, as it seems to be neither unmanageable for buyers nor unacceptable for sellers.”

         Do you notice how the reason to buy a house is no longer to have a place to live in? It’s all about property price appreciation prospects…

   3. Leon Cooperman says ‘too rich’ stocks to go down, and long-term rates could go higher this year
      Published Tue, Feb 6 20248:59 AM EST
      Updated 3 Hours Ago
      Yun Li

      Key Points

      – The chair and CEO of the Omega Family Office said investors have been too optimistic about the number of rate cuts the Federal Reserve will enact this year.

      – Cooperman pointed out that the S&P 500 is now trading at 21 times forward earnings, which seems unsustainable.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/06/leon-cooperman-says-too-rich-stocks-to-go-down-and-long-term-rates-could-go-higher.html

      1. too optimistic about the number of rate cuts

         Jay-P says “hey we’ve started to talk about talking about rate cuts” and that launched the quickest and steepest game of Telephone in recent memory. “Hey Maybe” turned into 3-5 rate cuts by Memorial Day, or some such nonsense. They were hoping to turn they wishful thinking into a self-fulfilling prophesy by bullying Jay. It reminds me of those running chirons on CNBC from 2002: r”Greenspan to cut rates by 25 bp next week HINT HINT??” It’s not working on Jay-P, not yet.

   4. Yahoo
      Business Insider
      The stock market just did something for the first time since 1987 – and it’s a sign the rally is unsustainable, top economist David Rosenberg says
      Aruni Soni
      Mon, February 5, 2024 at 2:53 PM PST·3 min read

      – On Friday, the number of market losers was more than twice the number of winners in the S&P 500.

      – That last happened in 1987 the day after Black Monday, David Rosenberg, a top economist, said.

      – The extremely low level of stocks participating in the market rally is cause for skepticism.

      The stock market just did something for the first time since 1987. On Friday — when the Nasdaq popped, the S&P 500 closed at a record high, and the rally forged onward — there were more than twice as many stocks in the red as those that enjoyed gains.

      That last happened 36 years ago, on October 20, 1987, the day after Black Monday, David Rosenberg, a top economist, said.

      On Friday, “only half the sectors were up in the ripping session, and we had to do a ‘double take’ after seeing that the A-D line was negative on Friday, even in the face of the +1.1% rise in the S&P 500,” he wrote in a note on Monday.

      “This is not ideal,” Rosenberg added.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-just-did-something-225348033.html

      1. unsustainable

         🥱🥱🥱😴😴😴

9. Some commenters used humor and sarcasm to get around the country’s strict social media restrictions.

   That isn’t limited to China, by any means, especially as the CCP’s ideological junior partners here in the FUSA & their creepy Orwellian tech company accomplices step up their assaults against the 1st Amendment.

10. Letters to the Editor: I live near L.A.’s tagged up, empty skyscrapers. They don’t look vibrant to me

    To the editor: Gustavo Arellano’s apologist column on the vandalism of the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza towers in downtown L.A.’s South Park neighborhood certainly does not reflect the prevailing attitude among those of us who live in this neighborhood.

    Three weeks ago, I called the Los Angeles Police Department to report four young men inside those buildings; I could see them from my home. The dispatcher asked, “What are you afraid they are going to do?”

    I think we now have the answer.

    Arellano cites the “ingenuity” of these vandals and believes they represent “the teamwork we should all aspire to.” Did he walk around our neighborhood to see what else has been “transformed”? Vandals have tagged everything from blank walls to actual murals by actual artists.

    Our neighborhood has been transformed into something that no longer feels safe and secure. Most of us who live here in South Park do so because this is one of the safest neighborhoods in downtown L.A. We love the clean streets, and we can walk our dogs any time of day or night. We also love the vibrancy of this area.

    Perhaps there is one good thing that may come of this: Councilman Kevin de León could, in part, redeem himself by rescuing this abandoned project.

    https://news.yahoo.com/letters-editor-live-near-l-110055047.html

    1. Our neighborhood has been transformed into something that no longer feels safe and secure…We also love the vibrancy of this area.

       You can have safe & secure neighborhoods, or vibrancy – pick one.

11. Where do I sign up to invest with this brilliant visionary?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13051427/Adam-Neumann-wants-buy-struggling-WeWork-bankruptcy-despite-ousted-given-2-BILLION-golden-parachute-Experts-say-deal-reach-500M.html

    1. Who wants to get bent-over by a guy in a turtleneck shirt?

12. More than a half-dozen suspects in a cellphone robbery pattern targeting dozens of victims in recent months have been arrested, according to the NYPD, with the ringleader of the operation still on the run.

    A Bronx apartment that allegedly served as headquarters for the wide-ranging cellphone robbery crew was raided early Monday. The scheme was based around a network of thieves using mopeds in hold-ups that occurred in four of the five boroughs, police said. Only Staten Island has been without cases.

    Police said they believe they can link one crew to more than 60 robberies across the city. Police searched a building at 2790 Bronx Park East and found stolen goods including cell phones, some of which the suspects tried to hide and toss out windows as police entered the building, the NYPD said.

    Surveillance video showed the thieves at work, with many of the targets being women walking alone getting robbed of cellphones, purses and shopping bags.

    Three people were arrested Monday morning in addition to numerous others who were charged in recent weeks, including Yan Jiminez, Anthony Ramos, Richard Saledo, Beike Jiminez, Maria Manaura and Cleyber Andrade. Many of the alleged thieves are believed to be migrants living in city shelters, according to city investigators, and most of whom are originally from South America.

    Some of the robbery crew charged last month were released without bail including Jiminez, Saledo, and Ramos. Police said catching up with the thieves was complicated, with many of them having been arrested before only to be released. Adding to that difficulty, some of the suspects were described as so-called “ghost criminals,” which NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said meant they had “no phone, no social media” and officials couldn’t even be sure of their names or dates of birth.

    https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/migrants-arrested-in-sweeping-nyc-robbery-pattern-sources/5106519/

    1. “They’re not sending their best”

       1. Let’s all jump into the way-back machine when Fidel Castro emptied his prisons and the mental asylum patients during the Muriel boat-lift to flood America with the ” deplorables” . But that happened last century and we were told that would or could not happen again. Well, here we are again.

13. Selina Robinson has resigned as post-secondary education minister, Premier David Eby announced Monday, after a mounting backlash over her controversial comments about Palestine and the Israel-Hamas war.

    The announcement came hours after Robinson, who is Jewish, released a statement apologizing for the second time and offering to take anti-Islamophobia training.

    Robinson also announced Monday afternoon she would not seek re-election in the riding for Coquitlam-Maillardville, which she’s represented since 2013. She said she made that decision before the current controversy.

    Robinson has been under fire for comments she made during an online discussion Jan. 30 where she said Israel was founded on “a crappy piece of land with nothing on it.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/selina-robinson-quits-cabinet-post-following-crappy-piece-of-land-comments/ar-BB1hOhNq

    1. “a crappy piece of land with nothing on it.”

       Not a very forceful racist comment.

    2. But Jacob played on the hills there as a child!

14. Pickleball apparel CEO, dubbed sport’s ‘ultimate ambassador,’ accused of Ponzi scheme
    Indianapolis Star

    As a new game mixing elements of tennis, ping pong and badminton exploded into America’s fastest-growing sport, southern Indiana entrepreneur Rodney “Rocket” Grubbs rode the wave to build an apparel and equipment company he launched by selling T-shirts proclaiming “Pickleball Rocks.”

    The charismatic Brookville man quickly ascended to a role one fan-site described as “pickleball’s ultimate ambassador,” traveling the world to play in tournaments while promoting the business that shared its name with the slogan he trademarked in 2009.

    Pickleball Rocks revenue was projected to top $1 million in 2022, but to meet the goal Grubbs needed capital — and to get it he turned to his well-heeled friends in the sport, pitching a limited number of investment opportunities promising quick and hefty returns. While the total remains unknown, one investor told IndyStar she estimated 120 people from the U.S., Canada and Portugal jumped at the offer, handing over several million dollars to Grubbs in exchange for promissory notes.

    But last month, the Indiana Secretary of State’s securities division issued a cease and desist order calling the solicitations an “alleged fraudulent investment scheme.” The action came amid growing investors’ complaints about Grubbs missing repayment deadlines and avoiding their calls and demands. Officials said Grubbs is not registered in Indiana to offer promissory notes.

    Now, some of the friends and pickleball associates who eagerly loaned Grubbs money fear their investments have been lost. Some are angry.

    “He traveled around and used his good reputation, and also the reputation of others that he surrounded himself with, in order to take advantage of good people,” said Teri Siewert, an investor who lives in Florida. “None of them were stupid. They were doctors. They were lawyers. They were professors. One was a financial consultant. She really feels terrible. That’s how trusted he was in the pickleball community.”

    Court records show Grubbs already is facing judgments and penalties of more than $9 million in three investor lawsuits from 2023.

    In a separate lawsuit filed in December, several other investors asked a federal judge to force Grubbs into Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The move would require him to sell assets to repay their loans. In a written response to the judge filed Jan. 23, Grubbs said he cannot afford an attorney. He said his only eligible assets are 11 low-income rental properties valued at about $800,000 and an estimated $150,000 in equipment and apparel from Pickleball Rocks.

    Grubbs told the judge that will not be nearly enough to satisfy the “no less than 250 outstanding lenders” he would expect to make claims if he files for bankruptcy. Instead, he pleaded for the judge “to consider any option that would allow the petitioners and all future creditors to recoup money with the one asset that had the ability to continue to produce income” — his business.

    Grubbs said the name Pickleball Rocks has intellectual property value, even though it “has been greatly diminished” by gossip and what he called “coordinated” social media attacks by investors. But he remains optimistic about its future and offered to “relinquish all ownership/management/profit rights” from Pickleball Rocks to his creditors.

    “With a good management team, Pickleball Rocks will continue to grow,” he told the judge, citing the “millions of new players coming into the sport … (who) do not use social media, and will not be impacted by any of the current news.”

    “Those new players,” Grubbs said, “will shop and buy.”

    They described Grubbs as friendly, outgoing, and credible. He came off slightly religious, they said, and didn’t appear to lead a lavish lifestyle. Speaking with Grubbs was like talking to an old friend, said Ron Ponder, a pickleball referee from Oklahoma who invested $65,000 in All About Pickleball LLC, the Indiana corporation registered to do business as Pickleball Rocks.

    “He’s very well known within the pickleball community. He’s the same way with everyone,” Ponder said. “He’s happy to see you, and he can’t wait to tell you about stuff.”

    Pickleball isn’t the only passion Grubbs parlayed into a business. Before he was the “Rocket,” Grubbs was a self-proclaimed certified professional consultant, according to his website and the Indiana Secretary of State. Online, the bespectacled businessman, who is in his late 60s, described himself as a life coach, author, speaker and entrepreneur who specializes in marriage, business and financial consulting.

    “My vision is to have an army of individuals and married couples worldwide, who as small business owners, are living happy, prosperous lives, and by their example and by their actions will teach others to do the same,” his website says.

    It all appeared to add up to an image of a man who can be trusted.

    Several of the friends Grubbs made through pickleball bought into the image — and his short-term, high-return investment offers. The five investors who talked with IndyStar said they wired a total of roughly $300,000 to Grubbs over the course of several years. They said the money came from their retirement and savings accounts.

    At least two investors did get their money back, but many others are still waiting long after the loans came due.
    Grubbs guaranteed a 12% interest rate compounded monthly, and a lump sum repayment after 18 months. The promissory note also said investors would receive an increased interest rate of 18% if he defaulted.

    Robert Smutka, an investor from Minnesota, told IndyStar that Grubbs routinely rolled over his loan into new contracts instead of paying him when they came due. Smutka agreed to moving his money into new promissory notes, not wanting to hurt the company.

    A recent widower who invested money from his retirement account, Smutka said he’s not comfortable with publicly disclosing how much he gave Grubbs.
    Something else happened at the tournament in Dayton. Teri Siewert said she confronted Grubbs after overhearing him make an investment pitch to another woman.

    “I had just caught him soliciting somebody (and) stepped in between him and the lady and said to her, ‘Please don’t do it. We’ve been trying to get our money for three years,’ and he starts laughing out loud behind me,” she said.

    Grubbs continued to ignore the couple’s demand to return their money. Finally, in early December, they went public with their complaints. They posted about their experience on Facebook, internet forums and sent their stories to pickleball clubs.

    “I was seeking other investors to see if what I suspected was true and to see just how deep and wide this might go,” Teri said.” The phone didn’t stop ringing.”

    By the end of the weekend, she had more than 20 names. She also learned about the lawsuits filed against Grubbs in Indiana and reached out to Matthew Foster, an Indianapolis attorney representing investors in those cases.

    Not long after that, something unexpected happened: “Rodney pays us $56,000,” Teri said, “to make us shut up and go away.”

    By that point, she wasn’t ready to go away or shut up. Instead, she encouraged other unhappy investors to speak up about Grubbs. Rick Griffith of North Carolina was one of the people who saw one of Siewert’s online posts. At first, he thought it was odd — then his eyes scanned it and saw the names Rodney Grubbs and Pickleball Rocks.

    “Shit! I’m in this too,” he said, realizing for the first time there were other investors.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/pickleball-apparel-ceo-dubbed-sports-ultimate-ambassador-accused-of-ponzi-scheme/ar-BB1hOixd

15. Biden’s globalist imports are quite industrious when it comes to culturally enriching NYC’s females.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13050031/Migrants-NYC-arrested-stealing-phones-walked-police-precinct.html

    1. Mayor Eric Adams went along for the sting operation wearing a $700 Fendi scarf under a bulletproof police vest

       You can’t make this stuff up. I feel sorry for the folks at the Babylon Bee, how do you satirise that which is already beyond absurd?

       Also, I wonder how long until the phone snatchers are released without bail? 24 hours?

       1. I don’t feel bad for them. Did you know that the owner does VC in commercial real estate?

16. Toby Keith dies at 62 from stomach cancer.

    1. Toby Keith

       And Carl Weathers died of suddenly in his sleep.

       1. And King Chuck has the big ‘C’ (if you real believe these clowns)….but we know he didn’t take the real poke.

          1. Given that longevity runs in his family, it would be an exception if he didn’t even make it to his eighties.

             1. Gimme an ‘A’ for Adrenochrome!

17. Complete mess, shame on you Damon Palmer
    Palmer Homes of SWFL nightmare
    2 months ago

    It’s just unbelievable that any builder would be so terrible.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbbJG_ISu4w

    2:53.

18. Also, the scheme of the enemy of Representive Governments is set to transfer global powers to the World Health Organization in May.
    First, they didn’t vote as required, and US Senate didn’t approve as required.
    This is a sneak play by the Biden Administration to transfer emence powers to the corrupt WHO to force a One World Order GLOBAL Health dictates that would supercede all Soverign States and Constitutions.
    The WHO would even have the power to collect and loot by global taxes to fund their power grab.
    The member Nations would be agreeing to letting the corrupt and infiltrated WHO dictate Global Health policy and to fund the power grab.
    Health Policy would include Climate Change, global equity, Mandated vaccines by Big Pharmacy, and power to censor disinformation and misinformation.
    Can you imagine being forced to comply with Corporations like Big Pharmacy and Banks and Media in being forced into what these Entities dictate.
    This is a power grab from Monopoly Corporations to force their dictates and looting tax dollars globally to fund this insurrection under the fraud of global emergencies.
    The Mainstream news isn’t talking about this power transfer , due to be finalize in May of 2024, while required procedures have been skipped over.
    According to one talking head , populations of these member Countries would be forced into funding the WHO operations as well as complying with forced global mandates to consume private party Monopoly Corporations dictates.
    When John Kerry recently at Davos implied that no government can stop them, because “market forces” will prevail, he’s addressing Monopoly Corporations intent on ruling the globe .This is by some kind of facist partnership with Corporations, Rich Elites, Banks, Big Pharmacy, etc and co conspirators, with member Governments in what they call ” Stakeholder Governance. ”
    As if populations of the World should be subjected to this global take over power grab insurrection by Monopoly Corporations and their co conspirators.
    So, the objective is that these Entities will control all resources and Banks will control consumption, forced vaccines, etc, under the blueprint of the 2030 UN Sustainable Earth Agenda.
    They don’t even want you to have coffee to wash the bugs down.

    1. Some of us are easier to control than others.

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

    Washington Post Editorial Board — Republicans will never get another border security deal this good (2/5/2024):

    “The Republican Party should take “yes” for an answer. By torpedoing the Senate’s bipartisan immigration deal, under pressure from former president Donald Trump to preserve his election-year advantage on a wedge issue, congressional Republicans would blow an opportunity to reduce undocumented immigration and curtail mass crossings at the southern border — along with save Ukraine before it runs out of ammunition. The 370-page legislative text released Sunday night, promptly declared “dead on arrival” in the House by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), emerged from months of substantive discussions and careful compromises by all sides.

    In exchange for the crackdown at the border, the supplemental package would provide $60.6 billion to support Ukraine and $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel. The House plans to vote this week on a standalone bill for Israel, but their version includes no humanitarian aid to help Palestinians in Gaza. This does.

    If this deal falls apart, the situation at the southern border will deteriorate. Inaction, combined with a fear across Latin America that Mr. Trump might prevail in November, could attract millions more migrants in the coming year. If Republicans really cared about curbing a migrant surge that they claim harms the country, rather than seeking political advantage by issuing such warnings, they would support this bill in droves.”

    https://archive.is/s5R0Z

    Build the wall, deport them ALL.

    1. GeoPolitics
       @GeoPolitics52
       ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CHARGED WITH ASSAULT AFTER NYPD ATTACK

       Jhoan Boada, 22, was caught on camera again, this time not for beating up police officers, but for flipping off the media.

       Jhoan was involved in the attack on NYPD officers near Times Square. He and his fellow assailants were released without bail despite facing assault charges.

       Source: FOX

       https://x.com/GeoPolitics52/status/1753122017480740953?s=20

20. All we have now is a infiltrated Federal Government , who is working on behalf of a insurrection by private party unelected Money Powers that be.
    If you had a Goverment the killer shots would be taken off the market for starters. WE wouldn’t be having this border invasions. We wouldn’t be having the breakdown of society by high crime, transgemger assault, and over half the country being accused of being ” Enemy of State ,
    The Judicial system is taking long standing laws and Constitutional protections and turning it on its ears by
    ,a onslaught of reinterpretation of long term laws. Like Corporations mandated vaccines under Osha powers is a example of this assertion of powers. Federal Goverment partnering with Media to obstruct the first amendment, as seen during Covid 19 Panademic. They had the right to prevent vaccine hesitancy and fraudulently claim expiermental vaccine were safe and effective.
    They have the right to assert unequal Justice under the law as a tool to attack political opposition to the insurrection by Money powers.
    Crazy legal premises are being asserted to justify political persecution and loss of rule of law and a justification for New World Order dixtorship.
    The cases take so long to get to High Court, so they.act on violation of current laws and absurd legal assertions for their violations of long standing laws. For instance the Coporate Mandates were technically illegal under assertion of power under Osha that was overturned by High Court.
    So technically these Corporations asserted a power of vaccine Mandate they didn’t have. So they are vunerable to lawsuit by parties harmed by their unlawful dictates. Same with some of these College Mandates.
    Law is being used as a tool of warfare by this insurrection.

    1. and over half the country being accused of being ” Enemy of State

       And just wait until the invaders are used to make our lives even more miserable..

       1. “Be Strong, Be of Good Courage. God Bless America, Long Live the Republic.”

21. Desperation Setting In – SW Florida Listings Stagnate
    Ben Grieco
    22 hours ago

    Housing inventory and open houses continue to skyrocket in Southwest Florida as Charlotte, Sarasota, and Lee Counties Prepare for a Hail Mary Spring Selling Season.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3lOH6nWEGo

    11:39.

22. I was just looking at the long list of stars and World leaders that took the vaccine.
    All US Presidents and pror Presidents
    The Pope
    THE Oueen of England took it before she died, the now King Charles and his children
    DR Anthony Fauci
    Vp Harris, VP Pence
    A bunch of A list Hollywood stars
    A bunch of news anchors
    BiLL GATES was posed taking the vaccine
    I don’t believe for one second that these people took the poison shot. MAYBE SOME OF THE Hollywood crowd did.
    Don’t see Klaus Schwab, members of WEF, Dr Tedros of WHO, members of congress or senate except AOC on any list.
    Prime Minister of Canada and his wife of course took vaccine.
    The biggest one I find hard to believe is good old Bill Gates himself taking the expiermemtal shots in a display on camera.

    1. MAYBE SOME OF THE Hollywood crowd did.

       IIRC, actors and others associated with the biz had to get jabbed or no job. I recall that a woman who was known for her costuming work on Star Wars died of suddenly. She was high up enough to be in the credits at the end of the episode.One has to wonder how many “little people” who don’t appear in the credits have also died of suddenly.

    2. Not Novak Djokovic.

       1. And they made life miserable for him. He was treated like a pariah. And they still haven’t forgiven him.

23. CNBC (2/6/2024):

    “Credit card delinquencies surged more than 50% in 2023 as total consumer debt swelled to $17.5 trillion, the New York Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.

    Debt that has transitioned into “serious delinquency,” or 90 days or more past due, increased across multiple categories during the year, but none more so than credit cards.

    With a total of $1.13 trillion in debt, credit card debt that moved into serious delinquency amounted to 6.4% in the fourth quarter, a 59% jump from just over 4% at the end of 2022, the New York Fed reported. The quarterly increase at an annualized pace was around 8.5%, New York Fed researchers said.”

    https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/06/credit-card-delinquencies-surged-in-2023-indicating-financial-stress-new-york-fed-says.html

    Half the country is using credit cards to pay for food and carrying a balance from month to month, must be one of those “Build Back Better” kind of things…

24. Oh and how about Joe and Jill Biden claiming they got Covid after taking the shots, as well as king Charles and Camilla, Dr Fauci, VP Harris, etc etc, all around the same time.
    It’s OK getting Covid after you take the shots, because after all it saved you from dying. YOULL be back to work in a jumping jack flash.
    Don’t remember how we told you you won’t get Covid if you take the safe and effective shot, and it’s a disease of the unvaccinated. .
    I have a friend who took 5 Covid shots, who has gotten Covid 4 times so far, had a heart event where they almost had to use paddles, and also dealing with a cancer that came up.
    Another friend who took the shots who is dealing with every conceivable medical problem you can imagine, including pneumonia and now another respiratory infection. NEUROLOGY problems, eye problems, walking problems, knee problems, big growth on elbow, big red blotches all over body, leg infection, nerve pain, etc.
    Unbelievable .

    1. and it’s a disease of the unvaccinated

       I have not forgotten. I also remember the stern faced local doctors telling us on the evening news that you were harming others by refusing the jab, even after it was proven it did not stop transmission.

       That so many physicians were willing to compromise their integrity and spew lies has all but destroyed my faith in the profession.

       1. They also have a culture of believing voices of authority.

25. 1:58 doing the immigrant drag.

    NYPD NEWS
    @NYPDnews

    In an exclusive story by
    @nikreport

    , a crew of individuals who used stolen mopeds to target their victims has been arrested in connection to at least 60 incidents. Watch more below.

    https://x.com/NYPDnews/status/1754671252521079071?s=20

    1. “They walked across the border for a better life, but now they are walking out in handcuffs.”

    2. Two guys on a motorcycle, the passenger performing executions with a throw-away handgun, and then the driver speeds away thru stopped traffic and alleys is typical in south America.

26. This spells it out. 0:57

    MAGA War Room
    @MAGAIncWarRoom

    Joe Biden is giving you the finger.

    https://x.com/MAGAIncWarRoom/status/1754908603041882216?s=20

27. Toby Keith, country music star, dies at 62. He was suffering from cancer.

    Updated on: February 6, 2024 / 12:50 PM EST / CBS/AP

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/toby-keith-country-music-star-dead-62/

    1. This was my favorite Toby Keith song / video.

       Toby Keith – As Good As I Once Was

       https://youtu.be/ldQrapQ4d0Y?si=zaOFNlitfbfKSmny

28. ‘Ted Daniels recently moved to Myrtle Beach in July 2023 from eastern Pennsylvania. He said he found his home online and put an offer in right away. ‘I got it locked in at a decent interest rate, before the interest rate really started to skyrocket ‘

    You know Ted I’m pretty sure that period was as high as interest rates have been recently.

29. ‘The other 90% of buyers are looking for a deal and are being cautious. We are seeing weekly price drops, mostly in the bottom 75% of the market segment’

    That’s the spirit George, keep the updates coming!

30. ‘‘Buyers don’t have as much competition,’ he said. ‘They can go in right now to the home and chances are especially if it’s in the market for a week or two, chances are they’re the only buyer making an offer.’ That could potentially change in the spring but right now, buyers aren’t competing with other buyers. ‘The probability of you competing with five other offers is very low. So you have a little bit of teeth and you can negotiate concessions or maybe negotiate repairs. The market is shifting to a buyer’s favor a lot more than it was a year ago.’ Miller said there are advantages for buyers in the current market climate. With reduced competition, buyers have the leverage to negotiate on price or concessions with sellers’

    You got the spirit going Karl!

31. ‘1timePaymentHomes is running a New Year’s special: $1,400 for keys and a lease so as a squatter you can ‘stack money and turn ya life around’

    You guys have a real mickey mouse operation going there.

32. ‘‘There are quite a few apartment buildings, but not quite enough people to fill them up overnight…Now, somebody can move out of an older building into a brand new luxury building for less money’

    It was the merchant builders that fooked you and Nashville Joel. They never cared about the health of the market and were basically slow motion flippers of new airbox complexes.

33. ‘There are a lot of people who are weighing up their options,’ she said. ‘They might also be sitting tight to see if prices slide further’

    Nina, I’m overwhelmed at the great crater the UHS have provided us with today. Bravo!

34. 3 RINOs let Mayorkas off the hook.

    1. That vermin is guilty of TREASON ☠️

35. Toronto Real Estate Market Update – Complete Failure For Toronto’s New Real Estate Rule
    Team Sessa Real Estate
    38 minutes ago

    In this episode we take a look at the current Toronto Real Estate detached home prices and market trends for week ending January 31, 2024. We also discuss how we are now in a market where multiple offers are back and active and we have still not seen the use of open bidding that was supposed to help with transparency in purchasing a home. If the plan was to make an actual impact in the purchasing process, making it optional has proven to not really have an effect as it disadvantages the seller and therefore isn’t something they choose to use.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw1-4ISLQcU

    20:25.

36. Biggest ponzi evah!

    New Low in the GTA, New High in Calgary, 2023 Canadian Real Estate Market.
    Jon Flynn Broker of Record, Flynn Real Estate Inc.
    2 hours ago

    The Canadian Real Estate Ponzi scheme continues with over-leveraged reckless investors causing real estate disasters in small Canadian cities. This week I also share statistics and January data from Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, and Many Places in Ontario including Toronto.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTLGsM4NvKI

    17:32.

37. Sly & The Family Stone — Runnin’ Away:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7bvIIgQIJU

    1. Marvin Gaye — What’s Happening Brother:

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDviY4dwfqQ

       1. Parliament — Come In Out Of The Rain:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsP3rHs3oUI

          1. MC5 — Ramblin’ Rose:

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

             R.I.P. Wayne Kramer

38. Would you stick it out with a risk asset gambler who burned through $14 billion in investor funds?

    1. Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has destroyed $14 billion in wealth over the past decade, Morningstar says
       Matthew Fox
       Feb 6, 2024, 6:33 AM PST
       Read in app
       Cathie Wood
       Photo by Marco Bello/Getty Images

       – Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has destroyed $14 billion in wealth over the past decade.

       – A Morningstar analysis found that Ark Invest topped the list of wealth destroyers among other investment companies.

       – “These funds managed to lose value for shareholders even during a generally bullish market,” Morningstar said.
       …
       https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/funds/cathie-wood-ark-invest-wealth-destroyed-tech-stocks-morningstar-arkk-2024-2

       1. “These funds managed to lose value for shareholders even during a generally bullish market,”

          Can you imagine how deep into the CR8R Ark would sink if the economy went into a recession,?

          1. Housing Market Sales ‘Crash’ Amid Real-Estate Recession Warning
             Published Feb 05, 2024 at 6:37 AM EST
             Updated Feb 05, 2024 at 8:17 AM EST
             By Giulia Carbonaro
             US News Reporter

             A plunge in home sales in Phoenix, Arizona, in the past three years is a sign that the country is facing a “real-estate sales recession,” according to independent real-estate analyst and former agent John Wake.

             In a post published on X, formerly known as Twitter, Wake shared recent data for single-family home sales in Phoenix, which he said were down by 40 percent from 2021. “It’s safe to say we’re in a real estate sales recession,” Wake said, commenting on the data. Newsweek contacted Wake by email for comment early on Monday.

             After booming for two years during the pandemic, the U.S. housing market experienced a significant price correction between late summer 2022 and spring 2023. Higher mortgage rates—which last year reached two-decade highs—caused demand to plummet and prices to slide across the country, something that led some to say that the housing market is in a bubble that would eventually burst, triggering a crash.

             Wake’s conclusion was based on data derived from residential deeds recorded by Maricopa and Pinal Counties updated to December 2023 and compiled by Cromford Associates LLC. Annual home sales for single-family homes in Phoenix were 125,392 in 2021 and dropped to 97,924 in 2022 and 75,649 in 2023.
             …
             https://www.newsweek.com/housing-market-sales-crash-amid-real-estate-recession-warning-1866819

          2. Forbes
             Money
             Investing
             Editors’ Pick
             The Inverted Yield Curve Continues To Flash A Recession Warning
             Simon Moore
             Senior Contributor
             I show you how to save and invest.
             Feb 6, 2024, 06:15am EST
             Markets Open As New Data Reveals That Inflation Numbers Are Easing
             The inverted yield curve has historically been a [+]
             Getty Images

             Yield curve inversion has historically predicted U.S. recessions with greater accuracy than many other economic indicators. The signal has suggested a recession could be coming since summer 2022, but the U.S. economy continues to show robust growth so far.

             What Is An Inverted Yield Curve?

             An inverted yield curve occurs when long-term interest rates on U.S. government bonds fall below their short-term equivalents. For example, the 2-year interest rate currently is 4.5%, compared to 4.2% for the 10-year rate. Interest rates often rise as maturity lengthens but with an inverted yield curve, as we’re seeing now, the opposite is true. Inverted yield curves are common when the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates as the Fed has done recently to aggressively tame inflation.

             Why It Matters

             Researchers at the New York Federal Reserve have found that an inverted yield curve has historically been a good recession predictor going back to the 1950s.

             As of January 2023, the New York Fed model gave a 60% chance of a U.S. recession on a 12-month view. However, that recession risk has been rising since 2022, and U.S. growth and job creation have remained strong in recent months, despite the dire forecasts.

             Now, the yield curve is a leading indicator. So, a recession could still validate the forecast. But it’s also possible that the U.S. will avoid a recession despite the Fed raising interest rates — another unique feature of the current economic cycle.

             Recent Strong Economic Data

             A U.S. recession is formally defined by a panel of experts after the event happens. But a simple measure is two consecutive quarters of negative growth for the economy. That’s not what we’re seeing currently. U.S. growth has been elevated in Q3 of 2023 at 4.9% and still strong on the latest estimate for Q4 at 3.3%. January’s jobs report was also strong with 353,000 positions added, well above most expectations. As the U.S. economy continues to grow, the window for a 2024 recession narrows.

             There are various theories as to why the yield curve may be less robust as an economic indicator than in the past. Some argue the U.S. economy is less dependent on interest rates than it once was. Others believe it might be another quirk of this relatively unique economic cycle. Nonetheless, the model holds that a recession is still more likely than not in 2024.

             What’s Next?

             From here, the Fed has hinted that interest rates are likely to fall. That could lower the recession signal, to the extent the yield curve becomes less inverted. However, there is still some way to go until then and the yield curve’s call for a recession remains in place.

             There is still time for negative economic data to come in that could potentially cause a recession in 2024, as the yield curve predicts. Yet, so far, the economic news implies accelerating growth over recent months, rather than a recession.

             That said, a lot more economic data for 2024 will come in. Others have argued that the best recession signal comes when the yield curve stops being inverted. So, it’s possible that the yield curve indicator may still be vindicated. But so far, in the current economic cycle, it is not forecasting as well as history suggests.
             …
             https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmoore/2024/02/06/the-inverted-yield-curve-continues-to-flash-a-recession-warning/?sh=34a806b15acc

          3. Fortune
             Finance Real estate
             ‘A problem we’ll be working on for years’: Fed chair Jerome Powell says commercial real estate’s impact on banking has just begun
             Powell doesn’t expect to see a banking crisis as bad as the Global Financial Crisis.
             BY Sydney Lake
             February 06, 2024 3:21 PM EST
             Fed chair Jerome Powell standing at a podium
             Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has cause for concern that the ailing commercial real estate market could impact banks. Getty Images—Xinhua News Agency

             The commercial real estate downfall isn’t a one-trick pony. Not only are landlords losing out from canceled or expiring leases, but the banking industry could also take a massive blow as buildings sit vacant and lose value.

             Indeed, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has cause for concern that the ailing commercial real estate market is just beginning to have an impact on banks.

             “It feels like a problem we’ll be working on for years,” he told CBS in a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, adding that “it’s a sizable problem,” albeit a “manageable one” that is more likely to affect smaller or regional banks.

             That’s the second instance in the past year, though, that Powell has warned of the commercial real estate sector’s effect on smaller, regional banks. In June 2023, a few months after Powell took extraordinary measures to prevent banking contagion after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, then the second-largest in U.S. history, he said he was keeping an eye on commercial real estate and its effects on the banking system.

             “To the extent that it’s well distributed, then the system could take losses. We do expect that there will be losses, but there will be banks that have concentrations, and those banks will experience larger losses,” Powell told reporters. “So we’re well aware of that, we’re monitoring it carefully.”
             The problem with office spaces

             In the aftermath of the pandemic, many companies adopted a completely remote or hybrid work model, which has led companies large and small to shed a great deal of their office footprint. Take Fannie Mae and Wells Fargo, which both recently let go of hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space in Washington, D.C., and Raleigh, N.C., respectively.

             That’s just one example of a reeling commercial real estate sector, where there could be 1 billion square feet of unused office space by the start of the new decade, according to Cushman & Wakefield data. And it’s likely to worsen as loans mature and more leases come to the end of their term.

             “The current vulnerability of CRE property performance is highly concentrated among office properties, particularly for those with near-term loan maturities and high lease rollover,” Kevin Fagan, Moody’s Analytics head of CRE economic analysis, told Fortune. “With roughly $325 billion of loan maturities coming, some loans will have issues refinancing into a higher interest rate environment and in some cases slowing CRE space demand.”

             Many commercial real estate developers and investors took out large loans after the Global Financial Crisis in 2009 when rates were low, but with 10-to-20-year maturities, they’re coming due within the next year or so, explains Michael Imerman, an assistant professor at UC-Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business who focuses on banking and real estate.

             “Although some of these loans are from the big banks [such as] JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, [and] Citi, a lot of this is the primary business for regional banks,” Imerman told Fortune. This is “why I am still very concerned about a crisis in the regional banking space.”
             Does CRE’s downfall spell doom for all banks?

             This is where economists, banking executives, and real estate experts disagree. Seamus Nally, CEO of property-management software company TurboTenant, says the commercial real estate market has a “massive impact on banks,” particularly regional banks. That’s because homeowners or local businesses tend to seek lending more often from smaller banks than financial institutions, “therefore causing the ebbs and flows of the real estate market to have a much more significant impact on those smaller banks.”

             He anticipates a “few” regional banks will start closing this year, but not a ton.

             “The real estate market has been extremely strained for several years now, and it’s only projected to ease up ever so slightly this year,” Nally said. “I could see larger banks start acquiring some smaller ones that cannot handle the market.”

             But Grant Cardone, founder and CEO of real estate investment firm Cardone Capital, says the Fed is “covering up” just how much trouble exists in and around regional and commercial banks, and says the problem will extend to “hundreds of banks nationwide, further reducing the number of choices Americans have for their local banks.”

             “Banks are being disrupted at the fastest rate in the history of this country,” Cardone told Fortune. “This will further negatively impact commercial real estate values where regional banks and national chains like Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Citi that have tens of thousands of locations around the U.S. become obsolete, as Americans trust banking online.”

             Will there be as many bank failures as 2008 during the Global Financial Crisis?

             While Cardone is more pessimistic about the outlook for bank closures and the commercial real estate downfall, Powell doesn’t have as grim of a forecast.

             “It doesn’t appear to have the makings of the kind of crisis things that we’ve seen sometimes in the past, for example, with the Global Financial Crisis,” he said in the 60 Minutes interview. “There will certainly be some banks that have to be closed or merged out of existence because of this,” but he suspects smaller banks will be the ones to incur losses.

             “It’s a secular change in the use of downtown real estate,” Powell said. “And the result will be losses for the owners and for the lenders, but it should be manageable.”

             Tom Collins, a national commercial banking practice lead with consulting firm West Monroe Partners, agrees that some commercial properties will go into default, but it wouldn’t be the hundreds that Cardone is anticipating—and he doesn’t anticipate we’ll see a 2008-like event “unless something major changes.”

             “Regional banks are definitely ground zero for issues related to the commercial real estate market, but big banks could be impacted as well,” Collins told Fortune. “While there are some alarm bells going off for regional banks with regard to the commercial real estate sector, I don’t think it’s time to panic.”
             …
             https://fortune.com/2024/02/06/powell-warns-impact-of-commercial-real-estate-on-banking

             1. The current vulnerability of CRE property performance is highly concentrated among office properties

                Well then, CRE is contained.

             2. But Grant Cardone, founder and CEO of real estate investment firm Cardone Capital, says the Fed is “covering up” just how much trouble exists in and around regional and commercial banks, and says the problem will extend to “hundreds of banks nationwide, further reducing the number of choices Americans have for their local banks.”

                Plenty of insurance companies counter balance their annuity portfolios with CRE investments, specifically office buildings. Is Powell going to make them whole again, or will the little people see more increases in their policies?

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