The Housing Market Is A Key Channel Of Monetary Policy Transmission

1. ‘A friend of mine from California said, ‘You’re too low,’ Hanson told BI. ‘Put it up for $2.3 million and it will sell’

   Yer friend is right Gary, don’t give it away!

2. ‘House prices across Britain are now more than nine times salaries, a ratio not seen for 150 years, according to a report from the asset manager Schroders. In London, homes cost 12 times annual earnings’

   As is always the case, absurdly low interest rates were fueled by subprime loans.

3. You will own nothing.

4. “Like numerous smaller towns across the US, Whitefish experienced a pandemic-induced homebuying boom. Redfin data shows the median sale price in Whitefish reached $750,000 in January, more than double the median price of $369,990 in January 2020.

   Heckova job, “Zimbabwe Ben” Bernanke, Yellen the Felon, & BlackRock Jay.

5. The inflation-adjusted price in 2024 dollars would make that $64,372.84. When compared to 1940, today’s prices are 21.91 times as high as the average price 80 years ago.”

   We will not have sound money, honest markets, or a future for our children as long as the criminal private banking cartel called the Fed controls our money issuance.

6. They were holding back the news, never trust the media, about what happened to that poor Amish Woman , murdered in PA….Police were looking for several days ,for a monster of a man ,who went to to the wrong house, looking for his two children,who had been taken by the State , put into Foster care….he arrived in a red car ,saw two kids playing ,dressed in Amish garb , and offed the poor woman…..the kids wern’t his….he was at the wrong house ……awlful …..

   1. That is a sad story.

   2. Are you Sarah Conner?

7. Sham “green energy” companies that were only viable in a world awash with central bank funny money are toppling like dominoes.

   https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/victorian-solar-energy-company-collapses-with-38m-in-debts/news-story/c11c8b7b047356294e98e06376136cb7

8. Zimbabwe R Us.

   https://twitter.com/jessefelder/status/1763617693763346462

9. “In response to the government-imposed lockdowns over the covid virus in 2020, the Fed and banks increased the money supply by an incredible 40%”

   Minor respiratory illness didn’t destroy the economy, government destroyed the economy.

   At least ALL THE RIGHT PEOPLE got theirs. You got a check for $1,400 and 50% inflation.

10. You will eat nothing.

    The Federalist — Historically High Food Prices Will Only Worsen If A Democrat Wins The White House (2/2/7/2024):

    “Americans have already spent a record-high portion of their disposable income on food since Joe Biden became president. A new study by the Buckeye Institute warns that food will become even more unaffordable if Biden or any other Democrat wins the White House this November due to their destructive climate policies.

    Thanks to Democrats’ destructive economic policies at the federal and state level, a 2022 survey by FreshNLean.com found 9 out of 10 Americans were struggling with high food prices, which “has consequences on the health of around 50 percent of the population,” and nearly 75 percent of the population wants to eat healthier but can’t because of finances.

    In another study, 63.2 percent of adults reported that household grocery costs increased significantly as of December 2022. To cope with skyrocketing food prices, many Americans either reduced the amount of food they bought or did not buy the kinds of food they wanted. Some relied on charitable organizations, such as food banks, to make ends meet. The rising cost of food is one of the reasons why 1 in 8 retirees plans to return to work in 2024.

    Based on Europe’s disastrous experience with a similar climate policy, researchers at the Buckeye Institute estimate that American farmers will see their operation costs rise by at least 34 percent. Farmers will have to pass on their cost increases to consumers by raising food prices. Under this scenario, the grocery bills of an American family of four (with an average $70,000 annual income) will increase 15 percent, or $1,300 per year, from $8,320 to $9,650. Prices of some so-called carbon emission-intensive foods such as cheese and beef could increase by more than 70 percent per pound.”

    https://thefederalist.com/2024/02/27/historically-high-food-prices-will-only-worsen-if-a-democrat-wins-the-white-house/

    70 percent is that a lot?

    Eat the bug paste, peasants.

11. Matt Taibbi — MSNBC, Paul Krugman Panic Over “White Rural Rage” (3/1/2024):

    “Fastball delivered, University of Maryland professor and co-author of just-released White Rural Rage: The Threat To American Democracy Tom Schaller took a swing. He and Mika first complained rural voters should be supporting Joe Biden, given his roots — you’d have to be pretty high to call Scranton “rural,” but whatever — then Schaller read off small town America’s charge sheet: rural whites, he said, are the most “racist,” “xenophobic,” “anti-immigrant and anti-gay,” “conspiracist,” “anti-democratic,” they “don’t believe in an independent press or free speech,” and are “most likely to accept or excuse violence,” for starters.

    Despite a pandemic that just graphically demonstrated the social contributions of farmers, truckers, train operators, and other “essential workers,” the people working those jobs were demonized during the crisis as murderous horse-paste eaters and insurrectionists. Their chief crimes: protesting lockdowns and school closures that disproportionately affected them, and being consumers of supposed foreign-inspired “misinformation” that led them to refuse appropriate political choices offered them.

    Nobel-winning columnist Paul Krugman of the New York Times spent the last year telling “ignorant” Middle America its negative feelings about the economy are “demonstrably false,” because despite what their bank accounts or home evaluations might say, “Bidenomics is still working very well.” When White Rural Rage came out this week he rushed to review it, the intransigent refusal of yokels to accept his wisdom being his favored current hobby horse …

    globalization and technological change have devastated small towns and made the urban keyboard warriors richer, and rural voters can’t move to the cities because they can’t afford to. However, instead of being grateful for the “huge de facto transfers of money from rich, urban states like New Jersey to poor, relatively rural states like West Virginia” in the form of federal programs paid by the taxes of luckier citizens like Krugman, small town America is unaccountably hostile.”

    https://www.racket.news/p/msnbc-paul-krugman-panic-over-white

    Urban keyboard warriors? Sounds about right.

    Paul Krugman can’t change a flat tire, assemble a piece of IKEA furniture, or lift more than 25 pounds with both hands.

    If he and all the other soft hands Parasite Class residents of Manhattan were to vanish overnight, would America be affected, or even notice? Probably not.

    1. In 1975, Pol Pot’s agrarian Khmer Rouge army surrounded and besieged Phnom Penh, until it collapsed due to a demoralized army led by corrupt, incompetent officers and starved of supplies. Then the Khmer Rouge emptied out the capital, force-marching the residents into the countryside into collective farms, where millions died from starvation, overwork, and Communist brutality.

       Be careful what you wish for, special snowflakes. Once the useful idiots have served their purpose, they become expendable.

    2. “White Rural Rage”

       Right, those rural white people should behave like the Woke Antifa kids that peacefully protested during the Summer of Love.

12. Street drugs have stolen too much from Zachary Wickens.

    His girlfriend Bella died three years ago after using alone. Then he lost a friend, so close he was like a brother, who froze to death after taking drugs.

    “This whole opiate epidemic is out of control,” Wickens said.

    Fentanyl almost took his life, too, by the Shoppers Drug Mart on Rideau Street near King Edward Avenue.

    “One of my overdoses was so bad that I was dead 10 minutes straight. Flatlined… My heart wasn’t beating,” he said. “They shocked me, did CPR, saved my life.”

    Now Wickens is on a safer supply program that runs out of a clinic and pharmacy on that same block.

    He used to smoke dangerous amounts of fentanyl and overdose multiple times a week. The program prescribes him 24 Dilaudid pills each day in the hopes they’ll help him stay off the toxic supply on the street.

    The pills are still addictive, but at least he isn’t dead.

    “It really does help if you use it properly,” Wickens said.

    But that stretch of sidewalk is full of people who don’t use the pills properly. When they get them, Wickens said, many trade the Dilaudid for stronger stuff on the street.

    “If they don’t have their fentanyl they get really sick, and the Dilaudids, they don’t even come close to the fentanyl, so they basically don’t have a choice,” he said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/other/a-bitter-pill-ottawas-safer-supply-program-flawed-but-vital-patient-says/ar-BB1j9Ke7

    1. This article is Canada, related article about the U.S.

       PBS — New study sheds light on ripple effects of overdose deaths (2/21/2024):

       “When someone overdoses and dies, surviving loved ones can feel as if they’ve been thrown into a crater of grief. Since 2000, 1.1 million people have fatally overdosed in the United States, and a new study helps quantify the profound depth of suffering.

       According to a nationally representative survey conducted by the RAND Corporation, 42 percent of U.S. adults said they have known someone who died from drug overdose. That amounts to an estimated 125 million Americans.”

       https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/2-in-5-u-s-adults-say-they-know-someone-who-died-from-drug-overdose

       I personally knew two, and beyond that many friends of friends or acquaintances now dead.

    2. What I can’t understand is people still try hard drugs! I’m trying not to be a hypocrite because I’ve smoked my fare share of weed and I still enjoy my booze. But if someone one good me that 1% of the bottles in the liquor store were tainted and it would kill you I would stop drinking. I get people are addicted but there are new replacements starting everyday. Sad. I did lose my cousin’s daughter….very bright and very pretty….she made a bad decision to ever start.

    3. The Jim Carroll Band – People Who Died

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AMWPO4Bup8

    4. “…who froze to death after taking drugs.”

       Hehe, no need for clothing with fentanyl.

    5. OTOH, when you show up with a broken shoulder and no one is willing to prescribe anything stronger than Tylenol, one is inclined to yell at the doctor and browbeat him into giving you opioids.

       1. What % of these folks are the street were prescribed opioids for medical reasons and got hooked?

          I have been looking for a statistic for this and can’t seem to find it. The documentaries about drug use sound more like this: “Jenny tried her first joint when she was 12. By 17 she was doing heroin with her boyfriend…”

          1. IDK, but over the last 35 years and a couple of operations, I’ve taken them several times, in some cases for months. I took them knowing that it was not forever, that I had to be careful, never take more than you’re allowed daily and if it was in my control, taper. Some doctors will take you off them without warning, even after telling them you want to stop gradually. I’d be lying if I said it was easy, but you do it, as most people do after an illness/operation. I feel sorry for those with chronic pain, people who need them to function. I hear they’re referred to pain clinics and sometimes treated badly.

             I’d like to see some accurate statistics myself.

13. The insistence that the climate crisis must be solved by individual choices and the market has fed far-right denialism, to which the mainstream is pandering, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

    You could be excused for thinking that, among politicians at least, action on the climate crisis is out of fashion. As Labour slash their £28-billion spending commitment on the environment and Rishi Sunak is pictured with the climate-sceptic group No Farmers No Food at a protest at the Welsh Government, it would certainly seem that in British politics, the climate crisis is at best a low-priority for limited spending and at worst, a liberal attempt to oppress ordinary people.

    In the narrow context of UK politics, this might appear to be simply the extended fallout from the 2023’s Uxbridge by-election, where the narrow Tory win was attributed to opposition to the extension of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone by London’s Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan. Sunak’s appearance at the farmers’ protest can be seen as a continuation of the position he tried to take in autumn 2023, as the heroic defender of the people against threats like the meat tax and the ‘diktat’ for seven bins per household, both of which were in fact imaginary. It comes at a time though when climate action seems to be more widely on pause. The German government put green transition plans ‘on hold’ in December 2023. In response to widespread farmers’ protests, the European Commission has also made a remarkable retreat on environmental regulation, pulling the plug on a planned bill limiting the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture and removing a target to reduce methane and nitrogen emissions from farming by 30% from their 2040 roadmap.

    As John Mullen points out, the farmers and others involved in the protests are far from being a monolith, and there are many different strands with different politics involved. It is, however, undeniable that the protests have support from various right-wing and far-right groups, from the Countryside Alliance to the German AfD. It is therefore possible to see the protests as drawing at least in part on the general milieu of long-standing far-right climate scepticism, which, since Covid-19, has developed into a general conspiracy position encompassing Covid-19 lockdowns, vaccinations, fifteen-minute cities, compulsory dietary changes and more.

    Angelika Barbe, from the German AfD-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, for example, told a farmers’ conference in September 2023 that Europe is on ‘the road to enslavement’ as a result of secret WEF plans to ‘ban dairy products, meat and private cars before 2030’, as well as making us all take Covid-19 vaccines which will rot our brains. James Melville, the founder of No Farmers No Food, has similarly been reported as supporting the view that ‘between Bill Gates, the CCP & the WEF, we’re going to have no private farmland left. They want you eating bugs.’

    In some ways then, government reaction to the farmers’ protests would seem to represent the familiar liberal tactic of dealing with the far right by capitulating to far-right pressure while hand-wringing about the need to ‘strengthen the centre’, as Ursula von der Leyen put it. It has certainly been interesting to note which protestors are told that governments ‘have their back’ and which that they are signs that ‘mob rule is replacing democratic rule’ and deserve a clampdown on the right to protest. This does, however, leave the question of why measures to deal with the climate crisis are attracting such opposition.

    It is clear that an approach to the climate crisis which relies on persuading or compelling individuals to pay large sums of money for green kit is going to be neither effective nor fair. This is obvious, and the reason that approach nevertheless became the default position of governments across the West is that for a neoliberal government, there is no alternative. A green capitalist approach, which looks for ways to grow the market in green technologies in the hope that private investment will sort everything out, is not going to work. As far as renewable energy is concerned, it is just insufficiently profitable to attract the levels of private investment required.

    What is needed, therefore, is significant public spending. Starmer himself appeared to recognise this, telling the BBC in January 2024 that although the Tories were trying to weaponize the issue of the cost of the Green Prosperity Plan, he was ‘absolutely up for’ a fight on it. That he did so shortly before slashing the spending commitment was depressingly predictable, but this was not only the result of Tory jibes that Labour couldn’t tell us how they were planning to pay for it. The issue was more Labour’s determination to keep spending within the fiscal rules set by Tories, even if that rendered their green policies absurd.

    All this emphasises that an insistence on climate change as a matter for individual spending and the anti-net-zero climate denial are two aspects of the same problem, that the market cannot solve the climate crisis. Neoliberal politicians oscillate between the two poles because any other option would require the sort of sustained public spending that they refuse to undertake. This turns the issue into a gift to the far right, fuelling climate denial even as the seriousness of the climate crisis becomes clearer by the day. In response, we have to fight for a workers’ response to climate change which puts at its centre public infrastructure rather than private consumer spending and which rejects the idea that we have to suffer in order to save the planet.

    https://www.counterfire.org/article/climate-change-out-of-fashion/

    1. Translation: the little people, who are already suffering from stupid government policies, aren’t willing to suffer even more for the climate change hoax.

       1. Psychotic people call logical people far right extremists and [fantasy] deniers.

14. [There are a few of you from CO. In-Colorado I think and others]

    My wife is from Denver – we are back in town for a wedding.

    OMG – the squeegize squad is back in force at major intersections – and boy are they aggressive – this seems to be very new.

    On 6th Av heading into Lowry (a wonderful old neighborhood), there are a ton of folks at each stoplight with cardboard signs stating that they are migrants from Venezuala and need money. A bunch of upper middle class folks in BMWs etc., were giving them money.

    What is happening in Denver?

    1. Property crimes are soaring in Highlands Ranch, an upscale suburb lousy with libtards. Those neighborhoods have always been quiet and secure, but now the rot is being visited upon the virtue-signalers who were so proud of the role they played in helping Biden carry Denver and Colorado in the 2020 election.

    2. What is happening in Denver?

       40,000+ unskilled, functionally illiterate, unemployable invaders who are hoping to join the Free Sh!t Army came to Dumver. And that’s just the official count, the real number is almost certainly higher.

    3. there are a ton of folks at each stoplight with cardboard signs

       While I believe that panhandling cannot be outlawed, my little burg has banned standing on street medians for any reason. I saw a brand new sign saying that while I was out and about today. There was also a sign telling drivers to rethink how they do their giving.

       1. There are median-walkers in my area all over the place now. Some have ventured out into the street to walk the line of cars at the stoplights. However, at least I haven’t been approached in a store with a to-do list of stuff for me to buy for them.

    4. “What is happening in Denver?”

       I’ve posted here before, you have no idea how bad it is unless you actually drive around the city here.

       2022 was the year homelessness exploded and expanded south from Denver into Arapahoe County. 2023-2024 was the invasion of Venezuelans. I no longer want to host guests from out of state because of what a truly deplorable place this city has become.

15. When did you first realize your government was infiltrated and captured by One World Order forces, that want to destroy all sovereign Countries, Respresentive Governments, freedoms and constitutional protections.

    Was it when the US government bailed out the fraudulent banks, lenders and investment entities, charging it to the taxpayers.
    Was it when policies of Globalization and free trade gutted the manufacturing and job base in USA, transferring it to foreign Countries.
    Was it when the Federal Reserve Act was enacted in 1913, or the 16 th amendment federal income tax, or was it World war 1 and 2 and all the endless wars to follow.
    Was it the Obama care Commie health care .
    Was it the corruption of Science and Institutions of learning for corrupt and fraudulent narratives.
    Was it Climate Change doomsday narratives, or Pandemics either faked or created and fake vaccines as a weapon of mass genocide.
    Was it defund the Police resulting in predictable rise in crime.

    1. I saw the first signs of clown world decades ago. For instance, I was surprised that public schools accepted illegals, as my experience in other countries was that you had to prove legal residence to receive access to public education.

       At first I assumed that it was merely idiocy behind it, but now it is clear they want to tear down the republic and replace it with a tyranny of their making, and the easiest way to do that is for it to collapse. Our current unsustainable policies and spending guarantee that will eventually happen.

16. Oh, I forgot the invasion of US border. Add to that censorship of free speech. Add to that the attack on law abiding citizens saying they are enemies of state.
    Transgender attack on minors and attack on parental rights.
    WHO treaty transfer of power by Biden to corrupt health organizations to rule the world.
    Rigged elections placing puppets in positions of power.
    When did you first realize that you.are being taken over by a insurrection by One World Order forces.

17. A reader sent these in:

    BREAKING: New York Community Bank stock, $NYCB, crashes 20%+ after reporting “material weakness in internal controls.”

    https://twitter.com/WinfieldSmart/status/1763326584071848027

    Material weakness in internal controls: sh$t is not marked properly and we have no f@cking idea how to and by how much

    https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1763328017219391776

    BNSF Railway, one of the largest freight companies in the U.S., has begun furloughing hundreds of employees in Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and Texas.

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763637430014329216

    Jay Parsons out at RealPage:

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763635340059738404

    RealPage is allegedly the company behind landlords fixing rents at higher base prices due to its software algorithms. It is being sued by AGs around the country.

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763636033554461114

    Moderna is laying off a significant number of employees within its manufacturing unit

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763627836416442412

    This video was submitted and shows a job line at a tire factory in Canada, hundreds & thousands have been showing up to job fairs and centers as Indian migrants have overwhelmed the country’s labor, education, and housing markets.

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763615100273909774

    San Antonio ISD will cut hundreds of positions due to budget shortfall, declining demographics

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763584360643448914

    🔴 FED’S GOOLSBEE: WE HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON HOUSING INFLATION.

    https://twitter.com/financialjuice/status/1763582432291307991

    The “fiscal responsibility act” was passed last year.
    How it’s going:

    https://twitter.com/NorthmanTrader/status/1763616179870900401

    Larry Ellison’s Startup Ronin has shut down abruptly, will lay off all 150 employees

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763734530794324145

    NYCB has been cut to junk rating by Fitch

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763715900614598724

    Nvidia’s valuation is now larger than Aramco – the largest oil company in the world – and the Canadian economy

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763683933680435403

    The Head of the Swiss Central Bank is stepping down

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763643405094039846

    And that’s how a bank loses 66% of its market capitalization in just 31 days…

    https://twitter.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1763737981553091014

    Construction spending declined in Jan, and that’s w/ billions of dollars in not only direct gov’t spending but also gov’t subsidies underlying the private spending – and it’s also before adjusting for inflation; truly private construction spending has ground to a halt:

    https://twitter.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1763711430505697649

    Treasury borrowed $103 billion in just the last 4 days, pushing federal debt to new record high of $34.471 trillion; Yellen is on track to borrow $2.8 trillion this calendar year and $3.1 trillion this fiscal year – w/ a compliant Fed, inflation is here to stay…

    https://twitter.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1763696486292844654

    The New York Times says the U.S. economy is surpassing expectations. Is it any wonder why Americans’ trust in legacy media is at an all time low?

    https://twitter.com/Heritage/status/1763670933619822749

    We need more positive feel good stories like this.
    🔥🔥🔥

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1763682778883780842

    Hmmm … such a mystery … 🤨

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1763489363126890829

    The Bay Area Rapid Transit system is facing a ‘catastrophic’ $240 million budget shortfall

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763769818145267842

    Fed Waller thinks working families should be able to afford homes again

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1763689029290361018

    hawkish data = bullish

    dovish data = also bullish

    hope that helps

    https://twitter.com/concodanomics/status/1763596986995933195

    Perhaps the Fed does not cut at all this year.

    I don’t see any reason for them to cut, do you?

    https://twitter.com/Mayhem4Markets/status/1763737882194280668

    New watchlist loan. Student housing at Texas A&M.
    The Callaway House College Station.
    173 units.
    $47mm loan amount (~$272K per unit).
    97% occupied.
    DSCR of 1.01x.
    Loan has entered the watch list due to an upcoming maturity date of 8/9/2024.

    https://twitter.com/aryal1994/status/1763740968119828669

    This a Hampton Inn they turned into student housing?

    https://twitter.com/JohnJBlatchford/status/1763749994702537115

    A skyscraper in Pennsylvania just went pending at a shocking $20 per sq ft – yes, that’s not a typo
    The 450k sq ft tower in Allentown, PA is under contract to be sold for $9 million
    They are practically giving away office buildings at this point but there aren’t many takers even at these shockingly low prices

    https://twitter.com/TripleNetInvest/status/1763715441099424089

    Oil rising & unemployment rising in 25 states – what could go wrong?

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1763608754145120631

    Mag7 is now Mag1 + AI

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1763629822834622768

    1. Q: What happened to my money?

       A: There was a “material weakness in internal controls.” LOL

       1. We’re going to hear a lot more about this I’d bet.

    2. ‘FED’S GOOLSBEE: WE HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON HOUSING INFLATION.’

       Goolsbee, the proverbial horses escaped the barn years ago, so why bother shutting the door now?

       1. User
          Retroactive CYA effort?

          ChatGPT
          “CYA” stands for “Cover Your Ass.” A retroactive CYA effort refers to taking actions after an event has occurred to protect oneself from potential blame or consequences. It could involve documenting decisions, gathering evidence, or making statements to deflect responsibility.

          1. ChatGPT 3.5

             User
             Barn door left open
             All of the horses have fled
             Hurry, shut the door

             ChatGPT
             Oh no, that sounds urgent! I hope you can round up the horses quickly and get that door closed.

             User
             That was a haiku.

             ChatGPT
             Ah, I see! My apologies for missing that. A clever haiku capturing a moment of urgency. Well done!

             User
             It’s a metaphor describing retroactive CYA effort.

             ChatGPT
             Ah, I see the metaphor now. A clever comparison, indeed. It vividly illustrates the idea of trying to remedy a situation after the damage has already been done.

             User
             You are catching on!

             ChatGPT
             Thank you! I aim to understand and adapt to the nuances of our conversation. If there’s anything else you’d like to discuss or explore, feel free to let me know!

             ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information.

             ChatGPT

    3. This video was submitted and shows a job line at a tire factory in Canada, hundreds & thousands have been showing up to job fairs and centers as Indian migrants have overwhelmed the country’s labor, education, and housing markets.

       And I’m sure they are all doctors, astronauts and PhD’s

18. Yellen the Felon is going all-out to accelerate de-dollarization.

    https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=250829

19. $1.13 trillion in credit card debt – an all-time record – will likely be seen by the lowbrows here on the HBB as a huge red flag showing tapped-out consumers are piling on more debt. However, Old Yellen assures us this is the sign of a “strong consumer.”

    https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1763957688164069481

20. $1.13 trillion in credit card debt

    The FedGov borrows that much every 113 days. Credit card debt is a drop in the bucket, and banks will get bail outs to cover any defaults.

21. OT and adorable.
    https://twitter.com/BabiesLab_/status/1761457570403783094

    1. That one makes the clouds go away!

       1. 😄

22. [BIG SURPRISE! (not)]

    ‘We’re leaving!’: Rich Americans are ditching California and ‘taking their tax dollars with them — and now the tax rates they’re fleeing have been raised even higher

    https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/leaving-rich-americans-ditching-california-163000441.html

    The Golden State has lost its shine for its wealthiest residents.

    In 2023, California’s population dipped below 39 million, the lowest count since 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Data shows the state lost 75,423 residents last year — continuing a dramatic trend that started with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

    What’s concerning is not how many people are leaving — the state has experienced lopsided out-migration for decades, according to the Los Angeles Times — but who is leaving.

    Analysis of the approximately 750,000 people who have bid farewell to California over the last three years has revealed that thousands more high-earning, well-educated workers have left the Golden State than have moved in.

    This is a problem — as Joel Kotkin, a fellow at Chapman University, told the Los Angeles Times — because: “People who are leaving are taking their tax dollars with them.”

    It’s a well-known fact that California has the highest state income tax in the country. For a decade, the top income tax rate sat at 13.3%, but as of Jan. 1, the top rate was increased to an astronomical 14.4% for those earning more than $1 million.

    The wealthy: ‘We’re leaving’

    The new 14.4% state tax rate has far surpassed other notable high-tax states: Hawaii’s income tax bracket maxes out at 11%, while New Yorkers making more than $25 million are taxed at a rate of 10.5%.

    Ultra-wealthy Californians, the top 1%, typically pay between 40-50% of the state’s personal income tax revenue. And some have clearly had enough of propping up the state’s finances.

    “I’m seeing anywhere from two to five clients a month calling me and saying ‘We’re leaving,’” Todd Litman, an estate planning attorney told Sky News. “They have $1 million to $2 million sitting in their IRA and they’re saying: ‘When I retire and start pulling that IRA out, I’m going to be paying 13% state income tax, so I don’t want to do that.’ So, they’re heading out because of that reason.”

    It is not just wealthy residents leaving; businesses are also exiting the state — again due to high tax rates, punitive regulations, high labor, utility and energy costs, among other things.

    That loss of vital income tax is very problematic for California, which is facing a record $68 billion budget deficit, largely due to an unprecedented drop in tax revenue.

    Below the top 1%

    For many of the wealthiest individuals, a 14.4% income tax rate is more of an annoyance than an economic hindrance. The same cannot be said for those a few tax brackets below.

    In tax years 2020 and 2021, the average gross income of taxpayers who moved from California to another state was about $137,000, according to IRS migration and personal income data.

    That would place those individuals in California’s largest state income tax bracket — at 9.3% — which applies to single filers who earn between $61,215 and $312,686 per year, or married couples filing jointly with an annual income of $122,429 to $625,372.

    If you earned $137,000 last year in California, your estimated state income tax for 2023 would be $9,896, according to the SmartAsset tax calculator. And if you reduced your taxable income by maxing out your 401(k) contribution at $22,500 (the 2023 total) and your IRA contribution at $7500 (for those aged 50 and older), your estimated state income tax would be around $6,827.

    That’s on top of federal income tax — which, with a household income of $137,000 would be around 22-24% — plus property taxes of around 0.71% and sales tax of at least 7.25%. That’s a lot of tax to pay each year — and it has stung Californians even more in the wake of COVID-19, when the nation has battled inflation and housing costs have soared to record highs.

    If not California, then where?

    Several hotspots for fleeing Californians are Texas, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee and Nevada. What ties these states together? They are all very tax friendly.

    Texas and Florida experienced the highest population growth in 2023, according to Census data, with gains of 473,453 people and 365,205 people, respectively. Both states have no personal income tax — which could help wealthy individuals save thousands of dollars each year.

    These tax-friendly states are particularly attractive to retirees, who don’t want to lose a sizable cut of their retirement benefits to the taxman.

    If you’re considering moving states because you’re tired of paying high income taxes, it’s important to remember that personal income tax rates only tell part of the tax story.

    You have to consider each individual state’s personal income tax brackets and the available deductions, exemptions and credits. Also remember that property and sales taxes can impact a state’s affordability.

    For example, while Texas — the most popular destination for Californians — has no state income tax, it has one of the highest effective property tax rates in the country, at 1.68%. In a similar vein, tax-friendly Tennessee has the highest sales tax in the country, at 9.548%.

    Of course, it is not just tax rates causing Californians to leave the Golden State, but that is a major factor — and it may end up hurting those who choose to stay, if the state’s economy suffers as a result.

    1. Vote like California, become California.

       Oh, wait…

    2. Texas, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee and Nevada

       Hot/dry, hot/humid, hot/dry, passable, hot/dry.

       I think I’ll just live in a really cheap house and take minimum distributions to avoid the taxes.

       1. Texas can be hot/humid too

          1. Yeah, Houston. No thanks!

          2. One of the most pleasant climates I ever lived in was Phoenix area-Glendale believe it or not. Some years I never put long pants on.

             1. I spent a few months in Phoenix 15 years ago on an engineering project. It was “spring:, i.e. May -June. It was a hellhole with outside spring temperatures closing on 100 degrees. Workers went to work at 5:30 to 6 AM (AZ not on DST) to avoid later daytime unworkable conditions.
                Yeah, probably good for either people who do not work outside or retirees, all who can stay inside in air conditioned space. If electricity was cut off for months, 90% would either be dead or moved away if possible.
                No thanks for me!

             2. I made a typo error above. Outside temperatures approaching 110 degrees, not 100.

23. ChatGPT 3.5

    User
    Is buying a house at auction a good idea?

    ChatGPT
    Buying a house at auction can be a good idea under certain circumstances. It often allows you to potentially find properties at a lower price than on the traditional market. However, it also comes with risks, such as limited opportunity for inspection and the possibility of unforeseen issues with the property. It’s crucial to thoroughly research the property and the auction process before making a decision.

    User
    What if prices are at a historic high level and the traditional realtor-facilitated market is dead?

    ChatGPT
    In such a scenario, buying a house at auction could still be a viable option, especially if you’re looking for potential bargains or distressed properties. Auctions can sometimes offer opportunities to purchase properties below market value, even when prices are at historic highs in the traditional market. However, it’s essential to proceed with caution and conduct thorough due diligence on the property to ensure you’re making a sound investment decision.

    User
    Doesn’t sale by auction drive the price up to market value?

    ChatGPT
    While auctions can indeed drive prices up to market value or even higher in competitive bidding situations, they can also result in properties being sold below market value, particularly if there are fewer interested buyers or if the property is distressed. The final sale price at auction depends on various factors, including the condition of the property, the level of demand, and the motivations of the bidders. Therefore, while auctions can sometimes lead to higher prices, they can also offer opportunities to purchase properties at a discount, especially in certain market conditions.

    User
    What if the auction uses a reserve price?

    ChatGPT
    A reserve price in an auction is the minimum price that the seller is willing to accept for the property. If bidding doesn’t reach this reserve price during the auction, the property may not be sold. In such cases, if the reserve price is set at or above market value, it could prevent the property from being sold below market value. However, if the reserve price is set lower than market value, it could still allow for the possibility of purchasing the property at a discount. Therefore, the impact of a reserve price on the final sale price depends on how it’s set relative to the property’s market value and the level of bidding activity during the auction.

    User
    Given the risk of buying a house without the normal inspection, do housing auctions create a “market for lemons” problem?

    ChatGPT
    Housing auctions can potentially create a “market for lemons” problem, where the quality of properties available for sale may be uncertain, leading buyers to be wary of purchasing due to the risk of undisclosed issues. Without the opportunity for thorough inspections or due diligence typically available in traditional real estate transactions, buyers may face increased uncertainty about the condition of the property they’re purchasing. This uncertainty can result in fewer informed buyers participating in the auction, potentially driving down prices or leading to properties being sold primarily to risk-tolerant buyers. However, auctions can also provide opportunities for savvy buyers to identify undervalued properties and negotiate terms that mitigate some of the risks associated with purchasing without traditional inspections.

    ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information.

    ChatGPT

    1. FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News
       Over 400 properties are up for sale in SD County’s online auction
       Rhea Caoile
       1 day ago
       Real estate sign says for sale
       (Adobe Stock)

       SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — People waiting for a good time to buy a new home in San Diego County could find some deals this month.

       Registration is now open for people interested in bidding on properties in the 2024 online property tax auction.

       According to the San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector’s auction website, 468 properties were originally advertised and 426 are still up for sale.

       The properties include residential or commercial properties, timeshares and vacant land.

       San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister said the properties have been in tax default for at least five years.

       The county hopes to bring in more than $3,800,000 in tax revenue from the sale of these properties, if they are sold for the minimum bidding price.

       Anyone around the world can register for bidding before March 14 on the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s website.

       Interested bidders must also pay a refundable $1,000 deposit and a non-refundable processing fee starting at $35.

       The online auction opens at 8 a.m. on March 22 and officially ends on March 27. All sales are final.

       Property owners whose properties are on the auction block can avoid going to sale if they pay off all of their taxes and fees by 5 p.m. on March 21.

       For more information about the online property tax auction, visit the San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector’s property tax auction website.
       …
       https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/over-400-properties-are-up-for-sale-in-sd-countys-online-auction

24. Yahoo Finance
    MarketWatch
    ‘Our American dream turned into a nightmare’: I sold my home, but rising interest rates and prices locked me out of the market. What can I do?
    Quentin Fottrell
    Fri, Mar 1, 2024, 8:17 PM PST
    7 min read

    ‘Our American dream turned into a nightmare’: I sold my home, but rising interest rates and prices locked me out of the market. What can I do?

    I wanted to share my experience with the current housing market and ask for advice on my next moves in a seemingly impossible situation. Let’s take a trip back to 2017. I was married at the time with three young children, and my then-wife and I were renters. We both worked the best jobs we could for our education and experience, which was not much at the time.

    She brought home $2 per hour, plus tips, waiting tables at a nearby restaurant, while I worked at a marine store for $500 a week. We rented a very small manufactured home in a mobile-home community and paid $800 per month in rent. We were able to save for a year to take our next steps toward home ownership in 2018.

    We found a home through my wife’s former colleague. It was a three-bedroom, two-bathroom 1,400-square-foot home on 1.53 acres of land. We obtained a price of $145,900 from the seller. We were approved for an FHA loan at 3.5% down and a 4.625% interest rate. This was all our savings, but we took a leap of faith and agreed to move forward.

    A single father paying all the bills

    We closed on the home and lived there for three years. We had some relationship troubles along the way — mostly about finances, as we were now paying $1,053 a month for a mortgage — and we decided to divorce. As a single father in the home, I was left with all the bills. With hard work and dedication I prevailed. It was tough, but not impossible.

    In 2021, I changed jobs and was making $23.10 an hour, working 60-plus hours a week! Life was looking great. I was saving money, able to make repairs on the home and provide a Christmas for my children. I met a woman and we had a blended family of six children. We moved into the house together at the end of the year 2021.

    Last year, our world turned upside down. My second wife was let go from her manufacturing job and began working in the only area in which she could find a job: home-to-home sales. She has an associate’s degree in accounting, but for months she could not land a job. So the bills began to pile up. Our credit-card debt rose and we started to drown.

    ‘Stopped dead in our tracks’

    We decided we could sell our home and walk away with more than we would need for 20% down on a new home. So we listed our home for $300,000. We sold it for $296,600. We began our journey toward buying land to build a barndominium, our dream home. But our joint income was not enough, and we were stopped dead in our tracks. Moving in with my parents was our only option.

    We are now saving every dollar. Due to the interest-rate increase, selling our home is one of our biggest regrets, because we know that finding a single-family home on one acre for $150,000 is a thing of the past. We make more money now then we ever have, but we cannot afford a large enough home to fit our blended family. We would have to nearly double our annual income.
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-dream-turned-nightmare-sold-235700488.html

25. Yahoo Finance
    Reuters
    Fed policy report warns on possible financial sector risks
    FILE PHOTO: An eagle tops the U.S. Federal Reserve building’s facade in Washington·Reuters
    Michael S. Derby and Dan Burns
    Updated Fri, Mar 1, 2024, 11:12 AM PST 4 min read
    By Michael S. Derby and Dan Burns

    (Reuters) -The Federal Reserve report released Friday flagged a range of what it deemed “notable” vulnerabilities in financial markets, while adding the stress that roiled the banking sector a year ago has faded considerably.

    The Fed also used the latest release of its periodic Monetary Policy Report to say that officials will not start moving their short-term interest rate target down until they gain greater confidence inflation is truly moving back to the 2% target.

    In the report, the central bank noted a number of ways in which borrowing levels, or leverage, were increasing risks in the financial sector. It also said stock prices were “close to historical highs.” The Fed said leverage at hedge funds had stabilized at high levels, while life insurers were facing a situation where they were becoming more reliant on non-traditional sources of funding.

    Meanwhile, while banks’ sources of funding remain liquid and stable, funding costs were on the rise, the central bank said. But even with those rising challenges, the Fed report said “the banking system remains sound and resilient” and “acute stress in the banking system has receded since last spring.”
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-monetary-policy-report-warns-164457966.html

26. Suspect wanted in Oregon on rape charges arrested in Martin County

    6 hours ago

    MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. —
    A suspect wanted in Oregon on rape charges has been taken into custody by Martin County Sheriff’s deputies.

    The undocumented Guatemalan man, 26 year-old Juan Jose-Sebastian, is wanted in Washington County, Oregon, on three counts of rape and sexual abuse, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies initially arrested Jose-Sebastian on charges of driving without a license, but his sentence for that crime was served. Upon notification of his pending release, jail officials discovered that Jose-Sebastian was wanted on a warrant for rape in Oregon.

    When they notified ICE, federal authorities declined to hold him. Oregon officials declined to extradite him. With no authority to keep him in custody, Jose-Sebastian was subsequently released from our jail with a notification to the public.

    Reaction from the community was swift, particularly actions taken by Congressman Brian Mast who worked immediately on this issue, along with Governor Ron DeSantis and ICE Officials out of Washington DC. As a result, ICE officials authorized MCSO to locate and re-arrest the fugitive from justice.

    Deputies with the Martin County Sheriff’s Road Patrol re-located and detained 26-year old Juan Jose-Sebastian early this morning, only a few hours after his release from the Martin County Jail. He is now in the custody of Immigration officials.

    https://www.wpbf.com/article/florida-suspect-wanted-in-oregon-for-rape-charges-arrested-in-martin-county/60054817

    1. “When they notified ICE, federal authorities declined to hold him. Oregon officials declined to extradite him. With no authority to keep him in custody, Jose-Sebastian was subsequently released from our jail with a notification to the public.”

       “Reaction from the community was swift”

27. Bonds backed by commercial real estate loans could be the next pain point for markets, economist says
    Yuheng Zhan
    Feb 29, 2024, 9:49 AM PST

    – Delinquencies of loans backing CMBS have spiked, with the troubled office sector to blame.

    – Trouble for CMBS bonds is a greater concern than banks’ CRE exposure, David Rosenberg said.

    – He warned that a CMBS crisis could be the next source of pain for markets and investors.
    …
    https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/bonds/commercial-real-estate-cmbs-delinquencies-mortgage-office-values-bonds-loans-2024-2

28. ‘Redfin data shows the median sale price in Whitefish reached $750,000 in January, more than double the median price of $369,990 in January 2020’

    I said it when it was happening: this was straight up red flag, should never happen, the appraisers are going along with this? Shack prices should never go up that fast, but the media doesn’t really talk about it, do they? What we hear instead, ‘boy wasn’t that nuts, I’m glad that’s over’.

29. ‘points out that in the years before the pandemic, consumers got used to really low mortgage rates…’Unfortunately, a lot of people felt that was normal, and that anything above that they should just wait until they go back to the three and a half, four percent range. And that is not a realistic expectation’

    You know Guy, yer industry played up the ‘free money and it’s gonna stay that way’ thing long and often for years. Now the gamblers are fooked and yer gaslighting the FBs.

30. ‘Looking at the January housing stats, one thing is certain: if you are looking for a house on the Space Coast, there are plenty to choose from’

    This is all over Florida BTW. I was posting the inventory build here and there the last few months, but the statistical articles are many day by day. I could post 3 to 6 a day but they are kinda dry reading.

31. ‘in November, her condominium insurance rate went from about $800 per year to $1,800 per year. She says not she isn’t sure what to do next. ‘I’m depressed,’ said Donner, who is retired. ‘I have to go out and get a job, even if it’s part-time… As far as moving out of the state, I have family here, so I don’t know. Every dollar I get in is going towards bills. I can’t enjoy my life. I don’t take my car out of my garage as much as I did because I don’t want to use the gas’

    People who thought they were retired but find out they aren’t. I’ve heard that mentioned before.

    1. thought they were retired but find out they aren’t

       Over $80/month!

32. ‘January’s median price was $45,000 below the all-time high of $750,000 reached in April 2022, right before high mortgage rates combined with high prices to chill buyer demand. Prices fell month-to-month starting in May 2022, dropping $80,000 to just under $670,000 in January 2023. Then, a rapid decrease in listings revived buyer competition, with prices fluctuating between $705,000 and $740,000 since last spring’

    In retrospect, the way corelogic releases data shows how they convoluted things with criss-cross stats and boosterism characterizations.

    ‘Then, a rapid decrease in listings revived buyer competition’

    Always with the low supply thing.

33. ‘paid a jaw-dropping 77% less than the price paid about five years earlier by the latest transaction’s seller’

    That’s a mighty a$$ pounding there Rubicon.

34. ‘It was designed to make homeownership more affordable by reducing the size of the borrower’s mortgage, as well as their monthly payments. But the requirements were considered unrealistic in the country’s most expensive markets of Vancouver and Toronto, where the typical home price is above $1-million. ‘It will not be missed,’ said Tuli Parubets, a mortgage agent with Mortgage Scout who works with homebuyers in the Toronto region. ‘What can you buy for $1-million? Not a whole lot’

    These guberment affordable housing deals always are designed to goose the market Tuli. Yer statement shows the result.

35. Yahoo Finance
    Benzinga
    The Median 401(k) Balance For Any Age Is Much Lower Than Expected: Many Over 50-Year-Olds Have Barely Enough For A New Car
    Jeannine Mancini
    Thu, Feb 29, 2024, 12:35 PM PST
    4 min read

    When planning for retirement, many Americans rely on their 401(k) savings as a key component of their financial strategy. However, recent data suggests that the median 401(k) balance is much lower than many people might expect. According to a report from Vanguard titled “How America Saves 2023,” the average 401(k) balance varies significantly by age group.

    According to Vanguard’s data, here are the average and median balances:

    Age Average Account Balance Median Account Balance

    Under 25 $5,236 $1,948

    25-34 $30,017 $11,357

    35-44 $76,354 $28,318

    45-54 $142,069 $48,301

    55-64 $207,874 $71,168

    65+ $232,710 $70,620
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/median-401-k-balance-age-203510184.html

    1. “65+ $232,710 $70,620”

       Good thing we have so many real estate investors-turned-millionaires, because those puny 401(k) balances won’t pay for much.

36. ‘The housing market has been changed permanently…And not only will prices never return to pre-pandemic levels, she said the pandemic elevated the importance of what having a home means…‘The pandemic changed how we look at our homes. Having a safe, secure, comfortable place to keep your family when we were all confined at one point became very important. That has stuck with us. People realized then, sometimes you can’t always travel or get out. Owning a home has become more of a focal point for families’

    You were probably wearing a mouth hankey talking to this reporter Maggie. Or it’s just a weird UHS talking point.

    ‘Prices began to rise, said Chen, once investors, largely from the Toronto area, began to discover that those low prices, combined with low interest rates, allowed them to create positive cash flows after only having to put down 10 per cent to purchase property’

    One of my favorite FB story lines is when outsiders walk into some sh$thole and say, lookie there, it’s gold just laying on da ground!’

    ‘We had a huge flow of investors come to town,’ Chen said. ‘Prices were driven up dramatically higher than they were supposed to be’

    Well it’s a good thing everybody put 20% down then, isn’t it Maggie?

37. ‘In a 2002 speech, Greenspan explained his rationale for lowering interest rates to increase housing demand and stimulate the economy as follows, ‘Besides sustaining the demand for new construction, mortgage markets have also been a powerful stabilizing force over the past two years of economic distress by facilitating the extraction of some of the equity that homeowners have built up over the years’

    It’s a good thing they got rid of this kinda thing. I never hear ads about refinancing anymore.

    ‘As the Federal Reserve later explained in a 2005 paper, ‘Like other asset prices, house prices are influenced by interest rates, and in some countries, the housing market is a key channel of monetary policy transmission’

    This is entirely reckless and monumental. There is a lot of money riding on this batsh$t crazy policy. Why? Prevent recessions? Jebbus we used to have recessions all the time. Sometimes they would last a month or two. No big deal. Are you afraid you’ve stacked the dominoes wrong? Stop stacking dominoes.

    1. “I never hear ads about refinancing anymore.”

       Because there’s no equity to milk from the shack.

38. ‘The US median home price is now down nearly 13 percent year-over-year. As this chart shows, that is the biggest decline in the past 60 years and even worse than the decline seen during the housing bust of 2008-2009!’

    But yesterday somebody said up 6%?

39. ‘Greenspan gave a speech praising subprime mortgage loans by saying: Innovation has brought about a multitude of new products, such as subprime loans and niche credit programs for immigrants. Such developments are representative of the market responses that have driven the financial services industry throughout the history of our country…With these advances in technology, lenders have taken advantage of credit-scoring models and other techniques for efficiently extending credit to a broader spectrum of consumers…Where once more-marginal applicants would simply have been denied credit, lenders are now able to quite efficiently judge the risk posed by individual applicants and to price that risk appropriately. These improvements have led to rapid growth in subprime mortgage lending; indeed, today subprime mortgages account for roughly 10 percent of the number of all mortgages outstanding, up from just 1 or 2 percent in the early 1990s’

    Yeah, Alan, millions of people got fooked. Good times. We all remember the ‘subprime loans and niche credit programs for immigrants’ a$$ poundings.

40. Trump: Biden Will Be ‘Judged and Convicted by the American People’ in November

    RICHMOND, Va.—Former President Donald Trump urged Virginians to vote for him on Super Tuesday without mentioning his rival Nikki Haley in the presidential primary.

    He said President Joe Biden would be “judged and convicted by the American people” on Election Day in November, implying a general election defeat for President Biden.

    President Trump focused on the border issue, promising his supporters that he would “seal the border and stop the invasion” on day one in the White House.

    He joked that he has been indicted so many times that his parents would look down from Heaven and ask, “What happened to our boy?” With so many ongoing lawsuits against him, he said, the “radical left lunatics” were tougher than China, Russia, and North Korea.

    The Associated Press projected Trump as the winner at 6:58 p.m. ET.

    Earlier in the day, President Trump defeated Nikki Haley at the Missouri and Michigan caucuses.

    This is President Trump’s second victory in Idaho as a GOP nominee. He easily carried the state in 2020 as the Republican incumbent with 94.5 percent of the vote.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/campaign-updates-caucuses-set-to-open-in-missouri-and-idaho-as-trump-rallies-support-in-virginia-5599038

41. Led Zeppelin – Hey Hey What Can I Do

    https://youtu.be/_LP5uuLcwCs?si=FUp14uZRT1VWfvPv

    1. 789 Comments

       @joebartles3986 11 months ago

       The universe is billions of years old. How blessed are we to have lived at the exact same time as Led Zeppelin.

42. [Why limit yourself to eating bugs?]

    Is it time for a more subtle view on the ultimate taboo: cannibalism?

    New archaeological evidence shows that ancient humans ate each other surprisingly often – sometimes for compassionate reasons. The finds give us an opportunity to reassess our views on the practice.

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26134783-600-is-it-time-for-a-more-subtle-view-on-the-ultimate-taboo-cannibalism/

    [A snip from the article…]

    Ethically, cannibalism poses fewer issues than you might imagine. If a body can be bequeathed with consent to medical science, why can’t it be left to feed the hungry? Our aversion has been explained in various ways. Perhaps it is down to the fact that, in Western religious traditions, bodies are seen as the seat of the soul and have a whiff of the sacred. Or maybe it is culturally ingrained, with roots in early modern colonialism, when racist stereotypes of the cannibal were concocted to justify subjugation. These came to represent the “other” to Western societies – and revulsion towards cannibalism became a tenet of their moral conscience.

43. Hey Julia · Robert Palmer

    Released on: 1974-01-01

    https://youtu.be/LQHzNB3Sqo4?si=LUL7aoOlxUJ2X8i2

44. How can an imploding city afford to pay racially discriminatory reparations?

    1. Bay Area
       San Francisco
       San Francisco poised to close some schools by 2025 amid loss of 10,000 students
       By Jill TuckerMarch 2, 2024
       San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Matt Wayne, shown in 2022, outlined his plan for school closures at the annual school planning summit Saturday.
       Stephen Lam/The Chronicle 2022

       District officials have concluded that San Francisco has more public schools than it needs and if all goes as planned, there will be fewer by the fall of 2025, they told the Chronicle.

       What parents and educators have long feared is now being said out loud: Schools are going to close.

       San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Matt Wayne outlined his plan for school closures at the annual school planning summit Saturday, but spoke to the Chronicle in advance to explain his reasoning and what will happen in the coming months.

       There is no set number of schools targeted for closure, and there are no specific schools on a list. That will come later, he said.

       Wayne, however, never used the word “closure,” instead saying the district was undergoing “resource alignment” and there would be a process to “create a new portfolio” with “fewer schools.”

       Whatever word is used, the plan is a big deal, likely to shake school communities to the core and prompt huge backlash. It comes as the district is addressing other pressing issues, including a massive budget shortfall, the return of Algebra I into middle schools, reforming the school assignment process and replacing the disastrous payroll system.
       …
       https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-public-schools-close-18696899.php

       1. Wayne, however, never used the word “closure,” instead saying the district was undergoing “resource alignment” and there would be a process to “create a new portfolio” with “fewer schools.”

          Everything is political. LOL

    2. Hotel deals implode in Bay Area and California as economy turns murky
       Dollar value of hotel purchases nosedives in 2023: new report
       Claremont Hotel Club & Spa, a 276-room hotel resort in the Oakland-Berkeley area.
       (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
       George Avalos, business reporter, San Jose Mercury News, for his WordPress profile.
       (Michael Malone/Bay Area News Group)
       By George Avalos
       Bay Area News Group
       PUBLISHED: February 6, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. | UPDATED: February 7, 2024 at 4:32 a.m.

       SAN JOSE — Hotel purchases have nosedived in the Bay Area and across California, in a sign that investors believe the weakness in the lodging sector has yet to run its course.

       Measured by dollar amount, acquisitions of hotels plunged by 48.3% in Northern California and by 60.2% in Southern California, Atlas Hospitality reported. The Northern California market includes the Bay Area.

       Statewide, hotel purchase activity plummeted 56.3% in 2023 in California. This represents the second-worst decline ever documented by Atlas Hospitality Group, which tracks the lodging industry in the state.
       South Tower of the Signia by Hilton hotel at 170 South Market Street in downtown San Jose.
       …
       https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/02/06/san-jose-oakland-bay-area-real-estate-hotel-economy-buy-build-tech/

    3. Perhaps that was the whole point: get expectations up. followed by riots when no reparations are given.

       1. …aka agent(s) provocateur.

45. “The generational gap reveals the extent to which wage growth has failed to keep pace with rising property prices, the dynamic fueling Britain’s property crisis.” Telegraph

    This just goes to show how little the problem is understood, and yet you have major broadsheets being allowed by their editorial boards to misinform further the uninformed. It’s a bit like saying an old rust bucket is sinking because bilge pumps aren’t big enough. Just imagine if wages had kept up with home prices. Just about every enterprise/entity that employs people would go to the wall.

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