They Bought An Expensive Place And Now They’re Trying To Leave And Can’t
A report from the New York Post. “Some of the Big Apple’s ritziest ZIP codes are seeing home values plummet amid the sustained exodus from the city caused by the pandemic, spiraling crime and ballooning taxes, experts told The Post. 10013, which encompasses parts of Tribeca and Soho, dropped from the fifth priciest ZIP in the country with the typical home value plummeting from $3,667,770 to $2,880,322. Tribeca’s 10007 went from 16th place in 2019 to 47th this year, as average prices dipped from $2,964,729 to $2,880,322. Soho and Greenwich Village’s 10012 — which includes Washington Square Park and parts of New York University– fell off a cliff from 27th in 2019 to 77th this year, with values decreasing from $2,636,977 to $2,391,539. ‘For now, I would look at this as an opportunity to buy – as what goes down must come up,’ the ever-optimistic real estate agent Eric Benaim.”
Market Watch. “Dear Quentin, I’m 54 years old, not married, and have no children. I earn $115,000 per year. When the pandemic hit, my company, which is located in San Diego, transitioned to being fully remote. At the time, I shared a one-bedroom apartment with my girlfriend for $2,500 a month. I loved our neighborhood, but working in a small shared space was a nightmare for both of us. In 2022, I decided to try to buy a home in Charlotte. Prices in Charlotte skyrocketed as the area became a hot market. I was outbid at least four times on homes. As the rate moved closer to 5%, I panicked and settled for a townhouse. It wasn’t the single-family home that I wanted, but it was in a safe and affluent neighborhood.”
“When I told my girlfriend the news, she was angry and dug in her heels. We have tried to maintain a long-distance relationship. But the distance is slowly eroding our relationship. Two years into owning my townhome, I have serious buyer’s remorse. I don’t love my neighborhood and have zero connection with my neighbors. Did I blow up my life to buy the wrong real-estate investment? Wham (What A Mess). Dear Wham, you did not blow up your life to buy the wrong real-estate investment, you changed your life to get a leg on the property market, and you achieved it. You are living the dream and have something for which millions of Americans would give their front teeth. There’s almost no such thing as the wrong real-estate investment in a hot market.”
The Providence Journal in Rhode Island. “An embattled Rhode Island developer, who has been sanctioned multiple times by the Rhode Island contractors’ registration board, had construction of his 38-unit condominium development in East Greenwich halted after the town’s building official said he had ‘grave concerns’ about the work being done there. Debbie DeCarlo, of Riverside, contacted The Hummel Report after our investigation ran last month, saying she bought a single-family home Sathuan Sa had renovated in 2018. DeCarlo said Sa initially came back and made an attempt to repair some of the things that were not done correctly, but then he disappeared. ‘I had water pouring through my electrical fixtures, and I had a roof that was leaking, even though it was brand new,’ DeCarlo said. ‘There are all sorts of people who have been hoodwinked by him.'”
The Daily Mail on Colorado. “A wealthy Aspen investor sued by by First Western Bank for allegedly failing to repay his loans has been sued by another bank that is asking a judge to let it claim his $39 million house as compensation. Daniel Burrell, 45, was first sued by First Western Bank in November for defaulting on $56 million in loans, according to The Denver Post. The bank said they gave four loans to the investment fund founder between 2019 and 2022, and they are suing to foreclose on Burrell’s properties as collateral. The businessman has countersued First Western Bank when they sued him, arguing they violated federal lending laws, are interfering with the sale of his property and invading his privacy. ‘First Western did not make a reasonable and good faith determination at or before consummation that Burrell had a reasonable ability to repay,’ said the countersuit. Public records show Burrell owns property in Nantucket, Massachusetts, two homes in Basalt, Colorado and the mansion and ranch in Aspen.”
Post Independent in Colorado. “In February, the Town of Carbondale announced their plans to reduce immigrant services by the end of winter. The closures began toward the end of March, with many of the services closing within the last week. ‘Some of them actually had families that were being sheltered in Denver, but they couldn’t find work,’ explained Carbondale Town Manager Lauren Gister. ‘They’d heard that there was work in the Roaring Fork Valley, especially in the winter, and they sort of came en masse.’ Others have expressed wanting to return to Venezuela due to family emergencies, though Gister said the town has not been able to find a way for them to return, as missing documentation had led to rejections from airlines. ‘One of them actually took a bus to Texas and said, ‘I’ll walk back,’ she said. ‘We really tried to figure out a way to do it, but we could not fix them on an international flight.'”
CBS News on California. “Homelessness is often a serious consequence for immigrant families, especially those who come to San Francisco because of its designation as a sanctuary city. On some afternoons, Karla Margarita Solito Sorto spends hours in a 24-hour laundromat in San Francisco’s Mission District, washing load after load for her family of six. Her family fled El Salvador some six months ago and came to San Francisco, where they were attracted by the promise of protection under the city’s designation as a sanctuary city. But her four children and her husband had nowhere to go, and have been homeless since they arrived. ‘I would just ask a sanctuary city like this — because that’s why we came here, to be more protected — just for a place for us and for a little support,’ she said.”
KOMO TV in Washington. “Neighbors in north Seattle say they got tired of waiting for the city to help with a troublesome homeless camp so they turned to a group called We Heart Seattle instead. In the span of two days, all the tents and cars associated with the encampment were gone. ‘The foot traffic was horrible and scary at the same time, said Deborah Wright, whose home butted up against one side of the camp. ‘Under the carport, sometimes they’d be under there sleeping and going to the bathroom.’ Others in the area described the encampment as a haven for drugs and stolen items. ‘It was absolute mayhem. There was the main drug dealer car that was here and they’d have 10-15 people swarming around that every single hour that were getting their fix and they were passing out in the middle of the roadway,’ said Erika Nagy, a QFC shopper.”
From Bloomberg. “The junkiest corporate debt is becoming increasingly hazardous for investors amid mounting signs that a default cycle is picking up steam. The holding company of Thames Water Ltd. this week failed to make payments that had come due on a £400 million bond ($504 million). It follows a plunge in the bond prices of Altice France last month. ‘There is going to be some pain ahead,’ said Raphael Thuin, head of capital market strategies at Tikehau Capital. ‘Perceived wisdom is that it takes 18 to 24 months for rate hikes to take effect. We are in that period now.’ ‘After a decade of free money and negative rates, some capital structures are unsustainable,’ said Nicolas Jullien, a high yield portfolio manager at Candriam SA.”
The Toronto Star in Canada. “Two years ago, Ryanne Stuart watched in horror as her million-dollar home purchase turned into a nightmare. In February 2021, she and her husband signed an agreement of purchase and sale for a preconstruction detached house from an Ontario builder, Mariman Homes. It was a $1.1-million, 2,600-square-foot single-family property in Pelham, in the centre of Niagara Region. The couple took out a home equity line of credit (HELOC) against their existing Hamilton house to pay the $160,500 deposit on the new home. But to Stuart’s shock, in 2022 she found out construction on the home hadn’t even begun and she began to doubt whether she could get her deposit back if she backed out of the deal. Their HELOC was ballooning and they realized they wouldn’t be able to pay it off, so they sold their Ontario home and moved to Manitoba last year. ‘We essentially took out a second mortgage for a house that didn’t exist,’ she said.”
“Ryan Macdonald put a $144,000 deposit down on one of the Scotland lots in September 2020, before any lots went into a power of sale. The closing date on his home kept getting pushed back, Macdonald said. The experience has been ‘painful and emotional’ for Macdonald and his family. ‘They’ve taken millions of dollars away from many others,’ he said. ‘This has led to severe financial strain.’ For now, Macdonald is continuing to fight and get his deposit back, but he says he’s lost hope, believing he’ll ‘never’ see his $144,000 again.”
CTV News in Canada. “A condo building under construction in Arbour Lake was destroyed by a fire on Friday evening. The building, located in an unfinished condo complex on Arbour Lake Road N.W., was engulfed in heavy flames when firefighters arrived on the scene around 5:15 p.m. Since the complex was under construction, no occupants were living in the building yet. According to the Calgary Fire Department (CFD), 28 people were forced out of nearby homes due to embers and blowing smoke. They have since been allowed back home. No injuries were reported. The three-storey building was near the end of construction, but following the blaze is considered a total loss.”
The Telegraph. “Nestled on the coast where the river Dyfi meets the blue waters of Cardigan Bay, the Welsh village of Aberdyfi has always been a popular choice for second homeowners. Now, the Welsh government’s policies designed to deter second homeowners are forcing some to sell up. Gillian Miranda, 57, has lived in Aberdyfi for 24 years and runs a boutique on the seafront, where most of her customers are second-homers. ‘The Welsh government thought, ‘We’ll get rid of all the second homeowners and make housing stock available for locals.’ But locals can’t afford it anyway,’ she says. Properties in the area used to be so in demand they were sold before they even made it to an estate agent’s window – now, they’re ‘sitting there for years.'”
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that those who are choosing to sell are struggling to do so. ‘People phone me to complain… that they’re trying to leave and can’t,’ says Craig Ab Iago, the Plaid Cymru cabinet member for housing in Gwynedd. ‘They bought an expensive place and now that the only people looking to buy are locals who can’t afford it.'”
The Guardian. “Is the British staycation boom over? Short-term holiday rentals experienced a surge in recent years, especially during the pandemic, when Britons stayed at home in the UK, leading to a spike in rates. However, holiday-let owners across the UK are reporting a significant fall in bookings so far this year as the sector feels the effects of the cost of living crisis, poor weather and an increasingly saturated market. Helen Angove, 58, managing director of Woodland Collection Holidays in Townshend, Cornwall, about 10 miles from tourist hotspot St Ives, said demand in January and February fell by about 80% across her four three-bedroom holiday lets on the same period last year. ‘This year we had hardly any bookings at all in January or February. March and April bookings are down 20%.'”
“She attributes much of the sluggish demand to the poor weather. ‘So many [people] are fed up with the wet weather. They are going abroad to get some sunshine. The second big factor is the massive oversupply of holiday lets. A lot of people thought they could make easy money because of what happened during Covid.’ Yvonne Turnbull, 58, who lives in Horsham, West Sussex, has been letting out a three-bedroom apartment in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, for between £150 and £175 a night, including through Airbnb, for the past six years.”
“She said demand was significantly down on previous years, with no bookings for January, February or March, including half-term, and fewer bookings over Easter. Turnbull said Scarborough was now oversupplied with holiday lets. ‘When we started there were about 200 Airbnbs in the town. Now you’re looking at 1,000.’ Nor is the problem limited to seaside destinations. Veeve, which offers short-term rentals, has seen a 21% drop in booking values across its London portfolio of more than 500 properties from January to 19 March since the same period last year.”
“Miriam Vanags, 60, and her husband have run a one-bedroom holiday cottage on their 18-acre smallholding in St Clears, Wales, for the past 17 years. She said people were demanding a lot more for their money. ‘They expect more of a hotel experience. Now we see a huge number of requests for hot tubs and wood burners, which seem to be deal breakers. Trends change.’ She added: ‘We have considered long-term letting and that is something we may revisit. Selling up may become a necessity, depending on whether things pick up.'”
ABC News in Australia. “A GJ Gardner Homes brochure promises customers ‘peace of mind’ and gives guarantees about the quality of work. But for customers of its Hobart franchisee, their experiences have been years-long nightmares. There have been defects appearing as soon as the build starts, approved plans not being followed, almost complete stoppages of work, contractors alleging money owed, and finished houses that require months of costly remediation work. In 2021, Akinola Ekundayo was considering his retirement. They chose to move to Tasmania due to it being a ‘safe haven’, and settled on a block of land south of Hobart to build their new home. ‘When we saw the view, we thought ‘wow’, you can’t allow yourself to miss this one,’ Mr Ekundayo said.”
“‘It looks abandoned, my site is abandoned. Nothing is going up here,’ Mr Ekundayo said. ‘Emotionally, you are drained, you are lost, you are degraded.’ He now rents in a nearby suburb, where he can almost see the site from the front door, visiting every Monday to check if any work is occurring – but it never is.”
“Owen Knight chose GJ Gardner Hobart because he needed his new house at his vineyard in the Huon Valley built to schedule, so his wine business would only miss one growing season. Mr Knight moved into a cellar door – a small shed, where he has now lived for almost two years. It’s right next to the house site, so he could keep an eye on the works. After being ‘slow walked’ through the council approval stage, he saw problems almost immediately. ‘I noticed all of these defects, some of them serious structural defects, being built into the house,’ Mr Knight said. ‘But the builder just kept building.'”
“Another home owner – who did not want to be identified – at least has a completed house to live in. But he describes his experiences with LV Built, trading as GJ Gardner Hobart, as a nightmare right from the start. ‘The corners of the slab had sort of chipped away and fallen in, and then it wasn’t square. We were told, don’t worry about it,’ he said. ‘When the frame was put on the slab, the two didn’t line up. It was very, like, ‘that’s normal, it’s not going to cause any issues’. We were still really naïve about the whole thing.’ The extent of his issues became apparent when he was told the house was ‘finished.’ ‘It was absolutely ridiculous that they were telling us that our house was finished,’ he said. ‘When in the bathrooms, there were no taps on the walls, and the bath had no plumbing at all underneath. It was just a hole to the ground. It was nothing like a completed house.'”
“He said his dream of building a home had turned into a nightmare. ‘I struggled a lot, mentally, to the point where I said to my partner, ‘We’re going to have to sell this house,’ he said. ‘That our first home. It was supposed to be an exciting journey to bring that to life. And the whole thing was just totally stressful.'”
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You will own nothing.
NOTHING.
‘The businessman has countersued First Western Bank when they sued him, arguing they violated federal lending laws, are interfering with the sale of his property and invading his privacy. ‘First Western did not make a reasonable and good faith determination at or before consummation that Burrell had a reasonable ability to repay’
AKA you had no business giving me that loan.
‘When we saw the view, we thought ‘wow’, you can’t allow yourself to miss this one’
You still got the view Akinola, so what’s the problem?
‘It looks abandoned, my site is abandoned. Nothing is going up here,’ Mr Ekundayo said. ‘Emotionally, you are drained, you are lost, you are degraded.’ He now rents in a nearby suburb’
I see it now, yer a bitter renter!
‘Did I blow up my life to buy the wrong real-estate investment? Wham (What A Mess)’
‘Dear Wham, you did not blow up your life to buy the wrong real-estate investment, you changed your life to get a leg on the property market, and you achieved it. You are living the dream and have something for which millions of Americans would give their front teeth. There’s almost no such thing as the wrong real-estate investment in a hot market’
Market watch always speaks the truth, What A Mess. Dump that zero and get yerself a hero!
Winnah identified!
the GF must not have been a keeper to move across the country and expected her to follow
My cousin’s son moved moved to California from the Midwest with plans to have his fiancee’ soon join him. He found an apartment just before receiving her “Dear John” letter.
He was depressed for a little while, until discovering Tinder works pretty well for a handsome single guy with a good job living in SoCal.
He’s lucky he is still able to work remote. He could be called back at any minute.
My employer has not recalled anyone into office.
Plenty have been called back. I know people in Dallas and several in Silicon Valley who have been called back and know others who have been called back 1 or 2 times per week. Banks don’t want to foreclose on all that commercial property. Mgmt knows that at homers goof off.
My little section uses one of your products and it SUCKS.
Which one? Big Red likes to acquire other companies and slap our label on their products. Some are definitely better than others.
‘Two years ago, Ryanne Stuart watched in horror as her million-dollar home purchase turned into a nightmare…But to Stuart’s shock, in 2022 she found out construction on the home hadn’t even begun and she began to doubt whether she could get her deposit back if she backed out of the deal. Their HELOC was ballooning and they realized they wouldn’t be able to pay it off, so they sold their Ontario home and moved to Manitoba last year. ‘We essentially took out a second mortgage for a house that didn’t exist’
I’d bet all these years both of you have been stuffing expensive food into yer pie holes Ryanne. Probably more than once a day!
How many times am I gonna have to read “dream home turned into a nightmare.” Someone’s gotta come up with a new phrase.
I duuno OX. i think a better goal is to live to 90 be in good health and still be able to drive safely, not a house. maybe i’m weird
a better goal is to live to 90
You have little control over that. I know far too many people who ate right, exercised, never smoked, were thin, etc. and died in their 70’s.
true but do they have a family history of long life….. mine do
You don’t have control over that either. You have to make do with the genes you reeived.
The banal will continue to use the worn inept phrase as they are the ones snarled in this dilemma.
Real Journalists.
Associated Press — Anonymous users are dominating right-wing discussions online. They also spread false information (4/6/2024):
“The incident sheds light on how social media accounts that shield the identities of the people or groups behind them through clever slogans and cartoon avatars have come to dominate right-wing political discussion online even as they spread false information.
The accounts enjoy a massive reach that is boosted by engagement algorithms, by social media companies greatly reducing or eliminating efforts to remove phony or harmful material, and by endorsements from high-profile figures such as Musk. They also can generate substantial financial rewards from X and other platforms by ginning up outrage against Democrats.
Many such internet personalities identify as patriotic citizen journalists uncovering real corruption. Yet their demonstrated ability to spread misinformation unchecked while disguising their true motives worries experts with the United States in a presidential election year.”
Experts? Don’t make me laugh, globalist scum.
“They are exploiting a long history of trust in American whistleblowers and anonymous sources, said Samuel Woolley, director of the Propaganda Research Lab at the University of Texas at Austin.
“With these types of accounts, there’s an allure of covertness, there’s this idea that they somehow might know something that other people don’t,” he said. “They’re co-opting the language of genuine whistleblowing or democratically inclined leaking. In fact what they’re doing is antithetical to democracy.”
Accounts that do not disclose the identities of those behind them have thrived online for years, gaining followers for their content on politics, humor, human rights and more. People have used anonymity on social media to avoid persecution by repressive authorities or to speak freely about sensitive experiences.
The meteoric rise of a group of right-wing pseudonymous influencers who act as alternative information sources has been more recent. It’s coincided with a decline in public trust in government and media through the 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic.
These influencers frequently spread misinformation and otherwise misleading content, often in service of the same recurring narratives such as alleged voter fraud, the “woke agenda” or Democrats supposedly encouraging a surge of people through illegal immigration to steal elections or replace whites. They often use similar content and reshare each other’s posts.
Tech watchdogs said that while it’s critical to maintain spaces for anonymous voices online, they shouldn’t be allowed to spread lies without accountability.
“Companies must vigorously enforce terms of service and content policies that promote election integrity and information integrity generally,” said Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology.
It’s concerning that many Americans place their trust in these shadowy online sources without thinking critically about who is behind them or how they may want to harm the country, said Kara Alaimo, a communications professor at Farleigh Dickinson University who has written about toxicity on social media.
https://apnews.com/article/misinformation-anonymous-accounts-social-media-2024-election-8a6b0f8d727734200902d96a59b84bf7
Harm the country?
That would be anything supported by the New York Times and Washington Post, who as Donald J. Trump correctly stated, are the enemy of the American people.
The meteoric rise of a group of right-wing pseudonymous influencers who act as alternative information sources has been more recent. It’s coincided with a decline in public trust in government and media through the 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Millions of former sheeple got red-pilled during the pandemic, not least those who were vaccine-injured or personally knew a “died suddenly” casualty while the globalist scum media was a parrot on the shoulder of the authoritarians pushing the vaxx and lockdown mandates using bogus “science.” Now that the “conspiracy theorists” are up about 37-0 over the self-described “single sources of truth,” it’s no surprise they have attracted huge followings from those who’ve unplugged from the garbage legacy media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENEUktOrQV8
There’s a whole bottle of red pills to OD on:
1. Disaster withdrawal from Afghanistan
2. Open southern border, along with
3. Freebies to those who crossed the southern border, and
4. Free pipes, Narcan, and hearse service to anyone smoking the fentanyl that crossed the southern border.
5. $950 gift cards to any retailer in California
6. Free house to anyone in New York City who takes a drunken nap in a bedroom for ~20 minutes.
7. A chicken in every pot and a tent on every sidewalk.
8. Innocent children coerced into playing Guess My Sex and Which Potty is Mine?. Team flags donated and flown by the White House.
9. Google AI putting the Founding Fathers in blk face.
10. A world leader who can last about 90 minutes, tops, given extra pumps of brain drugs and a strong escort. Bonus monthly face lift.
11. Bypass Congress to forgive student loan debt.
12. Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin, nuff said.
13. Ever-evolving strategies for playing Code My Comment. Hone your euphemism skillz and escape the censors!
14. Drano poured into the Strategic Oil Reserve.
This is off the top of my head. All it takes is one, to change a vote.
^ Somebody ate some red pills.
Who are you? LOLZ
This is off the top of my head. All it takes is one, to change a vote.
I wish the total list could convince the “rich” white liberals I know to change their vote. Ain’t happening, I don’t know what it would take to get their vote changed.
I think the issue is they think they are the elite.
‘For now, I would look at this as an opportunity to buy – as what goes down must come up,’ the ever-optimistic real estate agent Eric Benaim.”
Oh, trust me, Eric knows the score. But Always Be Closing is the name of the game, if Eric wants to eat or make his Lexus lease payment. The industry of dissemblers known as the NAR will have to keep recycling the same lies they told the marks as Housing Bubble 1.0 was melting down back in 2007-2008.
‘They bought an expensive place and now that the only people looking to buy are locals who can’t afford it.’”
Rest assured the locals can afford it, at the correct price point.
Now that the wealthy all-cash Chinese investor is a fading memory, what supports prices anywhere these days? It’s certainly not local end users.
some of it is govt funds from the pandemic to support business (with wage subsidies in the US and Canada). Just in the US we had the Paycheck protection Progam, Payroll Relief Program, and tons of loan programs. Much was valid but a significant amount was fraud. Folks want to be be greenwashed by the time the govt audits.
I have heard of folks ‘selling’ and ‘liquidating’ the companies, investing for more than 2 tax years in ETFs and then paying taxes and using the proceeds on real estate, which they will sell later. There is no way the avg govt IRS agent or auditor will be able to keep track of this chain.
“‘For now, I would look at this as an opportunity to buy – as what goes down must come up,’ the ever-optimistic real estate agent Eric Benaim.”
Since real estate always goes up, why not buy the dip?
Dear Wham, you did not blow up your life to buy the wrong real-estate investment, you changed your life to get a leg on the property market, and you achieved it. You are living the dream and have something for which millions of Americans would give their front teeth. There’s almost no such thing as the wrong real-estate investment in a hot market.”
It’s mindboggling that after the past three years, millions of sheeple still trust the utterly discredited globalist scum media as a source of news and information.
March 2024 Statewide Poll: Coloradans deeply concerned about high cost of living in the state:
“Coloradans are deeply concerned about the high cost of living in the state, with 61% of likely voters saying they have considered moving or recently moved due to financial considerations, according to results of a statewide survey released today by the nonpartisan Colorado Polling Institute (CPI).
Concerningly though, in the post-Covid era, there has been a weakening of community connection, with 43% of voters saying they feel less connected to members of their community than they did five years ago, compared to 16% that said they feel more connected and 41% who said they feel the same level of connection.
When asked the perennial election year question of whether voters thought they were better off than four years ago, 53% of voters said they were worse off, 34% said they were better off, and 13% said they were about the same.
“Colorado is getting more expensive and it’s driving significant voter concern,” said Republican pollster Lori Weigel of New Bridge Strategy. “Concerns about increased costs coming out of the pandemic are not unique to Colorado, but when a majority of voters are seriously considering packing up and moving solely due to the cost of living, it should not escape the attention of elected officials.”
More than six-in-10 (61%) of respondents say they have considered moving, including to a different state that is more affordable (38%), a different community within Colorado (13%), or they have already moved to another location due to cost of living concerns (10%).
Asked for their views on the top issues for the state government to address, with open-ended responses allowed, 14% of Colorado voters volunteered something directly related to immigration, ranking it on par with long-time issues like homelessness (12%) and housing affordability (11%). However, when taken together, pocketbook issues are still dominant (32% mention housing costs, inflation, taxes, jobs, etc.).”
https://www.copollinginstitute.org/research/march-2024-statewide-poll-coloradans-deeply-concerned-about-high-cost-of-living-in-the-state
“43% of voters saying they feel less connected to members of their community than they did five years ago”
Colorado, specifically the metropolitan Front Range, is a low trust society.
There are zero consequences for drug crimes and property crimes, which the City / County of Denver voted for, and will continue to vote for, forever. One party city government, and now one party state government, is responsible for creating this Doom Loop, and rather than even consider changing direction, this one party government will only double down on its failed policies.
Colorado is a failed state.
More than six-in-10 (61%) of respondents say they have considered moving, including to a different state that is more affordable (38%), a different community within Colorado (13%), or they have already moved to another location due to cost of living concerns (10%).
– Denver and many cities along the Front Range are true blue D voter blocks. They overwhelm the more rational and conservative voters in rural areas, just by population density alone, where people understand the principles of self-sufficiency and hard work.
– The CO government is far left. Gov. P. hates the beef and oil and gas industries, and also apparently, like a true Communist, the bourgeoisie, or middle class.
– Recall the CO supreme court banned DJT from the Nov. 5th Presidential election and was the first state to do so. BTW, there was no “insurrection” on 1/6. DJT was never convicted of any related crimes. This is simply Banana Republic government doing what they do.
– Denver, like many large U.S. cities now, is a sanctuary city, and has the Socialist virus, promoting and encouraging a large homeless population, drugs, and crime, and a weakening of the rule of law (i.e. encouraging lawlessness), including direct attacks on citizen ownership and protections for private property. This is as per the plan; the Socialist / Communist takeover of the country. Apparently few understand this, or actually like this form of
government(enslavement).– For a better quality of life in general, I plan to move out of Colorado in the near future. It’s becoming California, Mountain States.
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“43% of voters saying they feel less connected to members of their community than they did five years ago”
– Communism is complete worship of, and obedience to The State. Anything else won’t be tolerated. Communists are hell-bent on destroying the family and community. They are pure evil. And yet, no one seems to care.
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“Colorado is a failed state.”
– This now applies to most U.S. States, and the country as a whole. There’s only one remaining opportunity to turn this ship around, and that’s coming up on Nov. 5th. Good luck to us. Will the D party steal the vote again as in 2020? They’re certainly trying already with approximately 10 million illegal invaders crossing our southern border since Brandon was elected; all good, obedient D voters, highly dependent on The State.
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“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” – H L Mencken
“Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite.” (Every country has the government it deserves.) Lettres et Opuscules Inédits (1851) (letter of August 15, 1811). – Joseph de Maistre
“The government you elect is the government you deserve.” – Thomas Jefferson
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– Hey Venezuela, how’s that Socialism workin’ out for ya? Why so many from your Socialist utopia are clamoring to come here? The U.S. is becoming Venezuela. Emulate Venzezula, become Venezuela.
– “Gooder and harder,” America.
+1 on all of that.
Sadly, I’m staying (for now) primarily because of professional licensure and the complexity (and cost) of attaining reciprocity in another state.
“+1 on all of that.”
Mr. banana speaks truth.
“There’s only one remaining opportunity to turn this ship around, and that’s coming up on Nov. 5th. Good luck to us.”
I’m a bit more pessimistic on this issue. He was the last opportunity the first time around and we all saw how that turned out. Best to prepare and adapt because this sh!tshow is not going away any time soon. Regarding where you choose to live, choose wisely. We have a number of cities/regions that are rapidly descending into chaos. Will yours be next?
Regarding where you choose to live
Right now any metro area is best avoided, though flyover has been and will continue to be impacted as well. Will we end up like 3rd world countries with a brick fence topped with broken glass around the house and bars on the windows?
I’m a bit more pessimistic on this issue.
So am I. It was slowed down last time as we are much less F’d than Canada or GB, but the US is gonna be tough to turn as it has so much momentum. Guys I know with MA’s in worthless degrees making no money think they are the elite. I am like WTF?
I got an email about this shack headed for auction this morning:
Foreclosure Sale
4935 Spud Dr
Flagstaff, AZ 86004, Coconino County
Est. Resale Value $689,000
https://www.auction.com/details/4935-spud-dr-flagstaff-az-1452836
It’s not even in Flagstaff, it’s BFE near Winona.
Wow, 689k and you get a dirt road, dirt driveway, and yer right by the railroad tracks. Seems reasonable.
Sure, it has 2.5 acres, but it doesn’t look like prime real estate. The train crossing is a nice touch. Rattlesnakes included at no extra charge.
In the span of two days, all the tents and cars associated with the encampment were gone.
Must’ve gotten Raptured.
In the span of two days, all the tents and cars associated with the encampment were gone.
In my city in the NC foothills the 2 tent cities are gone and at least 3 trucks loads of “crap” were removed over a week period from the biggest camp. Not sure why, was it the city or the Owner? One interesting thing is that a large number of trees in the former encampment are painted red. No idea why, Maybe someone is going to build there?
Article for the United States taxpayers.
Russia Today — Ukraine may have to compromise with Russia – Stoltenberg (4/7/2024):
“In an interview with the BBC published on Saturday, the NATO chief reiterated that the West must support Ukraine in the long term “even if we believe and hope that the war will end in the near future.” He added that Western countries should invest in Kiev’s defense capabilities to make it more resilient in the event of future hostilities.
At the same time, he signaled that it was up to Ukraine to choose when and under what conditions to seek peace with Russia. “At the end of the day, it has to be Ukraine that decides what kind of compromises they’re willing to do,” Stoltenberg said, adding that the West’s role is to help Kiev reach a negotiating position that could produce an “acceptable result.”
That said, Stoltenberg emphasized that he was not pushing Kiev toward any concessions, adding that “real peace” can only be achieved with a Ukrainian victory.”
There will be no Ukrainian victory.
“Throughout the conflict, Russia has maintained that it is open to talks with Ukraine. However, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky banned any negotiations with the current leadership in Moscow after four former Ukrainian territories overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in the autumn of 2022.
The Ukrainian leader has been advicating a ten-point ‘peace formula’ demanding that Moscow withdraw its troops from territory Kiev claims as its own, as well as for a tribunal to be established to prosecute Russian officials for alleged war crimes. Moscow has dismissed the initiative as “detached from reality.”
https://www.rt.com/news/595550-ukraine-compromise-russia-stoltenberg/
Detached from reality? Sounds about right.
Russia is winning, because God wills it.
Ukraine, NATO, The West, and “liberal democracy” as it defines itself, are in fact, the forces of evil, anti civilization, and anti humanity.
The West is dying. Russia is eternal.
Properties in the area used to be so in demand they were sold before they even made it to an estate agent’s window – now, they’re ‘sitting there for years.’”
Party’s over, speculator scum. Now get to sawin’ and slashin’ like you mean it if you want to divest yourself of that overpriced shack.
they were sold before they even made it to an estate agent’s window
When I visited the UK, I noticed that estate agents had lots of flyers taped to the office windows. Is that their version of the MLS?
It’s not just a UK thing. Every realtor’s office I’ve seen does that, especially in resort and beach towns.
Is inflation contained?
Economics
Summers Says Hot Jobs Data Show Neutral Fed Rate ‘Much Higher’
– Former Treasury secretary says economy may be re-accelerating
– Summers says it’s a mistake for Fed to set neutral rate aside
Lawrence Summers
Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg
By Chris Anstey
April 5, 2024 at 9:14 AM PDT
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said that the surge in US payrolls in March illustrates that the Federal Reserve is well off in its estimate of where the neutral interest rate is, and cautioned against any move to lower rates in June.
“This was a hot report that suggested that, if anything, the economy is re-accelerating,” Summers said on Bloomberg Television’s Wall Street Week with David Westin. Alongside other factors including an “epic” loosening in financial conditions, “it seems to me the evidence is overwhelming that the neutral rate is far higher than the Fed supposes,” he said.
…
I want rate hikes, not rate cuts.
Paying interest = Donkey math.
Financial Times
US Treasury bonds
Treasury yields climb after stubborn US inflation data
Gold touches fresh record high while oil prices rise
US Treasury seal
Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.13 percentage points to 4.32%
George Steer in New York April 1 2024
Yields on US government debt rose to their highest levels in two weeks on Monday as stubborn inflation and a jump in manufacturing activity tempered expectations for interest rate cuts in 2024.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields rose 0.13 percentage points to 4.32 per cent, while those on two-year Treasuries, which are sensitive to interest rate policy, rose 0.09 percentage points to 4.71 per cent.
At current levels, the jump in yields — which move inversely to price — would respectively rank as 2024’s third- and fifth-largest increases for the two-year and 10-year bonds, according to LSEG data.
The moves came after data released on Friday showed year-on-year US inflation hit 2.5 per cent in February, according to the headline personal consumption expenditure metric tracked closely by policymakers at the Federal Reserve, up slightly from January’s figure. Data released earlier on Monday showed a jump in the ISM manufacturing index in March.
Traders reacted by slightly scaling back expectations for US rates coming down. Markets are now pricing in two or three quarter-point cuts by the end of the year, down from five or six at the start of 2024.
…
Housing Market Stung by Latest Mortgage Rate Update
Published Apr 04, 2024 at 6:18 PM EDT
By Alexander Fabino
Reporter, Economy & Finance
Homebuyers hoping to capture a lower mortgage rate on the back of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in 2024 may have to wait a little longer.
The housing market, still rebounding from COVID-induced inflationary pressures and the Fed’s rate hikes aimed at stabilization, was eyeing relief from three projected policy adjustments later this year. However, the prospect of those reduced rates dimmed Thursday after Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said that the inflation data the Fed is seeing doesn’t correspond with its anticipated patterns.
Kashkari, in an interview with Pensions & Investments, opened up about the Fed’s predicament.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty about what’s happening in the economy right now,” he said, noting that the reopening of the economy post-COVID has challenged the Fed’s forecasting abilities, leading to a reliance on inflation data over traditional models which, according to him, “are not describing the inflationary dynamics that we’re seeing right now.”
…
https://www.newsweek.com/housing-market-mortgage-rate-stall-fed-cuts-unlikely-1887133
Real inflation is much higher than our falsified, Soviet-style CPI stats say it is.
https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1776217022877106407
If they were to use a true CPI then the economy has been shrinking since the usurper was installed, meaning we are in a depression.
And my wages have not kept pace with the bogus inflation numbers, nevermind the real ones. I suspect this is true for most people.
“wages have not kept pace with the bogus inflation numbers, nevermind the real ones”
Which is why I started a new job recently, with a double digit percentage pay bump.
No online application, no AI screening of resumes, just a word of mouth referral to the new company owner, who I interviewed with once and was hired on the spot.
I do not miss the white collar corporate or government contracting world at all, goodbye and good riddance.
*** “No online application, no AI screening of resumes, just a word of mouth referral to the new company owner, who I interviewed with once and was hired on the spot. . . ”
Congrats !! One’s reputation is something hard earned but easily lost. Well Done.
I’m also a “handshake-deal” type of guy.
I love simplicity. Honesty. Integrity. try to always practice what I preach.
and yep, I was a Boy Scout. haha!
Scoutmaster also.
Media
Published April 5, 2024 10:08am EDT
Burger King, In-N-Out and other chain locations in California raise prices after minimum wage increase: report
One McDonald’s franchisee reportedly said he has had to raise menu prices as well
By Jeffrey Clark FOXBusiness
Former Fosters Freeze assistant general manager Monica Navarro reacts to the sudden closure and how others are responding on ‘The Bottom Line.’
‘It’s a shock’: Fosters Freeze location in California closes over minimum wage hike
Former Fosters Freeze assistant general manager Monica Navarro reacts to the sudden closure and how others are responding on ‘The Bottom Line.’
Prices for burgers, fries and other fast food items have increased at various restaurant chains across California, according to a recent report.
A New York Post investigation revealed that some fast food chains in the Los Angeles area raised prices on April 1, after new California statewide legislation went into effect Monday enforcing a $20 minimum wage for restaurants that have at least 60 locations nationwide, except those that make and sell their own bread.
…
https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/burger-king-in-n-out-other-chain-locations-california-raise-prices-minimum-wage-increase-report
So the evidence suggests that a big hike in the minimum wage results in a production cost increase, which translates into a higher product price necessary to maintain profitable operations…exactly as economic theory predicts.
TBD:
1) Will a higher product price lead to lower sales and profits?
2) Will higher labor costs result in lower fast food industry employment?
Yahoo Finance
Fortune
California’s new $20 minimum wage could leave the state with higher unemployment for years to come, economist says
Sasha Rogelberg
Sat, Apr 6, 2024, 4:02 AM PDT
5 min read
California implemented its $20 minimum wage law for fast-food workers on Monday, bumping pay up to 25% from the state’s $16 minimum. Impacting over 500,000 workers in the state, the mandate was heralded as a success for labor organizers—but businesses are fearing they’ll have to lay off workers or hike up prices to offset increased operation costs.
Libertarian economist Scott Sumner, a California resident, believes the new mandate could hobble the economy beyond just the state’s cost of doing business—it could make the state’s unemployment rate higher for the long term.
“If California has more rules that increase costs for businesses—maybe mandating worker benefits or regulations that just make it more costly to do business in California—that could slightly increase the natural rate of unemployment,” Sumner told Fortune.
The “natural rate of unemployment” refers to an economic concept that is often confusing to normal people, to wit: Even an economy at full employment includes a small number of unemployed workers, often new entrants to the workforce or people switching from one job to another. It’s “the rate at which the unemployment rate settles when the economy itself is relatively stable,” as Sumner put it.
Classic economic theory holds that the natural rate of unemployment is related to wages, and that, as wages go up, businesses trying to keep their profit margins may cut employees’ hours or lay them off. Higher wages in theory also means that businesses are going to have a higher bar for their workers. After all, if they’re paying more money, Sumner argued, they should be getting their money’s worth.
“There would be quite a few workers who simply would not be profitable to be hired at $40 an hour,” Sumner speculated. “And so there are obvious limits to what you can do in terms of artificially raising wages.”
…
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/california-20-minimum-wage-could-110200525.html
Soledad Ursúa
Unemployment Hell
California AB 1228, which raises the minimum wage for fast-food employees, won’t create the workers’ paradise its authors intended.
/ Eye on the News / Economy, finance, and budgets, Politics and law
Apr 04 2024
On April 1, some California fast-food workers got a raise. Others got, or will soon get, pink slips. This is no April Fool’s Day joke but rather one of the predictable outcomes of the state’s new minimum-wage increase, from $16 to $20, for fast-food workers.
The higher wage floor applies to chains with more than 60 locations nationwide, affecting an estimated 500,000 workers. Fast-food restaurant owners have prepared in predictable ways. They have laid off employees, reduced operational hours, and hiked prices to cope with the increased labor costs to stay in business.
Assembly Bill 1228, signed into law by California governor Gavin Newsom in September, formalizes an agreement between fast-food companies and unions. The law establishes an unelected, governor-appointed Fast Food Council with the authority to adjust the minimum wage annually by the lesser of either 3.5 percent or the annual change in the consumer price index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Additionally, the council is empowered to propose labor, health, or safety standards for consideration by relevant authorities.
The law, signed on Labor Day 2023, marked a significant concession to one of California’s most influential public-sector unions—the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the primary advocate for the bill. It’s also indicative of how Newsom might try to export the California model to the rest of the nation, if he eventually pursues the presidential ambitions that many believe he harbors.
Originally marketed as “holding billion-dollar corporations accountable,” AB 1228 will likely hit small business owners hardest. That’s because most major fast-food chains, including McDonald’s, Subway, Arby’s, Taco Bell, Papa John’s, and Chick-fil-A operate on a franchise model. Under this system, third-party operators obtain the rights to utilize the business’s name, branding, and model by paying fees or royalties. Corporate franchising, an enduring American business innovation dating back to the 1850s, has traditionally served as a pathway to business ownership, particularly for underrepresented groups like women, minorities, and immigrants. Among California’s nearly 15,000 franchisees, minorities represent 30 percent of franchise owners, a significantly higher proportion than the 20 percent minority ownership seen in non-franchise businesses.
Contrary to the popular perception that these chains are global corporate behemoths, most franchise restaurants are mom-and-pop shops that run on narrow profit margins. In California, more than two-thirds of franchisees own only a single store, categorizing them as small businesses. This fact may have been lost on AB 1228’s backers, such as Assemblyman Chris Holden, the bill’s author, who represents the affluent enclave of Pasadena, California. (Ironically, Pasadena is home to the state’s first fully automated restaurant, where patrons order and pay for their meals via self-serve kiosks, observing as robots grind premium beef for burgers and prepare fries.)
The National Owners Association, an independent advocacy group representing more than 1,000 McDonald’s franchisees in the U.S., estimates that the wage increases will impose an annual cost of about $250,000 on each McDonald’s restaurant in California, as reported by CNBC.
As the cost of hiring and training unskilled workers grows, businesses face inflated expenses, potentially prompting a shift toward automation, reduced hours for workers, and outright closures. Employers face a dilemma: automate or die.
Lawmakers shouldn’t act surprised about these pressures. Since Newsom signed AB 1228, mass industry layoffs have been anticipated. Shortly after Christmas in 2023, Pizza Hut announced the termination of more than 1,200 delivery drivers.
For the state’s workers, the legislation’s timing couldn’t be worse. California’s unemployment rate has surged to 5.3 percent, highest in the nation, according to new data. High unemployment will drive demand for public assistance, while reducing consumer spending and productivity, leading to lower incomes. Paying out unemployment benefits won’t be easy: the latest report from the California Legislative Analyst’s Office projects a $73 billion deficit for the upcoming fiscal year.
AB 1228 also makes a mockery of California’s vaunted equity agenda. The hit to employment from the new minimum wage will disproportionately affect black and Hispanic Californians, who are overrepresented in the state’s low-skilled workforce.
Low-skill, entry-level jobs are the foundation of a thriving and prosperous economy. Positions in retail and fast food often pay minimum wage because no prior work experience is necessary, leaving it up to the employer to train and mentor individuals. When the minimum wage goes up, so, too, do experience requirements for a job, with particularly negative effects for teenagers, young adults, and people with less education.
As a teenager with no prior work experience, I took a part-time position at a hardware store to help fund my college education. I was trained as a cashier. Such jobs are increasingly rare in California, where businesses are investing more and more in computerized self-checkout machines. My humble part-time job gave me invaluable lessons that no undergraduate business course could provide—most importantly, how to hustle. My modest paycheck, taxed heavily, instilled in me the habit of frugality and impressed on me the necessity of budgeting. Early morning shifts at 5 a.m. cultivated self-discipline, particularly when they occurred on weekends. Enduring criticism from irate customers taught me humility, the importance of customer service, and above all, the virtues of patience and kindness.
Minimum wage laws like AB 1228 may be well-intentioned, but their unintended consequences on businesses, employment, and economic equity warrant more careful consideration. In pursuit of a worker’s paradise for some, California legislators may have created an unemployment hell for many more.
Soledad Ursúa is a finance professional and elected board member of the Venice Neighborhood Council.
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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…
https://www.city-journal.org/article/unemployment-hell
3) An increase in the sales of brown paper bags?
Yahoo Finance
Moneywise
California’s minimum wage hike blamed for Fosters Freeze store closure — worker says she’d prefer the old wage
Jing Pan
Sun, Apr 7, 2024, 4:12 AM PDT
5 min read
California’s minimum wage hike blamed for Fosters Freeze store closure — worker says she’d prefer the old wage
California’s decision to increase the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour is primarily aimed at improving the standard of living for these workers in a state that’s notoriously expensive.
However, there’s concern that this new law, which went into effect on April 1, may have a more complicated impact on the local economy.
A Fosters Freeze outlet in Lemoore shut down on Monday — the same day the new minimum wage kicked in — and its workers are now out of a job.
Some employees initially thought it was an April Fool’s joke.
“We had gotten a text in the group chat that we were shutting down, and I completely thought it was an April Fools joke,” former employee Jason Boado told KMPH Fox 26 News.
Unfortunately, it was not a joke. In a text to KMPH, Loren Wright, the owner of the Fosters Freeze, wrote, “Last thing I ever wanted was to close down. By Friday night I knew I was most likely not gonna be able to stay open but I didn’t want to ruin their Easter Sunday.”
Small businesses ‘can’t survive’
…
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/californias-minimum-wage-hike-blamed-111200521.html
Financial Times
US interest rates
Jamie Dimon warns rates could stay high as market mood shifts
JPMorgan chief says inflation could be ‘stickier’ than markets expect in annual letter to investors
Jamie Dimon in November 2023
JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon told shareholders in his annual letter: ‘It is important to note that the economy is being fuelled by large amounts of government deficit spending and past stimulus’
Joshua Franklin in New York and Mary McDougall in London 2 hours ago
JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon has warned that US inflation and interest rates could remain higher than markets expect because of high government spending.
In his annual letter to shareholders, the head of the largest US bank by assets said JPMorgan had plans for interest rates going above 8 per cent and as low as 2 per cent.
“It is important to note that the economy is being fuelled by large amounts of government deficit spending and past stimulus,” Dimon wrote. “There is also a growing need for increased spending as we continue transitioning to a greener economy, restructuring global supply chains, boosting military expenditure and battling rising healthcare costs.
“This may lead to stickier inflation and higher rates than markets expect,” he added.
…
Financial Times
US interest rates
Investors lose hope of rapid US interest rate cuts this year
Markets price in more than two quarter-point cuts, compared with more than six expected at start of 2024
The Federal Reserve building
Stronger than expected jobs figures on Friday prompted Fed officials to warn that it was too soon for the central bank to start cutting rates
Mary McDougall in London
2 hours ago
Investors are giving up hope that the US Federal Reserve will sharply cut interest rates this year, after a blockbuster jobs report on Friday boosted conviction that the central bank needs to keep borrowing costs high to cool inflation.
Markets are pricing in two quarter-point rate cuts by the Fed in 2024 and only a 50 per cent likelihood of a third, in a drastic reversal from the start of the year when between six and seven cuts were expected.
“The vast majority of people I speak to don’t think inflation will come back to 2 per cent sustainably,” said Jon Day, a portfolio manager at Newton Investment Management. “We think central banks are being too dovish.”
…
Financial Times
5 hours ago
Jonathan Wheatley in London
Gold hits new all-time high
Gold hit a new all-time high on Monday, continuing its rally of the past month as investors respond to signals that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year even as inflation remains above the US central bank’s target.
The haven asset hit a high of $2,353.79 a troy ounce on Monday morning, up from about $2,000 an ounce in mid-February.
Analysts say the asset has also been buoyed by fears of an escalating conflict in the Middle East and by demand from central banks and Chinese consumers.
For how long has the Fed been buying down mortgage rates?
Since savers earn interest and homedebtors pay it, is the Fed’s MBS purchase plan a masssive wealth transfer from savers to home debtors?
Federal Reserve Watch for March 1: Fed’s MBS Holdings Should Fall to Zero, Fed Governor Waller Says
MT Newswires – 4:14 PM ET 3/1/2024 US Economy
03:14 PM EST, 03/01/2024 (MT Newswires) — Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller (voter) said he would like to see the central bank’s holdings of mortgage-backed securities fall to zero and its Treasury holdings to shift toward shorter-dated securities to better align with its policy rate.
…
https://www.fidelity.com/news/article/us-economy/202403011514MIDNIGHTUSEQUITY_A3091416
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller (voter) said he would like to see the central bank’s holdings of mortgage-backed securities fall to zero and its Treasury holdings to shift toward shorter-dated securities to better align with its policy rate.
//
– I’ll take that one step further. One could easily replace the Federal Reserve System, aka “the Fed”, with the U.S. 2-Year Treasury Note yield. The Fed is unelected, unaccountable, and unconstitutional. Congress, your job that we elected you to do. They’re more than useless (I’m speaking of the Fed, but also Congress); they do great harm and damage to the U.S. economy and especially to the Middle Class, as per intended.
– Their dual mandate is to fund the government with ex nihilo fiat paper currency and in the process to destroy this nation by debt and inflation. Are we there yet?
– The Fed is living out the 5th plank of The Communist Manifesto. The other nine are also alive and well.
The Ten Planks of the
Communist Manifesto
1848 by Karl Heinrich Marx
“5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.”
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https://twitter.com/McClellanOsc/status/1747724059016855734
Tom McClellan @McClellanOsc
Futures markets are reportedly pricing in odds of 7 Fed cuts of .25pp. What the Fed should do is 1 big full-point cut right now, to adjust to what the 2-year is saying. And the 2-year tends to know far better than the Fed’s battalion of 400 PhDs about what the FOMC should do.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GEEpJjsbAAAVOLU?format=png&name=900×900
1:54 PM · Jan 17, 2024 · 47.6K Views
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“Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants – but debt is the money of slaves.” – Norm Franz, Money & Wealth in the New Millennium: A Prophetic Guide to the New World Economic Order
“Gold is money, all the rest is credit” – JP Morgan testifying in Congress in 1912
“All the money and all the banks in Christendom cannot control credit…Gold is money and nothing else.” – JP Morgan’s 1912 Congressional testimony on “the justification of Wall Street”
“a massive wealth transfer from savers to home debtors”
The structure of the allegedly capitalist system we live under (it’s not actual capitalism).
The financialization of the U.S. economy is essentially a war on its own citizens, with the rewards only accruing to All The Right People. And no, you’re not going to vote your way out of it.
“you’re not going to vote your way out of it.”
Amen to that! Red, blue…..whatever. It’s all a joke. Same sh#! wearing a different dress. The whole thing needs to be burnt down and start anew.
ChatGPT 3.5
User
For how long has the Fed purchased MBS?
ChatGPT
The Federal Reserve began purchasing Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) as part of its quantitative easing measures during the global financial crisis in 2008. The purchases continued intermittently over the years, with fluctuations in the amounts and frequency depending on economic conditions and Fed policy. As of my last update in January 2022, the Fed was still actively involved in MBS purchases, but for the most current information, you would need to check the latest reports from the Federal Reserve.
Is this conversation helpful so far?
ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information.
ChatGPT
…
The Connection Between the Federal Reserve and Mortgage Interest Rates
When you’re trying to predict changes in mortgage interest rates, Federal Reserve rates play a role for a few reasons. Mortgage rates tend to follow federal reserve rates, particularly in the last five years.
In some cases, the Fed will get directly involved by purchasing mortgage-backed securities. This gives the central bank a way to support economic growth (one of its core goals) and, in turn, help to lower mortgage interest rates.
…
https://www.newsweek.com/vault/mortgages/federal-reserve-mortgage-rates/
‘Murican timeshare “investors” getting scammed by Mexican drug cartels. Apparently it’s like taking candy from a baby.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13260743/Californian-man-scammed-Mexican-cartel-timeshare-fraud.html
C-SPAN Washington Journal — Viewers responded to the question “How concerned are you about rising housing prices?” (4/5/2024) 1h00m54s:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?534676-2/open-forum-part-1
According to Paul Krugman, these callers are all lying, because they don’t know how good they really have it in this phony, failing economy.
RadioGenoa
@RadioGenoa
The “Refugee Welcome” were asked to host an asylum seeker in their home. Their answers will not surprise you.
Apr 7, 2024
·
https://x.com/RadioGenoa/status/1776948118291976269
IIRC, during WW2, British homeowners outside of the big cities actually did take “refugees” who had to be evacuated as the cities were being bombed. Of course, taking your own countrymen, who were vetted to ensure they were not criminals, is very different from letting hostile aliens into your home,.
Most of them say “we don’t have the space/I have a rental” Anyone else get the feeling that whoever organized the protest had instructed protestors to give that answer?
A reader sent these in:
Flood insurance debacle in Lee is worse than I initially thought. Long time residents with long held policies will be hit hardest. Example: if this property lost CRS discount, annual payment would go up a minimum of $1,070 (+82% of PY) PLUS annual increase & surcharge increases.
https://twitter.com/TrishaFLsun/status/1776195829461594187
***Treasuries Selloff Deepens as Traders Push Back First Rate Cut*** Like we said…. @Kathleen_Hays @markets @JeffCoxCNBCcom
| Soaring deficits make rate cuts impossible….
https://twitter.com/rcwhalen/status/1776246942831432171
More fun with AirBnB
https://twitter.com/GayBearRes/status/1776228947367166409
CBC reporter asked Justin Trudeau “Why do you think people don’t like you?”
https://twitter.com/6ixbuzztv/status/1776394487813620075
Posts About Broken Cybertrucks Fill Tesla Owners’ Forums
https://twitter.com/YammerTime01/status/1776371533901938715
Tesla in March: “Quick, buy the Model Y we’re raising the price by $1,000 at the end of the quarter!”
Tesla in April: “We’re dumping our unsold Model Y inventory at discounts of up to $7,500.”
Suckers who believed Tesla in March got Musked out of $7,500!
https://twitter.com/RealDanODowd/status/1776361101653168279
Posts About Broken Cybertrucks Fill Tesla Owners’ Forums
Those turkeys are ugly and expensive. Other than rhinestone cowboys, who buys those things?
2022 Home Buyers Beware: Selling In 2024 Could Mean Big Losses
Mark Turcotte
Apr 6, 2024
2022vs2024
Are you considering buying a home in 2022? You may want to think twice before making that decision. According to real estate experts, selling a home purchased in 2022 in 2024 could result in significant losses. In this video, we discuss the factors contributing to this potential trend and provide valuable insights for home buyers in the current market. Stay informed and make wise decisions when it comes to investing in real estate. Don’t miss out on this crucial information!
Are you curious about how real estate prices will evolve in the coming years? In this video, we compare the current real estate market in 2022 to the projected prices in 2024. You won’t believe the difference! Stay tuned to find out how the market is expected to shift and what factors are driving these changes. Whether you’re a buyer, seller, or investor, this comparison will give you valuable insights into the future of real estate prices. Don’t miss out on this shocking comparison! Subscribe to our channel for more updates on the real estate market and expert insights on investment opportunities. #RealEstate #HousingMarket #2022vs2024 #PropertyPrices #realestateinvesting
Are you looking to sell or buy Innisfil, Barrie , ESSA real estate. Understanding the correlation between price and days on the market may be crucial to your success. In this video, we discuss how many property sellers in Barrie are now associating price with how long their property has been listed for sale. This allows them to price their property competitively and attract more potential buyers. Selling your home can be a daunting task, but with proper strategies and insights, you can achieve your goals with ease. Our team of experienced real estate agents is dedicated to helping you succeed in your real estate endeavours, whether you’re buying a new home or selling your existing property. Our mission is to provide you with actionable tips and tricks that will help you navigate the complex Barrie real estate market confidently. Don’t let your property sit on the market for months on end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O12FPTg6q08
16:21.
Yahoo Finance
Motley Fool
U.S. Money Supply Is Doing Something No One Has Witnessed Since the Great Depression, and It Foreshadows a Big Move to Come in Stocks
Sean Williams, The Motley Fool
Sun, Apr 7, 2024, 2:06 AM PDT 8 min read
A twenty dollar bill paper airplane that’s crashed and crumpled into the financial section of a newspaper.
Image source: Getty Images.
When examined over long stretches, the stock market can’t be beat. While other asset classes have produced solid nominal gains for investors, including gold, oil, housing, and Treasury bonds, none have come close to matching the annualized average returns that stocks have brought to the table over the last century.
But when the lens is narrowed to just a few years or an even shorter timeline, predicting the directional moves of the ageless Dow Jones Industrial Average benchmark S&P 500, and growth-powered Nasdaq Composite with any sustained accuracy becomes practically impossible.
However, this doesn’t stop investors from trying to do the impossible. Though there’s no economic data point or indicator that can concretely predict which direction the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite will head next, there are a very select group of metrics and forecasting tools that have strongly correlated with moves higher and lower in the major stock indexes throughout history.
One of these metrics, which appears to be foreshadowing a massive move in stocks, is U.S. money supply.
U.S. money supply hasn’t done this in nine decades
Among the five measures of money supply, M1 and M2 tend to garner most of the focus from economists and the investing community. M1 is a measure of cash and coins in circulation, as well as demand deposits in a checking account. It’s money you have easy access to that can be spent immediately.
On the other hand, M2 money supply accounts for everything in M1 and also adds in savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit (CDs) below $100,000. This is still money you can access, but you’ll have to work a bit harder to get to it. This is also the money supply metric that’s raising eyebrows right now for all the wrong reasons.
Most economists and investors tend to pay very little attention to M2 money supply because it’s grown with such consistency over time. Since the U.S. economy expands over long periods, it’s only natural that more cash and coins are needed to complete transactions.
But in those extremely rare instances where a notable contraction in M2 money supply has been observed, trouble has historically followed for the U.S. economy and stock market.
…
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-money-supply-doing-something-090600755.html
I think I detect a hangman’s noose pattern at the right end of the M2 figure:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WM2NS
Check out what happened to M2 IN 2020: Money supply go BOOM…and then, inflation.
“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.”
— Milton Friedman
Do you all recall how we used to joke around about FBs landing on joshua trees?
The opportunity is ripe again.
The Bolder House is a short-term rental in Joshua Tree, Calif.
Rocio Arrieta
Real Estate
Joshua Tree Was California’s Hottest Housing Market. What Happened?
The desert communities surrounding the national park saw home-buyer demand explode during the pandemic. Now it’s coming back down to earth.
By Libertina Brandt
and Jessica Flint
April 3, 2024 9:10 pm ET
East of Los Angeles in California’s secluded desert, the Joshua Tree area was the state’s hottest real-estate market during the pandemic. Now higher interest rates, a bloated short-term rental market and the return to pre-Covid normalcy have brought the market back down to earth.
Home values in the area have fallen from their Covid peaks, although they are higher than prepandemic. According to the Zillow Home Value Index, the typical home value in the community of Joshua Tree was $217,007 in July 2020. That figure rose to $467,348 in July 2022, and by February 2024 had fallen to $385,941. Values in nearby communities saw similar trajectories: In Twentynine Palms, the typical home value has dropped 12.2% from its pandemic high, and in Yucca Valley it has fallen 6.5%, according to the index.
…
https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/joshua-tree-was-californias-hottest-housing-market-what-happened-df205dba
“According to the Zillow Home Value Index, the typical home value in the community of Joshua Tree was $217,007 in July 2020. That figure rose to $467,348 in July 2022, and by February 2024 had fallen to $385,941.”
1 – $385,941 / $467,348 = 17.4% down from the peak, so far.
Sheriff in Sanctuary State Released Illegal Alien Charged With Raping Minor – After Biden’s Border Patrol Freed Him Into US
by Dan Lyman
April 7th 2024, 11:49 am
Federal immigration authorities say they arrested an illegal alien who was released by police in the sanctuary state of Massachusetts after being charged with raping a minor.
On Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the recent apprehension of a Colombian national by Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents near his residence in Lynn, Massachusetts.
The suspect had been on the loose for two months following his arraignment on charges of rape and indecent assault and battery of a minor over the age of 14 back in January in Lynn.
ICE says the Colombian was caught by U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) on July 3, 2022, after he crossed illegally into Eagle Pass, Texas.
“The USBP issued the noncitizen a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge and ERO enrolled the noncitizen into the Alternatives to Detention program,” ICE explained in a press release.
On January 29, the ICE ERO office in Boston lodged a detainer against the suspect, but the Essex County Sheriff’s Department “failed to honor the immigration detainer and released the Colombian noncitizen from state custody, despite the pending sex charges against a minor.”
ERO Boston agents finally took the Colombian off the streets on March 28 and he is now being held in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
“This unlawfully present Colombian national stands accused of a horrific crime,” ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons said in a statement.
“There are few crimes more disturbing than the sexual assault of a child, and no person more disturbing than one who would prey upon the most innocent members of our communities.”
https://www.infowars.com/posts/sheriff-in-sanctuary-state-released-illegal-alien-charged-with-raping-minor-after-bidens-border-patrol-freed-him-into-us
As a follow up to the story above, of which there are too many similar tales to post, Biden regime mouthpiece Jimmy Kimmel yuks it up with his California late night Liberal audience.
Kimmel Mocks Concern Over Illegal Immigrant Murderer In Michigan
Infowars.com
April 7th 2024, 10:13 am
ABC talk show host Jimmy Kimmel ridiculed former President Donald Trump for bothering to travel to Michigan to raise awareness about border security after a Michigan woman was recently murdered by an illegal alien.
“Somehow, in the middle of all these prosecutions, Trump has been on the road doing rallies, where you know, when you think back on all the presidents, there are so many great lines throughout history. Like, ‘Yes, we can’ and ‘Tear down the wall,’ ‘The buck stops here’ and this, new slogan from Donald Trump, ‘Stop Biden’s border bloodbath,’” he said Thursday.
https://www.infowars.com/posts/kimmel-mocks-concern-over-illegal-immigrant-murderer-in-michigan/
new slogan from Donald Trump, ‘Stop Biden’s border bloodbath,’”
All Jimmy is doing is giving the slogan more visibility and traction, probably not what he intended.
Crisis in California: Migrants overwhelming state with ‘no end in sight,’ local officials warn
https://www.yahoo.com/news/crisis-california-migrants-overwhelming-state-093018965.html
Surging border crossings are putting a strain on communities in Southern California, where hordes of migrants are often spotted at transit hubs after immigration officials resumed street releases, local politicians say.
“There’s no end in sight,” San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond told Fox News. “This is a new norm, which I think we’re going to get a rude wake-up call someday.”
Approximately 30 migrants lined up in an empty parking lot near Jacumba Hot Springs, California, on March 27, 2024. Border Patrol agents have encountered record numbers of illegal immigrants in the San Diego area in recent years, straining both federal and local resources.
Migrants’ first days in Southern California often follow a similar schedule.
After going over, around or through gaps in the border fence, they surrender to Border Patrol agents. Maybe it’s immediate, maybe they have to wait on the side of the road for a few hours to be caught, or maybe they make a dangerous trek through mountains that Customs and Border Protection warns range from snow-covered in the winter to perilously hot and dry in the summer.
They get searched, processed at a CBP facility tucked amid truck repair shops and car auction businesses, and released. The majority — but not all — get dropped off at local transit stations, Desmond said, gone from San Diego County before many residents have even registered their arrival.
“A lot of them are going to the East Coast,” Desmond said of the folks he has spoken to at the border. “So a lot of them leave. But there’s a lot we don’t know.”
Located about 15 minutes from downtown San Diego, El Cajon has become one of a handful of drop-off sites for migrants. Mayor Bill Wells said the border has “always been a problem,” but the federal government always made an effort to prevent “bad actors” like cartels and gang members from entering the country.
“Now the gates are wide open,” Wells told Fox News. “We’re no longer even trying.”
The San Diego sector saw an 85% increase in encounters in February compared to the same month last year, according to CBP data. Agents there made more than 230,000 encounters during fiscal year 2023, a record 2024 is on track to shatter.
While the Biden administration promises “our borders are not open,” those on the front lines describe a contradictory scene. Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed with “give ups,” people who walk across the border and claim asylum so they can be detained, processed and then released into the United States.
“I don’t blame the Border Patrol agents,” Desmond said. “Their hands are tied.”
Both Wells and Desmond have documented crowds at local transit stations. Desmond said CBP releases between 600 and 900 people on a given day, usually at locations that lack bathrooms and other amenities. Sometimes nonprofits or “entrepreneurial” taxi drivers are there waiting, he said.
“Unfortunately, San Diego Airport now has become the de facto migrant shelter, where they sleep there,” he added, estimating that around 90% of migrants continue to other cities around the country like Chicago or New York. “Hopefully a lot of them leave. But we have no, really, idea of if they do or not.”
Until late February, migrants would likely have been taken to a vacant elementary school-turned processing center in San Diego. But the $6 million in county funding that was supposed to sustain the center from October through March ran out early, after processing 81,000 migrants, according to local news reports.
The Board of Supervisors approved a plan to seek federal dollars and charitable donations to fund a replacement center to stem the tide of street releases. Desmond cast the sole “no” vote, arguing a long-term shelter would just be complicit in the federal government’s mess.
“What we’re allowing is a very undignified and inhumane process where people have to come over a 30-foot fence … [or] through a river,” he said. “We should enforce our laws and have a legal, dignified immigration process.”
Americans increasingly rank immigration as the most important problem facing the United States. In California, nearly two-thirds of likely voters surveyed earlier this year by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said the border is not secure enough.
Californians Fox News spoke with largely said border security was an important voting priority for them and that they support immigration so long as it’s done legally.
“If you have a fence around your house, if you lock your door at night, then we don’t need to explain to you the value of having a border fence. It’s not rocket science,” Mark Good said.
In California, 65% of likely voters surveyed earlier this year said the border is not secure enough to prevent people from entering the country illegally.
Good‘s son-in-law spent five years waiting to immigrate to the U.S. from Bangladesh “the right way,” he said.
“Then you see people coming over the border and getting given things,” his wife Pat said. “It’s hard. I feel bad for them, but it’s hard.”
Wells, who is running for Congress, and other local leaders initially worried there would be a surge of migrants on the street after the welcome center closed. That hasn’t happened yet, he said, speculating that private organizations and nonprofits have been able to get migrants on planes and buses fast enough to keep up with the influx.
Border agents in the San Diego sector have recorded more than 150,000 migrant encounters since October 2023.
“Pretty soon the system is going to be overwhelmed to the point where there’s not going to be enough money to send people everywhere they want to go,” Wells worried.
With homeless shelters already full, he said migrants could end up on the streets.
“Everything is already full because of the migrants and the homeless people that have flocked to California in the past couple of years,” Wells said. “So there’s very little in the way of safety net in California.”
Xcel cut off power to 150,000 customers in and around the People’s Republic of Boulder, & libtards who won’t lift a finger to see to their own preparedness are stamping their little feet.
https://twitter.com/search?q=Xcel&src=trend_click&f=live&vertical=trends
Vacant UK mansions in a state of decay.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13276421/ghost-mansions-Bruce-Forsyth-home-Surrey.html
Now it’s Southwest’s turn:
More at 9News dot com.
Here is the video apparently recorded by a passenger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw00uD7NjdA
Someone right now is goin’ to be lookin’ for some forgotten cowling bolts in the maintenance dept. No worries, what’s a few forgotten bolts amongst friends?
Alice Cooper — Caught In A Dream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRFnnVMawpY
Twofer Tuesday two days early.
Todd Rundgren — Couldn’t I Just Tell You:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XERFyUsnlro
Todd Rundgren – Dust In The Wind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nibIBPLpdY4
The Kinks — Rats:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAlVex9CobU
I really like the lyrics of this song…
Traffic — Don’t Be Sad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXGFbsFWAfg
Crosby Stills & Nash — Pre Road Downs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP569PHmoFQ
‘said the town has not been able to find a way for them to return, as missing documentation had led to rejections from airlines. ‘One of them actually took a bus to Texas and said, ‘I’ll walk back,’ she said. ‘We really tried to figure out a way to do it, but we could not fix them on an international flight’
But there’s no problem flying them all around the US, right Lauren?
‘It was absolute mayhem. There was the main drug dealer car that was here and they’d have 10-15 people swarming around that every single hour that were getting their fix and they were passing out in the middle of the roadway’
How’s the walk-ability Erika?
So much for the narrative that the homeless just need a haircut, and little love, oh, and an expensive apartment downtown.
Nope, they’re druggies.
and they’d have 10-15 people swarming around that every single hour
And the cops can’t get an undercover to buy from this guy and put him a way for 5-6 years?
‘Perceived wisdom is that it takes 18 to 24 months for rate hikes to take effect. We are in that period now…After a decade of free money and negative rates, some capital structures are unsustainable’
Jerry, by all means, let’s start this sh$tshow up for bizness as soon as possible.
‘No injuries were reported. The three-storey building was near the end of construction, but following the blaze is considered a total loss’
I suppose that a win for the borrower.
‘The Welsh government thought, ‘We’ll get rid of all the second homeowners and make housing stock available for locals.’ But locals can’t afford it anyway,’ she says. Properties in the area used to be so in demand they were sold before they even made it to an estate agent’s window – now, they’re ‘sitting there for years’
That may be Gillian, but it’s still a sellers market.
‘Turnbull said Scarborough was now oversupplied with holiday lets. ‘When we started there were about 200 Airbnbs in the town. Now you’re looking at 1,000’
Yvonne, I was blogging about this scam many years before airbnb existed. It always falls apart.
The extent of his issues became apparent when he was told the house was ‘finished.’ ‘It was absolutely ridiculous that they were telling us that our house was finished,’ he said. ‘When in the bathrooms, there were no taps on the walls, and the bath had no plumbing at all underneath. It was just a hole to the ground. It was nothing like a completed house…I struggled a lot, mentally, to the point where I said to my partner, ‘We’re going to have to sell this house’
You got two things going for you home owner who did not want to be identified. First, it was cheaper than renting. And second – you can always sell.
‘When in the bathrooms, there were no taps on the walls, and the bath had no plumbing at all underneath. It was just a hole to the ground’
That’s how they do it in Guatemala.
Obama Is Going To Pay For My Gas And Mortgage!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8lXEY8O0tQ
Peggy just thought this old SNL skit was for real.
White Like Me – SNL
In this short mockumentary, Eddie Murphy masquerades as a white man around New York City to explore existing racial inequalities. [Season 10, 1984]
https://youtu.be/l_LeJfn_qW0?si=1CcBWII9fQwlPMTT&t=32
‘Wheel of Fortune’ Reveals Date of Pat Sajak’s Farewell Show
SIMON KENT
7 Apr 2024
All good things must come to an end and for “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak that moment arrives Friday, June 7. That’s when the final episode of the iconic game airs with Sajak as host and ends his 41-year tenure in the role.
“Well, the time has come. I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last,” Sajak said. “It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all. (If nothing else, it’ll keep the clickbait sites busy!)”
A week after Sajak’s news was released last year, it was announced that Ryan Seacrest would be taking over as host in Season 42.
206 Comments
Random Precision GuestToo
7 hours ago
Alright, here’s one…
F _ c k
J _ _
B _ d _ n
Would anyone like to buy a vowel?
Is the stock market destined to remain permanently overvalued till kingdom come?
Markets
A renowned market bear who called the dot-com bubble warns the AI and economic recovery narratives fueling stocks are weak as analyst optimism sours — and says the Fed is fueling a bubble as valuations get ‘frothy’
William Edwards
Apr 6, 2024, 2:00 AM PDT
stock trader panics
REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
– Societe Generale’s Albert Edwards is skeptical about AI’s impact on earnings, despite the hype.
– He also doubts the notion that the US economy is in a broad recovery.
– Edwards cites a decline in analyst optimism, suggesting the market is detached from fundamentals.
The S&P 500 has rallied a staggering 27% since October, thanks in large part to optimism around artificial intelligence’s potential impact on corporate profits, as well as the US economy’s ongoing resilience amid rate hikes. Or at least those are the prevailing narratives among investors.
But to Albert Edwards, the chief global strategist at Societe Generale who called the dot-com bubble, neither narrative is particularly strong.
In a March 28 client note, Edwards poked holes in the notions that AI will positively impact earnings in the near future and that an economic recovery is really occurring. The crux of his argument lies in the falling optimism of Wall Street analysts.
While analyst optimism about earnings surged after the release of ChatGPT 3.5 in late 2022, it has since cooled, with a downtrend emerging on a 6-month moving-average basis. About 45% of changes to S&P 500 analysts’ earnings estimates are upgrades, as shown in the chart below, down from 50% in early 2023. A downtrend in analyst sentiment is also present for the Nasdaq 100, Edwards said.
Historically, analyst optimism has been a good indicator for the economy’s direction. Here’s the 6-month moving average of the percentage of S&P 500 positive earning-estimate changes paired with The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index, which has recently started trending upward though it remains in what has historically been recession territory.
And here’s the same earnings upgrade percentage along with the Institute for Supply Management’s US manufacturing index, which is also rising.
Analyst optimism also tends to be tied to stock-market performance. Below is the S&P 500’s year-over-year percentage change along with the analyst optimism measure.
…
https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-bubble-sp500-ai-soft-landing-edwards-socgen-2024-4
Finance
Warren Buffett’s favorite market gauge hit a 2-year high, signaling stocks are heavily overvalued and could crash
Theron Mohamed
Mar 22, 2024, 4:43 AM PDT
– Warren Buffett’s go-to market gauge surged to a two-year high of 184%.
– The “Buffett Indicator” compares the stock market’s total value to the overall size of the economy.
– Buffett has warned that buying stocks at a reading near 200% is “playing with fire.”
…
https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-indicator-stock-market-outlook-bubble-crash-ai-tech-2024-3
Is it safe to assume that China has finally moved past its real estate woes?
Financial Times
Updated 3 hours ago
Live news: Chinese state bank files petition to wind up private developer
Edited by William Sandlund
5 hours ago
William Sandlund and Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong
Chinese property group Shimao faces a winding-up petition from one of China’s largest state-run banks, the developer said in a disclosure to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday.
The petition, issued by China Construction Bank in Hong Kong’s High Court on Friday, is related to an “approximately HK$1,579.5 million [$201.7mn]” financial obligation, Shimao Group said.
A hearing is scheduled for June 26.
The petition comes shortly after Hong Kong’s High Court ordered Evergrande to be liquidated following a winding-up petition from one of its creditors. Country Garden, one of China’s largest property developers, is also facing a winding-up petition in Hong Kong from its creditors.
…
China Economy
KKR says China’s real estate correction may only be halfway done
Published Wed, Apr 3 2024
8:00 PM EDT
Evelyn Cheng
Key Points
– China’s real estate troubles are likely far from over and industry problems need to be addressed quickly for GDP growth to rise significantly, according to KKR.
– Based on comparisons to housing corrections in the U.S., Japan and Spain, China’s “housing market correction may be just halfway complete” in terms of its depth, the report said.
…
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/03/kkr-says-chinas-real-estate-correction-may-only-be-halfway-done.html
Would you prefer a dietary shift towards bugs or towards reptiles?
Financial Times
Opinion Science
The explosive evolutionary tactics of snakes
A new study shows the twisting backstory of an animal touted as a new superfood
Anjana Ahuja
Andy Carter illustration of a snake flying ahead, while the other slower lizards look on in awe
Anjana Ahuja April 2 2024
The writer is a science commentator
There is something otherworldly about snakes. The slithering creatures feature heavily in religion, folklore and mythology: the serpent in the Garden of Eden that tempts Eve to eat forbidden fruit; Medusa, a snake-haired Gorgon cursed with a gaze that turns observers to stone; the Nagas, the half-human, half-cobra beings of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, who dwell in underground palaces.
The serpentine presence across global cultures may reflect their extraordinary variety in the real world. There are around 4,000 snake species, living in oceans, lakes, deserts, forests and even underground. The longest species, reticulated pythons, regularly exceed six metres; the shortest, the 10cm Barbados threadsnake, looks like a curl of brown string.
In February, herpetologists from the US, UK, Australia, Brazil and Finland revealed the most comprehensive family tree of snakes and lizards to date — and found it contained a “macroevolutionary singularity”, or a relatively sudden, unexplained shift in the rate of snake evolution that began more than 100mn years ago and is still ongoing. The twists and turns of their evolutionary backstory are emerging just as other scientists are touting snakes as the new superfood.
…