It’s All Gone, Everything Is Gone, There Is No Business Left And That’s What It Is

1. ‘we know a lot of recent sellers wish they sold their homes sooner so they could have ‘taken advantage of a hotter housing market,’ Realtor.com’s senior economic research analyst wrote, referring to a new sellers survey. The study shows that 79% of respondents feel that way; home prices were their highest in the fourth quarter of 2022. Roughly 29% of ‘locked-in,’ would-be sellers need to sell soon for personal reasons’

   Time to go out back and work on that time machine.

   1. Roughly 29% of ‘locked-in,’ would-be sellers need to sell soon for personal reasons’

      This can’t be. I’ve been assured that nobody would ever give up their 3% mortgage.

2. ‘While college was a great way for me to figure some things out, it was a really expensive way for me to do that,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t do that again. I would have gone into the trades. The student-loan debt is by far my biggest regret — it’s too much money to let somebody borrow at 18 years old’

   They had no business giving me that loan!

3. ‘Parkmerced, one of San Francisco’s biggest apartment complexes, is at risk of defaulting on its nearly $1.8 billion mortgage. Owner Maximus Real Estate Partners has requested the transfer of the mortgage to special servicing, a move that can lead to foreclosure’

   When the borrower throws the keys at you it’s not getting paid back.

4. Zimbabwe R Us.

   https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/04/16/international-monetary-fund-national-debt-warning/4711713315482/

   1. I don’t know how interest rates and inflation are supposed to go way down against that backdrop.

      1. Or the demographic bulge of baby boomers that are now retired start developing serious medical problems.

5. You will own nothing.

   1. And your seed will spread no further than a Kleenex tissue. 🙂

6. ‘a transcript of the call included in a court filing, the company’s financial situation was described as a ‘s–t sandwich.’ ‘Unfortunately, anybody who had any unsecured debts … it’s all gone. Everything is gone. There is no business left and that’s what it is’

   If you look at the video you have to wonder how did these Saskatoon goobers rip off 200M K-dn pesos?

7. “So, yeah, went from being the most financially sound, good to go, had my retirement saved up to drowning in debt,’ she concludes.”

   But…but…some realtor lady told us that signing on Mr. Banker’s dotted line for a shack was the best way to build “generational wealth.”

   1. My friendly local realtor told me in February rates will drop a lot this year so I can just refinance. Boom — instant wealth.

      Sadly, I declined to pay for a house I did not like.

8. ‘Here we are now stuck with nowhere to go. Nothing. We don’t know what to do’

   ‘They started using our back fence as their toilet. There was nothing we could do about it. It was a constant struggle to prevent that from happening’

   Antoinette, have you been taking a dump on Jerry’s fence?

   1. Vote Blue…
      Get the stew.

9. ‘They started using our back fence as their toilet. There was nothing we could do about it. It was a constant struggle to prevent that from happening,’ DeLaCruz said.”

   Where’s yer compassion, Jerry? Remember, this is “our shared responsibility” per the commies in the Denver Statehouse.

10. The meltdown of Epic Alliance resulted in significant financial losses for more than 120 investors, mainly from British Columbia and Ontario.”

    Die, speculator scum.

11. Oh dear….

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/a-stark-new-report-on-housing-affordability-shows-just-how-dire-things-are-in-australia-for-everyone/news-story/978c7680bf4f0f83684857e580ea4e50

    1. One of its flagship programs is the Help to Buy scheme will help low- and middle-income Aussies to purchase with just a two per cent deposit. The Commonwealth then takes an equity stake of up to 40 per cent for new dwellings and up to 30 per cent for existing properties.

       Funny how the answer never is to eliminate red tape and to make it easier and cheaper to build new housing, and to lower prices. Instead every policy out there is designed to make it less and less affordable.

       Instead, they come up with these low down payment programs, which don’t help at all. It also seems like a good deal for the gooberment: they put the 20% down and get a 40% stake.

12. Silver, Bitchez!

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-17/silver-s-record-industrial-demand-and-deficit-to-underpin-prices?

13. “Since buying the house, in addition to paying her mortgage, she’s also had to spend $25,000 on new HVAC, $15,000 to get her foundation repaired ‘just so that I could use one of my bedrooms,’ and she’s had to take out a $10,000 personal loan to fix her porch and deck”

    As a building inspector in a city out West I can tell you I hear these stories of regret daily. Had one gal sobbing the other day.

    1. How’s that emotion-based decision-making working out for ya, sweetie?

       1. She needs a “man plan,” i.e., bait her tender trap.

    2. It seems like the standard assumption is that housing price increases will eventually make home ownership pencil out. But if you don’t have the cash flow plus savings to cover ongoing and uncertain costs of ownership, it seems unlikely to pencil out.

    3. $25,000 on new HVAC

       $25K? Did she have a heat pump installed?

       1. The reality is a couple window units and a couple space heaters would be under $1000. In her case the duct work etc was already in place so where does all of this money really go? Contractor greed is something that is rarely discussed but is one of the manifestations of the bubble.

       2. What HVAC guys are charging these days is insane. Robbery. We need a major correction so these guys can come back to reality.

          1. As an example of one work around, there is a class of mini split ductless systems that are marketed as self install kits. You can get them on Amazon for a grand and watch a couple videos to install it. However, most people are scared and/or lazy so they would rather pay 25k + interest and then whine about it. Including interest, that woman could have easily saved 25k with just a little patience and some will power.

             A space heater and window unit would also have done the job and she would have had 25k left over to spend on some other stupid sh!t.

             1. 25k left over to spend on some other stupid sh!t.

                Like her debt?

       3. I’m sure her decision making got better once she bought the money pit. 🫤

    4. As a building inspector in a city out West I can tell you I hear these stories of regret daily. Had one gal sobbing the other day.

       Do you have any advice on how to best protect myself with a building inspection? I have never purchased a house and don’t want to end up like this when I do.

       I definitely will find my own inspector and ignore anyone a realtor suggests.

       1. Perhaps hire different guys to inspect: a roofer, an HVAC guy, a plumber, an electrician, and may a generic inspector for everything else?

          You could the specialists to give you an estimate for repairs? I say this because that $25K HVAC repair seems very pricey. From what I have heard you should be able to completely replace a gas furnace and A/C system for under $10K.

          1. Perhaps hire different guys to inspect: a roofer, an HVAC guy, a plumber, an electrician, and may a generic inspector for everything else?

             That’s a great idea. I’d rather pay more upfront to have experts on specific systems review rather than a generalist who may not be the most detailed.

             1. A house isn’t nearly as complicated as everyone wants you to believe. Distilled down to it’s essence it is just sticks, tar, and mud. It is so easy to understand that they hire illiterate 3rd world invaders to build them in most states. The contractors are just feeding on the bubble and too many people are happy to go into debt for things they don’t understand. As the bubble deflates so will these outrageous bids for what is often times very basic services.

             2. The vast majority of a shack is air.

       2. City inspector here. I’m the guy who signs off on your permit. But yeah, hire one who works for you.

14. Did she buy without an inspection? Are inspectors worthwhile these days?

15. Rise And Fall of The German Economy… Energy Debacle Leading to Economic Meltdown

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/04/16/rise-and-fall-of-the-german-economy-energy-debacle-leading-to-economic-meltdown/

    The number of Germany’s corporate insolvencies in March reached the highest level on record, new data reveal. It’s the Great Green Energies economic debacle

    Blackout News here calls the trend “alarming” and that it is “a clear sign of the worsening economic crisis. The news are based on data released by the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).

    “There has been nothing comparable since 2016, the year the data was first collected,” reports Blackout News. “This development not only points to internal company problems, it also highlights the extensive economic challenges the country is facing.”

    Insolvencies are even worse than during the Corona pandemic lockdown years.

    “Exorbitantly high energy costs”

    Analysts say the main driver behind the dire trend are Germany’s exorbitantly high energy costs, mostly due to the country’s mismanaged foray into green energies – like wind and solar – and the transition away from affordable and stable conventional energy sources like natural gas, coal and nuclear power.

    “The wave of corporate insolvencies cannot be explained by poor business decisions alone. Rather, it is the high cost of energy, which is driving up operating costs in times of global uncertainty, and a tax policy that leaves little room for investment,” Blackout News adds.

    Both, left and center-right, are to blame

    The push to green energies, and away from conventional sources, began in earnest under the government led by Angela Merkel and her CDU center right party. The latest Socialist-Green coalition government, led by Olaf Scholz and Robert Habeck, have since pushed draconian policies that have only exacerbated Germany’s economic and energy woes.

    Most experts argue that the government hasn’t been fixing problems, rather it has been making them far worse. It simply refuses to acknowledge the reality.

    Industrial exodus…country needs more than just hope

    “The current crisis demands far more from political decision-makers than just hoping for a calming of the market,” adds Blackout News. “Comprehensive measures are needed…the measures include a reduction in energy costs.”

    Blackout News recently reported on the “industrial exodus” as “Germany’s economic crisis forces traditional companies to flee.”

    1. Blackout News recently reported on the “industrial exodus” as “Germany’s economic crisis forces traditional companies to flee.”

       I know someone who works for BASF in the US. I am told that there is a layoff bloodbath in Germany while BASF is expanding its chemical business outside of Germany because of energy costs.

       Will German voters say “enough!” or will they say “I will endure any sacrifice to save the world”?

       1. Well, I’m pretty sure Germans would be more than happy to sell Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, throw in Finland for good measure, to the Russian for some cheap gas. They’ve done it before with good results in the second world war.

          1. Isn’t Germany’s current energy crisis at least partially self inflicted?

             1. Some of it for sure!

             2. But there is a lot more to the story. The German worker is not the same as prior generation. The new generation has become complacent, lazy, expensive, noncompetitive, entitled. Joke goes that German workers are so expensive they, can’t afford to buy their own products anymore.

             3. Taking out Nord Stream was huge as trains and tankers cannot compete with a pipeline.

16. A Generation Lost to Climate Anxiety

    https://realclearwire.com/articles/2024/04/11/a_generation_lost_to_climate_anxiety_1024331.html

    In a far-reaching new essay in The New Atlantis, the environmental researcher Ted Nordhaus makes a damning and authoritative case that while the basic science of CO2 and climate is solid, it has been abused by the activist class in service of a wildly irresponsible and unscientific climate catastrophism.

    This reckless alarmism, saturated across the mainstream media and endlessly amplified by it, has had profound societal consequences. It has both distorted public understanding of the massive benefits the carbon economy makes possible and grossly exaggerated the risks of extreme events it allegedly makes more likely.

    As a result it has rendered reasonable debate on climate policy impossible, even as it has given cynical politicians an easy scapegoat for every social ill, drawing attention away from regulatory and institutional failures and laying blame instead at the feet of fossil fuel companies and other evil “emitters.”

    Perhaps most perniciously, as Nordhaus details, the doomsday prophesying of climate extremists has created hardened skeptics on one side who are increasingly suspicious of all public “expertise”, while at the same time infecting true believers on the other side with a crippling, pathological fatalism that has come to be referred to as “climate anxiety.”

    Climate Anxiety

    If there’s any flaw in Nordhaus’ damning and comprehensive analysis it’s that he undersells just how much damage the advent of “climate anxiety” has done already—and how much more it’s likely to do in years to come.

    Yes, there’s the obvious cases of obnoxious and lawbreaking behavior, from climate iconoclasts defacing priceless works of art, to interrupting Broadway shows and sporting events, to gluing themselves to buses and holding up traffic on major thoroughfares.

    But it runs much deeper than that.

    Consider recent headlines: From Vox: “What to do when you’re completely overwhelmed by climate anxiety.” From The Guardian: “Climate anxiety adds to teenagers’ fears.” And the New York Times: “How Climate Change is Changing Therapy.” And perhaps most depressing of all, from the BBC: “Climate anxiety: ‘I don’t want to burden the world with my child.” The trend is so wide now that they have given it a name: birth strike.

    And the data backs up the headlines—like the recent Finnish study of 6,000 subjects that showed people with “woke” beliefs have higher rates of depression.

    Developed countries are already facing real increases in mental health issues, many of them human-made and bound up in everything from the opioid crisis to the COVID pandemic. The manufacture of climate anxiety as an issue allegedly on par with those others is a dangerous distraction that draws resources away from solving these other mental health challenges.

    Innovative Solutions or More Activism?

    Most of the real action on forestalling or mitigating the negative externalities created by the carbon economy is happening within industry itself. But instead of fueling a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs to help produce these better, cleaner technologies, climate catastrophism has Gen Z curled up in a collective ball, while the likes of NPR tells its privileged listeners to “Let yourself feel the feelings — all of them” about our coming climate doom.

    Influencers like Greta Thunberg are motivating the young to pursue careers in political activism instead of research and innovation. It is easier to make the world angry through protest than to make it better by finding solutions.

    Climate fear-mongering has created a dread so powerful it’s putatively putting people off of having children altogether, at a time when advanced countries are already facing precipitously declining fertility rates.

    This bleak picture raises the question of exactly what’s in it for the eco-extremist purveyors of gloom. For Nordhaus, it’s akin to a religious mission. “Apocalyptic claims about an unfolding emergency, rather, serve a millenarian agenda”, he writes, “that variously demands that we abolish capitalism, bring about an end to economic growth, power the global economy entirely with wind and solar energy, feed the global population only with small-scale organic agriculture, and cut global emissions in half over the next decade or two.”

    He doesn’t need to add that actually enacting that list of prescriptions would be both extremely unwise and largely impossible (and catastrophic).

    Political Opportunism

    Nordhaus doesn’t go far enough. Because it doesn’t really matter whether drastic policy proposals would actually work if the real goal is just acquiring enough political power to dictate them.

    Left-wing political leaders have been using the specter of a “climate emergency” to justify the expansion of their powers for years—limiting consumer choice with product bans, picking winners and losers with boondoggle subsidies, and using lawfare to try and put energy companies out of business by abusing “public nuisance” laws, just to name a few.

    Even the political right is getting in on the action. Just recently a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators introduced the PROVE IT Act, a bill that pairs the Democrats’ long love of climate panic with Republicans’ newfound love of protectionism and industrial policy.

    Anyone who is paying close enough attention knows that these kinds of power plays are cynical, shortsighted, and counterproductive, but what we are collectively starting to realize is how much they’ve been enabled by the literal derangement of generations of well-intentioned folks by climate catastrophism.

    The bitter irony is that there is good evidence the climate “experts” know better—like a recent study of 2,066 people that found that higher levels of scientific knowledge about the environment and climate change was associated with less climate anxiety.

    When the famous teenage eco-activist Greta Thunberg snarled and sobbed at a UN climate conference that those in power had “stolen her childhood” she was absolutely right – just not in the way she thought…

    All is not Lost

    As the media reported children weeping in the streets during highly managed Extinction Rebellion or Just Stop Oil campaigns, shouldn’t there be some other direction for us to take? How can we motivate the next generation to be a force for innovation and positive change rather than feed them a steady diet of nihilism, hate, and anxiety? There are certain things that can be done to frame the future of humanity in a more positive light.

    Here are some ideas on how to stop malignant activism from eroding the hopes of humanity:

    Young people need positive mentors who are standing up to the pessimism with positive solutions. Scientists, professors, influencers need to focus on developing answers rather than acrimony.

    Positive stories need to be told. While the media focused on Greta as she sucked the hope out of the youth, other young people, like Boyan Slat, whose Ocean Cleanup achievements were legitimately inspirational, were largely ignored. Too bad the media is now funded largely by climate catastrophe foundations that promulgate pessimism. A new approach to media reporting, more transparent, more balanced, is overdue.

    Tech, business, and medical research sectors have venture capitalists who provide competitions and seed capital for young innovators to develop their ideas. Many recipients leave university to develop their ideas into successful companies. Very little like this exists for environmental health researchers. Rather there are a large number of bitter, under-funded postdocs who amplify the negativism.

    Tort reform in the US is necessary. Nordhaus highlighted how law firms were benefiting from the amplified public hatred of fossil fuel companies. Their lucrative anonymous payments to scientists, NGOs, foundations, filmmakers and the media via dark, donor-advised funds is poisoning an already toxic political arena.

    There needs to be better communication on the achievements and success stories of capitalism. The idea that the only solution to these climate challenges is to dismantle industry, restrict global trade, and block free markets is simply ludicrous.

    These are a few of the necessary steps to help the public find a balance between humanity and environmental concerns. On climate issues, there needs to be more hope than horror, more imagination than resignation, and more inspiration than anxiety. With better stories and more responsible storytellers, the climate narrative can be reshaped from one of bitter acrimony to a challenge for innovators to once again push humanity forward.

    1. And the data backs up the headlines—like the recent Finnish study of 6,000 subjects that showed people with “woke” beliefs have higher rates of depression.

       I thought Finland was the happiest country in the world because they are so woke.

    2. In a far-reaching new essay in The New Atlantis, the environmental researcher Ted Nordhaus makes a damning and authoritative case that while the basic science of CO2 and climate is solid, it has been abused by the activist class in service of a wildly irresponsible and unscientific climate catastrophism.

       That’s rich. There has been no shortage of “scientists” bellowing that there is no time to spare and we must make the switch to net zero immediately. Kind of like how scientists and doctors screamed that unless we were jabed we would die a horrible death.

       1. environmental researcher Ted Nordhaus

          He’s not a scientist at all. BA in History from Berkley.

    3. Oh, and there we were all in one place
       A generation lost in space
       With no time left to start again

17. Who’d’ve thunk that a 50% increase in the cost of shelter, related to pandemic era monetary stimulus, would lead to a drastic increase in homelessness?

    1. Axios San Diego Homepage
       San Diego
       Jan 5, 2024 –
       News
       California leads U.S. in percentage of unsheltered homelessness
       Kate Murphy,
       Megan Rose Dickey,
       Alex Fitzpatrick,
       Alice Feng
       Data: HUD; Map: Alice Feng/Axios

       California had the highest percentage of homeless people living without shelter (68%) in the nation last year, per a recently released federal report.

       Details: The annual report, from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, attempts to estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night — in this case, in late January 2023 — to offer a snapshot useful to policymakers, advocates, researchers and others.

       Yes, but: Some advocates believe point-in-time counts can be misleading and may drastically underestimate the true number of houseless individuals, as Axios Portland has reported.

       By the numbers: On that night, more than 181,000 people were experiencing homelessness in California, a rate of 46.5 per 10,000 people, per HUD.

       That’s up from 151,278 per 10,000 people in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

       Of note: California accounts for 28% of all people experiencing homelessness in the country, and 49% of all unsheltered people in the U.S., per the report.
       …
       https://www.axios.com/local/san-diego/2024/01/05/california-leads-nation-unsheletered-homelessness

       1. California accounts for 28% of all people experiencing homelessness in the country, and 49% of all unsheltered people in the U.S.

          I am curious. What is the difference?

          1. I know in CA lots of people sleep in their cars. That’s maybe unhoused but sheltered?

          2. Homeless, Houseless, Unhoused, or Unsheltered: Which Term is Right?

             https://invisiblepeople.tv/homeless-houseless-unhoused-or-unsheltered-which-term-is-right/

             Like Many Things, the Answer Depends on Who You Ask, and Too Few People Are Asking Those that it Actually Affects
             Lately, there has been a lot of discourse surrounding the language used to refer to people living without stable shelter. More and more people are turning away from the most common term, “homeless,” in favor of alternatives like houseless, unhoused, unsheltered, and many more variations.

             This might confuse the casual observer about the difference between these terms and which one they should use. The simple truth is that different people use different terms for different reasons. When in doubt, it’s best to ask the specific person you’re referring to which term they prefer for themselves.

             Or, you could just call them by their name.

             But when we’re speaking more generally, a uniting term is helpful. So let’s look at some of these different terms and their use.

             Houseless
             Houseless is a term that rose mainly in response to the fact that while they may not live in traditional houses, many houseless people feel that they do have homes. Whether they’re living in a tent encampment, sleeping in their vehicle, or returning to a specific spot each night, the area where they spend their time and store their items is their home.

             This distinction is important when conceptualizing the harm that houseless people endure from encampment sweeps and searches and seizures of their property. These actions aren’t just unfortunate public interactions. They are sanctioned home invasions. The places where houseless people live are their homes. They should be recognized as such and treated to the same legal protections any other home enjoys.

             Unhoused
             Unhoused is probably the most popular alternative to the word “homeless.” It’s undoubtedly the one I see most often recommended by advocates. But it doesn’t have a meaningful difference in connotation from the more common term, “homeless.”

             Proponents of the word say using it dodges the stigma inherent in the word “homeless”. While it may be true that hearing an unfamiliar word might cause people to stop and think a second longer, that benefit will disappear once the word becomes sufficiently common.

             Unsheltered
             Unsheltered is a more general term that is only sometimes meant as a synonym for homeless. In everyday use, it could just mean “exposed to the elements” like an unsheltered bus stop. When it comes to homelessness, it usually refers to someone who is living in an area that is not meant for human habitation, like a car, sidewalk, or park.

             In that sense, it would exclude homeless people who are living in shelters or other temporary housing. It’s a useful term when you want to talk exclusively about people who are “sleeping rough” like that. But it’s not a catch-all term you can use to refer to all homeless people.

             Homeless
             Homeless is the common term that most people learn first. It’s used by many shelters, government bodies, and other service providers. For many people, it may be the only term they ever hear to refer to this group of people. Though some advocates are starting to push back against its use and change their own language, most homeless people do not consider it to be an offensive term.

             Of course, everyone has a right to choose which terms they prefer to be referred to with, and you should respect that choice. But “homeless” isn’t a bad choice as a go-to term since it’s widely understood and not considered harmful by most.

             Just avoid blaming all your city’s problems on “the homeless” and making other sweeping generalizations. A lack of understanding and respect for the people you’re talking about is much worse than word choice in this case.

             So Why Do We Have So Many Words?
             Now that I’ve said that most homeless people don’t find use of the term “homeless” offensive, you might be wondering why we even have so many alternative words for it. And, while terms like “houseless” and “unsheltered” provide useful distinctions, the frontrunner of the pack, “unhoused” bases its value on being as of yet free of the stigma attached to the word “homeless.”

             But the thing is, the word homeless isn’t inherently stigmatized. It’s the entire concept of homelessness that’s stigmatized. All the biases, stereotypes, misunderstandings, and hatred people have for homeless people don’t dissipate the moment they’re called unhoused people.

             All of that will carry over to the new word, whatever it may be.

             Are the Terminology Debates a Distraction?
             As is often the case, the voices lobbying loudest for a change in language are not the voices of the people actually described by the language. Most people typing out angry comments or loudly lecturing others aren’t homeless, houseless, unhoused, or unsheltered themselves.

             It’s usually someone who considers themselves an advocate for the people they’re speaking about (or over) and is looking for a way to “help out” that will give them some instant gratification. After all, it’s much easier to shout at someone for saying homeless instead of unhoused than it is to confront the entire system of government and capitalism that keeps poor people marginalized and mistreated.

             This is not to say that no one living without housing cares, because some people certainly have a strong preference for one term over another, and we should always respect that. But for housed people who are just looking for a way to help out, policing language isn’t the most helpful thing we could be doing. It’s certainly not our place to decide what other people should be called.

             My advice is to sit this one out. Refer to individuals as they identify themselves to you. Use the more general terms in the appropriate context, and don’t worry about trying to correct other people’s language unless they’re saying something really heinous. You may even find that taking a back seat in the terminology discourse frees up some of your energy to advocate for your homeless neighbors in a more tangible way!

    2. Fox Business
       Media
       Published April 15, 2024 9:00pm EDT
       California housing crisis turning many working-class towns into ‘million-dollar cities’: Report
       California has more ‘million-dollar cities’ than the next five states combined
       By Nikolas Lanum FOXBusiness
       Ex-California resident: I’ll take freedom in Florida over ‘nuttiness’ in California any day
       ‘Leaving California’ Facebook group founder Terry Gilliam discusses the California exodus and why so many Americans are choosing to live in red states like Florida.

       A growing list of California cities are reeling from the ongoing housing crisis, with once working-class towns seeing median home prices exceeding $1 million.

       According to The Los Angeles Times, Placentia, Orange, Tustin, Bonita, Cerritos, and San Gabriel are all facing a substantial jump in home values. Many of the hardest-hit cities are located in Orange County, San Diego County, and Los Angeles County.

       The outlet noted that Bonita and Tustin saw the most significant growth rates, with homes jumping nearly 12% in the last year.
       …
       https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/california-housing-crisis-turning-working-class-towns-million-dollar-cities.amp

       1. Wonder how many empty houses are sitting on the bank’s REO list because they don’t want to auction them, which would lower housing values across the board.

18. New NPR CEO Said ‘Reverence For The Truth’ May Be ‘Distraction’ In Resurfaced TED Talk

    https://dailycaller.com/2024/04/17/new-npr-ceo-said-reverence-truth-distraction-resurfaced-ted-talk/

    National Public Radio’s (NPR) new CEO Katherine Maher said in a resurfaced 2022 TED Talk that seeking “truth” could impede progress and unity.

    Maher, who became CEO in March, has come under fire for resurfaced tweets in which she expressed support for President Joe Biden’s campaign in 2020, as well as called former President Donald Trump “racist” in 2018. Maher was the CEO of WikiMedia Foundation until 2021, and she gave a TED Talk in June 2022 about Wikipedia’s implications on “balancing truth and beliefs.” (RELATED: ‘Clearheaded Most Of The Time’: Corporate Media Defends Biden’s Lucidity As Interview Transcript Reveals Memory Lapses)

    “Perhaps for our most tricky disagreements, seeking the truth and seeking to convince others of the truth might not be the right place to start,” Maher said during the TED Talk. “In fact, our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that’s getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done.”

    WATCH:

    [A short video appears here …]

    “Now, that is not to say that the truth doesn’t exist, nor is it to say that the truth isn’t important,” she added. “Clearly, the search for the truth has led us to do great things, to learn great things. But, I think if I were to really ask you to think about this, one of the things that we could all acknowledge is that part of the reason we have such glorious chronicles to the human experience and all forms of culture is because we acknowledge there are many different truths.”

    Maher went on to explain how “truth” debates may be getting in the way of tackling climate change.

    “I think about our lack of urgent action on climate change,” she said. “We’ve known for a very long time now about the negative impacts of man-made carbon in the atmosphere. But, that implications of that data challenge our identities, our industries, our communities in ways that have led and created resistance and even disinformation, and the resulting public debates about the truth of climate change have prevented us from taking specific and concrete actions that could mitigate the harms to us around rising seas, increasingly deadly waves of heat and cold and powerful storm systems.

    1. Cut off their taxpayer money now.

19. ‘So, yeah, went from being the most financially sound, good to go, had my retirement saved up to drowning in debt’

    You are a winnah! Sam. You only live once.

20. ‘While college was a great way for me to figure some things out, it was a really expensive way for me to do that,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t do that again. I would have gone into the trades’

    Another example of phony money distorting the economy.

    1. Attending a university used to be a great place for one’s daughter to find a husband that could support her. Back in the day it was easy to spot the slide rule and awkward demeaner.

21. James O’Keefe
    @JamesOKeefeIII

    BREAKING: O’Keefe Media Uncovers who is really running the White House. Undercover cameras catch Special Advisor @SBAgov call former @facebook Board Member @WHCOS @ZientsJeff27574 “the second most powerful person in Washington” where “whatever this guy says, it’s what the… Show more

    3:57 PM · Apr 17, 2024

    https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1780687148527579215

22. The apple that broke the camel’s back.

    Censored Men
    @CensoredMen

    $7 for an apple is INSANE.

    6:50 AM · Apr 17, 2024
    ·
    https://x.com/CensoredMen/status/1780549455537693157

    1. Whole Foods!

       Isn’t that all Organic? How do you get a flawless apple with Organic practices?

       This fall I bought cider at the local mill for $6/gal. Put up a year’s supply.

23. ‘‘They started using our back fence as their toilet. There was nothing we could do about it. It was a constant struggle to prevent that from happening’

    This is the pride of ownership. Shoo, get away, pull yer pants up por favor, DON’T use yer hand?!

    1. ‘‘They started using our back fence as their toilet. There was nothing we could do about it.”

       Rock Salt 12 Gauge Vs Ballistic Gel

       https://youtu.be/Ojq-AlWUDco?si=vKVAMDU4mqBARRLd&t=79

24. ‘We spend a lot of time on a weekly basis trying to find avenues to not be one of those stalled projects. It’s right now a pretty derelict … series of buildings’

    Jacob is sending out resumes.

25. ‘I only need a small amount to get through my day and I have plans to quit in the real near future,’ Evans said. ‘If I could get in an apartment, I could get a job, I have a driver’s license, I would be able to keep myself clean and shaved and make myself presentable. It would change my whole life. If I could get an apartment. Even a tiny home would at least put me indoors,’ he said, while also claiming the city has never given him that opportunity’

    This bum would try to steal yer lighter if you gave him a light.

    1. “Unified Care Team”

       Sounds like a bunch of parasites with ample six figure salaries who never fix anything.

    2. “Evans, who also goes by the name Bama, said Kettle’s concerns are legitimate. He told KOMO News that he’s using fentanyl.”

       Odds are Evans will never (if ever) be a productive member of society.

26. Yahoo
    Benzinga
    Homebuilder Stocks Tumble As Housing Starts Fall By 14.7%: ‘A Poor Time To Buy A Home,’ Says Economist
    Piero Cingari
    Tue, April 16, 2024 at 10:32 AM PDT·3 min read

    Homebuilder stocks face sharp declines as the SPDR Homebuilders ETF (NYSE:XHB) drops 1.8% in Tuesday’s session, hitting its lowest level since Feb. 26, 2024, amid negative economic data.

    From the start of the month, this performance gauge has fallen approximately 10%, marking the first market correction since September 2023 after a significant 60% rally in the six months leading up to late March.

    Tuesday’s worst performers among U.S. homebuilder stocks were Installed Building Products, Inc. (NYSE:IBP), TopBuild Corp. (NYSE:BLD), Dream Finders Homes, Inc. (NYSE:DFH)
    Sharp Decline in Housing Starts Signals Market Cooling

    In the U.S., housing starts in March 2024 saw a dramatic month-over-month decrease of 14.7%, reaching an annualized rate of 1.321 million.
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/homebuilder-stocks-tumble-housing-starts-173201879.html

27. ‘His client had been ‘foolish and stupid.’ He placed his family’s home in jeopardy and has lost everything’

    You have to be in it to win it Trevor.

    1. Jonathan needs to reduce his food intake, and apply the savings toward debt.

28. Parkmerced, one of San Francisco’s biggest apartment complexes, is at risk of defaulting on its nearly $1.8 billion mortgage

    A $2B apartment complex? 9000 apartments is a city. Who approved such a loan?

29. A massive homeless encampment at 8th Avenue and Navajo Street is now in the cleanup and move-out phase after both Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and neighbors in the area said it posed health and safety risks. ‘Here we are now stuck with nowhere to go. Nothing. We don’t know what to do,’ Antoinette Martin told FOX31’s Vicente Arenas

    Maybe tell the mayor’s office that you are a migrant? I heard that even the police budget is getting cut to house illegals.

    And didn’t the mayor promise to house the homeless? We knew that promise was going to be broken.

    1. “Here we are now stuck with nowhere to go.”

       Go camp out on the mayor’s front lawn. Bring your friends. Lots of them.

30. Do you worry the stock market may be headed for a hard reset which will take years to recover from?

    1. The stock market is headed for a hard ‘reset’ that could take years to recover from, CIO says
       Jennifer Sor
       Apr 17, 2024, 9:40 AM PDT
       …
       https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-correction-recession-outlook-economy-bear-market-metals-industrials-2024-4

    2. “… the stock market may be headed for a hard reset which will take years to recover from.”

       Bring it on!

    3. Financial Times
       Markets volatility
       Vix ‘fear gauge’ soars on Middle East tensions and interest rate shift
       Volatility index at highest since October as investors step up protection against downside risk to equities
       The New York Stock Exchange
       Investors are reassessing their strategies after the shift in expectations in interest rates provoked by the strength of the US economy
       George Steer in New York yesterday

       US investors are paying the biggest premiums since October to protect their portfolios against market gyrations as mounting tensions in the Middle East and reduced expectations of interest rate cuts fuel a surge in volatility.

       The Vix index, Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge, hit 19.6 this week, its highest level since October 20, two weeks after the Hamas attack that triggered Israel’s war in Gaza.

       The metric measures the price of options that enable investors to profit from swings in the S&P 500.

       As of the end of Wednesday in the US, the index had receded slightly to about 18.2, still far above its late-March level of 12.6.

       Market turmoil has also affected US bonds, with the ICE BofA Move index, which tracks volatility in US Treasuries, hitting 121, its highest level since early January and up from 86 in March.
       …

31. Memory Motel (Remastered) · The Rolling Stones

    Black And Blue

    https://youtu.be/MdpeyQkOK6g?si=MTdpJKgL391otz7B

32. Statesboro Blues (Live At Fillmore East, March 13, 1971) ·
    The Allman Brothers Band

    https://youtu.be/UovEQyL-csA?si=YAfoSFDyKM5DqwG8

33. Is US housing in more of a recession or a depression?

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