thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

It Just Feels Like Highway Robbery Because That Is Our Equity

A report from the Naples Daily News in Florida. “If the Naples area had been part of a Redfin study, it would likely show up as leading the nation with the largest pileup of unsold housing inventory year over year. There were 2,667 price decreases for NABOR during March, the highest number of reductions reported in more than five years, and a less strong housing market had a lot more inventory than even now. Overall, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Managing Broker Sherry Stein finds the market returning to pre-pandemic patterns. ‘People were buying anything during the pandemic,’ Stein said. ‘Buyers are now finding more homes to choose from.'”

Banker & Tradesman in Massachusetts. “The Cape Cod housing market has seen a surprising bump in new home listings, kindling hope that the era of ever-declining inventory might be coming to a close – at least in Barnstable County. In April, new listings were up 20.3 percent in Barnstable County compared to the year prior – and new listings were up 20 percent year-to-date compared to the first four months of 2023, according to data from the Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors. ‘I don’t know what’s causing it, but something seems to be breaking the cycle’ of ever-declining inventory on the Cape, said Ryan Castle, chief executive officer of CCIAOR. ‘We starting to see cracks in the market, a beginning of a thaw.'”

“There are other curious developments, if not worrying signs, in the Cape market. Castle said the number of people pulling out of contracts – referred to as ‘falters’– has been on the rise of late. In the first full week of May, there were 20 recorded ‘falters,’ or deals under agreement at the start of a week unraveling by the end of the week, he said. At the same time last year, there were zero falters. Besides buyers running into last-minute loan problems, one explanation for the rise in falters: delayed buyer regret over agreed-upon high prices for perceived lower-quality homes. Meanwhile, some sellers on the Cape are still asking too much for homes, leading to later price reductions – despite generally strong demand for homes on the Cape, Castle said.”

The Arizona Republic. “The Phoenix-area neighborhoods that posted the biggest price increases span from Apache Junction across central Phoenix, north to Scottsdale and Fountain Hills and west to Glendale. The areas with the biggest median home price decreases span from south Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, to Mesa and Tempe in the East Valley and Surprise in the West Valley. South Scottsdale’s 85251 area had the biggest drop in its median, which fell 15% to $455,000. In Wickenburg’s 85390, prices dropped 13% to $425,000. Paradise Valley’s median price in 85253 sagged 13% to $2.62 million.”

“85377 in Carefree saw an 11% drop in its median to $975,000. The central Phoenix area 85007 had a 10% decline to $433,000. Located in central Mesa, the 85210 ZIP experienced a 9% price slide to $315,000. South Tempe’s 85284 area saw an 8% drop to a median of $577,000. The 85355 ZIP in Surprise and Waddell had an 8% dip to $439,000. The median price across Surprise’s 85378 saw an 8% decline to $329,000. And in central Phoenix’s 85006 area, prices slipped 7% to $435,000.”

Business Insider. “Alex Moeller was having a great month, and he wanted to share it with his 2 million followers on Instagram. In one photo from October 2022, the millennial entrepreneur/influencer posed on his private jet, the fawn leather seats embroidered with the logo for his red-hot business, WiFi Money. For Jasmine Sadry and Joey Martin, that October was decidedly less enjoyable. The Texas couple were staring down more than $100,000 in debt, much of which they had poured into WiFi Money. Overwhelmed by stress and guilt, Martin went into a deep spiral and was hospitalized several times after binge drinking and using drugs. As Moeller partied it up, Sadry and Martin were preparing to move out of the Dallas-area home they could no longer afford.”

“In an attempt to make ends meet, the couple refinanced and rented out their home, moving from an upscale Dallas townhouse to a mold-ridden apartment near the airport. In November 2021, Martin filed for bankruptcy protection, and Sadry prepared to follow suit. They were far from WiFi Money’s only dissatisfied customers. Since its founding in 2020, the company has left a trail of lawsuits alleging fraud, bankruptcies, mental breakdowns, and financial devastation.”

“Daemon Budkowski, a former actor and model in Los Angeles with multiple sclerosis, said his investment in WiFi Money put his mortgage at risk. ‘Legally, I’m disabled,’ he said. ‘I’m not able to work. I’m tired of being a debt to society. That’s why I wanted to invest — to make a living. Now, honestly, they ruined my life.’ He filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission but never heard back.”

From NPR. “Zombie second loans can be perilous for homeowners because they were real mortgages, signed 15 or 20 years ago, and often there are still liens recorded on the properties. NPR looked at foreclosure data across several states where records were available. In New York, NPR found at least 10,000 old second mortgages that foreclosure activity had been initiated on in just the past two years. Those loans originated back during the subprime-lending housing-bubble days of 2004 to 2008. In Maryland, where more detailed information was obtainable, NPR found at least 500 old second mortgages that had been in default and unpaid for more than a decade but now a company has taken the first step toward foreclosure. In other words, more than 500 zombie mortgages in a single state that are now coming back to life as companies file a form with the state indicating they intend to foreclose on the property.”

“In Oxnard, Calif., Liz and Paul Chavez spoke to NPR just a week before a foreclosure sale that was scheduled by a company trying to collect nearly $250,000, counting retroactive interest, on a long-defunct second mortgage. That was about $100,000 more than they had originally borrowed. ‘It just feels like highway robbery because that is our equity,’ Liz Chavez said.”

The Toronto Sun. “Canadians’ standard of living has declined to a level not seen for nearly 40 years. The average Canadian is now only as well off as when another Trudeau was in the prime minister’s office. The last time our standard of living was this low, the top movies were Footloose, Terminator and Ghostbusters and the top pop hits were ‘When Doves Cry,’ ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It’ and ‘Karma Chameleon.’ (Remember Boy George?) The cause of this disturbing decline is Liberal government economic illiteracy. One of the clearest examples of what I mean is liquefied natural gas (LNG). Our prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who would prefer to virtue signal about trendy causes, repeatedly says there is no ‘business case’ for Canada to sell LNG to the world.”

“Forget the fact the PM wouldn’t know a business case if it fell out of an overhead bin onto his head. In the time Trudeau has been prime minister, the Americans have built more than 20 LNG export facilities. Canada has built none. Is that because Americans are too dumb to see there is no business case? Liberal policy and tax failures have driven down productivity, investment, incomes and the dollar while driving up the cost of nearly everything — especially food, housing and energy. Under the Liberals, the cost of mortgages and rents have doubled. Where it once took 44% of the average Canadian income to afford a house, it now takes 63%.”

“In U.S. dollars, the median Canadian income is just $25.70, or about a quarter less than in America. And on a purchasing-power basis, Canadians make about one-third less. And I’m sorry, we’re not going to grow our economy by taxing away everyone’s shrinking incomes to subsidize international car-making giants to site EV battery plants and assembly lines here. I am reluctant to bring up immigration again. I am not a nativist or xenophobe, but the math is unavoidable.”

“The best estimate stateside is that about 1.6 million illegals enter every year and 1 million legal immigrants. That’s 2.6 million into a country of 330 million. The Canadian equivalent, per capita, would be 323,000 immigrants a year. Yet, last year under the Liberals we took in 1.4 million – more than four times the number per capita of the U.S. – and our economy and housing markets aren’t currently as robust as theirs. This isn’t bigotry, it’s mathematics. And we aren’t doing the newcomers any favours, either, by bringing them into a country with declining living standards.”

The Stoke Sentinel in the UK. “A family has been left living in a building site and thousands of pounds out of pocket – after a construction company collapsed into liquidation. Joanne Hughes paid £36,000 for the extension to her Staffordshire home and was awarded a £30,000 disability facilities grant (DFG) from her local council because eight-year-old son Benjamin is severely autistic. But the extension is still only half-completed, there is a hole in the kitchen wall, and building materials in the garden. The 52-year-old has also only received £15,000 of the grant – and the remaining £15,000 can no longer be accessed without a new application.”

“Joanne said: ‘It feels like a nightmare. Over time it has worn me down. When it happened, I don’t think I realised the enormity of it. I don’t think I was accepting that I’d be left in this mess knowing I was a single parent with a disabled son. The house is just a mess.’ A council inspection carried out last month detailed a hole in the kitchen wall, issues with the boiler, and loose wires hanging out of ceilings and walls. Joanne added: ‘We’ve got no way out. The rest of the DFG fund has expired, so we can’t access it. I thought this renovation would finally give us our life back, give us independence and make a big difference. We’re left living in this mess.'”

South China Morning Post. “After Beijing introduced its most ambitious effort to date to revive the property sector and bolster the country’s economic recovery, analysts and economists find the plan’s scale too small and remain uncertain about its effectiveness. Market experts suggested that initiatives to solve the long-standing property crisis will need more meat on the bone. Homebuyers in Shanghai, meanwhile, were not enthused by the stimulus measures announced on Friday, as they bet on a further price drop owing to a bearish economic outlook.”

“‘The government’s incentives are the result of a crisis of confidence because consumers are wary of buying property amid worries about job and income,’ said Kiki Qian, a 40-year-old Shanghai resident who anticipates another 10 per cent plunge in housing prices. ‘Would-be buyers like me will not sign any purchase contract unless homeowners agree to further slash prices.'”

“Property brokers in the city described local residents’ reaction to the new policies as lukewarm. ‘Few people came to us to show their home-buying interest today,’ said Yan Zhancai, a consultant at an outlet of Lianjia, mainland China’s largest real estate brokerage, on Nanquan Road in Shanghai. ‘It looks as if lower mortgage rates are not enough to inspire them to make purchase decisions.'”

“Unlike other cities like Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, that removed all home-buying restrictions to encourage home ownership, Shanghai has yet to scrap the austerity measures, which bars households from owning a third flat, that was introduced in 2011 to rein in the city’s then-red-hot property market. ‘Even if a home-buying spree takes place on the back of the eased home-purchase restrictions, it will turn out to be short-lived because most homebuyers remain cautious and expect a downward spiral to continue,’ said You Liangzhou, owner of property agency Baonuo in Shanghai.”

Related Posts
This Post Has 69 Comments

  1. ‘spoke to NPR just a week before a foreclosure sale that was scheduled by a company trying to collect nearly $250,000, counting retroactive interest, on a long-defunct second mortgage. That was about $100,000 more than they had originally borrowed. ‘It just feels like highway robbery because that is our equity’

    Lots of tales of woe in this one.

    1. And she said she was struck by how cheap these mortgages can be bought and sold for. These companies are calling up homeowners demanding tens of thousands of dollars. But Kelly found that sometimes they have purchased that debt for almost nothing.

      “We have a case where a portfolio of approximately 9,000 loans was sold for $6,000,” she says. “And so each loan was sold for less than a dollar.”

  2. ‘Would-be buyers like me will not sign any purchase contract unless homeowners agree to further slash prices’

    That’s the spirit Kiki!

  3. ‘In Wickenburg’s 85390, prices dropped 13% to $425,000’

    You really fooked up this time Jerry. This sh$thole is an hours drive from the edge of Surprise.

  4. “we aren’t doing the newcomers any favours, either, by bringing them into a country with declining living standards”

    Canada is a failed country.

  6. CNBC — Soaring debt and deficits causing worry about threats to the economy and markets (5/19/2024):

    “Government debt that has swelled nearly 50% since the early days of the Covid pandemic is generating elevated levels of worry both on Wall Street and in Washington.

    The federal IOU is now at $34.5 trillion, or about $11 trillion higher than where it stood in March 2020. As a portion of the total U.S. economy, it is now more than 120%.”

    March 2020, did you say?

    “We’re running big structural deficits, and we’re going to have to deal with this sooner or later, and sooner is a lot more attractive than later,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in remarks Tuesday to an audience of bankers in Amsterdam.

    While he has assiduously avoided commenting on such matters, Powell encouraged the audience to read the recent Congressional Budget Office reports on the nation’s fiscal condition.

    “Everyone should be reading the things that they’re publishing about the U.S. budget deficit and should be very concerned that this is something that elected people need to get their arms around sooner rather than later,” he said.

    “The huge obvious problem is that the U.S. federal debt is now on a completely unsustainable long-term trajectory,” analysts at Wolfe Research said in a recent note. The firm worries that “bond vigilantes” will go on strike unless the U.S. gets its fiscal house in order, while rising interest costs crowd out spending.

    “Our sense is that policymakers (on both sides of the aisle) will be unwilling to address the U.S.’s long-term fiscal imbalances in a serious way until the market begins to push back hard on this unsustainable situation,” the Wolfe analysts wrote. “We believe that policymakers and the market are most likely underestimating future projected net interest costs.”

    https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/19/soaring-debt-and-deficits-causing-worry-about-threats-to-the-economy-and-markets.html

    1. BlackRock Jay & Yellen the Felon must be soiling themselves as China and other big buyers of US debt are now dumping their U.S. Treasuries, which raises the question of who is going to be funding our insane deficits? If bond vigilantes refuse to buy U.S. debt that’s going to be inflated away by the Fed, the latter will have no choice but to hike rates sharply enough to reflect our banana republic status under the illegitimate Biden regime – and if that happens, it’s Game Over for the Fed’s asset bubbles & Ponzi markets. Got gold? Got silver? Got lead & brass?

      https://watcher.guru/news/brics-china-dumps-the-largest-us-treasuries-in-history

      1. “under the illegitimate Biden regime”

        +1

        Not to distract from the topic at hand, but a reminder that the 2020 election was, in fact, stolen.

        The 2020 election was stolen.

  7. The Texas couple were staring down more than $100,000 in debt, much of which they had poured into WiFi Money.

    It would take a heart of stone to read about housing speculators getting fleeced, and not laugh.

  8. ‘Would-be buyers like me will not sign any purchase contract unless homeowners agree to further slash prices.’”

    There you have it, greedheads. Want to unload those alligators? Then get to sawin’ and slashin’ like you mean it.

  10. Why do people refuse to ask a lawyer first, most all give 30 minutes free before you hire them?

    I saw this in NYC the landlord would try and evict a rent controlled tenant and they would get so scared and move over a 33 cent letter in the mail.

    Finally a responsible story from NPR
    ——————-
    I saw the orange thing. … It said you have like 72 hours to get out.” This was Friday, July 1, ahead of the holiday weekend.

    Most of them told her it was too late. Her house was already sold. There was nothing they could do. But a lawyer with a nonprofit legal aid group called her back and told her to stop packing. She might not have to move out. She could still fight this.

  11. “The areas with the biggest median home price decreases span from south Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, to Mesa and Tempe in the East Valley and Surprise in the West Valley. South Scottsdale’s 85251 area had the biggest drop in its median, which fell 15% to $455,000.”

    It seems odd that Arizona cities are seeing substantial price declines while California prices are supposedly still rising, even though the flow of households is generally from California into Arizona.

    I wonder how much longer it will be until Arizona price declines head west to infect the California housing market?

    1. Californians Moving to Arizona Could Upend 2024 Election
      Published Oct 23, 2023 at 5:00 PM EDT
      Updated Oct 27, 2023 at 2:09 PM EDT
      By Katherine Fung
      Senior Writer

      Things are looking to get even dicier in one of the nation’s most prominent swing states as an influx of new residents raises the stakes on what could be the key to the presidency in 2024.

      State-to-state migration numbers released by the U.S. Census on Thursday show that while fewer Californians are moving to Texas, more are moving to Arizona…

      Although a mass exodus from California has been observed in recent years, the pipeline to Arizona shows a unique path that more than 69,000 Californians took in 2021 and that 74,000 took in 2022. Knowing that California is solidly blue, the migration patterns raise questions about whether the residents moving across state lines are Americans who will bring their liberal ideologies to Arizona or if they’re Americans seeking to leave those progressive beliefs behind.

      “In swing states with razor-thin margins, everything matters,” Republican strategist Alex Patton told Newsweek. “While we don’t have a great demographic profile of what type of Californians are moving to AZ, it is definitely something to explore and message accordingly.”
      …
      https://www.newsweek.com/californians-moving-arizona-could-upend-2024-election-1837067

    2. Does it seem odd that places in California where nobody wants to live are booming while at least some coastal areas are cratering?

      1. Southern California’s ‘last affordable’ region that has seen huge population boom as coastal renters flock to snap up cheap homes
        By Noa Halff For Dailymail.Com 16:53 17 May 2024, updated 20:32 17 May 2024

        – New data has revealed that the Inland Empire region of California is thriving

        – The California Department of Finance published its annual population report

        – Riverside and San Bernardino counties added more than 22K people in a year

        Southern California’s ‘last affordable’ region has seen a huge population boom as coastal renters flock to snap up cheap homes.

        New data revealed that the Inland Empire region of California is thriving, with Riverside and San Bernardino counties collectively adding more than 22,000 people in just last year.

        This trend is driven partly by coastal renters moving inland to purchase more affordable homes, as reported by SFGate.

        Last week, the California Department of Finance published its annual report on population and housing estimates.

        Menifee, located in Riverside County, emerged as one of the state’s top population growth centers, adding over 2,000 residents in the past year.

        Victorville in San Bernardino County also saw substantial growth, pushing its population to nearly 140,000, surpassing cities like Santa Clara and Berkeley, and approaching the sizes of Pasadena and Orange.

        The report does not specify the origins of these new residents and whether they moved from other parts of California or from out of state.

        Nevertheless, these counties now boast 14 cities with populations exceeding 100,000.

        This surge in population has attracted significant interest from real estate investors, causing fluctuations in median home prices across the region.

        The average home price in Inland Empire fell 2.5 percent between February 2023 and 2024 to $535,000 – compared to a steep $1.2 million in Los Angeles.

        The report also highlights growth in other areas of the state. Imperial County, on the southern border between San Diego and Arizona, saw several cities rank in the top 20 for population growth by percentage.

        The San Joaquin Valley also experienced a significant increase, with Bakersfield emerging as a key area for new housing.
        …
        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13430423/southern-california-affordable-region-population-renters-cheap-homes.html

        1. “The average home price in Inland Empire fell 2.5 percent between February 2023 and 2024 to $535,000 – compared to a steep $1.2 million in Los Angeles.”

          Is $1.2 million alot?

          1. ChatGPT 3.5

            User
            How many houses are there in Los Angeles?

            ChatGPT
            Los Angeles is a sprawling city with a constantly changing housing landscape, so it’s challenging to provide an exact number of houses. However, as of the last census, there were over 1.3 million housing units in the city.

            User
            If 1.3 million houses went down in value by an average amount of $1.2 million, what would be the total loss of market value?

            ChatGPT
            To find the total loss of market value, you would multiply the number of houses by the average decrease in value per house:

            1.3 million houses * $1.2 million = $1,560,000,000,000

            So, the total loss of market value would be $1.56 trillion.

            User
            Is $1.56 trillion alot?

            ChatGPT
            Yes, $1.56 trillion is indeed a significant amount of money. It’s a massive figure that represents a substantial loss in market value for the affected houses in Los Angeles.

            ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.
            …

  12. “Shanghai has yet to scrap the austerity measures, which bars households from owning a third flat…”

    Even if every Chinese household only owned two flats, wouldn’t there still be 1+ billion redundant housing units?

    Seems like a great recipe for producing ghost cities…

    1. Inside Malaysia’s $100 billion “ghost city”
      Nick Marsh
      Dec 14, 2023
      Heard on:
      Forest City, a development in Malaysia that was supposed to house nearly 1 million people, now sits largely empty. Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images
      This story was produced by our colleagues at the BBC.

      China’s real estate sector has had a tumultuous few years. While the woes of property giant Evergrande have often stolen headlines, Country Garden is another that has been wrapped up in the unfolding real estate crisis.

      This week, the Chinese property developer announced that top executives there are having their salaries slashed as the company continues to struggle with colossal debts. And the crisis in the property sector in China is being felt beyond the country’s borders.

      In 2016, Country Garden unveiled a $100 billion project in Malaysia called Forest City. It was supposed to accommodate nearly 1 million people. Eight years on, the complex is virtually empty. Below, a dispatch from inside Forest City:
      …
      https://www.marketplace.org/2023/12/14/china-real-estate-crisis-forest-city-malaysia/

  13. Ford sent a memo to its electric-vehicle parts suppliers this week asking them to help come up with ways to cut EV manufacturing costs. Ford is one of the only auto companies that’s announced the results of its EV business; it reported $4.7 billion in losses for the division in 2023 and has said it’s on track to lose another $5.5 billion this year. At the same time, the automaker has been forced to slash prices on its electric cars and slow production as customers tighten purse strings and Elon Musk’s Tesla wages a price war.

    “We need your best ideas to drive cost reduction, even if they have been previously rejected by Ford,” Liz Door, Ford’s chief supply-chain officer, reportedly wrote in the memo. “We have all invested heavily in the success of the EV business, and we will all win or lose together.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/ford-begs-suppliers-to-help-stem-ev-losses-we-will-all-win-or-lose-together/ar-BB1mzYtr

  14. When Plug Power posted its first-quarter results, the issues that have plagued the company over the past year remained front and center. The biggest of these issues is the company’s negative gross margins and cash outflows.

    The stock was down over 60% over the past year before news that the company received a huge $1.66 billion loan from the Department of Energy (DOE) sent shares skyrocketing higher.

    Plug Power is a fuel cell company that found a niche selling fuel cells used in forklifts and other material handling equipment that companies such as Amazon and Walmart use in their high-volume warehouses. The problem with its business model, however, is that it would sell the hydrogen fuel needed to run its fuel cells at a loss.

    This was once again the case in Q1, with the company reporting a gross loss of $159.1 million. That was worse than the $69.4 million gross loss it posted a year ago. This quarter was particularly bad, as in addition to having its typical negative gross margins on its fuel sales, it had negative equipment gross margins.

    Consistently selling fuel at huge negative gross margins is neither a good nor a sustainable business model. Not surprisingly, the company has been bleeding cash, which continued in Q1.

    Plug Power had operating cash outflows of $167.7 million, while its free cash flow was negative $266.4 million. That was actually a nice improvement compared to a year ago when its operating cash outflow was $276.9 million. However, much of the improvement came from a change in account receivables, as it was able to collect more debt from customers. Nothing in the underlying business changed besides this, and the amount customers now owe it has been reduced.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/plug-power-continues-burn-cash-061500023.html

  15. Driverless Waymo vehicles are a common sight for metro Phoenix residents. But seeing them glitch is …

    In the past, Waymos have been spotted stalled in downtown Phoenix and routinely idling in certain neighborhoods. However, a new video getting attention on social media shows a Waymo repeatedly swerving into the bike lane while driving in Phoenix.

    The video, posted to Instagram by user Chris Simmons, shows a Waymo struggling to stay in its lane while following a truck pulling a trailer loaded with a tree on 15th Avenue near Thomas Road on Monday.

    “Not sure if that was the problem but still. … I would have freaked out if I was in it,” Simmons said on Instagram.

    Waymo is under investigation over unexpected behavior from its automated driving systems, the National Highway Safety Administration announced on Tuesday.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/driverless-waymo-vehicle-glitches-while-driving-in-metro-phoenix-watch-the-video/ar-BB1mCGHo

  16. Pub landlord Brian Moore, 54, is busy with customers enjoying a late lunch before they head out into the sunshine.

    Yet the past months have been marred by cancellations and a sharp drop in tourists at the Mariner, which overlooks the waterfront in Drogheda, Ireland’s largest town.

    “I will have done 40 years in the business next year and I’ve never seen it this bad,” Moore says.

    On the other side of the town centre, across the River Boyne, Drogheda’s largest hotel has since March housed families fleeing conflict, violence and insecurity.

    Its 113 rooms account for most of the town’s accommodation capacity, leaving other visitors with few alternative options – a small boutique hotel, a hostel or some private lets.

    “You’re going to see a lot of smaller businesses closing. Once you close down the main source of accommodation in any location, it has a huge impact,” Moore says.

    Footfall is notably down compared to last year, says one shopkeeper who prefers not to use her name.

    “I don’t mind helping someone out. But at the same time where do we fit in?” she asks.

    “We could lose our jobs. I am not saying that we will but we could. It’s a possibility that’s in the back of your mind,” she adds.

    Many locals feel there has been a wider decline in Drogheda that compounds such fears.

    “I’ve grown up in this town. Most of the family-owned businesses are all shutting down. In one week there were five [shop closures] in the paper,” she adds.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/i-have-never-in-my-lifetime-seen-as-much-anger-how-ireland-s-migration-system-was-overwhelmed/ar-BB1mE9F5

    1. On the other side of the town centre, across the River Boyne, Drogheda’s largest hotel has since March housed families fleeing conflict, violence and insecurity.

      Who wants to vacation in a town overrun by hostile invaders?

  17. The Conservative Government is presumably about to be ejected from office. This is being treated as a judgment on their record of 14 years in power, their general incompetence and their failure to deliver what voters believe is needed.

    Because the discussion of electoral politics tends to be conducted in parochial terms, the expected defeat of the sitting Government is being assessed as if it were unique to this country and these particular political leaders. Hardly anyone seems to notice that almost all the European governing parties or coalitions which held power during the pandemic have been rejected outright or had their authority seriously undermined – sometimes with shocking results.

    This effect has not been confined to notoriously volatile countries like Italy, whose government was one of the first to go. Germany, which has relied on moderate consensus for generations in its determination to atone for a terrible historical legacy, is now seeing the rise of an extreme Right which was believed to have been extinguished. A country regarded, until very recently, as stable and socially liberal, the Netherlands, has elected a populist rabble rouser whose rhetoric is so incendiary that it has taken months to form a workable coalition. In France, Emmanuel Macron holds onto power without a majority.

    So this is clearly not just a phenomenon peculiar to the circumstances of each of these countries and its own distinctive political class. It looks more like a crisis of confidence in democracy itself – or, at least, the complacent, consensual version of it which is the dominant model. Voters in one country after another are not simply turning to traditional opposition parties out of conventional dissatisfaction with the status quo. They are supporting, often in startling numbers, much more visceral messages that appeal to atavistic emotions which were thought to be long buried.

    Perhaps it is time to examine just how much damage was done during the pandemic years – not just in economic terms but on a much wider scale to the psyche of populations as a whole. Maybe what we are seeing is some sort of mass nervous breakdown: a furious rejection of virtually everyone who was in charge during that bizarre period in which the most socially sophisticated peoples of the world were subjected to a form of deranging isolation from which they are struggling to recover. Perhaps, to put it bluntly, quite a lot of people went quietly crazy and a lot more became disoriented in ways that no thriving, active, urban society had anticipated.

    Might it be that the widespread syndrome of “anxiety and depression”, which is often assumed to be a pretext for failing to seek employment, is actually a genuine phenomenon: a form of mass agoraphobia that was induced in susceptible people by the unnatural conditions imposed on them at what might have been a sensitive point in their lives?

    There is much talk about the damage to school age children in formal educational terms, but what about the loss they suffered in psychological development: the emotional initiation that is a feature of those critical years between childhood and adult life? What happens when you miss out on that?

    And even before adolescence, when social interaction is so obviously crucial, there is the wider contact that should be part of the daily lives of very young children and infants. A few weeks after the face mask mandate on public transport was lifted, a woman carrying a baby sat down opposite me on the train. The baby’s gaze locked on to mine. I smiled and the baby giggled.

    It was one of those moments of social interaction between an infant and a stranger that had been, for most of the previous two years, made illegal. What sort of price was paid for that? What if children have essential developmental stages, and missing them causes irreparable damage?

    The inchoate anger and recklessness of so many electorates seems somehow disproportionate to the problems their countries are facing. Certainly, there are serious difficulties, economically and culturally, but they are not insoluble. Germans are not wheeling around barrows full of worthless currency as they were in the 1930s. Italians are not subject to the whims of corrupt mafia-led governments. The British may be enduring a cost of living crisis and a housing shortage but we have survived – and laughed – through much worse.

    Somehow the old assumptions that have underpinned political behaviour – however cynical they may have been – have been profoundly destabilised. In most of Europe, this mood of almost nihilistic rejection is taking down parties of the Left or centrist coalitions because they are the ones that happened to be in power at the time when the world went mad. Here, it is a centre-Right party that will bear the brunt.

    But this is not a matter of political orientation. It is a rejection of government itself – because it stole from people’s lives much of what made them worth living. Who would have thought that free societies would be debating whether children should be allowed to hug their grandparents? Or whether it should be illegal to have a sexual relationship with someone from outside your own household? All these years after the end of the Cold War, we were bringing in repressive laws that went beyond anything the East German Stasi ever dreamt of.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-damage-lockdown-did-to-our-democracy-is-finally-becoming-clear/ar-BB1mCAXb

    1. “Perhaps it is time to examine just how much damage was done during the pandemic years – not just in economic terms but on a much wider scale to the psyche of populations as a whole”

      Nuremburg 2.0

      There will be no “pandemic amnesty” only nooses.

      1. I went to visit my brother in the hospital and in a liitle over an hour, i was gasping for air it my lungs were so hot, i felt i was going to be in the ER soon..

        So i made sure from then on, to limit the mask wearing to quick trips to grocery stores, doctors

        But the upside there was much less traffic we drove all over long island, westchester and CT and beaches were empty too.

    2. ‘All these years after the end of the Cold War, we were bringing in repressive laws that went beyond anything the East German Stasi ever dreamt of’

      And all levels of guberment and corporate power gleefully jumped in. We used to ask, how did the Germans fall for it?

  18. It’s a tough time for wineries and grape growers. With Lodi being at the epicenter of California winegrape production, the pain is especially acute here. People aren’t drinking as much wine as they did just a few years ago, especially during the pandemic when there was little more to do than imbibe. An article in the S.F. Chronicle reports wine sales fell over 8% last year, nationwide. Today there’s an oversupply of grapes and wine, especially red wine, says grower Steve Felton, who also owns Klinker Brick Winery. While things at his winery “aren’t too bad,” it is a different story with others. He says some (well known) local wineries are for sale. One grower and winery owner told this column that for the first time in 30 years he doesn’t have a contract for his grapes. Last year many vineyards weren’t harvested. This year some farmers aren’t pruning their vines but are instead taking a wait-and-see approach. Felton says the industry has over-produced. Plus, some larger wineries have been buying bulk wine from overseas. But Felton says the slowdown has not been as bad for wines in the $18 to $25 range. “We’ll survive. We have distribution in all 50 states and 17 countries,” he says.

    https://www.lodinews.com/opinion/article_56e117a2-119d-11ef-9dd3-13cff04cb705.html

  19. Interesting that 2 US States have banned the fake engineered food.
    No matter how much they try to push this junk people just don’t like it. I don’t think bugs are going to be that embraced either.
    The narrative that fake food and bugs are going to save the earth from doomsday Climate Change just doesn’t make sense. Its as ridiculous as the fake MNRA vaccines.
    If they can get people to accept sub standard food than they can control more and more and more.
    The current food supply is riddled with bad foods already.
    No , fake food, bugs and fake vaccines are not going to save the earth from their fake doomsday narratives.

    1. In the time Trudeau has been prime minister, the Americans have built more than 20 LNG export facilities. Canada has built none.

      A jabbed relative who had a cardiac incident about a year ago has suffered a second one.

      1. “had a cardiac incident about a year ago has suffered a second one”

        100% safe and effective.

        Hope that free donut was worth it.

    1. “Ex-CDC Director Says It’s High Time To Admit ‘Significant Side Effects’ Of COVID-19 Vaccines”

      Remember when you were threatened to get FIRED FROM YOUR JOB for not getting injected with the deadly mRNA poison?

      Remember WHO made that threat? Democrat Party, that’s who.

      And minus the Unelected Occupant, most of these politicians were elected with actual votes.

      If you live in a blue city / state, you are surrounded by, outnumbered by, voters who voted this upon you.

      They voted for it. They voted to deny your bodily autonomy.

      Democrat Party voters voted for this.

  21. So these fraudsters are on verge of Bird Flu Panademic and Climate Change Emergency insanity.
    So what ,lock people down because some places had some floods, and some global places had a hot day. Stay in your house because Dubai had some floods that were geo engineered.
    Unreal.

  22. Discourse Economy
    How universities became giant piggy banks for hedge-fund billionaires
    Collage featuring the hand of financial person pouring coins into a college/university building coin slot, with two graduates watching
    Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/Insider
    Catherine Liu
    Mar 8, 2023, 3:00 AM PST

    The most cutting jokes are the ones with a bit of truth behind them. While the increasingly popular quip that “colleges are just real-estate hedge funds with classes attached” may inspire eye rolls, recent moves are making the joke cut deeper.

    In January, the University of California system — one of the largest public-university systems in the world and where I teach — made a $4 billion investment in the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust fund, one of the world’s largest real-estate funds. The massive investment came just weeks after the fund, known as BREIT, came under fire for limiting how much investors could pull out of it. But these liquidity concerns didn’t scare off UC, which committed to keep its investment with BREIT for at least six years.

    And the University of California system isn’t alone in its ambitions — universities across the country have invested in or bought up real estate. And some large public universities such as Georgia Tech, the University of Washington, and the University of Texas at Austin have even teamed up with private developers to build “innovation districts,” hubs of office buildings and retail shops that are leased to private companies instead of being used for classes or student housing, on university property.

    While the money flowing from higher education to real estate has intensified in recent years, universities have been looking to private equity and real-estate investments since the 1980s to fund their operations. And increasingly, this financialization of higher education has warped the purpose and mission of universities. Billionaire donors and money managers have shifted the focus of these institutions from providing students an effective education to sustaining a profit-generating, investor-enriching machine.

    How private equity ended up in universities

    In addition to tuition and money from the government, universities are funded by endowments — tax-free donations typically from alumni that are invested in order to grow over time. Instead of using an endowed gift immediately, the school will invest the funds in a variety of assets — stocks, bonds, etc. — and then use the gains made on those investments as a source of revenue. In theory, endowments help provide a continuous stream of funds to pay a university’s ongoing costs that isn’t dependent on political decisions or students’ ability to pay. Endowments can also be earmarked by the gift giver for a particular purpose, such as to fund a professor’s salary or a specific research program.

    Until the late 1980s, endowments were mostly invested in low-risk assets, like US government bonds. But as Charlie Eaton, a sociology professor at the University of California-Merced, documented in his book “Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The Troubling Rise of Financiers in US Higher Education,” that all changed at the 1988 Harvard-Yale football game. Tom Steyer, a hedge-fund manager who would eventually run for president in 2020, got a tip at the game that David Swensen, the newly appointed endowment manager for Yale, was looking to put some of the school’s money into funds that could offer higher returns. Steyer convinced Swensen to invest $300 million worth of Yale’s endowment into his newly established fund, Farallon Capital, which represented a third of the hedge fund’s capital at the time. The new strategy worked for both sides. Swensen grew Yale’s endowment from $1.3 billion in 1985 to $31.2 billion in 2020. And Yale’s investment was critical to the success of Steyer’s fund, eventually making him a billionaire.

    The move also marked the beginning of a new way to manage endowment funds. Instead of low-risk, low-return investments, Swensen inspired other schools to follow the “Yale model” and pour more money into riskier private-equity and real-estate hedge funds. Endowment managers were eager for the higher returns that the larger funds brought, sparking a race among top universities to grow their endowments: One analysis found that from 1990 to 2021, the value of the average endowment grew by 423%. And thanks to a booming stock market during the pandemic, the average endowment size increased by 35% during the 2021 fiscal year. Today, US universities have more than $130 billion invested in hedge funds. The arrangement has been a boon for the hedge-fund managers who received university endowment cash, but the benefits for the schools are trickier to parse.
    …
    https://www.businessinsider.com/universities-colleges-turning-into-real-estate-hedge-funds-higher-education-2023-3

  23. In the time Trudeau has been prime minister, the Americans have built more than 20 LNG export facilities. Canada has built none.

    As inept as the Brandon regime has been, Trudeau is even worse.

  24. From the Colorado Sun:

    What’s Working: Colorado added a mere 300 jobs in April

    And that’s with a $3T+ deficit. Now imagine if the FedGov wasn’t on a hiring spree.

    2. “And that’s with a $3T+ deficit. Now imagine if the FedGov wasn’t on a hiring spree.”

      I heard they’re hiring undocumented Lifeguards in NYC.

      I’ve been told they’re good swimmers.

  25. I just lost a friend today because I don’t believe in Climate Change narratives.
    These believers won’t even listen to counter data on doomsday climate change.
    Friend I have known for years just got pissed and hung up on me. This person always use to be open to any kind of discussion on anything.
    And other friends I have are going through medical traumas who took the vaccine, like cancer and heart issues.
    Another friend I have had 5 crime attacks in one week in the neighborhood he lives in. Said he has been spending thousands beefing up home security. This was considered a good neighborhood before.
    I’m just seeing people under attack in one way or another.

    1. I just lost a friend today because I don’t believe in Climate Change narratives.

      He was never your friend.

    2. “These believers won’t even listen to counter data on doomsday climate change.”

      People are stupid.

      “Friend I have known for years just got pissed and hung up on me.”

      Your friend is stupid and probably will remain so.

      1. The climate change cult: 10 warning signs

        https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/the-climate-change-cult-10-warning-signs/

        [snip]

        Steve Hayward: I’m fond of referring to the climate campaigners as the “climatistas” because they remind me of the Sandinistas and their fellow-traveling fans back in the 1980s. But someone writing as “Will” over at The Medium has done me one better in calling attention to how the climate change fanatics resemble nothing so much as a full-blown religious cult. Read the whole thing, but here are the ten signs and his introductory description to each, based on the indicators developed by the Cult Education Institute:

        1. Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.

        2. No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry. [Your friend is here.]

        3. No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget, expenses such as an independently audited financial statement.

        4. Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.

        5. There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil.

        6. Former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.

        7. There are records, books, news articles, or television programs that document the abuses of the group/leader.

        8. Followers feel they can never be “good enough.”

        9. The group/leader is always right.

        10. The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing “truth” or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible.

  26. 0n x CDC Director admitting Covid 19 vaccines.adverse affects.
    Even if they scrap the Covid 19 vaccine eventually and way to late, doesn’t mean they will scrap the MRNA failed technology they love so much.
    They want to put this technology in many products.
    I just heard yesterday they want to put it in skin cancer injections.
    The point is they will just change the name or application to continue the MRNA gene therapy failed technology. On the skin cancer one, the third trial stage sucks in terms of side effects and death, yet good old FDA is going to approve it.
    So, I’m saying just because they might eventually take the fake Covid vaccines off market, doesn’t mean they want to take the MRNA technology off market.
    Bill Gates said recently with glee how cheap MRNA technology is.
    But, there was a block for decades on that technology, because it was a loser failed technology and never fit for human consumption, and the animals would die.
    They think because they got EUA under panademic conditions , they can forever more implement that stuff in many products.

  27. Oh God, they have shills on Main stream new talking about how many lives the Covid vaccines saves, while also admitting some adverse effects. They have a tendency to say 61/2 million lives were saved by these fake vaccine, but where is the proof.
    But the data that shows more than 20 million died from vaccine and even more injured, seems to be far more injurious than the 61/2 million they claim without proof that they saved.
    And I’m sick and tired of them claiming its ok to give a fake poison vaccine to people over 65. Sick and tired of them saying they had to combat vaccine hesitancy.
    Is there a law that says vaccine hesitancy is a crime or something.

    1. “Critics on social media dragged President Biden over video footage showing what appeared to be a small showing of supporters greeting the president’s motorcade in the deep blue city of Atlanta, where he held a fundraising event and delivered Morehouse College’s commencement speech.

      “Crooked Joe Biden – dazed and confused, as usual – shuffles down the short stairs in Atlanta ahead of his day of pandering. He ignores questions,” RNC research posted Saturday as Biden landed in the city.

      “If a presidential motorcade passes through town but absolutely nobody cares – did it really pass through town?” RNC Research asked in a follow-up question, accompanied by video footage showing largely empty streets dotted with some people filming the motorcade.”

      Can’t get 20 people in a room. Can’t get 100 people to watch him drive in. 81 million votes, not 81 million voters.

      When DJT rolled through the hood in Atlanta people were clapping and cheering.

  31. ‘People were buying anything during the pandemic’

    Gosh Sherry, I hope no one paid too much in such an environment!

  32. ‘We starting to see cracks in the market, a beginning of a thaw’…There are other curious developments, if not worrying signs, in the Cape market. Castle said the number of people pulling out of contracts – referred to as ‘falters’– has been on the rise of late. In the first full week of May, there were 20 recorded ‘falters,’ or deals under agreement at the start of a week unraveling by the end of the week, he said. At the same time last year, there were zero falters. Besides buyers running into last-minute loan problems, one explanation for the rise in falters: delayed buyer regret over agreed-upon high prices for perceived lower-quality homes’

    via GIPHY

  33. ‘It feels like a nightmare. Over time it has worn me down. When it happened, I don’t think I realised the enormity of it…We’ve got no way out. The rest of the DFG fund has expired, so we can’t access it. I thought this renovation would finally give us our life back, give us independence and make a big difference. We’re left living in this mess’

    It’s still way cheaper than renting Joanne. Get a firm upper lip, yer acting like you would give it away.

  34. ‘Waymo struggling to stay in its lane while following a truck pulling a trailer loaded with a tree. ‘Not sure if that was the problem but still … I would have freaked out if I was in it’

    We don’t even need these things. But it’s a good thing we cured cancer with the zero interest rates bonanza.

  35. Dems CENSOR Viral Parody Music Video Exposing Joe Biden’s Cognitive Decline

    by Jamie White
    May 19th 2024, 1:03 pm

    Allies of Joe Biden appear to be attempting to scrub a viral parody music video highlighting Jee Biden’s cognitive decline.

    Trump on Friday posted to Truth Social a parody music video of Tom Petty’s hit song “Free Falling” mocking Biden’s many gaffes.

    But by Sunday, the video was removed across the X platform with a disclaimer that read, “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”

    The viral video was created by comedian and Fox News Saturday Night host Jimmy Failla, from his album “The More You Joe” produced by “C’Mon Man Records.”

    It’s highly unlikely Failla would have made the copyright complaint given he shared the video on Thursday while boasting of “big accounts” that also shared it on social media.

    The attempted copyright strike begs the question: who exactly ordered the takedown of the politically damaging video against Biden?

    So far it’s unclear whether the Democrat Party in some capacity or perhaps Tom Petty himself was behind the copyright strike.

    The copyright claim is especially interesting given parody videos fall under fair use exceptions, since copyrighted materials can be used without permission for purposes of commentary or criticism.

    “KEEPS FALLING”

    https://x.com/Simply4Truth_/status/1791559168937087188

    1. ChatGPT 3.5

      User
      Is the pandemic FINALLY over?

      ChatGPT
      While significant progress has been made in managing the pandemic with vaccination efforts and public health measures, it’s essential to stay updated on the latest developments from reliable sources. The situation can vary by region, so it’s best to follow guidance from health authorities to stay informed.

      User
      That was a long answer to a yes or no question.

      ChatGPT
      You’re right, my apologies for the verbosity. No, the pandemic is not completely over yet, but there have been significant strides towards managing it globally.

      User
      Verbosity is tolerable so long as you don’t forget to answer the question.

      ChatGPT
      Noted, I’ll strive to be more concise while ensuring I directly address your questions. If you have any more inquiries, feel free to ask!

      ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.

    2. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing symptoms
      By MICHELLE CHAPMAN
      AP Business Writer
      May 17, 2024, 1:49 PM ET
      • 1 min read
      Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell working from home after testing positive for COVID-19

      Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing related symptoms.

      Powell tested positive late Thursday.

      “Following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, he is staying away from others and working at home,” a Fed spokesperson said.
      …

  37. Trudeau withers on the vine and the Liberal party abandon his ship.
    The Celtic Canuck

    44 minutes ago

    Trudeau will be out by August… whether he jumps or is pushed…. he’s already in the plank. but that’s just my opinion. ♥ Thanks for watching ♥

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5XiYgmCArk

    8:22.

    1. Trudeau does look pretty rough from 5:45 through the end of the video.

      Not like a man that has the power or cojones to freeze antyoness bank account for sure.

  38. Fed’s $7.3 trillion balance sheet is worrying the world’s largest asset manager. Here’s why.
    Published: May 18, 2024 at 7:30 a.m. ET
    By Joy Wiltermuth
    It isn’t the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet that matters most, says BlackRock

    Changes to how the Federal Reserve manages one of world’s most crucial piles of assets pose “underappreciated” risks to financial markets, BlackRock warned in a Friday client note.

    The Fed in early May said it plans to switch up how quickly it will look to shrink its $7.3 trillion balance sheet beginning June 1, a move that was “barely a side note” in financial markets, according to Tom Becker, portfolio manager at BlackRock’s Global Tactical Asset Allocation team.

    But it was not a minor development in the eyes of BlackRock BLK , which held a record $10.5 trillion in assets in the first quarter, further entrenching it as the world’s largest asset manager.

    The Fed said its “quantitative-tightening” program will soon allow only up to $25 billion of maturing Treasury securities to roll off its balance sheet each month, instead of the previous $60 billion cap.

    Any proceeds from maturing mortgage-backed securities (MBS) above the $35 billion monthly cap for those assets also would be reinvested into Treasurys.

    Yet it’s the makeup of the Fed’s balance sheet and not the “size that matters,” according to Becker. “The composition of the balance sheet today is likely suppressing 10-year [Treasury] BX:TMUBMUSD10Y yields by over 2% and potentially by as much as 4%,” he wrote. The benchmark 10-year rate was near 4.42% on Friday, down from a recent high of 4.7%.
    …
    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-7-3-trillion-balance-sheet-is-worrying-the-worlds-largest-asset-manager-heres-why-a1e83dc7

Comments are closed.