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We Feel Like Fools, This Is Just Killing Us

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Residents are noticing more homes going up for sale around the Fort Wayne area. Scott Pressler, co-owner of Keller Williams Realty Group, told WANE 15 the inventory is up 26% over last year. WANE 15 also spoke with Rachel Blakeman, the Community Research Institute Director at Purdue Fort Wayne. She agrees with Pressler that prices of homes will not be as low as they were four years ago. ‘For people thinking that prices are going to go back to where we were at 2020 we see no evidence in that happening in the near future, or frankly ever,’ said Blakeman.”

“‘If you had a $200,000 house, it was selling for $230,000,’ said Carl Purifoy, Memphis Redfin Agent. ‘It was always selling for over now people are trying to list their homes with those hopes and they are overvaluing.'”

“The Sarasota-Bradenton area real estate market has undergone a ‘market correction,’ with conditions more similar now to those before the COVID-19 pandemic, than the supercharged a buying frenzy that resulted after the health crisis eased, with bidding wars and record prices, according to a report on July sales. In July, Sarasota County property owners sold 642 single-family homes, which was 1.4% more than in July 2023. This indicates that demand for property has not evaporated, although the median price that a single-family home sold for fell 12.1% to $470,000, according to the RASM report. Both Sarasota and Manatee counties saw declining median sales prices in the townhome and condo market. In Sarasota County, 285 multifamily properties were sold with the median sale price coming in at $365,000 — a 6.3% decrease from July 2023. Manatee County had 225 closed sales in July with the median sale’s price on those sales decreasing 6% compared to July 2023.”

“While homeowners have been at the forefront of Louisiana’s ongoing insurance crisis, landlords might be facing an even tougher battle. Drew Remson, president of America’s Mortgage Resource and a landlord with 20 rental properties, said the insurance industry’s increases to cover losses have been harder on the investment side than the residential side. He says the sky-high cost of property insurance is upending virtually every facet of housing in New Orleans. ‘Both the rental market and the sales market are struggling right now because of insurance,’ said Remson.”

“Residents in a San Francisco neighborhood are expressing their concerns and frustrations after a property owner has yet to fix a burned building. Last August, a fire ripped through a 14-condo building project on Octavia Street, but since nothing has been done to the development since then, residents said it is bringing squatters. ‘I think it’s been vacant long enough and people are squatting here and we’ve already had two fires here,’ said Jay Moses of San Francisco. In April, the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection issued an order to the building’s owner requiring them to secure the property. The department said nothing had been done. The building’s owner did not have a working address, email or phone number for NBC Bay Area to request comment. Neighbors said they hope action will be taken so they won’t have to peep at the eyesore anymore.”

“Embattled Sonoma real estate mogul Ken Mattson executed property transactions in which he and his companies were both buyer and seller, artificially inflating their prices, a forensic accountant alleges in court documents. The more interesting revelation, at least to the dozens of worried LeFever Mattson investors and the people who have followed this roller coaster of a case, came in the accountant’s explanation of events preceding the Chapter 11 filing of Windscape Apartments LLC, a holding company with a number of properties in its portfolio.”

“‘Mr. Mattson caused certain LPs and LLCs, including (Windscape Apartments), to purchase properties owned by Mr. Mattson’s own investment companies — by executing the transactions himself on behalf of both buyer and seller,’ Bradley Sharp wrote to U.S. District Court bankruptcy judge Charles Novack on Aug. 14. ‘Some of the Mattson Property Sales were at inflated prices and conveyed properties encumbered by high-interest loans, some of which are now in default. The Mattson Property Sales have clouded title on a significant portion of the LeFever Mattson real estate portfolio.’ That portfolio, built by childhood friends Mattson and LeFever over 20-plus years, includes more than 200 properties and is said to be valued at somewhere around $400 million. Sharp referred to ‘a decade or more of financial misconduct by Mr. Mattson.'”

“Two months ago, news of the Dallas Police and Fire Pension system netting a 2% return over 10 years, one of the poorest performances in the state, rankled most anyone who cared about how public safety officers would fare post-retirement. ‘It just looks to me like private equity and real estate over the past 10 years — whatever they’ve been holding — has not worked out right for them,’ said Jean-Pierre Aubry, with the Center for Retirement Research, adding the private equity and real estate investments were a drag on the system’s performance. Executive Director Kelly Gottschalk said the pension system was still saddled with investments made between 2005 and 2008 that are incredibly hard to exit.”

“An issue with all of these investments is the previous leadership at the pension system, composed mainly of police officers and firefighters, bought real estate and paid far exceeded what the property was actually worth. Not only was the board overpaying, it was buying more. Acres of empty land in rural Idaho and Colorado. A wine resort in California. Luxury homes in Hawaii. Between 2005 and 2008, the fund committed $1.9 billion in the private market. This means the fund promised to pay for projects whose bills could increase years later. In the worst year — 2006 — the fund committed $833 million in various private equity and real estate portfolios. Then, the housing market crashed in 2008. Properties suffered. The system began pouring more dollars to save the investments.”

“At the start of the pandemic, a wave of Torontonians traded their cubicles and cramped condos for remote work and the wide open spaces of cottage country. Now, with many companies mandating a return to the office and the allure of rural isolation having lost its lustre, some urban transplants are eager to move back to the city. The snag: they’re finding themselves priced out of the Toronto real estate market. Here, Laura Garetson, a GTA-based mortgage broker, explains the financial barriers city skippers are facing.”

“‘Demand surged for cottage rentals, and there were tons of social media posts about the revenue some Airbnb hosts were earning. In the most coveted areas like Muskoka, people boasted about making upward of $1,000 a night. Some of my clients bought over market value, believing their rental income would offset their costs. Their decisions made sense, but only in the short term. Outside of the high season, renting out a cottage isn’t anywhere near as lucrative—especially during a mild winter like last year, where activities like skiing and snowmobiling also saw demand plummet. Right now, many of these Airbnb owners are operating at a loss and struggling to sell. There simply aren’t many takers in the market right now for cottages at virtually every price point.'”

“Hundreds of unsecured creditors – including employees and businesses – owed money by the Stewart Milne Group are to receive nothing after the firm collapsed earlier this year. Founded by the former Aberdeen FC Chairman in 1975, the housebuilder went into administration in January, with 217 jobs lost and a number of existing projects scrapped. Hundreds of subcontracts, customers and staff are now facing a £33.4m black hole in retrieving money owed, with 196 claims received from former employees since the collapse. One customer told STV News earlier this year they lost at least £4,000 on their new home and received a generic email that instructed house buyers to make ‘alternative plans.’ The group had its headquarters in Aberdeen with offices in, Edinburgh, Glasgow and other UK bases and had been in significant debt for more than a decade.”

“The State Administrative Tribunal has stepped in to stop embattled residential builder Nicheliving from being deregistered, despite acknowledging the ‘distress’ it would cause customers left with incomplete homes. The decision means 155 customers hoping to unlock home indemnity insurance to pay another builder to complete what Nicheliving started now have to put all their hopes in its ability to finish the job. Client Barbara Day and her partner George Fleith were among those awaiting the decision, having sunk more than $1.5 million of their life savings into a Nicheliving home in 2022.”

“‘We sold up everything when we retired in 2023 to move from Port Macquarie and build our dream home in Perth,’ Day said. ‘It was the collective effort of our lives, what you see [pictured] is $1.6 million worth of investment, and we don’t know where that moneys gone. It definitely hasn’t gone into finishing our home.’ The couple, aged in their late 60s, are paying $45,000 a year for a furnished rental having expected their Como home to be finished at March 2024. George has since returned to full-time work to keep some cash flow. ‘We feel like fools, Nicheliving have made us feel like idiots,’ Day said. I’m a senior-trained ICU nurse and my husband owned a company, and we feel like we’ve just been shoved off and not worried about … too bad. I went to the dentist today and the dentist said ‘Are you alright?’ and I just burst into tears. We’re not alright, this is just killing us.'”

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This Post Has 99 Comments

  1. ‘In July, Sarasota County property owners sold 642 single-family homes, which was 1.4% more than in July 2023. This indicates that demand for property has not evaporated, although the median price that a single-family home sold for fell 12.1% to $470,000’

    It’s a good thing everybody put 20% down!

  2. ‘Kelly Gottschalk said the pension system was still saddled with investments made between 2005 and 2008 that are incredibly hard to exit.’…An issue with all of these investments is the previous leadership at the pension system, composed mainly of police officers and firefighters, bought real estate and paid far exceeded what the property was actually worth. Not only was the board overpaying, it was buying more’

    All these years later and I’m blogging about this debacle again. This happened during the fever pitch of real estate only goes up! They are still ‘saddled’ with the crater.

  4. “For people thinking that prices are going to go back to where we were at 2020 we see no evidence in that happening in the near future, or frankly ever,’ said Blakeman.”

    We just got one more year to go in my hood. ‘21 prices are popping up all over the place in Reno/Carson/Tahoe. So you keep whistling through the graveyard Blakeman.

  5. I went for a walk this morning in my neighborhood of Northwest FL. I saw numerous dump trucks filled with dirt for the multiple new housing developments in the area. Meanwhile, new inventory has been getting as stale as three week old bread, with 60, 90, 120+ days on the market. I was reminded about the time period preceding the 1.0 bubble bust when the residential lending pipeline was still pulsating with a full hot load of Bernake Bucks. All the real estate connected shills were still in strong denial regarding an upcoming correction. Of course, the peso pipeline went limp as a drunk cowboy leaving a hooker’s hotel room.

    Anyway, I think that’s where we’re at. Builders will keep building until the money dries up. Most, if not all, of the current building frenzy is based on deals that were already signed and money released to build spec houses to the horizon in the hopes qualified buyers will materialize.

  6. The Fed pivot has arrived. In a speech from the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, Federal Chairman Jerome Powell said that his “confidence has grown that inflation is on a sustainable path back to 2 percent” and “The labor market has cooled considerably from its formerly overheated state.” As a result, “The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, Powell says adding that the “timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.”

    1. The Fed has one product: debt. The more they issue, the more powerful they become. Converting your debauched FedBux into physical precious metals is literally the 99 percent’s only defense against the Fed’s fiat currency fraud.

    2. We are ruled by fools (Or they hate us, or both). This is idiotic. It isn’t (and never has been) the labor market driving inflation. The labor market is massively behind the inflation curve and most people are getting crushed. Expect inflation to get even worse and it’s clearly not under control now.

      1. “Expect inflation to get even worse and it’s clearly not under control now”

        As long as it benefits All The Right People, no problem. The poors can afford $7 gas, because Paul Krugman.

        1. For decades, the Fed’s bullion bank market manipulators have artificially suppressed the price of precious metals as a means of propping up the dollar. The increasingly pauperized middle and working classes could cause the bullion banks’ racketeering to blow up in their faces if they forced these market-riggers to cover their massive naked shorts.

          https://x.com/Thedudesetx00/status/1826937726844731848

        2. The poors can afford $7 gas, because Paul Krugman.

          The poors can’t even really afford cars anymore, as now they are competing with the invaders for the limited supply of beaters.

          I just checked on cars dot com. My backup car. an 11 year old KIA with 50K miles would cost about $8K to replace. Being that old it should cost $2-3K. It runs great, so I have no intention of selling it and buying something else.

    3. Terrifying r/Realtors post:

      Best pricing strategy in anticipation of rate cuts?

      As we all know, the Fed is about to end its bone-headed high-rate strategy and finally start cutting rates. As we’ve seen, this means that prices will start skyrocketing again, as financing becomes cheaper.

      What is the best pricing strategy, to help my clients capture this equity? I estimate that prices increase ~8% per cut. Should I wait until the Fed announces to bump my listings, or should I hold until the announcement, and expect a bidding war right after? Should I consider pricing in all expected cuts at once, or should I raise my listings gradually.

      Wonderful to see that big government has decided to help my sellers with a gift of equity.

      2. “bone-headed high-rate strategy”? These ding bats don’t have a clue of what high interest rates are.

        Will mortgage rates dropping from 7 % to 6.5% trigger bidding wars? I don’t think so.

      3. Did interest rates dropping help the last crash? Not one bit. Do we not remember the slashing that happened ‘08 and after? Unless you see what happened during pandemic, which was rates to zero and helicopter stimulus like the ERC and PPP to the tune of a trillion dollars, housing is doomed….period. But a quarter to half point cuts repeatedly over the next year are exactly what happened last time and it didn’t save housing.

      6. A subsequent comment:

        Am I underestimating the gains? If I only average over the past 5 years I get 8%. However, if I include data from the past 20 years I get closer to 15%, like you may be expecting. I don’t want to misrepresent the market to my sellers. Which do you recommend?

    4. timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.”

      Ahhh yes, that incoming data,

      Translation,,,,, we will react to what’s left of the free market, and hope it doesn’t kick our patootie

  7. WANE 15 also spoke with Rachel Blakeman, the Community Research Institute Director at Purdue Fort Wayne. She agrees with Pressler that prices of homes will not be as low as they were four years ago. ‘For people thinking that prices are going to go back to where we were at 2020 we see no evidence in that happening in the near future, or frankly ever,’ said Blakeman.”

    Rachael & Scott are REIC touts and shills, because their continued employment depends on them dissembling about the true state of the housing market.

  8. The building’s owner did not have a working address, email or phone number for NBC Bay Area to request comment.

    Ima gonna go out on a limb & say this “investor” has bailed & his creditors have been left holding the bag.

  9. WHAT IS THE FED?

    The Federal Reserve, “the Fed”, is the central bank of the United States of America that was created in 1913 by Congress. It is a banking cartel that has a government-granted monopoly on the creation of money and credit. The Fed literally loans “money” (Federal Reserve Notes) into existence. Federal Reserve Notes are paper promises backed by nothing of intrinsic value and they are only functioning as money because the government forces them on the public through legal tender laws. Federal Reserve Notes are referred to as dollars but are not. The definition of a dollar is a weight of silver (371 grains). To put it simply, the Fed is a group of banks running a national criminal counterfeiting racket with the protection of the government.

    http://endthefed.org

  10. Sharp referred to ‘a decade or more of financial misconduct by Mr. Mattson.’”

    Inconceivable! How could such miscreants ever engage in systemic fraud when such worthies as Fauxahontus & Maxine Waters are the ever-vigilant guardians of our financial system? This is my look of shocked disbelief.

  11. Ornithologists are reporting a phenomenon never before observed in nature: parrots in the wild are telling each other that realtors are liars.

  12. Precious metals are surging as the smart money recognizes that BlackRock Jay’s “easing” in the face of surging inflation mean these Keynesian fraudsters are hellbent on printing away all government and corporate debt while debasing the dollar into worthlessness.

    https://www.kitco.com/price/precious-metals

  13. C squadron Delta Force, ISA operators under Task Force 121, and the First Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division, have verified that Saddam Hussein’s first words upon being captured by U.S. special operations troops in his spider hole were, “Realtors are liars.”

  14. Executive Director Kelly Gottschalk said the pension system was still saddled with investments made between 2005 and 2008 that are incredibly hard to exit.”

    What Kelly means is that honest mark-to-market accounting would mean numerous pension funds are insolvent.

  15. Right now, many of these Airbnb owners are operating at a loss and struggling to sell.

    Die, speculator scum.

  16. Hundreds of subcontracts, customers and staff are now facing a £33.4m black hole in retrieving money owed, with 196 claims received from former employees since the collapse.

    I love the smell of burning housing speculators in the morning. It smells like…victory.

  17. ‘We feel like fools, Nicheliving have made us feel like idiots,’ Day said.

    There there, Babs. Sure, you got schlonged bigly, but wisdom is priceless, amirite?

  18. A reader sent these in:

    Carmax laid off over 400 employees

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1826595073288798519

    Per S&P Global – employment has now fallen in three of the last five months – marking the weakest labor market in the United States since early 2020

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1826617786384482743

    Redfin laid off <100 employees on Wednesday. Redfin layoffs impact real estate company’s Concierge service.

    https://x.com/dailyjobcuts/status/1826641919872774518

    🤔Hacienda Community Development Corp – Taxpayer-Funded Group Offers $30,000 To New Homebuyers in Oregon – as Long As They Aren’t US Citizens

    https://x.com/dailyjobcuts/status/1826448702094885068

    Wells Fargo to eliminate hundreds of positions at offices nationwide

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1826682019402973462

    The idea that a 50bp cut will do anything meaningful to restart large cyclical areas of the economy that have either already shut down or are in the process of doing so is just not something I see happening. That is why we see many monetary tightening impacts after cuts, for sometimes up to years.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1826651758665630099

    New construction sector job postings now below pre-pandemic levels.

    ‘Real estate is the business cycle’

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1826760773659754576

    Lots of budget crises shaping up around the country at the state, local, education, and county levels. Something to keep an eye on well into 2025.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1826743946137272757

    I’d take a bet that the person in charge of your local/county/state level blew up the budget after the government printed $10 trillion & didn’t plan for population outflows + massive incurred costs to subsidize unemployed migrants. Now the bill is coming due for stupidity, it always does.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1826744749207797827

    I’ve been selling homes in Del Mar California for over 30 years and I believe this market is very long in the tooth. It’s starting to soften the big tell is all the open house signs everywhere and your agent friends are singing the blues. I can’t wait for it to hit hard.

    https://x.com/louiethe14th/status/1826797649800094091

    🚨 POWER OF SALE UPDATE — $2M LOSS

    Finally sold, $1.7M loss on a “Power of Sale.”

    This is horrific for everyone involved.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if even the realtors aren’t getting paid.

    “All up, we are probably looking at a $2M loss”

    https://x.com/ShaziGoalie/status/1826785744364474451

    How’s that MBS runoff going, Jerome?

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1826737999130100090

    1. I’d take a bet that the person in charge of your local/county/state level blew up the budge

      It never crosses their minds that tax receipts could fall or that the free money from the Feds could end. People buy less junk when they are broke, hence fewer sales taxes collected. When real estate depreciates property taxes collected can go down.

      There are two property tax voter propositions on the November ballot here in the Centennial state and they have the state and local governments in a panic, so much so that the state legislature has been called into a special session to offer smaller tax cuts if the props are withdrawn by their sponsors. But from what I am reading in the local media the state legislature is unable to agree on how much those cuts should be, so the props might stay on the ballot.

      If the props pass the state and locals will have to cut billions from their budgets, which means a lot of people will get dejobbed.

      1. they’ll just take it to court and the court (who is, of course, part of the same system) will rule that it’s not valid/unconstitutional for whatever BS reason.

        Cut government voluntarily? crazy talk, never happen.

        1. The thing about the props is that they are constitutional amendments, as was TABOR. So it is hard to declare it unconstitutional when it is part of the constitution.

          Coloradans love their weed and abortions. but they hate paying taxes. Only idjits in Denver vote to raise their local taxes.

    1. They keep saying a new hope is here. Are we are going to forget who has been running the place for the last 3.5 years ? Longer really if you count Obama.

  20. Local News
    Blackstone raised rents double the market average in San Diego, report says
    The Private Equity Stakeholder Project and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment put together the report.
    Author: Kelly Hessedal
    Published: 12:30 PM PDT August 2, 2024
    Updated: 4:07 PM PDT August 2, 2024

    SAN DIEGO — A new report released Thursday accused the company Blackstone of contributing to the affordable housing crisis in San Diego.

    The Private Equity Stakeholder Project and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment put together the report titled “Helter Shelter: How Blackstone Contributes To and Profits from California’s Broken Housing System.”
    …
    https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/blackstone-raised-rents-double-the-market-average/509-aad0689c-5d73-4b25-9f4f-1ea1147df66c

  21. How Germany’s mighty Mittelstand blew up its economy

    For a symbol of the depth of the malaise at the heart of Germany’s once-mighty economy, look no further than the announcement of enormous job cuts by one of the world’s largest suppliers of car parts.

    ZF Friedrichshafen is shedding as many as 14,000 jobs in Germany out of a total employee population of 54,000 in the country.

    This is no short-term move: the company, based on the shores of Lake Constance in the far south of the country, is chopping back its workforce over the next four years.

    “Strong competition, cost pressure and weak demand for electric vehicles” are all to blame, the company said.

    Its position is far from unusual and reflects the crunch rippling through an economy that was not long ago the envy of Europe and much of the world.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/how-germany-s-mighty-mittelstand-blew-up-its-economy/ar-AA1phRAx

    1. weak demand for electric vehicles

      Automakers around the globe were told to ship more EV’s “or else”. Then the EV sales bonanza that the central planners promised never materialized.

  22. The sudden rise of temporary foreign workers in entry-level office jobs

    Temporary foreign workers are no longer a rare presence in entry-level office roles.

    Last year, employers were approved to hire more than 3,500 administrative assistants via the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, up from just 112 of those roles approved in 2016, according to figures published by the federal government. In addition, companies were authorized to hire nearly 2,000 administrative officers in 2023. (The TFW program accounts for a small share of foreign labour in Canada, so it’s likely that other pathways are being tapped for admin workers, too.)

    The TFW program has soared in use over the past few years, including more recruitment of low-wage workers in hospitality, construction and other fields. But this trend has brought greater scrutiny to the program, particularly as the unemployment rate has risen and some groups — notably young people and recent immigrants — have struggled to find jobs.

    The federal government has said it’s trying to scale back the TFW program, and earlier this week, it announced a pause in using it to hire certain low-wage workers in the Montreal region.

    Abdullah Balal, a licensed immigration consultant in Oakville, Ont., questioned why employers needed to look outside the country for admin workers. “How is a Canadian company in an urban or semi-urban area not able to find an administrative assistant?”

    Mr. Balal said this surge of admin work likely includes cases of fraud, in which temporary residents pay employers for jobs, often so they can stay in the country longer and have a better shot at obtaining permanent residency. The federal government has acknowledged the existence of fraud in the program.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-the-sudden-rise-of-temporary-foreign-workers-in-entry-level-office/

    1. Abdullah Balal, a licensed immigration consultant in Oakville, Ont., questioned why employers needed to look outside the country for admin workers. “How is a Canadian company in an urban or semi-urban area not able to find an administrative assistant?”

      Gotta love it when an immigrant complains about immigrants being hired over locals.

  23. San Diego is facing a potentially terrible fire season after two years of rain added massive amounts of greenery to the city’s canyonlands and open spaces – vegetation that the summer heat has dried, creating potential fuel. That plus skyrocketing development in recent years means more property could be at risk from wildfire.

    In California, the responsibility of brush management falls on property owners.

    The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department is tasked with citing and making sure private property owners and the city are keeping up with brush management. But they’re behind on inspections. Fire officials say that’s because they don’t have the resources or staff to keep up.

    The department’s backlog of inspections has already been the subject of multiple audits. But to make true progress, officials say they need more money.

    “If we’re not increasing staffing, we’re not keeping up with it,” said Tony Tosca, a deputy fire chief overseeing the department’s Community Risk Reduction Division, told Voice of San Diego.

    Tosca’s team is made up of seven staff members, four of them inspect brush code compliance. He said they completed 7,411 inspections in fiscal 2024. At that pace, it would take his team more than six years to complete inspections on 46,000 canyon rim parcels in the city.

    Still, other communities are taking matters into their own hands. The University City Fire Safe Council, a neighborhood group formed in 1993 to help residents protect their families and homes from wildfire, hired a firm to do their own brush assessments in 2023 and 2024. Their consultant, Merkel & Associates, Inc., examined vegetation density on government-owned wildland within 100 feet of buildings near the Rose Canyon and San Clemente Canyon. The consultants determined that for the area examined, while 80 to 90 percent of the land was properly managed, the city still missed about 10 percent with a dangerous amount of vegetation.

    “If 10 percent of your boat had a hole in it, is that good enough?” said Louis Rodolico, University City Fire Safe council president.

    https://voiceofsandiego.org/2024/08/22/san-diegos-fire-risk-soars-as-brush-inspections-lag/

    1. Fires from drought. Fires from rain. Yes, we have fires. Fires exacerbated by liberal policies affecting water and forestry management.

      1. And before I get “Californians get what they voted for,” what part of voter and election fraud do you not understand? How is the fraud perfected?

        1. One of the reasons I left was because I knew things were going to get progressively worse and there was nothing I could do about it other than vote with my feet.

      2. I lived in Poway for a year its a fire trap and so is Malibu and many other steep canyons in CA. S CA Buy on the south facing side of a hill way less brush and stay out of canyons.

    2. I think i found the problem

      Tony Tosca, a deputy fire chief ….Tosca’s team is made up of seven staff members, four of them inspect brush code compliance.”

      So basically half the team is overhead or useless. Why does it take 3 people to “manage” 4 total people???????

  24. Kamala Harris promised to be a president for all Americans as she closed out the Democratic National Convention where a former United States ambassador to Canada sounded the alarm that a second Donald Trump presidency would cause chaos for Canadians.

    The outcome of the election will have impacts beyond America’s borders, said Bruce Heyman, who served as ambassador from 2014 to 2017. He gave Canada a “tsunami warning.”

    “If Donald Trump is elected president, Canada is at great risk,” he said, pointing to Trump’s stand on trade, abortion and clawing back environmental policies.

    The first Trump administration showed the former president can make “enormous policy decisions on a whim based on which leaders he likes or what he thinks is best for him personally,” said Matthew Lebo, a specialist in U.S. politics at Western University in London, Ont.

    “Being next door to the world’s biggest economic and military power and watching them slide away from democracy should raise alarm bells.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/former-us-ambassador-to-canada-gives-tsunami-warning-about-trump/ar-AA1pedfp

    2. “watching them slide away from democracy”

      Is that a joke?

      The current Occupant refused to debate RFK Jr, blocked him from the primaries, is forced to step aside, and replaced by the Vice Occupant that D primary voters did NOT vote for in 2024, and who did not win a single elector or state in the 2020 primaries.

      1. It is worth remembering that just about every Commie sh!thole calls itself something like “The Democratic Republic of Sh!thole” even though they are one party states and hold sham elections.

        Also worth remembering that in those sh!tholes they never hold primary elections. The party’s inner circle chooses who the leaders will be, just like how the Dems did it.

  25. It’s only been a few days, but a glaring contrast between the Republican National Convention (RNC) and the Democratic National Convention (DNC) has emerged, offering a crystal-clear illustration of the starkly different visions each party has for America’s future.

    The DNC feels more like an awards show than a political convention. A glitzy parade of political celebrities, out-of-touch elites, and D-list television celebrities, from the Obamas to Ana Navarro-Cardenas. There’s J.B. Pritzker, the billionaire governor of Illinois. And Ken Chenault, the millionaire CEO who became wealthy off credit card interest rates and onerous late fees Elizbeth Warren claims personifies corporate greed. If you don’t feel connected to these speakers, just wait until you hear from the children of former Presidents.

    These are people who live in their mansions, isolated from the struggles of average Americans, yet they preach to the rest of us about how to live. While the RNC connected with real Americans, the DNC showcased Hollywood and Washington’s disconnected elite, more concerned with their own power and status than with the real issues facing this country.

    The DNC, on the other hand, is a convention for the elites, a reminder that the Democratic Party is more interested in preserving its own power than in addressing the real concerns of everyday Americans. The images of Nancy Pelosi cheering in the audience while Joe Biden gave a farewell address, was a cold-blooded reminder that Donald Trump participated in 54 primary contests and earned the vote of more than 14 million Americans to secure his nomination as the Republican nominee for President. Kamala Harris was installed as the Democratic nominee for President by Nancy Pelosi ad Michelle and Barack Obama, not because it would be better for you, but because it would be better for them.

    https://townhall.com/columnists/alberto-martinez/2024/08/23/a-tale-of-two-conventions-n2643826

    2. “participated in 54 primary contests and earned the vote of more than 14 million Americans ”

      I thought Biden was the one who got 14 million votes. Or maybe they each got 14 million votes. Either way, this is getting tiring. Now that the fanfare is over, it’s time for the slog.

      Next newsmakers:
      Today: RFK potentially endorsing Trump. This is still not set in stone.
      Robert and Nicole are still playing games on this, trying to extract vax concessions.
      September 10: debate. Trump has hired Tulsi Gabbard for debate prep. More important than Tulsi is that Trump himself admitted that he needs debate prep. I don’t think he did any prep for Joe, and it showed.
      September 18: Trump’s court sentencing, which can go in several different directions.

      1. September 18: Trump’s court sentencing

        I think the Dems are counting on this to get him out of the way and then use lawfare in case he still wins.

        1. Putting Trump in jail is a double-edged sword. There are a few options here. I only gathered this from Twitter/X so maybe the legal eagles can help out:

          1. Judge summarily tosses Trump in jail. This will cause two things: First, his lawyers would appeal directly to the Supreme Court because some of the evidence used to convict Trump could be ruled inadmissible under the immunity decision. At the same time, Trump’s base would massively mobilize for GOTV, only making Trump more likely to win.

          2. Judge himself rules the evidence inadmissible per immunity and declares mistrial. Trump walks.

          3. Judge sentences Trump to jail time, but allows Trump to be free on bail while his appeal is being heard. Trump pays some cash and walks. Evidently New York law allows for post-sentencing bail. (?)

          All three have advantages for Trump. The only real fear is that if he spent even one night in jail, he could be Epstiened.

          —————-

          As to the lawfare, a couple weeks ago, CNN posted an article that legal groups are already gearing up and preparing lawfare in case Trump wins. But it really seemed like smaller stuff. For example, the group CNN quoted in the article was the group that opposed the “Muslim ban” on not allowing people to fly to the US from unsecured airports (which happened to be in Muslim countries). It was a big deal back then, but nowadays it’s just a Tuesday in Washington.

          The CNN article also admitted straight up what we always suspected: Legal groups were using the tactic of filing crazy lawsuits and getting them past the first level of activist courts. The lawyers knew it would all be eventually overturned, but they did it because they wanted 2 years of a free law. However, they also said that the tactic had begun to fail because even the liberal courts were becoming hesitant to to side with the crazies, knowing that they would be quashed by SCOTUS later. Anyway, maybe there isn’t that much lawfare left. They’re running out of things to sue Trump for.

    3. he DNC feels more like an awards show

      I seem to recall that fewer and fewer people are watching those insipid and political award shows.

      1. They were even trying to play the “show” for ratings. Someone in the Kamala camp “leaked” that a special guest would show up to join Kamala. Wild speculation on Twitter/X is that it would be Taylor or Beyonce. Instead, it was NOBODY. It turned out to be all made up, just to get more eyeballs on Kam-Kam. That’s gotta p-o a few fans.

        Meanwhile, Trump just did a a low-key interview with Theo Von on YouTube which got 8.5 million views, and counting, in 48 hours. Trump is winning the visibility game.

    4. The DNC feels more like an awards show than a political convention.”

      Or a kids cartoon where just think positive and everything will turn out OK

  26. Linked from Antiwar.

    Fewer Americans Willing To Fight And Die For Other Countries (8/21/2024):

    “A July poll shows that a majority of the American public does not support sending U.S. troops to defend Taiwan or Ukraine, sentiment that lines up with findings from other recent surveys on these heated subjects, which suggests that Americans appear to be warming to restraint and non-interventionism in international affairs.

    Indeed, another poll, conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in February found that a majority of Americans (56%) do not believe that the United States should pick a side in Israel’s war on Gaza. And a more recent survey from Council this month found that just four in ten support the United States sending troops to defend Israel if attacked by its neighbors.

    Despite these findings, Washington continues to push forward with fanning the flames of war around the world, whether being slow to work toward peace settlements in Ukraine and Gaza, stoking conflict with China, or throwing gargantuan amounts of money, unnecessarily, at the Pentagon and thus, the weapons industry.”

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/america-polling-interventionism/

    William Kristol does NOT approve of these poll results.

    Secure the Realm, et cetera.

    1. And a more recent survey from Council this month found that just four in ten support the United States sending troops to defend Israel if attacked by its neighbors.

      And most of that 40% are zionist fundyvangelicals. So if you don’t attend one of those “super churches” with jumbotrons and a rock band (they call it “worship”) chances are you aren’t pro Israel

    2. Battle at Lake Changjin ” I watched this on netflix if you get past the goofy Chinese propaganda it shows what a future war with china could look like not pretty

    1. The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health
      by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

      During more than a year of painstaking and meticulous research on his laptop and through interviews, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unearthed a shocking story that obliterates media spin on Dr. Fauci . . . and that will alarm every American—Democrat or Republican—who cares about democracy, our Constitution, and the future of our children’s health.

      The Real Anthony Fauci reveals how “America’s Doctor” launched his career during the early AIDS crisis by partnering with pharmaceutical companies to sabotage safe and effective off-patent therapeutic treatments for AIDS. Fauci orchestrated fraudulent do-nothing studies, and then pressured US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulators into approving a deadly chemotherapy treatment he had good reason to know was worthless against AIDS. Fauci did the unthinkable and repeatedly violated federal laws to allow his Pharma partners to use impoverished and dark-skinned children as lab rats in beyond order, deadly experiments with toxic AIDS and cancer chemotherapies.

      In early 2000, Fauci shook hands with Bill Gates in the library of Gates’ $147 million Seattle mansion, cementing a partnership that would aim to control an increasingly profitable $60 billion global vaccine enterprise with unlimited growth potential. Through funding leverage and carefully cultivated personal relationships with heads of state and leading media and social media institutions, the Pharma-Fauci-Gates alliance exercises dominion over global health policy and our beautiful country.

      This is not just another political book. The Real Anthony Fauci details how Fauci, Gates, and their cohorts use their control of media outlets—both conservative and liberal leaning, scientific journals, key government and quasi-governmental agencies, global intelligence agencies, and influential scientists and physicians to flood the public with fearful propaganda about COVID-19 virulence and pathogenesis, and to muzzle debate and ruthlessly censor dissent.

      Read Full Overview

      https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-real-anthony-fauci-robert-f-kennedy-jr/1142798123

  28. It’s interesting to see the 10-year Treasury yield below 4 percent, and the 30-year yield slight higher than 4 percent. Given shorter duration Treasurys (Tbills) are still yielding over 5 percent, the market is pricing in a fairly steep near term decline in yields for short duration Treasurys which will stay in place out to 10 years, once it happens.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/23/us-bonds-treasury-yields-in-focus-amid-powells-jackson-hole-speech.html

  29. ‘a landlord with 20 rental properties, said the insurance industry’s increases to cover losses have been harder on the investment side than the residential side. He says the sky-high cost of property insurance is upending virtually every facet of housing in New Orleans. ‘Both the rental market and the sales market are struggling right now because of insurance’

    And you got 20 of those alligators Drew.

  30. ‘I think it’s been vacant long enough and people are squatting here and we’ve already had two fires here,’ said Jay Moses of San Francisco. In April, the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection issued an order to the building’s owner requiring them to secure the property. The department said nothing had been done’

    It’s still way cheaper than renting Jay.

  31. ‘Ken Mattson executed property transactions in which he and his companies were both buyer and seller, artificially inflating their prices, a forensic accountant alleges in court documents. The more interesting revelation, at least to the dozens of worried LeFever Mattson investors and the people who have followed this roller coaster of a case…Mr. Mattson caused certain LPs and LLCs, including (Windscape Apartments), to purchase properties owned by Mr. Mattson’s own investment companies — by executing the transactions himself on behalf of both buyer and seller,’ Bradley Sharp wrote to U.S. District Court bankruptcy judge Charles Novack on Aug. 14. ‘Some of the Mattson Property Sales were at inflated prices and conveyed properties encumbered by high-interest loans, some of which are now in default’

    Senator running deer heap angry Ken!

  32. ‘Demand surged for cottage rentals, and there were tons of social media posts about the revenue some Airbnb hosts were earning. In the most coveted areas like Muskoka, people boasted about making upward of $1,000 a night. Some of my clients bought over market value, believing their rental income would offset their costs. Their decisions made sense, but only in the short term. Outside of the high season, renting out a cottage isn’t anywhere near as lucrative—especially during a mild winter like last year, where activities like skiing and snowmobiling also saw demand plummet. Right now, many of these Airbnb owners are operating at a loss and struggling to sell. There simply aren’t many takers in the market right now for cottages at virtually every price point’

    Happens over and again with STR. Oh look, they are making a killing over there! Saturated with FB’s having over paid.

  33. ‘Client Barbara Day and her partner George Fleith were among those awaiting the decision, having sunk more than $1.5 million of their life savings into a Nicheliving home in 2022…‘We sold up everything when we retired in 2023 to move from Port Macquarie and build our dream home in Perth’

    All in Barbs, so far so good!

    ‘It was the collective effort of our lives, what you see [pictured] is $1.6 million worth of investment, and we don’t know where that moneys gone. It definitely hasn’t gone into finishing our home’

    It’s a recurring question we see here at HBB Barbs. I know the money is gone, but where did it go?

    ‘The couple, aged in their late 60s, are paying $45,000 a year for a furnished rental having expected their Como home to be finished at March 2024. George has since returned to full-time work to keep some cash flow. ‘We feel like fools, Nicheliving have made us feel like idiots,’ Day said. I’m a senior-trained ICU nurse and my husband owned a company, and we feel like we’ve just been shoved off and not worried about … too bad. I went to the dentist today and the dentist said ‘Are you alright?’ and I just burst into tears. We’re not alright, this is just killing us’

    George, you need an intervention with Barbs. She’s sounding like she might give it away!

  34. Clutch those pearls harder. Clutch ’em.

    Washington Post — By endorsing Trump, RFK Jr. betrays the Kennedy legacy (8/23/2024):

    “Were it not for the fact that he was blessed at birth with a revered name, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might never have amounted to anything but a crackpot on the fringe.

    Again and again, to the dismay of his extended family, RFK Jr. has sullied the Kennedy name and the dimming aura of Camelot by spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories, most dangerously ones that undermine public confidence in vaccines.”

    The “vaccines” that killed and crippled millions?

    “Given how low Kennedy has been polling, his endorsement probably won’t make much of a difference in the presidential race. Yet in casting his lot with a former president who preaches intolerance and division, he has cast aside the principles for which generations of Kennedys have stood.”

    https://archive.ph/xSV4g

    Democrat Party 1968 =/= Democrat Party 2024

    1. “Again and again, to the dismay of his extended family, RFK Jr. has sullied the Kennedy name and the dimming aura of Camelot by spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories”

      Sullied the Kennedy name?

      Unlike Uncle Ted who left Mary Jo Kopechne to drown in Poucha Pond Chappaquiddick Island.

      Or the Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel who murdered Martha Moxley who sat behind mee in typing my sophomore year in High School by smashing her skull with a golf club and shoving the broken shaft down her throat before leaving her under some Fall leaves and running home to hide behind the Kennedy name which worked for years before he was brought to justice.

      Or William Kennedy Smith, nephew of President John F. Kennedy who asked Jupiter Farms girl Patricia Bowman for a ride back to the Kennedy compound on Palm Beach in 1991 and then violently rapeing her
      before miraculously got away with it in part due to trial, Judge Mary E. Lupo barring prosecutors from presenting testimony from three other women who claimed Smith had assaulted them.

      I won’t even touch on how Joe built the family fortune through rum running.

      That Kennedy name?

        3. ‘Then Kennedy made one of his trademark brilliant bets, buying a failing Hollywood movie studio in the 1920s and pumping out inexpensive B movies. Nasaw believes this is where Kennedy made the bulk of his millions.

          “He demanded to be paid, not only in salary and expenses, but in stock options,” says Nasaw, who had full access to Kennedy’s financial records for his book. “And he drove those stock options up and down and sideways. By the time he left Hollywood in the late 1920s, he had an absolute fortune.”

          That fortune was multiplied by Kennedy’s next prescient bet. While the rest of his fellow bigshot investors were pumping money into the stock market, Kennedy saw signs that stocks were wildly overvalued. He sold off most of his stock holdings before the 1929 crash, and even better, he started shorting stocks, betting that their prices would go down. When everyone else lost their shirts on Black Tuesday, Kennedy walked away richer than ever.’

          1. Nasaw believes this is where Kennedy made the bulk of his millions.

            According to one biographer who “believes”? Not enough.

      3. Via People on 1/3/2024: Kennedy Cousin Michael Skakel Sues Police Officer, Town After Martha Moxley Murder Conviction Is Overturned

        1. “Via People on 1/3/2024: Kennedy Cousin Michael Skakel Sues Police Officer, Town After Martha Moxley Murder Conviction Is Overturned”

          He murdered that girl with a golf club from the clubs in his house in a jealous rage because she had fooled around with his older brother earlier that night.

          I know the lawyers got him out of jail while he was serving his time but that b@stard did it. How they got him years later and put him in jail was when DNA became a thing and he changed his story so there would be a reason his DNA would have been found on her body.

          Put all that aside and everyone in our town knew within days that he or his brother had killed her.They weren’t the only kids hanging out and running around that neighborhood that night.

        2. “After serving more than 11 years in prison, he was freed on an appeal in 2013 on the grounds that he was not given a fair trial due to deficient legal counsel, according to Greenwich Time.”

          This honestly made me laugh. Deficient legal counsel for that family?!

        1. a Kennedy

          RFK Jr brings A LOT more to the table than the Kennedy name. Torching the Democrat party before supporting Trump was just the cherry on top.

  35. Earlier this year, the stock market hit record highs to price in expectations for Fed rate hikes this fall.

    Now that the Fed is doing exactly what the market expected, there is no reason for stocks to go higher on the current announcement…is there?

    1. Updated Fri, Aug 23 2024 5:18 PM EDT
      Dow closes more than 450 points higher as Powell signals Fed rate cuts are coming: Live updates
      Alex Harring
      Yun Li
      Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during morning trading in New York on August 23, 2024. US Federal Reserve Chair Chair Jerome Powell said on August 23 that the “time has come” for the US to start cutting interest rates, adding that his “confidence has grown” that the battle against inflation is on track. “The time has come for policy to adjust,” he said in a keynote speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in Wyoming, according to prepared remarks.
      Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

      Stocks rose Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated interest rate cuts were on the horizon.

      The Dow Jones Industrial Average
      climbed 462.30 points, or 1.14%, to 41,175.08. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.47% to 17,877.79. The S&P 500 gained 1.15% to finish at 5,634.61, back within striking distance of all-time highs set last month.

      With Friday’s gains, the three major averages also posted a winning week. The Dow surged nearly 1.3%, and the Nasdaq added 1.4%. The S&P 500 rose 1.45% for the period.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/22/stock-market-today-live-updates.html

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