Since The COVID Real Estate Bubble Burst The Market Has Been On A Downward Slide
A report from KOAA. “I talked to six families in the Wolf Ranch area, it is one of three Colorado Springs communities where Creekstone Homes builds. The families all have major issues when it comes to communication and getting items fixed on their new builds. ‘We did not receive our front door for months and months and months,’ as we walked inside Kelly and Glen Rosser’s home, the issues continued. To make matters worse the Rosser’s received a lien over Christmas time because Creekstone failed to pay subcontractors for their work and the family was threatened with foreclosure. Kelly Rosser explains, ‘So you can imagine, even though this is not our doing and no fault of our own and we certainly didn’t owe the subcontractor money. They obviously wanted their money and they had a right to that money and Creekstone wasn’t really making any effort to remove the lien from our property until it went into a threat of foreclosure.'”
“The issues the Rosser’s have had are echoed by other Creekstone homeowners. Stacey Courtney tells me, ‘Well, the trouble started kind of immediately. The communication is pretty much zil. You email somebody, they don’t email you back. You try to call, they don’t answer. The warranty company is just a joke as well.’ Courtney and her husband were also threatened with foreclosure after Creekstone failed to pay the concrete company that poured their driveway. Courtney questions, ‘Why should we have to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for a lawyer to fight this lien? It should be all on Creekstone.'”
Boulder Reporting Lab in Colorado. “Victor Lopez, a Gunbarrel resident, thought he had secured an affordable future when he bought his home with a low mortgage rate in 2018. But his home insurance, which started at $1,000 a year, has skyrocketed to $2,500. ‘I’m not sure at what point it’s going to plateau,’ Lopez said. ‘If these increases continue, I’m not going to be able to afford my house anymore.’ Lopez tried to find lower rates from other insurance companies, only to discover they were even higher — some nearing $4,000 a year.”
“Robyn Wille lives north of Baseline on Cherryvale in unincorporated Boulder County. Her home insurance, with American Family, is now $7,900 — almost $3,000 more than it was a year ago. Wille recently considered buying a home a mile and a half farther east on South Boulder Road. She called her insurance agent to find out what a policy on the new home would cost and was quoted a rate $3,000 less than for her current home, despite the new house being much larger. The extra distance from the flammable Foothills seemed to make a difference in the insurer’s eyes. ‘It’s ridiculous,’ she said. Her agent also told her that American Family is not writing new policies or renewing policies in mountain communities. ‘He said, ‘If you’re halfway thinking about moving into the Foothills, don’t.’”
WRLN in Florida. “This summer, condo sales fell as much as 7% in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Meanwhile, the number of condos for sale jumped 60% in Miami-Dade, which will likely have an impact on its values. In Broward, median prices have dropped. Sandra Einhorn, the executive director of the Coordinating Council of Broward: These new condo laws and specifically with that development in Pembroke Pines, I think it shows just how widespread this issue is. This isn’t for high rises. We’re talking about most of our housing product [which] was built in the ‘50s and ‘60s and ’70s. I think that we’re going to find the most vulnerable to be the ones that are most impacted, meaning folks that, as they were getting older and they wanted to downsize, [they] decided to move into condos and perhaps they’ve paid off their condos. So, maybe their overall housing costs have gone down, but their income has also gone down as they’ve gone into retirement and they’re relying on some of their social security and things like that. It now becomes a situation where those that were prudent and thinking, ‘okay, I know that in the future, I’m not going to have as much disposable income. Let me decrease my cost of living now,’ put in a position where they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. What are they going to do and where are they to go?”
“Tom Hudson, WLRN’s Senior Economics Editor: The hard and fast reality is that the older the condo, the more vulnerable it is to this reckoning, the less financial or fiduciary responsibility that associations have had throughout the course of the past decades, the more vulnerable it is to falling values. Two months ago, a Republican Florida House member told me she was telling people not to buy a condominium in Florida. Now imagine, any Florida politician, regardless of property, telling somebody to hold off on buying a condominium in Florida. That is a remarkable statement and admission about how shaky and uncertain the market is.”
The Los Angeles Times. “Without urgent and immediate action, Los Angeles could be trapped in its own version of ‘The Twilight Zone.’ Will it be a fiery landscape where sizzling sidewalks cause second-degree burns, wildfire smoke blots out the sun, and water flows only sometimes, and mostly not at all? Or will California’s penchant for innovation be our salvation, transforming Los Angeles into a place where every drop of water is recycled and every resident has enough shade and cooling to survive? Here’s a glimpse at what life could look like if we get it right. When you turn on your faucet in 2035, at least 70% of the water will be sourced locally, and even more by midcentury. Officials cringe when they hear the recycling process called ‘toilet-to-tap’ because they fear it will turn the public off to a critical source of water. But the future of Los Angeles depends on just that.”
“Future Los Angeles will need to look radically different — and closer to its true Mediterranean climate — if it is to survive. That means the grass has to go. When the dog you cloned back in 2037 starts crying for a walk, you reach for the leash on the hook next to your front door. But then you catch a glimpse of an orange-gray sky through the window and think twice. You grab the face mask that hangs on the hook next to the leash — your best defense against the smoke that will be a regular part of L.A. life by the middle of the century. An atmospheric river dumps 14 inches of rain in Venice Beach in 2057. You need to get some groceries for dinner, but your whole neighborhood is mired in 2 feet of standing water from precipitation and king tides. Guess it’ll be another night of dinner via drone delivery.”
“A less welcome development is that mosquitoes may continue to thrive too. The bloodsuckers have been booming amid more extreme rainfall patterns and may continue to enjoy pools of standing water in the years to come. For too long, Californians believed that the state, with all of its vastness and beauty, could endure our excesses, said Mark Arax, a former L.A. Times journalist and the author of ‘The Dreamt Land.’ To truly adapt to the future will require a reckoning with our way of life. ‘What we’re talking about is fundamentally altering the ‘California Dream’ to respond to something we should have responded to decades ago,’ he said. ‘Climate change has now given us no choice.'”
The Brooklyn Reader in New York. “Two Brooklyn contractors have been indicted for grand larceny for allegedly defrauding more than $1 million from the Paycheck Protection Program during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the alleged scheme, the defendants submitted fraudulent tax returns that grossly inflated the company’s revenues to obtain the funds and then allegedly used those funds – which were restricted to paying employees and other legitimate business expenses – toward purchasing two homes in New Jersey, as well as a luxury BMW sports sedan, according to a press release.”
“Shortly after the funds became available, they quickly used the money for personal purchases, including luxury items. The defendants are alleged to have spent a total of $393,670 toward the purchase of two five-bedroom homes, one in Voorhies, New Jersey and the other in Pine Hill, New Jersey and spent another $71,000 as a down payment on a 2021 BMW M5 sports sedan.”
Infotel in Canada. “Kelowna realtor Scott Aaltonen says every summer he normally takes at least three groups of out-of-town buyers on real estate tours to check out properties in the $2 million price point. This year he hasn’t done a single tour. ‘Everybody cancelled and they are just waiting to see if we have another natural disaster… or a new (government) policy to restrict (them),’ he said. Aaltonen said since the COVID real estate bubble burst in spring 2022 the market has been on a downward slide. ‘I’ve seen this happen every four to five years, we have a rally of 15% to 25% and everybody seems to think it’s going to continue and that buying real estate is a very simple equation, but eventually the economy and the greater marketplace catches up with us,’ Aaltonen said.”
“Royal LePage Kelowna realtor Joe Ungaro has been in the business for more than 40 years. He points out that in the single-family residential market, which he says is the ‘bellwether’ of the whole market, sales in August were almost identical to 2023. What has changed is the amount of inventory on the market. ‘We had 1,129 (single-family) homes on the market at the end of August a year ago. There are 1,611 today,’ he said.”
The Globe and Mail. “Tens of thousands of temporary residents who came to Canada as international students might be forced to return to their home countries in the next year – the result of a recent series of immigration policy changes that has left them with no prospect of obtaining permanent residency. Policy experts estimate that between 70,000 and 130,000 international students holding postgraduation work permits (PGWP) will see their visas expiring in 2024 and 2025. Most, they predict, will not receive visa extensions or an invitation to apply for permanent residency because of Ottawa’s shifting approach to immigration.”
“‘For years, the government framed education not as an end in itself, but as a means to live in the country permanently. Their own slogan was ‘Study. Explore. Work. Stay,’ noted Parmbir Gill, a Toronto-based labour lawyer and member of the Naujawan Support Network. ‘Nobody from India or elsewhere would ever have come to Canada just to pay exorbitant tuition fees to a third-rate private career college in a Brampton strip mall, and then leave. They’ve come here to stay, on the terms set by the government,’ he said.”
ABC News in Australia. “This year, Four Corners has been investigating the strata industry, after revelations that one of its most high-profile firms has been charging millions of dollars in opaque, often hidden, insurance fees and taking an untold sum in kickbacks from contractors. In a Zoom briefing with strata managers from across NSW late last year, Tony Irvine appeared beside Stephen Brell and joked about the additional profit he was making from Strata Hub. ‘I’d like to thank the NSW government for the Strata Hub,’ he said, ‘because that bought me a brand new ute. So that was good of them.’ This prompted laughter among his SCA colleagues, including Mr Brell. Mr Irvine went on: ‘And will continue to buy, well, buy someone else a new ute for the next little while.'”
“In Melbourne, Alison Parkes discovered the company responsible for her building — Strata Plan — had been charging the owners corporation for more overdue levy notices than it should. ‘People were being charged in a ridiculous fashion,’ she said. Worse was her discovery the firm had been systematically charging for phantom debts. ‘If there were 10 people who were actually in arrears, hadn’t paid their levies on time, they were billing us for 34 notices being sent out,’ Ms Parkes said. ‘And they’re still just helping themselves hand-in-pocket, Strata Plan, writing an invoice, paying themselves, overcharging us, and we can’t stop it. It’s like a nightmare.'”
From Bloomberg. “Japanese companies are increasingly abandoning an approach to business in China that once seemed immune to politics, a stark shift after years when they were the biggest single investors in their neighbor’s economy. Almost half of Japanese firms in China polled in a recent survey said they won’t spend more or will cut investment this year. Companies listed rising wages, falling prices and geopolitics as the biggest issues they faced. ‘We are now past Japan’s peak economic engagement with China,’ said Robert Ward, director of geo-economics and strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.”
“Komatsu Ltd. is a case in point. The maker of excavators and heavy equipment is selling a lot less in China as the economy slows, construction slumps and competition stiffens. Komatsu’s revenue in China for construction and mining equipment plunged 57% last financial year from a peak in 2019. ‘Right now companies are restructuring their business to stop losses,’ said Masami Miyashita, general manager of the Japan-China Economic Association in Beijing. ‘It’s not the time invest.'”
This Post Has 82 Comments
Comments are closed.
‘I’d like to thank the NSW government for the Strata Hub,’ he said, ‘because that bought me a brand new ute. So that was good of them.’ This prompted laughter among his SCA colleagues, including Mr Brell. Mr Irvine went on: ‘And will continue to buy, well, buy someone else a new ute for the next little while’
Best Utes
https://www.drive.com.au/showrooms/best-cars/best-utes/
The two yutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd1CijCUj8w&t=27s
‘Nobody from India or elsewhere would ever have come to Canada just to pay exorbitant tuition fees to a third-rate private career college in a Brampton strip mall, and then leave’
But that’s what they ended up doing Parmbir. Justin broke it off in yer a$$.
So they couldn’t get into McGill, huh?
‘Officials cringe when they hear the recycling process called ‘toilet-to-tap’ because they fear it will turn the public off to a critical source of water. But the future of Los Angeles depends on just that’
A lot of it will be bum urine too, collected from 700,000 peso bum sheds.
You will own nothing
“transforming Los Angeles into a place where every drop of water is recycled and every resident has enough shade and cooling to survive?”
Remember the stillsuit from Frank Herbert’s Dune? Soon to be a reality in every large metro in the southwest.
“Two Brooklyn contractors have been indicted for grand larceny for allegedly defrauding more than $1 million from the Paycheck Protection Program during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
That is chump change. There are way bigger players in this PPP fraud.
Remember how you used to have to pay for protection from the Mafia? Well now you have to pay for protection from .gov. Just like any good banana republic. And clearly these two didn’t pay.
Do you worry alot about when and how much the Fed will cut interest rates?
Stock Market Today: Dow gains 380 points after worst week for S&P 500 in 18 months
Follow along to all the action after last week’s rough spell in the U.S. stock market.
Last Updated:
Sep. 9, 2024 at 10:47 AM EDT
Live Coverage Feed
5 min ago
This gauge suggests the Fed waited too long to cut interest rates
By Joseph Adinolfi
A long-awaited shift in the relationship between the 2-year and 10-year Treasury notes wasn’t the only recession warning to emerge from the bond market on Friday.
A steep drop in the 2-year Treasury yield has also pushed the spread between the short-dated note and the Fed funds rate, the Federal Reserve’s primary tool for guiding monetary policy, to its most negative level in at least 50 years, according to Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek.
During that time, the spread between the two short-term rates has only fallen below -1 percentage point on three occasions. A recession had started within a year after each.
To be sure, Colas doesn’t necessarily believe a downturn is guaranteed this time around. Recessions need a catalyst to set them in motion, and so far, nothing has happened in the U.S. to trigger such a dramatic slowdown in the economy, he said.
Instead, the inversion is a sign that bond traders are growing increasingly apprehensive about the fact that the Fed hasn’t already moved to lower borrowing costs as the labor market has slowed.
“The Treasury bond market is saying that the Federal Reserve is badly behind the curve with respect to rate cuts,” Colas said in a report shared with MarketWatch on Monday.
…
https://www.marketwatch.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-futures-rise-after-worst-week-for-s-p-500-in-18-months/card/this-gauge-suggests-the-fed-waited-too-long-to-cut-interest-rates-vB0VK327ELjuIwWx0Bs8
If the Fed panics and cuts rates by .5%, methinks the smart money will bail, knowing the Fed is launching a desperate, doomed attempt to levitate its Ponzi markets.
https://x.com/SuburbanDrone/status/1833159884914761866
Expert Views
In most cycles, recessions come after first rate cut; be wary as soft landings are tough to achieve: Charu Chanana
ETMarkets.com
Synopsis
Charu Chanana from Saxo Markets discusses the global economic slowdown, highlighting mixed data from the US and Japan. She advises caution in financial markets, noting that recessions often follow the first rate cut by the Fed. Chanana also comments on the US dollar’s resilience and the potential of Fed rate cuts.
By ET Now
Follow us
Sep 09, 2024, 10:16:00 AM IST
Charu Chanana, Global Market Strategist & Head of FX Strategy, Saxo Markets, says overall the message from global data is pretty clear that we are going into a slowdown. What we need to watch out for is whether that slowdown comes abruptly, which is what puts the markets in a more difficult position. But if it is a more measured slowdown, as it appears to be right now, and the Fed stands ready to take action and respond to it, then it could remain in that comfortable position as well.
Chanana also says even after the Fed starts cutting rates, in most cycles, recessions come after the first rate cut. So, one should be cautious and not immediately start buying the dips right away, because there is an uncertainty that every time the US economy slows down, it first appears that we are entering a soft landing but in reality, soft landings have been very difficult to achieve.
…
https://m.economictimes.com/markets/expert-view/in-most-cycles-recessions-come-after-first-rate-cut-be-wary-as-soft-landings-are-tough-to-achieve-charu-chanana/articleshow/113181095.cms
“There’s never been a better time to invest in multifamily housing in Aurora.” — Denver NAR
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13829557/owner-sells-colorado-aurora-apartment-complex-venezuelan-migrant-gangs.html
It seems like a lot of people are being threatened and/or bribed to play along with the charade: small town city councils, law enforcement, etc.
Remember: the invaders are wonderful people and we are lucky to have them. /sarc
More California wildfires to drive insurance costs even higher.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13829763/california-city-residents-evacuate-wildfire.html
Zimbabwe R Us.
https://dailyhodl.com/2024/09/07/us-national-debt-explodes-by-684322497000-in-three-months-as-fitch-warns-us-has-failed-to-fix-nations-balance-sheet/
Justice is coming.
https://x.com/MdBreathe/status/1833113915510698362
Red Pill USA
@Red_Pill_US
🗳️If you guys don’t think election interference is real in 2024, I want you to watch this video🗳️
0:40
“Google, you guys are nasty people.”
4:29 PM · Sep 8, 2024
·
https://x.com/Red_Pill_US/status/1832878927947403285
Never forget. Never forgive.
https://x.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1833156693523353716
“Analysts” quoted in the globalist scum media are paid touts & shills trying to lure the last of the retail investor muppets into Wall Street’s rigged casino before the Fed’s house of cards implodes under the weight of its own debt, fraud, and mark-to-fantasy accounting.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/09/fed-jumbo-50-bps-rate-cut-should-not-raise-alarm-analyst-says.html
A reader sent these in:
“We are seeing growing signs of concern in loan performance, capital, and earnings across the system and at specific institutions” – National Credit Union Administration Chairman Harper
https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1832506712760230136
🤔 Yellen says U.S. economy remains solid, on path to ‘soft landing’ with no meaningful layoffs
https://x.com/dailyjobcuts/status/1832593824931037522
💰 New York Paying “Migrant” Families $4000 to Aid Transition Out of Shelters
https://x.com/dailyjobcuts/status/1832584622422511783
Yet another predawn sideshow on Bay Bridge snarls traffic. Pickup spinning donuts hits spectators
https://x.com/henrykleeKTVU/status/1832950212278776056
The number of people with more than one job is at an all time high. 👇🏼
https://x.com/MauiBoyMacro/status/1832442960149148080
Since June, 2023, the U.S. has added over 2 million part-time jobs and lost over 1.5 million full-time jobs. 👇🏼
https://x.com/MauiBoyMacro/status/1832442652299817254
Lots of open house signs when driving around today. It’s the byproduct of more listings and properties taking longer to sell today compared to 2021. So many sold during the first weekend back then. Now properties need weeks instead of days (or longer).
https://x.com/SacAppraiser/status/1832508735861993572
Some prominent commentators said lower rates would intensify housing market tightness. But we’ve had the opposite effect.
https://x.com/AzizSunderji/status/1832879680372023703
Lots of interesting stuff at or near 52 week lows all of a sudden!
https://x.com/valuedontlie/status/1832412490417750437
Housing supply up, rents down — we love to see it
https://x.com/AlecStapp/status/1832855037111927188
📢 “Meltdown in Mississauga” 🔥💸
📍Mississauga, ON 🇨🇦
Confirmed loss of $305K+ taxes, realtor commissions, and fees.
Bought in 2020 for $955K, the owner did a quick reno and flipped it for $1.55M; a cool $600K before expenses.
The new owner wasn’t so lucky, they tried 7 times to offload it, until someone finally got it for $305K less than they paid for it.
https://x.com/ShaziGoalie/status/1832813104855429517
Housing IS the story
And it’s a global story
chart via @FinancialTimes
https://x.com/NewsLambert/status/1832457534956826739
Canadian patriot shocked by what he sees in Toronto. This is what an invasion looks like.
https://x.com/RadioGenoa/status/1832436255281574189
People crying for lower rates may get them, but they won’t like the reason why rates go down.
https://x.com/haydenbaldwin10/status/1832820000639586783
riend of mine is trying to book an Airbnb for a trip he’s taking with his sister who has cancer.
Airbnb host: “I’m sorry your sister has cancer, but I cannot honor the advertised rate. You must pay 3x. The price of housing in Toronto is skyrocketing. As this is a new rental we missed the summer months and have to catch up…”
What an absolutely scumbag platform. $ABNB is low-trust.
https://x.com/atc6955/status/1832819181428895766
One of my insider sources told me that over 70 plus people can’t close at 199 church and builder has chosen to sue all the purchasers that can’t close
https://x.com/stoughlian/status/1832150523589620148
Zillow now requires an extra click for you to see the bubble
https://x.com/NipseyHoussle/status/1832400589063704626
Disturbing video of high quality, relatively new 3-year old luxury homes in Victoria, Australia!
https://x.com/JimChuong/status/1832253668923462001
Tesla sold people cars on the false promise that they were going to be worth more money. Why don’t you look at the price of a 2019 Tesla and tell me how much it’s appreciated.
https://x.com/PhenomenalPoto/status/1832416148232581547
Toll Brothers $TOL getting some love from Cy today
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1832948362980585574
Active inventory in the Myrtle Beach market is almost back above pre-pandemic 2019 levels
https://x.com/NewsLambert/status/1832761886741299696
In what’s likely the single largest financial transaction in your life, don’t be “nice” to anyone ever. Don’t feel bad no matter how old, how sick, how anything…
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1832918744164712637
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1832918752914002135
The solar panels are the least of this guy’s concerns
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1832840235215962402
Strip Mall Landlords Taking A Hit From Bankruptcies
Number of stores at recent peak:
Big Lots 1,400
Rite Aid 2,300
Conn’s/Badcock 550
LL Flooring 400 (selling 219)
https://x.com/FCNightingale/status/1832504688656150725
You were the biggest warmongering, lying, Deep State usurper of the Constitution ever to come within a heartbeat of the Oval Office. Stick to bingo at your rest home—you have done enough damage to the Republic for several lifetimes.
https://x.com/DA_Stockman/status/1832562745364918351
The Personal Savings Rate in the US has moved down to 2.9%, the lowest since June 2022 and before that April 2008. Average over the last 30 years is 5.8%. Persistent inflation taking its toll…
https://x.com/charliebilello/status/1832896805807231195
in regards to this one: In what’s likely the single largest financial transaction in your life, don’t be “nice” to anyone ever. Don’t feel bad no matter how old, how sick, how anything…
boy it’s a good thing both buyers are paying the highly ethical realtors 6% to ensure that everything goes smoothly and per contract. I am sure that this money is totally not wasted and everything will be fine (/sarc)
She was eight months pregnant when she was forced to leave her Denver homeless shelter. It was November.
Ivanni Herrera took her 4-year-old son Dylan by the hand and led him into the chilly night, dragging a suitcase containing donated clothes and blankets she’d taken from the Microtel Inn & Suites. It was one of 10 hotels where Denver has housed more than 30,000 migrants, many of them Venezuelan, over the last two years.
First they walked to Walmart. There, with money she and her husband had collected from begging on the street, they bought a tent.
They waited until dark to construct their new home. They chose a grassy median along a busy thoroughfare in Aurora, the next town over, a suburb known for its immigrant population.
“We wanted to go somewhere where there were people,” Herrera, 28, said in Spanish. “It feels safer.”
The problem is, Herrera hasn’t told her family back in Venezuela how she spends her time. “They think I’m fixing up homes and selling chocolate and flowers,” she says. “I’m living a lie.”
https://www.aol.com/news/im-living-lie-streets-colorado-054226890.html
These people haven’t realized yet that they are pawns in a game they don’t understand. Only now is it becoming clear to them that they were lied to by activists NGO workers.
I hope I never have a life-or-death decision that would warrant an ambulance call. I think I see why I probably could not afford it even though I work FULL TIME and pay $$$ from my wages for a health insurance plan.
Milan was sick, but Herrera has been afraid to take him to the doctor. Despite what the hospital had said when she was pregnant, she was never signed up for emergency Medicaid. She says she owes $18,000 for the ambulance ride and delivery of her baby. Now, she avoids going to the doctor or taking her children because she’s afraid her large debt will jeopardize her chances of staying in the U.S. “I’m afraid they’re going to deport me,” she says.
https://www.denver7.com/news/front-range/aurora/im-living-a-lie-on-the-streets-of-a-colorado-city-pregnant-migrants-struggle-to-survive
Free healthcare for migrants is going to bankrupt our medical system.
It’s already bankrupting the central hospital in Denver.
Colorado leaders on both sides of the aisle are weighing in on the headlines that the city of Aurora has been making for weeks over allegations of Venezuelan gang violence, and the two sides seem to be at odds with one another.
Friday, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, a Republican representing Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, held a roundtable discussion in Aurora to discuss the possible threat to the city.
“Gangs are present in these complex buildings, call it and classify a takeover however you will. When they have the keys, when they are busting down doors and accessing other rooms, assaulting people, stabbing people, making threats, extorting them, I would consider that a takeover,” said Boebert.
Congressman Jason Crow, a Democrat representing Colorado’s 6th Congressional District, refuted Boebert’s statements, saying he believes a “takeover” is overblown and the extent of the problem is misrepresented. He also believes local neighborhood gangs are still the greatest threat.
“These mischaracterizations that there has been some kind of gang takeover in Aurora are just not true,” said Crow.
https://news.yahoo.com/news/colorado-lawmakers-clash-over-allegations-033353270.html
The gangs took over most of downtown Aurora back in the 80’s. Everyone knows that. This is just a changing of the guard of which gang is running which area.
I wonder what gated community Mr. Crow resides in.
Letters to the Editor: Why homes were built on the Rancho Palos Verdes landslide. It’s not the city’s fault
To the editor: A letter writer asserts the city of Rancho Palos Verdes should be liable for landslide damage to homes because it zoned the land for housing and issued building permits. As an attorney who has represented Rancho Palos Verdes in litigation about home construction in a landslide area, I can explain some of the legal background.
A local government that prohibits development of land, or regulates development in a way that makes development impossible or infeasible, can be sued for inverse condemnation — a claim that the government has taken the property by not allowing the owner to develop it.
The owners of 16 lots in a part of the city susceptible to landslide filed just such a lawsuit in 2002. The court of appeal concluded the city had “taken” the plaintiffs’ lots because the status of the geology at the time indicated a house would probably stand for at least 50 years.
That left the city with two alternatives: Buy the land or change the development regulations. The city changed the development regulations for those 16 lots.
A similar lawsuit filed in 2015 regarding other lots in the same area was dismissed on procedural grounds. Nevertheless, in light of the previous case, the city changed the development regulations for these properties as well.
In any event, cities are immune from liability for issuing or denying building permits, or failing to inspect or inadequately inspecting property. The city would have to do something more than issue building permits to be found liable for the impacts of the recent landslides.
June Ailin, Marina del Rey
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/letters-to-the-editor-why-homes-were-built-on-the-rancho-palos-verdes-landslide-its-not-the-citys-fault/ar-AA1qfi82
I find this statement the most interesting part of that story: “cities are immune from liability for issuing or denying building permits, or failing to inspect or inadequately inspecting property. ”
IOW the inspectors aren’t doing anything, it’s just another tax.
it’s just another tax.
The REIC is rife with these sorts of “taxes”: Realtor commissions, inspections, title insurance, escrow services and a myriad of other closing costs. It’s basically an army of people with their hands extended, demanding their “cut”.
China, price cuts and costs: the fuel driving Volkswagen’s crisis
In May, Volkswagen finance chief Arno Antlitz warned that Europe’s top carmaker had about two or three years to prepare for cut-throat competition from abroad, mainly China.
Last week, he cut that already-tight timetable by a year, sending shockwaves through the global auto sector by threatening to shut plants in the company’s home market for the first time.
Not only were the discounts steeper than originally anticipated, but they convinced management that the high cost base in Germany is jeopardising Volkswagen’s ability to compete with more agile rivals, a company source said, without giving details of the price cuts.
“This is one of the largest car producers in the world which is not producing large returns out of all that scale,” Cole Smead, CEO of Volkswagen shareholder Smead Capital Management, said. “Do I think they can sustain that level of production in a country that demands so little? It’s impossible.”
Coming on top of restructuring expenses, the discounts have undermined the VW brand’s efforts to reduce costs by more than 10 billion euros ($11 billion) by 2026.
As a result, the VW passenger car brand saw its profit margin crash to 0.9% in the second quarter from an already meagre 4% in the first.
By comparison, margins at Renault and Stellantis, the two other big European volume carmakers, were 8.1% and 10% respectively in the first half of the year.
As demand shrinks, selling mass-market cars has become a fight over who makes them at the lowest cost.
“The thinking of finding solutions through growth is gone. Everyone is losing share, and companies need to readjust,” Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/china-price-cuts-and-costs-the-fuel-driving-volkswagen-s-crisis/ar-AA1qe43x
Expect VW production to be ramped up in places like Brazil and Mexico.
Mazda moved most or all CX-30 production to Mexico. Predictable result: the quality and reliability are well below the models made in Japan.
Mexican VW’s are especially junky.
VW factory fears renew concerns about China exposure of German carmakers
The bombshell that Volkswagen is considering the first ever closure of its German factories has sparked a fresh debate about the company – and the country’s – exposure and strategy towards China.
Sino-German relations analyst Noah Barkin, from the Rhodium Group research house, said Germany’s economic success in the first two decades of the 21st century was built on three pillars: “cheap energy from Russia, an open global trading system and highly competitive industrial products”.
“In the span of a few years, the first pillar has collapsed and the other two are showing deep cracks,” he said.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/vw-factory-fears-renew-concerns-093000240.html
Chinese Stocks on Verge of Five-Year Low as Recovery Hopes Fade
Chinese stocks are on the brink of falling to a five-year low seen in February as bearish sentiment grips the market amid a lack of earnings and economic recovery.
Even long-time China bulls UBS Global Wealth Management, Nomura Holdings Inc., and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have downgraded the country’s equities in recent weeks, citing concerns ranging from a drop in property-led demand to underwhelming stimulus measures and geopolitical tensions ahead of the US elections.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-stocks-verge-five-low-031211814.html
China Deflation Risk Grows as Signs of Economic Weakness Mount
“The deflationary pressure in China is getting more entrenched,” Michelle Lam, Greater China economist at Societe Generale. “This may well fuel a downward price-wage spiral which will require more radical policy response.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-consumer-prices-inch-deflation-013235367.html
A private equity firm saved beloved Portland restaurants from bankruptcy. Then it stopped paying its bills
The company that owns Sizzle Pie, Rudy’s Barbershop, See See Motor Coffee Co. and Bamboo Sushi is facing evictions and lawsuits
On Christmas Eve 2023, the co-founder of Portland’s See See Motor Coffee Co. got a frantic call from the coffee shop’s manager. The ice maker and dishwasher were being repossessed because the cafe’s owners, Sortis Holdings, hadn’t paid the lease on the appliances in months. The cafe would have to close.
“I couldn’t do that to my staff during the holidays,” said Thor Drake, See See’s co-founder. So he called up Rose’s Equipment and Supply and put the thousands of dollars due on his personal credit card. He assumed he’d get reimbursed for the essential business expense by Sortis Holdings. He never did.
Five months later, he was fired from his position as a creative director at Sortis Holdings, the company that bought See See from him in 2020. See See Motor Coffee Co. was locked out from its flagship Sandy Boulevard cafe in May for unpaid rent.
Drake watched a company he had built fall apart under Sortis Holdings’ ownership.
“This is people’s livelihoods,” he said. “It was 15 years of everything I could do to keep it going.”
Sortis Holdings is a private equity fund, started in 1995, that began investing in well-known but struggling Pacific Northwest hospitality and retail businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, Sortis had been primarily invested in real estate, but in 2020 it was approached by Wade Weigel, co-founder of Rudy’s Barbershop, to help buy the company out of bankruptcy. After that, Sortis went on a buying spree.
Tyler Zaiss, who headed up the coffee roastery side of the business, said that the promise of helping small coffee shops scale up and enter the wholesale market was exciting.
“It felt really cool to potentially help a lot of small businesses grow,” said Zaiss, who added he was promised a new 20,000-square-foot roasting facility. “In the beginning, it seemed like we had an endless amount of money.”
https://www.opb.org/article/2024/09/03/sortis-holdings-rent-bankrupt-rudys-see-sizzle-pie-portland/
(((private equity))) destroys everything
A private equity firm saved beloved Portland restaurants from bankruptcy. Then it stopped paying its bills
If they were already insolvent then all private equity could do was buy time. I didn’t see anything in the article about the them cutting costs or increasing sales.
The guy sold his company. One would imagine that if he loves the business so much, he could fund a new startup himself.
A friend tried to go the mom-n-pop coffee shop route. This was in addition to his day job. He’d come in early to open, then hand it over to his wife and an employee as he headed off to the office, then would come back to close.
He just couldn’t make it work. He said it was impossible to compete with the chains, even though he served Lavazza coffee. A few years after throwing in the towel his employer offered him “early retirement”, which was maybe 50% more than severance should he be laid off, plus you get a few months to get ready to leave. Fortunately for him he inherited a nice sum from his parents, so he is 100% debt free, no mortgage.
When Vice President Kamala Harris endorsed $5 trillion in tax hikes outlined in President Joe Biden’s most recent budget proposal, she sparked a wave of unease among investors and other financial elites who said it tilted too far to the left.
Conservatives complained anew about one especially contentious element of the Biden tax plan: a “billionaire income tax” that targets the unsold assets of people who earn more than $100 million a year. Billionaire Mark Cuban warned Harris’s team that their tax agenda was overly aggressive, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of private talks. And Harris’s team has been in contact with other business leaders, including Tony West, Harris’s brother-in-law and the chief legal officer of Uber; Blair Effron, a financier and investment banker; and Brad Karp, chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, the people said.
Amid the pressure, Harris’s campaign advisers debated dropping the proposal. But when she released a revised set of tax priorities last week, she kept the billionaire income tax. Instead, she modified another part of the Biden tax plan, calling for a more modest increase in the tax on capital gains for investors with more than $1 million in taxable income.
Since she suddenly became the Democratic presidential nominee barely a month ago, Harris has released, disavowed or refined a raft of policies — on health care, housing, child benefits and more — that begin to define her vision for the economy. The result, which blends left-leaning populism with more sympathy for industry, has led critics to accuse the campaign of scrambling to appease warring internal factions.
Harris has dropped many of her most liberal positions from her 2020 Democratic primary campaign, while embracing new ones in two policy rollouts since becoming the nominee.
Trump campaign adviser Brian Hughes has said Harris’s policies “rival some of the most socialist and authoritarian models from world history.”
When asked whether he was troubled by Harris’s softening of Biden’s capital gains plan, Dean Baker, a liberal economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank, suggested the campaign hadn’t given away anything substantial — because neither Biden’s tax plan nor Harris’s revised version are likely to pass Congress.
“I was laughing about it. She and Biden knew they weren’t going to get it,” Baker said. “She gave up nothing, and she got all these stories about how she’s ‘moderating’ and ‘listening’ to the business community.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/the-harris-agenda-emerges-populism-with-a-healthy-dose-of-centrism/ar-AA1qffMJ
And yet Mark Cuban endorses her. Probably because he has been assured that he will be one of the chosen winners under a Harris administration.
Passage of a six-month temporary spending bill would have widespread and devastating effects on the Defense Department, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said in a letter to key members of Congress on Sunday.
Austin said that passing a continuing resolution that caps spending at 2024 levels, rather than taking action on the proposed 2025 budget will hurt thousands of defense programs, and damage military recruiting just as it is beginning to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has teed up a vote this week on a bill that would keep the federal government funded for six more months. The measure aims to garner support from his more conservative GOP members by also requiring states to obtain proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, when registering a person to vote.
https://kvia.com/news/2024/09/08/pentagon-chief-says-a-six-month-temporary-budget-bill-will-have-devastating-effects-on-the-military/
China Renaissance plunges on trade resumption as star dealmaker’s absence clouds prospects
China Renaissance shares plunged as much as 72% on Monday after ending a 17-month suspension triggered by a probe involving the boutique investment bank’s former CEO and star dealmaker Bao Fan, with recent losses weighing on its outlook.
The sell-off erased as much as HK$3 billion ($385 million) in market value and pushed the stock to a record low. The resumption in trading came after China Renaissance published its long-overdue financial results last week.
Trade in China Renaissance shares was suspended in April 2023 after the bank delayed publication of its audited annual results as a result of mainland Chinese authorities taking away Bao to cooperate with an investigation.
A Chinese financial publication reported in May last year he was detained by disciplinary and supervision officials. Authorities have so far not provided any explanation for his absence.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-renaissance-shares-plunge-17-021137922.html
The police blotter is published to give readers an abridged look at criminal activity in their community and neighborhood. It is simply an illustration of what local law enforcement, funded by taxpayers, must deal with daily throughout the Española Valley.
Española Police officers, Ohkay Owingeh Tribal Police, Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s deputies or State Police responded to the following calls:
10:43 a.m. A Carr Lane caller said a lot of homeless people are hanging out behind the house and they want them dispersed.
10:45 a.m. Two women were yelling at each other in the Walmart parking lot and getting in each other’s face.
10:57 a.m. A Calle Vigil caller reported a cougar outside his house.
12:13 p.m. A Calle Ranchitos caller reported a woman was there with a gun and wanted to pick apples and wanted money.
https://www.riograndesun.com/news/cops_courts/police-blotter-armed-woman-wants-apples-and-money/article_80066e4a-6bc8-11ef-a2e7-1f5860a5769e.html
10:57 a.m. A Calle Vigil caller reported a cougar outside his house.
Some clarification is in order here.
Was she hot?
I have always worried about pension funds (and their investments). So if they are public pension funds (Cal Teachers in this case) – do tax payers have to make up the difference if there is not enough $s to payoff ‘earned’ pensions in the next 20 years.
73% Reduction In Value In Denver
Metropoint I and II at 4600 and 4610 S. Ulster St. purchased for $22M.
California State Teachers Retirement System purchased the buildings in 2006 for $81.1M.
Total 433K SF on 14.5 acres
https://x.com/FCNightingale/status/1833193804309930049
[Article excerpt from 2020] A particular problem for us in Hawaii. This is made worse by a seeming large pipeline of Govt employees going on disability and pulling benefits out of the plan.
Both the pension fund and the health plan have a ways to go before they pay off their billions in unfunded liabilities.
Hawaii’s public pension system has a funding shortfall of about $14 billion worth of future payments to government retirees. It’s not expected to cover that funding gap until at least 2045.
The state health plan is in slightly worse shape, with estimated unfunded liabilities of $12.4 billion. The plan isn’t expected to fund all of its future liabilities until at least 2050.
However, any scenario in which the funds reach solvency — when assets are greater than liabilities — also requires billions of dollars in contributions from government employers. That requires tax revenues.
In fiscal year 2021, which begins July 1, the state is expected to pay out about $1 billion to the ERS and another $840 million to the EUTF.
IIRC, the Colorado PERA pension system is only 69% funded
Newsweek
Housing
Housing Market
US Housing Market Hit by Shrinkflation
Published Sep 09, 2024 at 5:00 AM EDT
Updated Sep 09, 2024 at 9:26 AM EDT
By Giulia Carbonaro
US News Reporter
Shrinkflation is hitting American homebuyers hard, especially in the South, as a recent study found people are now paying more for smaller properties.
An analysis conducted by USA Today/Homefront using data from Realtor.com found that the median American home is now 128 square feet smaller than five years ago, and yet it costs $125,000 more.
Shrinkflation, by definition, is what happens when companies reduce a product’s amount or volume per unit without changing its retail price. The concept evokes images of candy bars sneakily getting smaller over the years, or bags of chips and cereal boxes getting emptier, a phenomenon known to outrage consumers.
…
https://www.newsweek.com/us-housing-market-hit-shrinkflation-1949174
‘So you can imagine, even though this is not our doing and no fault of our own and we certainly didn’t owe the subcontractor money. They obviously wanted their money and they had a right to that money and Creekstone wasn’t really making any effort to remove the lien from our property until it went into a threat of foreclosure’
So what happens if Creekstone goes away and never pays Kelly?
‘Well, the trouble started kind of immediately. The communication is pretty much zil. You email somebody, they don’t email you back. You try to call, they don’t answer. The warranty company is just a joke as well.’ Courtney and her husband were also threatened with foreclosure after Creekstone failed to pay the concrete company that poured their driveway. Courtney questions, ‘Why should we have to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for a lawyer to fight this lien? It should be all on Creekstone’
This is a minor dip compared to what so many other loanowners are going through Stacey. I know it sux now, but in the end you will be the winnah!
‘Robyn Wille lives north of Baseline on Cherryvale in unincorporated Boulder County. Her home insurance, with American Family, is now $7,900 — almost $3,000 more than it was a year ago. Wille recently considered buying a home a mile and a half farther east on South Boulder Road. She called her insurance agent to find out what a policy on the new home would cost and was quoted a rate $3,000 less than for her current home, despite the new house being much larger. The extra distance from the flammable Foothills seemed to make a difference in the insurer’s eyes. ‘It’s ridiculous’
There’s still a shortage in Cherryvale Robyn, I’m sure yer shack hasn’t lost much sweet equity with this insurance increase.
‘Her agent also told her that American Family is not writing new policies or renewing policies in mountain communities. ‘He said, ‘If you’re halfway thinking about moving into the Foothills, don’t’
An interesting development.
‘These new condo laws and specifically with that development in Pembroke Pines, I think it shows just how widespread this issue is. This isn’t for high rises. We’re talking about most of our housing product [which] was built in the ‘50s and ‘60s and ’70s. I think that we’re going to find the most vulnerable to be the ones that are most impacted, meaning folks that, as they were getting older and they wanted to downsize, [they] decided to move into condos and perhaps they’ve paid off their condos. So, maybe their overall housing costs have gone down, but their income has also gone down as they’ve gone into retirement and they’re relying on some of their social security and things like that. It now becomes a situation where those that were prudent and thinking, ‘okay, I know that in the future, I’m not going to have as much disposable income. Let me decrease my cost of living now,’ put in a position where they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. What are they going to do and where are they to go?’
So it’s kind of a worst case scenario Sandra, which has been clear in coming for decades.
‘The hard and fast reality is that the older the condo, the more vulnerable it is to this reckoning, the less financial or fiduciary responsibility that associations have had throughout the course of the past decades, the more vulnerable it is to falling values. Two months ago, a Republican Florida House member told me she was telling people not to buy a condominium in Florida. Now imagine, any Florida politician, regardless of property, telling somebody to hold off on buying a condominium in Florida. That is a remarkable statement and admission about how shaky and uncertain the market is’
Yeah, when the Republicans bail on south Florida yer schlonged Tom.
‘A less welcome development is that mosquitoes may continue to thrive too. The bloodsuckers have been booming amid more extreme rainfall patterns and may continue to enjoy pools of standing water in the years to come’
You were just saying you got no water. You got canyons don’t you? Build some dams!
‘I’ve seen this happen every four to five years, we have a rally of 15% to 25% and everybody seems to think it’s going to continue and that buying real estate is a very simple equation, but eventually the economy and the greater marketplace catches up with us’
That’s the conclusion I’ve come to Scott. All these markets are spasmodically soaring then crashing all the time. It’s become normal.
‘In Melbourne, Alison Parkes discovered the company responsible for her building — Strata Plan — had been charging the owners corporation for more overdue levy notices than it should. ‘People were being charged in a ridiculous fashion,’ she said. Worse was her discovery the firm had been systematically charging for phantom debts. ‘If there were 10 people who were actually in arrears, hadn’t paid their levies on time, they were billing us for 34 notices being sent out,’ Ms Parkes said. ‘And they’re still just helping themselves hand-in-pocket, Strata Plan, writing an invoice, paying themselves, overcharging us, and we can’t stop it. It’s like a nightmare’
It’s still way cheaper than renting Alison.
Water the Tree of Liberty
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
1 hour ago
Every generation must water the tree of liberty with its own blood to protect our constitutional rights. 🇺🇸 @VivekGRamaswamy @TuckerCarlson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY_kCcQ1r64
1:29.
Mad respect for RFKj.
♫ Recuerdos de la Alhambra / Narciso Yepes
take5t0ky0jpn
Jun 15, 2011
Narciso Yepes at Palau de la Música Catalana.
Ⅰ.Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Ⅱ.Marcha Irlandesa (Siglo XI)
• ♫ Marcha Irlandesa (Siglo XI) / Narci…
Ⅲ.La Filla del Marxant (Musica Catalana)
• ♫ La Filla del Marxant (Musica Catala…
Ⅳ.Saltarello
• ♫ Saltarello / Narciso Yepes
Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona España, June 16 1991.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQGBbLBShzk
3:42.
The Parting Glass
Choral Scholars of University College Dublin
11 years ago
Track available on ‘Invisible Stars – Choral Works of Ireland and Scotland’
Released on Signum Records on 11th December 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eisW0skJ9fU
3 minutes.
This Dude’s 2:58 is well worth listening to.
End Wokeness
@EndWokeness
“Haitians are in the park grabbing ducks, cutting the heads off, and eating them”
Springfield resident to City Council:
9:29 AM · Sep 8, 2024
https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1832773191976014217
Illegal Haitian Migrant Car Accidents Causing Skyrocketing Car Insurance Rates, Says Springfield Resident
by Jamie White
September 9th 2024, 2:28 PM
“Me and my wife, have good driving records, no accidents. I mean, she’s never had an accident…and my insurance has gone up over $100 a month.”
“I live in Springfield, Ohio, where the influx of Haitians are, and we have had an enormous amount of car accidents because they don’t know how to drive,” he continued. “So now because of that, my car insurance has gone up significantly. I might as well be taking out another car payment at this point just to cover my cars.”
https://www.infowars.com/posts/springfield-resident-says-car-insurance-rates-skyrocketing-due-to-uptick-in-car-accidents-by-illegal-haitian-migrants
Internet Launches “Cats & Ducks For Trump” Meme Campaign After Haitian Migrants Filmed Eating Pets & Local Birds
by Kelen McBreen
September 9th 2024, 12:47 PM
AI-generated images and videos are being used in modern meme warfare to mock the Democratic Party’s open borders policies allowing third world illegal aliens into U.S. cities where they’re committing massive amounts of crime, eating pets and local wild birds.
Memes are being spread showing Donald Trump saving cats and ducks from Haitian illegals who have recently been filmed and photographed eating them.
https://www.infowars.com/posts/internet-launches-cats-ducks-for-trump-meme-campaign-after-haitian-migrants-filmed-eating-pets-local-birds
My personal favorite.
Captain Sou
@SouSanDiego
Don’t miss out on Chuckie’s Haitian Barbecue!
12:10 PM · Sep 9, 2024
·
https://x.com/SouSanDiego/status/1833176196949168406
Cats and ducks so far.
Image file for Jeff — Do you want this done TODAY Edition (330 pounds, so like half a Stacey Abrams):
https://ibb.co/kQCBnqX
I have never seen a rig like the one on top of that van, but it looks pretty awesome.
Does it seem like stocks are off to a rough start this September?
In One Chart
S&P 500 just saw its worst first week of September since 1953, this chart shows
‘There have only been four other years where the S&P 500 dropped 2.5% or more to kick off the month,’ according to Bespoke
By Christine Idzelis
Published: Sept. 9, 2024 at 11:53 a.m. ET
The S&P 500 was rising Monday morning as the U.S. stock market attempted to bounce back from last week’s selloff.
Photo: Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The S&P 500 index just had a particularly ugly start to September in a historically rough month for the U.S. stock market, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
“Since 1953, when the five-day trading week in its current form began, this year ranks as the worst first week for the S&P 500 on record,” Bespoke, a wealth-management and research firm, said in an emailed note Monday. The S&P 500 has started September with a decline of 4.25% through Friday, according to FactSet data.
…
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s-p-500-just-saw-its-worst-first-week-of-september-since-1953-this-chart-shows-e7137c13
US Housing Market Hit by Shrinkflation
Published Sep 09, 2024 at 5:00 AM EDT
Updated Sep 09, 2024 at 9:26 AM EDT
By Giulia Carbonaro
US News Reporter
Shrinkflation is hitting American homebuyers hard, especially in the South, as a recent study found people are now paying more for smaller properties.
An analysis conducted by USA Today/Homefront using data from Realtor.com found that the median American home is now 128 square feet smaller than five years ago, and yet it costs $125,000 more.
Shrinkflation, by definition, is what happens when companies reduce a product’s amount or volume per unit without changing its retail price. The concept evokes images of candy bars sneakily getting smaller over the years, or bags of chips and cereal boxes getting emptier, a phenomenon known to outrage consumers.
…
https://www.newsweek.com/us-housing-market-hit-shrinkflation-1949174
Report: Housing
Special report | Housing
Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems
Since the second world war, governments across the rich world have made three big mistakes, says Callum Williams
Jan 16th 2020
Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.
THE FINANCIAL crisis of 2008-10 illustrated the immense dangers of a mismanaged housing market. In America during the early to mid-2000s irresponsible, sometimes illegal, mortgage lending led many households to accumulate more debt than they could sustain. Between 2000 and 2007 America’s household debt rose from 104% of household income to 144%. House prices rose by 50% in real terms. The ensuing wave of defaults led to a global recession and nearly brought down the financial system.
From the 1960s to the 2000s a quarter of recessions in the rich world were associated with steep declines in house prices. Recessions associated with credit crunches and house-price busts were deeper and lasted longer than other recessions did. Yet the damage caused by poorly managed housing markets goes much deeper than financial crises and recessions, as harmful as they are. In rich countries, and especially in the English-speaking world, housing is too expensive, damaging the economy and poisoning politics. And it is becoming ever more so: from their post-crisis low, global real house prices have since risen by 15%, taking them well past their pre-crisis peak.
Traditionally politicians like it when house prices rise. People feel richer and therefore borrow and spend more, giving the economy a nice boost, they think. When everyone is feeling good about their financial situation, incumbent politicians have a higher chance of re-election.
But there is another side. Costly housing is unambiguously bad for the rich world’s growing population of renters, forcing them to trim spending on other goods and services. And an economic policy which relies on homebuyers taking on large debts is not sustainable. In the short term, finds a study by the IMF, rising household debt boosts economic growth and employment. But households then need to rein in spending to repay their loans, so in three to five years, those effects are reversed: growth becomes slower than it would have been otherwise, and the odds of a financial crisis increase.
…
https://www.economist.com/special-report/2020/01/16/housing-is-at-the-root-of-many-of-the-rich-worlds-problems
“And it is becoming ever more so: from their post-crisis low, global real house prices have since risen by 15%, taking them well past their pre-crisis peak.”
The article is from January 2020, just before the pandemic boom boosted prices around 50% over the span of 3 years in many parts of the US.
What is wrong with this picture?
Is catching falling knives considered best investing practice among bulls?
The Motley Fool
Cathie Wood Goes Bargain Hunting: 3 Stocks She Just Bought
By Rick Munarriz – Aug 27, 2024 at 11:40AM
Key Points
– Cathie Wood bought shares of DraftKings, Shopify, and Tempus AI on Monday.
– DraftKings is boosting its revenue guidance, but having to backtrack on a player surcharge isn’t a good look.
– Shopify has surged in August following a blowout quarterly report, but it’s still trading slightly lower in 2024.
The popular growth investor keeps adding to some of her favorite falling stocks.
Cathie Wood is busy trying to get back on track. Most of the exchange-traded funds held by Ark Invest — where she is the co-founder, CEO, and investment manager — are underwater in the otherwise buoyant 2024. It’s not stopping her from taking big bets on disruptive companies. If she’s right, being out of favor now is a temporary condition.
…
https://www.fool.com/investing/2024/08/27/cathie-wood-goes-bargain-hunting-3-stocks-she-just/
Bitcoin ETFs see $105 million outflow, ARK leads with $59.3 million loss
Data via Farside Investors Farside Investors
Ethereum ETFs show first inflow since Aug. 14.
James Van Straten / @jvs_btc /
Aug. 29, 2024 at 10:06 am UTC
Quick Take
Recent data from Farside highlights outflows in Bitcoin ETFs totaling $105.3 million. Out of 11 ETF issuers, six experienced outflows, with ARK’s ARKB leading the way, losing $59.3 million. Fidelity’s FBTC saw a $10.4 million outflow, while Bitwise’s BITB and VanEck’s HODL lost $8.7 million and $10.1 million, respectively.
…
https://cryptoslate.com/insights/bitcoin-etfs-see-105-million-outflow-ark-leads-with-59-3-million-loss/