It’s Price Cut After Price Cut After Price Cut, And Everyone’s Competing On Who Can Cut The Price Faster
A report from WUSA 9. “In a major victory for homebuyers, a DC Court of Appeals judge ruled that the District can be held liable for substandard housing purchased through government assistance programs. The decision comes after six Black female low-to-moderate income first-time homebuyers sued developers and the city after facing unsafe living conditions in the new condos they purchased in southeast DC through the District’s Housing Purchase Assistance Program. ‘I went from homeless to homeownership, and at this point I feel hopeless and homeless again,’ Robin McKinney said in 2021. ‘I’m afraid every time I go into my house, I feel preyed on, betrayed.’ ‘Once upon a time this did feel like home, but now it just feels like a place that I’m kind of stuck in,’ Jaztina Somerville said. That’s when they turned to filing a lawsuit in 2020.”
“‘This decision affirms the principle that nobody is above the law, including government entities, especially when consumers are harmed in such egregious ways related to their homes,’ said Je Yon Jung, lead counsel for the plaintiffs. ‘Our clients did everything that the District required of them to participate in the American dream of homeownership. Instead, they have been forced to spend years in a house of horrors and nightmares fighting for accountability and justice.'”
WGHP in North Carolina. “The waiting game isn’t just costing one group of condo owners time. It’s also wracking up a considerable price tag since the condo building along Lawndale Drive burned down in March of 2023. Todd and Kim Trifari remember the day well. Neither one was in Greensboro, but their sons called and Facetimed them, sharing videos and pictures of flames shooting out of building 5004, where their son Thomas lived. Currently, there’s a concrete slab where the building used to stand. Thomas and other condo owners have paid more than $4,000 in HOA fees since the fire. ‘It’s crazy. He doesn’t want to pay for it. I’m paying for nothing. I’m paying for a slab,’ said Todd.”
Honolulu Star Advertiser in Hawaii. “A state agency is moving ahead with a plan to recover what it can on an unpaid $9.8 million loan to the developer of a nearly 3-year-old Kakaako affordable condominium complex where many units remain unsold. Of the 153 units at The Block, 61 remain unsold since the project opened in December 2021 despite prices as low as $276,102 for some studios. A perhaps bigger issue with sales is a lack of parking for many units. Of the 61 unsold units, 42 don’t have parking, according to HHFDC. Dean Minakami, HHFDC’s executive director, told the agency’s board at Thursday’s meeting that the idea of developing a residential building with limited parking seemed all right given the circumstances a decade ago. ‘Of course, it’s a different story today,’ he said. ‘Rail is not here. Units without parking are very challenging to sell. So if we could go back in time, I think we’d have treated this project very differently. But we are where we are right now.'”
From WLRN. “Redfin found monthly association fees were climbing across Florida, including up almost 6% in Miami, almost 13% in West Palm Beach and up more than 16% in Fort Lauderdale compared to a year ago. According to Realtor.com, the median price of a home sold in Sunrise, which includes both single family homes and condos, was $230,000 in July. That is down 30% from a year earlier. ‘All of this is interlocking when we start losing condo sales and our seniors can’t save their homes or they’re being sold at a loss or they just stop paying their maintenance fee. Then you start to have this cascade downward where associations get in worse trouble,’ said Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan. ‘None of us are beyond the reach of what’s coming.'”
Mansion Global. “The fallout is already leading to a deluge of discounted condos on the market, which is threatening to upend Florida’s condo-dense housing markets—particularly in South Florida. ‘The effects are already starting to be seen,’ said Joseph Hernandez, a real estate lawyer with Bilzin Sumberg, who has been following the issue closely. ‘There is an absolute glut of 30-plus-year-old units on the market right now, and they’re not moving. It’s not unusual for there to be six-figure special assessments.'”
“At the Charter Club, a waterfront condo building in Edgewater built in 1973, the owner of a one-bedroom apartment recently received a special assessment of $74,000, according to Jaclyn Bild, a Douglass Elliman broker who is representing the seller. The unit is listed at around $400,000, already a discount from where it would have been priced a year ago, according to Bild. Previously, Bild had found a buyer for the Kendall unit, but when the prospective buyer went to visit, she got stuck in the elevator and had a panic attack. Needless to say, she canceled the contract. The unit was in contract a second time, but the buyer ran into trouble closing on a loan. ‘Our seller has to lower the price so much to make it enticing,’ she continued. ‘It’s price cut after price cut after price cut, and everyone’s competing on who can cut the price faster.'”
Houston Public Media in Texas. “Experts say the Houston market has shifted in favor of buyers and away from sellers who often had multiple above-asking price offers just a couple of years ago. Potential home buyers in Houston had more inventory to choose from in August, but sales were down again, continuing a persistent summer market slump. ‘Sellers are definitely motivated to move and buyers are maybe getting the upper hand in some transactions, it’s not in all transactions,’ HAR Vice-Chair Kat Robinson said. ‘Just because it takes a little bit longer to sell your home doesn’t mean we have a terrible market at all. It just means it’s taking a little bit longer for a buyer to make a decision.'”
Times of San Diego in California. “The OB Rag announced the top 3 winners of their ‘Worst ADU (accessory dwelling unit)’ contest, a tongue-in-cheek event meant to raise awareness about what critics deem predatory construction. While it is legal for homeowners to construct an ADU on their property in San Diego County, some residents argue that these units sacrifice the comfort and aesthetics of neighborhoods. ‘I don’t think most people want big ADUs,’ said Rag reporter Kate Callen. ‘I mean the whole, the whole point of the granny flat was maybe a bungalow in your backyard where your elderly mother could live, or where your adult child could live. This (contest) is about what are essentially apartment buildings, and in some cases, mansionettes.’ The gold went to a large ADU in the Bay Ho area, which the judges called a ‘monstrosity.’ The ADU crammed 14 units into a single lot, and the judges claimed that the developer is a ‘notorious neighborhood raider’ who threatens nearby residents with lawsuits.”
The Real Deal on California. “The value of Los Angeles offices collapsed after a pandemic shift to remote work, tumbling as much as 60 percent from their last sale. But like a bungee jumper from L.A.’s tallest skyscraper, prices have hit bottom and could begin to bounce back — providing opportunity for new investors, according to industry experts at an LA Real Estate Forum hosted Thursday by The Real Deal. Landlords, facing rising interest rates and falling occupancy and property values, defaulted on hundreds of millions in mortgage loans, with some surrendering offices to their lenders. Office real estate suffered more than any sector of the market, with an overabundance of workplace cubicles, according to Stuart Elliott, CEO of TRD. Office buildings sold at a fraction of their pre-pandemic market value. ‘There’s too much that we don’t need,’ Elliott said. ‘For a lot of buildings, the distress is really hitting the fan right now,’ especially in Downtown L.A.”
Bisnow on Georgia. “A massive South Buckhead property long known as the Darlington apartments, known for its sign displaying Atlanta’s population in real time, has been taken over by its lender. The Norfolk, Virginia-based investor took control of the property at 2025 Peachtree Road NE in a foreclosure sale valued at $92.5M, according to real estate tracking firm Databank. Westside Capital paid $136M to purchase the complex in July 2022 after an extensive renovation and rebranding, but it struggled to fill the units. The building was appraised at $149.9M shortly after its purchase, according to a DBRS Morningstar report on the building’s debt, based on Westside’s plan to raise rents. But that valuation turned out to be overly optimistic.”
“After generating $5.1M of net operating income in 2022, the building’s NOI was negative $168K in the trailing 12 months ending in March, and its net cash flow was $192K in the red, according to Morningstar Credit. ‘The floating-rate nature [of the loan] is what cratered it,’ said Ladson Haddow, who runs Haddow & Co. ‘Having walked through it, it seemed like a decent renovation.’ The Lofts are the latest casualty of high interest rates dragging apartment values underwater and pushing owners into distress. Frankforter Group is facing foreclosure on its $104M loan attached to Generation Atlanta, a luxury 17-story Downtown Atlanta apartment tower. The foreclosure sale is now scheduled for Oct. 1.”
Beach Metro in Canada. “‘They say that the best views come after the hardest climb. But they have never been enveloped in the peaceful utopia of the panoramic vistas from The View,’ reads a statement on the official website of the developers responsible for 507-511 Kingston Rd. in the Beach. However, following initial work which consisted of tearing down houses and digging out the slope on the south side of Kingston Road (just west of Lee Avenue), residents have been left with unfavourable views as construction of the site’s proposed eight-storey condo was seemingly halted.It is currently unclear when the updated report will be presented to Toronto Council.”
“‘(Residents) want just an update on when the tearing down of the current houses will be, and a timeline of the project – start to finish – just so we can prepare,’ Sue Beres, a resident of the area, told Beach Metro Community News. ‘Just respect for the community as a whole and its visitors. It looks like an abandoned wasteland and people just throw junk there now. It’s horrible.’ With Ontario’s housing market in a tumultuous state – Toronto being ground zero – issues with abandoned-looking projects will continue to arise across the city. As many housing presale investors opt to relinquish their deposits as the housing market navigates the Bank of Canada’s changing interest rates which, as of Sept. 4, sits at 4.25 per cent, some developers are left with less incentive to complete projects as returns of investment appear grim. Unsold units in the second quarter climbed to a ‘record high 25,893 units,’ according to Urbanation. Most of these unsold units are in the pre-construction phase.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “4631 Crawford Court, Kelowna, B.C. Asking price: $1.249-million (May 24); $1.199-million (June 27). Selling price: $1.05-million (July 23). The kitchen and bathrooms are dated, but the 25-year-old house is well maintained and bright, with high ceilings in the living room, central vacuum and a large yard with built-in irrigation and rural views. But a new road means more traffic noise, which might have affected the sale. Agent Richard Deacon’s clients were new to the country and wanted to be near their daughter, who lives nearby. If priced too high, properties are sitting longer, says Mr. Deacon. His buyers had looked at the property in early June and asked him if they should make a lowball offer. But Mr. Deacon advised them to wait, because the sellers had just lowered the price. After a couple of weeks, they went in with an offer. They were firm on their $1-million budget, so it took some negotiation, but they settled on a price. He said that a lot of offers are falling apart due to financing. ‘In a market like this, if you really want to move, take the reasonable offer.'”
From News.com.au. “They have too many houses and not enough buyers who want them. Parts of Australia’s major capitals and urban centres have become oversupplied with housing to the point that property values are likely to fall or stay in the deep freeze for many years, new data shows. These pockets of oversupply have come at a time when developers and urban planners have been scrambling to address widespread housing shortages across Australia as a whole. And that means many of these areas have reached a threshold where supply far exceeds demand, with research from SuburbData revealing up to one in seven of the total homes in some suburbs are now up for sale.”
“The suburbs with the biggest oversupply tended to be in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, but there were also isolated areas with oversupply in smaller cities, SuburbData noted. Experts have revealed the oversupply – where the volume of property sales far exceeds demand – has created a rare dilemma for home seekers. This opportunity comes with a catch: those softer conditions also make these markets some of the riskiest to buy into because of the higher likelihood of prices falling after purchase. Buyer’s agent Lloyd Edge of Aus Property Professionals said oversupply was of more concern for investors. ‘If you are buying as an investment in an area where there are so many houses being built at the same time, it means there is no scarcity,’ he said. ‘That is going to put downward pressure on prices when you go to sell the property because there is so much choice for buyers. It’s the same when you to rent it. You risk ending up with the property sitting vacant for a much longer time.'”
“Buyer’s agent Veronica Morgan, who runs an academy for first-home buyers, said those hoping to get a ‘good deal’ needed to be wary of purchasing in an oversupplied market. ‘Generally, if something is easy to buy, it’s difficult to sell. If you’re a first-home buyer and this is not going to be your forever home think carefully about who the next person that you’ll sell to will be.'”
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‘The floating-rate nature [of the loan] is what cratered it’
Yer saying they were rate daters Ladson.
Talked to a guy I know yesterday who purchased a townhome in Jupiter Fl. back in 2010, actually got it for a reasonable price being that was back in the middle of the Robo signed victim nothing selling price crash of Bubble 1. Problem is when he bought it in 2010 the HOA fees were $60 a month, now they are $650 a month. That combined with the insane home insurance wind storm price increases have made a good purchase a not so good purchase.
I asked him about selling it but he said nothing in there was selling due to the above mentioned problems. Oh well, I’m sure Kamala giving $25k to first time buyers will fix it all and her having been raised as a middle class kid (my @ss) will make us all better off than we were 4 years ago.
Are you going to tell us the Haitian voodoo story?
Has anyone seen my cat?
(BTW I’m working today, all my overtime is going to taxes to give them free housing and Obamaphones.)
Related article:
“Fewer stray cats are now seen downtown, according to one local, while another resident who spoke anonymously with The Federalist is meanwhile wondering what happened to all of the ducks in the town parks.
“Now if you go, you really don’t see a whole lot of ducks,” she said, compared to two years ago. As a lifelong resident, she added, “You know when things are wrong.”
https://thefederalist.com/2024/09/13/democrats-immigration-crisis-pushes-ohioans-to-the-breaking-point-whos-protecting-us/
https://x.com/ClownWorld_/status/1834593488325009866
And just like that, the cats turned paramilitary & started fighting back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXRX47L_3yE
What about the stories of thousands/mo in gov assistance, free driver licenses without testing, and preferential “jobs,” all paid for by FedGov? That’s the bigger story.
It seems the delivery of said bennies is uneven. I’m seeing plenty of stories where illegals are interviewed and say they aren’t getting any assistance, even though NGOs told them they would.
They can always turn to crime. The Great Reset requires a societal collapse, which millions of illegal alien globalist imports will accelerate.
$60 to $650………………..
Dang
Good thing there’s no inflation I mean that’s only 10 time (1000%) in 15 years.
It’s probably more than his mortgage payment at this point.
** ‘All of this is interlocking when we start losing condo sales and our seniors can’t save their homes or they’re being sold at a loss or they just stop paying their maintenance fee. Then you start to have this cascade downward where associations get in worse trouble,’ said Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan. ‘None of us are beyond the reach of what’s coming.’
“How come Andrew gets to stop paying? If he gets to stop, we’ll all stop! It’ll be anarchy!”
The Breakfast Club 2: Seniors in Florida
But…but…muh generational wealth!
Then you start to have this cascade downward where associations get in worse trouble,’ said Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan. ‘None of us are beyond the reach of what’s coming.’”
I am, Mike. Because I didn’t “invest” in a defect-riddled Florida condo with deferred maintenance.
‘It’s price cut after price cut after price cut, and everyone’s competing on who can cut the price faster.’”
That’s the spirit!
‘Just because it takes a little bit longer to sell your home doesn’t mean we have a terrible market at all. It just means it’s taking a little bit longer for a buyer to make a decision.’”
Kat is a realtor, and realtors are liars. The data tells its own story: bursting housing bubble.
#Nuremberg 2.0 can’t come soon enough.
https://x.com/liz_churchill10/status/1834788482671116590
100% safe and effective.
If tapped-out debt donkeys can’t afford to make their car payments, how will they afford to pay their mortgages or rents?
https://www.axios.com/2024/09/13/car-payments-behind-auto-borrowers
tapped-out debt donkeys can’t afford to make their car payments
This is unpossible! I am told the economy is stronger than ever and everyone is experiencing joy!
“Subprime is contained.” – Zimbabwe Ben Bernanke, 2007
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-consumer-loan-delinquencies-starting-plateau-bankers-say-2024-09-13/
You rang?
HuffPaint:
“The camps will be built “on open land in Texas near the border” and should have the capacity to house as many as 70,000 people, which would double the United States’ current immigrant detention capacity, Stephen Miller, the main point man on immigration in Trump’s White House, said last year. In multiple interviews, Miller has gleefully described daily flights out of the camps to all corners of the world, an undertaking he said would be “greater than any national infrastructure project” in American history.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-deportation-camps_n_66e4793de4b03e3cc10020c3
Build the wall, deport them ALL.
No matter how much you hate the globalist scum media, it isn’t enough.
https://x.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1834925065831694539
Paging ABQ Dan….
https://x.com/AlecStapp/status/1834201320212898179
China raises retirement age. Olds not happy.
https://x.com/zerohedge/status/1834764038141628792
‘There is an absolute glut of 30-plus-year-old units on the market right now, and they’re not moving. It’s not unusual for there to be six-figure special assessments.’
It was so easy to sell on the way up.
Now it seems as though everyone got stucco.
Is a soft landing in the bag?
Economy
The US will enter a mild recession as the economy deflates after its boost from unproductive stimulus cash, former Commerce Secretary says
Jennifer Sor
Sep 13, 2024, 8:34 AM PDT
An American flag bar graph with a downward stock arrow
Tyler Le/BI
– The US may face a mild recession as past stimulus is drained out of the economy.
– Stimulus checks increased demand, pushing inflation to a 23-year high in 2022.
– Key recession indicators, like the Sahm Rule and Treasury yield curve, signal economic concerns.
The US is moving toward a recession, as the economy is feeling the comedown after trillions of “unproductive” cash was pumped in during the pandemic, according to former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
The former Trump administration official gave a bearish outlook on the US economy in a recent interview with Bloomberg. His forecast is contrary to many others on Wall Street, with analysts feeling more confident that the US will avoid a recession as GDP continues to grow and unemployment remains relatively low.
“I think the US is headed toward probably a very mild recessionary period, and that shouldn’t be too surprising. It was artificially propped up by all the great situations that have prevailed, and all that cash that was pumped into the economy in the aftermath of COVID. I think they overdid that,” Ross said.
The US government doled around $5 trillion in stimulus during the pandemic, which revved up the economy when stay-at-home orders shuttered businesses and sent the unemployment rate soaring.
But most of the stimulus cash wasn’t deployed productively, Ross said, pointing to Americans who “immediately spent” their checks in a wild shopping spree.
The burst in spending fueled demand for goods and services without increasing supply. That suggests it was the main cause of inflation, he added, with consumer price increases notching a 23-year-record high in 2022.
Strength in the labor market was also partly distorted by stimulus cash, he suggested. He estimated that around 30%-40% of the jobs created after the pandemic were government-related jobs.
“They weren’t building the economy. They weren’t creating supply of goods,” Ross added.
The red-hot job market has cooled along with inflation over the past few years, thanks to pandemic stimulus wearing off and the Fed’s rapid interest rate hikes over the past year.
But investors have been increasingly concerned that they Fed may have tightened financial conditions too far. Hiring has steadily slowed over the past year, with the unemployment rate triggering one long-running recession indicator with a perfect track record.
…
https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-outlook-economy-inflation-covid-stimulus-cash-hard-landing-2024-9
“most of the stimulus cash wasn’t deployed productively”
All for an alleged virus that for the young and healthy has an infection fatality rate of statistically ZERO.
Greatest FRAUD of my lifetime.
Peerless prognosticator Yellen the Felon just cooed that #BidensEconomy is going gangbusters, and a soft landing is assured. Trouble is, she said the same thing back in 2007, and we all know how that ended.
https://www.reuters.com/article/markets/bonds/feds-yellen-sees-inflation-risk-soft-landing-idUSN22361202/
Markets
5 warning signs the economy is spiraling toward recession — and why there’s ‘major disconnect’ between stocks and the job market
William Edwards
Sep 14, 2024, 2:00 AM PDT
Read in app
new york stock exchange trader
REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
– Jon Wolfenbarger warns of a potential 70% drop ahead for the S&P 500.
– Despite record highs, the market faces risks from a deteriorating labor market.
– Wolfenbarger shared 5 signs of a job market heading towards recession.
To Jon Wolfenbarger, the stock market’s success and the labor market’s recent deterioration don’t seem to add up.
As of market close on Friday, the S&P 500 sat at 5,626, just below record highs. And yet, the unemployment rate continues to inch up, job openings continue to fall, and payroll data continue to underwhelm.
The short explanation for this discrepancy is investor hype around artificial intelligence and continued hope for an economic soft landing, according to Wolfenbarger, the founder of investing newsletter BullAndBearProfits.com and former investment banker at JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch.
But how long that enthusiasm can continue to outweigh declining labor market indicators remains to be seen. In a pair of notes this month, Wolfenbarger has laid out several pieces of evidence from job market data showing the outlook continuing to worsen, threatening to throw the economy into recession and lampoon the market’s soft-landing hopes.
The first is declining job openings, which are down to 7.6 million from 2022 highs above 12 million. Since data started being collected in December 2000, the significant declines in job openings in 2001, 2008, and 2020 were all accompanied by recessions. While openings have fallen a lot, however, they are still above pre-COVID levels and may just be normalizing after pandemic stimulus has dried up.
Still, job openings data has had an impressively close correlation to stock market performance since 2000. This suggests the amount of job openings may have to turn around soon, or the market may be ahead of itself and in for a correction.
“Historically, there’s been a strong relationship between JOLTS openings (orange line) and the S&P 500 (blue line), although there has been a major disconnect during the AI-driven rally of the past two years,” Wolfenbarger wrote in a September 9 note.
Jolts and S&P 500
Another sign Wolfenbarger shared showing the labor market is turning sour is the Kansas City Fed’s Labor Market Conditions Index, which is a composite of 24 job market indicators. The last three times is has climbed above 0.5 and then declined again below that level, the economy has gone into recession.
The indicator sits at 0.53 right now, down from 1.4 in May 2022.
Third, the year-over-year percentage change in the employment level, or number of people employed. It just hit 0%, and negative year-over-year growth has typically coincided with recessions over the last several decades, Wolfenbarger said.
employment level
While the employment growth is softening, there has also been a rise in the amount of part-time employees who cite economic reasons for taking part-time roles. Part-time employment levels usually surge during recessions, though current growth levels are not yet as pronounced as in prior downturns.
Finally, in a September 2 note, Wolfenbarger shared a chart from Bank of America showing the decline in private job growth as a share of all job growth. The chart excludes the healthcare and education sectors, which are typically immune to economic downturns. Private job growth is an important measure because it takes government payroll growth out of the equation, which is also resistant to business cycles.
Wolfenbarger sees the potential for severe downside for stocks. In an email to Business Insider on Friday, he confirmed that he continues to see a drop of as much as 70% in the S&P 500 as plausible.
He cites John Hussman’s valuation metric of the market-cap of non-financial stocks-to-the gross value-added of those stocks. With the measure currently at all-time-highs, Hussman said in August that the S&P 500 would have to fall around 70% to get to levels where investors could expect 10% annualized returns over the following decade.
…
https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-labor-market-recession-unemployment-rate-sp500-wolfenbarger-2024-9
A reader sent these in:
China approves an unpopular plan to raise the retirement age for the first time since 1978
https://x.com/business/status/1834483768339407245
Amazing chart, the UK like all other major economies is a train wreck in slow motion. There are only few options:
1. Drastically cut spending
2. Increase taxes
3. Japanese style financial repression
Which one will it be?
https://x.com/MichaelAArouet/status/1834498181855322510
“There’s no effort to authenticate the validity of the change of deed. Nobody verifies the notary. Nobody verifies who owns the house that’s trying to be transferred to a different owner,” Adams said about what he learned during his visit.
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1834573911863775524
A realtor’s worst nightmare…becoming the client of another realtor
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1834409659832074551
When your population ages, it’s going to impact certain types of housing
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1834349899262857491
Claudia Sahm was just on CNBC saying that the Fed “must absolutely” cut by 50bps because unemployment will continue to climb…
6 months ago she said her rule wouldn’t trigger this time and unemployment would stay low.
She blocked me for saying she was wrong.
https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1834584927364362320
What Claudia is telling us is that she hasn’t been offered a job in a Harris Administration.
https://x.com/JG_Nuke/status/1834619355235242020
McDonald’s job fair attracts hundreds of job seekers in Ontario.
https://x.com/ManyBeenRinsed/status/1834588808869818427
Ken Griffin of Citadel Advisors sold 9.2 million shares of Nvidia, $NVDA, slashing his stake by 79%, per TMF.
https://x.com/unusual_whales/status/1834582050386645111
Time for Plan C
https://x.com/RampCapitalLLC/status/1834655601810374741
I recently interviewed 3 agents for the sale of my home. Here are their thoughts:
1) “Rates don’t impact buyers at this price point” I.e, no impact.
2) “I hope demand increases, but we’re not seeing it yet. I am not hopeful”.
3) “I expect demand to increase”
https://x.com/noahjohnson2032/status/1834616865139925469
The US government continues to spend money like a drunken sailor with a budget deficit of -$2 trillion over the past year. This is occurring when the economy is still in an expansion and home/stock prices are at record highs. What happens to the deficit when a recession hits?
https://x.com/charliebilello/status/1834433057538920826
In the United States the media is still on the ‘rate cuts will revive housing activity’ shtick, in Canada they’re on to ‘why has 75bps not done anything for housing activity’ and talking jumbo cuts.
https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1834721567365820433
Local news running “empty food pantry needs help” reporting while the stock market has its best week of the year, after suffering its worst last week. Local food assistance programs and pantries are facing a 30% increase this year going into the fall and holidays. But yeah, soft landings and all.
https://x.com/SquirtLagurski/status/1834708777448141145
Something does not add up here:
Supercore inflation rose by 4.5% year-over-year in August and is now double the levels seen before 2020.
Supercore inflation is a key metric followed by the Fed which is calculated as core services less housing inflation.
Supercore inflation has been now above the Fed’s 2% target for 3.5 years and has not shown signs of slowing, even as headline CPI is down to a 3-year low.
Meanwhile, the Fed is going to cut rates for the first time since 2020 next week.
Premature rate cuts may trigger a resurgence of inflation and worsen affordability.
However, a lack of cuts could cause unemployment to rise further which is already near 3-year highs.
Is the Fed in a lose-lose situation?
https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1834571688983359934
The beaches in Belgium are hell. We all know why.
https://x.com/RadioGenoa/status/1834481855757750654
Rocket Mortgage $RKT is front running an expected announcement by the FHFA in November that the conforming limit for loans will reach $800k.
Yes, you read that right. $1 million dollar houses will no longer require a jumbo loan, and this isn’t for HCOL metros.
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1834793090286022686
If you waive inspection and then use the seller, you are too stupid to exist
(5 screenshots total)
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1834782972425183688
The impact of lower mortgage rates will be tempered by this.
https://x.com/AzizSunderji/status/1834656136990957640
And on the commercial side, downtown Denver office availability is at 34%.
https://x.com/FCNightingale/status/1834721420040929738
A year after New York City began cracking down on illegal short-term apartment rentals, the number of Airbnb listings in the five boroughs plummeted by 85%, according to a Gothamist review of listings posted on the vacation rental giant’s website.
https://x.com/Gothamist/status/1834728055081685325
Real estate agent in NYC:
“the crackdown is also cooling speculation because ‘large private equity groups gobbling up brownstones’ in the past can no longer operate them as short-term rentals.”
https://x.com/NotoriousAirbnb/status/1834755191083876648
Tesla Semi crash closed freeway for 15 hours
Now the NTSB is investigating into fire risks of large lithium ion batteries
https://x.com/TimothyDooner/status/1834562070219571455
Why Are Multifamily Property Prices Falling?
https://x.com/JohnWake/status/1834687688848601508
There are thousands of teacher layoffs in the pipeline for FY25, hundreds of school closures.
https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1834739213918421313
Japan, a nation so hardworking its language has a term for literally working oneself to death, is trying to address a worrisome labor shortage by coaxing more people and companies to adopt four-day workweeks, per AP.
https://x.com/unusual_whales/status/1834602182605259150
86% Reduction In Value In Chicago
Former Robert Morris University office, 401 S. State St, appraised at $9.2M.
Purchased for $68.1M in 2016.
Defaulted on $47.8M loan in 2021.
487K SF 8-stories, stretches a full city block.
https://x.com/FCNightingale/status/1834711127072071762
Boeing workers are going on strike after Boeing:
*Fired its CEO in 2020 after 2 plane crashes and paid him $62 million to leave after he cut 16,000 jobs
*Before him, they fired the previous CEO and gave him $44M to leave
*Most recent CEO just left after getting a 45% raise to $33M
*737 Max crashes killed 346 people and the company pleaded guilty to a felony. Its punishment: 0 execs go to jail, a fine equal to 0.6% of its annual revenue
*Got a $17B taxpayer bailout in the pandemic
*In the 2010s, it spent almost all of its cash ($43B) on stock buybacks. When the decade ended it cut 27,000 employees.
*In 2013 it got record $8.7B subsidy from WA state then cut 17,000 jobs there and moved 30,000 more to South Carolina, which has fewer worker protections
https://x.com/DanPriceSeattle/status/1834705011902960028
Just spoke with a homeowner in IL who is signing his house back over the bank. He can no longer afford the taxes. His house is valued at $170k and his real estate taxes are 20k a year. He is paying $1667 alone in taxes each month. He can no longer afford to live in IL.
https://x.com/beverlynation/status/1834644135052968351
“Real estate has been a favorite way to launder stolen funds”
https://x.com/JohnWake/status/1834681178873643262
NETHERLANDS TO DECLARE STATE OF EMERGENCY AMID ILLEGAL MIGRANT CRISIS. ASK FOR OPT-OUT OF EU MIGRATION POLICY
People of the West reaching their limits…
The pendulum is swinging.
https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1834654071023632421
“Builder rate buydowns initiated in mid-2022 are resetting”
https://x.com/JohnWake/status/1834702575494742072
“When short-term rental regulations were introduced in Chicago, Airbnb listings fell by 16 percent.”
= Increase supply of homes for free.
https://x.com/JohnWake/status/1834683632646263178
Who did this? 🤣
https://x.com/ClownWorld_/status/1834814919251788072
“Local food assistance programs and pantries are facing a 30% increase this year going into the fall and holidays”
Remember when Paul Krugman published a column asking “Should Biden downplay his accomplishments” on the economy?
Paul Krugman is VERMIN.
Citizen! Globalist mouthpiece & Biden-Harris regime salad-tosser Paul Krugman sez don’t believe yer lyin’ eyes – Everything is Awesome! Disputing revealed truths conveyed from on high by our MSM single sources of truth could be harmful for your social credit score, you far-right cats-paw of Vladimir Putin!
https://www.pressreader.com/singapore/the-business-times/20240711/281805699148088
“Supercore inflation rose by 4.5% year-over-year in August and is now double the levels seen before 2020.”
Are we redoing the 1970s?
In the 1970s, they still measured inflation & unemployment honestly. That changed when they switched in the early 1980s to “hedonics” measurements which are inherently fraudulent. Real inflation is running at least twice what our falsified, Soviet-style official stats say it is, since if the gub’mint had to give Olds honest cost-of-living-adjustments on their monthly social security checks, the former USA would be even more insolvent than it already is.
Are we redoing the 1970s?
In the 1970s, Jimmy Carter was still our worst president, but at least inflation was measured honestly. Unnoticed by most, an intrepid band of morally dubious used car salesmen waged a jihad against high auto inflation on competitors’ car lots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqAqzIkQQXw&t=3s
There are thousands of teacher layoffs in the pipeline for FY25, hundreds of school closures.
It’s glorious to see the Comrades of Proven Worth (D) in our NEA indoctrination mills getting cast out into the outer darkness of #BidensEconomy to fend for themselves. But fear not, “educators” Comrade Kamala has “a plan” to revitalize the economy, which she’s only been sitting on for the past 3.5 years as VP.
“Yes, you read that right. $1 million dollar houses will no longer require a jumbo loan, and this isn’t for HCOL metros.”
Refilling the RE punch bowl.
“Just spoke with a homeowner in IL who is signing his house back over the bank. He can no longer afford the taxes. His house is valued at $170k and his real estate taxes are 20k a year. He is paying $1667 alone in taxes each month. He can no longer afford to live in IL.”
C’mon, grow a pair! HELOC that shack to the max, i.e., sell it to the bank that eventually will get bailed out by the fed.
Ex-Jefferies Fund Manager Faces Criminal Probe of Alleged Fraud
A former Jefferies Financial Group hedge fund manager who was sued for allegedly defrauding the fund out of more than $100 million is also facing a federal criminal probe.
Manhattan federal prosecutors are investigating Jordan Chirico and allegations by the fund, 352 Capital, that he knowingly invested its money in a Ponzi-like scam, said a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing the probe. Chirico has received a grand jury subpoena as part of an investigation, according to court papers filed in August in a separate civil matter involving him and 352.
According to the suit, Chirico directed the purchase of a large quantity of bonds issued by WaterStation Management, a company that claimed to operate thousands of filtered water vending machines. His former employer claims Chirico knew these machines didn’t exist but continued to put 352’s money in the scheme in part to recoup his own investment.
The investigation may not result in charges. Neither Chirico nor his lawyers responded to requests for comment, but they have said in court filings that he was wrongfully terminated and have called the allegations in the 352 suit unsubstantiated.
According to the 352 suit, WaterStation claimed that it both owned and franchised its water machines. The company purported to be issuing bonds to purchase and deploy more machines, including for franchisees, 352 says.
“Instead of purchasing and operating water machines, WaterStation Management used the bond proceeds primarily to pay ‘franchisees’ their guaranteed returns on their ‘investment,’ or to buy out franchisees who had raised complaints about the business — a classic Ponzi scheme,” 352 said in its complaint.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ex-jefferies-fund-manager-faces-223904655.html
TuSimple, once a buzzy startup considered a leader in self-driving trucks, is trying to move its assets to China to fund a new AI-generated animation and video game business. The pivot has not only puzzled and enraged several shareholders, but also threatens to pull the company back into a legal morass mere weeks after reaching a preliminary settlement in a class action lawsuit.
Now, a fight is brewing over roughly $450 million in funds, the bulk of which remains in the United States, TechCrunch has learned. And arguments over the company’s mission lie at the center of it.
Before the company formally disclosed its new business segment in August, a group of shareholders who got wind of the change sent a letter to the company’s board of directors. The letter, viewed by TechCrunch, alleges “potentially fraudulent activities” and asks the board to investigate whether funds were being misappropriated “to facilitate the growth of private ventures” established by Mo Chen, TuSimple’s co-founder and chairman.
Shareholders also complained the company failed to disclose its pursuit of AI animation; the board would eventually publicly announce a new AI animation and gaming business.
The group, which sent the letter anonymously in July, threatened litigation. However, at the time of this writing, no suits have been filed yet.
TuSimple’s new business segment, which is developing an animated feature film and video game based on the science fiction series The Three Body Problem, is a startling change from its origins.
The China-backed startup, founded in 2015 by Chen and Xiaodi Hou, was once a darling in the autonomous vehicle industry. TuSimple, which was headquartered in San Diego and had operations in Tucson, raised $648 million in venture money from Chinese VCs and mega companies such as Sina Corp., as well as high-profile U.S. businesses like Nvidia, Goodyear and UPS. It had key partnerships with Navistar and Ryder. The company’s IPO in 2021, in which it raised another $1.35 billion at a post-money valuation of $8.49 billion, was meant to accelerate its drive towards a commercial self-driving trucks business.
TuSimple seemed unstoppable. But its plans were soon derailed by internal drama, restructuring, a lost partnership with Navistar, a self-driving truck crash, and federal investigations into the company’s ties with China.
TuSimple’s stock price plummeted as a result, falling from a high of $62.58 to under $1 a share before it voluntarily delisted in January 2024. Today, it is trading over the counter at around $0.19 per share. TuSimple’s struggles prompted the company to take stock of its operations and ultimately exit the U.S. The company has kept its Asia-Pacific subsidiary, known as TuSimple China.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/a-fight-is-brewing-as-tusimple-tries-to-move-450m-to-china-and-pivot-from-self-driving-trucks-to-ai-animation/ar-AA1qxklg
It seems like nobody is talking about self driving cars anymore, especially not about how their being ready for prime time is “imminent”
self-driving trucks, … video game business.
Serious question: would it be viable to drive trucks remotely, like drones? Just get some video-gamer-type pilots to remotely pilot the trucks from a central control room. You could easily have round-the-clock shift drivers, with filler-drivers for breaks. That would bypass many of the fatigue restrictions.
A commodity slump has run a bulldozer over our miners, and our export income
For a while there, last year, Mineral Resources held the allure of being a resource group with one foot in the past and another firmly in the future. Its combination of iron ore and lithium seemed destined to deliver the best of both worlds.
Then came the 80 per cent crash in lithium prices that rocked the industry, kyboshing takeover plans, new mine construction and sending a chill through the federal government’s plans for a new industry processing critical minerals.
More recently, iron ore prices have begun a slide that even Chinese steel makers anticipate will be worse than either the global financial crisis and the 2016 downturn.
Fears of a global slowdown following two years of interest rate hikes and a Chinese economy rapidly running off the rails have hit demand, while a huge ramp up in mineral supply suddenly have coalesced.
For a nation like Australia that relies upon mineral exports, the consequences could be significant. Last month, Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned plunging commodity prices could cost the federal budget $4.5 billion.
“What we’ve seen in iron ore and more so metallic [steel making] coal is prices have come at least 40 per cent I think since the start of the year, really quite a substantial drop in those two key commodities,” he said on ABC’s Insiders.
Oil prices this week dropped below $US70 a barrel for the first time in two years.
It was well below the level prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which turned the post pandemic inflationary spike into a global crisis of its own.
Even copper – usually known as Dr Copper as it is a barometer of global economic health – has plunged 20 per cent since May, despite being identified as a key element for the transition away from fossil fuels.
“This is a real sign of weakness in the global economy, uncertainty and volatility and risk in the global economy and we’re not immune from it and nor is our budget,” the Treasurer said.
Australia, with some of the world’s biggest and best lithium deposits, was signed up as a partner nation in America’s Inflation Reduction Act, part of the US initiative to transition away from fossil fuels.
But the boom quickly turned to a bust, as ever increasing amounts of new supply hit the market.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-14/a-commodity-slump-has-run-a-bulldozer-over-our-miners/104349270
In 2019, Deep Genomics announced it had discovered a treatment for a rare condition called Wilson disease, which is fatal if not addressed. For the afflicted, copper accumulates in their bodies, particularly in the liver, brain and cornea, where the metal can appear as a brownish ring. The Toronto-based company said in a news release that its molecule was the “first ever AI-discovered therapeutic candidate.”
It wasn’t the only one Deep Genomics would divine through artificial intelligence. Founded in 2015, the company’s AI models would go on to test more than 200 million molecules for their ability to treat disease. By 2021, Deep Genomics had zeroed in on 10 drug candidates for preclinical study and aimed to have four undergoing human trials within a couple of years.
Today, Deep Genomics has zero drugs in clinical trials and many of its plans have blown up. The company halted its Wilson disease program, ditched dozens of its machine-learning models, appointed a new chief executive and is pursuing a different approach to using AI. It’s also open to a sale.
“AI has really let us all down in the last decade when it comes to drug discovery,” Deep Genomics founder Brendan Frey said. “We’ve just seen failure after failure.”
The blunt assessment is shocking coming from Mr. Frey, an influential figure in Canada’s AI community. He has been studying machine learning since the 1990s, and he is the co-author of more than 200 papers and a co-founder of the Vector Institute, a nerve centre for AI research in Canada.
AI was supposed to revolutionize drug discovery. It hasn’t. Not yet, anyway. Machine learning promised to speed up a lengthy and fraught process, and achieve breakthroughs beyond the capabilities of the human mind. But there are no drugs solely designed by AI in the market today, and companies that have used AI to assist with development have suffered setbacks.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-artificial-intelligence-drug-research-hype/
Designing bioactive molecules (potential drugs) has been around at least since the 1990s. Any dumb-bunny program can simulate combinations of atoms. The problem is that there are so many hundreds or thousands of combinations that it is impractical to isolate and test each chemical in the lab to narrow down the list of chemical that might actually work. Turns out you had to make and test them in large batches and eliminate them by group. Just designing the test equipment was an industry in itself.
Maybe they are trying to use AI to replace the lab testing for bioactivity, but I’m not so sure that’s viable. ISTM that any AI testing would have already been included in the design phase. The testing phase might still need to be done by brute force.
10 Years and $3 Billion for a New Mail Truck?
The new U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs) have delighted drivers since hitting the road in Georgia last month, the Associated Press reports. But given the $5 billion investment required, taxpayers might be a tad less enthusiastic.
USPS prides itself on being “generally self-funded” through revenue from the sale of stamps, products, and services. As laudable and uncommon as this general self-funding is for federal agencies, USPS received $3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act. USPS also has a pension system with a $50 billion unfunded liability for which the taxpayer may ultimately have to foot the bill, Reason’s Eric Boehm explains.
Altogether, USPS expects its total investment in new vehicles to reach $9.6 billion. Considering a significant portion of this investment comes out of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (read: from taxpayers present and future), the public is entitled to scrutinize how this money was spent.
Of the 106,000 new delivery vehicles planned for purchase by 2028, 60,000 are NGDVs. Though exact prices are difficult to ascertain, the March 2022 order of 50,000 was valued at $2.98 billion. This brings the per-unit price of the NGDV to $59,600.
The duck-like NGDV is produced by Oshkosh Defense, the same company that manufactures the much scarier-looking Medium Caliber Weapon System, an armored combat vehicle armed with a 30 mm turret. Oshkosh’s NGDV will be phased into USPS’s fleet over the next four years to replace the iconic truck that has comprised its fleet since 1987: the Grumman Long Life Vehicle (GLLV), produced by the military contractor in partnership with General Motors, Poveco, and American Motor Corporation.
The Oshkosh NGDVs boast features lacking in the GLLV, such as airbags, anti-lock brakes, collision sensors, and blind-spot monitoring—features that have been standard for years in modern vehicles. Oshkosh says it won the $3 billion “competitively-awarded” contract for 50,000 NGDVs in 2021. But comparing the per-unit price to industry-standard alternatives, Oshkosh must have a 21st-century helicopter parent definition of competition.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/10-years-3-billion-mail-183253376.html
The duck-like NGDV is produced by Oshkosh Defense
Somebody got some fat brown envelopes.
Germany muscled its way through the Covid-19 pandemic and managed to avoid a devastating industrial shutdown after Russia cut off its gas supplies. Still, it never fully allayed concerns that economic trouble might lie ahead. The past two weeks provided dramatic evidence that these fears were justified.
Elections in the eastern German states of Thuringia and Saxony at the beginning of the month saw support for populist parties surge, dealing a fresh blow to the governing coalition in Berlin and creating further uncertainty over Germany’s ability to attract investment.
Just a day later, Volkswagen AG, the country’s largest automaker, dropped the bombshell that it wanted to end a decades-old labor agreement and possibly close domestic factories due to lagging demand.
Then, BMW cut its full-year earnings guidance and UniCredit SpA surprised investors with news that it had amassed a 9% stake in Commerzbank, catching the government off-guard.
“There is no point in sugar-coating: Germany keeps falling behind internationally,” Tanja Gönner, chairwoman of industry lobby group BDI, wrote in a report that urged immediate action to improve the country’s competitiveness and overhaul its industry-heavy economy. Germany’s transformation “will cost all of us — economy, politics and society — but no transformation would cost all of us a whole lot more,” the former lawmaker added.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/germany-struggles-two-terrible-weeks-065943957.html
and managed to avoid a devastating industrial shutdown after Russia cut off its gas supplies
Russia cut off its gas supplies? I think we did that.
A relative works for BASF. He tells me that BASF is in the process of offshoring everything they can out of Germany. That sounds devastating to me. From what I understand shutting down plants and terminating employees is a process that can take a few years in Germany, due to labor laws. But once those plants are shutdown, they will never reopen.
I am pretty sure I read somewhere that BASF’s chemical plant in Germany is largest in the world (might be Europe) Whichever it’s huge and varied and produces all kinds of things (and probably employs 10’s of 1000’s of highly skilled workers and up and downstream industries (trucking, welders, etc etc)
That’s a pretty massive hit.
And the MSM pearl-clutchers wonder why German’s “far-right” parties are moving from strength to strength, while the globalist Quisling Establishment parties that have led the country to ruin see the electorate turning on them.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, most of Europe voluntarily phased out the purchase of Russian natural gas anyway. There was a tense summer 2022 when individual countries stockpiled natural gas in storage to get the through the winter, and to buy time to set up facilities to import LNG from around the world, especially the US. Then there was a phase-down, and it was during the phase-down that Nordstreams were destroyed. Germany got by on imported LNG, lignite*, and a warm 2022-2023 winter. They have enough electricity to keep the country going, but not enough to supply heavy industrial plants, which is why they are moving to the US.
————–
*lignite is the dirtiest form of coal, full of pollutants, water, and CO2. So much for global warming. In the debate, DJT referred to Germany building “normal” plants. He was probably referring to lignite.
Canada-based anti-money-laundering group mulls move of some staff to Qatar
The Egmont Group, a body made up of the world’s financial intelligence units, is considering relocating staff that support its anti-money-laundering training school from Ottawa to Qatar, according to two sources.
The move would not affect the entire Canadian-headquartered secretariat but, rather, those employees who support the Egmont Centre of FIU Excellence and Leadership, which is known as ECOFEL, according to the sources, who are familiar with the discussions.
The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The possible move to Qatar raises concerns about locating an important anti-money-laundering training organization to a country that has struggled with high-profile instances of financial crime.
Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body, has urged the Gulf state to step up its fight against money laundering and terrorism financing, according to an FATF review, and until late last year Qatar was on the European Union’s “grey list” of non-co-operative tax jurisdictions.
Earlier this year, Qatar’s former finance minister was sentenced to 20 years in prison for laundering more than US$5.6-billion. A director at Qatar’s Public Works Authority was recently accused of accepting bribes according to The Peninsula, an English-language daily in Qatar.
Qatar has also provided financial support to Hamas, according to some news reports. The Canadian government considers Hamas a terrorist group.
The Egmont Group said in a statement that it is “unable to comment on internal matters.”
Jim Richards, a prominent anti-money-laundering consultant, said he “can’t think of a technical or professional reason why Qatar would be a logical home for the Egmont Group’s ECOFEL.”
“If it was simply because Qatar was the main or a significant funder of ECOFEL, I would then wonder whether it was a ‘pay to play’ situation where Qatar was currying favour with the other 169 financial intelligence units,” Mr. Richards said.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-egmont-anti-money-laundering-qatar/
Well if any country knows about money laundering it’s Canada.
Bring on the 3rd world, you can tell the GAE is becoming a joke when the anti-money laundering forces are pretty sure Qatar is more above board than your country.
I hope that for our presidential elections, we can bring in honest election observers from less corrupt countries like Nigeria and Mali.
Gas stoves may soon come with a tobacco-style health warning label in California
The next time you shop for a cooking stove, the gas versions might show a health warning label similar to those on tobacco products.
Because a stove’s blue flame releases air pollution into your kitchen, California lawmakers have passed a bill that would require such warning labels on gas stoves for sale in stores and online. Gov. Gavin Newsom has until the end of September to sign the bill into law.
The legislation comes after a series of lawsuits was filed against stove manufacturers, claiming they should have warned customers about potential health risks. Environmental activists are encouraging people to switch to electric stoves, part of a broader campaign to cut climate pollution from buildings. Now there’s an effort to put health warning labels on stoves nationwide.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/gas-stoves-may-soon-come-with-a-tobacco-style-health-warning-label-in-california/ar-AA1qwf5W
The next time you shop for a cooking stove, the gas versions might show a health warning label similar to those on tobacco products.
Isn’t just about everything in California already labelled as a carcinogen?
I’m wait for them to go after my BBQ.
We live in the stupidest timeline.
IDIOCRACY opening scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP2tUW0HDHA&t=11s
Big steelmaker weighs abandoning $500M Biden climate grant
The CEO of a leading U.S. steelmaker said he is considering ditching production of low-carbon “green” steel and forgoing a $500 million Biden administration grant — a move that would offer the latest big setback for the president’s attempt at a climate-friendly remake of American manufacturing.
In an interview with POLITICO, Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves said the Ohio-based company produces the steel with the lowest carbon emissions in the world. But he said his company cannot persuade buyers, mostly in the automobile sector, to pay the price to cover the costs of producing more environmentally friendly steel.
“There are only two ways to fix that: One is they change their minds and pay. So far, not very successful. The other way is for me to go back to what I was before and emit more,” Goncalves told POLITICO on Thursday. “That’s a decision that I’m going to have to make very soon.”
Goncalves’ words come amid a broader set of headwinds for private investments in low-carbon and clean-energy projects, which have seen several initiatives delayed or scrapped entirely despite the massive federal subsidies available through President Joe Biden’s climate and infrastructure laws. The Cleveland-Cliffs project is especially significant because it addresses climate pollution from industrial manufacturing — one of the next frontiers in lessening U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
“I’m still trying to figure out if it even makes sense with the grants because the grant is $500 million, the entire project is $1.6 billion. I still have to pony up $1.1 billion,” he said. “I’m not going to do it if the government and the general public are not really supportive of that.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/big-steelmaker-weighs-abandoning-500m-biden-climate-grant/ar-AA1qxsWv
This reminds me of the fact that about 90% of what people put into recycling bins ends up in the landfill because it isn’t cost effective to recycle.
I have stood on my driveway and watched the *same* truck pickup the recycle bin and regular trash on the same stop.
Our trash removal fees have slightly more than doubled (pre-pandemic).
(Justification was something about we are suppose to separate food from regular trash into a 4th lunch box sized bucket to help cut down on CO(2)).
The nonsense has no end.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, fresh from a bruising loss in a Toronto special election, now faces a fight that may deliver the knockout blow — a vote in the heart of his Montreal hometown.
The Canadian leader has pushed back against calls for his resignation from opponents and even some members of his Liberal Party. But it’s harder to dismiss voters. They voiced their displeasure with the government in June by rejecting a Liberal candidate in a party stronghold in Toronto, and now have the same opportunity in a district known as LaSalle-Emard-Verdun.
For most of the past few decades — and for Trudeau’s nearly nine years as prime minister — this densely populated and diverse area south of downtown Montreal has been held by the Liberals. The seat became open after Trudeau ejected his justice minister from cabinet last summer, leading the minister to then quit politics. But polls suggest the Sept. 16 vote is a toss-up between his party and the separatist Bloc Quebecois, with the left-wing New Democratic Party close behind.
Special elections to fill vacant seats, known in Canada as byelections, normally draw little attention, but the surprise win for the Conservatives in Toronto-St. Paul’s on June 24 raised the stakes for Trudeau.
He’s held power since 2015 through electoral dominance of Canada’s largest cities. In the 2021 election, the Liberals took LaSalle-Emard-Verdun easily, winning by 20 percentage points. If the party loses here, it will only amplify talk that Trudeau is finished as a political force.
“The fact that there’s suspense in the southwest portion of Montreal, that Liberals could be in danger, what does that say for the rest of the country?” said Philippe J. Fournier, editor-in-chief of polling aggregator website 338Canada. “If the Liberals start losing seats in Montreal and Toronto, then not much is left.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trudeau-s-fragile-leadership-tested-by-tight-race-in-his-hometown/ar-AA1qx7jO
Letter: B.C. example shows harms of Airbnb and vacant homes
With example of B.C. beach town in hand, writer pitches new regulations and taxes
The opinion piece submitted by Ben Pereira is a bit misleading and does not take into account the real impact of Airbnbs and empty homes.
First, he does not explain why there are so many empty homes. Are these bought up by people outside the Yukon? Are people just parking their money? Does the Yukon not have an empty home tax to address this issue? This is what’s happening in British Columbia. B.C. has an empty home tax to force those back into the market because people from outside B.C. are buying up homes and condos to park their money.
Parksville, B.C., has people with multiple condos that were being used for Airbnb instead of rentals. We have seen an increase in rentals come on the market, so Ben is not giving all the facts.
Second, we should be going back and looking at how the rental market was before 2009 and how after 2009, when Airbnb came into the market. He can’t deny it has had a large affect in cities.
This is not just a political issue. This is a housing issue whether the business community likes it or not and they are partly to blame along with governments. Between people parking money, Airbnbs and allowing too many immigrants into Canada, we run into housing issues.
https://www.yukon-news.com/opinion/letter-bc-example-shows-harms-of-airbnb-and-vacant-homes-7532603
Die, speculator scum.
With example of B.C. beach town
I still maintain that Air BnB is a viable model for tourist areas, with proper regs and possibly concessions for subsidized workforce housing.
Saying it “cannot cope” with large number of migrants crossing its border, the Netherlands unveiled strict new anti-immigration measures Friday.
Prime Minister Richard Schoof and Minister of Asylum and Migration Marjolein Faber will enact the new emergency law “as soon as possible,” the government said in a statement.
The legislation will pave the way for the country to opt out of the European Union’s asylum and migration policy, which it plans to do next week.
“The voter has given a clear mandate. We need to change course and the influx must be reduced immediately. We are taking measures to make the Netherlands as unattractive as possible for asylum seekers. And there is no place here for anyone who abuses our hospitality. I am going for a safer Netherlands,” Faber said in the statement.
The Netherlands last fall elected the nationalist conservative, far-right Party for Freedom or PVV. The PVV garnered around a quarter of total seats in the Dutch parliament and now leads a coalition government.
“People feel the consequences of the asylum crisis every day,” Faber said in a video statement.
Faber also made it clear the Netherlands will ask Brussels for an opt-out of the EU asylum and migration policy and instead “join forces with like-minded countries in Europe” in a move she said will strengthen control of the country’s border.
The government said the “strictest asylum regime ever” is necessary to curb the flow of migrants into the country it contends is leading to problems in the public housing, health care and education sectors.
Under the new rules, the Netherlands’ declaration of undesirability will be expanded in an effort to more quickly deport immigrants who commit crimes.
The term nuclear family will also be limited to the narrowest possible definition. The country plans to only allow families of migrants to reunite if a clear permanent residence exists and one family member has had legal residence status for at least two years. That family member will also need to have a “suitable income.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/netherlands-says-it-is-enacting-strictest-asylum-regime-ever/ar-AA1qx7zv
Saying it “cannot cope” with large number of migrants crossing its border, the Netherlands unveiled strict new anti-immigration measures Friday.
Better late than never, I suppose. But unless they engage in mass deportation of those who arrived earlier, this move is only buying them time.
Some of these globalist Quisling traitors are starting to realize the rise of the “far right” means the day of reckoning is drawing closer.
Hate crimes rise 39% in San Diego County, according to new SANDAG report
Hate crimes in San Diego County have surged 39% from 2022, according to SANDAG’s annual crime report. The report highlights incidents like pellet gun shootings and antisemitic vandalism in Hillcrest as part of the troubling trend.
SANDAG’s report notes that while most hate crimes are race-based, religiously motivated incidents have seen the biggest year-over-year increase.
https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/san-diego-news/hate-crimes-rise-39-in-san-diego-county-according-to-new-sandag-report
California’s second-biggest county has seen a spike in hate crimes recently, newly released government data shows. San Diego County saw a jump in reported hate crimes from 2022 to 2023, totaling 133 reports last year — a 39% increase from 2022’s 96 reports.
That’s an almost 40% rise in hate crimes in just one year for the usually quiet, mostly wealthy Southern California region, which is otherwise known for its pristine beaches and being the home of “America’s Finest City,” to quote San Diego’s unofficial slogan. The data comes from a San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG, annual report on regional crime, which focuses on statistics for various crimes, including homicides, burglaries, assaults, and narcotics and other drug violations. The California penal code defines hate crimes as “crimes motivated by a victim’s race/ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, or physical or mental disability,” per the SANDAG report.
The San Diego Union-Tribune highlighted several hate crime cases referenced in the report, including what prosecutors said was a “racially motivated attack on three Black men in Ocean Beach” by people who allegedly supported Hells Angels. The newspaper previously reported on a “rise in anti-Jewish hate” in greater San Diego.
Those aren’t the only issues nagging greater San Diego at the moment. The area has struggled to keep some of its most famous beaches pollutant-free, and continually rising housing costs have made the county one of the least affordable places to live anywhere in America.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/hate-crimes-rise-almost-40-in-wealthy-coastal-california-county/ar-AA1qxjKD
Three former employees of Change Lending have been interviewed under subpoena by the Securities and Exchange Commission, a sign that the agency’s probe into the California mortgage lender has entered a more advanced phase.
The interviews focused on whether Change’s mortgages to Black and Hispanic borrowers were accurately recorded on its government disclosures, according to the former employees.
Change is certified under the U.S. Treasury Department as a Community Development Financial Institution. The designation gives it access to business-friendly perks, such as relaxed underwriting rules. In exchange, Change must do at least 60% of its lending to Black, Hispanic and low-income borrowers, and to borrowers in designated low-income neighborhoods.
The SEC said in a statement to Barron’s that it “does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation.” Change, in a response to questions this week, didn’t comment on the former employees’ contact with the SEC.
A Barron’s investigation in July 2023 found that Change underperformed its industry peers in increasing lending to Black borrowers, and that only a small percentage of its loans in key markets were affordable to people with low incomes, even as the firm wrote multimillion-dollar mortgages for celebrities and other wealthy borrowers.
Change was the target of a “whistle-blower” complaint to the SEC in June 2023. It alleged that the firm misled socially minded investors about its lending to underserved groups. The complaint came from a former chief of staff at Change, Adam Levine, who divulged the filing in a wrongful termination lawsuit against Change Lending’s parent, the Change Company.
Levine said he shared his concerns directly with the Change Company’s board chair, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, according to the complaint.
Villaraigosa announced a 2026 run for California governor in July. Villaraigosa and his campaign-fundraising committee didn’t respond to messages from Barron’s seeking comment.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/the-sec-subpoenas-former-employees-in-change-lending-investigation/ar-AA1qx8OV
Corruption has transformed Iraq’s investment sector into a vehicle for laundering illegal funds, resulting in the collapse of genuine investment.
Iraq’s struggle with corruption and fragile legal systems has created an environment where money laundering thrives, with the investment sector becoming a primary route for illicit activities. Unfinished projects stand as glaring examples of how corruption has undermined legitimate investment opportunities, turning Iraq into a hub for global money laundering schemes.
Corruption has transformed Iraq’s investment sector into a vehicle for laundering illegal funds, resulting in the collapse of genuine investment. Illicit money is often funneled into seemingly legitimate projects that offer no real economic value, contributing to significant economic and social instability. This situation also hampers investment opportunities by creating barriers for honest investors.
A prevalent method of laundering money in Iraq is through the real estate sector, where illegal funds are used to purchase housing units. This influx of illicit money has driven up property prices, making it increasingly difficult for citizens to afford homes.
Numerous unfinished investment projects across Iraq serve as a façade for money laundering operations. Instead of driving economic recovery, foreign investments are often exploited for illicit activities. A case in point is the glass and ceramics factory in Ramadi, Anbar province. Two years after a Russian company announced plans to invest in the project, no real progress has been made, raising concerns about the project’s legitimacy.
The banking sector in Iraq is also complicit in enabling money laundering and currency smuggling. While failing to provide meaningful services to the public, banks have become breeding grounds for corruption. Advances in technology have further expanded opportunities for money laundering. Fazel Gharawi, head of Iraq’s Strategic Center for Human Rights, revealed that even online platforms like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) are being exploited, with funds leaving Iraq under the guise of gaming transactions.
Corruption and legal weaknesses in Iraq have attracted not only companies and individuals but also neighboring countries, turning the country into a hotspot for international money laundering. This has raised alarm about the future of Iraq’s economy, as these illicit activities threaten its long-term stability and development.
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/36656-Corruption,-weak-legal-systems-fuel-money-laundering-in-Iraq%E2%80%99s-investment-sector
The original article on that SD Times story on ADU units out of control
https://obrag.org/2024/09/top-3-winners-of-ob-rag-worst-adu-contest-plus-dishonorable-mentions/
pictures, context, etc.
ti’s bad. They are building 5 2 story buildings (so 10 units) in one small backyard and now 1 house becomes 11 (or 12) apartments. no new sewer, parking, etc. Well worth the click.
Thanks for the link, amazing stuff. Just wow.
Those things will burn. No defensible space and ugly!
AG Merrick Garland – not his real name – says that criticizing our corrupt, weaponized, blind in the left eye DoJ is “dangerous.” I suspect the DoJ & the DNC’s FBI Stasi have already amassed dossiers on “Enemies of the State” that far surpass anything Stalin’s NKVD had in its heyday.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/11/merrick-garland-doj-attacks-00162674
SUPREME COURT ENDS CHEVRON DEFERENCE (Explained) | Amish Farmer 2024 Chevron v. NRDC 1984
the Shepherdess
20 hours ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq9EN7Kbkrg
9:16.
‘I went from homeless to homeownership, and at this point I feel hopeless and homeless again,’ Robin McKinney said in 2021. ‘I’m afraid every time I go into my house, I feel preyed on, betrayed.’ ‘Once upon a time this did feel like home, but now it just feels like a place that I’m kind of stuck in
Jaztina and the others have had to make mortgage payment all along too.
‘Thomas and other condo owners have paid more than $4,000 in HOA fees since the fire. ‘It’s crazy. He doesn’t want to pay for it. I’m paying for nothing. I’m paying for a slab’
That last bit might make the HHB FB comment of the year Todd. Yer seeing this all wrong, so you stubbed yer toe on the way to sweet equity, keep the fire alive!
‘limited parking seemed all right given the circumstances a decade ago. ‘Of course, it’s a different story today,’ he said. ‘Rail is not here. Units without parking are very challenging to sell. So if we could go back in time, I think we’d have treated this project very differently. But we are where we are right now’
Central planning!
‘All of this is interlocking when we start losing condo sales and our seniors can’t save their homes or they’re being sold at a loss or they just stop paying their maintenance fee. Then you start to have this cascade downward where associations get in worse trouble…None of us are beyond the reach of what’s coming’
The exact same thing happened in the 2000’s Mike.
“Are you going to tell us the Haitian voodoo story?”
OK, sorry I’m late.
In 1989 I had a 5 man drywall hanging crew working a project in PGA National. There was a finishing crew that came behind us for about 6 -7 months or so. We started at 7am every day and the finishers got there about 8am. One day we were unloading our tools and the super on the job told us that the lead man on the finishing crew got in a bad argument yesterday with a Hattian laborer who worked for the stucco crew. Evidently we had left a few butt joints leaning up against an interior wall and the finisher threw them out the back slider. The Hattian laborer came by setting up the scaffold for the stucco crew and threw it back in. The finisher threw it back out and the laborer threw it back in. Evidently the situation almost came to blows but didn’t, but did end up with the Hattian laborer dancing around shouting something like bugowa bugowa to which the finisher did the same including some fouls language from our culture. It ended with the laborer telling Todd he had placed a curse on him.
At this point after listening to this story we are laughing our @sses off and one guy says… Hey, when we see Todd lets ask him what the hell happened to his nose, although nothing had we thought we get a rise out of him and another laugh. Well, he walked in about 3 hours later and our jaws dropped, he was wearing a neck brace after having been to the doctor. We asked him what happened and he said… I don’t know I woke up this morning and I couldn’t move my neck.
After he walked out we looked at each other and said… That boys been hexed, 🙂
That dude wore that brace for a month.
‘like a bungee jumper from L.A.’s tallest skyscraper, prices have hit bottom and could begin to bounce back — providing opportunity for new investors, according to industry experts at an LA Real Estate Forum hosted Thursday by The Real Deal. Landlords, facing rising interest rates and falling occupancy and property values, defaulted on hundreds of millions in mortgage loans, with some surrendering offices to their lenders. Office real estate suffered more than any sector of the market, with an overabundance of workplace cubicles, according to Stuart Elliott, CEO of TRD. Office buildings sold at a fraction of their pre-pandemic market value. ‘There’s too much that we don’t need,’ Elliott said. ‘For a lot of buildings, the distress is really hitting the fan right now,’ especially in Downtown L.A.’
Bottom pickers get stinky fingers Stuart.
‘They say that the best views come after the hardest climb. But they have never been enveloped in the peaceful utopia of the panoramic vistas from The View,’ reads a statement on the official website of the developers…‘(Residents) want just an update on when the tearing down of the current houses will be, and a timeline of the project – start to finish – just so we can prepare,’ Sue Beres, a resident of the area, told Beach Metro Community News. ‘Just respect for the community as a whole and its visitors. It looks like an abandoned wasteland and people just throw junk there now. It’s horrible’
This is a well written article.
‘His buyers had looked at the property in early June and asked him if they should make a lowball offer. But Mr. Deacon advised them to wait, because the sellers had just lowered the price. After a couple of weeks, they went in with an offer. They were firm on their $1-million budget, so it took some negotiation, but they settled on a price. He said that a lot of offers are falling apart due to financing. ‘In a market like this, if you really want to move, take the reasonable offer’
That’s the spirit Dick!
‘They have too many houses and not enough buyers who want them. Parts of Australia’s major capitals and urban centres have become oversupplied with housing to the point that property values are likely to fall or stay in the deep freeze for many years, new data shows’
It always happens like this. Suddenly there is no more shortage.
We Will Transform Our Food System
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
8 hours ago
With a mass movement behind us, President Trump and I will transform our food system. We will get the chemicals out of the water, air, food, and soil. We will drain the corruption out of the agencies that are supposed to protect the public. By 2028, I promise you, we will Make America Healthy Again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY3kz1J-yhc
2:49.
LukeSlywaker
@LukeSlywaker
🚨🚨🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨🚨🚨
Illegal Aliens are being shipped out of San Diego Airport from the Cargo Terminal using chartered jets daily without the headaches of DHS or Customs screenings to a town near you. Watch what I caught today
@eyeoftheSTORMsd
Last edited
9:40 PM · Sep 13, 2024
https://x.com/LukeSlywaker/status/1834769054982426643
that big ole cat right there, his @ss better get missing man, looks like his Homes on the grill man,WTF.
Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️
@realchrisrufo
EXCLUSIVE: We have discovered that migrants are, in fact, eating cats in Ohio. We have verified, with multiple witnesses and visual cross-references, that African migrants in Dayton, the next city over from Springfield, barbecued these cats last summer.
https://christopherrufo.com/p/the-cat-eaters-of-ohio
8:05 AM · Sep 14, 2024
·
15.4M
Views
https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1834926318883852543
that African migrants in Dayton
“But it’s not Haitians in Springfield this year.”
This video in not only well worth a look, it demands a look.
The DOJ’s Political Hostages
by Jon Bowne | Infowars.com
September 14th, 2024 5:02 PM
https://www.infowars.com/posts/the-dojs-political-hostages