thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

Disappointment, Discouragement And A Sense Of Failure Among Trapped Buyers

A report from Boston.com in Massachusetts. “‘With buyers now fewer and farther between than what we saw this spring, it’s a less competitive market and that’s resulted in some softening in prices,’ said Jared Wilk, GBAR president. ‘In today’s market, we’re seeing fewer multiple offer situations, more bids under asking price, and homes taking longer to sell. That’s giving buyers more of an opportunity to negotiate, and sellers have had to become more flexible, with an increasing number having to make price adjustments in order to sell.'”

News & Observer in North Carolina. “On a cloudy morning this July, a sheriff’s deputy pulled up to Edith Neal’s 1959 ranch home, carrying a summons to her doorstep in east Raleigh’s Woodcrest subdivision. She’d officially been served. Raleigh builder Steve Sypher is suing Neal, 61, over her property’s restrictive covenant. In fact, he’s suing most of the neighborhood. Sypher wants to build 12 four-story townhouses across about nine-tenths of an acre at 524 and 528 Barksdale Drive — next door to Neal. The city recently gave the green light. But Sypher faces another hurdle: removing the subdivision’s decades-old covenant, tied to his properties as well as his neighbors’, that restricts the land’s use.”

“‘It’s our responsibility to uphold these covenants,’ said Ann Sun, 47, a designer, who paid $240,000 in 2012 for a three-bedroom ranch home on Barksdale, just a few houses down from Neal. ‘What’s the point of having a middle-class neighborhood with registered covenants if someone’s just going to come in and still do what they want? For a lot of us, it’s our only investment; we’ve got to protect our property values.'”

The Washington Informer. “Nearly four years after the District forced them out of their dwellings, most, if not all, of the owners of condemned condominiums on Talbert Street in Southeast have received mortgage relief, according to a community figure familiar with the situation. These developments happened amid terse negotiations between the Bowser administration and the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America. The mortgage relief negotiations, Rev. Graylan Hagler said, became contentious as the government tried to settle on an amount that wouldn’t have been much help to condominium owners. ‘They had no problem subsidizing loans in the beginning because that benefitted the developer,’ Hagler said. ‘Then it went south. The city turned around and said it wasn’t their responsibility. But they created that.'”

From KVUE. “It has become an all-too-common defect, potentially impacting thousands of pools across Central Texas. The KVUE Defenders first told you about ‘concrete cancer’ in April. Since then, we’ve shown how it has devastated homeowners, triggered hundreds of lawsuits and caused many pool builders and concrete companies to go out of business. And now, it’s impacting the real estate market. ‘There’s a couple of cracks right here,’ said Arjun Okkath, of Round Rock. ‘You know, you can see a frog swimming,’ he laughed. Okkath can laugh a little bit about his situation, but the fact that he’s staring at a huge financial hole hasn’t been much to crack up about. ‘It’s totally unusable right now,’ Okkath said. ‘It’s just upsetting to see this. It’s totally devastating. We got this house just because it had a pool.’ Okkath said he uprooted his family from Boston in 2022 and bought his Round Rock home not knowing the pool has concrete cancer.”

“He said his water bill doubled. He saw the KVUE Defenders’ concrete cancer coverage and learned his pool can’t be fixed and would need to be demolished and rebuilt. ‘That would cost me around $150,000 or more,’ Okkath said. He said the pool was completed in December of 2021, just six months before his family of three moved in. He said the previous owner and their realtor won’t talk to him. Okkath retained a lawyer but said once Hot Crete, one of the now former concrete suppliers for Cody Pools, filed for bankruptcy in April, the lawyer dropped his case.”

CBS Sacramento in California. “For months, Brad Washburn has been trying to get squatters out of his north Sacramento home. The tenant living there stopped paying and Washburn served an eviction notice in July. Fast forward to September, he still hasn’t received a notice or confirmation it’s been processed from the Sacramento Superior Court. ‘We still haven’t heard back from the court. Unfortunately, it sounds like they are really busy, so we don’t know when we’re going to get our house back,’ Washburn said. ‘Just driving into my own neighborhood, I was constantly getting evil stares from people hanging out in the driveway,’ said Robin Smith, who lives down the street from the home. ‘I knew there was a bad element. I talked to Brad and he said he’s been trying to get them out for months.'”

“His attorney, Ashley DeGuzman said the current delay with the court system is costing people money and potentially their homes. ‘We have seen a lot of landlords go into foreclosure because of these types of situations,’ DeGuzman said. ‘From the legal perspective, he is kind of stuck in a bit of a standstill due to the legal process and how slow it is in Sacramento County.'”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “Bruce Breslau has lived in his Chatsworth condo since 2009 and figures that last year he and his partner paid $1,200 in fees to help keep their 290-unit townhouse complex insured in case of fire and other calamities. That was before Breslau’s California West housing development was dropped by Farmers Insurance and the homeowners board had to hunt around the world to replace the Los Angeles insurer, which was providing $92 million worth of coverage for about $350,000 each year, Breslau said. As part of the new deal, homeowners have to pay an extra $4,700 special annual assessment. ‘There are people in this community, when this was announced at the board meeting, who were losing their minds. They were panicking,’ said Breslau, 71, who is still working and thus more able than others to absorb the added costs. ‘Where are you going to come up with that?'”

People on California. “Matthew Perry’s Hollywood Hills home has received a major price cut. The asking price for the spacious three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom home, which was first listed in May 2024, was reduced from $5,195,000 to $4,700,000, PEOPLE can confirm. Perry, who died in October 2023 at age 54 at his Pacific Palisades residence, about 13 miles west of this property, had purchased the Hollywood Hills home in May 2023 for $5 million.”

The San Joaquin Valley Sun. “Fresno’s Assemi family appears to be in deep financial trouble, according to a new filing in federal court. Court documents filed by Prudential, an Assemi lender, alleged the family has defaulted on over $705 million in loans this year. In a petition alleging breach of contract, Prudential asked a Federal judge to appoint a receiver to manage over 50,000 acres of distressed farmland that are part of the Assemi empire. The claim, which was filed in the Eastern District of California court on Monday, says one of the loans has been in default since February, while the other ones have been in default since June. The Assemi family has allegedly told Prudential that it may stop farming the land, which has pistachio and almond trees, because of operational cash flow issues. That may also lead to the Assemi family letting go of its agricultural workforce. Prudential also gave the Assemi family a $91 million loan for land in Kern and Tulare Counties in January 2020. Major cracks in the Assemi farming empire appeared publicly in February, starting with The Sun’s report that it was looking to sell tens of thousands of acres of farmland.”

The Real Deal New York. “Chris Roach will be stepping down as the CEO of the appraisal firm BBG and will be replaced by the firm’s CFO Bill Britain during a challenging period for the company. The move comes amid a series of leadership changes at the appraisal firm before and after Freddie Mac placed the company ‘under review’ and stopped accepting loans using valuations or appraisals from BBG. Jon DiPietra, a managing director of BBG’s office, was placed on Freddie Mac’s ‘restricted vendor list,’ which is essentially Freddie Mac’s blacklist. DiPietra is no longer with BBG. It is unclear what led Freddie to put BBG under review or put DiPietra on the restricted vendor list. BBG is known as one of the Big Five national commercial real estate services firms and has 4,500 active clients, according to its website.”

“Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have launched a crackdown on brokers, title insurers and investors over inflated financials. Freddie and Fannie have discovered that some of the loans they have acquired from private lenders are fraudulent. Investigations often led by the FHFA and the DOJ have led to a few guilty pleas from investors. The DOJ recently charged the owner of a Lakewood-New Jersey title insurance firm for his alleged role in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme. Notably, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae temporarily halted dealmaking with the commercial brokerage powerhouse Meridian Capital Group after allegations that some of its brokers had inflated financial information to obtain larger loans.”

The Globe and Mail. “The federal government just announced what it is calling the ‘boldest mortgage reforms in decades to unlock home ownership for more Canadians.’ Unfortunately, there are good reasons to be skeptical that the proposed measures will help anyone buy a first home. The government is implementing two new measures: increasing the $1-million price cap for insured mortgages to $1.5-million and expanding the eligibility for 30-year amortizations to all first-time homebuyers and all buyers of new builds. The message, ‘Don’t worry, millennials, you can buy a home, you’ll just have a lot more debt for a lot longer,’ isn’t the winning policy the government seems to think it is. Providing more paths to finance million-dollar homes is simply failing to address the core issues of limited supply and out-of-control prices.”

“Counterproductive housing policies are also not without precedent. The First Home Savings Account, which offers an attractive, tax-advantaged way to save for a down payment, is another example of a solution destined to simply drive demand.”

The Independent in the UK. “The sight of a London tower block going up in flames last month brought into sharp focus the danger that 75-year-old Mike Daine is still living in. Mr Daine’s building in Cheshire was assessed as having flammable cladding in 2019 but remedial works are yet to start. ‘When Dagenham went up, it just brought it all home to us again,’ he explained. Neera Soni, 68, lives in King Edwards Wharf in Birmingham, and is also waiting for remedial work to start on her building. The huge hike in building insurance has also been a big problem – with the cost to insure the building going from £58,000 a year to £483,000. Rob Burberry, 50, has managed to move out of his flat in Eastgate House in Woking after the block was found to have unsafe rendering and insulation. Mr Burberry said: ‘These families had saved up, they were first-time buyers, and now they find themselves in emergency accommodation. It causes a lot of mental ill health because people are in despair.'”

The Cyprus Mail. “The Cyprus Borrowers Association (Syprodat) this week expressed ‘disappointment, discouragement, and a sense of failure’ among trapped buyers, who are effectively paying off the debts of property developers from whom they purchased their homes. Trapped buyers, despite fulfilling their financial obligations and paying the full purchase price for their properties, have not received full ownership due to delays in obtaining title deeds. Without these deeds, buyers remain vulnerable, as developers’ unresolved loan obligations could result in the foreclosure of the properties in question.”

“According to the association, ‘many buyers have already fully repaid their loans but remain burdened by the developers’ financial obligations.’ In a statement, Syprodat highlighted that for reasons it ‘cannot fully ascertain but can suspect,’ banks ‘have turned a blind eye’ to the loan agreements they should have enforced with developers. The association said that rather than ensuring developers used the funds received from property buyers to pay off loans taken for constructing buildings, banks have allowed developers to use the money for other purposes. Syprodat further questioned whether the current situation, where approximately 10,000 buyers find themselves in dire straits, could have been avoided if the banks had not been complicit in the developers’ deceit.”

ABC News in Australia. “Rebecca Boehm was excited to finally be purchasing her first home, an apartment for her and her teenage sons to share close to Perth’s CBD. But the dream quickly gave way to disappointing reality when the primary school teacher began receiving a host of mysterious strata bills from Cosmic Realty, the company that runs the small group of four apartments in Bentley. Ms Boehm’s apartment has no shared garden or lawn, yet she’s been invoiced for gardening work. Hundreds of dollars in charges for mysterious ‘miscellaneous’ levies have been added to her $400 quarterly strata bills, including $287 for ‘miscellaneous jan levy’ and $625 for ‘miscellaneous spec levy.'”

“And when Ms Boehm tried to contact Cosmic Realty to get her meter box opened in order for some essential work to be done, they did not return her calls. Ms Boehm said Cosmic had failed to explain why the extra strata charges had been added or when annual general meetings would be held, and had also failed to fix a hole in her driveway. ‘You hear the horror stories from people [about strata] and sort of hope it doesn’t happen to you, but unfortunately it has,’ she said. ‘My strata manager has made me feel extremely stressed, extremely anxious. It’s been a really difficult time financially. I’m quite worried because I never know what bills I’m going to get, how much I’m going to have to pay.'”

“Ms Boehm is not alone. Australian Apartment Advocacy CEO Samantha Reece said the behaviour Ms Boehm described was widespread in Western Australia, where about 25 per cent of people live in strata title housing. ‘We’re receiving countless calls on a daily basis from people who have been taken advantage of by their [strata] manager,’ she said. ‘Or the developer or the builder, and we could give you examples galore.'”

Related Posts
This Post Has 135 Comments

    1. Federal income taxes.

      Antiwar (9/17/2024):

      “At least 12 people have been killed, and 2,750 have been wounded in Lebanon after pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded at the same time in a coordinated Israeli attack. Pagers also exploded in Syria, where unconfirmed reports say at least 14 people were wounded.

      At least two children were killed in the attack in Lebanon: an eight-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy. Among the wounded was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, who suffered a “superficial injury,” according to Iranian media. At least 300 of those injured are in critical condition.

      https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/17/lebanon-nine-killed-2800-wounded-by-israeli-sabotage-attack-that-exploded-hezbollah-pagers/

      2,750 wounded is that a lot?

      American taxpayers, you are paying for ALL of this.

      2. We’ve been paying for and fighting wars since 1914. We’ve been involved in over 100 conflicts…I’ve been involved in two of them.

      3. Imagine if the ChiComs were to one day put an oz of explosives in all the iPhones they’re sending our way, set to detonate simultaneously.

      4. Imagine if the reverse had happened. All the “media” would be justifiably calling it terrorism. But muh greatest ally.

        1. +1

          Wounding almost 3,000 in an attack targeting a dozen? Sounds like a war crime.

          U.S. taxpayers are the real hostages, held in hostage to a genocidal regime.

  2. ‘many buyers have already fully repaid their loans but remain burdened by the developers’ financial obligations.’ In a statement, Syprodat highlighted that for reasons it ‘cannot fully ascertain but can suspect,’ banks ‘have turned a blind eye’ to the loan agreements they should have enforced with developers. The association said that rather than ensuring developers used the funds received from property buyers to pay off loans taken for constructing buildings, banks have allowed developers to use the money for other purposes. Syprodat further questioned whether the current situation, where approximately 10,000 buyers find themselves in dire straits, could have been avoided if the banks had not been complicit in the developers’ deceit’

    Years ago this little sh$thole island just stopped foreclosing, kind of like here in the US. It was bound to turn into a mess.

  3. ‘Fresno’s Assemi family appears to be in deep financial trouble, according to a new filing in federal court. Court documents filed by Prudential, an Assemi lender, alleged the family has defaulted on over $705 million in loans this year. In a petition alleging breach of contract, Prudential asked a Federal judge to appoint a receiver to manage over 50,000 acres of distressed farmland’

    I’ve been following the farmland bubble since it started in 2009. In California it was concentrated in nut tree farms. Specifically taking crappy land that was grazed or planted with something else and trying to grow almonds on it. We got a glut of nuts now.

      1. Most trees growing fruits and nuts need deep, well-draining soil, ideally on a slope, not swamp land. This means regularly scheduled irrigation and plenty of available water.

  5. Enrichment!

    Just driving into my own neighborhood, I was constantly getting evil stares from people hanging out in the driveway,’ said Robin Smith, who lives down the street from the home. ‘I knew there was a bad element. I talked to Brad and he said he’s been trying to get them out for months.’”

      1. $750k per episode, 36 million dollars total. I don’t think a few hunnerd thou dollar loss on a home sale make a diff.

  7. Speaking of pools, remember during the last bust you could go on Google Earth and identify all the foreclosures by the color of the pools? Green meant foreclosure and mosquito pond. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

    1. Quickie google: “Alkali-silica reaction, or ASR, more commonly known as “concrete cancer” happens when concrete is not mixed properly and lacks fly ash. Water makes the concrete expand and crack and, in most cases, the only way to fix it is to demolish and completely rebuild at double or even triple the original cost of construction.”

      All right I get it that demo is expensive, but… $150K?

      2. Yea crazy amount. I would remove the deck and about two feet down on the wall…..knock a bunch of holes in the bottom and have soil hauled in. I figure 2 cases of beer and $2000 in hauling fees. Jack hammer rental. I could do it.

      3. Why couldn’t you just shotcrete a new shell inside the old one using aggregate that is known to be good? Or why not some sort of epoxy coating to keep the water in the pool? I mean, it’s a hole in the ground that holds water, it shouldn’t require a new mortgage.

      4. no access? I would assume the pools are in the backyard and nowadays houses are built with minimal setback, so you’re not getting big, even reasonable sized equipment in the backyard. So lotta hand work and lotta wheelbarrow loads and you’re still fouling up the side and front landscaping.

        Also, nobody probably wants to do it so the ones that do mark the prices up a lot.

  8. Tayler Hansen
    @TaylerUSA
    🚨🪿 Springfield, Ohio:

    𝗜 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 “𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁” 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹𝘀.

    “We had a set of Haitians that showed up in the driveway, pulled in laying on the horn. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗻.”

    “Just told them it wasn’t for sale. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗿𝘆, 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗻. Started demanding the chicken, it took my husband to run them off for them to leave.”

    “𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘁, 𝗱𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. 𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺, 𝘆𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺, 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁.”

    “I can tell you there are some ritualistic practices that are involving poultry. It’s not usually a spoken thing, it’s a voodoo thing—𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀.”

    2:46
    7:38 PM · Sep 13, 2024

    https://x.com/TaylerUSA/status/1834738409857831287

      2. As DJT said, “They’re just getting settled in, it’s going to get much worse.”

        I’m hoping by now that people who don’t normally vote realize that this isn’t going to stop in small towns in red states. There is an endless supply of these leeches, and they will infect EVERY town, including theirs.

        People say the economy is the #1 issue, but immigration is the sleeper.

        1. People say the economy is the #1 issue, but immigration is the sleeper.
          Immigration issues are a point I try to make to my “White guys for Knee Pads” friends. I think at least one of them is beginning to get it because years ago he moved out of his childhood home in a Chicago suburb because of a “take over” (his words not mine) of the area.

          1. I am really blown away that so many are supporting her, given her word salads and penchant for non sequiturs. Are that many people unaffected by rampant inflation, crime and the invaders? Or are they simply vote blue no matter who?

            As you mentioned, your friend has been directly affected by past invaders and had to move, and yet he was leaning towards voting for her. When I hear stories like that it becomes hard to believe there will be a happy ending to all this.

          2. Scott Adams of Dilbert fame is encouraging every DJT voter to convince one non-voter to register and go to the polls. Don’t try to flip a Dem; they are a lost cause. Just find one person who leans conservative but hates politics, and convince them that their vote matters. That’s all, just one new voter each. Me, I’m rooting for the popular vote.

          3. “I am really blown away that so many are supporting her…”

            That’s because the current economic system isn’t working well for the bottom 2/3 of us.

          4. It’s definitely Vote Blue No Matter Who. I remember it from 20+ years ago. I mean, Biden had to practically DIE on stage to convince them to not vote blue no matter who. But once they got a living body, it’s right back to Brat Joy.

            Even the Cheney endorsement won’t sway them.

          5. That’s because the current economic system isn’t working well for the bottom 2/3 of us.
            But did you forget that she has been in charge for the last 3.5 years? Shouldn’t that mean they wouldn’t be voting for her?

          6. Ronald Reagan: ‘Government is not the solution to the problem: government is the problem’, Inaugural Address – 1981

          7. Even the Cheney endorsement won’t sway them.

            Could Dick be stumping for his younger daughter, Mary, who is in a same sex marriage?

          8. “But did you forget that she has been in charge for the last 3.5 years?”

            I doubt it. Both her and Joe are, and have been, managed by entrenched deep state Bolsheviks.

      3. Just driving into my own neighborhood, I was const

        The Dominican Republic has built a wall to keep the Haitians out.

    2. As a kid (60s), I remember hearing of headless chickens found regularly in Inwood Hill Park (Northern Manhattan) – Santeria rituals (🎶 they do that voodoo that they do so well 🎶).

      1. NY Post 4 days ago: Feds, city to crack down on animal sacrifices in NYC’s Jamaica Bay after dog-carcass with snapped neck, wounded pigs found

  9. Re-post from the last thread.

    Denver7 (9/17/2024):

    “Denver Health estimates it will lose $155.5 million from uncompensated costs this year, an increase of 10% from last year.

    Uncompensated costs have risen rapidly over the past few years, as has the number of uninsured patients visiting Denver Health, the state’s largest safety net hospital.

    While most of the uncompensated costs are from patients who live in Denver, about $37.4 million come from patients who live outside of Denver. Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn said he’d like to see other counties step up and provide financial help.

    “It would be nice to get a little more cooperation and not be entirely or mostly at the expense of Denver,” Flynn said.

    “I do feel like we should probably have a tougher conversation with folks in the surrounding counties,” said Denver City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis.

    https://www.denver7.com/news/front-range/denver/denver-health-says-unpaid-health-care-costs-will-soar-to-155-million-this-year

    Tougher conversation? You can pay for own sanctuary sh*thole, Shontel.

    1. Tougher conversations with neighboring cities? Good luck with that. I suspect they will be waiting for a very long time for s returned phone call.

    1. Economy
      Fed rate cuts are arriving too late and layoffs show the US economy is already in a recession, bond king Jeff Gundlach says
      Jennifer Sor
      Sep 18, 2024, 8:22 AM PDT
      REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

      – The Fed should have cut interest rates a lot sooner, according to Jeff Gundlach.

      – The “Bond King” thinks the economy is already in recession, as evidenced by rising layoffs.

      – Job cut announcements climbed 193% over the last month, per a report from Challenger.
      …
      https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-rate-cuts-recession-layoffs-job-market-outlook-jeff-gundlach-2024-9

        1. Stock market is up… 0.02%. They know it’s going to fall. They probably waited as long as they could so that the crash would occur just after the election, or at least after early voting.

    2. The Fed is a criminal private banking cartel that is a cancer on our economy and country. These gold collar criminals are exactly what Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, etc. warned would happen to us if we let the malevolent “monied interests” hijack our Constitutional republic.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_rYS8L3kI

      1. Gamestop’s business model is trash. Physical media games were replaced with Steam and similar platforms years ago. I would just sell out and give up.

    2. The meme stock baggies are delusional enough to think they’re fighting some kind of noble crusade against the Wall Street hedgies, while the latter are playing them like a Stradivarius.

      I’ve been looking at a good entry point for palladium, which is getting hit hard since tanking auto sales in Paul Krugman’s booming economy means demand for palladium in catalytic converters is likely to be sharply reduced.

      https://www.kitco.com/charts/palladium

  12. “When you look at mortgage costs relative to how much a typical family earns, it’s untenable — there’s not really any way for a middle-class family to afford a home right now if they’re a first-time homebuyer,” says Daryl Fairweather, senior economist at Redfin.

    The median house price in the U.S. is now 5.8 times more than the median annual income of $80,000. In 1990, homes cost just two times as much as the median income.

  13. Trapped buyers, despite fulfilling their financial obligations and paying the full purchase price for their properties, have not received full ownership due to delays in obtaining title deeds.

    Let’s not lose sight of what’s important here; namely, these FBs aren’t throwing away money on rent.

  14. A reader sent these in:

    The Sahm Rule has been triggered

    It’s predicted the last 9 recessions

    With 0 false signals yet

    https://x.com/GameofTrades_/status/1836042556213502050

    That’s gotta hurt 😬

    https://x.com/DarwinAwards_/status/1835788498236014630

    Bearing the good news!!!

    Trudeau govt lost a stronghold in Montreal area in a by election last night…NDP didn’t win, but had a strong showing and they held onto another by election in Manitoba. They may feel good enough to topple the govt soon….

    The day this woke liberal fascist is booted out, I will share a nude of me with ya’ll

    https://x.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1835998901280571519

    US is now spending $ 3 billion / day to service it’s debt.

    Clearly something has to change as already every 17 c of tax $ collected is going into interest payment, and heading quickly towards a quarter.

    Currently the colossal and epic US Defense budget (which is a basket case of waste and mis-allocation of resources) is competing $ for $ with debt servicing, and about to lose that battle and be eclipsed…

    https://x.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1835934091146936373

    Canada celebrates end of inflation. $CAD

    https://x.com/IceCapGlobal/status/1836026940148338878

    Got lag effect?

    “US courts saw eight large companies file bankruptcy last week, the second busiest week this year.”

    https://x.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1836028534420017441

    I liked the Fed still buying MBS even as Case-Shiller was running +20% yoy. That was one for the ages.

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1836051926922002458

    Anti-Airbnb sentiment continuing to grow worldwide.

    https://x.com/NotoriousAirbnb/status/1836024533708652821

    Kaiser Permanente just sold a massive 445k sq ft office tower and adjacent 250k sq ft parking garage in Oakland for just $14M, per TRD

    That equates to just ~$20 per square feet…

    Kaiser has been consolidating and reducing office space as employees have been settling into remote work according to SF GATE

    This is one of several high profile office towers across the US that has traded hands for around land value or less…

    https://x.com/TripleNetInvest/status/1836037027445514434

    91% Discount in downtown Minneapolis

    Forum office towers sold for $6.5M.

    Purchased for $73.7M in 2019.

    634,000 SF – $10/SF ???

    https://x.com/FCNightingale/status/1836075257494479085

    MOSSAD REMOTELY DETONATES ALL APPLE VISION PROS, NO INJURIES REPORTED

    https://x.com/ElonBachman/status/1836142167355433290

    Are quartz countertops going to help potential buyers forget that they will be living in Missouri?

    https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1836160767995056477

    StatsCAN fiddling with the CPI basket again … I wonder why … 🫣

    CPI dropping like rocks cuz cellular prices are down 12.8% Y/Y and 4.0% M/M

    https://x.com/ManyBeenRinsed/status/1836035914679660971

    “Fed Transparency”

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1836077270370603516

    “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”

    – George Carlin

    This quote also applies to “professional investors”. 👇🏼

    https://x.com/MauiBoyMacro/status/1836054454199885879

    “Our economic plan is working for Canadians”

    I’ll take out of touch politicians for $400 Alex…. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

    https://x.com/mortimer_1/status/1836057081453187241

    “What’s driving inflation in British Columbia is housing prices and, ironically, increasing interest rates drives housing prices higher” – BC Premier David Eby 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

    https://x.com/mortimer_1/status/1835901250317209736

    Justin Trudeau just pulled the “American Psycho” walk scene, with a camera guy in front of him and everything. Absolute narcissist.

    https://x.com/stillgray/status/1836065829525352517

    If you need a place in Hamilton, a few just hit the market today.

    https://x.com/igetredpilled/status/1836145524707332395

    What Does The Government’s Decision To Make $1.5M A Starter Home In Canada Mean?

    Because that’s what this is: a $1.5M price falls under Canada’s government sponsored Housing Plan in the USA it’s $766K

    Most dangerous point: Canada will do what it takes to prop up Real Estate

    https://x.com/ronmortgageguy/status/1836031433791463492

    Rent inflation in Canada surges again to 40 year HIGHS at 8.9% YoY (chart below)

    STATS CANADA LEFT THIS ENTIRELY OUT OF THEIR RELEASE TODAY!

    Canada is experiencing deflation and high unemployment with surging rent inflation.

    https://x.com/Tablesalt13/status/1836026833017458878

    U.S. tech giant Cisco has officially let go of thousands of employees following its second layoff of 2024

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1836244906584502450

    Just released real-estate data shows Toronto area condo apartments hanging on for dear life at their 60 month lows. This is why the Feds are panicking.

    https://x.com/Tablesalt13/status/1835823793753018494

    Walgreens has agreed to pay $106 million to settle allegations it submitted false payment claims to government healthcare programs by charging for prescriptions that weren’t picked up.

    In other words, Walgreen is paying $106 million because it allegedly committed Medicare fraud.

    https://x.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1836072370349789202

    1. This is one of several high profile office towers across the US that has traded hands for around land value or less…
      Many of these building have negative value when you include holding costs and demolition costs.

    2. 91% Discount in downtown Minneapolis
      Forum office towers sold for $6.5M.
      Purchased for $73.7M in 2019
      Don’t worry, I am sure tax revenues will be totally unaffected by the 91% destruction in value.

      1. If they even still pay taxes and other holding costs. What is the city/county going to do? Seize a worthless asset that has fat holding costs and which they might have to pay to tear down?

    3. Kaiser did all right, if they had waited much longer they wouldn’t have been able to give it away. Ookland’s bright future is only going to come from the fires that are going to consume it.

      1. Ookland’s bright future is only going to come from the fires that are going to consume it.

        California’s elite will high five behind closed doors while shouting “We did it!”

    4. U.S. tech giant Cisco has officially let go of thousands of employees following its second layoff of 2024

      Which goes to show how the might can fall, and fast. I know some guys who had Cisco options years ago, and they made a pretty penny when they exercised them: paid off house and early retirement.

    6. It’s predicted the last 9 recessions

      The Sahm Rule didn’t predict sh!t. Claudia Sahm modified the McKelvey Rule and published her rule in October 2019.

  15. Shareholders in Harland & Wolff have accused the shipyard and both major political parties of misleading investors over its financial future.

    The Belfast-based firm, famous for building the Titanic, revealed on Monday it would enter administration this week, following months of turmoil since the new Labour government rejected its application for a critical £200m loan guarantee in July.

    Charles Scott, a 76 year old retired solicitor, said: “I’ve been relying on this to support me for the rest of my life and also perhaps allow me to rent, if not buy a property.”

    “If this doesn’t go through, I’ll probably have to apply for bankruptcy and you know, I really relied and believed that the government would honour its commitments.”

    Hundreds of investors have placed money into the business in recent years, after assurances from directors and the former Conservative government it was on the right trajectory.

    When shares were suddenly suspended in July after Harland failed to file audited annual accounts, it left them unable to salvage their stakes. As the crisis began to unfold, the company played down reports Labour was poised to reject the £200m loan guarantee and stressed that any refusal would not spell the end.

    The difficulty for many who have invested is that it seemed as if Harland & Wolff was turning around its fortunes. The firm won a major £1.6bn contract from the Ministry of Defence to build warships for the Royal Navy in January 2023. Its employee count also skyrocketed by around 900 per cent over the last half decade.

    “Once they got the contract for £1.6bn, then that really cemented my thoughts, and probably a lot of other people’s thoughts about this going forward,” said one shareholder, who preferred to remain anonymous. The 71-year-old, a former employee at the Financial Ombudsman, said he would now have to come out of retirement to cover his losses, which are in the tens of thousands at least. “We can probably get by, but it will affect us massively,” he added.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/extremely-frustrated-and-angry-harland-wolff-shareholders-despair-as-buyers-circle-beleaguered-titanic-builder/ar-AA1qKBh1

    1. Charles Scott, a 76 year old retired solicitor, said: “I’ve been relying on this to support me for the rest of my life and also perhaps allow me to rent, if not buy a property.”

      What kind of lawyer puts all his eggs in one basket? Then again Rumpole wasn’t rich and lived in a shabby flat.

      1. Rumpole

        For those unfamiliar with Horace Rumpole, he is a fictional English barrister (lawyer) who was quoted in the OJ Simpson trial.

  17. A key employee who labeled a doomed experimental submersible unsafe prior to its last, fatal voyage testified Tuesday that he frequently clashed with the company’s co-founder and felt the company was committed only to making money.

    David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former operations director, is one of the most anticipated witnesses to appear before a commission trying to determine what caused the Titan to implode en route to the wreckage of the Titanic last year, killing all five on board. His testimony echoed that of other former employees Monday, one of whom described OceanGate head Stockton Rush as volatile and difficult to work with.

    “The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Lochridge said. “There was very little in the way of science.”

    Lochridge joined the company in the mid-2010s as a veteran engineer and submersible pilot and said he quickly came to feel he was being used to lend the company scientific credibility. He said he felt the company was selling him as part of the project “for people to come up and pay money,” and that did not sit well with him.

    “I was, I felt, a show pony,” he said. “I was made by the company to stand up there and do talks. It was difficult. I had to go up and do presentations. All of it.”

    Lochridge referenced a 2018 report in which he raised safety issues about OceanGate operations. He said with all of the safety issues he saw “there was no way I was signing off on this.”

    Asked whether he had confidence in the way the Titan was being built, he said: “No confidence whatsoever.”

    Employee turnover was very high at the time, said Lochridge, and leadership dismissed his concerns because they were more focused on “bad engineering decisions” and a desire to get to the Titanic as quickly as possible and start making money. He eventually was fired after raising the safety concerns, he said.

    “I didn’t want to lose my job. I wanted to do the Titanic. But to dive it safely. It was on my bucket list, too,” he said.

    OceanGate’s former engineering director, Tony Nissen, kicked off Monday’s testimony, telling investigators he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years before Titan’s last trip. Nissen worked on a prototype hull that predated the Titanic expeditions.

    “‘I’m not getting in it,”’ Nissen said he told Rush.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-key-employee-who-called-the-titan-unsafe-testifies-company-only-wanted/

    3. “The whole idea behind the company was to make money,”

      FWIW, that is the reason for enterprise: to make a profit. Granted, they were negligent and offered a flawed product.

      1. Much like you, I have written off all jabs, especially now that there is a stampede to make all jabs mRNA based.

  19. It’s that time again… Say what?

    Harris said, “I am a gun owner, and Tim Walz is a gun owner, and we’re not trying to take anyone’s guns away from them, but we do need an ‘assault weapons’ ban.”

    Gun Owners of America
    @GunOwners

    Anti-gunners are truly outstanding liars.😂

    In a single breath,
    @KamalaHarris says she won’t take your guns, BUT then calls for taking your guns.

    20h
    🚨BREAKING🚨

    Presidential candidate talks out of both sides of her mouth!

    Watch ⤵️
    4:46 PM · Sep 17, 2024
    ·
    https://x.com/GunOwners/status/1836144811327271210

    1. Get her to do a few more interviews and she will say…

      I am not against fracking, I never said I was against fracking but we do need to ban fracking.

      1. “history is clear on what will follow if the Left ever succeeds in disarming potential resisters.”

        So true. If they were truly trying to save people from being killed they would ban hand guns (they kill about 30,000 a year) drunk/ impaired drivers (they kill over 30,000 a year) how about fentanyl (killing what 100,000 a year)

        No, they want ‘assault weapons’ banned when all long rifles (bolt action, pump, single shot, semi auto etc.) kill about 700 people a year and that includes suicides and accidents. About the same as hammers and blunt objects and I believe less than knives.

        What they want is a population they can completely control and IMHO that is why put founding fathers put the Second Amendment where it is, to protect our First Amendment rights.

        1. What they want is a population they can completely control

          It’s about power. The country could collapse and burn to the ground, but as long as they are in charge, it’s all good.

          1. It’s about power. The country could collapse and burn to the ground, but as long as they are in charge, it’s all good.
            Unfortunately, I am beginning to come to the same conclusion, but not quite there yet. I still am thinking a combination of “compassion and stupidity” might still be the reason, but then I gotta ask: Can anyone really be that stupid?

    3. If Comrade Kamala is our next selected, not elected president, it’s a good bet that among the first executive orders her globalist handlers will have prepared for her signature is a complete ban on imported “assault rifles” to include AK-47 variants. The Zastava ZPAP 70 is among the highest-quality AK types currently available on the U.S. retail firearms market – and could be highly effective in defending one’s home, family, neighborhood, and community from whatever might be coming down the pike during a Harris presidency.

      https://atlanticfirearms.com/zastava-arms-zpapm70-ak47-zr7762lm-1-5mm-tiger-maple

          2. Chinese-made SKS carbines are an ideal SHTF firearm in most respects.
            Too bad you lost all yours in that boating accident.

  20. Governments aren’t doing enough to address their debt problems, and if they continue this inaction, the world economy will pay.

    The exceedingly high debt levels across the world’s major economies heightens the chances of not one but of a multiple set of debt crises over the next three years. Supporting the idea that the world is drowning in debt, the International Institute of International Finance estimates that in the first quarter of this year, the world’s debt rose to a new record of $315 trillion. The problem continues to worsen despite the already critical risk.

    Take the U.S. It has both a public-debt and a commercial-real-estate-debt problem of epic proportions. With a 7% percent of gross domestic product budget deficit at a time of close to full employment and a public debt to GDP ratio of close to 100%, the U.S. is clearly on an unsustainable debt path.

    The fact that the U.S. government borrows in dollars makes it highly improbable that it will ever default on its debt. The Federal Reserve could always print the dollars to cover the government’s borrowing needs. However, the lack of the country’s political will to deal with its public debt problem would seem to be setting the U.S. up for a dollar crisis and the return of the bond vigilantes. It will do so as both domestic and foreign bond holders will question whether the government will try to inflate its way out of its debt problem. That in turn must be expected to bring the return of inflation and high interest rates.

    Along with its unsustainable public debt position, the U.S. is experiencing a slow-motion commercial property loan train-wreck as a result of high interest rates and record high office vacancies as more work is done from home. This increases the likelihood that we will have a wave of defaults on the $1.5 trillion in commercial property loans that fall due by the end of next year, which heightens the chances of another round of the U.S. regional bank crisis given the very high exposure of the regional banks to commercial property lending.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/the-world-is-drowning-in-debt-where-the-next-crisis-could-start/ar-AA1qJ9wH

  21. Impacts of burst bubble need to be digested

    The consumer price index rose month-on-month in August, and its year-on-year growth rate continued to expand, due to high temperatures and rainy weather. At the same time, due to insufficient market demand and the downward trend of some bulk commodity prices, the producer price index fell month-on-month and year-on-year in August. The price level shows the problem of insufficient demand in the Chinese economy, which is increasingly obvious.

    New urbanization is another key driver to boost demand. The central authorities have long proposed that the eligible rural migrant population should enjoy the same rights and interests as their urban counterparts in social insurance, housing security, compulsory education for children, etc. Yet, how to fund this reform remains a challenge for local governments, particularly those governments facing mounting debt pressures.

    Besides, although investment in innovation is necessary, it does not directly help create jobs. The progress of technology in some industries actually leads to a loss of jobs. The government is thus obliged to do more to resolve the unemployment issue of the young people to prevent it from evolving into triggers of systemic social crises.

    As such, policymakers are facing systemic challenges caused by the structural issues in the economy. To some extent, the economy is entering a protracted process of digesting the impacts of the bursting of the real estate bubble that had helped sustain a borrowed prosperity for more than a decade.

    http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202409/18/WS66ea1138a3103711928a84de.html

  22. EV sales are still growing. So why are carmakers pulling back?

    Battery electric and plug-in hybrids climb to 12.9% of all new registrations in Canada

    “We’re past the early adopter phase,” said J.D. Ney at the market research firm J.D. Power, referring to customers who buy into new technologies before most people.

    “The next step, though, is to convince a much wider swath of Canadians that electrification is right for them.”

    That mainstream buyer, Ney says, is less wealthy and more practical, and it will take extra effort to convince them to ditch gas-powered cars.

    When J.D. Power surveyed new vehicle shoppers in Canada, respondents who said they wouldn’t consider an EV said the models are still too expensive, and they worry about how far they can travel and how difficult it will be to charge the battery.

    “If I make a mistake buying an EV or it doesn’t suit my lifestyle, that’s a $65,000 problem,” Ney said. “It’s the second biggest purchase that most Canadians will make. And so I think they are rightfully cautious.”

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ev-sales-growth-manufacturing-1.7322066

    1. Battery electric and plug-in hybrids climb to 12.9% of all new registrations in Canada

      I’d love to see the breakdown of EV’s vs hybrids.

      When J.D. Power surveyed new vehicle shoppers in Canada, respondents who said they wouldn’t consider an EV said the models are still too expensive, and they worry about how far they can travel and how difficult it will be to charge the battery.

      All problems that remain unsolved. But please, pretty please, buy an EV you can’t afford and that will leave you stranded. Oh, and you have to spend more $$$ to have a charging station installed in your home

      1. “spend more $$$ to have a charging station installed in your home”

        Electrician hand rubbing intensifies…

  23. An Ontario man was surprised to learn he would have to pay a $1,000 penalty to cancel his water heater rental.

    “I was shocked that the penalty I had to pay was almost the cost of a brand new water heater,” James Alves, of Etobicoke, told CTV News Toronto.

    Now that Alves is on a fixed income, he said he was reviewing his bills when he decided to cancel his water heater rental contract. But he had no idea he would have to pay a penalty.

    “I decided it was costing too much money paying rent every month, and I figured after eight years I had paid enough in rental fees for the hot water tank,” said Alves.

    Over the years, Alves said he paid about $4,144, including taxes, to rent a water heater from Enercare.

    When he contacted Enercare to end his contract, he was told there was a buyout cancellation fee of $1,082, including taxes, which Alves was surprised he had to pay.

    “For something I could buy now for $1,200 they have charged me enough in rental fees and now to have to pay this cancellation fee. I just feel it’s ridiculous,” said Alves.

    When Alves complained to Enercare, they reduced the buyout price by $250.

    https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/it-s-ridiculous-ontario-man-told-to-pay-1-000-to-end-water-heater-contract-1.7041918

    1. An Ontario man was surprised to learn he would have to pay a $1,000 penalty to cancel his water heater rental.

      “There’s a sucker born every minute” —P. T. Barnum

    2. An Ontario man was surprised to learn he would have to pay a $1,000 penalty to cancel his water heater rental.

      You will own nothing and be happy.

  24. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confronted a protester for calling him a “corrupted bastard” on Parliament Hill on Tuesday.

    “You’re a coward if you’re not going to say it to my face,” Singh tells the protestor.

    Two protestors, who were also filming Singh at the time, deny throwing the insult his way, despite it being audible in the video.

    After one protestor insists he would “admit it” if he were the one who “said something like that,” Singh says “alright,” and walks away.

    Last August, he was quick to clap back at a drive-by heckler, inviting the man to “have a conversation” with him instead of shouting expletives out his car window.

    Singh had been speaking about high food prices outside a grocery store in Newfoundland when a man in a black car pulled up next to him in the parking lot and shouted an expletive of a sexual nature about Singh and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

    And a year before that, in May, Singh received a barrage of insults as he exited a campaign rally for a provincial election candidate, who was running in the Peterborough – Kawartha riding, in Ontario.

    Several protesters yelled expletives at the NDP leader and called him a “traitor” as he made his way to his car.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/say-it-to-my-face-singh-confronts-heckling-protester-on-parliament-hill-1.7041514

  25. “It’s the economy, stupid” was how James Carville, Bill Clinton’s strategist, famously summed up what he thought would be the central issue in the 1992 American presidential election.

    Following two devastating byelection losses in previously rock-solid Liberal ridings in Montréal this week and Toronto earlier this summer, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his team seemingly still want to believe, like Carville did, that the economy will be the central issue in the next federal election rather than something much deeper.

    They argue their unpopularity — trailing 15-20 points in opinion polls behind the Conservatives for a year now — has much to do with the cost-of-living challenges Canadians face and public perceptions that the economy is a mess.

    Trudeau’s Liberals therefore think they have a reasonably good economic story to tell. They also believe they receive insufficient credit for policies aimed at alleviating the affordability crisis — chief among them the Liberal care package of child care, pharmacare and dental care.

    Liberals apparently believe talking up these programs, and claiming a Conservative government would kill them, will boost the government’s popularity.

    To say that Trudeau is unpopular among Canadians is an understatement. His government hovers in the mid-20s in opinion polls and enjoys less support than any since Brian Mulroney’s Tories in the early 1990s. Fully two-thirds of Canadians disapprove of Trudeau’s leadership. This summer’s byelection losses merely punctuate these dismal numbers.

    Put simply, Canadians are fed up with Trudeau. Québec Liberal MP Alexandra Mendes summed up Trudeau’s dilemma with voters — “It’s a very generalized … ‘we’re tired of his face’ kind of thing” — and says her constituents have overwhelmingly told her “he needs to go.”

    What was once the Liberals’ biggest political asset — Trudeau’s physical appeal and style, his social media dominance, his enthusiasm, his élan — is now their chief liability.

    https://theconversation.com/another-liberal-byelection-loss-shows-once-again-that-justin-trudeau-is-the-problem-239167

    1. But they keep putting little Junior playboy back in,at every election , because he’ll promise them even more $$$$ the closer the elections get,

  26. Ex-officer says he dealt 100 times with man accused of trying to assassinate Trump

    Ryan Wesley Routh was no stranger to law enforcement in Guilford County, North Carolina, long before his arrest in an alleged assassination attempt on former president Trump at a golf course.

    Routh allegedly camped outside the golf course in West Palm Beach with food and a rifle for nearly 12 hours, according to court documents filed Monday. He is accused of lying in wait for the former president before a Secret Service agent opened fire, thwarting the potential attack.

    From the 90s to the early 2000s, he racked up a slew of charges ranging from driving with a suspended license, which is a misdemeanor, to possessing a weapon of mass destruction, a felony.

    In Greensboro, one retired police officer interacted with Routh more than 100 times, including when Routh was booked into jail for barricading himself inside his business with an automatic rifle.

    Retired Greensboro officer and military veteran Eric Rasecke was a seven-time Officer of the Year winner who served Greensboro police for over 26 years. He had constant interactions with Routh throughout his tenure, but none of them were violent.

    “I had been dealing with Mr. Routh from the latter part of the 1990s to the early 2000s,” Rasecke said. “He resided in my patrol beat, and his business was in my patrol beat as well.”

    Routh’s business, United Roofing Company, was near the Greensboro Coliseum. His home was a mile away from there on Hiatt Street. He drove a truck for his roofing company.

    North Carolina state records show his license was revoked in conjunction with a motor vehicle violation in Nov. 2001.

    “His license was suspended. He allowed all of his employees to drive without licenses, had no insurance on any of his vehicles, and everyone in the Greensboro Police Department knew it,” Rasecke said.

    That made Routh a regular with the GPD.

    “It’s almost like blatantly saying, ‘Here I am’ … He would be constantly pulled over for those traffic violations,” Rasecke said.

    Routh’s involvement in what federal authorities call a second attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump brought all the memories back for Rasecke.

    He was there in the aftermath of the 2002 incident where Routh was pulled over yet again and ran to barricade himself inside United Roofing with a fully automatic rifle.

    “He runs up into the business. Law enforcement, the only thing they can do at that time is think about protecting themselves and the general public, so they locked down the area, closed off the roadways (and) called in the negotiation teams,” he said.

    The resolution, to Rasecke, was similar to what authorities say Routh did in Florida 22 years later.

    “He came out peacefully … and surrendered himself,” he said.

    He is alarmed by what he calls a big change in the man he used to encounter so often.

    In Florida, Routh once again had an automatic firearm, according to police, hence the charge of a convicted felon possessing a firearm.

    The 2002 weapon of mass destruction charge was a felony, and records show another felony in 2012 for possession of stolen goods. His sentences were probation and parole.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/retired-officer-dealt-with-man-accused-of-trying-to-assassinate-trump-100-times/ar-AA1qIWPi

    1. In Florida, Routh once again had an automatic firearm, according to police, hence the charge of a convicted felon possessing a firearm.

      Clueless, lying Real Journalists call every “assault rifle” an “automatic firearm.” This is erroneous. Automatic weapons fire continuous bursts with a single pull of the trigger, and are illegal for civilian ownership without a Class III license, which is difficult and costly to procure. Possession of an automatic weapon is a federal felony punishable by 10 years in prison, although the Chicago gang bangers using illegally-converted Glocks with drop-in automatic sears are never prosecuted for this offense by Soros DAs. Routh is a case in point of laws already on the books not being enforced by hug-a-thug Democrat judicial officials.

  27. I have sad news for rate daters: Long-term Treasury yields went up on the Fed’s supersized rate cut announcement. Last time I checked, these were almost perfectly correlated with US mortgage rates.

    1. Updated 5 hours ago –
      Economy
      Federal Reserve delivers super-sized half-point rate cut
      Neil Irwin,
      Courtenay Brown
      The Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C. Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images

      The Federal Reserve cut its target interest rate Wednesday by an extra-large half-percentage point and projected more rate cuts this year and next, as its period of trying to put brakes on the economy to fight inflation comes to a close.
      …
      https://www.axios.com/2024/09/18/fed-rate-cuts

    2. “…as its period of trying to put brakes on the economy to fight inflation comes to a close.”

      That kind of message may not help encourage traders to go long into long-term Treasurys. A natural consequence of traders becoming nervous to buy long-term bonds is higher long-term rates, including mortgages.

  29. Here’s an update about the “kid” I knew in high school and posted his obituary the other day. I’d like to say I’m shocked but I’m not.

    Greenwich Man Killed In Wrong-Way Crash In NY, ID Released: Report
    The two-car, wrong-way collision took place about a half-mile south of King Street in Rye Brook, N.Y., near Greenwich, according to police.

    Richard Kaufman,
    Posted Thu, Sep 12, 2024 at 1:37 pm ET

    GREENWICH, CT — The man who was killed in a fiery wrong-way crash on the Hutchinson River Parkway in Rye Brook, N.Y., on Sept. 8 has been identified as William Saleeby, 62, a longtime Greenwich resident, according to The Journal News.

    Jose Espinal, 48, of Bridgeport, was arrested and charged with second-degree vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated, police said. Espinal was arraigned on Monday in Rye Town Court and remanded to the Westchester County Jail.

    Espinal is accused of being intoxicated while driving his Toyota Highlander southbound in the northbound lanes of the Hutchinson River Parkway shortly after 5 a.m. on Sept. 8, police said. He crashed head-on into a Toyota Camry that was traveling north, killing Saleeby and causing the Camry to catch fire.

    https://patch.com/connecticut/greenwich/greenwich-man-killed-wrong-way-crash-ny-report

    1. Greenwich man who died in wrong-way crash ‘touched the lives of countless people’

      By Jessica Simms,
      Sep 17, 2024

      Saleeby died in a fiery wrong-way crash on the Hutchinson River Parkway in Rye, New York on Sept. 8. The driver, Jose Espinal, of Bridgeport, has been charged with second-degree vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated in the crash.

      Saleeby, 62, was a 1980 Greenwich High School graduate. He also was a member of the school’s football team, where he played alongside former NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young.

      https://www.darientimes.com/news/article/greenwich-ct-william-saleeby-obit-ghs-19763303.php

  30. ‘They had no problem subsidizing loans in the beginning because that benefitted the developer,’ Hagler said. ‘Then it went south. The city turned around and said it wasn’t their responsibility. But they created that’

    They got schlonged Graylan.

  31. ‘He said the pool was completed in December of 2021, just six months before his family of three moved in. He said the previous owner and their realtor won’t talk to him. Okkath retained a lawyer but said once Hot Crete, one of the now former concrete suppliers for Cody Pools, filed for bankruptcy in April, the lawyer dropped his case’

    If you had some money you could hire a lawyer Arjun.

  32. ‘Just driving into my own neighborhood, I was constantly getting evil stares from people hanging out in the driveway…I knew there was a bad element. I talked to Brad and he said he’s been trying to get them out for months’

    It’s still way cheaper than renting Robin.

  33. ‘There are people in this community, when this was announced at the board meeting, who were losing their minds. They were panicking,’ said Breslau, 71, who is still working and thus more able than others to absorb the added costs. ‘Where are you going to come up with that?’

    If being a winnah! was easy Bruce, everybody would be one.

  34. ‘And when Ms Boehm tried to contact Cosmic Realty to get her meter box opened in order for some essential work to be done, they did not return her calls. Ms Boehm said Cosmic had failed to explain why the extra strata charges had been added or when annual general meetings would be held, and had also failed to fix a hole in her driveway. ‘You hear the horror stories from people [about strata] and sort of hope it doesn’t happen to you, but unfortunately it has,’ she said. ‘My strata manager has made me feel extremely stressed, extremely anxious. It’s been a really difficult time financially. I’m quite worried because I never know what bills I’m going to get, how much I’m going to have to pay’…’We’re receiving countless calls on a daily basis from people who have been taken advantage of by their [strata] manager,’ she said. ‘Or the developer or the builder, and we could give you examples galore’

    The commie urban living thing doesn’t work ladies.

  35. The Condo Market Is Drowning In Uncharted Waters (GTA Condo Real Estate Market Update)

    Team Sessa Real Estate

    18 minutes ago TORONTO

    In this episode we take a look at the current GTA Condo Markets – Toronto, York Region & Peel Region for week ending Sept 11, 2024. We also discuss some calls we’ve had where clients are making the decision to get rid of their condo’s even though they don’t necessarily need to.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuN8nLm_BWc

    18:15.

  36. I completely agree with Tucker’s opinion on this clip from Kamala.

    Tucker Carlson
    @TuckerCarlson

    This is openly totalitarian. If we don’t resist this, we’re done: “Just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible.”

    2:33 PM · Sep 18, 2024

    https://x.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1836473613710500042

        1. Financial Times
          US presidential election 2024
          Donald Trump says Fed’s half-point rate cut shows US economy is ‘very bad’
          Former president adds that central bank could be ‘playing politics’ as it reduces interest rates ahead of election
          Donald Trump has been critical of Fed chair Jay Powell
          © Spencer Platt/Getty Images
          Lauren Fedor in Washington
          8 hours ago

          Donald Trump has said the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday showed the US economy was either “very bad” or the central bank was “playing politics.”

          “I guess it shows the economy is very bad to cut it by that much, assuming that they are not just playing politics,” the Republican candidate for the White House told reporters at a stop at a Manhattan bitcoin bar on Wednesday. “The economy would be very bad, or they are playing politics, one or the other. But it was a big cut.”
          …

          1. “The economy would be very bad, or they are playing politics, one or the other. But it was a big cut.”

            A 50 basis point cut might get the Sixpack family another bedroom for the same payment, but the likely immediate beneficiaries are the U.S. Treasury, hedge funds and corporations dependent on a line of credit.

          2. Fed rate cuts to short term rates don’t impact mortgage rates, which are based off of the 10Y treasury.

    1. Nonetheless, by cutting rates, they will kind of make the victory over inflation official,

      The gaslighting will continue.

      IT wasn’t that long ago that been tenderloin at Costco was $14/lb. It’s now $20/lb. How much will it be in six months? $22 or more?

Comments are closed.