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When You Buy A Home, You Don’t Expect To Lose Half Your Money When You Leave

A report from News 4 San Antonio in Texas. “According to a new study, homes put up for sale in San Antonio over the summer are taking longer to sell, compared to last year. ‘The market just isn’t as red hot as it used to be,’ said Thomas Tunstall, Senior Director for Research at the UTSA Institute for Economic Development. ‘We’re coming off of a really hot housing market where homes were selling, you know, very quickly, very briskly. And you know that that that sort of situation, you know, just can’t be sustained.’ Professor of Management at the University of the Incarnate Word, David Vequist said it’s important to note that most of the time, the longer a home stays on the market, the more price drops it will see. ‘People are waiting for interest rates to go lower and obviously, with the building boom that’s been going on, potentially, some of these newer properties will have to be discounted at some point in time,’ said Vequist.”

From CBS News. “Jeff Rapkin admits that he prayed for the ‘untimely demise’ of the adjuster who examined his home after it was devastated by 2022’s Hurricane Ian. Rapkin, a Florida resident and father, said the adjuster told him his house would likely need to be entirely rebuilt. So Rapkin was shocked when Heritage Property and Casualty Insurance, his insurance company, sent him just $15,000, minus their deductible. As it turns out, the adjuster, Jordan Lee, was also shocked, as he wrote in his report that he believed the Rapkins were owed $231,368.57. Lee says he later learned dozens of his damage reports had been materially altered. ‘It was basically all of them,’ Lee said.”

“At the Rapkins’ home, mold and mother nature are gnawing away at what’s left. The home’s split roof is an open wound for the family, who still have to mow the lawn and make mortgage payments on their rotting home every month. They’re also paying rent on an apartment nearby and $4,000 a year to Heritage for home insurance, even after the premiums went up. ‘And can’t get another insurance company, obviously,’ Rapkin said. Rapkin originally believed there may have been an innocent mistake made, but he no longer feels that way. ‘This is a con. That’s what this is,’ he said. ‘This is, ‘make them go away at all costs. We’re not paying.'”

The Sun Sentinel. “Becoming familiar with two structural inspection reports that condo associations are required to submit this year can save buyers money or help them avoid making an expensive mistake. If the structural reserve study finds that each owner will be assessed hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain structural soundness of a building, they can use that information to negotiate lower prices. Sellers can use the information to help determine whether their buyer will even be able to find a lender willing to issue a loan for the seller’s asking price. In the past, buyers have only cared whether they can get a mortgage loan and paid little attention to what was in the documents the law requires them to have, said Suzanne Hollander, an attorney and professor who teaches real estate law at Florida International University in Miami. ‘They look like a big stack of documents, right? They look like a lot to read,’ Hollander said. ‘I think, unfortunately, most people don’t even read their purchase and sales contract.'”

“Ryan Paton, president of Coconut Creek-based Capitol Lending Group, a mortgage brokerage that finds lenders for condo buyers, says lenders take the amount of structural damage into account when deciding whether to approve a mortgage loan on a condo unit. Some won’t lend if the reserve study identifies an assessment that would be difficult for the buyer to handle, along with the mortgage payment and monthly condo dues, he said. Disclosure of the inspection reports will reduce the selling price of condo properties that are in poor condition and require substantial repair and boost values of properties in good condition with managers and governing board members who have ‘been pragmatic’ in reserving for future repairs, said Orest Tomaselli, president and CEO of New York-based Strategic Inspections.”

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “With mortgage rates ticking down this year, the housing market in parts of the Bay Area has started to heat up again, and ZIP codes in the East Bay and Silicon Valley are showing some of the biggest rises in home values. Not every Bay Area ZIP code — or city — has seen values increase, however. Oakland’s typical home value continued its slow decline this year, from $772,000 in January to $762,000 in August. Oakland’s 94612 ZIP code, which includes its downtown, Uptown and Lakeside neighborhoods, has seen the steepest decrease in home values of any of the 200 largest Bay Area ZIP codes, dropping 3.3% from $618,000 in January to $597,000 in August. It was followed by several other Oakland neighborhoods, including West Oakland’s 94607 ZIP code.”

“Zillow estimated that San Francisco’s 94108 ZIP code, which includes parts of Chinatown and Nob Hill, had the third-largest drop in home values, at 2.2% from $893,000 to $874,000. Piedmont, a wealthy enclave completely surrounded by Oakland, also saw values decline by 1.4%, from $1.45 million to $1.43 million. San Francisco and Oakland home values have been declining for years, a trend largely driven by the pandemic-related push toward buying homes outside urban cores — sometimes called ‘the donut effect.’ Real estate agents have cited the cities’ sometimes-unearned reputations for crime as a factor. California’s insurance crisis has also affected the East Bay hills particularly hard, drastically raising fire insurance costs for many homeowners.”

House Beautiful. “It’s fairly common for HOAs to spell out guidelines for things like exterior paint colors, fence heights, and how long you can park a boat or RV on the street. But sometimes HOA rules go a little too far, fining residents for obscure violations. Lisa Harris, an agent with RE/MAX Center in Braselton, Georgia, says her gated neighborhood has progressed from simple speed bumps to full on speed enforcement, with speed tables and three hidden cordless speed detection devices on tripods. ‘These devices are randomly hidden around the neighborhood, and if you’re caught speeding, [the HOA] mails you a ticket,’ she says. And, if you exceed your allotment of violations, they’ll even revoke your security gate access in the gated neighborhood.”

“Johnny Austin, a real estate agent and investor in Tacoma, Washington, recalls an HOA he dealt with that had a ridiculous rule that grass could only be between two to three inches tall. ‘If it went even a half-inch over, homeowners got fined,’ he says. ‘The kicker was if the grass got too short, they’d fine you, too. People were out there with rulers trying to make sure their lawns were the ‘perfect’ height.’ During rainy seasons, it was tough to keep up with the standard and caused homeowners a lot of stress, Austin says.”

Yahoo Finance. “Cash-strapped Americans are using their homes to pay down debt and keep up with the rising cost of living. Use of home equity lines of credit — a type of revolving loan that developed a troubled reputation for its role in the 2008 financial crisis — is on the rise after hitting post-crisis lows two years ago. The products have long been a popular means of financing home renovation projects, but lately, mortgage lenders say many of the applications that cross their desks are for debt consolidation.”

“‘It’s so much easier,’ said Rochelle Adamson, a self-employed hairdresser, virtual assistant, and content creator who consolidated more than $55,000 of debt across seven credit cards with a HELOC she took out on a rental property last year. ‘You’re taking it a little more seriously because it’s not like you can just pull this card out and go to the store,’ she added. ‘It’s attached to your bank account. You have to log in. It’s attached to your home.'”

“As consumers’ home values were rising, so too was their consumer debt. Credit card debt nationwide topped $1.14 trillion at the end of June, up 5.8% from a year earlier, according to New York Fed data. Auto loan debt has also been on the rise, totaling $1.63 trillion. ‘People are really struggling,’ said Sarah Rose, senior home equity manager at Affinity Federal Credit Union. ‘Credit cards, personal loans — the rates on those are just astronomical. Consolidating that debt into a lower rate over 30 years is a winner for a lot of people.'”

The National Post. “The federal Liberals are proving that big government does indeed impoverish the populations they govern. Canada’s in the throes of a seemingly endless cost of living crisis, and while it’s doubtless a consequence of federal policies like mass immigration and the increasingly punitive carbon tax, the country’s over-inflated civil service is an outsized factor. It’s worth noting the post-2015 deficit per employed person would be much higher without Canada’s recent population boom, prompting the question: are the feds bloating the population through immigration, even though it’s immiserating Canadians, because they’ve lost control of the deficit?”

“Consumers’ waning spending habits and mounting debt signifies they’re struggling to meet basic living needs, elucidating the depth of Canada’s cost of living crisis. But it didn’t occur in a vacuum. In the wake of COVID-19, in tandem with generous income subsidies, the Bank of Canada plunged its policy rate to 25 basis points in March 2020. It remained there for 18 months, sparking a housing rush. The rapid escalation in home prices was driven by asset-rich Canadians who were able to borrow for pennies on the dollar. And there were many more of them than previously thought, as household savings were in excess of $90 billion by November 2020. Moreover, the money used to inflate asset valuations can also be traced back to the federal government, which exercised little oversight when granting CERB and Canada Recovery Benefit payments. And yet the Bank of Canada kept its policy rate at an historic low, even while the cost of living rose sharply.”

“Private sector productivity shortfalls have adversely affected the country’s GDP and stripped Canadians’ earning potential. But you wouldn’t know it looking at unemployment figures — and that’s because the government is juking the numbers by growing both the civil service and the country’s fleet of food delivery couriers, who are typically desperate newcomers. And in contrast to the former, the latter live in abject poverty like most of their new compatriots.”

From BBC News. “Residents in Aberdeen whose homes could be demolished due to the presence of RAAC – a cheaper type of concrete which is at risk of collapse – have told BBC Scotland News of their anger and disappointment about the compensation they might receive. Aberdeen City Council is hoping to purchase 138 privately-owned homes in Torry affected by the potentially dangerous concrete. In response to a number of questions asked by the Aberdeen RAAC support group for residents, the local authority says the home loss payments would be up to £15,000. Homeowners told BBC Scotland News this was not enough, and that more funding, clarity and timescales were urgently needed.”

“Torry resident John Meiklejohn fears he could lose more than £70,000 on his property. ‘The stress that this is putting myself and the other householders under is unbearable,’ he said. ‘We go from flitting between anger and just complete depression. It’s very difficult because there’s too many unknowns. The only thing we do know is we’re going to be left with a huge shortfall on equity on our properties – that’s more than likely going to prevent us from getting back onto the property market.'”

Radio New Zealand. “The Kiwi dream of owning a home has turned into a nightmare for some flood-affected first home buyers who bought in the last few years. Now in negative equity, they are unable to live in their category three homes, owing the bank thousands of dollars because their property is now worth less than their mortgage. A West Auckland resident, who RNZ has agreed not to name, had not been back to her family home since the Auckland Anniversary floods 18 months ago. ‘Everything was gone, everything in our house, we’ve been back to check the letter box, that’s about it.'”

“She estimated they will owe the bank just under $100,000. ‘It’s a crazy situation and I kind of want to say I refuse to accept it, but we’ve been backed into a corner we can’t refuse it because if we don’t accept the buyout, we won’t be able to get house insurance.’ The couple are in their 30’s and first home buyers with a toddler. She said they worked extremely hard to get on the property ladder and were now giving up on being able to own their own home again. ‘To be left owing to the bank and having lost our deposit, there’s no way that we can ever own a property again … I am going to try and not get emotional while talking about it.'”

From ABC News. “They are billed as a retiree’s utopia: A playground for adults that is fun, safe and can even help you live a longer, healthier, and happier life. Retirement villages are home to more than 250,000 older Australians, drawn by polished marketing that promises independent living in a safe community environment. But ABC Investigations and 7.30 have uncovered another side. One retirement village resident, 89-year-old Joan Green, sees it as a form of robbery. After buying in 11 years ago for $384,000, she will walk out with $81,000 after the retirement village operator deducts its various fees. ‘I feel … like I’ve been robbed,’ she says. All up, she stands to lose about $300,000, or 80 per cent of what she originally paid to buy into the village. The village operator expects to resell the home for $675,000.”

“Lynette Anderson is still smarting over the cost of ‘reinstating’ her mother Ruth’s apartment after informing her Living Choice retirement village at Twin Waters on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast that she had to move into aged care after a series of strokes. Living Choice, which is also a licensed builder, determined what needed to be done and quoted a staggering $167,000 to do the job. The contract also requires Ruth to pay an exit fee of 35 per cent and an additional $15,400 fee to Living Choice for selling the house. The operator expects the home to sell for about $700,000, which will leave Ruth with $257,962, a fraction of the $564,950 she paid for the place in 2015.”

“‘When you buy a home, you don’t expect to lose half your money when you leave,’ Lynette Anderson says. ‘It’s heartbreaking.'”

From Reuters. “Animal spirits are back in China’s stock market as investors rush into equities, galvanized by Beijing’s policy bonanza and driven by fear of missing out on what some see as a rally of historic intensity. ‘Deposit rates are too low, and real estate investment is no longer safe,’ said 30-year-old office worker Darren Wang, who started buying stocks using borrowed money. ‘There’s no other way to be rich other than redoubling bets on stocks. The market craze you see this time could be unprecedented.'”

“Veteran individual trader Wu Jie, 48, said he felt bewildered by the sudden change of mood. ‘The economy remains in bad shape,’ said Wu, who is currently light in his stock position. ‘But if you look at the trading volume, the rally will likely be sustained. I have cash ready, and I’m waiting for a major correction so that I can get in.'”

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This Post Has 98 Comments

    1. And now Oakland’s baseball team is ditching them. I doubt that will help stop housing prices from sliding.

      1. They lost the Raiders to Vegas too.

        I’m not sure about MLB, but in the NFL, adding a new team to the league is a huge deal because it disrupts the schedules and playoffs. So it makes more sense to move the existing teams around, especially when the new city can offer a shiny new stadium* to replace the decrepit old stadium. Vegas easily has enough population to support their own teams.

        ——————-
        *new stadiums which are designed to hold dozens of skyboxes to cater to the filthy rich, instead of boring chair seating for the plebs.

      2. This is the best quote – dont believe your (or your neighbour’s) lying eyes – there is no crime. Not everything is under lock at the local CVS.

        Real estate agents have cited the cities’ sometimes-unearned reputations for crime as a factor.

    2. I was studying some of the propositions of CA ballot for Nov. I came upon Prop 6, that had no group that opposed it.
      Basically it was.saying that assigning jobs to Convicts in prison is slavery, so slavery should be abolished.

      So basically prison should be convicts sitting around , engaging in computers,conjugal visits,getting gov paid sex operations, and assigned work is just slavery. Work should be voluntary, according to this prop 6.

      How many Convicts are going to voluntarily opt to work. Seriously, how many Citizens not in the penal system would volunteer to work, if they could set around doing nothing.

      The bill would filter government money, for stopping convicts from being assigned work details while in prison.
      Off hand it kinda makes Prison a fun retreat, where your not required to do anything, and you get your sex operations paid for.

      While the Prop 6 language characterized prison time as “slavery” and work requirements should be abolished, other factions think convicts should be able to vote also.
      However you feel about this prop 6 in California, ask yourself if work programs to promote becoming a productive member of society might not be slavery . I have to deep dive into the matter , but I was surprised there was no talking points disputing the prop 6, probably because they use the language “slavery”.

      1. My understanding is that prison work is a privilege. You get out of the cell, talk to people and can earn a few pesos. If yer a pain in the a$$ you can just stay in the cell.

  4. ‘But sometimes HOA rules go a little too far, fining residents for obscure violations. Lisa Harris, an agent with RE/MAX Center in Braselton, Georgia, says her gated neighborhood has progressed from simple speed bumps to full on speed enforcement, with speed tables and three hidden cordless speed detection devices on tripods. ‘These devices are randomly hidden around the neighborhood, and if you’re caught speeding, [the HOA] mails you a ticket,’ she says. And, if you exceed your allotment of violations, they’ll even revoke your security gate access in the gated neighborhood’

    My thanks to Lisa for providing yet another HBB Pitfalls of Commie Urban Living™. The person you put in charge could be a natzie control freak!

    1. “My thanks to Lisa for providing yet another HBB Pitfalls of Commie Urban Living™. The person you put in charge could be a natzie control freak!”

      – A few comments on this. An unpopular view, and probably “racist,” since everything against the D part / MSM narrative is now “racist,” because “shut up!”

      – It’s easy to extrapolate from a fascist neighborhood HOA tempest in a teapot to a city, state, or sovereign nation, since human nature is essentially the same. It all degenerates into fascism, given half a chance.

      “The heart is deceitful above all things,
      And desperately wicked;
      Who can know it?” – Jeremiah 17:9

      “And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” – Lord Acton

      – Authority and power must be distributed, limited, and restrained; there must be checks and balances. The HOA members must have voted for this, just like those who voted for socialists and communists. Communism / socialism isn’t about altruism or egalitarianism; it’s really all about power and control. Here in America, we’re about to get another opportunity to choose our leaders on November 5th. May God help us. Choose wisely.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA7J0KkanzM
      Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (10/10) Movie CLIP – He Chose Poorly (1989) HD
      Movieclips | 62.2M subscribers
      3,132,531 views Jun 1, 2016

      “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” – H L Mencken

      “The government you elect is the government you deserve.” – Thomas Jefferson

      – America was founded as a Christian nation, but is now turning away from God and toward secular humanism and socialism, the politics of self and envy.

      “They sow the wind
      and reap the whirlwind.
      The stalk has no head;
      it will produce no flour.
      Were it to yield grain,
      foreigners would swallow it up.” – Hosea 8:7

      “A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.” – Samuel Adams

      “[in the absence of morality] this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world. Because we have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. – John Adams, October 11, 1798

      “Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.” – Patrick Henry

        1. – Amen! I just read Ephesians 6 – The Whole Armor of God – this a.m. I don’t think that there are coincidences.

    2. Call me a nutter, but I like to drive through trailer parks. Streets are narrow and the houses are very close to the street. There are a lot of kids and elderly walking around without a sidewalk, so traffic has to be very slow. Parks accomplish this the old-fashioned way: they dot the streets with dozens of speed bumps.

      HOAs of course could do the same thing… but money talks. How much you want to bet that HOAs are being approached by speed camera companies, offering to install and maintain cameras in exchange for a cut of the fines? Win-win for the HOA and camera company.

    1. Yahoo Finance
      Fortune
      Mark Spitznagel warns we’re in ‘black swan’ territory now, and diversified portfolios are a ‘big lie’
      Fortune· Misha Friedman—Bloomberg via Getty Images
      Jason Ma
      Sun, Sep 29, 2024, 12:42 PM PDT
      3 min read

      The stock market crashed last month on recession fears but has since soared to fresh record highs as the Federal Reserve began cutting rates and China unveiled stimulus measures.

      To Mark Spitznagel, cofounder and chief investment officer of the hedge fund Universa Investments, events are unfolding as he predicted.

      The hedge fund veteran previously said markets would rally as the Fed eases in a Goldilocks phase, but has also warned a recession is coming and that rate cuts are also the opening signal for big reversals down the line.

      In the current environment, that means in the biggest market bubble in history will soon pop, eventually prompting the Fed to “do something heroic” but doom the economy to stagflation, he has said.

      In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Thursday, Spitznagel said the market will continue to see “pure euphoria” in the short term, but will exit the Goldilocks zone toward the end of the year.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-spitznagel-warns-black-swan-194232978.html

    2. UBS says ‘Roaring ‘20s’ scenario has taken shape and could be sustained

      Market Snapshot
      Goldilocks stock-market rally needs jobs data that’s neither too hot nor too cold
      A very strong September jobs number ‘will definitely spook the equity market’: Komal Sri-Kumar
      By William Watts
      Last Updated: Sept. 30, 2024 at 7:25 a.m. ET
      First Published: Sept. 29, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. ET
      Exceedingly strong or weak U.S. September jobs data could spook stock-market investors.
      Photo: Getty Images

      Stock-market investors got what they wanted when the Federal Reserve delivered an extra-large September interest rate cut. A risk now is that strong jobs data in the week ahead could prove to be too much of a good thing, at least as far as Wall Street is concerned.

      “If you do come up with a very strong jobs number…that will definitely spook the equity market,” Komal Sri-Kumar, president of Santa Monica, California based Sri-Kumar Global Strategies, Inc., told MarketWatch in a phone interview.
      …
      https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-market-rally-built-on-hopes-for-more-big-fed-rate-cuts-faces-crucial-test-798fe87b

  6. “Accurate financial information and structural and mechanical condition information has not only been difficult to obtain but what little was provided was incredibly difficult to decipher,” Tomaselli told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Moreover, buyers weren’t the only ones unable to obtain accurate and readily available information. Unit owners in condo buildings have had the same difficulty.”

    Florida is finished

  7. “…his insurance company, sent him just $15,000, minus their deductible. As it turns out, the adjuster, Jordan Lee, was also shocked, as he wrote in his report that he believed the Rapkins were owed $231,368.57….”

    Another Monday, another out-of-control holding costs nightmare.

    Going to be interesting to see if the Rapkins get a judgement, and if they are able to collect. After all, this is Florida.

      1. Valid point.

        But isn’t the Commissioner of Insurance (Per Google: Its Michael Yaworsky in Florida) supposed to rule with an iron hand?

        Otherwise, what are all these highly paid bureaucrats good for?

        What exactly is it that they do all day?

          1. And with every tick of the clock, and every passing day, they all get closer to collecting their outrageous pension plans. (At least here in Calif).

            Government sanctioned scams.

    1. Sounds about right.

      America LAST, as always.

      Do the flood victims get free NYC hotel rooms and $5,000 debit cards? No, that’s only for the “newcomers”

    2. Meanwhile, DJT just landed in southern Georgia to deliver supplies in coordination with Samaritan’s Purse. He has supplies lined up for North Carolina too but he needs to wait a couple days for communications to get back up.

      Not sure where Special K is right now — the other day she was in Vegas with her donors. Aren’t they always bragging how many millions they raised? Why do they need more?

      1. The Asheville situation is tragic but I was watching a news program a day or two before the storm hit and they were going over the details of the great flood of 1916 there. The downtown area has a number of historic buildings that have special colored bricks that denote the water level at the time. The reporter had to point up to them. They know very well what happens from time to time but for some reason everyone wants to blame climate change. In regards to the rest of the region’s flooding, the flood plains are pretty obvious from the satellite view. We are witnessing another mass delusion.

        For anyone interested in this sort of thing, there is an odd little town about 45 minutes from here called Oakdale. Seems like a sweet spot but it has a secret past that no one is allowed to speak about. During the age of steam trains it was once the up and coming place to be complete with amazing train station/hotel and a bunch of industry along the river. One day it rained really hard and it all disappeared. I will link the wikipedia so you can see the pic of the station and you might note that no where in the town’s wikipedia does it mention what happened to it or the industry that was there. (Typical Wikipedia Behavior.)

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakdale,_Tennessee

        Today the town remains broken and unable to become anything other than some houses up on the hills. All that remains of that bustling period of time are some foundations along the conspicuously neglected waterway. However, the realtors will still tell you it is a great time to buy.

        1. It is worthwhile to look over Asheville on a shaded relief topo map that readily depicts the drainage issue when their river banks overtop. The region is green with lush vegetation and forest, so precipitation is common, and in fact they were already near flood stage before the hurricane event.

        2. They must have been having climate change back then too, before the auto. Like when the Ice Age retreated from the mid west thousands of years ago, yep, climate change, it really warmed up then, maybe buffalo farts.

          1. It’s the rate of change of CO2 concentration that alarming, and I don’t believe we can do anything to alter this trend.

          2. CO2 concentration that alarming,

            Don’t be alarmed. The greenhouse gas construct is BS. The “S” doesn’t stand for Science. Consider that you might have been played for political reasons.

  10. “‘It’s so much easier,’ said Rochelle Adamson, a self-employed hairdresser, virtual assistant, and content creator who consolidated more than $55,000 of debt across seven credit cards with a HELOC she took out on a rental property last year.

    By this time next year, Rochelle will be bewailing “predatory lending” as the MSM’s Victim Chronicles feature tales of woe from the stupid & irresponsible.

    1. virtual assistant, and content creator

      Just like every yout is an aspiring rapper, it seems like everyone else wants to be an “influencer” and have money rain down on them.

    2. Using HELOC loans for debt consolidation loans and the like is stupid and always has been (great for the banks though)

      you are taking unsecured debt. (FU, i’m not paying and there’s jack they can do about it) and turning it into secured debt (oh, sorry, gimme your house for not paying).

      Idiocy.

      1. Interest rates on credit cards might be a strong motivation.

        $55,000 of debt across seven credit cards…

        Now she has a refreshed credit limit. Time to party!

          1. debt donkeys have no self control, no self discipline and no math skills.

            Probably the product of ‘no child left behind’ progressive teaching that was common in 70’s and 80’s.

  11. Credit card debt nationwide topped $1.14 trillion at the end of June, up 5.8% from a year earlier, according to New York Fed data.

    Yellen the Felon assures us that record-high credit card debt is a sign of a “strong consumer.”

    1. “…Credit card debt nationwide topped $1.14 trillion at the end of June…”

      $1.14 trillion. Is that a lot?

      Of all the Joe Averages out there drowning in debt, how long would it take to pay off $1.14 trillion? A hundred years?

      These folks have no math skills or any kind of spending discipline. They will continue to spend until the top of their heads are no longer visible in the La Brea Tar pits.

      Of course, guess who gets to pay for all of this?

    2. Yellen the Felon assures us that record-high credit card debt is a sign of a “strong consumer.”

      I guess I’m a weak consumer, since I have no CC debt.

  15. Arizona Lawmakers Attempted To Cover Up Massive Voter Registration Glitch

    by Raw Egg Nationalist
    September 30th, 2024 8:04 AM

    Lawmakers in Arizona scrambled desperately to spin news of a massive voter-registration glitch that saw nearly 100,000 people included on voter rolls for decades without having provided proof of citizenship.

    Audio of a phone call between Governor Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Attorney General Kris Mayes was obtained by The Washington Post. The circumstances of the Post’s obtaining the audio are unknown.

    Governor Hobbs called it an “urgent, dire situation” and Attorney General Mayes said he worried they would be accused of trying to rig the 2024 election.

    “When this goes public, it is going to have all of the conspiracy theorists in the globe—in the world—coming back to re-litigate the past three elections, at least in Arizona,” Hobbs said.

    “And it’s going to validate all of their theories about illegal voting in our elections, even though we all know that’s not true.”

    The 40-minute phone call took place on 10 September. Initially, it was thought around 150,000 voters were affected, but the figure was revised to just under 100,000.

    Although the voters affected included Democrats and independents, the biggest proportion were Republican.

    The three officials engage in tense debate throughout the phone call over how to respond to the problem without disqualifying citizens who are eligible to vote and, perhaps most importantly for the administration, how to save face and avoid accusations of electoral impropriety.

    Fontes, who spoke most during the conversation, said: “They’re going to beat us up no matter what the hell we do, no matter what the hell we say.”

    A spokesperson for Fontes said on Saturday that voting by non-citizens is “vanishingly rare”. A spokesperson for the Governor said, “From the beginning of the call, Governor Hobbs knew no matter the path forward it was critical to get legal certainty for any action taken by the Secretary of State. She’s glad that approach has paid dividends and instilled bipartisan confidence in Arizona’s free, fair, and secure elections.” Attorney General Mayes declined to comment.

    Arizona was the second closest state during the 2020 election, with Biden carrying the state by around 11,000 votes or 0.3%. Trump attributed his defeat in the state to widespread electoral fraud, including voting by non-citizens.

    Many of the claims of voter fraud focused on Maricopa County, where a significant proportion of voting machines failed on election day. Voting machines in the county failed again during the 2022 midterm elections.

    https://www.infowars.com/posts/arizona-lawmakers-attempted-to-cover-up-massive-voter-registration-glitch

  16. CDC recommends talking your 10th Covid 19 shot. Never mind that it’s killed over 35 million so far, and insured more.

    The shots are safe and effective, and the trusted News source is going to obstruct and censor any free speech that might dispute that narrative.
    After all, as John Kerry expressed recently in summary, that it’s hard to govern with the first amendment standing in the way.
    Obstructing misinformation and hate speech is a high priority to Entities like the WEF, UN /WHO , Rich Elites, China , the Banks, Big Pharmacy, etc.
    A man can have a baby, and if you dispute that your a hateful racist who peddles misinformation.
    Vaccine Hestiency is a crime against the depopulation agenda .
    We want to reduce food production by 30% ,so you don’t starve.We want to reduce carbon emissions by 2050, in spite of carbon emissions being the stuff of life. We want to snuff out life, so how dare you try to oppose the Great Narratives we dreamed up decades ago.

    1. “The shots are safe and effective”

      Maryanne Demasi, PhD
      @MaryanneDemasi

      🧵Thousands injured by covid-19 shots abandoned by government
      Today, the Australian government’s Vaccine Claims Scheme stops accepting new compensation claims, despite thousands of people continuing to suffer with covid-19 vaccine injuries.

      https://blog.maryannedemasi.com/p/thousands-injured-by-covid-19-shots

      @SaiKate108 @jikkyleaks @drmelissamccann @CoVerseAU

      Dr Julie Sladden and 9 others
      7:09 PM · Sep 29, 2024
      ·
      https://x.com/MaryanneDemasi/status/1840529398786850995

      1. I’ve always understood hesitancy as being undecided. “Do I or don’t I?”

        I experience no hesitation regarding the jab, because there is no way I will willingly submit.

          1. Before my California hang glider trip I got another COVID booster, RSV and the 2nd shingles, but I avoided the flu shot as the last one hit me hard, really sick for days.

  17. After a earthquake in the past in California, that caused extensive damage, the Insurance Companies sent out people from other States to underestimate
    damage. Insurance Companies didn’t want the damage underwriters to have any emotional attachment to the State they would determine damage in.
    It took years of dispute to the underestimating of damage by the contractor from other States hired by the Insurance Companies.

    HOW DO YOU LIKE Insurance Companies now?
    Translate that to the Health Insurance Companies , and what influence they extend in your medical treatment.

  18. A reader sent these in:

    Rocket Mortgage advertising 1% down mortgages for college football lol

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1840230414805246229

    Lot of hospitals doing layoffs all of the sudden.

    https://x.com/BankerWeimar/status/1840116754128990385

    The beach from Florida:

    https://x.com/BeachFrmFL/status/1840203560702603463

    I’ve hesitated to say this at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, but with last week’s big GDP revisions, there is no denying it: This is among the best performing economies in my 35+ years as an economist. Economic growth is rip-roaring, with real GDP up 3% over the past year. Unemployment is low at near 4%, consistent with full employment. Inflation is fast closing in on Fed’s 2% target – grocery prices, rents and gas prices are flat to down over the past more than a year. Households’ financial obligations are light, and set to get lighter with the Fed cutting rates. House prices have never been higher, and most homeowners have more equity in their homes than ever. Corporate profits are robust, and the stock market is hitting a record high on a seemingly daily basis. Of course there are blemishes, as lower-income households are struggling financially, there is a severe shortage of affordable homes, and the government is running large budget deficits. And things could change quickly. There are plenty of threats. But in my time as an economist, the economy has rarely looked better.

    https://x.com/Markzandi/status/1840488882405614037

    How do you balance that opinion against the 1 tril of added debt every 100 days? Honest question..not meant as argumentative..

    https://x.com/jimiuorio/status/1840526110171275436

    A quarter million Canadians on WAIT LIST for social and affordable housing.

    https://x.com/igetredpilled/status/1840416761654509977

    Remember when the housing bulls made fun of ppl renting?!?

    Ironically hundreds of thousands of ppl in Canada are now renting their homes while carrying massive mortgage debt.

    I’m sure this will end well. 🤫🇨🇦

    https://x.com/ManyBeenRinsed/status/1840500707742437752

    Why not pay a visit to your local lonely realtor?

    https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1840496779391070427

    From LeeAnna “James we are on I-20 in Conyers, GA. BioLabs is on fire right now.”

    https://x.com/spann/status/1840455959753503153

    U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY YELLEN TO PROPOSE WINDFALL PROFITS TAX ON GOLD, BITCOIN; SAYS GAINS ARE RESULT OF “HORRIBLE FISCAL AND MONETARY POLICIES” – WSJ.

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1840041684299854175

    BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO PRIORITIZE HURRICANE HELENE VICTIMS WHO FLY UKRAINIAN OR ISRAELI FLAGS -CNN.

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1840480399471890442

    “65% of our households are basically living on the edge” – Lacy Hunt

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1829286688042238378

    “I always think that GDP is such a weird measure, because if you increase your government debt, you increase your GDP, but, you know, it doesn’t mean you create growth.” Louis-Vincent Gave

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1839428090340278686

    those are socks. they have to lock up socks.

    https://x.com/philthatremains/status/1840130964816834947

    Does @HillaryClinton not remember 2016? 98% of the MSM was 100% pro-Hillary, and virulently anti-Trump (AND anti-Sanders.)

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1840521115581501872

    “CORE PCE” has now been above the Fed’s made-up “2% target” since May 2021.

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1839686030263468488

    Gosh I hope the government will save the housing market.

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1838981436428415038

    “Save the Housing Market”???

    Isn’t the housing market nationally still at all-time high prices?

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1826618993697821113

    Over 50 dead (including 3 firemen) and communities wiped out.

    Watch how much aid they get vs Ukraine war.

    These people need help now.

    Asheville area has been hit hard.

    https://x.com/floridanow1/status/1840397974192419223

    Just to let you know how full of 💩Harris is…

    This👇🏻is the “middle class” home she
    grew up in…

    https://x.com/irv_babbitt/status/1840132375537209720

    1. “they have to lock up socks”

      Crime is down, per Big Gov statistics and Real Journalists.

      My local grocery store didn’t have armed guards at the front door five years ago.

    2. Mark Zandi @Markzandi

      “I’ve hesitated to say this at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, but with last week’s big GDP revisions, there is no denying it: This is among the best performing economies in my 35+ years as an economist.”

      4:28 PM · Sep 29, 2024 · 2.6M Views

      – Reality or Potemkin village?

      – Rebuttals from (credible) sources on X:

      1) Rudy Havenstein, Senior Markets Commentator. @RudyHavenstein

      “I always think that GDP is such a weird measure, because if you increase your government debt, you increase your GDP, but, you know, it doesn’t mean you create growth.”

      Louis-Vincent Gave
      6:13 PM · Sep 26, 2024 · 6,561 Views

      2) Lawrence McDonald @Convertbond

      1. $400B excess USA stimmy — $2T total into the election, all in — deficit spending fiscal juice.

      2. 50bps rate cuts from Uncle Jay.

      3. China – bazooka fiscal and monetary.

      *you will destroy middle-class families – inflation.

      Secretary Janet Yellen @SecYellen · Sep 26

      I shared with @SteveLiesman on @CNBC that all signs suggest we’re on a path to a soft landing with a healthy labor market and inflation down considerably.

      8:02 PM · Sep 26, 2024 · 13.9K Views

      – What’s really going on? The government, including both fiscal (Congress) & monetary (the Fed) policies, is busy stimulating the he11 out of the economy.

      – Fiscal stimmy is on par with WWII level spending and it’s not wartime. Fed rate cuts at 0.5% (50 bps) at GFC and dot com crash levels for 1st cut. Both are highly inflationary. Core inflation is still close to 3% and has stabilized at a higher level. They don’t care.

      – Why? Because they want the incumbent party to win and they know that the perception of a strong economy, even an artificial one, along with a high stonk market will weigh heavily on swaying votes towards the incumbent. They’ve pulled out all of the stops and it will end on Nov. 6th. I seriously don’t know what the Republicans in Congress are doing to oppose this. RINOs?

      – I don’t think that a nation could have a more corrupt government than we have today. DJT could go a long way towards draining the swamp, but he’ll have to literally run the gauntlet to get there.

      – Remember that we’re at the end of the cycle. Recession is the normal outcome, but they’re just stretching it out until after the election, if they can. So far, it seems to be working.

      https://i.imgflip.com/251q6f.jpg

  19. MADERIA BEACH, Fla. – Those who live or work on the Pinellas County barrier islands are now able to get back on the beach after Hurricane Helene.

    Access to the islands reopened for residents, business owners, and employees with a Barrier Island Re-Entry Permit around 4 p.m. on Saturday.

    To gain access to the barrier islands, citizens must provide their Barrier Island Re-Entry Permit or photo ID and reasonable proof that they reside or have legitimate business on the barrier islands.

    “It almost looked like a scene out of an apocalyptic movie at the time. With people walking with their luggage across the bridges, stumbling off,” said Brian Carter.

    Captain Bob Strawhecker is one of dozens of captains lending his boat from the dock at The Angry Pepper to help transport residents and supplies to the barrier islands. He said each person’s story is just as heartbreaking as the next.

    “I’ve mainly been going from Treasure Island to Redington Shores, Indian Rocks area. Went down to Sunset Beach today,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that chose to stay. A lot of first-story homes that chose to stay….it’s bad.”

    Strawhecker said he’s had to break down the doors of homes with two feet of standing water inside. “Every time I drop somebody off it’s just another sad story to see. These people lost everything,” said Strawhecker.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/pinellas-county-barrier-islands-reopen-151404747.html

  20. What Happens When EVs Catch Fire? Spoiler Alert – It’s Not Good

    Electric vehicles (EVs) catch fire at a much lower rate than their petrol-powered cousins, but when it happens, the results can be catastrophic. An EV ignition requires firefighters to deploy methods that are extreme, expensive – even dangerous. When a Tesla truck recently ignited on a US highway, the blaze needed 50,000 gallons of water and an aircraft used for quelling forest fires before it eventually died out.

    This past August, a Tesla Semi truck crashed en route to the company’s battery gigafactory in Nevada, unleashing an inferno that took multiple teams of emergency services workers 14 hours to extinguish.

    California’s Interstate 80 had to be closed while firefighters dumped 50,000 gallons of water on the burning wreckage and called in a water bomber filled with flame retardant to stop the flames from spreading.

    Temperatures reached a reported 1,000 Fahrenheit (537 Celcius). The smoking wreckage then had to be transported to a safe facility and kept under observation for 24 hours to ensure it didn’t reignite – a recurring issue with fires involving EV batteries.

    Earlier in August, an electric vehicle (EV) explosion in a South Korean car park damaged more than 800 cars and caused water and power outages. An unplugged Mercedes-Benz EQE 350 spontaneously combusted in Incheon, west of Seoul, requiring evacuation of more than 200 families from the apartment complex above. Temperatures reached a reported 2,700 Fahrenheit (1,500 Celsius) and took firefighters eight hours to extinguish. Twenty three people were hospitalized.

    And alongside people and property, EV fires hammer the environmental too. Plug-in electric vehicle fire incidents typically need massive quantities of clean water to keep them under control, which can be contaminated by toxic chemicals and runoff into the water table.

    https://www.techopedia.com/electric-vehicle-fire-incidents-should-drivers-worry

  21. Taxpayers shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide dozens of transgender inmates with gender reassignment surgeries, hormone replacement therapies, and other so-called “gender-affirming healthcare.” The state is about to pay for a murderer’s “gender-affirming surgery” next.

    After a Disability Rights Washington complaint against the Department of Corrections (DOC) in 2020, inmates in custody became eligible for gender reassignment surgeries. Since then, 44 inmates across nine of the state’s eleven prison facilities received taxpayer-funded gender-affirming healthcare courtesy of state and federal tax dollars. The total cost was $592,577.67 through June 2024, and some of the costs were covered by Medicaid.

    At that time, the Washington Corrections Center for Women housed the most transgender inmates — 12 — who underwent surgery. Monroe Correctional Complex housed eight, while Airway Heights Corrections Center and Stafford Creek Corrections Center housed five. The Washington State Penitentiary, Clallam Bay Corrections Center, and Coyote Ridge Corrections Center housed two each, while Washington Corrections Center housed one.

    An inmate’s eligibility for free surgeries and other transgender health-related services is not contingent on how much time is left on a sentence post-conviction, nor does the DOC prioritize nor neglect the elective surgeries based on one’s conviction. That explains why not everyone who gets taxpayer-funded surgeries stays in custody. Eight transgender inmates received care, but have since been released.

    Due to the newly implemented legislative “protections” advanced by Democrats in Olympia, it’s nearly impossible to provide a detailed look at the issue. It also means inmates are at risk of abuse by biologically male inmates who may abuse the system to be placed in a female-only prison. There were approximately 250 transgender-identified inmates in June.

    https://mynorthwest.com/3991822/rantz-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-spent-on-gender-reassignment-surgeries-on-transgender-inmates/

  22. Event for tenants of Aurora apartments at center of gang reports highlights “infested, unlivable” conditions

    The apartment complex is one of several in Aurora under scrutiny for uninhabitable living conditions. It’s owned by C-B-Z Management, the same property management company that left hundreds of tenants without homes after the city condemned the Nome Street building.

    Tenants at Whispering Pines fear they may face a similar fate.

    Organizers told CBS News Colorado that a city official informed them tenants at Whispering Pines will have 15 days to vacate if the property management company does not respond to city requests or make repairs.

    However, the city of Aurora told CBS Colorado it has not yet determined the next steps for Whispering Pines.

    Reeves, a community organizer with the Housekeys Action Network, led a “Community Care” day event for tenants of an apartment complex in Aurora at the center of recent gang reports that have made national news.

    “You have folks like Moises, who has been applying for a month. He lives in the apartments on Dallas Street, one of the other complexes, and says people have turned him down as soon as they see his address. People with jobs are being told they have to hide the fact that they are Venezuelan,” Reeves said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/event-for-tenants-of-aurora-apartments-at-center-of-gang-reports-highlights-infested-unlivable-conditions/ar-AA1rqjcQ

  23. Migrant groups are pushing the federal government to reverse its cap on international study permits and tightening post-graduate work permit qualifications, claiming it will leave many students “in limbo.”

    They claim the cap unfairly targets a very specific demographic of Canada’s migrant population, while allowing for an easier pathway for other migrants, including working professionals, towards permanent residency.

    Tasnimah Ahmed has been attending Ontario College of Art & Design University in Toronto under an international study permit for two years. However, with more stringent rules introduced for obtaining a post-graduate work permit, she fears she’ll be sent back to Bangladesh after she graduates.

    “I feel like it’s very unfair, because a lot of us having been studying for three to four years and now to hear they’re putting a cap on the work permit, it doesn’t make sense when we’ve been putting our heart and soul into all of our studies,” Ahmed said.

    Earlier this month, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller announced Canada would be reducing the number of international study permits issued by ten per cent in 2025, after already promising to reduce the amount by 35 per cent this year, and would implement stricter rules for students who want to stay in Canada under a post-graduate work permit.

    “A lot of students are kind of left in limbo I don’t know what my future now holds,” said Mehnaz Lamia, the international student representative for the Canadian Federation of Students. “Every day, you’re living with an expiry on your head because you don’t know what tomorrow holds, because at any moment the policies can change.”

    “The rules have changed in the middle of the game,” Sarom Rhom, an organizer with the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, told CTV News. “Time is working against these students leaving them in massive crisis.”

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/it-s-very-unfair-international-students-face-uncertain-future-in-canada-after-rule-change-1.7056300

  24. OTTAWA — The government has just weeks to decide if it will meet the $16-billion demand from the Bloc Québécois to stave off an election for a few more months, but the stipulation may be at odds with the political and fiscal plans of the Liberals.

    The Liberals have taken great pains in the last year to mould their political strategy around a sense of injustice among millennials and generation-Z Canadians who feel their work isn’t paying off like it did for previous generations.

    While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been touting policies aimed at “fairness for every generation,” the Bloc has given him until Oct. 29 to green light spending for its private member’s bill to increase old age security for seniors under the age of 75.

    If the government doesn’t support the bill by then, Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet says he will enter talks with other parties to bring down the Liberal minority government before the new year.

    “I don’t see clearly what the political upside is for the Trudeau Liberals to spend more on seniors,” said Andrew Perez, a Liberal strategist with Perez Strategies.

    That does appear to be the only demographic the Liberals are still competitive with, Perez said.

    The younger voters who helped Trudeau soar to popularity in 2015 seem, according to the polls, to have drifted to the right to support Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/bloc-pension-demands-at-odds-with-liberal-political-strategy-economic-plans/ar-AA1rp8wn

  25. Austria’s Freedom Party secures first far-right national election win since World War II

    The Freedom Party secured the first far-right national parliamentary election victory in post-World War II Austria on Sunday, finishing ahead of the governing conservatives after tapping into anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine and other issues. But its chances of governing were unclear.

    Preliminary official results showed the Freedom Party finishing first with 29.2% of the vote and Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s Austrian People’s Party was second with 26.5%. The center-left Social Democrats were in third place with 21%. The outgoing government — a coalition of Nehammer’s party and the environmentalist Greens — lost its majority in the lower house of parliament.

    Herbert Kickl, a former interior minister and longtime campaign strategist who has led the Freedom Party since 2021, wants to be chancellor.

    The far right has benefited from frustration over high inflation, the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also built on worries about migration.

    In its election program, titled “Fortress Austria,” the Freedom Party calls for “remigration of uninvited foreigners,” for achieving a more “homogeneous” nation by tightly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum via an emergency law.

    The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, is highly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to bow out of the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project launched by Germany. Kickl has criticized “elites” in Brussels and called for some powers to be brought back from the European Union to Austria.

    “We don’t need to change our position, because we have always said that we’re ready to lead a government, we’re ready to push forward this change in Austria side by side with the people,” Kickl said in an appearance alongside other party leaders on ORF public television. “The other parties should ask themselves where they stand on democracy,” he added, arguing that they should “sleep on the result.”

    https://www.sootoday.com/world-news/austrias-freedom-party-secures-first-far-right-national-election-win-since-world-war-ii-9588557

  26. Eat, Pray, Pollute: On The Needed Death of Tourism

    A crowd of 3,000 anti-tourism protesters descended on posh downtown Barcelona last July, their demeanor one of delighted malice. They cordoned off hotels and eateries with hazard tape, as if demarcating a crime scene. They sprayed with water guns the blithe holidaymakers seated in restaurants. Video footage showed unhappy couples and glowering young men chased from their seats by the mob, stunned at the indignity.

    The protesters shouted “tourists go home.” They held signs that said “Barcelona is not for sale.” They spoke of “mass touristification” and inveighed against the greed of restaurateurs and hoteliers and Airbnb landlords profiting from the madding crowd while the average Catalan struggled to meet the skyrocketing costs of daily life. One of the protesters told an interviewer, “The city has turned completely for tourists. What we want is a city for citizens.”

    The revolt in Spain — resident population 47 million; yearly visitation 85 million — is no outlier in the hypervisited destination countries of Europe. In Greece and Italy, for example, residents also rose up this year to say they will accept no more the invasion of their native ground, as mass visitation strains to the breaking point infrastructure, natural resources – especially water – and, at last, social sanity.

    It’s the culmination of years of exploitation and maltreatment, said writer Chris Christou, who produces “The End of Tourism” podcast. “In the last decade, especially in southern Europe,” Christou told me in an email, “we’ve seen local movements sprout and mobilize —typically from the grassroots Left — against the relentless conversion of home into a veritable theme park for ignorant foreigners.” Christou has documented the industry’s long train of offenses: environmental degradation; cultural appropriation and what he calls petrification (“the stasis or congealing of culture’s flow or growth”); spiraling economic inequality; the Airbnbization of dwelling; gentrification and displacement; corporate and government nepotism; the revolving door of corruption between tourism bureaus and industry; the rise of an extremely precarious labor force; and, not least, “the spectacled surveillance of place that effectively turns home, for local residents, into a turnstile Disneyland.”

    There is no end in sight to this growth, as it appears to be the norm of fossil-fueled footloose modernity. In 1950 there were 25 million international tourist arrivals. Twenty years later the number had jumped to 166 million, by 1990 it was 435 million, and by 2018 it hit an all-time pre-Covid high of 1.442 billion. By 2030, almost 2 billion tourist arrivals are projected.

    The pressures from hyper-visitation and the greed of those who profit from it have become so great that residents have formed the Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, whose purpose is to reverse the toxic touristification process. The group’s co-founder, 48-year-old Barcelonan Daniel Pardo, described touristification as “a transformation enacted on a territory and a population” by governments in collusion with commercial interests. He believes that degrowth of tourism means regulating it nearly out of existence.

    One place to start is with the ideological error in how we think of leisure travel as a right rather than a privilege.

    “The right to fly does not exist. The right to tourism does not exist,” said Pardo recently on the End of Tourism podcast. “You cannot extend a model of tourism everybody thinks about to all the population. It’s impossible.” Pardo added in an email to me that the central issue is “about the limits of the planet, something so many people absolutely do not want to hear about.”

    I have watched the touristification process wreck lives in an American city I once considered a place to settle and raise a family. Moab, Utah, is called “the adventure capital of the world,” and the hordes converge on it for exploration of the surrounding desert wildernesses on vast public lands that include two legendary national parks, Arches and Canyonlands. In the last 20 years, the city has become a nightmare of hypervisitation. The Utah state government and a cabal of elites – landowners, businesspeople, speculators, moneylenders, rentiers – have joined to market Moab across the United States and globally so that huge profits can be reaped from a harvest of ever-increasing numbers of tourists.

    The beneficiaries are also the same as in Barcelona. “Those who benefit the most from hypertourism,” Jon Kovash, a writer and radio journalist in Moab, told me, “are the hedge funders engaged in raping the town. Anybody selling gasoline or liquor or restaurant food. Realtors and land pimps. The internet lodging industry.”

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/09/30/eat-pray-pollute-on-the-needed-death-of-tourism/

    1. I read that Juneau, Alaska, has a ballot measure for “cruise ship free Saturdays”, as the port fills with cruise ships that disgorge thousands of passengers into the small town.

  27. From the article, they were saying that tourism is going to have to end if the carbon reduction goals are met.
    The Rich love to have their travel, all over the world, but this is something that the carbon emitter masses should be denied .
    Think of all the places that solely are relying on tourism as main industry.

    This is a really interesting issue because the pros and cons regarding this issue are numerous.

    Just off hand I look at travel and tourism as a right for anyone that wants to spent their money that way. But, Industry lead corruption is also a issue of grave concern, for any community.

    1. Part of the 15 minute city plan. Of course, the people who matter are exempt from the ban. Of course they won’t be riding around in tour buses, flying on budget airlines, taking trains or staying at modest hotels or hostels.

      Travel won’t be banned, but regulations will make it cost prohibitive for the masses.

  28. Your car is collecting your data – Here is a free way to delete that data

    “Your car is a hard drive on wheels”

    Modern cars have been described as “iPads on wheels”. General Motors was recently sued by the State of Texas for collecting and selling detailed data about drivers to insurance companies and data brokers without the informed consent of GM customers. This video explains a free tool you can use to find out what data your car is collecting, who it is being sold to / shared with, and how you can delete that data.

    https://www.bitchute.com/video/g70aehbmcixX

    4:18. Here’s the site he talks about:

    https://privacy4cars.com/

  29. ‘People are waiting for interest rates to go lower and obviously, with the building boom that’s been going on, potentially, some of these newer properties will have to be discounted at some point in time’

    So yer saying the rate cut is causing crater Dave.

  30. ‘Rapkin admits that he prayed for the ‘untimely demise’ of the adjuster who examined his home after it was devastated by 2022’s Hurricane Ian’

    At least yer not a bitter renter Jeff.

  32. ‘They look like a big stack of documents, right? They look like a lot to read,’ Hollander said. ‘I think, unfortunately, most people don’t even read their purchase and sales contract’

    That’s what I was saying yesterday Suzanne. These people saying nobody told me, I wasn’t notified, almost certainly were if you look at the contracts. Yer statement is what I’ve heard my whole life. Everybody knows the knife catchers don’t read the contract! Disclose away, click click click.

  33. ‘In the wake of COVID-19, in tandem with generous income subsidies, the Bank of Canada plunged its policy rate to 25 basis points in March 2020. It remained there for 18 months, sparking a housing rush. The rapid escalation in home prices was driven by asset-rich Canadians who were able to borrow for pennies on the dollar. And there were many more of them than previously thought, as household savings were in excess of $90 billion by November 2020’

    These clowns cut the rate 3 times in one month, that March. Chickens with their heads cut off.

    ‘Moreover, the money used to inflate asset valuations can also be traced back to the federal government, which exercised little oversight when granting CERB and Canada Recovery Benefit payments. And yet the Bank of Canada kept its policy rate at an historic low, even while the cost of living rose sharply’

    They threw the kitchen sink at minor respiratory illness.

  34. ‘The stress that this is putting myself and the other householders under is unbearable,’ he said. ‘We go from flitting between anger and just complete depression. It’s very difficult because there’s too many unknowns. The only thing we do know is we’re going to be left with a huge shortfall on equity on our properties – that’s more than likely going to prevent us from getting back onto the property market’

    Yer right John, the most important thing is to remain a winnah!

  35. ‘She estimated they will owe the bank just under $100,000. ‘It’s a crazy situation and I kind of want to say I refuse to accept it, but we’ve been backed into a corner we can’t refuse it because if we don’t accept the buyout, we won’t be able to get house insurance.’ The couple are in their 30’s and first home buyers with a toddler. She said they worked extremely hard to get on the property ladder and were now giving up on being able to own their own home again. ‘To be left owing to the bank and having lost our deposit, there’s no way that we can ever own a property again … I am going to try and not get emotional while talking about it’

    If it’s any consolation West Auckland resident, it was way cheaper than renting.

  36. ‘Animal spirits are back in China’s stock market as investors rush into equities, galvanized by Beijing’s policy bonanza and driven by fear of missing out on what some see as a rally of historic intensity. ‘Deposit rates are too low, and real estate investment is no longer safe,’ said 30-year-old office worker Darren Wang, who started buying stocks using borrowed money. ‘There’s no other way to be rich other than redoubling bets on stocks. The market craze you see this time could be unprecedented’

    They’ve really learned a lot from mistakes of the past. Central planning!

Comments are closed.