Now That There’s Not A Ton Of Bookings, They’re Like Well, Wait, I Don’t Want To Pay That

1. ‘She was celebrated, initially, for her decisive response when she became the nation’s first big city mayor to declare a coronavirus state of emergency, followed soon after by a citywide lockdown. But a year later, she was on the defensive. Sprawling homeless encampments took root in portions of the city once lively with workers and tourists, spilling trash and needles onto the sidewalks. People overdosed in the streets, unattended. Videos of smash-and-grab retail crimes and auto theft went viral. ‘People were at home. They couldn’t travel. They couldn’t go on vacation. Their kids were with them all the time. The issues around government and government functioning, that was a real pain point,’ said Nancy Tung, chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party. ‘Things were broken, and you knew it’

   The LA Times is globalist scum media, but this article in interesting as they try to spin the whole minor respiratory illness/fascist takeover. Oh she was celebrated, cuz this was all about Orange Man Bad and we gotta go full commie while we’ve taken these cities hostage. Well you shot yerself in the fook London, and I said that’s what you were doing as you did it. You can stand around looking smug in yer giant pantsuits, but you got a lot of people killed and now you want to act like yer a savior? From the article:

   “There’s no mayor that has overseen a steeper decline in our city’s history than London Breed,” said challenger Mark Farrell, a venture capitalist and former supervisor and interim mayor who is running a formidable campaign to replace Breed in November.

   “She had her chance. It is time to turn the page on this mayor and all of the City Hall insiders,” said challenger Daniel Lurie, a nonprofit executive and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, who is also considered a front-runner.

   Like Breed, both Lurie and Farrell are moderate Democrats by San Francisco standards. And like Breed, they say they want to clear out tent encampments and end rampant drug dealing in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods. They’ve focused their pitch to voters on revitalizing the economy and reviving downtown.

   Both blame Breed for the city’s continued struggles, and they argue she is undeserving of another four years in office.

   Voting for Breed, Lurie said in a recent interview, would be like “getting onto a plane with a pilot that you know has crashed the plane over and over again.”

   1. Like Breed, both Lurie and Farrell are moderate Democrats by San Francisco standards

      Meaning they’re all grifting commies. In San Francisco a moderate proposes taxing people who never had slaves to pay reparations to people who never were slaves.

      San Francisco is finished. The conventions and the tourists won’t be coming back. The big retailers who fled won’t be returning. The techies who still have jobs will be working in the valley or from a home not in San Francisco.

      The tax revenue that shriveled up ain’t coming back.

   2. “clear out tent encampments and end rampant drug dealing in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods.”

      Clear it out, how? The old “ticket out of town” strategy is not going to work; in fact, that’s how all these folks got to Cali in the first place, when OTHER states gave them a ticket out of town. These gov officials can talk all they want, but in the end, addicts gonna addict, and dealers gonna deal. All that the gov is gonna accomplish is rotate the problem around to different neighborhoods until all the addicts are dead.

      1. Bum herding™.

2. Realtors are liars.

   1. Realtors are liars.

3. For decades, the Fed’s bullion bank market manipulators have suppressed the price of gold and silver – and artificially propped up the U.S. dollar – via such illegal stratagems as naked shorting and spoofing – illegal, but carried on with impunity as captured, complicit CFTC regulators turned a blind eye. Now the banks involved in this market rigging are facing massive losses as millions of red-pilled retail investors ditch their debauched Yellen Bux for physical precious metals. Senator Running Deer could not be reached for comment.

   https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/silver-prices-surge-banks-face-billion-dollar-losses/ar-AA1sxKBZ

   1. Key word being “physical” precious metals.

      It’s not redpilled retail investors buying the physical metals. Retail investors usually don’t buy physical metals at all. Instead, they trade in contracts and futures and warrants and leases and ETFs like GLD, and other fancy paper games. In fact, when the price of gold began to rise, the retail investors began to SELL their fancy paper for more dollars.

      What’s happening is that other countries — especially the BRICS* — are buying the physical gold, and silver too. Too late, the Western investors found their reserves of physical being drained to where they can no longer short the price. To make it worse, these countries are buying the physical metal for a slightly higher price than Western spot, prompting banks like JPM and BoA to sell their physical holdings to take advantage of the momentary arbitrage. IDIOTs, they are almost literally killing the goose and their golden eggs.

      ———
      *Brazil Russia India China Saudi Arabia, and 30+ associated countries who are organizing in an effort to de-dollarize from the world reserve currency. DJT knows about this, but I doubt Special K can even spell BRICS.

4. I smell fear. Is that you, Yellen the Felon & BlackRock Jay?

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

5. Three, tech companies are starting to reduce payroll.’

   Tech bubble 2.0 is bursting as the unsustainable valuations and inflated salaries that were only possible in a world awash in Yellen Bux “stimulus” come crashing back to earth. It’s time for a revival of the old “F*ckedCompany.com” that hilariously tracked the tech bubble companies entering the Dead Pool back when Tech Bubble 1.0 was imploding.

   1. Not to mention that a lot of those firms have never been profitable.

6. ‘The worry of every condo owner up and down the coast is whether licensed engineers will red-tag their building, requiring millions in repairs.’”

   I’ll go first: “But it was cheaper than renting.”

   1. I dunno, ITSM that the strategy of buying a mobile home outright and paying lot rent is looking better and better. It’s not as if the land is going to fall apart.

      1. Historically, Oxide, that was a reasonable strategy. Sadly, PE vultures have discovered an unpicked fruit. They are buying up these older, less-expensive parks, and jacking up the ground rents.
         –Geezer

7. She explained that, in this lakeside California community, 44% of the housing units are vacant more than six months out of the year. That adds up to more than 7,000 homes. The petition proposes a tax on those properties — $3,000 the first year and $6,000 every subsequent year they remain unoccupied.”

   This is the way! The speculator scum need to be driven out of all residential housing markets nationwide.

8. According to the Wall Street Journal, there are more than 90 million vacant houses in China. Real estate market revival will surely boost the sluggish Chinese economy.

   Another triumph of central planning.

   1. No child policy

      1. Winnie the Pooh now wants his people to have lots of kids. It’s proving a challenge to convince demoralized young adults to even have one.

         1. Which is odd, because housing at this point should be near free if you are not in the core of a major city.

            Maybe they can give free houses to couples that have children. Or they can institute a property tax on couples that do not have children.

            1. a property tax on couples

               I seem to recall reading that marriage too is on the decline in China. The laying flat and let it rot generation don’t seem all that keen on heeding the party’s exhortations to work, procreate or even court.

            2. Imagine the social pressure for a young man — expected to own an apartment that is 20-100x wages by the time they are 25, have children immediately, all while caring for their ageing parents.

               It’s enough to say forget this and play some video games.

         2. Hard to get it up when demoralized…

         3. Every day that goes by is a one day closer to menopause. 20 years ago those girl-babies were given up for adoption, cut from the womb, or even tossed after birth. Now they’re precious. The last big generation of women is now between age 30 and 35. Pooh will be lucky to get 1-2 kids out of them. There’s a huge dropoff of girls younger than that. Unless they all suddenly go Amish tradwife, there’s some question as to whether China will last another hundred years.

            1. The demographic collapse is virtually global. Remember the Georgia Guide Stones? They want a global population of 500M

   2. central planning

      Why don’t they just tax them out of existence?

      1. Or price them out of being able to afford a place to raise a family?

         Oh wait…

9. The Bridgehampton store, about 95 miles east of Manhattan, closed its doors for the final time Sunday night
   Combined, Sears and Kmart have closed more than 3,500 stores and cut about 250,000 jobs in the past 15 years.

   https://finance.yahoo.com/news/attention-shoppers-last-full-sized-213944465.html

   1. When I was in grad school I lived near a K-mart, the kind with the attached cafeteria constantly stuffed with old folks. And no wonder, the food was incredibly cheap. Unfortunately that K-Mart didn’t last much longer after a Walmart supercenter opened 5-6 miles away.

      10 years later I tried to shop at a different K-Mart. What a horror show. The lighting was dim, the products were unorganized on the shelf, and the whole place gave off bad vibes. But the worst part was that K-Mart (and Sears too) had a complex system of sale circulars, coupons, and rewards points. This led to checkout lines being clogged with immigrants who used expired coupons or the previous week’s sales as an opening to HAGGLE, aggressively, with dumb minimum wage cashiers. People got fed up and just left the line and never came back.

      I’m glad K-Mart is gone TBH. As for Sears and Penney’s, all of their merch is pretty much covered by other big box, namely Target for clothing, Home Despot for home goods, and Wal-mart for everything else.

      1. They used to have the best selection and prices for fishing tackle and shotgun shells. Those 10 cent chili dogs were tasty too.

         1. My oldest sister’s first job as a teenager was making deli sandwiches at the new K-Mart that opened up near our neighborhood.

      2. Don’t forget Tractor Supply. (I wish they sold beer)

10. Wait until Trump wins and the left tries to not let him take office. Expect it. That’s what will happen. And guess who certifies election. Harris

    1. Jim Rickards talks about this. Evidently Raskin will declare DJT an insurrectionist or something. But I don’t know how they can do that. They won’t be able to toss DJT on the ravings of one man. There would have to be some sort of impeachment trial or conviction from Congress. But the Rs control the House, and on January 1, the Rs will likely control the Senate, so I don’t believe the Congress will agree to anything. And even if they do, wouldn’t that just put JD in the White House? From what I read on X, he would be even worse than DJT.

       Unless the deep state threatens her life, Special K will certify. She’s weak, and at this point I’m not even sure she WANTS the job anyway.

11. A quick update on the storm damage in SC and NC …..we’ve had beautiful weather ever since the storm ,over 3 weeks ago……SC has mostly recovered , we’re fine .
    In western NC , they’ve had so much stuff sent in by private means, they don’t know what to do with it all, it’s piling up , stop ,please ….Here in our area ,we can’t buy bottled water , it’s all been shipped up to NC.
    Talked to my nephew , yesterday , he’s one of the appraisers , that evaluates damage , and what they can do to help ,right now, not next week or next month, unlike the FEMA programs , that’s how most people up there are getting help……

    1. Knoxville has been completely out of bottled water too, it was stripped bare by people sending it to the mountains. The odd thing is the free market can’t seem to figure out how to resupply it in a timely manner. It is kind of shocking that water of all things is so hard for them to figure out. We had to do a major research project to find any within 50 miles. Keep in mind Knoxville is directly piping all the nasty flood waters to everyone’s home. Everything from Erwin and Asheville flows right past the intake pipe. Yuck!

       1. It can take time to blow mold that many bottles. I suspect that is the bottleneck, pun intended. Remember that everything is now “Just in time”, meaning there is nothing stored in any warehouses.

       2. We had to do a major research project to find any within 50 miles.

          If we had such a disaster here, I’d be trucking water from one of the nearby streams or a spring not far away. I have a few carboys. The local firetruck would probably be delivering tankers full of water to the neighborhoods. A shortage of grocery store personal water bottles doesn’t register as a crisis.

12. Bond yields rising some more this morning. Got lube rate daters?

    1. Rising bond yields and CR8Ring stocks portend rough waters ahead.

       1. PS Bond vigilantes are giving risk junkies a spanking today…

          1. 10-year Treasury yield heads toward highest since July on U.S. economic strength

             Monday morning’s selloff in U.S. government debt pushed yields broadly higher as traders continued to digest data from last week that showed the U.S. economy remains resilient.

             Last week’s data, which showed a bigger-than-expected jump in retail sales for September, continued to impact the Treasury market on Monday, said BMO Capital Markets senior economists Sal Guatieri, Robert Kavcic and Jennifer Lee.

             In a note, they said BMO is now forecasting 3% growth in the third quarter and 2% in the fourth quarter, while lifting full-year outlooks for 2024 and 2025 — which “straddles the soft- to no-landing zone, meaning we likely have seen the last of the super-sized rate cuts from the Fed.”

             Separately on Monday, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said in a speech that the economy is strong and stable, but there are upside risks to inflation.

             Meanwhile, data from last Friday revealed that fiscal 2024’s U.S. budget deficit was the third highest on record, at $1.8 trillion or up 8% from a year ago. “Neither party has plans to rein in the shortfall after the election,” the BMO team said on Monday.

             https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/bond-yields-continue-to-move-higher-on-signs-of-u-s-economic-strength/ar-AA1sE81E

             1. Treasury 10-year yields at 5%? It could happen says T. Rowe Price

                Benchmark Treasury yields may soon hit a key level on the back of rising inflation expectations and concerns over US fiscal spending, according to T. Rowe Price.

                “The 10‑year Treasury yield will test the 5% threshold in the next six months, steepening the yield curve,” according to Arif Husain, chief investment officer of fixed-income, who helps oversee about $180 billion of assets at the firm. The fastest path to 5% “would be in the scenario that features shallow Fed rate cuts,” he wrote in a note.

                The call stands out against market expectations of lower yields, after the Federal Reserve cut rates for the first time in four years last month. It also underscores the increasing debate in the world’s biggest bond market, following strong economic data that has raised questions about the likely pace of cuts.

                Yields on 10-year Treasuries most recently traded at 5% last October, hitting their highest level since 2007 as fears of a prolonged period of high interest rates gripped markets. Turbulent repricing could be on the cards if Husain’s prediction proves accurate, with strategists currently expecting yields to fall to an average 3.67% in the second quarter.

                Ten-year Treasury yields held at 4.08% on Monday.

                Husain, a near three-decade market veteran, said ongoing issuance by the Treasury to fund the government deficit is “flooding the market” with new supply. At the same time, the Federal Reserve’s policy of quantitative tightening — an attempt to reduce its balance sheet following years of bond-buying — has removed a key source of demand for government debt.

                The yield curve is likely to steepen further because any rises in the yields of short-maturity Treasury bills will be limited by rate cuts, said Husain, who is also T. Rowe Price’s head of fixed income.

                https://www.investmentnews.com/industry-news/treasury-10-year-yields-at-5-it-could-happen-says-t-rowe-price/257787

          2. Dollar is strengthening in the international currency markets…not usually a favorable sign for risk asset HODLers…

    2. Do exploding mortgage rates make your head want to explode?

       1. Fox Business
          Home Mortgage
          Published October 21, 2024 1:52pm EDT
          Why mortgage rates are going up despite the Fed’s interest rate cut
          Mortgage rates are headed in the opposite direction that many had hoped after the Fed slashed the federal funds rate
          By Breck Dumas FOXBusiness
          The Federal Reserve most likely wont decrease interest rates 50 basis points: Jeff Sica

          Americans saw mortgage rates soar during the Federal Reserve’s aggressive campaign to fight inflation, leading many to hope for a reprieve after the central bank finally cut the federal funds rate last month for the first time in four years.

          But instead of declining, mortgage rates have marched higher for the past three weeks, with the benchmark 30-year fixed surging to 6.44% as of Freddie Mac’s latest reading.

          Mortgage rates spiked in 2022 and 2023 as the Fed hiked interest rates. In the span of just 16 months, the central bank approved 11 rate increases – the fastest pace of tightening since the 1980s.

          While the federal funds rate is not what consumers pay directly, it affects borrowing costs for home equity lines of credit, auto loans and credit cards.

          “Fixed mortgage rates move in relation to long-term interest rates like the yield on 10-year Treasury notes, both of which respond to the outlook for economic growth and inflation over the coming years,” Bankrate’s chief financial analyst, Greg McBride, told FOX Business. “Mortgage rates tend to move well in advance of any action the Federal Reserve takes with short-term interest rates, not in response.”

          McBride noted that mortgage rates dropped a full percentage point between May and September from 7.2% to 6.2%, in expectation of coming Fed interest rate cuts.

          “The Fed’s more aggressive half-point rate cut in September increased the odds that the economy continues to grow, avoids recession, and that inflation could be higher than anticipated,” he said. “With that outlook, long-term interest rates – both Treasury yields and mortgage rates – have moved higher, reversing some of the decline seen in preceding months.”
          …
          https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/why-mortgage-rates-going-up-despite-feds-interest-rate-cut

13. Another Russian Oligarch Falls Out of Window
    https://www.newsweek.com/russia-mysterious-death-oil-yukos-oligarch-rogachev-window-cancer-suicide-1972000

14. A reader sent these in:

    It’s funny cuz it’s true.

    https://x.com/igetredpilled/status/1848001478461411595

    Donald Trump’s pledge to “launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country” would jeopardize construction firms already facing labor shortages, regardless of legal status, and push record home prices higher, experts say.

    https://x.com/NBCNews/status/1847631350691422362

    Construction companies will have to pay American labor living wages rather than $7.25 – the horror!

    These construction co execs should be locked up too.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1847864326234739108

    t’s laughable – the two arguments I constantly see made for mass migration from these idiots are

    > “Americans don’t want to work in these fields” – bullshit – the companies don’t pay enough for American labor (look at the build quality of new homes lately, slap a few single ply’s together with paint)

    > They’re here & they’re genius – doctors, scientists, & more! They’re smarter than Americans!

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1847864945544671281

    I am looking for a new car and I am shocked at the prices for anything good these days.

    Brands and models that I used to expect to be $30,000 are now $50,000+.

    For $50,000+ I would have expected something AMAZING, but now it is just a middle of the market type car.

    https://x.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1848062547137634464

    Ah, insane YIMBY takes: “an Airbnb is not housing”.

    The idea that taking a housing unit and putting it on http://Airbnb.com suddenly makes it “not housing”. 🙄

    When it effectively demolished a housing unit–instantly– during a supposed housing shortage.

    https://x.com/NotoriousAirbnb/status/1848070812349215040

    I guarantee you these apartment buildings are housing. Just misappropriated to hotels.

    https://x.com/NotoriousAirbnb/status/1848072683612688574

    You cannot control where these Airbnbs go.

    The end result is that any desirable area for tourists has locals forced out or priced out.

    Like Barcelona, Venice, Lisbon.

    I have provided a map showing all the areas u think locals aren’t allowed to live. And a map of the Airbnbs.

    https://x.com/NotoriousAirbnb/status/1848046676755239378

    housing units continue to grow significantly faster than households to fill them…housing units per household (black dashed line) likely to surpass the previous 2010 ATH later this year.

    https://x.com/Econimica/status/1798580225925890227

    What’s the difference between an apartment building converted to Airbnbs and a hotel??

    Asking for my friends @MayorToddGloria
    @CMJenCampbell
    @CMWhitburnD3

    Over 1,000 San Diego apartments have been converted to STR.

    https://x.com/NotoriousAirbnb/status/1693777457474863233

    Crime does pay.

    For *SIX YEARS* these people illegally rented 3 ADUs on Airbnb.

    What did they do with their ill-gotten gains? Went out and bought $200k+ worth of Rivian R1S.

    https://x.com/NotoriousAirbnb/status/1848024477562474647

    Can you see the required notice prominently displayed and visible from the public right of way for these 7 short term rentals? Me neither. All are in violation of ordinance, yet not being enforced against.

    https://x.com/Coleen4SD/status/1847778550273003873

    According To FDIC, Bank Loan Delinquencies Are Going Parabolic

    https://x.com/Malone_Wealth/status/1847859217119469671

    1. “would jeopardize construction firms already facing labor shortages, regardless of legal status, and push record home prices higher”

       Do they acknowledge that there is construction that is not residential?

       Anecdotal: I’m covering inspection today (we passed) for another foreman in a radiology office in a commercial office mid-rise. Patient x-rays can’t be administered via work from home, last I checked.

       Tenant finish for cubicle farm offices has largely dried up, but there is no shortage of other commercial work out there.

    2. I am looking for a new car and I am shocked at the prices for anything good these days.

       Brands and models that I used to expect to be $30,000 are now $50,000+.

       For $50,000+ I would have expected something AMAZING, but now it is just a middle of the market type car.

       All the newly redesigned cars are chock full of gadgets that will break out of warranty and cost an arm and a leg to repair. Those fully LCD dashboards are especially problematic, I don’t see how they will last 10+ years (if even that much). Turbos and CVTs will also be a pricey issue as cars age. I suppose that if you are willing to run forever on the lease treadmill that won’t be a problem.

       1. “…All the newly redesigned cars are chock full of gadgets that will break out of warranty and cost an arm and a leg to repair….”

          Autos have effectively become computers with 4 rubber tires attached.

          Owners will have no 3rd party repair options.

          Owners will have no 3rd party parts options.

          Big brother is integrated in overall design architecture.

          Owners will be monitored, tracked, penalized [primarily by insurance providers] for driving in forbidden areas, at forbidden speeds, at forbidden times.

          1. Follow on:

             Undesirables and repeat offenders will have their Kilowatt Hour electric EV charge quotas cut back.

             On a brighter note, Woody Allen in his film ‘Sleeper’ pretty much predicted what we all are experiencing the beginnings of right now.

       2. There was an interesting article on this. Apparently the trend is suddenly to smaller, cheaper models. I did just buy a new car. I ended up in a Buick Encore GX. Not something that would’ve even been on my radar, but with a firm budget of $25,000 I was shocked at the lack of availability. It’s a great little car, I just hope it’s a great little car for 5 or more years until I’m ready for another one.

          1. Buick Encore GX

             I just don’t trust those 3 cylinder turbos. Hopefully it will be good.

             1. It took some convincing and I splurged for the 1.3 vs. the 1.2…lol

                The competitors with 4 cylinders had virtually no creature comforts and were loud with bad road manners. I looked at the Kia Niro, Hyundai Venue and Kona, and the Nissan Juke (clown car). To say I was disappointed is an understatement.

                You’re probably right on the electronics and CVT’s. At $25K I don’t mind buying a new car every 5 years and assume I’ll have $5K to $7K to put towards my next one. I can’t imagine buying stuff for twice that with the same problems.

15. “Among the cities that residents are now looking to leave include Austin, TX, West Palm Beach, FL, and San Diego, according to home services company Thumbtack.”

    Ancient history lesson here, as San Diego was well along the way to hallowing out during the Pandemic years…

    1. There’s too many damn people in San Diego. Years ago when I was out there an HBBer drove me around pointing at the ocean saying isn’t it beautiful? I didn’t want to be rude looking at the telephone poles and wires streaming to the ugly townhouse buildings, cars parked everywhere. But I thought, you don’t live in the ocean you live in that!

       1. North County is nice, though impossibly unaffordable…

    2. It’s fun to see Palm Beach on the list again. Things got reasonable for all of 5 years or so. Then it got insane, then it got (insert something worse than insane here). Condos are going to be given away for $1 as long as you pay the assessments. Mark my words.

16. TOPCon solar panel prices falling in Germany amid industry struggles

    The PV industry in Germany is struggling, with company bankruptcies piling up, reflecting a trend seen across all sectors. According to Deutsche Wirtschaftsnachrichten, the number of bankruptcies in the third quarter of 2024 reached a high not seen since 2010, mainly due to self-inflicted problems and ongoing price declines.

    This month, the price declines mainly affected TOPCon modules in the higher performance classes, which fell by an average of €0.010/W, while prices for other module classes remained mostly unchanged. Many suppliers are still under pressure, devaluing even popular brands just to boost sales.

    However, the past six to nine months show this strategy isn’t necessarily working. Despite lower prices for components and turnkey systems, demand and sales figures haven’t seen a corresponding increase.

    There is still strong reluctance to buy, particularly in the residential segment, due to uncertainty about long-term economic conditions and individual incomes. Meanwhile, the cost of living continues to rise, despite weaker inflation, along with increasing authorization times from administrations and authorities.

    Recent interest rate cuts have failed to improve the investment climate. New installations across Germany and Europe seem to be stagnating at levels seen in recent months. While the growing C&I segment has partially offset the decline in large systems and small government-subsidized systems, it has not yet compensated for the drop.

    If we look at why the number of PV installations is declining even for large roof and ground-mounted systems, even though the situation should have improved and the bureaucratic hurdles should have been reduced, we can see the discrepancy between expectations and reality. It is not enough to simplify the rules if there is not enough staff to process the flood of project applications. For example, the time between submitting an application to the network operator and receiving network approval has increased significantly in many regions instead of shortening. If the capacities in the low- and medium-voltage network are also exhausted and additional transformers or even substations have to be built, a major project can be delayed indefinitely.

    And now we come to the point where companies’ existence is at risk. Especially for medium to large projects, the planning lead time is often immense, and staff and sometimes materials have to be prefinanced. However, the risk all too often lies with the project developer, because banks cannot do much with the current business models beyond the legally guaranteed remuneration. They need planning security, which is rarely provided, neither when building the system nor when later selling the energy generated by it. The sword of Damocles of the temporary curtailment of the photovoltaic system now hangs over everything. If the periods of negative electricity prices continue to increase in the future, there is a risk of economic damage.

    https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/10/21/topcon-solar-panel-prices-falling-in-germany-amid-industry-struggles/

    1. economic damage

       The whole business is based on government subsidies. That’s where the economic damage comes from.

17. Nice green investing guidebook, Ottawa. It’d be a shame if nobody used it

    After years of debate, the federal government has finally released its plan for a Canadian sustainable finance taxonomy. We will have to wait a few more months to see if its final criteria make environmental sense. But the bigger issue is whether this voluntary taxonomy will have any market impact.

    As with any dictionary, a taxonomy will only be useful if its definitions are used in real life. Nobody cares about a 17th-century dictionary that defines outdated words. This is the main risk facing Ottawa’s new taxonomy: How will the feds ensure that their dictionary is put to use?

    For now, compliance with the sustainable finance classification will be voluntary, allowing companies and investors to keep using their own taxonomies and labels. For example, companies may continue issuing “green” bonds to fund oil and gas projects, even if these projects are not aligned with taxonomy’s criteria. Similarly, fund managers may continue to advertise “green” investment funds even if such funds do not invest into taxonomy-aligned assets.

    The Sustainable Finance Action Council – an advisory body appointed by the federal government to develop proposals for a taxonomy – had already warned of this risk in its 2023 Roadmap Report. As explained by SFAC, a voluntary taxonomy can lead “companies, especially those in higher-emitting sectors [to] bypass the rigours of the taxonomy in favour of continuing to raise capital for transition purposes through the use of traditional financial instruments.”

    To prevent the emergence of competing labels with weaker criteria and monitoring processes, Canada’s financial regulators – including the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions and provincial securities agencies – should integrate the taxonomy into financial rules as soon as possible.

    Additional policies could also be considered by the federal and provincial governments to foster the adoption of the taxonomy, such as incorporating its criteria in public procurement rules, using it to develop public investment programs and requiring state-owned entities to report on their taxonomy alignment.

    As key building blocks of Canada’s anti-greenwashing agenda, these measures would likely obtain wide support from the public. In a 2022 survey of Canadian retail investors, 75 per cent of respondents indicated being concerned about greenwashing, and 78 per cent showed support for more stringent and heightened regulation in the financial sector to address greenwashing.

    For years, various stakeholders – from NGOs to financial institutions – have called for a sustainable finance taxonomy. Now that it’s here, policy makers must act quickly to ensure that it does not become yet another voluntary environmental measure that fails to deliver results.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-nice-green-investing-guidebook-ottawa-itd-be-a-shame-if-nobody-used-it/

18. Canada’s tax competitiveness waning due to Trudeau government’s tax changes

    Every year, the U.S.-based Tax Foundation releases its International Tax Competitiveness Index, which ranks countries based on their tax system’s competitiveness – its attractiveness (to individuals and businesses) relative to other economies, with more competitive tax systems generally imposing lower tax rates.

    Last year, Canada’s overall tax system ranked 15th out of 38 countries – ahead of the United States (21st) but behind countries such as New Zealand (third), Australia (10th) and Sweden (13th).

    However, according to this year’s index (to be released on Oct. 21), Canada fell two spots to 17th overall, while other countries including the United States (18th) improved their competitiveness.

    The decline is even worse when looking specifically at business and personal income taxes. In 2023, Canada ranked 24th out of 38 in both categories, yet we’ve fallen to 26th for business taxes and 31st for personal income taxes in 2024.

    Why has the country’s tax competitiveness waned?

    According to the Tax Federation, mainly owing to two tax changes by the Trudeau government this year: the phasing out of provisions that allow businesses larger writeoffs on capital investments, and the planned increase in the capital-gains tax.

    Firstly, when businesses invest in capital (such as machinery or equipment) they are able to deduct (or “write-off”) part of these costs from their taxes. Therefore, reducing the amount that can be written-off in each year, as the government did this year when it phased out provisions from 2018, increases the effective tax rate on capital investments.

    Higher tax rates reduce the return on investment, which means this tax change will likely lower the amount of incoming investment into the Canadian economy. Exactly the opposite of what Canada needs.

    Secondly, prior to the Trudeau government’s proposed change this year, half of a capital gain – that is, income derived from selling an asset – was taxable. But in its April budget, the government increased that “inclusion rate” to two-thirds in many scenarios, effective June 25, although Parliament has yet to pass the enabling legislation for the changes.

    This will also deter investment because capital-gains taxes directly reduce the investor returns and therefore reduce the incentive to invest, which harms economic growth. In fact, economist Jack Mintz estimates the Trudeau government’s capital-gains-tax increase will permanently reduce employment in Canada by 414,000 and gross domestic product (GDP) by nearly $90-billion.

    In recent years, Canada’s economy has been neither strong nor productive − productivity (defined as economic output per hour worked) has fallen in eight of the past nine quarters and living standards (measured by GDP per person) are in a five-year decline. Simply put, at a time when Canada’s economy is already faltering, our decline in tax competitiveness will only make our economic problems worse.

    Canada’s lack of tax competitiveness is contributing to the dismal state of the economy. Instead of fixing the problem, the Trudeau government has made things worse. To improve our competitiveness, policy makers in Ottawa and across the country should enact broad-based tax reform.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-canadas-tax-competitiveness-waning-due-to-trudeau-governments-tax/

19. Are Russia and China behind Helene misinformation in WNC? 3 in Congress want answers

    Three United States representatives from North Carolina requested a national intelligence briefing on the spread of online misinformation hindering efforts to support and rebuild parts of Western North Carolina washed away by Hurricane Helene.

    “This information is dangerous to saving life and property right now, and we need to get to the bottom of whoever might be disseminating it, manipulating it and manipulating our citizens,” U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, a Wake Democrat, told The News & Observer Saturday.

    In the Friday, Oct. 18, letter, Democratic U.S. Reps. Ross, Wiley Nickel and Kathy Manning, wrote to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines they are concerned about foreign governments involvement in spreading and promoting misinformation to undermine the public trust in government and hamper response efforts.

    The letter is the latest sign of frustration among federal officials, elected leaders and some members of the public about what is turning into a troubling trend of misinformation spreading online after natural and other disasters. They are particularly concerned about the amount of false and misleading information following recent hurricanes Helene and Milton.

    President Joe Biden, Gov. Roy Cooper, American Red Cross officials and leaders from federal, state, county and local governments have criticized and debunked the circulating misinformation, emphasizing people should only rely on trusted sources.

    Republican U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards also spoke out about the misinformation, while debunking rumors such as Helene was geo-engineered to seize lithium deposits in Chimney Rock and that FEMA might run out of money or diverted disaster response to the border or foreign aid.

    “I encourage you to remember that everything you see on Facebook, X, or any other social media platform is not always fact,” wrote Edwards, who represents far Western North Carolina.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/are-russia-and-china-behind-helene-misinformation-in-wnc-3-in-congress-want-answers/ar-AA1sBg3Y

    1. “emphasizing people should only rely on trusted sources”

       Muh Russia strikes again?

       Sorry but your “trusted sources” narrative died with CCP Flu, your phony vaccines, and yes, the stolen 2020 election.

20. Senator Lidia Thorpe interrupts royal reception for King Charles and Queen Camilla

    Independent senator Lidia Thorpe interrupted a royal reception in Parliament House on Monday, shouting “you are not our king” and “this is not your land” to King Charles III, who sat a few metres away.

    The monarch had recently finished his address when Senator Thorpe, who was wearing a fur cloak and had been standing quietly during the proceedings, stepped out into the aisle and began yelling.

    “You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us — our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people,” she shouted as she strode towards the stage, where the king and queen were sat next to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

    As she exited the hall after being escorted out by security, the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung senator yelled: “F**k the colony.”

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/lidia-thorpe-protest-king-charles-queen-camilla-visit/104498310

    1. The aborigines were living in the stone age when the Europeans arrived. I’m sure that the good Senator, like all leftists, would love to push us all back into the stone age.

21. ‘Where Do We Go’ launches new campaign against homeless sweeps

    “F#$%K Berkeley, full of so-called progressives, but they just as racist and classist as any of these cities…” My mama held her head in her hands while she screamed this out to the police and their tow trucks scraping and lurching our home (car) away into the distance.

    We had been pulled over for driving while poor in Berkeley (expired registration, broken taillight, hooptie). Within minutes I was arrested, thrown against the wall and our car-home was seized while my houseless, disabled mama was left on Haste and Telegraph with no support person or wheelchair.

    These violent memories clutter my head all the time. Me and mama were houseless in Berkeley, Oakland, LA, and San Francisco, all of them operating under the English colonial law that deems poor people criminal for being poor, and in this 21st century have created specific demands for our disappearance from so-called public lands all across California.

    In occupied Huchiun, aka Oakland, a new land reclamation move has erupted, and it’s called Where Do We Go.

    All of my deep trauma memories of childhood and adult homelessness, evictions and sweeps came back to me in force while I stood at the edge of the newly established Where Do We houseless Community at 8th and Bancroft in West Berkeley.

    Whether it’s Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, now or in the late 1990s, my mama was right. There is a mythos about the alleged progressiveness of these California settler towns, but like all occupied Turtle Island and the world, their policies towards its poorest residents are broken and violent and criminalizing and evil.

    Since the Grant Pass Vs Johnson ruling houseless people in so-called California have been brutally swept, displaced and removed. On MLK and West Grand in occupied Huchiun, where many of POOR Magazine’s RoofLessRadio reporters were peacefully trying to sleep, the mayor of Oakland, who claimed her own experience with homelessness to get elected, launched a vicious “clearing” campaign of her own, followed by a citywide mandate to sweep every single houseless person who dares to sleep. Her order and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order are also unconstitutional, as POOR Magazine reporter and poverty skola Jeremy Miller was able to prove

    In Occupied Yelamu, aka San Francisco, as reported and WeSearched extensively by POOR Magazine RoofLESs reporters, houseless, disabled, elders, families, and folks have been harassed, bullied, arrested, interrogated, intimidated, and removed by Mayor London Breed’s administration and given bus tickets to nowhere.

    In Occupied Tovaangar, aka LA, Mayor Karen Bass has created a “solution” that incarcerates houseless people in “jail-like” motel rooms, or locked up “detention-like” centers, where if the system doesn’t get us, our own minds struggling with depression and trauma will. Isolation kills, as me and my houseless mama often repeated and it’s one of the inspirations for the healing, housing community that is Homefulness. Meanwhile the “Housing Authority” of LA harasses and evicts houseless mamas and uncles from their own reclaimed homes in another liberation solution movement who call themselves Reclaiming Our Homes.

    In Fresno, Antioch and beyond, new and increasingly violent anti-houseless peoples measures are being implemented as I write all with the goals of disappearing our houseless bodies from this occupied land.

    Whether it’s the violent clear-cutting, sweeps and displacement of Peoples Park or the refusal to approve a cease fire resolution for Palestine or the endless anti-poor people votes like clearing the Berkeley Marina of RV’s and the recent vote by Berkeley City Council to “clear” 2/3rds of Berkeley’s Houseless ComeUnities as demanded by Newsom following the Grants ruling, Berkeley operates with a veneer of performative progressive acts but ultimately their moves and decisions are rooted in a fascist framework, which is somehow even feels more evil because of the alleged civic consciousness.

    These multiple traumas have led myself and other houseless povertyskolaz at POOR Magazine to educate, liberate and work alongside housed, conscious wealth-hoarders to build the healing, housing solution to homelessness we call Homefulness, we are currently working with houseless relatives in Tovaangar and Yelamu to launch their own iterations of Homefulness in all these violent settler towns while we all collectively scream, demand, walk and reclaim: Where Do We Go…. and No We Are NOT going anywhere!

    https://48hills.org/2024/10/where-do-we-go-launches-new-campaign-against-homeless-sweeps/

    1. In occupied Huchiun, aka Oakland, a new land reclamation move has erupted, and it’s called Where Do We Go.

       I’m sure the PTB have supplies of free fentanyl, ready to hand out.

       I know that many of the homeless are mentally ill, and short of being institutionalized can’t be helped. But this situation is a disgrace, especially since we are importing these people replacements.

    2. “…alongside housed, conscious wealth-hoarders…”

       It’s either that or homelessness?

       I choose to be an evil hoarder, then.

22. The One.World Order Entities are Powers that be that want to control all resources and consumption on earth. They want a facism partnership with the global governments in a Great Reset Gobal governance , stakeholder capitalism power grab ,elimination of any government by the people.

    Control of water, food, energy, currency, medical, and destruction of any Sovereign State Country or Borders is their end game power grab.

    They manufactured fraudulent Narratives of doomsday Climate Change and gain of function Panademics to justify their power grab intent to enslave humanity , genocide humans, animals and plants and force inhabitants of earth into compliance.
    The end game intent of these Powers is a Great Reset , One World Order global governance, where you will own nothing eat bugs, mandated vaccines, deprived of energy and resources, under 24/7survellence.

    They want unlimited power to be transferred by Treaty to the unelected, corrupt UN and World Health Organization , which is in collusion on the Power grab.

    Firstly, Science was bought off and corrupted regarding co2 carbon emissions being the culprit in their Climate Change doomsday fraud. Their solutions to their Climate Change doomsday are ridiculous. If they ever implemented their insanity of zero carbon emissions by 2050 it would be a disaster for earth and its inhabitants.

    IMHO, they have no intentions of this zero carbons by 2050, but their intent is to force humanity into compliance to 15 minute cities, you will own nothing, eat bugs, 24/7 surveillance, mandated vaccines,banks control consumption under a digital social credit score, probably forced hacking, etc.

    They talk about world equity under their world dictorship of Commie talk, but the plan is for humanity to be equally deprived and at worse murdered.
    This Cult of Powers are anti humanity, anti life, fraudsters , parasites, looters and thieves. If you hear them talk, as I have many times ,the psychopathic arrogance and demonic vibes of them thinking they are the chosen ones , they are God, reeks out of these creeps.

    Anyway Biden and Harris/Waltz are placed puppets for this Cult of Powers. Biden has done everything to advance the One World Order Agenda, and Harris/Walz will do same.Talk about fake everything, like fake media, fake vaccines, fake Presidents, fake climate change, fake Panademics, fake/rigged economy, fake food, fake pharmacy, fake protection by government agencies, fake looting of tax coffers, fake politicians/parties, fake science, fake PCR machine, fake wars, fake UN and World health organization, fake weather modification, fake elections , fake racism, fake schools, fake Hollywood, fake justice, fake woke, on and on.
    Unreal, just unreal

23. Harris allies fear one major roadblock if she wins: A GOP Senate

    Should Kamala Harris win in November, her administration could begin in the weakest starting position of any in a generation. Her allies are already fretting over what to do about it.

    Democrats close to the vice president have grown increasingly worried that Republicans will flip the Senate next month even if Harris wins — a scenario that would make Harris the first president since George H.W. Bush to start her term without a majority in the upper chamber.

    “No matter what, I think it’s going to be a very difficult time for the next two years if the scenario is Harris wins the presidency but loses the Senate,” said former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, who has endorsed Harris. “I suspect that she will have some Republicans who will work with her. I don’t think that will be the majority or anywhere near it in the Republican caucus.”

    They described an early presidency that would be necessarily more moderate and compromise-oriented in its leadership and legislative ambitions under a split-government scenario, yet clear-eyed about the areas where Harris believes she can still build on the Biden administration’s progress: health care, taxes and housing.

    “There’s a lot of balancing act here,” one outside adviser said of narrowing Harris’ expansive campaign platform down to a more pragmatic agenda. “But that means she has to pick and choose amongst her children. And children don’t like to be left out.”

    Hagel, a Nebraska Republican who served as Defense secretary during the Obama administration, expressed faith that former President Donald Trump’s hold on the GOP would break if he loses again. But he doubted it would make Harris’ presidency much easier.

    “There will be, certainly, a right-wing group of Republicans — I don’t know how many — who will essentially block everything that she tries to do,” said Hagel, who now works on veterans issues as chair of the Veterans Justice Commission at the Council on Criminal Justice.

    Still, Harris’ allies are holding out hope for a post-Trump fracturing of the GOP that might push some faction of Republican senators closer to the center — or at very least, convince them it’s worth it for their own political futures to open a channel to a Harris administration.

    “The task ahead is to win, and then see what happens,” said Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way. “You’ve got all these members that spent $60 million and fought like hell to get there, and they’re going to say eventually, ‘I want to do something. I want to get something done.’”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/harris-allies-fear-one-major-roadblock-if-she-wins-a-gop-senate/ar-AA1sAQzN

    1. I like it when the parties split the executive and legislative branches. There’s less scope for extremists on either side of the aisle to engage in mischief if political gridlock stands in their way.

    2. “The task ahead is to win, and then see what happens,” said Jim Kessler

       Sounds like a well thought-out policy.

24. [Stand by and stand ready and alert to receive an a amazing observation:]

    “We’ve gone too far in just letting people get away with things. And as a result, people have been getting away with things.” – S.F. Mayor London Breed

    1. What’s hilarious is that all the other candidates are just as messed up as she is, and will fix nothing.

       Decades from now the chattering classes will discuss how San Francisco turned into another Detroit, remarking how it had once been an immensely wealthy city and that no one could have seen the collapse coming.

       1. It wont just be SF, most of the bay area will be a dysfunctional hellhole. Some would argue that it already is. One thing is for certain, it is guaranteed to get worse before it can get better.

25. ‘Two, traffic. The city simply grew too fast, with an increase in population of 700,000 people from 2010′

    I lived there off and on for years and last visited in 2010. Traffic is so bad they built a parallel interstate for big trucks and it didn’t make a dent in delays. They knew this would happen for decades and developed it the way they did anyway.

26. ‘I’ve had so many clients flee the city looking for safer areas to raise their families. One of my clients told me that his family’s last straw was finding a needle in a play structure in their neighborhood’

    We used to read stories about pet death after sniffing something in the park and little kids getting fentanyl in their bodies at play grounds. For whatever reason I haven’t come across one of those recently.

27. ‘Owners aren’t questioning it (the taxes) when there’s a ton of bookings,’ Alexander said. ‘But now that there’s not a ton of bookings, now they’re like well, wait, I don’t want that 3%. I don’t want to pay that’

    Evey thing is great running scrubbing toilets when the money is pouring in Kari.

28. ‘The global co-head of Pimco’s commercial real estate private lending is leaving at the end of the year, less than a year after being promoted to the role, PERE reports. Some of Pimco’s vast real estate holdings have run into difficult waters in recent years. The company acquired office REIT Columbia Property Trust in a $3.9B deal in 2021 and wound up with a portfolio of distressed assets shortly thereafter’

    They used to tell us these were the smartest guys in the real estate room. Notice they immediately started tossing keys.

    1. Buy low, and sell even lower!

29. ‘Only 567 new condos were sold in the third quarter this year, marking an 81-per-cent drop compared with the same period last year…There are currently 88,967 condos being built’

    That 20 years of inventory mention the other day may have been optimistic.

    ‘Competition from the resale market is also contributing to the decline in condo sales. Resale condos are priced between $900 to $1,100 a square foot, while preconstruction and new condos cost between $1,300 to $1,600 a square foot. ‘It begs the question, why would you go and spend that much more money when you could just buy something in the resale condo market, see what you’re getting and own it’

    The market needs knife catchers Davelle.

30. ‘Leblanc, who has invested in his home on des Macons Street in Pierrefonds for 40 years, said the new maps put his future in jeopardy. ‘I always thought that one day the value of that home would supply me with the necessary funds to go into that last chapter of my life. And now I find that may not happen’…‘The new proposed flood map caught us by surprise. Actually, surprise doesn’t do it justice. We were shocked by it’

    Sounds like you cash re-fied out a lot Rene. Forty years?

31. ‘Property owners claim that this has also let to a immense financial strain as they have to conduct some repair works themselves, and because they cannot sell the properties and move on. Geoff Spight, 80, who moved to the building in 2019 after retiring as a construction engineer, said that he found out the building had several fire safety issues as soon as he moved in. Geoff said: ‘So I’d like to sell it and most of my associates would like to sell it but the mortgage companies won’t lend money because they know these problems. And on top of that, our insurance premium has gone up just this last week, gone up by a huge amount of money. It is 80 odd thousand pounds to insure this building now and it used to be £54,000. So for the first seven years, I haven’t been able to move. There’s only been 3 or 4 sales of properties in this building since Grenfell and they were all cash buys. I was one of them because I downsized from a big property, so I had the cash to buy’

    The market needs knife catchers Geoff, and you were the last one.

32. ‘We are seeing signs of a bottoming out in the Hong Kong property sector’

    Bottom pickers end up with stinky fingers Kenny.

33. ‘For The First Time Ever. Bill Clinton Was Speechless’: Peter Navarro Praises Trump For Ending NAFTA

    Forbes Breaking News

    48 minutes ago

    At former President Trump’s campaign event in Greenville, North Carolina, Peter Navarro praised former President Trump for ending NAFTA.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keWXvbsPu1c

    4 minutes. BTW IIRC it was bush the second that gave China entry into WTO.

34. Elon Musk
    @elonmusk

    Michigan has more registered voters than eligible citizens!? Is that true
    @CommunityNotes?

    @amuse
    @amuse
    ·
    Oct 19

    ELECTION INTEGRITY: Michigan FINALLY cleaned its voter rolls of 330,000 dead people and non-citizens. Despite this herculean effort the state STILL has 100,000 more registered voters than eligible citizens. This creates a huge risk of election fr@ud.

    7:25 PM · Oct 19, 2024

    https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1847781244408365517

35. Business Insider
    I fell in love with a charming town in Northern California. Once I finally moved there, I couldn’t get away fast enough.
    insider@insider.com (Jaime Stathis)
    July 31, 2024
    5 min read

    I dreamed of living in Grass Valley for years — the Northern California city seemed so charming.

    When I finally moved there in 2017, I realized it was an expensive, inconvenient place to live.

    It was hard for me to connect with others and Grass Valley had a lot of discord among residents.

    I’ve traveled a fair amount and often pass through a place and think, “I could live here.” Grass Valley, California, was one of those places for me.

    I first discovered it in 1997, when my friends and I would stop there on our way to the mountains from San Francisco.

    One morning, after a breakfast burrito and bottomless cup of coffee, I stood on the hill of the dreamy Victorian-lined main drag and wondered, “How does a person get to live here?”

    Twenty years later, in 2017, I was living in Missoula, Montana, with my partner, Martin, who came home from work one day and told me he’d been offered a job that required him to live within 60 miles of Sacramento.

    While Martin debated pros and cons, I quickly mapped Sacramento to Grass Valley — it was 56 miles.

    He took the job, and we trusted the rest would fall into place. On a scouting trip, he agreed that Grass Valley seemed like a great place.

    We both loved the architecture, the artsy, progressive community, the great restaurants, and the access to cities, the ocean, and the mountains.

    But once we finally lived in the Northern California town, we realized we may have been better off just visiting.

    The cost of living was more than we expected

    We quickly learned our Grass Valley rent would be about double what we’d been paying in Missoula, so Martin wanted to buy.

    But California has extremely high housing costs in general. On the lower end of the spectrum in this area, we found many extremely rundown houses and many in remote areas with no internet or cell signal.

    My vision of us exploring Berkeley, Lake Tahoe, and the wine country evaporated when it became clear that our only option was to sink our funds into a major fixer-upper.

    At the time, I made my living as a massage therapist, and although I secured a job in our new town, my pay would also be about half what it was before.

    The cost of living in Grass Valley is about 38.2% higher than the national average, which also didn’t help.

    It was an inconvenient place to live
    …
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/fell-love-charming-town-northern-153503324.html

    1. “We quickly learned our Grass Valley rent would be about double what we’d been paying in Missoula, so Martin wanted to buy.”

       LMAO!!

    2. “We both loved the architecture, the artsy, progressive community, the great restaurants, and the access to cities, the ocean, and the mountains.
       —snip—
       The cost of living was more than we expected”

       Hmm, progressive, ergo, expensive. Hello?

36. I hope this grows.
    RentZed | Rent Transparency
    See the Rent History of an Address
    https://www.rentzed.com/

    This site has been around for a few years: three day free trial.
    https://www.rentometer.com/

37. Does it seem like some scientists overworry sea level rise,?

    1. To Protect US Coasts, Scientists Want To Zap the Sea With Electricity
       Published Aug 23, 2024 at 4:37 AM EDT
       Updated Aug 23, 2024 at 11:03 AM EDT
       By Tom Howarth

       As efforts step up to protect coastal regions affected by erosion, scientists have found an unexpected way to protect communities—zapping the shoreline with electricity.

       In a study published in the journal Communications Earth and the Environment, researchers from Northwestern University demonstrated the novel technique to strengthen marine sand, potentially offering a sustainable solution to combat erosion caused by climate change and rising sea levels.

       “Over 40 percent of the world’s population lives in coastal areas,” Alessandro Rotta Loria, who led the study, said in a statement.

       “Because of climate change and sea-level rise, erosion is an enormous threat to these communities. Through the disintegration of infrastructure and loss of land, erosion causes billions of dollars in damage per year worldwide,” he said.
       …
       https://www.newsweek.com/electricity-coastal-erosion-beach-shoreline-land-loss-1943054

       1. Without claiming to fully understand the details, this idea sounds crazy on the surface…but also an excellent way to suck vast sums of public money into someone’s climate mitigation research program.

          “Over 40 percent of the world’s population lives in coastal areas,”

          I guess I am one of them, living just over 20 miles inland from the shore. But it has been perhaps millions of years since the sea level approached our elevation, which is way above the range of climate change projections. Plus piddling around on the beach with electricity to stimulate natural processes of sea wall formation couldn’t conceivably impede the forces of nature needed to raise the sea level by hundreds of feet.

38. Did you ever read the story of “The Boy who Cried Wolf?”

    Wall Street risk asset gamblers are well advised to take time out of their busy schedules to read this one.

    1. Market ‘Mega-Bubble’ Set To Pop, Says Top Economist Who Called 2008 Crash
       by Erica Kollmann, Benzinga Staff Writer
       October 20, 2024 1:00 PM | 2 min read
       Zinger Key Points

       – “When this mega-bubble pops, it will be spectacular,” Rosenberg writes.

       – “This is no time to chase momentum or the herd mentality.”

       – Rosenberg cautions investors against chasing the “overvalued” market and advises clients to preserve capital.
       …
       https://www.benzinga.com/news/24/10/41418655/market-mega-bubble-set-to-pop-says-top-economist-who-called-2008-crash

    2. Here’s a link to the story:

       https://read.gov/aesop/043.html

       While I don’t consider stopped clock crash callers to be liars, there’s a similar dynamic at play as in the story: The more risk asset gamblers become convinced the boom will never end, the more risky their investing behavior becomes, leading to ever larger stick market overvaluations which will eventually collapse of their own weight.

Comments are closed.