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It Can Be Like Catching A Falling Knife

A report from KPNX in Arizona. “Halpern Residential Founder, Trevor Halpern, said in Phoenix, the local market is not experiencing the traditional presidential election real estate decline. Halpern said sellers need to price and prepare their homes correctly to attract buyers. And in the Phoenix market, there’s a little more supply than demand. ‘You as a buyer right now has some power now,’ Halpern said. ‘If we see mortgage interest rates continue to adjust downward, the rule of thumb is that for every 1% the mortgage rates come down, we see a million buyers across the country enter the marketplace. So you as a buyer right now has some really good negotiating power.'”

ABC Action News in Florida. “According to the rate hike request, Citizens is pushing for an average near-14% increase in 2025 for many of its 1.2 million policyholders. Margaret Bowles’s Dana Shores home flooded in Helene, and she has Citizens Property Insurance on a rental she owns in St. Pete. She’s hoping the state shows mercy after this hurricane season. For storm victims like Bowles, that’s the last thing they need. ‘Have some mercy, have some mercy on folks,’ she said. ‘Because even insurance doesn’t make you whole, we are finding that filing all these claims that it’s not going to make us whole either way. So we need a break.'”

The Real Deal on Illinois. “After more than two decades as a broker, Carrie McCormick, of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate, has developed the skill of the moment: pricing luxury downtown Chicago condos correctly even when that price is on a downward curve. If you’re a luxury condo owner trying to sell, the price might be lower than you expected. ‘I have to be honest with them and say, ‘Listen, this is where we’re at with the market. … If you, Mr. or Mrs. Seller, want to sell this home, this is what we need to do,’ she said. ‘When the market’s going up, everyone’s a winner. It’s easy to look good with your clients. They’re making money. Everyone’s happy,’ said Mike Golden, co-founder of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate. ‘But when the market is choppy … it can be like catching a falling knife.'”

The Real Deal on California. “Home buyers in San Francisco are sitting out the market this fall, waiting for lower interest rates, back-to-the office pressures and even election results to tell them when to move. But even with money to spend, buyers aren’t finding much out there, with sellers holding out for a market comeback or a bigger drop in interest rates that will let them move on without having to mourn the loss of their 3 percent rates or 2021 valuations. Compass agent Ruth Krishnan noted that in the market right now, buyers are stymied by the ‘paradox of choice’ that always comes around about this time: they may see something they like, but will always be wondering if something better is going to come along later. ‘I think that buyers’ agents have to get comfortable saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to attempt to negotiate this for you 100 percent of the time but in the event that we can’t, then you need to be ready to pay this,’ she said.”

The Providence Journal. “A Rhode Island mortgage broker has admitted to misappropriating $1.5 million in investors’ money in an elaborate Ponzi scheme and then spending the money for personal expenses and to pay other investors. Joseph Giuttari, owner of Hybrid Capital Group, THE FENS Co., and Realty Funding Advisors, among other entities, pleaded guilty Thursday to wire fraud and filing a false tax return for failing to report more than $500,000 in income, U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha’s office announced. In addition, Giuttari, of Cranston, admitted to theft of government property for filing fraudulent applications for economic disaster loans during the COVID pandemic, netting him $160,000 that he spent for personal use and pay investors under the scheme.”

“He misappropriated funds from borrowers by inflating how much they owed to investors for loans and he used borrowers’ names without their knowledge or authorization to get money from investors. He also created fraudulent promissory notes and real estate security instruments using forged signatures of borrowers. Court documents show that the amount of loss between $3.5 million and $9.5 million. According to court records, he spent the money on personal expenses such as credit card payments, mortgage payments for his home, cash withdrawals, and payments for his own international investments. He admitted, too, to falsely stating in his 2019 income tax return that his income was $22,176 when it was actually at least $541,000.”

Bisnow on Texas. “Twelve multifamily properties backing loans of at least $10M are scheduled to appear at Tuesday’s Harris County foreclosure auction, up from just a handful last month, as the number of apartment complexes facing potential foreclosure steadily rises. Although less than half of the properties filed to appear will likely be auctioned on the day, the sheer number of filings is indicative of a wave of distress crashing over Houston’s multifamily market, said Terri Clifton, president of Better World Properties. While some lenders find it preferable to hand off a loan to another borrower behind the scenes, avoiding the costs associated with foreclosure, deferred maintenance and marketing the property for sale, that isn’t always feasible. ‘Sometimes that lender would love for one of these key players to take over and take the loan over,’ Clifton said. ‘But they’re doing their underwriting, and it’s not worth what they loaned them.'”

Wall Street Journal. “The biggest apartment construction boom in four decades flooded the market with new supply over the past two years. The vacancy rate, or the share of apartment units that are empty, stopped rising for the first time in three years last quarter, as demand for apartments rose to its highest levels since 2021, according to CoStar. Austin’s vacancy rate, if new buildings are included, is the highest in the country at over 15%, according to CoStar. Rent growth for new leases in the Texas capitol ranks last among major metros during the past year. Landlords of new luxury buildings are still offering big concessions, such as months of free rent, to fill up units. ‘Basically, the worst apartment market in the country right now is Austin,’ said Matt Rosenthal, managing partner of multifamily investor Eastham Capital.”

Mansion Global on Canada. “Eve Lewis has watched Toronto real estate explode over four decades from the front row. Today, Lewis herself is a builder. As CEO of Woodcliffe, Lewis specializes in residential high-rises that integrate heritage structures—local parlance for historically significant buildings. Lewis talked to Mansion Global about how heritage elements can affect condo prices, why Toronto’s ‘on-steroids’ condo market stalled, and why luxury is in the details. Eve Lewis: ‘It’s incredibly slow, but we’re coming off a 20-year high where almost every single year the market became more fueled with price and volume. It was so frothy―a market on steroids. There were as many as 30,000 new condo sales in a year. As of October, there were less than 4,000 sales. That’s a dramatic, drastic decrease.'”

“In some cities, agents say the luxury market is bulletproof because buyers are so well-resourced. Is that the case in Toronto? ‘The market for luxury homes is not bulletproof in Toronto. Certain neighborhoods are holding their own and selling well, like [east-side] Leslieville and Summerhill [just north of downtown]. If something’s priced right in good neighborhoods, it’s selling. But there are five or six houses on the market for more than C$20 million, and none of them are selling.'”

From Global News. “The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) said Monday that the mortgage delinquency rate — the proportion of Canadians who have missed payments on their mortgage for more than 90 days — continued to rise in the second quarter of 2024. Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, the Crown corp.’s deputy chief economist, says the CMHC expects the ‘sticky upwards trend’ in mortgage delinquencies will mean a return to those pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year or early 2025. ‘We have already been seeing this financial pressure mount up, generally speaking, amongst homeowners,’ she tells Global News. ‘Credit card and auto delinquencies can be leading indicators of mortgage delinquency rates, so these patterns suggest that mortgage delinquency will continue to increase into 2025,’ the report read.”

“Some 1.2 million Canadians have fixed-rate mortgages due for renewal in 2025, CMHC says. The vast majority of these households initiated or renewed their mortgages when the central bank policy rate was at or below one per cent, the report notes. Bourassa-Ochoa says the CMHC calculates the average homeowner renewing next year will see their monthly payments balloon by 30 per cent.”

Property Reporter. “Holiday home data shows a rise in holiday properties since before the pandemic and according to an expert holiday home insurer, some areas are turning into ghost towns, with homes left unoccupied and on the market for sale. With a downturn in bookings, council tax doubling in some areas, the furnished holiday lets tax relief being withdrawn and the expected rise in capital gains tax has led to a surge in holiday homes being put up for sale. The UK Government has unveiled increased taxes for second homes aimed at tackling the growing issue of the lack of affordable homes across the country. Places like Salcombe in Devon and Whitby in North Yorkshire are at risk of becoming ‘ghost towns’ outside of the tourist months.”

“Phil Schofield from Schofields Insurance commented: ‘The tax changes are already impacting the holiday property market, many towns and villages are slowly becoming ‘ghost towns’ as owners sell their holiday lets.’ He concluded: ‘The holiday letting industry should be supported to help ensure that tourist areas remain vibrant and thriving year-round. However, the recent tax changes, increased costs and a downturn in bookings have led to an oversupply of second homes being put up for sale in some areas.'”

Domain News in Australia. “Most Melbourne suburbs have recorded house price falls or only marginal increases over the past 12 months, amid high interest rates and a build-up of homes for sale. The biggest median house price fall was recorded in South Yarra, where prices fell 20.7 per cent over the year to September to a median of $1.8 million. It was followed by Riddells Creek, near Gisborne, down 17.3 per cent, and Armadale, down 15.8 per cent. Unit prices had the biggest falls in Chadstone (down 24.5 per cent to $540,000), Toorak (22.1 per cent to $915,000) and Sunshine (15.3 per cent to $470,000).”

“Recent home buyer and builder Dale Cheesman said the weak market had given his family of five a chance to upgrade to a larger home. He said moving from Carnegie into one of his goal suburbs of Malvern, Malvern East or Glen Iris was harder to justify when prices were more expensive. ‘I would have liked to have gotten more for the property I sold, but I had to realise that everyone needs to drop their expectations on what their property is worth, me especially,’ he said. ‘I felt like I got a pretty good deal with the purchase I made.'”

“Cheesman’s broker, Entourage director Damien Roylance, said an excess of listings had tipped the market in buyers’ favour, but only if they were willing to avoid the highly sought-after new and renovated homes. ‘People who are not scared of getting their hands dirty, they’re still getting good land size in a good part of town,’ Roylance said. ‘It’s definitely a buyers’ market at the moment and especially as we come into spring.'”

The New York Times. “Banks in China are foreclosing on a growing number of apartments after homeowners could not pay their mortgages, as the country’s housing crash threatens the financial system. The roster of homes seized and listed for auction leaped 43% last year, according to official data. Numerous Chinese banks have disclosed increases in mortgage defaults during the first half of this year. The downward spiral in apartment prices has since accelerated. The legal system is struggling to keep up with evictions. In some cities, like Qingdao, foreclosed apartments are being sold at auction before the occupants have moved out. The buyers must persuade them to leave, finance and foreclosure specialists said.”

“They face other losses related to the real estate meltdown, including on loans to local governments, property companies in default and buyers of unfinished apartments that developers never delivered. To make matters worse, corporate borrowers in China have long posted real estate holdings as collateral. Bank managers are finding that the collateral is worth much less than when the loans were extended. In a country with 90 million empty apartments after a decades-long construction boom, however, the evictions do not seem to be causing homelessness. Many foreclosures involve second homes, often occupied by friends and relatives of the owner, and seldom involve the primary residences of families.”

“Real estate prices have fallen almost 30% from their peak in 2021. One factor that might contain the foreclosure problem over the next several years is that many homeowners have prepaid part of their mortgages or made large down payments. Even after the big drop in apartment prices, many people still own apartments that are worth more than the remaining balances on their mortgages. One Qingdao homeowner, Lei Wang, said he regretted ever buying an apartment. Wang, a chemicals salesperson, said his apartment had lost a fifth of its value since he paid about $300,000 for it just four years ago.”

“‘I thought I bought the apartment at a reasonable price, but I didn’t expect the real estate market to decline so much,’ he said. ‘If I hadn’t bought an apartment and the housing prices were like this, I think it would have been better to rent.'”

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This Post Has 123 Comments

  1. ‘But even with money to spend, buyers aren’t finding much out there, with sellers holding out for a market comeback or a bigger drop in interest rates that will let them move on without having to mourn the loss of their 3 percent rates or 2021 valuations’

    All Time High Larry.

    ‘Krishnan noted that in the market right now, buyers are stymied by the ‘paradox of choice’ that always comes around about this time: they may see something they like, but will always be wondering if something better is going to come along later. ‘I think that buyers’ agents have to get comfortable saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to attempt to negotiate this for you 100 percent of the time but in the event that we can’t, then you need to be ready to pay this’

    So after taking a yuuge a$$ pounding, you expect them to pay Ruth?

    1. “Our message to Kamala Harris is very simple,” Vance said. “The citizens of this country are not garbage for thinking you’re doing a bad job. The citizens of this country are not raciz for thinking you ought to close down that damn southern border. The citizens of this country are not garbage for wanting to be able to afford groceries and a nice place to live.”

      Then he concluded, “But in two days, we are gonna take out the trash in Washington, D.C. And the trash’s name is Kamala Harris.”

      Sounds about right.

      1. And of course liberal X was out in full force with the “how dare he call her trash” posts. Interesting. Unlike DJT, JD knows* that he needs to temper his words and metaphors to prevent the press from fabricating more suckers and losers hoaxes. For JD to deliberately put words like that in his speech is telling. He must be very confident in those internal polls.

        ————-
        *DJT knows but he doesn’t care. JD seems to care.

        1. JD needs to temper his rhetoric. I have a visceral loathing of Comrade Kamala and her ilk, but restraint is a virtue and a necessity in times like these.

          1. There’s no such thing as bad press. JD is as based as they come. He’s fit right in on HBB. He’s probably further to the right of HBB. I’ve never seen anyone here post anything about a rando author named Bronze Age Pervert (BAP). You’ve probably never heard of him. He’s as based as they come. Maybe you’ve seen his most famous tweet: “Ancient men conquered cities put them to the sword and fire, meanwhile you go to WINE BAR with “gf” and enjoy tasteful banter.. YOU ARE GAY!!” But JD Vance knows exactly who this guy is and follows him. JD admitted that when his phone was hacked, all they found were offensive means in his text messages. JD Vance is of a different breed. He is the personification of what conservative scholars call the dissident right. I’d all but guarantee you the guy has passed along dozens of the Baron Trump will be the monarch of the United States type memes that are passed around the right.

      2. im looking at joining the free sh*t army and dump the costs on the next generation… the desperation on SNL the week before election….shame on her

  3. ‘Have some mercy, have some mercy on folks,’ she said. ‘Because even insurance doesn’t make you whole, we are finding that filing all these claims that it’s not going to make us whole either way. So we need a break.’”
    Put another way, I want other people’s money to pay for my “right” to leave near the ocean and to collect rent on my rental. Again, other people’s money will make everything great!

    2. “Dana Shores”

      Google maps is such fun. Dana shores is a little canal community right on Tampa Bay. Every house has a boat slip in the back yard.

      I’ve driven and walked through the beach towns and Chesapeake Bay towns. Almost every new-looking house is clearly up on stilts with the garage underneath. The Bay or ocean can flood 6-8 feet and the house could withstand it. Yet, these Florida little ranches are sitting on a slab right on the grass. No protections whatsoever. Even mobile homes in a trailer park a few feet off the ground.

      The only mercy these folks should get is an insurance option to just pay off the mortgage. Ideally the insurance would decrease as someone pays down the mortgage. When the home is paid off, then you can raw-dog it.

  4. ‘Hey, we’re going to attempt to negotiate this for you 100 percent of the time but in the event that we can’t, then you need to be ready to pay this,’ she said.”
    I would respectfully disagree. I would suggest that if one doesn’t get what they be ready to walk away.

  5. “Margaret Bowles’ Dana Shores home flooded in Helene, and she has Citizens Property Insurance on a rental she owns in St. Pete. She’s hoping the state shows mercy after this hurricane season. For storm victims like Bowles, that’s the last thing they need. ‘Have some mercy, have some mercy on folks,’ she said. ‘

    so, I wonder if Margaret would extend the same “mercy” she begs from the taxpayer-funded program, to her renters, where she personally profits, if they faced a financial setback!?

    doubtful: I’m sure it would be a “Nothing personal, it’s just business” type response . . . or something equally heartless.

  7. Prop K in San Fran will close a two mile stretch of the Great Hwy to use as a park.

    It’s already closed on weekends to cars. They have a wide beach and walking path. But that ain’t enough for Pelosi supporters.

    I hope it passes, and will enjoy watching the area fill up with sewage, needles, and tents,,,

  8. “California. “Home buyers in San Francisco are sitting out the market this fall, waiting for lower interest rates,”

    Uhhhhhm, everyone I talk to is holding out for lower prices, not rates. But I do enjoy how hard the media tries to make this all about rates, but never prices.

  9. The building division in our jurisdiction (which shall remain nameless for anonymity) is seeing the worst slow down in years. Permits have dropped off a cliff. We did 9 inspections yesterday. And that has nothing to do with seasonality. This time last year it was 50 to 80 inspections a day.

  11. Excerpts of a long read:

    “Who are the institutionalized? They are the true believers, the strivers, and the useful idiots who have taken over our institutions through cultural revolution. You might also call them the NPC (Non Player Character) PMC (Professional Managerial Class). In a sane world, they would be classified as insane and institutionalized in asylums. Instead, they have subverted our institutions: corporate media, big tech, academia, teachers’ unions, NGOs, and government bureaucracies. The largest institution of all is welfare. Almost half the U.S. population has some connection to the government money printer through direct handouts or indirect contracts.

    The institutions have devolved into demoralized ideological fiefdoms – longhouses that operate above the law thanks to incestuous “public/private partnerships” run by crony commissars, who push inorganic narratives from the top down. They are part of a million-headed hydra that slithers around the rotating door axes of The Swamp, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and the ivory towers. Without any irony or self awareness, they call themselves “The Resistance”.

    What do the institutionalized believe in? Certainly not God or any real principles. Deep down, they only care about individual self-preservation within a conformist collective. That is why they quickly and loudly follow the latest luxury belief in The Current Thing, whether it’s COVID, climate, trans, Ukraine, Gaza, open borders, etc. “Trust the experts”, “follow the science”, and “everything-I-don’t-like -is-misinformation/-ist/-phobic” are flimsy shields against cognitive dissonance. At the slightest brush with reality, they collapse faster than a “Hate Has No Home Here” lawn sign from a light breeze.

    The institutionalized love the regime, but hate the country outside of their urban bubbles. They share more in common with their foreign elite counterparts than their countrymen. As NS Lyons noted in The China Convergence, their attitudes and entitlement are similar to CCP Princelings. They have shackled themselves to golden handcuffs and gags. Since they hold bureaucratic laptop BS jobs with negative societal value, the only way they can distinguish themselves is through obedience to The Party and The Narrative. This is not a meritocracy; it is hierarchy of slaves playing a dicey game of chicken in which competitors latch on to an institution that has enough funds to overpay them. The grift can’t last forever, so each fights tooth and nail to keep it going.

    The longer they remain institutionalized, the more their critical thinking and communication skills deteriorate into Kamala-style copy pasta word salad. They converse in a different language – Orwellian double speak and nonsensical buzzwords. The day to day existence is full of anxiety, insecurity, and lies. They cannot speak freely to anyone because it would endanger the entire delusion of all their professional and personal lives.

    Imagine an endless, soulless doldrum of TPS reports, meetings, and meetings about meetings. Mindless chatter about rags no one reads anymore, movies no one watches anymore, and degrees no one respects anymore. Despite high salaries, the institutionalized are often living paycheck to paycheck because they “have to” settle precariously in one of a few expensive, crime-ridden cities. The AWFLs and their White Dudes for Harris eunuchs lead lifestyles that would be alien to their ancestors: consooming poor information diets, soggy takeout food laden with seed oils, and heavy doses of Trump Derangement Syndrome, birth control, therapy, and SSRIs make for a neurotic toxic brew that hollows out human instinct.”

    https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/americas-counter-cultural-revolution-institutional-instinctual

    1. The largest institution of all is welfare.

      Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security consume the lion’s share of our federal budget, and it’s steadily increasing as we’re living longer. Getting the drug addicts and morbidly obese off of Medicaid and SSDI might be a popular sound bite, but it won’t make a serious dent. And being mired in national debt, funding wars on three fronts and dealing with climate change exacerbates the dilemma.

      1. The US is not dealing with climate change. The US is pouring trillions in to an idea that nature can be changed by spending wealth. These expenditures far exceed the Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security expenditures. The purpose of the trillions spent is to convince the people to accept their place as peasants to the political and the elite.

        1. This is excellent! Thank you very much for sharing it. I think that the establishment’s habit of changing terms and definitions has led us to the point where we don’t know left from right, Democrat from Republican, freedom from slavery, truth from fiction, etc.

          I used to post the definition of left-right from the History.com website, as they had an excellent article about the history from the French Revolution and how the aristocracy/nobility would sit on the right, and the peasantry would sit on the left, and the church/bishops would sit in the center. But after 2020, they changed the definition and tried to “modernize” it, even eliminating any mention of the church, and trying to tie nationalism, etc. into the ancient definition (which had nothing to do with it).

          The blurring of definitions is being done for a reason. If we don’t have clear language, then we will never be able to communicate intelligently about a wide range of issues. It’s part of their agenda of social chaos that is used to divide the masses so that they don’t focus on those who are in control.

          1. The left-right paradigm is a distraction from the real issue: globalism. DJT is transforming the Republican party from globalist RINOs to populist nationalists.

          2. Very well stated, CA Renter. My personal position for a number of years now, goes rather far beyond your statement of “blurring of definitions”. Concur completely with you that the changing of definitions is to achieve an agenda. To my mind, they are ‘reversing’ the meaning of words and language, for the purpose of creating an “opposite world”. It’s been a slogan of mine for a while now that we are “living in opposite world”.
            –Geezer

        2. “The US is not dealing with climate change.”

          I’m referring to the rampant flooding, wildfires, etc., and the insurance industry’s response.

  12. So you as a buyer right now has some really good negotiating power.’”

    I’ll have much more negotiating power when Housing Bubble 2.0 implodes for real.

  13. ‘Have some mercy, have some mercy on folks,’ she said. ‘Because even insurance doesn’t make you whole, we are finding that filing all these claims that it’s not going to make us whole either way.

    My mercy does not extend to seeing my taxes go to make FBs whole on their shack-related losses. But my thoughts and prayers are with you.

  14. ‘But when the market is choppy … it can be like catching a falling knife.’”

    Gosh, I sure hope no knife catchers get impaled.

  15. “Home buyers in San Francisco are sitting out the market this fall, waiting for lower interest rates, back-to-the office pressures and even election results to tell them when to move.

    You stick to yer guns, SF greedheads. Surely Comrade Kamala will usher in a new era of prosperity for all with her sound economic and fiscal policies.

  16. “…the local market is not experiencing the traditional presidential election real estate decline.”

    Is that a thing? I always have heard that real estate always goes up.

  17. “He misappropriated funds from borrowers by inflating how much they owed to investors for loans and he used borrowers’ names without their knowledge or authorization to get money from investors. He also created fraudulent promissory notes and real estate security instruments using forged signatures of borrowers.

    I don’t understand why such scofflaws would risk incurring the wrath of Fauxahontus for some paltry financial gain.

  18. Although less than half of the properties filed to appear will likely be auctioned on the day, the sheer number of filings is indicative of a wave of distress crashing over Houston’s multifamily market, said Terri Clifton, president of Better World Properties.

    Die, speculator scum and the lenders that enabled them.

  19. Eve Lewis: ‘It’s incredibly slow, but we’re coming off a 20-year high where almost every single year the market became more fueled with price and volume.

    No – central bankers turned housing into an unsustainable asset bubble with trillions in funny money “stimulus” and loose lending. Now the chickens are coming home to roost, and it’s going to get ugly.

  20. There were as many as 30,000 new condo sales in a year. As of October, there were less than 4,000 sales. That’s a dramatic, drastic decrease.’”

    You ain’t seen nothing yet.

    1. 11-02-2024

      Here are 2 ways to convince people to eat unusual foods without getting the ‘ick’

      Disgust and food neophobia—a fear of new foods—are often cited as obstacles to adopting new, more sustainable food choices.
      Here are 2 ways to convince people to eat unusual foods without getting the ‘ick’
      [Photo: Roger Brown/Pexels]
      BY The Conversation
      4 minute read

      What will the diets of the future look like? The answer depends in part on what foods Westerners can be persuaded to eat.
      …
      https://www.fastcompany.com/91221289/unusual-foods-sustainable-strategies?utm_source=pocket-newtab-android

  24. A reader sent these in:

    The US economy lost -28,000 private jobs in October, the first net loss since December 2020.

    Furthermore, the 3-month moving average has declined to 67,000, the lowest since the 2020 pandemic.

    This is well below the average of 150,000 monthly private payroll additions seen in 2018-2019, prior to the pandemic.

    The worst part?

    Full-time private sector jobs have dropped by a whopping 1.5 MILLION year-over-year.

    Such a drop in full-time private jobs has never been seen outside of recessions.

    https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1853114653032755348

    t’s Good To See Dog Crate Condos Becoming A Commonly Used Term

    Let’s be clear, there are alot of great Condos over 700 sqft even 600

    But less than 500 sqft are mainly Dog Crates the Developers would never allow their own family members to live in

    https://x.com/ronmortgageguy/status/1852713227907477878

    This 121-meter-tall building in the city of Guiyang, China, has a tank installed at its base, where four 185-kilowatt pumps lift the water to the top of the fall and create an artificial waterfall.

    https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1853048228926591281

    So $NVDA wants the US Supreme Court to immunize it from pesky investor litigation when the accounting fraud is revealed and the stock crashes 80%. The end game is near.

    https://x.com/kashyap286/status/1853401210851566059

    Return to office became return to lender… office delinquencies hit GFC high.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1853453598417653970

    As more of an Austrian – I’ve always believed that ‘mean reversion’ or ‘laws of nature’ are powerful forces that can correct the follies of failed human policy decision-making.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1853482018991911259

    Another significant round of Oracle layoffs appears to be in full swing, with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure ranking among the impacted divisions.

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1853463907870064754

    Berkshire’s $325 billion cash hoard is a huge number.

    To give you some perspective of how big that is, it’s approaching the $500 Billion of mortgage-backed securities the @federalreserve
    monetized in just 2 months in 2020, massively distorting housing.

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1853478307339375015

    First-time home buyers’ share of home sales hits 43-year low (!)

    https://x.com/aarthiswami/status/1853467143154614376

    We’re in a housing crash, we just haven’t realized it yet!
    This is Canada’s 2008

    https://x.com/JonFlynnREstats/status/1853458521628537124

    Apple has bought back $655 billion in stock over the past 10 years, which is greater than the market cap of 490 companies in the S&P 500.

    https://x.com/charliebilello/status/1853103386679529582

    Casino operator revenues seeing some softness – very seasonal data but a lower high in January would be a sign of consumer/employment trouble.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1853504598121513087

    This data is exhibit A at how misused stimulus money was in the 20-21 money printing era

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1853505157277024704

    The BLS revised down nonfarm payrolls for August and September by 112K due to changes to its seasonal adjustment calculations.

    In this light, it is interesting to ask what payrolls in October would have been if the BLS had used the same seasonal adjustment factors that it used in September and October of 2023.

    The answer is that payrolls would have declined by 53K in October 2024, versus the reported gain of 12K.

    This raises the risk of more downward revisions to payrolls in November.

    https://x.com/PeterBerezinBCA/status/1853518526306242917

    Over the last 40 years, childcare prices are up 873%, massively outpacing other major cost of living categories.

    By comparison, housing, food, and transportation inflation has risen 350%, 332%, and 268%, respectively.

    At the same time, nationwide CPI inflation has jumped by 315% over this period, less than half of childcare inflation.

    As a result, the majority of the US regions have now annual daycare costs that require 15% of the median household income, with some nearing 25%.

    https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1853614203527209141

    Our daycare costs more than our mortgage.

    https://x.com/PursuingFreed0m/status/1853614542519185429

    Davidson County leading the charge on Months Supply of Inventory! Over 5 months worth now.

    https://x.com/AustinWhittRE/status/1853610456205639740

    Since the market closed…

    1) KPMG cuts audit staff 4%

    2) Lattice Semiconductor to cut 14% of workforce

    3) Paystudios to cut 30% of workforce

    4) Navitas Semiconductor to pare headcount by 14%

    Three large bankruptcies filed today per @business

    https://x.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1853563259246280773

    You guys are literally importing illegal immigrants that are being given priority for housing across the U.S.

    Every decision your party has made has not only raised housing costs, but surged the population making it even harder for Americans to find and afford housing

    https://x.com/sav_says_/status/1853488042662912502

    U.S. factory orders decline for second consecutive month in September, signaling business slowdown, per Reuters

    https://x.com/unusual_whales/status/1853489606219727182

    More homeowners just started pulling cash out of their properties. Here’s why.

    https://x.com/DianaOlick/status/1853492387726946371

    Homeboy just got hoomed

    2 screenshots

    https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1853463399910273126

    1. “Full-time private sector jobs have dropped by a whopping 1.5 MILLION year-over-year.

      Such a drop in full-time private jobs has never been seen outside of recessions”

      Paul Krugman muh best economy ever.

    2. Our daycare costs more than our mortgage.

      Perhaps a re-examination is in order of the family structure.
      How about Dad work a job; Mom stays home and takes care of the children. It seems to be a better financial arrangement and is definitely better for raising children.

    3. “You guys are literally importing illegal immigrants that are being given priority for housing across the U.S.

      Every decision your party has made has not only raised housing costs, but surged the population making it even harder for Americans to find and afford housing”

      You are being replaced.

    4. “Berkshire’s $325 billion cash hoard is a huge number.”

      Cash is King when the proverbial tide is receding!

  25. A Tribeca-based art advisor has pleaded guilty in a case arising from allegations that she stole more than $6 million dollars from wealthy clients. Lisa Schiff (right), who lives in Tribeca and also operated an office there — as well as outposts in Los Angeles and London — opened her boutique advisory firm, Schiff Fine Art Advisory, in 2002. But her business began to unravel in May, 2023, when multiple clients filed lawsuits alleging they were never paid for valuable art works they had entrusted to her for sale, or that she never bought art pieces they had given her funds to purchase but had pocketed the money instead.

    Federal prosecutors say that Ms. Schiff “breached the trust of her art advisory clients by lying to them and diverting millions of dollars her clients had entrusted to her. Instead of using client funds as promised, Schiff used the stolen money to fund a lavish lifestyle.”

    In October, she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of count of wire fraud (carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison) and agreed to forfeit approximately $6.4 million.

    Ms. Schiff’s lawyer, Randy Scott Zelin, says, “my client is a good person who did a bad thing. She has accepted responsibility for what she has done, she’s going to do the best that she can to make amends, and she looks forward to getting on with her life.”

    “She has 140 percent remorse,” Mr. Zelin continues. “It’s like she got caught up in a riptide that takes you further and further out. You have every good intention with you when you set foot in the ocean, but sometimes you just end up in that current, and you just can’t find your way back.”

    https://www.ebroadsheet.com/22301-2/

  26. A courtroom of relief: FBI recovers funds for victims of scammed banker

    Sobs of relief broke out in a federal courtroom in Kansas on Monday as dozens of people whose life savings had been embezzled by a bank CEO learned that federal law enforcement had recovered their money.

    “I just can’t describe the weight lifted off of us,” said Bart Camilli, 70, who with his wife Cleo had just learned they’d recover close to $450,000 — money Bart began saving at 18 when he bought his first individual retirement account. “It’s life-changing.”

    In August, former Kansas bank CEO Shan Hanes was sentenced to 24 years after stealing $47 million from customer accounts and wiring the money to cryptocurrency accounts run by scammers. Prosecutors said Hanes also stole $40,000 from his church, $10,000 from an investment club and $60,000 from his daughter’s college fund and lost $1.1 million of his own in the scheme. Deposits were “jettisoned into the ether,” said prosecutor Aaron Smith.

    Hanes’ Heartland Tri-State Bank, drained of cash, was shut down by federal regulators and sold to another financial institution. Customers’ savings and checking accounts amounting to $47.1 million were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which paid off their losses.

    But there were still 30 shareholders of the community-owned rural bank Hanes helped found — including his close family friends and neighbors — who thought they lost $8.3 million in investments: well-planned retirements were upended, funds for long-term eldercare gone, education funds and bequests for children and grandchildren zeroed out.

    Prosecutors said Hanes, who was the CEO of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Elkhart, Kansas, lost the money in a scam referred to as “pig butchering,” or the way pigs are fattened before slaughter. In the scam, a third party gains a victims’ trust and, over time, convinces them to invest all of their money into cryptocurrency, which immediately disappears. U.S. and U.N. officials say these schemes are proliferating, with scammers largely in Southeast Asia increasingly taking advantage of Americans.

    Hanes started buying what he thought was $5,000 in cryptocurrency in late 2022, communicating with someone who had reached out on WhatsApp, according to court records. A few months later he transferred over his church and investment club funds. Records show the scam accelerated in the summer of 2023, when Hanes wired $47.1 million out of customer accounts in 11 wire transfers over just eight weeks. Each transfer, he thought, was necessary to end the investment and cash out, court records said. He watched, on a fake website, as the money appeared to grow to more than $200 million.

    “He was to take some of the money, and the rest of the money was supposed to go back to the bank,” his attorney John Stang explained. “Now it’s fiction, it didn’t exist. We all know that now … It failed big time.”

    On Monday, prosecutors said the FDIC wanted to be paid back for the insurance claims it reimbursed to bank customers. But Judge Broomes said the economic circumstances of shareholders “who became insolvent because of a fraud scheme” justified paying them back first, before the FDIC recovers anything.

    Hanes, 53, may be in his late 70s when he is released and is unlikely to be able to pay the FDIC the $47.1 million still owed.

    In a court filing, Hanes and his attorney tried to explain what had happened.

    “Mr. Hanes made some very bad choices after being caught up in an extremely well-run cryptocurrency scam,” they said. “He was the pig that was butchered.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/a-courtroom-of-relief-feds-recover-funds-for-victims-of-scammed-banker/ar-AA1tvv2U

    1. “He watched, on a fake website, as the money appeared to grow to more than $200 million.”

      I’m a genius, and I’m m* f* rich!

  27. ‘Gutless’ CEOs Jolted by Attacks From Trudeau’s Surging Rival

    The crowd gathered on the 54th floor of TD Bank Tower, an imposing glass-and-steel edifice in Toronto’s financial district, was a who’s who of the Canadian business elite. There were CEOs and tech moguls and bankers who had paid as much as C$1,725 ($1,240) each for a chance to hear from Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party.

    Poilievre isn’t your traditional Conservative leader or, for that matter, your typical Canadian. He’s brash and confrontational, even with his supporters in the C-suite. Weeks before this June fundraiser on Bay Street, he publicly ripped into CEOs in an opinion piece for failing to push back against the environmental policies of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the man he appears poised to defeat at the polls next year. “Gutless executives,” he’d written.

    So when he asked the group for questions, it soon got tense.

    Poilievre is courting working-class voters with an anti-elite message that sometimes paints a darker picture of the country. “Everything feels broken in Canada,” he says in television ads. Business groups don’t have the solutions – they only know how to hold “pointless luncheons and meetings,” Poilievre has written. He lambasted the CEO of Canada’s largest telecommunications company as “overpaid” and accused him of draining the firm’s resources “to pay his wealthy friends” high dividends.

    It’s working: the Conservatives have held a double-digit lead in public opinion polling for well over a year, with an election due by October 2025. The party’s current advantage is so large – and Trudeau’s Liberal Party appears so weakened – that projections suggest the Tories have a shot at winning more than 200 of the 343 seats up for grabs in the House of Commons.

    Such a majority would give Poilievre the ability to make sweeping changes to the direction of the world’s 10th largest economy, and he’s hinting that’s exactly what he wants to do. He has slammed some of Canada’s biggest companies, accusing them of being coddled by the state and too eager to pursue taxpayer subsidies.

    One illustration was his recent spat with BCE Inc., also known as Bell, a large telecom provider that owns CTV, one of the country’s major television networks. When its flagship news program stitched together clips of Poilievre, presenting his remarks out of context, he accused the network of being biased against him. CTV apologized and fired two people involved in producing the story.

    But then the Conservative leader kept going, attacking BCE CEO Mirko Bibic directly and mocking the company for having its credit rating downgraded. “This is the crony capitalism of Trudeau’s state-run economy,” Poilievre wrote in a social-media post on X. “Politicians protect big oligopolies against competition and those oligopolies use their media arms to give politicians glowing coverage.”

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/gutless-canada-ceos-jolted-trudeau-110000887.html

  28. ‘Very worried’: Alberta NDP concerned about gender policy impact

    NDP House Leader Christina Gray speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about the first week of the Alberta legislature’s fall sitting.

    Michael Higgins: Let’s start on that trio of bills focusing largely on transgender youth. You’ve had a day now to review the legislation. What’s standing out for you from an opposition perspective?

    Christina Gray: The bills that have been introduced are some of the most anti-trans legislation, anti-sex education legislation, that we’ve seen anywhere in the country and counter to what the premier has said, it’s removing choice and removing rights and punching down on vulnerable children.

    A lot of misinformation has been introduced into the health conversation. They are talking about removing access to bottom surgery, something that does not happen anywhere in Canada. They are really going further than we’ve seen with anti-trans legislation than any other part of the country.

    Our fundamental human rights are already protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They cannot be overridden by any provincial bill. The UCP continues to focus on anti-vaccine positions rather than addressing real needs, like parents seeking proper care for their children.

    https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/very-worried-alberta-ndp-concerned-about-gender-policy-impact-1.7097635

    1. “They are talking about removing access to bottom surgery…”

      Bottom surgery? Sounds so much nicer than chop, chop, chop.

      1. And a lifetime of dilation and complications to maintain the open wound. Democrats love their euphemisms!

  29. Why Trudeau and Harris face similar troubles with voters

    As the US presidential campaign nears the finish line, Canada’s prime minister is facing the threat of a snap election being called at any moment.

    Justin Trudeau is under intense pressure to step down as leader after nine years in power. His Liberals have been trailing the Conservative Party by a wide margin in the polls for months.

    A large segment of voters in both countries are feeling a sense of malaise, telling pollsters they think their respective country is moving in the wrong direction.

    Nik Nanos, the founder of polling firm Nanos Research, said politics on both sides of the border now shares “common hot button issues”, from the cost of living to immigration.

    “What’s probably more important is the subtext that the system is broken.”

    Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Global Public Affairs, told the BBC that the message of hope and change that swept Trudeau to victory in 2015 – and the Harris campaign’s early message of joy – aren’t resonating with people struggling to pay their bills.

    “Incumbents are really getting punished these days. You saw it in the UK, you saw it in France. And it looks like there’s a potential for that to happen in the United States and in Canada,” he said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/why-trudeau-and-harris-face-similar-troubles-with-voters/ar-AA1ttS63

    1. “the Harris campaign’s early message of joy – aren’t resonating with people struggling to pay their bills”

      Paul Krugman muh best economy ever.

  30. Last week, New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg compared waiting for the election returns to waiting for the results of a biopsy. It’s a fine metaphor, vivid in capturing the dread of this moment, but it’s inapt.

    We’re not waiting for a diagnosis, we’re waiting for a prognosis. We know there’s a malignancy. What we don’t know is how bad it’ll get.

    If Donald Trump wins, Americans will find out the hard way how abusive a term-limited authoritarian egged on by yes-men and emboldened by criminal impunity in wielding his core powers might be. We’ll also learn how far the salt-of-the-earth patriots of the American right—most of whom are supposedly voting for nothing more malicious than lower grocery prices and a stronger border—are willing to go to rationalize that abuse.

    My suspicion in both cases is: Further than we think.

    That’s the best I can do for a consoling thought on Election Day eve—we deserve what we get now. And I do mean “we.” I deserve it too.

    I’ve worked in right-wing media for a long time. Even in the early days, people who read me would have told you I was nine parts RINO to one part populist. But that’s still one part too many.

    I regret, and will always regret, that I didn’t recognize until very late what the conservative movement was becoming. I plead stupidity, not malice: Not until Trumpmania exploded in 2015 did it dawn on me that adherents of populist conservatism were happy to jettison the conservatism so long as the populist demagoguery got turned up to 10.

    Whatever minuscule contribution I may have made toward us arriving at this moment, I’m sorry for it. All I can do to atone is make another minuscule contribution toward trying to lead us away and accept that, whatever Trump has planned, I’m part of the “we” that has it coming

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/boiled-frogs-230021849.html

    3. No genuine conservatives have ever been employed by the globalist scum media. Only controlled-opposition globalist marionettes.

    4. Come on Michelle, you don’t really buy “I can’t breathe,” critical race theory, woke, non-binary, transgender, open borders, sanctuary cities, etc., ad nauseum nonsense of the past four years do you?

  31. The U.S. economy looks strong. So why don’t voters feel good about it?

    Many voters have been telling pollsters the economy is the most important issue to them this election cycle. While it looks strong on paper — stable and growing at a faster pace than was expected — a lot of American voters are still feeling a bit glum about it all, no matter how good the data seems to say they should feel.

    During a recent interview, Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross said that a voter’s perspective on the economy “is determined by what they’re going through on a daily basis.”

    “It’s not the Dow Jones industrial average,” she said. “People are looking at whether they have money to do the things they were able to do just a few years ago, and most would tell you they cannot.”

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/economy-us-election-consumer-sentiment-1.7371186

    1. “People are looking at whether they have money to do the things they were able to do just a few years ago, and most would tell you they cannot”

      Paul Krugman muh … muh … maybe write another NYT piece about how Harris / Biden should downplay the economic miracle they’ve created.

  32. Is New Jersey in play? Even CT or the big prize NY?

    If NH and Virginia go for DJT, watch all the Eastern time zone “swing” states closely. This could all be over by 10pm Eastern.

    1. It’s NH or NM. VA will be close and while Harris will win NY, it will surprise everyone.

      The limited data out there unfortunately shows that voter turnout is way down in urban areas. We were all hoping that some of big city minority communities would vote Republican and send a message to their local Democrat politicians. But unfortunately, they are instead choosing to not vote at all, missing a fantastic opportunity to send a message to their Democrat overlords.

      1. Meaning that local Democrat politicians in big cities will learning nothing from this except to cheat harder next time. But if a third of their D+90 voter base voted Republican, they might get a little scared.

  34. The biggest median house price fall was recorded in South Yarra, where prices fell 20.7 per cent over the year to September to a median of $1.8 million.

    Is that a lot?

    1. Globalist sc*m social media.

      Time to go fully Teddy Roosevelt on their @ss trust bustin’ it.

    1. Caution: I had this link open for 30 minutes and it froze my system up. Georgia results coming in.

      ‘Updated 6m ago
      Jonathan Ellis Upshot deputy editor
      Most polls have closed in Georgia, one of the seven key swing states, and one that usually reports its votes relatively quickly. Florida, where Trump is expected to win, is reporting its votes very fast.’

      2. “I had this link open for 30 minutes and it froze my system up”

        Laptop didn’t freeze. Browser tab with the interactive map of live results did.

          1. Updated 15m ago
            Alicia Parlapiano Data reporter
            Most polls have closed in North Carolina and in Georgia, two swing states that tend to count votes quickly. Florida, where a large share of votes has been reported, is looking like a decisive win for Trump.

  43. Boys I had framing in Stuart Fl. today told me about a couple of the yard signs they saw.

    Commies for Kamala

    Looters for Harris

    Then there was the meme I was texted

    Today feels like the whole country is
    waiting for an STD test result

    1. “If you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” —Barack Obama

  44. CNN exit poll disastrous for Kamala Harris

    Sky News Australia

    1 hour ago

    Kamala Harris and the Democrats are making their last-ditch efforts to win over voters as they head to the polls for the final hours of the election, but a new poll spells disaster for Kamala Harris and the Democrats.

    A CNN exit poll measuring voter satisfaction has revealed only 7% of voters are enthusiastic about the current state of the country, 19% are satisfied, 43% dissatisfied and 29% are angry.

    In short, 72% of Americans surveyed in the CNN exit poll are not positive about how America is being run under the Biden-Harris regime.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFb5Uad-UJY

    3:51.

      1. Newsmax just said NYPD shift change being held over for potential riots.

        Sounds like good news for Trump.

        1. Oh sorry, I had a comment that nested wrong. I’m not seeing massive meltdowns on X yet, more like a bunch of denial. Some folks are already looking for scapegoats. For example, Merrick Garland is a lousy AG because he didn’t prosecute ALL of DJT’s crimes and tossing him in jail so he can’t campaign.

          Oh, and that “Iowa poll” showing Special K up by 3%? She lost Iowa by 13%.

          Another note: in 2020, Biden won Maryland by 32%. Special K won Maryland by 22%. She’s been losing 8-10% in the deep blue states. This is why DJT, as of 11:45 pm, is predicted to narrowly wint he popular vote.

          I’m tempted to go buy some ketchup.

          1. I’ve been consuming legal commentary on a criminal trial the last couple of weeks. Someone just put Trump2024🇺🇸 in the comments and triggered a Karen: “This is not a political video. Your comment should be removed!”

          3. A significant part of leftist Twitter/X believes that DJT faked the Butler assassination attempt. Specifically, DJT had hidden a packet of ketchup behind his ear. When DJT grabbed his ear, he was actually breaking that kethup packet to make the “blood” on his ear.

            Leftist Twitter has been mocking DJT with ketchup memes for months. Eff ’em.

  45. I’m not going to deep into liberal twitter, but I’m not seeing much screaming at the sky just yet. They’re more like “I can’t believe they’re all voting for the felon.”

    They are still in the denial phase.

    1. I’m still worried that when I get up tomorrow that she will have been dragged across the finish line.

  47. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will likely tone-down his retaliation rhetoric beginning Wednesday morning, and future maps of the middle-east will likely omit the Gaza Strip to the “ash heap of history.”

  48. Trump Projected to Win 2024 Presidential Election

    ‘This is a magnificent victory for the American people,’ Trump said.

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—Former President Donald Trump is the projected winner of the 2024 presidential election, according to Decision Desk HQ.

    The president-elect won the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, while leading comfortably in Michigan and Nevada.

    By the time Trump took the stage at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, Republicans had already captured the U.S. Senate with victories in Ohio and West Virginia. Further buttressing his mandate, the former president was also on track to win the national popular vote.

    “God spared my life for a reason,” Trump said referring to the assassination attempts on his life.

    “This was a movement like nobody has ever seen before, and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There’s never been anything like this in this country,” Trump said.

    “We’re going to help our country heal. We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly. We’re going to fix our borders. We’re going to fix everything about our country.”

    Trump’s win makes him only the second president in American history to reclaim the office after losing his first bid for reelection. Grover Cleveland was the first president who won a second nonconsecutive term in 1892 after losing in 1888.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-declares-victory-in-presidential-contest-5754642

  49. Live election results 2024: Trump wins Pennsylvania as victory nears
    Republicans also won control of the U.S. Senate for the first time in four years.

    Yahoo News Staff

    Updated Wed, November 6, 2024 at 2:12 AM CST

    Moments after the Associated Press called the state of Pennsylvania for him, former President Donald Trump declared victory Wednesday in an early morning speech to his supporters at the Palm Beach Convention Center.

    Trump’s win in the coveted swing state brought him just three electoral votes from hitting the 270 needed to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris in the race for the White House. Ballots were still being counted in seven states, but Trump was ahead in every remaining swing state.

    Outside of the presidential race, Republicans flipped the U.S. Senate — winning control of the chamber for the first time in four years.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/live/live-election-results-2024-pennsylvania-georgia-too-close-to-call-for-trump-or-harris-virginia-results-continue-to-roll-in-002024708.html

  52. Ben Werschkul · Washington Correspondent

    Wed, November 6, 2024 at 4:37 AM CST

    American voters have chosen Donald Trump as the next President of the United States giving him a commanding victory against Vice President Kamala Harris.

    A call in the state of Wisconsin in favor of Trump by the the Associated Press on Wednesday morning put him over the top with Trump now set to have the distinction of being the 45th and the 47th US president.

    “This was I believe the greatest political movement of all time,” he told supporters early Wednesday morning as he neared victory. “And now it’s going to reach a new level of importance.”

    “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump also claimed Wednesday noting his win in the electoral college and his lead, as of Wednesday morning, in the popular vote.

    While economists may be skeptical, voters clearly weren’t in the aggregate, as Trump carried the Tar Heel State by a healthy margin and found new levels of support above his previous runs for the presidency in 2016 and 2020.

    Trump is also set to have a guiding hand on a wide-range of issues from the selection of the next Federal Reserve Chairman (perhaps the only certainty there is that Jerome Powell will not be nominated to a third term) to energy (where Trump may attempt to roll back green energy subsidies).

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-has-won-the-2024-election-heres-whats-next-on-2-key-economic-issues-103752428.html

  53. A Trump campaign spokesperson is weighing in as the mood has shifted over at Harris’ watch party.

    “Sounds like the joy has left the building,” posted Karoline Leavitt, a campaign spokeswoman on X.

    The Harris campaign turned off its projected CNN broadcasts at its election night watch party at Howard University as midnight approached. And some Harris supporters began leaving the event.
    Harris’ Howard party cuts CNN, resumes music as tough race calls roll in

    As midnight approached on the East Coast, the Harris campaign turned off its projected broadcasts of CNN at its election night watch party at Howard University. Instead, various high-energy remixes blared from speakers alongside floodlights flickering in tempo to hype the crowd.

    The cheers in the crowd had become less frequent as more results came in from battleground states showing a tight race or victories for Trump.

    Some attendees began leaving the event though the vast majority of rallygoers remained. It is unclear if Harris will make an appearance at her alma mater.

    With at least 51 Senate seats secured, Republicans will retake control of the chamber for the first time in four years. It gives the party a major power center in Washington and important power in confirming the next president’s Cabinet, as well as any Supreme Court justice if there is a vacancy.

    With a handful of battleground races yet to be decided, Republicans still have an opportunity to grow their majority.

    Sen. Ted Cruz calls victory in Texas a mandate for tougher border measures

    Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas says he considers his reelection victory over Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred a mandate for stronger enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    During a victory speech in front of supporters in his hometown of Houston, Cruz praised strong support from Hispanic voters. He singled out South Texas, where Cruz was performing much better in large border counties than he did during a narrow victory in 2018 over Beto O’Rourke.

    “Tonight we are witnessing incredible results, especially with Hispanics across the state of Texas,” Cruz told the crowd. “And we are seeing tonight generational change in South Texas. The results tonight, this decisive victory should shake the Democratic establishment to its core.”

    Bernie Moreno will be the first Latino that Ohio has sent to the U.S. Senate, thanks to his victory over Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

    Moreno was born in Bogota, Colombia. He moved with his family to the United States at age 5 and became an American citizen when he was 18.

    He built his fortune as a luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur and will come to the Senate as one of its wealthiest members.

    Harris’ Howard night energy turns from festive to fretting as race calls roll in

    The mood at Harris’ election night party at Howard University shifted from electric to anxious as race calls began rolling in. The musical performances and triumphant speeches on display earlier in the evening have been replaced by occasional DJ mixes and broadcast race calls.

    Anxious faces and hushed talk spread through the crowd as the night stretched on and the tightness of the race became apparent.

    The still-packed crowd periodically went quiet as attendees watched returns come in on a giant projection of CNN.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-latest-trump-wins-three-swing-states-closing-in-on-a-victory-as-gop-reclaims-senate-majority/ar-AA1tAqPG

  54. Donald Trump defeats Kamala Harris to become the next U.S. president, NBC News projects

    Story by Jonathan Allen
    • 43m

    Donald J. Trump, the once and now future president, capped an improbable political comeback by defeating Vice President Kamala Harris on promises to turbocharge the economy and deport undocumented immigrants by the millions.

    t wasn’t just Trump who endured. His Make America Great Again movement proved resilient with voters. Trump re-harnessed the backlash against establishment powers during his grievance-filled third campaign, according to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is an informal adviser to the president-elect.

    “The great mistake that analysts make is that they focus on Trump, rather than the underlying momentum that has created Trump,” Gingrich said in an interview with NBC News. “Trump is the personification of at least half the country rejecting, decisively and vehemently, the governing elite.”

    He never conceded the 2020 election, despite no evidence that he had won it. In a way, his supporters never conceded, either.

    “I think there were serious problems in 2020,” Vice President-elect JD Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio who was recommended for the ticket by Trump’s sons Don Jr. and Eric, said in October. “So did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use, OK? I really couldn’t care less if you agree or disagree with me on this issue.”

    It’s been 132 years since Cleveland avenged his defeat, and Trump’s victory is the first time since that era that the White House has changed party hands in three consecutive elections.

    Today, some analysts read that, and public polling, as part of an apparent truth: Voters are dissatisfied with their leaders.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-defeats-kamala-harris-to-become-the-next-u-s-president-nbc-news-projects/ar-AA1tBqH7

  55. The Washington Post

    Donald Trump wins presidential election, defeating Harris to retake White House

    Story by Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey
    • 48m

    Donald John Trump was elected the nation’s 47th president, returning to the White House after a criminal conviction and two impeachments by riding a wave of voter dissatisfaction with the direction of the country under four years of Democratic leadership.

    The Republican defeated Vice President Kamala Harris by promising to curb inflation, crack down on undocumented immigrants, and end overseas conflicts. Trump achieved an electoral college majority by maintaining his majorities with men and White voters without college degrees, while also overperforming with historic Democratic constituencies such as Latinos and young voters, according to preliminary exit polls. Trump was projected early Wednesday morning as the winner of the election, according to the Associated Press and Edison Research.

    Harris struggled to distance herself from President Joe Biden, whom she replaced on the ticket after a June debate in which he sometimes appeared confused. Her campaign emphasized abortion rights, promised generational change, and portrayed Trump as dangerous and unstable. But as the sitting vice president, she was unable to outrun broad disapproval of the incumbent president, and made strategic errors, some Democrats said, such as saying she didn’t disagree with Biden on any topic.

    Trump reclaimed at least three of the states he lost in 2020, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Michigan, Arizona and Nevada remained too close to call early Wednesday morning. Trump is on pace to win the national popular vote though that will depend on Harris’s final margin in California.

    He will enter office with a new Republican majority in the Senate that is poised to approve his executive and judicial nominations and back his legislative agenda. Control of the House was not yet known.

    “We’re going to fix everything about our country and we made history for a reason tonight, and the reason is going to be just that,” Trump said early Wednesday morning at his victory party in West Palm Beach, Fla. “We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible.”

    The former president often defied the advice of aides who urged him to give shorter speeches, stick to his scripts and focus on policy differences rather than personal insults. He rejected pleas to stop calling American political opponents “the enemy from within” and to focus less on the 2020 election. At one of his final rallies, he said that he should have stayed in office after losing four years ago.

    “This campaign was 99 percent Trump,” a longtime adviser said days before the election, speaking on the condition of anonymity to be more candid. “He did it his way.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-wins-presidential-election-defeating-harris-to-retake-white-house/ar-AA1tBAbj

  56. Nightmare for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as Trump declares victory

    As Donald Trump declares victory in the 2024 US Presidential Election, shockwaves will likely be sent through the Sussex camp over the coming hours.

    Nightmare for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as Trump declares victory
    As Donald Trump declares victory in the 2024 US Presidential Election, shockwaves will likely be sent through the Sussex camp over the coming hours.

    Harry and Meghan ‘should have royal titles removed’ says Trump

    Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be nervous this morning as Donald Trump has declared victory in the 2024 US Presidential Election.

    The likely President-Elect has previously spoken out about Prince Harry’s visa row, saying he would take “appropriate action” over questions the Duke of Sussex lied on his application about recreational drug use.

    This comes after The Heritage Foundation questioned the Duke of Sussex’s visa in court after Harry admitted in his memoir Spare that he had in the past taken drugs, including cocaine, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms.

    The revelation led to anger from the Washington-based think tank, who believe Harry’s visa to live in the country was treated differently to that of ordinary citizens, with some people being banned from entering the country if they are found to have been drug users presently or in the past.

    He told Daily Express US: “I wouldn’t protect him. He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.”

    Former President Donald Trump – who is bidding for a return to the White House in the November 5 US election – previously hinted he could deport Harry if he is re-elected, warning the Duke of Sussex he “will not protect him” like Joe Biden.

    Royal expert Phil Dampier told The Sun: “This has been going on for about two years now. The Heritage Foundation, which is a think tank in Washington, has really got their teeth into this I think they feel that Prince Harry has been treated differently from other people who’ve applied for visas to stay in the States.”

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1972208/prince-harry-meghan-markle-nightmare-visa-donald-trump

  57. With the aid of tens of millions the industry spent in Ohio through its Fairshake political action committee, Sherrod Brown’s long Senate career is over and a blockchain businessman, Bernie Moreno, will take his place. The loss of Brown, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, also contributed to the Republicans seizing the Senate majority, meaning Brown’s committee will have a new GOP chairman who will likely welcome crypto legislation rather than leave it in limbo, as Brown had.

    In the early hours of Wednesday, former President Trump nailed 277 electoral college votes, more than the 270 needed for a return to the White House.

    And with at least two dozen freshman, crypto-friendly representatives starting their careers in the House of Representatives in January, the number of members who support digital assets on Capitol Hill is swelling considerably.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-already-won-election-trump-071552549.html

  58. “No state has more to lose or more to gain in this election in November,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a news conference last week, as he reflected on the “chilling effect” that Trump’s mass deportation plan would have on California’s economy.

    Newsom’s office declined to discuss the stakes of the presidential election for California. Nor did representatives make Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire or Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, both Democrats who will shape the legislative agenda and state budget next year, available for interviews.

    One likely priority is strengthening the California Values Act, the 2017 “sanctuary state” law that limited police cooperation with federal immigration authorities. After a contentious legislative battle, the version that passed was scaled back from what supporters originally envisioned, exempting people convicted of hundreds of more serious crimes from the protections and allowing state prison officials to continue handing over individuals facing deportation orders.

    With Democrats drifting right on immigration policy, activists are unsure where a Harris administration would land, though they plan to keep advocating for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Fouladi said community groups would play an important role in amplifying positive messages about immigrants as public opinion has turned against them.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/california-s-path-hinges-on-the-presidential-race-no-state-has-more-to-lose-or-gain/ar-AA1tyK4l

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