thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

Often If The Vendor Isn’t Playing Ball, Buyers Will Move On To The Next

A report from the Tampa Bay Times. “Condo and townhome listings are up 65% year over year and sales are down 20%, according to statewide data from Florida Realtors. The median sales price has dropped more than 3%. The outlook is bleaker in places like Tampa Bay and Miami, where there’s a higher concentration of older condos. ‘A lot of these buildings are already dead man walking,’ said Joe Hernandez, an attorney with the Miami law firm Bilzin Sumberg who specializes in condo terminations. ‘There’s going to be a lot of people that will pay much higher costs and sometimes to the point that they can’t afford to stay in Florida.'”

“The Kalmia Condominiums in Clearwater wasn’t Ronni Drimmer’s dream retirement destination. She bought a two-bedroom unit there for her mother in 2001 but ended up moving in when her mom died 18 months later. Even though inspectors found no structural issues at Drimmer’s building, monthly maintenance fees for its 70 owners could climb by more than a third next year. That’s on top of an estimated 21% increase for insurance and a $500,000 special assessment to replace the roof. Seniors stand to lose the most, said 78-year-old Connie Weitlauf, another resident of the Kalmia Condominiums. After months of waiting to see how things might shake out, Weitlauf has decided she can’t afford to stay in the one-bedroom unit she bought three years ago. ‘I’m very comfortable here,’ she said. ‘I thought this would be it for me. Now I’m just hoping I break even when I go to sell.'”

Bisnow South Florida. “Mysterious barrels of liquid labeled ‘ACID’ in the garage of The St. Regis Bal Harbour Residences and Hotel are just one of the safety concerns condo owners raised in a lawsuit filed this week against the Qatari company that owns the luxury resort in Miami Beach. The oceanfront buildings, which opened in 2012, have growing mold colonies, cracking concrete, a leaking garage and exposed electrical wiring, all conditions the residents say are the result of an absentee owner, according to the complaint. ‘I’ve never seen issues like this, as pervasive as this, in a building that’s 12 years old,’ Juan Morillo, a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP who is representing the association in the lawsuit, told Bisnow in an interview. ‘It is extraordinary for a building of this relative youth to be in this state of disrepair. We’re not complaining about cosmetic things. Just to be blunt about it, it’s not like a bunch of rich people are complaining about the wallpaper and the painting or the lighting. We’re talking about serious structural issues.'”

The Union Tribune in California. “San Diego homes sales have slowed to a snail’s pace. In September, 1,987 homes sold in San Diego County, CoreLogic reported Friday, its lowest for a September in records going back to 1988. It also marked the 10th-slowest sales month of all time. Sales were down 22% from August, and down 6.4 percent from the same time last year when home purchases began to fall off considerably. Mauricio Perez-Vazquez, a Chula Vista real estate agent, said potential buyers did not have time to take advantage of lower rates. ‘It didn’t last long, that’s the thing,’ he said. ‘A lot of people maybe thought, ‘OK, (rates) are starting to drop.’ By the time they were ready, lower rates were gone.’ A recent study from Orange County-based Reports on Housing said many sellers were throwing in the towel after not getting high enough offers for properties. The real estate research firm said as of September, 6,990 homes have been taken off the market compared to 3,478 last year.”

The Real Deal on California. “A former executive of Grocery Outlet has lopped $2 million off the asking price of his Pacific Heights co-op flat, to $16 million. MacGregor Read has relisted the 5,000-square-foot co-op unit at 2000 Washington Street, No. 3, across the street from Lafayette Park, the San Francisco Business Times reported. Read bought the single-floor home in 2014 for $9.4 million, according to Redfin. He then sank more than $9 million into renovations, according to Joe Lucier, who holds the listing with Stacey Caen of Sotheby’s International Realty. The former co-CEO listed the three-bedroom, four-bathroom flat in early September for $18 million. He cut the price ‘to activate buyers in the market,’ Lucier told the Business Times.”

“At 2006 Washington Street next door, a 10th-floor penthouse was listed in March for $35 million, before dropping the price to $29 million. In 2022, a two-floor flat there sold for $19 million, after listing for $30 million. Another co-op, which had listed for $45 million, dropped its asking price to $35 million.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania. “Bond investors have moved to take over financially troubled Beech International Village, a four-story building with room for 200 students, plus ground-floor stores, in the 1500 block of Cecil B. Moore Ave. near Temple University. In a civil lawsuit filed last month, the bondholders, led by UMB, a Missouri-based bank, allege that nonprofit Beech Interplex Inc., which built Beech International in 2010 with $17 million it raised from income-tax-exempt municipal-bond sales, owes the city almost $1.1 million in unpaid property taxes and has failed to give investors required financial reports and warnings. With its stores and many rooms vacant, rents in the building are no longer bringing in enough money to cover the building’s costs, according to the civil lawsuit UMB filed against Beech in federal court in Philadelphia last month. UMB accuses Beech of fraud, breach of contract, and accounting violations. The bank seeks to foreclose the property, turn it over to a receiver, and offer it for sale so investors can get their money back before the city seizes it for nonpayment of taxes.”

“‘Temple referred students to Beech International in its early years but has stopped doing so, said Robert L. Archie, a lawyer for Beech. ‘Just in my opinion, Temple defaulted on their obligation. They didn’t provide the students,’ Archie said, noting that several Temple appointees have held seats on the Beech International board. Archie called the bondholders’ move to take control ‘precipitous. They are overreaching, in my opinion.’ He added, ‘We can’t go out and manufacture students.'”

From Bisnow Houston. “‘A fun fact on office that’s not very fun is that about 50% of the CMBS loans that expire between now and ’28 have a coverage ratio of less than 1.2 and they have an interest rate of under 5%,’ Transwestern Southwest President Kevin Roberts said. ‘Any refinance scenario, it just shows you the wall of maturities that’s going to be a real issue for Houston. It’s not just Houston, it’s Texas and national as well.'”

The Colorado Springs Gazette. “For all the attention it gets, you’d think ending ‘homelessness’ was the primary purpose of Denver government. Only a small fraction of the homeless are street people (the ‘unsheltered’ in politically correct lingo) but they’re a major part of the problem. As a compassionate society we do what we can for them. Unfortunately, most reject treatment and rehabilitation. They say they just want their freedom. But we can’t ignore the damage they cause for the 700,000 other residents of Denver and the 3 million who live in the metro area, especially downtown. To put it bluntly, bums, vagrants, beggars, squatters and drug addicts camping out in public and private property, parks, and sidewalks infringe on the welfare of the people who make this city thrive, and they make Denver a less desirable place for tourists and folks who live in the metro suburbs to visit, dine out, recreate and work.”

“In other words, it’s bad for business. A recent study by Colorado’s Common Sense Institute finds that the combination of crime, homelessness, and high office vacancy rates in downtown Denver has caused it to lag behind other downtowns nationwide in economic recovery after the pandemic. To borrow a title from Charles Dickens, the comparison of Aurora’s handling of street people and Denver’s provides an instructive ‘Tale of Two Cities.’ The approach of Denver’s government —with its radical leftist dominated City Council and rookie liberal Democrat Mayor Mike Johnston —is steeped in its philosophy of ‘social justice.’ They call it ‘housing first’ without conditions or mandatory substance abuse rehab programs.”

“Aurora’s Republican Mayor Mike Coffman and his conservative City Council majority have taken a more practical approach to homelessness. They call it ‘work first,’ designed to elevate people to self-reliance with conditions for treatment, rehab and job training to qualify for free housing. Denver is spending hundreds of millions on ‘affordable housing’ and actually becoming a landlord, taking ownership of apartment houses. This can lead to even more homeless people flocking to Colorado to cash in on the goodies. Similar programs in Chicago and NYC led to the dreaded ‘projects,’ low-income ghettos with dilapidated buildings, crime and drugs. To finance its benevolence, Denver is on a tax-increasing binge. There’s an economic truism: what you tax you get less of and what you subsidize and encourage you get more of.”

Castanet in Canada. “In the past week, according to numbers from the Association of Interior Realtors, a large portion of the British Columbia Interior real estate market had a total of 8,444 existing listings. During that same period, 317 sales were recorded and 425 new listings were added. Up to $250,000—569 listings and 28 sales, a ratio of 20.32 listings per sale. The lowest price range has a substantial oversupply, likely leading to longer listing times. That is big buyers’ advantage. $250,000-$500,000—1,784 listings and 85 sales. That price segment also showed an oversupply, with a ratio of 20.99 listings per sale. Although demand exists, buyers have the advantage in negotiations and sellers may need to be flexible on pricing.”

“$500,000-$1,000,000—3,598 listings and 151 sales. While this segment is the most active, the listings-to-sales ratio of 23.82 indicates an oversupply, with buyers having a wide range of options, sellers not so much. $1 million-$2 million—1,895 listings and 50 sales. The higher-end market shows a significant oversupply, with a listings-to-sales ratio of 37.9. That reflects slower movement due to a smaller buyer pool, often resulting in extended time on the market. Over $2 million—598 listings and three sales. The luxury segment has the slowest market speed, with an exceptionally high ratio of 199.33 listings per sale. That suggests the luxury market is extremely oversupplied. I also noticed a higher incidence of cancelled and expired listings just over the last while.”

“To give a little context, I pulled some information from 2022, 2023 and 2024. For the month of September 2022, in single family residential, there were 1,162 active listings in the Central Okanagan, in September 2023 1,230 and this September 1,727. That works out to about a 60% increase over two years. There were about 50% more sales in September 2022 than in September 2024, meaning far less for sale two years ago and about 50% more sales. Our ratio of sales to listings is far and away higher than just two years ago. Simply put, way more homes are for sale and far fewer are being sold. The turnover rate has substantially come down. The big take away is, if you own a property (in a segment) where there are several other similar properties (commodity housing), it’s important to be aggressive in your pricing if you want to be the one in 26 that sells.”

Business in Vancouver in Canada. “Developers in Vancouver are facing a confluence of economic and regulatory factors that are financially stressing projects and making insolvencies more common. Even if developments don’t fail, they may require a restructuring to make financial sense. ‘We’ve never seen this many receiverships in one cycle, and I think there are still a few more to come,’ said Tony Quattrin, vice-chair with CBRE Limited, which does some work for receivers selling distressed properties. ‘Circumstances sort of contrived to create this unique environment and why we are seeing these receiverships. You almost couldn’t have predicted how many things had to conspire at the same time to bring this event about.'”

“Quattrin noted that his team has worked on about 11 real estate receiverships already this year, compared to just three or four in the aftermath of the 2007-08 global financial crisis. ‘We saw a couple receiverships come up, people walking away from their properties. We formed a receivership team, we got really focused on what the receivers needed … we became a service for that business. If you blinked, it was over. We did three [receiverships] and everything was back on track. This [cycle] is much more severe, much more,’ Quattrin said. ‘Many more events conspired to make this one more devastating, and I think there’s more to come.'”

Domain News in Australia. “Sydney home owners are deciding to sell their properties at greater rates this spring compared to normal, offering buyers more choice and putting downward pressure on prices. There were 13.7 per cent more homes for sale in Sydney in October than the five-year average, based on CoreLogic data. Listings in some areas are much higher. Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury recorded a 37.1 per cent increase, and there were jumps of at least 19 per cent across the northern beaches, Sutherland, Blacktown and the Central Coast. CoreLogic head of Australian research Eliza Owen said the uplift in total listings compared to last year and the five-year average reflects a softening of the market, particularly at the high end. ‘Presumably properties are just not selling as quickly as the rate at which they’re coming to market.'”

“The northern beaches recorded an 18.6 per cent increase in total listings year-on-year and a 21.1 per cent rise in total listings compared to the five-year average. There were also jumps in total listings volume compared to last year in Sutherland (28.5 per cent), Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury (19.5 per cent) and Blacktown (15.8) per cent. Each of these regions is at least 25 per cent higher than the five-year average. Westpac senior economist Matthew Hassan said buyers in the northern beaches might be fighting harder for affordability, while construction could be driving up listing volumes. ‘There could be a rise in Parramatta and Ryde with duplexes and apartments, and there may be some distressed selling in Blacktown,’ he said.”

“OH Property Group buyers’ agent Henny Stier said sellers have had to adjust their price expectations. ‘Buyers are picky and price-sensitive. Often if the vendor isn’t playing ball, buyers will move on to the next. Sellers who don’t need to sell are not budging on price and those properties get passed in.’ PK Property’s managing director and buyers’ agent Peter Kelaher described the northern beaches as a patchy market. ‘The stock that’s moving strongly is the $2.2 million to $3.5 million range. When you get past $4 million, the market softens, and when you get past $6 million, it’s very soft,’ he said.”

Related Posts
This Post Has 106 Comments

  2. ‘A former executive of Grocery Outlet has lopped $2 million off the asking price of his Pacific Heights co-op flat, to $16 million. MacGregor Read has relisted the 5,000-square-foot co-op unit at 2000 Washington Street, No. 3, across the street from Lafayette Park, the San Francisco Business Times reported. Read bought the single-floor home in 2014 for $9.4 million, according to Redfin. He then sank more than $9 million into renovations’

    That’s a mighty a$$ pounding Mac, but it’s still way cheaper than renting.

    1. Picture of the apartment can be found here:

      https://caenlucier.com/2000

      Does that look like a $9 million renovation to anyone? Not to me it doesn’t. And this is just an apartment. There’s no exterior, landscaping, or pool to spend money on.

      2. That’s a full floor apartment, none of this “south flat” schitt! And the laundry room is thoughtful, 2-washers, 2-dryers and plenty of space for Maria to fold clothes. That said, the building’s owner probably has a generous Prop13 tax subsidy.

      3. I’ve often wondered if people just make up random renovation prices to justify their massively inflated listing price. I think this proves they do. You would think someone working for Grocery Outlet could at least shop around a little, right? Clown world.

      4. It was a “complete down-to-studs renovation” of 5000 square feet. I’d be curious to see the beginning floor plan.

        1. You can use the same address in the article but substitute PH or #1 for #3 to see the penthouse or first floor apartment. Number one has a floor plan.

      5. Love that shot of Lafayette Park with downtown and the east bay in the background. I’ve window cleaned lots of fancy homes and offices in San Francisco.

  3. ‘To put it bluntly, bums, vagrants, beggars, squatters and drug addicts camping out in public and private property, parks, and sidewalks infringe on the welfare of the people who make this city thrive, and they make Denver a less desirable place for tourists and folks who live in the metro suburbs to visit, dine out, recreate and work…In other words, it’s bad for business’

    This is an interesting opinion piece and isn’t behind a paywall. Of all the banter of why democrats got slaughtered, few are mentioning the bums and drugs. It’s ‘da latinos! and black males, they be racists!’

    1. “The approach of Denver’s government —with its radical leftist dominated City Council”

      Doom loop gonna doom loop.

    1. Liberal responses to trolling by Steve Bannon and Mike Davis are almost as enjoyable as liberal meltdowns over the elections.

  6. “Condo and townhome listings are up 65% year over year and sales are down 20%, according to statewide data from Florida Realtors.

    Get to sawin’ and slashin’ like you mean it, greedheads.

  8. Sellers who don’t need to sell are not budging on price and those properties get passed in.’

    Things are going to get real when starving UHSs refuse to take listings from delusional greedheads who are wasting everyone’s time.

    1. Methinks the globalists who orchestrated the 2020 election steal knew the country was in no mood for another rigged election.

      1. IMO if they could have rolled a few million votes in at 3 AM they would have done it. My long running theory is 2020 was a one off. They had minor respiratory illness, mass formation psychosis. Their censorship regime was at an all time high. It was a sneak attack, no sneaking this time. President Trump had prepared. Basically they couldn’t pull it off again. Trump as of this morning had 2 million fewer votes than 2020 and he won in a landslide

        1. Trump as of this morning had 2 million fewer votes than 2020 and he won in a landslide

          I’m guessing that millions of disillusioned former Biden supporters didn’t bother to vote this time around, especially the demographic that doesn’t appreciate standing behind Venezuelans in the welfare line. In addition, the heightened scrutiny following the 2020 election steal – and the far greater likelihood of criminal consequences for such conspiracy under a 2nd Trump presidency – probably deterred a repeat of millions of fictitious D-votes suddenly materializing at 3 a.m.

          1. What happened in 2020 that didn’t happen this week? Polls in 5 key swing states were inexplicably halted, at the same time! Only to resume once poll watchers were rushed off, or after out of state vans delivered pallets of ballots. But only in the key counties, in the key states.

            Wednesday we had the result at 1 AM eastern time. But the media was paralyzed and didn’t make the call until around 4 AM. The election halt was the steal, obviously coordinated and nothing like that happened again. Many of us said millions of votes were fake in 2020 and these numbers show that to be true.

          2. Many of us said millions of votes were fake in 2020 and these numbers show that to be true.

            They will make the ridiculous claim that those voters stayed home this time.

    2. The evidence already showed that 20 million more people voted than register voters for starters in 2020.
      In the final analysis, 12 to 15 million votes disappeared on the blue side in 2024. The up to 15 million votes doesn’t show up on Trumps totals. Very odd that these blue voters decided to not vote.

      My prediction is that the crazy brainwashed left will
      assert that Trump stole 15 million votes in 2024.

  12. “San Diego homes sales have slowed to a snail’s pace. In September, 1,987 homes sold in San Diego County, CoreLogic reported Friday, its lowest for a September in records going back to 1988. It also marked the 10th-slowest sales month of all time.”

    The San Diego housing market is as dead as a doornail.

    1. After Trump’s win, some women are considering the 4B movement
      By Harmeet Kaur, CNN
      6 minute read
      Updated 7:29 AM EST, Sat November 9, 2024
      South Korean women carry flags reading “feminist” during a rally in Seoul earlier this year to mark International Women’s Day.
      Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images

      CNN —

      In the hours and days since it became clear that Donald Trump would be re-elected president of the United States, there’s been a surge of interest in the US for 4B.

      Young liberal women across TikTok and Instagram are discussing and sharing information about the South Korean feminist movement, in which straight women refuse to marry, have children, date or have sex with men.
      …
      https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/09/us/4b-movement-trump-south-korea-wellness-cec/index.html

      1. These delusional women are refusing to pass along their genes and this is seen as a bad thing?

      2. If they can control themselves enough to carry out this 4B stuff, then why can’t they control themselves enough to prevent needing an abortion?

        And why do they all suddenly know what a woman is?

        4. If they can control themselves enough to carry out this 4B stuff, then why can’t they control themselves enough to prevent needing an abortion?

          Because it’s an empty threat. They will continue having s*x with men who give them the tingles, who are the same men they have been with all along, assuming the ladies are attractive enough to interest those dudes in the first place.

  14. “Now I’m just hoping I break even when I go to sell.’”

    The “break even” club is exploding these days. Lots of listings in my hood are priced at what they bought it for plus just enough to cover commish…..and they’re not selling.

    1. “The “break even” club is exploding these days.”

      Couple trucks and an SUV parked by the street in Walmart’s parking lot with FOR SALE signs. One says, “Take over payments.” LOL!!

      1. As if. Most of the ‘tards that massively overpaid for new vehicles during the scamdemic and related “supply chain disruptions” owe far more than their rapidly-depreciating vehicles are worth. Dealerships that tried to gouge me when I was car-shopping during the pandemic are now emailing with increasingly better deals. Not good enough, though. I’m patient, while their car lots are jam-packed with no customers in sight.

        1. In our town there’s so many blue collars driving late model diesel pick-up trucks with big wheels, tires and lift kits with the front end slightly higher. And I’m certain most of them are financed with adjustable rate loans too. (insanity)^3

  15. Why Trump won — 9 takeaways from the 2024 election

    What happened in the 2024 election was a political earthquake.

    Former President Trump not only won in the Electoral College, but he won so big that he expanded his coalition with historic demographic shifts. For the first time in his three runs for president, he is on track to win the popular vote — and have full control of the levers of power in Washington.

    Biden got 81 million votes in 2020 to Trump’s 74 million. Trump is on pace to get close to that, but Harris may come up some 10 million votes short of Biden’s 2020 total.

    Her declines were acute in blue states she won — for example, she was off roughly 900,000 votes in New York, 500,000 in New Jersey and Maryland, 300,000 in Massachusetts, 180,000 in Virginia.

    Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth Poll, noted Harris’ declines were about 15% in the Northeast, Minnesota and Illinois. (There’s still a lot of vote out in California, Washington and Oregon.) She was down 10% in red states and about 4% in swing states.

    It’s perhaps not surprising that this would happen when so much of the attention has been trained on an even-smaller-than-usual set of seven swing states. But Trump did not see those declines. He went up in all three regions.

    https://www.kpbs.org/news/politics/2024/11/08/why-trump-won-9-takeaways-from-the-2024-election

    1. “Why Trump won — 9 takeaways from the 2024 election”

      My main takeaway: His opponent was Kamala Harris.

        1. Tyrus on Gutfeld predicted it would be over before bedtime, and he was right.

          And while DJT didn’t win Blue strongholds, his percentage in those state was up, except in the Centennial State. If not for the wind I would be checking out houses in Cheyenne.

    2. Biden got 81 million votes in 2020 to Trump’s 74 million.

      I stopped reading at this point, when the author lost all credibility.

  16. The Stunning Geography of Trump’s Victory

    In Pennsylvania, the handwringing and recriminations started almost as soon as the essential 2024 battleground state was called for Donald Trump.

    How did Philadelphia, the Democratic bulwark, deliver such an anemic margin for Kamala Harris? What explains the bellwether counties that Donald Trump wrested back after Joe Biden flipped them to the Democratic Party? And what happened in rural Pennsylvania, where the Harris campaign made an effort to show the flag and yet still lost 30 of the state’s 67 counties by more than 40 points?

    It was a story that repeated itself across the electoral map, in swing states and non-competitive states alike. The Democratic coalition that delivered a convincing victory to Biden just a few years earlier simply disintegrated Tuesday, leaving the party stunned and disoriented over the scope of the destruction — and the GOP suddenly invigorated.

    He managed to squeeze even more votes out of rural America — and that includes gains with rural Black voters. He continued to make significant advances with Latino voters, from the Southwest to the Acela Corridor. In big, diverse urban places — like Houston’s Harris County or Chicago’s Cook County — he pared down traditionally large Democratic margins. Many of the populous suburbs that so thoroughly rejected him in 2020 lost their anti-Trump edge. Even the biggest college counties appeared to lose the sense of urgency and outrage that marked their 2020 results.

    And so, the Blue Wall crumbled, and the Sun Belt vanished for Democrats. Trump is currently on track to sweep the seven swing states and win a victory in the popular vote.

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/11/08/donald-trump-win-electoral-map-00187135

  17. After disappointing night for Florida Dems, has Osceola County gone red forever?

    Donald Trump lost the county by double digits in 2020 but won Tuesday.

    For years, Florida’s I-4 corridor stood out as one of America’s great bellwether regions.

    And even as the state takes a decisive rightward shift as of late, Central Florida seemed defiantly blue.

    That may be changing.

    Osceola County voters on Tuesday evening dashed any hopes the most optimistic Democrats in Florida held that this would be a salvageable night in the Sunshine State. While Joe Biden had carried the heavily Hispanic County by 14 percentage points in 2020, Donald Trump narrowly won the county on Tuesday night.

    The President-elect’s margin of victory was only around 2,500 votes over Democrat Kamala Harris, but the impact seemed heavier than that. The results didn’t have to be fully tabulated for Matt Isbell, a longtime Democratic data consultant, to know the bottom had fallen out.

    “I remember watching returns at 7:15 and the Osceola vote came in; the early vote was Harris +3, which I knew would be the best and it would get redder,” Isbell said. “It was a ‘oh no’ moment because these are Puerto Ricans voters. And it’s not like it’s Cuban voters in Miami-Dade. That was supposed to be a good demo for Harris.

    “My instant worry was if it would be a nationwide issue. Which it was. The swing in Osceola foretold the swings with Hispanic voters — including Puerto Rican voters — across places like Pennsylvania.”

    Losses in Osceola served not only as a harbinger of Trump’s landslide victory nationwide but produced significant results down-ballot as well. Democratic hopes of cracking a Republican supermajority disintegrated.

    The 2020 Census found just over 56% of residents in Osceola County claim Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. But political scientists warn it’s a mistake, especially in Florida, to lump Hispanics into a single voting bloc.

    Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida Professor Emeritus, discussed that at a presentation to Florida TaxWatch members days before the election. She noted the largest Hispanic group of voters in Florida claims Cuban ancestry, and famously leans Republican and has impacted South Florida politics consistent with that. The second largest demographic, Puerto Ricans, leans Democrat and is more concentrated in Central Florida.

    But increasingly, Florida’s Hispanic communities see people with roots in South American nations which, like Cuba, had economies rocked when socialist governments took control.

    “A couple of election seasons ago, Republicans figured out they can build a coalition of Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, Colombians, etc., through the label of socialism,” MacManus said, “and it’s been hard for Florida Democrats to bust through that.”

    https://floridapolitics.com/archives/706853-after-disappointing-night-for-florida-dems-has-osceola-county-gone-red-forever/

    1. But increasingly, Florida’s Hispanic communities see people with roots in South American nations which, like Cuba, had economies rocked when socialist governments took control.

      Economies rocked? Try destroyed, and the population reduced to the status of destitute oppressed serfdom under corrupt, incompetent Communist totalitarians. Exactly what the Democrat-Bolsheviks seek to impose on the former USA.

  18. Do you notice how articles speculating about a bubble bursting tend to show up on the eve of a bursting bubble?

    1. Norada Real Estate Investments
      Is the Housing Market on the Brink of Bubble Burst?
      November 8, 2024 by Marco Santarelli

      As we approach the end of 2024, the question at the forefront of many minds is, “Is the housing market on the brink?” In simple terms, although economic pressures have led to a complex and sometimes cautious landscape, experts predict that a full-scale market crash remains unlikely. Let’s explore emerging trends and expert predictions for the coming years.

      Is the US Housing Market on the Brink of Bubble Burst?
      Key Takeaways
      …
      https://www.noradarealestate.com/blog/is-the-housing-market-on-the-brink-of-bubble-burst/

      1. The REIC shills in the globalist scum media would never anger their NAR advertisers or spook the herd by telling the truth about the bursting housing bubble.

  19. Democratic Elites Blame Everyone But Themselves for Historic Collapse

    On the blame list: transgender people, “economic headwinds,” ontologically racist voters—anyone but the powerful people tasked with defeating Trump.

    The full picture of the Democrats’ monumental collapse in the 2024 election is coming into clearer view. It was a historic loss. Harris will likely fall a few million votes short of Biden’s 2020 total. Democrats lost control of the Senate and are likely to be losers in the House for two election cycles in a row. All in all it was, most everyone agrees, a bloodbath.

    Understandably, the blame game for who was responsible for this collapse is quickly underway. But, just like with the post 2016 recriminations, the very same people driving the narrative of who is responsible are themselves largely responsible — or at least in and of the same media and political class as those who are. As a result, with rare exception, those being blamed are not Democratic Party elites, liberal media institutions, or the corporate consulting world they operate in—but outside economic forces, transgender people, immigrants, and a host of either powerless minority groups or vague-to-the-point-of-meaningless generalities.

    Put another way: the name of the game for the top Democratic brass is shifting the blame from the powerful to the powerless and whoever comes up with the most ass covering, vaguely plausible scapegoat wins this week’s spin cycle.

    Put simply: Why would those running the campaign not blame outside forces ​“largely out of [their] control”? As I’ve noted elsewhere, the politics of Feigned Helplessness are the prevailing ethos of the Democratic Party establishment and this is just the default position of those with tremendous power and responsibility when they fail to achieve the one job they were tasked with doing.

    Next up is a popular scapegoat reprisal from 2016. After Trump’s last win eight years ago, a pervasive punching bag for pundits was transgender people, whose struggle for civil rights, we were told, was generally off-putting and annoying. As I documented at the time, the list of elites blaming Clinton’s loss on ​“trans issues” included everyone from Tony Blair to Mike Bloomberg to Mark Lilla to New York Times columnist Frank Bruni.

    Now, 2024 appears to be more of the same. ​“I’m telling you, [Trump’s anti-trans] ad had a bigger impact than any ad that ran,” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough yelled on his show two days after the election. He would go on to insist — without any evidence, of course — trans issues were harming Democrats with rural voters, Hispanics and Black young male voters.

    “Democratic strategist” (which is to say highly paid consultant) Julie Roginsky blamed ​“pronouns” and campus protestors in a fairly boilerplate faux populist laundry list of woke scapegoats on CNN Thursday.

    The vice president almost never mentioned her identity, discussed housing in Yglesias’s preferred supply-side YIMBY rhetoric, and turned right on police and border policy. Yet, she still got blown out of the water. Rather than engage in some self-examination as to whether or not this brand of micro-targeted, capitalism-friendly consultancy-speak had any flaws, Yglesias instead doubled down on his priors. This is the beauty of blaming woke: It’s an unfalsifiable vibe — there will always be an obnoxious pink haired nonprofit caricature to bash every time the Democrats fail.

    Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) would join the anti-trans pile-on, telling the New York Times, ​“I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete. But as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.” As did Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), who told reporters Wednesday: ​“Democrats have to stop pandering to the far left…I don’t want to discriminate against anybody, but I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports.”

    Blaming ​“trans issues” for elite failures is quickly becoming the free space in Bingo of responsibility-evasion. We may look forward to high status Democrats citing trans people to explain away their losses to Barron Trump in the 2048 election.

    The other side of the blame-shifting coin from scapegoating minorities is the rise of the Racial Whodunnit, where specific demographic groups are blamed for the loss, whether it be Latinos or white women, the general idea being that demographics are collectively responsible for Democrats’ failure to cross a 50 percent threshold. While this is true as far as it goes, it doesn’t go very far, and still ultimately serves the purpose of deflecting blame from the powerful people in charge of the campaign.

    The important thing to remember is that the blame for Trump winning cannot be laid at the feet of specific powerful people with billions at their disposal, who occupy positions of wealth and influence. The three popular elite explanations for Trump’s win — (1) a vague, moving target of ​“wokeness,” (2) even vaguer ​“economic headwinds,” (3) intractable, ontologically bigoted voters — all, conveniently, get powerful politicians, donors and consultants off the hook. They sound kind of true, but have little empirical basis and, most important of all, omit the glaring fact that Democrats continue to lack a coherent vision to offer struggling working-class Americans, one that clearly distinguishes them from Republicans rather than continuing to co-opt their right wing policies.

    https://inthesetimes.com/article/democratic-party-elites-harris-trump-loss

    2. The mental gymnastics they go through to pretend Ms. Harris was a good candidate is very amusing. She is worse than Joe Biden and you have suck really bad to be worse than Joe Biden. Lets just pretend that it was those pesky drag queens, lol. They are all delusional.

    3. After Trump’s last win eight years ago, a pervasive punching bag for pundits was transgender people, whose struggle for civil rights, we were told, was generally off-putting and annoying.

      More dreck from a no-talent globalist hack “journalist.” Girls forced to share bathrooms and locker rooms with males afflicted by gender dysphoria and suffering from staggering rates of mental illness isn’t “off-putting and annoying” – it’s a threat and affront to girls and their parents. The radical-left loons pushing such globalist agendas should not be forcing their warped ideology on society writ large.

  20. Opinion: Where is the land of opportunity voters were promised? Not in Trump’s America.

    There is little mystery about why Donald Trump won the election this week. After billions of dollars in campaign spending by the two major-party candidates, it mostly came down to the price of a loaf of bread.

    According to exit polls, two-thirds of voters were unhappy with the economy, and 69 percent voted for Trump.

    Weeks before the election, The Economist issued a glowing assessment of America’s economy, calling it breathtaking, stellar and the envy of the world. Stock markets were setting records, inflation had fallen and unemployment was low. “Over the past three decades America has left the rest of the rich world in the dust,” the newspaper said. Even in Mississippi, the poorest state, the average worker makes more than their counterparts in the United Kingdom, Canada or Germany.

    In February, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reported that wealth during the Biden administration grew “markedly” for all income groups in the U.S. from 2019 to 2022, with low-wealth groups enjoying the largest gains. The bank said wealth was at an all-time high for Black and Hispanic families.

    But the all-time high was not that high. Black families still owned only 16 cents for each dollar of white wealth. And although inflation dropped from 9 percent at the beginning of Biden’s presidency to 2.4 percent in September, the benefits did not trickle down to the grocery store fast enough to influence voters.

    The Economist warned that the greatest danger to the U.S. economy now is not President Biden’s policies but political acrimony. “America is not about to lose its economic dominance,” the British magazine wrote. “But, sooner or later, rotten politics will start to exact a heavy price, and by then, it will be hard to reverse course.” Consider it a fair warning.

    As I wrote before Trump’s election in 2016, there was evidence of “deep unrest among Americans who have reason to feel there is too little opportunity in our ‘opportunity society.’ There is every indication that our democracy has become an oligarchy. It is not the country we are promised in our social contract.”

    Back then, wealthy entrepreneur Nick Hanauer warned his “fellow zillionaires” that there would be trouble ahead if the income gap was not narrowed. “I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds,” Hanauer wrote. “Wake up, people. It won’t last. If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/opinion-where-is-the-land-of-opportunity-voters-were-promised-not-in-trump-s-america/ar-AA1tL8CP

  21. Maxed Out: Life will go on until it doesn’t

    ‘Time to channel my inner John Prine. Blow up my TV, throw away my paper, move to the country’

    Tuesday, Nov. 5
    5 a.m. PST

    Normally I’d be looking at a blank screen and figuring out how to fill it with words, ideas and entertainment. But this is election day down south and a weak vein of hope and optimism fill me with a desire to put off sending this week’s piffle in until Wednesday after I see how the drama plays out. Hope for the best; plan for the worst. What am I saying, can there be any plan for the worst?

    6:20 p.m. PST

    Arrive at watch party. Look at television. Want to poke my eyes out with a nearby knife. But it’s just CBC, what do they know? Just as bad on PBS. Quick Watson, the needle.

    8:30 p.m. PST

    STOP WATCHING!!! It’s like a slasher movie. I can only watch through narrow finger openings, hands over eyes. This can’t be happening again. Do my former fellow countrymen and women have no depths to their depravity? Growing realization suggests that’s a rhetorical question.

    10 p.m. PST

    I give up. My circadian rhythm hasn’t yet adjusted to standard time and there’s no end in sight. Harris has told everyone to go home. So I will. As Scarlett said, “Tomorrow’s another day.” Or was that Annie? Whatever.

    Wednesday, Nov. 6
    4:30 a.m. PST

    Op. cit., circadian rhythm. Oh shit! Yer kidding? Again? Seriously? I call the New York Times to cancel my subscription. They’re not open yet. I can’t bring myself to read the results, look at all the red states, places I’ll never visit again, even assuming they’ll let me in the country.

    How could you be so reckless? How could you hand the reins of power—not to mention the nuclear football—over to a wannabe tyrant, a man some of his former closest advisors called a fascist, a bootlick to strongman dictators around the world, a pussy grabber, an ally in name only, a felon, a cheat, a man who lies every time his lips move, a racist, misogynist and hater. Oh sweet Jesus, how could you?

    7:30 a.m. PST

    Time to channel my inner John Prine. Blow up my TV, throw away my paper, move to the country. Fortunately I moved to the country, Canada, 45 years ago. I have a wonderful wife. I live in an amazing bubble, two actually. I have close, warm friends. I have secure housing. I have more than one pair of skis. I have four marvellous grandchildren. I am no longer a U.S. citizen, a blessing now more than ever.

    Life will go on until it doesn’t… something I think about more with each passing year.

    But I can’t get the final scene from Planet of the Apes—the original—out of my head. The one where Charlton Heston rounds the corner of the beach and sees the upper torso, head and arm of the Statue of Liberty lying in the sand, realizes he’s back on Earth, falls to his knees and screams, “You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”

    What he said.

    https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/opinion/maxed-out-life-will-go-on-until-it-doesnt-9776625

    1. The one where Charlton Heston rounds the corner of the beach and sees the upper torso, head and arm of the Statue of Liberty lying in the sand, realizes he’s back on Earth, falls to his knees and screams, “You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”

      The neocons pushing for WWIII might’ve brought about that outcome had the globalists installed their marionette Comrade Kamala.

  22. Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie pledges to make San Francisco safer as mayor

    Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune and philanthropist who has never held public office, promised on Friday that as San Francisco’s mayor he will help struggling small businesses and bring an end to the open-air drug markets.

    “Your voices and your call for accountable leadership, service and change have been heard,” Lurie said at a park in San Francisco’s Chinatown, delivering his first public remarks since Mayor London Breed called him to concede the race the previous day.

    Breed’s victory six years ago as the city’s first Black female mayor — who grew up impoverished living in public housing — showed that no dream was impossible in the progressive, compassionate and equitable city. But the honeymoon was short-lived as the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered stores and tech workers retreated to home offices. Tent encampments proliferated, as did public drug use.

    Streets did become cleaner and homeless tents much harder to find, but the daytime shooting in September of 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall in a popular central shopping district reignited a debate over public safety. She faced off with multiple opponents who accused her of doing too little too late.

    Lurie plans to beef up the city’s police presence, declare a fentanyl state of emergency, set up 1,500 temporary shelter beds within six months, and drastically streamline the permitting process so small businesses can thrive, he said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/levi-strauss-heir-daniel-lurie-pledges-to-make-san-francisco-safer-as-mayor/ar-AA1tLpLH

  23. Why Latino men voted for Trump: ‘It’s the economy, stupid’

    Trump’s economic populism and promises to “make America great again” have deeply resonated with some Latinos who turned sharply right on Tuesday amid concerns over inflation, the border and safety. They brushed off anti-immigrant language and backed him by 46%, compared with 2020 when he received 34% of their vote.

    In some of the most heavily Latino corners of the country voters came out roaring for Trump. In Starr County, Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border, where 98% of the population is Latino and immigration is in their frontyard, Trump pulled in 58% of the vote. In the heavily Latino Miami-Dade County, Trump won 56%.

    “What we’re witnessing is Trump ushering a major realignment in American politics, when it comes to the Latino vote,” said Alfonso Aguilar, Hispanic engagement director at the American Principles Project and a Trump campaign surrogate.

    Latinos certainly weren’t the only demographic that voted in droves for Trump, but what was striking was how Latino men embraced Trump compared with the last two elections. They favored Trump 55% to 43%, according to Edison Research. Four years earlier, Biden won Latino men’s votes by a 23% margin. In 2016, Hillary Clinton pulled in 63% of their vote, while Trump got 32%. It was an “extraordinary shift,” as pollsters put it, and a sign of the changing views of a Latino population increasingly distanced from the immigrant experience and more focused on pocketbook issues. But it also signaled the stronger showing of men among Trump supporters.

    But resoundingly, Latinos, who make up a wide spectrum of cultures and people, felt they struggled more economically during the Biden administration, experts say. The COVID shutdowns — which began during the Trump administration but were the most strict under the governors of in blue states — kneecapped the economy and gave way to inflation. Working families scrambled to find work as housing prices jumped. These factors dovetailed with historic immigration highs, said Mike Madrid, a strategist who co-founded the Lincoln Project, a Republican anti-Trump political action committee.

    And it wasn’t just Latino men. Trump also picked up support among Latinas, at 38% — up from 30% in 2020.

    Poll after poll has shown that the economy is a top issue for Latino men and women. “It’s the economy, stupid,” Madrid later posted on X, in a throwback to former President Clinton’s campaign mantra. Latino voters were increasingly voting based on pocketbook issues, he said.

    The irony for Michael Fienup, who heads the Center for Economic Research & Forecasting at California Lutheran University and was one of the authors of the 2024 U.S. Latino GDP, is that under both parties Latino wages grow and Latinos see big surges in labor force participation.

    “You’re going to find very challenging to argue that Latinos suffered differential economic harm,” he said. “Latinos are hard-working, they’re self-sufficient, they’re entrepreneurial, they’re patriotic, they’re optimistic. Guess what? Those are fundamentally American characters,” he said.

    “For ordinary working-class Hispanic men, we are locked out of homeownership,” Enriquez said. “President Trump talking about that and saying, ‘I want you to achieve the American dream,’ he’s speaking directly to Hispanic men who feel like their masculinity is now in question because they aren’t able to be providers for their families.”

    Although economists say migration tends to improve the overall economy, it can sow fear among those struggling to make ends meet in low-wage jobs. Rafael Romero, a 30 year-old Cuban immigrant who works as a Lyft driver in Las Vegas, said Trump’s words resonated with him.

    “I think that if you’re here legally, if you’re doing things the right way, there’s no reason you’d get kicked out of the country,” he said. “If you want a country where you can get ahead, why would you destroy it by doing things illegally?”

    But experts say that many Latinos have long held conservative values, even as they leaned toward the Democratic Party, which was viewed as fighting for workers. Trump flipped the script by assuming the mantle of saving American jobs from waves of new migrants, while playing off those traditional values.

    A pro-Trump ad that painted Harris as a radical liberal, out of touch with the working class, seemed to strike a chord with men. “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you,” said one ad released in the months before election.

    “I remember when I was in elementary school, they used to bring a firefighter, a police officer, to inspire people, now they bring drag queens,” said Ernie Quintana, 44, who voted for the first time.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/why-latino-men-voted-for-trump-its-the-economy-stupid/ar-AA1tJGrV

  24. The promise and peril of Canada’s U.S.-centric trade strategy under a new Trump administration

    For now, the prevailing mood is dour. For good reason. Even a 10 per cent across-the-board tariffs would shrink Canada’s economy by the equivalent of $1,100 per person, according to analysis by University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe.

    “That‘s really the best-case scenario,” said Prof. Tombe, since it doesn’t account for the impact rising uncertainty would have on investment. A permanent tariff “would almost surely mean a recession for Canada,” he said.

    In January of 2018, Donald Trump fired the opening volley in the trade wars that defined his first presidency, and Martin Pochtaruk’s solar company was one of the earliest Canadian casualties.

    That month, the United States slapped sky-high tariffs on all imports of solar energy equipment in a bid to slam the door on Chinese producers. But Mr. Pochtaruk’s Heliene Inc., a maker of high-efficiency solar panels, also shipped 90 per cent of the products it manufactured in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., south of the border, and the tariffs caused steep losses.

    The message to Heliene’s founder and chief executive officer was clear: “Move our manufacturing to the United States or die.”

    Today Heliene is still headquartered in the Northern Ontario city and does its research and development there, but it operates two production lines in Mountain Iron, Minn., with another opening soon in Minneapolis, which will bring its total U.S. manufacturing work force to 500 people. Tim Walz even referenced the company’s U.S. investments in his home state during the vice-presidential debate against J.D. Vance.

    “Trump has been very protectionist of U.S. manufacturing and I would expect he’ll do even more,” said Mr. Pochtaruk of Mr. Trump’s impending return to the White House. “But this time we’re on the right side of the border.”

    For Heliene, the solar company, it wasn’t only the push of tariffs that sparked its manufacturing shift south of the border. President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act provided lucrative tax credit incentives the company tapped, ones which Canada has failed to match.

    But the result is the same – America’s win, Canada’s loss.

    “As a Canadian I’m upset because how do we bring investment to Canada,” Mr. Pochtaruk said.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-trump-tariffs-canadian-economy-vulnerable/

  25. As questions loom over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership, a new Nanos Research poll commissioned for CTV News says a quarter of Canadians say none of the potential Liberal leadership candidates appeal to them.

    The survey offered people a selection of potential candidates to lead the party, including the current leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and a range of cabinet ministers and other high-profile Canadians. Of those polled, most selected “none of the above.”

    “It means that right now, there’s no saviour for the Liberal party,” Nanos Research founder Nik Nanos said in an interview with CTV News.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/who-should-lead-the-liberals-none-of-the-above-poll-finds-1.7103700

  26. For years, international students have made up a large portion of the student body at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, B.C.

    But under Canada’s tightening immigration policies, many on campus are now questioning their decision to come north — and local businesses and community leaders are worried about a knock-on effect on the workforce.

    Holiness Ozumba, who is from Nigeria, came to CNC last year to study social work.

    She quickly got involved with campus life, joining the student union’s board of directors and becoming the college’s representative with the B.C. Federation of Students.

    “I had so many options to go to so many places, but I chose Canada because I believe that Canada operates in the best interest of international immigrants,” Ozumba said.

    But her future after graduation is now uncertain.

    On Nov. 1, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) implemented changes to the post-graduation work permit program.

    International students require a work permit after graduating. But now graduates from public colleges will only qualify for a permit if they have studied in fields related to occupations in which the federal government has identified labour shortages.

    “It was unexpected. It is disappointing and it is harsh. It is really, really harsh, actually,” said Ozumba. “It creates so much uncertainty. We don’t know what the future holds.”

    The changes come as Canada pedals back on its loosening of temporary foreign worker (TFW) restrictions during a post-COVID labour shortage — a decision that led to a spike in the number of low-wage workers.

    In September, the federal government announced plans to reduce the number of temporary residents in the country from 6.2 per cent to five per cent by 2027. This includes TFWs and the number of student visas.

    Ozumba says even if her program does end up qualifying for a post-graduate work permit, she feels like Canada is no longer as welcoming as she once thought.

    “Immigrants are just used to boost Canada’s economy and now they want to put all these strict rules that will frustrate them out of the country. That is the message that was put out there,” she said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/new-immigration-rules-raise-fears-that-northern-bc-will-lose-foreign-students-workers/ar-AA1tMGWJ

    1. The sense of entitlement is striking. They really believe they have a right to live and work in Canada.

  27. Scholz Kept Rolling Over for German Finance Chief. Then He Cracked

    There was no holding Olaf Scholz back as he told astonished reporters in the halls of Berlin’s chancellery building on Wednesday why he had just decided to dismiss Finance Minister Christian Lindner and bury his own three-party coalition.

    “Anyone who joins a government must act seriously and responsibly,” the normally reserved center-left leader said. “They must not go missing when things get difficult. They must be prepared to compromise in the interests of all citizens. But that’s not what Christian Lindner is about.”

    The personal attack was the culmination of a breakdown that, according to Scholz aides, started late last year with a bruising budget ruling by Germany’s highest court. Yet signs of trouble in the so-called “progress coalition” between Scholz’s Social Democrats, Lindner’s Free Democrats and Robert Habeck’s Greens were apparent from the start, when the parties arrived in government with disparate aims and no shared vision for the future of Germany.

    Despite taking office in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, Scholz’s early tenure was eased by the government’s decision to repurpose €60 billions of pandemic-related funds for climate and other special projects. That allowed each of the coalition members a path to pursuing their goals. For Lindner, that meant not raising taxes and sticking to Germany’s constitutional restrictions on debt; for Scholz, protecting the welfare state and raising minimum wage; and for Habeck, funding climate initiatives and expanding renewable power.

    Those became public in spring 2023 when an early version of a planned heating reform was leaked to Bild, Germany’s largest tabloid. The legislation, spearheaded by Habeck, was designed to incentivize a shift away from fossil fuels and toward electric-powered heat pumps. Yet in Bild’s telling, it was an ideologically motivated attempt by the Greens to force costly upgrades on homeowners. Once the proposal was made public, the FDP seized on every opportunity to dilute it.

    Things would only get worse from there. The inflection point came last December, when Germany’s highest court in Karlsruhe ruled that the €60 billion in a special off-budget fund set up for pandemic costs could not be repurposed for climate initiatives, resulting in the government having to suspend its debt limit and scrounge for additional savings across all its ministries. The decision raised questions about numerous similar funds set up during the Merkel era, and created another coalition crisis.

    Money was the glue that held the coalition together. Once that was gone, things started to fall apart. By attaching his political fortunes to an insistence that Germany stick to the debt brake — a rule set up under Merkel to prevent a repeat of the bank bailouts that followed the global financial crisis — Lindner made himself an obstacle to addressing Germany’s investment needs. By refusing to compromise on policies that would narrowly favor the FDP’s wealthier voter base, he also became the odd man out.

    Finally, three weeks before the coalition collapsed, the fighting burst out in the open. Scholz announced a summit for industry representatives and pointedly did not invite Lindner or Habeck. The finance minister responded by organizing his own counter-summit, and scheduling it just a few hours before Scholz’s.

    While Wednesday’s outcome might have seemed inevitable, the decision to fire Lindner was not set in stone. Scholz’s speech was preceded by a coalition meeting in which cabinet members discussed how to plug a roughly €15 billion hole in the 2025 budget. Depending on the outcome, Scholz asked his chief spokesman to prepare three different speeches: one in the event that the politicians reached an agreement, another in the event that Lindner suddenly resigned, and a third in which Scholz fired Lindner himself.

    During the meeting, Scholz demanded that Lindner agree to another debt brake suspension — a request that the finance minster forcefully rejected. A fierce exchange followed, according to people present, which ended with Scholz saying, “Then, dear Christian, I no longer want you to be a member of my cabinet — and tomorrow morning I will ask the Federal President to dismiss you.”

    After a long moment of silence, Scholz added, “well, that went badly.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/scholz-kept-rolling-over-for-german-finance-chief-then-he-cracked/ar-AA1tL4aH

    1. Lindner made himself an obstacle to addressing Germany’s investment needs. By refusing to compromise on policies that would narrowly favor the FDP’s wealthier voter base, he also became the odd man out.

      Per wikipeadia:

      The FDP’s political position has variously been described as centrist,[43][44] centre-right,[49] and right-wing.[50][51][52] The FDP has been described as liberal,[53][54][3][4] conservative-liberal,[55][56][57][58] classical-liberal,[59][60][61] and liberal-conservative.[62][63][64] Other sources have described the party as fiscally conservative,[65] libertarian[66][67] or right-libertarian

      OK, so what is keeping them from forming a new coalition with the right? Or are they afraid of the AfD?

      Unless the government is dissolved, which this crisis could instigate, elections are next year in September. Either way, I think, the AfD will make large gains. Not enough to rule without a coalition, but maybe enough to only need the Christian Democrats.

      Next year will be interesting.

      1. According to Eugyppius (substack) FDP has less than 4% representation in the parliament and probably won’t even get that next cycle. (and there’s something about if you don’t get 5% you don’t make the ballot the following cycle). FDP knows the traffic light government is dying (dead) and tried to throw a bomb on his way out the door so FDP can say “look not our fault”

    1. He’s worried DEI kids aren’t learning math? I thought the whole Narrative was that forcing minorities to learn math (and even arithmetic ) was raycis or something like that, and that they should get their diplomas without taking it.

      2. Those videos are not “real” in the sense, that it’s a thought out process. First they have to have the outburst, then film it, then process it, then upload it to YouTube and uploading to YouTube is not quick. They have ample opportunity to rethink and stop.

        But they don’t, this is why those videos are whilst not fake are not real, in the sense they are a way to drive engagement and increase views. Remember YouTube’s algorithm rewards, engagement with the viewer BOTH positive and negative. So if a video has thousands of dislikes and nasty comments, it still bump up the channel.

    3. Who brainwashed these democrats to be acting like the Japanese civilians on Saipan and Okinawa when faced with defeat?

  29. Israeli fans were attacked, Amsterdam police confirm

    November 8, 2024

    Israeli football supporters were attacked physically and with fireworks in the centre of Amsterdam on Thursday night, the city’s police force has confirmed.

    The violence “exceeded all boundaries”, the police, mayor Femke Halsema and justice department said in a joint statement. “The scale of the incidents, number of victims and arrests is now being assessed.”

    Police now say 62 people were arrested.

    Amsterdam hospitals report dealing with seven injured fans and all have since been released, broadcaster NOS said. The police said they are aware of five people with injuries and have urged all victims of the violence to come forward.

    “A lot of people, Muslims, came up after us and wanted to fight,” one Maccabi Tel Aviv fan told broadcaster NOS. “They screamed at us and shouted ‘Free Palestine’. The police told us to go to our hotels and we ended up running.”

    On Wednesday night there had been several incidents involving Maccabi fans, one of whom was captured on film tearing a Palestine flag off a building. Footage from Wednesday evening also shows a large group of Maccabi supporters chanting “Fuck you Palestine” in the city centre.

    RTL’s Middle East correspondent Pepijn Nagtzaam said that Maccabi Tel Aviv have a number of hardcore fans who are “not afraid of violence”.

    They were also involved in fights with pro-Palestinian campaigners in Athens last month, he said. Turkey, he said, has also postponed the Europa League tie between Maccabi and Besiktas because it does not want the match to take place in Istanbul due to the risk of trouble.

    https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/11/israeli-fans-were-attacked-amsterdam-police-confirm/

    2. Towards the end they tried to gaslight us, telling us she loved capitalism, the middle class, apple pie, kittens and the American way. Though they couldn’t bring themselves to say that white people are OK. I guess was too much for them.

  33. The globalists have learned that trotting out Obama from his palatial estate in the lily-white Hamptons to lecture young black men about their failure to support the corrupt, crony-capitalist status quo was an epic fail. Don’t worry, Barack – the Wall Street banksters who you forced taxpayers to bail out instead of sending to prison back in 2008 will always be your one true legacy.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14060451/obama-biographer-legacy-fear-tone-deaf-kamala-harris.html

    1. “to lecture young black men”

      While wearing high waisted mom jeans.

      You ain’t a brotha. Never was, never will be.

    1. Hmmm … I think there would be rush for the border before Jan 20. Onthe other hand they might expect to be deported.

      I heard a story through my grapevine. A middle aged American woman is having panic attacks, because she’s afraid her illegal alien hubby might be deported. I remarked to the grapevine that there is nothing stopping her from joining him south of the border.

        1. Apparently not. The grapevine says that the wifey is working furiously to get him one. I don’t think they’ve been married very long.

          1. I’m seeing a lot of fear and fearmongering on Reddit about naturalized citizens being deported. Thank you, MSM.

  35. ‘I’ve never seen issues like this, as pervasive as this, in a building that’s 12 years old…It is extraordinary for a building of this relative youth to be in this state of disrepair. We’re not complaining about cosmetic things. Just to be blunt about it, it’s not like a bunch of rich people are complaining about the wallpaper and the painting or the lighting. We’re talking about serious structural issues’

    I want to thank Juan for today’s HBB Pitfalls of Commie Urban Living™.

  36. ‘September 2022, in single family residential, there were 1,162 active listings in the Central Okanagan, in September 2023 1,230 and this September 1,727. That works out to about a 60% increase over two years. There were about 50% more sales in September 2022 than in September 2024, meaning far less for sale two years ago and about 50% more sales. Our ratio of sales to listings is far and away higher than just two years ago. Simply put, way more homes are for sale and far fewer are being sold’

    Not only that but they have way more listings coming active than they are selling each period right now. Maybe they can move them over the holidays!

  37. ‘his team has worked on about 11 real estate receiverships already this year, compared to just three or four in the aftermath of the 2007-08 global financial crisis. ‘We saw a couple receiverships come up, people walking away from their properties. We formed a receivership team, we got really focused on what the receivers needed … we became a service for that business. If you blinked, it was over. We did three [receiverships] and everything was back on track. This [cycle] is much more severe, much more’

    What saved yer bacon in 2009 Tony was China pouring 100 years of concrete in 3. It is different this time.

  38. ‘Owen said the uplift in total listings compared to last year and the five-year average reflects a softening of the market, particularly at the high end. ‘Presumably properties are just not selling as quickly as the rate at which they’re coming to market’

    That’s just what I noted about British Columbia Eliza. It always happens at the worst possible time.

    ‘‘The stock that’s moving strongly is the $2.2 million to $3.5 million range. When you get past $4 million, the market softens, and when you get past $6 million, it’s very soft’

    Nobody needs a $6 million peso shack Peter. It’s discretionary and I would argue therefore speculative. Speculative markets always head down first and the mostest.

      1. I expect a blanket pardon for them to be DJT’s very first executive order
        I hope they get pardoned. He$$ maybe for fun and an FU to the Dem party Joe should do it. Just 1 final dig for Jill/Joe.

Comments are closed.