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The Sellers Bought At The Absolute Peak Of The Market

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “It’s hard to tell which developments might come to life and which might die. The process can begin with so much hope for a new building, subdivision or neighborhood. But hopes can quickly sour as reality hits full-force. Nearly a decade after it was first approved amid neighborhood resistance, the ax seems to have dropped on one such development in the Boise Foothills: The Reserve at Deer Valley. The land was foreclosed and listed for sale by the Idaho Land Brokerage for $7 million in September. Boise developer Ron Walsh says the development likely won’t see the light of day. ‘It has a lot of topography (issues), which causes the infrastructure costs to skyrocket,’ Walsh said by phone. ‘We think it’s too much of an uphill battle.'”

“When Ken Griffin decamped from Chicago, the billionaire financier left behind $94 million in ritzy condos and penthouses that once shattered price records and trumpeted his status as the richest man in town. The homes are now emblematic of something else. Real estate bargain hunters are descending on Chicago, after an exodus of a wealthy elite wiped out millions of dollars in value from the city’s most-expensive properties. Griffin sold two Chicago condos on Wednesday, one roughly 53% below what he originally paid. He’s so far offloaded four out of seven Chicago properties — all at a discount — and is trying to sell a fifth for $8.5 million. Other wealthy homeowners were also burned recently by declining prices. In September, Michael Jordan also found a buyer for the 32,000 square-foot suburban mansion he spent more than a decade trying to flip, after cutting its price by half.”

“‘We’ve lost at least 10 years of appreciation in a lot of the high-end markets,’ said Matt Laricy, managing partner of Americorp who specializes in luxury homes. Some of the high-end homes had far-fetched asking prices from the start and a lot of sellers were still ‘hanging onto pre-pandemic pricing,’ Laricy said.

“With many facing painful rebuilds that will cost thousands and take months, some homeowners are opting out by putting their storm-damaged homes up for sale ‘as is.’ A realtor in Redington Beach said don’t take low ball offers, because it will ultimately affect the entire neighborhood’s property values. ‘People are nervous about what their properties are worth, but believe it or not, their lot value is worth a lot of money so take that into consideration before selling it at a moment’s notice.'”

“Hankey Capital is claiming default on a Spanish Revival mansion in Brentwood, with a possible auction scheduled for the first week of January, The Real Deal has learned. The property, located at 306 North Cliffwood Avenue, comprises two lots measuring 18,570 square feet with frontage on Cliffwood Avenue, according to records from the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. The site contains a two-story mansion that was built in 1929. The owner is Logan Beitler, the president of commercial brokerage firm Beitler Commercial Realty Services, property records show. The list of distressed luxury properties in Los Angeles keeps growing. In August, Hankey Capital filed a default notice on Stella Nova, a Bel-Air mansion that sits on a 30-acre lot. The site comes with fully approved plans for a 40,000-square-foot estate, according to a listing on Zillow. The owner of the property, an entity managed by Juliana Kirlikovich, allegedly defaulted on a $14.8 million loan.”

“Nightingale Properties has lost control of another property, this time losing an office building a few blocks from Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. In 2016, Nightingale bought the leasehold on the 15-story office for approximately $28M from Extell Development. But in 2023, Nightingale, engulfed in scandal, defaulted on its $30M loan from East West Bank. Nightingale CEO Elie Schwartz stopped making payments on the loan around the time when he was accused of misappropriating more than $50M from investors on the real estate crowdfunding platform CrowdStreet. Nightingale spent the years before the pandemic amassing a portfolio of buildings it claimed was valued at more than $10B, spanning 22M SF. Most of those investments were in office buildings, and the firm has lost control of large properties in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Philadelphia where it stopped making rent payments.”

“68 Balmoral Ave, Toronto. Asking price: $1,695,000 (June, 2024). Selling price: $1,690,000 (August, 2024). Previous selling prices: $1,699,000 (February, 2021). This updated townhouse backing onto St. Michael’s Cemetery was listed for $4,000 less than what the owners paid for it in 2021. Buyers were eager to look around none made an offer by the date in June set out by the sellers. Nonetheless, the property remained on the market at the same price until one buyer presented an offer $5,000 off the asking price, which the sellers accepted.”

“‘The [sellers] bought at the absolute peak of the market,’ said agent Andre Kutyan. ‘They did some improvements to the home – they redid the front elevation with all the stucco work and did some work on the inside as well – so they got, more or less, what they paid for because they improved it. If it was left as is, they would have gotten way less than what they paid in 2021.'”

“Two residential projects by Eskom, amounting to just under R1.1 billion, have been abandoned and left to waste. The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for the state-owned power utility to appear before Parliament to account for the abandoned R840-million Wilge residential development in Mpumalanga. This comes after 2023 reports about the R250 million squandered on housing project in Limpopo, which now stand vacant and neglected. he DA’s spokesperson for electricity and energy and MP, Kevin Mileham, said that his oversite visit to the development ‘revealed how the national electricity company wastes hundreds of millions of rands, while at the same time seeking to raise power prices for South Africans. After seeing this criminal waste, it is abundantly clear to the DA that Eskom has no regard for the public money it wastes, doing so with little to no accountability.'”

“New property listings are at a decade high in major cities, with PropTrack data revealing buyers are spoiled for choice and primed to bag a bargain in a number of markets across Australia. Senior analyst Karen Dellow said that at a national level, there had been a 21 per cent rise in listings from September to October, led by Melbourne, with a whopping 33 per cent increase seeing its busy spring market click up another gear. Adelaide was the next strongest with a 26 per cent monthly increase, followed by Brisbane (15 per cent) and Sydney (13 per cent). ‘October has proven to be a prime month for homebuyers, with new property listings reaching their highest level in over ten years, affording buyers more choice,’ Ms Dellow said. ‘Across the board, every capital city and regional market experienced a rise in new listings over the month (which) should help ease competition and allow buyers more time to make informed decisions.'”

“It could be a seven-year wait for people who bought a house at the peak of the market to not face a loss when they sell, Corelogic says. It has released its latest ‘Pain and Gain’ report, which shows 9.8 percent of people who sold an existing residential property in the third quarter of 2024 did so at a loss. In Auckland, it was more than 16 percent. Corelogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said the market had shifted in favour of buyers, which gave them more leverage in price negotation. ‘This follows a prolonged decline since the extended peak in 2021, when 99 percent of resales were profitable,’ he said. ‘Given the recent weakness in the wider housing market, it’s not surprising that both the frequency of profitable resales and the size of the gains have decreased.'”

“He said it was normal that shorter hold periods correlated with a higher chance of making a loss and that had been amplified in the past few years because prices were down about 20 percent from the peak in some paces. ‘After the GFC it took five years to get from peak to trough and back to the previous peak so six or seven this time is not totally unprecedented. It [might be] 2027, 2028 before we get back to the 2021 peak, It’s a bit of a slow grind.'”

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This Post Has 98 Comments

    1. If luxury dominoes fall, so does the price of everything nearby of lesser quality. Luxury is the ceiling, and when it caves in, the whole house of cards below collapses.

      CR8R

      1. The suburban 1600-sqft, 3br/2ba, ranch house has intrinsic value as a staple middle-class shelter for raising a family, IMHO.

  3. “Griffin sold two Chicago condos on Wednesday, one roughly 53% below what he originally paid. He’s so far offloaded four out of seven Chicago properties — all at a discount — and is trying to sell a fifth for $8.5 million.”

    Is 53% alot?

    “Other wealthy homeowners were also burned recently by declining prices. In September, Michael Jordan also found a buyer for the 32,000 square-foot suburban mansion he spent more than a decade trying to flip, after cutting its price by half.”

    I’m guessing that 50% off is in nominal terms. Factoring inflation into the calculation would show a real dollar loss of far more than 50%.

    Nobody in the MSM is saying so, but it almost seems like the property bubble in Chi-town is collapsing.

      2. Local News
        4 California Cities Named Among The ‘Most Rat-Infested Cities In America’
        By Logan DeLoye
        Nov 13, 2024
        black rat
        Photo: Stone RF

        Do you live in one of the most rat-infested cities in America?

        There are a handful of cities scattered throughout the U.S. that are home to a larger rat population than most.

        Be it a sanitation or population issue, something about these large cities attract more rodents than anywhere else in the country.

        According to a list compiled by Orkin, the most rat-infested cities in California for 2024 are Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento. These cities were also named among the most rat-infested places in the entire country.

        Other cities on the top 50 list include Seattle, Washington, Richmond, Virginia, and Honolulu, Hawaii, to name a few.
        …
        https://kfiam640.iheart.com/content/2024-11-13-4-california-cities-named-among-the-most-rat-infested-cities-in-america/

        1. Now hold on for a minute, don’t blame the rat’s, but rather blame the humans living nearby who fail to dispose of their garbage properly, If the elected POLS were to place trash receptacles nearby and I don’t mean just two or three, and empty them on a routine basis, the problem would probably be mitigated quickly.

          1. POLS were to place trash receptacles nearby and I don’t mean just two or three, and empty them on a routine basis, the problem would probably be mitigated quickly.

            I know, finding a trash can any where is d@mn near impossible. Have to walk up to or into a store to find one most of the time.

    1. Stocks soared on news of Trump’s election. Bonds sank. Here’s why.
      Daniel de Visé
      USA TODAY

      As Donald Trump emerged victorious in the presidential election Wednesday, stock prices soared.

      As the stock market rose, the bond market fell.

      Stocks roared to record highs Wednesday in the wake of news of Trump’s triumph, signaling an end to the uncertainty of the election cycle and, perhaps, a vote of confidence in his plans for the national economy, some economists said.

      On the same day, the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds rose to 4.479%, a four-month high. A higher bond yield means a declining bond market: Bond prices fall as yields rise.
      …
      https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/11/09/trump-win-bond-market/76137769007/

    4. Bonds
      10-year Treasury yield jumps on week as Powell says Fed not in a hurry to keep cutting rates
      Published Fri, Nov 15 2024 4:59 AM EST
      Updated 7 Min Ago
      Brian Evans
      Sawdah Bhaimiya

      U.S. Treasury yields were higher on Friday, ending a week where the 10-year Treasury yield jumped amid new inflation data and comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that suggested the central bank may not be as aggressive next year with its rate-cutting campaign.

      The 10-year Treasury yield was last higher by about three basis point to 4.451%. The 10-year rate ended last week around 4.31%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury rose by nearly five basis points to 4.341%. The 2-year yield ended last week around 4.25%. One basis point equals 0.01% and yields and prices move in opposite directions.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/15/us-treasury-yields-investors-digest-powells-comments-await-data-.html

    6. Are mortgage rates heading down any time soon?

      BlackRock Jay has no incentive to lower rates, now that Trump has trounced Comrade Kamala and there is no need to artificially levitate the Fed’s Ponzi markets, post-election.

  5. “We’ve lost at least 10 years of appreciation”

    Where’s all the “We’re never going to drop to pre-Covid prices again” crowd?

    1. In fetal positions wrapped around bottles of Mad Dog 20/20 and Night Train in Wal-Mart tents in Bidenville homeless encampments.

  6. Redington Beach, Fl
    “..their lot value is worth a lot of money so take that into consideration before selling it at a moment’s notice.’”
    The barrier island land still exists due to beach renourishment through the years. Fighting nature similar to “net zero” efforts.

      1. Maslows priority of needs .
        -Air
        -Water
        -Food
        -Safety needs
        Followed by love/belonging, self actualization ,social needs , etc.

        Transgender rights, abortions, racism ,etc isn’t even on the list.

        So, only 10 States have banned Abortion unless medical necessary, or rape in some. That leaves over 40 States allowing Abortion, with Ca. allowing nine month abortions and beyond.

        So, Fake News brainwashing, combined with infiltrated school indoctrination for decades, has created mentally ill people who are useless idiots for their own demise.

        So, these mentally ill people want to punish their political opponents who voted for higher priority of needs than 10 Bible Belt States banning abortions.

        Invasion of borders, high crime, inflation threat to survival, World War 3 escalation, you will eat bugs and own nothing, mandated killer vaccines ,is not important to these brainwashed activists who vote for their own demise.
        And amazing that these brainwashed dumb asses take the moral high ground that their priorities are superior to the majority that voted.
        The Powers that Be are successful in the divide and conquer warfare that are the bullets for a take over
        and enslavement and mass genocide if the truth be told.
        The True Believer book by Eric Hoffer, outlined the madness of the creation of a cause,or enemy to fight against in mass movements.

        So, you can have survival itself being threatened, but right to abortion in 10 States is priority. Further, a unqualified women becoming President , racism claims with border invasion , and transgender assault on minors is more important than survival of the Western World and the US.

        1. has created mentally ill people who are useless idiots for their own demise

          Few of them will reproduce. Birthrates globally are in free fall, but especially in the west and east Asia.

          1. It’s a consolation that mental illness isn’t transmissible through a bite like rabies. Go ahead and bark like a dog.

  9. “‘We’ve lost at least 10 years of appreciation in a lot of the high-end markets,’ said Matt Laricy, managing partner of Americorp who specializes in luxury homes.

    It was only Yellen Bux. Wait until the wipeout of fake appreciation created by fake money spreads beyond the high-end market, where the 1% who have been the sole beneficiaries of the Fed’s “No Billionaire Left Behind” monetary policies parked their ill-gotten gains.

  10. A realtor in Redington Beach said don’t take low ball offers, because it will ultimately affect the entire neighborhood’s property values.

    Those lowball offers are as good as it gets, greedheads. The party’s over and you’re left holding the bag.

    1. Those lowball offers will be tomorrow’s comps. Falling knifes don’t fall that fast but they fall a long time.

  11. ‘People are nervous about what their properties are worth, but believe it or not, their lot value is worth a lot of money so take that into consideration before selling it at a moment’s notice.’”

    Those lot values are going to crater like everything else as Housing Bubble 2.0 implodes like a supernova.

  12. “Nightingale Properties has lost control of another property, this time losing an office building a few blocks from Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.

    Die, speculator scum.

    1. Telling people that everything is fine when they can see with their own eyes that it’s not fine rarely works.

      The Davos crowd is no doubt planning on new ways of spreading lies for 2028.

  15. As the next generation strays away from hoppy beverages, the once-booming craft brewery industry is feeling a hangover.

    Many brewers who began passion projects in the heyday of craft beer production are now faced with the challenges of running a business as the industry continues to see softening sales and a shift in consumer taste.

    A series of closures and consolidations in Massachusetts’ brewery scene signal a new era for the maturing market that experts say may be oversaturated. And these moves are leaving behind real estate that can be difficult to backfill.

    “People are not filling the tap rooms like it was prepandemic,” said Bob Kelley, co-founder of blog site Mass Brew Bros. “It’s a mature market. The industry was in double-digit growth 10 years ago. Now it’s really kind of flattened out.”

    It has become harder to open new breweries to fill the spaces. Thorpe said that in the last couple of years, investment in breweries has been difficult to come by, with many investors hesitant to come into the space because of the industry’s slowdown.

    “It’s very difficult to raise money at the moment for a standalone, small craft brewery,” Lord Hobo CEO Simon Thorpe told Bisnow. “Investors are really not interested in the sector in the way that they were five years ago.”

    https://www.bisnow.com/boston/news/retail/massachusetts-breweries-consolidate-and-close-126773

    1. Just because you can make beer doesn’t mean it’s good beer. Most of those places in Denver sell pints for $7.00 that taste like $2.00.

  16. California Lender Acquires Denver Apartment Property For $102M

    The high-end X Denver 2 high-rise apartment community near Coors Field appears to have been purchased by the development’s California-based senior lender for $102M.

    Four properties at 1021 21st St., 2120 Arapahoe St., 2126 Arapahoe St. and 2134 Arapahoe St. in the Five Points neighborhood were purchased by Los Angeles-based lender and developer CIM Group, according to documents filed with the city and first reported by the Denver Business Journal. Those addresses align with the X Denver 2 apartment community.

    CIM Group loaned Chicago-based developer The X Co. $105.3M to build X Denver 2 in 2020, according to public-records reporting by Multi-Housing News. The senior note had a three-year term and variable interest rate, MHN reported at the time.

    Several liens have been filed against X Denver properties, according to city records.

    CIM Group owned several Denver multifamily and office buildings with about 750 units of housing and 225K SF of office space as of September 2022, according to company releases. In all, the company says it has a portfolio worth $28.6B that spans the Americas.

    https://www.bisnow.com/denver/news/multifamily/x-denver-2-apartments-sold-to-cim-group-lender-126733

  17. Texas’ uneven population boom is creating ghost towns in many rural counties

    GOMEZ — The railroad changed everything.

    Long before the open plains were filled with rows of crops, they were brimming with the hopes of prosperity from families who flocked to Gomez. It was the first settlement in Terry County, just southwest of Lubbock in the Texas South Plains. Businesses opened, a cotton gin ushered in agriculture production, and a vote was coming up to name a county seat. The founders, in 1904, boasted Gomez was the “metropolis of the plains.”

    Then it all vanished.

    Brownfield, about four miles east, became the county seat and got the prized South Plains and Santa Fe Railway. Cut off from the rest of the world, Gomez and all its promises died.

    Gomez is one of an estimated 511 ghost towns in Texas — completely deserted and abandoned places. Its short-lived existence offers a cautionary tale to a host of Texas towns that are today facing existential threats. These communities — such as Becton, Estacado, and Bartonsite — at one time were more than just a place to drive through on the way to bigger cities, but are now another historical marker in the barren region’s landscape.

    State Sen. Charles Perry, a Lubbock Republican who represents many rural areas at the Texas Legislature, said certain communities can reinvent themselves. The ones who can’t are dying off. After the state injected billions into rural Texas for water, broadband and energy infrastructure, Perry hopes the Legislature is ready to talk about even greater investments in the neglected areas of the state.

    “I’ve said forever, and it’s not a slam on my colleagues — if you would have left just a fraction of the wealth for this side of I-35, we could’ve had Six Flags in Lubbock,” he said.

    https://www.tpr.org/economy-and-labor/2024-11-14/texas-uneven-population-boom-is-creating-ghost-towns-in-many-rural-counties

  18. AI PCs flood the market. Their makers hope someone wants them

    Warehouses in the IT channel are stocking up with AI-capable PCs – industry watcher Canalys claims these made up 20 percent of all shipments during Q3 2024, amounting to some 13.3 million units worldwide.…

    “Shipments,” of course, simply means that these devices have left the makers’ factory and been delivered to distributors, rather than 13.3 million AI-capable PCs being snapped up by buyers.

    In one sense, this doesn’t really matter, since it is likely you won’t be able to buy any computer that isn’t AI-enabled before long. Recent forecasts estimate that such systems may account for 43 percent of PCs by 2025, and go on to make up the bulk of the market by 2026.

    However, a look at the figures shows that Canalys is counting Macs in its AI-capable data, and these account for about half (47 percent) of all shipments, meaning that about 7 million Windows AI boxes were let loose into the channel during Q3.

    Canalys says a key challenge for vendors will be to convince customers to future-proof for a potential wave of on-device AI use cases, which is almost entirely lacking at the moment.

    In other words, AI PCs currently seem like a solution in search of a problem, but vendors will be keen to push them as they carry a 10 percent to 15 percent price premium over standard PCs, as Canalys has previously noted.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/ai-pcs-flood-the-market-their-makers-hope-someone-wants-them/ar-AA1u5O9v

    1. I’m not sure what potential buyers are expecting. A laptop that can do their homework for them? A mindless drone to chat with?

  19. China’s Troubled Solar Sector at ‘Turning Point,’ Longi Says

    China’s beleaguered solar industry, wracked by a glut and fierce price war, is already on the road to recovery, according to one of the country’s largest panel manufacturers.

    “We’re at a turning point,” Li Zhenguo, founder and president of Longi Green Energy Technology Co., said in an interview. “It will take two to three quarters for the product price to rise above cost level, and we already saw bidding prices rise somewhat from last month.”

    Massive overcapacity in China’s world-leading solar industry has forced some firms into bankruptcy or restructuring and resulted in big losses at major manufacturers. Longi, which used to be the country’s biggest panel producer before the current crisis, has posted four straight quarterly losses and resorted to slashing staff and costs.

    The China Photovoltaic Industry Association, the country’s main solar industry body, called in October for rational pricing and urged companies to be more disciplined in bidding for projects. The group also said struggling manufacturers should exit the market as soon as possible.

    “We don’t think the current situation is sustainable for the sector, and the whole industry is also doing a lot of soul-searching on why the situation has happened,” Li said from the Peruvian capital of Lima, where he was attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. The sector should take the initiative to “limit capacity a little to let the price return to a rational level,” he said.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/troubled-china-solar-sector-turning-032750119.html

  20. Police bust reveals stolen vehicles en route from Canada to Africa – with reprogrammed key fobs

    Scott Cresswell had a tip that there was a stolen vehicle on a north Toronto lot – a Toyota pickup allegedly bound for Africa.

    But the detective with the York Regional Police Service’s Auto/Cargo Theft Unit didn’t expect their search of that lot would find more than one vehicle – or the clues inside that could shed light on how they were stolen.

    As a crew from W5 watched, the team tackled a row of locked shipping containers, first with bolt cutters on padlocks, and then grinders on reinforced locks.

    In one container – just household goods. But then, the second one opened showed an Acura MDX parked at the far end. One officer ran the car’s VIN – a number that uniquely identifies a vehicle – to discover it had been reported stolen months earlier.

    And as darkness fell on that night in early November, the officers uncovered the Toyota they were looking for. Inside was a generic key fob. It seemed similar to the one W5 reprogrammed as a demonstration, using a device we ordered online.

    Our device created a new key fob for an SUV in CTV News’ fleet, without the existing key or any help from the vehicle’s driver. Similar devices can be seen in security video of thefts that show thieves gone with vehicles in under two minutes. Police and locksmiths have warned these devices are being used by thieves.

    “We do know from previous investigations that they’re buying them on Amazon. You can buy them on eBay,” Cresswell said.

    Is that what they’ve done here? I pressed a button on the key fob, which locked and unlocked the car. Then, I climbed in and tried to start the car. The engine roared to life.

    “They’ve tied into the system with their programming tool and made a new key,” Cresswell said.

    “Very similar to the device that we got,” I said.

    “Exactly. It may even be the same brand of device that you have,” Cresswell said.

    Difficult to know for sure – their device is long gone. The key would allow the overseas buyer to start the car.

    The reprogramming devices are crucial tools for the dozens of interlinked theft groups that roam the GTA, which take the vehicles they steal to middlemen who typically specialize in any given country, Cresswell said.

    “You have numerous theft groups, sending them to groups that are essentially the folks shopping the cars to all the people who want to traffic them overseas,” he said.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/police-bust-reveals-stolen-vehicles-en-route-from-canada-to-africa-with-reprogrammed-key-fobs-1.7111112

    1. My first car was a 1960 Chevy. If you didn’t intentionally lock the ignition switch with the key in, you could drive it around without having the key.

    2. I’m sure the cost of equipping current new cars with these keyless fobs isn’t cheap. Just try to price a replacement fob at the dealership. So all this tech and it turns out that cars are easier to steal than ever, they can be stolen in a few minutes with having to damage anything. No slim Jim, no wire cutting. No alarm going off.

      What a joke. Now cough up $45 grand for an ordinary, non luxury SUV.

      1. but hey, the car companies make $500, the insurance companies make out (charging you more than ever) and the car thieves make out. no damage and easier than ever

        What’s the downside?

        Oh right, the real consumer? yeah, sorry, no one cares about us.

  23. Canada’s immigration crackdown could make for a more willing partner in Trump

    U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has yet to take the oath of office, but already his plans on illegal immigration and his solution to this vexing problem are coming into stark view.

    The appointment of hardliners such as Stephen Miller as deputy White House Chief of Staff for Policy and Tom Homan as the border czar makes it abundantly clear that deportations of thousands, if not millions, of undocumented immigrants are imminent.

    This quixotic policy, along with potentially punishing tariffs to incentivize neighbouring Mexico to acquiesce, will foment tensions and potentially cause a massive break with one of America’s closest trading partners.

    However, recent immigration crackdowns in Canada could move the close allies even closer, making for a more robust and bountiful relationship during Trump’s second four-year term. Recent moves by Ottawa on immigration could be the North Star that guides and even informs a nascent framework, still in the developmental stages, by an incoming administration bent on taking a hardline approach to the challenging issue.

    Canada has turned away nearly 4,000 people per monthvon average in 2024, a 20 per cent increase over the 3,271 average in 2023. Moreover, immigration officials have refused more visitor visa applications per month than it has accepted.

    Being on one accord will undoubtedly go a long way in glossing over any lingering tensions between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President-elect Trump, who certainly has not forgotten Trudeau’s hot-mic moment, derisively ridiculing him during a NATO Summit reception. An imbroglio that led Trump to abruptly leave after learning other leaders were secretly taunting him. Now, America’s closest ally is firmly planted and leading in the area that will be the bellwether for a Trump second term.

    In fact, the war of words is already raising the stakes. Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard suggested the Mexican government could retaliate with its own tariffs on U.S. imports if the incoming Trump administration slaps tariffs on Mexican exports. “If you put 25% tariffs on me, I have to react with tariffs,” said Ebrard, who served as Mexico’s foreign minister during the first Trump administration. Clearly, both sides are gearing up for a possible trade war that will bring enormous economic cost to both sides.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/canada-s-immigration-crackdown-could-make-for-a-more-willing-partner-in-trump-1.7110558

    1. This quixotic policy

      Yeah, we have no choice but to accept the millions of unproductive invaders. Not!

      I’m sure Claudia Sheinbaum is making plans for Mexico to repatriate any non Mexicans who are returned to her side of the border.

      And speaking of Mexico, Moody’s has downgraded Mexico’s credit and debt. Sheinbaum complained, saying that she hasn’t released her “plan” for Mexico. Her plan is already well known: she, being the good leftist that she is, wants Mexico to go Net Zero.

      She also wants to redistribute more wealth than her predecessor, AMLO, which is why she won in a landslide: Mexican voters are counting on more Free Sh!t coming their way. Sheinbaum, who was installed on Oct 1, has a six year term. The only thing she has going for her is the US reducing its reliance on imports from China. But there are many alternatives to Mexico, many which while farther away don’t have a cartel problem.

  24. I’m not crazy about the Trump administration either, but we have to work with them on the border

    There are an estimated 11 million people living in the United States without legal status. There are also several million who crossed from Mexico (most are not Mexicans) to make a refugee claim; they are legal residents for now, but perhaps not for long. The Trump administration would like to deport most of them; it would like it even more if they self-deported.

    For many, Canada could be the logical destination. But Ottawa has to persuade Washington to avoid encouraging or enabling that. It also has to persuade millions of people in the U.S. that coming here is not an option.

    On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said that when it comes to border security, “there is no daylight at all between the goals of our two countries.” Ottawa needs to keep saying that.

    Canada is not ready for a refugee crisis, because we’re already in one. More than 132,000 refugee claims were made in the first nine months of this year. Many are people on tourist visas who filed their claim after they got off the plane; others are visa students. The numbers have been steadily growing. In 2019, there were 62,000 claims. Between 2011 and 2016, the annual average was just 18,250.

    The Immigration and Refugee Board suddenly finds itself with 260,000 cases pending – quadruple the backlog of two years ago. Processing a case now takes 44 months. Absent major reforms, that figure is sure to rise.

    It’s a similar story when it comes to those who overstay their temporary visas and cease to be legal residents of Canada: there isn’t enough of a bureaucracy to count them, let alone compel them to leave. If you can get into Canada, you can stay indefinitely and maybe forever.

    That’s why Canada used to do such a good job of vetting people applying for temporary visas, from tourists to students. We had a considerably higher legal immigration rate than the Americans, but we were also, quietly yet effectively, tougher at the border.

    For our own sake, we have to get back to that. It’s also one of the things we can do to persuade Washington to keep us out of its sights.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-im-not-crazy-about-the-trump-administration-either-but-we-have-to-work/

    1. There are an estimated 11 million people living in the United States without legal status.

      11 million? More than that crossed the border in just the past 4 years. There has to be at least 30 million illegals, many who have been here for decades.

      1. They have been using that same BS number of 11 million since 1986. The number is easily 10 times that.

        it’s 50 to 100 million EASY.

    2. But Ottawa has to persuade Washington to avoid encouraging or enabling that. It also has to persuade millions of people in the U.S. that coming here is not an option.

      It’s very easy. All you have to do is quickly deport anyone crossing the Canadian border illegally. You don’t let them stay while they appeal their case, you put them on an airplane and send them home. The word will get out quickly and would be invaders will know they are wasting their time.

  25. ‘You don’t get used to it’: Overdose deaths taking a toll on advocates, homeless in Moncton

    It’s been a deadly few weeks for the homeless population in Moncton, N.B., and the grief that comes with death is taking its toll on front-line workers.

    According to the Greater Moncton Homelessness Steering Committee, there have been seven deaths in the city’s homeless community since Oct. 23 – five of them by drug overdose.

    Mickey Boutilier, a peer worker at Ensemble Greater Moncton – the province’s only overdose prevention site – said dealing with the loss of someone they’re trying to help is heartbreaking.

    “You don’t get used to it,” said Boutilier. “We might be a small city, but this is not a pandemic, it’s an apocalypse.”

    There’s been a total of 43 deaths from Moncton’s vulnerable population so far in 2024 – more than half by overdose.

    https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/you-don-t-get-used-to-it-overdose-deaths-take-toll-on-advocates-homeless-1.7110778

    1. So the fentanyl crisis is in remote and low populated New Brunswick.

      Wanna bet the bubble hit them hard and housing is utterly unaffordable even though there is plenty of empty land

      1. online buddy of mine lives in NB. rent (for a craphole) is $1800 to $2000/month while wages are terrible, even for canada.

        so yeah

  26. Trump wants to end ‘wokeness’ in education. He has vowed to use federal money as leverage

    Donald Trump’s vision for education revolves around a single goal: to rid America’s schools of perceived “ wokeness ” and “left-wing indoctrination.”

    The president-elect wants to forbid classroom lessons on gender identity and structural racism. He wants to abolish diversity and inclusion offices. He wants to keep transgender athletes out of girls’ sports.

    On his first day in office, Trump has repeatedly said he will cut money to “any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children.” On the campaign trail, Trump said he would “not give one penny” to schools with vaccine or mask requirements.

    Trump’s opponents say his vision of America’s schools is warped by politics — that the type of liberal indoctrination he rails against is a fiction. They say his proposals will undermine public education and hurt the students who need schools’ services the most.

    “It’s fear-based, non-factual information, and I would call it propaganda,” said Wil Del Pilar, senior vice president for Education Trust, a research and advocacy organization. “There is no evidence that students are being taught to question their sexuality in schools. There is no evidence that our American education system is full of maniacs.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-wants-to-end-wokeness-in-education-he-has-vowed-to-use-federal-money-as-leverage/ar-AA1u7HZD

  27. ‘A bit of a bulldog’: Do changes in B.C. Premier David Eby’s office signal a shift in approach?

    Premier David Eby has said work is underway to select “new leadership” in the premier’s office and that has political observers wondering what signals Eby is sending.

    Last week, the premier said his chief of staff, Matt Smith, would be leaving the premier’s office on Dec. 20. That came after the firing of deputy chief of staff Don Bain and the shuffling of Dr. Penny Ballem to the Health Ministry and away from her special adviser role.

    Speaking to reporters about why he had made the changes, the premier said one of his take-aways from the narrow NDP victory in October’s election was that British Columbians want the government to focus on issues such as affordability and health care.

    Kareem Allam, former chief of staff to Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, believes the moves, particularly in the premier’s office, at the very least signal a shift in priorities and a recognition that voters have concerns about the current direction of government.

    “The departures and the reshuffling that you’re seeing in the premier’s office is reflective of someone deeply interested, a premier that’s deeply interested in addressing those concerns,” said Allam.

    “He said on the night that he won, that he’s heard British Columbians loud and clear. They’re not happy and he’s got that and he’s rolling up his sleeves and getting to work.”

    Conservative Leader John Rustad doesn’t believe Eby has learned anything from the election and will keep going the same way as before. He believes the NDP platform signals a continuation of large-scale spending and an unwillingness to address problems in education or the natural resource sector.

    He told reporters that if there is anything Eby will change, it is the way he tries to sell the aggressive changes he is making.

    “This is what happens with individuals who fail at selling a story. It’s not that they think that the story is wrong, they think that the way they sold it was wrong,” said Rustad.

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/a-bit-of-a-bulldog-do-changes-in-bc-premier-david-ebys-office-signal-a-shift-in-approach/ar-AA1u72No

  28. In an AP interview, the next Los Angeles DA says he’ll go after low-level nonviolent crimes

    The incoming district attorney for Los Angeles County, Nathan Hochman, said in an interview with The Associated Press that his first task upon taking office is to eliminate the “pro-criminal blanket policies” of one of California’s most high-profile progressive prosecutors, George Gascón.

    That means bringing back gang-related sentencing enhancements, allowing prosecutors to file juvenile charges more freely, and having prosecutors attend parole hearings with victims’ families again, where they can help argue against the release of convicts, Hochman said.

    The former Republican-turned-independent also plans to return to prosecuting low-level nonviolent crimes that he said the current district attorney has not, such as criminal threats, trespassing, disturbing the peace and loitering, which often involve those experiencing homelessness.

    Anyone who breaks the law will receive “proportional” consequences — no more “get out of jail free” cards, Hochman said in the interview Wednesday.

    At the same time, he wants to look at solutions that don’t necessarily involve locking criminals up, such as court-mandated drug treatment, community service, and restitution.

    “There’s a culture of lawlessness” that has been “perpetrated” by Gascón’s office, Hochman said.

    “We’re going to reverse that,” he said. “You basically say, ‘Here are the lines in our society, the lines are the laws, I’m going to consistently, fairly and impartially enforce them and here the real consequences on the other side. So if you want to, test me. If you think I’m bluffing, I’m not bluffing.’”

    Hochman says he doesn’t want to simply fill up prisons again.

    “This is my message to people who believe in criminal justice reform: I believe in it as well,” Hochman said. “The difference between myself and my predecessor is it won’t be a bunch of talk.”

    Gascón, a former San Francisco police chief, was elected in 2020 during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota as part of a wave of progressive prosecutors elected nationwide.

    He brought several controversial changes to the district attorney’s office that were seen by critics as soft on crime, such as ending cash bail and not allowing prosecutors to charge juveniles as adults or ask for sentencing enhancements. He also recently addressed the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, saying he would seek resentencing for the brothers who received life sentences for the shotgun killings of their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. Hochman, who could influence the Menendez case, said he could not comment on the resentencing recommendation until he has time to review confidential documents related to the brothers.

    Gascón defended his work, saying in his concession statement: “I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished over the past four years and grateful to the communities who have been and will always be the heart of criminal justice reform.”

    In 2014, Gascón, then district attorney in San Francisco, co-authored a ballot measure passed by California voters that reclassified certain low-level drug and property crimes as misdemeanors instead of felonies. The measure was approved as California spent years struggling with a 2009 federal court order to reduce the population in the state’s overcrowded prisons.

    But increased property crime in LA County, emphasized by viral videos of smash-and-grab retail theft, as well as a worsening drug epidemic and increasing homelessness have fed a feeling of lawlessness and frustration that voters brought to the polls last week.

    https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-district-attorney-nathan-hochman-crime-retail-theft-4368bc370823ed1c60d2aac0c05456b5

  29. Cracks deepen in Canada’s pro-immigration ‘consensus’

    From the ground floor of a low-income apartment building in Toronto, Sultana Jahangir runs an organization that helps South Asian women get established in Canada — a challenge she said is getting harder.

    Polling and migration experts tell a consistent story: broad support for immigration that prevailed for decades in Canada has cracked following a three-year immigrant-fueled population surge.

    Jahangir’s South Asian Women’s Rights Organization, which operates out of two apartments packed with desk chairs and tables, equips women with vocabulary for job interviews, basic computer training and other skills.

    A social worker born in Bangladesh who came to Toronto in 2005 via the United States, Jahangir said settling in Canada was never easy — but things have “definitely” gotten worse.

    “You’re seeing more fierce and negative competition between immigrants and more negative feelings towards people who may be new versus people who have been here for a long time,” she said.

    Daniel Bernhard, chief executive of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, said while Canadians are turning against immigration, many still view immigrants who are already here positively. It’s an important distinction, he argued, but one he fears is fragile. “The consensus for the last 30 years was rock solid,” Bernhard told AFP.

    In a 2019 Gallup poll that assessed support for immigration in 145 countries, Canada ranked first, with 94 percent of respondents describing migrants moving to the country as a good thing.

    Five years later, a September survey from the Environics Institute found that “for the first time in a quarter century, a clear majority of Canadians say there is too much immigration.”

    “We’re not at Brexit and ‘Stop the boats’ and ‘Build the wall’ but we’re 10 years behind that,” Bernhard said, referring to Britain and the United States.

    Canada may have so far avoided the inflammatory rhetoric and baseless claims about immigrants that partly drove Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, but Bernhard argued “that tends to be the next step.”

    Canada is “waking up to the fact that, actually, we are just like everybody else,” he added, referring to global anti-migrant sentiment.

    Jahangir told AFP she was not opposed to the target cuts, citing ferocious competition for jobs and accommodation in Toronto, noting that she knows some women who rent beds by the half day.

    “Those who are working night shift, they are taking the bed in the day shift. Those who are working day shift, they are taking the bed in the night shift,” she explained.

    https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/cracks-deepen-in-canadas-pro-immigration-consensus/ar-AA1u7V06

  30. Latino advocates grapple with Hispanic vote shift and its impact on policy agenda

    After Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s dramatic performance with Latino voters, a coalition of Democratic-leaning Latino groups is grappling with the shift and trying to reconcile it with the policies they say many Hispanics support.

    The groups challenged just how large Trump’s gains were with people of color, particularly among Latino men, but acknowledged that the gains were significant, as was the Latino gender divide.

    The recurring dispute over how well exit polling captures Latino voters — the groups and pollsters have raised it in previous elections — has ramifications for nonprofit groups that have focused on improving Latino voter turnout. These same groups also advocate for a Latino agenda that has been largely aligned with Democratic Party policies and for candidates and issues of equity. It also can affect their funding for those missions, something that is a continual struggle.

    In no uncertain terms, economic discontent drove Latino men’s vote, said Clarissa Martinez de Castro, vice president of the Latino Vote Initiative for UnidosUS, a national Latino advocacy group whose social welfare arm, UnidosUS Action Fund, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

    “Republicans had a historic night, largely expressed through discontent with the economy. That was the most potent driver,” Martinez de Castro said in a conference call Tuesday.

    “If there is a mandate here, it’s … to raise wages to bring down food, housing and health care costs, and that is particularly so for Hispanics,” she said. Voters heard more about addressing those needs from Trump and Republicans, Martinez de Castro said. A lot of times, the candidates choose to be quiet on issues that they think are going to harm them, and “I think for a good while, Democrats did that on the economy,” she said.

    The Democratic-leaning Latino groups pushed back on that narrative, citing their own polling.

    “Latino voters were not instrumental in the Trump victory,” said Gary Segura, president and co-founder of BSP Research, a Democratic polling firm.

    “We have a number that is different from the exit polls, but even if we accept the exit poll numbers, Latinos did not make the difference for Trump in any state,” Segura said. “If we take Latinos out in any state, Trump still wins. Latinos did not provide the margin for victory in any state.”

    “Let’s be clear, Trump does not have a mandate for mass deportations or sending in the military to round up our immigrant neighbors and family members,” said Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America’s Voice, an immigration advocacy group. “American voters, and Latino voters in particular, still strongly support legal status for long-settled immigrants.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/latino-advocates-grapple-with-hispanic-vote-shift-and-its-impact-on-policy-agenda/ar-AA1u6N9U

  31. Map shows which California demographic shifted most toward Trump

    With many California counties nearly finished counting the ballots cast in the 2024 presidential election, a clear pattern is emerging — not only did the state shift toward Donald Trump, it was one group that most clearly drove the shift.

    Although President-elect Trump lost the Golden State to Vice President Kamala Harris, he improved his margins in almost all counties with at least 80% of their expected vote counted. Outstanding counties aren’t likely to behave differently.

    Many of the largest shifts were in more rural areas that were already more friendly to Republicans, including Tulare and Colusa counties. In Fresno County, which President Joe Biden won by a margin of about 8 percentage points in 2020 and hadn’t voted Republican since 2004, Trump seemed to have won this year by a margin of 6 points. Even in heavily liberal San Francisco, Trump’s loss shrank from a crushing margin of 73 points to a somewhat less-overwhelming 65 points.

    Many counties are still tallying their final ballots, which often skew more Democratic. And Paul Mitchell, a California political data expert, said that while the state is becoming a “tiny bit” more Republican, the fact Democrats have already flipped one U.S. House seat in Southern California is evidence otherwise.

    That growth seems to come disproportionately from one demographic.

    Latino-majority counties such as Fresno, Tulare and San Benito saw some of the biggest shifts toward Trump. Many commentators have pointed to the trend, which has also been observed nationwide, as evidence that the Republican party’s messaging on inflation and the economy resonated strongly with working-class Latino voters, though polls indicate most Latino voters still supported Harris.

    Still, among all the demographics the Chronicle analyzed, no factor more strongly matched Trump’s gains in a county than how much of the population was Latino.

    Mike Madrid, a political consultant who specializes in Latino voting trends, said that while foreign-born Latino voters still overwhelmingly back Democratic candidates, U.S-born Latino voters are more likely to support center- or right-aligned candidates.

    With U.S.-born Latino residents making up an increasingly dominant share of California’s population, Madrid added, Democratic politicians shouldn’t take them for granted. He argued that foreign-born and U.S.-born voters have different priorities when it comes to economic and social policies, with the latter more concerned with housing affordability and economic issues than immigration.

    “It’s not really a realignment (of voters). It’s the emergence of a new voter,” Madrid said.

    Still, Madrid said, the Democratic party hasn’t done enough to address the priorities of the working class, such as by tackling rising housing prices in California. Harris’ loss, he added, revealed that the decades-long coalition between well-off white progressives and lower-income Latino voters is no longer a given. Wealthier, college-educated Democrats are more concerned with cultural and social issues, Madrid argued, because their economic status somewhat protects them from inflation. That’s left working-class voters feeling unheard.

    “The common glue that held (those groups) together was they both viscerally hated Republicans,” Madrid said. “The problem is that glue has now faded and frayed.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/map-shows-which-california-demographic-shifted-most-toward-trump/ar-AA1u4IJ6

    1. “Even in heavily liberal San Francisco, DJT’s loss shrank from a crushing margin of 73 points to a somewhat less-overwhelming 65 points”

      Denver voted 79 to 19, we’re not far behind SF. Sad

      1. Denver voted 79 to 19, we’re not far behind SF.
        Don’t give up, never give up. Go “getem” next election. You can do it.

  32. How blue states could lose decisive number of electoral votes to red states in next Census

    Democrats’ path to 270 Electoral College votes may get even more difficult after the 2030 Census if blue states continue bleeding out residents to red states.

    A recent report by the Atlantic’s Jerusalem Demsas explored how the electoral vote math is already shifting due to migration trends between states. Populous, deep-blue states like California, Illinois and New York have been steadily losing residents who are moving to Republican-dominated states like Florida and Texas.

    According to the conservative-leaning American Redistricting Project (ARP), if current trends continue, Democrats would lose an additional eight electoral votes if the Democratic candidate in 2032 won the same states that Vice President Kamala Harris won in the 2024 election. This means that even if that candidate were to win the coveted “Blue Wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, it still wouldn’t be enough to cross the 270-vote threshold.

    This exodus would also result in Republican states getting more seats in the House of Representatives. The Brennan Center for Justice estimates that if current patterns hold, Democrats could lose up to four seats. ARP’s calculations have Democrats losing five seats. Because the Senate already favors more rural, less populated states with disproportionate representation (43 states have smaller populations than Los Angeles County alone), this means Republicans would have a relatively easy path to a trifecta government every four years.

    Blue state residents aren’t moving to red states necessarily because of their politics, but because of their lower costs of living. A February 2024 survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found that of the approximately 600,000 Golden State residents who left over the last 10 years said the high cost of housing was the chief reason. Demsas also observed that blue states and large Democratic-controlled urban centers have had a “hostility” toward population growth going back several decades.

    “In the early 1970s, the UCLA professor Fred Abraham pushed for growth limits, arguing, ‘We need fewer people here—a quality of life, not a quantity of life. We must request a moratorium on growth and recognize that growth should be stopped,'” she wrote. “Such arguments preceded a now infamous downzoning in the ’70s and ’80s, which substantially reduced the number of homes that could be legally built, slashed the potential population capacity of Los Angeles from an estimated 10 million people to 4 million and spurred one of the nation’s most acute housing and homelessness crises.”

    “Self-styled progressives and liberals in blue communities across the country have taken similar approaches, all but directing would-be newcomers to places like Texas and Florida,” she added.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-blue-states-could-lose-decisive-number-of-electoral-votes-to-red-states-in-next-census/ar-AA1u5Yy9

  33. The Democrats Are Committing Partycide

    As California goes, so goes the nation, but what happens when a lot of Californians move to Texas? After the 2030 census, the home of Hollywood and Silicon Valley will likely be forced to reckon with its stagnating population and receding influence. When congressional seats are reallocated to adjust for population changes, California is almost certain to be the biggest loser—and to be seen as the embodiment of the Democratic Party’s failures in state and local governance.

    The liberal Brennan Center is projecting a loss of four seats, and the conservative American Redistricting Project, a loss of five. Either scenario could affect future presidential races, because a state’s Electoral College votes are determined by how many senators and representatives it has. In 2016, after her loss to Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton argued that she’d “won the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward”—an outlook that she contrasted with Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. But now Democrats’ self-conception as a party that represents the future is running headlong into the reality that the fastest-growing states are Republican-led.

    According to the American Redistricting Project, New York will lose three seats and Illinois will lose two, while Republican-dominated Texas and Florida will gain four additional representatives each if current trends continue. Other growing states that Trump carried in this month’s election could potentially receive an additional representative. By either projection, if the 2032 Democratic nominee carries the same states that Kamala Harris won this year, the party would receive 12 fewer electoral votes. Among the seven swing states that the party lost this year, Harris came closest to winning in the former “Blue Wall” of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania—at least two of which are likely to lose an electoral vote after 2030. Even adding those states to the ones Harris won would not be enough to secure victory in 2032. The Democrat would need to find an additional 14 votes somewhere else on the map.

    Population growth and decline do not simply happen to states; they are the result of policy choices and economic conditions relative to other states. Some states lose residents because their economy hasn’t kept up with the rest of the country’s. But in much of blue America, including California and New York, economic dynamism and high wages aren’t enough to sustain population growth, because the skyrocketing cost of shelter eclipses everything else. The amenities that these states offer—the California coastline, the New York City cultural scene—start to look like the historic molding on a house with its roof caved in. Policy failures are dragging down the Democrats’ prospects in two ways: by showing the results of Democratic governance in sharp, unflattering relief, and by directly reducing the party’s prospects in presidential elections and the House of Representatives.

    California, New York, and other slow-growing coastal Democratic strongholds have taken an explicitly anti-population-growth tack for decades. They took for granted their natural advantages and assumed that prosperity was a given. People willingly giving up their residencies in these coastal areas is a sign of how dismal the cost of living is.

    While the media are likely to pick up on anecdotes about wealthy people complaining about tax levels and political norms in liberal states, data show that population loss is heavily concentrated among lower-income people and people without a college degree. In an analysis of census data, the Public Policy Institute of California found that more than 600,000 people who have left the Golden State in the past decade have cited the housing crisis as the primary reason.

    When people vote with their feet, they’re sending a clear signal about which places make them optimistic about the future. What does it say about liberal governance that Democratic states cannot compete with Florida and Texas?

    Remarkably, none of this happened by accident. A hostility toward population growth and people in general has suffused the politics of Democratic local governance. The researcher Greg Morrow meticulously documented the political effort in Los Angeles to stop people from moving to the city over the back half of the 20th century. In the early 1970s, the UCLA professor Fred Abraham pushed for growth limits, arguing, “We need fewer people here—a quality of life, not a quantity of life. We must request a moratorium on growth and recognize that growth should be stopped.” Morrow also points to comments from the Sierra Club, which recommended “limiting residential housing … to lower birth rates.” Such arguments preceded a now infamous downzoning in the ’70s and ’80s, which substantially reduced the number of homes that could be legally built, slashed the potential population capacity of Los Angeles from an estimated 10 million people to 4 million, and spurred one of the nation’s most acute housing and homelessness crises. Self-styled progressives and liberals in blue communities across the country have taken similar approaches, all but directing would-be newcomers to places like Texas and Florida.

    Contrast this attitude with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s boast, in a press release during his unsuccessful presidential-primary campaign, that “people are flocking to Florida and fleeing California.” DeSantis has pursued pro-growth housing policies that allow working-class people to afford housing in his state.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/the-democrats-are-committing-partycide/ar-AA1u4LUY

    1. Articles like this are full of cognitive dissonance. The status quo in California is only against domestic arrivals as they love any type of foreign invader they can get. It is almost forbidden to even discuss that there might be an issue with that. It is a madness that is hard to reconcile and is changing the demographics of entire regions there at a rapid pace. They’re all nuts. Fortunately, a reasonable person can set up a decent oasis just about anywhere in this country and there is no shortage of great spots. The west is quickly becoming the Stucco Belt. It is best to leave before you get stucco.

  34. Incumbents are losing around the world, not just the U.S.

    President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris and the Democrats in last week’s election represents another hit in a string of losses for incumbent parties around the world.

    Marketplace looked at advanced economies that have undergone elections since 2022, when inflation peaked in many countries.

    Incumbent leaders, parties or coalitions in more than 70% of the countries we analyzed lost the presidency or prime ministership in the time period we studied. Less than 30% of incumbents retained those top positions.

    Both left-leaning and right-leaning incumbents lost power over the past two years in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Brazil, Belgium, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Argentina.

    Incumbents in other countries with upcoming elections face an uncertain future. Ahead of Canada’s 2025 general election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party is behind the Conservative Party in the polls. And Germany will have a snap election early next year after the governing coalition collapsed in November. If you’re curious about how much vote share incumbent parties lost this year, the Financial Times did an analysis on that. For the first time, every governing party in a developed country lost vote share in an election.

    Depending on the country, some of the other issues that may be fueling these losses include concerns about climate change, the way incumbents handled the COVID-19 pandemic, and immigration.

    https://www.marketplace.org/2024/11/14/incumbents-are-losing-around-the-world-not-just-the-u-s/

  35. Zelenskyy Confirms Ukraine War Will ‘End Sooner’ With Trump in Power

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Friday that his country’s war with Russia will “end sooner” after President-elect Donald Trump’s win last week.

    Throughout the 2024 campaign, Trump and his running-mate, Sen. JD Vance, have vowed to end the Ukraine–Russia conflict, saying that the United States has provided too much funding to the Eastern European country and has warned about the specter of nuclear war amid the conflict.

    “A just peace is critical for us, so that we do not feel we have lost the best only to have injustice forced upon us,” Zelenskyy told a Ukrainian news outlet on Friday, according to a translation. “The war will end, but there is no set date.”

    “Of course, with the policy of this team, who will now govern the White House, the war will be over sooner. This is their approach, their pledge to their society, and it is really essential to them.”

    Zelenskyy said that his speculation is based on conversations that he has had with Trump.

    On whether Trump will push for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is “an independent country” in which “the approach of ‘sit down and listen’ does not work.”

    Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on Friday that Ukraine is fighting to liberate all territory captured by Russia in the past decade such as the Donbas territories and Crimea.

    “Territorial integrity is part of our values,” the Ukrainian minister told a joint press conference with his Norwegian counterpart in Oslo.

    When asked about reports that Ukraine is shifting its focus in the war, Umerov said the reports are false and alleged they’re part of Russian propaganda efforts.

    “Our priority is still to protect people, protect the nation, to liberate people from almost 10 years of temporary occupation, so Crimea and Donbas [are] part of Ukraine,” he said.

    Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the first time since December 2022 on Friday, according to a call detailed by state-run Russian outlet TASS. A German government spokesperson said Scholz urged Putin to begin talks with Kyiv that would open the way for a “just and lasting peace.”

    In a one-hour phone conversation, Scholz demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and reaffirmed Germany’s continued support for Ukraine, the German spokesman said.

    In a statement provided by TASS about the call, the Kremlin said Putin “noted that the Russian side has never refused and remains open to the resumption of the negotiations that were interrupted by the Kiev regime.”

    “Russia’s proposals are well known and outlined, in particular, in a June speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry,” it said.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/zelenskyy-confirms-ukraine-war-will-end-sooner-with-trump-in-power-5760459

  36. ‘The amenities that these states offer—the California coastline, the New York City cultural scene—start to look like the historic molding on a house with its roof caved in’

    Weather!

    1. Paul Krugman muh best best economy ever ever.

      I just noticed my local Walgreen’s closed. I don’t give much money to Big Pharma so I’m not going there often.

    2. Could it be that newer cars are next to impossible for the average joe to work on? Say like changing a starter or a water pump. What used to be easy peasy now involves a lot of disassembly.

  38. ‘The land was foreclosed and listed for sale by the Idaho Land Brokerage for $7 million in September. Boise developer Ron Walsh says the development likely won’t see the light of day…‘It has a lot of topography (issues), which causes the infrastructure costs to skyrocket,’ Walsh said by phone. ‘We think it’s too much of an uphill battle’

    Yer saying they can’t give it away Ron?

  39. ‘The [sellers] bought at the absolute peak of the market…They did some improvements to the home – they redid the front elevation with all the stucco work and did some work on the inside as well – so they got, more or less, what they paid for because they improved it. If it was left as is, they would have gotten way less than what they paid in 2021′

    So they took a mighty a$$ pounding Andre.

  40. ‘calling for the state-owned power utility to appear before Parliament to account for the abandoned R840-million Wilge residential development in Mpumalanga. This comes after 2023 reports about the R250 million squandered on housing project in Limpopo, which now stand vacant and neglected’

    Photos at the link.

    1. This is where we would have been heading had the Dems managed to pull off another steal.

      South Africa couldn’t even keep its state flag airline operating with subsidies. It finally reached the point where the utter mismanagement sent it to its grave. And they can’t even keep the lights on anymore. SA makes Brazil and Mexico look good by comparison.

  41. ‘He said it was normal that shorter hold periods correlated with a higher chance of making a loss and that had been amplified in the past few years because prices were down about 20 percent from the peak in some paces. ‘After the GFC it took five years to get from peak to trough and back to the previous peak so six or seven this time is not totally unprecedented. It [might be] 2027, 2028 before we get back to the 2021 peak, It’s a bit of a slow grind’

    You may be a little pessimistic on the timing Kelvin, but this is how winnahs! are made. The thing you left out: no eating for winnahs! It’s just for six or seven years.

  42. You’ve Run Out Of Time (Peel Region Real Estate Market Update)

    Team Sessa Real Estate

    39 minutes ago MISSISSAUGA

    This episode shows the current Brampton, Mississauga, Ajax, Whitby, and Pickering Real Estate home prices and market trends for the week ending Nov 6, 2024. We also discuss the problem that keeps occurring when people wait too long to try and fix their financial problems.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avy9lazOGnk

    13:25.

  43. I don’t know what happened to me this week but it’s easier to breathe, food tastes better, my sense of smell improved, I can really enjoy the scent of flowers and fresh-cut grass. I no longer feel like a piece of garbage.

    I don’t know what it could be.

    1. Treasury Yield Surge Draws Buyers After 10-Year Tops 4.5%
      Liz Capo McCormick
      Fri, November 15, 2024 at 1:10 PM PST 3 min read

      (Bloomberg) — The highest Treasury yields in months — reached Friday after a batch of strong economic data cast additional doubt on whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again next month — proved appealing to bond investors.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-trim-weekly-loss-focus-110510097.html

    2. Personal Finance
      Mortgages
      Today’s Mortgage Rates | Rates Rise as Fed Chair Sees No Reason to ‘Hurry’ Cuts
      Written by Molly Grace; edited by Sarah Silbert
      Nov 16, 2024, 3:00 AM PST

      – Mortgage rates for November 16, 2024, are hovering in the high 6% range.

      – Fed Chair Powell said that the Fed is in no rush to cut rates, which means mortgage rates could remain elevated for longer.

      – Depending on how much the Fed cuts rates next year, we could see mortgage rates ease in 2025.

      Mortgage rates have been elevated recently, and they’ve gone up even further as investors look to what the Federal Reserve might do at its next meeting in December.

      In a speech in Dallas on Thursday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that while central bankers expect to continue lowering the federal funds rate, they’re not in a rush to do so since the economy is still doing fairly well.

      “The economy is not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates,” Powell said. “The strength we are currently seeing in the economy gives us the ability to approach our decisions carefully.”
      …
      https://www.businessinsider.com/todays-mortgage-rates-saturday-16-2024-11

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