In This Market, You Get Killed When You Start Too High
A report from Fox 4 Now in Florida. “Families on Fort Myers Beach are getting ready for bigger flood insurance bills. The town lost the 25% discount from FEMA that has helped neighbors save money since 1999. FEMA put the town on probation, which means the discount is now gone. ‘Insurance is already so expensive,’ said George Kormos, a Fort Myers Beach resident. ‘Without that 25% discount, I just can’t justify the cost. I’ve even decided not to get flood insurance because it’s too much for what you get if there’s a flood. It’s going to force people out who can’t afford it.'”
WINK News in Florida. “According to the Lee County Government, residents in parts of Lee County will keep their FEMA discount. Kelly Haynes is a Fort Myers Beach resident. She said that she doesn’t feel like she will be compensated. ‘I think it’s another false promise, and we’re gonna be left with nothing,’ said Haynes. ‘It’s a way for them to have control.’ Todd Kluener is a Fort Myers Beach resident. He said that it is difficult to subsidize barrier islands like Fort Myers Beach due to the flood risk. ‘A barrier island that’s going to deal with constant flood risk. Why are we subsidizing an area that is constantly going to be battered by floods and have just insane claims going forward?’ asked Kluener.”
From WLOS. “Fifteen volunteers from Northside Church in Wilmington, North Carolina are at one local family’s house with shovels in hand and determination to mud out the crawl space filled with mud and debris on Nov. 22. Aaron Buchanan works at Young’s Fuel Service in Bakersville, told News 13 he is in disbelief at the outpouring of help. The couple are figuring out how to move forward with their lives one day at a time after losing their brick rancher-style home to Helene. ‘We paid off our mortgage “early,’ said Buchanan. ‘We had a licensed contractor come in and structure-wise to fix the house not contents or anything he estimated it at $200,000 plus — FEMA has offered us $18,000,’ Buchanan said.”
“When they bought the home Buchanan said no one, from the brokers to his home insurance agency indicated his home was in a flood zone. Because of this, the couple was never required to have flood insurance though early on Buchanan said they had a mortgage. For now, the couple is waiting for that and is undecided on whether they’ll cut their losses on the brick home they loved or try to find a way to afford to restore it. ‘The only thing I know is we’re going to have to sign our life away again,’ Buchanan said. ‘We’re looking at another 30 years in debt and it’s scary — it really is.'”
ABC 15 in Arizona. “The Phoenix City Council voted 8-1 to lessen the restrictions on accessory dwelling units, also known as ADUs, Wednesday night. The move comes after the state legislature passed legislation lessening the restrictions. Phoenix City Councilman Carlos Galindo-Elvira of District 7 was the sole ‘no’ vote to change the ADU restrictions citywide. ‘Begrudgingly many voted yes. I was the first in the roll call and so I made the decision that I would vote no to protest the fact that the people were being left out of the process. Homeowners in the city would still need to meet requirements and obtain permits, but they can now put 2 or 3 ADUs on a lot, depending on the acreage. The negative is that if you want to build a casita that looks like Dracula’s castle, the people have no say in that,’ stated the Councilman. ‘While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the property owner might like it but what about the rest of the neighborhood?'”
From CalMatters. “As California Democrats attempt to ‘Trump-proof’ the state and Republicans celebrate their party’s sweeping victory, the mood among some of the state’s most prominent housing advocates is glum. ‘Trump’s extremist economic agenda is going to tank the housing market and housing construction,’ Sen. Scott Wiener, one of the Legislature’s loudest YIMBY voices, said in an interview Friday. If those are any indication, a Trump presidency will likely make it harder for immigrants, including mixed-status households, and other low-income Californians to access subsidized housing. It could also complicate efforts to build housing in the state that’s specifically designated as affordable.”
“At the same time, experts said, Trump could help ease regulations for housing construction across the board, something sought by pro-housing officials in both parties. Trump has railed that Democrats want to ‘abolish the suburbs,’ co-authoring a 2020 Wall Street Journal op-ed with Ben Carson that criticized elected officials in several states, including California, for promoting higher-density housing in residential neighborhoods. ‘People fight all of their lives to get into the suburbs and have a beautiful home,’ he said in a speech that year. ‘There will be no more low-income housing forced into the suburbs.'”
Market Watch. “The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage isn’t in danger of going away, despite plans for a shake-up in housing finance under a second Trump administration, according to Michael Bright, former manager of Ginnie Mae’s $2 trillion portfolio of mortgage-backed securities. ‘No. It’s not going anywhere,’ Bright told MarketWatch. ‘Absolutely not. The 30-year part of the equation is important. What it brings to the table is a slightly lower monthly payment.’ Fed policies in the wake of the global financial crisis have focused on bolstering asset prices, Bright said. ‘The downside is that not everyone is an asset-owner,’ he said.”
From Bisnow. “A decade ago, Colorado’s marijuana industry and its real estate footprint were growing like a weed — pun partially intended. But with new business creation basically halted, mergers gobbling up the area’s smaller players and a burst pandemic bubble, the consolidation faced by metro Denver’s marijuana business in recent years has come for its real estate. ‘I have one client just walking away from two dispensaries and about five more about to walk away from their leases,’ said John Wickens, founder of Six Chair Blue, a cannabis-focused real estate brokerage based in Denver. It’s been a year of ‘nothing really selling or moving,’ Wickens said. His company nearly went out of business when weed ‘wholesale shit the bed’ and a major Denver cannabis retailer and its properties went into receivership, he said.”
“‘The cannabis market in Colorado continues to drop. We’re still getting the story right about where the floor’s going to be,’ Flower Union Brands co-founder and President Jon Spadafora said. His former company, Veritas Fine Cannabis, was primarily a cultivator of the plant, and it took up a lot of space: three industrial facilities nearing 100K SF. When industrywide post-pandemic-lockdown market realities hit Veritas, it had tough choices to make. Veritas owned one of the warehouses and leased the other two. ‘The one we owned, we sold at a significant loss compared to the price we paid in 2018, based on the desire to get out of it quickly,’ Spadafora said of his 24K SF grow.”
The Vancouver Sun in Canada. “Soon after immigrating to Burnaby from a village in India, Daljit Thind found work laying tiles. From those humble beginnings, he built an empire. After learning about the construction industry, Thind took on his first project: renovating his sister-in-law’s home. He then put those profits into a larger project, and then another. Last year, when Thind earned the Order of B.C. , the province’s highest honour , his official biography said he was responsible for $4 billion in development, more than 1,000 jobs throughout Metro Vancouver, and millions in charitable donations.”
“But, now, Thind’s business empire appears to be struggling, and his company and related entities are being pursued in court over hundreds of millions of dollars in allegedly unpaid debts from lenders, suppliers and partners. KingSett Mortgage Corp., one of Canada’s largest private equity real estate lenders, has gone to court demanding more than $300 million it claims Thind’s companies owe, with almost $100,000 in interest accruing every day. KingSett succeeded earlier this month in obtaining a court order placing a 1,032-unit Surrey condo project owned by Thind into receivership , and the lender has petitioned the court seeking the same fate for other Thind properties in Burnaby and Richmond. Thind Properties’ recent challenges are the latest and perhaps highest-profile example of B.C. real estate companies in trouble, as challenging market conditions have created a rise in insolvencies and receiverships.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “5300 Huston Rd., No. 211, Peachland, B.C. Asking price: $699,000 (re-listed July 17). Previous asking prices: $769,000 (February); $739,000 (April 2); $715,000 (April 22); $699,000 (May 14). Selling price: $665,000 (Aug. 23). Days on the market: 190. This three-bedroom, three-bathroom duplex-style townhouse is part of a 26-unit strata community built on a slope in 2001, making the most of lake views and morning light. Buyers’ agent Richard Deacon said the property was listed for a long time because it was priced too high for market conditions. As a result, there was no competition for his buyers. ‘In this market, you get killed when you start too high,’ he says. ‘It can be death by a thousand cuts, and then you end up selling for what it should have been [originally] listed at, or even a little lower.'”
The Wiltshire Times in the UK. “In what was one debate amongst a series of tense exchanges, the leader of Wiltshire Council and the leader of the council’s Liberal Democrats have clashed over the lack of progress on a Stone Circle development. The Priestly Grove site in Calne has been described by nearby residents as an ‘abandoned eyesore’ after progress has stalled for months on the council-owned Stone Circle housing company’s development. Cllr Ian Thorn said: ‘The reputational damage to Wiltshire Council as the sole shareholder of Stone Circle amongst the poor residents, who have had to look out of their windows to not even a half-finished development for months and months and months, has been absolutely shocking.'”
Radio New Zealand. “Do you want fries with that house? If so, this Auckland real estate agent reckons he’s got the property for you. Having worked in the industry for 15 years, Harcourts realtor Sanjay Kumar said all houses look the same to him. So when he was asked to market a three bedroom property on Burundi Ave in Clendon Park, he decided to lure potential buyers in with a ‘grabby’ listing headline. ‘Close to McDonalds,’ it stated. ‘To all burger lovers who want to buy a house walking distance to McDonald’s and walk down whenever you want, then this three bedroom is the best buy for you,’ the listing continues.”
“Kumar said it was a genuine selling point for the property, as he believed not everyone in New Zealand could afford to drive to McDonald’s. ‘There’s so many properties on the market. You have to be creative,’ he said, admitting he was not the best writer. It was in ‘very tidy condition’ – perfect for first home buyers, Kumar said. According to Auckland Council, the property has a capital value of $650,000.”
This Post Has 35 Comments
‘Trump’s extremist economic agenda is going to tank the housing market and housing construction’
You know Scott, I’ve been watching you flap yer pie hole for over a decade and you haven’t accomplished one gotdam thing. Now you don’t want to ‘tank’ the shack market?
“Sen. Scott Wiener”
Look at the legislation he has sponsored. He is what Salon and other sc*m media identify as a Minor Attracted Person.
What happened at those Diddy parties, Scott?
What happened in those back rooms, after most of the other guests left, Scott?
How old was Justin Bieber when you met him, Scott?
“Kelly Haynes is a Fort Myers Beach resident. She said that she doesn’t feel like she will be compensated. ‘I think it’s another false promise, and we’re gonna be left with nothing,’ said Haynes.”
[Fort Myers Beach is located on a BARRIER ISLAND that proudly boasts of an elevation of …
THREE FEET!
… and now and then the town gets attacked by HURRICANES.
And people willingly pay big money to live there and then bitch when things don’t go their own way.]
[People are stupid.]
[This is what happened to Fort Myers Beach two year ago …]
“15ft Storm Surge Washes Away Homes in Ft. Myers Beach – Hurricane Ian”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al8yTiCVfro
[Two years ago a fifteen-foot hurricane-generated storm surge washed over a barrier island that had an elevation of three feet and (amazingly!) houses were washed away. There was a message contained there somewhere but apparently some residents did not receive it.]
Mike Littwin, who is obsolete and irrelevant, advocates for an actual insurrection, while collecting a check from the Colorado Sun.
Where the resistance could get real: Mayor Mike Johnston says Denverites would actively resist mass deportations (11/24/2024):
“In a recent interview with Denverite, Johnston promises that Denver, a proud sanctuary city, won’t be “bullied” by Donald Trump’s threats to withhold federal funding to various agencies if the city refuses to cooperate with Trump’s promised mass deportation of unauthorized — and even some authorized — migrants.
And he predicts that if Trump were to send in the troops to round up hard-working Denver migrants and break up families, as he has said he would, that people in Denver would rise up to stop them.
Johnston said, in fact, that if Trump launches “Operation Aurora” and goes so far, as promised, to use the military to forcibly remove local migrants as part of his plan to deport millions nationally, that Colorado citizens would rise up to protect them …
if the military is called on to roust Colorado migrants, it would probably be with invading National Guard forces from, say, Texas or Alabama. Johnston says the people in Denver and in greater Colorado would not stand for that.”
https://coloradosun.com/2024/11/24/mike-johnston-trump-opinion-littwin/
Greater Colorado? Don’t make me laugh.
Arapahoe, Jefferson, Douglas, Adams Counties will be fighting along side the Texas and Alabama National Guards against your Denver Soy Army of pink p*ssy hats and dilated bottom surgeries.
Related article:
“Would you be willing to go out and protest these things?” 9NEWS Reporter Marc Sallinger asked Johnston.
“I would if I believed that our residents are having their rights violated,” Johnston said. “I think things are happening that are illegal or immoral or un-American in our city, I would certainly protest it, and I would expect other residents would do the same.”
9NEWS asked the mayor several times what his plan is on day one if federal forces or national guardsmen from other states show up in Colorado. He said right now there is no plan, but city leaders are hoping to come up with one before the inauguration in January.”
https://www.9news.com/article/news/politics/denver-mayor-mike-johnston-police-officers-block-trump-deportation/73-99dcea89-e9ad-4e11-ad1e-d3facd6e5519
Un-American?
Your elected City Council is full of actual communists, Mike.
And he predicts that if Trump were to send in the troops to round up hard-working Denver migrants
Since when does spending EBT card money and sitting around all day watching TV and drinking beer constitute “hard work”?
If Dumver wants to provide for invaders (while ignoring American homeless) they can do it with their own money. And let their be no doubt, the prospect of losing Federal free cheese has to be creating a panic at city hall. There will be lots of layoffs and budget cuts if that happens.
And DPS is already closing down and consolidating schools, as few invaders have kids and the locals stopped having any years ago. Without the Federal largess to which they have become accustomed they will have to close even more schools, laying off administrators, teachers and other employees.
Without the Federal largess
Wouldn’t it be ironic if they give up their illegals without a whimper and also lose the Federal school subsidy money?
Their promises to stop the Feds from deporting are empty and are nothing more than virtue posturing. Even if the DPD is ordered to stop ICE, they know better and will find ways to be where the ICE is not. It will make for good footage on the local evening news as the round the wagons around illegals who aren’t targeted that day.
Colorado’s red counties need to either secede or join with the free states like Wyoming to get out from under Denver’s commie malgovernance.
The El Paso county GOP are RINO stooges of the developers who pull the political strings in this county. This enabled the county to go blue, since the Establishment GOP wine-and-cheese “conservatives” represented only wealthy Boomers and were part and parcel of the corrupt, crony capitalist status quo. That said, El Paso has a lot of red-pilled veterans and patriots who despise the so-faux “conservatives” who are the controlled opposition. They’re lying low for now because the majority of the population still hasn’t made the connection between Colorado Springs going blue and the deterioration in the quality of life here.
Ralph should not be allowed to pee in the girls bathroom.
Ralph should not be allowed to be the 138th ranked swimmer in NCAA Men’s Swimming his Junior year and win the NCAA Women’s Swimming championship his senior year.
Jon Jones gives Trump his UFC belt after Miocic win!
6 days ago
https://youtu.be/GqcJy_UrDFU?si=o6jLBO9oLCV25ITc
Greg Gutfeld had a joke about this on his show this week.
He said…
Not to be outdone Rachel LaVine gave Jerry Nadler his control top pantyhose.
From the Bisnow article:
The cannabis industry has spun into a certain degree of chaos since the world began to open back up after pandemic lockdowns.
“Covid came, and there was a huge boom,” The Flower Collective Chief Operating Officer Maxwell Pollet said. “Stimulus checks and people staying at home really built demand. The response to that was build more grows, grow more weed, sell more weed.”
The Nederland-based cultivation, manufacturing and wholesale distribution company went through something like legalization whiplash in Fort Collins, which spent about five years going back and forth on licensing or shuttering marijuana businesses. So Pollet and his team avoided making some of the mistakes that plagued the rest of the industry post-Covid-19.
“We knew we had to isolate ourselves,” Pollet said. “We own the properties we operate on.”
So when people went back to work, began hitting the bars and buying less weed, a glut of marijuana products hit the market, driving down prices and sending an ill-prepared industry into something like a recession. The Flower Collective was able to weather the storm.
Not every company was so lucky.
Cannabis sales in Colorado have been on a sharp decline since they peaked in 2021 at $2.2B. By 2023, sales had dropped to $1.5B. This year is on track to hit $1.4B, according to MED data.
Statewide, the total number of active business licenses — including cultivation, manufacturing, retail, testing and transportation — has dropped by 22% since the peak year of 2021, according to MED data compiled by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.
It took nearly four years for the CEO of Rocky Mountain Business Advisors to sell a cannabis manufacturing business with an attached industrial space. When the business, once valued at $4M, finally did sell in April, he “almost gave away the property” as part of the deal, he said.
CEO Gregg Kunz, who is also RMBA’s managing broker and an author, said his phone rang frequently five years ago with folks looking to buy a cannabis business. Calls today are more likely to be from a business owner trying to sell.
“I can only think of one time in the past year where somebody wanted to buy a cannabis business in Colorado,” Kunz said.
sales had dropped
Silvermine Subs (which is open until 3AM and have delivery) were the most affected.
Cheba Hut also caters to stoners, but they close at midnight, plus they don’t deliver themselves, they use door dash.
Will Trump’s picks for top financial roles finally deliver rate daters the low mortgage rates they have long sought?
Investors see Treasury pick Bessent as calming US bond market worries
Updated Sat, November 23, 2024 at 8:39 AM PST 3 min read
By Davide Barbuscia
FILE PHOTO: View shows a hat in support of Republican Donald Trump at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) · Reuters
(Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Scott Bessent for Treasury secretary could lift some of the gloom that has pervaded the sagging U.S. government bond market in recent weeks, investors said.
…
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/guessing-game-over-trumps-treasury-222400547.html
“If those are any indication, a Trump presidency will likely make it harder for immigrants, including mixed-status households, and other low-income Californians to access subsidized housing.”
How does it make sense to subsidize housing for immigrants in a state whose taxpaying citizens are leaving in droves because of impossibly unaffordable housing costs? Taking money from taxpayers to incentivize new immigrants to move in and replace them seems patently unfair.
Since when does anything make sense in the formerly Golden State?
The Monkees – Hey Hey We’re The Monkees
https://youtu.be/ekpNONaQPjY?si=rJbP7WA_1eiCmJMF
Here we come
Walkin’ down the street
We get the funniest looks from
Every one we meet
[Chorus]
Hey, hey, we’re Invaders
And people see us walking around
We came across the open border
They bussed us right into your town
[Verse 2]
We go wherever we want to
Do what we like to do
Sometimes it is murder
We brought our rapists too
[Chorus]
Hey, hey, we’re Invaders
And people see us walking around
We came across the open border
They bussed us right into your town
We’re just tryin’ to be friendly
Come and watch us sing and play
We’re your new generation
And we’ve got nothing to pay
“Fed policies in the wake of the global financial crisis have focused on bolstering asset prices, Bright said. ‘The downside is that not everyone is an asset-owner,’ he said.”
Trying to make everyone get richer through steadily rising housing prices is a dumb idea with an expiration date.
Why are we subsidizing an area that is constantly going to be battered by floods and have just insane claims going forward?’ asked Kluener.”
Precisely. Pack yer boxes & GTFO, FBs.
Do you weep tears of sorrow thinking about how many renters are priced out of housing forever?
Home
Real Estate
‘Shark Tank’ investor Barbara Corcoran says young people’s dreams of buying a home are being crushed
Theron Mohamed
Nov 22, 2024, 5:27 AM PST
barbara corcoran with a microphone
Andrew Toth/Getty Images
– Barbara Corcoran says it’s “disturbing” how young people are being locked out of the housing market.
– The “Shark Tank” investor pointed to first-time buyers getting older and losing out to cash buyers.
– Corcoran said Trump-fueled inflation and stubborn rates are risks, and she doesn’t see a bubble.
High prices, steep mortgage rates, and fierce competition are locking young people out of becoming homeowners, Barbara Corcoran says.
The “Shark Tank” investor and real-estate tycoon pointed to “disturbing” data from the 2024 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers during a recent interview on “Cavuto: Coast to Coast” on the Fox Business Network.
…
https://www.businessinsider.com/shark-tank-barbara-corcoran-first-time-buyers-housing-rates-prices-2024-11
Why does anyone give this bag of dog dookie an ounce of credibility after everything she promised before the last housing crash, and during it?! It’s all there for anyone to look up. It is almost note for note what she is saying now.
No. It infuriates me that corporate entities with access to unlimited Yellen Bux are allowed to compete with legitimate homebuyers and independent landlords in the housing market.
‘I have one client just walking away from two dispensaries and about five more about to walk away from their leases,’ said John Wickens, founder of Six Chair Blue, a cannabis-focused real estate brokerage based in Denver.
Most of the stoners in the Front Range would rather buy from cartel drug dealers than pay the exorbitant taxes charged by legal pot retailers.
They’d better pray their cartel weed isn’t laced.
KingSett Mortgage Corp., one of Canada’s largest private equity real estate lenders, has gone to court demanding more than $300 million it claims Thind’s companies owe, with almost $100,000 in interest accruing every day.
If there’s anything more satisfying than seeing real estate speculators get defrauded, it’s seeing the lenders that have enabled and encouraged Housing Bubble 2.0 get their heads handed to them thanks to speculative malinvestment.
Family stunned as replacing car’s battery costs more than buying electric car
A family who purchased an electric vehicle for a 17-year-old as her first car went on to regret their decision. In 2022, Avery Siwinski’s family forked out for an electric car so that the teen could drive herself to and from school.
The car in question was a 2014 Ford Focus Electric and had just 60,000 miles on it despite being a few years old. Avery loved her car, but started having problems with the vehicle around six months after getting it. The main issue? The car’s battery.
“I was really excited. And it was fine at first, I loved it so much, it was small and quiet,” Florida teen Avery gushed about the car to 10 Tampa Bay. But it ‘all of a sudden just stopped working’. After taking it to the shop, they discovered that the battery had died, which normally wouldn’t be too much of an issue.
However, when Ford discontinued the model, they also stopped producing the batteries – and getting a replacement for Avery’s car would cost a whopping $14,000, not including the installation costs.
“I know that Ford stopped making the car but it’s frustrating that they stopped making the battery too, so it left hundreds of people without a car to use,” she said.
https://www.unilad.com/technology/news/electric-car-battery-costs-more-than-the-car-165440-20241024
Chinese EV makers are not doing quite as well as you might think
China’s Tesla rivals might be booming, but they’re still losing money. Nio, Zeekr, Xiaomi, and Xpeng have all broken personal sales records in recent months. Xpeng delivered 24,000 vehicles last month, and Xiaomi sold over 100,000 of its SU7 EV this year alone.
However, the booming sales come as many Chinese EV makers continue to report heavy losses, as they grapple with a brutal price war and intense pressure to quickly launch new affordable models amid a crowded field of battery-electric vehicles.
EV startup Nio, known for its battery-swapping stations and run by CEO William Li, sometimes dubbed “the Elon Musk of China,” reported widening losses in its Q3 earnings on Wednesday.
The company reported a net loss of 5.06 billion yuan ($700 million), up 11% from the third quarter of 2023.
Shares plunged nearly 7% in the hours after the announcement, despite Nio delivering 61,800 vehicles in the past three months, a new quarterly record for the company. Nio’s rivals reported a similar blend of booming deliveries and painfully high losses.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/chinese-ev-makers-are-not-doing-quite-as-well-as-you-might-think/ar-AA1uEEX0
Afraid of losing the US-Canada trade pact, Mexico alters its laws and removes Chinese parts
Mexico has been taking a bashing lately for allegedly serving as a conduit for Chinese parts and products into North America, and officials here are afraid a re-elected Donald Trump or politically struggling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could try to leave their country out of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.
Mexico’s ruling Morena party is so afraid of losing the trade deal that President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday the government has gone on a campaign to get companies to replace Chinese parts with locally made ones.
“We have a plan with the aim of substituting these imports that come from China, and producing the majority of them in Mexico, either with Mexican companies or primarily North American companies,” Sheinbaum said.
Mexico is scrambling with private companies to get them to move parts production here. “Next year, God willing, we are going to start making microchips in Mexico,” Mexican Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said on Thursday. “Of course they’re not yet the most advanced chips, but we are going to start producing them here.”
Mexico’s nationalistic ruling party, which is normally very resistant to being seen as bending to U.S. demands, is scrambling in other ways, too.
The ruling party is in the process of eliminating a half-dozen independent regulatory and oversight agencies that were established by former presidents. That includes the anti-monopoly, transparency and energy regulatory bodies. Together with reforms that will make all judges stand for election in Mexico, that has sparked concern in the U.S. and Canada.
Countries are required under the agreement to have some independent agencies, in part to protect foreign investors. For example, they could prevent a government from approving a monopoly for a state-owned company that could force competitors out of the market.
Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis of the financial group Banco Base notes that if a country is dissatisfied with the trade agreement during the periodic reviews, like in 2026, there is a clause in the pact that says they can ask for a review each year to work out a solution, and keep doing that for a decade while the agreement remains in force.
“That is, they wouldn’t be able to get out until 2036,” Siller said. “I think they will play hardball with Mexico in the 2026 review.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/afraid-of-losing-the-us-canada-trade-pact-mexico-alters-its-laws-and-removes-chinese-parts/ar-AA1uCCzr
From a US$300 billion climate finance deal to global carbon trading, here’s what was – and wasn’t – achieved at the COP29 climate talks
The petroleum-laden dust has settled on this year’s United Nations climate summit, COP29, held over the past fortnight in Baku, Azerbaijan. Climate scientists, leaders, lobbyists and delegates are heading for home.
At the outset, expectations for the conference were low. The United States had just voted for the return of climate denier Donald Trump. And Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev declared oil and gas a “gift of God” at an opening event.
Fossil fuels were the elephant in the room. At last year’s COP in Dubai, nations finally agreed to include wording on: transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science
But at this year’s COP, there was no decision on how, exactly, to begin this transition – and fossil fuels are not explicitly mentioned in the outcome documents.
Delegates from oil giant Saudi Arabia repeatedly tried to block mention of fossil fuels across all of the negotiating streams.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/news/from-a-us-300-billion-climate-finance-deal-to-global-carbon-trading-here-s-what-was-and-wasn-t-achieved-at-the-cop29-climate-talks/ar-AA1uE5dq
Far-right leaders eye breakthrough in Romania presidential elections
Romanians were voting Sunday in the first round of a presidential election amid a surge in inflation and fears over the war in neighbouring Ukraine that could favour far-right leader George Simion.
The vote kicks off two weeks of elections in the poor NATO member country, including a parliamentary vote and a December 8 presidential run-off.
Simion is targeting people like Rodica, a 69-year-old who was among the first to vote in Bucharest’s chilly sunshine. The pensioner, who would not give a family name, was afraid of the Ukraine war and wanted “better living conditions and peace”.
The stakes are high in the race to replace President Klaus Iohannis, a liberal and staunch Ukraine ally, who has held the largely ceremonial post since 2014.
Romania, which has a 650-kilometre (400-mile) border with Ukraine, has become more important since Russia invaded its neighbour in 2022.
The Black Sea nation now plays a “vital strategic role” for NATO – as it is home to more than 5,000 soldiers – and the transit of Ukrainian grain, the New Strategy Center think tank said.
Simion, 38, is hoping to make a breakthrough as far-right parties across Europe notch up electoral successes. Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election has further “complicated” Romania’s choice, political analyst Cristian Pirvulescu told AFP.
Known for his fiery speeches, Simion – a Trump fan who sometimes dons a red cap in appreciation of his idol – hopes to get a boost from his victory.
Simion opposes sending military aid to Ukraine, wants a “more patriotic Romania” and frequently lashes out against what he calls the “greedy corrupt bubble” in Brussels.
Romania has so far only had “minions and cowards as leaders”, he recently said, adding that people “no longer accept to be treated as second-class citizens” in other countries.
Should he reach the second round, analyst Pirvulescu predicts a “contagion effect” that would likely boost his AUR party in the December parliamentary election.
“Romanian democracy is in danger for the first time since the fall of communism in 1989,” he added.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/far-right-leaders-eye-breakthrough-in-romania-presidential-elections/ar-AA1uEzI0
Interesting how often democracy is at danger in an election. And are they far right if they are the majority like in the US?