thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

Inflation Is Not A Glitch In The Fed’s Manipulation Of Our Economy; It’s A Critical Feature, As Is Keeping You As Far In Debt As Possible

A weekend topic starting with USA Today. “Across America, investing a little sweat equity, watching the nest egg grow steadily – is in peril. The housing market is so tight that home sales in 2023 were the lowest in three decades. The federal government plays a key role in helping Americans achieve homeownership. In the past few years, the quasi-governmental agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have backed approximately 40% of all new mortgages, and the Federal Housing Administration, which is a government agency, has insured an additional one-quarter of them. As of earlier this year, the median ‘all-in’ cost of a mortgage payment, property taxes, and insurance was $2,201, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. That’s up a whopping $852 in just the past three years, and JCHS estimates it’s the highest since data first started to be collected over three decades ago.”

Midland Daily News. “Remember that classic image of a smiling couple with two kids, a dog, and a house surrounded by a white picket fence? It symbolized homeownership — a desirable and highly attainable aspect of the American Dream. But today, that picture-perfect vision has become a badly faded photograph. Not only is the number of first-time homebuyers at a record low, but home affordability is also the worst it’s been since the 1980s. ‘If you go back all the way to the 1950s and 1960s, the average home price was just a little over two times the average salary of a family,’ says David P. Weber, a professor of law at Creighton University. ‘Even five years ago, it was about four to five times the average income. Now, it’s about six times the average income and that’s with inflation-adjusted dollars. The cost of homes has grown at a rate that outpaces any growth in income and that’s a really big part of the problem.'”

From Mises.org. “With much consternation, capital markets participants are watching US treasury bond yields go up while Jerome Powell and the Fed continue to lower the Fed Funds Rate in an effort to spur another round of easy money. The US is on track to run a $2 trillion deficit this fiscal year, which began in October. This will add to the existing national debt of $36 trillion, or 135 percent of GDP. In late 2020, the global inventory of bonds with negative yields reached an astounding $18.4 trillion. Let that sink in. $18.4 trillion worth of bonds where the lenders—rather than earning interest—were actually paying borrowers for the privilege of lending them money.”

“The direct cause of this unfathomable distortion was central banks—the Federal Reserve foremost among them—playing fast and loose with monetary policy. Forcing interest rates down, creating money by the trillions, and fostering a reckless inflationary environment—centered on the capital markets and asset prices—has produced market signals that are unmistakably irrational. Into the teeth of this raging asset bubble comes the Fed with further rate cuts, the stand-alone effects of which are reflationary.”

Pagosa Daily Post. “The economy, both nationally and for you personally, is manipulated by the Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed) and its objectives have nothing whatsoever to do with whether you can afford groceries or gas for you car to get to work (or if you even have a job). Their goal is to maintain the ‘strength’ of the U.S. dollar, vis-à-vis the currencies of other countries, because that’s the basis of global power for the elites who currently run the U.S. To maintain that strength as things now stand, the Fed needs to do two things: increase inflation; and encourage (or require) you to go into debt rather than save. I’ll repeat that, because it is at the crux of what’s coming. Inflation is not a glitch in the Fed’s manipulation of our economy; it’s a critical feature. As is keeping you as far in debt as possible.”

The Walrus. “The plan was put into action, in two phases, by Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker. The first was an initial interest rate spike to 13 percent that hit hard in January 1980. This sudden increase caused the economy to stumble badly and led to a massive loss of jobs. Volcker followed up with an even more severe shock in 1981, when he drove rates above 21 percent. The American economy went into a tailspin. People stopped purchasing vehicles and appliances. Families defaulted on their mortgages. Small and mid-size companies were hollowed out and left as easy pickings for the emerging face of mercenary capitalism—the corporate raider. Speaking before Congress, he laid out the strategy: ‘The standard of living of the average worker has to decline.'”

The Globe and Mail. “Joseph Stiglitz is, in a sense, the ultimate establishment man: former chief economist of the World Bank, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under U.S. president Bill Clinton, winner of the John Bates Clark medal as America’s top young economist in his 30s and the Nobel Prize for economics two decades later. But he’s also been a constant critic of the excesses of the free market and the necessity of regulation and government. Keller: One of the big economic issues in Canada right now is the slump in Canadian productivity and gross domestic product per capita relative to the U.S. A lot of people say the fix is to be more like the U.S., with lower taxes and less government. What do you say to someone arguing for that?”

“Stiglitz: There are many things they’re missing. Productivity doesn’t necessarily translate into well-being. Are you really interested in just the production of goods and services, or are you interested in well-being? If the ordinary American is struggling, our economic system is failing. Wages at the bottom are at the same level they were 60 years ago, adjusted for inflation. I mean, that’s a failure. Life expectancy is lower than in any other [developed] country, and declining. That’s a failure. Median incomes have been stagnating. When you look at any of these statistics, over a 40-year period when this is supposed to be the innovative economy, by most measures things have not gone well. So I would say our system as a whole is a failure.”

“Keller: Since the 1970s, the pace of economic growth has slowed across the developed world. To what extent is that because of our economic policies, and to what extent is it an independent slowdown in the rate of innovation and technological change? Stiglitz: Neoliberalism played a very big role. Since the Cold War we have been cutting back on basic research. The private sector won’t do that, they do the last mile well but not the basic research. Neoliberalism underestimated the importance of that. Neoliberalism also highlighted money, and there was a diversion of resources toward finance, and that actually led to less real investment, so that undermined growth. In many countries there’s been a deterioration in public education – again, undermining growth. Financial liberalization led to volatility, which is bad for growth. The irony is that neoliberalism was supposed to enhance growth but the evidence is unambiguously that growth slowed, and I think there’s a causal connection.”

La Civilta Cattolica. “The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an annual event in Davos, Switzerland, where prominent business leaders, politicians and academics from around the world gather to address pressing global challenges and promote international collaboration. Political scientist Samuel Huntington coined the term Davos Man to indicate the clear common denominator that associates members of this elite.[3] It epitomizes the global citizen, suggesting little devotion to national reality, a group that welcomes the disappearance of borders and regards national governments as vestiges of the past. And there is no doubt that the transnational corporation is without a homeland, especially in the current era, characterized by globalization, which this carefully selected group reflects and promotes.”

“Pope Francis, in his Message addressed to WEF 2024, stated that proper governance must seek first and foremost the universal common good. We quote his words in conclusion: ‘The process of globalization, which has now clearly demonstrated the interdependence of the world’s nations and peoples, thus has a fundamentally moral dimension, which must make itself felt in the economic, cultural, political and religious discussions that aim to shape the future of the international community. In a world increasingly threatened by violence, aggression and fragmentation, it is essential that states and businesses join in promoting far-sighted and ethically sound models of globalization, which by their very nature must entail subordinating the pursuit of individual power and gain, whether political or economic, to the common good of our human family, prioritizing the poor, the needy and those in the most vulnerable situations.'”

CBS Bay Area in California. “Complaints against a large vacant lot in Oakland’s Fruitvale District are mounting, just like the mountains of trash that are piling up there. The lot is located at 2783 E 12th St, right next to the busy intersection of E 12th St and 29th Ave. Neighbors said the homeless have taken over the property. They said the trash has been piling up there for the last two years. But it’s gotten significantly worse in recent months, where it’s become inaccessible due to the amount of trash. ‘There’s one, two, three, four schools in the vicinity of this trash pile, and no one cares. This is supposed to be normal for us,’ complained Diosa Diaz, a social worker and educator at International Community School, bettern known as ICS Elementary. Diaz said in a recent safety meeting between the school officials and the city officials, the city said because it’s a private lot, they can’t do anything about it. ‘It’s scary. I feel like we teach and we support children in an apocalyptic society,’ said Diaz.”

The Daily Telegraph in Australia. “If you were wondering if there was any uncertainty in our economy right now, look no further than Finder’s latest RBA survey. While being asked to predict rate movements in 2025, a panel of 40 economists and experts were also asked for their one piece of economic advice for the year ahead. ‘Pray,’ was the single word response from Richard Holden of UNSW. Economists and desperate religious implorations don’t often go hand-in-hand. Why this advice? ‘Core inflation is too high and the RBA didn’t raise rates enough,’ Holden explained.”

From Reuters. “A bearish commentary by a prominent economist on China’s weak consumption, unemployment and ‘dispirited’ youth that went viral on social media has vanished from the country’s tightly controlled internet. The loss of access to the comments by Gao Shanwen, chief economist at state-owned SDIC Securities, come ahead of a meeting of Chinese leaders this month to set the economic agenda for 2025, including growth targets. Gao said on Tuesday that China’s youth are dragging down consumption due to high unemployment, while spending among older people has plateaued since the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“‘The younger a province’s population, the slower the consumption growth,’ he said at an invitation-only investor conference, according to a transcript of his speech. He spoke of China’s ‘dispirited youth’ and its ‘disenchanted middle-aged’ and also estimated that China’s GDP growth may have been overstated by 10 percentage points between 2021 and 2023. Gao’s speech was shared online and went viral on social media, but access was later blocked. Local online news reports that had carried his comments were also not accessible.”

“China’s ruling Communist Party exerts a high degree of control over domestic media and social media platforms in the name of safeguarding social stability and preventing the spread of rumours and fake news. Reports and public discussions on what the party considers as sensitive and potentially disruptive to social order are also routinely removed from the internet, including views critical of the economy and any veiled criticism of policymakers. In a similar case, access to a video social media account of Fu Peng, the chief economist at Northeast Securities, was blocked after comments he made in September at a conference.”

“Fu said weaker consumption stems from falling property prices, leaving some middle-class homeowners with negative equity, according to media reports. Such losses, given real estate’s dominance in household wealth, cannot be offset by other income sources, he said. He questioned if an increase in middle class consumption in the past decade had been driven more by the wealth effect of higher property prices than rising incomes.”

“‘If it was driven by rising incomes, say, salaries increasing from 10,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan, and then doubling to 40,000 yuan – there would be no issue. If the consumption upgrade of the past decade was based on the wealth effect created by rising real estate prices, then that is a very dangerous signal,’ Fu said. When Reuters checked Fu’s account on Friday, a notice said access had been blocked.”

Related Posts
This Post Has 94 Comments

  1. I usually don’t use months old articles but I have a few above.

    ‘it is essential that states and businesses join in promoting far-sighted and ethically sound models of globalization, which by their very nature must entail subordinating the pursuit of individual power and gain, whether political or economic, to the common good of our human family’

    Globalism is communism. For years globalist scum media said, ‘oh these guys are libertarian capitalists!’ That was a bunch of sh$t. And globalism, like communism has failed.

    1. +1

      “Globalism is communism.”

      – There’s nothing altruistic, egalitarian, ethical, or moral about Communism. It goes against human nature. Communism = Socialism, Globalism, Progressivism = Leftism, Liberalism, the D party; inherently taking from one cohort to give to another, for political gain, power, and control. Doesn’t anyone read Karl Marx? Doesn’t anyone understand this failed construct? Doesn’t anyone learn from history? See former USSR, and Cuba, China, N. Korea, Venezuela for current examples.

      – If anyone thinks it’s so great, then why do they build walls to keep people IN and anyone with two brain cells to rub together wants to get OUT? But, utopia…

      “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” – Karl Marx

      “The establishment of a central bank is 90% of communizing a nation.” – Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin

      “The surest way to destroy a nation is to debauch its currency.” – Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

      “The way to crush the bourgeoisie [middle class] is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” – Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

      “We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.” – Louis D. Brandeis

      “The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes.” – Aristotle

      “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” – Winston Churchill

      “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” – Winston Churchill

      “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money [to spend].” – Margaret Thatcher

      “The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries, but between authoritarians and libertarians.” – George Orwell

      1. Remember, kidz, it’s okay to kill communists. You don’t need anybody’s permission. They’re not fully human, so it’s not homicide.

        1. There are better ways of dealing with the problem. Death is too good for these people. Eternal ridicule is what they deserve.

  3. The housing market is so tight that home sales in 2023 were the lowest in three decades.

    Please define “tight,” REIC shill. Shack sales were low because greedheads are still clinging to their delusional 2022 wish prices, & buyers ain’t having it.

  4. Not only is the number of first-time homebuyers at a record low, but home affordability is also the worst it’s been since the 1980s.

    Heckova job, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen, & Jerome Powell.

  5. The US is on track to run a $2 trillion deficit this fiscal year, which began in October.

    Zimbabwe R Us.

  6. [Some Saturday morning humor …]

    “Cancel Me… I’m For America”: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Hints At Switch To Republican Party.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/cancel-me-im-america-nyc-mayor-eric-adams-hints-switch-republican-party

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has left the door open to returning to the Republican Party – a move that would upend the political dynamics in the nation’s largest city. In a pair of Friday morning interviews, Adams – who was a member of the GOP from 1995 to 2002, refused to rule out a switch back to the Republican Party.

    “I’m a part of the American party,” Adams told NY1 when asked directly about his political future. He reiterated the sentiment in a subsequent interview on PIX11, emphasizing that his allegiance lies with “American values” over partisan lines. “No matter what party I’m on or vote on, I’m going to push for American values,” he declared, urging leaders to work beyond political affiliations to solve voters’ problems.

    Adams’ comments come amidst heightened tensions within the Democratic Party, sparked by his growing relationship with President-elect Donald Trump. While most Democrats have criticized Trump, Adams has avoided open conflict, even praising Trump confidant Elon Musk for his efforts to streamline government operations, Politico reports.

    The mayor is scheduled to meet with incoming border czar Tom Homan next week to discuss federal immigration policies. Adams has signaled tentative support for deportation plans targeting undocumented immigrants with serious criminal offenses, a position that aligns more closely with Trump’s immigration platform than his own party’s stance.

    Adams’ relationship with Trump takes on added significance in light of his ongoing legal battles.

    [Oh? And just what does this mean?]

    The mayor faces a five-count federal indictment, and Trump’s incoming administration is poised to replace the U.S. Attorney prosecuting Adams. Trump, who has repeatedly framed his own legal troubles as politically motivated, has expressed empathy for Adams’ predicament. Speculation has swirled that the president-elect might extend a pardon to the mayor, further entwining their political fortunes.

    Despite his openness to a Republican pivot, Adams insists he plans to run for reelection next year as a Democrat. “That is what I’m proposing to do,” he told reporters Friday. However, his lukewarm endorsement of the Democratic Party and his past GOP affiliation leave room for doubt.

    Adams’ critics see his comments as a calculated effort to hedge his bets as Trump prepares to wield significant influence over New York City’s political and legal landscape.

    [Sayt it ain’t so!]

    Local Democrats have expressed frustration, with some questioning whether Adams is using his position to align himself with Trump’s administration for political gain.

    [No way!]

    Adams defended his controversial stance with a bold parting message: “Those who don’t like it, they will cancel me,” he said. “I say: Cancel me. I’m for America.”

  8. Speaking before Congress, he laid out the strategy: ‘The standard of living of the average worker has to decline.’”

    Globalists gonna globe.

  9. In “Last Hurrah”, Credit Card Debt Explodes Higher Despite Record High APRs As Savings Rate Craters.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/last-hurrah-credit-card-debt-explodes-higher-despite-record-high-aprs-savings-rate

    One month ago, when multiple discount retailers (here and here) were lamenting the sudden collapse in US consumer purchasing power, we highlighted the reason this unexpected hit to US consumption: as the US personal savings rate had collapsed, the growth in consumer credit was slowing, and in last month, the Fed reported that credit card debt growth posted its first decline since the covid crash.

    But fast forwarding just one month later, when in a striking reversal, October consumer credit growth unexpectedly reversed the dramatic September slowdown, and soared more than $19 billion, to a new record high of $5.084 trillion.

    [A chart appears here …]

    And while non-revolving credit – which is far less volatile and much more predictable – grew $3.5 billion, a bounce from last month’s tiny $1.54 billion but a far cry from the $10+ billion average in the post-covid era…

    [Another chart appears here …]

    … the highlight was that the much more consumer-outlook sensitive revolving credit (i.e. credit card debt) exploded, and in October surged the most since the covid crash and was – amazingly – the third biggest monthly increase on record!

    [Another chart …]

    But what was truly remarkable about the latest consumer credit data, is what the Federal Reserve’s own website said was the average APR on credit cards across the US. Readers may recall that in September, just after the Fed’s jumbo rate cut – the first rate cut in years – we made a prediction that while rates on deposits and savings accounts immediately dropped, interest rates on debt – such as credit card APRs – will barely budge (if not keep rising).

    [Chart …]

    Once again we were right, because three months later, the Fed admitted that despite its rate cut, the interest rate on credit cards at the end of Q3 – two weeks after the Fed cut rates – rose more than half a percent from average rate at the end of Q2, from 22.78% to 23.37%, a new all time high!

    [Chart …]

    Finally, we remind readers of what we said last month namely that “we can stop pretending that the government’s recent fabrication of savings data, which was upwardly “revised” from a record low 2.9% to a nice and balmy 4.8%, is even remotely credible.” Sure enough, just a few days later we shoed that – with the election now over – the Biden Department of Commerce dramatically revised said data, and over $140 billion in “savings” were magically erased.

    [Chart …]

    This collapse in savings explains why most US consumers are not only living paycheck to paycheck, but have maxed out both their Buy Now, Pay Later accounts and, as we now learn, their credit cards too as everyone braces for the moment when the US economy suddenly grinds to a halt and collapses under the weight of its own debt.

    [Stay tuned (and stay clear of debt).]

  10. Opinion: America needs to retake Econ 101

    Exit polling suggests that the dominating issue for voters in the presidential election was the economy. Americans can barely afford groceries, rent and child care. Voters perceived President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans to be more capable of addressing the woes of inflation and globalization, but Democrats have been hawking a similar message.

    Politicians of all stripes need to move away from selling voters the false promise that they have control over inflation and globalization.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/opinion-america-needs-to-retake-econ-101/ar-AA1vjL7N

    1. We will not have sound money, honest markets, or a future for our children as long as the criminal private banking cartel called the Fed controls our money issuance.

    2. [Here is a chart …]

      Monthly value of M1 money stock in the United States from January 2002 to September 2024(in billion U.S. dollars).

      https://www.statista.com/statistics/1121016/monthly-m1-money-stock-usa/

      [Here is an informed observation …]

      Printing too much money
      Milton Friedman argued that inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon12. He proposed the ‘quantity theory of money’, which suggests that inflation is caused by printing too much money2. Friedman placed great emphasis on the role of price expectations, and argued that if there are expectations of higher inflation, it becomes self-fulfilling3. Workers demand higher wages to meet rising living costs3.

        1. Egg prices are currently high primarily due to widespread outbreaks of avian influenza (bird flu), which has significantly reduced the supply of egg-laying chickens, leading to a shortage of eggs and subsequently driving up prices as demand remains consistent; this is a classic case of supply and demand dynamics at play.
          Key points about the high egg prices:
          Bird Flu Impact:
          The current bird flu outbreak has killed millions of egg-laying hens, drastically impacting egg production.
          Supply Chain Disruption:
          When a large number of chickens need to be culled due to bird flu, it takes time to rebuild the flock, further contributing to supply issues.
          Increased Demand:
          Seasonal factors like holidays can also contribute to higher egg prices due to increased consumer demand.
          Market Consolidation:
          Some argue that a concentrated egg industry with a few large producers can exacerbate price fluctuations when supply shocks occur.

          https://www.google.com/search?q=why+are+egg+prices+high&sca_esv=0377dd877f38a67e&source=hp&ei=9NNUZ9v6Hbu_kPIP45XLsAw&iflsig=AL9hbdgAAAAAZ1TiBEosIZwqqvePy45jAilnAClQvZFG&ved=0ahUKEwjbxLX54ZaKAxW7H0QIHePKEsYQ4dUDCBE&uact=5&oq=why+are+egg+prices+high&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6Ihd3aHkgYXJlIGVnZyBwcmljZXMgaGlnaDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAE

          1. Correction, the Gooberment, not the bird flu, has killed the chickens. This is more scamdemic-mongering by the PTB. I personally, think the entire charade is a crock.
            Those who don’t concur are free to line up for an mRNA quaxxine.
            –Geezer

  11. It epitomizes the global citizen, suggesting little devotion to national reality, a group that welcomes the disappearance of borders and regards national governments as vestiges of the past.

    Affiliation with the WEF should be regarded as an act of treason against nation states and sovereign peoples.

  12. “Pope Francis, in his Message addressed to WEF 2024, stated that proper governance must seek first and foremost the universal common good.

    Pope Francis is not God’s voice on earth. He is a Marxist, a globalist tool, & a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

    1. On one hand, one of the Pope’s jobs it to stand for the poor. But he is making a terrible mistake by expecting the WEF to help in that matter.

      Also, FWIW, he isn’t a prophet, unless he speaks “ex cathedra” (from the chair), which he has never done, and has only happened twice in all of history.

      The truth is Popes are highly reluctant to speak ex cathedra. Many wanted John Paul II to speak ex cathedra to say that women cannot be priestesses, but he did not, claiming that the issue was already settled.

      But Francis is a Jesuit, which means he leans left. JP II he ain’t. Of course the Sedevacantists will insist that there hasn’t been a legitimate Pope since Pius XII.

  13. ‘They said the trash has been piling up there for the last two years. But it’s gotten significantly worse in recent months, where it’s become inaccessible due to the amount of trash. ‘There’s one, two, three, four schools in the vicinity of this trash pile, and no one cares. This is supposed to be normal for us’…‘It’s scary. I feel like we teach and we support children in an apocalyptic society’

    The Manufacturing of a Mass Psychosis – Can Sanity Return to an Insane World?

    Academy of Ideas

    3 years ago

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdzW-S8MwbI

    16:31.

    1. It is unlikely that the city will be cleaning anything up as the stadium deal is clearly not getting done so the money has officially run out. The Africans pulled a typical first payment default on that deal. Sad! Now the council is actively debating and scheduling things to shut down. Multiple fire stations, police recruiting, parks etc. It’s all on the chopping block. San Francisco is next. By the time Gavin runs for president it’s all going to be on fire.

      The doom loop is gaining momentum.

  18. [A non-housing related article I that find quite interesting …]

    Why top internet sleuths refuse to solve UnitedHealthcare CEO’s murder.

    https://metro.co.uk/2024/12/07/top-internet-sleuths-refuse-solve-unitedhealthcare-ceos-murder-22142141/

    A smiling assassin guns down one of the US’s biggest healthcare bosses in the middle of Manhattan using bullets carved with a chilling message before seemingly vanishing into thin air.

    The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has more than enough ingredients to set social media ablaze with armchair detectives and true crime fans scrambling to find their own leads.

    But some of America’s highest profile amateur sleuths are flat out refusing to help this time.

    Thompson’s murder has sparked huge anger – but not at the killer.

    TikTok sleuth thatdaneshguy told his two million followers in a video: ‘I don’t have to encourage violence. I don’t have to condone violence by any means. But I also don’t have to help.’

    Savannah Sparks, who has reportedly been tapped up by police to help train officers in how to track suspects online, told NBC when asked whether she is working on the case: ‘Absolutely the f**k not.’

    Michael McWhorter, better known as TizzyEnt on TikTok, explained in a video: ‘I have yet to see anyone online posting “we gotta find this guy, we gotta get him off the street”.

    ‘I have, however, seen people making an argument doing the “hear me out” thing, talking about how attractive [the killer] is, people calling him Robin Hood, people quite literally making fan art, and I don’t think it’s that difficult to figure out why.

    ‘I don’t think there’s a single person in this country who hasn’t themselves or had someone very very near and dear to them suffer from the absolutely abysmal thing that is privatised healthcare in this country.

    ‘People every day are denied – for the most ridiculous reasons, sometimes even though they should be given care – in the hopes that they will die before they can actually get the services that they have paid for.

    ‘So, when a man who is quite literally the face of that was murdered, the nation for the most part seemed to collectively shrug.’

    Alex Goldenberg, an adviser at The Network Contagion Research Institute at Rutgers University told NBC: ‘The surge of social media posts praising and glorifying the killing of Brian Thompson is deeply concerning.’

    UnitedHealth is the largest US health insurer, providing benefits to tens of millions of Americans, who pay more for healthcare than people in any other country.

    Thompson joined UnitedHealth in 2004 and became the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group, in April 2021, reportedly earning around $10 million a year.

    A Gallup poll released on Friday found that Americans believe the quality of health care is at a 24-year low.

    Sukrit Venkatagiri, an assistant professor of computer science at Swarthmore College, told NBC: ‘They don’t really empathize with who the victim is in this scenario.

    ‘People are less motivated, from an altruistic perspective, to help this victim in this specific case.’

    Following the attack, UnitedHealth and several other health insurers including CVS Health and Centene, removed pictures of executives from their corporate websites in an apparent tightening of security measures.

    Centene said on Thursday it would no longer hold an in-person investor day next week, and that the event would be streamed.

    The words ‘deny’, ‘defend’ and ‘depose’ were carved into shell casings found at the scene, police sources told several media outlets.

    A New York City Police Department spokesperson would not comment on the report.

    The words evoke the title of Jay Feinman’s 2010 book critical of the insurance industry ‘Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It’.

    1. Alex Goldenberg, an adviser at The Network Contagion Research Institute at Rutgers University told NBC: ‘The surge of social media posts praising and glorifying the killing of Brian Thompson is deeply concerning.’

      Maybe to you and your fellow corporate media shills, Alex. But to millions who have no recourse against rapacious corporations whose lobbyists own #OurDemocracy, that “surge of social media posts” is completely understandable in light of public anger over record profits being raked in by greedy, soulless insurance companies and extravagantly compensated CEOs over the dead bodies and medical bankruptcies of people’s family members and loved ones.

    2. People have their own problems to deal with. Let the three letter agencies find the guy. It’s what they get paid to do,

    3. Killing CEOs is not going to solve anything. They’ll just put some other incompetent crony in there. Much better to start revoking corporate charters and repealing corporation laws. That’d get their attention.

        1. And he wasn’t even walking his dog when it happened.

          Sure, they will replace him, but the next guy might find himself looking over his shoulder a lot.

  20. “The good news is they can always sell Al.”

    What are the relitters going to do when AI starts selling houses?

  22. “Fu said weaker consumption stems from falling property prices, leaving some middle-class homeowners with negative equity, according to media reports.”

    So far the Chinese real estate flu outbreak is mostly contained inside its borders…as was COVID-19 in January 2020, just before it became a global pandemic.

  23. ‘Scumbag’ Florida realtor gained $1.6M in properties after pulling client off life-support: Sheriff

    ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – Two Florida realtors have been arrested in connection with an elaborate scheme to defraud a sick couple of their money and property.

    According to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, when an Ormond Beach couple was hospitalized due to deteriorating health, their realtor, Jason Valiant, created fraudulent documents making him their Health Care Surrogate and Power of Attorney. The couple originally hired Valiant to sell their property.

    Sheriff Mike Chitwood said Valiant also signed a do-not-resuscitate order for one of the victims, who was taken off life support the next day.

    Investigators said he went on to drain money from their bank accounts, willed their home and two other properties to himself, and even took their Dodge Ram pickup for his own use across Central Florida.

    In addition to the thousands he stole via checks, Valiant used his victim’s credit card for things like attorney’s fees, a teeth whitening procedure, auto detailing, dinner and drinks, and gas, according to VCSO.

    The three properties Valiant acquired after the victim’s death totaled $1.6 million, according to property appraiser valuations.

    Two of the properties were oceanfront Flagler Beach parcels that Valiant and deputies say another realtor, Constance Kellner, spoke of developing into a large condo complex or hotel.

    Instead of working to sell the properties, Chitwood said it appears Valiant provided his victims fake lowball offers – including one from his own company.

    In a post on social media, Chitwood called Valiant a ‘scumbag’ who he hopes will spend the holidays in a jail cell.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/scumbag-florida-realtor-gained-16m-in-properties-after-pulling-client-off-life-support-sheriff/ar-AA1vpYAY

  24. he’s also been a constant critic of the excesses of the free market

    Here we go again with these bloviating big government economists. For the umpteenth time, “Capitalism” does not equal a “free market” economy, and the free market does not have “excesses” that need to be “curbed” and regulated by government. We have a capitalist system, we do not have a free market system. Meaning, government policy and the media artificially inflate the value of capital compared to labor. At every turn, we are exhorted to “invest” in real estate, stocks, etc., as a means of making money, rather than “labor”, i.e. actually do something useful. This becomes self-reinforcing when bloviating economists and other bureaucrats become highly compensated and believe they are performing a valuable service by promoting even bigger government and even less emphasis on productive work.

  25. Canadians call out Trudeau for post about GST cut on groceries

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s social media post about his government’s upcoming GST tax break on groceries is not sitting well with many Canadians. “In under two weeks, you’ll be paying less for groceries at the register,” stated Trudeau in an X post on Thursday. “Canadians are getting a tax break — starting December 14.”

    Some highlights from the list of products eligible for the tax exemption include various food items, beer and wine, restaurant meals (dine-in, take-out, or delivery), essential childcare items, and even Christmas trees.

    However, Canadians reacted to Trudeau’s post by noting that many “basic” groceries in Canada, such as fresh, frozen, canned, and vacuum-sealed fruits and vegetables, breakfast cereals, most milk products, fresh meat, poultry and fish, and eggs, are already tax-free.

    The GST break will cover other food items like candy, snacks (potato chips and popcorn), cakes, and prepared foods. “Canadians are struggling and hungry and your response is to give a GST break on beer, junk food, and take out…things Canadians can’t afford,” wrote another.

    Another person said they didn’t want a tax break on “Doritos or junk food.”

    “Who else is super joyed like me for saving 33 cents on a 61 dollar supermarket bill? I cannot wait 😆🤡”

    While some Canadians aren’t buying into Trudeau’s tax holiday, they’ll likely not be pleased that they will be paying more for groceries next year.

    According to the recently released Canada’s Food Price Report (CFRP), overall food prices will increase by 3% to 5%, with the average family of four expected to spend $16,833.67 in 2025 — an increase of up to $801.56 from last year.

    The most significant price increases are from 4% to 6% in categories such as bakery, dairy, meat, restaurants, and vegetables.

    https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/trudeau-canadians-gst-cut-groceries

  26. Donald Trump has the upper hand in any trade war with the EU, where Germany and France are in political chaos

    French President Emmanuel Macron will unveil the gloriously rebuilt Notre-Dame Cathedral to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and 50 other world leaders on the weekend. Mr. Trump no doubt views the European Union as a clapped-out, but still dangerous, museum piece in the making. He once placed the EU on his list of “foes” because of the bloc’s enormous trade surplus with the United States. To him, such surpluses translate into “stealing our jobs.” Tariffs will be his weapon of choice.

    Any satisfaction he feels at Notre-Dame may be heightened by the feeling that the EU is probably incapable of presenting a united front to fight the trade restrictions he plans to implement. The leaders of the union’s two largest economies, Germany and France, are wounded animals who face political oblivion.

    The coalition government of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed last month after failing to present a compelling strategy to make his country competitive in the face of rapid deindustrialization. He’s also struggled to bring down energy costs and justify an expensive climate policy that may be doing more harm than good. He will almost certainly lose the snap elections on Feb. 23.

    France, meanwhile, is embroiled in one of its biggest political crises in decades. Earlier this week, a non-confidence vote over the new budget toppled Prime Minister Michel Barnier, much to the delight of far-right leader Marine Le Pen and far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

    Mr. Macron is now desperately trying to find a replacement for Mr. Barnier. That new leader must pass a new budget by the end of the year and devise a plan to prevent France’s financial stress from intensifying as budget deficits climb well beyond the EU limits. Earlier this week, to the embarrassment of the French treasury and finance department, France’s borrowing costs briefly climbed above those of Greece. Mr. Macron is weakened; he could be forced to step down and call an election before the end of his presidential term in 2027. So far, he vows to stay on.

    Mr. Trump is smart enough to know that the EU is divided and afflicted with weak leadership, and that its economy is more vulnerable than that of the United States. He will exploit these frailties. Leaders at the Notre-Dame Cathedral tour may well ask: Why is this man smiling?

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-donald-trump-has-the-upper-hand-in-any-trade-war-with-the-eu-where/

    1. If only there was a way to oust Starmer from 10 Downing St before 2029. The only thing I can think of is that some members of Labour would split and join the Tories and the new Reform party. I don’t know what the probability of that might be.

  27. ‘Horrible move’: Recovering addict concerned about Ford’s new plan for encampments

    Crystal Monahan, who has experienced homelessness over the past eight years, and has stayed at The Lighthouse for the past two months, says she’s concerned about Premier Doug Ford’s new plan to tackle homeless encampments in the province.

    In response to a letter from a dozen mayors — including Barrie’s Mayor Alex Nuttall — around the province, Ford has promised new measures targeting homeless encampments in Ontario — including “explicitly and unequivocally” prohibiting the use of illicit drugs in public, and enhancing penalties for people who continually break the law.

    “That’s not going to help them. People that are doing drugs are doing it because they’re numbing something,” Monahan told OrilliaMatters. “Everybody is one traumatic event away from addiction, homelessness — it all depends how you deal with things.”

    While Monahan disagrees with public drug use, and said she gets upset when she sees paraphernalia in parks, she expressed concern that punitive measures will not solve the issue.

    “That’s a horrible move. You can get more drugs in jail than you can out here,” she said.

    Officials at the Lighthouse shelter in Orillia agree that public safety — from problems created by drug use or homeless encampments — is “number one,” but questioned where people will go if they are penalized, incarcerated, or even placed into a shelter system.

    “When there’s no housing for people to go to, where do they go?” wondered executive director Linda Goodall. “They’ve now cancelled all safe injection sites, so again, where do people go?”

    https://www.barrietoday.com/local-news/horrible-move-recovering-addict-concerned-about-fords-new-plan-for-encampments-9918825

    1. “When there’s no housing for people to go to, where do they go?”

      Perhaps their government will suggest medically assisted suicide?

  28. Fatigue. Red tape. Trump. Homeless outreach workers weigh how to tackle the growing crisis in a changing landscape.

    Exhaustion wasn’t the official theme of this year’s homelessness conference in downtown San Diego, but it could have been.

    Speakers representing a range of service organizations returned again and again to the difficulties of fixing a crisis that just keeps growing. Several noted that outreach workers are often asked to simultaneously serve as therapists, triage nurses and real estate agents. When a panelist asked if attendees ever questioned whether they could keeping going, hands went up around the room.

    Trading an encampment for an apartment can separate you from close friends. Your health may be wrecked from years living outside, yet travelling to a doctor or navigating a health care plan might feel impossible.

    “We know how to brush our teeth and wash our face and get up in the morning,” Lawanda Sullivan, program supervisor with the San Diego arm of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, said at one panel. “Some of our clients don’t know how to do that.”

    Marc Dones, policy director at UC San Francisco’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, warned that some of Donald Trump’s proposals, particularly tariffs and deportations of agricultural workers, could drive up costs of living.

    “Food will be more expensive, businesses will close and that means people will come to experience homelessness,” Dones said. “We are the graveyard of bad policy: Everything that somebody else does that’s stupid, we clean up the mess with a bucket — and then they get mad at us about it.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/fatigue-red-tape-trump-homeless-outreach-workers-weigh-how-to-tackle-the-growing-crisis-in-a-changing-landscape/ar-AA1vpHIR

    1. I’m sure that the front line workers who actually visit the homeless are frustrated and exhausted. But their leaders, who work in air conditioned offices, are paid handsome salaries, and have never met a homeless person, are doing just fine.

  29. Good news and bad news for wannabe buyers:

    – Home buying might get easier in 2025.

    – First-time buyers need not apply.

    1. Home
      Real Estate
      3 reasons buying a home could get easier in 2025 — unless you’re a first-time buyer
      Christine Ji
      Dec 7, 2024, 1:15 AM PST
      housing market neighborhood
      Richard Newstead/Getty Images

      The American dream of home ownership has become increasingly harder to achieve in the last few years. Home prices are elevated, mortgage rates are high, and housing supply is constrained. That’s not to mention the growing threat of climate change, which is driving up housing costs such as insurance, HOA fees, and property taxes in high-risk states.

      There’s both some good and bad news on the horizon for homebuyers, according to housing market experts.

      The good news? On the whole, it’ll be easier to buy a house in 2025. But the bad news, for younger homebuyers at least, is that’s mostly just the case for boomers. Homeownership is actually looking as distant as ever for first-time buyers, especially Gen Z and millennials.
      …
      https://www.businessinsider.com/first-time-homebuyer-outlook-2025-buying-house-easier-redfin-real-estate-2024-12

      1. 3 reasons buying a home could get easier in 2025 — unless you’re a first-time buyer [FTB]

        – What about that RRE ladder. What happens when there’s no FTBs to start climbing said property ladder? Doesn’t that void the whole trade-up process?
        – In my view, all of this will grind to a halt minus the FTB, independent of the current lowest affordability in 50+ years. In other words, the only way to fix this mess that all of the .gov players created is for prices to come down, and by a lot.
        – BTW, housing supply isn’t constrained. Affordable housing supply is constrained. All of that inventory is still being held off the market for various speculative reasons. That will start to change in 2025. FL and TX are ahead of the curve on this.
        – At some point, fundamentals matter, but like for stonks, we’re not there yet.

    2. Yahoo Finance
      Benzinga
      Barbara Corcoran Reveals Alarming Statistic About Housing Market – Less Than 25% Of All Homes Sold Are Going To First-Time Buyers
      Eric McConnell
      Fri, December 6, 2024 at 8:00 AM PST 4 min read
      U.S. Privacy
      Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.

      Ever since the advent of the 30-year mortgage, buying real estate has been one of the most reliable routes Americans could take to the middle class. Multiple generations of Americans have used the equity in their homes to finance businesses, their children’s education and their retirement. That’s why Shark Tank star and real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran is concerned that less than 25% of homes in America are being sold to first-time buyers.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/barbara-corcoran-reveals-alarming-statistic-160018224.html

  30. Sacramento Report: Lawmakers Get Ready for Trump Transition

    California lawmakers are performing a balancing act as Donald Trump heads back to the White House, planning for clashes on immigration, healthcare and climate action, while trying to maintain lines of communication on federal funding.

    “Presidents historically have had systems that are fair to provide money to states regardless of their problems,” state Sen. Catherine Blakespear told me, adding that she’s concerned the “entire state would be disadvantaged” because of Trump’s conflicts with California leaders.

    This week Gov. Gavin Newsom called a special legislative session to “safeguard Californians from potential federal overreach.” That’s code for “Trump-proofing” California.

    “We will work with the incoming administration, and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans,” Newsom said in a statement. “But when there is overreach, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action.”

    State Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones dismissed the special session as a publicity stunt. “This governor is very good at getting a flashy headline with no substance,” Jones told me.

    https://voiceofsandiego.org/2024/12/06/sacramento-report-lawmakers-get-ready-for-trump-transition/

  31. Apartment building where viral video fueled Trump’s claims about city likely will close next year

    An apartment building that was the scene of a viral video that led former President Donald Trump to claim a Denver suburb had been taken over by a Venezuelan gang will likely close early next year, an official said Friday.

    The city of Aurora is seeking to close all but one building at a six-building complex where armed men were seen entering an apartment in August shortly before a fatal shooting outside, claiming the property has seen too much violent crime in addition to poor living conditions, Aurora City Attorney Pete Schulte said.

    While the property’s owners, CBZ Management, have said they were unable to provide maintenance because a notorious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, took over the buildings, the city says the company essentially abandoned maintaining and running them, creating a vacuum that allowed crime to flourish.

    “They created an environment where the criminal element could move in and be unchecked,” said Schulte, who said gangs were responsible for some of the crime but that a lot of it was not gang-related.

    Schulte declined to say how much of the crime was specifically due to Tren de Aragua. He said that gang is known to “travel light and move often” and believes its members have likely moved on.

    Three of the six men shown in the video have since been arrested, according to Aurora police. Two of them were taken into custody in New York City under a federal arrest warrant last week. A statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement said both were members of Tren de Aragua.

    According to Colorado court documents, the same rifle seen in the video was used in the fatal shooting about 10 minutes later outside the apartment complex. It was found disassembled in an oven in one of the apartments, according to an arrest warrant.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/apartment-building-where-viral-video-fueled-trumps-claims-about-city-likely-will-close-next-year/ar-AA1vpTLf

    1. It’s Aurora, not Denver, but Mayor Mike Johnston wants these people here.

      He wants the gangs. He wants the fentanyl. He wants the r@pes. He wants ALL of it, because it *owns* Orange Man Bad.

      Denver is the anus of Colorado.

  32. Opinion: President Biden is leaving Trump a shocking mess to clean up

    What an incredible mess Joe Biden will be leaving for Donald Trump on Jan. 20.

    It isn’t just the $36 trillion in federal debt (up $13 trillion since 2020), which has increasingly (and foolishly) been financed by short-term borrowings; it is also inflation that refuses to die despite slumping energy prices, a Strategic Petroleum Reserve that has been drained to perilous levels, a weapons stockpile that is dangerously low, a Department of Justice that has lost the confidence of Americans, billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars that have been invested in losing enterprises (here’s looking at you, Intel), an educational curriculum that teaches kids to hate their country but fails to deliver youngsters able to read and write, a housing crisis, a manufacturing slump and so much more.

    If Joe Biden were a decent fellow and a patriot, he would be using his remaining weeks as president to fix some of the disasters he has created. Instead, he is doing just the opposite.

    Biden and his apparatchiks are trying to spend every last dollar authorized by the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act so that the Trump administration cannot recapture those funds. The IRA gave the White House some $375 billion in taxpayer funds to be strewn about the country as they see fit, under the total control of former Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.

    Because the Biden White House has almost no one with private-sector experience — no one with a history of building successful businesses — the hapless crew proved unable to spend the many billions available. Pete Buttigieg’s laughable effort to build charging stations for electronic vehicles, in which the Transportation secretary spent $7.5 billion on eight such facilities after promising 500,000, or Kamala Harris’s total failure to roll out internet access to rural areas despite the $42 billion at her disposal, are emblematic of this administration’s capabilities.

    Anyone who knows anything about Washington will understand that leftover money is about as popular as the fourth turkey sandwich served up after Thanksgiving. The money must be spent! And so, rather than help the Trump team (and the U.S.) by recycling unspent IRA money, they are putting it to work — at least, in theory.

    A recently released video from investigators at Project Veritas catches an adviser to the EPA saying via hidden camera, “Now we’re just trying to get the money out as fast as possible before they come in and stop it all. … It truly feels like we’re on the Titanic and we’re throwing gold bars off the edge.”

    The adviser, Brent Efron, admits that while typically his department had been making “sure the proper processes are in place to prevent fraud and prevent abuse,” now they are shoveling money to tribes, nonprofits and states at warp speed. Efron explains to the undercover reporter, “We gave them the money because it was harder if it was a government-run program, they could take the money away, if Trump won.”

    Elon Musk commented that the video suggests “The U.S. government is actively working to undermine the American people.”

    Biden is also leaving behind a portfolio of Treasury debt that is dangerously weighted toward short-term instruments. Instead of financing our recent $1.8 trillion federal budget deficit by issuing 10- and 30-year bonds, Janet Yellen has instead loaded up on two-year Treasury bills in a nakedly political effort to avoid a massive jump in mortgage rates. Writing in the New York Post, Charles Gasparino quotes Robbert van Batenburg of the well-known Bear Traps Report, who estimates that around 30 percent of all debt is now in short-term notes, compared to 15 percent in 2023. Given the enormity of the government’s borrowings, that is an almost unimaginably sharp move.

    Since we have had an inverted yield curve for most of the past two years, it would have made sense to borrow long. Yellen did not, leaving her successor to navigate higher costs going forward. As Bratenburg writes, “The Treasury now faces a substantial volume of short-term debt maturing annually, which must be refinanced at significantly higher interest rates … [which] is driving a substantial increase in the government’s interest expense.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/opinion-president-biden-is-leaving-trump-a-shocking-mess-to-clean-up/ar-AA1voawq

    2. “…in a nakedly political effort to avoid a massive jump in mortgage rates.”

      It’s a politically popular idea. Didn’t Trump promise low mortgage rates as well?

  33. Populist conservatism and Constitutional order

    The top-down, elitist brand of politics that has dominated the United States since the end of the Cold War—under Republican and Democratic administrations alike—has failed. Yes, we are materially richer than we were in 1991, and our largest corporations are more profitable. But we are militarily and strategically weaker, fiscally endangered, and spiritually enervated. As a result, public trust in the vaunted institutions that our elites control—political, scientific, journalistic, educational, religious—has evaporated. And populism—especially on the conservative Right—is on the rise.

    Although I will focus on the U.S., this rise of populism is widespread. From Argentina to Italy to France to the United Kingdom to Hungary, there are similarities. The new populism tends to be economically and politically nationalistic. It tends to be culturally patriotic and socially conservative. It tends to sympathize with workers over corporations. It is also self-consciously, defiantly—often mockingly—anti-establishment.

    It is not a coincidence that so many of the West’s populist leaders—Javier Milei, Jair Bolsonaro, Viktor Orbán, Giorgia Meloni, and Donald Trump—have, shall we say, colorful personalities. Their political swagger may threaten elite politicians almost as much as their policy agendas do, because it punctures the bubble of credentialed, institutional authority that insulates elite power from public scrutiny.

    With few exceptions, the Left as we know it today has rejected populism out of hand, embracing instead Big Government, Big Business, Big Banks, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Labor, Big Ag, Big Media, and Big Entertainment. For the most part, today’s Left is hard at work fortifying the power these institutions wield against the rigors of democratic accountability.

    To see what today’s populists are reacting against, think back to 1991. The end of the Cold War appeared to be a great victory for the Washington establishment—never mind that most leaders of that establishment opposed Reaganism, which was instrumental in bringing down the Soviet Union. Regardless, this victory earned Western institutions a high level of public trust unimaginable today. In November 1989, for instance, when the Berlin Wall fell, President George H.W. Bush’s public approval rating hit 70 percent and would climb to 80 and even 90 percent in subsequent years.

    With the Cold War over, one would have expected a recalibration of American foreign and domestic policy. It should at least have been a time for a national debate about those topics. For four decades, we had strung tripwires for nuclear war around the world to contain a foe that suddenly no longer existed. Working families who had invested two generations of blood and treasure during what President John F. Kennedy called the “long, twilight struggle” were ready to focus on problems closer to home.

    But the Washington establishment had other ideas. President Bush himself, in the lead-up to the first Gulf War, pledged allegiance to a “New World Order” that would be governed by the United Nations and policed, at its behest, by the U.S. Between that tin-ear approach and his backtracking on conservative economic policies, Bush squandered his popular support so badly that he suffered an embarrassing electoral defeat in 1992.

    In 1993, Bush’s successor, President Bill Clinton, led the fight to ratify the North American Free Trade Agreement, which gutted America’s industrial Midwest and lit the fuse on an illegal immigration bomb still exploding today. In 1994, Congress passed a law submitting the U.S. to the World Trade Organization, surrendering America’s economic sovereignty to globalist bureaucrats. Soon thereafter, a bipartisan majority in Congress granted Most Favored Nation trading status to the People’s Republic of China, handing over working Americans’ multi-trillion-dollar peace dividend to our greatest international rival.

    Clinton also sent U.S. troops into Mogadishu to referee the Somali civil war—with infamous results in the Black Hawk Down debacle—and orchestrated a bombing campaign in the former Yugoslavia. The climax of the White House debate about the latter mission is illustrative—it came when future-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright snapped at General Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, “What’s the point of having this superb military that you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?” And, of course, this was before President George W. Bush led America into the successive catastrophes of Iraq, the global financial crisis of 2008, and the Great Recession.

    In the decade-and-a-half since then, America’s fiscal situation has deteriorated. Americans suffered under the Covid pandemic while government bureaucrats (aided by the media) censored and demonized anyone who challenged the official (and often provably false) pandemic narrative. The Supreme Court redefined marriage, establishing the legal predicate for the trans fanaticism now responsible for destroying women’s sports and mutilating children across the country. The Justice Department, including the FBI, has shown brazen political partisanship in support of the elites and against the populists. Our nation has been beset by an unprecedented border crisis, a mental health crisis, and historically low birth rates.

    Our $35 trillion national debt is now equal to 124 percent of our gross domestic product. We spend more every year on interest payments on that debt than we do on national security.

    The lesson to be drawn from this critique is that legitimate and enduring change in democracies comes neither from philosophers nor rabble-rousers. It only comes by strategically fusing populist energy and principled ideas. Indeed, what was the Founding itself—and the Constitution in particular—but the thoughtful harnessing of populist frustration on behalf of clear, positive political principles?

    Step back from the Left’s Oz-like faux-authority and think for a moment about its legal fragility. Almost everything organizations of the Left do is either funded by taxpayers or ignored by prosecutors. A principled, populist conservative government could undo huge swaths of it with—in the immortal words of President Barack Obama—“a phone and a pen.” The supposedly un-fireable bureaucrats of the federal Deep State are nothing of the sort. The president could reclassify, reassign, or simply dismiss thousands of them. Moreover, agencies that have gone all-in on woke claptrap in the last decade have advertised their own irrelevance to budget-conscious congressional appropriators.

    The U.S. Border Patrol could secure the border today if the president ordered them to. Energy companies already know where to drill—they just need permission. We already know which treaty loopholes China exploits to steal our jobs and trade secrets. The loopholes could be closed, or we could withdraw from the treaties altogether.

    Cities and states that refuse to prosecute crimes or protect girls’ privacy can be disqualified from federal aid. Corporations that practice ideological discrimination can be prohibited from federal contracting. The Justice Department now harassing Christians and conservatives could start exploring Big Tech’s deliberate attempts to addict children to harmful online content. We could reform the tax code to prioritize families and workers instead of globalist corporations. We could do the same with education, labor, housing, and transportation policy.

    Instead of funneling more money into DEI offices on campus, we could invest in trade apprenticeships. Instead of wasting money on global green energy boondoggles, we could build nuclear power plants. We could reclaim our sovereignty by withdrawing from the World Trade Organization and the United Nations and by clarifying our strategic alliances. And the institutions we need to revive—marriage and family, church and community, private enterprise and public spirit—already exist. Like flowers in a garden choked by weeds, they just need room, light, and water to grow again.

    Returning to my metaphor of a controlled burn, we will need to ignite several of those to fix institutions like the Department of Homeland Security, the EPA, the Federal Reserve, the FBI, the Department of Education, the military-industrial complex, and apparently now FEMA. Today these institutions function as anti-American, anti-constitutional predators, serving their own interests at the expense of the national interest. Their institutional status quo is inconsistent with freedom and self-government. America must break and reform them before they break and destroy us.

    Not only in America but across the West, not-so-silent majorities today consist of citizens that the elites, by nature and ideology, look down on and treat as deplorables—those who believe in the rights of the individual, the virtue of local communities, the centrality of the family, and the sovereignty of the nation-state.

    https://highlandcountypress.com/opinions/populist-conservatism-and-constitutional-order

      1. “Yes, we are materially richer”

        “Nah, we’re up to our eyeballs in debt.”

        \\

        – Net worth, or wealth = (assets (A) – liabilities (L)). If L>A, you’re lurching towards BK, especially if rates are rising on the L (debt).
        – $36T in debt + unfunded liabilities will never be paid back.
        – My conclusion: U.S. sovereign default and not too far away. Reserve currency or not. Apparently the bond vigilantes are starting to get nervous again as well: Jay Bowel cut FFR (short end), but really has no control over the long end. Only a deep recession can fix this. Moral hazard has consequences. That’s why it’s called a hazard. 🤔

        “The rich rule over the poor,
        and the borrower is slave to the lender.” – Proverbs 22:7

        “You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt.” – Daniel Hannan, Member of the European Parliament

        1. My conclusion: U.S. sovereign default and not too far away.
          It’s gonna happen, it’s just a matter of when.
          Question is: Will we live long enough to see it and end up like the broke A$$ 70year olds in FL and become destitute or just enjoy the spoils and die before it blows up?

        2. “Only a deep recession can fix this.”

          Would that be a prelude to bailouts, renewed Quantitative Easing, and another protracted period of extraordinary accomodation?

    2. Instead of funneling more money into DEI offices on campus, we could invest in trade apprenticeships.

      I have been told that Highlands Ranch High School, of all places, is now offering classes in the trades.

        1. I tell EVERY young guy I meet (who’s slightly impressive, no idiots) GO TO TRADE SCHOOL/LEARN A TRADE

          At some are listening a bit. They mostly realize college is a scam (not all realize this, but it’s coming) but they don’t know what to do. I tell them and some at least start some gears turning.

    1. Here’s the shack:

      $608,900 4 bd 3 ba 2,731 sqft

      2104 Corbera Dr, Little Elm, TX 75068

      New construction
      – Move-in ReadyZestimate®: $601,800
      Est. payment: $3,932/mo

      https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2104-Corbera-Dr-Little-Elm-TX-75068/402355671_zpid/

      Price history
      Date Event Price

      11/14/2024 Price change $608,900-8.4% $223/sqft
      Source: First Texas Homes

      10/18/2024 Price change $664,900-4.3% $243/sqft
      Source: NTREIS #20685283

      7/25/2024 Listed for sale $694,754 $254/sqft

      Here’s the website. Lot’s of crater on the ‘quick move in’ page. Warning, a loud and annoying audio file played when I clicked it.

      https://www.firsttexashomes.com/communities/Valencia-on-The-Lake-102951

      2. “2104 Corbera Dr, Little Elm, TX 75068”

        Straight lines everywhere, but then the curved staircase happens.

  37. – True: 👇. To the Fed: 🖕

    Pagosa Daily Post. “The economy, both nationally and for you personally, is manipulated by the Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed) and its objectives have nothing whatsoever to do with whether you can afford groceries or gas for you car to get to work (or if you even have a job). Their goal is to maintain the ‘strength’ of the U.S. dollar, vis-à-vis the currencies of other countries, because that’s the basis of global power for the elites who currently run the U.S. To maintain that strength as things now stand, the Fed needs to do two things: increase inflation; and encourage (or require) you to go into debt rather than save. I’ll repeat that, because it is at the crux of what’s coming. Inflation is not a glitch in the Fed’s manipulation of our economy; it’s a critical feature. As is keeping you as far in debt as possible.”

  39. Image file for Jeff — Saturday Demolition Edition:

    https://ibb.co/f9v8sGP

    This took some effort. There was a 200 pound metal door bent over and wedged under concrete and bricks, at the bottom of this ramp.

    This is how we’ll drive the bobcat down there in the spring.

  41. Damascus Has Fallen: Assad Has Reportedly Left The Capital
    by Zero Hedge

    December 7th, 2024 10:38 PM

    Update(2200ET): Damascus has fallen. Unverified reports say President Assad and top officials have fled to Dubai or elsewhere but the situation overnight is fluid and anything but clear in terms of the location of top leadership. They may be in Latakia on the coast, or headed there. What is clear, however, is that the jihadists have entered the heart of the capital.

    This brings to an end the last secular and Baathist state in the Middle East, and 50+ years of Assad family rule. Journalist Danny Makki, who is currently in Damascus, observes:

    https://www.infowars.com/breaking-news

    1. Syria was not part of the Kingdom of David and Solomon. [whew!]
      However, it does make sense to seize a buffer zone around the Golan Heights.

  42. “Inflation isn’t a bug; it’s a feature.”

    Sounds about right… especially when a period of ‘higher than expected’ inflation facilitates a ginormous wealth transfer from creditors (ala savers) to debtors (debt donkeys and risk asset HOSLers). This is how the War on Savers is prosecuted.

Comments are closed.