It’s A Very Good Lesson For People To Not Be Swayed By Friends And Think They Can Get More For A House
A report from Yahoo Finance. “‘We fell pretty far in terms of prices,’ said Scott Turner, the owner of Riverside Homes, a spec builder in Austin, Texas. He estimates that home prices in the urban parts of the city where he focuses dropped 30% from their peak to their trough. ‘That’s left builders with inventory that’s very difficult to sell. What that does, obviously, is have a chilling effect on new starts.’ In Killeen, Texas, about an hour north of Austin, real estate agent Stephen Harris has seen new construction homes in the suburbs sell for $50,000 less than what comparable units fetched in 2022. ‘People find themselves nervous about getting into one of these newer homes,’ Harris said. ‘But I think the incentives and buydowns, all of that is enough to sway a lot of people because it makes it attainable.'”
“Builders with large amounts of inventory they hope to clear are in a tough spot, said Dillan Krieg, a senior research analyst at John Burns Research and Consulting. Incentives like rate buydowns will likely remain a key strategy to get customers in the door. ‘Builders really do not have a lot of pricing power right now,’ he said.”
Associated Press. “The number of homes on the market is up sharply from a year ago. Listings jumped between 44% and 68% in many large metro areas, including San Diego, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Washington D.C. As homes take longer to sell, prices have started dropping in many markets. The median listing price was down last month from a year earlier in most of the nation’s biggest 50 metro areas, including a more than 6% drop in Austin, Miami and Kansas City. Ryan Vasko and his wife, Whitney, recently navigated both sides of the housing market equation in their move from Oregon to Colorado. The couple searched for a home in the Denver metro area, which is among the markets that’s had the biggest increase in homes for sale this year. Active listings soared 67.3% in March from a year earlier. As listings jumped, the median listing price fell 5.6% to $585,000. Last month, the Vaskos closed the deal on a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Littleton, Colorado, about 10 miles south of Denver, that had been on the market at least three weeks. The price: $680,000, or $5,000 above the list price. Still, the seller agreed to cover the cost of lowering the couple’s 6.9% mortgage rate for the first two years of the loan to 4.9% and 5.9%, respectively. ‘It gives us a little wiggle room, if we need it,’ said Vasko, noting that he’s hoping to eventually refinance to a lower fixed rate.”
“Another plus for buyers: Lower prices. The median listing price fell in March from a year earlier in 32 of the 50 largest metro areas, including Kansas City, San Francisco, Miami and San Diego. ‘Pretty much every buyer is asking for concessions, unless they know that they are in a multiple offer situation,’ said Afton Hartmann, a Redfin agent in Denver. Gilad Hoffman, executive director at a synagogue, knew his home search was over when he spotted a four-bedroom, 2.5-bath house for sale in Escondido, 30 miles northeast of San Diego. He felt the home, listed by the estate of its late owner for $1.079 million, was ‘severely underpriced.'”
“Hoffman, 41, paid $13,000 above the asking price for the home in February as he fended off bids from three other prospective buyers — including one offering to pay all cash. Elevated mortgage rates didn’t dissuade Hoffman. He accepted a 7% rate in exchange for a credit from his lender to put toward closing costs. ‘My philosophy going into the whole thing was: get into something now that you can afford with these high interest rates,’ Hoffman said. ‘Hopefully in two years, they’ll come down and then you can refinance. And that’s still my intention.'”
From Realtor.com. “Home sellers continued to cut prices last month at a historic pace, as they sought to lure spring homebuyers. The share of active listings with price reductions hit 17.5% in March, up from 15% a year ago and a higher share than any March since at least 2016, according to the Realtor.com® economic research team. In some markets where inventory is piling up rapidly, price reductions are even more common. Phoenix leads major metros with 33% of listings price reduced, followed by Tampa, FL (29%); Jacksonville, FL (27%); San Antonio (25%); and Orlando (25%). San Jose, CA, and Las Vegas saw the largest inventory gains, both rising 68%, followed by Denver at 67%. Still, most metros continue to have fewer homes available than they did pre-pandemic. But a handful of markets have now exceeded that 2017 to 2019 average inventory count. They include Denver, where active listings are now 75% above the pre-pandemic average, followed by San Antonio (50%) and Dallas (45%).”
From KOMO News. “The debate continues over whether Washington needs legislation to control the rising cost of rent. House Bill 1217 passed the House and is now headed for an executive session in the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee on Monday. On Friday, committee members heard testimony for and against setting a rent increase cap at 7% annually. ‘Mom and Pop housing providers are quitting. They feel targeted in this bill,’ Anna, a landlord and real estate agent from Yakima, testified. ‘We love our tenants, but we cannot afford to rent if we cannot turn a profit,’ Rick Glen, who represents 660 landlords in Yakima, told the Senate Ways and Means Committee Friday afternoon. ‘We have to be able to pay the bills. We can’t be priced out of existence.'”
The Tampa Free Press. “Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) is sounding the alarm about the state of the U.S. housing market, blaming the Biden administration for creating a looming subprime mortgage crisis through reckless Federal Housing Administration (FHA) policies. In a letter sent Friday to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, Scott praised the Trump administration’s early steps to reverse those policies and called for urgent reforms to protect low-income homeowners and taxpayers. In the letter, Scott cited alarming data showing that nearly two-thirds of FHA-backed borrowers in 2024 had debt-to-income ratios exceeding 43%, with some reaching as high as 57%. He compared these figures to conditions leading up to the 2008 housing crisis, warning that many borrowers were being set up for financial failure.”
“‘The Biden-Harris administration left a ticking time bomb in our housing market,’ Scott wrote. ‘They allowed heavily debt-burdened borrowers to take on more debt, and provided a government guarantee for those mortgages. The result is a spike in serious delinquencies we haven’t seen since 2008.’ Scott particularly criticized the FHA’s ‘Payment Supplement’ policy, introduced in February 2024, which allows the agency to cover missed mortgage payments and reduce borrowers’ monthly payments for up to three years. While intended to prevent foreclosures, the missed payments and reduced payments are tacked onto the principal, increasing the overall debt load and, in many cases, exceeding the value of the home.”
“‘This only delayed and worsened the consequences for homeowners,’ Scott stated. ‘It trapped borrowers in a growing debt spiral — and left U.S. taxpayers on the hook.’ Scott argued that the policy not only pushed vulnerable families deeper into debt but also constrained the already-tight housing supply by preventing homes from reentering the market through foreclosure. Calling for immediate reform, Scott urged Secretary Turner to return to ‘fiscally prudent underwriting standards’ and to begin dismantling the Payment Supplement program to avoid a ‘calamitous flood of foreclosures.’ ‘The American dream of homeownership should not come with a government-sponsored trapdoor,’ Scott said. ‘President Trump and Secretary Turner are right to act fast to clean up this mess. We must ensure that federal housing policy supports families — not burdens them with debt they cannot afford.'”
The Canadian Press. “For more than a century, Oshawa, Ont., has been the city of autoworkers. The auto industry has gone through ups and downs since its inception. But nothing has prepared them for the cloud of uncertainty brought on by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs that include 25 per cent duties on imported vehicles, with temporary reprieve for some parts compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement. Trump has said his goal is to move manufacturing jobs back to the United States. That means hundreds of thousands of jobs are on the line in Ontario alone, including those in the automobile production and supply chain in Oshawa. The president of Unifor Local 222, whose members include autoworkers at the GM assembly plant in Oshawa, said the union’s latest fight is different from typical challenges in the sector. ‘This is an unusual situation to be in because we’re really in a fight with one man and his small group and his administration,’ Jeff Gray said in an interview at his office, with ‘Elbows Up’ shirts folded on the table in front of him.”
“Carl Stitt was among the workers who returned to the plant once it reopened. Now, he is worried about another round of layoffs. Without a job, he said he won’t be able to bring food to the table or pay his mortgage. ‘What he is doing, like these tariffs, this is going to hurt the Americans even worse than Canadians, and he needs to back off,’ Stitt said of Trump.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “947 Purcell Ct., Kelowna, B.C. Asking price: $1,559,000 (Jan. 27). Previous asking prices: $1,748,800 (June 12); $1,698,000 (July 5); $1,599,000 (Oct. 24). Selling price: $1,345,000 (March 18). Days on the market: 279. It took a long time to sell because the out-of-country sellers wanted to price it close to assessed value, which didn’t line up with the market last summer, said listing agent Richard Deacon. His clients purchased the house in 2017 but had never lived in the home. They intended to retire there and had been renting it out. Their plans changed, and they decided to sell.”
“‘We suffered a little bit because we handcuffed ourselves a little with a slow start. That’s fine. It was a strategy,’ said Mr. Deacon. ‘We had a couple of showings, and feedback was that it was very high [in price]. So, we pivoted towards a better price. I think this listing broke the record for showings that I’ve ever had, about 80 showings over the life of the listing, from June last year.’ ‘A lot of it is original, with pink bathtubs, gold faucets. I had advised my clients it was a slippery slope because they weren’t here. If they could do these renovations themselves, it’s one story. But it was not practical, and I couldn’t see the market would bear them spending $200,000 on updating this house, because that’s what it needed,’ said Mr. Deacon. ‘It’s also a very good lesson for people, in a market that’s shifted, to not be swayed by friends and think they can get more for a house. If a realtor recommends a certain price, you should probably listen.'”
Agence France-Presse. “The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell by 13.2 percent — its biggest drop since 1997 during the Asian financial crisis — as a wider selloff played out across in Asian markets also spurred by China’s retaliatory levies. At a securities brokerage in Hong Kong’s finance district, where more than a dozen elderly investors stared at numbers flashing red on computer screens, the mood was grim. A woman in her nineties surnamed Tam said she ‘hated’ Trump. ‘He cost me HK$200,000 ($25,700),’ she said. ‘(Trump) won’t let it go, he’s making a mess,’ said another retiree surnamed Lee. ‘Everyone around me is losing money.'”
“Lawyer Ray Chan, 30, was among those left unscathed on Monday, as he sold all his Hong Kong and US shareholdings two weeks ago, netting gains in the seven figures. ‘We’re clearly entering a bear market but I’m prepared,’ Chan told AFP. ‘When (Trump) said there would be tariffs on April 2, I could guess where things were headed.'”
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‘Stitt was among the workers who returned to the plant once it reopened. Now, he is worried about another round of layoffs. Without a job, he said he won’t be able to bring food to the table or pay his mortgage. ‘What he is doing, like these tariffs, this is going to hurt the Americans even worse than Canadians, and he needs to back off’
Elbows up Carl.
he won’t be able to bring food to the table or pay his mortgage. ‘What he is doing, like these tariffs, this is going to hurt the Americans even worse than Canadians,
So you won’t be able to feed yourself and possibly become homeless and the tariffs are gonna hurt me more than you? Ok, if you say so….
‘In the letter, Scott cited alarming data showing that nearly two-thirds of FHA-backed borrowers in 2024 had debt-to-income ratios exceeding 43%, with some reaching as high as 57%’
The globalist scum media didn’t report this letter.
‘Scott particularly criticized the FHA’s ‘Payment Supplement’ policy, introduced in February 2024, which allows the agency to cover missed mortgage payments and reduce borrowers’ monthly payments for up to three years. While intended to prevent foreclosures, the missed payments and reduced payments are tacked onto the principal, increasing the overall debt load and, in many cases, exceeding the value of the home’
I said the other day that during minor respiratory illness guberment put in another HAMP policy:
Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP)
The largest program within MHA is the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). HAMP’s goal is to offer homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure reduced monthly mortgage payments that are affordable and sustainable over the long-term.
HAMP was designed to help families who are struggling to remain in their homes and show:
-Documented financial hardship.
-An ability to make their monthly mortgage payments after a modification.
HAMP is a voluntary program that supports servicers’ efforts to modify mortgages, while protecting taxpayers’ interests. To protect taxpayers, MHA housing initiatives have pay‐for‐success incentives. This means that funds are spent only when transactions are completed and only as long as those contracts remain in place. Therefore, funds will be disbursed over many years.
Starting in the summer of 2012, the scope of the program will expand to help even more families in need.
HAMP works by encouraging participating mortgage servicers to modify mortgages so struggling homeowners can have lower monthly payments and avoid foreclosure. It has specific eligibility requirements for homeowners and includes strict guidelines for servicers. The program includes incentives for homeowners, servicers, and investors to encourage successful mortgage modifications.
Families in this program typically reduce their monthly payments by a median of more than $530 each month. But the program’s impact goes even further. HAMP has also encouraged private lenders to modify mortgages at no expense to taxpayers.
When the housing crisis began, the mortgage industry was ill-equipped to respond adequately. Mortgage servicers had insufficient resources to address the needs of a market that was reeling from increasing foreclosures. In addition, their servicing expertise and infrastructure was limited to overseeing collections and foreclosing on those who failed to pay. They did not have the systems, staffing, operational capacity, or incentives to engage with homeowners on a large scale and offer meaningful relief from unaffordable mortgages.
Before HAMP, there was no standard approach among loan servicers or investors about how to help homeowners who wanted to keep making payments, but needed mortgage assistance.
By setting standards for what constitutes a sustainable modification across the mortgage industry, HAMP has helped to make private loan modifications more affordable for homeowners. In fact, thanks in part to HAMP, the proportion of private loan modifications that reduce monthly payments for homeowners has more than doubled. Together, public and private efforts have helped nearly 5 million Americans get mortgage assistance to prevent avoidable foreclosures.
https://home.treasury.gov/data/troubled-assets-relief-program/housing/mha/hamp
“FHA’s ‘Payment Supplement’ policy, introduced in February 2024,”
Did Congress specifically appropriate monies for such a thing, or did FHA just do this unilaterally?
For over 20 years congress just passes a ‘reconciliation bill’ that has everything guberment wants. That said these federal shack loan outfits are a guberment of their own.
‘At a securities brokerage in Hong Kong’s finance district, where more than a dozen elderly investors stared at numbers flashing red on computer screens, the mood was grim. A woman in her nineties surnamed Tam said she ‘hated’ Trump. ‘He cost me HK$200,000 ($25,700),’ she said. ‘(Trump) won’t let it go, he’s making a mess,’ said another retiree surnamed Lee. ‘Everyone around me is losing money’
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/trump-influencers-are-now-trying-to-sell-a-ridiculous-lie-to-maga/ar-AA1CjS5Y
‘Johnson displayed a tweet from Trump that read, “No crying in the casino.”
‘Still, most metros continue to have fewer homes available than they did pre-pandemic. But a handful of markets have now exceeded that 2017 to 2019 average inventory count. They include Denver, where active listings are now 75% above the pre-pandemic average, followed by San Antonio (50%) and Dallas (45%)’
Wa happened to my shortage UHS.cm?
The stonk market crash is over.
Everybody needs to buy stonks today.
After perusing the HBB for many years, I have realized that Arizona is treating Pennsylvania very unfairly. Arizona has been dumping huge quantities of free and cheap real estate info on Pennsylvania, while hardly patronizing PA-hosted real estate blogs at all. This has got to stop. Arizona has no right to an information surplus with PA.
Pennsylvania needs to impose heavy taxes on its citizens who visit AZ-hosted real estate blogs. We need to support our own domestic blogging industry for a change. All the crater stories we need should be written and published right here in-state. MPGA!
(And don’t get me started on the unfairness of Pittsburgh towards Philadelphia.)
I don’t live in Arizona anymore. I pay for the server but I don’t know where it’s hosted. Used to be Utah but I think that changed.
“How Not to Be Seen” is a popular sketch from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The sketch purports to be a British government public information film in which a disembodied narrator, voiced by John Cleese, instructs viewers on “how not to be seen.”[1]
The film starts with a serene wide shot of a landscape in which there are supposedly 40 people, none of whom can be seen. The picture then changes to another serene wide shot of a different landscape. In it is Mr. E. R. Bradshaw of Napier Court, Black Lion Road, (London) SE 5, who cannot be seen. The narrator asks him to stand up. He complies and is immediately shot. According to the narrator, “This demonstrates the value of not being seen.”
There is a cut to another landscape wide shot. In it, the audience cannot see Mrs. B. J. Smegma of 13, The Crescent, Belmont. The narrator asks her to stand up. She also complies and is immediately shot.
Next is a shot of a clearing near a wood with only one bush in the middle of the frame. Somewhere in the vicinity is Mr. Nesbitt of Harlow New Town. He is asked to stand up, but in contrast to the previous people, he does not comply. The narrator explains that “Mr. Nesbitt has learned the first lesson of not being seen: not to stand up. However, he has chosen a very obvious piece of cover.” The bush then suddenly explodes.
Following this, we cut to another clearing with three bushes in the frame. Hiding nearby is Mr. E.V. Lambert of Homeleigh, The Burrows, Oswestry, who has presented the narrator with a poser by choosing a very clever way of not being seen. Although “we do not know which bush he is behind, […] we can soon find out”: The left bush explodes, then the right one, and finally the middle; mixed with the noise of this explosion comes the scream of Mr. Lambert. “Yes, it was the middle one,” the Narrator intones.
Next is a farmland area with a water barrel, a wall, a pile of leaves, a bushy tree, a parked car, and many bushes in the distance. In this shot, Mr. Ken Andrews of Leighton Road, Slough “has concealed himself extremely well. He could be almost anywhere. He could be behind the wall, inside the water barrel, beneath a pile of leaves, up in the tree, squatting down behind the car, concealed in a hollow, or crouched behind any one of a hundred bushes.” However, thanks to the narrator, “we happen to know he’s in the water barrel.” The water barrel then explodes.
There is then a panning shot across a line of beach huts along the sea while the narrator explains that Mr. and Mrs. Watson of Ivy Cottage, Worplesdon Road, Hull, have chosen a very cunning way of not being seen. “When we called at their house, we found that they had gone away on two weeks’ holiday. They had not left any forwarding address and they had bolted and barred the house to prevent us getting in. However, a neighbour told us where they were”, as the camera pans to spot a singled-out hut in the middle of the beach. The hut containing the Watsons explodes, accompanied by the couple’s screams. The camera cuts to a Gumby-looking fellow identified as the neighbour who told the filmmakers where the Watsons were. He explodes and his boots are the only remains. “Nobody likes a clever dick,” explains the narrator.
The film cuts to a shack (“And this is where he lived”), which also blows up, then changes to another shack (“And this is where Lord Langdon lived; who refused to speak to us”), which blows up as well. The picture goes on to various changes of houses (“So did the gentleman who lived here, and here, and, of course, here”), which each blow up, and then a series of atomic explosions (“Manchester, and the West Midlands, Spain, China!”). The narrator bursts into diabolical laughter and the sketch segues into a presenter (Michael Palin) stopping the film due to it becoming too distressing for certain viewers (though not to him).
After a short piece about a man who rode a tricycle across the Atlantic Ocean who couldn’t be interviewed as he had gone to the wrong studio, he interviews football player Ludovic Grayson, “the man who scored all six goals in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over the Turkish Champions FC Botty” (Terry Jones), who is hiding in a filing cabinet to protect himself from being seen, and therefore caught and killed. However, when the presenter explains that Grayson can still be heard, the latter is killed in the resulting explosion. The presenter then introduces “Jackie Charlton and the Tonettes”, where they perform “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” by Ohio Express while hiding inside shipping crates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Not_to_Be_Seen
“(And don’t get me started on the unfairness of Pittsburgh towards Philadelphia.)”
That’s too bad I’ve been waiting for someone to explain the unfairness of Pittsburgh towards Philadelphia to me.
OMG, that whole steel industry, unfairly selling Philly steel for their office buildings at below-market prices, crushing Philly’s domestic steel industry. They even have the audacity to have their own brand name of tools for auto mechanics and such. I just can’t even.
Does it seem as though markets have entered one of those panics you read about in your history books as a child in school?
Wall Street drops 20% below its record and markets plunge worldwide as Trump digs in on tariffs
by: The Associated Press
Posted: Apr 7, 2025 / 09:27 AM EDT
Updated: Apr 7, 2025 / 09:56 AM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — The losses are only worsening for financial markets worldwide as worries rise Monday about whether President Donald Trump’s trade war will torpedo the global economy.
The S&P 500 was down 3.8% in early trading, coming off its worst week since COVID began crashing the global economy in March 2020. The index, which sits at the heart of many investors’ 401(k) accounts, has lost more than 20% since setting a record less than two months ago.
If the S&P 500 finishes the day below that mark, it’s a big enough drop that Wall Street has a name for it. A “bear market” signifies a downturn that’s moved beyond a run-of-the-mill 10% drop, which happens every year or so, and has graduated into something much more vicious.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,343 points, or 3.5, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 4.2% lower.
The financial pain once again hammered investments around the world. Stocks in Hong Kong plunged 13.2% for their worst day since 1997. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil briefly dropped below $60 for the first time since 2021, hurt by worries that a global economy weakened by trade barriers will burn less fuel. Bitcoin sank below $78,000, down from its record above $100,000 set in January, after holding steadier than other markets last week.
It’s all a slap in the face to Wall Street, not just because of the sharp losses it’s taking, but because it suggests Trump may not be moved by its pain. Many professional investors had long thought that a president who used to crow about records reached under his watch would pull back on policies if they sent the Dow reeling.
On Sunday Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he does not want markets to fall. But he also said he wasn’t concerned about a sell-off, saying “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
…
https://www.news10.com/news/national/panic-monday-world-stock-markets-plunge-again-as-trump-doubles-down-on-tariffs/
Trump shows no sign of backing away from sweeping tariff plans — even claiming there is ‘NO INFLATION’
By Emily Crane
Published April 7, 2025, 7:41 a.m. ET
A defiant President Trump showed no sign of backing away from his sweeping tariff plans early Monday — even as stock index futures tumbled.
“Oil prices are down, interest rates are down (the slow moving Fed should cut rates!), food prices are down, there is NO INFLATION, and the long time abused USA is bringing in Billions of Dollars a week from the abusing countries on Tariffs that are already in place,” he wrote on Truth Social just before 7 a.m.
The commander-in-chief also ripped China after Beijing struck back against Trump’s far-reaching “Liberation Day” with its own 34% levy last week.
“This is despite the fact that the biggest abuser of them all, China, whose markets are crashing, just raised its Tariffs by 34%, on top of its long term ridiculously high Tariffs (Plus!), not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate,” Trump said.
“They’ve made enough, for decades, taking advantage of the Good OL’ USA! Our past ‘leaders’ are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
…
https://nypost.com/2025/04/07/us-news/trump-shows-no-sign-of-backing-away-from-sweeping-tariff-plans-even-claiming-there-is-no-inflation/
‘One of the keys is not to panic,’ USD professor says amid stock market turmoil
Stock market turmoil settles in as President Trump’s tariffs plan has rolled out.
By Kelvin Henry
• Published April 6, 2025
• Updated on April 6, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Many Americans saw their 401(k)s take a nosedive after the U.S. announced plans to place tariffs on imported goods from many countries. The tariffs range from 10% to 49% in some cases.
“It’s been really volatile particularly the financial markets. Over the last two trading days of the week, almost 4,000 points were lost in terms of the Dow Jones,” said Alan Gin, an economics professor at University of San Diego.
The economic turmoil happens as economists are gauging the likelihood of a recession in the future.
“JP Morgan Chase has increased their probability of a worldwide recession to 60%, and I wouldn’t doubt that,” Professor Gin said.
…
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/one-of-the-keys-is-not-panic-usd-professor-says-amid-stock-market-turmoil/3796636/
“One of the keys is not to panic”
One of the most reliable indicators of a market panic is when professors suddenly start rolling out this advice.
Do you stay up at nights worrying about self reinforcing doom loops?
Financial Times
Opinion Instant Insight
Markets could get a lot worse — and quickly
The concern now among bankers and hedge fund managers is that something, somewhere could break
Katie Martin
A delivery worker in Tokyo passes a board displaying stock market prices. There are signs investors are dumping what they can sell, not necessarily what they want to sell
© Franck Robichon/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Katie Martin
Published
4 hours ago
The White House promised in its schedule for Donald Trump’s jabberwocky trade taxes last week that markets would have their opportunity to “respond as the impact of renewed American strength takes hold”. That response? A moment of extreme danger, as the president’s tariff onslaught sparks disorder and distress.
Just look at the crisis-sized drop in US stocks and rush to price in a US recession, with ripples across every asset class and every part of the world. Trump has not blinked over the weekend, which means this week has started no better, with huge drops in Asia and Europe.
This is bad enough. Savings pots and pension funds, as well as Americans’ precious and keenly watched 401k contribution plans, have taken a brutal hit. It is an episode of wanton, unnecessary and illogical wealth destruction that will cast a long shadow over the investment case for US markets.
But it can get a lot worse, and quickly. It is already clear that hedge funds and other investors are in pain. Once that happens, self-reinforcing doom loops can emerge.
Evidence for this is scattered across markets. The biggest example is US government bonds. It is little surprise that they pushed higher in price last week after Trump revealed his plans — increased demand for haven assets such as Treasuries, albeit with a slow start in this instance, is par for the course in a shock.
The surprise, and the alarming bit, is that they reversed course and fell pretty heavily on Friday afternoon. This suggests investors are dumping what they can sell, not necessarily what they want to sell, to try to plug leaks elsewhere in their portfolios. The same goes for gold. Everyone loves gold in a crisis. But its price fell sharply in the final hours of last week — another sign that investors are selling the good stuff to make up for the horror show elsewhere.
…
“American exceptionalism — a higher dollar, weaker bonds and US stocks beating the rest of the world — was hard-baked in to hedge funds’ strategies at the start of this year and still in the process of being unwound when Trump delivered his beloved global tariff strategy, penguins and all.”
Financial gamblers bet wrong and are losing money.
Sounds to me like a case for bailouts.
Powell quietly made a hawkish pivot, says leading Fed watcher
Last Updated: April 7, 2025 at 7:27 a.m. ET
First Published: April 7, 2025 at 4:11 a.m. ET
Jerome Powell made a hawkish pivot, one Fed observer says.
Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made a hawkish pivot on Friday that few have picked up on, according to one close watcher of the central bank.
Tim Duy, the chief U.S. economist for SGH Macro Advisors, made the comments as Fed funds futures now are increasingly pointing to rate cuts from the U.S. central bank.
…
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/powell-quietly-made-a-hawkish-pivot-says-leading-fed-watcher-14ba9d78
These guys actually thought 47 was bluffing. Even I know that he wasn’t. All those Dems who said he was out for “retribution?” They were right.
All those Dems who said he was out for “retribution?”
That’s not what this is.
Do you stay up at nights worrying about self reinforcing doom loops?
Do you lay awake nights worrying about what dumb rhetorical questions to ask so as to create doubt about things to which you but do not want to actually verbalize?
Financial Times – Tariffs spark US junk bond sell-off as recession risk mounts.
Corporate credit is ‘the canary in the coal mine’ for a faltering economy, analysts warn.
https://archive.is/VqA12
Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff blitz has sparked the biggest sell-off in the US junk bond market since 2020, signalling growing angst among investors that an economic slowdown will hit corporate America.
The premium investors demand to hold speculative-rated corporate debt compared to that offered by US government bonds — a proxy for default risk — has shot up by 1 percentage point to 4.45 percentage points since Wednesday, ICE BofA data shows. That is the biggest rise since coronavirus triggered widespread lockdowns in 2020.
The sell-off in corporate bonds since Wednesday, when Trump took US tariffs to their highest level in over a century, highlights investors’ worries that the move will hit economic output and raise unemployment, leaving weaker companies struggling to repay their debts, analysts said.
“Credit is obviously a canary in the coal mine,” said Brian Levitt, global market strategist at Invesco. “Credit tends to go first . . . if the economy’s going to roll over, the odds of a recession pick up and then you’re going to see spreads blow out.”
On Friday, JPMorgan slashed its US economic forecasts, predicting a contraction of 0.3 per cent in 2025 — down from an earlier growth estimate of 1.3 per cent. It also said the jobless rate would rise to 5.3 per cent, from 4.2 per cent in March.
Companies in the household goods, retail and automobile parts sectors are among those hardest hit by the rout in lower-rated debt.
[A chart appears here ….]
The pain was most acute in the weakest pockets of the high-yield market; the average spread on debt rated triple-C and below topped 10 percentage points for the first time in roughly eight months.
“The junkiest of the junk stuff [is] underperforming,” said Eric Winograd, chief economist at AllianceBernstein.
Lower-rated companies “have weaker credit fundamentals”, said Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo — they are likely to book weaker earnings and find it harder to cover their debt servicing costs.
“They simply don’t have the buffer for the shock that is coming,” Slok said. “If the economy is slowing down, [they] will of course be more vulnerable.”
Retailers and carmakers with overseas supply chains were among the sectors facing the most pressure, said analysts, who also highlighted energy companies.
Brent Olson and Tim Winstone, portfolio managers at Janus Henderson, pointed to a high-yield bond issued last month by online retailer Wayfair, which relies heavily on China and Vietnam for product supply. The yield of the bond, which matures in 2030, has jumped from roughly 8 per cent to about 10 per cent in recent days. Wayfair declined to comment.
Another investor highlighted arts and crafts store Michael’s and office supplies company Staples. Low-rated debt issued by both names has come under pressure since Wednesday. JPMorgan analysts noted that an estimated 60 per cent of Michael’s goods originated from China or other countries in south-east Asia which are now facing hefty tariffs.
A portfolio manager described a 2029 Saks bond as a “big, liquid, stressed bond” and a “good proxy” for pain points in the market. The department store group’s bond yield moved from less than 17 per cent to more than 19 per cent between Wednesday and Friday.
“We got more than a worst-case scenario” from the White House this week, said John McClain, credit portfolio manager at Brandywine Global Investment Management. “You have uncertainty and you have escalation and that is continuing to lead to a wholesale repricing of risk.”
“Another worrying way covid jabs can provoke cancer”.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/another-link-between-covid-jabs-and-cancer-add-it-to-the-list/
“A new peer-reviewed study links the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines to long-term changes in genetic structures that can provoke an inflammatory response, and lead to the onset of cancer and autoimmune disorders.
The study by 19 German scientists was published last week in Molecular Systems Biology. The researchers said their findings may account for ‘post-vaccination inflammatory diseases which occur in a small number of vaccinated individuals.’
Journalist Alex Berenson said the study shows that mRNA vaccines can alter human chromosomes in ways linked to leukaemia and brain tumours. This occurs when the mRNA vaccines ‘train’ immune cells to sustain a pro-inflammatory immune response.”
100% safe and effective.
WSJ – The Stock Market’s Fear Gauges Point to a Bounce, Not a Bottom.
The ingredients are in place for a ‘sucker’s rally’ in stocks.
https://archive.ph/D5rRn
The Center Square – CA fails audit of federal programs, 66% of COVID unemployment benefits in question.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/california/article_4eacec87-62d6-4b22-862c-7db35416a19e.html
California did not materially comply with the requirements for seven of the 22 federal programs the state auditor examined, including “pervasive” noncompliance in its unemployment benefits program, which could put essential federal funding at risk.
“This report concludes that the State did not materially comply with certain requirements for seven of the 22 federal programs or clusters of programs (federal programs) MGO audited, including one program for which the noncompliance was pervasive,” wrote Deputy State Auditor Linus Li. “Additionally, although MGO concluded that the State materially complied with requirements for the remaining federal programs it audited, the State continues to experience certain deficiencies in its accounting and administrative practices that affect its internal controls over compliance with federal requirements.”
The audit found that even in 2023 — years after the state made $55 billion in fraudulent COVID lockdown-era benefits payments — the state likely made “potentially ineligible payments” of nearly $200 million. The audit also found that of 138 pandemic unemployment assistance claimants that were tested, 91, or 66%, had verification issues.
“While Gavin Newsom chases the national spotlight, Californians are left with an administration that can’t accomplish the basic functions of government,” said California State Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher to The Center Square. “The federal government is right to take a look at this spending and decide if it’s appropriate to keep throwing resources at an administration that treats it like Monopoly money.”
Last year, the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office said the state’s unemployment fund runs a structural deficit of $2 billion per year, beyond the $20 billion debt and $1 billion in annual interest payments to the federal government. Because the unemployment fund is paid for by payroll taxes on employers and their employees, the LAO said payroll taxes would need to rise from $42 per employee making $46,800 or more per year, to $889.20, or over 21 times higher than the existing base payroll tax.
[This is a very interesting and informative article but it is way too long to be fully posted on Ben’s blog.]
Fortune – Thousands of North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500—and they keep getting hired for more jobs.
https://archive.ph/lnPar#selection-669.0-669.111
The stoned kid does everything short of saying I’m here because they are paying me. 🙂
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
The problem is the puppetmasters, not the puppets, as the latter have no idea why they are even there
From Rudy W. Giuliani
10:35 AM · Apr 6, 2025
·
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1908891272435408961
There has been a protest on Saturday in front of the Tesla dealer in my little burg for the past few weeks, usually a few dozen little feet stampers.
This weekend there were hundreds of “protestors”, waving the mass produced “hands off” signs. My first thought was “I wonder how much they were paid to show up?” I also suspect they were bused in from Dumver.
Soros paychecks.
“Mom and Pop housing providers are quitting. They feel targeted in this bill,”
Yep. Wipe them all out so the PigMen can scoop up all the marbles and you can rent from them, forever. Just like 2008 and 2020.
A relative in North Carolina lives in a neighborhood where the pig men have been snapping up shacks. He says it’s easy to tell which ones they are, because they all look run down. He says about a third of the houses on his street are now rentals.
World rushes to negotiating table as Trump tariffs shake global markets
Asian markets took a huge plunge Monday as US futures pointed to significant losses on Wall Street over Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs, even as countries sought compromise with the defiant president.
Trump denied Sunday he was intentionally engineering a selloff and insisted he could not foresee market reactions, saying he would not make a deal with other countries unless trade deficits were solved.
“Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said of the market pain that has seen trillions of dollars wiped off the value of US companies since the beginning of his tariff rampage.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he added that he had sought to resolve the issue with world leaders over the weekend, claiming “they’re dying to make a deal”.
“Some day people will realize that Tariffs, for the United States of America, are a very beautiful thing!” Trump wrote on Truth social Sunday.
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20250407-world-rushes-to-negotiating-table-as-trump-tariffs-shake-world-markets
Japan’s Ishiba Aims to Visit US to Pitch Broad Tariff Deal
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he would go to the US as soon as possible to pitch a wide-ranging deal with President Donald Trump over tariffs.
Over the weekend, Ishiba said Japan’s approach to resolve the crisis over tariffs could include proposals over liquefied natural gas, cars, agriculture and national security, according to local media.
During a summit with Trump in February, Ishiba promised to buy more LNG from the US and raise Japan’s investments into the US to $1 trillion. Ishiba and other top officials have repeatedly touted Japan’s standing as the biggest investor in the US, including factories built by Japanese automakers that have created jobs for Americans.
Concerns about the global trade war weighed heavily on Japanese stocks in early trading Monday, after futures trading was suspended earlier as a circuit breaker was triggered due to a glut of sell orders.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-ishiba-aims-broad-deal-000741669.html
“Over the weekend, Ishiba said Japan’s approach to resolve the crisis over tariffs could include proposals over liquefied natural gas, cars, agriculture and national security, according to local media.”
The Chinese haven’t forgotten the Nanjing Massacre. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is in no position to negotiate anything, so he’ll be limited to, “Yes Sir” and “No Sir.”
We protected this island and Germany since we ‘won’ the last war. It’s all on the table.
‘A real sense of betrayal’ among workers as Stellantis plans to idle Windsor, Ont., plant due to tariffs
Automaker Stellantis has confirmed it’s shutting down its assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., for two weeks, largely because of U.S. tariffs on imported vehicles.
Company spokesperson LouAnn Gosselin said they’re “temporarily pausing production” starting Monday, with operations set to resume the week of April 21.
The union’s Local 444 first announced the Windsor shutdown Wednesday night, adding more changes to the schedule were “expected in the coming weeks.”
President James Stewart called the border auto tax “unjustified” and said “there is a real sense of betrayal” among local Stellantis workers and the community.
“We know it is not the people in the United States — it is their government,” Stewart told CBC News.
“We are a border town. For us it is a little more personal.”
According to Stewart, he’s unsure if the planned work stoppage could last longer than what he’s been told. “It is hard to know,” he said.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-assembly-plant-stellantis-down-pacifica-1.7500644
Elbows up Jim.
“We know it is not the people in the United States — it is their government,”
We voted for this.
You could have gone after the drug labs. Oh sorry, your government could have.
Given what 47 has been saying, I don’t think it would have mattered. Even if they sealed up the border tight, they still would have been tariffed — well maybe not as much.
Automaker Stellantis has confirmed it’s shutting down its assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., for two weeks, largely because of U.S. tariffs on imported vehicles.
Stellantis dealers are overflowing with Dodge/RAM/Chrysler/Jeep product, which are insanely priced. They have months and moths of inventory on their lots and I’ll bet Stellantis has many more stashed away. I’ll bet that Windsor plant could be idle for six months and no one kicking tires at a dealership would notice.
After Trump, EU seeks zero tariff from India on car imports, sources say
The European Union wants India to eliminate tariffs on car imports under a long-pending trade deal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is willing to sweeten its current proposal to seal the talks, sources told Reuters.
India is open to the phased reduction of tariffs to 10% from more than 100%, two industry sources and a government official said. That is despite industry lobbying for India to retain at least a 30% tariff even if it starts reducing the levy, and also not tinker with import duties on EVs for four more years to protect domestic players.
“EU has come back asking for a better deal and India wants to make a better offer,” said one of the industry sources.
India’s 4 million-unit-a-year car market is one of the most protected in the world and domestic carmakers have argued sharp tariff cuts would wipe out investment in local manufacturing by making imports cheaper.
Companies such as Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have especially lobbied against lowering import tariffs on EVs, saying it would hurt a sector in which they have invested heavily and in which they plan to pump more money.
Similar to its proposal to the U.S., India’s auto industry has proposed an immediate reduction of tariffs on a limited number of petrol cars to 70% from more than 100% and then carrying out cuts in phases to 30%. On EVs, carmakers want no tariff cuts until 2029 followed by a phased reduction on limited imports to 30%, the sources said.
António Costa, president of the European Council, said last week on social media platform X that it was time to “decisively advance in negotiations with India”.
“If the EU is now feeling pressure to strike a deal with India we need to see how we can capitalise on that. It’s all about leverage,” said the first industry source.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-after-trump-eu-seeks-zero-tariff-from-india-on-car-imports-sources-say-093320170.html
‘Similar to its proposal to the U.S., India’s auto industry has proposed an immediate reduction of tariffs on a limited number of petrol cars to 70% from more than 100% and then carrying out cuts in phases to 30%’
Nobody accuses India of betrayal with their 100% tariffs.
UAW President Shawn Fain explains why he supports Trump’s tariffs
President Trump’s announcements on tariffs have dismayed many of his erstwhile supporters on Wall Street. The suddenness — and steepness — of the tariffs announced last Wednesday prompted some global manufacturers to pause shipments to the U.S., and led economists to raise the odds of recession.
But an earlier set of tariffs still has the support of Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers.
For Fain, tariffs address a historic wrong. “We’ve sat here for the last 30 plus years, with the inception of [the North American Free Trade Agreement] back in 1993-94, and watched our manufacturing base in this country disappear,” he said.
“You know, half of Americans don’t even have stock,” he said. (Some estimates say well over half of Americans own some stock.)
“Sixty percent of Americans have no retirement savings,” he said. “So when I hear all the crying about the stock market, this is just Wall Street. They’re people that are already rich, and at the end of the day, most working class people are trying to survive right now. And it’s infuriating that our livelihoods have been stripped from us for decades and no one’s cared.”
Fain nonetheless acknowledged that he sees tariffs as a way to prevent exceptionally low prices driven by cheap labor: “The point of tariffs is to eliminate the race to the bottom where we’re exploiting people.”
Fain rejected Wall Street warnings of a recession, including one by a JP Morgan economist.
“Where was JPMorgan, all these people, when the companies were jacking up prices and price gouging the last three and four years?” he said. “Where was their outcry then? As long as the stock market’s doing good, that’s all they care about.”
“The sad reality of this is [the idea that] it’s a bad thing that we put manufacturing back in this country because labor is expensive. That is pathetic. I believe it was one of the former presidents [who] said, I pity the businessman that wants to make a coat so cheap that the person making the coat will starve in the process. I mean, that is sad,” Fain said.
https://www.knkx.org/2025-04-07/uaw-president-shawn-fain-explains-why-he-supports-trumps-tariffs
“it’s infuriating that our livelihoods have been stripped from us for decades and no one’s cared”
At the time of its passage, NAFTA was hailed as a “bipartisan” success. Ross Perot was right.
Parasite Class are vermin.
‘We’re not friends’: Canadian union leaders call out American counterparts for supporting Trump’s auto tariffs
Union leaders representing auto workers across Ontario are condemning the stand taken by their American counterparts in support of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the vehicle industry, which have already led to layoffs in the sector.
The United Auto Workers union has, for months, strongly supported Mr. Trump’s tariff plan, arguing that it will bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States that were lost over the past three decades following the enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994.
“To see UAW leadership talking about the importance of jobs coming back to the U.S., knowing that Canadian auto workers will be massively impacted, is a betrayal of the solidarity we had as auto unions,” said John D’Agnolo, president of Unifor Local 200 in Windsor, which represents more than 2,000 auto workers at Ford Motor Co.’s two engine plants in the border town.
Mr. D’Agnolo told The Globe and Mail that UAW president Shawn Fain’s position on tariffs was particularly hurtful given that his local and members of the UAW worked closely together in 2023 when both were renegotiating their respective collective agreements with Ford. “Their entire bargaining committee came to Windsor. We helped each throughout bargaining and we both wanted to make sure all our workers were getting a fair deal. That relationship is now blown up.”
Mr. Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement on Wednesday featured former and current auto workers, including 20 UAW members from Michigan. “They really suffered gravely,” Mr. Trump said of his auto worker supporters, before railing on about the “foreign cheaters” who had “stolen” American jobs.
One of the UAW members present at the White House event on Thursday was Chris Vitale, a former Stellantis employee and third-generation auto worker. He told The Detroit News that his Detroit-area community was hollowed out by free trade so badly that he was glad to see a “powerful man” like Mr. Trump impose tariffs on the rest of the world. Mr. Vitale went on to add that he was not concerned about the job losses tariffs could bring to the American auto sector.
“When you see American auto workers supporting this, you have to ask: are they going to really feel this way when the entire industry ultimately shuts down and the job losses hit them hard and fast? Because that will happen,” said James Stewart, president of Unifor Local 444, representing almost 4,000 employees at the Stellantis plant in Windsor.
Mr. Stewart called UAW’s position on the tariffs a “short-sighted viewpoint,” saying it did not acknowledge how 30 years of free trade had fundamentally changed how American cars were made in the region. Auto parts and unfinished cars move across the Canada-U.S.-Mexico border multiple times before turning into a finished car for sale.
“At one point, Unifor and the UAW were aligned with our messaging on free trade not being good for workers. But the system has changed, and today there is not a vehicle in the U.S. that is 100 per cent American-made. It’s virtually impossible to undo that now.”
But a not-insignificant number of American auto workers believe that tariffs will bring back the glory days of the Michigan auto industry because of what their union leaders and Mr. Trump are saying, Mr. Stewart noted.
In Brampton, Ont., Vito Beato, president of Unifor Local 1285, which represents 3,000 auto workers, has spent the last two months reassuring his members that they will not permanently lose their jobs. But he acknowledges they are in a vulnerable position: the Stellantis factory in Brampton has been closed for electric vehicle retooling since January, 2024, and is expected to resume operations at the end of this year. Mr. Beato thinks that could be pushed back to the end of 2026.
“Right now, UAW and us, we’re not friends. The gloves are off as far as I’m concerned.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-were-not-friends-canadian-union-leaders-call-out-american-counterparts/
Elbows up Vito.
We’re not friends’: Canadian union leaders call out American counterparts for supporting Trump’s auto tariffs
So if I do what is best for me and my fellow union members, we are all of a sudden are not your friends? Ok, if you say so..
We’re not friends
Friendship has a price sometimes.
Federal probationary workers left in limbo amid legal challenges to mass firings
Probationary workers were among the first victims of President Trump’s second-term efforts to downsize the federal government. Mass firings across the federal government targeted thousands of them, but legal challenges over their termination have left them in an uneasy employment limbo after a pair of court rulings that cover employees at 20 agencies.
Isabel Dziak, 30, is among U.S. Forest Service workers in Juneau, Alaska, who were laid off in February. She served as a lead ranger at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, a role that not only educates tourists but handles any medical emergencies and park safety. The park serves 25,000 visitors a day in peak season, according to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, with the first cruise ships of the year set to arrive next week.
Dziak said her team was gutted during government-wide probationary layoffs, and she was among the casualties because she was still in a probationary period, thanks to a promotion in 2023. She lost what she described as her dream job.
“I really showed up to my job every day, loving it and wanting to do the best and worked really hard to make a career for myself,” Dziak said. “Having it stolen in such an illegal way is just unfathomable.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/federal-probationary-workers-left-in-limbo-amid-legal-challenges-to-mass-firings/ar-AA1ClWGR
Having it stolen in such an illegal way
You’re still dreamin Isabel.
Is there really a forest on the glacier?
“Stolen”
These people should listen to themselves.
“she was still in a probationary period, thanks to a promotion in 2023.”
I’m still trying to figure this out. You’re on probation only when you enter FedGov for the first time. If you change agencies or get a promotion, you don’t start over. You can “reinstate;” that is, you apply the years in your previous position to your new position so that you already pass out of the probationary period. You do this even if you change agencies, or even if you shift from military to civil gov.
I’m wondering if DOGE didn’t account for reinstatement, in which case they would call back the promo employees.
The Chinese Exclusion Act lasted for 60 years. A refugee ban and impending travel ban echo the same tune
The Northern Nevada International Center, or NNIC, started its refugee resettlement program in 2016 at the tail end of the Obama administration.
Carina Black, an immigrant herself, is the founder and executive director of NNIC. Her organization has resettled around 1,100 refugees in Northern Nevada. Most of them are fleeing violence, persecution and war in their home countries.
“I have a mother from the Congo whose nieces were scattered into other countries for years due to violent shootings in their home village,” Black said, “until they all came back together again and got the golden ticket to be resettled to the United States.”
For Black, helping these refugees is at the core of the NNIC’s work. But its work has been halted since the Trump administration implemented an indefinite ban on refugee resettlement in January, leaving tens of thousands of refugees unable to enter the country.
A small number of these refugees will be flagged by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as of special interest to the United States. Then, their cases will be moved to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, where they undergo a rigorous 18 to 36-month background check, including security screenings and interviews.
If approved, they will be granted asylum in the U.S.
They will then be flown into the country with a plane ticket, which they eventually have to pay back, and assigned to resettlement agencies in the United States. That is where Carina Black and the Northern Nevada International Center come in.
“ It’s the right of every individual to enter another country and say, ‘I am in danger of being persecuted in my country, and you need to give me asylum,’” Black said.
By January of this year, the NNIC had welcomed around 90 refugees into Reno.
“Then Trump announced there will be a 90-day pause on resettlement. So that’s actual refugees and asylees that will present themselves at the border,” Black said.
Alongside the ban on any new refugee resettlement, Trump implemented a funding freeze for all resettlement organizations. This has crippled the NNIC, leaving refugees in northern Nevadan in limbo and causing crushing impacts on jobs in the refugee sector.
“ We’re all part of a universal humanity. At what point did we determine that you matter to me because you’re my skin color, and that person over there has zero value to us?” questioned Carina Black, executive director of the NNIC.
https://sierranevadaally.org/2025/04/06/the-chinese-exclusion-act-lasted-for-60-years-a-refugee-ban-and-impending-travel-ban-echo-the-same-tune/
crushing impacts on jobs in the refugee sector.
It’s a business.
“ It’s the right of every individual to enter another country and say, ‘I am in danger of being persecuted in my country, and you need to give me asylum,’” Black said.
Why don’t they seek asylum in South Africa? After all, we gringos are raycis. Why would you want to come here? … What did you say? … You want to join the free sh!t army? Sorry, there’s no vacancy.
West’s Achilles Heel – UK’s biggest challenge in dealing with migration
It began, predictably, with paperwork. In March 2025, a South Florida legal assistant was charged for allegedly fabricating asylum claims on an industrial scale. Dozens of applicants, each armed with carbon-copy tales of gang rape, religious persecution, and state violence – all of it allegedly invented. The applications were polished, persuasive, and are alleged to be profoundly false. This wasn’t an anomaly. In Illinois, a man impersonated a lawyer and submitted forged documents to support asylum petitions. Some of those claims advanced to hearings before anyone noticed the fraud.
In 2024, the United States recorded a backlog of over 261,000 asylum applications, many from individuals who overstayed tourist or student visas and filed asylum claims as a final-hour shield. The mechanics are predictable: cite credible fear, enter the system, and stay – sometimes indefinitely.
North of the border, the story scales up. In Canada, more than 14,000 international students filed asylum claims in 2024. Internal reviews flagged over 9,000 of those monthly claims as potentially fraudulent. A growing ecosystem of migration agents now advises clients to delete social media, invent religious conversions, and tailor their stories to match high-approval templates.
In the UK, the situation is equally troubling. In early 2025, viral videos showed young men boasting about faking Eritrean nationality to access asylum protections. One group posted TikToks instructing others on how to answer Home Office interviews, emphasising the use of key trigger phrases. In another case, a Sikh family was charged after being suspected of posing as Afghans.
The trend isn’t isolated to a handful of bad actors. It’s systemic. Across NGOs, legal aid circles, and activist law firms, a new cottage industry has emerged. Its business model: scripting trauma. Sexual violence. Religious persecution. Honour-based threats. Every detail is stage-managed. Every line designed to bypass scepticism.
Britain’s immigration system, already overwhelmed, is ill-equipped to counter it. Seventy-two percent of UK asylum seekers in 2023 had yet to receive a decision after six months. The longer the wait, the stronger the chance of gaining leave to remain – either through backlogged tribunals, delayed appeals, or on humanitarian grounds. Delay, in effect, becomes strategy.
Meanwhile, in Sweden, forensic testing found that more than 80% of asylum seekers to the country were aged over 18 amid fears that some applicants are giving the incorrect age.
The UK has explored dental X-rays and bone scans as tools for age verification, but critics have stalled their adoption. Until then, a simple claim to childhood remains a shortcut to special protections, housing, and fast-tracked processes. This is not asylum. It’s performance. And increasingly, it’s lucrative.
Legal firms with high approval rates advertise discreetly on Telegram and TikTok. Traffickers post walkthroughs – how to act distressed, how to time tears. The system, built on moral trust, now relies on paper-thin verification in a digital age defined by deception.
Western states are responding. Australia is restructuring its asylum system. Canada is re-evaluating post-study visa eligibility. The UK is reviewing its legal aid framework and pushing for faster processing. But none of this addresses the central dilemma: a system built on trust has been gamed by bad faith.
Asylum is not a loophole. It is a solemn obligation – a moral covenant made in the name of conscience. But it cannot survive if belief is automatic and scrutiny taboo.
To rescue the institution, we must restore discernment. Not suspicion by default – but trust by verification. Humanitarianism does not require naivety. It requires standards.
Because the fake tears economy doesn’t just clog a system.
It corrodes the very idea of refuge.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/wests-achilles-heel-uks-biggest-challenge-in-dealing-with-migration/ar-AA1CrfMn
Western states are responding. Australia is restructuring its asylum system. Canada is re-evaluating post-study visa eligibility. The UK is reviewing its legal aid framework and pushing for faster processing. But none of this addresses the central dilemma: a system built on trust has been gamed by bad faith.
The only thing that will work is to clear the board, rejecting all applications, sending everyone home and starting over, with very limited numbers granted.
Why the Ultrarich Are Unplugging From “Smart Homes”
Cutting-edge technology was once a de rigueur residential amenity for any eight-figure listing, along with elaborate home gyms, zero-edge swimming pools and 12-car garages. It’s becoming nearly impossible to find a fridge, toaster or LED light that isn’t Wi-Fi-enabled or voice-activated. But the fully loaded tech compound is suddenly falling from favor as high-end homeowners frantically reset the password to escape the $100 billion home-automation industry.
While celebrities like Sofía Vergara were once the smart home’s most vocal advocates — the Modern Family actress gushed about how she controlled her home’s security, appliance and media systems from her phone — the honeymoon period with digital domiciles is now facing the reality of unintelligible interfaces, endless updates and forgotten passwords.
“They could not find a single light switch in the entire home,” says Beverly Hills-based interior designer Carrie Livingston about a sprawling penthouse she was hired to renovate. Her clients had inherited the previous owner’s Crestron automation system, which controlled all overhead, wall and table lighting in response to movement within rooms. “The wife complained that every time she got up at night, her husband would see her path illuminated as she made her way from bed to bathroom,” says Livingston, who has worked with clients including Ralph Lauren, Gwyneth Paltrow and Dasha Zhukova.
“Other times, she’d enter a darkened room where the lights wouldn’t go on no matter how much she flapped her arms.” Result: Livingston took out the entire system and installed manual switches throughout, an intricate overhaul that cost more than $100,000. Similarly, interior decorator James Bush recounts a recent renovation involving “a kitchen with a built-in dining table that rises and lowers from counter to dining height with hydraulics. But to do so, you need a passcode. Otherwise, the table will not move.”
Enter the dumb home. “We’ve witnessed a surge in interest for low-tech and no-tech homes,” says Compass real estate agent Matt Witek. “Buyers are seeking homes that offer self-sufficiency, resilience and a retreat from tech-driven lifestyles.” Among his current listings is an off-the-grid newly built Los Angeles home that ditches all smart systems in favor of strategic solar alignment for passive heating and cooling as well as earth-bermed walls for natural temperature regulation. Low-tech, non-automated features also have become a selling point among storied Hollywood homes such as a newly listed, $14.5 million Santa Monica Canyon compound featuring a two-story guest house that was once an original barn from the Leo Carrillo estate.
Homebuyers increasingly seek a refuge from digital overload. “Once upon a time, attracting a high-end buyer meant flat-screens in almost every room, including outdoor areas. In today’s overly automated market, however, too much tech can be a massive turnoff,” says Pacific Sotheby’s real estate agent Gillian Flynn, who recently sold a 1912 Craftsman cottage in Cardiff-by-the Sea, a quiet beach town in North County San Diego that has attracted homeowners like Emily Ratajkowski, Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman and pro surfer Rob Machado. “We staged the home with zero TVs. Right now, the very top of the market values things like outdoor showers, sunset views and original architectural elements, not voice-activated AC systems,” says Bush. “In building a home, we always look at something that’s going to last beyond us — not that is going to become technically obsolete in seven years.”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/real-estate/tech-free-homes-luxury-trend-1236177909/
‘Other times, she’d enter a darkened room where the lights wouldn’t go on no matter how much she flapped her arms’
I payed extra for this, I said once as rain poured in my leaking sun roof.
The beauty of manual switches is that if one breaks you can go into any hardware store and purchase a 100% compatible replacement for under $3. If one of the smart switches fails you will have to buy the replacement from the manufacturer/dealer, assuming they are still around, and it will cost a pretty penny.
the honeymoon period with digital domiciles is now facing the reality of unintelligible interfaces, endless updates and forgotten passwords
And buggy code. All this stuff is written in a hurry and poorly tested.
Our 15 year old dishwasher gave up the ghost. So we shopped around. I’d say about half of the models offered have some sort of wi-fi interface, and many features cannot be accessed without the app.
And the prices! No frills, base models are $800-900. I would say the average price is about $1300, but you can spend a lot more than that.
about half of the models offered have some sort of wi-fi interface
Washing machines too. I don’t want electronic bell and whistles that’ll ultimately fail. I want to soak for longer than 15 minutes and have the right amount of detergent for the load dispensed automatically.
Trump Threatens Additional 50 Percent Tariff in Ultimatum to China
President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to impose an additional 50 percent tariff on China if Beijing does not withdraw its retaliatory measures on U.S. goods.
In an April 7 Truth Social post, the president said the Chinese communist regime will have until April 8 to reverse its decision. If China fails to comply, Trump will implement the new tariffs on April 9.
Last week, China announced 34 percent retaliatory tariffs and other trade measures in response to the administration’s April 2 reciprocal tariffs. Trump warned China not to retaliate against the United States because it “will be immediately met with new and substantially higher tariffs, over and above those initially set.”
He added that talks between the United States and China will be terminated if China doesn’t drop its new tariff.
“Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately,” Trump said.
The Trump administration’s 34 percent reciprocal tariffs, which cover currency manipulation, industrial subsidies, and other trade practices, are on top of the 20 percent levies on Chinese products entering the United States. This brings the total to 54 percent, impacting nearly $600 billion in trade.
Beijing responded to these actions in a flurry of actions, including tightening export controls on several different types of rare earth minerals and adding U.S. firms to its “Unreliable Entity List,” a mechanism created by the Chinese regime to target institutions and individuals considered a threat to China’s national security and economic development.
In a weekend statement, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it is prepared to “open its doors wider” to global trading partners.
“There will likely be some rally attempts on hopes for tariff rollbacks and/or negotiations with trade partners,” John Belton, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, said in a note to The Epoch Times. “Unfortunately, we are of the view that the bigger picture is very clear: tariffs are here to stay and will be much higher than they’ve been in decades. The market has to learn how to deal with this new reality.”
Trump also said that countries are reaching out to the United States to begin negotiations, with Japan sending a “top team” to discuss trade policy.
“Tough but fair parameters are being set,” he said. “It all has to change, but especially with China!”
He also urged the public not to panic.
Writing on social media platform X, Trump stated that the United States “has a chance to do something” about trade that should have occurred decades ago.
“Don’t be weak! Don’t be stupid! Don’t be a Panican,” he said, noting that “Panican” is his term for a new political party that is comprised of “weak and stupid people.”
“Be strong, courageous, and patient, and greatness will be the result!” he added.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-threatens-additional-50-percent-tariff-in-ultimatum-to-china-5838035
Did you miss the chance to buy the dip?
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. companies say retailers turning away their products
TORONTO/NEW YORK — The “Buy Canadian” movement is sending new ripples of concern through the executive offices of U.S.-based consumer companies that banked on selling their products on Canadian retail shelves.
California-based diaper maker Parasol Co had been working since January with a distributor to expand the sale of its diapers and baby wipes to new retailers in Canada, including convenience stores, CEO Jessica Hung said.
But, in early March the distributor, who Hung declined to name, halted work on the deal, she said, because of growing anti-American sentiment in Canada.
“They were instructed by a retailer to pause any American brand launch,” Hung said, referring to the distributor. “They told us they would re-evaluate when market conditions allow.”
“That’s the kind of disruption we would never expect,” said Hung. “I never heard of this happening until now. It’s definitely quite a bit of headwinds.”
A dramatic reshuffling of Canada’s retail shelves illustrates the impact of patriotic consumerism in Canada, which imported nearly $350 billion of products from the United States in 2024, making it its largest trading partner.
Parasol, which sells its products primarily online and at Target stores in the U.S., was working on labeling its packages in French for Canadian shoppers, Hung said. She added that she had already begun making decisions about which specific products would be part of the now-scrapped Canada distribution agreement.
Shopper Rebecca Asselin, a mom and health insurance professional from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, has been using social media to share her story about her search for Canadian products.
She told Reuters she recently switched to purchasing Royale diapers, made by Irving Personal Care of Moncton, New Brunswick, one of the only manufacturers of baby diapers and training pants in Canada. “I never really considered before where diapers were made, but apparently, Canadian-made diapers are kind of hard to come by. That’s a big change for us.”
Irving Personal Care said retailers from all over Canada have been reaching out to discuss increasing distribution.
“As the only branded baby diaper made in Canada, our weekly shipments have quadrupled,” Jason McAllister, Irving Personal Care’s vice president of business operations, told Reuters.
Demeter Fragrances, a small family-owned and operated business that manufactures perfumes in Pennsylvania, said it halted its plan to expand into Canada in 2025. “Canadian sentiment has turned away from American product,” said Mark Crames, Demeter Fragrances’ chief executive officer. “Consequently, it seems like a wasted effort and, we simply scrapped the initiative.”
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/article/as-buy-canadian-grows-more-us-companies-say-retailers-turning-away-their-products/