Who Is Going To Pay The Mortgage?
A report from WWSB in Florida. “There are only 46 days until hurricane season begins but for Laurel Meadows, they are still recovering from the last one. Dozens of residents remain displaced as they work to rebuild their homes or seek help. One question they had was if they would receive any of the over $210 million disaster recovery funds given to Sarasota County by the federal government. ABC7 spoke with Resilient SRQ to find that out. Steve Hyatt explained that they are working on a proposal. ‘They require us to prioritize the funds primarily for low to moderate income households,’ said Hyatt. That’s something that has upset many Laurel Meadows residents, who are considered higher income, however, have blew through their savings, retirement funds, and credit cards, to rebuild and start over.”
“‘You’re not worthy of a $50,000 grant even though you lost $300,000 between your structure and your personal? We’re not worthy?’ asked Valvo. Valvo said she does not think there will be any money left for the struggling community. She added that even if there was, the building process and materials would be under certain government requirements, meaning their homes would not reach equity value. She said they will never get back what they lost.”
The Oregonian. “A judge has declined to bar the transfer of Block 216 after a contentious hearing, clearing the way for the lender to take control of the downtown Portland high-rise. The business lender Ready Capital had suggested the buildings’ owners — businesses tied to BPM Real Estate Group, led by prominent local developer Walter Bowen — were prepared to hand over the deed to avoid a potentially messy foreclosure. Ready Capital holds a construction loan on the property it values at $510 million with principal and interest. But a smaller lender, Broadway EB-5 Fund, sued to halt the deed-in-lieu transfer, claiming it would wipe out the fund’s ‘rights and interests’ in the project. Broadway had issued a $49 million loan to help build Block 216. In the court hearing last week, an attorney for Ready Capital emphasized the building is ‘completely underwater.’ Ready Capital said in court documents that appraisals completed after Block 216 opened valued the building at $425 million — or $85 million short of even the construction loan. ‘There’s no money to repay anyone,’ the Ready Capital attorney, Jean-Marie Atamian, said during the April 9 hearing in New York Supreme Court.”
“‘That’s why the plaintiff’s interest has no value, not because of anything the defendants have done here. All of the investors here have lost money,’ Atamian said, including Bowen, who put in money of his own and ‘has been brought down to a very low level’ by the troubled project. Atamian acknowledged Bowen wasn’t his client but went on to say: ‘Whether he’s able to pick himself up from these losses that he has suffered as a developer in Portland remains to be seen, but he has suffered massively from this project.’ Funding for the project also included ‘opportunity zone’ investments, which offered investors breaks on capital gains taxes on top of any return from the project, to bring to fruition what court documents described as a project that cost $650 million, opening in 2023 with condos, offices and Ritz-Carlton hotel rooms.”
The Atlantic. “Speaking to a classroom of students at his alma mater, Boston University’s School of Theology, Martin Mugerwa described how being a chaplain informs his work as a counselor at a mental-health clinic, where he treats people navigating depression, unemployment, and homelessness. But the campus was whirring with talk of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and several international students stayed after class that February evening to ask whether Mugerwa—who is from Uganda—feared that he could be targeted. ‘I’m not worried,’ Mugerwa told them confidently. ‘He’s going after criminals.'”
“Mugerwa told me that his outlook on the new presidency, and how it could alter his own fate, changed the next day. His family and a group of friends stopped to see Niagara Falls on their way to visit one of Mugerwa’s seminary classmates. But they took a wrong turn and ended up on a bridge that led across the Canadian border. Hours later, an official explained that Mugerwa and two others in the group were going to be detained for overstaying their visas, even though they had all applied for asylum and were still waiting for their cases to be decided. Mugerwa turned to his partner and sons, who are 5 years old and 10 months old. ‘I was like, What is going to happen at this point? How is she going to manage?’ he recalled thinking. ‘Who is going to pay the mortgage? My mind was just spinning.’ Five days later, he was in shackles, being booked into a federal detention center in Texas and certain that he would soon be deported. Despite his pending asylum claim, he remains in deportation proceedings; he will have to go before a judge to plead for a chance to stay in the United States.”
From KTAR News. “For years, lawmakers and real estate experts have been saying that Arizona needs to bolster its housing supply to address the growing issue of affordability. Mark Staap, director of Arizona State University’s Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice, notes that commuting costs and location factors also play a pivotal role in determining what homebuyers can truly afford. He also says growth needs to be intentional. ‘If all we ever do is build houses without creating the social and cultural infrastructure to support them, we are not building strong, resilient communities,’ Staap said. ‘We are merely creating commodities.'”
“Buckeye saw a year-over-year increase in single-family home inventory for sale of 38% in March, according to data from Phoenix Realtors. The year-over-year single-family home inventory increase in Peoria was 68.4%. ‘What we don’t want to have happen is either haphazard growth or just end up a sea of tile roofs and everyone driving into Phoenix for work,’ Buckeye Mayor Eric Orsborn said. ‘It has to be well thought out.'”
The Los Angeles Times. “Southern California home prices barely rose last month, as would-be buyers weren’t able — or willing — to bid up housing costs much further. ‘The housing market is no longer a seller’s market,’ said Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist with Zillow. At the same time, would-be buyers haven’t been as eager to return. Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, said one reason is mortgage rates remain elevated in the high-6% range, drastically limiting what people can purchase compared with the COVID-19 pandemic when rates were less than half that. ‘There is only so much people can afford,’ he said. Weak job growth over the last year in L.A. County has also hurt demand, Green said.”
“Los Angeles-area real estate agent Mark Schlosser said he hasn’t had any clients stop looking to buy because of the economic uncertainty, but he has noticed homes are now sitting on the market longer. ‘There’s some people that are maybe waiting to see [what happens] before they continue shopping,’ he said. By March 2026, Zillow predicts home prices across the L.A.-Orange County metro area will be 2.4% lower than they are today, in large part because of rising inventory.”
Bisnow Washington DC. “The next phase of D.C.’s Capitol Crossing development is being further stalled as its owner says it sees no new demand for the space. The developer of the mixed-use project on Massachusetts Avenue is asking the D.C. Zoning Commission to extend its approvals to start construction on its next office building for two years. The combined ground-floor retail is 50% occupied, it says, ‘even after a $25 million investment by the Applicant to promote and finish out the new retail space.’ ‘Based on these figures, it is clear that there is no demand for new office or retail space at Capitol Crossing at this time,’ the application says.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “When Mr. Trump blurted out the news of a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs on a wide swathe of countries, Toronto home sellers were quick to bombard agents with texts asking whether the reprieve would bring buyers back to the market. The only people not reacting with any speed seem to be the potential buyers, says Victor Tran, a mortgage broker in the Toronto area. ‘The confidence is just not there any more,’ Mr. Tran says. ‘The damage has been done.’ Beata Caranci, chief economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, warns that Canada will need to brace for a long period of economic restructuring. ‘Returning to a place of commitment and trust would be unrealistic,’ she says.”
“In the Greater Toronto Area real estate market, the number buyers are riveted to is the 88.3 per cent surge in active listings in March compared with the same month last year. Sales fell 23.6 per cent in the same period. The average price dipped 2.5 per cent to $1,093,254 in March from March, 2024. That rising inventory – 12 months in a row – has many buyers betting prices have farther to fall. Some agents are bringing offers 20 per cent below the asking price, adds Andre Kutyan, broker with Harvey Kalles Real Estate, despite the fact that detached houses in good neighbourhoods are not trading at 80 per cent of asking. Mr. Kutyan says agents risk alienating the sellers if they push too hard. ‘They’re going to hang onto their asset and you’re going to hang onto your money,’ he says of aggressive buyers and their agents.”
“Mr. Tran, the mortgage broker, is more concerned for the condo segment, where a new wave of listings will likely put downward pressure on prices, he expects. Additional supply is coming in the form of newly completed units, which often end up for sale. In 2025, an estimated 30,793 apartments in 112 buildings will be wrapped up in the Toronto and Hamilton area, according to research firm Urbanation. That inventory comes as many of last year’s record tally of 29,800 new units remain unsold. ‘That will flood the market even more,’ Mr. Tran says. Rents are coming down in the Toronto area, Mr. Tran notes, and tenants who are not happy with their current dwelling may be better off finding a new lease. ‘By the time they close, the condo they purchased could be worth less,’ he says. Now that the units bought five or six years ago are ready, those buyers are facing appraisals coming in far below the purchase price. Some don’t have the money to close, Mr. Tran says, and they may be better off forfeiting their deposit. In that case, the builder may sue. In any case, the damage for many will be long-lasting, he adds. ‘That really messes with people’s retirement plans.'”
ABC News in Australia. “When Andrea Martens set out to build a home to retire to in the Victorian countryside, she imagined enjoying the rural serenity with a home loan almost paid off and her troubles behind her. Five years later, the building is neither a finished home nor an active construction site, but sits in limbo, barely touched after the builder left amid a deepening dispute in December 2020. ‘This is the part of the house that hurts the most: my beautiful kitchen I can’t use,’ Ms Martens said as she stepped into the house on a recent visit. ‘It is heartbreaking to look at it, every time we come out here.'”
“Ms Martens’s allegation, based on an expert report, that there are major defects in her home’s slab, framing and roofing are yet to be tested. A VCAT compensation case the Martens brought in late 2021 has moved so slowly the presiding member recently described its pace as glacial. In the meantime — with rent, a mortgage and legal costs pushing her closer to financial ruin — Ms Martens has appealed to the state government for compensation over what she called the severe negligence of the VBA. One expert estimate said the couple would need to find $670,000 to repair their home, a figure Ms Marten said adds to many tens of thousands of dollars already spent on legal fees and expert reports. Ms Martens described the litigation as a second full-time job, one that comes at a personal cost by day, then keeps her up at night. ‘I can’t get out of it,’ she said. ‘It rules your life.'”
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‘You’re not worthy of a $50,000 grant even though you lost $300,000 between your structure and your personal? We’re not worthy?’ asked Valvo. Valvo said she does not think there will be any money left for the struggling community. She added that even if there was, the building process and materials would be under certain government requirements, meaning their homes would not reach equity value. She said they will never get back what they lost’
I went over this a few times and I couldn’t find Valvo’s full name. What ever it is, get up off yer knees and quit begging Valvo.
“‘You’re not worthy of a $50,000 grant even though you lost $300,000 between your structure and your personal? We’re not worthy?’ asked Valvo.”
As in many things now in the U.S., the issue of bailouts – in general – boils down to using other people’s money (OPM), and as per usual, this is taxpayer’s money. Cruel and heartless? I don’t think so, speaking as a taxpayer. How do you think we got to $36T in debt? What happened to my staunchly independent and self-reliant America? I think we’ve become a nation with an entitlement mentality. Too much free cheese.
“Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.” – Ronald Reagan
“If you want more of something, subsidize it; if you want less of something, tax it.” – Ronald Reagan
Subsidies are a shell game, not a net addition to national wealth. – Thomas Sowell
Government does the least good and the most harm through subsidies. – James Cook
I don’t see how a 16.7% ($50k/$300k) grant is going to make much difference in any case. Need 100% – at today’s costs – to rebuild. That’s becoming a rarity these days…
If the home/loanowner wants to live in an area with known elevated hazards (fire, flood, hurricanes, tornadoes, far-left neighbors, airbnbs, etc.), then they should be 100% responsible for any losses. That includes property insurance. If insurers make it cost prohibitive to obtain said insurance, then there’s probably a good reason for that. This would be self-limiting. No insurance, no mortgage loan, no houses in hazard zones. Like many things, this should be solved in the private sector. Keep .gov out of it. It isn’t rocket science. The recent high inflation now exposes the problem as to who’s swimming naked as the tide goes out.
Sidebar: SFH airbnbs are essentially hotels in a residential zone. They should be – by law – in a commercial zone. STRs are illegal in this case. Also, simply based on the higher risk (i.e. unsupervised party house with no front desk) and incorrect zoning, property insurance should be impossible to obtain. I’m not sure how STR owners get to operate their hotels in resi. zoning, or how they obtain property insurance if they do get city approvals. In either case, it stinks to high heaven. Another example of The Golden Age of Fraud, and there are many today.
Agree 100%
“If the home/loanowner wants to live in an area with known elevated hazards (fire, flood, hurricanes, tornadoes, far-left neighbors, airbnbs, etc.), then they should be 100% responsible for any losses.”
Huge swaths of the Midwest have been built in known flood zones behind levies that require expensive annual maintenance.
Yes and IMO when they flood, they get sparse attention by either the government of the media compared to other “liberally approved” disaster areas. This may change with a new administration.
My view is that STRs should be a local issue. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with STRs in a resort town or beach town. But the party-house mentality is just killing neighborhoods where people actually live and produce.
‘the building is ‘completely underwater’…‘There’s no money to repay anyone’…’All of the investors here have lost money,’ Atamian said, including Bowen, who put in money of his own and ‘has been brought down to a very low level’ by the troubled project…‘Whether he’s able to pick himself up from these losses that he has suffered as a developer in Portland remains to be seen, but he has suffered massively from this project’
I can’t recall one of these E-B5 visa deals that was a success. They are basically guberment approved money laundering operations. That’s probably why they don’t make sense financially. The idea is to get the Chinese money.
UNH down 20% in pre-market. Is today the Black Thursday we’ve all been waiting for?
U.S. markets are closed Friday.
“Is today the Black Thursday we’ve all been waiting for?”
Of course no one knows the future, but stonks are certainly overvalued. IMHO, we’re in another bear market and we’ll likely experience a “lost decade” from here in the U.S. BTW, and again, opinion only, and not investment advice, but it’s hard for me to see a “no recession” scenario from here. Good luck.
“In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” – Benjamin Graham
Unfortunately, the short run has been the past 15 years since the GFC of asset bubbles and animal spirits stoked by extreme interventions from .gov and the Fed in private markets, where they have zero business being. There be dragons (consequences)…
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-this-strategist-is-expecting-a-lost-decade-for-u-s-stocks-even-without-a-recession-f6b17958?mod=home_lead
Why this strategist is expecting a lost decade for U.S. stocks, even without a recession
By Barbara Kollmeyer
Last Updated: April 16, 2025 at 9:41 a.m. ET
First Published: April 16, 2025 at 6:53 a.m. ET
“Our call of the day comes from BCA Research’s macro and geopolitical expert and strategist Marko Papic, who says over a five to 10-year investment horizon, he sees “U.S. assets underperforming in almost any scenario.” So recession or no.”
“From 2020 onward, the U.S. investment case was “effectively built on a house of fiscal cards,” owing to the fact the government “dumped a wheelbarrow of money” on its economy from 2017 to 2024, Papic said. That fiscal stimulus went to consumers and pumped the economy, making the U.S. look again like a great investment story, and then the AI story came in and supported markets, pushing tech from 2022.”
Houses are also overvalued. Thanks to the Fed’s Everything Bubble, aka Central Bank Bubble, the combination of simultaneously falling stonk and housing prices, and excessively high debt loads in both the public and private sectors should be “interesting.”
If prosperity were measured by debt (inversely), we’ve been in recession for a very long time.
From ZeroSludge:
“In Washington, DC, active listings were up 47.5% versus the same period one year ago. Week-over-week, listings rose 3.9.%”
47.5% is that a lot?
“This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush
And those sales might only be due to USAID-type contractors being laid off. There is going to be a LOT more for sale soon:
1. The FedGov retirement machine is ramping up.
2. DOGE sent out another Fork option email to some agencies, and more people are taking the offer.
3. Agencies had to submit RIF and re-org plans in two stages, due in mid-March and mid-April. When OPM approves, look for more RIFs and retirements.
4. The back-to-office paradigm is only starting to ramp up. Union contracts that allowed telework are either expiring or are being yanked entirely. Employees do not like losing their “flexibilities,” especially if they located I predict more retirements and quits as remote workpeople lose their “flexibilities.”
5. Deportations and self-deportations will also take a pretty big chunk out of the DC area, but this may take several years to kick in.
In any case, the damage for many will be long-lasting, he adds. ‘That really messes with people’s retirement plans.’”
I think this explains some of the massive, urgent selling of homes in FL and AZ by Canadians. They need the money!
Saying that they are selling because DJT is simply a face saving way to repatriate funds, which they desperately need, not to mention they can’t afford the vacation shack anymore.
Those vacation shacks must have been a major status symbol.
well yeah, 2nd home in another country with all the carrying costs?????? considering the only thing Canada builds is a housing bubble (just like Australia) makes you wonder exactly how much they pulled out of their ever-escalating house in re-fi’s. (ohhhhhhhhh wait, that’s not working anymore)
makes you wonder exactly how much they pulled out of their ever-escalating house
Who want’s to pay $1000+ per month for a car via a regular loan?
Carrying costs way up (insurance, HOA, taxes) and the Canadian Peso has been in the toilet for quite awhile now… Of course they can no longer afford it.
interesting idea:
Three teens built a salt-powered fridge to help bring vaccines and medical supplies to rural areas.
The invention uses salts that pull heat from their environments when they dissolve in water.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/3-teens-invented-salt-powered-202355199.html
Foreclosure wave hits U.S. as cost-of-living crisis squeezes homeowners
04/17/2025 // Ramon Tomey
Tags: ATTOM, Bubble, Collapse, cost of living crisis, debt bomb, debt collapse, economics, economy, finance riot, foreclosure, foreclosure filings, homeless agenda, Homeowners, housing bubble, interest rates, market crash, money supply, mortgage, pensions, refinancing, risk
https://www.naturalnews.com/2025-04-17-foreclosure-wave-hits-us-as-crisis-squeezes-homeowners.html
Stock investors ignore bond vigilantes at their peril.
Opinion: The Treasury market is tipping its hand. Stock investors aren’t seeing it.
Watch what smart players like Warren Buffett and Jeff Gundlach are doing.
By Charlie Garcia
Published: April 17, 2025 at 7:38 a.m. ET
Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto
The U.S. Treasury bond market lately has been acting oddly. If you weren’t worried already about the economy, now’s a good time to start.
Let’s set the stage. On Monday, April 7, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock — the planet’s largest money manager and the grown-up among Wall Street adolescents — spoke to the Economic Club of New York. Calmly and reassuringly, he mentioned, “Most CEOs I talked to say we’re probably in a recession right now,” adding that American consumers were showing “more and more trepidation” in their spending.
…
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-treasury-market-is-tipping-its-hand-stock-investors-arent-seeing-it-4a4ef313
4:59 and worth every second.
4th degree misdemeanor assault charges?
FRONTLINES
@FrontlinesTPUSA
EXCLUSIVE: Frontlines reporter @choeshow has obtained surveillance footage showing Washington State University (WSU) PhD student instructor Patrick Mahoney and WSU employee Gerald Hoff attacking engineering student Jay Sani.
Sani claims that Mahoney and Hoff assaulted him because he was wearing a Trump 2024 campaign hat.
He expressed concern that the publicly funded institution might reinstate Mahoney.
WSU administrators declined to comment on the situation, citing student privacy laws.
10:30 AM · Apr 15, 2025
·
https://x.com/FrontlinesTPUSA/status/1912151428161999160
WSU Pullman is in rural south eastern Washington state near the border with Moscow, Idaho. Young Democrats have become more intolerant and willing to exercise violence since King Obama’s reign.
A liberal Democrat “political science” student-instructor wearing a Hammer and Sickle lapel pin on a U.S. campus should be addressed by the faculty. WTF?
a Hammer and Sickle lapel pin
There is a reason these goons are comfortable throwing Molotov cocktails at people they don’t like.
New York Times — As Fentanyl Deaths Slow, Meth Comes for Maine (4/16/2025):
“When meth euphoria wanes, many people keep using to reignite the high. Then they can’t sleep or eat for days. They forget to drink water. During the final stage of a binge, known as tweaking, they may become erratic, ranting, vicious. Paranoia and hallucinations seize them.”
https://archive.ph/a99E3
Article reluctantly admits that the meth is produced and imported by the Mexican cartels, globalist scum media loves open borders, New York Times loves meth.
“Article reluctantly admits that the meth is produced and imported by the Mexican cartels”
You mean Maryland fathers don’t you?
Real Journalists.
Just like “Athens man” who culturally enriched Laken Riley.
WSJ Opinion – We Should Measure Prices in Time.
The consumer-price index tells us nothing about changes in affordability. We need another measure.
https://archive.ph/OGaJn
Ever since the U.S. abandoned the gold standard in 1971, we’ve been living in a mirage of unmoored money, marked by “inflation,” “devaluation” and a federal debt that now surpasses $36 trillion. Wall Street and Washington issue prophecies of inflationary doom and federal-debt disaster.
At the same time, we’ve enjoyed technology’s spectacular rise in recent decades. We read the news of our growing poverty and inequality on pocket-size Starlinked supercomputers, while humans frolic in outer space and artificial intelligence takes off in Silicon Valley and around the world.
A clue to reconciling this divergence between economic data and technological advance comes from the world of business consulting. For decades, business advisory firms such as Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Co. have documented “learning curves” across a range of industries, from mining to microchips. These curves, which track performance improvements over time, demonstrate that real prices of goods and services tend to drop between 20% and 30% with every doubling of units sold.
Going beyond economies of scale and efficiency, learning curves feed on growth of entrepreneurial knowledge, springing from improvements in every facet of production, design, marketing and management. Crucially, the curve extends to customers, who learn how to use a product better and multiply applications for it as it drops in price.
With every new product launched across the economy, these learning curves imply that if the real economy is growing, most real prices—that is, prices adjusted to account for inflation and purchasing power—must be declining.
How can the laws of enterprise and business consulting diverge so significantly from the accepted wisdom of economic analysis and political rhetoric? More baffling, how is it that products are becoming simultaneously more expensive and more affordable?
This paradox is possible because while we buy things with money, we actually pay for them with our time—not in dollars and cents but in hours and minutes of work.
The consumer-price index tells us nothing about changes in affordability. To measure affordability, we must compare the prices of goods and services to hourly compensation (wages and benefits). We call the resulting ratio the time price.
The original proponent of time prices was Yale economist and Nobel laureate William Nordhaus, who in the 1990s produced a paper showing that traditional economic data have understated progress in lighting technologies—from whale oil to light-emitting diodes—by a factor of thousands. At the same time, economic data fail to capture the rise in living standards made possible by these lighting innovations.
Extending the Nordhaus insight across a range of consumer products and technologies, one of us (Mr. Pooley) and Cato Institute researcher Marian Tupy demonstrated in a book, “Superabundance” (2022), that similar innovations allowing manufacturers to produce goods more cheaply in less time since the Industrial Revolution have made nearly all goods and services drastically more affordable. The Industrial Revolution also brought about a tenfold rise in the global population and an explosion in new knowledge.
The Nordhaus insight remains crucial today. To put the consumer-price index, or CPI, in context and measure actual affordability, we need a time-price index, or TPI. The CPI measures the purchasing power of a dollar. The TPI measures the purchasing power of an hour.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2000 and 2024, the CPI increased by 82.2%, while hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees (blue-collar workers) increased by 115.1%. Hourly compensation thus increased 40% faster than CPI. As long as hourly compensation outpaces the CPI, the TPI is decreasing. In this instance, the TPI decreased by 15.3%, meaning average goods and services became more affordable. One hour of time worked in 2024 would buy 18.1% more from the CPI basket of goods and services than in 2000.
Unlike money prices, time prices are universal and unequivocal. Using money instead of time to make measurements was the original sin of establishment economics.
Almost all other sciences root their ultimate measuring sticks in time. The metric system encompasses mass, distance, time, temperature, electrical current, brightness and moles of individual chemical elements. Except for the mole, all the other measures—from the meter and kilogram to degrees Kelvin and amperes of electricity to the candela of luminosity—are informed by time: the speed of light, meters per second. Time prices reconcile economics with this universal standard of measurement.
Unlike money, time can’t be counterfeited or inflated. We can calculate a time price on any product, at any time in history, in any place and with any currency. Time also provides perfect equality: We all get exactly the same amount, 24 hours in a day.
Money is tokenized time. When all else becomes abundant, what remains scarce is our time—minutes, hours, days and years. Time is the only resource that can’t be recycled, stored, duplicated or recovered. When we run out of money, we’re really running out of the time to earn more. If time prices decrease, it means that an hour of time now buys more products and services.
Every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates average prices by tracking prices on around 80,000 specific products and services. The bureau reports the change in the CPI from the previous month and the previous 12 months. It also collects and reports information on hourly wage rates.
The CPI tells us how much more expensive things are becoming. The TPI tells us how much more or less affordable they’re becoming. To see our true standard of living, we must time-price the CPI.
Plummeting time prices aren’t tied to an expansion of material resources. As Thomas Sowell has explained, “The Neanderthal in his cave had all the physical resources we have today.” The difference between our age and the Stone Age is the growth of knowledge, which enables us to use resources more creatively and effectively.
Wealth is knowledge. Growth is knowledge that is increasing and being distributed throughout the economy over time. From these principles we can derive Pooley’s law of superabundance: Time measures the growth of knowledge and wealth.
…while hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees (blue-collar workers) increased by 115.1%.”
Perhaps so, but these jobs are the ones that have vanished massively over the past quarter of a century or so. What has been promoted is useless college degrees and key punchers.
Perhaps they included a bunch of low skilled restaurant employees who got a raise from about $8-$10/hr to $20-$25/hr for non-skilled work as blue collar.
“Ever since the U.S. abandoned the gold standard in 1971, we’ve been living in a mirage of unmoored money, marked by “inflation,” “devaluation” and a federal debt that now surpasses $36 trillion.”
The fiat currency has allowed the federal government “jin-up” GDP through asset inflation via guaranteed lending making it easier to exercise policy in the middle-east.
the U.S. abandoned the gold standard in 1971
US citizens were taken off the gold standard long before that.
As in you couldn’t legally own any gold coins. Am told that some Americans would but gold overseas and keep it there, in safe deposit boxes.
any gold coins
You absolutely could own and hold gold coins. You simply had to play along with the farce that you were a coin collector. You could own gold jewelry, even candlesticks if you wanted. Gold bullion wasn’t legal, and you could not go to the bank and exchange your paper for gold. So our currency wasn’t “backed by gold” unless you were a foreign government. I think we were the last one to honor foreign conversion and France was making a run on our reserves. That is what Nixon stopped. We were full blown fiat/fractional reserve long before 1971.
WSJ Opinion – Communists Never Win a Fair Fight.
Like Reagan, Trump is betting on the U.S. to leave its primary adversary in the dust.
https://archive.ph/TCwbA#selection-2479.0-2483.85
There are many negative things to say about President Trump’s tariffs and his ham-fisted approach to policy generally. Most have already been said, and by smarter people. So what’s left? Only the obvious: Nobody knows how all this mishegas is going to turn out.
History is contingent. Leaders who make bold and unconventional decisions usually know they are rolling the dice. Success will make them look brilliant. Failure turns them into a joke. As the boys in Spinal Tap pointed out, it’s a fine line between stupid and clever.
They called Reagan crazy too. When he started building up the American military in the 1980s, the smart people warned him to slow down—don’t do anything that might provoke the Soviets. One asked Reagan about his strategy. “We win, they lose.” Everyone at the New York Times and the Washington Post gasped in horror. This dolt has his finger on the button!
On New Year’s Day 1984, the Times published an op-ed by W. Averell Harriman titled “If the Reagan Pattern Continues, America May Face Nuclear War.” Harriman had served as New York’s governor, U.S. commerce secretary and ambassador to the Soviet Union—a distinguished expert on the world and how it works. “We must demand a new effort to prevent war, not to prepare for it,” he wrote. “To be silent in this situation is not patriotic but irresponsible.”
It’s no insult to Harriman’s legacy to point out that he was wrong. Completely and utterly. These things happen. Sometimes you miss the mark. We can guess that Harriman’s contempt for Reagan grew out of some combination of personal conviction and political rancor. But the scoreboard doesn’t lie: Reagan won, Harriman lost.
To be fair, it wasn’t only Democrats who thought Reagan was steering the country toward the final countdown. In 1987 he went to Berlin. The West German government, and even some of Reagan’s own advisers, urged him to take it easy—maybe take out this line telling Gorbachev to tear down the wall?
“I think we’ll leave it in,” Reagan answered. You can see the twinkle in his eye.
Again, Reagan was right. The Soviets said they would bury us. They turned out to be a paper tiger. They couldn’t keep up because their ideology was fundamentally, fatally flawed. This wasn’t an easy thing to see in real time, though some others did. Only in hindsight is it clear to everyone that accelerating the conflict was the way to go. Sure, things could have gone either way. But they didn’t.
I’m not suggesting Mr. Trump is another Reagan, or even that he knows what he’s trying to do with his trade war. He may not. But the thought does occur that the fullness of time isn’t always kind to the world’s Averell Harrimans.
For a decade at least, Americans have tried to ignore the panda in the room. China is coming for us. As we squabble at home about tax rates and trans kids, Beijing has been laying up hay—building ships, testing boundaries, growing powerful. Xi Jinping is going to take his shot at the title. The only question is when.
No, actually, there’s another question: What are we going to do about it? Nobody seems to have had any useful ideas. Both parties choked on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which might have isolated China a decade ago. There’s no appetite on either side of the aisle for a Reagan-style military buildup. Americans can’t seem to wean themselves off cheap Chinese sneakers and iPhones. Look how the idea of a TikTok ban went down.
The political class walks on eggshells when it comes to China, lest someone provoke World War III. Nobody wants to upset Beijing, even when it floats a spy balloon over St. Louis and admits to hacking our infrastructure. Best to sit back, wait and see. Maybe they’ll leave us alone and everyone will live in peace.
It could go that way. It might not.
Mr. Trump has decided to defy convention and fly toward the sun, laughing all the way. China is a communist country ruled by the same false, flawed ideology that the Soviets put their faith in. It has grown rich by stealing Western intellectual property and manipulating its currency. Perhaps Mr. Xi can drag his limping, hollow economy to victory in a trade war. Or perhaps accelerating the conflict will expose his system’s weaknesses and cause his regime to collapse. It’s a roll of the dice.
The U.S. probably isn’t heading into a “golden age,” as the president and his ardent defenders insist. But consider the possibility that it also isn’t the end of the world. The verdict of history is often the reverse of what today’s experts say.
Thread title asks: “Who Is Going To Pay The Mortgage?”
Obama is going to pay the mortgage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg98BvqUvCc
Gonna put gas in muh car too!
From KTAR News. “For years, lawmakers and real estate experts have been saying that Arizona needs to bolster its housing supply to address the growing issue of affordability.”
“Buckeye saw a year-over-year increase in single-family home inventory for sale of 38% in March, according to data from Phoenix Realtors.”
The greater Phoenix AZ MSA housing market behaves as if there are limitless supplies of water, and yet it’s in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. While there’s water allocated from the Colorado River, the average annual precipitation for Phoenix AZ is only 7.2 inches. I’ve heard it gets pretty warm there too!
While there was weeping and gnashing of teeth about the lack of housing affordability and the deportation of “skilled” illegal alien housing construction workers in the article, there was no mention of the availability of water. It’s almost like water is the third rail, or the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about or something. Funny that. 🤔
In keeping with the desert climate and environment, in my view the population of the greater Phoenix MSA should be MUCH smaller and there should be growth restrictions, but it seems to be only “build baby build” there. The cognitive dissonance about all of this, to me anyway, is duly noted.
“Trees don’t grow to the sky.” – German Proverb
Stein’s Law: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” – Herbert Stein (1916-1999), Economist
Independent of the availability of water, it appears that the Phoenix housing bubble is bursting and no one could have seen this coming.
Mass lay-offs of Telugu employees in US: Indian-American lawmakers seek action
American mortgage giant Fannie Mae sacked around 200 employees, a majority of them Telugus, over allegations that they engaged in a salary scam. The mass sacking involving Indian-origin employees has made three Indian-American lawmakers write to Fannie Mae, seeking an explanation. The lawmakers believe that the termination of the services of the Telugu staffers took place without proper investigation.
They were employees of the Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Fannie Mae, the biggest American company in terms of assets.
The 200 employees who were sacked were part of the larger 700 staffers that the American company let go of for restructuring purposes. The alleged ethical violations are linked to irregularities and misuse of Fannie Mae’s matching donations programme. This is a component of wages.
Three Indian-American lawmakers, led by Congressman Suhas Subramanyam from Virginia, have written a letter to Fannie Mae seeking an explanation for the mass firing of the Indian-American employees, pointing out that they were laid off without investigation and advance notice.
The lay-offs at Fannie Mae are similar to what took place at Apple in January. Apple fired around 50 employees, including some Indians, at its headquarters in Cupertino over charges that they indulged in monetary fraud to boost their compensation.
The letter to Fannie Mae was signed by three Congressman — Subramanyam, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Shri Thanedar.
“We write today requesting information about the recent firings at Fannie Mae over alleged fraud and unethical behavior that have impacted many of our constituents, especially in the Indian American community,” read the letter to William Pulte, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Priscilla Almodovar, President and Chief Executive of Fannie Mae.
The Indian-American lawmakers highlighted that the termination of service of dozens of Telugu employees took place without proper investigation in the case.
“While we share your goal of reducing fraud and abuse in the federal government and the housing market, we are concerned by a potential lack of due process for the impacted employees and request an immediate explanation to better understand why their employment was terminated without thorough investigation and with no advance notice,” they wrote in the two-page letter.
“Specifically, it has been reported that these employees were fired due to alleged violations of Fannie Mae’s Matching Gift Program. It is my understanding that the organisations to which these individuals donated were approved by Fannie Mae for inclusion in the Matching Gift Program,” the letter read.
“We have even heard that some Indian American employees were terminated despite having never donated to one of these groups or participated in the Matching Gift Program,” they added.
A majority of the 200 staffers fired by Fannie Mae on “ethical grounds” are Telugus, according to a report by The Times of India.
Several employees are accused of colluding with the Telugu Association of North America (TANA) to deceive companies and misuse funds, according to the report. This involved misuse of Fannie Mae’s matching grants programme.
One of the employees laid off last Thursday reportedly held the position of regional vice president at TANA, while another is the spouse of a former president of the American Telugu Association (ATA).
Sources said TANA is not the only organisation involved and other associations were also under investigation.
Some Telugu organisations were in the spotlight in January too when Apple sacked employees over an alleged fraud.
Of Apple’s fired employees, six had been named by authorities in the Bay Area and warrants had been issued against them.
While none of these six were Indian, another report highlighted that among those fired, many were Indians who were reportedly misusing some Telugu charity organisations in the US to carry out fraud.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/mass-lay-offs-of-telugu-employees-in-us-indian-american-lawmakers-seek-action/ar-AA1D5p7U
The alleged ethical violations are linked to irregularities and misuse of Fannie Mae’s matching grants programme.
This payment is an extension of the salaries of the employees. It is a compensation to what the employees donate under the matching gift programme.
The now-sacked employees allegedly collaborated with nonprofit organisations â some linked to the Telugu community in the US â and falsified donations to exploit the programme and access company funds.
In December 2024, the Northern District of California court issued a subpoena to TANA, requiring the group to testify before a grand jury. The subpoena demanded records of donations received, amounts spent, and details of organisational representatives from 2019 to 2024.
Similar allegations surfaced against employees at tech-company Apple earlier this year. The company reportedly terminated over 100 employees, including around 50 at its Cupertino headquarters, after uncovering a monetary fraud scheme designed to inflate employee compensation.
Authorities in the Bay Area had issued warrants against six of the fired Apple employees â none of whom were Indian.
However, reports indicated that several Indian employees were involved in misusing Telugu charity organisations in the US for fraudulent activities.
The scheme reportedly involved employees pretending to make donations, which were later returned to them. Apple’s matching contributions were retained, and the fictitious donations were written-off on the defendants’ tax returns, defrauding the state of California in the process.
After Apple, the sacking of 200 employees, mostly Telugus, over the scam indicates that the manipulation isn’t restricted to a single American company and might be more widespread than believed. A fair probe will reveal the origins and the extent of it.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/us-giant-fannie-mae-fires-200-mostly-telugus-over-salary-fraud-report/ar-AA1D1BRB
Foreigners seem to have a talent for gaming and scamming the system.
These Indians come from a caste system, so gaming and scamming the system is in their DNA.
They come from india
so scamming and gaming the system is in their DNA
FIFY
as anyone who traveled throughout India, the correct question: how did 200 people from the same “village” in India end up working for that agency? no need to answer. we all know it.
Thank you for the update, Ben! I don’t know how these Congressmen can say there was no investigation and no advance notice. Were they really expecting the investigators at Fannie Mae to give the employee and heads-up and then give the employee an opportunity “negotiate?” Uh, no.
Many of the commenters are saying that we should deport these employees. No, these employees are citizens. They can only be fired and possibly prosecuted further if a law was broken.
The article does not say they are citizens.
When I returned to the US I was amazed at how much access non citizens had to government programs and employment. Other countries are not so generous.
Here’s an Indian trying to avoid a lay-off notice!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XVz1TXs225k
agreed with this one. it’s quite shocking what’s going on in the US compared even with EU.
Also, it looks like the Dems are latching on to the “due process” strategy. Right, due process of “law.” The question is, which law? Different laws grant different due process. There is likely very little due process for salary fraud at any company.
Trump Administration Launches Mortgage Fraud Tip Line To ‘Root Out’ Home Loan ‘Cheats’
The Trump administration’s top mortgage regulator has vowed to “root out frauds and cheats” in the mortgage market after launching a tip line to report deceitful home loan applications.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte announced the tip line on Tuesday, saying “anyone and everyone can submit tips on anyone fraudulently filling out mortgage [applications]” by emailing FraudTips@fhfa.gov.
“There is no room for fraud in our mortgage markets. None. We will continue to root out frauds and cheats wherever we find it. No one and no company is above the law—no one,” Pulte wrote in a post on the social media platform X.
The FHFA oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and is charged with ensuring that the two government-backed mortgage giants provide stability and liquidity to the mortgage market.
The agency’s Office of Inspector General routinely assists federal law enforcement in the investigation of mortgage fraud cases.
Pulte, who is also board chairman of Fannie Mae, last week announced the firing of more than 100 employees at the mortgage giant over alleged “unethical conduct,” including fraud.
The announcement of the firings didn’t specify the allegations against the fired employees, but in remarks to Fox News, Pulte described a range of misconduct.
“We found that multiple people were working two jobs. We found some people were working in China and saying that they were working here,” he said. “We also found that they were making donations to the charity, and then they were getting kickbacks, the internal company charity.”
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/trump-administration-launches-mortgage-fraud-222532611.html
ABQDan could not be reached for comment.
fraud in the mortgage market? tell me it isn’t so……………………..
Probably easier to find the few clean ones.
..right here in River City! (The Music Man)
“We found that multiple people were working two jobs. We found some people were working in China and saying that they were working here,” he said. “We also found that they were making donations to the charity, and then they were getting kickbacks, the internal company charity.””
That charity-matching program at Fannie Mae, while well-intended, was a BAD idea. America is no longer a high-trust society, and of course anyone is going to game a system like that. Sorry, this is why we can’t have nice things.
And ChatGPT says that government employees do not have to be citizens, they just have to legal: green card or H1-B. If any of those employees were non-citizens, they need to be revoked and deported.
sorry, but the word “honor” is completely absent from most middle east languages, and also from the 600 dialects spoken in India.
“There is no room for fraud in our mortgage markets.”
That’s a knee-slapper!
Five Years On, COVID-Era Enrollment Declines Decimate L.A. Schools
Five years after COVID-19 shut down all the schools in Los Angeles, enrollment declines in the nation’s second largest district are worsening again.
Since the pandemic, the Los Angeles Unified School District has lost more than 70,000 students. Enrollment has fallen to 408,083, from a peak of 746,831 in 2002. Losses steepened this year, too, with the district shedding more than 11,000 kids.
Nearly half of the district’s 456 zoned elementary schools — 225 campuses — are half-full or worse, and 56 have seen rosters fall by 70% or more, according to a new analysis of more than 30 years of local attendance data.
Decades of shrinking classes recently prompted L.A. school board president Scott Schmerelson to say district leadership needs to start talking about closing or combining schools, something that some other big U.S. cities are already doing.
But LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in an interview with The 74 he’s pumping the brakes on closing or consolidating schools, a tactic that often sparks protests in impacted neighborhoods.
Instead, Carvalho said, he’s starting with a fresh idea for how to solve some of the problems associated with dwindling admissions in LAUSD, one that he said may also stave off a financial crisis for the district caused by falling per-pupil funding.
He believes the L.A. Unified can fight the financial losses that could force it to close or consolidate schools by shutting down underutilized buildings on multi-building campuses or unused portions of individual school buildings, while keeping other parts operational.
“When you close a school, it may very well extinguish the only protective area in a community for kids,” Carvalho said of his motivations for avoiding — at almost any cost — school closures, even amid demographic changes and shifting enrollment patterns.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/education-and-learning/secondary-education/five-years-on-covid-era-enrollment-declines-decimate-l-a-schools/ar-AA1D3nDb
Well, the PTB wanted the birthrate to collapse. They got their wish. Even in my little burg they are closing schools, even though the city’s population has grown.
Nearly a third of LA’s fires last six years involved homeless people, new report shows
The 7 on Your Side Investigates Team has reported in the past how the Los Angeles Fire Department’s response times don’t always meet national standards.
Now a new memo from Interim LAFD Chief Ronnie Villanueva says a surge in calls to help the homeless shows even more just how strapped the department is for resources.
In fiscal year 2024/2025, the city allocated about $961 million to homelessness, while the total LAFD budget for that same fiscal year was well under that – at about $837 million.
The union president for the firefighters calls that shocking.
“We don’t want to criminalize homelessness, but we need additional resources strictly for homelessness,” said Freddy Escobar, president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles. “We need more funding.”
That memo details that nearly a third of all fires – 32.91% – the department responded to in the last six years involved a member of the homeless community.
“I don’t know what the fix is, but I can tell you the members that I represent cannot sustain the call load of what we are doing for homelessness,” Escobar said.
And a higher call load can be blamed, at least partially, on more rubbish fires.
According to the memo, in the last 10 years the number of rubbish fires surged a whopping 475%.
Department data shows nearly half of rubbish fires involve a person experiencing homelessness. The union says all those extra calls drive up response times when resources are already lacking.
In 1960, LAFD had 112 fire stations. Today, it has only 106 despite a surge in population in both the housed and the unhoused.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nearly-a-third-of-las-fires-last-six-years-involved-homeless-people-new-report-shows/ar-AA1CZVDC
“in the last 10 years the number of rubbish fires surged a whopping 475%”
475% is that a lot?
We don’t want to criminalize homelessness
And some of my best friends are aspiring rappers, who are
turning their lives around.
Powell Issues Stark Warning On Economic Toll Of Tariffs, Says Fed Is Watching CRE Lenders Closely
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Wednesday that the impact of the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs are likely to include higher inflation and slower growth.
“The level of tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated, and the same is likely to be true of the economic effects,” he said.
Even after President Donald Trump enacted a 90-day pause on some tariffs one week ago, he kept some levies in place. This includes those on Chinese imports, which the White House said Tuesday may be up to a 245% charge on certain goods “as a result of [China’s] retaliatory actions.” He also left in place a 10% minimum tax on most countries and a 25% tariff for steel, aluminum and imported vehicles and parts.
There’s no road map for how to handle this situation, Powell said. The most recent case of tariffs at elevated rates was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in 1930.
“These are very fundamental changes in long-held, in some cases, policies in the United States,” Powell said. “There isn’t a modern experience in how to think about this.”
The Fed chair also acknowledged that private credit outside of traditional banking has grown enormously since the pandemic.
That portion of the financial sector hasn’t been through a “significant credit event” and doesn’t follow the same regulations as the banking system, so the Fed is watching it carefully, Powell said.
“As that great Chicagoan Ferris Bueller once noted, ‘Life moves pretty fast,’” Powell said. “For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.”
https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/economy/powell-issues-stark-warning-on-economic-toll-of-tariffs-128945
“The Fed chair also acknowledged that private credit outside of traditional banking has grown enormously since the pandemic.”
Notice they don’t say, “Private Equity?”
Honda shifting some production from Japan to U.S. in latest response to tariffs
Honda says it’s shifting some vehicle production from Japan to the U.S. in the latest example of automakers working to adapt to new tariffs.
Company spokesman Chris Abbruzzese said Honda currently produces the Civic hatchback hybrid both in Indiana and Japan, but later this year it will be produced only at the Indiana plant.
A news report out of Japan raised concerns in Canada this week that Honda would also shift some production to the U.S. from its Alliston, Ont. operations, but the company said it has no plans to do so.
Honda’s Ontario operations started producing the sedan version of the Civic hybrid last year, and also produces conventional and hybrid versions of its CR-V model.
Unifor said it was encouraged by Honda’s reassurances on its Canadian production, but said production plans could change at any time.
“From our experience of dealing with automakers and the industry, we understand better than anyone that assurances from automakers are one thing, but we need a carrot-and-stick approach to ensure accountability,” said Unifor national president Lana Payne in a statement late Tuesday.
“We must develop industrial policy to encourage investment and also implement tough penalties for companies that shift jobs south to appease Trump’s agenda.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-honda-shifting-some-production-from-japan-to-us-in-latest-response-to/
…tough penalties for companies that shift jobs south to appease Trump’s agenda.”
Americans being allowed to make their own cars is apparently a great evil.
This ^^^^^^^
Punish them, right. If you raise exit costs that will just piss off those firms, who will not return to Canaduh for a long time.
“Punish them, right.”
Oh,,, I better not. 🙂
Florida: Immigrants are not welcome here
Last week, my best friend, who lives in South Florida, was explaining the hellscape that undocumented immigrants have been forced to endure since Gov. Ron DeSantis – in his slavish devotion to nastiness and cruelty – mimicked the federal government and called a special session in which the Republican-dominated Legislature passed a law that would further punish them.
DeSantis has savaged lawmakers for not doing enough to support President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to detain and deport as many as 20 million undocumented immigrants. He has worked assiduously to engineer Florida’s reactionary version of “how many ways can we screw over immigrants?”
Immigration-rights activists and lawyers report that ICE agents have set up checkpoints, raided people’s homes, and showed up unannounced at construction sites, grocery stores, immigration hearings, and a range of public places where immigrants — with and without papers — hang out.
I talked to Thomas Kennedy of the Florida Immigration Coalition, a grassroots movement that includes community organizations, farmworkers, youth, advocates, lawyers, and union members.
“We’re seeing or have heard of checkpoints in Gadsden County,” he said. “In South Florida, we’re seeing heavily armed agents carrying semi-automatic weapons, involved in specific pickup/raid operations, mainly at people’s homes.”
Kennedy — who said both he and his parents have been undocumented at some point — reported that immigrant communities are awash with fear.
“People are afraid, worried, preoccupied. But they still have to do the day-to-day. Most people are resilient, trying to navigate the maze,” said Kennedy. “Cops are acting as immigration, asking for papers. Theoretically, they need to have some sort of reason to make a stop. Traffic violations are easy. People can be stopped for loitering or suspicion of some type. It wasn’t great before but it’s getting worse.”
Kennedy recounted the case of a University of Florida student here on student visa studying Food Resource Economics who was picked up by ICE because of expired tags.
“Now he’s at Krome,” Kennedy said when we spoke in a week ago. Felipe Zapata-Velásquez has subsequently been deported to Colombia.
“Now they are empowered,” Kennedy said of DeSantis’ ramped-up anti-immigrant campaign. “It’s extremely concerning with law enforcement’s involvement. It’s costly, a liability, and affects public safety. Most cops don’t want to be ICE, but some will abuse it.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-immigrants-not-welcome-110008521.html
A comment:
“people in the country with pending asylum cases”…means that they’re done; ‘asylum’ is meaningless
DeSantis’ ramped-up anti-immigrant campaign.
Missing is the word “illegal”.
Build the wall, deport them ALL.
Never forget that the left says that illegals have “every right” to invade and occupy our nation.
since Gov. Ron DeSantis – in his slavish devotion to nastiness and cruelty
Enforcing the law and looking out for the interests of Americans == Evil
I had a long conversation with Chat GPT about this. For parole (CBP-1) and TPS refugees, if there is an impending asylum case, the asylum-seeker is protected from deportation, and their work permit is still good, as long as they apply for asylum in their first year. Done right, they can extend their stay for a long time.
Without going into arduous detail, my opinion is that the best thing the 47 Admin can do if he wants mass deportations is to get money from Congress and appoint a thousand immigration judges who can re-open all of the limbo asylum cases and hand down a ruling on each one. Immigration judges are not judiciary judges; they are appointed by the AG and work for DOJ.
As for FL, I’m guessing that the illegal immigrants in FL were just walk-ins who don’t have an asylum claim and/or never qualified for a work permit.
It would be more efficient to make all the ICE officers Judges.
An immigration judge needs to be a lawyer in good standing with seven years of practice, but not much more than that. There are 1.8 million pending asylum cases. How many lawyers and clerks would you need to work through a backlog like that?
How about either legislation or an EO rejecting all pending requests, making them null and void?
New legislation is a non-starter — I don’t think you could even get all the Republicans to agree to it.
47 has already tried to invalidate the half-million CHNV people here on parole, and that decision was rejected by a judge, and I guess it’s being repealed now. Per ChatGPT, there are some strategies to overturn the judge. I think the best of the strategies is to argue that Biden misinterpreted the original law. Parole is supposed to be rare and case by case. Biden granted broad categorical parole. If they can convince SCOTUS to invalidate the entire existance of the parole law, then I guess that would invalidate any asylum claims too.
As for the “irrepairable harm” to the parolees cited by the district judge, the conservative justices don’t appear to give that any weight. And by the time this gets to SCOTUS, many of those 18-24 month times will run out, but with no valid claim of asylum. They would all be deportable immediately, with no further Due Process.
An immigration judge needs to be a lawyer in good standing
I never found that in the Constitution.
Hmmm… you could be right about deputizing the ICE agents for immigration.
Short version (with Chat help):
Immigration judges are not under Article 3, that is, they aren’t part of the judicial branch. In fact, it’s bit of a misnomer to call them “judges.”
Instead, the only part of the Consitution which applies is the section that says:[paraphrase] “Congress makes the laws.” And many of those Acts of Congress mainly create give power to somebody else.
In 1870, Congress set up the DOJ with an AG.
In 1952, Congress gave the AG broad power for immigration enforcement.
The AG used that power to create regulations. One of those regulations dictates the qualifications of an immigration judge, totally under the power of the AG. From this, Pam has the power to change the regulation, walk into a McDonald’s, and make all the customers immigration judges. (but that’s drastic)
Border Boom Could Bust: How Tariffs Risk ‘Damaging A Real Good Thing’
Lee & Associates’ Enrique Volkmer calls himself “the happiest guy in town” after returning to his hometown of Laredo in 2016 to broker real estate deals for third-party logistics companies and other industrial tenants.
Laredo has evolved into an industrial real estate powerhouse over the past half-decade, the crown jewel on the necklace of bustling Texas border towns turbocharged by a wave of nearshoring that sent manufacturers and logistics operators swarming to both sides of the Texas-U.S. territorial line.
But that growth is threatening to halt amid a change in the U.S. approach to tariffs, including a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum as well as goods not compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a 10% baseline tariff levied on more than 90 nations, and President Donald Trump’s most recent imposition of 145% tariffs on most Chinese goods.
“It’s a very fluid situation right now,” said Cliffe Killam, president and CEO of Killam Development, one of Laredo’s largest industrial employers and landowners.
The topsy-turvy policy is making decision-makers dizzy, and many are pausing for clarity, according to Provident Realty Advisors Director of Development and Acquisitions Christen Vestal.
“It does seem like leasing has slowed tremendously right now trying to wait and see what the president’s going to do,” Vestal said of the Laredo market at a Bisnow event last month
Provident is expecting that to translate into lower rents for its speculative industrial developments.
A sense of chaos has set in — seen in three-to-four-hour traffic jams at the border, overflowing warehouses and surging produce prices — and confusion is eroding new trade lines, said Tony Payan, executive director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
“They’ll swallow some of the tariffs, and they’ll have to calculate,” Payan said. “‘Is it better to open a Toyota plant for light vehicles in Texas or Georgia or whatever, or is it better to keep it in Mexico and pay the tariff?’”
In the best-case scenario that Trump trade policy is highly successful at spurring onshoring to the U.S., the future of border industrial markets hangs in the balance, Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Ermengarde Jabir warned.
“The tariffs [could] cause such a push for domestic manufacturing that those warehouses along the border might not be in as high demand as they have been,” Jabir said.
But the surge in industrial development along the Texas-Mexico border really stems from economic competition between the U.S. and China.
“In the beginning, it was all about China,” Payan said. “A lot of companies on the border, on both sides, began to say, ‘This is going to be a great opportunity as the U.S. delinks and then eventually decouples its economy from China’s.’”
A dozen Chinese auto manufacturing plants have been set up in Mexico since 2019. Auto parts manufacturers and car makers accounted for just under half of the more than $14B invested there by Chinese corporations, according to a report from the Coalition for a Prosperous America.
“We’re at risk of damaging a real good thing,” said Tom Fullerton, professor of economics and finance at the University of Texas at El Paso. “And it’ll be particularly damaging for Texas because Texas is the one state economy that is most invested and dependent upon productive trade and manufacturing arrangements with Mexico.”
So far, most automakers appear to be riding out the turmoil. But even before new tariffs hit, direct foreign investment in Mexican manufacturing was declining, dropping more than 30% in 2024 over the previous year. That could continue, hitting industrial markets along the Rio Grande Valley and the rest of the border where it hurts, especially if trade agreements are renegotiated, Fullerton said.
“If USMCA gets discarded, we’re going to have a lot of excess capacity on the south side of the border, and that may translate into excess capacity on the north side of the border as well,” he said.
https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/industrial/border-boom-could-bust-as-tariffs-risk-damaging-a-real-good-thing-128891
All this turmoil (lions and tigers and bears!) can be attributed to that massive sucking sound to the South called NAFTA!
NAFTA was supported by both political parties. It was obvious to anyone at that time who cared (disclaimer: I voted for Perot) that this was going to be the outcome but money talks in strange and wonderful ways so that politicians got onboard, lauding all the wonderful benefits of the deal.
I almost voted for Perot, for the same reason — American jobs. But at the last minute (in the voting booth) I switched over the Clinton. I figured that everybody hated Perot so much that they would never let him do ANYthing. Clinton could talk his way through Congress and do something. Gimme a break, I was 21 at the time.
That was the narrative the press was pushing at the time. Perot had no “Party” to help him.
I think most of us Perot voters in 1992 election were conservatives who were tired of the Republican Party stance of go along – get along, trying very hard to not be controversial and we were hoping for a possible game changer.
I have voted in every four year federal election from 1968 on and 1992 was the only time I ever voted other than Republican.
I think Perot got 19% of total votes which was actually phenomenal for a third party candidate. However, disgruntled normally Republican voters like me got Bill Clinton elected.
I was (and still am) convinced that NAFTA was very bad for working people in the US but most all the politicians from both sides of the aisle were exuberant in their support of it.
IMO this bad law was equal or surpassed by the recognizing of China as as a Most Favored Nation trading status late in Clinton’s term and heavily pushed by Republican politicians but not necessarily Republican voters. Bad deal all around.
So we should continue hollowing out our country so that places like Laredo and Brownsville can prosper. Sorry, no.
The Villages so overgrown it’s getting unbearable
by Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
I have been a frog for 21 years. Everyone says we need snowbirds to pay for all the businesses and help The Villages to grow. It is so overgrown now it’s getting unbearable. I’m more likely to get a finger than a wave. Streets are packed with speeders and poor driving manners. Five miles over the speed limit is asking to be rear ended by those who think they are privileged to go as fast as they want. Restaurants are packed every night, parking is a joke and many feel so privileged to park wherever there is “a space.” I don’t go to the squares because it’s a zoo of people having fun at others expense of yearly residents. Yes, I have friends and neighbors who are friends on an individual basis. But everything turns into a mob atmosphere as a total group of snowbirds feel privileged to do as they please. If there are more people, there needs to be more restaurants, more golf courses, more cars, more roads, and certainly more police. It’s not much fun living here any more. It feels more like L.A., Chicago, or New York City than The Villages. Yes, it’s an adult Disney Land if you don’t mind standing in lines or looking for shady places. When is enough, enough? It seems to be North Villages, Middle Villages, South Villages and Even More South Villages. Just my thoughts and opinion.
Philip Lane
Village of Belvdeere
https://www.villages-news.com/2025/04/16/the-villages-so-overgrown-its-getting-unbearable/
“Everyone says we need snowbirds to pay for all the businesses..”
I disagree whole heartedly and I am a native (i.e. born here) and have seen Florida ruined in my lifetime by over-development and political catering to growth at all costs as if that is a plus.
Go back home and take your privilege with you as you so often whine about “the way we do it back up North”.
Why Elon Musk installed his top lieutenants at a federal agency you probably haven’t heard of
On the rooftop patio of the General Services Administration headquarters, an agency staffer recently discovered something strange: a rectangular device attached to a wire that snaked across the roof, over the ledge and into the administrator’s window one floor below.
It didn’t take long for the employee — an IT specialist — to figure out the device was a transceiver that communicates with Elon Musk’s vast and private Starlink satellite network. Concerned that the equipment violated federal laws designed to protect public data, staffers reported the discovery to superiors and the agency’s internal watchdog.
The Starlink equipment raises a host of questions about what Musk and his efficiency czars are doing at GSA, an obscure agency that is playing an outsized role in the Trump administration’s quest to slash costs and bring the federal government to heel.
Among other clues that GSA is a critical cog in Musk’s stated efforts to slash billions of dollars in federal spending: people with ties to the entrepreneur or his companies hold key jobs at the agency. Its acting administrator is a Silicon Valley tech executive who has expertise in rolling out artificial intelligence tools and whose wife once worked for Musk at his social media company, X.
An engineer at Tesla, the billionaire’s electric car company, runs the GSA’s technology division. And one of Musk’s trusted lieutenants is helping to spearhead the work of downsizing the government’s real estate footprint.
GSA oversees many of Uncle Sam’s real estate transactions, collecting and paying rent on behalf of almost every federal agency. It helps manage billions in federal contracts. And it assists other agencies in building better websites and digital tools for citizens.
It is so important because it is “a choke point for all agencies,” said Steven Schooner, a George Washington University law school professor who specializes in government contracting. “They can, in effect, stop all civilian agencies from purchasing, period. That’s everything.”
In a statement in early March, GSA said it planned to get rid of “non-core assets” and welcomed “creative solutions, including sale-lease backs, ground leases and other forms of public/private partnerships.”
The search for those cuts has engulfed the entire 12,000-person agency. At the helm of that push is the GSA’s acting administrator, Stephen Ehikian, the tech executive whose wife worked for X.
GSA was built for this moment,” Ehikian told employees last month in a meeting, a video of which was viewed by The Associated Press.
“This agency is the backbone of federal government operations,” said Ehikian, who is seeking to expand automation — through the use of artificial intelligence — of many GSA functions. “We literally have an impact on the administration’s mandate right now, which is around efficiency.”
Another close Musk adviser — Nicole Hollander — is driving the initiative to unload the government’s real estate. Her husband, Steve Davis, is acting as the de facto leader of the Musk-inspired Department of Government Efficiency.
Hollander, who studied business and real estate at George Washington University, is a licensed property manager in Washington, according to LinkedIn. Her profile also lists her as an employee of X since 2023.
In early March, the GSA real estate division released a list of hundreds of government-owned or leased properties it sought to sell in a frenzied rush.
The list drew sharp criticism from Democrats and civil society groups because it proposed the sale of the Justice Department headquarters and included at least one undisclosed Central Intelligence Agency facility. GSA quickly withdrew the list.
That did not stall DOGE’s fire sale. In the presentation viewed by the AP, Ehikian said the agency has canceled more than 680 leases, listed or sold at least 32 properties worth $185 million and cut more than $50 billion in contracts.
Hollander has mostly operated behind the scenes. She rarely appears in Zoom meetings, according to employees. Documents obtained by the AP show spreadsheets she creates are stripped of her name and replaced with a more generic “GSA leadership.”
It’s not the first time that Hollander has led a cost-cutting campaign for Musk. A lawsuit brought by fired Twitter employees in 2023 alleged that Hollander and Davis were part of a “cadre of sycophants” who were particularly zealous in implementing Musk’s mandate overhaul of the social media company.
The suit claimed the pair, following their boss’ orders, circumvented San Francisco building and safety codes, ignored their obligation to pay vendors and landlords and downsized without regard to the turmoil it caused employees or customers.
The couple, the lawsuit alleged, also lived at Twitter headquarters with their month-old child, mirroring Musk, who has a reputation for living at his company offices. That pattern appears to be repeating at GSA: Hollander has installed cots on the agency’s sixth floor, according to employees.
Attorneys for Musk and X have moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the Delaware federal court lacks jurisdiction and the lawsuit is legally groundless.
Another employee installed by the Trump administration at GSA worked for Musk at Tesla.
Shortly after taking over GSA’s technology unit, Thomas Shedd told his workforce the goal was to “move fast and make changes,” according to a transcript of the February meeting obtained by the AP. That’s a variation on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motto of moving fast and breaking things.
Shedd soon began demanding access to sensitive systems that enable the public to communicate or interact with government services, according to staffers who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisal.
Shedd’s request prompted pushback from existing GSA staff. One employee resigned rather than give Shedd access, according to 404 Media.
He also told staff he wanted to consolidate all the government contracts in a centralized database to more easily figure out which ones to eliminate, according to a transcript of the meeting. It’s not clear if he accomplished that goal. Shedd did not reply to emails seeking comment.
He and other GSA officials have also sought to rely more heavily on artificial intelligence. In March, employees were given a demo of a new internal AI chatbot that is designed to more speedily identify contracts and real estate that can be jettisoned. Government agencies like GSA have been hesitant to deploy AI in such ways due to data-security and privacy concerns, according to current and former officials.
Amira Boland, a behavioral scientist at GSA during the first Trump administration, said that trimming government was a good idea but described some of DOGE’s cuts as “reckless.”
“There is certainly bureaucracy that needs to be eliminated,” Boland said, “but you have to know the stakes you’re playing with.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/why-elon-musk-installed-his-top-lieutenants-at-a-federal-agency-you-probably-havent-heard-of/ar-AA1D4BVo
“In early March, the GSA real estate division released a list of hundreds of government-owned or leased properties it sought to sell in a frenzied rush.”
I believe that this list was ONLY the list of government buildings that were owned or leased. Someone mistakenly thought the properties were for sale. Nope, it was just a list of ALL of the properties. That’s why that list was taken down so quickly, and replaced with the list of the properties intended for sale.
Amira Boland, a behavioral scientist at GSA during the first Trump administration, said that trimming government was a good idea but described some of DOGE’s cuts as “reckless.”
Well, maybe if it was as easy to layoff fedgov people as private sector people, then perhaps those cuts could be surgical. But sometimes even in the private they just swing the machete and let things happen as they may.
They could cut 90% of the federal “employees” and nothing would be affected and things would dramatically improve for normal people.
WE’ll start easy, only do half. Everyone who’s SS# ends in an odd digit is hereby fired.
Secretary Rubio’s live conversation with Mike Benz on dismantling the censorship bureaucracy
U.S. Department of State
1 day ago
Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio’s live conversation with @MikeBenzCyber on dismantling the censorship bureaucracy at the State Department, on April 16, 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGOPaIkezF8
15 minutes.
‘the campus was whirring with talk of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and several international students stayed after class that February evening to ask whether Mugerwa—who is from Uganda—feared that he could be targeted. ‘I’m not worried,’ Mugerwa told them confidently. ‘He’s going after criminals.’…Mugerwa turned to his partner and sons, who are 5 years old and 10 months old. ‘I was like, What is going to happen at this point? How is she going to manage?’ he recalled thinking. ‘Who is going to pay the mortgage? My mind was just spinning’
Normally I’d say you better get some boxes Martin but it sounds like you’ve already moved. Those anchor babies didn’t stick!
‘Five days later, he was in shackles, being booked into a federal detention center in Texas and certain that he would soon be deported. Despite his pending asylum claim, he remains in deportation proceedings; he will have to go before a judge to plead for a chance to stay in the United States’
‘If all we ever do is build houses without creating the social and cultural infrastructure to support them, we are not building strong, resilient communities…We are merely creating commodities…What we don’t want to have happen is either haphazard growth or just end up a sea of tile roofs and everyone driving into Phoenix for work’
It’s more fooked up than they are describing. Phoenix itself isn’t the big job center, nor as far as I could tell is anywhere in particular. There are streams of cars into and out of Phoenix every day. But that’s the whole valley too. People move, change jobs, have babies, commutes get longer. It’s this mad scatter of cars and trucks every day and the best the county can do is build big concentric loops around the blob.
All you need downtown is a condo for the leggy hottie while the suburbs are for the wife-n-kids.
‘The combined ground-floor retail is 50% occupied, it says, ‘even after a $25 million investment by the Applicant to promote and finish out the new retail space.’ ‘Based on these figures, it is clear that there is no demand for new office or retail space at Capitol Crossing at this time’
How do you like those 5% cap rates now boys?
‘Some agents are bringing offers 20 per cent below the asking price, adds Andre Kutyan, broker with Harvey Kalles Real Estate, despite the fact that detached houses in good neighbourhoods are not trading at 80 per cent of asking. Mr. Kutyan says agents risk alienating the sellers if they push too hard. ‘They’re going to hang onto their asset and you’re going to hang onto your money,’ he says of aggressive buyers and their agents’
Elbows up Andre!
‘This is the part of the house that hurts the most: my beautiful kitchen I can’t use…It is heartbreaking to look at it, every time we come out here’…Ms Martens described the litigation as a second full-time job, one that comes at a personal cost by day, then keeps her up at night. ‘I can’t get out of it,’ she said. ‘It rules your life’
It was still way cheaper than renting Andrea.
The Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster | The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy
BBC Studios
8 years ago
What could be worse than having your home bulldozed ? – it seems like the hapless Arthur Dent is about to find out. With only 12 minutes to go before the Earth is turned to dust, Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent make haste for the pub…. somehow I don’t think the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is on the menu.
Taken From the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Episode 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvtPglw5ftk
4:14.
A favorite. The 2005 movie was okay, but nowhere near the BBC television show. Don’t forget your towel.
Love “Red Dwarf”, too.
Lister teaches Kryten how to lie | Red Dwarf – BBC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8525OKIhwqk
RED DWARF: Introduction of “Cat”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjFItQPBF3E
Do you have a deep sense of dread that the market’s current uneasy calm won’t last?
Bloomberg
Beneath Market’s Uneasy Calm, Dread Runs Deep Across Wall Street
Bailey Lipschultz
Thu, April 17, 2025 at 1:11 PM PDT 5 min read
(Bloomberg) — It was an unexpected, if improbable relief. The panic unleashed by Donald Trump’s trade war, which convulsed financial markets around the globe and sowed doubts about America’s standing in the world, died down nearly as quickly as it began.
The S&P 500 Index — after swinging more than 10% in a single day as volatility hit levels not seen since the pandemic’s onset or the 2008 credit crisis — this week settled into something of an uneasy calm. The VIX Index, or fear gauge, pulled back sharply from pandemic highs. And US government bonds once again reclaimed their longstanding role as the world’s “risk-free” asset.
Yet all across Wall Street, from bond-trading desks and corporate C-suites, to hedge funds and independent research firms, there’s a deep-seated sense of foreboding that it can’t possibly last…
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/beneath-market-uneasy-calm-dread-193813251.html
Market Extra
Dow sees first ‘death cross’ since 2023 — but here’s the good news
By Joseph Adinolfi
Last Updated: April 17, 2025 at 8:31 p.m. ET
First Published: April 17, 2025 at 2:56 p.m. ET
A “death cross” has come for the Dow. Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Referenced Symbols
DJIA -1.33%
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average became the latest major U.S. equity-market gauge to experience a “death cross.”
It was the first time the ominous signal has appeared on the price chart of the blue-chip stock gauge since November 2023, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The Dow (DJIA -1.33%)
ended up shedding 527.16 points, or 1.3%, to finish the day at 39,142.23.
…
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-set-to-see-first-death-cross-since-2023-but-heres-the-good-news-f115cb9c
Millennials Selling Homes They Bought in Pandemic After Realizing ‘Mistake’
Published Apr 17, 2025 at 4:46 PM EDT
Updated Apr 17, 2025 at 10:24 PM EDT
By Suzanne Blake
Reporter, Consumer & Social Trends
Five years after a historic boom in home purchases driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new wave of home sales is emerging—this time from millennials who say they regret the decision to buy.
Triggered by changing life circumstances, economic pressures and a mismatch between expectations and reality, many of these homeowners are reversing course, according to a new Opendoor report.
Why It Matters
At the height of the pandemic, historically low mortgage rates and the flexibility of remote work encouraged millions to enter the housing market quickly.
Millennials, many of whom were first-time buyers, made rapid decisions in competitive markets, often forgoing inspections or long-term planning in favor of securing a home while interest rates hovered around 2 to 3 percent.
Now, that landscape has shifted dramatically. With mortgage rates approaching 7 percent, inflation pushing up the cost of living, and employers rolling back remote work policies, the realities of home ownership have collided with the optimism of early pandemic buying.
What To Know
Roughly 86 percent of millennials who are selling their homes said they made mistakes in terms of buying their home during the pandemic, according to the 2025 First-Time Home Seller Report by real estate platform Opendoor.
Nearly all of first-time home sellers who were surveyed—91 percent—said those mistakes played a major role in their decision to sell.
…
https://www.newsweek.com/millennials-selling-homes-they-bought-pandemic-after-realizing-mistake-2061235
S&P 500 May Drop 2,000 Points to 3,500
Douglas A. McIntyre
Published: April 17, 2025 9:15 am
The S&P 500 trades at 5,360 today. If tariffs bite the economy and send the United States into a recession, it may well reset to where it was the last time bad news triggered deep anxiety about gross domestic product (GDP). It was 2,000 points below today’s level in September 2022, when it was at 3,585.
24/7 Wall St. Key Points:
– If tariffs bite the economy and send the United States into a recession, the S&P 500 may well reset.
– Concerns about inflation and job losses hamper consumer spending.
The consumer price index rose 8.2% in September 2022, compared to the same month the year before. The price of gasoline rose almost 20%. Fuel oil costs rose 55%. Crude oil prices had topped $100 at midyear. The Russian invasion of Ukraine started earlier in the year, and it was unclear whether Russia might win the war quickly. Russia was among the largest suppliers of crude in the world.
In March 2022, the Federal Reserve began what would be the first of 11 increases in rates. GDP dropped in the first half of the year. It was the first decline since the COVID-19 pandemic started. There was a worry that consumers would pay more for mortgages, car loans, and credit cards. At the same time, consumer sentiment was weak.
…
https://247wallst.com/investing/2025/04/17/sp-500-may-drop-2000-points-to-3500/
I Shall Be Released · The Band
https://youtu.be/pHj8rKvaUpA?si=E2CkRZ4NDdvPty-7
Here’s one from the WTF category.
Nick Sortor
@nicksortor
🚨 WTF?! KiIIer Karmelo Anthony’s press conference just started off by ATTACKING victim Austin Metcalf’s father for showing up
“It is disrespectful of him coming here.”
MORE DISRESPECTFUL THAN STABBlNG HIS SON TO DEATH?!
From
End Wokeness
1:19 PM · Apr 17, 2025
https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1912918971407343747