In The Air, There Is Barely Contained Mania
A weekend topic on Canada and Australia starting with ThinkPol. “British Columbians want the government to go after money launderers, tax evaders, speculators and other fraudsters operating in the province’s real estate market, public responses to the governing NDP’s 2018 budget consultation show. Premier John Horgan’s government is scheduled to deliver its first full budget on February 20, and the NDP sought public input to on what to include in it. Many citizens publicly shared their responses to the NDP’s request for consultation, and corruption, speculation and impact of foreign buyers on the housing market seemed to concern many.”
“‘Pass a law no one can buy land or houses unless they are Canadians and jumped up prices will fall,’ Dave Devitt of Chilliwack, BC, wrote. ‘When our kids can’t buy million dollar houses somethings wrong!’ ‘Healthcare, education and mental health and addictions funding,’ Wendy Kathleen said. ‘Go after the money launderers, illegal real estate flippers, scammers, tax evaders and use the money towards all the above!’”
“‘I’d like to see some real disruption of the corruption in BC – money laundering, organized crime, the debacle that is our housing market, etc,’ Bex Tress wrote. ‘This requires manpower and money to oversee/enforce legislation. Be merciless.’”
“But not everyone was on board with deflating the housing bubble. ‘After I read post after post about crashing the housing market, I truly believe that people don’t understand the negative impact that would be for BC,’ KrystalDawn Cooke of Victoria, BC said. ‘Unemployed people can’t afford houses either even when they are $300k. Think of all the trades, realtors, lawyers, restaurant workers and etc that have jobs because the housing market is doing so well.’”
From the Regina Leader Post. “Saskatchewan homebuilders had a rough fall season, with the province posting the biggest year-on-year drop in new housing construction nationwide. Newfoundland and Labrador saw the biggest per-cent drop, but Saskatchewan experienced the biggest loss in terms of dollars. John Lax, spokesperson for the Saskatchewan Construction Association, the same issue has been plaguing homebuilders: low demand in a resource-price-driven downturn.”
“‘Homebuilders build homes when people want to buy them,’ he said. ‘There was a lot of inventory in the multi-dwelling sector that has to be absorbed. We should be looking at a much-improved 2018,’ he said. ‘But until we start seeing the money flow from those improved feelings and intentions, I don’t think we should be throwing any parades yet.’”
The Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s Friday night at Chadstone shopping centre in south-east Melbourne, and a queue has formed outside the Chanel boutique. A sign at the store’s entrance says it’s full: ‘Due to safety reasons, we are unable to let any more clients in at this time.’ A dark-suited staff member stands near the sign, as if to deter anyone so desperate to spend $7000 on a handbag that they are thinking of forcing their way inside.”
“In the air, there is barely contained retail mania. And the sound of people speaking Mandarin. From Hermès scarves and Cartier watches to top-of-the-range BMWs, products with pedigree – and preposterously high price tags – have never been more popular in this country. It’s the tennis courts that worry David Morrell. An agent for buyers at the top end of the Melbourne property market, Morrell says there are 120 courts in Toorak, the city’s richest suburb, and close to one-fifth of them are now Chinese-owned. Judging by the make-up of crowds at real estate auctions in the suburb, he expects that to rise.”
“At one auction, he says, ‘we counted 118 people, and 92 were Chinese.’ At another Toorak sale, Morrell watched three Chinese people bid against one another. ‘I said to the auctioneer, ‘This is like taking candy from babies.’ They just kept their hands in the air. They didn’t understand what the process was, and they didn’t care. It went a couple of million dollars over the reserve.’”
“Morrell is convinced that the flood of Chinese money has distorted the Australian real estate market. He cites Chinese buyer Qi Yang’s payment last August of almost $40 million for a large but slightly rundown Toorak house. That was about $14 million higher than the previous Victorian residential real estate record, Morrell says. And in his opinion, it bore little relation to what the place was actually worth. That willingness to pay over the odds has consequences for other buyers: ‘This time last year, I was paying $6500 to $7000 a square metre. Now I’m paying nearly $10,000 a square metre. That’s the difference in 12 months, and it’s directly related to Chinese investment.’”
From Domain News. “Sydney’s property market summer hangover isn’t showing signs of abating, with weaker than usual auction numbers kick-starting the year. The number of homes that will go under the hammer this weekend is down by more than 60 per cent compared to the same time in the past two years. The clearance rate is down to 50 per cent after only half of the 26 homes listed for auction last weekend sold.”
“‘Prices have gone down but the two auctions that I’ve sold [in the last three months] I didn’t think I’d get above $800,000,’ real estate agent Chadia El-Hage. ‘A lot of people are too scared to put their house up for sale because of how many people are saying the market is going to crash.’”
“It will take a large shift in Brisbane’s housing market if investors are to see any increase in rents in the near future, experts say. Domain data scientist Nicola Powell said stagnated rent had been the norm in Brisbane for five years or more. Dr Powell didn’t expect that to change any time soon. ‘I think it will take a large shift in the market. These tighter lending conditions will make it harder for investors to get finance,’ she said. ‘In the unit market they’re still impacted by oversupply.’”
“Partner at Living Here property management Haesley Cush said the news came as little surprise. ‘The last 12 months has seen a number of new accommodation precincts come out of the ground. What that does is drag down the median price,’ he said. ‘They’ve offered huge incentives and it’s left mum and dad investors unable to compete.’”
From the Gladstone Observer. “It is cheaper to buy a home in New York than it is in Brisbane, according to a new global study that ranks every one of Australia’s major housing markets as ’severely unaffordable’. International housing affordability think tank Demographia has released its 14th survey on house prices, revealing Sydney has the second most expensive housing market in the world after Hong Kong.”
“In Sydney, a home costs on average 12.9 times the median income. Melbourne, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Geelong, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Perth, Cairns and Canberra are all near the top of the list. Brisbane is ranked the 18th least affordable major city, with homes there costing 6.3 times the median income. In comparison, homes in New York cost 5.7 times the median annual household income.”
“‘Australia is perhaps the least densely populated major country in the world, but state governments there have contrived to drive land prices in major urban areas to very high levels, with the result that in that country housing in major state capitals has become severely unaffordable,’ the report stated.”
‘Morrell watched three Chinese people bid against one another. ‘I said to the auctioneer, ‘This is like taking candy from babies.’ They just kept their hands in the air. They didn’t understand what the process was, and they didn’t care. It went a couple of million dollars over the reserve.’
This article is a hoot.
nothing has changed. inflating asset prices has become the easy street for politicians and bankers.
😁
“That willingness to pay over the odds has consequences for other buyers: ‘This time last year, I was paying $6500 to $7000 a square metre. Now I’m paying nearly $10,000 a square metre. That’s the difference in 12 months, and it’s directly related to Chinese investment.’”
That willingness to pay over the odds has consequences for other buyers AND it has consequences for THE COMPS; It has consequences for those who have already bought.
Wealth is (seemingly) created by the price rise and this wealth will (more than seemingly) be destroyed by a price decline.
I especially find it interesting (and soooo profitable) how this price-rise-created-wealth is so easily and willingly sucked out of the houses and is replaced by debt.
Wealth that is generated by the actions of one set of fools is immediately sucked out and spent by another set of fools.
A large portion of the global economy has evolved to depend on the action of these fools. Somewhat remarkable if one stops to think about it.
I’m seeing a bit more foreclosures and short sales in my neck of the woods than in the past year. I’m looking in the 400-700k range but I imagine its across the price spectrum. People must have gotten caught “reaching” for a lifestyle they couldnt afford. Saw one lot that was for sale maybe 2-3 years ago, back up for sale, now wanting 100K more by my credit union.
“A large portion of the global economy has evolved to depend on the action of these fools. Somewhat remarkable if one stops to think about it.”
In regards to Western societies, the idea that we’ve devolved to this point isn’t really all that surprising.
The generations that knew how to “make do”, that regarded delayed gratification as prudent, that regarded thrift as necessary, have died off.
What we’re left with is Boomers, Xers and Millennials. Three largely irresponsible generations in a row.
Hopefully, the rising Homelander won’t be so selfish, so mindless.
I’m not that dead yet MacBeth.
blockchain already obsolete?
https://cryptoslate.com/hashgraph-vs-blockchain/
It would be quite awesome to see the crypto bubble collapse to the ground due to the introduction of a superior technology.
Guess what?
The technology has been around for just a very short time, and already I’m sick to death of it. Non-stop online chatter seemingly everywhere.
Thank God I’m not subject to it in the real world.
Nassim Taleb’s cogent observation was that we have created another currency that will make people in power unhappy. The “structure” and delivery system will change over time but the pandora creation will remain.
It will also make the people who go bankrupt investing in crypto very unhappy. The people in power, such as Wall Street, will find a way to make out of it if there any to be made.
I doubt it. As long as people continue to talk ceaselessly about blockchain and bitcoin, neither are going anywhere.
Must be yet another coastal mania / phenomenon. A collective loss of the mind in response to unbridled greed, hedonism and massive debt.
I’m in flyover. Rarely do people talk about either blockchain or bitcoin here.
Enjoy your region’s ongoing and undeniable decline.
i’ve probably posted less on bitcoin than just about anyone here. i went for about three years without posting anything on it.
i posted a warning on it about a month ago when countries like china started to ban it.
your opinion that cryptos like bitcoin will not go away unless people stop talking about them is baseless and will probably be proven wrong.
and what does “enjoy your region’s ongoing and undeniable decline” have to do with cryptos?
I didn’t say it was YOU talking about it unceasingly. If I thought that, I would have said so directly.
“and what does “enjoy your region’s ongoing and undeniable decline” have to do with cryptos?”
Plenty. Degenerate, get-rich gamblers and schemers tend to get their shirts handed to them.
From what I can tell, since it’s people living on the coasts that most frequently lack the spine and wherewithal not to get caught up in this kind of crap, it is they who’ll likely suffer the most should the whole thing crash.
Seems elemental to me.
i posed a question and you said “i doubt it” in answer, so your entire post seemed directed at me.
your opinion that cryptos like bitcoin will not go away unless people stop talking about them is baseless and will probably be proven wrong.”
You mean like the “housing is an investment” mantra?
If people keep talking about Bitcoin, the result will be one of trying to “fit it” rather than it disappearing.
“fix it”
If people keep talking about Bitcoin, the result will be one of trying to “fit it” rather than it disappearing.
bitcoin will rise or fall on its own merit. and i’ve given my opinion on that about 3 years ago when i said on this forum that bitcoin doesn’t have a way to achieve a stable value, so it’s just a speculation. i said it probably wouldn’t survive long in its present (3 years ago) form and it didn’t.
Of course Bitcoin 1.0 is all about speculation. That much has always been obvious. It’s a renegade product.
We’ll have to see what BitCoin 2.0 looks like. Big Government wants a cashless society. So do banks. They want to maintain/increase their power.
Think of all the regulation and control the BitCoin world potentially represents.
Of course Bitcoin 1.0 is all about speculation. That much has always been obvious.
it wasn’t so obvious 3 or 4 years ago and there are still lots of people that think it’s a currency with intrinsic value because electricity was used to create it.
We’ll have to see what BitCoin 2.0 looks like.
bitcoin is already in a different form than its original. there have already been at least 2 ‘forks’ and more are planned.
Big Government wants a cashless society.
true, they’re slowly making paper dollars more difficult to physically hide. it’s called the ‘war on cash’ and they want us to have to carry enough of it to buy a car in a tote bag. to buy a house, a pickup truck.
originally banks wanted us to like paper better than gold or silver, so they made bills of very large demonizations. and the first small size dollar was printed in 1929. it was all an attempt to get us to carry paper money.
now that we’re in that habit, they want to take advantage of us by knowing our every move. and we take it, just like we take being felt up and patted down at our own borders. our founders would have been embarrassed and NEVER stood for it. yet here we are. the gentle little sheep.
it wasn’t so obvious 3 or 4 years ago and there are still lots of people that think it’s a currency with intrinsic value because electricity was used to create it.
People who believe that are incredibly gullible. By that argument, my 6th grade homework has intrinsic value, because I punched those times-tables into a calculator to get the results—electricity was used to create those results!! Spent electricity is merely spent electricity, nothing more.
People who believe that are incredibly gullible.
true. i think there are many of them that don’t really believe that, but they say it defensively. they need a convincing argument to prop it all up, and that’s about as close as they can get. doesn’t seem to matter to them that it doesn’t logically hold up.
“it wasn’t so obvious 3 or 4 years ago and there are still lots of people that think it’s a currency with intrinsic value because electricity was used to create it.”
It was obvious to me, and that’s why I didn’t buy into it. Not then, not presently. That may change as the technology and the landscape change. Electricity itself has value…it’s why we pay for it. It says nothing about the value of BitCoin itself.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a moron.
Bitconnect Carlos has a new music video out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhyAREaWfyU
That was mind blowing! I haven’t laughed that hard since “hide your kids, hide your wife.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl9vouECjgs
LOL, never saw that one before. Sometimes World Star Hip-Hop is a hoot.
“A collective loss of the mind in response to unbridled greed, hedonism and massive debt.”
A thing of beauty, especially the massive debt part.
All three are about equally important to someone such as yourself Mr Banker. With greed and hedonism, your marks might actually regard debt as a problem.
My marks do not see debt as a problem, they see debt as a solution.
Undoubtedly. A solution for so, so many things, no?
Especially fragile egos.
“fragile egos”
Another one of God’s gifts.
My marks do not see debt as a problem, they see debt as a solution.
Because debt has been rebranded as “credit”.
Very clever Mr. Banker. Well played.
“Very clever Mr. Banker. Well played.”
Piece of cake. No cleverness on my part, just cashing in on entrenched gross stupidity.
1. Dumb ‘em down.
2. Profit.
Just like a “home equity loan” used to be known as a “second mortgage”.
And as recently as the early 1990s.
“And as recently as the early 1990s.”
The world was still cooling for this dull massive debt crowd.
Because debt has been rebranded as “credit”
Karen, even worse, debt has been rebranded as “equity” and “cash.”
When I was in high school in the late 80s, a neighbor needed $$$ to send the princess to private college. He took out a “second mortgage.” We gossiped about it in whispers, because it was not polite to openly discuss that the neighbor was so poor that he had go to deeper into debt.
Nowadays, people do that same second mortgage, but they think of it as cash-out re-fi, extracting equity, home equity line of credit, and house as ATM. And they flaunt it with boats and boob jobs and Viking stoves.
Lendedu Report shows that 18% of Investors borrow money to buy Bitcoin.
By Olivia Ogaya
On Jan 6, 2018
https://cryptona.co/lendedu-report-shows-18-investors-borrow-money-buy-bitcoin/
Crytocurrencies are highly regarded as an investment platform. This has led many people to use borrowed money to acquire some of the most famous currencies like Bitcoin believing that they would get returns to pay off their debts. According to Lendedu, which is a consumer survey group about 18.155 of 672 Bitcoin investors who were surveyed use Credit cards to buy Bitcoin.
The Lendedu survey went on to show that 51.78% use both debit and credit cards for the purchases. This is worrying because the number could be larger because the survey covered a very small group of people. It should be noted that at the moment millions of people have knowledge in Bitcoin and other currencies. Currently Bitcoin is having the second largest market cap behind Apple.
A nation of dummies.
MacBeth
Have you noticed that all the “haters” want to send their kids to our colleges? And then the kids want to stay.
There is a reason why people risk life and limb to be here.
Yes. And it’s an interesting dichotomy, isn’t it?
The real problem is that those who “risk life and limb to be here” quickly discover that the natives will give them something for nothing.
And they are the real problem, not the other way around.
Freedom isn’t free. Nor is individual liberty. You have to work for it. All of us do. Americans need to teach recent and wanna-be immigrants this concept. Not the opposite.
Freedom isn’t free ??
Oh Lookie…The three word talking point right out of the Bush/Cheeney Iraq war playbook…How did that work out for ya …
If they believed those three words taxes to pay for their wars, instead of passing the cost on to future generations.
Freedom isn’t free. The statement has nothing to do with Bush, Chaney or any idiotic Middle Eastern wars that the Bushes, the Clintons and numerous others were hell bent on starting.
It’s interesting that you equate the two. Tells me a great deal about you.
Having and living up to an honorable moral and ethical code isn’t free. A Golden Rule existence isn’t free. Nor is the attempt free. It never will be. Moral and ethical people often get screwed. At considerable cost, spiritually, monetarily, emotionally, what have you.
Such people behave morally and ethically regardless, because they consider things such as “freedom” more important than themselves.
It’s interesting that you equate the two. Tells me a great deal about you.
It shouldn’t. That’s just poor judgment on your part. The period leading up to the invasion of Iraq just happened to be a time when people were spouting that phrase a lot.
Yet it does.
Some people are simply more observant than others.
I was going to say that I have much greater powers of observation than you do, TPP, but that would be an unnecessary, as nearly everyone on this board could just as easily say the same.
“It shouldn’t. That’s just poor judgment on your part. The period leading up to the invasion of Iraq just happened to be a time when people were spouting that phrase a lot.”
There it is! Really missed your bluenose lectures, Mikey. Not.
Mac, TPP is Mighty Mike’s new handle.
I know. His use of Tea Party Patriot as an alias is a lame ploy. That’s our Mikey! He didn’t even bother try to change his syntax or word choice upon his return.
I decided to abbreviate him as TPP in my responses, to remind him that globalism is on the wane. Not that he noticed.
I knew a veteran of Iwo Jima who said “With freedom comes responsibility.”
This isn’t really a freedom issue. This is a “free lunch” issue. Over the past 10 days or so, the DACA have shown their true colors. They are “talking past the sale,” so to speak. They think of citizenship as a foregone conclusion. Now it’s time to bring in all the parents and grandparents and siblings, with freebies for all.
‘After I read post after post about crashing the housing market, I truly believe that people don’t understand the negative impact that would be for BC,’ KrystalDawn Cooke of Victoria, BC said. ‘Unemployed people can’t afford houses either even when they are $300k. Think of all the trades, realtors, lawyers, restaurant workers and etc that have jobs because the housing market is doing so well.’
You’ve got a point KrystalDawn, but bubbles aren’t maintained by consensus. As Dave in Chilliwack said - ‘When our kids can’t buy million dollar houses somethings wrong!’
Close the concentration camps? Think of the guards, cooks, oven worker and fence repairers! They all have jobs because the Holocaust is doing so well!
Pardon my French, KrystalDawn, but you are a dumb@ss.
Rarely do I use that term in regards to a woman, yet nothing else is as appropriate.
Do you have a twin sister in Silicon Valley?
“Pardon my French, KrystalDawn, but you are a dumb@ss.”
One dumb@ss out of a pool of millions.
“Rarely do I use that term in regards to a woman, yet nothing else is as appropriate.”
Rarely, huh. You need to get out a bit more often.
I call stupid women “stupid”. And yes, there’s as many stupid women as stupid men.
“And yes, there’s as many stupid women as stupid men.”
God’s gift; A gift that keeps on giving.
😁
Keeping those borders open will ensure it.
I was surprised that so many people were dismayed that the US is the 8th best country in the world; with Switzerland #1. I think it’s great. If we’re no longer the best, maybe those other countries will seek out “better” countries to beg money from, or military from, or technology from.
“If we’re no longer the best, maybe those other countries will seek out “better” countries to beg money from, or military from, or technology from.”
D’ya know what “fat chance” means?
Close the concentration camps? Think of the guards, cooks, oven worker and fence repairers! They all have jobs because the Holocaust is doing so well!”
But…but…but….what about the portable toilet and shower services?!! Those in the camps didn’t have someone drive CLEAN toilets and showers to them to use.
Portable facilities such as those improve people’s lives.
Honestly, banana. Your anti-progressive stance blinds you to real progress. Work on that, will you? Jeez.
National Socialists have not changed much in 70 years…
Back in the day they must have had to put in more effort to have a torchlight parade. Tiki torches from Walmart weren’t available.
I’d almost bet everything I own that KrystalDawn (horrible name) is up to her eyeballs in debt on her mortgage. She’s probably a REALTWHORE, too. She’s not concerned about job losses, she’s concerned about the price of her shanty cratering.
So when do the stories of realtors taking part time stripper jobs begin?
Heh. I read that as “price of her shanty catering, that is she would earn less in real estate commissions.
Are the good folks in B.C. getting ready to form a posse years after the crime?
“Think of all the trades, realtors, lawyers, restaurant workers and etc that have jobs because the housing market is doing so well.’”–Ms Cooke
“Try to think of all the morgues, casket makers, cemeteries and etc that thrive in times of war and famine.”— Generalissimo Enrique Montoya
“Are the good folks in B.C. getting ready to form a posse years after the crime? ”
Nah. Noise is being made now because those that rode the crime wave finally are getting hosed. Until now, tens of thousands of Vancouverites were more than happy to play screw thy neighbor.
It’s for the parasites.
The only shame about bubble jobs going away is that they ever were created in the first place.
‘Cush said the news came as little surprise. ‘The last 12 months has seen a number of new accommodation precincts come out of the ground. What that does is drag down the median price,’ he said. ‘They’ve offered huge incentives and it’s left mum and dad investors unable to compete.’
If it lasts long enough, this is how it ends. Artificially high prices will create oversupply and speculator default. With so many running on “negative gearing”, without appreciation, what’s the point?
Parker, CO Housing Prices Crater 9% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/parker-co/market-trends/
“British Columbians want the government to go after money launderers, tax evaders, speculators and other fraudsters operating in the province’s real estate market, public responses to the governing NDP’s 2018 budget consultation show.”
Yet they vote in a maniacal, politically correct progressive as their Prime Minister. Canadians clearly aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed.
This is happening the world over. People can’t put two and two together to conclude that they’re actually voting against their own interests. It’s like liberals (#metoo, LGBTQC(uckold),etc.) who want unlimited immigration, which extends to Muslims who have every intention of oppressing women and anyone who is not a Muslim.
I still can’t get over how they doublethink ulimited immigration with a living wage. Hmm, I haven’t heard about a living wage for a while.
Hmm, I haven’t heard about a living wage for a while.
it’s now ‘universal basic income’.
do u guys think they can hit dow 30,000 by the end of year?
Yes. It’s easily within the realm of possibilities. It’s only 15% or so away. Dow 35,000 also is within the realm of possibilities.
Will it happen? Who knows? I certainly don’t.
Yes. The rise in stocks have been tied to the President’s ego. The hapless at the Fed will do whatever.
trump claims his policies have created 7 trillion in wealth by rising stock prices.
What exactly has he done?
What exactly has he done?
Despite his general prickly-ness he’s managed to not prick the bubble.
So I am thinking.
One less house or luxury apartment that is needed.
Don’t trip over the wall heading home.
++++++
An Illegal Alien Says Goodbye To America
Hot Air | 28 Jan 2018 | Jazz Shaw
The Washington Post has published another one of their heartwrenching testimonial pieces designed to elicit sympathy for illegal aliens and highlight how terrible the Trump administration is. This one has a twist, however. Rather than featuring some illegal who is found and deported, separating them from their family, this is a goodbye note from an illegal alien who voluntarily decided to go back to Mexico along with his parents and siblings.
That’s a real shame. Rodriguez complains that he actually had to pay his tuition because he couldn’t obtain federal financial aid. Well, no. You weren’t entitled to it because you were in the country illegally. He also talks about working multiple jobs, “where background checks were not a priority.” In other words, he found an employer who was either knowingly participating in violating federal law on a daily basis or was too stupid to own a business. What sort of ID did Mr. Rodriguez use to apply for that job, cash his checks and engage in all the other little necessities of life? Was he, perhaps, engaging in identity theft? What about paying taxes? The questions simply abound.
So they decided to leave before ICE found them and removed the choice. Then, in closing, the author explains the curious title of the piece and why this was a mutual loss: “The way I see it, this loss is mutual: I lost the chance to have a life in America. America lost the chance to have me.”
And liberals/progressives think DJT is a dumb fool…
++++++
‘I’m All For It’: DACA Immigrants Suddenly Changing Their Tune On Trump And The Border Wall
Western Journalism | Jan 27, 2018 | Chris White
Many of the so-called Dreamers worried about their immigration status are starting to reconsider their opposition to a possible wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a report Friday from the San Francisco Chronicle.
President Donald Trump’s wall at the border wouldn’t be so bad, some groups are now saying, so long as it means citizenship for the nearly 700,000 people brought into the country through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“If building a wall leads us to having citizenship, then I’m all for it,” Ana Rodriguez, who works at a daycare center in California, told reporters at the Chronicle. “The U.S. is what I know and that’s where I want to live my life — I want to be a part of it in full.”
“It’s coming from a point of exhaustion — they’ve tried everything,” Montes told reporters. “Their instinct is survival and as human beings, how much longer can they endure this? They’re ping-ponging back and forth.”
Recent polling shows Hispanics are evenly split on whether to combine a DACA deal to the building of a wall — 42 percent of Hispanics oppose it and 42 percent support it, according to the Quinnipiac poll conducted Jan. 18.
“If building a wall leads us to having citizenship, then I’m all for it,” Ana Rodriguez, who works at a daycare center in California, told reporters at the Chronicle.”
“I got mine, f**k the rest.”
PS- How about building a wall and sending her and all of these illegals packing? That’s what I want. They broke the law, they should NEVER be rewarded for that.
In fact, I’d be in favor of a swap which identifies 700k potential immigrants from Mexico, and exchanges them for the DACAs, giving immediate residency to those who DIDN’T break the law while sending the DACAs to the back of the line. Nobody likes people who take cuts.
This reminds me of the “one in, one out” deal that Germany brokered with Turkey and Greece refugees coming from Syria:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/08/european-leaders-agree-outlines-of-refugee-deal-with-turkey
Instead of a wall, I’m more interested in hammering the bejeezus out of employers who are hiring these people. Threaten the owners with arrest, and make the fines so oppressive that one violation could mean you have to close the business. Use that fine money to fund border protections and an account for a future wall. Make the people who caused this pay for it.
Make the people who caused this pay for it ??
That would be the easy way to fix it….But, apparently, hate mongering and bigotry is the preferred way to deal with it….
With that kind of love for lawlessness it’s no wonder Clownifornia crime and poverty is out of control.
Make the people who caused this pay for it.
This is absolutely the way to deal with illegal immigration from an economic standpoint. You have to go after the demand for the immigration. Romney was right when he referenced “self-deportation.”
Why not adopt a more rules-based way of approaching immigration. Here’s a start, since this is a housing blog, why not tie the number of immigrants that can come into the country based on local housing costs where they might be settled. Adding more individuals to a system where there is already easy credit and speculative demand will only create more pressure on the bubble.
“Adding more individuals to a system where there is already easy credit and speculative demand will only create more pressure on the bubble.”
There’s a great deal of validity to this statement.
Might I add that it also will create unexpected pressure as poor immigrants need a place to live, in places where they cannot afford to live anywhere. That also places pressure on the bubble.
Insanity everywhere, it seems.
Now, the next trick is to get the “Dreamers” to build the wall. Maybe through some federal “WPA-style” program that’s part of the path to citizenship for them.
I’ve long been a proponent of non-profit (i.e. religious), civil or military service as a requirement to be a full citizen; able to participate (vote) and receiving benefits.
Ana’s probably thinking to chain migrate in her parents. Not realizing that Trump is standing pretty solid on eliminating chain migration.
One of the latest news headlines is “Dreamers Reject White House Proposal For Restricting Family-Based Migration.”
Google it for a laugh. Now it’s as if Dreamers are actually negotiating with Trump. The Demorats are circling the drain at this point. The nation is not behind them.
““I would love to be able to be a citizen, but I think for me and what we see of our own communities, it would be a lot more important to be able to keep our families together,” said Mical Alvarado-Diaz, a nursing student and DACA recipient. “So, for us, the best-case scenario would be a ‘clean Dream Act’ or at least something that includes families.”
She added that children should not have to live in fear that their parents could be deported, ”
—————
One day, they’re doctors and lawyers. The next day they’re children crying for their mommy. And liberals fall for it.
Pro tip for DACAs: American kids leave home when they are 18, either to go to college or to go to work. If “America is the only country you’ve ever known,” you might want to do the same, you know, to blend in.
You weren’t entitled to it because you were in the country illegally. He also talks about working multiple jobs, “where background checks were not a priority.” In other words, he found an employer who was either knowingly participating in violating federal law on a daily basis or was too stupid to own a business.
This Hot Air website should thus publish many articles blaming much of the problem of illegal immigration on the employers who disregard the law. I have a feeling that that is not the case.
A prayer:
God. Please watch over Hillary! and keep her healthy enough to run in 2020. Amen.
+++++
The Wreck of Hillary Clinton
PJ Media | 27 Jan 2018 | Michael Walsh
Hillary Clinton is sending a message of thanks to “activist bitches supporting bitches.” The former secretary of State and Democratic presidential nominee made the comments in a video posted to Twitter on Friday by Huffington Post commentator Alex Mohajer.
“Hey everyone, I just wanted to say thanks,” Clinton says in the video. “Thanks for your feminism, for your activism, and all I can hope is you keep up the really important, good work.” Off-screen, someone can be heard saying, “activist bitches supporting bitches,” which Clinton then repeats, laughing.
“And let me just say, this is directed to the activist bitches supporting bitches, so let’s go,” she says.
Has anyone ever conducted an in-depth study of current-era activist bitches?
Seriously.
I’m curious of their upbringing. Did they grow up in privileged conditions? Were their parents moonbats or religious fanatics? Environmental fanatics? What colleges did they attend, if any? Who influenced them? What influenced them?
I am not looking for hypothetical, arm chair comments. I want real numbers.
Their lunacy needs to be addressed. Some should be medicated (or switched to some other medication).
It occurred to me that when they say womens this or womens that, they really should preface it with “ugly, delusional, and possibly deranged”, because normal woman laugh at their nonsense. During their latest march/tantrum, they were calling for open borders - wide open, no controls. How insane do you have to be, or rather insulated from reality?
Oh, and Brisbane is kind of nothing city. Not even on the ocean, although close to it. I guess compared to the s-holes in China it probably looks pretty nice though. Aussies never liked asians much, I imagine as the market falls more they’ll look to axe some of the legal loopholes the Chinese used to buy property there.
No tickey, no washey will take on a whole new meaning, lol!
Can’t answer that but have some armchair:
Social media. What percentage of attendees under age 30 at the womyn’s march did *not* post a picture of themselves attending? 10, 5, 1 percent?
It’s all about broadcasting a virtue signal and getting external validation.
Has anyone ever conducted an in-depth study of current-era activist bitches?
Seriously.
I’m curious of their upbringing. Did they grow up in privileged conditions? Were their parents moonbats or religious fanatics? Environmental fanatics? What colleges did they attend, if any? Who influenced them? What influenced them?
Similar remarks were made 100 years when women were out in the street marching to get the right to vote. They all should have been at home cooking for their husbands and kids. In fact, it’s a typical response to any popular movement. Everyone just stay home and let the wealthy run the country.
How old are you?
Like nearly all of us who participate on this blog, I’m too old to rock and roll and too young to die. Why does it matter?
You’re not too old to foot stamp.
so how long were you standing there with your head against the door, waiting for it to open, Mikey?
If it’s Mike I’ll just blacklist this version again cuz I’m sick of his shithole.
Variation of the duck test. If it sounds like, smells like…
The Epic Moment When Morning Joe Realized the Mainstream Media Were Shills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmxhPFQz2Q0
Milton Friedman Tells Phil Donahue Why Socialism Fails
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p31-xQ2Rrz4
Re: Morning Joe, the lamestream media are still shills, and shills they will always be. In fact they have doubled down.
full friedman donahue video that your clip was taken from..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvNzi7tmkx0
WARNING: Hillary Clinton sending a message of thanks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfeHWDvjkiE
Of course this is just the Feminizis covering Hillary’s @ss for this story that broke the day before.
Hillary Clinton Chose to Shield a Top Adviser Accused of Harassment in 2008
By MAGGIE HABERMAN and AMY CHOZICKJAN. 26, 2018
WASHINGTON — A senior adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign who was accused of repeatedly sexually harassing a young subordinate was kept on the campaign at Mrs. Clinton’s request, according to four people familiar with what took place.
Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager at the time recommended that she fire the adviser, Burns Strider. But Mrs. Clinton did not. Instead, Mr. Strider was docked several weeks of pay and ordered to undergo counseling, and the young woman was moved to a new job.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/us/politics/hillary-clinton-chose-to-shield-a-top-adviser-accused-of-harassment-in-2008.html
Instead, Mr. Strider was docked several weeks of pay and ordered to undergo counseling, and the young woman was moved to a new job.
That’s a fine example of an activist b!tch helping b!tches, right there!! He keeps his job with very little in terms of consequences; she gets moved to a different, likely lower prestige job.
Uh huh.
It’s a well known fact that Hillary paid her female staffers/ employees less than her male staffers/employees.
It’s almost as if the more powerful feminist activists purposefully keep other female activists down.
That’s not limited to feminists. All women try to sabotage their competition.
A prayer: God. Please watch over Hillary! and keep her healthy enough to run in 2020. Amen ??
Sorry 2-fruit…God is a bit busy today to respond to your request…
“And I pray dear God I can run for another office because this is what I do and others do not understand the higher calling that I and others have to serve OURSELVES while serving the good people who now want a good wall to be built between good neighbors and good cactus, and, in my good heart, this is what I know you all secretly want, and, I pledge to you that I will be reminding you of my desire to run for office again and again…..and…..again…..and…..”
She’s a disgusting, purple-nosed lush.
He’s a disgusting orange nose bigot…
Whose reelection will hopefully cause a million snowflake suicides
I prefer the guaranteed election loss of Lying Liz Warren in 2020.
“Think of all the trades, realtors, lawyers, restaurant workers and etc that have jobs because the housing market is doing so well.’”
And bankers; It pisses me off that bankers were excluded.
Wow, what a free ride! Pukes work, bankers reap. Few can buy with money they earn so they have to resort to buying with money they borrow. To do this they come to me and I then loan to them money that belongs to somebody else - and I get to collect some hefty fees for doing so.
Sweet!
In downtown Seattle, both 1) downtown condos, 2) trendy houses in Queen Ann, Greenwwood etc., i have heard (ad-hoc not statistical) talk about the following.
Folks from China paying 50% for homes. They 1-2 years later re-financing back down to 80-90% mortgage. They claim to use the money for another house or investment ….
But the thought is that for some, this is clear money …. that cannot be traced to getting out of China
There are all kinds of games being played. Go into the King County property records and start digging. You’ll see all kind of strange things, like homes being quit-claimed back and forth between two parties multiple times (for no apparent reason).
And I’ve looked up some people (with exotic last names) and found that they appear to own multiple properties, and one has to wonder how they paid for all of those homes, or if they are mortgaged to the hilt on all of them.
I want to know how the second-highest lawyer at Microsoft can spend $1.5M on a brand-new house and doesn’t even appear to live in it for several months at a time (I can see the lack of lights out my kitchen window).
“And I’ve looked up some people (with exotic last names) and found that they appear to own multiple properties, and one has to wonder how they paid for all of those homes, or if they are mortgaged to the hilt on all of them.”
Kinda smells bad, doesn’t it? Intuition tells me it’s a front for money laundering. Think about it for a minute. What better way to move money around than to have a foreigner with an exotic name purchase property and then suddenly disappear into the ether when the going gets tough?
I am not saying that any of this has actually happened (I have no proof). HOWEVER, it’s not like housing (the physical house) can be offshored, so something like this might be the next best thing.
Of course, this is all conjecture. I could be completely wrong. Probably am. Either way, it’s hard to fathom the extent of it all.
“But not everyone was on board with deflating the housing bubble. ‘After I read post after post about crashing the housing market, I truly believe that people don’t understand the negative impact that would be for BC,’ KrystalDawn Cooke of Victoria, BC said. ‘Unemployed people can’t afford houses either even when they are $300k. Think of all the trades, realtors, lawyers, restaurant workers and etc that have jobs because the housing market is doing so well.’”
Yup. Lower food prices harms farms, lower gas prices harms gas producers, lower technology prices harms manufacturers, lower car prices harms car manufacturers.
Lower house prices wouldn’t harm house manufacturers so much as there is quite a bit of profit built in.
Lower house prices would harm house resellers, certainly. But who does it help?
“Lower house prices would harm house resellers, certainly. But who does it help?”
It helps very few. Lower houses destroys equity, which destroys “wealth”, which in turn leads to reduced spending, which will lead to higher unemployment … etc.
The Ponzie keeps on working because it keeps on working. This seems to be a rather stupid thing to say but I don’t know how else to say it.
As long as the Ponzi keeps on working then the financial system (as stupid as it has become) will keep on working.
One can decide to fight it and lose or one can decide to ride it and win.
It IS a stupid thing to say - but the problem is that you’re correct.
You cannot ride it forever. The Ponzi will take you out if you try.
I’d like to see it all crash. Especially housing. It’d be nice to see ethics, hard work and diligence mean something again.
“I’d like to see it all crash.”
Be careful of what you wish for. IMO a wee bit of reading of history is in order.
“I’d like to see it all crash.”
Be careful of what you wish for. IMO a wee bit of reading of history is in order.
So now we’ve reached the extortion phase? Give me what I want or face the 4 horsemen I brought with me.
Lower houses destroys equity, which destroys “wealth”, which in turn leads to reduced spending, which will lead to higher unemployment … etc.
This is certainly the working theory of the planners and the FIRE sector. It is a way to restate the “wealth effect” . The wealth effect is an improvement in personal balance sheets via hard-to-monetize asset price increases.
Interestingly though, this wealth effect provides little way to increase spending and cashflows in the economy, when it’s IRAs and house prices which are increasing. The net effect for many homeowners is actually more cash outflow from an appreciating house, in the form of property taxes. Ironically.
Ironically, dropping house prices could actually increase spendable cash on hand due to dropping taxes.
“What if our core assumptions are wrong?”
“The net effect for many homeowners is actually more cash outflow from an appreciating house, in the form of property taxes. Ironically.”
This becomes a lot less “ironic” when you read stories about property taxes being funneled toward social programs designed to help others pay rent.
It’s a racket. Racketeering. The problem wouldn’t exist without the underlying fraud.
The wealth effect is an improvement in personal balance sheets via hard-to-monetize asset price increases.
It’s not that hard. There is the HELOC and “cash out” refinancing. People may also see a rise in their mutual fund balances and choose to reduce their savings and increase consumer spending.
The loans against the house eventually come due, suppressing future spending. Eventually, though economists seem determined to ignore it, the bill comes due, along with the spending suppression.
Keynes said, “In the long run we are all dead.” That’s not quite true - there is always another generation.
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they will never sit.”
Modern economists: “The future never comes, party on!” Also, drug users.
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they will never sit.”
This is profound. Aside from metaphorically planting trees, the literal application of caring for our natural resources and environmental stewardship in general is one way to make America great again. We don’t need to climate change or global warming to understand the woes of contaminated air, water, and soil.
‘Aside from metaphorically planting trees, the literal application of caring for our natural resources and environmental stewardship in general is one way to make America great again’
Buy some Chinese crap. Their sky is obliterated with smog.
China is an ecological disaster. India is probably worse. China’s one-child policy isn’t what is going to do the country in, their air quality will.
And most of China’s pollution is our fault. We must have the new iWhatever as soon as it comes out.
iPhone production is probably a drop in the bucket. The real culprit is fossil fuel (read: coal power plants) and vehicle emissions.
All the while, most people’s standard of living has decreased markedly.
And other people’s standard of living (i.e. bankers) has increased markedly.
Again, pukes work, bankers reap.
Remember…. Nothing accelerates the economy and creates jobs like falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels. Nothing.
Altadena, CA Housing Prices Crater 5% YOY As SoCal Housing Correction Expands
https://www.movoto.com/altadena-ca/market-trends/
I talked to a trumpling today that has totally drank the trump kool aid. He told me trump helped the stock market with his davos speech. He is back to day trading.
I bet you sold off your equities the day after Trump won the election…
Equities? Bahahaha!! He’s been living off a HELOC that just ran out.
Got Crumbs?
your boy trump says we have a booming economy thx to him.
‘Go after the money launderers, illegal real estate flippers, scammers, tax evaders and use the money towards all the above!’
boo hoo
someone made a profit an it wasn’t you
“But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.”
― Frédéric Bastiat, The Law
“The Definition of a banana republic is a nation that suffers from chronic inflation, high unemployment and low growth; primarily due to massive government debt and deficits that are purchased by its central bank.”
In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the exportation of a limited-resource product, e.g. bananas, minerals, etc. In 1901, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighbouring countries under economic oppression by American corporations, such as the United Fruit Company. Typically, a banana republic has a society of stratified social classes, usually a great, poor working class and a ruling-class plutocracy, composed of the business, political and military elites of that society.[1] Such a ruling-class oligarchy control the primary sector of the economy by way of the exploitation of labour;[2] thus, the term banana republic is a pejorative descriptor for a servile dictatorship that abets and supports, for kickbacks, the exploitation of large-scale plantation agriculture, especially banana cultivation.[2]
In economics, a banana republic is a country with an economy of state capitalism, by which economic model the country is operated as a private commercial enterprise for the exclusive profit of the ruling class. Such exploitation is effected by collusion between the State and favoured economic monopolies, in which the profit derived from the private exploitation of public lands is private property, while the debts incurred thereby are the financial responsibility of the public treasury. Such an imbalanced economy remains limited by the uneven economic development of town and country, and usually reduces the national currency into devalued banknotes (paper money), thus rendering the country ineligible for international-development credit.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic
zzzzzzz
Such exploitation is effected by collusion between the State and favoured economic monopolies, in which the profit derived from the private exploitation of public lands is private property, while the debts incurred thereby are the financial responsibility of the public treasury.
Hmmmm, that part does sound rather familiar: privatize the profits, socialize the losses, anyone?
Dogs climbing mountains:
https://imgur.com/a/CtC0g
How in God’s name did I miss that!
Bravo! Bravo!
Long time no climb.
And the tariff phases out after 3 years! You probably won’t save $5,000 in energy costs in three years with solar panels. So you might as well wait until the tariff expires.
This won’t help American solar companies, it will just make people delay installing solar. This could end up slaughtering the entire solar industry. It almost makes you wonder if the real reason is to protect coal and oil energy producers.
Absurd! This hurts every American who wants a choice in energy.
This hurts any American who wants to be energy independent instead of relying on the grid and power companies.
It hurts Americans employed in every other sector of the solar industry.
And the tariff likely will not even help the couple solar companies it was intended to protect. Their costs won’t decrease, they will only seem competitive by comparison with artificially expensive foreign products.
One of those companies, Suniva, filed for bankruptcy last April. The other, SunWorld, is a German subsidiary.
So Trump is protecting a bankrupt American company, and a German company, while jeoparding tens of thousands of American jobs in the viable solar panel mounting industry.
Tariffs are just another way to mess with the market. And government intervention in the market always makes things worse.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-27/how-one-new-tariff-could-cost-you-5000-year
The current occupants of the WH are all about big government overreach into private lives of American citizens. And their opioid-addicted band of followers is too stoned to notice.
Like repealing the obamacare tax?
I’m guessing this is you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC1RrgPnzRU
Stay healthy bro
The green hat. Man, woman or Pat (SNL character from the old days)?
Solar=failure
Solyndra
Solar never penciled out to begin with. If you’re buying solar, you lack math skills.
Math is pretty easy compared to questioning the Voices of Authority.
Dang! Skye, your comment is better than mine! Tho mine is okay…
Who cares about math skills when you can be pious instead?
“In this surreal world of complete dominance of financial assets, conventional economic rules break down and financialization and avoidance of sharp asset price contractions becomes the paramount policy objective. In our view, this implies that liquidity supports cannot be withdrawn and cost of capital (holistically defined) can never rise.”
Similarly, CBs are likely to make repeated attempts to raise cost of capital, despite likely inability to do so while China is tightening, and if history is any guide, it would more than likely over-tighten. This should raise volatilities. Even if assume that recovery is indeed more sustainable, CBs (uncomfortable as they are with current excessive valuations and low volatilities) would be happy to see volatilities rise and return to some form of price discovery. The 64-dollar dollar question is whether ‘patient is sufficiently healthy to withstand pressure’.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-28/investors-are-residing-surreal-world-one-banker-thinks-its-all-about-change
how can u take away the punchbowl and raise rates and not have a hard landing?
I doubt the punch bowl will be removed anytime soon. We’ll need a black swan for that to happen.
Warrenton, OR Housing Prices Crater 21% YOY As Housing Demand Plummets To 20 Year Low
https://www.movoto.com/warrenton-or/market-trends/
Marcos Carvajal, who had a brief stint with the Miami Marlins, died Wednesday in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, because of a pneumonia that was not treated in time because of lack of medication.
According to press reports from that nation, Carvajal could not receive the medicines to treat pneumonia that had been afflicting him in recent days and his body could not withstand the disease. He was 34.
Free hc
Be careful out there. This year’s flu is no joke. It’s incredibly harsh this year.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/health/flu-rates-deaths.html
Being an ex MLB you’d think he’d have the cash to buy it on the black market (say smuggled from Colombia).
FWIW, plenty of people in the US, where medicine is plentiful, have died from the flu.
But yeah, Venezuela is a disaster.
Denver’s Civic Center Park is overrun with junkies.
I almost stepped on a used needle walking from my car to the public library downtown.
“94,785,000 Not in Labor Force; At 62.9%, Labor Force Participation Stuck Near 38-Year Low”
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/no-records-set-august-number-employed-americans-drops-participation-rate
sponsored by
CITY & BUSINESS
Bitcoin price CRASH ‘BLOODBATH’: Cryptocurrency could drop 80% as tether criticism rises
BITCOIN’S price could drop by as much as 80 per cent if the cryptocurrency tether is revealed to have been artificially increasing its value resulting in a “bloodbath” for investors, experts have warned.
By Joseph Carey
05:53, Mon, Jan 29, 2018 | UPDATED: 07:15, Mon, Jan 29, 2018
https://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/911293/Bitcoin-price-crash-cryptocurrency-tether-Bitfinex-dollars-market-investors-value-latest
finance
money
‘Without this bitcoin price would collapse’: Fears grow over tether ‘printing press’ as auditors part ways
January 29, 2018 2:33pm
news.com.au
BITCOIN could crash up to 80 per cent if it turns out the price has been artificially pumped up by controversial crytpocurrency tether, analysts have warned.
Tether, a so-called “stablecoin” which aims to maintain a value of one US dollar per tether, has been described as the “ticking time bomb” of the cryptocurrency world which could trigger the next “bloodbath” similar to the 2014 collapse of the Mt. Gox exchange.
And while Japanese exchange Coincheck on Friday confirmed it had lost up to $US530 million in a hack worse than the $US450 million Mt Gox theft, it’s the “tether situation” which has the market on edge.
http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/investing/without-this-scam-bitcoin-price-would-collapse-fears-grow-over-tether-printing-press-as-auditors-part-ways/news-story/308503ab61f82d320e92847a0b59a23b
Published Jan. 20, 2018 at 09:32PM
Commentary: Remove the punchbowl before markets get crazier
By Jared Dillian
Bloomberg View
Everyone knows that when the shoeshine boy gives you stock tips, it is time to grab the canned goods and head for the hills. It happened to me in 2000 at the height of the dot-com bubble. A San Francisco cab driver gave me advice on trading options. I’m sure most people have had similar experiences in the current bull market. One of my subscribers says he was upbraided by a burlesque dancer (don’t ask) for not owning Bitcoin.
…
http://www.bendbulletin.com/opinion/5930070-151/commentary-remove-the-punchbowl-before-markets-get-crazier