Demand Isn’t Assured
A report from the News Press in Florida. “The national market is hot, the local residential market is not. Millennials are starting to drive the market. And commercial real estate is behaving strangely. Those are some of the topics coming to The News-Press Market Watch 2018: Focus on Real Estate on Feb. 27. Locally, sales are down and inventory is up, what Denny Grimes, president of Denny Grimes & Co., called a ‘double whammy.’ ‘The national media is reporting record median sales prices, the best sales in 11 years,’ he said. ‘We can’t say any of that.’”
“Randy Thibaut, CEO of Land Solutions Inc., said there are conflicting signals in the market for new housing in the region. While the sub-$300,000 price tier is hot, the ultra-luxury new housing market is still vibrant, although with fewer transactions and primarily focused in Bonita Springs and Naples. ‘We’re seeing the most challenges to home sale absorption with the $400,000-$700,000 mid-tier market,’ he said.”
From Bloomberg on New York. “It’s tough to stand out in Manhattan’s overbuilt luxury-condo market, but James Linsley is working on it. Instead of building a single, skyscraping tower designed by a world-famous architect, he’s putting up three — on the same site. The trio of towers has 263 condo units in all. GID reports that 53 of them, about 20 percent, have sold since marketing began in June. The most expensive was a $15.5 million, four-bedroom home selling at $4,097 per square foot, a record for an apartment on Riverside Boulevard, according to StreetEasy.”
“Selling pricey condos in Manhattan these days is an uphill climb, as developers keep splashing the landscape with ever more units for buyers to choose from. This year, 4,600 newly developed apartments are expected to reach the sales market, with nearly half of them priced at $2,400 per square foot or higher, according to Corcoran Sunshine. That’s on top of the 3,323 new units that were listed for sale in Manhattan last year.”
“Demand isn’t assured. Closed sales for new units in the fourth quarter dropped 19 percent from a year earlier to 387, according to Miller Samuel Inc. and Douglas Elliman Real Estate. New apartments over $5 million accounted for 20 percent of those going into contract in 2017, down from 25 percent a year earlier, according to a report by Halstead Property Development Marketing.”
The Santa Maria Times in California. “The developers and financial partners behind Rice Ranch Trilogy, the largest housing project in Santa Barbara County, are named in a federal lawsuit that accuses them of fraud, deceit, breach of trust and taking money from an investor who claims she never saw a penny of the $200,000 she put into the venture. ”
“The lawsuit, filed by attorney Faith Devine of Fraud Law Group in Carlsbad on behalf of plaintiff Susan Brachfeld, of Indio, alleges that Brachfeld and others were defrauded in connection with a $25 million securities offering for Rice Ranch, an Orcutt housing project approved by county supervisors in 2003. Despite the investment money, Rice Ranch Ventures LLC faced foreclosure in 2012, and was given just a few months to come to terms with Wells Fargo Bank.”
“In March 2013, Manchester Financial notified investors that they were in partnership with Shea Homes, which is not named in the suit, and that the change wouldn’t affect their original investment with Rice Ranch. Again, investors were assured they’d get their money back, the suit said. In April 2017, Brachfeld terminated her relationship with Manchester Financial. In turn, Manchester kept assuring her that her investment still had substantial value, and that her membership interest in Rice Ranch Investment Fund was safe, and that there was no reason to pursue legal action to recover her money, according to the suit.”
“The suit also accuses the defendants of siphoning a significant amount of profits for themselves without disclosing that to investors. ‘They had no intention of repaying the $25 million they received from the 2008 funding,’ the suit alleges.”
From Tap into Montclair on New Jersey. “A Nutley man, who worked as a loan officer with a mortgage company, was charged today with using fraudulent documents to deceive his employer into approving a loan, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Richard Patino, 42, is charged by complaint with one count of wire fraud. He made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor in Newark federal court and was released on bail. Law enforcement is aware of approximately 23 loans that Patino approved that are suspected of fraudulent activity.”
From KFYR TV in North Dakota. “According to one realtor, there’s a record number of homes for sale right now. She says prices are staying pretty steady, but will probably increase slightly this year just because of inflation. Realtor Amber Sandness says Bismarck/Mandan is currently more of a buyers’ market than a sellers’ market. ‘We have a really good market here in Bismarck/Mandan,’ said Sandness. ‘We have some great homes on the market. We have a lot of homes on the market so there’s definitely a lot for the buyers to pick from today.’”
From the Flathead Beacon in Montana. “In 2017 the overall median price of sold residential properties in Flathead County was $275,000. Of the 1,872 sales in the last 12 months, 18 percent sold in the price range of between $100,000 and $200,000, compared to 27 percent in 2016. At this time there are 771 residential listings and only 5 percent are priced in that $100,000 to $200,000 range, compared to 6 percent at this time a year ago. With 331 sales in this price range and a current inventory of 35 listing, this means that there is currently 39 days of inventory, making this price range a seller’s market.”
“As we move up into the $1 million to $2 million range, we find that this price range only accounts for 2 percent of the sales, but 14 percent of the current listings are in this price range. With only 34 sales in the last year and 109 current listings, this tells us that there is currently around 38 months of inventory of homes in the $1 million to $2 million dollar range. This segment of the market is very much a buyer’s market.”
“The existing housing inventory goes from one month for home priced $100,000 to $200,000 and up to 69 months for home priced over $2,000,000. Currently, there are 63 $2,000,000 plus homes on the market, but there were only 11 sales in the last year. For homes priced over $500,000, there is currently 13.2 months of inventory, putting these higher priced homes in a buyer’s market. The market is generally quite smart and pricing is key to getting homes sold. This is especially true in the higher price ranges because there are a lot of sellers competing for a relative few number of buyers.”
From Go Dan River in Virginia. “More Danville properties are selling for prices below tax assessment values than above, according to a review of property transfers recently filed in Danville Circuit Court. Between Nov. 13 and Jan. 3, there were 87 properties sold, with 63 selling for under assessed values and 23 selling above. Hampton Wilkins, broker/owner of Danville-based Wilkins & Co. Realtors, said the problem stems to when the real estate market took a hit during the Great Recession and housing values in Danville dropped.”
“The local drop in housing prices was not historically normal, Wilkins said. For many years, houses were selling above the assessed values. Then the recession arrived. ‘It reversed [housing values], and it was hard for all of us to come to grips with it,’ he said. ‘It was not just a learning curve, it was an emotional adjustment.’”
“As Art Craft, an agent at Danville-based Hauser Manasco Realty Group put it, ‘A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.’”
The Albuquerque Journal in New Mexico. “Albuquerque resident Robert Keen says he has watched as a vacant house near his on the city’s east side has deteriorated over the past several years. Though the city has repeatedly boarded up its windows and door, it continues to be broken into. The home has been on the Safe City Strike Force’s list of habitual problem properties since 2013, according to city records, and more than $6,000 in liens were paid off recently.”
“While Planning Department Deputy Director Brennon Williams said the number of vacant homes hasn’t necessarily increased, the city is hearing about them more, and the costs of dealing with them have increased. The city spent more than $450,000 last fiscal year to secure, clean and tear down vacant residences, up from around $315,000 in years past.”
“Often, the home is owned by an out-of-state bank or lending institution. ‘One of the issues that our code enforcement officers have to deal with … is getting a responsible party to come forward and do what needs to be done,’ he said.”
The lone comment to the Montana report:
“Based upon this, why are homes listed for 2 times or more higher than what their estimate is??”
Kalispell is pretty far north of Missoula… very pretty up there, but in the winter you might as well be on the moon. The only money in circulation up there was brought in from somewhere else. Disability and Social Security checks [are] the economy.
‘An estimated 1,300 vacant homes are spread throughout Albuquerque. Often times, those homes draw transient populations and other problems like drug use, fires and other crime. It is a city-wide issue. In an August 2017 interview with KRQE News 13, Albuquerque’s Planning Department Deputy Director Brennon Williams estimated there were roughly 3,000 vacant city homes, however, the city only has around 1,300 it knows of for sure.’
So - good or bad for property values?
And if there is a foreclosure in a no-go area - do you think anyone will go there to actually foreclose?
I would be surprised if any property tax was even collected.
++++++
Islamic London: “Run, Hide, Tell”
Gatestone Institute | 5/2/18 | Daniel Pipes
Muslim-majority areas typically consist of poor, unattractive housing projects, remote from the city center, which long ago were abandoned by their original indigenous, working-class populations. They often feature men sitting around cafes and women cooped up at home. They suffer from a range of social pathologies, including unemployment, criminal gangs, and drug-trafficking.
London too has such areas, and they are very large; but what makes the English capital unique is the intense Muslim presence in the very most central and expensive parts of the city, where Muslims do not constitute a majority. This presence takes two main forms.
Second, the Muslim presence is implicit in the intense, pervasive, and depressing security measures installed against jihadi threats of violence. These range from signs urging “Run, Hide, Tell,” to bollards, barriers, and gates.
Especially evident are the many protective measures installed in March 2017, immediately after a violent Islamist, Khalid Masood, killed five people on Westminster Bridge. During a recent visit to central London, I puzzled over one of these installations, a metal barrier that completely surrounds Green Park.
More than any other major Western city, London bears an Arabic, Middle Eastern, and Islamic impress, from its mayor to its commercial real estate market.
They all live in the British equivalent of Section 8 - “Council Housing”, the difference being that .gov owns the properties instead of using vouchers. Remember that tower in London that caught fire last year? That’s what it was.
So no foreclosures or uncollected property tax, because there was non to begin with.
More than any other major Western city, London bears an Arabic, Middle Eastern, and Islamic impress, from its mayor to its commercial real estate market.
It depends on where you are. Chelsea felt “British”, but just a few blocks north on North End Rd it felt VERY different. Lots of Burqas and shops that catered to them.
Those tower blocks are ugly monstrosities. Gray, and each deck is cra mmed with junk.
Newcastle, WA Housing Prices Crater 9% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/newcastle-wa/market-trends/
Reits gotta be near the point where they’re taken out back and shot with interest rates on the rise.
Trains crashing all over and they expect us to get into driverless cars? Yeah, no. Maybe the brains over at (((Goolag))) can put their diverse noggins together to fix rail. Oh wait, they honor diversity = people too dumb to be engineers who get hired because of every reason under the sun except their intellect and work ethic.
The train wrecks seem to be mostly related to human error.
Apparently the train unions have done a lot to thwart intelligent systems on trains to slow job loss.
Same with ports. They can automate loading/unloading and save a TON of money but bad things happen to anyone trying to implement those kind of changes.
The revenge of the Luddites.
You mean, like the freight company worker apparently padlocking the switch to direct the main line onto the siding where the parked train cars were?
Ok - to summarize.
Made up stories, paid for by the Clintons, are brought before a FISA court made up of ALL obama appointed judges who approved the massive power of the FBI and NSA to spy, collect and destroy the democrat’s political opponents.
Add in the IRS, DOJ and EPA also going after political opponents of obama and the Clintons.
It makes WaterGate look like a Cub Scout picnic.
+++++
Busted. There Are 11 FISA Judges, Guess How Many Obama Appointed…
USSA News | February 5, 2018
Of the 11 FISA court appointed judges, 10 of them were appointed by Obama, including the corrupt Rudolph Contreras that granted the FISA warrant after another judge rejected it. He is also the same judge who had to recuse himself days after the Michael Flynn plea.
This is yet another inconvenient fact that the media and Democrats don’t want to discuss. The entire FISA court basically was full of Obama appointees. The one Trump apoointee to the FISA court also replaced an Obama appointee named Susan Webber Wright who’s term expired May of 2016. Keep an eye on the story about Rudolph Contreas though. That’s the big story that everyone seems to be missing from this memo release. Corruption at the judge level is even more frightening than corrupt DOJ and FBI hacks.
Snowden tried to warn us about these guys.
Here’s what is unbelievable: the MSM, most Democrats and some Republicans are jumping up and down acting like the President has committed some heinous act. There has to be some Freudian thing there. Jeebus, this only was an attempt to use the spy powers of the entire US government to stop a political opponent, in a presidential election no less, and then to run a coup operation after he won. How do people not get a life sentence in prison for something like this?
I was telling a friend yesterday that this was Watergate-level stuff. But since then, we have been so inured by increasing levels of corruption that our tolerance is far more than it ever was. I am convinced that it Watergate had happened last week, Nixon would never have resigned. Teapot Dome would likely have never made the news.
This is the main problem with our country today - the rule of law for the “elites” has been usurped.
It is joined at the hip to the explosion of public and private debt.
The hardships that will come with credit contraction may well renew interest in honest dealings among those we pay to protect and serve. I’m hoping to see that anyway.
To the people saying ‘this is just like Watergate’:
No it isn’t. Watergate was merely one politician spying on his opponents to see what they were up to. And it only involved a handful of associates. It did not involve and entire party/wing of the US govt using the vast apparatus of various government intelligence agencies (and courts!) in a conspiracy to subvert elections.
Unrepentant wrong doers are often vociferous accusers of the innocent.
“Unrepentant wrong doers are often vociferous accusers of the innocent.”
Tell me about it.
“Here’s what is unbelievable: the MSM, most Democrats and some Republicans are jumping up and down acting like the President has committed some heinous act. There has to be some Freudian thing there. Jeebus, this only was an attempt to use the spy powers of the entire US government to stop a political opponent, in a presidential election no less, and then to run a coup operation after he won. How do people not get a life sentence in prison for something like this?”
If anyone on this board wishes to see our “leaders” behave more ethically and morally, then it is up to YOU to do something about it.
Government follows OUR lead, not the other way around.
Make it a point everyday to let someone in your circle know that you admire them. Make it sincere. Tell them exactly why. To their face, eye to eye contact if you can.
Do this A LOT.
Our reward system is this country is all screwed up. People admire the wrong people, such as Elon Musk. A smart, wealthy individual is the wrong person in absence of morals and ethics.
We have the government we have because of who we are and how we behave.
‘Unrepentant wrong doers are often vociferous accusers of the innocent.’
You are so right. Those may be the truest words ever spoken. I have had personal experience with this. It’s a terrifying experience, as they are often very convincing liars as well.
I am convinced that it Watergate had happened last week, Nixon would never have resigned.
Definitely.
After Clinton refused in 98 and couldn’t be dislodged, nobody is ever going to resign again. If you can’t force them out there’s no point in even trying. Nobody is going to be shamed out.
“…this only was an attempt to use the spy powers of the entire US government to stop a political opponent, in a presidential election no less, and then to run a coup operation after he won. How do people not get a life sentence in prison for something like this?”
This is a perfectly succinct synopsis of what has transpired.
Snowden tried to warn us about these guys.”
He certainly did. Then, he had to flee the country.
“Corruption at the judge level is even more frightening than corrupt DOJ and FBI hacks.”
Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, said the federal government was “shot-through” with corruption, IIRC.
Second memo released: Clinton associates, Obama admin coordinated with Steele
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dibV_Zd7iss
“What Happened” is going to need more chapters.
And bug-eyed Schiff said there might be more Oklahoma style bombings if the investigations into the deep state continue. Lays out bare that the FBI/CIA/DNC/State Dept all collaborate to commit false flags to sway public opinion and take away our freedoms IMO.
Trump needs to call in some air strikes - with tactical nukes.
“Domestic Imperialism”
When I coined that phrase here a year or so ago, I ran into some detractors. They said that such a thing was impossible, both by definition and in practicality.
I disagree. And I stand by my assertion.
there might be more Oklahoma style bombings if the investigations into the deep state continue
Compare those hypothetical bombings of yours to the # that will happen if the investigations of the “deep state” fail to result in a massive reform of US gubmint operations. Somebody needs to go to jail for what has been happening.
Ruh roh
http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/372328-senate-documents-show-fbi-trying-to-suppress-release-of-new-trump-dossier
‘The newly-released criminal referral says Steele actually incorporated information that was funneled to him through Clinton associates and the U.S. State Department where Clinton had served as Secretary of State from 2009 to early 2013. In a memo dated Oct. 19, 2016, Steele wrote that a foreign source who was in touch with “a friend of the Clintons” passed him material through a U.S. State Department connection.’
‘Even more problematic, the FBI may have violated strict rules — Woods Procedures — that forbid it from presenting even a single unverified fact to the special court, let alone a lengthy dossier full of them.’
As things go along, it just keeps looking worse and worse for Demorats.
Democrats…
It’s not about that really. The dossier was started by Republicans and I bet there were plenty of Republicans complicit at these agencies trying to defend “life as we know it”.
“It’s not about that really.”
Except that it is. They’re trying anything and everything to create an unbreakable stranglehold on power, so that Repubs can never win another election. See “Dreamers” and illegal immigration, for starters.
See President Bush endorses Hillary.
See Trump was actually a Democrat.
If you can’t see the bipartisan club of elites you can’t properly direct your anger.
First off, I don’t have anger. I’m not going to do that to my body over a bunch of political hacks. You’re conflating a lot of different issues here.
The reason Bush supported Shrillary is because Trump absolutely humiliated Jeb, and the family was seething over it.
In terms of the situation at hand with the FBI and all of the corruption - this goes back well before Trump even won the primary. This is partisan stuff, not to be confused with the globalism, which runs across party lines.
Seriously, you’re not angry about any of what’s going on? Well, OK.
To Review, before Trump won the primary it was the Republicans who were sponsoring the Steele Dossier. I don’t know alot about all this but casual observation indicates there is a bigger rat than the partisans.
If I got angry over all of this stuff, my heart wouldn’t last me a lifetime, ya’ know?
The Steele Dossier, as I understand it, was opposition research on Trump which began after it was apparent he would win the nomination. He was the impetus for it.
The corruption in the FBI and the Justice Dept., to protect Clinton and to try to INSTALL HER as President, started well before that, and before Trump was ever nominated. If another Repub had won the nomination, there may not have been a Steele Dossier, but there would have been something similar as the insiders worked to destroy whoever her opponent was.
I do see that there was opposition research funded by a conservative website initially, but that was before Steele was involved. I think “opposition research” is fairly common in our messed up political process, but insofar as the “Steele Dossier” is concerned, the Democrats were funding it when he got involved.
Skye, I think you’re onto something. Looks like that dossier on Trump was a group effort. Someone started it the moment he made noises about running. Then everybody added in their own dirt, or paid people to look for more dirt. Hillary contributed some potential dirt from her SoS days, and pitched in money to find (or generate) even more dirt.
(And I get really tired of this “Friend of the Clintons” and “Friend of Bill” crap. That’s how they turned me off 25 years ago.)
NeoCons = Progressives
Pretty much sums it up, no matter when the Bushes got involved. That family is interested in statism and globalism. McCain, Graham and numerous other so-called RINOs are statists and/or globalists themselves.
McCain sold out his countrymen during Vietnam.
Graham sold out via policy. Think Glass-Steagall, which caused considerably more damage to ethics and morals than it did to the housing market (not that the effect on housing was minor). Graham partnered with the Clintons on that one.
RINOs sleeping with globalist progressives is hardly new.
“Graham sold out via policy. Think Glass-Steagall, which caused considerably more damage to ethics and morals than it did to the housing market (not that the effect on housing was minor). Graham partnered with the Clintons on that one.”
Well said.
Sen. Phil Gramm (R, Texas) is an American traitor in my eyes.
You guys are on fire!
I spent about an hour in the front lawn talking to my neighbor, a Japanese immigrant married to a Chinese immigrant with an American born millennial daughter nested in their basement. Typical SF Bay Area family for sure and very nice educated people… Even with all the news coming out about the Nunes’ House intelligence Committee Memo all he could talk about was how Trump must have been compromised by the Russians. How they were controlling him and the election. How Trump must be feeding the Russians U.S. Intelligence covertly, etc. The only mention regarding Nunes he made is what a trouble maker he was.
I go to the local gym daily and talk to the crowd there. No even a mention about any of this. The big topic is getting into Bitcoin on the ground floor because it hasn’t taken off yet.
The contents of the memo and the evidence of widespread corruption will not enter into the minds of the Coastal Californian Left. That door was firmly close shut with plywood fastened over it.
Coastal Californian Left
A cult that is beginning to resemble Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple ca. 1978.
I just got this email:
‘Metrostudy’s 4Q17 survey of the Las Vegas housing market is out - and it shows a market at 2007 levels even as production permanently moves to the higher price points. Some of the report’s findings include:
-For 2017, Annual New Home Starts are at the highest level since 1Q08 – up 9% YoY.
-Production is moving into the higher price points as only 21% of starts were priced below $300k, while in 2016 42% were.
-Average Prices for new homes are up 7% YoY to $455k; the average asking price of for-sale homes is 21% higher, now $476k; again the highest since 2007.
“Production of all homes – including attached – priced under $200k has been nearly eliminated as base prices have shifted into the $300k-$500k range,” said Greg Gross, Regional Director of Metrostudy’s Las Vegas market. “4Q17 marks the quarter that the market begins to see less product below $300k, as only 21% of starts were below $300k range, where as last year, 42% were.”
Surely the end is near?!
Stunning optimism everywhere!
Now remember - the HIGHER the assessment, the more in taxes the city and county take in.
Public union pensions WILL BE PAID.
++++++
“The assessments are high,” said Art Craft, an agent at Danville-based Hauser Manasco Realty Group.
Instead, assessors look at the exteriors of buildings during the every-other-year assessment cycle, note any such changes as the addition of a garage or signs of deterioration, and research what similar buildings are selling for to update assessments. They are in the middle of an assessment cycle now.
For instance, a home at 528 W. Main St. recently sold for $58,000, after being on the market for several years. The assessed value was $131,700.
VA goons get to retire at age 55
Wonder if NFL players will take a knee for this?
Wonder how many times he voted, where he worked and how much welfare and freebies he received from the taxpayers?
+++++
Colts’ Edwin Jackson killed by driver illegally in U.S.
ESPN - 2/5/2018
The suspected drunken driver accused of hitting and killing Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson has been living in the country illegally, the Indiana State Police announced Monday
The driver of the truck that killed Jackson and ride-sharing operator Jeffrey Monroe had been using the alias Alex Cabrera Gonsales, the police said in a release. Gonsales’ given name is Manuel Orrego-Savala, and he is a citizen of Guatemala. Orrego-Savala had been deported in 2007 and 2009.
Got fundamental transformation?
LOLZ
Yup, he could be my son, oh wait . . .
Realtors are liars.
…. and every closing a crime scene.
‘This year, 4,600 newly developed apartments are expected to reach the sales market…Closed sales for new units in the fourth quarter dropped 19 percent from a year earlier to 387′
As discussed here…
But inflated asset prices and the shrinking of everyday consumer items never shows up in any governmental statistic…
+++++
Shrinkflation Intensifies – Stealth Inflation As Thousands of Food Products Shrink In Size, Not Price
ZeroHedge - 02/05/2018
- Shrinkflation continues to take hold across UK, Ireland and US for sixth year running
- Shrinkflation sees consumers gets less product, but at the same or increased price
- 2,500 products have shrunk according to Office of National Statistics in UK
- Reported inflation is between 1.7% and 3% but actually much higher
- Shrinkflation is financial fraud, unreported inflation in stealth mode
Another example of this came last week when McVitie’s biscuits, some of the most popular digestive biscuits in the UK and Ireland, saw a 20% cut in volume, but not in price.
Officially, inflation is pretty low across the developed world. In the US, it is so low (1.8%) that it is proving to be a cause for concern for policy wonks. It is 1.7% in the EU and in the UK it is at 3%. None of those readings are a true reflection of where prices really are and how much the cost of living has increased.
McVitie’s insists the quality is the same. The reduction in biscuits is thanks to rising raw ingredient and manufacturing costs. Rather than increase the price onto customers they have decided to maintain quality, but with fewer biscuits.
In the last four years Snickers, Toblerone and KitKat have each shrunk by at least 20% in size, not always accompanied by a matching price change. A bag of Snickers Bites rocketed from 74p per 100g to £1.26, up 70.9 per cent, whilst a four-finger KitKat bar lost just 3g in weight, dropping from 45g to 42g, a difference of 7.8 per cent, yet 100g of the snack soared by 62.7 per cent, from 89p to £1.45.
Stealth Inflation As Thousands of Food Products Shrink In Size, Not Price
then prices will rise too. after that variety will start to decline. the choices will be almost gone. the cheapest brand will become the true standard.
we need to continue to reduce taxes, regulations and this time.. spending too. these things along with automation are our way out of this mess.
“rising raw ingredient and manufacturing costs…”
The gift of cheap easy credit.
is it time to GeT ShoRTY again?
Every single item they mentioned is processed garbage, loaded with chemicals and likely cancer-causing. Peoples’ diets should consist mostly of fresh fruits, vegetables and meats.
I disagree. Cheetos, Big Macs, french fries and Krispy Kremes are far more nutritious than that garbage.
I notice the fast food industry is lobbying hard to get food stamps aka ebt cards n cali, accepted.
Was at papy murphys the other day and they had a big sign on window, EBT ACCEPTED.
A diet of crow and Crater Taters is reserved for DebtDonkeys.
Since you bake them at home, they qualify for EBT.
SNAP is already accepted at fast food restaurants all over the country.
“SNAP is already accepted at fast food restaurants all over the country.”
+1 The ‘lil gangsta doesn’t have to go hungry waiting for the 400-lb’r.
they should give out pot cards for the fast food snap binges.
anybody have a good crater tater recipe?
Makn popcorn.
“they should give out pot cards for the fast food snap binges.”
Now THAT’S a good comment.
Sh!tcoin still tanking, lower lows each day…
$7,247.44 Bitcoin price
−$3,642.63 Since last week (USD)
−33.44% Since last week (%)
I am thinking of buying the dip with a HELOC.
Can’t let that untapped equity go to waste.
What’s funny is some people actually think $7k is low when it is an absolutely staggering bubble number. Sh!tcoin could well go to zero - it’s actually worthless when you think about it. It’s no good for transactions, it’s not a physical commodity - it’s NOTHING aside from a speculative mania.
“I am thinking of buying the dip with a HELOC.”
Go for it! You would be a fool to allow this timely opportunity to slip on by!
$6,997.01 Bitcoin price
−$3,928.08 Since last week (USD)
−35.95% Since last week (%)
Another half hour, another $250 drop. Look out below!
Wasn’t it a week or so ago someone here said “these people are haters!” Who did the hatting since then? I didn’t do one thing to cause this buzz-saw to take his face off. It’s the fellow bitcoin holders doing this to each other. Well them and the governments. But I asked a while back: do you really think money laundering is going to get a pass?
this puppy is a sinking ship. classic ponzi scheme.
I am literally laughing out loud at this crypto crap. You can’t make it up. People borrowing on credit cards to get in, HELOCs, John McAfee saying, and I quote, he’ll “eat his own d!ck” if it doesn’t reach $1M by 2020.
Did McAfee ever own Bitcoin, or was he just a paid shill? Or, perhaps he was selling the whole time he was talking it up? The early birds and insiders who invented this scam are the ones who made the money. The rest are just a bunch of Johnny-come-lately bagholders with a river of tears.
u got that right. madoff would be proud.
“But I asked a while back: do you really think money laundering is going to get a pass?”
Ask Hillary Clinton.
Ben
I believe it was I who posted “these people are haters!” They were then and they still are now. It was an observation. I don’t think you removed my face but if that’s what you want to believe that’s fine, too. I doubt, however, that you were as vocal or troubled by Jamie Dimon’s silver position years back.
Regarding money laundering: Money laundering was given a pass in Switzerland for how many years ? Did they announce the closing of accounts as of the news story OR did they tell people that would be their intent in the next eighteen months. You don’t think that gave launderers time to find another safe haven?
Laundering built Miami. The Falls, Cocoplum….
If people bet on dogs and football spreads, why not cypto coins? At least with coins there are charts and brokerage houses running the Futures. Did you read how Dimon now has a change of heart regarding coins?
Hey, if Trump is spanking a porn queen with a copy of the Economist anything goes? I’m sure Mnuchin’s wife has done a line or two of powder.
Our world left town, Mr. Jones.
All I can do is play by the rules that no longer exist.
‘I don’t think you removed my face’
I said your fellow coin holders (or panic sellers) are what’s causing these losses. It’s amusing to see it play out and probably a sign of social mood. But it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to see there isn’t anything there.
“I doubt, however, that you were as vocal or troubled by Jamie Dimon’s silver position years back.”
Wow, you’re really butthurt and grasping now. HOW MUCH HAVE YOU LOST, alphonso?
“If people bet on dogs and football spreads, why not cypto coins?”
And now he finally admits the truth - it’s not some new currency, it’s nothing but gambling.
BlackSwandive,
“Take out garbage.”
Ben
No more absurd than betting on roosters or greyhounds or football spreads.
It’s no doubt a social mania but watching people screaming at their football games on television sets also fascinated me years back.
We’re living under the Circus tent now.
If I understand the way things work around here, there’s a RageCage reserved with your name on it.
BlackSwandive
Every (financial) transaction is a GAMBLE. Only the investor doesn’t think so. An education is an intangible investment and a house is a tangible investment. You are hoping both will be “enhancements” to your well-being.
Bitcoin is a currency. Perhaps not a successful one, but, a currency, nevertheless. That’s why it upset the banking establishment here and abroad.
It’s not your World. Nor is coding or number crunching. People are now living in parallel universes on this planet. What do have in common with a mullah living in 10th century Afghanistan?
Hey Alphalpha Sprout Boy. Do you remember Ben’s money and metals blog? Oh, nvmnd.
“It’s not your World. Nor is coding or number crunching. People are now living in parallel universes on this planet. What do have in common with a mullah living in 10th century Afghanistan?”
LSD so early in the day, alphonso?
living under the Circus tent…
It’s not my circus.
I’m with al on this one, and I don’t even have any cryptos. When you’re playing with the house’s money, what’s the problem?
It’s definitely true about those parallel universes. Scott Adams calls it different movies playing. Agreements have been broken, so people are moving in different directions and doing what appeals to them. It’s the best way to break the hold of the bankers. We’ve agreed with their system for far too long. Cryptos are a meddle fanger.
My buddy made $16,000 by not listening to me. Maybe it’s not much, but I’d take it.
The best way to stick it to the financial club is to not borrow any money.
“I’m with al on this one, and I don’t even have any cryptos. When you’re playing with the house’s money, what’s the problem?”
I’ve got no problem with gambling, or gamblers. But don’t try to legitimize your degenerate gambling with fictitious stories about new paradigms.
The best way to stick it to the financial club is to not borrow any money.
And stop using credit cards for every single freakin purchase.
There is nothing at all wrong with using credit cards; it’s actually the best way to pay for things (you can dispute the charges, unlike debit cards where your money ‘poof’ is gone immediately and you have to try to get it back) so long as you pay them off every month.
The Banker loves your attitude jp. The problem with using credit cards for everything is that the bank takes a significant skim on every transaction. Convenient for you perhaps but bloats prices for everyone. Thinking it is free because you don’t see anything called interest is a math fail. As always, debt donkeys of every stripe make things more expensive for their neighbors.
The problem with using credit cards for everything is that the bank takes a significant skim on every transaction.
+1.
Yes, it’s nice getting “cash back”, but you’re really paying for that and thensome with higher prices.
All people have done is introduce a middleman into every transaction that takes a cut, and end-user prices are higher as a result.
Isn’t the convenience of float plus the frequent flier miles when you pay off your balance worth sharing slightly higher prices with folks who carry a revolving credit card balance?
“And stop using credit cards for every single freakin purchase.”
Darn… I was just getting used to my Android Pay app.
“Yes, it’s nice getting “cash back”, but you’re really paying for that and thensome with higher prices.”
Agreed. However businesses like Home Depot would struggle to exist if their customers had to save first for their purchases.
There are ways of using credit cards that give less to bankers than others. Obviously, never carrying a balance and getting all the free miles and/or cash back is one way of playing the game. Most of the places I frequent do not give a cash discount, so paying with credit card on my 2% cash back is effectively cheaper than cash.
OAM…the banks charge a percentage of every purchase you make. In a competitive retail landscape, this ends up as addition cost to the consumer, which exceeds all the “goodies” you may get back in terms of cash back and miles. You just don’t see it because they bleed you so slowly.
Yes, I know this is true at the macro level, and I despise it. Incidentally, this is why Walmart has tried to become its own bank so that they can issue their own payment cards and keep some of this profit for themselves. But since most vendors don’t have a cash discount, when you pay with cash (instead of card) you are effectively paying more since you are forfeiting a cash back discount by paying for the card. This is basically a collective action problem. If everyone eschewed credit cards, overall prices would be cheaper. But since they are so ingrained, no one benefits personally by paying with cash. Indeed, they actually pay more if they elect to pay with cash
But since they are so ingrained, no one benefits personally by paying with cash. Indeed, they actually pay more if they elect to pay with cash
Yup. My favorite local discount house went for decades without accepting any credit cards, just cash & checks. Then for a few years they would only accept Discover. Last year they started accepting Visa and MasterCard. At the exact same time most all their prices rose 4%.
There have been recent supreme court cases that have sought to challenge state laws that impose bans on merchants who communicate credit card fees to their customers. I think the supreme court got this one right. Customers deserve to be informed by merchants of what credit card fees are and that a merchant is deciding to pass them on. Credit card companies, for their part, have used lobbyists to make it illegal to communicate, let alone charge, tiered prices to those who pay via card versus cash. The credit card companies want merchants to just absorb the cost and make it invisible to the consumer.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/business/supreme-court-credit-card-fees.html?mtrref=www.google.com
On the other hand, I know many vendors who are starting to rethink accepting cash altogether, despite the interchange fees. Small business owners know that one of the biggest costs can be small theft by cashiers. If you hire someone dishonest or drug addicted, you might end up with lower sales and the cashier pocketing the payment. This is much more difficult to do with card payments. In fact, why not just get rid of the cashier altogether, then install kiosks that can accept cards and cash. It seems the problem of shrinkage is that humans are getting in between the exchange of money.
$6,836.57 Bitcoin price
−$1,463.43 Since yesterday (USD)
−17.63% Since yesterday (%)
The carnage - it’s real.
are u not entertained?
They know nothing rant by jim cramer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EklCI7D7Rns
Added to favorites. Hehe.
$6,675.00 Bitcoin price
−$1,590.03 Since yesterday (USD)
−19.24% Since yesterday (%)
It’s a slaughter.
its a buying opportunity.
$6,535.00 Bitcoin price
−$1,720.01 Since yesterday (USD)
−20.84% Since yesterday (%)
A Bitcoin near $1,000 point moonshot over the past hour, from a low of $6,450:
$7,402.99 Bitcoin price
+$777.98 Past hour (USD)
+11.74% Past hour (%)
Oh, but it’s an environmentally friendly slaughter! We can use the electricity for something else.
$6,501.96 Bitcoin price
−$1,508.04 Since yesterday (USD)
−18.83% Since yesterday (%)
Breaking down again, should be plumbing new lows shortly.
Time to BTFD and HODL.
New low:
$6,368.80 Bitcoin price
−$311.42 Past hour (USD)
−4.66% Past hour (%)
Just look at those losses in 24 hours!
$6,271.16 Bitcoin price
−$1,952.33 Since yesterday (USD)
−23.74% Since yesterday (%)
Hundreds upon hundreds of cryptocurrencies, with nothing unique which cannot be recreated infinitely.
https://coinmarketcap.com/all/views/all/
Bitcoin is destined to drown in a sea of identical copies.
It just keeps falling, and falling, and falling….
$6,062.69 Bitcoin price
−$2,135.31 Since yesterday (USD)
−26.05% Since yesterday (%)
$5,910.38 Bitcoin price
−$2,419.62 Since yesterday (USD)
−29.05% Since yesterday (%)
WOW, $500 swing in a minute or two.
$6,415.78 Bitcoin price
−$1,914.22 Since yesterday (USD)
−22.98% Since yesterday (%)
“WOW, $500 swing in a minute or two.”
Watch out, or MacBeth will throw a hissie fit about you paying too much heed to the Bitcoin extinction event.
Is this another blatant scheme to fleece shorty again? Suck him in and then build a rally off of short covering panic?
That has worked for years.
Highland Beach, FL Housing Prices Crater 9% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/highland-beach-fl/market-trends/
is this going to be a crater tater monday?
Farmland Partners Inc (FPI) is at a 5 year low.
Just an interesting datapoint…
calling all bagholders, please BTFD today.
“Randy Thibaut, CEO of Land Solutions Inc., said there are conflicting signals in the market for new housing in the region. While the sub-$300,000 price tier is hot, the ultra-luxury new housing market is still vibrant, although with fewer transactions and primarily focused in Bonita Springs and Naples. ‘We’re seeing the most challenges to home sale absorption with the $400,000-$700,000 mid-tier market,’ he said.”
Yep, just as I said. Panic buying at the lower end. The notion of $400,000-$700,000 being mid-tier in Florida is laughable. As I recall, Naples and Orlando were the two canaries in the coal mine in Florida on the last go-round. BOHICA!
I thought it was Port St. Lucie which first was slaughtered.
You can’t throw a rock in any direction in this part of Region IV without hitting a branch of one bank or another.
Banks Shutter 1,700 Branches in Fastest Decline on Record
Lenders keep cutting despite growing economy as customer move online
By Rachel Louise Ensign, Christina Rexrode and Coulter Jones
Updated Feb. 5, 2018 11:37 a.m. ET
Banks are closing branches at the fastest pace in decades, as they leave less profitable regions and fewer customers use tellers for routine transactions.
The number of branches in the U.S. shrank by more than 1,700 in the 12 months ended in June 2017, the biggest decline on record, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data.
Some customers miss their branches. Bubba McKey, who runs a grocery store in Centreville, Miss., population 1,667, banked at the only Regions branch there for years until Regions closed it in 2016. He has since switched most of his banking to the only other bank in town, a community lender called United Mississippi Bank, but he can no longer walk just a few blocks to get change for his store or deposit checks. “I have no qualms with the other bank,” Mr. McKey said. “It’s mostly just the fact that you don’t have a choice now.”
Charlene LeBlanc decided to keep banking at Regions, but she has to drive more than 30 miles to a Louisiana branch to cash checks. She has used Regions’ mobile app to deposit checks, but says she doesn’t like it:The old Regions branch still sits vacant.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/banks-double-down-on-branch-cutbacks-1517826601
they need to wheel out powell today and announce QE4 to save trump. This isnt fair.
Trump doesn’t care. HODL!
Got retirement accounts? Pensions? HODL!
palmetto
Have you ever been to Hobe Sound in Martin County FL.?
Nope. Palm Beach proper, Singer Island, that’s about it.
Just wondering, when I heard you were looking I thought about it.
I have often thought if I was going to retire and stay in Fl. Hobe Sound / Martin County is probably where I would go. Just north of Palm Beach County, lower house prices, lower taxes, lower insurance cost with a lot of the benefits weather, beaches etc. that Palm Beach has.
Please don’t take this as a sales pitch, I am no Realtor, if I bet on a team I would tell you to bet on the other team and if I bought a stock I would tell you to short it but it sounded like you were looking and I wanted to make sure you knew there was a place with many of the qualities of the Jupiter/ Tequesta area at a lower cost of living near by.
Don’t know the reasons for your location choice but if it isn’t family or employment it might be something to look at.
Wow, jeff, will check it out. I always thought Hobe Sound was richie-rich territory. I don’t think I could afford it, but I’ll definitely check it out.
Just checked it out, jeff. Very interesting, I had no idea. I must admit, though, I rather like it up here. OTOH, being near the Atlantic beaches is tempting.
“I rather like it up here.”
Lot to be said for that but options are always good.
Like I’ve told the boys at work for years…
OK that’s our plan, and as you know a plan is something to deviate from when things fuqe up.
Jupiter…St Lucie…Martin County
Beautiful. Then The Big O released water and algal blooms devastated the St Lucie River and the inlet into the ocean. Check out the pictures on Google.
“Check out the pictures on Google.”
That was big on the local news when it happened in 2016 and hurt businesses along the St Lucie River IIRC.
Hasn’t happened since as far as I know even after Irma.
Lake flows begin into St. Lucie River
Alex Hagan
4:56 PM, Sep 15, 2017
The rain from Hurricane Irma is gone, but the overflow is still pouring into Lake Okeechobee.
Levels right now are just under 15 feet, but expected to rise to 17 feet if no action is taken.
Friday morning the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided to take action starting the process of discharging billions of gallons of water into the St. Lucie Estuary.
https://www.wptv.com/news/region-martin-county/lake-flows-begin-into-st-lucie-river
Haven’t been there, but I have been to Stuart, just north of there. Northeastern retirees discovered it about fifteen years ago. You could do worse:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/greathomesanddestinations/25havens.html
The HODLers are getting pwned.
It seems like someone on high decided to take away Mr Market’s training wheels.
Ray Dalio: Recent market declines are just ‘minor corrections,’ still lots of cash to buy the dip
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/05/ray-dalio-recent-market-declines-are-just-minor-corrections.html
notice how all the bulls are be wheeled out trying to reassure people to buy?
-600 and counting. Pow!
900…can’t keep up with all the selling.
I see the Duke brothers yelling from the sidelines, “sell, sell, get back in there and sell!”
1,000…do I hear 1,100?
1,500…and counting!
You got it, Rental Watch. POW POOF POW!
Algorithm wars. It went from -1,500 to -800 in a minute or something.
Down by less than 1,200 at day’s end.
‘Tis a mere flesh wound.
My guess is that there is more to go.
While there is lots of cash on the sidelines, the run-up over the past year was generally up with very few down days (and no significant down days). Lots of folks have a basis much lower and see storm clouds on the horizon (higher interest rates, inflation).
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a red day again tomorrow in the range of a few hundred points (or more) as people take some chips off the table.
“1,500…and counting!”
Is Jim Cramer sh!ting in his trousers tonight?
Cramer couldn’t care less. He’s getting paid if the market goes up, down or sideways.
DOW fall down go boom:
Dow 24,431.86
-1,089.10
-4.27%
A bigger booboo:
Dow 24,184.08
-1,336.88
-5.24%
Dow 24,030.59
-1,490.37
-5.84%
Suddenly DOW volatility is eerily similar to Bitcoin volatility.
Who knew the computer algorithms that drive today’s stock market transactions included a panic mode?
Stock brokers are liars?
where are the buy the dippers?
I don’t know. They are probably all standing in line waiting for a stock broker to take all their money.
I thought u said buy the diapers.
brokers leave u broker.
diapers were snapped up by buttcoin
The way to riches is to dollar cost average using an abundant supply of leverage.
Oh, and be sure you answer that margin call.
Honey, it’s the margin. He says he has your dotted line right here. What does he mean by that, dear?
Leverage is for poor people. MT pockets.
Whee! Whee! Haven’t had this much fun since election night!
Any sad panda videos?
Remember my good friends….. Nothing accelerates the economy and creates jobs like falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels. Nothing.
Albany, OR Housing Prices Ceater 19% YOY As Housing Correction Expands On West Coast
https://www.movoto.com/albany-or/market-trends/
Bitcoin went from $6,400 to $6,900 in the blink of an eye, the same time the DOW went from -1,500 to -700. Coincidence? I think not.
Strangely enough, BTC fell short of its predicted bottom; Too many people waiting for the train. Up next is 3am and 6am action.
the talking heads are blaming a fat finger. u just cant make this bs up anymore.
The talking heads are just that. These fools weren’t even around for the 1973-74 Bear market. (Joe Granville talked about volume reversals and no one knew what the hell he was talking about. And Richard Ney started the conversation.)
Same game; new crowd.
Banker’s heaven.
What was the “predicted bottom?” I never knew such thing existed. My prediction for a bottom in Bitcoin is $0. Bitcoin will be GONE.
“Bitcoin will be GONE.”
But …but … but the ELECTRICITY! What about all the ELECTRICITY?
You can’t just let it go to zero after all that electricity was consumed, can you?
Excellent point. In terms of wasted resources, Bitcoin makes suburbia look like careful stewardship. Oops.
But …but … but the ELECTRICITY! What about all the ELECTRICITY?
You can’t just let it go to zero after all that electricity was consumed, can you?
Thanks for the laugh. It’s a chilly morning in China. If I lived here full time I might put a mining operation in my house in the winter months just for the heat.
+1 They said something about one bitcoin transaction costing 2 years of electricity for a household. I figure that’s roughly $3000-$4000. So if bitcoin falls below $4000, then, quite figuratively, it won’t be won’t be worth the paper it’s written on. It will be like a nickel that doesn’t have a nickel’s worth of nickel in it.
Too bad we don’t have pix of day traders bundling up buttcoins for firewood.
By the way, the “bottom” hasn’t even occurred. You talk as if it’s off to the races again.
“Nothing goes straight down, and, nothing goes straight up.”
–Zeev Hed
Is Zeev still around, with his turnips? Man, totally forgot about that guy.
Is Zeev still around
he died 3-12-2008.
tj
you had two initials in front of your name then ? If so, I remember your fine posts.
you had two initials in front of your name then ?
no.
A DJIA 7% correction is normal. Now all the talking-heads are going to be swarming the hive.
Popcorn time.
A major correction is normal indeed. Dow 7,000 is a long way down.
Dow 7000 is where we need to be, but I’ll settle for Dow 9000.
Yeah, still waiting to use the Dow 10K hat again.
Speaking of which, I assume Buttcoin paraphernalia will soon be the Dow 10k hats of a new generation.
It just occurred to me that a percentage of the pollution I’m breathing in Shanghai this morning is Bitcoin mining dust. Popping that bubble might make a meaningful difference in air quality here.
Seems like these guys mean business.
China to stamp out cryptocurrency trading completely with ban on foreign platforms
Offshore platforms targeted after recent efforts to shut down domestic exchanges failed to eradicate trading
Xie Yu Xie Yu
UPDATED: Tuesday, 6 Feb 2018, 3:41AM
China is to block all websites related to cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings (ICOs) – including foreign platforms – in a bid to finally quash the market completely.
“To prevent financial risks, China will step up measures to remove any onshore or offshore platforms related to virtual currency trading or ICOs,” said an article published on Sunday night by Financial News, a publication affiliated to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).
…
Dow 3600
Sell on the way down and yer still making bank. LOL!!!
“I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up”
“This is not the end, nor is it the beginning of the end. But, perhaps, it is the end of the beginning.”
😁
Obama/Clinton/Yellen/DNC/Deep State overheard the other day:
“Apres moi, le deluge”
Kinda surprised that deluge is masculine rather than feminine.
Did anyone check rope and guillotine companies? I’m hoping sales are going gangbusters.
stocks r on sale!
About time!
You could take money out of equities now and still be ahead. I think this sucker has a waaaaaaays to fall yet.
they are already taking about central banks saving the market after a small correction. this is a house of cards.
Talk is cheap. Someone had to let the air out.
Try not to catch yourself a falling 🔪.
Dow closed down $1178. LOLOLOL.
I wouldn’t give you that much for a share of it.
we r oversold!
I turned on cnbc for a few minutes near the close and those people r totally clueless talking heads anymore.
That video of the homeless along the Santa Ana river in Anaheim that I posted here a week or so ago has a follow-up article.
FWIW.
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/01/11/bicyclist-who-videotaped-santa-ana-river-trail-homeless-wishes-hed-done-things-differently/
I think that is about right. It’s certainly wrong to make blanket judgments about homeless. I think there is a need to understand the extent of the problem and figure out real solutions that work. Putting our heads in the sand and trying not to see the vast extent of the problem is wrong, but also uttering snide remarks is probably not helpful either.
Now I’ve one thing to say
And that’s Dammit, Janet
I love you
Dammit, Janet
Initiation day for Jay Powell.
Good test.
Does he stay the course based on inflation/employment?
Or does he act like a good little puppet of Wall Street and talk up the market by implying that the Fed might take heed of the stock market move down as a forward looking indicator of economic activity?
Time will tell. I don’t think we’ll have to wait that long to find out.
He’s a puppet like the ones before him.
i had a fat finger today and accidentally bought the dip.
Someone put their fat finger on a key and fell asleep.
Time to rethink the rate normalization schedule?
the talking heads went right to that one yesterday looking for a FED lifeline? Now trump thinks the FED is out to hose him.
Superior, CO Housing Prices Crater 21% YOY As Prices Plunge Across Boulder County
https://www.movoto.com/superior-co/market-trends/
margin call
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4P4cS5jKmQ
Hehe… “The ground is shifting below our feet and apparently there is no other way out.”
Some local newz:
http://www.westword.com/news/colorado-state-university-clash-between-antifa-and-white-supremacists-9955912
when is powell gonna throw the market a lifeline? his first day on the job was real awesome.
He’s likely getting the “post inaugural” closed door lecture on how the free market really works in the 21st century. ‘Merica.
does there ever come a time when the FED throws the market a lifeline and it sinks anyway?
Eventually they will own it all. The only question is what price they choose to buy at.
The Powell put strike price?
What value is it when there isn’t any buyer at any price?
Let it crater…. then buy it later for 75% less.
A ‘Powell put’ for the stock market? Don’t even think about it
By William Watts
Published: Feb 5, 2018 6:22 p.m. ET
For Fed worried about elevated valuations, selloff ‘not especially concerning’: RenMac’s Dutta
…
So far I am very impressed with Powell’s tenure as Fed chair.
Opinion: The Federal Reserve inflated stock prices for years — now comes the scary unwinding
By Thomas H. Kee Jr.
Published: Feb 5, 2018 5:08 p.m. ET
Liquidity is finally drying up, and volatility will be the new watchword for 2018
Investors are getting spooked by an accelerating decline in equity prices.
The stimulus programs by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank had nothing to do with stabilization. They were about inflating asset prices.
And that’s what we got. Until now. After all, if it had been about stabilization, it wouldn’t be a problem now, but it is. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA, -4.60%) plummeted 4.6% to 24,346 points Monday. The S&P 500 Index of the biggest U.S. stocks slumped 4.1% to 2,649 points. Both indexes extended losses from late last week.
…
The Dummy Report …
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/technology/virtual-currency-regulation.html
Another Dummy Report …
https://wolfstreet.com/2018/02/05/largest-cryptocurrencies-plunge-50-80-372-bn-gone-in-1-month-will-it-hit-the-economy/
Yep.
this is it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYlptbR0Dkw
Thanks…awesome clip. I may have to rent that one, as I assume future opportunities to see Kevin Spacey in new movies may be quite limited.
LOL.
In the case of XIV, who has the losses? Here is a clue. Numbers published Sept 30 showed Credit Suisse holding nearly 5 million of the shares itself. Those would have been worth $550 million at the open and about $20 million now — a net loss of $530 million for the Swiss bank.
http://www.forexlive.com/news/!/the-xiv-is-going-to-be-the-first-big-etf-blowup-and-credit-suisse-is-getting-hit-hard-20180206
from over 100 to a termination event in a trading session.
Put another way, whatever the VIX does, these funds will be buying or selling stocks and bonds without judgment.
All told there were over $500 BILLION allocated to these funds globally. So… if you wanted to force a stock market rally, all you needed to do is push the VIX lower and BOOM, you’ve got $200 billion or so in buying pressure hitting the stock market.
The other problem with the risk-parity fund market rig is that it convinced investors that “shorting volatility” was a virtual ATM. It became so insane that at the end of 2017, Short Vol. ETFs were larger than ETFs for entire countries.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-05/risk-parity-short-vol-market-rig-just-blew
I saw a notice of trustee sale in today’s paper because the owner did not live in the property it was a credit union for foreclosing on a home in Boise Idaho.
Asian markets fall hard, continuing global selloff
By Kevin Kingsbur
Published: Feb 5, 2018 9:38 p.m. ET
Nikkei, Hang Seng, Kospi, ASX indexes all sink at least 2.5%
Japanese stocks flopped Tuesday.
Asian stock markets fell sharply following a severe rout in the U.S., with declines deepening from a day earlier.
Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average (NIK, -5.26%) skidded 5.1% after falling 2.5% a day earlier, its worst day in 15 months. The index is now at its lowest level since late October and on track to finish in correction territory, defined as a 10% drop from its most recent high, set two weeks ago.
…
Do you suspect that over $500 billion in Bitcoin catering is spilling over into other risk assets?
How much was yellen bucks inflow and how much was comps? Comps don’t mean much.
How much was credit card and home equity borrowing that will never be repaid?
Bitcoin sinks below $7,000, dragging other cryptocurrencies down with it, amid global stock retreat
Bloomberg News
Olga Kharif
February 5, 2018 4:22 PM EST
Filed under: FP Tech Desk Blockchain
Bitcoin tumbled for a fifth day, dropping below US$7,000 for the first time since November and leading other digital tokens lower, as a backlash by banks and government regulators against the speculative frenzy that drove cryptocurrencies to dizzying heights last year picks up steam.
The biggest digital currency sank as much as 22 per cent to US$6,579, before trading at US$7,054 as of 4:08 p.m. in New York, according to composite Bloomberg pricing. It has erased about 65 per cent of its value from a record high US$19,511 in December. Rival coins also retreated on Monday, with Ripple losing as much as 21 per cent and Ethereum and Litecoin also weaker.
“Although no fundamental change triggered this crash, the parabolic growth this market has experienced had to slow down at some point,” Lucas Nuzzi, a senior analyst at Digital Asset Research, wrote in an email. “All that it took this time was a large lot of sell orders.”
…
This will end well. I can’t wait to read the stories about the IRS going after capital gains taxes on Bitcoin sales in 2017.
City & Business News
Bitcoin ‘MASSACRE continues’ US authorities ‘open’ to REGULATING cryptocurrency platforms
BITCOIN’S global clampdown could continue as US authorities “are open” to discussing “increased federal regulation” for cryptocurrency trading platforms as market prices tumble, it has emerged.
By Joseph Carey
PUBLISHED: 03:44, Tue, Feb 6, 2018 | UPDATED: 03:44, Tue, Feb 6, 2018
India is also being touted as another country that could introduce regulation
Christopher Giancarlo, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Jay Clayton, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will appear in front of the Senate Banking Committee today where they will discuss the potential future of virtual currencies.
Prepared testimony’s for the pair were released yesterday and suggest that the US government could slap further regulations on plummeting cryptocurrencies in the near future.
Mr Clayton wrote: “We are open to exploring with Congress, as well as without federal and state colleagues, whether increased federal regulation of cryptocurrency trading platforms is necessary or appropriate.”
The CFTC chairman added: “Virtual currencies…likely require more attentive regulatory oversight in key areas, especially to the extent that retail investors are attracted to this space.”
Bitcoin’s value has dropped by more than 60 per cent in the last month as the cryptocurrency continues to free fall following an incredible spike, according to leading market tracker Coinable.
Meanwhile, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash have all experienced downward trends.
Sources in Congress have stated that the hearing will be a “fact-finding exercise” that will discuss the power of the two bodies on cryptocurrencies.
…
That thought occurred to me. Perhaps assets are being sold to meet margin calls associated with leveraged crypto-currency trading? I don’t think “a backlash by banks and government regulators” is driving the crypto collapse any more than banks and regulators popped the Beanie Baby bubble.
He was playing in the NFL
So much for that Dream.
NFL Colts Linebacker Allegedly Killed by Twice-Deported Illegal Alien Drunk Driver
by BOB PRICE5 Feb 201811,331
Colts Linebacker Edwin Jackson and his driver were allegedly killed by a drunk driving, previously deported illegal alien Sunday morning near Indianapolis. The suspect fled the scene on foot after crashing into their vehicle. Indiana State Police officers arrested the reported driver later that morning.
Police arrested a man who identified himself as Alex Cabrera Gonsales, a 37-year-old Mexican national, after he allegedly crashed his black Ford F-150 into a car parked along Interstate 70 near Indianapolis, according to a statement obtained from the Indiana State Police. The driver of the car, 54-year-old Jeffrey Monroe, and his passenger, 26-year-old Indianapolis Colts Linebacker Edwin Jackson, were both killed in the crash.
Detectives discovered the driver gave police false information about his identity. Investigators said the man’s name is actually Manuel Orrego-Savala, a citizen of Guatemala. A background investigation revealed Orrego-Savala has been deported from the United States on two previous occasions. The first deportation occurred in 2007. This was followed by a second deportation in 2009.
Police believe Monroe was a rideshare operator who picked up Jackson and was taking him home. Monroe apparently pulled his car over to the shoulder to assist Jackson who had become ill. Shortly after that, the truck driven by Orrego-Savala crashed into the back of the car.
Statements from the state police indicate that both victims were outside of their 2018 Lincoln when the crash occurred. The impact threw one of the victims into the center lane of the highway where he was later struck by another vehicle. The coroner’s office pronounced both victims dead at the scene of the crash.
Orrego-Savala reportedly fled the scene on foot but state police troopers found him a short distance away from the scene of the crash and took him into custody. Orrego-Savala had no drivers license, officials stated.
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2018/02/05/nfl-colts-linebacker-allegedly-killed-by-twice-deported-illegal-alien-drunk-driver/
Don’t look now, but the DJIA is poised to plummet through its 50-day moving average to the downside.
Oh, and the Fear Gauge (CBOE Volatility Index / VIX) is at 37.32, up by 20 points on the day.
Regarding the article posted below, always remember: The worst vice is ADvice.
The stock market is plunging: Here’s what advisers say you should do
Published: Feb 5, 2018 11:01 p.m. ET
The Dow tumbled 1,175 points, marking its worst one-day point decline in history
…
Highly coincidental that the crypto all time highs seemingly match up with the initiation of crypto options/derivative trading on US exchanges. Central Bank take down anyone?
“seemingly match up with the initiation of crypto options/derivative trading on US exchanges.”
Correct, but, BTC was doomed before that with its energy requirements.
The New Parallel Universe is doomed by its energy requirements? Most ridiculous waste of time, energy and money ever. It should be interesting to hear what the spin is once the price drops below said energy requirements.
Maybe you are on to something.
Bitcoin price falls below $6,000 as banker signals crackdown
BIS head says cryptocurrency is a ‘Ponzi scheme’ that poses a threat to financial stability
Angela Monaghan
Tue 6 Feb 2018 05.25 EST
Last modified on Tue 6 Feb 2018 05.27 EST
A pile of bitcoin slugs sit in a box ready to be minted
The price of bitcoin fell below $6,000 for the first time this year as a leading central banker said it posed a threat to financial stability and signalled a global clampdown on the cryptocurrency.
The new head of the Bank for International Settlements, Agustín Carstens, said bitcoin had become a combination of “a bubble, a Ponzi scheme and an environmental disaster” that threatened to undermine public trust in central banks.
“If authorities do not act pre-emptively, cryptocurrencies could become more interconnected with the main financial system and become a threat to financial stability,” he said, speaking at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany.
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You think the main crypto and main block-chain are goin’ to zero? Maybe it will work its way into …. c = 2.618 x a.
NEO has a ways to go till ….c = 1.618 x a
It’s lonely at the bottom.
The FED is “the lender of last resort.”
Do you remember the GE specialist being interviewed on the floor of the exchange after the Oct 1987 crash? LeBranche was cool, calm and collected. His grandfather did the same shit in 1929 with ATT.
Now they have to interview Dalio. The flag bearer use to be John Templeton.
If the DJIA takes a severe percentage hit, which as yet it hasn’t done, you’ll be hearing from the insurance industry about ROI. They’ll be asking State legislators in three months to raise rates by 40%.
BTW….There are four adjoining lots at Indian Creek, Miami Beach, with NO house, for $150 million dollars. “There goes the damn neighborhood.”
“Bubble. bubble, toil and trouble.”
Homes and Estates, Coldwell Banker. Page 26.
Coming soon: The FED high-wire trapeze act.
Could this correction really continue for weeks?
That’s what some analysts are saying, presumably based on historical evidence. No rush to BTFD and HODL if stocks will likely be much cheaper a month from now.
Morgan Stanley’s Wilson warns investors not to buy the dip
By Sue Chang
Published: Feb 5, 2018 2:29 p.m. ET
Michael Wilson, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, on Monday cautioned investors not to buy the dip in the stock market given mounting worries about unfunded fiscal spending and a Federal Reserve that is behind the curve on interest rates. “When inflation is very low, rising inflation has a positive impact on equity valuations but with the Equity Risk Premium now close to full/fair value, rising inflation expectation may no longer be a positive for stocks, especially if markets start to think inflation is coming ‘unhinged.’” said Wilson in a note to investors. The strategist expects further losses in stocks as investors come to terms with these concerns before the market moves higher as “cooler heads prevail.” This process is expected to take a few weeks and therefore, Wilson believes there is no rush to buy back into the market.
…
Stocks
The Dow Just Lost Even More Than Bitcoin. But Don’t Call it a Stock Market Crash
Here’s What’s Driving the Stock Market Drop
But don’t panic just yet.
By Jen Wieczner 7:37 PM EST
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1,000 points for the first time ever Monday. There were only two stocks in the S&P 500 that were up for the day, while all of the Dow’s 30 members fell. Both indexes are now down for 2018, having erased all of their gains for the year.
While Bitcoin, which fell as much as 23% on Monday, shed nearly $18 billion in market value during the day, the stock market fared even worse: The Dow stocks alone lost more than $300 billion.
In one particularly gory example, Google parent company Alphabet (googl, -5.20%) (which is not in the Dow), lost $40 billion of its market cap for the second trading day in a row—meaning Alphabet stock investors have lost more than $80 billion since Friday.
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We’ll find out shortly!!
Dow 3600
Let’s hope so. I, too, am impressed with Powell’s tenure so far. HODL!
powells silence is amazing. he want handed a giant turd by yellen on his first day.
It would be like showing up to work after countrywide started to implode. you are groomed to be the fall guy.
He doesn’t have to say a thing. It was standard practice before his politically-inspired predecessors invoked the Fed’s bully pulpit to intervene whenever they didn’t like the way the market was behaving.
r they blackballing the powers that be?
Man, wife injured in domestic-related shooting in Boynton Beach
by Sabrina Lolo, Luli Ortiz Monday, February 5th 2018
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — Boynton Beach police are investigating a domestic-related shooting at a house on Aspen Leaf Drive.
“It’s just a white couple, they’re pretty quiet. They’ve been trying to sell their house for a long time. I don’t know if they’ve been under stress, or what’s been going on,” Alvarado said.
http://cbs12.com/news/local
Oh, boy, here we go!
Just curious how this is going to affect housing, how many pending sales will suddenly cancel.
Stocks are heading back up this morning, and yesterday’s moment of panic was just a bad dream. So just relax, BTFD and HODL.
Heading back down right now. Must’ve been going up the stairs and realized they forgot something. By the time I finish tying this, they’re probably going back up.
At the risk of overusing the analogy, the volatility waves triggered by a sizable selloff like yesterday’s are quite similar in effect and duration to that of a tsunami, with massive waves of buying and selling whipsawing the market. Maybe earthquake is a more apt physical metaphor, as today’s action is like a series of aftershocks.
It’s a good analogy. But why is no one mentioning CHYNAH?
Wait…never mind that post. We have big volatility like hasn’t been seen in years. Did the market’s automatic stabilizer break?
we need to add more bonds to uncle feds balance sheet to provide a bid to trumps market asap.
Main Street has been getting the “Roto Rooter” treatment for the last decade. Is it time now for the “well heeled” to do some squealing?
Searching for answers? Well, of course, when the MSM is sitting on the Chinese bank run situation it’s kind of difficult to factor it in to the whole upsie-downsie phenomenon. Cryptos? China wants to choke that avenue off as a means to get money out of the country. Thus, there’s a correlation here.
Could China be on the brink of implosion and we’re just not getting the straight dope?
The poor HODLers…
Bitcoin briefly falls below $6,000 ahead of Senate hearing
By Nathaniel Meyersohn February 6, 2018: 8:22 AM ET
Bitcoin is on a rollercoaster ride.
The cryptocurrency tumbled as much as 13% Tuesday. Bitcoin briefly fell below $6,000 for the first time in three months before recovering most of its earlier losses. It has lost nearly two-thirds of its value since it peaked above $19,000 in December.
Other digital currencies, including ethereum, litecoin and ripple, mirrored bitcoin’s drop.
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r the home gamers gonna b bagholders again? they know nothing!