The Great Grandmother Of All Scandals
A weekend topic starting with the Miami Herald in Florida. “When a company called the Flower of Scotland paid $1.13 million — in cash — for a three-bedroom condo in Sunny Isles Beach last year, it had to do something unusual: tell the federal government who its real owner was. In years past, the Delaware-based shell company could have put down the money and walked away with a new condo — and a boat slip on Dumbfoundling Bay — no questions asked. But a temporary rule imposed in early 2016 by the U.S. Treasury Department on Miami-Dade County and Manhattan, two of the nation’s most attractive real estate markets to dark money, began to strip away that kind of secrecy.”
“Now, a new working paper from economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the University of Miami offers one answer: The anonymous cash buyers stopped buying homes — at least using the method targeted by regulators. In Miami-Dade, the first-of-its-kind study found a 95 percent drop in how much cash shell companies and other corporate entities spent on homes. The decline began immediately after the rule took effect in March 2016.”
“Such devotion to the luxury real estate industry as a financial driver has led to economic inequality, researchers say.’We’ve had artificial drivers that have pushed up the prices of the overall housing market, to the point where many people are going to look to leave the area for a better standard of living,’ said Jack McCabe, a Florida real estate analyst and consultant. ‘The expenses eat up too much of their income.’”
The South China Morning Post. “Unit 78B of the 90-storey Trump World Tower in Manhattan offers breathtaking views of the East River and the United Nations plaza through floor-to-ceiling windows in its living and dining areas. The residence, available for rent for US$15,000 per month since May, is among 89 worldwide real estate assets owned by the company of Ye Jianming, a mysterious businessman who amassed one of China’s biggest fortunes – and the country’s largest non-state oil conglomerate – in less than a decade from out of nowhere.”
“Ye has been missing from public view since the start of Lunar New Year celebrations on February 16. Although he hasn’t yet been charged with any crime, Ye is believed to be under detention to help Chinese regulators with unspecified investigations into the debt incurred by his China Energy Finance Corp (CEFC). The list of assets, valued at a combined 21.64 billion yuan (US$3.19 billion) as of March 1, include the Upper East Side apartment, a mountainside villa in Lisbon, Wan Chai offices, luxury flats at Hong Kong’s Cyberport and CEFC’s corporate headquarters in the former French Concession in Shanghai, according to an inventory obtained by the South China Morning Post.”
“The properties were the results of CEFC’s global shopping spree, which only ended in 2017 when Chinese financial regulators brought the boom down to crimp runaway borrowings and stem capital flight in the country. The first cracks in the CEFC empire began to appear in November 2017 when Patrick Ho Chi-ping, Hong Kong’s former Home Affairs Secretary, was arrested in New York on charges of routing money meant for bribing politicians through US financial institutions.”
“‘The debt crisis of CEFC was caused by US pressure, after CEFC began extensive cooperations with Rosneft,’ according to a memo in May that summarised the Chinese company’s debt levels for creditors, obtained by the Post. ‘Media reports led to panic among investors, which ultimately led to a break in the credit line that has been extended to the group.’”
From Casino.org on Canada. “In British Columbia, an ongoing casino money laundering investigation is about to enter its second phase, and the province’s overheated housing market will be the target. ‘Dirty Money’ report author Peter German has estimated that more than $100 million has been ‘cleaned’ at BC casinos over the past decade. German will now begin work on a new report looking at a potential secondary effect of the money-laundering scandal: BC’s housing market bubble.”
From Better Dwellings in Canada. “Canadian real estate sales are slowing in the country’s biggest markets. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) numbers show June 2018 saw large declines compared to last year. Most of Canada’s major markets faced declines, but British Columbia bared the brunt of them. Fraser Valley reported 1,380 sales in June, a 44.11% decline from last year. Vancouver came in at 2,467 sales, a 37.59% decline from last year. Victoria reported 678 sales, a 29.52% decline from last year. The industry is blaming a policy measure that cracks down on second homes, but seriously? We thought the industry was saying there’s no empty homes in BC? Strange that it would be so impactful.”
From The Guardian on the UK. “A surge in homeowners putting their property on the market – just as buyers melt away in summer – is depressing house prices, according to the biggest property website, Rightmove. The number of properties coming on to the market in July rose by 8.6% but there has been ‘no corresponding increase in buyer numbers to soak up the new seller influx,’ Rightmove said. After a long period in which estate agents decried the lack of properties on the market, they have more on their books than at any time since September 2015. As a result, sellers are having to cut overly optimistic asking prices to find buyers.”
“Rightmove said: ‘The proportion of sellers already on the market that are reducing their asking prices is the highest at this time of the year since 2011, indicating initial over-optimism on price.’”
From The Monitor on Uganda. “The Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) has cited real estate as the most attractive investment for money launderers. Mr Sydney Asubo the FIA executive director, said a National Risk Assessment survey conducted by the Authority found that real estate was responsible for moving ‘dirty money’ because of its profitability and lax regulation. ‘Most of the land in Uganda is untitled and rules around transfer are not stringently enforced. Land is also not registered and rarely loses value. It usually appreciates [which makes it attractive to money launderers],’ he said.”
From Edge Prop on Malaysia. “A new front into the 1MDB inquiries has opened up. Already under investigation in the US, Switzerland, and Singapore; there is now the possibility of Chinese involvement. This new development in the financial scandal around the 1MDB investment fund has led to the government suspending three major construction projects with Chinese firms. Tony Pua, special officer to the Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, tasked with sifting through the masses of documentation linked to 1MDB calls it ‘the great grandmother of all scandals.’”
“The new administration has been astounded by what it had found, Pua told the BBC. ‘The entire project smelt like a scam. [There were] clearly elements of money laundering taking place,’ he said to the BBC. ‘We were giving money out — to a Chinese company — and we suspect this money is being funnelled to parties related to the previous administration.’”
From ECNS on China. “Hainan’s latest tough cooling measures are timely and necessary to prevent the market becoming overheated once more, and reflect its resolve not to rely on property any more for development, according to governor Shen. But he said real estate is unsustainable as a pillar industry in Hainan. ‘We will never let Hainan become a real estate processing plant,’ the governor said.”
The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. “A surge in ’shadow’ lending to property developers to fill a gap left by nervous banks has sparked warnings that a wave of unregulated finance could leave the property market exposed to new risks. After a decade of booming, Australia’s housing market is slowing down fast, as banks tighten their new lending, and investors retreat from the market, especially in Sydney and Melbourne.”
“Property developers have no choice but to turn elsewhere for finance because banks have slashed how much they are willing to lend, say financiers Wingate. Whereas a bank previously may have lent at a loan to value ratio of up to 65 per cent, this has been slashed to 50 per cent or, in some cases, lower, the group’s head of property Mark Harrison said. And the result? ‘Demand has probably doubled in the last 18 months,’ he says.”
“‘I would not suggest the market is going crazy in terms of its risk appetite,’ says Steve Bulloch, head of PGIM Real Estate’s Australian business. ‘There are few signs of widespread distress at the moment, but a challenge is likely to arise for some developers who have paid a lot of money for their land and need to refinance their acquisitions. That’s probably where the squeeze will come.’”
From Domain News on Australia. “Nobody knows how many billions of dollars in dirty money is pouring into Australia’s housing market, but global authorities describe local real estate as a prime target for money laundering – and you may have paid more for your house because of it. The likelihood of cashed up crooks increasing house prices is much greater than many people realise, given the hidden nature of the problem, a lack of regulation in the Australian real estate industry and the staggering sums involved.”
“Real estate agents say corrupt money can also influence average house prices, because criminals paying more than market value for one house are likely to encourage higher asking prices for similar properties in the same street. Estimates vary, however an International Monetary Fund calculation converted to local currency shows up to $5 trillion in corrupt money – more than three times Australia’s GDP – flowing into global financial systems last year. Only 0.2 per cent of the illegal transfers were likely to be seized or frozen, according to a UN report.”
“No official estimate of how much tainted money is laundered through Australian housing has been publicly released, but there’s no shortage of warning signs. Australia’s financial crime intelligence authority, Austrac, reported $1 billion in suspicious transactions flowing into the nation’s housing from China alone during 2015, but some analysts believe that’s just the start.”
“A Transparency International report last year found Australia’s housing market is more open to laundering than the US, Britain or Canada, failing in all ten areas that allow criminals to easily purchase properties anonymously to hide stolen money. Professor Jason Sharman of Cambridge University, a global money-laundering expert whose views are included in the OECD report, says Australia already has extremely powerful laws against money laundering. ‘The problem is that in most cases the government chooses not to enforce them,’ he says.”
“Laws governing UK real estate agents were introduced last year after investigations showed a huge flow of corrupt money, estimated to be tens of billions of pounds, had driven up housing prices. In London, the National Association of Estate Agents says its members have already been fined millions of pounds for failing to comply with the new anti-money-laundering laws, with some facing bankruptcy as a result.”
‘Australia already has extremely powerful laws against money laundering. ‘The problem is that in most cases the government chooses not to enforce them’
Bingo! And then when they are forced into it, bam!
‘Fraser Valley reported 1,380 sales in June, a 44.11% decline from last year. Vancouver came in at 2,467 sales, a 37.59% decline from last year. Victoria reported 678 sales, a 29.52% decline from last year. The industry is blaming a policy measure that cracks down on second homes, but seriously? We thought the industry was saying there’s no empty homes in BC? ‘
America has powerful laws against illegal coming to this country
For eight years - the regime in power chose not to enforce them.
Then that becomes the “law” and enforcement of the real laws becomes racist.
It’s been longer than that. I saw my first illegal(?) immigrants in the midwest 20 years ago. Their children are getting old enough to vote.
late 90s. Its how I knew the “war on terror” in the 2000s was a fraud. How do you fight terrorists with wide open borders? Obama needs to be in a cell next to the bush and clinton cabals.
Exactly.
Anyone who wants to can easily walk right over the border into this country (has anything really changed in the last year or so?).
Yesterday’s illegal immigrant children are tomorrow’s upstanding U.S. citizens, inveighing against the evils of illegal immigration.
I thought they were today’s lawyers, doctors and engineers…
Eh? More likely they will be the ones screaming that enforcing laws = racism.
I went to a town yesterday to get some supplies. I couldn’t buy a grill lighter because I didn’t have government ID on me.
No ID? What do you think you are, free?
‘In Miami-Dade, the first-of-its-kind study found a 95 percent drop in how much cash shell companies and other corporate entities spent on homes. The decline began immediately after the rule took effect in March 2016′
Remember how this all started. The NYT did a little, and I mean very little, digging and found a bunch of shady deals. The Feds were embarrassed, looked into it and wow! “There’s crooks everywhere in NYC and Miami real estate.” Put rules in place (temporary - 6 months, only on Miami and NYC) and turned up even more crooks. Then forced to expand the metros to include California, etc.
“We’ve had artificial drivers that have pushed up the prices of the overall housing market, to the point where many people are going to look to leave the area for a better standard of living,’ said Jack McCabe, a Florida real estate analyst and consultant. ‘The expenses eat up too much of their income.’”
But … but … but growth in EQUITY and growth in EQUITY CASH-OUTS! What about those things? Where’s the WEALTH that flows into the economy going to come from if the relentless real estate price increases suddenly come to a halt or even (the horror!) go into reverse?
Do any of these heartless pukes realize just how many children are condemned to suffer unmentional and unendudable hardships if real estate prices do not forever maintain their relentless upward spirial?
Do any of these heartless pukes realize just how many children are condemned to suffer unmentional and unendudable hardships if real estate prices do not forever maintain their relentless upward spirial?
My father was a blue collar worker who nonetheless earned enough to enable my mom to stay at home and raise three boys and a girl (who will probably require lifelong therapy for the various “industrial accidents” that befell her barbie dolls and teddy bears). This was back when boys were still free to be boys and roam everywhere at will while not wearing bike helmets and often toting BB guns. My siblings and I had great childhoods with none of the financial anxiety that plagues so many families today in our oligarch-looted economy.
“…oligarch-looted economy…”
Ignore this fake news.
News › World › Americas
Paul Manafort: Trump campaign manager received $10m loan from Kremlin-linked Russian oligarch, documents reveal
Search warrant application also shows billionaire bankrolled lobbyist’s consulting work in Ukraine
Tom Embury-Dennis
Thursday 28 June 2018 12:17
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, speaks on the phone while touring the floor of the Republican National Convention 17 July 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.
(Win McNamee/Getty Images )
Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort received a $10 million (£7.64m) loan from a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin, unsealed court filings have revealed.
In an affidavit attached to a 2017 search warrant application, an FBI agent said he had reviewed tax returns for a company controlled by Mr Manafort and his wife that showed the loan came from a Russian lender identified as Oleg Deripaska.
Mr Manafort was part of Mr Trump’s presidential campaign for six months, and his campaign chairman for two months before his resignation in August 2016, despite White House claims he played a “very limited role”.
…
Back at you, Professor
http://raconteurreport.blogspot.com
Hey Professor, Your article conveniently forgot to add that Manafort also worked on Republican campaigns for Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bob Dole. You also forgot to add that the payments to Manafort occurred when Obama was in office. Tying Manafort exclusively to Trump is a farce just like your article.
Feeling a little triggered this morning?
“…forgot to add that Manafort…”
Has a guy that follow$ behind him carrying a $ign that read$:
“TRAITOR!”
It sort of seems like Manafort has been set up as the fall guy.
From what I’ve heard of him, it sounds like it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
I’m all for this throwback version of an earlier time when things seemed better and there were less helicopter parents (isn’t that what the free range children movement is all about?). But I make my son wear a helmet, even if I didn’t when I was his age. The number of pedestrian accidents has dramatically increased as the number of SUVs and trucks have proliferated. No need to disdain a helmet while still waxing nostalgic about the past.
Earlier times were less populated times, for sure. The US population has doubled since the mid 50s. And IIRC, the population was more spread out, with lots of company towns.
“…the number of SUVs and trucks have proliferated.”
Not to dismiss the importance of wearing helmets, but I’m afraid they will not help much in a collision between a bicycle and an SUV or truck.
A minor mishap can cause major head damage. Doesn’t have to be a big collision.
My helmet keeps my head cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
LOL! If more pedestrians are being hit/hurt, it’s probably because they are sauntering along with earbuds in and blasting while staring at a screen.
That and drivers rolling out of parking lots looking down at their phone or looking at oncoming traffic and ignoring the sidewalk.
I’m afraid they will not help much in a collision between a bicycle and an SUV or truck.
Yup! The last time I was hit by a truck while riding a bike was in 1956. No helmet then. All I got was a slight scratch on my left wrist. Your mileage may vary.
I got rear ended by an SUV on my bike, split my helmet in two, wound up with road rash, some permanent nerve damage, but my head was fine.
1950’s-1970’s cars likely weighed as much as today’s SUV. Kids shouldn’t be riding on 55MPH roads like I was the day I was hit.
Frankly the laws should allow kids to ride bikes on the sidewalks, around here they aren’t even used.
its funny, a friend of my is now a district attorney in Riverside, CA. He said in today’s climate the old “boys will be boys” attitude in the justice system is completely gone.
The stuff we would do a children would get the book thrown at you. Lighting fireworks OMG TERRORIST! TP a house, you will be spending some time in jail. You toting around a fake plastic gun, you’ll be shot first and questions asked later. In the midwest as a kid you could jump from field to field with your REAL .22 rifle shooting targets.
I remember just a few years back I brought my compound bow TO AN ARCHERY RANGE in Balboa Park and had all the dog park people pickup their dogs and start running for the hills. One guy came up to me and pleaded not to hurt anyone, I said I’m going to the archery range, which is pointed was on the other side of the bridge.
I know the terrorists won when our county fair now has metal detectors. I don’t bother going anymore.
“…the Delaware-based shell company…”
There are so many legal loopholes for wealthy people to game the system that I have no faith it will ever be fixed.
You had my attention$ @: loophole$ & $y$tem …
Like you moniker.name as well, do you ever paint “flames” on the guillotines or are you renovator of classic appearances?
My goodness. This is the first study of its kind in Miami-Dade? I don’t believe any study, ever, was necessary to divine what was going on there, but I also understand that at least some academic imprimatur is required to provide the political justification for having done something. Anything.
‘Namibia’s Chinese laundromat’
‘A report into Namibia’s biggest money laundering and tax evasion scheme found that companies accused of fraud shipped more than N$4,3 billion out of the country over three years. This was among the findings contained in a 21 June 2018 draft report compiled by KPMG Namibia, which was submitted to the government recently.’
‘The report is part of the tax evasion investigation which targeted a string of companies owned primarily by Chinese business people operating in Namibia. The initial amount that was being investigated was N$3,5 billion, in a case which led to the arrest of several people, including President Hage Geingob’s friend and former business partner, Jack Huang, who is now out on bail.’
‘The KPMG report indicates how the implicated companies transferred N$4,3 billion out of the country between 2013 and 2016, of which N$3,1 billion was transferred through 11 Chinese companies.’
China is doing this everywhere. They get political friends and can do almost anything. Keep in mind that these are countries with even less accounting controls than the US.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-china-grant/chinas-xi-offers-fresh-295-million-grant-to-sri-lanka-in-push-for-dominance-idUSKBN1KC0D8
Yeah, but as I posted recently, they are losing their a$$ doing it. What a surprise!
‘The Belt and Road Bubble Is Starting to Burst’
‘China’s hasty international investments are beginning to drag down its own economy.’
‘At the turn of the century, the Chinese government started implementing its “Go Out” policy, which sought to incentivize domestic firms to look for business overseas. Chinese firms would invest and seek contracts abroad, which would make them more competitive globally while alleviating some of the pressures of a domestic market that was starting to saturate. At the same time, the move would allow Chinese firms to secure new markets for their exports. The policy was supported by cheap and easy credit from China’s policy banks.’
‘Unsurprisingly, many of these projects have underperformed massively. And the impacts for Chinese banks, and through them the Chinese economy, are now becoming visible. Consider Congo’s Sicomines agreement. In 2007, the Congolese government signed an enormous resource-for-infrastructure deal originally valued at $9 billion with a consortium of Chinese companies.’
‘In 2013, news broke out that the total estimated copper reserves in its concession had been adjusted down to 6.8 million metric tons — a 35 percent drop. Mirroring this drop, the consortium readjusted its copper production targets down by 37.5 percent. To make things worse, in the years following the signature of the deal, the price of minerals took a hit. Copper now costs under $7,000 per metric ton, down from about $9,000 when the deal was finalized in April 2008. As things stood in late 2016, Sicomines may result in a substantial net loss for the Chinese consortium.’
‘The Sicomines case is not unusual. China’s mammoth firms frequently make massive losses on foreign investment ventures.’
“To make things worse, in the years following the signature of the deal, the price of minerals took a hit. Copper now costs under $7,000 per metric ton, down from about $9,000 when the deal was finalized in April 2008.”
Markets
Copper Dips Below $6,000 as China Sends Metals Into Freefall
By Mark Burton
July 19, 2018, 1:49 AM PDT
Updated on July 19, 2018, 10:30 AM PDT
- Most main metals drop in London as dollar extends monthly gain
- Copper falls about 17% from June peak, approaching bear market
…
Poor, poor ADan, and the dumb, dumb Chinese debt donkeys he rode in on.
Unlike you I know when to ride the donkey and when to get off. Years ago you were talking about the imminent collapse of China numerous times even suggesting its growth had gone to zero. It did not happen for reasons I explained at the time. As long as China is allowed to run huge trade surpluses with us and steal technology to make more valuable goods it will continue to grow rapidly. Obama did nothing to stop it. At least Trump is trying. Thus china’s rapid growth days may be over. But $1 a gallon gasoline is not coming back.
“…tax eva$ion inve$tigation…”
The$e kind$ of activitie$ (tax eva$ion$) do knot happen$ in America!
Aren’t tax collection$ u$ed to pay & buy equipment$$ for U$ military personnel?
Why on gawd$ good earth would any true Patriotic American want to cheat on paying their Taxe$?
Q: why did the Realtor cross the road?
A: to lie to the used house buyer on the other side
Wrong. He did it to bring the mark to the bank.
Couldn’t the bank ju$t offer a free ubber ride? Seem$ $illy to lo$e a cu$tomer…
.srail era srotlaeR
.eurt oS
‘In Dubai’s posh Jumeirah Beach Residence district, luxury apartment rents are down about 15 percent from a year ago - a sign, some fear, that the wealthy emirate’s recipe for economic success is getting stale. For over two decades, Dubai prospered as one of the world’s most international cities, attracting people and capital from across the globe.’
‘Nine years ago, it needed a $20 billion bailout from oil-rich Abu Dhabi to escape a debt crisis caused by collapsing property prices. Dubai’s economy roared back and has grown by a third since then, buoyed by foreign trade, tourism and its status as the main regional hub for business services.’
‘Now, however, Dubai is hitting another rough patch. Residential property prices have dropped by more than 15 percent since late 2014 and are still falling. The stock market is down 13 percent this year, the worst performance in the region.’
‘Potentially the most far-reaching reform was announced by the UAE cabinet, chaired by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. It promised to permit 100 percent foreign ownership of some UAE-based businesses, up from the current 49 percent limit, and grant long-term residency visas of up to 10 years to foreign investors and some professionals.’
‘That could make foreign investment in Dubai more attractive and, by helping foreigners plan on long-term residence in the emirate, encourage them to buy homes.’
‘But details of the new policy have not been released, and implementing it may be tricky. “Free zones” in Dubai already permit 100 percent foreign ownership; they could suffer if they no longer have that right exclusively. And many UAE citizens make money as silent partners with foreign businessmen.’
“To some extent, the economy is based on people renting out their passports - disrupting that could cause economic pain among the local population,” the financial executive said.’
Before Vancouver, Sydney etc. Dubai was the location to launder $s and execute on bribes from elsewhere in the middle east and India.
An acquittance (family originally from Jordan - not an oil country) who father got into a very nice condo with some additional extra money. I dont know the circumstances - but basically they took $s and ran to Dubai. This made them legal in the UK etc.
Back during the “safe deposit box in the sky” days, London was the big dog. I doubt any one city in the world had more money laundering. They were proud of it. Kinda like Miami. When the first rules got put on Miami, the local UHS immediately organized a seminar on how to get around them!
Financial commentator Max Keiser, on why he moved to London:
“Because Britain is the epicentre of financial fraud. Most major players outsource their fraud here because London is the unregulated cesspit of global finance.”
https://www.newsweek.com/max-keiserfinancebankingmoneyrussia-todaywall-streetbitcoin-604817
Kirkland WA Housing Prices Crater 13% YOY As Unemployment Hammers Seattle Housing Market
https://www.movoto.com/kirkland-wa/market-trends/
This is going to leave a mark on the black market hotel industry. However, it should also work to improve residential housing for San Diego residents.
San Diego council votes to limit Airbnb rentals to primary residences only
“Nobody knows how many billions of dollars in dirty money is pouring into Australia’s housing market, but global authorities describe local real estate as a prime target for money laundering – and you may have paid more for your house because of it.”
Same with your neighbors;they may have paid more because of it, and neighbors paying more for real estate does what? Why it creates WEALTH - IT CREATES WEALTH FOR ALL!
“The likelihood of cashed up crooks increasing house prices is much greater than many people realise …”
Bahahahaha … stay tuned, they will realize soon enough, as soon as they realize that these stupid prices are resetting to a level that is a bit less stupid.
“Real estate agents say corrupt money can also influence average house prices, because criminals paying more than market value for one house are likely to encourage higher asking prices for similar properties in the same street.”
Hence the magical creation of equity wealth, a true miracle!
“Estimates vary, however an International Monetary Fund calculation converted to local currency shows up to $5 trillion in corrupt money – more than three times Australia’s GDP – flowing into global financial systems last year. Only 0.2 per cent of the illegal transfers were likely to be seized or frozen, according to a UN report.”
How amusing.
“No official estimate of how much tainted money is laundered through Australian housing has been publicly released, but there’s no shortage of warning signs. Australia’s financial crime intelligence authority, Austrac, reported $1 billion in suspicious transactions flowing into the nation’s housing from China alone during 2015, but some analysts believe that’s just the start.”
The amusment intensifies.
“A Transparency International report last year found Australia’s housing market is more open to laundering than the US, Britain or Canada, failing in all ten areas that allow criminals to easily purchase properties anonymously to hide stolen money. Professor Jason Sharman of Cambridge University, a global money-laundering expert whose views are included in the OECD report, says Australia already has extremely powerful laws against money laundering. ‘The problem is that in most cases the government chooses not to enforce them,’ he says.”
What a surprise!
“Laws governing UK real estate agents were introduced last year after investigations showed a huge flow of corrupt money, estimated to be tens of billions of pounds, had driven up housing prices. In London, the National Association of Estate Agents says its members have already been fined millions of pounds for failing to comply with the new anti-money-laundering laws, with some facing bankruptcy as a result.”
I am truly shocked - SHOCKED - to learn of this!
Soybean Price Craters To 10 YR Low On Tanking China Economy
https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/11/news/economy/soybean-prices/index.html
“Soybean Price Craters To 10 YR Low On Tanking China Economy”
Yeah, soybean prices are falling but your reason is not the reason given in the article.
Here, try this one …
“Prices are falling as a result of the escalating trade war between the United States and China.”
It’s CNN. Do you believe them?
It’s Mortgage Watch. You pay attention to his posts?
Prices my good friend
Flagler Beach FL Housing Prices Crater 9% YOY As Housing Demand Dries Up
https://www.movoto.com/flagler-beach-fl/market-trends/
Flagler Beach FL Housing Prices Crater 9% YOY As Housing Demand Dries Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh1vYh-3VFE
“The first cracks in the CEFC empire began to appear in November 2017 when Patrick Ho Chi-ping, Hong Kong’s former Home Affairs Secretary, was arrested in New York on charges of routing money meant for bribing politicians through US financial institutions.”
Cockroach Theory suggests this is merely the tip of the iceberg regarding foreign money entering the US to bribe our politicians.
Nobody ever goes to jail, unless they piss off an insider.
Isn’t that the truth. That’s my reaction whenever I read of China’s latest anti-corruption initiative.
Pretty sure “anti-corruption initiatives” are aimed at corruption where the Chinese Communist Party elite aren’t getting their cut.
Chinese peer-to-peer lenders “falling like dominoes” as panic spreads.
Can you spell “systemic contagion” boys and girls? I knew you could….
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/2018/07/20/china-s-p2p-platform-failures-surge-as-panic-spreads-in-market#gs.r0aj3yg
Sounds like a fairly typical race to the exit. No need to get your tidy whities in a bunch.
The Financial Times
Peer-to-peer lending
Collapse of Chinese P2P lenders sparks investor flight
Sports stadiums taken over to process complaints as customers rush to withdraw cash
Is there cause for investor concern with this development, or can we safely assume that the situation is fully contained, just as subprime mortgage finance was in the summer of 2007?
“At least 118 platforms have failed this month through early Friday, according to Shanghai-based Yingcan Group, whose tally for July stood at 57 just three days ago. The number of failures, which includes platforms that have halted operations or come under police investigation, is already the highest in two years with more than a week left in the month.”
“Estimates vary, however an International Monetary Fund calculation converted to local currency shows up to $5 trillion in corrupt money – more than three times Australia’s GDP – flowing into global financial systems last year. Only 0.2 per cent of the illegal transfers were likely to be seized or frozen, according to a UN report.”
Who’d have imagined that trillions of Yellen bux would land in the pockets of international criminal networks?
Well, I guess they had to go somewhere.
February 8, 2017
From Bisnow on New York. “New York City is still the No. 1 destination for foreign capital in the world, according to this year’s AFIRE rankings, but it is no longer an environment in which foreign money — particularly from China — will buy anything in the market at any price. This year, China has clamped down on outbound foreign investment, and firms caught flouting the new laws will be punished harshly, China First Capital CEO Peter Fuhrman said. While most New Yorkers in commercial real estate are aware of the capital slowdown, Fuhrman said they are probably not taking it seriously enough.”
“‘I have the perception that the full weight and severity of these capital controls hadn’t been fully felt here,’ Fuhrman said. ‘It’d be fair to say that the Chinese central government dropped a financial bomb on its businesses.’”
“One of the Chinese government’s chief concerns when instituting the investment restrictions, Fuhrman said, is over outbound investors getting fleeced while paying record-breaking prices. ‘A concern of Chinese regulators is their investors have been really bad buyers,’ Fuhrman said. ‘This can sadly be seen more and more in the larger real estate deals they have done. What they are extremely concerned about is just about every acquisition the Chinese have made, is they have overpaid severely and foolishly, and that has spurred a loss of a lot of Chinese sovereign wealth.’”
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=9989
This is reminiscent of the investing mistakes Japan made in the 1980s up until the early 1990s recession, when they lost their shirts on bad real estate investments, ushering in three decades of deflation, quantitative easing, and general economic malaise.
While watching China in recent years, I often think back on those days!
Airbus to Terminate Deliveries to the Hainan Group!
Published on Jul 15, 2018
The Chinese HNA Group, which consists of airlines such as Hainan Airlines, Tianjin Airlines, and Lucky Air, will have their 6 Airbus A330’s deliveries will be placed temporarily on hold, as the group has struggled to make their payments for the new jets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEMUGG8yago
From a link below that video:
‘Airbus and the Hainan Group have been in talks for up to six months, but Airbus decided to end negotiations as they do not want to place the “financier” role. Other sources have said that HNA affiliated carriers are to delay aircraft lease payments to lessors. Carriers such as Hainan, Lucky Air, and Beijing Capital Airlines had missed payments, while Tianjin Airlines are looking to extend the term of payments due this year.’
http://avgeek.news/airbus-to-stop-deliveries-for-the-hianan-group
6 A330s isn’t a big order at all either. My guess is they also can’t get anyone to fly them. Myself and others in the aviation industry get emails and linked in requests from recruiters all the time. No thanks.
“My guess is they also can’t get anyone to fly them.”
$ex as a perk has been u$ed to $ovle many problem$ …
Someone has to be the bagholder in every crash. I guess the greater fool Chinese investors are as good a choice as any.
I guess the greater fool Chinese investors are as good a choice as any.
If you’re going to rob someone, pick someone with money.
Even if it’s dumb.borrowed.chinese.money.
Builders are getting desperate for sites in Greenpoint Brooklyn…..
Owners of Greenpoint Toxic Site Move Forward With Development, Rendering Revealed
The site, purchased for $55 million, requires a full environmental clean up to be developed.
https://greenpointpost.com/owners-of-greenpoint-toxic-site-move-forward-with-development-rendering-revealed
A few lessons of 2banana’s life so far.
Never watch a movie with Madonna in it
Never trust any level of government
Never invest in a business with the word “Trump” in it
Never get into a business with friends or family
Never lend money to friends or family - just make it a gift instead
Never buy a house built on a Superfund site
Never buy a house built in a flood plain.
Never buy a house built on an old land slide.
“…Never buy …”
Does a busy intersection with a 4 way stop qualify?
How ’bouts a residential street with 10,000 cars speeding through?
Never get involved in a land war in Asia.
Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.
And never pay more than construction cost less depreciation for a used house…. $50/sqft in this case….. Less depreciation of course.
Never buy a home unless all of your prospective new neighbors believe you are crazy to even consider doing so.
Never worry that your adjustable loan rates will ever be adjusted upward.
Always remember that if your mortgage gets a bit out of hand you can always refinance.
😁
Oh, and always remember that any equity you cash out of your home belongs to you and you alone and you should never be required to pay it back.
Marxi$t!
Never mess around with women that tattoos of weapons.
Never play cards or pool for money with a man named after a city.
“Never mess around with women that tattoos of weapons.”
+1 I’ll endorse that.
Burke, VA Housing Prices Crater 12% YOY As Federal Downsizing Roasts Fairfax County Housing Market
https://www.movoto.com/burke-va/market-trends/
And even the SEC is starting to find this potential market abuse too much to ignore, as we noted previously, according to an analysis by SEC Commissioner Robert J. Jackson, Jr., company executives have been grossly abusing the timing of buyback announcements and selling significantly more of their stock immediately after the news than they do beforehand. taking advantage of price bumps that often accompany share-repurchase announcements.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-22/firms-buy-back-shares-record-amounts-look-who-was-selling
Buy the dipSell the bumpSo now we know why nyc n Miami are down.
To the moon
We’ve had artificial drivers that have pushed up the prices of the overall housing market, to the point where many people are going to look to leave the area for a better standard of living,’ said Jack McCabe, a Florida real estate analyst and consultant.
Any legacy bequeathed by “Zimbabwe Ben” Bernanke and Yellen the Felon to middle and working class Americans.
Oops, I meant “another legacy bequeathed by Zimbabwe Ben Bernanke and Yellen the Felon…”
Copper Craters To 1 Year Low As China Economy Implodes
http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/copper/1-year/
Down, down, and downer…
Wait until 1.34 + Chinese find out how much better a “whole hou$e copper water pipe retrofit” will improve their live$!
Fewer than 20% of apartments are affordable for middle-income black renters.
Heckova job, Ben & Janet.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/less-than-20-of-apartments-are-affordable-for-middle-income-black-renters-2018-07-22
They wanted hope and change.
They got hope and change.
Forward.
Frankly, I don’t understand why it isn’t possible to just keep expanding global debt indefinitely, supported by the occasional mass burial of outstanding debt on some central bank’s balance sheet. What is the real constraint on unlimited central bank balance sheet expansion?
Opinions
The $247 trillion global debt bomb
by Robert J. Samuelson Columnist
July 15
A port in Lianyungang in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. (AFP/Getty Images)
The untold story of the world economy — so far at least — is the potentially explosive interaction between the spreading trade war and the overhang of global debt, estimated at a staggering $247 trillion. That’s “trillion” with a “t.” The numbers are so large as to be almost incomprehensible.
Households, businesses and governments borrow on the assumption that they will service their debts either by paying the principal and interest or by rolling over the debts into new loans. But this works only if incomes grow fast enough to make the debts bearable or to justify new loans. When those ingredients go missing, delinquencies, defaults and (at worse) panics follow.
Here’s where the trade war and debt may intersect disastrously. Since 2003, global debt has soared. As a share of the world economy (gross domestic product), the increase went from 248 percent of GDP to 318 percent. In the first quarter of 2018 alone, global debt rose by a huge $8 trillion. The figures include all major countries and most types of debt: consumer, business and government.
…
debt is money
keep increasing it and keep interest rates low so you can service it.You just need to keep confidence in your currency. As long as people use your money all is well.
Loverly, a x3 digit Trillion$ debt$ $tory, that evil Mr. Marx ..
Cleveland: Urban gunshot response training
Millbrae CA Housing Prices Crater 5% YOY As Stumbling China Economy Vaporizes Bay Area Market
https://www.movoto.com/millbrae-ca/market-trends/
STAN GETZ & CHARLIE BYRD - Desafinado (1962)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7lmMNweUVU
I heard this is being used to treat Trump Derangement Syndrome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_kuxgZJEus
Does the trade war prospect have your underwear in a knot?
“A Ponzi economy, toppled by a recession, hurting the global economy…”
“Chinese banks pushed a ton of money into the economy in 2016…it’s unrepayable. Refinancing that would require even more injection of money, and there isn’t enough money to go around without creating inflation.”
Sounds like the Chinese economic miracle is about to go down the drain.
Trade War May Spark a Chinese Debt Crisis, Stevenson-Yang Says
TV Shows - Bloomberg Daybreak: Australia
July 22nd, 2018, 5:31 PM PDT
Anne Stevenson-Yang, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and co-founder of J Capital Research, who has a quarter century of experience in China and previously worked at the U.S.-China Business Council, talks about the trade dispute between the two nations, and the implications for the world’s second-largest economy. She speaks with Kathleen Hays on Bloomberg Daybreak: Australia.”
(Source: Bloomberg)
So many warnings, so much denial…
EU Issues Worrying Warning Over Future Of Bitcoin
Billy Bambrough
Contributor
Jul 22, 2018, 07:27pm
A bitcoin is seen at Bitcoin exchange shop in Wielopole Street in Krakow, Poland. (Photo by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Despite bitcoin’s latest price rally, the world’s largest cryptocurrency is still struggling to reach mainstream adoption, and now the European Union (EU) has warned bitcoin and other decentralised cryptocurrencies could be derailed by the world’s central banks.
A report on fintech competition, commissioned by the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (Econ), which oversees the decisions made by the EU’s European Central Bank (ECB), found that if banks and central banks were to issue their own cryptocurrencies it could be bad news for the likes of bitcoin.
“The arrival of permissioned cryptocurrencies promoted by banks, even by central banks, will reshape the current competition level in the cryptocurrency market, broadening the number of competitors,” the report authors at the Police Department for Economic, Scientific, and Quality of Life Policies wrote.
“However, the market power of banks in traditional banking services might be used to limit competition in the cryptocurrency market through pre-emptive acquisitions or predatory pricing schemes.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2018/07/22/eu-issues-worrying-warning-over-future-of-bitcoin/#291167807a2f
Bugger Thy Neighbor
Markets
Currency War Erupts, Threatening to Ripple Across Global Markets
By Katherine Greifeld
July 20, 2018, 11:18 AM PDT Updated on July 20, 2018, 9:01 PM PDT
- Trade fight spreads to FX as president talks down dollar
- Equities, oil, and emerging-market assets at risk from FX war
- Trump Says China, EU Are Manipulating Their Currencies
The currency war has arrived.
So say some of the best and brightest in the $5.1 trillion-per-day foreign-exchange market. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday accused China and the European Union of “manipulating their currencies and interest rates lower.” The comments came after the yuan plunged to its lowest level in a year, with little sign of China’s central bank intervening to stem the slide. They also follow a decline in the euro this year and add to the calculus that European Central Bank policy makers might need to consider when they meet next week.
As the world’s largest economies open up a new front in their increasingly acrimonious game of brinkmanship, the consequences could be dire — and ripple far beyond the U.S. and Chinese currencies. Everything from equities to oil to emerging-market assets are in danger of becoming collateral damage as the current global financial order is assailed from Beijing to Washington.
“The real risk is that we have broad-based unravelling of global trade and currency cooperation, and that is not going to be pretty,” said Jens Nordvig, Wall Street’s top-ranked currency strategist for five years running before founding Exante Data LLC in 2016. Trump’s recent rhetoric “is certainly shifting this from a trade war to a currency war.”
…
China doesn’t have to devalue its Yuan when the PBOC’s deranged money-printing is already debasing the currency into worthlessness.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-23/china-says-it-has-no-intention-devalue-yuan-boost-exports
The Financial Times
Chinese economy
China’s $74bn cash injection highlights growth worries
Central bank action indicates policymakers are moving to ease monetary policy
4 hours ago
Housing prices keep going up in the midwest. Houses in my neighboorhood seem to sell within a week. Crazy. I have been living here for 18 years and never seen anything like it.
rising home prices really give confidence to people to run out and get a huge home loan and start paying interest to their masters.
Breast-feeding at Mora pool ignites social media fury
Cops called in over dispute over nursing in the kiddie pool.
By Mary Lynn Smith Star Tribune JULY 20, 2018 — 9:17PM
http://www.startribune.com/breast-feeding-at-mora-pool-ignites-social-media-fury/488749881/
Haha… the thin-skinned in a lather.
Good for those breastfeeding moms. Breastfeeding is correlates with lower rates of obesity, asthma, allergies, and higher cognitive scores. It’s free, it’s healthy, and it’s the ideal. Public policy should do everything it can to promote and encourage breastfeeding. It may be the single most cost effective health intervention we have.
“You can nurse in any way you want — whether your shirt is completely pulled down, pulled up, pulled to the side, you have a cover, you can’t cover. Breasts are intended to nourish children,” McIalwain said.
The “sluggish” London real estate market continues to frustrate greedheads who aren’t getting their wish price as the pipeline of Greater Fools dries up.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/23/the-pitfalls-of-selling-a-shared-ownership-property-in-londons-slug.html
it seems the corporate buyback desks have gotten really good at buying at the right times to create short squeezes.
China’s central bank, the PBOC, is loosening monetary policy even further in a desperate, doomed attempt to hold off the financial reckoning day and keep China’s asset bubbles and Ponzi markets levitated.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-23/pboc-eases-funding-strains-in-biggest-ever-medium-term-injection
Gasoline Prices Plunge Nationally As Crude Plummets On Tanking China Economy
https://triblive.com/local/regional/13893105-74/gas-prices-down-in-nearly-all-states-as-libya-resumes-exports
The fuel monie$ $aved can be repurpo$ed for the mortgage$ payment$ don’t ya suppo$e?
Chartist bulls are going up in flames this morning.
Dow
-60.84 -0.24%
S&P 500
-5.45 -0.19%
Nasdaq
-24.73 -0.32%
Chart breakout suggests ‘the bulls have taken control of the tape’
The extended lever$ puller$ … are still $tirring their ice drink$ on the $and in the $hade … Until they return, just keep the floatation$ device$ … floating.
Why do real journalists avoid calling ‘used homes’ by their correct name? ‘Existing homes’ and ‘previously occupied homes’ are misnomers intended to paint lipstick on pigs. A pig sporting lipstick is still a pig.
US existing-home sales fell 0.6 percent in June
Josh Boak, Ap Economics Writer
Updated 10:38 am EDT, Monday, July 23, 2018
FILE - In this March 6, 2018, photo a sign advertises the pending sale of a home in San Jose, Calif. Economists expect that sales of previously occupied U.S. homes edged higher in June.
Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP / Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP
FILE - In this March 6, 2018, photo a sign advertises the pending sale of a home in San Jose, Calif. Economists expect that sales of previously occupied U.S. homes edged higher in June.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. sales of existing homes fell 0.6 percent in June, the third straight monthly decline as higher prices and a relative lack of inventory has sidelined many would-be buyers.
The National Association of Realtors said Monday homes sold last month at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 5.38 million in May. Over the past year, home sales have tumbled 2.2 percent.
Many Americans searching for homes face prices that are climbing at roughly double the pace of wages. Sales of entry-level homes worth less than $250,000 have fallen amid a constrained inventory. Still, the number of homes for sale rose in June on annualized basis for the first time since the middle of 2015, a sign that the inventory shortage may be bottoming out.
…