This Steep Price Drop Is Just One Of Many
A report from the Western Investor on Canada. “With the region now deemed the second-least competitive housing market in Canada, the tides have certainly turned in Lower Mainland’s housing market – particularly in the detached sector, and especially for higher-priced properties. The recent sale of the unique Cube House in Vancouver is a prime example of this. This architecturally striking property on chi-chi Point Grey Road, one of the city’s priciest areas, sold for $7,950,000, down from its most recent asking price of $8,195,000. However, this was following three listings of this home in 2017, the first of which asked $14 million on the nose, with records showing there was no sale of this property from these listings.”
“It was listed again for $8.99 million in March this year, then reduced to $8,195,000 before finally selling last month. This steep price drop is just one of many. Of the 1,508 Lower Mainland homes sold for more than $2 million on the MLS so far this year (registered as sold by August 24), 1,320 sold for below their asking price.”
“The median price reduction across the entire region for $2 million-plus homes was six per cent – but that doesn’t take into account any previous listings of the same properties. For example, as the Cube House was relisted at $8,195,000, it is deemed to be sold three per cent below asking – this reduction doesn’t account for the $14 million listing in 2017.”
“The percentages are steeper among even higher-end properties, such as the $5 million plus sector, as they have further to decline. In West Vancouver, the median price reduction seen so far this year was eight per cent for $2 million-plus home sales, and 10 per cent for $5 million-plus transactions. In Vancouver proper, the median reduction for $2 million-plus homes was just five per cent, but for home sales above $5 million it was 11 per cent.”
“The most expensive home to sell on the MLS in the Lower Mainland so far this year is a grand, 12,000-plus-square-foot Shaughnessy mansion. This property sold for $26 million, which was three per cent under its $29,980,000 list price – but nearly 26 per cent below the original ask of $35 million.”
From Burnaby Now. “It looks like foreign buyers have all but disappeared from the Metro Vancouver real estate market – if you believe the latest data. There are questions about whether the data being collected truly shows who is buying a property – or whether foreign buyers are using loopholes. Are foreign buyers just using proxies to front for their purchases? We remain unconvinced that the official data is truly reflective of who is buying. What’s obvious is home sales have slowed.”
“‘Total residential sales in Metro Vancouver fell by 25 per cent in the first six months of this year compared with sales during the same period a year earlier,’ said Business in Vancouver. In Burnaby, detached home sales have definitely slowed, with a total of 56 sold in June, down from 103 in June 2017. Over the same period, the median price of a home fell from $1.65 million to $1.45 million.”
From In Brampton. “Sales of new homes in the GTA slowed down in July while prices held steady, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced. Sales of new condominium apartments in low, medium and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, at 855 units sold, were down 52 per cent from July 2017 and down 40 per cent from the 10-year average.”
“Sales of new single-family homes, including detached, linked and semi-detached houses and townhouses (excluding stacked townhouses), at 216 units sold, were up 85 per cent from last July–a month that saw the lowest single-family home sales in decades, with 117 units sold–but still 77 per cent below the 10-year average.”
“The benchmark price of new condominium apartments was $774,759, up 16.5 per cent from last July, but virtually unchanged from last month. The benchmark price of new single-family homes was $1,142,574, down 13.2 per cent from last July and just 0.85 per cent above last month.”
The Calgary Sun. “For anyone involved in Calgary’s housing industry (new and resale) and those trying to sell their homes, 2018 has been a trying year. The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) has released its 2018 Calgary Economic & Housing Outlook mid-year update that summarizes the year to date: ‘Stricter lending conditions, a rise in interest rates, persistently high unemployment and slow economic recovery have weighed on housing demand so far this year.’”
“CREB has this to say about Calgary’s MLS market. ‘Economic recovery is expected to gain further traction through the latter part of this year. This should help limit the pullback in demand, but it is unlikely it will be enough to offset the declines from the first portion of the year. As a result, total sales activity within the city is expected to decline by 9.7 percent to 17,047 units, a downward revision from previously forecast levels.”
“‘A slight improvement in market conditions in the second half of the year should reduce some of the upward pressure on inventory. Issues of oversupply will not likely be corrected this year, causing modest price declines across most product types.’”
“And the new homes market: ‘New-home inventories have remained elevated for nearly two years, as projects were being completed at a time when our city was facing weak migration and housing demand. The majority of the inventory is multi-family product, which includes apartment, row and semi-detached homes. The additional supply, particularly for higher density products, has contributed to the steeper declines in resale pricing for apartment and row-style homes.’”
“‘Many new home builders have become more aggressive with their pricing to pull demand toward new products versus resale homes. Price adjustments on the new home side of the market can weigh on home prices in areas that are near new developments.’”
From Troy Media. “Here are some interesting statistics obtained by Calgary’s Business from the Canadian Real Estate Association regarding the resale housing market in the province. Year-to-date, until the end of July, there were 33,225 MLS sales across the province. That’s down 6.5 per cent compared with the same period in 2017. During the same period, the average MLS sale price in Alberta fell by 2.9 per cent year over year to $391,952.”
“Recently, Calgary’s Business reported that RBC Economic Research in its Canadian Housing Market Forecast Update said Alberta MLS sales in 2018 are expected to drop by 5.8 per cent from 2017 to 53,900 units. ‘Markets such as Calgary and Edmonton remain abundantly supplied at this stage,’ said the report.”
‘The recent sale of the unique Cube House in Vancouver is a prime example of this. This architecturally striking property on chi-chi Point Grey Road, one of the city’s priciest areas, sold for $7,950,000, down from its most recent asking price of $8,195,000. However, this was following three listings of this home in 2017, the first of which asked $14 million on the nose, with records showing there was no sale of this property from these listings’
Over 40%. Whacha say trolls?
I would say a 40% haircut counts as a proper schlonging.
And we’ve just gotten started!
I’m no troll, but I wonder if the $14-million ask was hoping for an overseas buyer right off the boat. You know - the kind that’s dumber than a box of rocks.
“I’m no troll”
Of course you are.
Any FB who overpays, foreign or domestic, is dumber than a box of rocks.
Sherman Oaks, CA Housing Prices Crater 7% YOY As SoCal Housing Bust Heats Up
https://www.movoto.com/sherman-oaks-ca/market-trends/
“where does new money created get it value, from the old money of course.”
Since debt= money you better figure out how much new debt was created before you say there is no inflation.
You can also add in any funny money that was created.
’sold for $7,950,000, down from its most recent asking price of $8,195,000. However, this was following three listings of this home in 2017, the first of which asked $14 million on the nose’
This is how QE creates deflation.
Here’s another example:
‘New-home inventories have remained elevated for nearly two years, as projects were being completed at a time when our city was facing weak migration and housing demand. The majority of the inventory is multi-family product, which includes apartment, row and semi-detached homes. The additional supply, particularly for higher density products, has contributed to the steeper declines in resale pricing for apartment and row-style homes.’
Chinese QE causes commodity boom. Alberta goes nuts, builds way too much of everything. Commodity boom goes bust, so does Alberta - crater.
Ask Rio. Rio? Rio?
Bueller?
Ebola Lola
https://youtu.be/RVv8VdHReh0
LMAO!
Arvada, CO Housing Prices Crater 8% YOY As Deflation Ramps Up
https://www.movoto.com/arvada-co/market-trends/
‘ it is deemed to be sold three per cent below asking – this reduction doesn’t account for the $14 million listing in 2017… This property sold for $26 million, which was three per cent under its $29,980,000 list price – but nearly 26 per cent below the original ask of $35 million’
All this leads to an important point. The REIC lies - a lot. After the big collapse in Spring 2016, they started to put out all sorts of number. “Oh it’s way up, it aw a blip.” But all the while reports would get out about these expensive detached shacks (that the Chinese speculators liked) showing huge loses. A year later, Toronto does the same thing and the UHS immediaely said, “don’t worry, Vancouver fell and now they’re to the moon Alice!”
Except it wasn’t true. And now Vancouver is collapsing, even condos are falling.
August 19, 2018
A report from the Vancouver Sun in Canada. “A number of Vancouver realtors believe a significant decline is happening in Metro Vancouver house prices, through official statistics are so far providing more muted signals. Realtor Ian Watt uses the independent figures from SnapStarts Publishing Company, which reports median prices. For July, it shows that prices for detached homes on Vancouver’s west side have fallen 26 per cent in a year, dropping by just under $1 million, from $3.8 million to $2.8 million. In West Vancouver, detached home prices have fallen over 30 per cent or $1.1 million, from $3.6 million in December 2017 to $2.5 million in July.”
“By comparison, the real estate board’s index shows a year-over-year decrease in July of 8.4 per cent for the west side and 8.3 per cent for West Vancouver.”
“Realtor Stuart Bonner watches detached homes on Vancouver’s west side and says the drop in sales and prices that he is seeing feel like a ‘canary in the coal mine’ — a warning of what is to come in other parts of the Metro market because the west side is where the ‘chain reaction’ starts. The downward trend would come off some intense price gains in the last few years. Watt says, in January 2015, the median sale price for downtown condos was for $493,000, according to SnapStarts. In January 2018, it was $950,000 for an increase of 93 per cent.”
“‘My thoughts are if they went up that fast, they can certainly go down that fast. That was a one-time Chinese money infusion and a spectacular frenzy, which are both over. Vancouver will never be affordable, but it will drop 25 per cent or more,’ says Watt.”
“Prices tend to be cut as properties sit unsold on the market. So another way to look at things is to count how many months it would take for the current inventory of homes on the market to sell, given the current pace of home sales, a measure called months of supply. Bonner says as this statistic increased in July, the average detached home price dropped 11.6 per cent to $3.323 million from $3.757 million last year. The median detached home price dropped more slightly from $3.009 million to $2.984 million. There has been a drop of 25 per cent in average home price and 22 per cent drop in median home price since the highs of 2017, according to Bonner.”
“‘Detached, attached and apartments on the west side are now all experiencing price reductions and while this is creating good buying opportunities, buyers are holding off in anticipation of further declines,’ Bonner wrote to clients in a note. ‘This will exacerbate the decline and soften prices further.’”
“Realtor Steve Saretsky says when prices were rising, it was the ‘irrational buyer who would set a new level by bidding $200,000 over the asking price.’ Now, the prices are being set by owners who are willing to take a lower amount because they have to sell for personal reasons, such as a divorce or an illness that forces downsizing. ‘We are in a period of price discovery,’ says Saretsky, with some sellers adjusting their expectations and some finding it harder to do so.”
“One would-be seller of a one-bedroom condo in Yaletown, for example, who thought in the fall of 2017, his place might go for $750,000. He got an offer for $735,000, but didn’t take it then, says Saretsky. ‘He asked me what it would be worth now, based on recent sales and I said, ‘asking anything higher than $700,000 would be on the high side. Maybe $685,000. And he said, ‘oh no, he couldn’t sell it for that since he had that previous offer for $735,000. So it’s tough to adjust if people have been anchoring those prices.’”
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=10556
And Vancouver has been falling for 2 years now. Calgary for 4 years.
But now the downward velocity is accelerating. And the panic selling hasn’t even set in yet. Still plenty of knife catchers to be evicerated before the bottom is in.
This steep price drop is just one of many.
You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.
Next up: Chinese “investors” who paid top dollar for residential and commercial real estate in Canada, NYC, and the West Coast are going to start jettisoning them to raise liquidity to cover their bad bets back home as China’s gargantuan debt and asset bubbles - the biggest ones on the planet - start their chain-reaction meltdowns.
https://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/2161078/nan-fung-prices-new-flats-below-market-rate-cooling
That had occurred to me. The big CRE guys are already doing it.
Why would they have to liquidate? I thought it was just play-money from the new middle class of China? You know….red meat, milk, and 3 million dollar vacation homes in the west /s
OT, but might be interesting…premieres Monday:
https://www.cnbc.com/bitcoin-boom-or-bust/
Check out this sneak-peek gem…
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/08/23/meet-the-millionaire-who-lives-in-treehouseand-says-bitcoin-is-the-future.html
That alone would steer me away from investing in this stuff.
“That alone would steer me away from investing in this stuff.”
Don’t be left behind. Bitcoin is the future, the future Now!
The tangible equity phase of the Global Economy is passing by and it is currently being replaced by the intangible cryptocurrency of tomorrow. And the leading cryptocurrency, of course, is BITCOIN!
Cash out that stale old home equity, that old-school wealth of yesterday, and plunge - yes, PLUNGE - plunge deeply into bitcoin, the wealth of tkmorrow.
Do not hesitate! The banks! They’re waiting ro give you your money. Are you going go take it?
Are you man enough to take it?
Bitcoin is how people in various countries get their money out around capital controls, high inflation. China, etc.
As long as central banks act irresponsible and inflate, it isn’t going away.
Canaduh is a one trick pony(oil) socialist whitey guilt colony
It’s Pacific coastal real estate. They sure got over that racist stuff the REIC threw at them over the Chinese buyers.
Surely Canada’s globalist, Pajama Boy president will supply the leadership needed to get Canadians through the coming financial crash.
/sarc
Hallandale, FL Housing Prices Crater 8% YOY As Deflation Continues To Accelerate The Economy
https://www.zillow.com/hallandale-fl/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
@Anonymous of 2018-08-25 17:07:09
The irony of the economic illiterates often criticizing bitcoin in comments on a housing bubble blog. Bitcoin is a DEFLATIONARY currency. Real estate has absolutely plummeted in terms of bitcoin.
I’ve seen four stratospheric bull markets in bitcoin come and go since 2010 and I’ll tell you now there’s one more bull left after she bottoms. I suggest you be on it.
Or maybe instead speculating on digital Dutch tulips you could use it as designed, as an actual currency to help defund a criminal banker state. You know, instead of just complaining.
I sense … fear.
Expressed as … anger.
Bitcoin is a scam currency with an intrinsic value of zero.
Ask people in China getting their money out (around the gov) if Bitcoin has zero intrinsic value.
Is carrying a bag of gold bars through the airport a better idea?
A great day in America:
John McCain Dead At 81
One of the commenters over at ZH gets the prize for comment of the year:
“NOW SOMEBODY GET THAT TUMOR A NOBEL PEACE PRIZE STAT!!!”
And a tribute to all the Vietnam POWs he left to rot and the people who died in the many military actions he instigated, and their families:
The Blue Angels, set to the music of Van Halen’s “Dreams”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH7j185hotE
Soar!
Palmy i sort of agree…… Looking back in American History we should have gone overboard in helping all those who were drafted against their will for some war that made no sense in the first place. I was reading the S Vietnam government was jailing and torturing reporters who were against the war shutting down their newspapers confiscation assets.
Also by not drafting women there was no reason to end it quickly imagine if hundreds of women were dying weekly how that would have affected the narrative.
So to those who volunteer i really dont have much sympathy, you signed up you knew the risk……..
What if they gave a war and nobody came
https://rosecoveredglasses.wordpress.com/2016/03/18/can-there-be-war-without-soldiers/
Palmy I’m with you.
Satan has called this POS home.
MAGA
He can’t hurt them anymore. May their spirits be free at last.
‘McCain, independent voice of the GOP establishment’
‘On a variety of issues — torture, immigration, campaign finance, the Iraq War — McCain was often known as the moral center of the Senate and of the Republican Party.’
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sen-john-mccain-independent-voice-gop-establishment-dies-81-n790971
Is this John McCain they’re talking about? It could be some other senator.
July 16, 2015
‘Over the weekend, Donald Trump held a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, that attracted several thousand people. He shared the stage with the father of a man who was killed by an undocumented immigrant—and Trump continued his rant against illegal immigration that began when he launched his campaign and started to surge in the polls. Not every Republican in Arizona was pleased with Trump’s visit. Senator John McCain, the Party’s Presidential nominee in 2008, reacted to the event with dismay.’
“It’s very bad,” McCain, who was eager to talk about Trump, told me on Monday when I stopped by his Senate office. The Senator is up for reëlection in 2016, and he pays close attention to how the issue of immigration is playing in his state. He was particularly rankled by Trump’s rally. “This performance with our friend out in Phoenix is very hurtful to me,” McCain said. “Because what he did was he fired up the crazies.”
‘McCain, who has long supported comprehensive immigration reform and was a member of the so-called Gang of Eight that successfully pushed immigration legislation through the Senate in 2013, has been at war with the far right in Arizona for years. “We have a very extreme element within our Republican Party,” McCain said. He then noted that he was personally censured by Arizona Republicans in January of 2014 and has been fighting to push out the extremists in the state G.O.P. ever since. “We did to some degree regain control of the Party.”
‘But McCain fears that Trump may be reversing those gains. “Now he galvanized them,” McCain said. “He’s really got them activated.”
‘He has occasionally reined in his enthusiasm for an immigration-reform plan that would include a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants—he hedged a bit during the 2008 campaign—but he has never abandoned the policy.’
‘Many Republicans assume that Trump’s current position at the top of national polls won’t last, and McCain, who said that he last met Trump many years ago, pointed out that conservatives are starting to learn more about Trump’s liberal past. But McCain worried that Trump might have more staying power than many political analysts assume. And, even if he slips in the polls, Trump’s attacks on immigrants and his focus on the porous border will have a warping effect for Republicans.’
“We’ll see how this plays out, but there is some anger in my state,” McCain said. He mentioned the continuing challenges of border security that were vividly highlighted when tens of thousands of Central American minors crossed into America last summer. “People who otherwise might be more centrist are angry about this border situation.”
‘McCain is an ardent backer of his good friend Senator Lindsey Graham, who is languishing in the G.O.P. Presidential primary polls. He noted that Graham has been one of the few Republicans to condemn Trump in strong terms. On Sunday, Graham said on CNN, “I think [Trump]’s a wrecking ball for the future of the Republican Party with the Hispanic community, and we need to push back.” He added that Republicans “need to reject this demagoguery. If we don’t, we will lose, and we will deserve to lose.”
‘McCain, who is eighteen years older than Graham, sounded like a proud father. “Lindsey said this is a moral test for our party. He put on a very strong performance,” McCain said. “Of course, Lindsey was one of the eight of us who negotiated immigration reform. Lindsey never backed away from it.”
‘I noted that Rubio, like many other Republican politicians, has been hard to follow on the issue and no longer supports the compromise approach that the Gang of Eight took in 2013: combining a pathway to citizenship and tough new border measures in a single bill. McCain licked his finger, held it up in the air, and laughed.’
“You know that old song from before you were born?” McCain said, speaking of the Bob Dylan classic “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/john-mccain-has-a-few-things-to-say-about-donald-trump
Sigh, it’s NBC.
Now comes all the putrid lionizing and eulogies. This is just the start. God help us all.
Well, at least he’s gone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH7j185hotE
‘McCain, who has long supported comprehensive immigration reform and was a member of the so-called Gang of Eight that successfully pushed immigration legislation through the Senate in 2013′
No, he pushed open borders, amnesty and globalism at every turn.
‘has been at war with the far right in Arizona for years’
Uh, it’s the law. Illegal immigration is - illegal! What’s far right about that?
whoops, wrong clip. Repeated the Blue Angels. I meant this one, from Goodfellas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL1uocoRgnM
‘He has occasionally reined in his enthusiasm for an immigration-reform plan that would include a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants—he hedged a bit during the 2008 campaign—but he has never abandoned the policy.’
Translation: He would lie to everybody to get reelected and immediately go back to his globalist open border bullshite.
And war. He pushed war, war, war, bomb, bomb, bomb.
I did a rather long post about McCain a while back, explaining the difference between a vet wounded in the line of duty, POW who doesn’t crack under torture and a POW who does crack under torture. McCain was an American Tragedy. Not that it excuses him, but he couldn’t help what he did, having been a tortured POW who cracked. Few people ever recover from that. Most don’t. By virtue of the mental and physical duress they suffered, they are set up for the rest of their lives to betray others. Unfortunately that’s how it works.
“Translation: He would lie to everybody to get reelected and immediately go back to his globalist open border bullshite.”
Yep. In his mind, he had no choice and that made him crazy, the compulsion to betray the country vs. the desire not to, both of these constantly pushing at him. I used to read the odd story here and there how he would go into these fits of uncontrollable rage and nastiness and then break down in grief and tears. If he hadn’t done so much damage to others, I could almost have felt sorry for him.
‘McCain’s argument against accountability is, basically, that the torturers had goals that he shares. That might be a reason for sympathy, but not for impunity—especially since, by granting it, he would also be letting himself off, and he doesn’t get to do that. McCain needs to ask whether his relentless support, in the years since 9/11, for detention policies that ignored the rule of law, helped make torture respectable.’
‘McCain uses the Op-ed to reiterate his support for military commissions for terrorism suspects, which our government has turned to, in part, because of our shame over torture. (He also, in 2008, called a Supreme Court ruling that Guantánamo prisoners could challenge their detention “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”) The Obama Administration has also adopted a system of indefinite detention at Guantánamo, meaning that some prisoners won’t even get a fake trial. We are afraid, apparently of what will happen if we submit evidence obtained through torture (it might be thrown out) or witnesses who went through it (people would know what we did). But sanctions on such evidence might stop it from being collected that way the next time—and isn’t that out goal? By keeping people in closed and hidden places, where the rule of law can’t reach them, we allowed torture to take place; by keeping the story of torture hidden, and out of the courts, we foster myths about what torture means.’
‘Or is McCain arguing for an endless cycle of torture, forgiveness (accompanied by gruff but affectionate admonitions), forgetfulness, and then torture again? That helps nobody—not even the torturers of tomorrow, soldiers and investigators who might be tempted to use a machine whose broken parts have been taped over, and which can leave those who use it damaged, too. (This is part of why impunity and mercy are so different.)’
‘McCain deserves credit for pointing out how messy torture is practically—muddying the truth, putting our soldiers at risk of the same—and how ugly it is morally. (And he gets extra points for his response to the C.I.A.’s private show of the bin Laden death photos: “I’ve seen enough dead people.”) But he treats torture as if it were an isolated stain, and it is not. It is hard to cordon torture off when the threads of lawlessness get tangled.’
https://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/mccains-problem-with-torture
John McCain’s Spotty Record on Torture
Andrew Cohen
May 13, 2011
‘You might say that he was against it before he was for it before he was against it in a recent op-ed. There is a difference between calling out people for lying about a form of torture in a particular instance, as Sen. McCain did in focusing upon Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and being wholly against torture as a national policy and practice. And so even as many of us herald the senior senator from Arizona for his political courage this week we should at the same time remember that it is the very same Sen. McCain, of all people, who has been consistently cagey over the years about where he really stands on torture.’
‘You might say that he was against it before he was for it before he was against it. And that ambiguity was reflected in the second paragraph of Thursday’s piece. Sen. McCain wrote: “Much of this debate is a definitional one: whether any or all of these methods constitute torture. I believe some of them do, especially waterboarding, which is a mock execution and thus an exquisite form of torture. As such, they are prohibited by American laws and values, and I oppose them. ”
‘This is a lawyer’s paragraph if there ever were one. Much of the debate over torture is “definitional” (rather than, say, “moral”) because politicians like Sen. McCain have made it so. Definitions famously allow for leeway, after all, morality famously does not. Among other things, what this graph reminds us is that Sen. McCain still believes that: 1) Waterboarding is against the law; 2) “Some” other “enhanced interrogation” techniques are still legal, and; 3) What is “prohibited by American laws” can remain murky. Some of those “enhanced” techniques, the whole world now knows, can be just as brutal as the “simulated death” contemplated by waterboarding. Remember the drill-to-the-head story? How about the CIA Torture Report?’
‘What’s fascinating about the senator’s piece this week is how well it shows he has mastered the compartmentalization of this issue, both in public and, evidently, in his own mind. He is against torturing terror suspects if they are waterboarded. But he won’t vote to stop the torture of terror suspects if they are subject to other forms of “enhanced interrogation.” He is against having American soldiers torture terror suspects, but he was in favor of allowing American intelligence officials to continue to do so. And he just “defines” away the contradictions. Quite literally, a tortured soul.’
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/05/john-mccains-spotty-record-on-torture/238842/
There are two facets of government:
1) The dignified portion, full of pomp and circumstance and reverance which is what most politicians want the common man to see, and believe is all there is to government.
2) The sausage factory, which makes the backroom deals, the part which is bloody and messy and secretive.
The problem is that the two elements have become increasingly divorced in recent decades. I’ve listened to politicians talk about this dichotomy. Walter Bagehot (BAJ’ ett) wrote a book in 1867 (”The English Constitution”) about this: “England had a ‘double set’ of institutions – the dignified ones ‘impress the many’ while the efficient ones ‘govern the many’. The dignified or ‘theatrical’ parts of the system played the essential role of winning and sustaining the loyalty and confidence of the mass of ordinary people whose political capacities were minimal or non-existent they helped the state to gain authority and legitimacy, which the efficient institutions could then use.”
I’ve heard at least one former politician discuss this dichotomy about government today. People like Trump unmask the second. It drives people who believe in the dichotomy and the importance of the theater, to distraction.
When times are peaceful and prosperous, we can all accept the former without considering the latter. When times are difficult and the latter has become unresponsive and self-serving, we seek to inspect and understand it.
McCain was definitely a proponent of this dual nature and he represented the status quo. Everyone says the election of Trump was the beginning of the thunderstorm, but it was the election of Obama over McCain which was the real beginning of this. Little known black guy with a foreign name defeating well known white establishment war hero with an impeccable pedigree. Why did that happen? It was an attempt to to influence the second component of government, the real component which gets things done. Obama quickly and easily accepted the model and he did little to change it.
tl;dr: McCain was the definition of the neoconservative/neoliberal status quo which had become increasingly unresponsive to the difficult cultural and economic issues in society. For those who prospered under the status quo, he was a reliable ally. For those who did not, he represented what needed to be changed.
McCain stood up to the monsters that tried to deny affordable healthcare for those with cancer and other life threatening conditions because said monsters didn’t want to pay to keep others alive and/or out of bankruptcy in their darkest hours and regardless of their sacrifices. As a cancer survivor a few times over (at least for now), he is a hero to me. I hope he is in a better place.
RIP MAVERICK
So did McCain enroll and use obamacare? Nope, and the law specifically exempts government workers.
So did McCain use the VA system like the rest of wounded veterans? Nope again.
Did McCain fly to a country with free socialized health. Nope again.
Did McCain use the best private doctors and private hospitals he could find? Yep.
There is a lesson in there for ya.
az loved the man.
That’s because the medical officers of the military NEVER inform the public as to what really happens to a member of the military who cracks under torture.
I don’t judge McCain because he cracked and sang, because I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same if I had been in the same position. I judge the MIC for not informing the public what happens to someone like that mentally. They used to give people who had special knowledge and were in danger of capture a cyanide pill, for good reason.
If it was broad public knowledge, McCain would never have been let anywhere near any sort of position of responsibility in the government, elected or otherwise.
The only thing you can do with someone in that position, is give them empathy, complete medical attention, counseling, a calm, serene environment, and a fishing pole or set of golf clubs.
He was the one Republican that gave the thumbs down when others just followed in line to kill others for savings. Yes, his refusal to follow orders that he knows are wrong has led many to write and say nasty things about him. He did what he felt was right under the circumstances. I respect that, and wish more would do the same. He has made many mistakes along the way and is not perfect. I don’t know anyone that is. It actually doesn’t even bother me that those more privileged exercise those privileges. I have grown to expect that. I don’t even side with him on most issues, I just wish more people could analyze issues based on facts and reasoning rather than politics and hatred. Don’t believe all the Republican demonization of anyone that questions them.
Also, for those that have never been involved in military combat, imprisonment or torture, I have no problem with you espousing your views on the same, however, these things change people permanently. I encourage you to theorize what you would do and what decisions you would make, however, just don’t expect me to believe it because you said it. It’s not that I think you are ignorant or lying, it’s just that I know what people think they would do, and what they actually do, are two different things completely.
McCain stood up to the monsters that tried to deny affordable healthcare for those with cancer and other life threatening conditions because said monsters didn’t want to pay to keep others alive and/or out of bankruptcy in their darkest hours and regardless of their sacrifices.
Senator McCain didn’t do a fraction of what he could have to take on the medical mafia and Big Pharma “healthcare” rackets that have made medical bills the number once cause of personal bankruptcy. He was a corporate water carrier and Wall Street errand boy right up to the bitter end.
Good riddance gov hack.
At first i thought it said goy hack.
Realtors are liars
Map of countries where McCain has called for U.S. military intervention:
http://magaimg.net/img/60er.jpg
Don’t confuse the monkey with the organ grinder. McCain and the rest of the neocons were (and are) hirelings and stooges carrying out the dictates of their AIPAC and Likud Party puppetmasters.
A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm (commonly known as the “Clean Break” report) is a policy document that was prepared in 1996 by a study group led by Richard Perle for Benjamin Netanyahu, the then Prime Minister of Israel.[1] The report explained a new approach to solving Israel’s security problems in the Middle East with an emphasis on “Western values.” It has since been criticized for advocating an aggressive new policy including the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and the containment of Syria by engaging in proxy warfare and highlighting its possession of “weapons of mass destruction”.
McLaim was a POS treasonist songbird, don’t get it twisted!
wasn’t just dems urging auditing of the tea party and don’t forget he sent staffer to london to get a copy of phoney Trump dossier which he immediately shared with others. ” Judicial Watch reported on documents it received showing that Republicans, as well as Democrats, approved of the IRS’s political targeting of American citizens. Yes, the Obama Administration targeted the Tea Party because they began this movement to Drain the Swamp. I believe that Boehner was supporting that effort because he could not “deliver” the Republican vote in Congress because the Tea Party member of Congress wanted reform. More details leaked-out about how widespread the abuse of the IRS after the Lerner affair. Ultimately, the IRS formally admitted to ill-treatment of “36 Tea Party and other conservative organizations from 20 states that applied for 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) tax-exempt status” during Obama’s first four years in office. During that time, the agency subjected “those applications to heightened scrutiny and inordinate delays,’” and demanded, “’information that TIGTA determined was unnecessary to the agency’s determination of their tax-exempt status.”
The Judicial Watch obtained IRS Documents that revealed John McCain’s Subcommittee Staff Director urged IRS to engage in “the solution is to audit so many that it becomes financially ruinous.” So here we have a Republican, John McCain, abusing the power of the IRS for the same ends. And people are shocked McCain did not want Trump to speak at his funeral?
Falls Church VA Housing Prices Crater 8% YOY As Mortgage Fraud Ravages DC/NoVa Area
https://www.movoto.com/falls-church-va/market-trends/
https://amp.tennessean.com/amp/1062449002
Realtors add self-defense to list of job training
Getting prepared for the near future, well played realtor, well played…
Judicial Watch reported on documents it received showing that Republicans, as well as Democrats, approved of the IRS’s political targeting of American citizens. Yes, the Obama Administration targeted the Tea Party because they began this movement to Drain the Swamp. I believe that Boehner was supporting that effort because he could not “deliver” the Republican vote in Congress because the Tea Party member of Congress wanted reform. More details leaked-out about how widespread the abuse of the IRS after the Lerner affair. Ultimately, the IRS formally admitted to ill-treatment of “36 Tea Party and other conservative organizations from 20 states that applied for 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) tax-exempt status” during Obama’s first four years in office. During that time, the agency subjected “those applications to heightened scrutiny and inordinate delays,’” and demanded, “’information that TIGTA determined was unnecessary to the agency’s determination of their tax-exempt status.”
The Judicial Watch obtained IRS Documents that revealed John McCain’s Subcommittee Staff Director urged IRS to engage in “the solution is to audit so many that it becomes financially ruinous.” So here we have a Republican, John McCain, abusing the power of the IRS for the same ends. And people are shocked McCain did not want Trump to speak at his funeral?
Common denominator was and is George Soros. McCain was a George Soros backed candidate, as was Obama. Soros and his Globalist agenda could not lose in 2008. The Globalists also could not lose in 2012. The Globalist Republicans like Ryan wanted power and pretended to be true conservatives but did not want to support the agenda of the Tea party which is the same agenda that Trump supports. Fox is a globalist not a true conservative station. It is why it stabbed so many Tea party Republicans in the back over the years with Karl Rove interviews and is tying to undermine Trump. There are a few good people on air like Lou Dobbs but for the most part, they are globalist,
sounds like a lot of conspiracy theories there
We never finished our talk about inflation yesterday.
what if you create a bunch of money but people dont spend it?
People are spending.
PS the George Soros connections are well know try watching or reading something other than MSNBC
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2015/10/13/mccain-and-soros/
Into the financial Valley of Death rode the Hong Kong knife catchers (trampling on the corpses of the burned speculators and FBs who signed the dotted line before them).
https://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/2161393/sun-hung-kai-lures-buyers-cullinan-west-ii-project-lower
Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) sold about 350, or 96 per cent, of the tranche of 364 units released at its Cullinan West II project at Nam Cheong MTR station in Kowloon on Sunday, according to market sources.
The sale was the largest weekend offer of new homes since brokerage CLSA joined Citibank and UBS in predicting a sharp downturn in Hong Kong’s famously unaffordable housing market. CLSA warned home prices would drop 15 per cent over the next 12 months as the market faced its worst combination of headwinds in 15 years – rising interest rates, a slowing economy and a depreciating Chinese currency.
“The good turnout means the market still has liquidity. Once developers are willing to lower their selling prices by 5 or 10 per cent, it will encourage investors and buyers to quicken their purchase decisions,” said Colliers International’s deputy managing director Vincent Cheung Kiu-cho.
SHKP offered the flats at an average price of HK$23,893 per square foot after discounts of up to 20 per cent, about 10 per cent lower than a previous batch that went on sale in December.