A Pagoda Of Cards
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports from Georgia. “To afford an average apartment, low-wage earners in Atlanta must work many hours of overtime or else live with other wage-earners, according to a national advocacy group. Georgia is not even one of the more expensive states, in fact it ranks 27th – pretty much in the middle of the pack, according to the report, released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In no state – not even those with higher minimum wages – can a minimum wage renter afford the average two-bedroom apartment working just 40 hours a week. ‘In many counties of the metro Atlanta region, affordable apartment complexes and small but solid houses are being torn down to make way for luxury housing and more retail, while the average wage-earner is priced out,’ said Kate Little, chief executive of Georgia group.”
“The report concluded that a ‘modest, two-bedroom apartment’ at fair market rent and utilities would cost $949 a month in metro Atlanta. To afford that, renters need to earn $18.25 per hour, or about $37,960 a year, the report said. In metro Atlanta, the median wage – meaning half of wage earners are above and half below – is $17.47 an hour. Among the lower 48, the most costly state is California, where a worker needs $28.59 an hour to afford an average two-bedroom apartment, according to the housing report.”
From Michigan Live. “Realtor Dale Stuckey says he was floored last month when he got 38 offers on a home listed for $105,000 on the Northwest Side. ‘We had it on the market for one or two days,’ said Stuckey, whose buyers are waiting to close on an offer that was 10 percent over the asking price. Another listing for $175,000 in the Northview School District ended up getting 10 offers at $10,000 over the asking price, said Stuckey, president of the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors.”
“‘The panic mode is there from a buyers’ standpoint,’ said Stuckey. ‘You get people writing offers sight unseen, you’re getting offers now without inspections.’”
The Associated Press. “Stiffer competition among real estate agents also makes it harder to make money, especially since the improvement in the economy has made selling real estate more appealing to people in search of work. Membership in the National Association of Realtors totaled 1.17 million at the end of April, up from the post-collapse low of nearly 1 million in 2012. The Realtors had 1.36 million members in 2006, the year that the housing market began its crash.”
“‘Everyone was dropping out of the business in 2008. Now we’re flooded with real estate agents without a lot of inventory,’ says Janine Acquafredda, a broker with House N Key Realty in Brooklyn, New York.”
“Acquafredda’s sales over the past year are down about 25 percent from the previous year. In addition to a shortage of available homes, she sees fewer buyers with deep pockets from other countries who are able to put cash down and finalize a deal quickly. One reason: the stock market drop in China, where the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s major index is down 45 percent since June. ‘The business is just not as much fun as it used to be,’ Acquafredda says.”
The Ledger in Florida. “Florida’s economy continues to outpace the rest of the nation, but another recession is on its way, University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith said. ‘It’s time to start talking about the next recession,’ Snaith said. ‘We will have a recession. I don’t know when exactly, but we’re going to have one.’”
“The current recovery already has lasted longer than most — the last upswing after a recession ended in six years, he said. But for many Americans, this expansion has not delivered prosperity, he said. GDP growth, the measure of output of the economy, has averaged 2.1 percent, compared with a historic average of 3.5 percent. ‘This has really been a lackluster recovery, to say the least,’ he said. ‘Wage and salary growth has been stuck in the 2.3 to 2.4 percent range for some time. Usually at this point in a recovery, we see wage and salary growth at 4.5 to 5 percent.’”
“The weak economies of other nations also are weighing down the U.S., representing what he called ‘the greatest threat to the current expansion we are currently in.’ ‘The Chinese economy is a pagoda of cards that will come down at some point,’ he said. So, Snaith warned the audience, put the next recession on their radar. ‘More likely the next recession will be triggered by some sort of global shock rather than something internally, not by a housing bubble or a dot-com bubble like in previous recessions,’ he said.”
The Press of Atlantic City in New Jersey. “Homes sold faster all over South Jersey last month, with the number of closed deals up sharply in most of the region from April 2015. Atlantic County led the way with an increase of almost 27 percent in completed sales of single-family homes over the year before, but prices continued to drop in the county, according to data from the New Jersey Association of Realtors. The median price of a single home fell to $168,500 this April, down more than 12 percent from last year.”
“‘Typically in Cape May County shore towns … we’re seeing steady numbers. People are buying, they’re coming down and looking at stuff and pulling the trigger,’ said Damon Bready, of ReMax at the Shore, who handles listings in several of those shore towns and on the Atlantic County mainland. ‘The majority in Atlantic County are (bank-owned) or short sales. They’re distressed.’”
NPR News on Massachusetts. “In 2005, Guillermo Galindo and his wife bought their house in Revere, Mass., for $450,000. They put about 5 percent down and ended up with a manageable monthly mortgage payment of about $2,000. He worked delivering medical supplies, and they got monthly payments from a family who rented the unit on the second floor. Galindo and his wife lived there for a few years with their baby daughter, and life felt pretty stable.”
“But that security began to crumble in 2008, when his employer started cutting his hours. The interest rate on his adjustable mortgage started creeping up. Then, he lost more income from his second floor tenants. Eventually, the young woman’s husband abandoned her and the baby. ‘At the end she was just was left alone and she stopped paying rent,’ he says.”
“He wouldn’t kick her out, but that meant Galindo was now really struggling to make his mortgage payments. Around the same time, he found out that his home had lost a huge amount of its value, about 50 percent, so he got in touch with his bank hoping to work out a deal. ‘They asked for more papers, I send them all. It was back and forth, back and forth, until they said they couldn’t help me, that the price was that. And they couldn’t do anything,’ he says.”
“His life savings were wrapped up in this house, and that’s where he wanted to raise his daughter. He kept talking with the bank, trying to figure out how to stay. Eventually they sent him a letter saying they were foreclosing. He fought it for another five months and finally said, fine, take it. They gave him $3,000 and he handed over the keys.”
“Galindo rents an apartment. His credit rating is still in the tank because of the foreclosure. And they don’t have any money for a down payment, so buying another house is not an option right now, and might not be for a long time.”
‘affordable apartment complexes and small but solid houses are being torn down to make way for luxury housing and more retail, while the average wage-earner is priced out’
And financial backing by the US government. Should be a national disgrace.
‘A simple, safe place to live is far beyond the means of America’s low-wage workers no matter how hard they toil. A worker earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would need to work nearly three full-time jobs or approximately 112 hours per week every week of the year to afford a basic two-bedroom apartment, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s (NLIHC’s) latest Out of Reach report.’
“We find there is no place in America, no state, no county, no jurisdiction where minimum-wage workers earn enough for that decent, affordable two-bedroom apartment,” said Diane Yentel, NLIHC president and CEO.’
‘The issue isn’t limited to minimum-wage workers. The average hourly wage of U.S. renters is $15.42, still $4.88 less than the two-bedroom housing wage, reports NLIHC.’
‘The states with the highest housing wage for a two-bedroom apartment are Hawaii at $34.22; California, $28.59; New York, $26.69; Maryland, $26.53; and New Jersey, $26.52. The District of Columbia is also among the highest regions, with a housing wage of $31.21.’
‘Northern California cities make up the top three metropolitan areas with the highest housing wage. San Francisco leads the list with a $44.02 housing wage for a two-bedroom apartment followed by the Oakland metro area, $40.44; the San Jose metro area, $38.35; Honolulu, $38.17; and the Stamford-Norwalk, Conn., metro, $37.15.’
And think about this; apartment construction is at a 30 year high. Not one county in the entire US has affordable housing.
There are hundreds or thousands of hollowed out small, rural communities where older homes are unoccupied and rotting. These are communities that used to survive with one or two small manufacturing plants. It is too bad everyone wants to pile into the urban/metro areas to live. Whatever happened to the “remote” work sites promised by the internet revolution that would allow a new class of people to re-occupy these small towns.
It worked for me.
Seriously. Folks in the financial business still need to report to the skyscrapers to process spreadsheets and swindle money digitally for $60,000 a year? Confusing times my friend, confusing times.
Whatever happened to the “remote” work sites promised by the internet revolution that would allow a new class of people to re-occupy these small towns ??
We have lost our focus and commitment to the american peoples well being starting with the criminalization of just about everything..Ruining peoples lives and in effect causing more crime in the interest of being “Tough On Crime”…Bottom line is Its just another money machine…
‘Whatever happened to the “remote” work sites promised by the internet revolution that would allow a new class of people to re-occupy these small towns ??’
Many of the small towns I see in my travels are either ridden by meth labs or “discovered” by locusts and/or second-homers. I’d love to find an Oil City where I had a safe, clean, quiet setting.
I talked with a guy from Boston area the other day. He bought a house in Millinocket, Maine for $15,000 and put some money into plumbing repairs. He has a vacation home near his fishing spots I guess. Multiply that “money from away” leverage by thousands of city folk looking for cheap areas to buy into.
Those with nothing or a big stack stay put.
Those with credit cards go north and lose their a$$. It’s a Debt-Donkey tradition in New England.
I’ve been up there. It’s pretty remote. Maybe somebody can clue me in, but unless you want to hike Katahdin, or snowmobile in the winter, there didn’t seem to be anything to do but drink blueberry beer and watch the paint dry. It felt like a “Deep North” equivalent of the “Deep South.”
I don’t know why they can’t just make some new cities. Design them well, heavy internet infrastructure, let the techies flock to them? Perhaps it’s climate and existing interstate access. Put limits on how many homes can be owned by one person, etc. All this effort fighting over a few hot spots, just make all new ones.
I’ve said this to nouveau-Oregonian Californians about places like Redding, Eureka, etc. Instead of flocking to places sold to you in Outside and other lifestyle magazines, why not start a tech renaissance in Redding, at the feet of Mt Shasta, Shasta Lake, and the Trinity and Mendocino Nat’l Forests?
Again, apparently, what good is it if you can’t confirm your membership and get approval from friends back home with a selfie from places already deemed to be hip.
(I reserve the same contempt for pierced and tatted Nebraskans - for example - who come here. Oh, apparently you wanted acceptance, not difference. /rant)
Anyone want to go halfsies? Start offer at $80k?
http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Redding-CA/land_type/2103758833_zpid/47322_rid/any_days/priced_sort/40.67504,-122.354908,40.492784,-122.691364_rect/11_zm/
Too funny about Outside Magazine. The “top 10 places to live” articles are as much a staple of the magazine as stories on people who end up dead a few years later in a climbing or extreme skiing accident. Or reviews of $6,000 bicycles and gear that costs a small fortune. I’ve subscribed sporadically.
“top 10 places to live”
I was looking squarely at Bend, OR (in addition to Portland) when I wrote that. People are so silly. They have their own little “Bend” right there in CA and yet only 10k more people live there than in Bend and it probably has fewer craft breweries. Lame. Maybe I should shut my trap and move there myself…
I do know someone who moved to Eureka in the 1990s. He started growing pot.
Redding, CA.
Enjoy 110 degrees daily May-October and freezing fog Nov-Feb.
That’s an exaggeration on the high end. Bend can be as hot in summer and has lower average low winter temps. (high desert east of the Cascades)
They probably don’t care about the fact that Redding is in California. It’s far enough way from the Bay Area that it’s a different reality.
“…why not start a tech renaissance in Redding, at the feet of Mt Shasta, Shasta Lake, and the Trinity and Mendocino Nat’l Forests?”
Might not this anger the tribe of gnomes who inhabit the interior of Mt Shasta?
‘I don’t know why they can’t just make some new cities. ‘
It would be like herding cats to convince people to band together for something like that. Now, if you could get some celebrity alpha to create an estate there, folks would want in.
“Whatever happened to the “remote” work sites promised by the internet revolution that would allow a new class of people to re-occupy these small towns.”
What good is such a job if I can’t post a selfie of me and my besties at all the urban craft brew houses and nouveau foodie haunts?
There are already little to no zero down payment loans (federally backed) available….
“Galindo rents an apartment. His credit rating is still in the tank because of the foreclosure. And they don’t have any money for a down payment, so buying another house is not an option right now, and might not be for a long time.”
Hey - what happened to the renter that was not paying rent that he refused to kick out?
She’s now a squatter and probably has more rights than Galindo
‘The states with the highest housing wage for a two-bedroom apartment are Hawaii at $34.22; California, $28.59; ??
Whew…!! Thank God California is not first or we would have to see the “Most Impoverished State” post for the 10,000th time…
I predict that you’ll see it anyway.
Typical response of coastal elitists.
Don’t fault those 20-50 years younger than you for not being able to enjoy the fruits of extremely favorable demographics and easy money policies gifted to you across several decades.
BS dude…It smells like methane…
‘He wouldn’t kick her out, but that meant Galindo was now really struggling to make his mortgage payments.’
And now you all have to get some boxes. It’s a peculiar type of compassion we engage in. We can all understand this mans actions toward a woman and her child, but we turn a blind eye toward the fact the whole country is unable to provide affordable housing. And what of the people who lent him this $450,000? Did they not work for years to earn it? Do they not have bills to pay? A retirement to look forward to?
It’s all just characters on a page isn’t it? We hear the words “cost burdened”, yet our central bank is spending trillions to increase inflation. We watch wall street rise and fall on the collusion of OPEC.
“central bank is spending trillions…”
Ironically, most people think and end to this would be a disaster.
Ben you often say this country has too much housing, not too little, and I agree.
Some of it is in the wrong places, while housing in areas that are otherwise affordable (jobs, no need for a car) are overpriced. Like parts of metro Boston.
Some of it is over-regulated. A McMansion could be cheaply turned into four apartments.
And some of it is simply being held away from being affordable because it is over-financed, and a game of chicken is going on.
Same with the stock market. People saving for retirement can’t afford affordable investments either, because they are all overpriced.
‘this country has too much housing’
I don’t know if I said that. I don’t believe in a shortage of land or housing. We have as much housing as we want. Second houses for instance. If someone wants a lake cabin, it’s their decision. If they are motivated to buy second houses because they expect to make money on it, that is a symptom of speculation. And if there’s a housing bubble that’s what one would expect to see.
We’re in a really strange place that I didn’t see coming. I thought these notions of shortage and never ending price increases had been put to rest a few years ago. Many people commented a few years ago, “those prices were an illusion”, yet they have no qualms about those prices being surpassed. Now we see headlines like “houses are ATMs again.”
What I’ve said was we are in the midst of a historic mania. A mania distorts. Why are we building vast numbers of luxury apartments when not one single county has affordable housing? The mania has distorted the economy. Why this is happening now is another subject.
Why is this happening now? That’s easy, Ben.
The lack of ethics and morals that pervades society is why it is happening. The super-abundance of regulations encourages people to be unethical. The excuse is “but it’s legal, so therefore it’s okay.”
Oftentimes, people mistakenly seek answers to societal ills via “data” , ie., mathematics and economics.
Data is all well and good but does nothing to address a lack of ethics and morals. The answr isn’t in data, it’s in behavior.
“The super-abundance of regulations encourages people to be unethical”? I think you’ve got it backwards. The abundance of regulations is the result of unethical & legal behavior.
Moral and ethics were based voluntarily on a shared Judeo-Christian values and codes.
The fear of “going to hell” kept most people (not all) in check. Our laws based on those values and codes took care of the minority that strayed outside the boundries.
As religion has become discredited (both by outside forces and by inside forces like the Priest sex abuse scandals) people don’t have the “fear of God” as much anymore. Therefore, the state has to jump in and further increase regulations, laws, etc to deal with people who before would have voluntarily exercised morality and ethics in the past.
Then the state itself starts to become a religion as we’ve now seen speech codes, promiscuous sex, gay marriage, transgender bathroom ‘rights’ become the new sacraments and you better adopt them lest you be punished.
We shall see in the coming years how this plays out. Then we’ll know which was the better way.
‘As religion has become discredited (both by outside forces and by inside forces like the Priest sex abuse scandals) people don’t have the “fear of God” as much anymore.’
A key recent development is that priest abuse is much harder to hide in the Spotlight era. By contrast, I doubt priest behavior has changed much over the centuries.
“We’re in a really strange place that I didn’t see coming. ”
Transitional?
How long will aging suburban Baby Boomers hold on to homes that no longer suit them, rather than sell and a price those coming after can afford?
How long will new “luxury apartments” sit empty and bleed money even as there is plenty of demand at lower price points?
Miami had a hell of a private sector affordable housing program in the mid-2005s. “Luxury apartments” were overbuilt, the developers went broke, the banks went broke, the government bailed out the banks, the buildings were resold. Suddenly Miami is a real city with lots of young people in affordable apartments!
Right now you’ve seen a break at the top of the housing market, but Class B remains tight. Can that continue forever? Probably lower than it should.
Resolute questions for J. Yeltsin.
I’ve got an article saved that I’ll probably post this weekend. In it, one guy says B apartments were never built. The A got older and became B, then C etc. I don’t think that’s entirely true, but lets accept it in general for discussion sake. What’s going on now is the B and C is getting scarfed up, rehabbed and made into A again. So much so that they have gotten into pure flipping. And the giant apartment boom is almost exclusively A+, meaning they are adding dumb amenities to justify incredibly high rents. Why? Low yields, tax codes, easy financing, the usual mania fuel. And IMO it’s turned into a real bubble, complete with commentary about it will never, ever end. I’ve posted reports of 30 to 40 year old apartments selling for $300,000 per door!
Back to the aging creating affordable housing; look at single family. These old houses in California, spiffy yards sure, but a million bucks? And it’s rampant. Portland Oregon to Portland Maine and lots of places in between.
Like one guy said in a Mercury news article I posted; he’s cheered to see his house grow to the sky, but the next recession will make it “evaporate”, to use his word. Easy come easy go, right? We’ll see.
And don’t forget the words of yesterdays featured empty-pocketed dope because we’re going to be hearing it over and over again;
“Why would I pay $320,000 for a house that’s never going to be worth that?’”
I don’t think the “A, B, C” comment is entirely true. We were recently presented an apartment project that was targeting lower rents (still not cheap, but definitely not luxury). I don’t think you can build “C”, but I think you can build “B”.
The issue for us was that the needed exit cap rate was too low for our taste.
There is no “shortage” of housing anywhere. Not in Boston, Jakarta, Moscow or London.
And what of the people who lent him this $450,000? Did they not work for years to earn it?
Well technically no. That money did not exist prior to the loan. It was *poofed* existence with the understanding that Galindo would work for years to earn that $450K (plus some extra) and thus make that *poof* money real.
Hey Donk.
Wells Fargo launches 3% down payment mortgage
‘First-time buyers and low- to moderate-income buyers have largely been sidelined by today’s housing recovery.’
‘The common cry is too-tight credit. Lenders have kept the credit box restrictive because they are gun-shy from the billions of dollars in buy backs and judicial settlements stemming from the mortgage crisis that they still face today. Now, the nation’s largest lender, Wells Fargo, says it is opening that box with a new low down payment loan — a loan it claims is low-risk to the bank.’
“We are fully underwriting the borrowers, we are partnering with Fannie Mae to originate and sell these loans, we are insuring the borrowers have an ability to repay and that they’re qualified for home ownership, but we’re simplifying things for the homebuyer,” said Brad Blackwell, executive vice president and portfolio business manager at Wells Fargo.’
And here we go again…
But haven’t you been saying this didn’t exist this time?
On the TV news that reported this today, they said something along the lines of “while other banks have offered this for many years since the bust, WF claims their version is a more efficient process.”
we are partnering with Fannie Mae to originate and sell these loans
… we are crying that we are losing business to FHA… and of course we’re partnering with Fannie Mae because no way would we keep this toxic paper ourselves.
Privatize profits (Wells Fargo makes money) and socialize losses (FHA takes the hit if applicants default on these loans)
They (W.F.) win, we lose.
Great program about the China crash. A half-hour well spent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXVnoIThq-A
At 12:15… shuttered Chinese companies are borrowing money to pay their interest and principal payments. Hehe.
Leave it to the BBC to actually do some “investigative” journalism on what’s going on in China. While the U.S. mainstream media entertains with whatever the Kardashians are doing today.
“NPR News on Massachusetts. “In 2005, Guillermo Galindo and his wife bought their house in Revere, Mass., for $450,000.”
Most of Revere is a total dump. It’s up there with Lynn Massachusetts. Revere has a very old beach, which in America’s hayday fielded lots of tourists and an amusement park. Drive through Revere on your way to Boston Logan, if you stop for gas or a burger you might need to speak Spanish. $450,000?!!? Hahah that’s awesome. I bet it was at least a 100 yr old building with lead paint and asbestos too.
This;
“In 2005, Guillermo Galindo and his wife bought their house in Revere, Mass., for $450,000.”
Results in this;
“They gave him $3,000 and he handed over the keys.”
Lesson: Overpaying for a $120k item results in massive irrecoverable losses.
Overpaying by $120,000? Pshhh that house is probably worth $60,000 given its in a total dump/foreigner controlled town in Mass.
In Today’s Layoff News: Microsoft Fires 1,850; Intel Cuts 350; Shell Terminating 2,200
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-25/todays-layoff-news-microsoft-fires-1850-intel-cuts-350-shell-terminating-2200
Hope ‘n change comes to Microsoft and Shell employees, but cutting headcount is good for “shareholder value”! (Meaning, the CEOs can buy a bigger house in the Hamptons.)
And this is after Intel announced 12,000 in cuts just last month. Microsoft laid off 10,000 a couple yrs ago if I’m not mistaken.
Shell is about to layoff even more once the Fed Govt sues their @$$ looking for cleanup costs for the latest 90,000 gallon spill in the Gulf.
Nothing will come of that diminimus spill except a little short term hysteria.
Microsoft used to use the Jack-Welch-inspired cull-the-herd performance management system in which the bottom 3-5% performers were quietly ushered out the door annually, without so much as a single press release. So that was 3-4-5K people every year that were “managed out.”
Sometimes the biggest news doesn’t even make the papers.
I truly dislike whem someone says something like this.
You have a choice.
Put in the time and effort to become a ceo.
Do not buy from nor invest in any company that has a ceo with a wage base or bonus plan you don’t like.
It can be that easy.
Get the education or put your money where your mouth is.
It’s an easy bash to say ‘ceo’.
Why be so shallow?
all gov workers get to keep their jobs
is that news?
is that news ??
+1
The CBO stated that just ONE federal employee lost his/her job during the most recent government “shutdown” in 2013.
The sky-is-falling histrionics on the HBB and elsewhere re: government shutdown raged on for several weeks.
Meanwhile several dozen million citizens continue to get reamed re: ObamaCare. Note that none of these “we musn’t shut down government” screamers make noise about the reaming of tens of millions.
Meanwhile several dozen million citizens continue to get reamed re: ObamaCare.
This is what the sheeple voted for when they elected Obama and the cucks like “Johnney Lawnchair” Boehner who fold for him every time. Stupidity has consequences.
Didn’t TSA lose some headcount?
I know of more than a few teachers who have not had their contracts renewed at the end of the school year.
There were quite a few teachers, firefighters and so forth who lost their jobs as a result of the recession.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fdKGlCDSsL4/UBvX41KDEdI/AAAAAAAAOtI/SemGrRhsf7c/s1600/StateLocalJuly2012.jpg
Stop injecting facts in the path of anti-government diatribes!
“A Giant Bubble Which At Length Will Burst In Spectacular Fashion”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-22/why-flyover-states-are-hurting-bubble-finance-strictly-bicoastal-elites
“The Peak Is Behind Us - Silicon Valley Real Estate Bubble Has Now Also Burst”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-18/peak-behind-us-silicon-valley-real-estate-bubble-has-now-also-burst
Venezuela selling off its gold reserves to raise desperately-needed cash.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c674defa-2281-11e6-aa98-db1e01fabc0c.html#axzz49lQy4t1e
“Venezuela selling off its gold reserves to raise desperately-needed cash.”
So, does this mean that cash rules over gold?
It means that gold is cash.
In the end - better than any paper.
“It means that gold is cash.”
Got it.
Glad you got it Combo, gold is cash, better than any paper
“Glad you got it Combo, gold is cash, better than any paper”
So this explains why Venezuela is trading its gold for paper?
Their bank is ruptured.
Got it.
That’s why they are selling their gold to raise cash. ( Now scratching my head…)
Yes.
Contrary to what people attracted to shiny things that have little societal value other than being shiny, yes, except in MadMax type situations, gold has far far far less value than cadh.
In a MadMax situation tampons have far more value than gold.
Shotgun shells and dog food go a long way…
And cigarettes, and coffee, and toilet paper . . . ammunition is non-perishable and makes for a good currency as well.
Living near fresh abundant water is a pretty hot commodity.
In a MadMax situation tampons have far more value than gold.
I’ve got a case of them (250 count) put away. I’ll be King of Barter Town, Bitchez!
+250…. Hilarious!
Venezuela = Result of societal mental illness.
Don’t discount the systemic corruption.
That’s included.
The bigger government gets, the larger is the systemic corruption.
Venezuela = parasites voting themselves benefits someone else will have to pay for. Coming soon to a Permanent Democrat Supermajority-installed kleptocracy near you.
I bought a house and Snaith is calling recession. Strange times
I hope you’re proud of yourself.
I thought Snaith was a permabull? Given his porcine beautician proclivity, is his recession call a significant indication of what’s ahead?
Calling for a recession is like predicting the sun will eventually come up.
True. It’s all about the timing, although the denial among the “trees grow to the sky” types as a recession approaches is always fascinating.
No one knows what really lurks in the minds of permabulls or permabears. Such folk are akin to evangelists and environmentalists.
Devotion to a mindset with the hope of controlling outcomes and maintaining sanity.
The turf of the insecure, and of snake oil salespeople.
+1
Maybe he’s aspiring to become one of those people feted in the future by the mainstream media for their foresight, as in “famed economist Sean ‘Housing Souffle’ Snaith predicted the deflating of the echo bubble.”
The first time around, I never quite understood why Snaith was the go-to quote person for so many Florida newspapers looking to supplement an article with commentary from an academic. Maybe it was just laziness on their part.
How many screwed-over Chinese workers are dusting off their Little Red Books?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/foxconn-replaces-60000-humans-with-robots-in-china-2016-05-25
Define irony: a lunatic Keynesian warns the world about a “Lehman-scale crisis.” The hell you say….
http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-prime-minister-warning-about-lehman-scale-crisis-2016-5
Anyone remember F***ed Company.com” at the height of the tech bubble? They need to make a comeback amidst all these insane, fraudulent, tech valuations.
http://www.businessinsider.com/insiders-say-startup-domo-is-a-lot-of-hype-2016-5
Someone summon Pud!
Pud says he is friends with too many people that run the businesses that were on the site. He made a lot of money from it though.
‘The number of air travelers hit a record during the summer of 2015, yet there were no major problems with delays at security checkpoints. A year later, hundreds of infuriated passengers are missing flights every week as they wait hours to navigate security.’
‘What changed? A lot more than most travelers are aware of. Nearly a year ago, teams working for the Department of Homeland Security ran a series of covert tests to see if they could sneak banned and potentially dangerous items past security screeners. It turns out, they could. “We found layers of security simply missing,” DHS Inspector General John Roth testified before Congress last November. The details of the DHS security audit are secret, but such tests are meant to mimic what terrorists and criminals might try to bring onto a flight.’
You are more likely to die from a falling TV than terrorism.
Or getting struck from a jettisoned block of frozen shit from an airliner.
I knew a guy that died from a porcelain toilet that come thru the back window of his pickup. What a way to go out.
He stopped too quickly without having a headache rack on the truck. The same thing can happen in a passenger car with heavy objects left inside the rear window area.
You’re a ball of fire today my friend.
I believe those security audits allowed some 90+% of banned items through security, including explosive material. What a joke. They use the typical line of “we need more bodies and more funding”, but they should just be dismantled. They’ve stopped, what, the “shoe bomber” or “underwear bomber” a decade ago? The TSa should release stats for the attacks prevented ; 0.000000005% of US travelers are terrorists.
And the massive hole in security is not in passenger screening - it’s in the airport workers that can carry anything into the secured area with no checks whatsoever.
Sleeper cells could have already infiltrated the contractor workers who do baggage handling, and we could easily have another 9/11, TSA be damned.
The TSA is just another public union.
And public unions do what public unions do - slow, incompetent and inefficient.
Disney handles 10X these crowds with security. Everyday. While providing entertainment and food.
And a vast majority are international. When’s the last time a bomb went off at Disney?
The Lone Ranger? John Carter?
If some terrorist group had a desire to bomb DisneyWorld, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult.
TSA thousands standing around
now even more
the old system was 1/3 the cost and I never waited
And the only attack up til that point was the one the US govt allowed to fruition right under the FBI/CIA’s nose. No amount of TSA, body scanners, or frisking would have stopped what was known was going to happen.
That is something a private company with competitors would care about.
Public union goons don’t care.
I went into the post office yesterday at lunch (like most working people). ONE counter open with about 20 people standing in line.
They don’t care. Their jobs, benefits and pensions have no direct correlation to how well they do their jobs or how mad they make their customers.
Weren’t the goons who committed the atrocities at Abu Ghraib private contractors?
I won’t argue that they weren’t efficient in their work…
What makes me crazy about any line more than 10-15 minutes, is that they know *exactly* how many people are due to come through the airport, as most people schedule flights weeks in advance.
Sorry - wrong thread
That is something a private company with competitors would care about.
Public union goons don’t care.
I went into the post office yesterday at lunch (like most working people). ONE counter open with about 20 people standing in line.
They don’t care. Their jobs, benefits and pensions have no direct correlation to how well they do their jobs or how mad they make their customers.
I’ve missed a flight in Miami that way. I got in the security line an hour before my domestic flight, and that still wasn’t enough time. It was worse than the Third World.
Yep. It is my opinion that the terrorists have already won. Since we’ve so easily sacrificed some of our freedom for more invasive security. Which is certainly only going to get worse and worse with biometrics and storing our personally identifiable information on massive government databases, to which we will not have access. And just like how the credit bureaus make mistakes with our credit profiles, so too will mistakes be made with our security profiles.
Labels like “conservative” and “liberal” have become meaningless when applied to the captured Establishment political parties that are water carriers for the Oligopoply and equally bent on carrying out globalist agendas.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/26/eu-referendum-lord-ashcroft-poll-finds-nearly-two-thirds-of-vote/
Just like Clinton with NAFTA….
Hillary is on record supporting this deal until just recently…
———-
Obama races to cement the big Pacific Rim trade deal that all his potential successors oppose
LA Times | May 25, 2016 | Michael A. Memoli and Christi Parsons
President Obama is racing against the clock to cement a massive Pacific Rim trade deal that all of his potential successors oppose, with his administration eyeing a looming fight on Capitol Hill while starting to implement as much of the complicated pact as it can.
Isnt the Senate the only entity allowed to enter into international agreements/treatises? The TPP and Euro Deal are all closed door, secret. Yep all good here, nothing to see folks, just more economic prosperity.
Gonna be fun to own a house or live in NYC…
—————–
New York City is about to become a lot more disgusting
NY Post | May 26, 2016 | Michael Grantland
Scofflaws of New York, rejoice — the City Council has cleared the way for you to litter, loiter and pee in the street to your heart’s content.
New legislation dubbed the “Criminal Justice Reform Act” was passed by lawmakers Wednesday, giving miscreants a get-out-of-jail-free card by eliminating the criminal penalties on a raft of quality-of-life crimes.
Union members in France have belatedly figured out that the “socialist” Hollande administration is just another Oligopoly-controlled neoliberal globalist outfit set on concentrating all wealth and power in the hands of its .1% patrons.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/26/union-revolt-francois-hollande-france-euro-2016-strike
If you do not toe the line laid down by the Oligopoly or show indications of acting in the interests of your countrymen and nation-state, you are a “populist” or “far right.” Their political puppets said so.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-boris-johnson-invited-to-brussels-to-check-his-claims-are-in-line-with-reality-by-jean-a7049366.html
Why is any data that belies the corporate media’s “Everything is Awesome!” meme always “unexpected”?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/orders-u-capital-goods-unexpectedly-123008137.html
Hey Millennials, how’s that vote for hope ‘n change working out for ya?
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2016/05/25/more-americans-now-living-with-parents-than-with-a-romantic-partner-for-first-time-since-1880/
they’ll vote dem again
You can’t fix stupid.
This time, the alternative is also stupid.
I supported Ron Paul in 08 and 12. My counterparts supported the BS hope n change n unemployment n free $h!t
The intelligent 5% supported Ron Paul. The zombies voted for corporate statist Wall Street stooges Obama, McCain, and Romney - all the same guy. I voted for Ron Paul in 08 and 12 as well, for exactly the same reasons as the intrepid survivors in “The Walking Dead” keep fighting off the zombies while trying to hang on to their humanity.
It’s working out better than I hoped……
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2016/05/25/hard-times-false-narratives/
The mainstream media mouthpieces for the establishment peddle false narratives, disingenuous storylines, and outright propaganda to keep the ignorant masses confused, oblivious to reality, misinformed, and passively submissive to the opinions of highly paid “experts” and captured fiscal authorities. The existing social order likes things just as they are.
They reap ill-gotten riches, wield unchecked power, and control the minds of the masses. They are the invisible government consciously manipulating the minds, habits and opinions of the multitudes in order to dominate society, control the levers of government, and accumulate obscene levels of wealth through manipulation of the currency and domination of the banking and corporate interests.
One of the false narratives being flogged by the establishment propaganda peddlers is the mass retirement of Baby Boomers causing the plunge in the employment to population rate from 64.4% in 2000 to 59.7% today. They need to peddle this drivel, because the difference between these two rates amounts to 12 million missing jobs. The employment to population ratio is currently at 1984 levels. Any critical thinking person with basic math skills realizes the government reported unemployment rate of 5% is an Orwellian farce.
One of the false narratives being flogged by the establishment propaganda peddlers is the mass retirement of Baby Boomers causing the plunge in the employment to population rate from 64.4% in 2000 to 59.7% today
Once again, provide a link. The narrative is that the retirement of the Baby Boomers is causing part of that decline, not all of it.
Here’s your link, Mikey….
http://imgur.com/gallery/A43mw
Nothing to back up your blather, so you resort to Jr. High level, Ebonics insults… And you are angry and confused about why nobody takes you seriously as the world passes you by.
I sense some serious deletions and bannings in the air. Don’t anyone say you weren’t warned.
Ben, I am curious. Why do you tolerate some abusive posters here while you threaten to ban others?
It’s your blog, so you’ll do what you want. I’m just curious why some posters here are allowed to insult others.
Did I say who might get banned? It applies to everybody.
Superior(Boulder County), CO Housing Affordability Surges As Prices Plunge 5% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/superior-co/home-values/
Yes, but it seems to me (and I could be wrong) that you only bring it up when certain posters insult others and say nothing when others engage in routine (and predictable) ad hominem attacks and are not admonished.
Again, it’s your blog, so far be for me to tell you what to do. But I have wondered about this for a long time.
Stop. Untwist panties.
Now and then ankle-biters get smackdowns in the HBB. I have no malice towards MightyMike or anyone else in here, and a certain level of insults and flame wars can be expected when you have a free-wheeling group of individualistic posters. When Ben calls knock it off, we knock it off, without engaging in butt-hurt sulking. So put on your big boy pants, Nancy, and stop your sniveling.
I hate being banned. It’s a crappy feeling not knowing if or when Ben will take pity on you and lift the ban.
Likewise. But I don’t snivel every day over it.
Here’s a link that provides more relevant information, for those who are interested. It only considers people aged 25 - 54. Though the employment-population rate hit a high of around 82% in the year 2000, the economy in the years leading up to 2000 was unusually strong, as we all know. The rate was around 80% (more or less) from the late 1980s until the onset of the Great Recession. During the recession it fell from 80% to 75%. It has since risen back to about 78%.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8lHGwC9lgzY/VrTGn8I54xI/AAAAAAAAmiw/Taf1AfiMkoo/s1600/EmployPop2554Jan2016.PNG
The serfs are getting restless.
http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-anger-of-unprivileged-is-rising.html
Is another “Lehman moment” at hand?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/are-commodities-signaling-a-lehman-sized-meltdown-japans-abe-thinks-so-2016-05-26
This ought to give Apt 401 a boost.
http://www.infowars.com/trump-rips-bill-kristol-all-the-guy-wants-to-do-is-kill-people-and-go-to-war/
“All the guy wants to do is kill people and go to war… even though he knows it’s not working, although he doesn’t know because he’s not smart enough.”
FINALLY someone calls out this smarmy, smirking neocon for who and what he is. It’s a beautiful thing. A great day in America.
Kristol knows it. He has a vested interest; he likely makes big coin off of it. Snake oil salesman.
Nothing new here.
What is new are all the Apartment Shills out there now. Seemingly as dishonest as your local realtor pimp. Lots of (might as well be illicit) money out there making apartment shills lots of big returns.
Time to invest, perhaps, in tent and cardboard manufacturers. People will need somewhere to live after the illicit residential housing/apartment “investors” toss scores of millions out in the streets.
Speaking of which…
Several times during the past 2-3 years, I have stated my belief that in coming decades, folks will purposefully commit felonies so as to get thrown in jail where they can get a roof, a bed, three squares, free medical care, library, etc.
Seems now that idea has occurred to an editor at Barron’s, who said something very similar in mid-April.
Houses and (now) apartments are unaffordable to many. Those scores of millions will need to live somewhere.
That’s a stretch.
With housing priced many multiples over construction cost(lot, labor, materials and profit), the obvious outcome is falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels.
No it isn’t a stretch. You just wish it was, since you’ve a vested interest in it.
How many apartment buildings have you built/been invested in during the past decade? Care to give a figure of buildings and number of units?
1)It’s a stretch
2)0
3)I have no stake in the direction of shack prices my friend. None.
That’s good to hear.
I read a story a few months ago about a guy who robbed a bank for $1, walked outside and peacefully waited for the cops to show up. I don’t think you are far off.
There is a downside to being in the slammer, you have to rub elbows with real felons, and could end up being some bad man’s girlfriend.
get a roof, a bed, three squares, free medical care, library, etc
You get all that in the military too.
But you have to work for it. Hard.
The FSA don’t like that.
It’s also hard to get into the military. They’re only interested in young people.
You can join up until age 39.
The FSA don’t do work for free sh*t.
—————
Air Force raises enlistee age limit from 27 to 39
http://www.stripes.com/news/air-force/air-force-raises-enlistee-age-limit-from-27-to-39-1.290578
The FSA don’t do work for free sh*t.
It wouldn’t be free if they worked for it. The whole thing is a non-story anyway. The number of Americans committing crimes so that they can free room and board has got to be extremely small.
It’s also hard to get into the military. They’re only interested in young people.
Is is hard, because there is no shortage of willing young people. The armed forces can afford to be picky, and they are. Most FSA members would be laughed out the door at a recruiting center. They’re semi-illiterate, obese dullards who would wash out on the first day of boot camp.
Yes, but the Democrat Party welcomes them with open arms. Forward!
Most FSA members would be laughed out the door at a recruiting center. They’re semi-illiterate, obese dullards who would wash out on the first day of boot camp.
That depends a lot on who the FSA are exactly. Wall Street has needed a bailout every 5 to 10 years for the past couple of decades.
“Kristol knows it. He has a vested interest; he likely makes big coin off of it. Snake oil salesman.
Nothing new here.”
Yes there is too something new here. He got called out in a most public fashion, not by some decent bloke toiling away in obscurity in the bowels of the internet, but by someone currently on the national stage. The neocon popstand is imploding.
I know, I know, housing. Just permit me a moment of deep satisfaction, OK?
Now, back to the subjects at hand.
One more comment on Kristol. His skin fascinates me - it’s as smooth and pink as a baby’s bum (or a freshly slapped ass, can’t decide.) Chaney looks like that, too. Expensive facials? Evil and vain?
Was this response an attempt at a redirect?
Yes, yes it was and that’s OK with me. However, given that the country, the ME and many young people, both from the US and ME have suffered as a result of the likes of Kristol and their neocon beating of the war drums, I thought it was worth noting that someone with a high profile and bully pulpit was willing to call him out for what he is.
Kristol and his merry band of neocons and their warmongering ways have been written about a number of times on this blog over the years. I thought perhaps this event might be met with some approval. Silly me.
Nonetheless, I recall when, years ago on this blog, I first mentioned my dislike for globalization and the philosophy of globalism. And I remember one of the responses was something along the lines of that I should get used to it, because “that genie is not going to be put back in the bottle”.
Really? Given other headlines in recent days, it’s looking more and more as if the fat lady is singing the last notes of the false song of globalism. And much of this is as a result of one man who has been willing to draw the fire and take the heat. Certainly none of our past and current “leaders” have ever seen fit to challenge the likes of Kristol directly, that I know of.
“I thought perhaps this event might be met with some approval.”
Agreed, which is why I found the redirect strange.
Props to Trump, who has been calling for a stronger military, for this for knowing the difference between “stronger military” and military adventurism.
“knowing the difference between “stronger military” and military adventurism.”
Props to you as well for knowing the difference. It seems that not many do.
I don’t like Trump, but what he just said regarding Bill Kristol meets with my approval. Hillary Clinton would never say that. The rumor of the day is that Victoria Nuland would be her Secretary of State.
Victoria Nuland…who is married to Robert Kagan…who is one of the co-founders of the Project for the New American Century along with?….
William Kristol
(the plot thickens)
The Kagans are a brood of vipers.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/07/no_author/the-kagan-neocon-power-couple/
Workers Get a Little More of the Income Pie
Good news! Labor’s share of national income, which has been declining since the early 1990s, and which took a big hit in the 2008 recession, has been rising for two years.
http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-24/american-workers-get-a-little-more-of-the-income-pie
While the Fed relentlessly debases their purchasing power and bilks them out of interest income.
Income? Define income. Now, define it as defined by the federal government.
I am quite serious, Mike. I’d like you to define both as defined, say, by Merriman’s, and by the federal government.
Income is income. Until it isn’t.
I’d like you to define both as defined, say, by Merriman’s, and by the federal government.
This sentence makes no sense. You must mean that you’d like to me look up how others define income. Also, I’ve never heard of Merriman’s, so I Googled it. The top result was a chain of restaurants in Hawaii with that name.
Study dispels myth about millionaire migration in the US
WASHINGTON, DC, May 23, 2016 — The view that the rich are highly mobile has gained much political traction in recent years and has become a central argument in debates about whether there should be “millionaire taxes” on top-income earners. But a new study dispels the common myth about the propensity of millionaires in the United States to move from high to low tax states.
“The most striking finding in our study is how little elites seem willing to move to exploit tax advantages across state lines,” said Cristobal Young, an assistant professor of sociology at Stanford University and the lead author of the study. “Millionaire tax flight is occurring, but only at the margins of significance.”
In any given year, Young and his fellow researchers found that roughly 500,000 individuals file tax returns reporting incomes of $1 million or more (constant 2005 dollars). From this population, only about 12,000 millionaires change their state each year. The annual millionaire migration rate is 2.4 percent, which is lower than the migration rate of the general population (2.9 percent). The highest rates of migration are seen among low-income tax filers: migration is 4.5 percent among people who earn around $10,000 a year.
“There is a widely held perception that elites are extremely mobile — that they are more attached to money than to place, and with money you can live anywhere you want,” said Young, who noted that millionaires are no less likely to live in states with high income taxes (e.g., New Jersey or California) than in states with low or zero income taxes (e.g., Texas or Florida). “We tend to think of migration as a form of freedom and one of the privileges enjoyed by the rich. In practice, migration comes with high social and economic costs — uprooting one’s family, breaking away from one’s social networks, and restarting in a new place.”
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-05/asa-sdm052316.php
As if the truly wealthy would move away from NE or NY to Wyoming or Alabama.
No, but they own 500 acres of farmland in those places, just in case.
I though the “bug out” mansions were supposed to be in (high tax) New Zealand.
1. Since states tax INCOME and not wealth, this is silly study. Already wealthy folks don’t care about state INCOME taxes.
2. Wealthy people have tax lawyers and CPAs. They work hard to legally avoid taxes. Example: Bon Jovi’s mansion in high tax NJ is deemed a “farm” for low property taxes Many live in high tax X but keep their residences and money in low tax Y.
3. How many people never move to start a business in high tax states? How many move before they become millionaires?
4. What is the first thing a public union goon does when he/she retires? Moves to a low tax and right to work state. That kinda sums it up.
Since states tax INCOME and not wealth, this is silly study. Already wealthy folks don’t care about state INCOME taxes.
But wealth typically generates taxable income (collected rents, interest earned, royalties, realized capital gains, etc.)
So it’s a study about people with very high incomes. It’s possible, though unlikely, that those people don’t have a lot of wealth. It doesn’t matter.
Hmmm - more data:
Millionaires Are Fleeing Chicago In Record Numbers
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-06/millionaires-are-fleeing-chicago-record-numbers
“Millionaires are leaving Chicago more than any other city in the United States on a net basis, according to a report by New World Wealth.
About 3,000 individuals with net assets of $1 million or more (not including their primary residence) moved from the city last year, representing about 2% of the city’s high net worth individuals. It is unclear where they went: cities in the United States that saw a net inflow of millionaires included Seattle and San Francisco. One thing is certain: they couldn’t wait to get out.”
You gotta live here to really understand why they are leaving - this place is a fly infested cess pool of corruption, dirt, hot humid summers, hipsters, trash and other utopian features.
CA and NY is far more corrupt.
Buying at the peak of the bubble doesn’t strike me as being particularly sound….
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-26/pending-home-sales-soar-most-2010-beats-6-standard-deviations
Upon observation, me thinks this bubble is inflating further, larger and higher than the last. Especially over the last 6 months to 1 year.
I agree and think we have another year of 6-7 per cent Hpi. (National HPI)
Price indices, especially FHA’s HPI is essentially worthless. Falling prices are showing up in more locations.
Which means it is going even more non-linear, ie, is just about to pop.
This is the summer of Love.
‘These days, buying a home means taking on a lot of debt, yet many consumers are quick to add to that burden with a new car and hefty credit-card spending at the same time.’
‘That’s the debt domino effect, according to a recent study by TransUnion, the credit-scoring company, which showed that those who refinanced or sold one house and bought another were much more likely to also increase their credit-card spending and car purchases.’
‘Rather than reel in their spending as they approach one of the biggest financial commitments in their lives, consumers are charging more on their cards in the months leading up to a move, said Charlie Wise, co-author of the study and vice president of TransUnion’s innovative solutions group.’
“Whether it’s to purchase furnishings or for renovations, many consumers actually increase their card spending in the months before moving into their new residence,” he said.
‘Consumers who apply for a new mortgage are also two to three times more likely, on average, to open a new auto loan or credit card account over the next year, and often within the first month, the study said.’
‘The study found that new credit card originations for consumers who moved into new homes were 54 percent higher in the month immediately after getting a new mortgage. New auto originations were 84 percent higher in that same time frame.’
I can picture Janet standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier, wearing a cod piece with a “mission accomplished” banner behind her.
‘often within the first month’
This should explain why defaults and delinquencies, second/third and cash out refinances are all ramping up.
“Janet…wearing a cod piece”
Thanks for that. Just, thanks. *dry heaves*
Labor Force Participation Rate Falls To 38 Year Low; Joblessness At Record High
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000
Yeah, I hear these dry statistics all the time, But, in every city I travel to in the “Golden Triad”, rush hour is a crush. Cars and big pick-ups everywhere.
If nobody is employed, then where is everybody headed at 6:30 AM?
Goon likes to complain about Denver traffic, but it’s just as bad in any major metro area, and many are far worse.
I can somewhat understand 6:30 AM, but 10:30AM? Rush hour is now all day, here.
My theory is that cities are now at a critical mass of people, such that you have so many people that there are enough salespeople, delivery folks, contractors, and people taking off work to go to the doctor, etc, that roads are crammed at all hours.
It all depends on what “type” of employment they have. Perhaps these are service sector worker bees heading off to their Starbucks barista job to help pay back their $60,000 student loan for that Bachelors degree in arts and humanities.
Consumer Insights
Are Americans Carrying Way Too Much Debt Again?
By PYMNTS
Posted on May 26, 2016
3d people - human character person carrying word “debt” on his back. Debt concept. 3d render
It looks like Americans will soon be partying like it is 2008 — when it comes to borrowing anyway. According to Wall Street Journal reports, American households will soon carry as much debt, on average, as they did at the peak of borrowing before the Great Recession in 2008. If current trends continue, that is.
That dovetails well with international trends. Global debt has been on the increase and has passed 2008 levels already, spurred by up-and-coming Asian markets, who did not quite develop the West’s full-tilt fear of lending post-2008.
So, is it time to be afraid, very afraid? Are we ramping up to a new debt crisis?
…
It’s a global phenomenon. Everyone wants to be in debt like the West.
Milford, CT Housing Affordability Improves As Prices Sink 5% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/milford-ct/home-values/
Just wait til GE relocates its headquarters to Boston in a couple of yrs and takes 400 white collars jobs with it.
Boston is going to need to fill those empty houses and condos somehow.
Seriously, WTF are you talking about? Rents command an all-time high in Boston because there’s no where to live, because NIMBY-controlled zoning prevents new development outside the city and the corrupt BRA only allows limited luxury high rise development. This shit is overpriced, but get a grip, it will remain overpriced as long as asshole politicians are allowed to profit at the expense of the masses. To wit, FOREVER. The game is rigged. Those with connections or money profit, those without connections or money cannot afford their own homes and remain serfs to be exploited, relegated to nearby ghettos like Lynn, Brockton, Chelsea, etc. Pay your rents, bitches!
You wouldn’t have falling housing prices in Boston if that were actually the case. Not to mention the tsunami of new inventory coming on line over the next 36 months.
‘there’s no where to live’
‘The number of homes that in April went under contract to be sold climbed to the highest level in over a decade.’
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/pending-home-sales-climbed-to-highest-level-in-10-years–2nd-update-20160526-00801#ixzz49memJwaC
A 10 year high in places to live.
‘New-home sales picked up in April, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. But the tightening in the new-construction market has pushed up prices 9.7% from a year earlier: April’s median sales price of $321,100 was the highest price on record.’
That’s interesting. I saw something about a year ago about the large number of office buildings that have been built in Boston over the past decade or so. The would be poor planning if developers were prevented from building apartments building to house those office workers.
And WTF do you think that means if people keep building (at the high end), people keep buying (at the high end), and rents keep going up? If there’s a shit-ton of empty apartments waiting for people, why are rents increasing? The best case scenario is that an eventual glut in luxury drives prices down to sane levels. Even so, what’s the impact? a thousand $2K 1-beds instead of $3K 1-beds? That shit doesn’t scale to any meaningful downward trajectory in overall rentals.
Re: office buildings: yes, there is some local concern about a commercial RE bubble.
My guess is that residential has at least 5 years before it flattens, or a black swan hits and Boston’s f####d. Temporarily.
Show me data for falling housing prices in metro Boston - i.e., anything inside of Route 128. I call bullshit.
Look, it’s f-d, housing is stupid expensive up here, but don’t delude yourselves. It’s because supply is constrained by corrupt officials. I’m sure it’s exacerbated by the Fed printing money, but you’re not going to see a tremendous and sudden devaluation in metro Boston until the entrenched interests are driven from their palaces with torches and pitchforks.
Please watch your language. Yes, the situation is completely irrational. The lenders behind this luxury boom are going to lose a lot of money. There will be job loss, you name it. In a word, messy.
We’ve always been able to house almost all people. What we are seeing is a perceived low amount of houses for sale or rent. So why the dark towers? It was 2014 I think that was the record sale of second house sales in the US, maybe it was 2015. Yet we’re told about shortages.
“Show me data for falling housing prices in metro Boston - i.e., anything inside of Route 128. I call xxxxxxx.”
It’s been posted before my friend. You know where to find it. In fact the statewide median price is down year over year.
“Acquafredda’s sales over the past year are down about 25 percent from the previous year. In addition to a shortage of available homes, she sees fewer buyers with deep pockets from other countries who are able to put cash down and finalize a deal quickly. One reason: the stock market drop in China, where the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s major index is down 45 percent since June. ‘The business is just not as much fun as it used to be,’ Acquafredda says.”
I haven’t been keeping score, but isn’t it unpossible that the Shanghai exchange is still down by 45%? I thought the Chinese government backstopped the market. Where are they?
“US Government Quietly Cuts Historical Capex Data By Billions Of Dollars
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-26/us-government-quietly-revises-historical-capex-data-billions-dollars
Peddling fiction after all.
“‘The panic mode is there from a buyers’ standpoint,’ said Stuckey. ‘You get people writing offers sight unseen, you’re getting offers now without inspections.’”
A nation mired in debt, mortgaging like drunken sailors. Yup, this will end well.
“you’re getting offers now without inspections.”
That’s another data point suggesting we’re getting close.
I wrote an offer on a house a year ago for which I used a realtor. To her credit (which I’m loathe to give most realt-whores), even in this market, when I said I’d be writing a bunch of contingencies, she said she never recommends buyers waive inspection. I was in first position until I bailed due to a fail in one of the contingencies.
Agree, unless you have very deep pockets waiving inspections and contingencies would be madness…even when all the standard inspections are performed houses typically have expensive to fix problems that are missed by the inspectors but rear their ugly heads later, that was my experience.
“Hard Times And False Narratives”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-26/hard-times-and-false-narratives
“The narrative of retiring Baby Boomers being the cause for the plunging participation rate is entirely false.”
And everyones favorite false narrative? Housing is an ‘investment’
http://www.domain.com.au/news/houses-in-queensland-for-under-300000-20160526-gp41×5/
The photos are a lunch time chuckle.
Remember the game show:
“Crackhouse or $250,000 house for sale?”
Oakton(Fairfax), VA Housing Affordability Skyrockets As Prices Nosedive 19% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/oakton-va/home-values/
OT: further evidence a lot of people seem to be losing their minds.
The men who live as dogs: ‘We’re just the same as any person on the high street’
In today’s bizarro obama world.
A white middle aged white man can declare he is a young black woman…
And the government will protect his “rights”
And then there’s these freak shows..”men who live as dogs.”
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/may/25/secret-life-of-the-human-pups-the-men-who-live-as-dogs
Kingdom > Phylum > Class > Order is fluid?
Bobo and Lola - oil went from low of $27 to $50 today.
Looks like timing is everything.
So in 1816 Mount Tambora erupted and this caused the world’s temperature to drop 3 degrees Celsuis and this was called “The Year Without A Summer” and this inspired Mary Shelly to write “Frankenstein” and may be what drove the invention of the bicycle.
Or sumtin’.
Here, you decide …
http://scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/mount-tambora-and-year-without-summer
WARNING! A Gloom & Doom article is associated with the following link. Read it ONLY IF YOU DARE!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/climate-change-could-destroy-statue-of-liberty-venice-and-many-other-parts-of-the-worlds-heritage-un-a7050361.html
Nah..this, THIS is how to do gloom & doom.
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/expert-warns-of-venezuela-style-hyperinflation-this-will-not-end-well-for-the-united-states_05242016
Frisco, TX Housing Affordability Improves As Prices Dive 5% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/frisco-tx/home-values/
Scratch a Hollywood limosine liberal, and you’ll find scum.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3611046/I-molested-passed-Corey-Feldman-details-horrors-Hollywood-pedophile-ring-reveals-Corey-Haim-just-11-raped-leading-life-drugs.html
Dont forget those Catholic priests.
Earnings fall at fastest rate since the Great Recession
By Ciara Linnane
Published: May 26, 2016 4:33 p.m. ET
S&P 500 first-quarter earnings declined for the fourth straight quarter, and more sharply than in any quarter since 2009
It was a stormy earnings season.
First-quarter earnings season is close to over, and the numbers it’s produced are as gloomy as they have been since the Great Recession.
Overall profit for S&P 500 companies was the weakest in 6 1/2 years. The financial sector showed a double-digit percentage decline, while even stodgy utilities saw earnings fall into the red as unusual weather weighed.
After selling assets, cutting capital expenditures and buying back their own shares at a record pace in recent years, companies are now clearly struggling to produce any kind of growth.
“The global economic slowdown over the past couple of years certainly has weighed on U.S. company revenues, which have weakened further due to the strong dollar since late 2014,” said Ed Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research, in a note. “In turn, the weakness in revenues and earnings has undoubtedly weighed on U.S. companies’ spending in the U.S. and overseas.”
…
Does it seem odd for earnings to drop at Great Recession rates in the middle of an employment boom?