Cheaply Built Overpriced Rabbit Hutches!
Note: some of the following articles are intended for humor. It’s up to the reader to decide which. The Waco Tribune in Texas. “The city of Waco issued 130 permits to build single-family homes during the months of July, August and September, which is twice the 61 issued during the same three months last year. The city has issued 316 permits so far this year, up from 285 at this time last year. Scott Bland, president of the Heart of Texas Builders Association, said national companies, including D.R. Horton and Stylecraft Builders, have entered the Central Texas market with a vengeance, buying the lion’s share of lots available and launching large subdivisions. ‘I’ve never seen anything like this in Waco,’ Bland said of the housing picture.”
“The ‘Fixer Upper’ show on HGTV, starring Chip and Joanna Gaines, has created interest in Waco real estate, brings 35,000 tourists a week to Magnolia Market at the Silos and has prompted the chamber and downtown development groups to consider how best to take advantage of this national interest. John George, president of Award Specialties, said revenues are growing at 8 percent annually, which is typical during stellar economic times. ‘But what I’m wondering is why Waco’s economy is doing so well. Does anybody have an answer to that?’ George said.”
The California Aggie. “A police search for a potentially armed clown turned up empty late Sunday as investigators determined the only clowns to be found in West Village were the ones paying for its overpriced amenities. Officials said there is no longer the threat of a knife-wielding circus performer, but only the threat of overpriced housing and expensive grocery stores. ‘The urge to live in West Village is ridiculous to me,’ said deputy of the Davis Police Department Paul Whitney. ‘There are plenty of other housing options in North and West Davis for almost half the cost!’”
From SBS in Australia. “I’ve had just about enough of all this bloody nonsense from the young people. The youth of today have all grown soft, doughy and are always covered in sugar. No wait, that’s my delicious morning doughnut, but the sentiment still applies. Young people today are all entitled, unlike my generation who will hunt down and murder anyone who tries to make any changes to our pension or superannuation entitlements. Young adults need to learn about personal responsibility. The worst example of this is when these people trot off to buy a home. They have this bizarre expectation that the first house they buy should come with all these fancy trinkets, like not being entirely covered with mould, or having four walls, or not being a pile of rats that is house sized.”
“Back in my day, when you purchased your first home you had to be prepared to take what you can get. Clearly the only place that satisfies that criteria is the sewage system of Australia’s great cities and it’s time Australia’s young people realise that. So I put together this detailed list of why you, a potential first-home buyer, should consider living going down under, down under.”
“If you’re thinking about paying $800 a week to live in a garbage bin in the middle of Sydney then you need to get your bloody head checked. A garbage bin in Sydney goes for, at most, $250 a week. Living in the sewers, though? That costs absolutely nothing, but as I’m someone who is the landlord to properties across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, I’ll let you live down there for a mere $100 a week. Trust me, that’s a bloody bargain for any one of those cities. Water bills are covered, however I cannot guarantee it is clean or entirely free of faecal matter. Parking is also free and if you can manage to do it, I will be very impressed. Internet connection is surprisingly good. You just have to plug into one of the many unfinished NBN nodes. Sure this deal might sound shonky to some, but if you’re worried just ask people who have lived or are living shared housing. I guarantee this deal is around the average.”
“Living in the sewers offers a young adult a wide range of opinions and wild animal fighting learning opportunities. Get off your bloody high horse and give it a go. Sure, not everyone can handle a python fight in the shallow waters of our sewers, but the ones that do might just be able to survive attending auctions in one of Australia’s major cities every Saturday for the rest of their lives.”
The Hartlepool Mail in the UK. “Hartlepool Borough Council’s proposed new Local Plan received differing views on the issue of building new homes. The council believes it needs to secure developments totalling 6,000 new homes during the course of the 15-year Local Plan, around 400 a year. The future of Hartlepool’s housing need has sparked debate with readers sharing mixed views on the subject.”
“David Frank commented: ‘A lot of run down houses need an upgrade and bringing back to life, should start with them first.’ Diane Orley said: ‘There is a lot but who can afford them??? Minimum wage can’t, my house is in need of upgrade, rent very expensive all my wages just keep going, everyone seems be the same now.’”
“David Wheelhouse said: ‘I would say far too many, but if they can sell them maybe not. The more you build further and further into the suburbs of the town this creates a town centre slum as people move out.’”
“Andy Draper posted: ‘Too many developments without the correct road infrastructure. Cheaply built overpriced rabbit hutches!’”
“Jonathan Tones said: ‘A housing developer would not spend millions of pounds building houses that won’t sell so I’m pretty sure there’s a high demand for them.’ Tom Kelly said: ‘The council want council tax, every new property is a new tax payer? Now you can see why they wave everything through.’”
Fixer upper” show gives clients instant equity. If you told clients that you’d get sued
Instant equity? Back in the day we used to call that a down payment.
Happy Thanksgiving to all you HBB posters (and lurkers too!).
There is much to be thankful for. Even under the crushing weight of a depreciating asset and the tremendous losses associated with paying triple the cost of rent.
“It’s up to the reader to decide which.”
It’s always difficult to tell when it comes to MSM descriptions of Housing Bubble 2.0.
‘News is “always good” in Silicon Valley and it shows in its housing market, said a top state real estate economist at the annual general meeting of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, the local trade association with over 5,000 Realtor and affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay.’
‘The San Francisco Bay Area, and Silicon Valley in particular, leads the nation in job growth, outperforming the rest of the state and nation, according to California Association of Realtors vice president and chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young, the keynote speaker at the Realtor event.’
“You are the outlier. You are in a premier area,” Appleton-Young told the Realtors.’
‘Already in June 2016, the median price went above its peak in six Bay Area counties: San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Marin. San Mateo County’s June median of $1,306,250 was 28.1 percent above its October 2007 peak of $1,020,000. Santa Clara County’s June median of $1,050,000, was 21.4 percent above its peak of $865,000 in April 2007.’
“The Bay Area is unique. It’s the strongest regional economy in the nation, leading in income growth, high-end knowledge-intensive jobs. It is the epicenter for tech, and it shows in its housing market,” said Appleton-Young.’
‘Despite the growth, traffic “clouds how we see development,” said the economist. A quick survey she took of Realtors found even more than the power of obtaining instant mortgage approval, Realtors wished they had the superpower to make traffic disappear. Migration patterns to outlying areas and flyover states reflect these sentiments.’
‘Appleton-Young said California’s housing market is cooling. She noted the market is not dropping; sales are just not increasing as much as they have the last two years.’
‘Most counties in California are underbuilt. Santa Clara County added 175,000 new jobs from 2010 to 2015, but had only 35,426 new housing permits in the same period.’
“We’re up against this invisible constraint,” said Appleton-Young.’
‘Unless the housing supply increases, inventory shortage and lack of affordability will remain the housing market’s major challenges. “I don’t see anything changing that,” said Appleton-Young.’
Invisible constraints! It’s like that scifi movie with monsters from the id but for real.
#pizzagate is real, and the streisand effect is proving it
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-23/reddit-bans-pizzagate-we-dont-want-witchhunts-our-site
Is this what the demoncrats warned would be coming from wikileaks right before the election, and that it would be a lie? Wikileaks just celebrated 10 years of releasing information, the authenticity of which has never been disproved. How did the demoncrats know what was to come - were they warned? Is Assange dead?
Yes, yes, and probably yes.
Cheaply built overpriced rabbit hutches
Best helmet sticker I’ve seen on the LoHi jobsite says “cheap labor isn’t skilled and skilled labor isn’t cheap”
Looks like China’s line in the sand for defending the Yuan is 6.92. How much of their dollar reserves are they prepared to burn through defending this peg?
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/currency/usdcny?mod=MW_story_quote
‘The definition of a jumbo mortgage is changing for the first time in more than a decade. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2017 will back mortgages of up to $424,100 in most of the U.S., an increase from $417,000, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Wednesday. The change, which will increase the limit for areas with the most expensive homes to $636,150 from $625,500, comes after home prices in the third quarter pushed past their level of a decade ago.’
‘The increases in the so-called conforming loan limits could make it much easier and cheaper for some first-time homebuyers to enter the market, as the down payment and credit requirements for government-backed mortgages are often looser than those of jumbos.’
“It reflects that health is finally returning to the market,” said Ken Fears, director of housing finance and regional economics for the National Association of Realtors. “But to a greater extent, it reflects an opportunity for a true expansion of credit.”
‘The threshold is important to homebuyers and the real estate industry. Jumbo mortgages sometimes have higher rates than loans that qualify for government backing, though lately that hasn’t been the case. Wells Fargo & Co., for example, on its website Wednesday quoted a 30-year fixed mortgage rate of 4.25 percent, while it quoted a rate of 4 percent for a jumbo loan.’
‘More important, jumbo mortgages often carry steeper requirements from lenders, such as higher credit scores or down payments of 15 percent to 20 percent.’
‘Phil Ganz, a Boston-based loan officer with Fairway Mortgage, said many first-time buyers are shut out of the market because the houses they want to buy are too expensive to qualify for government-backed mortgages. The limit for Suffolk County, Massachusetts, in 2017 will rise to $598,000 from $523,250, the FHFA said Wednesday. The FHFA can set loan limits for individual counties in between the lower and upper thresholds depending on their cost.’
‘Many potential homebuyers have decent incomes but can’t come up with more than 3 percent for a down payment, he said.’
“When you raise the limits, it’s about giving young, successful people the chance to get in the game,” Ganz said.’
‘The FHFA’s announcement should lead a government loan program with even looser borrower requirements to raise its own loan limits, Fears said. The Federal Housing Administration typically sets its own loan limit as 65 percent of the Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac limit, which would mean a rise to $275,665 from $271,050. The FHA allows borrowers to make down payments of as low as 3.5 percent with a credit score of 580.’
‘A quick survey she took of Realtors found even more than the power of obtaining instant mortgage approval, Realtors wished they had the superpower to make traffic disappear.’
“Traffic” = looky-loos and time-wasters.
And empty pockets. No one in their right mind would lend a nickel to any of the mortgage debtors minted over the last 15 years.
Why is the disastrous state of the housing market a surprise to anyone?
Rabbit hutches, Donkey Stalls and The Housing Bubble Blog’s unique creation, RageCages.
Excerpted from: Communism vs. Free Markets at Plymouth Rock
http://www.endofinnocence.com/2010/04/communism-vs-free-markets-at-plymouth.html
The colonies at Plymouth Rock and Jamestown tried both free market and communist systems – long before Karl Marx was born.
The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in December 1620, and in spite of help from the Native Americans, half of them died the first year as a result of their initial system. During the second year, more of them died. They would quickly learn that their initial system was tragically incompatible with human nature. It was simply unnatural.
The colonists had the ideal conditions for their initial system because they all had a reputation as virtuous hard working people, they all were of the same race, religion, politics, and nationality; and of course, they all had agreed to this system voluntarily. They also knew that failure meant death.
Nevertheles, under their initial system, they simply weren’t producing and storing enough food, which lead to starvation, disease, and discontent. Their first solution, in their second year, was to institute beatings for those who did not work hard enough, but this had little effect on productivity, and it further increased discontent.
The colonists astutely observed that their system tended to retard productivity while breeding confusion and discontent. We know this because they wrote about it in their journals. Clearly, their initial system was incompatible with human nature.
By the spring of 1623 the Pilgrims feared they would not survive another winter, so in desperation, they adopted a radically different system, and it saved their lives. Productivity increased, and in 1623, they had the first real Thanksgiving.
Which system failed the colonists initially, and which radically different system saved them? Which system was so incompatible with human nature, and which system was so compatible with human nature? Which system was so ugly, and which system was so beautiful?
According to their original governing document, the Mayflower Compact, they shared everything produced by any one of them – from each according to his ability – to each according to his need. The result was that only a small percentage of them worked hard, and the rest were freeloaders to varying degrees because they would rather risk death than be expoited by others. They were so reluctant to work that they even left food rotting on the vine! The result was indeed death. Half of them died! This reminds me of the saying by the people of the USSR, “They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work.”
Then, in the spring of 1623, the surviving colonists decided to let each person keep the fruits of his labor, and the colony’s total output increased so much that they were never hungry again.
The governor wrote in his journal that under their initial (communist) system some of them claimed to be too sick to work, and they were so convincing that it would have been the height of tyranny to force them work. Then, after they learned they could keep the fruits of their labor, those who were too sick to walk suddenly recovered and began working the fields!
Communism was killing the colonists at Plymouth Rock, and by switching to a free market system, they became more productive and saved themselves – in a single growing season.
…
Your betters will inform that this is probably racist.
Listen to your betters.
Even the dead rose up and produced a bumper crop?
There is a lot left out of this analysis made to fit a message. Ha, so much wrong has been written about the revolution that in the future none will know what actually happened.
A Thanksgiving message.
https://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2016/11/24/a-thanksgiving-message-4/
Comment by rms
2016-11-23 23:47:17
From the comments: “According to Maryland Land Records, Ms. Cohen started out with a mortgage of $67k in 2005 and then did cash-out refinances on multiple occasions, the last being with HUD for $172k . . . and she originally bought it from HUD after a previous foreclose).
This comment yesterday by rms got me to thinking: what societal good does it serve for HUD/FHA/Fannie/Freddie to _EVER_ do cash-out refis? The net result is: the person owns the same house, but owes more debt on it.
I can see the argument that the GSEs serve a societal purpose by stabilizing the lending market for housing, and thus help more folks own their own homes; I could even imagine that there might be some good in that.
But once someone already owns the house, what is the societal good in helping them to crank up the leverage on it??!?
Cash-out lending should be handled exclusively by the private markets, and never purchased by the GSEs.
But once someone already owns the house, what is the societal good in helping them to crank up the leverage on it??!?
Three words: Debt fueled growth.
It’s a core belief of modern economists.
The Australian article on sewer living may be a joke, but older generations really do expect the younger and poorer to buy their overpriced shacks. And they really are kind of angry that not many want to.
We’re gonna need some bigger rage cages.
Yeah, I was reading the part about the younguns being soft and lazy while the fossils will fight to the death for their pensions, but who raised those younguns to be so doughy? Those same fossils. Helluva disconnect, but the exact same thing is happening in the US, especially the blue states with their bloated salaries and pensions for government drones, and taxes, fees and regulations to choke everyone else - including their kids - to pay for it.
Mark Hanson @MrMarkHanson Nov 23
HANSON: New Home Sales petty fugly. Massive dwnwrd revisions persist; prices falling; rate surge to have big impact
Mark Hanson @MrMarkHanson Nov 22
11-21 HANSON; HOUSING BUBBLE 2.0; A “SOFT LANDING?”
https://twitter.com/mrmarkhanson
Ben, if you don’t want to let this through, I understand, and a Happy Trumpsgiving to you and the HBB.
If you do let it through, however….Trump totally sandbags Romney!
https://twitter.com/KellyannePolls/status/801787470337740801
See what he did there? He let his base wet the bed over Romney. “Mitt, Mitt, I tried, I really tried, I wanted to mend fences, but the people, they’re not on board with it. What can I say?”
AND sticks it to Clinton and servergate:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38074177
Trump to Congress: “Go for it. Go ahead. Give me all the reasons why not Petraeus.”
BWAhahahahahahaHAH!
“What can I say?”
Give it up for Texas boy Boz Scaggs! (yeah, he was born in Ohio, but Texas bred and raised. God Bless Texas)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZfXKEDf2vU
Fifty pounds heavier, but he’s still got it.
I’ve decided to don’t worry, be happy about all this. If you look at it from a schism within the globalists viewpoint:
http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-ultimate-long-game-autarky-and.html
These people are defecting from the globalists. And if you were putting together a football team, wouldn’t you want the best blockers, tacklers, throwers and runners? Who cares what they did in the past? Pick up that fumble and run for the goal line!
This is encouraging:
Trump’s Syria Shift Begins as Son Meets Opposition Figure in Paris
Kassis Is Part of ‘Pro-Russia’ Opposition Block in Syria
http://news.antiwar.com/2016/11/23/trumps-syria-shift-begins-as-son-meets-opposition-figure-in-paris/
“I’ve decided to don’t worry, be happy about all this.”
Me, too. At this point, it’s all good. I was just reflecting on your comment after the election about bedwetting. And there’s certainly been enough of it in the past few days over Clinton and Romney to keep the mattress sellers doing a brisk business.
I did my own bedwetting over Pence and didn’t really get it until the night of the election. I now realize Trump is playing a very long game and has a good reason for everything he says and does. And even though his operating basis is all laid out for anyone to read about in his books, many, if not most, will never understand why he said this or did that until the outcome is realized. And even then…
I’ve said in the past that his administration is going to be one heck of a very entertaining roller coaster ride. There will be highs and lows, so hold on tight. It will work out in the end. The country is in good hands.
People Who Laughed at Trump and said he would never be President Donald Trump Compilation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyEXshBOwEU
Buurrrppp! Just finished Trumpsgiving dinner and that parade of smarm and irrelevance gave me a wee bit of indigestion.
Truly, these people are in love with the whiff of their own breaking wind. I was nearly blinded by the lip gloss on that one lady in the Ann Coulter segment.
Wow, what a compilation of awesomeness. Oh joy. Truly a bunch of smug, arrogant, horrible people.
Donald Trump is still residing in the empty skulls of a lot of very angry little people.
Trump Make America Great Again Red Cap Collectible Ornament
2,901 reviews and counting.
“It called Mary a nasty woman, told Joseph to go back where he came from, built a wall around the manger, and then when you press it it sings “I’m Dreaming Of A Totally White Christmas.”
“It tried to put my nativity figures into an internment camp. Would not buy again.”
Ha! Except the real story is Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethlehem for a government census and to pay government taxes.
Maybe even someone promised to lower their health care by 2500 shekels if they got there…
After Hillary’s “Basket of Deplorables” comment, the meme exploded all over the Internet, with millions of people including “deplorable” in their Twitter handles, and huge sales of “deplorable” T-shirts, coffee mugs, etc. Of course Hillary’s MSM leg-humpers tried to use Trump’s “nasty woman” comment to start a similar meme against Trump - pumping it for all they were worth - but the campaign fell flat and only a pathetically small quantity of “Nasty Woman” merchandise was sold to future cat ladies.
Oh, crap. We’re stuck with Lena Dunham.
Lena Dunham on Why She’s Walking Back Her Promise to Move to Canada Post-Election
“Dunham wrote to her 2.8 million followers that in recent weeks, she’s received unkind messages encouraging her to leave the United States.”
Apparently we’re stuck with California, Oregon and Nevada too because I haven’t heard any more about Butthurtistan moving forward.
“Lena Dunham on Why She’s Walking Back Her Promise to Move to Canada Post-Election:”
She is reneging on a verbal contract with the citizens of the United States of America!
“She continued, “And you know what else I’ve realized I can survive, as a Jewish pro-choice sexual assault survivor with a queer family member and a belief that we are all exactly & beautifully equal? ”
Man, I feel bad for that queer family member being stuck with her.
Go to YouTube sometime and view the R&U videos of the conflict in Syria. Horrific, cataclysmic destruction, and baddies fighting baddies over a ruined wasteland. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed or maimed, and at least 11 million are internal refugees living in troglodyte conditions in bombed-out cities. The children of this wasteland are going to be the next, remorseless generation of jihadis unless this conflict can be brought to an end and the rebuilding can start. I’m glad Trump appears to recognize the scale of the tragedy and will hopefully work for a resolution of the conflict rather than pouring gas on the flames.
And think what Clinton would have done.
Clinton would’ve done exactly what her neocon handlers ordered her to do: keep the region in a state of perpetual turmoil and incessant warfare.
Now consider what her supreme court picks could have done in the second amendment for 20 years or permanently (plus whatever BS) and realize what a bullet we dodged. Da Meddel Fanger!
Why are you doing this to me, Ben? I don’t want to think about what might have been. Today was Thanksgiving, and I, and we, have much to be thankful for. High on the list is that Crooked Hillary is not going to be our president for the next four years. I’m not sure the Republic would’ve survived.
Obama’s great legacy will live on long after he is incarcerated…
Scenes from the hell Syria has descended into that will never be aired on the MSM’s nightly news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXHRsm10Glw&t=444s
I knew the truth before I even read the story, Obamas sons busy this turkey day:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/11/24/2-dead-4-injured-in-shooting-at-louisville-park-during-youth-football-game.html
Funny how I had to hunt for this story - lots of lamestream media not reporting it and when they do, comments are not allowed. Guns out for Harambe!
What truth did you know before reading the story?
“…found two black males with gunshot wounds. Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene…”
Black Male Mortality <— search query
“Gun violence” means that guns have been animating themselves of their own volition, motivated by their intrinsic malevolence, and shooting “children” (who usually have some gang or criminal affiliation). Stick to the Narrative my Deplorable friend.
BLM and obama will be commenting and protesting soon…
“We must have more common sense gun control,” when the cities with the tightest gun control have the highest rates of “gun violence” (never, ever call it thug violence).
‘But what I’m wondering is why Waco’s economy is doing so well. Does anybody have an answer to that?’
That’s right up there with the Sphinx, little green men and Area 51.
Lake Mary, FL Housing Prices Crater 5% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/lake-mary-fl/home-values/
recent polling on immigration
Quinnipiac University. Nov. 17-20, 2016. N=1,071 registered voters nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.
“Do you support or oppose building a wall along the border with Mexico?”
Support: 42%
Oppose: 55%
Unsure/No answer: 3%
“Do you support or oppose suspending immigration from ‘terror prone’ regions, even if it means turning away refugees from those regions?”
Support: 50%
Oppose: 44%
Unsure/No answer: 6%
“Which comes closest to your view about illegal immigrants who are currently living in the United States? (A) They should be allowed to stay in the United States and to eventually apply for U.S. citizenship. (B) They should be allowed to remain in the United States, but not be allowed to apply for U.S. citizenship. (C) They should be required to leave the U.S.”
Stay, apply for citizenship: 60%
Remain, not apply for citizenship: 12%
Be required to leave: 25%
Unsure/No answer: 4%
http://pollingreport.com/immigration.htm
Poll: Majority of Americans Want Restrictions on Abortion
A new poll shows that the majority of Americans support restrictions on abortion, including those who describe themselves as pro-choice.
A survey conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion and sponsored by the Knights of Columbus found that 8 in 10 Americans, including 66 percent of pro-choice supporters polled, would restrict abortion to the first trimester of a pregnancy.
http://dailysignal.com/2016/01/20/poll-majority-of-americans-want-restrictions-on-abortion/
And FYI
The polls for the “legalization” gay marriage is even more against.
Didn’t seem to stop obama.
false
CBS News Poll. June 9-13, 2016. N=1,280 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.
“Do you think it should be legal or not legal for same-sex couples to marry?”
Legal: 58%
Not legal: 33%
Unsure/No answer: 9%
Fake news. Irrelevant.
Trollaganda.
Labor Force Participation Rate Plummets To 38 Year Low; Joblessness At Record High
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000
If the global economy is supposedly recoverying, why do freight volumes indicate otherwise?
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/11/24/shipbuilding-in-japan-korea-china-collapses-in-death-spiral-of-orders/
Stop the peddling of the fiction
Sounds like at least one market is capitulating.
Our fundamental transformation is not going to fund itself, and George Soros can’t do all the heavy lifting. We must ensure our social welfare systems are exploited by unassimilable “asylum seekers” implacably hostile to western civilization to carry out their attacks on our society. Oh, the joys of open borders, welfare states, and unrestricted immigration!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/24/man-hat-suspect-brussels-paris-attacks-given-3k-two-men-birmingham/
Heckova job, “former” Goldmanites Yellen, Carney, and Draghi.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/11/24/consumers-rack-debt-fastest-pace-since-pre-crash-boom-years/
Got popcorn?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-24/perfect-storm-set-pop-aussie-apartment-bubble-bringing-economy-down-it
What could go wrong?
—–
An interesting observation on the chart below is that real estate prices have risen by over 700% since 1987, yet rents have risen just under 300% over the same period. This chart clearly shows that the majority of the price growth was not supported by a fundamental increase in rents to support the higher prices, but rather a massive surge in mortgage debt over the same period drove prices higher.
“Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American people. The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election. Those who control the levers of power in Washington and the global special interests they partner with, don’t have your good in mind. The political establishment that is trying to stop us is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals, massive illegal immigration and economic and foreign policies that have bled our country dry.
“It’s a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities. The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you. The only force strong enough to save our country is us. The only people brave enough to vote out this corrupt establishment is you, the American people.”
– President-Elect Donald J. Trump
Black Friday starts off with a bang!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-25/one-shot-dead-outside-south-jersey-mall-black-friday
…and then fizzles out:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-25/black-friday-channel-checks-turn-red-store-traffic-subdued-across-country
Not a bad thing, actually. At some point the Christmas buying season was going to die off from ridiculousness, like putting merchandise in the stores in September and piping in Christmas carols during October.
Amazon desperately needs an independent/investigative audit. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no doubt that Bezos built a respectable business selling books and media and expanded it from there. But my guess is that much of it has been hype and its numbers are likely nowhere near what they are said to be. It’s now a venue for counterfeit, fraudulent and even dangerous products.
When the final story of Amazon is written, it’ll be a doozie. But look on the bright side: those warehouses will be bought for fire sale prices and converted into factories.
Brace yourselves for a tidal wave of refugees from neocon regime change fiascos, Europe. Turkey’s going to open the floodgates.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/25/turkey-threatens-end-refugee-deal-row-eu-accession-erdogan
Chinese “investesters” will be desperate to park their rapidly depreciating Yuan into assets like western real estate before their central planners’ financial house of cards comes crashing down.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-struggles-to-steady-yuans-decline-1479989103
Does this tell us anything? What?
Mark Hanson @MrMarkHanson 17h17 hours ago
NEW HOUSING BUBBLE 2.O chart I put together awaiting eats. Perhaps a HOUSING BUBBLE will be a better topic at dinner. Happy Thanksgiving!
https://twitter.com/mrmarkhanson
Wall Street Examiner @Lee_Adler 20h20 hours ago
New Home Sales Decline 2% In October, Back to 1982 Levels http://wallstreetexaminer.com/2016/11/new-home-sales-decline-2-october-back-1982-levels/?
https://twitter.com/Lee_Adler?lang=en
An oldie but a goodie.
“Ben Bernanke didn’t see a housing bubble in 2006″
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5A4Gw20dcw
Ben Bernanke is a better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3KEhWTnWvE
Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where Mighty and scdave would raise a glass or two
They would always laugh away the hours
And dream of great things that Obama’d do
Those were the days my friend
They thought they’d never end
They’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life they’d choose
They’d vote and never lose
For they were young and sure to have their way.
Then the busy years went rushing by us
They lost their starry notions on the way
If by chance I’d see them in the tavern
They’d smile at one another and they’d say
Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
They’ll live the life we choose
We’ll vote and never lose
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days
La la la la…
Just tonight they stood before the tavern
Nothing seemed the way it used to be
In the glass they saw a strange reflection
How did Donald Trump beat Hillary?
Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
They’ll live the life we choose
We’ll vote and never lose
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days
La la la la…
Through the door there came familiar laughter
He saw your post and heard you call his name
Oh my friend you’re older but no wiser
For in your hearts the Electoral College is to blame
Those were the days my friend
You thought they’d never end
You’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life you’d choose
You’d vote and never lose
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days
La la la la…