A Five-Year Frenzy May Be Cooling
A report from Bisnow on Washington, DC. “In recent years, DC has experienced an influx of Millennials who have boosted absorption in the rental market, but Delta Associates’ latest multifamily report says that trend is slowly fading. While absorption remains well above the 10-year average, 2016 saw a steady decline that, by Q4, had reached the lowest level since Q2 2014. ‘We expected the trend to start to go down but it went down a little more than we expected it would,’ Delta Associates’ multifamily director Will Rich told Bisnow. Delta expects absorption will continue to drop over the next three years. It predicts a 9,033-unit per year average through 2019, with 2017 being the strongest year in that period.”
“While this absorption would still be above the 10-year average, the area is preparing for a record year of multifamily deliveries. More than 13,000 units are expected to deliver across the DC Metro area in 2017, nearly 2,000 more than last year.”
The Dallas Morning News in Texas. “Almost 50,000 apartments are being built in North Texas. And nationwide, developers got permits to start an estimated 383,000 multifamily housing units in 2016. Still, after a half-dozen years of rising construction, the apartment building binge shows signs of flattening in 2017, top housing economists say. ‘We are seeing a leveling off of production,’ said Robert Denk, a forecaster for the National Association of Home Builders. ‘I think we are pretty much done.’”
“Apartment construction around the country remains very high — more than three times the starts the industry saw at the worst of the recession in 2009. ‘We’ve been averaging almost 400,000 starts in 2016,’ Denk said. ‘We think that’s not quite sustainable.’”
The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “Sound Off: Concerns about a commercial real estate crisis? According to various sources, San Francisco’s commercial real estate market may be seeing a slow down in the city’s technology driven economy. Office subleasing is at the highest level since 2010. A five-year frenzy for San Francisco office space may be cooling as venture capital investments decline and tech firms slow their hiring from record paces. The extra space is a warning sign that the growth rate for some companies was unsustainable. Some startups took more space than they needed in the hopes of expanding later, while others are moving to less expensive areas.”
“The trend isn’t entirely negative, however. Subleasing opens up more affordable space at a time rents are near record highs. - as the space on the market for sublease have asking rents about 17 percent below those of regular leases, according to Cushman & Wakefield.”
The Grand Rapids Business Journal in Michigan. “While not quite yet a wet blanket, there’s at least a damp towel on optimism for future development of market rate housing in downtown Grand Rapids. Absorption of apartment units coming online has slowed, with hundreds of units still under construction or planned, resulting in a more diligent and hesitant process in considering new projects. Developers, lenders and brokers all told the Business Journal they’re treading lightly into future market rate developments.”
“Mercantile Bank commercial lender Justin Karl said there is concern supply could soon outpace demand, and despite current demand in Grand Rapids, it still is tough to open a project and fill 200 units immediately. ‘It’s been something on our minds: When do we have too much?’ Karl said. ‘There’s a general consensus they’re in good demand and projects are being absorbed but maybe not as quickly as they thought.’”
The Denver Post in Colorado. “Metro Denver’s housing market could diverge in a big way this year, with apartment rent increases slowing to a crawl or even reversing, while home prices continue to race higher. Signs of cooling are strongest on the multifamily side, where a large number of high-end units are expected to hit the market this year. Abodo, in its annual rent report, puts metro Denver in the category of declining markets, recording a 6.7 percent drop in one-bedroom apartment rents in January compared with a year earlier, the seventh steepest decline among the cities it tracked.”
“One of the more upbeat reports comes from RealPage in Texas, which estimates metro Denver rents are rising at a 4.4 percent pace, down from gains in the 8 percent to 10 percent range a year ago. ‘It has been a meaningful slowdown,’ RealPage chief economist Greg Willett said. ‘But it is still a good number.’”
“RealPage estimates about 11,000 apartments came onto the market last year and that another 13,000 should become available this year out of a construction pipeline of around 21,000 units. So far, the Denver market has managed to absorb the new supply, but landlords, eager to fill their projects, are offering more concessions — including a month or two of free rent — to win over tenants, a key reason why rent increases have slowed.”
“Willett said apartment developers, initially focused almost exclusively on downtown areas, are casting a wider net, although the economics have them still focused on higher-rent or luxury units. Whether the metro Denver apartment market holds up or rolls over will depend mostly on continued job growth and in-migration, given that developers can’t easily put the brakes on projects launched years earlier.”
From Fox Business on Florida. “Stephen Cohen, a realtor and investor specializing in the South Beach luxury condo market, is biding his time. By this time next year, the 15-year real estate veteran expects the average price for a condo in Miami Beach’s hottest neighborhood to drop by more than 40 percent than it is today. ‘In the last six months, prices have dropped by nearly 20 percent,’ Cohen says. ‘I expect it will go down another 20 percent in the coming months. So I’m not buying until 2018.’”
“From Miami’s Brickell financial district to the sunny shores of Golden Beach, a growing glut of luxury condos combined with a dwindling pool of foreigners willing to pay seven figures for a glitzy home in a glass and steel tower has experts like Cohen predicting a free fall in sales prices in the next 12 months. ‘It’s a complete stall,’ Cohen says. ‘There is nothing moving. Realtors are freaking out right now.’”
From the last link:
‘A 2016 third quarter report by national real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel shows the average sales price for a luxury condo in Miami and Miami Beach nosedived by 30 percent compared to the same period in 2015. Meanwhile, the inventory of luxury condos increased by 30 percent on Miami Beach and 11 percent in Miami in 2016, with properties sitting on the market an average of 126 days, more than double the time the previous year.’
‘Developers are trying to put a positive spin on the current downward trend in Miami, said Jack McCabe, a South Florida real estate market analyst. “You’ve got developers that are now offering brokers 8 to 10 percent commission to find them buyers,” McCabe said. “That’s $100,000 for selling a $1 million condo. We have an oversaturation of new product with diminishing demand. These are all indicators that the market has become much softer.”
Of course the lux market saturation report can’t be correct. Just can’t be.
Sure, I’m all about developers servicing the high-end, disposable-income market for housing. So, every rich A-H will buy three or four of these Miami Beach condos. Demand is ever increasing because the relative population of Rich Individuals are going to need condos, and this demand is never going to end. Never. Going. To. End.
Yes, it’s different this time. Especially since Trump is going to reduce global trade. I can go on and on about ‘globalism’. Let me just say that if there is a system that is not planned, then you get unplanned results… and more of those stupid condos. … and Trump. …and Chinese drywall remediated houses.
Sigh,
Roidy
P.S. I want to retire and sail a sailboat.
‘in downtown Grand Rapids…absorption of apartment units coming online has slowed, with hundreds of units still under construction or planned’
This report is classic with tales of hungry investors wanting to flip apartments, etc. The reason they screwed up was the motivation was all wrong. With money being waved in their faces, they made up new paradigm stories to justify going out on a ledge. And everybody went along: lenders, investors, city planners and developers.
Here’s an example:
‘The mixed-use division of development powerhouse The Related Group is determined to push forth on not one, but two apartment projects in Atlanta’s core this year. Related Development has already broken ground on Apogee Midtown and plans to do so soon on Apogee Buckhead, adding more than 350 units to each submarket when more than 11,000 new apartment units are underway within the city.’
‘That’s because, with Atlanta’s job growth and current apartment fundamentals, Related Development CEO Steve Patterson (on left) said he’s confident demand will be there once both projects deliver. “Apartment vacancies are the lowest they’ve been in 20 years, and we’re worried about the market falling apart on us?” Patterson said. “That’s nonsense.”
“Right now, I think in Buckhead, there’s probably 3,500 to 3,600 units under construction, and Midtown it’s pretty close,” Patterson said. “But we think that demand is pretty deep there, particularly for the larger units in Buckhead. This is a market that grows [by] 60,000 to 80,000 jobs a year.”
‘According to Atlanta-based Haddow & Co, which tracks Class-A apartment performance within the Interstate 285 ring, the stock of more than 32,400 units tallied a 97.5% occupancy rate and more than $1,700/month average rents as of Q3 2016. But on its heels are another 11,400 units underway, with 10,000 more units planned. While there’s no definitive plans for concessions, Patterson said Related has added wiggle room in its pro forma for the two Atlanta properties to offer them if needed.’
‘Patterson said Related is eyeing more locations in Atlanta and beyond, despite the plethora of new product potentially hitting the market in the next 24 months. “There are markets out there other than Atlanta which are overbuilt today or about to be,” Patterson said, “but they’re not markets we’re active in right now.”
This is another version of a report I posted last week:
‘Lease concessions record highs, as landlords scramble to fill apartments. More than 26% of Manhattan leases signed in December included tenant giveaways’
‘In Manhattan during December, a record 26.4 percent of leases signed included some form of concession. In December of 2015, just 13.1 percent of leases included concessions. In Brooklyn, the percentage of leases signed last month with concessions reached 13.7 percent, more than double what it was a year ago. Last month median rents fell for the fifth time since June 2016. Advertised rents in the borough slipped 3.8 percent to hit $2,700, while the median net effective rent dropped 4.4 percent to hit $2,662. The median rental price for a studio was $2,409, a year-over-year drop of 3.3 percent. In new development, the median rent was $2,993, a fall of 6.5 percent.’
“The landlord is trying to protect the face [advertised] rent, they don’t want to telegraph that they are giving free rent,” said Jonathan Miller, the CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel and author of the report.’
‘We expected the trend to start to go down but it went down a little more than we expected it would,’ Delta Associates’ multifamily director Will Rich told Bisnow. Delta expects absorption will continue to drop over the next three years.’
‘It predicts a 9,033-unit per year average through 2019…the area is preparing for a record year of multifamily deliveries. More than 13,000 units are expected to deliver across the DC Metro area in 2017′
4,000 more than needed. You can just sit on them like the FB Canadians in the previous post, waiting for that big payoff.
Isn’t DC the area where landlords have omnipotence to continually raise rents forever?
Yes, and Manhattan and Miami beach real estate will always be valuable, even when it drops 20% in a year.
Yes, Blue, it is. I think of it this way: Absorption sits at 9000 units/per year, which means that they have to build at least 10,000 units before LLs have to even think about offering concessions. That’s still a lot of LL power.
But there are a few wild cards in DC:
1. It’s a very big area with commuting nightmares. You could have a glut on one side of town and a shortage on the other side of town with no way to funnel the residents to the empty units.
2. Trump etc freezing gov hiring and contractor jobs will affect the # of Millenials.
3. Weather: DC weather is not cold enough to drive retirees down south. It’s easier just to hole up on the few snowy days. And the kids and grandkids tend to be in the area.
4. And of course, we’re running out of Millenials. The younger wave is just out of college.
They’ve been offering concessions for months. Almost all major markets have been.
Hi Ben, I didn’t know that. So, if they’re offering concessions, then the absorption rate isn’t really 9000/year, right?
My guess is that there’s absorption for 3000 luxury apts and 6000 reg’lar folk apts (just to throw out some numbers). But of course all 9000 are luxury hot yoga and dogs parks and a Peet’s Coffee on the street. So what you’ll get are kids staying in mom’s basement and buddies doubling up in the luxe units, leaving enough units empty to force concessions.
9000/year
Essentially adding a city the size of Albany NY to DC every year? The rest of us aren’t making any more money than 20 years ago. Please stop.
9,000 is the estimate from the guys who just got it wrong. They are converting new, empty apartments into “pop-up” hotels all over the area.
“9000/year …Essentially adding a city the size of Albany NY to DC every year? ”
According to Census.gov, the population of the City of Albany, NY was estimated at 98,469 as of 7/1/2015.
……They got it wrong.
What percentage of them do you think would gobble up luxury high rise apartments?
The rest of us aren’t making any more money than 20 years ago. Please stop.
It is not the job of the gov to get you paid more. You get paid what you are worth.
not after trump arrives and rif n rolls the feds
what area/city has rising rents?
Santa Barbara’s rents are still climbing.
debt is so easy to create a caveman could do it.
FWIW, man-caves are expensive.
‘Concerns about a commercial real estate crisis? According to various sources, San Francisco’s commercial real estate market may be seeing a slow down in the city’s technology driven economy…as venture capital investments decline and tech firms slow their hiring from record paces. The extra space is a warning sign that the growth rate for some companies was unsustainable. Some startups took more space than they needed in the hopes of expanding later…’
‘the space on the market for sublease have asking rents about 17 percent below those of regular leases’
And there goes the profit. Golly, multi-family overbuilt, office too. Money losing tech companies. This could be one of those perfect storm thingys.
Pandora layoffs.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/12/pandora-layoffs-job-cuts-and-earnings-guidance-for-q4.html
I think I noted a while back the canary in the coalmine that I heard:
The “official” vacancy rate (as measured by the percent of space NOT subject to a lease) was approximately 5%. A very strong market.
However, if you added space that was leased, but vacant (ie. a company was responsible for paying rent, but didn’t have employees to occupy the space), that vacancy rate rose to closer to 20%.
Same stuff happened during the dotcom boom/bust.
5% vs 20%: sounds like a recipe for a sudden, violent adjustment, no?
So, to be clear, we don’t currently have any investments in the Bay Area, so I’m not talking my book.
That said, it is hard to say if the 5%/20% differential will lead to a violent adjustment or not.
Yes, it is true that the same thing (tenants leasing space in advance of need) happened in the Dotcom, which was fuel for the crash. However, many of the businesses of that era had no revenue, or no prospect of ever being profitable. I remember hearing a pitch on a company where the business model was “getting eyeballs” (my shoeshine boy moment).
What led to the violent adjustment then was massive numbers of corporate failures combined with too much space being built.
My own perspective is that today there will be lots of business failures…but mainly in younger/smaller companies (fewer stories like Theranos, lots more non-stories from <50 employee start-ups).
Could enough happen at once that will lead to the 5% “official” number rise to a level where tenants have a lot of power (leading to a rapid adjustment)? Maybe. It is also possible that there is an extended period of pain, without a sudden, violent adjustment.
Think Groupon vs. Webvan. Groupon is not a great company, and likely to slowly slide to oblivion (slowly releasing excess space back onto the market). Webvan crashed hard, and left a massive crater of vacant space in its wake.
I’d say the business model hasn’t changed, it’s still:
1. Get lots of eyeballs (advertising focused) or money losing customers (food delivery,etc)
2. ?
3. PROFIT!!!!
If there’s a downturn, advertising might get hit hard — I don’t think advertising is very effective (other than search advertising), and with digital you have a better ability to see how much it sucks (versus print & TV).
If there’s a downturn, advertising might get hit hard
That was the thinking heading into the last downturn—because historically, that has been the case.
However, during the GFC, it didn’t follow the expected pattern; online advertising held up much better than expected.
My interpretation (and I could be wrong) was that perhaps the financial pressure of the crisis helped accelerate the already-underway switch from print to online.
I’ve seen plenty of commercial empty space since I got to San Jose in August. Hasn’t gotten noticeably worse…but hasn’t gotten any better either. Plenty of room in the parking lots too. But at the same time traffic on/over/under the interstates sucks.
Here we arrive at the real reason for the universal free money:
Work sucks.
–
“A woman spends her Friday night polishing spoons, cleaning tables and serving food at a truck stop in the middle of nowhere. On her tired feet for nearly the entirety of her eight-hour shift, she must also contend with lecherous men, rude diners and poor tippers. Barely able to keep her eyes open, she drives the empty highway home, where she will wake up her sleeping child, only to kiss him goodnight. Then, she will share her profits of the evening with the babysitter.”
“You might wrestle with the temptation to believe that if she simply had the money in her pocket, she could take the night off work, spend quality time with her son, and avoid the experience of smiling through borderline sexual harassment from her customers. No, American morality teaches us that to rob this woman of the hell of her horrible job would do her a great disservice; that as she relaxes with a glass of wine and watches her son play, she will soon feel overwhelmed with depression. Without waiting tables, her life has no meaning.”
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/14/the-pursuit-of-happiness-the-american-cultural-case-for-a-universal-basic-income/
WTF?
Articles like these are why the left consistently gets schlonged by snake oil peddlers.
I know, I had to laugh reading the crap from salon. Sorry it was not housing related.
–
“Most people don’t like work, don’t want to work and would have better lives if they could spend less time at work. In the depths of their souls, most people are aware of this reality.”
“They could dedicate themselves to the artistic or artisanal project they once felt too tired to consider making part of their weekly routine.”
–
Yes. When I get my free money, I’m going to take up my lifelong passion that I’ve always wanted to do, but I never could because I always had to work. Finger painting. I could paint cats. I could even paint dogs, and birds, and stuff.
I got your free money right here…
Don’t buy a $250,000 house with money you don’t have. There’s half a million for you.
The baby is another half a million.
Enjoy your painting!
Thanks Blue!
For my first masterpiece, it will be a picture of a blue sky.
In pretty much every generation and across all races/cultures/etc, you hear the stories of: “My parents worked hard, tough jobs for long hours so that I could get an education and have a better life.”
These days, the Left is saying, basically: “We’ll give your kid that college education for free, so you don’t have to worry about that anymore. In addition, we’ll just give you money outright so you don’t have to work very much at all.” And all the factories, stores and restaurants will be full of robots and automation.
Wow, that sounds great. Where do I sign up?
Sure, it sounds great, until the Cylons decide to rebel.
Eloi.
These days, the Left is saying, basically: “We’ll give your kid that college education for free, so you don’t have to worry about that anymore.
If you consider the cost of tuition at state universities today compared to what it was just a few decades ago, it used to be pretty close to free in many states.
So, what happened? In other words why did state tuition go up?
At least in CA, it wasn’t because income taxes went down.
I know that growth in pension spending has outpaced other spending increases over the past several decades (http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/pensions_spending; Note the red areas in the graphs), but that probably doesn’t account for the need to charge more for in-state tuition.
So, why was in-state tuition cheaper a few decades ago?
Because the available money went up (e.g. easier to get student loans — hmmm, sound similar to housing?), and the number of administrators skyrocketed. Plus, I hear many schools have joined the “amenities race”, and of course, there’s all that spending on sports….
And that’s been true for just about all colleges
You can probably find a better source of information than me. I do recall reading somewhere that the typical state government used fund 3/4 of the costs of a bachelor’s degree and it’s now fallen to about half. So the share borne by the students and their parents has doubled. There’s also a lot of concern about the costs of non-faculty “administrators”, the costs of which have doubled at some schools from 7% of the total to 14%.
So, the combined answer seems to be:
1. The cost of college has gone up;
a. In part due to an “arms race” for amenities;
b. In part due to more of the school’s budgets going toward adminstration;
2. Costs are able to go up in significant part because government is subsidizing loans for people to pay for these higher costs; and
3. States are paying a smaller proportion of overall costs (which may or may not be a smaller nominal amount).
People like to discount #2, but I don’t think it can be ignored–one reason why I think Bernie’s “free college” was crazy. If you want something over-consumed, drop the price to $0.
one reason why I think Bernie’s “free college” was crazy. If you want something over-consumed, drop the price to $0.
It doesn’t seem to have ruined Europe yet…
Arguably, it’s still not “free” even if there is no tuition cost—in that it takes a significant investment of one’s time to “consume” this good, time that one could be earning something employed elsewhere…
A friend of mine is a Spanish citizen. He stayed with my family his senior year in high school. In order to get into the college program of his choice (a STEM field), he needed to pass extensive testing…the SAT is a joke in comparison. Not even close.
If that was the metric here in the US, that you could get free tuition to study computer science if, and only if, you passed extensive testing, well, that would be a different story.
But here in the US, everyone is a special snowflake, and deserves to study whatever they want regardless of their ability…and that is why it’s a bad idea.
promissory notes with empty promises.
Radnor Arlington, VA Housing Prices Crater 15% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/radnor-ft-myer-heights-arlington-va/home-values/
nvar.com shows arlington ,va up yoy dec to dec
try again
‘Two of the most popular Washington markets saw prices decline in 2016. Listing service MRIS reports the median price of a house or a condo that sold in Alexandria City in 2016 was 1 percent lower than 2015. The median price in Arlington County last year was down 1.8 percent from 2015. Arlington and Alexandria were the only local jurisdictions to see declines in 2016 prices versus 2015.’
http://wtop.com/money/2017/01/housing-prices-were-cheaper-in-2-local-communities-in-2016/
‘Manassas Park was the most affordable place to buy a home in December. Its median price was $250,000, down from $324,925 in December 2015. Arlington County’s median price dropped to $550,000 in 2016 from $560,000 in 2015. Alexandria’s median price dropped to $495,000 from $499,900.’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/where-we-live/wp/2017/01/11/washington-home-prices-in-2016-match-record-set-during-housing-boom/?utm_term=.c60e306c9d67
I ran some calculations using Redfin’s data for the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs, California area), dividing active plus pending listings by the rate of sales over the last six months, to get an estimate of how much inventory is out there by price range:
$5+ Million - 5.2 years of inventory
$2.5 - $5M - 3.3 years
$1 - $2.5M - 20.2 months
$750k - $1M - 14.5 months
$600k - $750k - 10.2 months
$500k - $600k - 9 months
$400k - $500k - 7.5 months
$300k - $400k - 4.6 months
—————–Median sold price for the area = $300k—————
$225k - $300k - 3.4 months
$150k - $225k - 3.1 months
$50k - $150k - 2.2 months
So would this be thought of as a healthy market? There are over 1,200 listings at $750k and above, many of which are seeing multiple price reductions with other sellers holding firm on price. But the time it would take to clear that inventory seems a little scary versus homes below the $300k median price selling quite briskly.
Although a weak Canadian dollar has taken its toll, buyers from Seattle, Portland, SF and LA seem to be strong in this second home market.
How does this typically play out when the high end starts to stagnate?
Of more interest, how does this play out after prices fall 30%?
Do you think the 30% drop will be uniform for all price levels? How soon will it happen?
It happened for a moment 8 years ago. I expected it to go down a second significant leg, and then a third. Yet it went back up! So we have that to replay and see if the game turns out differently or not. None of the problems of 10 years ago have been fixed, they are bigger.
I don’t know what will happen, but I’m watching from the bleachers with a big bowl of popcorn.
but the weather is great in CA!
Yes it is. We are selling our home that sits on Indian Land (a common thing in Palm Springs), but keeping two less expensive single family homes in the area. So if the crash happens, at least we off-loaded the most expensive one.
This is a stunningly beautiful area. Unlike other areas, very few new homes are being built. I am sure Texas and Nebraska have their charms, but they wouldn’t work for me.
It’s pretty funny actually, when the Indians decide not to renew the land lease. Happened here.
palm springs will pick up in the summer
you need 100+ degrees to bring out the shoppers
Jacksonville, OR Housing Prices Crater 12% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/jacksonville-or/home-values/
Allen, TX Housing Prices Crater 19% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/allen-tx/market-trends/
A lot of the richest counties surround D.C. This happened during the end of Bush and all throughout Obama. Anyone see how Trump’s policies could FINALLY bring housing down in DC?
Prices are already falling in Alexandria and Arlington, VA. Probably some CIA guys packing as I type.
no one here in N VA comments on the RIF n Roll trump could whip on the area. Turnover remains high w nvar.com showing a drop in nov and an increase in dec ???
re declines nov/dec and trump coming should cause non essentials worry
“Anyone see how Trump’s policies could FINALLY bring housing down in DC?”
I don’t see how his policies could not lower housing cost in DC.
Keeping in mind this is from The Washington comPost there is still probably some truth in it.
Trump has a plan for government workers. They’re not going to like it.
By Lisa Rein November 21, 2016
President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress are drawing up plans to take on the government bureaucracy they have long railed against, by eroding job protections and grinding down benefits that federal workers have received for a generation.
Hiring freezes, an end to automatic raises, a green light to fire poor performers, a ban on union business on the government’s dime and less generous pensions — these are the contours of the blueprint emerging under Republican control of Washington in January.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/21/trump-republicans-plan-to-target-government-workers-benefits-and-job-security/
Yeah - I read that article. Gives me hope. Funny (true) story. I was at a an open house in NOVA and asked the broker affect she thought Trump would have on DC home prices. Her answer…. Oh it will have positive effect - Trump is all about real estate! ha ha ha
“I don’t see how his policies could not lower housing cost in DC.”
It’s not that hard to see if you open your eyes. Have you considered the possibility that he might not actually do everything his campaign suggested he would do, similarly to every one of his predecessors in the WH?
‘the possibility that he might not actually do everything his campaign suggested he would do’
Well he’ll have his hands full cleaning up the many bubbles previous governments have created, not the least of which is the commercial real estate bubble. How many trillions have gone to money heaven in the bond market since July? Throw in several ongoing wars, one might think we should pull together after the election and try to solve problems.
“Well he’ll have his hands full cleaning up the many bubbles previous governments have created, not the least of which is the commercial real estate bubble.”
Exactly. And we have already seen how tricky these are to clean up. The 2006-2012 episode showed how a tiny hike in interest rates can precipitate a 1930s era financial crisis, given the presence of a ginormous bubble.
“Have you considered the possibility that he might not actually do everything his campaign suggested he would do,”
From what I know of DC area housing prices they must have job and income growth factored in, even if they just stagnate that should slow demand and logic would tell you the prices would come down.
Notice I said…
“Keeping in mind this is from The Washington comPost there is still probably some truth in it.”
If he’s really serious about draining the swamp, DC/NoVa housing prices could fall precipitously. No more Panem on the Potomac. No more “Army of Northern Virginia” comprised of tens of thousands of overpaid defense contractors and their self-licking ice cream cones.
Aw, jeebus, Donald, lord love ya. I’m not worthy.
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
.@FoxNews “Outgoing CIA Chief, John Brennan, blasts Pres-Elect Trump on Russia threat. Does not fully understand.” Oh really, couldn’t do…
7:16 PM - 15 Jan 2017
4,641 4,641 Retweets 16,699 16,699 likes
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Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
much worse - just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the build-up of Russian nukes. Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News?
7:29 PM - 15 Jan 2017
“tens of thousands of overpaid defense contractors and their self-licking ice cream cones.”
Who’s gonna make America great again?
Defense contractors that work within a budget.
“Defense contractors that work within a budget.” - also known as the Unicorns.
There has never been a President with the business savvy of Trump.
7 businessmen and their success or failure as US president
By Paul Brandus • Bankrate.com
…
There has never been a President with the business savvy of Trump
If you think not paying off your debts is good business. No more moochers.
You really believe an article that would compare George W Bush ’s business acumen to Trump’s?
20% offered to quit when trump got in-so far zero have left
I guess the 22nd will be a big moving day
‘If Maryland gets its wish, and the Trump Administration displays an ounce of wit, the powers that be will authorize the FBI to build its new multi-billion-dollar headquarters in Prince George’s County. It’s strictly a back-of-the-brain decision. The Prince George’s location would save time, effort and money. There’d be no need for skullduggery, stings or posing as Arabs. Corruption is right out there waiting for the indictments and the handcuffs.’
‘But now there’s even bigger trouble in the nation’s capital. The FBI is under investigation. The Justice Department’s inspector general is undertaking a review of allegations of misconduct by the FBI’s director, James B. Comey, and how he handled Hillary Clinton’s email investigation during the campaign. Now, if you can’t trust the FBI, whom can you trust?’
‘Prince George’s County is in competition with Virginia for the sleek new FBI building that will bring with it about 11,000 jobs. The sites Prince George’s offers are at the Greenbelt Metro and in Landover. Virginia has put forth the site of the GSA Franconia Warehouse Complex in Springfield. Virginia offers nothing by way of ready-made cases to be snatched from the hands of alleged amateur criminals such as the comic-strip variety to be found in Prince George’s. In the era of Bitcoin, Krugerrands and offshore accounts, they still deal in No. 10 white envelopes of Spiro T. Agnew’s day. The headquarters’ award is scheduled for March.’
‘The latest elected official to get caught with his fingers in the tambourine is Del. William A. Campos (D), a former PeeGee Council member, according to reports. Campos pleaded guilty to accepting $40,000-$50,000 in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for favors that included funneling government funds to business owners while serving on the Prince George’s County Council, according to federal prosecutors. Campos has resigned his seat in the House of Delegates. But federal authorities said there’s more. Campos’ resignation was followed the next day by that of a second Prince George’s delegate, Michael L. Vaughn, for “ongoing health problems.” But speculation is widespread that the breadcrumb trail may indicate otherwise.’
‘Campos’ guilty plea is the result of a continuing investigation into county liquor board activities that involve bribes by storeowners in return for favorable votes on proposals that would expand sales. U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein has said, “More than one legislator is under investigation,” according to reports.’
‘The rules of politics are the rules of the marketplace in Prince George’s. It may be if not the last, at least the foremost, of what are known as “pay-to-play” jurisdictions. (Baltimore City is not far behind. Gary Brown Jr., an aide to Mayor Catherine Pugh was indicted on charges of violating campaign fiancé laws. His appointment to a vacancy in the House of Delegates was rescinded.) Anyone who wants to do business in Prince George’s should arrive with an open checkbook, or at least a promissory note.’
http://splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/maryland-s-prince-george-s-county-in-running-for-new-fbi-hq
Do a better job out of the old building, then maybe we can think about a new building.
What’s the FBI done for us lately? Other than release a guy who had his brains scrambled, to perform target practice at the Ft. Lauderdale airport.
Have they nailed any banksters? No? I didn’t think so.
He-he, they finally got her after all, despite the claims of not knowing where she went.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-16/fbi-arrests-widow-orlando-nightclub-shooter
Interesting. Last week I spent some time on the phone with the offices of my Senators and my Rep, as well as some state reps. I wuz pissed over the Ft. Lauderdale Airport shooting and said I was tired of the intelligence community using Florida for target practice and went on a rant about how the FBI and DOJ were pizzing on us if they couldn’t find the wife of the shooter at the Pulse Nightclub, and how smug they were about it.
Two of the staffers were particularly interested in my use of the phrase “using Florida for target practice” and asked me to repeat it. I suspect they were getting other angry calls besides mine as a result of the Ft. Lauderdale shooting.
50 years ago last night Max McGee…
“decided to break curfew and spend the night with two flight attendants that he had met in the team’s hotel bar (in the language of the time they are “stewardesses,” a measure of the cultural distance between then and now). After all, he wasn’t planning to get off the bench in the game the next afternoon against the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs.”
He got back to the hotel where the team was at 6:30 in the morning.
The dude he was backing up hurt his shoulder on the third play of the first Super Bowl.
This is a 2:40 highlight reel of the hungover old school McGee in the first Super Bowl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk-O2kMA65Q
Pretty cool article on…
The man behind the legend:
McGee’s story goes well beyond SB hangover
TIM LAYDEN
http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/12/29/max-mcgee-green-bay-packers-super-bowl-I
“The trend isn’t entirely negative, however. Subleasing opens up more affordable space at a time rents are near record highs. - as the space on the market for sublease have asking rents about 17 percent below those of regular leases, according to Cushman & Wakefield.”
Why take out a regular lease when you can get a sublease for 17 percent less?
“…a growing glut of luxury condos combined with a dwindling pool of foreigners willing to pay seven figures for a glitzy home in a glass and steel tower has experts like Cohen predicting a free fall in sales prices in the next 12 months. ‘It’s a complete stall,’ Cohen says. ‘There is nothing moving. Realtors are freaking out right now.’”
Nobody could have seen it coming!
I am thinking about retiring to Florida and have been keeping an eye on a Rental complex in Hollywood Florida where I used to live. In the last 6 months listed rents on a 2 bedroom have come down about $100 a month. They also mention to call for rent specials. I have not called.
With that said, rent is about 60% higher than it was 12 years ago so it still seems high to me as, unfortunately, my income has not gone up 60% in the last 12 years.
“With that said, rent is about 60% higher than it was 12 years ago so it still seems high to me as, unfortunately, my income has not gone up 60% in the last 12 years.”
Incomes going up more slowly than rents seems to be a fairly widespread problem, and it includes me. However, thanks in part to my lovely wife converting a large swath of her free time into work time, we have stayed afloat. And even after regular annual increases, our monthly rent has never approached what most San Diego homeowners apparently fork out, in the 30%+ of household income range.
We’re part of the 24%!
P.S. Can someone who understands Realtorspeak please parse this sentence?
“Although renting was cheaper, the study said not owning a home has a sizable financial cost.”
San Diego renters’ costs go up as homeowners’ drops
From 2007 to 2014, homeowner costs have dropped 17.8 percent while renters’ costs have gone up by 3 percent, Apartment List said.
Pictured: Broadstone Balboa Park in Bankers Hill. (Peggy Peattie)
San Diego homeowners who weathered the Great Recession have seen their housing costs drop while renters’ burden has swelled.
From 2007 to 2014, homeowner costs — including mortgage and maintenance expenditures — have dropped 17.8 percent while renters’ costs have gone up by 3 percent, said a new study from Apartment List Rentonomics that adjusted data for inflation.
The trend reflects what has happened in much of the nation as homeownership numbers drop to their lowest level since 1965 as home building lags behind demand. At the same time, low interest rates, either by refinancing or buying, have kept costs down for homeowners.
ownership-rate
In 2014, the median monthly rent for San Diego was $1,373, while a monthly mortgage payment was $2,261, Apartment List said. So the average San Diego homeowner paid $491 less a month in housing costs compared to 2007. The average renter paid $39 more a month.
Although renting was cheaper, the study said not owning a home has a sizable financial cost.
“This phenomenon may exacerbate inequality in our society,” wrote Andrew Woo, Apartment List data science director, “as those wealthy enough to invest in real estate benefit from lower interest rates, whereas minorities and younger Americans, hit by rising rents and student debt, risk being locked out of homeownership.”
San Diego homeowners enjoyed a bigger drop in costs than the rest of the nation. Woo attributed the gap to San Diego home prices falling more than the nationwide average during the housing crisis. Renter costs went up at about the same rate in San Diego as the rest of the nation.
About 52.2 percent of San Diego County residents owned their homes in 2014, according to the U.S. Census. The homeownership rate was about the same in 1950, but it rose to 58.6 percent in 1960 — the highest in San Diego’s recorded history of homeownership.
The rate slowly declined over the next few decades until it hit 58.2 percent in 2005 shortly before the housing crash. By 2010, as the recession was still affecting the market, homeownership dropped to 54.4 percent and continued to decline each year after that.
In 2014, the nationwide homeownership rate was 64 percent, 12 percent more than San Diego County. (Historically, the nationwide rate is always higher than San Diego.)
While affordability keeps some people out of the housing market, tight inventory is keeping others out. About 24 percent of San Diego County renters, who have strong credit scores and high incomes, can afford to buy a home but aren’t jumping into the market because of intense competition among qualified buyers for fewer and fewer properties, says a recent study from real estate website Zillow.
…
Sounds like they’re saying that sweet sweet equity gains are inevitable. And missing out on that is the cost of renting.
“Sounds like they’re saying that sweet sweet equity gains are inevitable. And missing out on that is the cost of renting.”
That did seem like the hidden assumption. And given the long history of U.S. federal government intervention to backstop home price appreciation, perhaps this is reasonable.
rising stock and home prices are a must in a centrally planned economy.
It is interesting how the nature of the centrally planned economy has changed. It used to be that they were communist in nature, and the government made decisions about what and how much was to be produced. There was no stock or housing market, but there were always shortages of pretty much everything as the plans were usually wrong and quotas were rarely achieved.
Fortunately our central planners aren’t deciding how many shoes or rolls of toilet paper are to be produced this year
However, a policy of command-and-control financially engineered housing price gains is a good way to create an artificial shortage, as investors snap up homes to get on the home equity wealth effect gravy train.
The only way investors buying homes creates an artificial shortage is if they keep those homes off the market (ie. not occupied by tenants).
Which is precisely what happened.
Chinese Ponzi markets are looking more shaky by the day.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-16/china-shares-head-for-longest-losing-streak-since-august-2015
OT, Germany just bit back at Trump, one of the things said was that the US should build better cars if it wants Germans to buy them.
To which I reply, are you kidding me? When I wuz a pup, we had a VW bug. It was an awesome car. Fast forward to the 2000s, I struggled for years with a VW station wagon. Looked great, ran like schitt. I was always at the dealership, if I so much as looked at it the wrong way, something went bad, mainly emissions or cooling or electronics of some sort. The Florida heat literally fries the window mechanisms. Horrible. I will never buy a VW again, nor any German car, unless it is one of those vintage Mercedes sports coupes from the 1980s.
Now I have a Honda beater. Love it. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
To make a car for Germany, it needs to be designed to go 200 km/hr.
German engineering ain’t what it used to be.
OTOH, I think there’s a BMW plant somewhere around the Greenville area of South Carolina and I understand that people who work there are mostly happy with their jobs, so I don’t think we should be so hard on Germany in the car wars. Who really wants a Chevy? Ford’s not so bad, though. For me, it’s Ford or Japanese, maybe a Hyundai.
“…a BMW plant somewhere around the Greenville area…”
Wonder what the employees drive to work?
Probably Ford F-150s or Chevy Silverados.
I have only had one American car out of 50, it was a Jeep Grand Cherokee, needed more repairs than all the rest combined. Dumb stuff, like Jeep used to thin of wires.
Pd $3000 for my old volvo 740 went 260k and still sold it for $2800 5 yrs later.
Acura and Lexus are the best. If you cant afford them, then Mazda.
Years ago, we had a Cherokee with the inline-6. I don’t remember how the fit/finish held up, but that engine was a rockstar.
Yes, great i6 engine…everything else, especially electrical is junk. And 18mpg on a good day. Lots of chronic problems like, everyone’s exhaust manifold cracks.
+1. I’ve driven an econobox there; those high-end cars overtake you _awfully_ quickly on the autobahn when your speed delta is at least 100km/hr+. You have to watch that rear-view like a hawk…
Rode a bus from Passau to Munich. On the “no speed limit” sections of the road I saw quite a few high end hatchbacks zoom past us, though I don’t recall seeing a single Porsche, Audi, Beamer or Benz blow past us. The passers were probably doing around 200 kph (the bus was doing 120 kph) and they had their engines very wound up.
Drivers over there are super disciplined. No texting or passing on the right (you can get a hefty fine for passing on the right). Also, staying in the passing lane is a serious no-no if you aren’t passing. You pass and get back into the “slow lane”.
The no speed limit sections seemed rather short (maybe 10 km at most). It seemed kind of pointless, as you’d have to slow down again after just a few minutes. But for the Germans that seems to be a sacrosanct right.
But for the Germans that seems to be a sacrosanct right.
I’ve heard it said that unlimited speed is for Germans what unlimited guns are for Americans.
German drivers on the autobahn are incredibly disciplined and good drivers.
German drivers in the city, well, that’s another matter (based on personal experience AND confirmed by a German friend).
I’ve driven a French car (Renault 21) in Spain, and there’s no way I’d have wanted to drive it in Germany — way too soft sprung.
German drivers in the city, well, that’s another matter
Agreed, and as pedestrian I was extra wary when crossing streets, even at crosswalks with the walk signal being green.
A college friend of mine lost both parents on the autobahn.
I’d say that most American cars can handle 200 kph. Sure, they’re softer sprung than German cars, but export models could have tighter suspensions (just like how Euro cars sold here often have softer suspensions than back at home). The Germans just like to drive German cars. During my time in Munich I saw very few Italian or French cars.
Also, beaters are unknown over there. The TUV inspections make it cost prohibitive to own and operate one. I recall an old Top Gear episode where the lads had the TUV boys inspect an “older” (not quite a beater, maybe 8 years old) car from the UK. The laundry list of repairs they made was rather long and pricey. This was a car that could pass the UK’s MOT inspection (which by American standards is draconian)
The last German car I owned was MINI (yes, they’re make in Oxford, England; but are BMW tech). I still have a bad taste in my mouth from how often it broke and how much it cost to fix after the warranty expired. Fortunately it had a 4 year warranty, but after just one year of no warranty I decided to get rid of it. Amazingly, I was able to get 60% of the original purchase price for it (it only had 30K miles). Fun to drive, but what a piece of junk. Even the crappiest American car (Dodge Dart?) is head and shoulders above it in reliability.
Anything made in EU is junk.
Go test drive a new BMW, it will change your mind.
Knock-knock.
https://i.sli.mg/NaghYn.jpg
The Russians wrote that Knock-knock joke.
John Brennan said so. It must be true.
Seeing Brennan and Trump go at each other makes me feel like I’m living in a banana republic.
Oh, is that right? Well, how does THIS make ya feel, soldier?
“Just one week after thousands of US troops arrived in Poland to “support NATO’s Anti-Russian buildup” across Eastern Europe, 300 U.S. Marines from Camp Lejeune landed in Norway on Monday for a six-month deployment, marking the first time since World War II that foreign troops have been allowed to be stationed there, in a deployment breaking with decades of tradition by Norway not to host foreign forces, and angering Norway’s Arctic neighbor Russia, according to Reuters.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-16/us-marines-land-norway-first-time-world-war-ii-angering-russia
http://picpaste.com/michelle.jpg
LOLZ!
with apartment rent increases slowing to a crawl or even reversing, while home prices continue to race higher.
makes sense
The red flags are proliferating as the long-deferred financial reckoning day slouches closer.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-16/tumbling-pound-rattles-global-markets-chinese-stock-slide-forces-government-interven
Germany has a point: the neocons’ military adventurism and “regime change” fiascos have been a prime factor in the hordes of refugees pouring into Europe, while US-made cars are simply not competitive in a place like Germany.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/16/germany-hits-back-at-trump-criticism-of-refugee-policy-and-bmw-tariff-threat
Still, the Germans have been welcoming the refugees with open arms, unlike the Hungarians, who removed the welcome mat. As a Hungarian in Budapest told me “we don’t have a Muslim problem, because we don’t have any Muslims.” I don’t recall seeing a single burqa or hijab in Budapest. In Munich it was a very different story.
Meet the Trumps: America’s new first family
Agence France-Presse / 11:28 AM January 16, 2017
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/862575/meet-the-trumps-americas-new-first-family#ixzz4VwQIkOVL
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
Englewood, CO Housing Prices Crater 35% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/englewood-co/market-trends/
NAFTA didn’t just screw over American workers - it screwed over Mexico’s small independent farmers, too. Now, with the peso sinking like a stone, Mexico’s agricultural sector and small farmers and producers might finally get some relief from competing with subsidized US agribusinesses.
http://wolfstreet.com/2017/01/15/peso-crash-inflation-mexico-to-cut-its-dependence-on-us-food-imports/
The thing is that in Mexico there is no agribusiness, as farmland ownership is limited to a few hundred hectares. This means that if you have fertile soil on you tiny farm, that you will use it to grow high value crops like tomatoes, strawberries or avocados, which you can sell for a higher profit than corn.
Another thing gumming up the works in Mexico is the ejido system:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejido
In Mexican system of government, an ejido (Spanish pronunciation: [eˈxiðo], from Latin exitum) is an area of communal land used for agriculture, on which community members individually farm designated parcels and collectively maintain communal holdings. Ejidos are registered with Mexico’s National Agrarian Registry (Registro Agrario Nacional). The system of ejidos was based on an understanding of the Aztec calpulli and the medieval Spanish ejido.
…
Ejidatarios do not actually own the land, but are allowed to use their allotted parcels indefinitely as long as they do not fail to use the land for more than two years. They can pass their rights on to their children.
Since they do not own the land they have no incentive to improve its infrastructure, as editatarios know that if they do, the land might be taken away from them. Thus their yields remain low. Most of Mexico’s corn is grown on ejidos. And even though the ejidos are farmed by peasants they cannot compete on price with US agribusiness.
So tortillas are now about 30 US cents per pound. While that doesn’t seem too high by US standards, where you might pay $2-3 for a pound of (nasty American style, which taste bitter) corn tortillas, for poor Mexicans any rise in price for tortillas (which are fortified with soybean protein) is very problematic.
They’re out there and they’re laughing.
Project Veritas just dropped its undercover video (Part 1) on the attempt to disrupt the inauguration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHZSfhd1X_8&feature=youtu.be
Butyric acid. Nice, real nice.
Time to get the big case of popcorn from Coscto.
Don’t put a run in your hose while lifting it off the shelf.
Aw, geez, enrager, that was awesome. I’m not worthy…
I can’t believe they actually had the meeting at Comet Ping-Pong.
Yeah, you can’t make this stuff up, can you?
The truth is far more stranger and interesting than fiction, in some cases anyways . . .
Bill Ayers must be so proud.
Heh, that’s ED ZACHARY wut I wuz thinkin’. If Bill Ayers had a son…
I’d almost be willing to bet these guys come from wealthy families, just like Ayers, whose father supported him. In fact I knew a couple of these types back in our old ‘hood, jeff.
I think that guy on the left with the serious, thoughtful expression on his face went to Exeter. Or Andover.
At least the police are on the ball there. Trump should probably stay away.
Cops: Greenwich Republican Insulted Town Worker, Then Pinched Her Groin
GREENWICH, Conn. — A well-known Greenwich Republican called a town worker “nothing but a bloodsucking lazy union employee” and later reached in from behind to place his hand between her legs and pinch her in the groin area, according to the police arrest warrant.
Christopher von Keyserling, 71, of 402 Post Road E., was arrested in Greenwich Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon and charged with fourth-degree sexual assault, police said. He posted $2,500 bond and was released to appear in court on Jan. 25.
http://newtown.dailyvoice.com/police-fire/cops-greenwich-republican-insulted-town-worker-then-pinched-her-groin/696124/#.WHgE0RytMVc.facebook
LOLZ, you searched long and hard for that one. Get a job.
“and later reached in from behind to place his hand between her legs and pinch her in the groin area, according to the police arrest warrant.”
Mighty needs a job with CNN
Even if what she says happened and that is an “if”.
What you have printed here Mighty is FAKE NEWS!
A Lie!
Von Keyserling, RTM member, arrested on criminal charge
By Robert Marchant Updated 4:24 pm, Thursday, January 12, 2017
Von Keyserling was arrested Wednesday on a warrant issued in connection with an incident that took place Dec. 9 on Parsonage Road, according to the arrest report. He was arrested at Town Hall.
His lawyer, Phil Russell, described the charge on Thursday as unrealistic.
Von Keyserling, 71, of East Putnam Avenue, Cos Cob, was released on a $2,500 bond and given a court date of Jan. 25.
Reached by phone, von Keyserling deferred comment to his attorney, Phil Russell. “It’s a sad situation,” von Keyserling said.
Russell said the incident in question, at the Nathaniel Witherell Home, could not be described as sexual or aggressive in nature. He said the charge stemmed from a “jocular” moment with a woman at a gathering at the town-owned senior facility.
“In almost 30 years of practicing law in this town, I would say Mr. von Keyserling is the one person I would never suspect of having any inappropriate sexual predilections,” Russell said, noting his client is in his 70s.
“There was a playful gesture, in front of witnesses. It was too trivial to be considered anything of significance. To call it a sexual assault is not based in reality,” the lawyer said.
Von Keyserling will enter a plea of not guilty at his upcoming court appearance, his lawyer said.
According to the arrest warrant on file at Superior Court, the incident began when von Keyserling had a brief political discussion with a 57-year-old female employee at the Witherell. The discussion turned acrimonious, according to the court papers, and the woman went to her office.
The encounter continued in the office, and when the woman rose to leave, she was pinched on her rear end by von Keyserling, according to the affidavit.
She later told investigators she detected “an evil look in his eyes” when they had a brief verbal exchange as she was leaving the office.
The woman reported the incident to the administration at the Witherell. On Dec. 16, she decided to pursue the matter with police.
Police reviewed videotape of the office. According to the affidavit, it was unclear where von Keyserling’s hand was when the woman walked past him.
The sequence of events documented on the video was consistent with the woman’s account, according to court papers, and she was seen pointing a finger at von Keyserling in a disapproving, agitated manner on the video.
People like that shouldn’t work at Witherell. Some of these old folks have dementia and say and do weird stuff sometimes.
They’re dunb@ss radicals getting busted like this.
Leaked Audio of Fascist Plan to Blockade Trump Inauguration
Published on Jan 14, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6yA2hS2bFo
“New York Real Estate Prices Plunge In 4Q As Listing Days and Discounts Soar”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-13/new-york-real-estate-prices-plunge-4q-listing-days-and-discounts-soar
The Davos Elites have a major problem, all right: thanks to the alt-media, millions of people are on to their globalist swindles.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-16/major-problem-emerges-davos-elite
Meet the world’s 8 richest men who own as much as poorest 50%
Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith 5 hours ag
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/world-richest-men-eight-oxfam-own-poorest-half-50-per-cent-bill-gates-warren-buffett-amancio-ortega-a7529741.html
heh, Monica Crowley’s out of the Trump Admin, due to allegations of plagiarism. Good. Never liked the woman, a real rah-rah neocon cheerleader and shrub fangirl. Don’t let the door hit her where the good lord split her.
Did you see what Ben C said? He has no clue, but he will hire smart people in HUD…. Just like Trump said. How far down will this delegating go??
Any and all neocons should be regarded as Trojan Horses for the Oligopoly.
Mooch chimes in
I guess she’s not proud of her country anymore.
Michelle Obama tweets support for Lewis
BY LYDIA WHEELER - 01/16/17 12:24 PM EST
First lady Michelle Obama on Monday tweeted her support for Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who is in the midst of a very public feud with President-elect Donald Trump.
“Thinking of Dr. King and great leaders like @repjohnlewis who carry on his legacy. May their example be our call to action,” said the tweet posted on the first lady’s account on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/314464-michelle-obama-tweets-support-for-lewis
One of the best things about the Obamas finally packing their bags is that we will no longer be treated with fawning “lifestyle” columns about how Michelle Obama forever redefined fashion. Retch….
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/people/refined-power-dressing-modern-woman-british-designers-feeling/
Why does Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) have his boxers in bunch? Is he worried about his voting bloc’s cheese?
I was wondering how the TBTF banks became bigger after the 2008 financial crisis; how one core component of the problem, lack of skin in the game for mortgage lenders was addressed, then the fix removed; and how not a single executive was prosecuted. This is because the federal government is under regulatory capture by the FIRE sector.
Eisenhower talked about the danger of the military industrial complex in his farewell address:
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.
The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocation, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
It’s not just the MIC today; its the FIRE sector, the medical sector, the educational sector - social policy is designed to privatize profits and socialize costs.
Bernanke going to Citadel; Geithner going to Warburg Pincus - this is considered acceptable because the federal government is under regulatory capture by the FIRE sector.
I was wondering how the TBTF banks became bigger after the 2008 financial crisis
Heavy regulation favors the large players. They have the resources to wade through the regulations. Smaller guys do not.
Dodd Frank led to more consolidation in banking.
The ACA led to more consolidation among health insurers.
I suppose when lobbyists are given a large role in crafting legislation, it will favor those who sent the lobbyists.
So, lobbyists ought not to be crafting legislation. Why that happens and how to prevent it should be investigated.
It happens because the legislators refuse to do their job.
Chris Dodd said it best
“What do they expect me to write, a 100,000-page bill? This is far beyond the capacity, the expertise, the knowledge of a Congress” to detail every new regulation,
When the real truth is that 100,000 page laws shouldn’t exist.
So instead they write a framework for the SEC to follow, and every banker in America to hire their attorneys to comment on the rules.
It happens because the legislators refuse to do their job.
I don’t know that it’s a refusal to do their jobs:
• Complexity breeds loopholes.
• Simple laws are harder to defeat.
• Congress starts with the intent to write a complex law which doesn’t deal with core destructive issues.
The focus on writing complex regulation indicates an unwillingness to deal with core problems. Dodd’s lament is a red herring, serving to misdirect attention to the “need” for absurdly complex laws.
Seems to me a compromised Congress sets out to make ineffectual, Byzantine laws then creates the stage to fulfill that vision. Then “laments” the end product with a ‘What can you do?’ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Trump supporter: ‘No more apologies’
By Neil Vigdor Updated 7:42 am, Monday, January 16, 2017
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Trump-supporter-No-more-apologies-10856824.php
What’s to apologize for?
The school received threats, the President of the school went on Fox and said they were going anyway.
They are north of $400k now.
All-Black Talladega Marching Band Raises $320,000 to Play Trump Inauguration (Updated)
Paul Resnikoff January 13, 2017
Not one marching band from Washington, DC agreed to play Trump’s upcoming Inauguration. Those bands, which hail from inner-city high schools and the largely-black Howard University, played both of Obama’s Inaugural parades.
Talledega College’s marching band has taken an entirely different approach. The historically-black band not only agreed to play Trump’s parade, they’ve raised more than $300,000 to do it. In fact, their GoFundMe page has gone absolutely wild over the past 24 hours.
How wild? Less than 24 hours ago, DMN reported that the band was $10,000 below their funding goal. That story was then picked up by Fox News.
Early this morning, the band is more than 500% over their mark. Actually, in the time it took to write a few paragraphs, the band has already added another $3,000 or so.
All of which means ‘The Great Tornado’ from Talladega is not only packing their bags, they’re buying new instrument and uniforms for the event.
Hey, might as well upgrade the bus while they’re at it. It’s a long ride from Alabama!
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/01/13/talladega-marching-band-trump-inauguration/