NYC Skyscrapers Sit Vacant, Exposing Risk City Never Predicted
(Bloomberg) — The atrium at 60 Wall Street was once a thoroughfare for thousands of Deutsche Bank AG employees.
These days it’s eerily quiet even during rush hour on a weekday morning. The occasional pedestrian crosses between Pine Street and Wall Street, the cavernous space utilized as a subway exit or a place to nap at one of the unused bistro tables.
The 47-story skyscraper, owned by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund and Paramount Group, has sat empty since 2021, when Deutsche Bank — its only tenant — relocated to Columbus Circle. The owners are using the opportunity for an expensive renovation in a bid to lure new tenants looking for an updated space.
So far, there haven’t been any takers, as financial firms either seek out shiny new digs in Hudson Yards, or shrink their footprints altogether with the option of work from home amid a slow deal environment.
It’s contributing to unprecedented amounts of unused office space in New York. Vacancies reached a record 22.7% this year, after decades of an average rate that never surpassed 11% a year. The city’s budget experts say the vacancy rate won’t dip below 19% before at least 2026.
While New York is showing signs of bouncing back from the pandemic — residential rents are surging, tourists are back and the lines at Sweetgreens are long again — offices remain a laggard, particularly in Lower Manhattan.
Paramount didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
NYC’s Record-Breaking Rents Squeeze Tenants Across Boroughs
Asking rents for office space will “end the year below pre-pandemic levels” and probably hit their lowest in a decade, according to the city’s latest forecasts. Asking rents in Manhattan offices averaged $75.13 per square foot in April 2023, down 50 cents from a year prior, according to Colliers.
It’s a worry for city officials, who for the last decade have relied on an ever-expanding commercial real estate sector for taxes to pay for schools, cops and trash collection. Commercial property taxes contribute about 20% of the city’s total tax revenue — with office buildings, specifically, contributing 10%. And as those revenues are flattening, the city’s expenses are forecast to keep growing, creating challenges for Mayor Eric Adams’s agenda.
In the eight years before the pandemic, tax revenue grew an average of 4.7% per year, roughly matching city-funded spending, according to Ana Champeny, the vice president of research at the Citizens Budget Commission. That enabled former Mayor Bill de Blasio to hire thousands of new employees and expand city-funded programs without having to consider layoffs or cost-cuts to balance the budget.
“It all goes back to all the people who say that de Blasio was the luckiest mayor,” said New York State Deputy Comptroller Rahul Jain. “There are a lot of hard decisions that he did not have to make, because the revenues just kept rolling in,” Jain added. “That’s just not what this administration is facing right now.”
City spending for the next five years on expenses including education, health care, pay raises for unionized city employees and the extraordinary and unexpected surge in the number of asylum-seekers is projected to grow 3.9% a year, exceeding projected annual tax revenue by more than a percentage point, Champeny said. To balance the budget, city agencies are being asked to cut spending, either by letting vacant positions go unfilled, or trimming back services like library hours and meals for seniors.
Eric Adams Is Starving New York City’s Universal Pre-K Program
The city’s independent budget monitor agreed with the city’s estimates of slow growth in both tax revenue and total revenue over the five years of the financial plan, but estimated total property tax revenue growth will be higher than the city’s estimates from 2025 to 2027. All of the city’s taxes related to commercial real estate are likely to grow slowly, if at all, the independent monitor found.
Still, the city’s tax base — which also includes sales and income taxes — is very diverse, said Michael Rinaldi, a Fitch Ratings analyst. Assessments also tend to lag changes in market value. “The gaps are real, but there are tools available” to manage them, he said.
When asked what he plans to do to help salvage the commercial real estate market, Mayor Adams has repeatedly suggested the city and state should make it easier for commercial office buildings to be converted into residential spaces.
That plan is still far from reality. A provision Governor Kathy Hochul included in the New York state budget that would have made it easier to facilitate the conversion fell apart in negotiations, and didn’t end up in the final budget.
“At some point in time, the city has to make a decision with respect to level of services they’re willing to provide,” said Rinaldi.
__________________
The following is a short excerpt from today’s World Affairs Brief regarding “white supremacists “. If it weren’t for the FBI and Fed agencies, none of this would exist.
The Deep State’s White Supremacist Marching Group: Just hours after Joe Biden told a televised audience that white supremacists were our nation’s greatest enemy, tens of burly guys with faces hidden with identical white head and neck masks, blue uniform T-shirts, white hats, dark glasses, banners, and shields marched on Washington DC in front of an eager media anxious to promote the new “klu klux klan.” Red State.com was quick to point out how they always seem to march just when it helps the government narrative about this new threat, just as they did when government agent provocateurs took over the “modern” KKK.
A past show by Joe Rogan and Matt Taibi also noticed their uniform dress—right down to the same color pants and uniform physique. It’s so fake, it’s laughable.
“How come they’re all wearing the same clothes?” Rogan shouted. “Have you ever seen anything that looks more like feds?” he said…“It’s like the 101 Airborne,” Taibbi responds.
Naturally, DHS secretary Mayorkas says he agrees with Joe Biden that “White Supremacy” is the “Greatest Threat” of Terrorism to the US. He might be right given that these guys work for the Deep State, the real terrorists in our nation.
End.
MOBQ receiving lots of chatter on the stocktwits board. AI seems hot today. GFAI also, but I’m waiting for a pullback.
I only got 10,000 shares of the first one before it started popping. I think I could really run. I intend to buy more and I pullback.
SPECIAL REPORT: Renters face steep rise in housing costs
https://www.sharonherald.com/news/special-report-renters-face-steep-rise-in-housing-costs/article_720761b5-f8c5-5858-99c9-1efd49b26201.html
Over the past month, reporters from CNHI News Service nationwide have sought to examine affordable housing issues, who is most impacted by a lack of it, and what solutions states and communities have implemented in this multipart special report.
Renters across the country are in the same predicament. Other cities like Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Louisville, Cincinnati, New York City and Raleigh, N.C., all saw year-over-year rental increases of more than 15%, the Redfin study found.
If rental rates fade or even fall, house prices could be hit hard here in the states. According to Redfin, there are only four places in which it is cheaper to buy than rent. The US house party is over if mortgage rates don’t level off or fall… unless price inflation remains high.
__________
There Are Only Four Major U.S. Metro Areas Where It’s Cheaper to Buy a Home Than Rent
https://www.redfin.com/news/rent-vs-own-2023/
•Buying is more affordable than renting in Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Houston.
•The largest homeownership premium is in the Bay Area, where it’s twice as expensive to buy than rent.
•Nationwide, the typical home costs an estimated 25% more per month to own than rent.
•A drop in mortgage rates would cause the homeownership premium to shrink. If rates fell to 5%, buying the typical home would only cost an estimated 10% more than renting it.
https://knowyouradversary.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Rentowningprem.png
RISMedia
Single-Family Rent Growth Continues to Fall
Annual single-family rent growth decreased to 4.3% in March, with this reading marking almost a year of straight decreases, according to a new report from CoreLogic.
CoreLogic’s latest Single-Family Rent Index for March found that while overall rent growth remains slightly elevated above pre-pandemic rates, higher-priced property gains are normalizing. In addition, while rent growth slowed to its lowest rate since February 2021, single-family rents continued to increase, and the cumulative gain since February 2020 has totaled 23.2%.
CoreLogic examines four tiers of rental prices to gain a detailed view of single-family rents. Year-over-year rent growth slowed in all four tiers in March, but the lowest tier posted the highest growth, suggesting that a lack of affordability continues to pressure budgets amid low inventory of low-cost rentals.
The national single-family rent growth across the four tiers, and the year-over-year changes, were as follows:
•Lower-priced (75% or less than the regional median): up 6.7%, down from 13.4% last year
•Lower-middle priced (75% to 100% of the regional median): up 5.3%, down from 14.1% last year
•Higher-middle priced (100% to 125% of the regional median): up 4.3%, down from 14.5% last year
•Higher-priced (125% or more than the regional median): up 2.9%, down from 12.9% last year
•Attached versus detached: Attached single-family rental prices grew by 5% year over year in March, compared with the 3.2% increase for detached rentals
Major takeaway:
Of the 20 metro areas the report tracks, CoreLogic found that Charlotte, North Carolina posted the highest year-over-year increase in single-family rents at 7.7%. Orlando, Florida and St. Louis, Missouri registered the next highest annual gains, a respective 6.6% and 6.4%. Las Vegas and Phoenix saw annual rent price declines, both at -0.2%.
“Single-family rent price gains continued to slow year over year in March, with growth at about one-third of the rate as observed one year earlier,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “The slowdown is more pronounced in the higher-priced tier, where growth is now about the same as it was before the pandemic. However, gains in the lower tier are still twice the pre-pandemic rate, with all tracked metro areas posting increases at that price level.”
Please take the time to read this. It really explains a lot. Text copied from link below.
_______________________________________
Why Don’t Christians Repent Today?
Why do nations crumble and new nations arise? Why have many Christian nations disappeared, being replaced by pagan ones? In the last times, when the entire world will plot against the Lord and His Christ, Christianity will struggle for survival. This will require adherence to the true faith in Jesus Christ.
Why is God abandoning His people? Perhaps because He’s a vengeful God? Certainly not! Rather, He is the perfect God Who desires perfect sons, who yearn to reach perfection; sons who keep His commandments faithfully and hold on to the faith that was placed in their hands. Our God wants only one thing from His people: faithfulness. That is, He desires that they obey Him with faith and not lie to Him; that they not feign devoutness while living in sin; that they not talk about self-denial while living egotistically with lust of power and vainglory; that they not take pride in Orthodoxy while betraying it in their dialogues.
The Lord asks that His people be faithful to Him, and only one thing preserves this faithfulness in the human soul: repentance. Repentance is the unceasing return toward God. Its signs are a contrite and a humble spirit which has abandoned all earthly things and single-mindedly seeks the mercy of God. When the people stray from God, He chastises them, not as an act of vengeance, but in order to make them aware of their sin, that they may repent of it. Since the times of the Old Testament, God has been telling His people: Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them (Jer. 35:15).
The Christian goes after other gods in two ways: when he accepts heresy as truth, and when he follows the spirit of the world and surrenders to its way of thinking.
God has always desired that we have pure faith in Him—the wholesome faith which He revealed to His people and which leads to their salvation. However, some have distorted this faith and toyed with it. The birth of heresies and dogmatic innovations correlates strongly with the corrupt human passions, especially pride. Out of this cursed pride and disobedience came forth all these so-called “churches.” Passions filled with evil and arrogance, such as pride—which feeds on self-love—and the passions of lust of power and vainglory which are inflated with the love of earthly things and darken the soul entirely, causing it to interpret the dogmas of the faith through the lens of its own will and thoughts. This spiritual darkness distances the soul from the spirit of contrition and repentance. It’s precisely for this reason that God despises heresy and condemns it, calling it an unforgivable blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It’s reminiscent of that primordial pride that disfigured the path of salvation; it also prevents the soul from repenting and being saved.
The spirit of the age has weakened man’s will and scattered his mind, rendering it unable to remember God in the heart. This spirit has substituted the values and virtues which were used to rear children (such as self-control) with vices (such as surrendering to filthy passions, and obeying the body’s desires and animalistic tendencies). These vices have become gods for man, replacing the one true God. When man adopts the spirit of the modern age and allows it to dominate his thought, his will is shattered and his mind paralyzed: He ceases to be mindful of the Truth and is unable to acquire the spirit of repentance.
Throughout the Scriptures, Christ insisted on separating the spirit of the world from the Spirit of God. The spirit of the world sows seeds of disdain for the eternal Truth and its holy things while subliminally inciting sin and atheism in the mind of man. Therefore, those who strive to modernize the Church, its phronema (mind) and its praxis (way of life), are the first enemies of Christ, since they mix truth with delusion, which Christ strived to separate.
The Church itself, which has possessed this deep sense of transmitted Divine Truth throughout its history, has been surrendering to the spirit of the world lately. How many, even among the faithful, are encouraging the adoption of the doctrinal and moral reforms produced by the spirit of the age! The likes of those do not acknowledge the existence of heresies, innovations, or even demons, nor do they believe in One Church or even One God.
Whoever claims that the Truth is found everywhere, even outside of Christianity, is truly blind, deadened to the Truth; he has become an adulterous instrument for the demon of delusion. How can such a man repent? When the sense of the one Truth dies in us, God Himself dies in us.
Repentance requires much humility, so that man may be aware of his sinfulness and behold Divine Truth. This is why St. John of the Ladder says that it’s impossible to find humility in heretics: All heresy, minute or flagrant, is a fruit of pride and demonic arrogance. The primary danger of the modern ecumenical movement is that it reinforces in the human soul its pride and convictions, rather than encouraging it to repent and seek the truth. The gift of truth is granted by the God of Truth to penitents who abandon their self-will and their own thoughts, and seek the true faith with unceasing prayer.
The Church doesn’t lie. Rather, the liars are those who attempt to mix truth with falsehood while justifying their violations of the faith. The prideful don’t repent, no matter how praiseworthy their earthly deeds or how great their benevolence, because they render glory to themselves, and not to God. As for the humble, they repent because they know themselves truly, and unconditionally commend themselves to Christ by faith. Man’s great sin lies not in transgressing any one commandment, but in his pride and insubordination to the Church and its truthful teachings.
Not all prideful people are heretics, but is it possible for all heretics to be prideful? The Lord doesn’t let the humble sink in delusion or suffer eternal damnation, but He provides them with the means to know the Truth and remain steadfast in it. All heresies throughout history, and all teachings opposed to those handed down to the one Church, are nothing but an annihilation of the true God, replacing Him with a false one. And what communion can exist between Christ and these demonic false gods? When our Christ returns to the earth, He will find a plethora of falsely-called “churches” possessing a crooked faith, so He asks: Shall [the Son of man] find faith on the earth? (Lk. 18:8) This is because a disfigured and distorted faith is no faith at all. A faith outside the One Apostolic Church can never lead to a living knowledge of the true, living God.
God has forsaken His people in these last times; He is abandoning His flock, which He shepherded, strengthened, and multiplied in the past, even in the darkest ages of persecution and the tyranny of the workers of the devil. Our land is becoming devoid of Christ and His true anointed ones; this land, whose soil was sanctified by the unceasing worship of the Lord and His Christ, has become the land of apostasy. Why? Because the people have abandoned the faith of their forefathers and the simplicity of the life of piety. They thought survival in this land depends on making alliances with the gods of foreign nations, rather than holding fast to the true faith.
This people has sinned before God. They are melting gradually into the spirit of the world and that of globalization, and they don’t want to repent. Where are the Church leaders who are repenting for all these transgressions? Repenting for themselves and for their people? Where are those who wear sackcloth and add fasts upon fasts to be an example for their people in repentance, holiness, and Orthodoxy? The heretics—descendants of Balaam—prophecy for our people and drown them further in the delusions to come, while the leaders remain silent.
And there is none that calleth upon Thy Name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee: for Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities… Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech Thee, we are Thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things, O Lord? Wilt Thou hold Thy peace, and afflict us very sore? (Is. 64:7, 9-12)
Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts (Mal. 3:7, Zech. 1:3). Genuine repentance, which inspires us to weep for our sins, is always a sign of unwavering steadfastness in the true faith; repentance alone is able to make us a blessed offspring whom God will multiply.
Archimandrite Gregorios (Estephan)
Abbot of Holy Dormition of the Theotokos Monastery, Bkeftine, Lebanon
Translation by Brother Joseph Archbishopric of Tripoli 5/23/2023
https://orthochristian.com/153751.html?fbclid=IwAR389YV2EQDQ-vu2f-9HM2NtODHYe3gJqjofnRbhe7FVPmeU6og1f1hyqkQ
Manufacturing data across the board this morning looked pretty poor, while services came in much better than expected.
New home sales popped above expectations as well and conforms with my anecdotal observations.
___________
Manufacturing PMI (May)
Act: 48.5 Cons: 50.0 Prev: 50.2
S&P Global Composite PMI (May)
Act: 54.5 Cons: 50.0 Prev: 53.4
Services PMI (May)
Act: 55.1 Cons: 52.6 Prev: 53.6
New Home Sales (MoM) (Apr)
Act: 4.1% Cons: 3.3% Prev: 4.0%
New Home Sales (Apr)
Act: 683K Cons: 663K Prev: 656K
Richmond Manufacturing Index (May)
Act: -15 Cons: -8 Prev: -10
Richmond Manufacturing Shipments (May)
Act: -13 Cons: -9 Prev: -7
Richmond Services Index (May)
Act: -10 Cons: -29 Prev: -23
Just another reason why the US dollar is the global Reserve and is used around the world. The treasury and Federal Reserve have never called in any of the currency notes.
_____
₹2000 note withdrawal spurs purchase of gold and silver
HT Correspondents
May 22, 2023 10:58 AM IST
There was a 10% to 20% increase in the sale of jewellery since Saturday, people aware of the matter said.
The demand for bullion saw a sudden jump on Saturday, which dealers in various parts of the country said was expected to continue till people offloaded a bulk of their ₹2,000 banknotes for gold and silver, even as a rush to exchange the high-value currency notes is expected at banks from Monday.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/demand-for-bullion-jumps-in-lucknow-patna-and-jaipur-as-people-offload-rs-2-000-banknotes-for-gold-and-silver-101684695669943.html
This video reminds me of the topics that Fitzinfo talks about. The origins of Communism.
THE ETERNAL ENEMY OF MANKIND: KNOW YOUR ENEMY AND FIGHT THEM – DR. JAMES P. WICKSTROM (VIDEO)
https://rumble.com/v2p1mlz-the-eternal-enemy-of-mankind-know-your-enemy-and-fight-them-dr.-james-p.-wi.html
The vultures are circling around the commercial RE carcases. Outfits like JPM will scoop up these properties for peanuts.
___________
Jamie Dimon warns souring commercial real estate loans could threaten some banks
PUBLISHED MON, MAY 22 2023 5:15 edt
•Commercial real estate is the area most likely to cause problems for lenders, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told analysts Monday.
•“The off-sides in this case will probably be real estate. It’ll be certain locations, certain office properties, certain construction loans,” Dimon said.
•“You’re already seeing credit tighten up because the easiest way for a bank to retain capital is not to make the next loan,” he added.
“There’s always an off-sides,” Dimon said in a question-and-answer session during his bank’s investor conference. “The off-sides in this case will probably be real estate. It’ll be certain locations, certain office properties, certain construction loans. It could be very isolated; it won’t be every bank.”
U.S. banks have experienced historically low loan defaults over the last few years due to low interest rates and the flood of stimulus money unleashed during the Covid-19 pandemic. But the Federal Reserve has hiked rates to fight inflation, which has changed the landscape. Commercial buildings in some markets, including tech-centric San Francisco, may take a hit as remote workers are reluctant to return to offices.
“There will be a credit cycle. My view is it will be very normal” with the exception of real estate, Dimon said.
For example, if unemployment rises sharply, credit card losses might surge to 6% or 7%, Dimon said. But that will still be lower than the 10% experienced during the 2008 crisis, he added.
Separately, Dimon said banks — especially the smaller ones most affected by the industry’s recent turmoil — need to plan for interest rates to rise far higher than most expect.
“I think everyone should be prepared for rates going higher from here,” up to 6% or 7%, Dimon said.
The Fed concluded last month mismanagement of interest-rate risks contributed to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year.
The industry is already building capital for potential losses and regulation by reining in its lending activity, he said.
“You’re already seeing credit tighten up because the easiest way for a bank to retain capital is not to make the next loan,” he said.
Whenever we hear commercial real estate I think of the Main St. store fronts and office buildings that were destroyed by covid (the real reason for covid?). Don’t forget the businesses that were classified as non essential. However, I think light industrial is a completely different matter and may actually hold its own or increase in value.
The media will proclaim we need to get rid of the two party political system in the United States as they can’t even figure out how to avoid fiscal default. This kayfabe wrestling match is just a result from the over stimulus from the scam covid crisis. One scam leads to another scam.
I didn’t even know Ben Bernanke was writing Economics textbooks. I am certain his textbooks are much different than those from the 1980s. But then again, everything is much different than from the 1980s.
Well I just experienced a racial incident here in Boone NC. I had been angling for a 3 hr breakfast shift at the Holiday Inn and long story short I was called white trash twice by an Indian manager. Kingslane Group is not what is sounds like as it is run by Indians and owns franchises. They hoipoloi seem to hub in VA and the TN llc was closed while another remains open in NC. I’d like to know where they get their money as anyway staff are told to use 2 hands when giving the keywords over “as we are trying to cater to our new asaian guests”. The Hispanic front desk manager rushed to the aid of dear spitting frothing Raj while local blonde Mary Clare, cowered and groveled. Textbook. These mericans are incapable of defending themselves. When God said hide in the mountains he obviously did not mean Appalachia. Raj spends all his time making face Google accounts to raise the review score since that’s all that apparently matters.
Multicultural societies do not work in this world unless they are all brothers and sisters with Jesus Christ. It is so sad to see white people tolerate racism against themselves while being punished for saying less than good things about people of other races such as poor work performance or poor behavior. It is obvious to me that Americans are so guilt shamed that when the Russians and Chinese come with guns and bombs, they will not fight back because that is “racist” .
Your situation is a clear sign that the USA as well as Canada is gone. USA has already fallen socially.
Andrei, I am not sure that multicultural societies work even when the majority are Christian. They don’t work ever, it seems.
Suze, was it an East Indian who slandered you or a so called native American indian?
Many of the the native Americans are a very angry bunch of people and have never forgiven the white man, especially since they are addicted to the media which tells them that the white man is evil. I watch many YouTube videos regarding Western United States, and whenever Indians are interviewed or speak, they cannot help but manifest their contempt for the white man. I see the instances over and over.
Keep in mind that all of the gods and spirits they worship are all the same ones that the Incas, Mayas, and Aztecs worshiped. They are the same gods and spirits that are described in the studies of Greek and Roman mythology. They’re also the same gods that are worshiped in the Hindu religion. They just have different names. These are the evil ones, part of the 1/3 of the angels that left their first estate. The American Indians however, worship a special form of animism, and the politically correct media and educational system allows them to indulge in their errors. It’s sad to see all those damned souls.
If the American Indians truly wish to progress in life, they can’t blame the white man anymore; they need to look in the mirror and understand that they worship gods that are antithetical with their well-being. So, don’t take it personally when they lash out at you for being a white person.
I’ll always be their landlord. It’s always been that way and it always will be that way. I just chuckle at how angry people have gotten. Even my local police force won’t help the white man. That’s fine, I’m too busy helping myself.
This reminds me of the time when I stayed at a lodge on the Navajo Reservation in Monument Valley Utah. This was when I was 9 years old back in the seventies. The place was operated by the Navajo and it was a dump. In addition, the customer service was very poor. The Navajo employees never smiled and grudgingly served us. Me and my Mom got the feeling that they resented serving white people and only did it out of necessity.
Do not stay at hotels on Indian Reservations.
A few years ago we had to stay in a hotel located on Indian Reservation near Glacier National Park in Montana. This was the only place around the park which had any vacancy, and I then quickly learned why. To their credit, the hotel was decent, and the native employees at the hotel were not openly hostile. But outside of the hotel… it was like being in a black ghetto. The town is a run-down, with dogs running around in packs, and wind blowing trash along the streets. Local clerks at gas stations and grocery stores do their best to avoid serving you. Every local person… you can read hate and resentment on their faces… This was quite an experience.
CJ, American Indians are tame compared to Canadian Indians. They have bigger chips on their shoulder and seem far lazier up North.
I tell you, visit any indian reservation in Canada or the United States and you will realize what Marxist enclaves they are. They are given free houses at our expense, pay little to no taxes, there are usually one or more broken down automobiles (due to neglect) sitting in their driveways (also freely given to them), everything has a dull colour (due to lack of maintenance and upkeep) and the buildings are usually older. Everyone gets the same handouts. The indians are primed for Marxism. I believe they will play a larger roll in the ongoing displacement of the truly native population, white Europeans.
I lived in New Mexico for a year and often drove around the reservations. While some of the geography was beautiful, like Shiprock and Chaco Canyon, the resident living conditions were absolutely deplorable and the residents would just often sit outside their front doors and meander the streets during working hours. There were a couple of very successful casinos in New Mexico and both were just outside of Albuquerque. The rest of them were scattered around the state and many of them seem to be parasitic; there were relatively few white people and many more Hispanics and native Americans.
While all of the reservations I came across were in poor shape, the Navajo reservation, which takes up the entire northwest corner of the state, was in absolute shambles. The two only towns that could be considered economically viable are Farmington and Gallup. Both are just outside the reservation, while Gallup has become their administrative center of sorts. No economic activity takes place on Indian land. It never has and never will. There’s just too much animosity, mistrust, and ignorance with regards to business for anything of significance to transpire.
I get that non-whites pretty much hate white people; this is clearly evident across the board, whether it be blacks, Hispanics, Asians, native Americans. It has always been this way, but the synagogue media promote and encourage it now. But the Utopia that the synagogue of Satan is proclaiming is an illusion and the synagogue is just using these minority groups as useful idiots to demolish the entire nation and rebuild it into a Soviet style prison gulag. I’d be very careful if you’re hoping the white man goes down. The white European Christian was the tent pole in the circus tent and the synagogue is here with the chainsaw cutting it down. We’re all going down together now. We’ll all be like the lost souls in hell and whenever someone tries to climb out of the pit the rest of the Lost souls throw him back down. I guess misery is happier with more company.
I would have a hard time resisting the urge to greet the boss with “Whats Happenin’ Raj” every morning while wearing a red beret and suspenders. It sounds like you are working in a late 70s sitcom.
https://youtu.be/Apv9Kgkf-z8
Other than what Suze experienced, Boone NC is actually a pretty nice college town and is home to Appalachian State University. It does seem to have become a leftist bastion like Asheville. In an otherwise conservative area of the state and Country, there are two college enclaves that have been given over to the Marxist state of mind. Now I’m reading that Asheville has turned into the Portland OR of the Blue Ridge mountains. Pigs always love rolling around in the mud and encourage other pigs to join them.
Nothing like extending an inflationary fiscal package to another country, under the guise of fighting inflation. Own the income generating assets. No one’s coming to the rescue for the average man.
______________
U.S. And Australia Sign Clean Energy Pact
The United States and Australia agreed this weekend on a clean energy manufacturing pact with a focus on the energy transition and emissions reduction.
The so-called Climate, Critical Minerals, and Clean Energy Transformation Compact establishes climate and clean energy as a central pillar of the Australia-United States Alliance, the White House said, reporting the signing of the pact during the G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
Under the agreement, U.S. President Joe Biden will support Congress taking action to treat Australian suppliers and activity as domestic activity in the United States for the purpose of the Defense Production Act and to open tax incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to Australian companies.
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-And-Australia-Sign-Clean-Energy-Pact.html
Tell your children not to bother with college and become the landlord to the college graduates instead. Save the money that would be spent on tuition and buy four rental properties. All the broke mixed multiculturals won’t be able to afford any properties and will rent from you instead. They will try to impress you about how educated they are yet won’t even be able to afford their own groceries without government intervention.
Some recession…
Latest estimate: 2.9 percent — May 17, 2023
The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the second quarter of 2023 is 2.9 percent on May 17, up from 2.6 percent on May 16. After this morning’s housing starts report from the US Census Bureau, the nowcast of second-quarter real residential investment growth increased from -6.3 percent to 0.6 percent.
Memecoin Mania and NFTs Bring a ‘Seismic Shift’ for Bitcoin Mining
•Transaction fees make up an increasing share of miner revenue
•Industry is assessing whether the change is structural
https://knowyouradversary.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/BTC-transaction.jpg
(Bloomberg) — An eruption of memecoins and nonfungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain has reshaped the revenue profile of miners and stirred questions about how lasting the upheaval will prove to be.
New software known as Ordinals paved the way for the NFTs and meme tokens to come to the network this year. Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. says the Bitcoin NFT ecosystem could be worth $4.5 billion by 2025, while about 25,000 memecoins have been tallied on the blockchain since they first emerged in March.
The NFT and meme-token craze spurred record transactions and an ensuing fee windfall for miners, who run the computers underpinning Bitcoin. At one point in May, transaction fees made up over 40% of revenues, whereas miner income is usually dominated by the new Bitcoin they get for securing the blockchain.
“The Ordinals protocol has stimulated a seismic shift in the Bitcoin mining landscape,” said Jihan Wu, chairman of Singapore-based Bitdeer Technologies Group, one of the top crypto miners by computer power.
Ordinals and a crypto rebound have eased the pressure on mining margins caused by last year’s digital-asset rout and high energy costs. But Bitcoin purists argue the Ordinals phenomenon clogs the network and interferes with the largest cryptocurrency’s store-of-value and payments functions.
The mean fee per transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain began April at $2.80, reached $30 on May 8 and moderated to $6 on May 18, CryptoQuant data show. Total fee income attributable to Ordinals stands at about $37.4 million, according to data compiled by Dune Analytics AS.
Developer Casey Rodarmor created Ordinals, a software protocol that lets users inscribe digital content like videos, images and text on satoshis, the smallest unit of Bitcoin. There are 100 million satoshis in one Bitcoin.
Rodarmor’s innovation then allowed a pseudonymous blockchain analyst called Domo to develop the Bitcoin Request for Comment — or BRC-20 — standard, which led to the explosion of memecoins.
The durability of the sudden ardor for NFTs, or digital collectibles, and speculative tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain remains an open question. The market value of the memecoins was heading toward $1 billion earlier in May but has since declined to about $582 million, figures from BRC-20.io show.
The BRC-20 tokens have no utility, said Carlos Gonzalez Campo, a research analyst at crypto exchange-traded product provider 21Shares AG.
The fundamental takeaway may be that Ordinals has created a pathway to uses of the Bitcoin network that didn’t exist before.
“While the memecoin frenzy on Bitcoin will likely subside eventually, valuable use cases will emerge from the chaos, such as utilizing Bitcoin as a data availability layer and storing crucial documents that require permanent preservation,” said Sami Kassab, a research analyst at Messari.
Shares Rally
A sustained boost to transaction income could help sustain the Bitcoin network longer term by keeping miners engaged. Transactions will be the sole revenue source by about 2140, when Bitcoin is due to hit its cap of 21 million tokens and new coins will no longer be issued in return for securing the blockchain.
For now, Ordinals is helping to fuel renewed investor enthusiasm for Bitcoin miners. The 20-member MVIS Global Digital Assets Mining Index is up 110% so far in 2023, outstripping Bitcoin’s 74% advance.
The application of ordinals is “completely rewriting how people think about mining profitability,” said Colin Harper, head of content and research at crypto-mining services provider Luxor Technologies.
Bitcoin is as silly as Pet Rocks back in the ’70s. There’s nothing there.
Having gold bullion and uncut gems in a pvc tube buried in the backyard is still often the best way to avoid prying eyes. Several large uncut gem rubies and sapphires can hide hundreds of thousands of dollars. Saul Goodman was on the right path with his bandaid container of diamonds.
___________
A husband hid $500,000 in bitcoin during a divorce — and got busted by a crypto hunter
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/20/bitcoin-in-divorce-how-spouses-hide-assets-crypto-hunters-find-them.html
By the way, the rising stock and asset markets are not necessarily pricing in a so-called soft landing, but rather more of a loss in the confidence of the dollar around the world. People looking to unload them price up assets and inflation expectations.
This just proves that all crypto currencies are a very poor way to hide your wealth. I remember how bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were promoted as being anonymous. It turns out they are anything but anonymous. In reality cryptocurrencies are part of the beast system promoted by the Synagogue of Satan as a way to sucker wealth in that would otherwise be hidden AND to sucker wealth away from precious metals and gemstones.
Cryptocurrencies are a beta test for central bank digital currencies. In addition, most cryptocurrencies do not produce income.
I find cryptocurrencies are not great long term investments.
I keep reading how BUD stock keeps dropping from the fallout of the trannie queen promotions, but the stock price has barely budged.
The alt-media think BUD is suffering. I don’t really see it. It’s the NWO after all and its engineers beat us fair and square. The rest of the beer and alcohol manufacturers and marketers will soon start their own drag queen and faggotry promotions.
Bottom line; don’t drink their poison.
He shouldn’t had married her with the state Government:
1 Corinthians 6:1
If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?
A man needs to find a Christian virgin, and simply do a commitment ceremony. It’s a regular marriage, but zero paperwork with the government. The Government allows divorces for any reason, and actually rewards the woman. No wonder most divorces are filed by women. So getting married with the government is like shooting yourself in the foot – the man can lose his headship over the household if the wife holds that much power.
Lord Jesus is the master. Then the husband. Then the wife. Then the children are to obey the parents. That’s the Biblical hierarchy contrary to what even “conservatives” think.
With simply a commitment ceremony – if she wants to leave him for a silly un-Biblical reason – she gets absolutely zero from the government. The man, however, has to obey his own master (Lord Jesus). Which means providing for his wife and children for life. Also loving his wife and children. He can never divorce his wife for any reason – except on grounds of sexual immortality.
Such righteous words must come directly from heaven, Otto.
Why we should left ourselves to be bound in unjust and biased laws against us?…
To give the women such a power over us to them to surrender this to the Government?…
I am gonna add something to hierarchy in my experience with God’s natural realm, like domestic animals, that are part of God’s Kingdom as we are.
I keep two small terriers and a small flock of chickens in my garden shed. Chickens go free range everyday and the dogs interact with them freely when they go out too. There is harmony in my place and animals usually get on very well.
However, harmony comes because God made me understand very well the place each one of my little ones have in their world. For example, my dog Lisa gets very nervous if Kira tries to get close too me, left unchecked or me paying too much attention to Kira or any of the chickens, she would fight any of them in a really nasty way and we will have blood. It has never happened because I pay attention to their hierarchy as God intended: me, Lisa, Kira, the chicken.
Now, I am gonna go to the point.
“Lord Jesus is the master. Then the husband. Then the wife. Then the children are to obey the parents. That’s the Biblical hierarchy contrary to what even “conservatives” think.”
What it is the problem today?…
Bankers and Governments all around the world have succeeded to put upside down all this natural God’s given hierarchy in a way way bigger fantasy than their wildest dreams would predict.
The achievements of this “fantasy” are not short of remarkable not extraordinary to say the least. We should give them credit, they have done an incredible job.
First, they have achieved to put Jesus Christ on the bottom, his teachings misinterpreted and cherry picked to line up with their agendas.
This is not a Silly Billy affirmation. It started with the adulteration of the Catholic Mass after Vatican II and afterwards with the censure of the most “polemic” of Jesus Christ teachings, so, even church going so called Christian people nowadays will not get much access to pieces of the Bible against the Temple, or the Pharisees or any clue about the Ancient Testament, a Testament buried purposely and forever to the prying eyes of the stupid masses.
Second, men went to the bottom too, married men with kids, the most vulnerable if they are not rich enough to afford the financial and legal penalties of a divorce, they are made single and poor at their forties or fifties, forced out of their houses and or taken away from their children to their exes. No compassion, as their authority, if any of men’s authority still holds, has being being eroded, questioned and invalidated in mass media every single line spoken and written for many decades and this propaganda carries on today stronger than ever in all “information channels” and “entertainment channels” thanks to SoS diligent and organized efforts.
Third, women too are on top. In my area, they are empowering them to all white collar positions, like politics, media, business, academia, doctors, management and so on. No white men needed, should be the traffic sign!
In a situation like this with the weakest promoted to the top and top dogs like Lisa ignored there are reasonable prospects of infighting to start at any point, or as CJ advises very wisely, in the end, we are not dogs, the smarter and wealthiest people will abandon ship and go elsewhere to try to live in a some more harmonious environment as Lord Jesus and the Ancient Testament commands.
Proverbs 12:10 New Living Translation (NLT)
The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel.
— Animals are also created by Lord Jesus. For all things were created through him and for him. And thank the Lord Jesus for dogs. I have three myself, and love all three of them. They are great companions/friends of men.
This verse explains where the wickedness of the land starts from:
Leviticus 19:29:
Do not allow your daughter to commit whoredom lest the land commit whoredom and the land be filled with sin.
— Back when I was a teenager in school – they were teaching about safe sex through condoms (these days it’s much worse). I wasn’t a christian at the time – but it made it seem like consensual sex was fine if both are un-married. The movies and shows I watched pushed that agenda too. But this completely violates the commandment from the Creator. If a man takes a woman’s virginity — he has to marry her. And what if the woman he lusted for is nothing but trouble? That’s why it’s dangerous for a man to fornicate even with virgins — dating should be 100% about getting to know who this person is. If the man has sex with her before marriage — he loses all leverage and can not righteously end the relationship if he finds something about her he doesn’t like (since he took her virginity).
As for sleeping with prostitutes (non-virgin + non-married) — Paul says through the Holy Spirit – a Christian should never become one flesh with one. And sleeping with a married woman carried a death penalty — which is absolutely a no-no.
Churches today completely ignore the basic foundations of the Biblical Family Unit. Some believe the husband and wife are equal, which is entirely un-biblical. Sarah was commanded for calling Abraham her Lord (Original Greek translates it to “Master”):
1 Peter 3:6 NLT
“For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, and called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do.”
How many Christian wives see their husband as their ‘master?’
Peter, James, and Paul all called themselves servants and slaves to Christ. Because he is the master. This language is necessary for people to get through their heads the hierarchy.
Then the children are to be obedient to their parents. And we humans have dominion over the animals. But just because we are masters of the animals – does not mean we should treat them un-fairly or wickedly. You reap what you sow. Because any person that treats animals cruelly should also know he/she also has someone above them. Treat others how you want to be treated. And how we treat those below us — shows a lot about our character.
Only the wealthy with outside money can afford areas outside the cities. From Bloomberg;
What does it mean to be part of the 1%? Depends where you live: In Monaco it takes $12.4 million and in the US $5.1 million will get you over the threshold. But in the Philippines, just $57,000 makes the cut. The new data underscore how the pandemic and surging living costs are widening the gap between rich and poor nations.
By 2050, almost 70% of the world’s population will live in cities — and nearly 1,000 cities will see their average high temperatures reach or surpass 35C, or 95F, during summer months. “The centers of our cities, the way they’re built today, are death traps,” says Eleni Myrivil, the first “global chief heat officer” appointed by UN Habitat and the Arsht-Rock Resilience Center. She joined the Zero Podcast to discuss the future of cities as climate change worsens.
CJ – what is your opinion on commercial office real estate? Do these towers get repositioned or torn down? Seems like a lose lose. Perhaps they turn them into residential compounds to house the incoming hordes.
I’ve been doing a lot of research on this and the answer is not as simple as the media intimate. Under current health codes and zoning, some mid-sized office towers could cost upwards of $200 million dollars and more to repurpose. I would say the typical costs for an office tower in Manhattan would be close to that.
And that’s if the zoning department would even sign off on it. Even expedited applications can take years.
The costs involved to rebuild floor configurations, rewire electrical, individualize ventilation, rebuild plumbing, etc. are astronomical. There have been repurposed buildings in the past, but in most of those cases the costs involved made it practical.
Many existing office towers do not have floor layouts that are conducive to a retrofit. We have to consider other factors such as ingress and egress to units and floors, as well as the consideration of window access. Then we have to consider how such modifications would affect unit layouts. Sometimes the necessary fire department regulations would cut into the size of the units and make many floor layouts too oddly shaped.
Moreover, what happens to the other pieces of real estate around that office tower? In my view this could detrimentally impact the value of the surrounding real estate in many regards. We would have to consider these lien holders as they could stand to lose the sizeable amount of their investment. I ask, what happens when a repurposed piece of commercial real estate becomes a flop house? You already know the type of people who would live in it. We already know the narrative in which the media is guiding the reader.
I would suspect that we would need massive government subsidies in order for current owners to do such a thing, especially if it’s geared toward homeless and the poor. Otherwise, there just isn’t enough demand for high priced condos, at least at a price point that would make any retro fit a profitable endeavor on a standalone basis, and any retrofitting firm would find it difficult to recoup money without government injection.
Without an overhaul in the health codes and zoning, there are some estimates that only 15 to 20% of current commercial space would make the cut for a retrofitting.
It’s just not as simple as throwing in a bunch of beds. Each unit would need its own kitchen, bathroom, individually controlled ventilation system, and utilities. Basically each office tower with just be a shell in which to build units, and many of those shells were not built to be an efficient use for residential.
Of course, when the illegal immigration becomes overwhelming, I could see a scenario where New York City, for instance, decides to just set up a bunch of beds in an abandoned office tower. That truly is the Soylent Green scenario.
This is a big warning to real estate investors; avoid Fairfax County VA. It’s quickly becoming just like Prince George’s County MD.
In my more than 20 years of property management I have come across little, if any, true housing discrimination. As landlords we are able to discriminate based on credit and income as well as criminal background and prior evictions. That’s all I need to properly filter tenant applicants. The two women pictured below obviously think that’s unfair and the Fairfax County government is trying to leverage this to exert more control over landlords.
Fairfax County leaders aim to crack down on housing discrimination
https://www.restonnow.com/2023/05/19/fairfax-county-leaders-aim-to-crack-down-on-housing-discrimination/
CJ you know this is meant to destroy white neighborhoods. The peeps in the photo are likely migrants from the east side of DC and they are riding the wave of initiatives from the Department of Justice (sic), which is pardoning meth dealers and releasing them back into communities.
These peeps are getting out of areas that are exhausted from trying to accommodate other peeps like them. Reston used to be really white and whiteland is where el good life is. These peeps are fleeing their own kind. But they meet resistance from landlords and residents who know these peeps are destruction.
The Fx government backs these new peeps because that’s where increased funding and power is for their agencies. And they receive attaboys from the zhou press and zhou Fed gvt.
All one can do at this point in the deterioration is run.
I have observed this process for 60 years. My parents fled Southeast DC in 1964 because waves of negroes were destroying the place. My parents brought us just over the PG line to Oxon Hill. That lasted 10 years until deseg in ’73. Then we fled again. These peeps will keep following you because they destroy everything they touch.
Indeed. The powers laugh at these people. They are just useful idiots to exploit and leverage to remake society in their Marxist image.
These actors are special forces. I don’t know if they’re volunteers or under orders. The zhous are petrified of another purge. I guess they just can’t moderate their behavior. When their behavior threatens the survival of the population hosting them, and the hosts move to end the parasitism, the zhous scream. It’s almost like the ghetto monkey that clocks an old lady for her purse and then claims he didn’t do nuffin’.
This is an old, old pattern. The leopard can’t change its spots.
Here’s an excerpt from this week’s World Affairs Brief regarding white supremacists…
The Deep State’s White Supremacist Marching Group: Just hours after Joe Biden told a televised audience that white supremacists were our nation’s greatest enemy, tens of burly guys with faces hidden with identical white head and neck masks, blue uniform T-shirts, white hats, dark glasses, banners, and shields marched on Washington DC in front of an eager media anxious to promote the new “klu klux klan.” Red State.com was quick to point out how they always seem to march just when it helps the government narrative about this new threat, just as they did when government agent provocateurs took over the “modern” KKK.
A past show by Joe Rogan and Matt Taibi also noticed their uniform dress—right down to the same color pants and uniform physique. It’s so fake, it’s laughable.
“How come they’re all wearing the same clothes?” Rogan shouted. “Have you ever seen anything that looks more like feds?” he said…“It’s like the 101 Airborne,” Taibbi responds.
Naturally, DHS secretary Mayorkas says he agrees with Joe Biden that “White Supremacy” is the “Greatest Threat” of Terrorism to the US. He might be right given that these guys work for the Deep State, the real terrorists in our nation.
Note to reader: while many will claim that Kissinger was wrong about building up China, I say Kissinger knew of the results and achieved what he set out to do.
Henry Kissinger remains wrong on China – Daniel Samet
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/henry-kissinger-remains-wrong-on-china/ar-AA1b8tQz
As he turns 100 later this month, Henry Kissinger is often wrong, but never in doubt — not least on China.
“No” was his defiant response when asked by CBS News’s Ted Koppel during an interview last week whether we are now all the worse for the opening to China that Kissinger pioneered under the Nixon administration. “China’s reentry into the international system would have happened,” Kissinger added with his signature self-assurance.
Why hide behind counterfactuals rather than count the facts? Let’s consider what actually came of Kissinger’s overtures to Beijing those many years ago.
First, the United States recognized China in 1979 at the expense of Taiwan, swapping relations with a pro-American country for relations with an anti-American one. Not a good deal.
Second, bilateral trade rose from $5 billion in 1980 to $691 billion in 2022. In return for cheap stuff, America lost millions of manufacturing jobs and much of the country’s defense industrial base — not to mention the trillions of dollars American companies have lost to Chinese intellectual property theft.
Third, the Marxist-Leninist nutjobs in Beijing funneled this money into their campaign to supplant America as the global top dog. They’ve used China’s new wealth not to rise peacefully but to crack down harder on their population, bully their neighbors, and threaten to kick us out of the Indo-Pacific. In just two generations, China built the world’s second-best military. It also is happy to rot our children’s minds on TikTok and smuggle fentanyl across our borders to kill 100,000 of us annually. Never before has a great power abetted a foe’s rise so rapidly and so enthusiastically.
Kissinger can argue that the opening to China made sense at the time. Indeed, we capitalized on the Sino-Soviet split to peel the Chinese away from their overlords in Moscow.
But that was a short-term tactical victory. The Soviets’ fall had very little to do with China and much more with their own decrepitude and American power. Moreover, today’s China is a far greater challenge, controlling a much larger share of global GDP than the Soviets ever did.
Whatever gains we reaped from the opening to China have long been surpassed by its drawbacks. The evidence is in. It was not worth it.
The fallout from Kissinger’s diplomacy is now on arresting display in the Taiwan Strait. There, China is on the verge of invading the country that we hung out to dry. “From that point of view, it’s a very dangerous period,” Kissinger said in the same interview about the looming war between China and Taiwan. He’s right about that. Yet this very dangerous period has its roots in the foreign policy he implemented. When Kissinger was in government, China did not have a prayer of taking over the island. How things have changed.
Contrary to what Kissinger averred, China’s reentry into the international scene was not bound to occur. He, more than anyone, should remember the elemental truth of history that nothing is inevitable. Better to reflect on real consequences instead of imagined ones.
It’s unreasonable to expect such a supremely confident man to become humble as he begins his 11th decade of life. Dare we expect him to acknowledge the opening to China for what it was: a long-term strategic catastrophe?
Daniel J. Samet is a Ph.D. candidate in History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a graduate fellow at the Clements Center for National Security.
> to acknowledge the opening to China for what it was: a long-term strategic catastrophe
It is becoming rather obvious that back in the days TPTB have intentionally decided to build China into a major US rival. The common reason for such a plan is to eventually provoke war and force majeure. We are getting close.
Daniel J. Samet won’t tell you the most important thing. Kissinger accomplished precisely what The City and the East India Company (never died) wanted. The “strategic catastrophe” is only a catastrophe for the U.S. (and ultimately the rest of the world) but not for Kissinger’s employer.
Well there you go –
“When asked what he plans to do to help salvage the commercial real estate market, Mayor Adams has repeatedly suggested the city and state should make it easier for commercial office buildings to be converted into residential spaces.”
We are at the reaction phase. The public must be fully on board with the plan to end the filth of homeless camps and the high cost of housing. The public will demand the gov’t do something. I have a feeling this will go to the voters at some point but only when the public’s back is up against the wall. There will be a “magic solution” floated through the media by financiers (or some character like Musk) and the public will overwhelmingly support it while giving up something valuable in exchange.
Remember, it has to be your idea.
I see Soylent Green becoming reality soon where those with limited means will be forced into crowded housing in the cities with high crime rates and corruption. The rural areas will be severely restricted as to who can live out there(mostly ultra wealthy). Those who can afford rural areas will have vast estates of private property. Small wonder that Bill Gates and other uber rich are buying vast stretches of forest and farmland.
Andrei, this is why I believe the safest places for us is to hide in plain sight. At least be in a 5G covered area. Not that I like the idea of 5G at all, but consider what happened to all the areas that are well out of the US Megaregions. In CA they were burned to the ground and those people relocated elsewhere. Some of those areas are being rebuilt but I think many have filtered in to the city centers. It’s been a while since the 2017 fires and I should see if I can find some hard data before I say too much. But like you say, only the ultra wealthy can choose where they live and be protected.
Tuesdays are Soylent Green day and Thursdays replenish the CBDC wallets. Potable water is dispensed on Tuesdays and Fridays. All are rationed and recipients must provide a face scan and a subdermal implant swipe to receive their rations.
Well someone has a twisted sense of humor.
https://soylent.com/products/soylent-green-squared
Why do you think there are so many “national parks” and “national monuments”? I’ll bet good shekels there’s plenty of natural resources in those areas that no one will ever get hold of…other than BlackRock and similar usury banker types. If you haven’t heard about U.N. “human corridors”, now would be a good time to read up on that.
It’s interesting that Ben Bernanke is also on stage. Ben Bernanke has always been a big fan of market regulations and perhaps the powers are putting him up on the stage to help cultivate an environment that is one that reverts back to pre-covid.
Ben Bernanke can speak extemporaneously while Jay Powell needs to read directly from his notes to answer any questions. The differences in talents are vast.
Bernanke wrote my Macroeconomic textbook in University.
It was a widely used text for undergraduate studies in Canada and I assume the States.
If Williams is correct then buy everything. Many are already…. As president of the New York Fed, Williams holds a lot of sway… I suspect that once M2 is reduced down to a higher longer-term trend, there will once again be an equilibrium in the interest rate markets… The federal government will need to keep spending trillions of dollars to support the new wave of low-skilled immigrants, while gearing up the nation for the Great Reset and the loss of personal liberties that entails.
___________
Fed’s Williams Says Pandemic Didn’t End Era of Very Low Rates
(Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said there is no evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic has ended the era of very low interest rates experienced before the crisis, although growth may be slower in the long run.
The New York Fed chief also said the natural rate, known as r-star — defined as the real short-term interest rate expected to prevail when an economy is at full strength and inflation is stable — has returned to levels seen in 2019.
“The main longer-term consequence from the pandemic period is a reduction in potential output, but the imprint on r-star appears to be relatively modest,” Williams said Friday in remarks prepared for a research conference hosted by the Fed Board of Governors in Washington. “Importantly, there is no evidence that the era of very low natural rates of interest has ended.”
Some economists have questioned if the US economy will return to the low-rate environment seen in the decade before the pandemic or if higher interest rates would be needed going forward because of stronger inflation or global shifts caused by the pandemic.
Fed officials aggressively raised rates over the past 14 months to fight inflation, bringing the target on their benchmark rate above 5% in May for the first time since 2007. Policymakers are now debating if they should raise rates again at their June 13-14 meeting or allow more time to assess how rate increases are hitting the economy.
Williams did not comment in his prepared remarks on his near-term outlook for interest rates or the economy. Earlier this week, Williams said officials need to gather feedback about the way the economy is being affected by interest-rate increases.
The policymaker also said the Fed will resume publishing quarterly updates of the estimated natural rate after it was paused during the pandemic. The estimates are based on research Williams did with Thomas Laubach, a senior Fed economist who died in 2020 and who was honored at the research conference. Williams said the work is being carried on with economist Kathryn Holston.
CJ, when you say buy everything, do you mean just real estate or assets in general?
FYI, I’ve noticed some vehicle manufacturers have lowered their lending rates already.
Income generating assets; most stuff priced off the yield curve. Those are assets that appreciate over time. Cars and such are considered durables and consumables.
Bond yields are still lower than general published inflation data, and Williams is claiming that equilibrium short term interest rate will eventually return to 2019 levels, which probably means sub 2%. What he probably means is zero money and an overinflated world.
This means an expanded money supply, suppressed long-term yields, and unrestrained government largesse. It seems Williams sees a world like pre-covid spending and monetary policies.
Given the right set of circumstances, QE can be the policy of choice indefinitely, if the monetary and fiscal authorities wish it to be. Thus, the world would continue to sink in a sea of slowly rising red ink, while nominal GDP rises to match the debt burden. The debt servicing burden would ameliorate and would be reduced to a more manageable intermediate level.
In this environment, all assets rose consistently, although at a much slower rate than after COVID. In that environment, it would be prudent to take on debt to procure income generating assets.
Based on Federal Reserve balance sheet data and M2 changes, I actually see a Fed in which it is trying to revert back to the pre-covid era of monetary policies. Of course, this is all incumbent on keeping the 10-year treasury yield around its current level and below 4%. If this is achievable, it is possible to move back to the pre-covid era as inflationary expectations continue to fade as you pointed out.
I have a small fleet for my business. Better off keeping them updated and buying now, you think? Depreciation is a write off for me.
I think there are better deals out there right now than there were over the past couple years and it seems you have a few criteria to be concerned about. If you have a fleet of small vehicles that need updating, I would continue doing so and would do it on a consistent basis. Of course the unique circumstances of a couple years ago created problems for people in your situation, but I think the markets have returned to a semblance of normalcy in which I would continue doing what you always had been. So, if you need new vehicles I would go out and buy them. I would also guess that the secondary market is probably more friendly now.