Green Shoots

From Insider:

China has at least 65 million empty homes — enough to house the population of France. It offers a glimpse into the country’s massive housing-market problem.

If you drive an hour or two outside Shanghai or Beijing, you’ll find something odd. The cities are still tall, and they’re still modern. They’re also, generally, in good condition. But unlike their bustling, Tier 1-city counterparts, they’re basically empty.

These are China’s ghost cities.

Their existence has been well-documented. In one prominent example, CBS’ “60 Minutes” ran a 2013 segment on China’s ghost towns that opened with the correspondent Lesley Stahl on a major road at rush hour with barely a car in sight.

But as China’s real-estate market has risen to the forefront of the global conversation with Evergrande’s $300 billion debt looming large, so, too, have ghost cities become a renewed source of interest. While they’re a testament to China’s reliance on real estate as a driver of economic growth and in its belief in the sector as a safe investment, their exact quantity is hard to define.

Li Gan is a professor of economics at Texas A&M University and the director of the Survey and Research Center for China Household Finance at Chengdu’s Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. He’s also considered one of the top experts on China’s housing market. When I asked him how many ghost towns there were in China, he didn’t have an answer.

“I don’t know if there’s any definition of ‘ghost town,'” he said. “So I don’t know if there’s any number.”

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134 Responses to Green Shoots

  1. Juice Box says:

    The solution is high explosives. They even have a fanfare and a party afterwards.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn1egrjMoD8

  2. Juice Box says:

    I see they have a police officer watching Hillary to make sure she does not pull the plug.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10094541/Bill-Clinton-hospitalized-possible-blood-infection-mend.html

  3. Juice Box says:

    It seems the disgraced ex-con former congressman Weiner’s wife Huma is still with Hillary too, won’t be long before she runs for office too.

  4. Fast Eddie says:

    In 2017, Bloomberg described Beijing’s nightmare scenario as one in which people rush to sell off their second properties if cracks in the market appear, thereby sending prices on a downward spiral. When I asked Gan whether this was the scenario now unfolding in China, he said it wasn’t — but not because there aren’t cracks in the market.

    Instead, the government is making it so difficult to complete a sale that it’s dissuading homeowners from selling, Gan said.

    “China can stop a transaction. The government can change the number of years you have to own a home. Or if prices are too low, the government won’t give you a certificate of sale,” Gan said. “That is what’s happening now.”

    Omg, the article Grim posted is shocking! Read it! If there ever was a manufactured example of a fake market, this is it! This is a tulip bulb moment; except, you’re not allowed to sell your tulip bulbs to keep the scam afloat and avoid a crash while encouraging more development and purchasing.

  5. Hold my beer says:

    Why didn’t Biden order the California ports to be open more hours and waive the restrictions on the hours truckers can drive? This has been going on for months.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10092559/Republicans-demand-Pete-Buttigieg-testify-Congress-supply-chain-crisis.html

  6. Fast Eddie says:

    The level of stupidity and dishonestly on the right is pathetic.

    For weeks, rumors have swirled in Washington about President Joe Biden’s climate czar John Kerry and his opposition to taking concrete action against the Chinese Communist Party’s use of slave labor. Now, we may have an answer about his reluctance to take action: according to a new report, Kerry and his wife have at least $1 million invested in a Chinese investment group called Hillhouse China Value Fund L.P.

    That fact alone raises serious questions as to whether Kerry can negotiate in good faith with Beijing on climate change but it gets worse. According to the report, Hillhouse is a “top shareholder” in a Chinese technology company called YITU Technology, which was blacklisted by the Trump administration in 2019 for being complicit in the surveillance, detention, and repression of Uyghurs and others. In other words, Kerry appears to be profiting from slave labor.

  7. Fast Eddie says:

    No matter what side of the aisle you’re on, you have to be really concerned now that this administration can’t accomplish anything at all. Every issue they attempt to tackle turns into the biggest dumpster 1nferno sh1t show imaginable. The level of f.uckupery is behind comprehension. Their biggest accomplishment has been able to cement their legacy as the worst administration in modern times… and they did it in under a year.

  8. The Great Pumpkin says:

    China finally showing its true colors. Wow, just wow.

    “Omg, the article Grim posted is shocking! Read it! If there ever was a manufactured example of a fake market, this is it! This is a tulip bulb moment; except, you’re not allowed to sell your tulip bulbs to keep the scam afloat and avoid a crash while encouraging more development and purchasing”

  9. Libturd says:

    Eddie,

    Change the channel sometime. I’m not a fan of Biden. But I’m not quite sure he’s been as bad as you are making him out to be. You are lacking perspective.

  10. Fast Eddie says:

    Libturd,

    The disasters of this administration are like a ticker-tape series of failures. Even the world is pausing, especially our allies as O’Biden exists the world stage like he exits the podium, unable to field questions. Every crisis, small and large, has been met with defeat. When the world is chanting, “F.uck Joe Biden,” that’s not due to a lack of perspective.

  11. Ex says:

    9:04 keep dreaming Trumper’
    Get yourself a big truck, mount some blue lives matter flags on the bed.

  12. 3b says:

    Lib; Biden is bad. I don’t think he knows where he is half the time. His chief of staff says inflation is a high class problem. That is astoundingly stupid, we are told that all the new spending is not going to cost anything, because supposedly no one making under 400k will be affected tax wise. It’s still a cost. It’s embarrassing, even more embarrassing then Trump in some respects as the adults were supposed to be back in charge

  13. Ex says:

    More embarrassing than the hundreds of thousands who died and continue to die because Trump lied about the pandemic? More embarrassing than that?

  14. 3b says:

    Jcer: I agree with some of your points in last nights post. I don’t fully agree with the rich comment simply because there will not be enough of them in this area. I do think you prove my point that NYC will have to reinvent itself and become more competitive, a lot more competitive. There will be a lot more WFH announcements going forward.

  15. 3b says:

    Ex: If you wish to single handily blame Trump for that and believe it to be true then no. Can we throw Cuomo in there too?

  16. grim says:

    Truckers are saying it’s bullshit and they are idle waiting for clearances.

  17. Old realtor says:

    Been working on preparing a bid for a sheriff sale on a house in Saddle River. House sold for 1.84 million in 2002. After extensive research my current value for the property based on average condition is 1.75. Amazing that there has been no appreciation in 2 decades. While doing my research I found that this property is not a freakish exception, it is the rule.

  18. Fast Eddie says:

    Get yourself a big truck, mount some blue lives matter flags on the bed.

    It’s beautiful to see, isn’t it? Along with the American flag on the other side of the bed. It’s poisonous to the eyes and soul of a left1st l1beral.

  19. Ex says:

    9:27 it works for me because imbeciles self-identify.
    Kind of like wearing the red hat.

  20. BidenIsTheGOAT says:

    This is a slow motion train wreck and that senile old crook is just asking for the ride. It’s the radicals calling the shots.

    I was tracking some flight prices for after the new year. Right after the southwest disruption United pulled a bunch of flights and those that remain shot way up.

    His mandate and economy are working great. Just turn your back and walk away like you’ve been doing because you’re too incoherent to answer any questions.

  21. Grim says:

    Worth noting, Port Newark is killing it compared to the rest of the country.

  22. Ex says:

    You can always speed up Armageddon by electing Trump again.
    Hell he’d finish the job the next time ! Booooooom

  23. BidenIsTheGOAT says:

    Where is the Atlantic’s Biden lie tracker?

    Oh that don’t have one and actively promote his lies? That’s what I thought.

    If you too a fair analysis of lies about government matters, not all of the gotcha games they played with trump, I’m sure Biden lies more. Mostly through surrogates because he’sh hiding in the basement all the time.

  24. The Great Pumpkin says:

    That’s what makes NYC as tough to kill as a roach. It is the most adaptable place on this continent or maybe world. The rapid pace of change and adaptability by New Yorkers is simply amazing. Remember, this place attracts the best of the best, the people that can change and adapt like no other (a lot of these people living here either left their country or small town to make the jump to the big city and that’s no easy task). It’s why the most dominant businesses seek out this market for their employees. You are getting the most driven, talented, and gritty workers in this area. NYC makes you tough, only the strong survive here, and that’s why it will never die.

    3b says:
    October 15, 2021 at 9:19 am
    Jcer: I agree with some of your points in last nights post. I don’t fully agree with the rich comment simply because there will not be enough of them in this area. I do think you prove my point that NYC will have to reinvent itself and become more competitive, a lot more competitive. There will be a lot more WFH announcements going forward.

  25. The Great Pumpkin says:

    So if you want some easy life with not much of a challenge, NYC is not for you. Go down to some small market for a better quality of life. If you are a fighter and enjoy the challenge, NYC is for you. This place will make you great if you can handle the speed and challenge of this location. You have endless opportunities here to make money….endless. It’s on you..

  26. The Great Pumpkin says:

    A lot of this inflation is man made. Everyone and their mother that owns a business is trying to take advantage by blaming the next guy on the line. “I’m sorry, I have to raise prices because..” Human nature is a b!tch.

    Don’t get me wrong, there are supply bottlenecks, but come one, this is no different than hoarding toilet paper during the pandemic.

    grim says:
    October 15, 2021 at 9:23 am
    Truckers are saying it’s bullshit and they are idle waiting for clearances.

  27. SmallGovConservative says:

    As if this pathetic excuse of an administration couldn’t get any more embarrassing, it turns out that the useless Transportation Sec has been (and remains) on paternity leave while supply chains fall apart. Not that you’d ever get shameless Dem stooges like Ex to admit it, but the disastrous incompetence of the Biden admin is absolutely shocking — even to those of us who knew that he was an idiot.

    https://nypost.com/2021/10/15/secretary-buttigieg-stays-on-paternity-leave-amid-supply-chain-crisis/

  28. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Go Jersey!

    Grim says:
    October 15, 2021 at 9:40 am
    Worth noting, Port Newark is killing it compared to the rest of the country.

  29. BidenIsTheGOAT says:

    I love the “order”, whatever the hell that means for FedEx, ups, etc to operate 24×7. Like pissing in the wind. And the propaganda industry covers it like it’s serious news.

  30. Libturd says:

    Worth noting, Port Newark is killing it compared to the rest of the country.

    I drive 78 between the GSP and exit 40 (the VA hospital exit) twice a day. The number of container trucks is outrageous. So much so that there have been nearly daily crashes. The one yesterday I recorded. Heard it was a two hour delay to clear from other parents in D’s learning center. I deftly took 22 and got to D’s school early. Accidents are always Westbound (when containers are full).

  31. Libturd says:

    And yes, Biden is embarrassing trainwreck. But his administration hasn’t been that bad, IMO. But you are all right about Biden himself. If we weren’t embroiled in cancel culture where one can not speak out about anything out of the norm, he’d probably be run out of office. But again, I don’t see the administration damage. I did see lots of terrible policy decisions made by Trump AND his administration of yes men.

  32. grim says:

    Check back on the history around California ports pushing to ban shipping companies from using independent truckers.

  33. Fast Eddie says:

    Here’s a list O’Biden’s accomplishments:

    1) Trump s.ucks

    The end.

  34. Libturd says:

    Juice,

    I doubt it’s a conspiracy. Even if that video is true, it’s fact that there is no place to put the containers once they come off the ships due to:

    Shortage of truck drivers – All that free money didn’t help.

    Shortage of trucks themselves – Result of pandemic slowdown (less probably ordered and manufactured)

    Significant increase in highway traffic – Due to lack of people commuting on mass transit anymore.

    I really doubt there is anything nefarious going on. China would only be hurting themselves by limiting exports.

  35. Libturd says:

    Additionally,

    The floods and wildfires created a large appliance replacement cycle that has never occurred before. It’s nearly impossible to get a quality furnace or washer and dryer, still. How do I know? Because we are trying to find them. Got a decent LG washer and dryer last Friday. Still no decent furnaces to be had (well not at non-price gouged prices).

    Whoever thought of giving money to people who didn’t need it as a national policy should be hung.

  36. Juice Box. says:

    Lib – longshoremen are against automation they see it as an end to their jobs. There already are robot tenders for containers and plans for robotic ships and other automation. 8am – 5pm unloading at the west coast ports is bad enough, it’s been going on for months now.

    “ Recording a rate of about 25 container moves per crane per hour, West Coast port operations are under pressure to increase those numbers to at least 30 moves per hour. Terminal operators are exploring options for automating yard, gate and on-dock rail operations. The busiest terminals will invest in costly equipment such as dual-hoist cranes, automated guided vehicles and automated stacking cranes.”

    https://www.joc.com/special-topics/west-coast-ports

    There are 66 gantry cranes in Long Beach, 25 containers an hour = max 14,850 in a 9 hour day..not nearly enough capacity or speed, a problem that can be solved by doing away with the $100,000 dollar a year longshoremen and using robots.

  37. JCer says:

    The Biden admin is horrible, Rome is burning and Nero is fiddling. Transportation Secretary Pete should not be on paternity leave during a crisis. The federal government should have been on top of the CA port crisis from the get go, what’s happening there is artificial, there is no reason they should not be able to increase throughput, the federal government has the tools to do so.

    Trump is no longer is office, he’s not the metric and last time I checked Biden now owns more COVID deaths than Trump, who is sitting as president seems to have minimal impact on the pandemic. What remains is an administration failing to do it’s basic job, more concerned with passing 5T in pork barrel spending than actually governing, or the overall wellbeing of the American middle class. We shouldn’t compare this administration to Trump’s, Trump did not run a good administration(maybe you like or dislike his policies but the administration itself was chaos), but even still I don’t know that it was as bad as this and compared to any other administration in recent history Biden is looking very bad, there is more than a little buyers remorse from the voters at this point a lot of the country is seething.

  38. Bystander says:

    That was Dumpy, Lib. The worst soc#alism ever done and now suffering consequences. Rich treat 1k like $10 now and labor and products going right to those who will pay most.

  39. Juice Box says:

    Jcer – Kamala should adopt a few too, it will give her an excuse to stay away from the US Mexico border.

  40. JCer says:

    Lib the bottleneck is the west coast ports, the ships are lined up off the coast and the throughput in the western ports isn’t good. Even if they were just going to stack the containers, they would still unload onto land, keeping those ships off the coast is costing a small fortune, think of the capital and employee cost of having a cargo ship idling unable to unload it’s cargo.

    Lib, the boondoggle of giving people money for no reason is about to be expanded as part of build back better or what ever they calling that 3000 page atrocity. What ever is going on it is not a good thing and I think the answer is stepping back and allowing market forces to set things on a more natural progression.

    Don’t worry about the boiler,phil murphy will be making those illegal in short time along with gas stoves, and small gas engines.

  41. Bystander says:

    Unemployment dropping from 6.9 to 4.8 since Biden elected, all wars officially ended, home prices up, Dow rolling, well over 35k – greatest economy is history of mankind. Thanks Joe.

  42. JUice Box says:

    UK is now moving to ban natural gas heating, and force everyone to move to heat pumps there….Not to say it won’t work but can be quite more expensive to install, well drilling and all….

  43. Bystander says:

    Dumpy’s accomplishment in first 9 months? A thumbs down from McCain..what a moron making that his first agenda item. Talk about vindicative and clueless about real matters.

  44. Juice Box says:

    re: “all wars officially ended”

    WoT?

    War on Terror continues…20 years _+ now since it was declared on Sept 14 2001. Any day now a predator drone backed by a global assassination network of operators and weather experts will take out a whole wedding, or a bus full of disabled people somewhere in this world…

    BTW the results are not so encouraging, after many such failed drone strikes Ayman al-Zawahiri is still walking this earth..

  45. Bystander says:

    All 0fficial wars, officially ended..better? I just love posting these things because we were constantly reminded that theses econ indicators marked “the greatest president and greatest economy ever” and it would collapse under Biden..it is fun to shove it back to red hat dolts here.

  46. Juice Box says:

    Bystander it’s official as can be, it is legally still in effect…There has been no real efforts to repeal the AUMF powers given to the president by Congress.

    Public Law 107–40 107th Congress Joint

    https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ40/PLAW-107publ40.pdf

    They can and do strike anyone anywhere in the world including US Citizens who are children..Here is the American Child Obama signed off on obliterating with a hellfire missle 10 years ago.

    There is nothing to prevent them to do so, and the courts have refused

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki

  47. Bystander says:

    It is like the war on drugs..no face and therefore no end.

  48. BidenIsTheGOAT says:

    There is no mystery. When leftists interfere in an economy you get shortages. Econ 101

  49. Bystander says:

    Going back 10 years to Obama? Why not just two years ago when Trump’s drone strike killed 30 innocent peanut farmers resting. If I put a wiki page, does that make it worse or just something you want to blame on Obama specifically?

  50. Bystander says:

    Later in wiki article. She was also born in US.

    On January 29, 2017, Anwar al-Awlaki’s 8-year-old daughter, Nawar al-Awlaki, the half-sister of Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, was killed in the Raid on Yakla, a commando attack ordered by President Donald Trump.

  51. Juice Box says:

    Bystander – yes I know Trump was bad, bad, bad. BTW the seals under his command went in there Yemen (boots on the ground) and messed up badly, lost one of their own, an Osprey Aircraft and then proceeded to slaughter 30 civilians including 9 children with death from above, indiscriminate heavy machine gun fire from aircraft, but before that the seals murderer with small arms the first person to approach them an 11 year old boy..

    So again explain to me why the Dems are better than the Reps? To me there are both the same party.

    BTW – I have no doubt if Hillary was elected in 2016 the body count and wars would have been expanded. As heartless as Trump is, she is on a whole other level.

  52. 3b says:

    Pumps: Your Girl Cathy says otherwise. You should give her a call and tell her how she is mistaken.

  53. Libturd says:

    This chain of command thing is annoying. But definitely a first-world issue. Right is making a mountain out of a molehill. So many crisis already for Biden. So much so that I haven’t noticed.

    We are out of Afghanistan. I didn’t think we should have ever been there in the first place. Do you know how to stop terrorism? Get the hell out of the Middle East. Then they’ll just go back to Shia vs. Sunni and will focus on each other. But there’s no money to be made doing that.

  54. Libturd says:

    Supply chain. Too many corporate meetings lately.

  55. Bystander says:

    Juice,

    I don’t think they are better. I just believe better treatment for US workers, less religion, less debt, less military spending and fair taxation. The right believes in none of those things so pretty useless party right now.

    On immigration:

    “We had 40,000 Brazilians come through the Yuma Sector alone, headed for Connecticut, wearing designer clothes and Gu*ci bags,” the South Carolina senator Graham said on Fox News.

    ..and Lindsay know something about women’s fashion and hand bags. Still, I know exactly why they are coming to CT. Because, the rich f*cks up here in Greenwich, Darien, Westport, New Canaan (both D and R) want cheap nannies, cleaners and general labor. You don’t punish that then you don’t solve immigration issues

  56. Juice Box says:

    Bystander – Back to what I was saying about the AUMF, the courts refused to intervene. Al-Awlaki , the father of the girl you mentioned and the boy I mentioned was placed on a CIA kill list by President Barack Obama in 2010. He was an American Citizen. Al-Awalaki’s father here in the USA went to the Federal Courts here with the ACLU in 2010 before he was killed and it was on the news here. The courts refused to intervene and he was droned with his son and others 10 months later.

    ACLU was on the case and lost, there was always a ban on assassination of US Citizens. That is no longer the case. If POTUS wants you dead, just like a KING it’s decreed over dinner (like the girl you mentioned) and you are going to get the Ginsu treatment with the latest kindler gentler Hellfire missile which only slap chops you into bits instead if the usual incineration of the whole wedding party women and children included.

    No worries WoT and the powers of the President (KING) are still being ligated, maybe the next generation will get the constitution right and you will be able to face your accusers in court which the Sixth Amendment provides.

  57. Libturd says:

    And yes 3b. They are all the same. I just prefer my lies to not include scapegoating and overt racism. Look, I invited a gospel choir to sing in the Oval Office. I love the blacks.

  58. 3b says:

    Bystander: You know better than that, the unemployment rate has a lot of noise in it. The housing and stock market are high and in a bubble because of Feds reckless policies , not because Biden or Trump for that matter have anything to do with it. It’s all monetary policy. Biden is a corrupt career politician, and his administration is a disaster across the board, as bad as Trumps, and worse I’m some respects as the adults , the professionals were supposed to be back in charge. Trump was a disaster and so is Biden. The country is going down the drain.

  59. Libturd says:

    And just wait until the facial recognition drones (FA6) are put into service.

  60. 3b says:

    Libturd: I don’t deny that, but I would suggest some Liberals are just as racist as Conservatives, they just hide it better. I know quite a few like that. Just mention low or moderate income housing in their towns, and watch them squirm. I don’t prefer either party. As we used to say in high school they blow!

  61. JCer says:

    3b a lot of liberals are worse, at least with the right wingers it’s in the open, those who are racist are openly racist and you know it. Many democrats are a lot more racist than they let on, even in face to face interactions they are paternalistic toward blacks and Hispanic people, it actually makes me uncomfortable when I witness it, I cannot imagine how the black person actually feels.

  62. Juice Box says:

    Connecticut? No way. The Brazilian middle class wants to move here but mostly to Florida, many have investment rental homes etc and our economy is now doing better, while at home for them not so much. During the first 11 months of fiscal 2021, more than 46,000 Brazilians were arrested for entering illegally….

  63. Hold my beer says:

    JCer

    Biden owns this supply chain failure. He wasn’t the catalyst that started it, but What has this administration done to resolve it besides Harris telling people to order their Christmas presents early. This has been going on for months and the backlog at the ports keeps growing. I knew about it back in June or July there were issues outside of getting chips for cars and appliances. I read about it in the daily mail in august. Ineptitude.

  64. Libturd says:

    Biden owns it, like the poorly executed withdrawal from Afghanistan, but again, I’m not sure there is much that he can do.

  65. Libturd says:

    But at least he’s not running around and saying the problem does not exist. Or that the solution is coming tomorrow.

  66. Juice Box says:

    You wanna bet Secretary Pete during his vetting for the job with the White House and Senate did not voulnteer he was in the middle of an adoption and was only going to work six months and then take off six months for paternity leave etc?….. Youngest person to hold the job and the first openly gay person confirmed to a Cabinet seat vote was 86-13 in the Senate so not partisan, but nobody thought to ask the Newlywed if he was planning on having a family? Is that not okay question these days whether the person is straight or not? it’s not like he is punching a clock down in some government building in Virginia, the guy is a cabinet member and fourteenth in the presidential line of succession.

  67. Bystander says:

    3b,

    I know better but Trump rode the great money printing press coming from Obama admin. He did nothing economically but made debt much worse. Still GDP, stocks were never really better than Obama. He was 100% economic failure based on how much he spent. Red hat dolts can eat it. How’s China trade deal? Oh right, nowhere near target and never will be because it was a toothless puffery piece. The Chinese laughed at it bc they knew it was a joke that only served an idiot’s purpose with his cult.

  68. Juice Box says:

    Debt does not matter folks. It was 22 trillion before the pandemic and is now approaching 29 trillion. The idea that at some point the debt has to be paid is just an illusion. We will all be dead and buried before anything happens and you cannot get blood from a decayed corpse so why worry…

  69. Juice Box says:

    Wow Michael Burry deleted his twitter account, options expiration. Burry owned 10,000 put contracts on TESLA as of last month….Seems he lost that bet…

  70. BidenIsTheGOAT says:

    The Democrat party is built on racism. Slavery, the klan, Jim Crowe, all Democrat institutions. BLM Klan, “anti-racism” racism, poor children are just as smart as white children, racism is the lifeblood of the Democrat party. Eugenics. Mass abortion of minority children. You’re not fooling anyone.

  71. Fast Eddie says:

    To democrats, some lives matter, but not all.

  72. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Michael Burry got buried.

    You have to be insane to bet against Elon Musk and Tesla.

  73. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I might start building a position in DNA and AMRS. Bleeding money instead of making it, but I like the risk to reward on on this. ARKG is betting hard on DNA.

  74. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I’m waiting for a day when everyone stops with the “you’re racist.” This has to end. It’s ridiculous. And if someone is racist, just ignore them, and move on with your life. People obsess over this to an unhealthy level.

  75. The Great Pumpkin says:

    On the issue of the supply chain. The source of this mess is businesses trying to maximize profit by assuming demand would fall off and acting on it. Then people started hearing stories of not enough supply, and started hoarding everything (businesses included started hoarding supplies). This is all man made bs. You know how this ends….building too much supply and crash the pricing. Such bs.

  76. Out of the Ashes goes the Phoenix says:

    Boomer thought process. It’s how we got here. Take a dump in the street, who cares, someone else will pick it up later.

    “The idea that at some point the debt has to be paid is just an illusion. We will all be dead and buried before anything happens and you cannot get blood from a decayed corpse so why worry…”

  77. Bystander says:

    Sure GOAT..and Bruce Jenner was the ultimate alpha male athlete 45 years ago. I think we all know which party owns the racism, Klan, anti-semitism, xeonphobia message today. In fact, check your local Republican Trump rallies…or an insurrection

  78. Out of the Ashes goes the Phoenix says:

    HMB,
    Let me fix this for you.
    Corporations own this supply chain failure. What have these corporations done to resolve it?

  79. Out of the Ashes goes the Phoenix says:

    Qualified Immunity:

    “Bystander it’s official as can be, it is legally still in effect…There has been no real efforts to repeal the AUMF powers given to the president by Congress.

    Public Law 107–40 107th Congress Joint”

  80. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Post of the day….drop the mic.

    Imagine if the govt did this, people would be all over them as incompetent.

    Out of the Ashes goes the Phoenix says:
    October 15, 2021 at 2:12 pm
    HMB,
    Let me fix this for you.
    Corporations own this supply chain failure. What have these corporations done to resolve it?

  81. BidenIsTheGOAT says:

    Turn on msnbc. Emery shoe has a a segment or two that serves to hurl racial vitriol at whites. Of course it’s wrapped in the sanctimonious bullshlt that the left loves so much.

  82. Ex says:

    Whoa!?!! We should get Trump back he’ll fix everything!?!!

  83. Hold my beer says:

    Phoenix

    They can’t do anything. The port hadn’t ramped up their hours until recently. Biden could have ordered the port to work longer hours and allow more truckers.

    If the ships cant get unloaded corporations can only jack up their rates and prices.

    And Pumps

    The port of los angeles and port of long beach are owned and controlled by the City of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The cities are responsible for setting port policies . It is the government contributing to it.

  84. Hold my beer says:

    Imagine if this backlog at the ports happened under Trump. The media would be all over it. But its a Dem president and a dem state so crickets.

  85. Out of the Ashes goes the Phoenix says:

    You wonder what all those container ships are doing hanging out off the coast are doing there? These are your spenders and debt drivers:

    “Women Are Far More Likely than Men to Be Responsible for Household Spending
    On average, 89% of women across the world reported controlling or sharing daily shopping needs, compared to only 41% of men.”

    “By 2028, women will own 75% of the discretionary spend, making them the world’s greatest influencers.”

    “Driving more than 70 percent of consumer spending with their buying power and influence — unsurprisingly, it’s women in control.”

    This isn’t the first time I had seen the statistic that women control 85% of the spending power. The Center For Media Research posted that Baby Boomer women broke the glass ceiling…

    ” According to a report from Fona International, prepared by Kit Barmann, women represent the largest market opportunity in the world, according to Forbes magazine. Globally, they control $20 trillion in annual consumer spending. In the next five years, it is expected that this number will rise to nearly $30 trillion”

    “Boomer women were able to broaden their horizons beyond the secretary, teacher and nurse careers available to their mothers. Today, these Boomer women of the workforce have made dual-income households the norm, says the report. More than 70% of Boomer couples are dual earners. Thanks to Boomer women, these two-paycheck families bring home a lot more money. Married couples account for 82% of households with income of $100,000 or more. And:

    85% of all consumer purchases in the U.S. are made by women.
    93% of food purchases are made by women.
    75% of women identify themselves as the primary household shopper.
    50% of products typically marketed to men are purchased by women.
    80% of healthcare decisions are made by women.
    68% of new car purchase decisions are made by women.
    66% of PCs 92% of vacations
    92% of vacations”

    “It bears repeating that women are the top marketing opportunity in today’s economy. They make 85 percent of all consumer purchasing decisions, and account for $7 trillion in consumer and business spending. Savvy marketers understand this, and will continue to look at ways to build relationships with this key consumer.

    Women’s Purchasing Power – Girlpower Marketing”

    “Women drive 70-80% of all consumer purchasing decisions. The top homebuyers after married couples are single women”

    “The Female Economy – Harvard Business Review
    Women now drive the world economy. Globally, they control about $20 trillion in annual consumer spending, and that figure could climb as high as $28”

  86. SmallGovConservative says:

    Not sure why anyone tries to engage the Dem stooges in a reasonable discussion of whether or not Biden is terrible, or wastes their time going back and forth with the “who’s worse” nonsense. The Biden admin is an epic, historic disaster! He and his band of incompetents are governing the USA in exactly the same way that DeBlasio is governing NYC and Lightfoot is governing Chicago — and the results will be the same, but on a much larger scale. Supporting modern day Dems literally requires a complete suspension of logic and reason, and a willful ignorance of data and facts.

  87. Hold my beer says:

    Way off topic

    For you Squid game fans.

    I’ve watched the first 3 episodes of a Japanese drama on Netflix called Alice in Borderland. Very good so far.Different premise than squid games and the characters get much shorter background stories. Games are still vicious.

  88. Out of the Ashes goes the Phoenix says:

    HMB,

    “They can’t do anything. The port hadn’t ramped up their hours until recently.”

    Corporations run the show. They pay the politicians. This is on them.

    It’s government hands off corporations, right?? Don’t interfere with “business.”

    Well, unchecked this is what you get. They know exactly what they are doing.

  89. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Hold,

    The supply chain was f’ed way before the ports started backing up. Remember lumber costs getting out of control from the get go. Of course, they will now blame govt and unions like they always do. Nobody owns their mistakes…just point the finger instead. It’s annoying.

  90. The Great Pumpkin says:
  91. Out of the Ashes goes the Phoenix says:

    It’s not Trump. And it’s not Biden.

    We all want government to allow capitalism to do it’s thing, right??

    Corporations know better than government. Hands off.

    So why does a president, any president, need to “step in” or get involved?

    Greed, that’s why. They don’t ever do what is right, they do and manipulate to make obscene profits.

    That, my friends, is what the flag really stands for.

  92. Ex says:

    I was ready and willing to give Trump a chance. He blew it.

  93. Juice Box says:

    Beer – Long Beach is like our NJ/NY Port Authority however the Long Beach Container Terminal is a private business leasing space. It was owned by the Chinese, and was sold to Macquarie Infrastructure Partners an infrastructure fund based out of Hong Kong…

    MIC is the symbol.

    https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/MIC?qsearchterm=mic

  94. Bystander says:

    Ex,

    Maybe just me but if a presidential candidate says “I will ban Muslims from entering this country” then somehow I think unconstitutional and crazy. There are 3.5m muslims in this country who work hard and contribute to US society. That he got the chance was indictment of the racism, xenophobia and religious bigotry that exists is swaths of middle and south.

  95. JCer says:

    On supply chain issues, you have a few drivers. First was lock down policies, next govt interference vis a vis raining 2 trillion on the economy, most companies knee jerk started belt tightening when the pandemic hit, the idea that there would be record demand because of stimulus was totally foreign. They didn’t think there’d be a building boom they expected us to be holed up eating beans out of a can as the economy contracted.

    This port debacle falls firmly in the hands of the government, private industry makes decisions based on money the increase in revenue from getting more goods likely does give them enough gunpowder to get the unions to move faster. The Biden admin was unwilling early on to push the unions to 12 hour days and eliminate local red tape to get things moving. Only the federal government has that power, the corps don’t care they know that scarcity will drive up prices in the short term and the prices will be sticky, they’ll reap rewards in the future in exchange for a little pain now. As for secretary pete, he’s the g*ddamn secretary of transportation, I assure you me and my wife don’t have jobs that important, but even my wife who actually gave birth was called when major crisis’s came up. I’ve got no problem with family time but Pete needs to do his job, a flotilla of cargo ships amassing on the west coast is something the transportation secretary should be working on. I don’t think a woman in the same situation who actually gave birth to the children in the same position would get the kind of slack mayor Pete is getting, dude need to resign.

  96. Hold my beer says:

    Juice

    The ports still set policies. Biden could have enacted the defense authorization act or whatever its called. The same act libs were screaming for Trump to use to force companies to make ventilators and protective gear and masks when Covid hit and pointing out he knew a few months before it took off in NYC that it was coming and he did nothing to prepare for it. This backlog has been building for months at the ports and the administration has done nothing. It’s a threat to the economy and is contributing to inflation.

  97. RobertLof says:

    Dịch vụ đổi thẻ cào sang tiền mặt / Ví Momo/ Tài khoản ngân hàng ATM nhanh chóng, Đổi thẻ cào thành tiền – Rút tiền về tài khoản siêu tốc, Tích hợp API, …
    Mua Thẻ Game Giá Rẻ

  98. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Hold/jcer,

    Why are you treating businesses as if they are gods….they are not perfect. You have completely ignored any blame towards them and instead blamed the govt.

    Corporations cut back when they should not have….that’s the bottom line. They cut back to maximize profit, and ate it hard, taking our supply chain with it. They created a supply chain that could easily be broken and that’s the bottom line.

  99. JCer says:

    Bystander I hate to say it but you clearly do not understand Islam even as well as Donald Trump. There are more than few reasons to wary of Islam and there are certainly higher percentages of extremists in Islam than in Christianity, Judaism, or other religions, the Koran calls for conversion of the infidels at the tip of a sword. Of the big 3 Islam is the scariest. I know it’s politically incorrect but even our allies in the Muslim world harbor terrorists. So increased scrutiny on people from terror hot spots is a very logical policy, not racist nor xenophobia. I’m not saying we should discriminate based on religion but there is nothing unconstitutional about freezing visa from countries with terror problems or who otherwise are unable to track their citizens.

    But I digress why are still talking about Trump? At this point the vast majority of Americans if asked would prefer Trump be back in office, that is how bad this Biden admin is going. Biden is the president he should start acting like it, there is literally nothing executive about the man and he is totally compromised.

  100. The Great Pumpkin says:

    So now, their profits aren’t hurt, but they screwed the economy by starving it of its supplies. So everyone else pays except for them.

  101. JCer says:

    Hold, I agree the feds are asleep at the switch. They could have alleviated the situation.

    Pumps what supply chain are you talking about? You are totally ignorant of the facts, if you are talking automotive and semiconductor, then yes businesses messed up, they allowed small cheap commodity parts to delay the delivery of high value manufactured goods. This is how capitalism “works”, they are being punished by the markets for not being prepared, they will improve the resiliency of the supply chain going forward. Other shortages are goods literally coming on ships, not necessarily things we are making here.

    The government was the x factor, you do not understand since you work for the government. My employer wasn’t even impacted by COVID yet froze salaries and cancelled bonuses, others gave pay cuts. They were not prepared for the big bailout, companies act purely in self interest that is the difference, right or wrong it is easier to predict their movements. The government did not cause the shortages(mostly) but also has not done enough to alleviate them.

  102. JCer says:

    Pumps the profits are definitely hurt and substantial costs have been increased. How much of the inflation is driven by speculator money? Once the government begins to interfere they need to continue, they can not be a spectator after they interfere.

  103. Fast Eddie says:

    Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary (lol… sure) Buttigieg is on paternity leave (lmao… ) since August as he keeps trying to breast-feed his kids. lmao!! I swear, this sh1t is better than Babylon Bee or the Onion. You can’t make this stuff up. Build back better! LMAO!!

  104. The Real Donald Trump says:

    “By 2028, women will own 75% of the discretionary spend, making them the world’s greatest influencers.”

    I’m gonna start a ETF to take advantage. The symbol will be BICH.

    As for Pete. It’s a lot of work pumping breast milk from an effeminate male breast. Six months is hardly enough time.

  105. The Real Donald Trump says:

    Damn, we think alike. No wonder why you love me. Don’t forget to grab your wife by the puss-e.

  106. JCer says:

    Just look at cars, so I just had to buy a car. The lots are empty, the manufacturers aren’t giving incentives but that’s not too much per unit maybe $1250 on average, maybe less depending on the company and models they have. Dealers might be getting 1-2k above MSRP vs. 1-2k below MSRP on certain cars but lets say the spread is $3500 pre-pandemic to post but the difference is instead of 400 cars per month they move only 75. Assuming they had 2k profit per car before and now with the $3500 it’s now $5500, they still are down about half their revenue. This is why they all want thousands above sticker, your inventory is less than a quarter of what it was pre-pandemic. The manufacturer is doing even worse, yes they aren’t giving incentives, maybe they are paying the dealers less in the way of rebates but the volume they are moving is way down, this hasn’t necessarily hit the profits yet as they were building off what ever chip inventory they already had in their pipeline.

    Think everyone is profiting off the shortages is a very simplistic way to look at it. Will the manufacturers artificially keep supplies low of their best sellers, absolutely. They will try to maximize their profits anyway possible.

  107. No One says:

    HMB,
    Squid Game. I just watched it over the past few days while my wife was away. While I kind of liked it, it was a dark, depressing show. I thought the characterization and motivations of the “VIPs” were just cartoonishly implausable. But so was the whole show, if you think about it. Korean directors seem to really hate businesspeople, between this and Parasite. Would it kill them to show someone working hard to make something of themselves in business and earning some happiness? No, rich people just make their money abusing people and then the spend it enjoying watching people die. Who pushes such a worldview? North Korea approves.

  108. Bystander says:

    That is straight BS, Jcer. It has more to do with us bombing the shit out of their countries for decades and hundreds of thousands families killed. You act like they should not see it as religious war when in fact it is. We create the extremists by our unfettered bombing campaigns and support in ME. That is why we don’t want them here. We know what we have done, not because Quran is any more extreme than crazy violenece with bible.

  109. Hold my beer says:

    No One

    Businesses and their owners being immoral and abusing people, corrupt and incompetent cops, corrupt government officials is a big theme in korean shows. I think every South Korean president has either died in office or been removed for corruption.

  110. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Jcer,

    Fair enough.

    I know every business is not profiting during this period, but there sure as hell are businesses that are killing it off this. I just want people to own it instead of pointing the finger at someone else. Just own it that you f’ed up. You built a supply line that could easily crash and it did. Was it really smart to offshore everything and then blame the ports for the mishap? Come on, they f’ed up.

  111. Let's go Brandon!!!!! says:

    No one,

    Maybe I missed this in the last episode but when 456 gives all his money to the other guy’s mom to take care of his kid, I was like, OK, how the heck did he get him out of the orphanage and how come he didn’t give any money to the Pakistani family after the guy saved his life by holding onto him?

  112. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Of course…shocker!! Let’s offshore everything and then blame the unions and the ports when it crashes.

    Let’s go Brandon!!!!! says:
    October 15, 2021 at 4:36 pm
    here’s blaming California policies for the ports

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/empty-christmas-stockings-dont-blame-covid-blame-california

  113. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Zerohedge lost in the woods…blame anything but the actual cause.

  114. JCer says:

    Bystander, you are ignorant of the history. The Muslims went on a spree of conquest after the death of Mohammed. The Jihad concept is a part of the Muslim faith as is theocracy. You don’t see theocracy in many other religions, do you? Much of what you see as Muslim countries are in fact disputed territory from when the Turks laid siege on the Eastern Roman empire and then committed ethnic cleansing and genocide for centuries. Up until the 17th century the Ottoman empire was encroaching into northern europe and stealing european women as slaves.

    I’ve known lots of moderate muslims, fine people but they likely would be viewed as non-adherents by most Imams. It’s not politically correct but there is way more to fear from extremist Islam than ultra orthodox Christianity or Judaism. Some of the fundamentalist Christians are pretty frightening but they still don’t have the theocratic government as a goal.

    The US is not to blame for what happens in the middle east, yes we are involved where we should not be but it is in long standing conflicts between different sects. Our interest stops and starts with money, the group that keeps the oil pumping is who we support. Don’t blow up US interests and you will not be drone strike’d it is really that simple. Really the middle east has way less to complain about that latin america, at least we made them rich. Without western technology they could never exploit their resources. In Latin America we royal messed everything up and ensured the population remained impoverished, if anyone should be suicide bombing us it’s Guatemalans.

    To summarize Muslims and Europeans have been at war continuously since the 8th century, it wasn’t until the 20th century that territorial expansion was effectively squashed, hard liners still believe they need to “convert” the west by any means.

  115. Bystander says:

    Brandon,

    Nice spoiler alert. Probably because they left area. He asked her to leave before joining game.

  116. JCer says:

    Pumps did you read that, it does make sense. If you ban the owner/operators and require new equipment the rest of the country doesn’t you effectively reduce the supply of available trucks. CA has created an artificial shortage which has created a bottleneck, rather than allowing the free market to provide the solution. If more money per load could be made and it was permitted you’d have a lot of truckers making their way to the port to make money. Business unfriendly regulation in California is exacerbating the situation, the likely result is more cargo coming east through the panama canal, perhaps even expanded Mexican ports in the future.

  117. Bystander says:

    Huh Jcer..thanks for lesson which I knew. All that bad history with Muslims and show me where German chancellor called for banning Muslims from their country? It was politics stoked on by Faux News portaying Muslims as evil doers coming with their Sharia law takeover. Trump knew how to reach ignorant bigots.

  118. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Jcer,

    The thing is, there are bottlenecks at ports all over the world. Just face it, business made a big mistake to chase profits by making everything in China. They are responsible for this whether they realize it or not.

  119. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Also, i support govt pushing for innovation in renewable energy. It’s not fair to future generations to not invest in new technology and leave them stranded with no means of energy because we wanted to save money by continuing to rely on fossil fuels as the only source of energy simply because it’s cheap.

  120. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I get it, that it hurts trying to develop new energy sources, but the survival of our species and planet is dependent on it.

  121. Hold my beer says:

    Pumps

    California restricted the trucks that can work in it when there wasn’t an adequate supply of low ev trucks and also kicked the owner operator truckers to the side of the road. The crane operators are supposedly slacking off on top of it. Biden could order the California regs be waived as an emergency. This is on the government,

  122. No One says:

    LG Brandon,
    Hey spoilers for others.
    I guess he supposed to be too shell shocked to do much. If he was really such a nice guy there were about a dozen families he might have helped. I guess he’s a slacker on that front too. Wasn’t there still a family in North Korea to pay for? He might not have known the identity of the Pakistan guy. But he could have tried. Instead he moped for a whole year, then dyed his hair red – does that mean more to koreans than me? Or was he just too lazy to think of a better haircut?

    Anyway the tension and suspense kept my attention, but it’s pretty derivative overall.

    Even if I was a billionaire I’d have no desire to use human footstools. It’s like what Fabmax and AOC imagine what rich people like doing. The people who actually like seeing people die come from a very different demographic.

  123. Ex says:

    Shakespeare opined that the act of copulation to be a form of death.

  124. Let’s go Brandon says:

    No One,

    I just don’t see how the betting remotely covers the costs of putting the game on. The number of people, cars, surveillance equipment etc for those few number of VIP’s.

  125. JCer says:

    Bystander, not sure what this has to do with the cost of tea in China. You had a series of incidents in this country, the Boston marathon bombing, the bombings in NJ, the shootings in CA, the pulse nightclub shooting, etc. Why shouldn’t we increase scrutiny on people coming from countries that are state sponsors of terror? Anyone who really knows the history of Islam who is inviting to the west with open arms is suicidal, it’s just common sense to be skeptical of muslims until you understand the depth of their faith. There are a good number of Germans who wish their chancellor put the refugees on hold, including a series of young women raped and murdered by migrants. Just cover your ears and pretend there is no issue.

    Pumps you don’t foster innovation in new energy sources by mandating people use things that don’t yet exist. Fund research, if you subsidize a certain technology how do you know you’ve selected the best option? You may be incentivizing something that fundamentally doesn’t work except with government support.

    Hold you are absolutely right that the federal government could have stepped in and alleviated the situation unfortunately the transportation secretary is out of the office on paternity leave and Biden thinks it’s 1974 and he’s running for the senate.

  126. The Great Pumpkin says:

    ALL of my most important Models turned UP over the last week, triggering Buy signals.

    Critically: this week’s Market strength was similar to the start of other BIG rallies.

    Don’t underestimate how far Stocks could go.

    The rally could just be getting started – follow the Trend.

    https://twitter.com/macrocharts/status/1449329281859870721?s=21

  127. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “Fun fact: American made products don’t get stuck on cargo ships.”

  128. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Some bear I follow, he believes this is the start of the melt-up stage of the market cycle. Believes we are at the end of a 39 year bull cycle.

    Anyone have any opinion on this?

  129. Libturd says:

    The market nearly always goes straight up before crashing. The problem is, the crash is so severe after these periods of market glee that you can’t get out since the drop is faster than the melt up. Much faster. And the drop after a 39 year bull has no support levels once you say, surpass the levels we are at currently. So you are better off positioning yourself for the inevitable. Lock some away around here and be willing to accept the fact that you might not participate in some gains in exchange for some insurance. I’m 70/30 and going to 60/40 probably later in the week. Expect to be 50/50 by the end of the year. I sleep comfortably. Even if I’m wrong, my savings have doubled so many times now that if market drops 40% from here, I can handle a 20% haircut without freaking. If I am wrong and market goes up 40% from here, I’m good with a 20% gain. I’m getting close to retirement and there is nothing more detrimental to a healthy retirement than the market crashing within the first 5 to 10 years of it. As a matter of fact, choosing the right mix of retirement investments pales in comparison to the wrong market timing.

    If you are still 10 or more years away from retiring, then forget about market timing. Just let it ride baby. Just make sure you are diversified.

    Check this out.

    https://www.mymoneyblog.com/10-year-backup-plan-for-early-retirement.html

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