From CNBC:
New home sales drop 5.5% in September to near two-year low
New home sales plunged in September, falling 5.5 percent to an almost two-year low amid pressures from rising interest rates that have hammered the real estate market.
The Commerce Department reported that sales for the month came in at 553,000 on seasonally adjusted basis. That’s 5.5 percent below the downward revised August rate of 585,000 and a 13.2 percent tumble from the 637,000 reported for the same period a year ago.
September represented the worst month since December 2016. The number also was well below the estimate from economists polled by Reuters who were looking for a 1.4 percent drop to 625,000.
The report comes as mortgage rates have been drifting higher, with the most recent average at 4.87 percent, according to Bankrate.com. Housing experts believe a 5 percent average rate could be an inflection point for a market under pressure all year from rising rates.
…
The Federal Reserve has hiked its benchmark interest rate three times this year, to a target range of 2 percent to 2.25 percent. Mortgage rates have risen in kind.June and July sales rates were also revised lower. New home sales have now declined for four straight months.
From a geographic standpoint, the South, which is the biggest area for home sales, likely saw some impact from Hurricane Florence. The region reported 318,000 sales for the month, a decline of 1.5 percent. The Northast, which usually has the lowest number of sales, saw its numbers collapse by 40.6 percent to the lowest level since April 2015.
Only the Midwest saw a gain, rising 6.9 percent, while the West declined 12 percent.
A decline in median sales price, from $331,500 a year ago to $320,000 now, provided some hope that the market is moderating enough to provide a bottom.
“Should that become a trend, and should wage growth continue to strengthen, a revitalized new-home-sales market could occur next year,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.
From the Observer:
NJ Politics Digest: How Economic Recovery Has Passed by This State
The economy is booming—unless you’re a low-wage worker living in New Jersey.
Those are the findings of a study released Monday by the United Way of Northern New Jersey.
The report found that 38.5 percent of New Jersey households can’t afford the basics for survival, such as child care, health care, food, housing and transportation, according to a report by The Record.
These sound like the sentiments of a petulant child so terrified and angry at losing his white male privilege that he’d resort to mailing bombs to his white nationalist hero’s enemies.
Prove me wrong:
Fast Eddie says:
September 24, 2018 at 11:30 am
I drove out to Bethpage yesterday for a hockey game. The conversion of North Jersey into the Bronx and Queens is well underway. We got to get outta here.
Disgusting, isn’t it? It’s terrible how we need to fight to hold on to a way of life we loved and enjoyed growing up here. The riff raff is seeping in from every crevice and sullying the quality of life. We’re moving from the European influence that built this country to some third world shith0le foot print. It’s sad.
Some parts of NJ are thriving, other locations are failing. September house price stats came out yesterday. Statewide, prices are up 3.3% year to date. That is healthy. Hudson +14%, better than boomtowns like Seattle, Denver, and Bay Area. Salem -16%, depressing and getting no media attention.
Ottoman,
White male privilege? My father slept on a mattress they dragged in from the street; went periods of time without electricity; got drafted into a war, came home and worked two jobs for the next 40 years without as much as a whimper. One of those jobs included saving lives while he almost lost his twice. The other was a small business that was profitable enough to give to inner city kids every Thanksgiving and Christmas. My father helped to build this country without asking for a dime.
Terrified? Angry? I’ll show no fear or anger when they give me a license to shoot whining losers in the head.
Were these pipe bombs or just pipes?
I think it’s a political message, sending duds to duds.
Hope they catch the idiot but this all feels like it’s some kind of stunt to drive increases in voter turnout.
Maybe I’m tinfoil hat guy today.
It’s too much of a coincidence with these pipe bombs.
8:19 they don’t actually give licenses like that out. Btw
Last time I checked a real bomb goes boom, this bomber is what 0 for 7 right now? Looks like an astroturf from somebody, left right, Russian, Saudi, British?
Eddie,
..and my grandfather, was WW1 vet, lost 2 fingers and an eye working sand mines in Long Island. Raised 9 kids. He was pro-union, pro-JFK and pro-democrat. Was he less of a man or contributor to this country? Using arguments about what previous generations did to back your own argument, is about the weakest of the sort. We all have our own lives and own decisions to make in this one. Each generation has unique set challenges to overcome and yes, we have it good but not entirely for reasons you seem to believe. You think only one side contributed to and built this country. It is boring and narrow, man.
Not only is it narrow, it’s laughable. Trot that shit out at your brownshirt meetings Ed. You’ll find a sympathetic audience there. As one who knows lots of conservatives I will say that its very common to hear the very same complaints that come from you. But when the government decides who is “worthy” we are in real trouble. Trump has no problem believing the people in these little towns “like” him but guess what, they know he’s just another lying scumbag, perhaps the biggest lying scumbag to ever occupy that office and that my friend is saying a lot.
But I get it. People are disenfranchised. I imagine each culture has expectations from life and life has never, ever been easy. We all need something. Just what are we willing to do to get it? I agree that its harder than ever to instill values in kids who we want to see succeed. I wonder what take-a-ways they would get from Trump and his record as a businessman and a husband. What can you learn from this man? What is he delivering to the American people?
Has the person who bombed the Rutgers library in 1995 been identified?
He was pro-union, pro-JFK and pro-democrat.
That was my father.
Bystander,
Don’t lecture me. The f.uck called me a petulant child; angry and white male privileged. I’m not gonna stand idle and be labeled when he doesn’t know me nor do you.
“https://www.marketwatch.com/story/more-than-one-third-of-homeowners-are-paying-for-renovation-projects-with-credit-cards-2018-10-24”
Of course – because why take out hundreds of dollars in cash? This is more related to using less physical cash than actually racking up debt.
“I think it’s a political message, sending duds to duds.”
My sentiments as well. I said this to Gator last night. If I had to guess, it’s one cooky liberal 18-year old who is probably behind it. If it was a right-winger, they wouldn’t be duds. Complete guess though. I’m not putting my money behind it.
I’m as troubled about understanding why a 68 year old man would be dropping dirty diapers around town for months. What is going through his mind?
https://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2018/10/serial_dirty_diaper_dumper_who_caused_motorcycle_c.html
“A man who spent the last 10 months dropping bags of soiled diapers on roadways around a South Jersey community thought it was all a joke, police said.
He’s likely not laughing now that police have charged him with several offenses, including causing a serious motorcycle accident.
William Z. Friedman, 68, of Newfield, was arrested early Sunday morning when Franklin Township Police Officer Garret Moretti allegedly spotted him dropping a load of stinky diapers from a box truck in the area of Routes 47 and 40.
Friedman admitted to police that he had been doing the same thing on roadways around town during the last year. Bags containing half a dozen soiled diapers were found every few days, explained Lt. Matt DeCesari.
“There was no set pattern to it,” DeCesari said. “He just passed it off like it was funny and a joke. It became a game.”
The joke wasn’t funny for a motorcyclist who ran over one of the bags shortly after 11 p.m. on June 24. The rider suffered minor injuries but totaled his bike after hitting the bag and running off the road, police said.
Friedman allegedly told police that if he saw officers patrolling in a particular area where he planned to make a drop, he would hold off a day.
“This was an unusual case and it kind of became a game for the officers to be the first one to catch this guy,” DeCesari said.
And where did he get all of those loaded diapers? Friedman told police he has a grandson.
Friedman was charged with interfering with transportation for the motorcycle crash and was also issued several township citations, which carry fines of up to $1,000 each, DeCesari said.
He was released pending a future court appearance.”
Not lecturing you Eddie. Your manhood is not at stake on a blog. This place was funner when we b*tched about chubby realtors with gunts. A seroius now.
Sounds like he should be friends with the school admin that shit on the running track every day.
Violent threat sent to GOP candidate and his 7 kids in closely watched N.J. race
https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/10/someone_just_threatened_to_harm_jay_webbers_7_chil.html
I won’t ask what a gunt is. :)
@IngrahamAngle
Law enforcement sources told @FoxNews yesterday that the powder in the padded envelopes mailed to Trump critics was an “inert substance.” Not designed to detonate but to instill fear.
Where did he get the diapers?
From the article..his grandchild…
“D-FENS says:
October 25, 2018 at 12:23 pm
@IngrahamAngle
Law enforcement sources told @FoxNews yesterday that the powder in the padded envelopes mailed to Trump critics was an “inert substance.” Not designed to detonate but to instill fear.”
Or instill anger. The false flag narrative has a lot of facts in support, this being the latest fact in support if true.
Others include (based on photos) postage insufficient for package and stamps not cancelled so it wasn’t mailed (the latter is dubious). Also, they weren’t handled under proper bomb disposal protocols. These facts support the idea that they were plants.
I doubt this would ever come from officialdom on the left because the blowback if discovered would be huge. Too much risk, even for a false flag.
But that doesn’t discount the possibility that it could be lefties perpetrating another “hate hoax” which has been an endemic problem from them of late. They fail to consider the risks–even if the devices were inert, the charges and penalties are the same.
Exactly what I stated yesterday on this blog. No science to this.
“I’ll be honest, I have a hard time explaining this,” said Patrick Palfrey, equity strategist at Credit Suisse. “There isn’t a single item that is the smoking gun behind the selloff. Concerns around trade or tariffs, concerns around valuations, concerns around peak earnings — you name it, and I promise you I’ve heard a client trying to attribute it to that. I don’t think any of them fit.”
Things that never used to bug investors are being trotted out as mortal threats. People who spent years praying for inflation are now convinced it will kill the economy. The Federal Reserve has raised rates eight times, taking them to barely 2 percent, and suddenly that’s way too much. Eleven percent earnings growth? No longer enough.
“People have been tiptoeing to 2018 largely with their eyes wide open, but the markets are clearly overreacting,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Asset Management. “The selling activity is heavily influenced by emotion. I’m not really seeing other factors confirming the markets rout, and I’ve been trying really hard.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-25/sell-offs-are-normal-but-this-week-is-shocking-the-pros
@conservmillen
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I have a prediction. When the caravan gets to the US border, they will put the women & children on the front lines. There will be pictures of desperate women/babies in front of stonefaced, armed troops. TIME will put one on the cover and the headline will be “Trump’s America.”
you guys gotta see the ‘isis’ sticker that’s on the bombs. WTF?
https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1055261974400065537
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Here’s the rightwing meme that was on the explosive device sent to CNN today.
It was created for a rightwing parody news site in 2014 for an article called “ISIS Vows Retribution For Counterfeit Flags.”
It’s been a meme ever since.
I think this is an interesting article about leftists becoming even angrier and intolerant than those on “the right”. It rings true from people I see here, what I read about in academia, as well as what my daughter reports from her “elite” high school.
https://quillette.com/2018/03/10/psychology-progressive-hostility/
“So how and why have these activists become so intolerant and horrible to deal with? Part of this hostility can be explained by a wilful ignorance and incuriosity about ideas with which they disagree.” “No doubt, other factors creep into the mix of the triggered progressive mind. Fashionable theories, such as those advanced by Jacques Derrida, teach students that all text and language is structured by power, so any argument from someone in a position of ‘gendered’ or ‘racial’ power can be disregarded, whatever its logical validity. By reinforcing this premise with a heavily left-biased education, university educators have created a Frankenstein generation of fanatical students”
No One,
Heard an interesting comment yesterday… if it appears today as more young people don’t respect freedom of speech and freedom in general, maybe a contributing factor is that they were first generation in this country to grow up with ridiculous zero tolerance policies throughout school.
They won’t value freedom of speech until their vlogs are shut down. To be honest, young people don’t care about any issue as long as they can watch their stupid crap on youtube.
I’ve located the leader of the progressive left
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1AkWWYtCjpo
The left had gone so far off the deep end and is so massively unhinged I’m not
Sure if there is any longer a point in engaging with them. They are militant and scream like entitled children constantly.
The truth to the left is like when you pour holy water on a vampire in old movies. They go absolutely spastic.
Comparing the current dem party to jfks is a joke. Where have you been for the past 50 years?