Category Democrats A Clear and Present Danger

Jun 6 2023

The Cloward-Piven Strategy


Aemstrong Economics Blog/Civil Unrest Re-Posted Jun 6, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Your reporting on the Red Cross and other organizations that facilitate the mass importation of illegals into America is well done. But its purpose is about more than just a move to import a bunch of Biden voters to help secure a second term.
Are you aware of the Cloward and Piven strategy? These were two communist professors who devised a plan to take down the capitalist structure of the United States through mass illegal migration that overwhelms U.S. social safety net programs and local governments. It is an intentional plan to collapse the U.S. and bring in a new (global) regime that will issue ‘guaranteed basic income’ to all.
I’ve never seen you comment on Cloward and Piven, would you care to share whether Socrates shows their plan will be successful?

REPLY:

The four steps of the Cloward-Piven Strategy:
1. Overload and Break the Welfare System
2. Have Chaos Ensue
3. Take Control in the Chaos
4. Implement Socialism and Communism through Government Force

Overburden the bureaucracy to break the system, create controlled chaos, usurp power as civil unrest peaks, and offer government aid as the only solution. This was the basis behind the Cloward-Piven strategy created by sociologists Frances Fox Piven and her husband, Richard Cloward. The couple published their theory in The Nation Magazine on May 2, 1966, entitled “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty.”

This was a decade of political activism in America. The war in Vietnam was raging on and the alternative hippie lifestyle became prominent as people protested the violence. The Black Freedom Movement and the push for equal civil rights had peaked and helped to end the Jim Crow laws in the South by 1965. The LA race riots, also known as the Watts Rebellion, occurred in 1965 as well after the police beat a black man who was arrested for a DUI. That particular riot lasted for six days and led to 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, and over 3,000 arrests. This began a string of riots in America where black Americans and supporters clashed with police, similar to the events that occurred after the death of George Floyd that started the Black Lives Matter movement.

We had major political activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. making real change in America. The intelligence agencies had a close eye on him, and his death in 1968 is a topic for another post. On the other side were the likes of Malcom X, who originally did not advocate for peace as King did. The cohesive movement fell apart with mass unrest and no one at the helm. The movement began with African Americans asking for basic human rights and understandable anger. The purpose of the movement, again similar to BLM, became lost, and the government aimed to use the civil unrest to its advantage.

“[T]he strategy we propose, is a massive drive to recruit the poor onto the welfare rolls,” the sociologists wrote in their theory. This theory aimed to overburden social programs at the state level to give the federal government the power to control the people.

“Widespread campaigns to register the eligible poor for welfare aid, and to help existing recipients obtain their full benefits, would produce bureaucratic disruption in welfare agencies and fiscal disruption in local and state governments. These disruptions would generate severe political strains, and deepen existing divisions among elements in the big-city Democratic coalition: the remaining white middle class, the white working-class ethnic groups and the growing minority poor.”

Cloward and Piven noted that civil unrest was necessary to create change and encouraged the government to antagonize the masses. “The poor are most visible and proximate in the local community; antagonism toward them (and toward the agencies which are implicated with them) has always, therefore, been more intense locally than at the federal level.” As the anger brews and protests erupt, the government will lasso in the masses, acted as both the hero and the villain.

“In order to generate a crisis, the poor must obtain benefits, which they have forfeited. Until now, they have been inhibited from asserting claims by self-protective devices within the welfare system: its capacity to limit information, to intimidate applicants, to demoralize recipients, and arbitrarily to deny lawful claims.”

Tell the people that they are victims and instill a sense of entitlement for their neighbor’s assets. Remind the people consistently that they are oppressed and only an equal distribution of wealth can save them from the confines of poverty. Cloward and Piven insisted that hard work could not “elevate the poor en-mass from poverty.”

“The ultimate objective of this strategy–to wipe out poverty by establishing a guaranteed annual income,” the theory clearly stated. The theory stated that the creation of unions was a good start to bargain collectively, but still not enough to solve poverty. “Union leaders have understood that their strength derives almost entirely from their capacity to provide economic rewards to members,” the theory noted. “A federal program of income redistribution has become necessary to elevate the poor en masse from poverty,” meaning a shift away from capitalism entirely.

Cloward and Piven stated that a minimum standard of living must be provided to the people through federal welfare. That right must be guaranteed to end oppression, thereby ensuring Guaranteed Basic Income. Furthermore, there could be no conditions for benefits as it “results in violations of civil liberties.” Therefore, expecting able-bodied people to work would be an attack on the welfare system. The sociologists insisted that most people were in fact eligible for welfare and encouraged the government to advertise in brochures, schools, stores, churches, civic centers, and public housing projects. They even advised the government to send people door-to-door to explain to people that they are oppressed and deserving of GBI as a “civil education drive will lend it legitimacy.”

“As the crisis develops, it will be important to use the mass media to inform the broader liberal community about the inefficiencies and injustices of welfare.” To succeed, the shift away from capitalism required “mass influence” and “publicly visible disruption.” “Crisis can occur spontaneously (e.g., riots) or as the intended result of tactics of demonstration and protest, which either generate institutional disruption or bring unrecognizable eruption to public attention.”

The bigger the crisis, the more power the government could usurp. They noted that politicians paid attention to massive uprisings, and they had been used to “reinforce the allegiance of growing ghetto constituencies to the national Democratic Administration.” The sociologists noted that the Conservative Republicans would decry a public welfare system and that the Democrats needed to appeal to the emotions of the people over logic. They also urged for “a coalition between poor whites and poor Negroes” to turn the race war into class warfare.

“Once eligibility for basic food and rent grants is established, the drain on local resources persists indefinitely.” Cloward and Piven wanted to overburden the welfare system at the state level to eliminate state rights. Therefore, under this theory, government is encouraged to market a crisis, antagonize the people, and offer a solution. The only solution being to replace capitalism with socialism or communism by which the people would be entirely dependent on government. You will own nothing and be happy.

May 31 2023

Byron Donalds and Chip Roy Are Furious About McCarthy Debt Ceiling Deal – House Freedom Caucus Says “NO”!


Posted originally on the CTH on May 30, 2023 | Sundance 

As details begin to emerge, many of the House Republicans are furious at Kevin McCarthy for the deal to lift the debt ceiling he has brokered with Joe Biden.

Suddenly, the prior battle and construct of the House Rules Committee is becoming important.   While Kevin McCarthy may have the 218 votes on the floor of the House to pass the deal, he first has to get it out of the House Rules Committee (HRC).  If three Republicans oppose it in the HRC, McCarthy cannot get it to the floor.  Chip Roy and Ralph Norman are on the HRC and oppose the bill.   Thomas Massie is also on the HRC but appears to be supporting Kevin McCarthy (lol, because muh principles).

Byron Donalds also delivered a strong rebuke of the McCarthy deal, as outlined below:

WASHINGTON DC – […] The powerful House Rules Committee will spend Tuesday afternoon debating and — ultimately working to pass — the bipartisan debt deal, requiring a simple majority of at least seven votes on the panel to come to the floor. But some conservatives, including Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a committee member, have signaled they may use their power on that panel to block the debt plan from receiving a full House vote.

“I’m going to do what’s in the best interest and this bill is not in the best interest of the country. That is why Democrats are voting for it,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), another conservative who sits on the Rules panel and has suggested he will oppose the bill during the panel’s meeting.

[…] Under the panel’s current makeup, Rules Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) can lose two GOP votes — along with all four Democratic votes — and still advance the bill.

Senior Republicans believe that’s exactly what’s going to happen, according to three people familiar with the discussions. Norman and Roy haven’t explicitly said they will oppose, though Massie is expected to vote in support of the measure going to the floor.

GOP Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said that he is “confident” that the bill will hit the floor on Wednesday, noting that Rules would be considering amendments. Members submitted more than 55 amendments to the debt deal, most of them from Republicans but some from Democrats as well. (read more)

Rep Dan Bishop: The bill is bad

May 30 2023

The Real Hidden Agenda – It’s Time to take the Red Pill


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted May 30, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Martin,
I’m gay and I agree with you on this transgender drivel, especially letting male-born athletes compete in women’s sports. It is becoming scary for those of us who are just gay. We are being thrown in the same category as this transgender agenda. I too have been to Thailand. The Ladyboys in Thailand are numerous and are accepted in society. They are smart enough to not make a political issue of it as is taking place here in America.

As for your view of Trump as the only hope to save our politics, I profoundly disagree. I think he is arrogant and ignorant. He doesn’t care if what he says if it is true or not.

CP

REPLY: With respect to Trump, you have to separate the individual from the politics. I understand people hate Trump. The media have spread this BECAUSE he is a threat to the Washington political establishment. Nonetheless, not even Trump can stop the decline and fall of Western Civilization.

People get offended by his crude statements at times. But at least you know what he really thinks. Is it better for a career politician to say everything you want to hear and then look at you as a stupid fool and do the opposite?

I have worked in Washington. There is ABSOLUTELY nobody who is a career politician in either party who will really stand up for the people. They are under pressure all the time to conform to the unelected party bosses.

I have met many heads of state in my 40 years. I have said the truth. Trump was the ONLY such person who ever impressed me as actually being human. His statement that he wanted to bring our boys home from Afghanistan because he was tired of writing letters to their parents to thank them for their son’s sacrifice of dying for his country. He actually said what are we doing there? They are fighting over borders for a 1,000 years. What difference will we make?

No head of state EVER spoke about the people. It was always about their policy. I have come to see that we are just the pawns – expendable pawns at that. There are always more of us to come. They look down upon the people as stupid scum. This whole digital currency thing is to track everything we do.

So you may find Trump’s statement and his arrogance at times as distasteful. We will never find someone perfect. But all of this is irrelevant. For there is NOBODY coming on some white horse to save the day. Trump’s quality was that he was NOT a career politician and what he was doing was for his personal legacy from ending wars to building a wall to protect our borders.

So all I can say is to those who hate Trump so much, you better look closely at the others for they have nothing but contempt for you.


Back in the ’70s, I hired a death mute – Danny. He taught me sign language and we could communicate and laugh together. I had a major surgeon as a client and he said that he probably could restore his hearing. I offered to pay for everything for him and he declined. He was afraid to hear sounds. He grew up that way and was in his late 20s and did not want to change. He taught me that what I thought would be a generous offer was really just me thinking that normal was the ability to hear. We cannot judge others by ourselves.

One of our staff who is black, was rather upset about the whole Black Lives Matter movement. She explained that it was being usurped by non-blacks. There was clearly a strange agenda behind the curtain. Soros and his defund the police agenda was to create civil unrest and cause the country to get prepared for this one-world government.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg was the first woman to make it to the Supreme Court. She was an advocate for women’s rights. But she came out and explained that the entire Abortion Movement was a fraud. They called it women’s rights and have indoctrinated many women who passionately take that position. They have been cleverly manipulated by the Gates crowd and the Rockefeller Foundation for their real goal was to reduce the population. Gate’s father started the whole Planned Parenthood and placed them in minority areas to reduce their population on a racist basis.  Like his father, Gates has targeted Africa to reduce population.

Now, the total number of people who identify as Transgender is 1.6 million out of a population of 331.9 million (2021). That is 0.0048%. Now, how has this become such a major issue? There is absolutely NO WAY this Transgender group had the money or the clout to turn this into such a huge issue. Diving deep behind the curtain and you will find, just like abortion, it is being funded for the purpose of reducing the population – and has NOTHING to do with Pride or gay rights. They are being exploited just as women were told it was their right to have an abortion – kill that baby and save the planet.

This Transgender nonsense is in fact destroying the right of the Gay Community because they are being thrown in with this Transgender nonsense advocating changing children’s sex without parental knowledge all before puberty. Let’s get real here. This agenda is to promote the reduction in the population and has NOTHING to do with the Gay Community or their rights to inclusion and equality.

This is always the same strategy – manipulating society to achieve its undeclared goal be it war, politics, or women/transgender rights. It is like LIFE Insurance which is really DEATH insurance. They sell fire, accident, theft, and hurricane insurance. But they could not sell DEATH insurance so they called it LIFE insurance and people brag how much they have.

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Remember the lockdowns? The whole COVID nonsense was a scam to end commuting and terminate offices bringing in virtual work from home all to reduce gas consumption. That was also a manipulation of society for climate change – not for health. There are people still to this day wearing masks driving alone in a car. They have been mentally damaged by these tactics.

NOTHING is ever what it seems. We are the fools and they are always using sophisticated tactics to manipulate society to achieve objectives that they will never reveal.

It’s just time to take the Red Pill and wake up if you EVER hope to survive as a viable human being or take the Blue Pill and live in your fantasy that government actually cares about you.

May 28 2023

The Thirst For Truth – Big Picture Explanation of What Happened in the Past 15 Years That Flipped the Social, Cultural, Media, Leftist and Govt Relationship


Posted originally on the CTH on May 27, 2023 | Sundance 

Last night I participated in a conversation. This article is written as an outcome of that conversation, as requested by those who participated.

Essentially, the framework of the conversation, as I initially listened, is best described as a series of questions amid a group of smart intellectual types who are very understanding of the nature of our current situation.

In various forms they were asking each other the same question.  What happened in the last several years that caused Democrats, leftists and the traditional political left to switch positions on their advocacy?

Liberalism literally went from railing against Big Govt, to embracing corrupt Big Govt. Why and how did this happen?

In short, it was the same line of questioning I have seen asked by Tucker Carlson, Glenn Greenwald, Tulsi Gabbard and various traditionally liberal people as well as people on the right side of the continuum.

Why and how did traditional liberalism so suddenly flip from being, big picture – ‘anti-government’, to suddenly embracing corrupt government enterprise, and supporting the intelligence apparatus, federal govt (writ large), institutional oppressive law enforcement and FBI etc.?  What happened?

After listening to this conversation quietly, as I am prone to do, my remarks -with citations and examples- silenced the room.

At the conclusion of my remarks, everyone asked me if I had ever written about this, and if not – why not?   I did not have an answer, so consider this a promise fulfilled.  Perhaps you might find value.

In the 50 years that preceded 2008, traditional leftists, media activists, left-wing community organizing agencies, Democrats, liberals, progressives, or whatever label you want to assign, essentially railed against the U.S. government and all that it represented.  However, now, if you were to look at the issues from the 30,000-foot perspective, those same groups currently support the oppressive & weaponized system of government they formerly despised.

In the 50 years that preceded 2008, those same groups had an approach of distrust toward government, and the media apparatus had a very distinct supportive and cynical outlook, favorable to the leftist anti-government perspective.  Now, all of that has reversed – seemingly flipped.

In the 50 years that preceded 2008, media pushed a one-way narrative in defense of those who were “targeted” by the institutions and mechanisms of government.  As the activists railed against the regime, the media framed narratives to excuse the transparently guilty. Now, that entire dynamic has reversed.  Now we see the media pushing a narrative in support of weaponized government targeting, and – here’s the kicker – framing the transparently innocent.

The activists went from accusing government of wrongdoing and defending the transparently guilty – to aligning with government, excusing government wrongdoing, and helping to attack the transparently innocent.

As some continue to say with jaw agape, WTF happened?

The answer “why” is not complicated…. not complicated at all.

In 2008, the ‘activists’ took control of government.

In January of 2009, the leftists, community organizers and activists took control of the systems they had opposed for the preceding 50+ years.

In January of 2009, and inflection point took place; an inflection point that no one realized in forethought, scale or consequence.

Starting in 2009, all of the systems of federal government were now under the control of the people who previously fought against the systems of federal government.  Everything since is an outcome of that inflection point; that’s why everything flipped.

All of it, and I do mean every scintilla of the thing; every single granular detail and example you can put in front of me can be traced back to that moment when the activists were no longer outside government railing against the corrupt system they hated.

Starting in January of 2009, the activists took power over the United States government, and every outside institution, including media, necessarily and ideologically followed that inversion.

Starting in 2009, the systems and institutions of the U.S government now came under the control of the radical activists.

In the eight years that followed, the mission of every institution was changed.  Government was weaponized on behalf of the leftist activists who now took control of it.  Everything thereafter is a consequence of this change.

When I use the word “suddenly”, it is only for understanding the inflections point that came as a consequence.  In actuality, the severity of change inside each institution took place over several years.  That’s why the intensity of the weaponized and corrupt systems became worse over time.

As each institution was infiltrated to become more aligned with the mindset of the activists, the institutions became more radical in their targeting and weaponization.

The activists went from being outside government to being inside government.

Suddenly, the left-wing supportive media changed mission priority from railing against corrupt government, to defending the corrupt weaponization of govt.

Suddenly, the FBI went from targeting domestic threats, to targeting only the domestic threats defined as against the interests of the left-wing activists.

Suddenly, the outside activists went from being defined as social elements creating turmoil, to social elements now being defended and even promoted.

This is why we see outside activist groups like the Dream Defenders, New Black Panthers, Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street and more recently ANTIFA, as protected and supported by the activists inside government now in control of the systems and institutions.

All of the social, cultural and political dynamics that changed traditional “liberalism” are easily understood once you realize and accept that activists took control of the power centers of the U.S. government.

Everything that followed, including our current state of social and political turmoil, is simply a natural conclusion of that fundamental change.

The radical activists are now in control of the institutions of power.  This core shift is what created the dynamic of a very visible two-tiered justice system.  Each institution was weaponized and continues to be weaponized against those who are not aligned with the activist ideology.

The Dept of Justice has been weaponized against people who are not in alignment with the radicals.

The federal police, known as the FBI, have been weaponized against We The People.

The Intelligence Community is now under the control of the radical activists.  The mission priorities change accordingly.

When Tucker Carlson, Glenn Greenwald, Tulsi Gabbard or any other person posits the question about ‘why’ the ideology of the left and media has shifted so suddenly, there is your answer.

It is not a complicated understanding.   Once you accept this fundamental change took place, everything seemingly falls into place….

…. At least that’s what the “ah-ha” audience told me.

May 28 2023

McCarthy and Biden Strike Spending Deal to Raise Debt Ceiling


Posted originally on the CTH on May 27, 2023 | Sundance 

According to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a deal “in principle” has been reached between himself and Joe Biden.  McCarthy held a brief press conference to announced the deal; however, no details are forthcoming.  WATCH:

WASHINGTON DC – … [B]oth Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy still have to sell their respective parties on the agreement, navigating fraught votes in both chambers. McCarthy immediately hosted a call with members after the deal was announced, calling it a “big win” and claiming Democrats didn’t get “one thing” that they wanted out of the negotiations on a member-wide conference call, according to three people on the call.

While conservative Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) vocally criticized the agreement — saying he was “extremely disappointed” that the deal didn’t include “any meaningful cuts” — other Freedom Caucus members praised the deal, including Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Though both said they wanted to see the text, Jordan praised McCarthy for a deal where the government is “spending less” than it did before and getting Democrats to move on work requirements.

“Seems like a pretty darn good deal to me,” Jordan said, according to one of the people on the call.

And the speaker forcefully defended the agreement after Good’s criticism, saying it could pass the Senate and that he never claimed the legislation the House passed last month would be the “end all bill.”

McCarthy concluded the call around 10:30 p.m., telling his conference that he needed to speak to the White House again and make sure the text reflected their agreement on principle. “Let’s stick together,” he said while concluding the call. Biden and McCarthy will talk again Sunday, the speaker had told reporters earlier.

In addition to lifting the $31.4 trillion borrowing cap through the 2024 presidential election, the deal in principle would keep non-defense spending roughly flat for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, according to a person familiar with the negotiations, falling far short of the $130 billion in cuts at fiscal 2022 levels that Republicans had originally demanded.

Non-defense spending would increase by 1 percent in 2025, followed by years of non-enforceable funding targets, according to the person familiar. Republicans had initially pushed for a decade of strict funding limits. Defense spending would be set at the level proposed in Biden’s budget for the coming fiscal year, representing a modest 3.5 percent increase over current funding levels — less than what many Republican defense hawks would’ve liked to see for the Pentagon in order to keep pace with inflation. (read more)

May 26 2023

Feds Drop Almost All Charges Against Illegal Alien Driver of U-Haul Who Attempted to Ram White House Gate, Kill and Kidnap Biden


Posted originally on the CTH on May 26, 2023 | Sundance 

On Monday night Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri, attempted to crash a U-Haul truck through the security perimeter of the White House.  He was arrested while saying he was attempting to kill and kidnap Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Oddly, during the event the Capitol Police never called the bomb squad, never moved the crowd or media back away from the truck, and simply opened the vehicle and started placing the contents -including a swastika flag- on the ground for the media to photograph.  The entire event, including the way the authorities handled the truck, was seriously sketchy.

Kandula was then federally charged with threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on a president, vice president or family member, assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, destruction of federal property, and trespassing, according to U.S. Park Police.  However, yesterday the DOJ dropped all the charges except depredation of federal property.

Considering that J6 attendees have been charged and locked up for simply parading around the Capitol Hill building, the contrast of the way the authorities are handling Sai Varshith Kandula is rather stark.

CNN — The man accused of crashing a U-Haul truck into a security barrier near the White House Monday night praised Adolf Hitler to investigators after his arrest and said that he aimed to “kill the President” if necessary to overthrow the government and install himself in power, according to court documents.

Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri, is in custody and has been charged in federal court with one count of depredation of property of the United States in excess of $1,000. US Park Police originally arrested Kandula on several charges, including threatening to kill or harm a president, vice president or family member. 

Kandula, in handcuffs and wearing a t-shirt and shorts, appeared in DC Superior Court Tuesday afternoon, US Park Police told CNN, and was held in custody without bail. He has not yet entered a formal plea in federal court – where his case is expected to continue with an initial appearance on the single charge Wednesday – and a lawyer for him in that case has not yet been named publicly.

The Secret Service said no agency or White House personnel were injured in the incident.

The truck, which carried a Nazi flag among other items, crashed into security barriers on the north side of Lafayette Square at 16th Street just before 10 p.m. ET, the US Secret Service said. A preliminary investigation revealed the driver may have intentionally struck the barrier, the agency later said.

Kandula made threatening comments regarding the White House at the scene, including that he wanted to kidnap and harm President Joe Biden, law enforcement sources told CNN. Authorities are considering the role mental health may have played in this incident, one source said. (read more)

Walk around the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, and you are a domestic violent extremist terrorist hunted by the FBI.

Drive a U-Haul into the White House security perimeter, waving a Nazi flag, while admitting you are trying to kidnap and murder the president and vice-president, and you are a bad driver.

Suspicious Eddie is, well, suspicious.

May 22 2023

Project Veritas Exposes NYC Migrant Crisis


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted May 21, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

May 19 2023

You Voted for a Sanctuary City


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted May 19, 2023 by Martin Armstrong


NYC Mayor Eric Adams is at a breaking point over the migrant crisis. He was in favor of the open border until buses filled with migrants, mostly military-aged men, began swarming his city. Adams was a fierce proponent of “sanctuary cities” and said all were welcome. Adams is out of options, and it has only been one week since Title 42 was revoked. He repeatedly stated that his buddies in Washington have failed to take his calls. What will NYC do with all its new residents?

Half of all hotels in the city have been cleared out to make room for illegal migrants. They are provided with shelter, food, a phone, and some funds despite breaking US law by illegally entering our country. “New York City is the hotel capital. We’re the hotel capital — tourism, visitors, sporting events, graduations,” Adams continued. “It’s a major economic engine for us. Almost 50% of those hotel rooms are being taken up by migrant asylum seekers.” The summer tourist season is merely the tip of the iceberg.

School gymnasiums around NYC have also been emptied to make room for undocumented migrants and parents are in an uproar. Parents are not even permitted to enter a school in the US unless they show ID and check in with the front desk. Everyone who works with children must undergo a background check. Here, we have undocumented men from across the world entering our schools. Adams claims that the migrants will not be there at the same time as the children, but there is not enough enforcement to keep the kids safe. Forget weekend or after-school activities.

NYC already has a problem with homelessness. Homeless veterans are being displaced from their shelters to make room for migrants. So the men who fought for our country are being removed from their shelters to accommodate people breaking the law.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul reached out to President Joe Biden to ask for federal assistance, as if money will solve this crisis. Biden and Harris have remained quiet on the subject. The White House is lying and claiming that border crossings are down. Every state is experiencing an influx of illegal, undocumented military-aged men from around the world. This may be a final straw for many middle-of-the-road Democrats. The US has been invaded from the southern border and no one knows what to do to address the problem.

May 19 2023

April Home Prices Reflect Largest Year-Over-Year Drop in Decade, April Prices Drop 1.7%, Decline 23.2% from Prior Year


Posted originally on the CTH on May 18, 2023 | Sundance 

Homeowner equity is being erased. As higher interest rates continue to put pressure on borrowers, the ability of the average person to afford a mortgage diminishes.  Higher mortgage rates lead to downward pressure on residential home values as fewer borrowers can afford higher payments.  Simultaneously, commercial real estate is dropping in value as vacancies continue increasing.

Put both of these issues together and already tenuous banks holding mortgage bonds as assets can become more unstable.

This dynamic creates the continual tremors in the background of an economy already suffering from high inflation and low consumer purchasing of durable goods.

A perfect storm starts to realize.

(Wall Street Journal) – Sales of previously owned homes fell in April from the prior month and prices declined from a year earlier by the most in more than 11 years.

U.S. existing home sales, which make up most of the housing market, fell 3.4% in April from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.28 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. April sales fell 23.2% from a year earlier.

The national median existing-home price fell 1.7% in April from a year earlier to $388,800, the biggest year-over-year price decline since January 2012, NAR said. Median prices, which aren’t seasonally adjusted, were down 6% from a record $413,800 in June. Home prices have fallen the most in the western half of the U.S., while prices continue to rise from a year earlier in many eastern markets. (read more) 

Before looking at today’s graph showing median existing home values, remember me saying this in 2021?:

“I said in June, at a macro level home prices had reached their peak (last two weeks of May, first two weeks of June was apex).  Obviously, there are some geographic home value increases still happening as COVID related regional issues and work opportunities are shifting populations.  There is also a lag and ripple effect that takes time to work through the economy.  The macro-apex will not be visible until next year.”

When I said that in 2021, people said I was wrong.   Well, with hindsight now visible within the data as it is reflected, look at the result:

May and June 2021 was the peak of year-over-year percent of change in median home value increases.

So, what was going on?

As CTH outlined in 2022:  If you look closely at the timing (keep in mind the data reporting lag) what you will notice is that financial institutions began a big surge in purchasing hard assets, specifically real estate, as soon as Joe Biden took office (Jan ’21), and the economic policy became evident.   Intangible financial instruments became an immediate risk as the professional financial control groups recognized energy policy would drive inflation (supply side) and devalued money would fuel it (demand side).

As an offset to predictable inflationary policy (the insiders’ game), institutional money (Blackrock, Vanguard, etc) was moved into hard assets with tangible value.

This shift in asset allocation, institutional sales, helped fuel a false surge in home prices and their valuations.  CTH was writing about this in 2021, and sounding alarms as it took place.  25% of all real estate purchases were being made by institutional investors.

We The People got screwed. 

The dynamic was predictable.  The Biden administration economic policy, energy policy and monetary policy, was going to cause massive inflation.  CTH was shouting about it in early 2021 and warning everyone to prepare for waves of price increases that would naturally surface first on high-turn consumable goods, and then embed into longer-term durable goods.

Despite claims to the contrary, this 2021 inflationary explosion had nothing to do with the pandemic or supply chain shortages.  It was entirely self-created by western governmental policy – the collective ‘Build Back Better’ agenda.  You can see now from the background moves within the financial sectors, they too knew the reality and their money shifts reflected that despite their ‘transitory’ pretending they were mitigating their own exposure.

We the People were yet again going to be victims of specifically intended monetary, regulatory, energy and economic policy.

The investment class rulers of the WEF assembly shifted assets to avoid the pain that we would feel.   We “would own nothing and be happy,” and their shifts would position them to own everything and be in control.

Overall govt spending and regulatory controls drove inflation for these past two years.  The ‘demand side’ was blamed, despite the lack of demand. I will be proven right when history is concluded with this.  Interest rates were raised by central banks in an effort to support the policies that are driving ‘supply side’ inflation – not demand side.

Energy policy was/is crushing the consumer by driving up the cost of all goods and services.  To support the overall goal of changing global energy resource and development (a false and controlled global operation), central banks raised interest rates.  Various western economies, including our own, have been pushed deeper into a state of contraction by central banks crushing consumer demand, and eliminating investment via increased borrowing costs.

In short, the goal was/is to lower energy consumption by shrinking the economic activity.  This, according to the BBB plan, was needed at the same time as energy development was reduced.  These economic outcomes are not organic, they are all being controlled by collective western government agreement.

Within this control dynamic, there was always going to be a point where the reaction of the people to their economic reality means the financial control elements need to shift direction.  They will always maximize profit and minimized risk, while knowing what the larger objective remains.

Just like every other durable good, housing demand contracts as prices and costs become unaffordable.  The loss of equity within your home is damaging to your own value or ability to borrow against it.

From the perspective of an institutional asset, that same equity drop is an investment loss.  However, the investment loss is not materialized until the sale of the lower valued asset is completed.  Retaining declining real estate on investment books creates an artificially high appearance of the investment result; unless and until the real estate is sold at a diminished value.

As mortgage rates rise, just as a consumer would pull back from the housing market, so too will institutional investment groups now control the slow dumping of the asset to remove the equity they pumped into it.  Much of the investment housing will be retained as rental housing, with the monthly rents being part of the returns on the investments.    However, as this dynamic unfolds, further investment purchases of houses stop, because the asset overall is declining in value.  This halt of investment activity also worsens a steeper drop in home values.