THE ECONOMY

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THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR NOVEMBER 15, 2022 AT 10:14 PM

Paul Plante says:

Bloomberg

“Biden Touts Job Gains to Voters Even as Fed Threatens More Pain”

Oct. 7, 2022

When President Joe Biden needed it most, a key report landed that boosts his economic message just a month before November’s crucial midterm elections.

Biden seized on strong jobs numbers Friday as an “encouraging sign,” arguing his economic policies are working to keep the labor market resilient.

At an event to tout domestic manufacturing, Biden used the numbers to hammer Republicans, whose agenda he said would roll back those gains.

************************

The Washington Post

“Layoff spree in Silicon Valley spells end of an era for Big Tech – A crypto-collapse, layoffs at Facebook and carnage at Twitter are rocking the tech industry. It’s stoking memories of the dot-com crash 20 years ago.”

By Gerrit De Vynck

Updated November 14, 2022 at 11:30 a.m. EST

Over the past week, Silicon Valley companies have laid off 20,000 employees, a swift ramp-up of the job cuts and hiring freezes that have been ricocheting through the tech industry for months.

Twitter, Facebook parent Meta, payment platform Stripe, software service firm Salesforce, ride-hailing company Lyft and a growing list of smaller companies all laid off double-digit percentages of their workers.

That means tens of thousands of engineers, salespeople and support staff in one of the country’s most important and highest-paying industries are out of a job.

The layoffs come just a year after Silicon Valley was at its peak, with valuations of Big Tech companies spilling into the trillions, salaries at all-time highs and cryptocurrencies pouring new wealth into the pockets of investors and workers alike.

Now, tens of thousands of workers are looking for work.

The week’s layoffs bring the total number of displaced tech employees in 2022 to just over 120,000, according to Layoffs.fyi, a layoff tracker run by tech founder Roger Lee.

Tech workers who previously could have counted on dozens of offers for their skills will now have to compete for jobs with thousands of other people.

For years, skilled tech workers jumped between companies, leveraging one job to get a higher salary at another.

For entry-level engineers, it was not unusual to get offers of $200,000 a year plus a signing bonus from Big Tech firms.

Tech companies offered perks such as free catered meals, massages, dog walkers and on-site laundry, plus unlimited vacation days.

With so many recently laid off workers out in the market now, that will change.

************************

Reuters

“Amazon to lay off thousands of employees – source”

By Jeffrey Dastin

November 14, 2022

Nov 14 (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc is planning to lay off around 10,000 employees in corporate and technology roles beginning this week, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday, in what would amount to its biggest such reduction to date.

The source attributed the reduction to the uncertain macroeconomic environment faced by Amazon and other companies.

http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/a ... ent-719617
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CNBC

"Fed’s Bullard says rate hikes have had ‘only limited effects’ on inflation so far"


Jeff Cox @JEFF.COX.7528 @JEFFCOXCNBCCOM

PUBLISHED THU, NOV 17 2022

KEY POINTS

* St. Louis Fed President James Bullard noted that “the policy rate is not yet in a zone that may be considered sufficiently restrictive.”

* Using the so-called Taylor Rule for monetary policy, Bullard suggested the proper zone for the fed funds rate could be in the 5%-7% range, higher than current market pricing and unofficial Fed forecasts indicate.


St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said Thursday the central bank still has a lot of work to do before it brings inflation under control.

A voting member on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, Bullard delivered remarks centered on a rules-based approach to policymaking.

Using standards set by Stanford economics professor John Taylor, Bullard insisted that the moves the Fed has made so far are insufficient.

“Thus far, the change in the monetary policy stance appears to have had only limited effects on observed inflation, but market pricing suggests disinflation is expected in 2023,” he said.

Even using assumptions he characterized as “generous” regarding the progress the Fed has made so far in its inflation fight, he noted in a series of slides that “the policy rate is not yet in a zone that may be considered sufficiently restrictive.”

“To attain a sufficiently restrictive level, the policy rate will need to be increased further,” he added in the presentation.

Recent data has indicated the pace of inflation could be slowing.

The consumer price index for October increased 0.4%, below market expectations, and the annual pace is down to 7.7%, off the 41-year high reached in the summer but still well above the Fed’s 2% target.

Another measure Fed officials prefer has core inflation, excluding food and energy, at 5.1% annually, but that is still out of line with the goal.

There’s little if any dissent on the Fed over whether rates need to continue to rise.

Most members have suggested a few more increases over the next several months that will take the central bank’s benchmark overnight borrowing rate to around 5% from its current target range of 3.75%-4%.

However, Bullard’s presentation contended that 5% could serve as the low range for the where the funds rate needs to be, and that upper bound could be closer to 7%.

That is well out of sync with current market pricing, which also sees the fed funds rate topping out around 5% by mid-2023.

The Taylor Rule, as it is known, establishes a link between what the funds rate needs to be compared with inflation and economic growth.

Inflation growth has abated recently, but the annual rate remains around the highest in more than 40 years.

Bullard’s remarks follow statements from multiple other Fed officials expressing the need to keep up the heat against inflation, though several said policymakers could ease up a bit from the level of recent increases.

The Fed has approved four consecutive 0.75 percentage point rate hikes, and markets widely expect the December FOMC meeting to yield a 0.5 percentage point move.

Despite backing the continued rate increases, Kansas City Fed President Esther George told The Wall Street Journal, in a report dated Wednesday, that she is concerned over the impact the policy tightening could have on the economy.

“I have not in my 40 years with the Fed seen a time of this kind of tightening that you didn’t get some painful outcomes,” George told the Journal, listing a “contraction” as part of the potential results.

George also is a voter on the FOMC.

In other recent remarks, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said Wednesday he’s open to the idea of “stepping down” the level of rate hikes but added he will need to see more evidence before he is persuaded by recent data suggesting inflation has plateaued.

Also, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told CNBC on Wednesday that she expects more rate rises and that a “pause is off the table” even with a lower level of rate increases.

Another slew of Fed speakers is on tap for Thursday, including several regional presidents and Governor Michelle Bowman.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/17/feds-bu ... o-far.html
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REUTERS

"U.S. labor market remains tight despite technology sector layoffs"


By Lucia Mutikani

November 17, 2022

Summary

* Weekly jobless claims fall 4,000 to 222,000

* Continuing claims increase 13,000 to 1.507 million

* Housing starts drop 4.2% in October; permits fall 2.4%


WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, showing widespread layoffs remain low despite a surge in technology-sector job cuts that has raised fears of an imminent recession.

The weekly jobless claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday, the most timely data on the economy's health, suggested the labor market remained tight.

That, together with solid consumer spending, keeps the Federal Reserve on track to continue raising interest rates, though at a slower pace amid signs inflation was starting to subside.

"This is a testimony to how tight the labor market remains," said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union in Vienna, Virginia.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 222,000 for the week ended Nov. 12.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 225,000 claims for the latest week.

There has been an increase in layoffs in the technology sector, with Twitter, Amazon and Meta, the parent of Facebook, announcing thousands of job cuts this month.

Companies in interest-rate sensitive sectors like housing and finance are also letting workers go.

The layoffs have so far not been evident in official data.

Unadjusted claims dropped 6,101 to 199,603 last week.

Claims in California, the epicenter of the technology job cuts, rose by only 302 last week.

Big decreases in claims were reported in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana and Texas, offsetting notable increases in Minnesota and North Carolina.

Economists say businesses outside the technology and housing sectors are hoarding workers after difficulties finding labor in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With 1.9 job openings for every unemployed person in September, some of the workers being laid off are probably finding new employment quickly.

Economists at Goldman Sachs dismissed worries that the technology layoffs were flagging an imminent recession in a note this week.

They argued that technology job openings remained well above their pre-pandemic level, also noting layoffs in the sector have not historically been a leading indicator for deterioration in the overall labor market.

The Fed has raised its policy rate by 375 basis points this year from near zero to a 3.75%-4.00% range as it battles to bring inflation back to the U.S. central bank's 2% target in what has become the fastest rate-hiking cycle since the 1980s.

Financial markets are betting that the Fed will shift down to a half-percentage-point rate hike at its Dec. 13-14 policy meeting, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

So far, the economy is weathering the tighter monetary policy storm, with data on Wednesday showing strong retail sales growth last month.

This has led economists to expect that the policy rate could see increases for a long period, eventually reaching a higher level that will be maintained for a while.

Stocks on Wall Street were trading lower.

The dollar rose against a basket of currencies.

U.S. Treasury prices fell.

HOUSING MARKET STRUGGLING

The claims data covered the week during which the government surveyed business establishments for the nonfarm payrolls component of November's employment report.

Claims rose marginally between the October and November survey periods, suggesting another month of solid job growth.

The economy created 261,000 jobs in October.

Next week's data on the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid will shed more light on November's employment report.

The so-called continuing claims, a proxy for hiring, increased 13,000 to 1.507 million in the week ending Nov. 5, the highest level since March.

Economists viewed the rise as mostly technical.

"Little has changed in the labor market in early November," said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York.

But the housing market is crumbling under the weight of higher borrowing costs, while manufacturing is cooling.

Factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region declined further in November, a report from the Philadelphia Fed showed.

A third report from the Commerce Department showed housing starts decreased 4.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.425 million units last month.

Starts dropped 8.8% on a year-on-year basis in October.

Single-family housing starts, which account for the biggest share of homebuilding, tumbled 6.1% to a rate of 855,000 units, the lowest level since May 2020.

Single-family homebuilding declined in all four regions.

Starts for housing projects with five units or more slipped 0.5% to a rate of 556,000 units.

Multi-family housing construction has fared better as soaring mortgage rates force many potential homebuyers to remain renters.

A key gauge of rents surged by the most on record on a year-on-year basis in October, according to the latest consumer price data.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate is averaging above 7%, the highest level since 2002, according to data from mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac.

A survey on Wednesday showed confidence among single-family homebuilders fell for an 11th straight month in November.

Permits for future home construction decreased 2.4% to a rate of 1.526 million units in October.

Single-family building permits dropped 3.6% to a rate of 839,000 units, also the lowest level since May 2020.

Permits for housing projects with five units or more slipped 1.9% to a rate of 633,000 units.

The number of single-family homes under construction fell, while the stock of completed houses was the lowest since January, suggesting supply will remain tight even as demand slows, which could prevent an outright decline in prices.

"Rising borrowing costs and hesitant home builders could make the nationwide housing shortage worsen in the near term if activity cools below 2019 levels," said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao and Andrea Ricci

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-w ... 022-11-17/
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REUTERS

"Fed's Kashkari: not stopping rate hikes until inflation peaks"


Reuters

November 17, 2022

Nov 17 (Reuters) - It's hard to know how high the U.S. central bank will need to raise interest rates, Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said on Thursday, but it should not stop until it's clear that inflation has peaked.

"I need to be convinced that inflation has at least stopped climbing, that we're not falling further behind the curve, before I would advocate stopping the progression of future rate hikes," he told the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce in an event webcast by the regional Fed bank.

"We're not there yet."

Recent data showing consumer and wholesale prices cooled in October provide "some evidence that inflation is at least plateauing," he said, but "we cannot be overly persuaded by one month's data."

The Fed has raised rates aggressively this year, and Kashkari reminded his audience Thursday that the full effects of those rate hikes could take a year before they are felt economy-wide.

But inflation is running at more than three times the Fed's 2% target, and Fed policymakers are committed to restraining demand through higher borrowing costs to bring demand into better alignment with the available supply of labor, goods and services.

"It's an open question of how far we are going to have to go with interest rates to bring that demand down in the balance," he said.

Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Mark Porter and Andrea Ricci

https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-b ... 022-11-17/
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The Daily Caller

"Biden’s Proposed Plan To Address Diesel Shortages Could Hike Prices Even Further"


Jack McEvoy

15 NOVEMBER 2022

President Joe Biden is proposing a plan that would require fuel suppliers to maintain a minimum amount of diesel in their inventories this winter to stave off severe shortages and prevent extreme price hikes.

However, it could create a demand surge and drive up already high prices, according to Bloomberg.

The plan would force diesel vendors to take supplies off the market which could cause short-term diesel demand to soar and drive up prices in the Northeast, where fuel shortages are most severe, according to Bloomberg.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated the East Coast’s fuel shortages as the region has become dependent on Russian imports due to the region’s constrained pipeline capacity.

“We also want to make sure there’s enough fuel in the United States,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said when asked about U.S. fuel exports to energy-starved Europe during an interview at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt.

“It may not be a business choice that they make, but we’re asking, as the companies that are operating in America, to do what they are doing in other countries.”

The national average price of diesel is $5.31 per gallon and is $1.58 higher than it was in November 2021, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The Midwest region’s wholesale diesel prices skyrocketed in July after pipeline operator Magellan Midstream Partners increased the minimum inventory levels for fuel held throughout its pipeline, according to Bloomberg.

The European Union (EU) required its member-states to fill natural gas storages to 80% of full capacity in order to prepare for potential winter shortages, according to the European Council press release.

Europe is currently heavily reliant on U.S. oil and gas imports as Russia has continuously disrupted natural gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in retaliation to EU sanctions.

Americans who use heating oil (a form of diesel) will spend an average of $2,354 to heat their homes this winter which represents a 27% increase from winter 2021 and the highest price point in more than 25 years, according to the EIA.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/b ... 6ea67090ae
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REUTERS

"NY Fed: Bank liquidity may be tighter than thought, with policy implications"


By Michael S. Derby

November 18, 2022

Nov 18 (Reuters) - The way the banking system manages its cash suggests the financial system may not be as flush as many now understand, and that could have implications for how the Federal Reserve manages the size of its balance sheet, a paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Friday.

That's because even though institutions like the Fed have flooded the banking system with reserves, many banks continue to manage fast-moving inflows and outflows of cash much like they always have, and that is tightly, the paper said.

The authors argue this way of managing cash positions could become an issue for the Fed as it seeks to draw down the size of its holdings of bonds, which reduces the level of bank reserves in the system.

Banks view their daily reserve balance levels as "scarce resource," the paper's authors said, adding "even in the era of large central bank balance sheets, rather than funding payments with abundant reserve balances, we show that outgoing payments remain highly sensitive to incoming payments."

"There is still a potential for strategic cash hoarding when reserve balances get sufficiently low," the researchers wrote.

"As central banks around the world respond to inflation by tightening their monetary stance and shrinking their balance sheets, the potential consequences for the wholesale payment system of the ongoing draining by central banks of reserves will likely be an important input into policy making," the paper said.

The paper, by economists at the New York Fed, the Bank for International Settlements and Stanford University, comes as the Fed has been cutting the size of its massive balance sheet as part of its broader effort to tighten monetary policy to lower the highest levels of inflation seen in 40 years.

The main part of that effort rests on rate hikes.

But the contraction of its balance sheet, which peaked at $9 trillion versus $4.2 trillion in March 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic struck, is also key to that campaign.

Fed holdings now stand at $8.6 trillion.

Fed officials have been confident that the effort of shedding $95 billion per month in Treasury and mortgage bonds per month, known as quantitative tightening, should run smoothly in large part because banks still have far more cash than they need.

Some point to more than $2 trillion per day financial firms park at the Fed via reverse repurchase agreements as evidence of this excess cash, which the Fed should be able to painlessly withdraw.

Meanwhile, bank reserves are at $3.18 trillion, down about $1 trillion from a year ago.

RATE CONTROL REGIME

Reserve levels affect the Fed's ability to conduct monetary policy.

When reserves are in short supply competition for them can introduce high levels of volatility in market-based short-term rates, and push them far from levels targeted by the central bank.

A shortage of reserves in September 2019 caused the Fed to intervene by borrowing and purchasing Treasury securities to add reserves back to the system to ensure its federal funds rate target stayed at desired levels, effectively ending its first effort at quantitative tightening.

The Fed has expressed confidence it can draw down reserves in a way that will not affect its interest rate target.

The paper suggests the way banks are managing liquidity, even in a time of ample liquidity, could challenge that view.

And while the paper doesn't say what it means for balance sheet policy, already some private sector forecasters are speculating the Fed may be forced to slow or halt its balance sheet contraction next year on a sooner-than-expected tightness of bank reserve levels.

One reason to expect the Fed to more easily manage any sort of intermittent reserve shortage is the existence of its so-called Standing Repo Facility, which allows eligible banks to quickly convert Treasuries into short-term cash loans.

Some want that tool expanded, arguing it would reduce the chance the Fed would need to intervene in the event of any sort of market turbulence.

Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Dan Burns

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/ny-f ... 022-11-18/
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REUTERS

"Fed's Collins: Another 75-bps hike could be ahead"


By Michael S. Derby

November 18, 2022

BOSTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Bank of Boston leader Susan Collins said on Friday that with little evidence price pressures are waning, the Fed may need to deliver another 75-basis point rate hike as it seeks to get inflation under control.

"We're now in a phase where deliberate increments - all of the possible increments - should be on the table as we decide what is sufficiently tight," Collins told CNBC.

"Seventy-five still is on the table; I think it's important to say that as well."

The Fed has lifted its policy rate more rapidly this year than any time since the 1980s, including four straight 75-basis-point increases that by early this month had brought short-term borrowing costs to a 3.75%-4% range, from near zero in March.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other policymakers have signaled that the central bank could shift to smaller rate hikes next month to avoid tightening more than necessary and sending the economy into recession.

At the same time, he said, rates ultimately may need to go higher than the 4.6% that policymakers thought in September would be needed by next year.

Collins said Friday that the Fed's September projections for rates was a "reasonable range."

"I would say that some of the data that we've seen since then has increased at the top of where I think we might need to go," she said.

Fed policymakers will issue new forecasts in December, and "there will be new data between now and then so that'll influence my own thinking."

Recent data on inflation and on labor markets suggests some pressures may be moderating, and some policymakers have signaled they feel that could allow the Fed to slow the tightening process.

"We're starting to see some promising signs, although certainly we're not seeing clear consistent evidence of the kind of softening in labor markets, the kind of dynamic that we would like to see and service sector prices are still very high," Collins said.

"I do not see clear, significant evidence that the overall inflation rate is coming down at this point."

Collins, who votes on the Fed's interest rate decision in December, said it is still possible that the Fed can bring inflation down without causing too much trouble for the economy.

"I look at current conditions and remain optimistic that there is a pathway to reestablishing price stability with a labor market slowdown that entails only a modest rise in the unemployment rate,” Collins said.

Reporting by Michael S. Derby, Lindsay Dunsmuir and Ann Saphir; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Angus MacSwan

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds ... 022-11-18/
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REUTERS

"U.S. existing home sales plunge; tight inventory keeps prices rising"


By Lucia Mutikani

November 18, 2022

Summary

* Existing home sales drop 5.9% in October

* Median house price up 6.6% to $379,100 from year ago

* Supply falls 0.8% to 1.22 million units


WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - U.S. existing home sales tumbled for a record ninth straight month in October as the 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit a 20-year high and prices remained elevated, pushing homeownership out of the reach of many Americans.

Despite the broad decline in sales reported by the National Association of Realtors on Friday, housing supply remained tight, with considerably fewer homes coming on the market than in the prior year.

The housing market has been the sector hardest hit by aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate hikes that are aimed at quelling high inflation by dampening demand in the economy.

"The combination of rising house prices and mortgage rates have sent housing affordability plummeting," said Daniel Vielhaber, an economist at Nationwide in Columbus, Ohio.

"The decline in affordability is by design to some extent."

"The Fed's goal of slowing economic demand by raising interest rates starts with home sales."

Existing home sales dropped 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.43 million units last month.

Outside the plunge during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, this was the lowest level since December 2011.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast home sales would tumble to a rate of 4.38 million units.

House resales, which account for a big chunk of U.S. home sales, slumped 28.4% on a year-on-year basis in October.

That was the largest drop since February 2008.

The report followed on the heels of news on Thursday that single-family homebuilding and permits for future construction tumbled to the lowest levels since May 2020.

Housing inventory also declined.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate breached 7% in October for the first time since 2002, according to data from mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac.

The rate averaged 6.61% in the latest week.

The U.S. central bank's rate-hiking cycle, the fastest since the 1980s, has raised the risks of a recession.

A separate report from The Conference Board on Friday showed the leading indicator, a gauge of future U.S. economic activity, declined 0.8% in October after sliding 0.5% in September.

The index has now dropped for eight straight months.


"The trajectory for growth looks weak," said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"A deteriorating housing market, nagging inflation and an aggressive Fed puts the economy on unsure footing for 2023."

Stocks on Wall Street rose.

The dollar was steady against a basket of currencies.

U.S. Treasury prices fell.

MULTIPLE OFFERS

Existing home sales dropped sharply in all four regions.

Sales also declined across all price points on a year-on-year basis.

Even as demand weakens, housing supply remains tight, limiting the slowdown in house price inflation.

The median existing house price increased 6.6% from a year earlier to $379,100 in October.

That marked 128 straight months of year-over-year house price increases, the longest such streak on record.

Though price growth has slowed from June's peak, in line with normal trends, the NAR estimated that prices in October were considerably above their pre-pandemic level.

The realtors group also reported multiple offers continued in some areas and 24% of homes sold last month were above the asking price, reflecting the still-tight inventory environment.

On the other hand, homes unsold after more than 120 days saw prices reduced by an average of 15.8%.

There were 1.22 million previously owned homes on the market, down 0.8% from both September and a year ago.

New listings were about 10% to 20% lower in most areas compared to October 2021.

Higher borrowing costs are discouraging homeowners, who would normally want to downsize or upgrade, from putting their houses on the market.

At October's sales pace, it would take 3.3 months to exhaust the current inventory of existing homes, up from 2.4 months a year ago.

That rise was mostly due to fewer buyers being in the market.

A four-to-seven-month supply is viewed as a healthy balance between supply and demand.

Properties typically remained on the market for 21 days last month, up from 19 days in September.

Sixty-four percent of homes sold in October 2022 were on the market for less than a month.

First-time buyers accounted for 28% of purchases, down from 29% in September and a year ago.

All-cash sales made up 26% of transactions, up from 24% a year ago.

"Recent downward movement in mortgage rates might provide some reprieve in the coming months, but with home values appearing to hold strong, affordability challenges remain top of mind," said Nicole Bachaud, senior economist at Zillow in Seattle.

Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao and Andrea Ricci

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-e ... 022-11-18/
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THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

"Wasting taxpayer dollars is what San Francisco does best"


Opinion by Zachary Faria

18 NOVEMBER 2022

San Francisco is losing out on tax revenue as residents have fled the city over the last several years.

Given how the city wastes money, it would be difficult to argue that it was a bad thing.


The city’s Department of Public Health paid researchers $500,000 to “determine the impact” of a “safe” drug consumption site called the Tenderloin Center “on the surrounding neighborhood,” according to the San Francisco Standard.

Similar “safe” drug centers have, unsurprisingly, attracted drug addicts that make communities less safe, with residents having to walk over feces on the sidewalks and carry bats or tasers to protect themselves.

The study, of course, found that the city’s drug center wasn’t harming the neighborhood, even though “calls to the one-block span in front of the Tenderloin Center increased by 126% this year — with an average of six calls per day — as compared to just an 11% increase citywide.”

How did researchers come to this conclusion?

For the low price of $500,000, two people walked around the neighborhood once in 2018, 2019, and 2022.

They also determined that the city should spend more money on more drug sites.

That farcical “study” is not even the most outrageous spending plan San Francisco has seen this year.

The city had planned to spend $1.7 million to build one public toilet.

The project would have taken three years to complete.

The proposal was so embarrassing that even California Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned it, and it was eventually scrapped.

Again, the city was planning to go ahead with paying $1.7 million to build a single public toilet three years from now.

City officials had even planned a public celebration for the project before it got mocked into cancellation.

This was seen as something worth celebrating, with no self-reflection from anyone involved on the absurdly high price tag.

It is telling that San Francisco leaders find this level of spending not just appropriate but applause-worthy.

It also explains why some 116,000 people (or 2.5% of its population) fled the city in 2021.

San Francisco officials are incompetent and wasteful.

They are practically daring San Francisco residents to throw them out of office, or at least whatever residents don’t take the first U-Haul truck out of town.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realest ... fc56609ce0
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Benzinga

"This Is How Much Biden's Delaware Trips Have Cost US Taxpayers"


Story by Bibhu Pattnaik

19 NOVEMBER 2022

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are set to investigate President Joe Biden and his administration on various issues.

Starting with the Afghanistan withdrawal to illegal migrants entering the southern border, the origins of the novel coronavirus, and the Hunter Biden controversy.

What Happened: Ahead of these planned inquiries by the GOP, a recent report has found that Biden's regular trips to his home state of Delaware have cost taxpayers at least $11 million.

Biden has made close to 57 visits over the last 185 days.

According to the former CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller, most of Biden's trips were between the White House and Delaware.

He has made 101 flights between the two locations, including 71 flights using Marine One, and 30 using Air Force One.

Knoller's report revealed that the Marine One helicopters used by the president cost between $17,065 and $20,206 per hour.

Air Force One's operational costs are $177,843 per hour, and the total operating expenses for flights to Delaware were about $4 million.

The Secret Service cost for Biden's 16 trips to Delaware was about $1.96 million.

A calculated per-trip price applied to the president's 57 recent trips leaves an approximate $7 million tab for taxpayers.

In comparison, the travel expenses of former President Donald Trump were also noted in media reports during his time in office.

This included four trips to Mar-a-Lago early in his presidency which cost taxpayers $13.6 million, about $3.4 million each.

Prospects For Re-election: Biden, who will turn 80 on Sunday, could face a number of potential Republican nominees if he decides to run for re-election, including Trump.

Biden has said he intends to run for office again, though he often adds the caveat that he is a "great respecter of fate."

He said he expects to decide by early next year.

According to a Reuters poll, 46% of Democrats said Biden may not be up to the challenge of running in 2024, while 26% said the same of Trump, who is 76.

In addition, the poll found that 86% of Americans believe the cutoff for serving as president should be age 75 or younger.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... b7c72f7f64
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