The Worst Is Yet To Come

Mortgage delinquencies rose for the first time in 9 months. Here’s what that means for the housing market.
Updated: April 3, 2022 at 2:19 p.m. ET


More homeowners are late on their mortgage payments. What does that mean?
Mortgage delinquencies are on the rise. Indeed, in February, the national delinquency rate rose for the first time in 9 months, largely driven by a 97,000 rise in early-stage delinquencies — or those that were 30 – 60 days past due, according to new data based on month-end mortgage performance statistics from Black Knight, a mortgage and real estate data and analytics company. The number of properties that are 30 or more days past due or in foreclosure reached approximately 1.95 million nationwide, while total U.S. foreclosure starts hit 25,000, up 541% from the same time last year, Black Knight revealed.

Why are we seeing this uptick? Mortgage delinquencies nearly disappeared during the pandemic because of the generous mortgage-relief provisions enacted by the federal government in the spring of 2020, pros explain. “Homeowners who were struggling financially got a free pass on their mortgage payments for a year or longer. Now though, homeowners have to resume payments and some can’t,” says Jeff Ostrowski, analyst at Bankrate.

https://www.marketwatch.com/picks/m...market-01648863070?mod=MW_article_top_stories

 

Even over the censorship of the monolater, President Trump got the Truth out. Too bad the Left is only allowed to hear half the story. Even the Left has to admit that average person was WAY better off 15 months ago.

 

It's interesting to look back and see just how RIGHT President Trump was/is...even if he's a lousy debater.

 

Greek farmers on tractors protest 'unbearable' fuel, fertilizer costs

ATHENS, March 18 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Greek farmers, some on tractors, protested in Athens on Friday, demanding more tax cuts and subsidies to combat high fuel and fertilizer prices which have soared since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The farmers, who staged weeks of protests over high energy prices earlier this year, say their costs are so high they will be forced to produce less and also raise prices for consumers.

The government has so far spent about 3.7 billion euros ($4.08 billion) since September to alleviate pain from soaring energy and fuel costs for farmers, households and businesses.

It cut a sales tax on fertilisers by 46% to 13% and on Thursday announced it would be lowered further, to 6%, and also announced a tax rebate on fuel for agricultural vehicles.

Farmers say the measures do not go far enough and everything has become too expensive, from fuel to animal feed.

"Our survival is really at stake this year," said one protester, Giorgos Laoutis. "With the cost of production, electricity, agricultural supplies, fuel."

Farmers from across Greece joined the rally. Some protesters hung black flags on shepherd's crooks or sticks.




Greek farmers hold a placard during a demonstration against fuel and fertilizer costs affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Athens, Greece, March 18, 2022.

"The situation has become unbearable," said another farmer, Diamanto Kritikou.

"We can't work our fields, we can't cultivate, we can't put gas in our vehicles, and (we can't buy) seeds, fertilizers... there will be a problem with food supply in the country," she said.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has driven retail gasoline and diesel prices to record highs.

Russia is also a big producer of potash-, phosphate- and nitrogen-containing fertilisers, and a leader in fertilizer exports, accounting for 13% of world output.

This month, its trade and industry ministry told the country's fertilizer producers to temporarily halt exports.

As a result of the conflict in Ukraine, the United Nations food agency said last week that international food and feed prices could rise by up to 20%.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...-unbearable-fuel-fertilizer-costs-2022-03-18/

 

Demonstration Alert – U.S. Mission Greece (April 6, 2022)
Demonstration Alert – U.S. Mission Greece (April 6, 2022)
www.apergia.gr and local media for last minute strike notifications.

Location: Athens and locations throughout Greece

Event: Public sector and private sector employees announced a 24-hour Panhellenic General Strike for April 6, 2022. Demonstrations related to the strike are scheduled in Klafthmonos Square and Syntagma Square in Athens at 11:00am. Additional demonstrations are expected in major cities throughout the day.

The following strikes are scheduled for Wednesday, April 6, 2022 (12:00am to 11:59pm), unless otherwise noted:

• Ferry and boat employees will be on a 24-hour strike.
• Athens Metro (Lines 2 & 3) will be on a 24-hour strike.
• Athens Green Line Train (Line 1) will be on a 24-hour strike.
• Trams will be on a 24-hour strike.
• Trolleys will be on a 24-hour strike.
• Buses will operate from 09:00 – 21:00.
• Air Traffic Controllers Union will join the strike (timing TBD).

Other organizations may decide to join the 24-hour Panhellenic General Strike for April 6, 2022 without prior warning. Please monitor www.apergia.gr and local media for last minute strike notifications.

https://gr.usembassy.gov/demonstration-alert-u-s-mission-greece-april-6-2022/

 

Inflation Unrest Hits the Streets
April 6, 2022, 7:00 AM EDT

Hello. Today we look at the social unrest being ignited by accelerating prices, a pandemic-era boom in U.S. entrepreneurship, and a new study of inflation expectations.

A spreading crisis
From Lima to Colombo, the global cost-of-living crisis has spread to the streets.

A once-in-a-generation inflation shock is fast becoming a pervasive source of unrest as soaring prices of food and fuel incite protests that threaten to topple governments.

In Peru on Wednesday, President Pedro Castillo lifted a curfew imposed the previous day after demonstrations morphed into violent clashes with police. Sri Lanka meanwhile is engulfed in a political storm amid protests against inflation and lengthy power cuts.

Those are just the most intense instances of public anger among multiple hotspots as the war in Ukraine combines with global supply shortages to exacerbate price surges after the pandemic.

As usual, poorer nations are worst-affected by the squeeze — Zimbabwe, for example, notched up inflation of almost 73% last month — so it’s no surprise that unrest has been focused in less well-off countries.

Advanced economies face challenges of their own. Spain, with inflation close to 10%, endured supermarkets shortages last month after truckers protesting against spiraling fuel prices snarled up the country’s logistics.

In Germany, which hasn’t seen such public activism, temperatures are running high too amid inflation at 7.6%. Witness the article in national tabloid Bild this weekcriticizingEuropean Central Bank officials including President Christine Lagarde for profiting on investments while ordinary people suffer soaring prices.


Over in the U.K. meanwhile, demonstrations took place in several cities last weekend. Inflation there exceeds 6%, and that hit is combining with a tax increase to intensify the crunch.

Britain’s cocktail of high housing and childcare costs, and wealth inequalities undermining social mobility, was highlighted in a report last month. L’Atelier BNP Paribas, an independent research subsidiary of the French bank, said the U.K. is the second-most unsustainable of 36 economies after Latvia, at risk of “social unrest, protest and extremism.”

Even before the war, the International Monetary Fund was warning of trouble in its World Economic Outlook in January. Those worries intensified in a blog by officials last month.

“Steeper price increases for food and fuel may spur a greater risk of unrest in some regions, from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America to the Caucasus and Central Asia.”

High prices have often sparked protests, with the Women’s March on Versailles in 1789 — a key moment of the French Revolution — just one notable example. The Arab Spring of the past decade was another.

With costs of food and fuel only likely to keep rising for now, high tensions may last for months to come.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/news...orld-economy-inflation-angst-hits-the-streets

 

Peru protests show the wide impact of Putin's war
Updated 3:26 PM ET, Thu April 7, 2022


Riot police and demonstrators clash during a protest in Lima on Tuesday against President Castillo.

(CNN)An ongoing wave of violent protests in Peru shows how the Russian invasion of Ukraine is affecting markets around the world, sparking unrest and deepening political divides.

Rising fuel costs originally triggered the protests, which started last week, but quickly intensified into large anti-government demonstrations with marches and road blockades.

By Wednesday, at least six people had been reported dead over days of protests, according to Peruvian authorities, as officials called for calm and struggled to contain the situation. At least nine major roads in the country remained blocked by protesters.

Late Monday, President Pedro Castillo declared a state of emergency and placed the country's capital under a curfew, but backtracked and withdrew the curfew order on Tuesday afternoon as hundreds of protesters ignoring the measure took to the streets of Lima to demand his resignation.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/06/amer...ssia-ukraine-war-impact-intl-latam/index.html

 

April 8, 2022
Sri Lanka doubles interest rates to tame inflation; stabilize economy

COLOMBO, April 8 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's central bank doubled its key interest rates on Friday, raising each by an unprecedented 700 basis points to tame inflation that has soared due to crippling shortages of basic goods driven by a devastating economic crisis.

The heavily indebted country has little money left to pay for imports, meaning fuel, power, food and, increasingly, medicines are in short supply.

Street protests have been held nearly non-stop for more than a month, despite a five-day state of emergency and a two-day curfew.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka's (CBSL) monetary board raised its standing lending facility (LKSLFR=ECI) to 14.50% and its standing deposit facility (LKSDFR=ECI) to 13.50%.

The build-up of aggregate demand, domestic supply disruptions, the plunge of the local currency and high prices of commodities globally could keep up the pressure on inflation, CBSL said in its monetary policy decision statement.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-...ce-motion-industry-warns-fall-off-2022-04-08/

 

Here's what's coming...and it's all intentional.

 

White House spokespeople nearly never preview economic numbers before their official release.



...and from 6 months earlier...



As anyone can easily see...inflation "took off" the moment Joe Biden "took office". Sanctions against Russian Oil and Gas don't even begin until June. Still...it's "Putin's Price Hike"? Democrats don't care, anymore....they're just letting the BS fly!



How does spending more money address inflation? These people are Bozo-Loco!

 

Putting out the fire with gasoline . . . This is, without any doubt, the dumbest president of my lifetime.

 

He's the dumbest president of not only OUR lifetime, but our parent's lifetimes, our grandparent's lifetimes, our great-grandparent's lifetimes.. well, you get the idea...

 

Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

 

Is it truly ignorance or submissiveness to the puppet master?

 

It is simply a failure to fulfill the first duty of POTUS assigned in the Constitution:

Commander In Chief.

 

Jens Stoltenberg has become our "Commander-in-Chief"...

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/who_is_who_49999.htm

 

I thought it was the President of Ukraine. Darn it....I was going to vote for his Ticket, too.

I didn't think it was the British guy, since we already sent them packing twice, and I know it wasn't the Pope (yet).