Hamptons-Priced Out of Paradise (800th Rosen Report)

7-9-25

Opening Comments

My last note was about my recent root canal. The most opened links were the Mamdani video mocking Jews during Hannukah and the question to ask before leaving an interview.

Today is my 800th Rosen Report. The growth and success are 100% due to my readers and their loyalty. After inviting 18 friends over five years ago, the report is now read in 50 states and 105 countries. I appreciate your time, ideas, emails, thoughts, good wishes, and even the constructive criticism. 432 Rosen Reports dating back to April 2021 can be found on Substack. Please forward to your friends and colleagues if you enjoy the newsletter. That is the only way it grows!

Given my fascination with UFOs and having the belief that the universe is too vast for humans to be alone, I thought I would include a few related clips. I made the mistake of going down the UFO rabbit hole on Facebook. I am now overrun with clips on the topic from various “experts.” Sadly, I have never seen a UFO or been abducted. I have seen some whacko people make claims about abductions and making alien babies. However, there are also some credible Navy officers and others who have nothing to gain from claims. On my 800th note, I thought I would include a handful of short clips that are hard to dispute.

• UFO-Pilot heat activated camera

• 13,000 mph UFO-physics explained

• Naval Pilot Commander witness explaining to Congress the UFO siting from his plane (pilot)-incredibly convincing

• Story of a UFO retrieval from a helicopter pilot (Air Force) who performed it

• Physicist explains the fact that some of the UFO sightings perform tasks that are impossible to known technology today

I am on a ridiculous eating binge with many reviews coming. Tuesday was oppressively hot in NYC, and I ate at Tamarind in Tribeca for lunch. I struggled in the heat after eating way too much food. Upcoming reviews include Four Twenty Five, Tamarind, Hav & Mar and Marea.

Jack and I just got to the Hamptons and are here until Friday. We go back to Marion, MA for some golf for a few days over the weekend. Jack is going to Coldplay on Tuesday in Boston.

• Pictures of the Day-Portale Review-Uninspiring

• Hamptons-Priced Out of Paradise

• Quick Bites

  • Markets

  • Minimum Quality of Life

  • Deficits & Debt

  • Murder Clearance Rates Falling

  • DOJ/FBI Epstein Findings

• Tariffs

• Politics

• Middle East

• Other Headlines

• Health

• Real Estate

  • States Gaining Retirees

  • Residential Delistings Increasing

Pictures of the Day-Portale Review-Uninspiring

When I lived in Greenwich Village my go to spot was Alfred Portale’s Gotham Bar & Grill, which had a Michelin Star and multiple 5-star reviews from the NY Times. I ate there at least 50 times and never once had a disappointing meal. As a result, I hold Portale in the highest regard. However, Portale in Chelsea ain’t no Gotham Bar & Grill. The setting is a 19th century brick carriage house which takes the ambiance up a notch. In the end, I go for the food, and there was nothing I ate that was truly remarkable. To be fair, I am on a food bender in NYC of epic proportions and had just had lunch at Santi. I sat at the bar at Portale and ordered some bites to start. I had the chips, which were good enough but not remarkable. The meatball sliders stood out as solid. I love meatballs, and they were tender and flavorful and felt the bread, cheese and pesto made for a good slider. I did not care for the cacio e pepe fritti and it seemed as though it did not belong on the menu for such a highly regarded chef. The crudo di tonno was the best thing I had, but I’ve had similar dishes in 100 other NYC restaurants. In the end, I think my outstanding experience at Gotham made my expectations too high for Portale. Despite my love for the chef, there are too many other amazing restaurants in NYC for me to rush back and give this a second chance.

• Food 7.1

• Service-8.1

• Ambiance-7.6

• Price-Expensive not offensive

Hamptons-Priced Out of Paradise

When I first started coming to the Hamptons in 1994, I was in awe. The stunning estates, quaint towns, outdoor activities, vineyards, incredible golf, beautiful beaches, impressive businesspeople, accumulation of wealth, clean waters… and it was all a couple hours from the concrete jungle of NYC.

I have been spending time in the Hamptons for over 30 years, and I have seen major changes that have taken away some of the specialness for me.

The pandemic changed the game between work from home and flexible work arrangements. Many families moved to the Hamptons full time or at least more than just the weekends in the summer. The once quiet Hamptons are now crowded, congested, expensive, and the time out East now causes me more anxiety than pleasure.

I went through kidney stones last month, and the amount of anxiety I had about passing them was mind numbing. I can tell you a lot of things about being in the Hamptons cause nearly the same amount of consternation: traffic getting out to the Hamptons, traffic once you are in the Hamptons, trying to make a left turn on 27, cost of anything, cell service, ability to join a good golf club, grocery shopping, finding a parking spot in town, or the price of a home.

Readers often ask me to get together for dinner or lunch. I stay in Southampton and inevitably they live in East Hampton or Amagansett. Although it is only 13-16 miles away, it can take 1.5 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Just last week, I needed to make a left onto 27 and it took me 12 minutes. Do you know what my blood pressure was after 3 minutes?

The number of phone calls that I have drop while out East is ridiculous. I wrote a newsletter in 2023, “Botswana Beats the Hamptons in This Regard,“ about lack of cell service in an area with more wealth than any other place in the United States in the summer. I am on numerous calls during the day, and it is a rarity that if I am in the car that I can have a full 15-minute conversation without it dropping multiple times.

Despite the fact that there are amazing golf courses in the Hamptons, good luck in gaining membership today. Some can cost $2mm to join and have multiyear wait lists.

I cook dinner most nights, which means I need to run to the grocery store, butcher, fish market, and the prices are a minimum of +50% and in many cases +250% relative to Boca Raton, Florida. An avocado at Citarella is $3.79. The steak is 60% more for inferior quality. I just don’t understand how people so nonchalantly can buy $14 blueberries. Go to a farm stand and wait in line to buy a couple leeks for $8.99 or a miniature head of broccoli for $5.99.

People who come out here are so wealthy that they are immune from the price gouging taking place. The NYTimes article is entitled, “Move Over $100 Lobster Salad. In the Hamptons, These Melons Cost $400.” The absurdity of prices at these boutique markets is mind numbing. If I walk into Loaves and Fishes, Farm & Forage Market or the Sagaponack General Store, I start shaking. It is not out of excitement but out of disgust. The prices should be made into a Saturday Night Live skit. Farm & Forage sells melons for as much as $400. I wrote about the insanity of the succulent tasting melon when I ate at Noz 17, but I am not spending $400 on something the size of a small cantaloupe. This short video reviews food from Round Swamp Market. Pretty funny. Welcome to the overpriced Hamptons. This link calls out a bunch of overpriced foods including the Seafood Shop in Wainscott with $29.51 avocado dip.

The NY Post article from this week is entitled, ‘Chaos’ in sleepy Hamptons hamlet as trendy grocery store mobbed by One Percenters.’ The piece discusses despite high Sagaponack General Store.

The once pristine Mecox Bay that my kids played in for hours each day now has high levels of fecal bacteria that exceed safe health standards. The Hamptons were not built for this amount of people, and the lack of infrastructure is notable.

Don’t get me wrong, the Hamptons are stunning and when you catch it on a beautiful weekend, especially in September with thinner crowds, it is amazing. However, your typical summer day is now overcrowded, overpriced, and generates too much anxiety to pay the bloated price of admission.

Here are some links (Southampton, Sagaponack, East Hampton) to what your money does not buy you out here. $10mm does not get you very far if you want to be in a good location south of the highway (closer to the beach).

I spoke with a full-time resident of Sag Harbor who is struggling. “Eric, I make over $500k/year and I am struggling. Everything out here is so expensive, I just don’t know if I can continue to live here.” There is a saying, “Priced out of paradise,” and I find that appropriate when it comes to what has transpired in the Hamptons.

Quick Bites

• Markets sold off approximately 1% on Monday as Trump’s new tariffs were announced. The US will impose 25% blanket tariffs on imports from Japan and South Korea starting August 1. The 25% tariffs are separate from additional sector-specific duties on key product categories. Trump said no extension will be granted to the August 1st deadline. Markets rallied on Wednesday led by tech, as Nvidia reached $4 trillion market cap. Markets are shrugging off new tariff headlines and approaching all-time highs again. Treasury yields fell on Wednesday after the Fed signaled rate cuts are ahead. The 10-year is at 4.34% and the 30-year at 4.87%. Oil is rallying slightly despite the initial pull back on the OPEC+ production increases. WTI is now $68.5/barrel due to attacks on ships in the Red Sea and light US oil production.

• Americans have been squeezed due to inflation and wages not fully keeping up with the higher costs. Rising home prices, surging insurance costs, higher interest rates, and everyday expenses are leaving many Americans stretched thin. This NY Post article “Most Americans can’t afford even a ‘minimal quality of life’ anymore, depressing new study finds,” is concerning. Most US citizens no longer enjoy “a minimal quality of life” due to skyrocketing costs, a depressing new study has uncovered. Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity conducted research into the economic well-being of the country’s residents, defining “minimal quality of life” as the ability to pay for a “basket of American dream essentials”: housing, food, transportation, clothing, medical costs and basic leisure expenses. “The MQL reveals the harsh reality that the American dream, with its promises of well-being, social connection, and advancement, is out of reach for many,” the authors concluded. “Rising costs in essential areas like housing, healthcare, and education significantly outpace wage growth, leaving millions struggling to attain even a minimal quality of life.” An average American couple with two children would need to spend $120,302 per year to cover the minimum quality of life expenses, the researchers determined.

  Skyrocketing costs over the past two decades are to blame, with medical premiums rising 301% from 2001 to 2023. Transportation, groceries and childcare have all increased in price by more than 50% on average across that same period. The Ludwig Institute study can be found here. Great charts.

  

• Another WSJ article on budget deficits. I have written about my concerns for some time on this topic. Ken Rogoff, a Harvard University professor and former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund, said the U.S. is leaving itself little room to go on a borrowing binge when it really needs to. “We typically look to borrow 20% or 30% of GDP in these big crises,” he said. “It’s not clear markets will tolerate that.” Even if Congress wasn’t adding new tax cuts this year, federal debt would grow from around $29 trillion to $50 trillion in 2034, according to the CBO. The bill’s advance, though hardly unexpected on Wall Street, has dimmed budget hawks’ already modest hopes that lawmakers would make deficit reduction more of a priority. I have no faith that our 2034 federal debt levels will be only $50bn. I feel they will be much higher based on our fiscal irresponsibility, aging population, rising interest burden, and runaway entitlement spending. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater, warns that staying on the current path will ultimately lead to some mix of a bond-market slide, a severe economic contraction or an inflation-fueling intervention by the Federal Reserve. Larry Summers was critical of the Big Beautiful Bill’s impact on the economy and is concerned about the impact on the deficit. Given I write about my deficit concerns constantly, I felt I needed to include Summers’ take on the matter.

  

  

• I had seen articles about unsolved murder rates and then a NY Times article came out discussing the topic. After peaking in 1962 at 93%, national murder clearance rate statistics are fallen sharply and are now in the mid 50% range. The murder clearance rate of other rich nations include Australia, Britan and Germany are in the 70-80% context. An 18th century criminologist, Cesare Beccaria, had a deterrence theory on crime. His three principals to deterrence were the severity of punishment, the speed at which someone is captured, and the certainty the assailant will be found. Police funding, gun proliferation in the US, rise of gangs, overwhelmed police forces, and distrust of the police have all led to the lower clearance rates. This article on criminology has some great charts and data as well.

  

• The DOJ/FBI review of the Epstein debacle suggest NO CLIENT LIST and suicide. You will excuse my reluctance to accept these findings. The review found no evidence that Epstein blackmailed or conspired with to victimize dozens of women. What? Remember, Pam Bondi (AG) suggested there was a client list sitting on her desk in February and now there is no such list? Epstein was paid over $170mm by Apollo founder Leon Black for tax and estate planning services. Remember, Epstein is a college dropout without a law or accounting degree. I have lots of billionaire friends and none have offered me $1mm, let alone $170mm. Black had access to the best estate lawyers and accountants in the world and the cost of his estate planning fees would have been 5% of what he paid the pedophile. Les Wexner of Limited Brands fame gave a 21,000 square foot Upper East Side townhouse to Epstein for ZERO in 2011. Nothing to see here folks. These kinds of “gifts” happen all the time. We have been lied to countless times, and I just do not believe the findings of the new DOJ/FBI report. I believe Epstein blackmailed his “friends” with video evidence of their “trysts” with underaged girls, and I believe the interactions run far and wide. This article suggests the CCTV footage of Epstein’s cell was erased by “technical errors.” Let’s not forget the two prison guards who failed to check on Epstein as directed and then falsified records to say they had checked on him. This is Bondi’s updated explanation. As an aside, if there are any billionaire readers who want to give me tens or hundreds of millions, you know where to reach me. Apparently, giving friends tens or hundreds of millions happens all the time.

  

Tariffs

Given Trump’s history of backing off of tariffs, I presume the new plan will be altered in coming weeks. I do believe the cumulative impact of tariffs will weight on growth in the second half of the year unless he backs down dramatically from these new levels.

• Trump sets 25% tariff rate for Japan, South Korea & threatens BRICS with extra 10%

• Trump announces steep tariffs on 14 countries starting Aug. 1

  

• Trump says he will impose 50% tariff on copper imports

Copper is the most important industrial metal in the world.

• Trump sends more letters dictating high tariff rates around the world

• Trump’s tariffs on cars, copper, drugs, aluminum could hit harder than other levies

• 78% say Trump’s tariffs will make it harder to deal with debt, survey finds. Here are 3 ways to cope

• Trump says tariff letters to 12 countries signed, going out Monday

Politics

• Musk’s new political party could have a serious impact on upcoming elections. My contention is it would likely take votes from Republicans. Given Musk’s enormous wealth, he could make waves by backing his handpicked candidates and this Telegraph article suggests the Republicans could feel the impact. Tesla shares fell 7% ($68bn) after the announcement of the new party.

• Trump Promised ‘No Tax on Tips.’ Then Came the Fine Print.

  • Some four million people in the U.S., or 2.5% of all workers, earn tips. Only the first $25,000 in tips are free from income taxes. Tipped workers will still face the 7.65% combined payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare. And workers won’t be able to benefit if federal officials say their type of service job doesn’t qualify.

• ICE Raids Derail Los Angeles Economy as Workers Go Into Hiding

  

• I lived Zohran Mamdani’s socialist dream, and I had to flee my homeland to survive it

  • Venezuelan political refugee warns same policies that destroyed his homeland are being championed in America's largest city. Socialism does not work. Show me one country thriving under such a construct. This article outlines Venezuela’s downfall, and many of Mamdani’s policies look eerily similar to those adopted by Venezuela. The best economies and countries in the world are based on capitalism and Mamdani despises it.

• Mamdani visited controversial Brooklyn mosque on campaign trail — just months after the imam called for the annihilation of Israel

• Tech founders call on Sequoia Capital to denounce VC Shaun Maguire’s Mamdani comments

• Trump suggests running NYC if Mamdani elected and the White House taking control of DC

• Supreme Court allows Trump to resume mass layoffs; Jackson dissents from ‘senseless’ decision

• DOJ Sues More States Over In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens

• FBI launches criminal investigations of John Brennan, James Comey

• Biden doctor Kevin O’Connor invokes Fifth Amendment when asked if he lied about ex-prez’s health

  • Joe Biden’s former doctor refused to answer a single question Wednesday about the ex-president’s health and cognitive decline — stunningly invoking his right against self-incrimination before slinking out of a congressional deposition.

• Rubio impersonator used AI in calls to foreign ministers, cable shows

  • Think of the damage that could be done!

Middle East

• Witkoff says Gaza ceasefire deal could come by week’s end, as Trump meets again with Netanyahu

• 15 hostages break silence on horrific sexual violence in Gaza captivity

• Iranian sleeper cells may be hiding 'in plain sight' waiting to target rural US areas, terrorism expert warns

  • Former FBI special agent warns Biden administration's asylum policies created perfect conditions for sleeper cells.

• Professor Admits She Only Works At University To ‘Build Power,’ Advocate For Palestine

  • Academia has a huge woke problem. I told my son the list of schools that he should not attend, and it was disappointingly long. I went to the University of Chicago for business school and if I was worth $100bn, I would not give them one dollar. Fire this professor immediately.

• Elon Musk’s Grok Gets Extremely Anti-Semitic After Latest Update

Other Headlines

• Most Fed officials see rate cuts coming, but opinions vary widely on how many, minutes show

• Goldman Sachs becomes second Wall Street bank to raise its S&P 500 target this week

  • Kostin (GS) increased the price target to 6,600 (+6% from current levels), and Bank of America raised the S&P target to 6,300 from 5,600.

• Inflation expectations drift back down to pre-tariff levels, New York Fed survey shows

• The share of US households earning $100k or more (in constant dollars) has more than tripled from 14% in 1967 to 41% in 2023

• The declining dollar faces more headwinds after posting worst first-half return in 52 years

• A reader sent me this chart that I found interesting.

  

• China snaps up mines around the world in rush to secure resources

  • Dealmaking hits highest level since 2013 as groups seek raw materials that underpin global economy. The Chinese government is not to be trusted.

    

• Ford CEO Jim Farley warns AI will wipe out half of white-collar jobs, but the ‘essential economy’ has a huge shortage of workers

• Linda Yaccarino steps down as CEO of Elon Musk’s X

• Recruiter: I’ve placed over 1,000 people into jobs–here’s the no. 1 ‘closing technique’ to nail your interview

• At Least 161 Still Missing in a Single Texas County, Governor Says

• Who Is Scott Ruskan? Coast Guard Hero Saves 165 People From Texas Floods

  

Health

• 8 fast food items to disappear after RFK Jr.'s food dye ban

• The ‘silent disease’ sneaking up on men — and 4 ways to battle it

• Vegetarians Crave Power And Success More Than Meat Eaters Do, Study Finds

• Potentially fatal side effect of weight-loss drugs sparks new investigation

• I’m a pediatric doctor — the risky mistake I’d never let my own kids make and 5 other summer warnings

• Children with autism showed significant improvement in symptoms with vitamin D — but it has to be delivered this way

• Your risk of developing an incurable blinding condition goes up 700% if you prefer this kind of coffee

  • Stay away from instant coffee

Real Estate

• Interesting CNBC article outlining states attracting retirees thanks to low taxes and weather.

  

• After failing to find a buyer at the price they think they deserve, more home sellers are pulling their listings off the market altogether. Delistings jumped 47% nationally in May from a year earlier, in a sign that sellers would increasingly rather wait than negotiate, according to the Realtor.com® economic research team's latest monthly housing trends report. Year to date, delistings are up 35% from the same period in 2024. The increase is partly due to the overall expansion in active inventory, which was up 28% in June from a year earlier. Newly listed homes increased 8.8% from a year ago but remained flat over the past two months.

© 2025 The Rosen Report LLC. All rights reserved. Does not constitute investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult with your lawyers and professional financial advisers. Rosen Report™ #800 ©Copyright 2025 Written By Eric Rosen.