Opening Comments
Marjorelle Review-Pre-Fixe Menu That Won’t Leave You Hungry
Disrespected-One Scary Dude-Me!
Quick Bites
Markets, Crypto, Powell, Inflation, Cramer on Taxing Wealthy
UBI, SFO Shoplifter, South Bronx Crime
NYC Mayor, NCAA Rules for Paying Players
Warby Parker, Times Square Hooverboarding
Virus/Vaccine
Data/Vaccine Update
Startling Paper about the Virus/Lab Leak and WSJ Article on it
Delta Variant
Growing Eating Disorders
China-Nobel Prize for Medicine!
Peter Daszak-”Recused” from Investigating Virus
Real Estate
May Housing Prices Up Sharply
US Housing Inventory Rising
Hong Kong Market Remains Hot
Opening Comments
I have taken on some fun and interesting new readers recently. As a reminder, I try to share some fun personal stories with topical news on markets, economy, politics, virus and real estate. I summarize stories and put my own thoughts or opinions in bold. My readers help me cultivate ideas by sending emails with stories of interest or topics they want discussed and I reach out to readers who are experts to help me do research on topics.
The travelling has been non-stop. We crossed 3,150 miles in 30 days. For perspective, it is 2,800 miles from NYC to LA. This week, we were in Long Island for a golf tournament qualifier for Jack, Watch Hill, RI for a night and now we are in Putnam, CT for another tournament. We are on our way to Kittansett, one of my favorite places on the planet after another qualifier. We will be with some good friends and get amazing golf in too at Kittansett (picture below). From there, off to the Travelers Championship in Hartford, as a reader set us up with tickets Saturday. After that, back to PA for another tournament in Hershey Park. Another 500+ miles in next 4 days. Jack has one more tournament on June 30, then I go back to Florida for a week. This Uber driver needs a break. I am checking on the house, paying bills, driving cars and hopefully making a run to Bimini to fish for a couple days while my wife drives Jack from course to course.
Expanded virus section today. The evidence is mounting on the lab leak and cover up. Given the review and my subject piece coupled with the Virus and R/E section, Quick Bites is shorter. Hitting the road. Early send with spotty service.
Marjorelle Review-Pre-Fixe Menu That Won’t Leave You Hungry
I took the family out to dinner for Julia’s 14th Birthday on Friday night. We went to Marjorelle at the Lowell Hotel on 63d Street on the UES. It should be noted, the owners of the hotel are friends of ours, but that had no influence on this review.
Historically, I am not a fan of pre-fixe menus and feel places like Eleven Madison, Per Se, Le Bernardin are over rated and over priced. However, I can find little fault at Marjorelle. The room is spectacular, the food is phenomenal (presentation, taste and offerings), wine list impressive and service, top notch and although expensive, not offensive.
This is from the website: Celebrated restaurateur Charles Masson and his creative culinary team, under the leadership of Chef Emmanuel Niess, crafted a menu of French classics with Mediterranean influences from the Riviera to Morocco. Seasonal ingredients and wine pairings change in tempo with the flowering botanical oasis in the Garden, which offers outdoor seating year round. Guests enjoy light lunches and relaxing dinners in an airy dining room filled with sunlight, laughter and clinking glasses of champagne.
The room is beautifully designed with a huge flower arrangement in the middle of the room with many other bouquets throughout. I thought the blue glasses on the table were stunning and reminded me of glasses my mother in law designed some years ago. It is rare that I get dressed up to go to dinner these days, but Marjorelle is worth the effort. I would guess 80% of the men had a blazer or suit on for perspective. The women were well dressed and showed their extravagant jewels.
The menu has something for everyone. I started with the best smoked salmon appetizer with caviar I have ever tasted. It was served with toast, and a dish of toppings (2nd picture below). My entree was a lobster risotto and I was shocked at the amount of lobster included. Historically, I leave the pre-fixe finer dining establishments angry and hungry. I am angry because I spent an obscene amount of money and hungry as the portion control police are generally involved. I am not sure why the fanciest restaurants equate Lilliputian proportions with greatness. Hello, your food tastes amazing. Give me more. I wore my spandex pants for a reason and it was not to go home hungry. Thankfully, Majorelle does not believe in starving its patrons with minuscule portions. The portions were bigger than other pre-fixe, high end restaurants and although not inexpensive, ($125-145), it was worth the cost.
My daughter had the lamb chops and I felt morally obligated to swipe one to give a more complete review. They too were solid and seasoned beautifully. The chef started us off with a potato pancake type small dish with caviar. I loved it and could have eaten 4 more, but this is a fancy restaurant and I would not dare. The homemade bread was served hot for the table and despite trying to cut back on my carb intake, I cheated big time given it was so good. Everyone at the table felt the food was remarkable.
The service was Michelin Star level and someone was at your table every couple of minutes to check in on you. The wine list was impressive and obviously, mostly French. Good selections by the glass as well in the $20-40 range.
Our friends, the Chartouni’s, sent us a healthy dessert offering and I can tell you this, we were part of the happy plate club all around. No, I would not go to Marjorelle every week. But to me, it is a special place for special occasions or just a great night out on the town in NYC. It gives you an excuse to get dressed for the evening. Seated at the table next to us was a sharp dressed woman in her late 60s with a handsome 35-40 year-old dapper gentleman in a custom suit at her service. It is rare that I don’t have a host of improvement suggestions, but Marjorelle already has a recipe for success and would be shocked if it does not receive a Michelin Star.
Food-A
Service-A
Ambiance-A
Wine List-A, but pricey
Disrespected-One Scary Dude, Me
Something funny happened to me Sunday night in NYC and it reminded me of a story from 2010 which I hope everyone finds humorous. To set the stage, I need to give a little background about what promoted this awkwardly painful interaction approximately 11 years ago.
We were living in Greenwich Village at 5th Ave and 9th Street just above Washington Square Park. Jill wanted to move uptown, something I was not a big fan of, but caved. I am a downtown guy and do not like the UES or UWS or co-ops. We bought in a co-op on the UES, a mistake which I will never duplicate again in my life, but that is for another time.
In my infinite wisdom, I trusted the seller (former friend) and his contractor as to the time and cost of developing the raw unit. I was a complete idiot. I was told it would take 9 months and cost “X” dollars. I had never done construction in NYC or structural work (NEVER again) and started what I thought would be a quick and painless project. NOT so fast. It was an unmitigated disaster.
Between Board Approval, Building Architect sign off, Landmarks and our own architect, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I was going to the building daily (was retired then) and checking on the work. I would work out in the small building gym sometimes. Another reason against co-ops, the amenities are generally horrible.
A couple years into the project, I was working out alone in the middle of the day and had my earphones on listening to music. I heard a woman speaking towards me. I took my earphones out and said, “Excuse me. I did not hear you.”
In a rude and irate tone the woman in her late 60s said, “You can’t be in here. You are not allowed to use this gym.”
I was confused. Was she telling me the gym was closed? Was it an allotted time for women only to work out? Given I did not live there yet, I was unsure of the rules. Was it my sweaty workout appearance after hitting the jump rope too hard?
I responded, “I am sorry. Why can’t I be here?”
She angrily said, “You clearly do not live in this building. My husband is the President of the Board, and I know all the residents. You don’t live here. You have to leave now, or I will call the doorman.”
This woman could have handled herself differently and said, “Excuse me, I don’t recognize you. Are you new to the building? She could have been welcoming. Instead, she was obnoxious and rude, so I had to be quite an ass in my response to her given how mean she was to me. I know that two wrongs don’t make a right but she had it coming in my opinion. She was the President of the board’s wife and was far from warm and welcoming.
I said, “I have spoken with your husband.”
She said, “Yes; how do you know him?”
I responded, “I spoke with him, as the renovations I am doing in my apartment require board approval.
She said, “Which side do you live on, A or B?”
I responded, “BOTH. We have the full floor penthouse as we combined the A and B units. Yes, I am allowed to work out here and had you just asked nicely, I could have easily told you as much. I believe I have every right to be in the gym just like you do."
She turned red as a tomato and left the gym. I never saw her in the gym again despite using it regularly.
I eventually finished the project from hell 4.5 years after it began (slightly longer than the 9 months discussed) and instead of “X,” the project cost 4X.
I never enjoyed my time in the unit despite having what I thought was an amazing apartment and a handful of nice people in the building. The trauma of the project took the joy out of it. NEVER own in a co-op and never do structural work in NYC. Also NEVER believe anything a contractor tells you about time or price in NYC.
When we bought the house in Florida, we redid all the bathrooms, changed walls, took down non-structural walls, installed ac in the garage, repainted, built out closets, installed electric shades, landscaping….It took 3.5 months and came in right on schedule and on budget. No board, no building architect, no Landmark Preservation Council….
Well, Sunday, I was in NYC and met a reader for a quick drink on the UES. On the walk back, I went out of my way toward my old building. I was very friendly with the doormen and super when I lived there, and wanted to say hello to check in on them as I do when I’m nearby. I was in jeans and a nice shirt. I do not believe I looked homeless, like a serial killer or anyone looking to cause trouble. I just had received a haircut and was effectively bald on a relative basis to what I looked like just prior to Edward Scissor-hands destroying my hair. I approached the doors and they were closed. Two doorman that I did not recognize looked at me. I was trying to see if someone I knew was there and they LOCKED THE DOOR ON ME and gave me the look like you don’t belong in this building and gave me a gesture to get out of there. Are you kidding me?
I was trying to tell them I was a former resident, but apparently I am a menace to society and someone who instills fear in doormen. I just thought being slighted again at my former building was funny. I baked for the staff of the building almost every week and treated them like kings making up excuses to give them tips. Oh well, glad I am no longer living in a co-op on the UES, but was reminded that clearly I need to change my appearance a bit as I am one scary dude. Just think had I not cut my hair, the cops would have been called.
Quick Bites
As of 3:15pm Wednesday-U.S. stocks rose slightly led by energy shares, as the market’s comeback rally extended into a third day. The S&P 500 gained 0.1% for a third straight positive day, sitting 0.16% from an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average last traded near the flatline. The Nasdaq Composite was 0.25% higher and reached an intraday record earlier Wednesday after closing at a fresh high in the previous session. Energy names including Exxon Mobil and Chevron climbed as oil prices continued to rise. Brent crude topped $75 a barrel to hit a two-year high on Wednesday. Diamondback Energy and Occidental Petroleum jumped about 4% each. Many major technology names also traded in the green. Tesla jumped 4.5%, while Netflix gained over 1%. Facebook and Alphabet also traded higher. The S&P 500 has risen 2% this week, bouncing back from a sell-off last week triggered by the Federal Reserve’s surprise policy shift. The central bank projected much higher inflation for the year than previously, while signaling two rate increases as soon as 2023. For June the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are in the green, rising 1.2% and 4%, respectively. The Dow, however, is in the red for the month amid weakness in Caterpillar and JPMorgan.
Bitcoin’s brief drop below the symbolic price threshold of $30,000 on Tuesday has reignited talk of a crypto winter. “We are far from a bear market, only traders are freaking out over technicals seen on exchanges like volumes and price action,” said popular on-chain analyst and statistician Willy Woo. Dogecoin continued to plunge on Tuesday as cryptocurrencies tumbled in the wake of a fresh crackdown by Chinese authorities. However, Bitcoin has rallied back above $33k by late Wednesday afternoon trading (see below). The meme cryptocurrency lost 24% over 24 hours to hit $0.17413, according to CoinGecko. That was around 76% lower than its record high of more than $0.70, reached in May amid expectations that Elon Musk would use his "Saturday Night Live" performance to pump the token. Wait, the crypto started as a joke is volatile and won’t go to infinity? Who would have thunk it.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday the U.S. central bank will not raise interest rates from rock-bottom levels too quickly due to recent inflation fears, reiterating policymakers' commitment to a "broad and inclusive" job-market recovery. "We will not raise interest rates preemptively because we think employment is too high, because we fear the possible onset of inflation," Powell told lawmakers while testifying before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. "Instead, we will wait for evidence of actual inflation or other imbalances." Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell continued to attribute most of the recent inflation surge to factors closely tied to the economic reopening. He said it is “very, very unlikely” that a repeat of 1970s-style inflation could happen, primarily because of the Fed’s commitment to price stability.
A substantive majority of Americans said they are “somewhat concerned” about inflation and about four out of 10 people believe the government might not be able to rein it in, according to a new poll released Tuesday. Eighty-five percent said they are “somewhat concerned” and of that group, 45 percent said they’re “very concerned” about inflation, The Hill reported on Tuesday, citing a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll. The Labor Department’s consumer price index showed that inflation has risen 5 percent since last May — a 13-year high — as companies struggle to keep up with a surge in demand following the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Wednesday that U.S. billionaires should proactively support tax-code changes to avoid more-liberal proposals by politicians. “I think we’re in an era where they don’t seem to realize that the pitchforks are coming,” the “Mad Money” host said. Sen. Elizabeth Warren “is going to win this if the billionaires try to fight it too much,” he added. “I think we’re in an era where they don’t seem to realize that the pitchforks are coming. This administration is certainly not pro-capitalist, it’s pro-labor — much more, I think, than the Obama administration,” Cramer said. “A lot of the billionaires should be a little more on guard about what’s going to happen in Washington.”
Residents in cities across the country are receiving $500 per month payments as part of a no-strings-attached experimental universal basic income program. Universal Basic Income, popularized by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, has gained more attention after the pandemic. An Upstate New York a pilot program, funded by private donations, is providing 100 residents making less than $46,900 annually $500 a month for a year. UBI advocates ultimately want the government paying a base salary to every citizen that would help to cover costs including food and rent. Last summer, I suggested UBI would likely be here to stay; well here we go.
Eric Adams commanded a formidable 10-point lead of the first-choice votes in New York City’s hotly contested Democratic mayoral primary Tuesday. Late returns showed the Brooklyn borough president well ahead of the pack — but it will be a couple of weeks before a winner can actually be declared. “New York City said our first choice is Eric Adams,” he told a roaring crowd of supporters at his election night party in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It will take weeks to sort out this race, but I do not believe any candidate will receive the required 50% of the vote on the democratic side. For the Republican primary, Silwa beat Mateo 72% to 28%. Given Democrats outweigh Republican 7 to 1 in NYC, let’s assume Adams or whoever wins the Democratic primary is likely to be the ultimate winner. Here is one big concerning takeaway. According to this NY State link, there are 5.586mm registered voters in NYC. I am not sure how many voted as there are absentee ballots not counted, but I am getting under 1mm votes with 84% of precincts reporting. In the last actual mayoral election(not primary) in 2017, only 25% voted. Yes, yesterday was a primary, but even if absentee voting totals the full amount of requested ballots (220k), the turnout will be approximately 20% of registered voters. For perspective, 84k absentee ballots have been returned thus far. The Republican winner, Silwa, has 36k votes for perspective. Embarrassing. NYC gets another DeBlasio in there, blame the 80% of voters who did not show up. Take responsibility here folks. In the next Democratic run given no one will get to 50%, get out and vote.
Last week, I included a video of a shoplifter brazenly stealing in front of a security guard and the entire incident was caught on camera. Well, he was arrested for shoplifting again. According to county booking information, Lugo-Romero has a $2,500 bond for a total of 16 charges and is still in custody. A court date has not yet been set, according to the public defender's office. Apparently, Lugo-Romero has done similar stealing incidents countless times.
Interesting CNN article about crime in NYC. The New York Police Department's 46th Precinct, covering the South Bronx, was once known as the most dangerous square mile in America. Though not near the rate of the early 1990s, crime in New York City is spiking once again. Shooting incidents this May were up 73% compared to the same period last year, according to the NYPD. We joined officers of the 4-6 on patrol on two busy nights and found them responding to a crime wave on a scale they have never experienced. "I grew up in the South Bronx. I've never seen this," Officer Yesenia Rosado told CNN. Here, these officers find many of the shooters and victims are still in their teens. "It sucks to see 16-year-old kids shooting and killing each other," said Officer Katherine Torres. "And that's what we do see a lot of here. We have 16-year-olds with robbery patterns and murder charges and it's like they didn't actually get to be kids." Hopefully, many readers voted in the mayoral race this week. In my opinion, there is a lot riding on this election given the fact that the worst mayor in history was running the city for too long. We need to be tougher on crime and guns and improve relations between the community and the NYPD. We need improved programs for education and vocational training. I have spoken with many readers who refuse to travel to NYC given the crime, filth, homelessness… I hope the new mayor cleans it up.
The Supreme Court’s decision against the NCAA paves the way for college athletes to be paid, though the court ruled only on education-related benefits and not broader compensation issues. Former Notre Dame QB Brandon Wimbush’s internet start-up seeks to help current players make money by matching them with endorsement deals. States and Congress are working to make the NCAA change rules barring such deals, and the court noted that legislation may offer a better solution than litigation for remaining issues. On July 1, Florida and Alabama will become the first states to overrule the NCAA on some of those broader pay issues and authorize athletes to make money off their name, likeness and image — including traditional endorsements, personal appearances and social media opportunities. I spoke with a pro athlete who played high level D-1 football. His view was the kids get a free education and exposure to help them in their pro careers. He feels only 1% of the athletes will get any type of real compensation in college. I appreciate his experience and views and feel there is some truth there, but I do not like the NCAA. My views here are strong. I believe the NCAA is a criminal enterprise and the ridiculous rules against athletes is offensive. The NCAA punishes the wrong people when violations happen. Look at the Reggie Bush/Pete Carrol disaster from USC. They were long gone and the athletes which did nothing wrong were punished. I have NO problem with athletes getting paid. Obviously, star football and basketball players will be far more sought after than volleyball, softball and fencing. My one concern is as I understand it, not all states are adopting this simultaneously. I fear that schools which can offer endorsements will have a huge competitive recruiting advantage and would like to see an even playing field. I hope all schools adopt this quickly. The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 against the NCAA. Enough said.
Eyeglass brand Warby Parker said Tuesday that it has confidentially filed for a stock market listing in the United States. Warby Parker raised $120 million in its most recent 2020 funding round, giving it a value of $3 billion, according to PitchBook data. I was an idiot who bought expensive glasses until I found Warby Parker. Years ago, when I started buying them, I was so impressed, i tried to invest in the company. The Warby Parker idea is brilliant and badly needed in a market dominated by Luxotticca. I do not see myself buying a pair of prescription glasses from anyone else anytime soon. They make it too easy and too inexpensive.
The mysterious man seen zooming about 30 feet above Times Square over the weekend to stunned onlookers has revealed himself as hoverboard developer Hunter Kowald. “It’s everybody’s childhood dream to fly,” Kowald, 28, told The Post. On Tuesday, he published footage of the stunt paired to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” in what’s probably the coolest video you’ll see this week. This is pretty cool stuff in my opinion.
Virus/Vaccine
The data remains solid on cases, hospitalizations and deaths relative to peak levels. New cases are down to 11k/day for the 7 day average relative to 254k peak. Hospitalizations total 17k and are -22% over the past two weeks. Deaths are down to approximately 300/day after peaking at almost 3,400/day.
More than 2.71 billion doses have been administered across 180 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 41.7 million doses a day. In the U.S., 319 million doses have been given so far. In the last week, an average of 1.04 million doses per day were administered. Unfortunately, the US has stalled around 1mm vaccines after peaking at 3.4mm/day. According to the CDC, 65.5% of adults have at least one dose in the US.
The lies and cover up are just unraveling with respect to the origins of the pandemic. A savvy biotech analyst sent me this. I would be disingenuous if I told you I understood 100% of it. However, some is written for the non-scientist to follow. We are just uncovering the start of what really happened. As I have said multiple times is that I strongly believe this was created in the WIV Lab and not the wet market and there are many parties involved in the cover up. Here is a summary written by the scientist reader.
Quick summary:
1. In early 2020, SARS2 sequence data from 45 early cases was submitted from inside of China to int’l database scientists globally can access. NIH controls database.
2. Some of that data was later modified or deleted. Only way to delete is by authors sending email request to NIH to delete.
3. Analysis of virus sequence suggests that variant from those samples very likely preceded the official "first" SARS2 sequence from China (I.e., from wet market)
4. Suggests SARS2 was circulating in Wuhan before “outbreak” in wet market - which someone at WIV and/or CCP obviously knew about and actively covered up.
First evidence of active coverup. Who knew what and when? More to come I’m sure.
If you want to read the article, click the PDF highlighted section on upper right of this link. From the author: The origin and early spread of SARS-CoV-2 remains shrouded in mystery. Here I identify a data set containing SARS-CoV-2 sequences from early in the Wuhan epidemic that has been deleted from the NIH's Sequence Read Archive. I recover the deleted files from the Google Cloud, and reconstruct partial sequences of 13 early epidemic viruses. Phylogenetic analysis of these sequences in the context of carefully annotated existing data suggests that the Huanan Seafood Market sequences that are the focus of the joint WHO-China report are not fully representative of the viruses in Wuhan early in the epidemic. Instead, the progenitor of known SARS-CoV-2 sequences likely contained three mutations relative to the market viruses that made it more similar to SARS-CoV-2's bat coronavirus relatives.
Since the above article, the WSJ covered the story-Chinese researchers directed the U.S. National Institutes of Health to delete gene sequences of early Covid-19 cases from a key scientific database, raising concerns that scientists studying the origin of the pandemic may lack access to key pieces of information. The NIH confirmed that it deleted the sequences after receiving a request from a Chinese researcher who had submitted them three months earlier. “Submitting investigators hold the rights to their data and can request withdrawal of the data,” the NIH said in a statement. The removal of the sequencing data is described in a new paper posted online Tuesday by Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The paper, which hasn’t been peer reviewed, says the missing data include sequences from virus samples collected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in January and February of 2020 from patients hospitalized with or suspected of having Covid-19.
There have been more than 1,200 cases of a myocarditis or pericarditis mostly in people 30 and under who received Pfizer’s or Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, according to CDC data. Roughly 300 million of the shots had been administered as of June 11, the agency said. For both vaccines combined, there were 12.6 heart inflammation cases per million doses.
Early evidence suggests that the highly contagious delta variant, which has prompted concern worldwide as it leads to new surges of Covid-19 across the globe, is spreading in undervaccinated pockets of the U.S. The genomics firm Helix analyzed about 20,000 samples from Covid-19 tests across more than 700 U.S. counties. It found that cases of the variant first documented in India appear to be growing far faster in counties with lower vaccination rates than in areas that have higher rates. The ongoing spread of the variant in pockets of low vaccine uptake are troubling because they create more opportunities for the virus to thrive and mutate. The longer the virus spreads, the more chances it has to create easier inroads into human cells, and potentially take on deadlier forms. Get vaccinated.
While Covid-19 is receding in much of the world, the pandemic is raging in South America, which has just 5% of the world’s population but now accounts for a quarter of the global death toll. Almost a million people have died across 12 countries in the region. Amid another devastating surge, Brazil surpassed 500,000 this past weekend, with the virus killing seven times as many people per capita each day than in hard-hit India. Colombia and Argentina, which together have 95 million people, are tallying three times as many deaths each day as all of Africa. Of the 10 countries around the world with the highest daily death rates per capita, seven are now in South America. Collectively, the region’s death rate per capita is eight times the world’s rate.
Experts across the country who treat eating disorders in adolescents and young adults say they are seeing unprecedented demand for treatment that arose during the pandemic. Inpatient units have doubled or tripled capacity, wait lists for residential programs and outpatient services are months long, and the patients coming in are sicker than ever. Experts say they have seen the biggest increase during the past year in anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder where people deprive themselves of food. Other disorders being seen include bulimia nervosa, where people binge on food and then try to get rid of it with laxatives or vomiting, and binge-eating disorder, where people consume excessive amounts of food in a short period. I have written for over one year about unintended consequences of the pandemic, lockdowns and feeling of isolation. Here is yet another example.
Now this is what I call comedy. The Chinese Foreign Ministry argues the Wuhan Institute of Virology deserves to win a Nobel Price for Medicine. Late last week, the Chinese Academy of Sciences nominated the Wuhan Institute of Virology for its Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement Prize, specifically naming Shi Zhengli, a.k.a. “Bat Woman,” and Yuan Zhiming, director of the WIV’s Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory. Chinese state-run media explained that, “The award is mainly given to individuals or research groups who have made or demonstrated significant achievements in the past five years . . . China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson stressed at Thursday’s press conference that scientists working at the WIV should be awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine, rather than being blamed for being the first to discover the gene sequence of the novel coronavirus.” Well, if killing 4mm people, causing trillions in losses, disrupting lives of billions and causing turmoil globally makes you eligible for a prize, clearly, the WIV deserves one.
Peter Daszak, the head of a New York City-based nonprofit that directed hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology is no longer part of a UN-backed commission examining the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. EcoHealth Alliance president Peter Daszak’s profile on the website of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission has been updated to include the parenthetical quote “recused from Commission work on the origins of the pandemic.” The Daily Mail first reported on Daszak’s recusal Monday. Wow, you mean the guy who was funding the research might be conflicted about investigating it? How the hell did he get appointed in the first place?
Real Estate
U.S. home prices in May experienced their biggest annual increase in more than two decades, as a shortage of properties and low borrowing rates fueled demand. The median existing-home sales price in May topped $350,000 for the first time, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. The figure was nearly 24% higher than a year ago, the biggest year-over-year price increase NAR has recorded in data going back to 1999. Sales prices have been climbing sharply since last summer, when lockdowns related to the Covid-19 pandemic eased across the country and many people rushed to find more space and bigger homes. Others working remotely seized on the chance to move to a less expensive city.
Prospective home sellers who sat tight as U.S. prices climbed higher and faster than ever during the pandemic are finally emerging to cash out, a step toward easing a dire shortage in the frenzied housing market. The number of U.S. homes for sale climbed 6.7% in early June from the same weekly period in May, according to Haus, an investment platform for homebuyers. That was the biggest increase since Covid-19 lockdowns took hold last year. Listings rose in 54 of the 100 metropolitan areas measured, including the regions around Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Detroit, Denver and Seattle. “Sellers are saying, ‘it’s time, let’s make the money,’” said Julie Welter, an agent with EXP Realty in Pittsburgh, which had the biggest supply increase in Haus’s data. “With the world opening up again and the vast majority of people being vaccinated, it has given a new comfort level to people.”
Interesting Bloomberg article on Hong Kong R/E. The world’s most expensive property market is unstoppable. Despite a struggling economy and a wave of emigration following years of political turmoil, demand for homes in Hong Kong -- ranging from luxury mansions to shoebox apartments -- remains unquenched.