Opening Comments
Video of the Day-Boat Being Dropped from Plane
Supply Chain Strikes Again
Quick Bites
Markets/US HY, $100 Trillion GDP
Holiday Sales Data, New Home Sales
Census (winners/losers), Flights Cancelled, Web 3 Spat
Kim Potter Guilty, Rikers Island, TSLA Video Games
Other Headlines (Good Stuff Here)
Virus/Vaccine
Data-Cases Exploding, but Deaths are Stable
Charts and Discussion about Cases-Look at the Charts
Falsifying Vaccine Card Could Lead to Jail in NY
UK Not Mandating Vaccine for 5-11 Year Olds
Pfizer Waning Effectiveness for Booster
Real Estate-Expanded Today
My General Comments-My Stupidity
NYC Record Year and Many Fronts
Crypto Wealth Buying NYC R/E
10-Fastest Growing Boomtowns in the US
432 Park Lawsuit
Opening Comments
Happy Holidays and New Year to all. I am trying to keep things a little shorter, but found a ton of R/E stories and many readers jump right to that section.
Despite a hot start for Jack’s big tournament, I had to pull him as he got quite sick with a fever, breathing difficulty, headaches and cough. I assumed he had COVID, but tested negative. He was so lethargic that he was struggling walking. His solid 1st round showing proved he can now hang with the best kids his age, but we were disappointed to not be able to finish. A top 10 in this tournament would have been huge and he was T-4 after round 1, but was just too weak to play.
On 12/23, the US had 265k new cases, and I believe there were only two days (Jan 7 & 8 of 2021) with more on a single day. On Jan 7th, there were 1.7mm tests and a 14-day average positivity rate of 13.2%. On 12/23, there were 1.6mm tests and a 9.1% positivity rate. The 24th and 25th data is skewed given the holiday. There is a funny video called Omicron Queen which can be seen here. It is a take on Caribbean Queen by Billy Ocean. Rob, thanks for sending.
I had a bad link on the Cembalest piece on Manchin and the bill. Many reached out that they could not get the link to work. Unfortunately, the link only works from the original email and I cannot make it work from Substack.
As my son, Jack, and I were leaving the golf course Sunday afternoon, I saw an older member (80s) had gotten in an accident. I pulled over to help and he had a flat tire from hitting the other car. I had not changed a tire in about 30 years, but got out the spare and and did it faster than I thought. We are not talking pit crew time on NASCAR, but very respectable while trying not to be covered in grease. I asked him to drive so I can see the tire in action and it was clear the axle was bent so I stopped him and got a tow truck. I showed my son how to change a tire, but the chance he was paying attention and could do it is on an asymptotic line approaching zero. Not bad for Wall Street/Hedge Fund manager to change a tire in a few minutes. Yes, I was covered in grease and was wearing my favorite golf shirt. No good deed goes unpunished and it was clear the members who saw me do it were in shock I knew how. Yes, I need a haircut. Did not get to triple check today because I was running late due to the good deed. Apologies for typos.
I am getting a ton of emails from readers asking fantastic questions on anything from crypto to real estate, markets and the pandemic. Keep em coming and I will do my best to answer. Again, a disproportionate number of emails end up in my spam, so if I do not respond, it is only because I did not see it. I even respond to the haters. For me, the best part of the Rosen Report has been re-connecting with people and meeting so many new people who stumbled about my writings.
Video of the Day
I enjoy taking those in active military on my boat to fish. I like the stories they tell me about their experiences and appreciate their service. They risk their lives to save ours, and that is not lost on me. On Friday, I took a Navy boat Captain fishing and he showed me a video which blew my mind. They take his 41-foot boat on a plane and launch it with parachutes to the area they need to go. The 90-second video shows the boat being pulled off a plane from 5,000 feet. The crew jumps off the plane after the boat is pulled off. This boat weighs almost 20,000 pounds. The math required to calculate how fast to go (plane slows to 150mph), when to drop, the air currents, how to set the parachutes… is incredible. To me, it looks like the bow of the boat goes down first. The entire thing is crazy. I am shocked that the boat does not break when it lands. He did tell me a boat landed upside down one time.
Supply Chain Strikes Again
I have written extensively about the well-known supply chain issues plaguing the US and the world. I bought new laptops and needed a case. I ordered one from Amazon for one-day delivery and 10-days later, I had not yet received my case. My son ordered a new golf bag (his broke) over three months ago and it remains somewhere other than in our garage.
I have tried to buy a new laser printer for almost two months and have struggled. This 20 second video is of yet another Office Depot which had ZERO in stock. I have been to Best Buy, Office Depot (5 of them), Staples, CDW, Costco…If I find something in stock on line, the reviews are horrible.
I finally found some monstrosity of a printer (last one in stock at Office Depot) made by Brother. I had wanted an HP, but beggars can’t be choosers. The store had two employees as two people called in sick with COVID. I had to wait 45 minutes to get help. I lugged this huge printer home only to find out it does not fit with my old- school desktop connection. I tried to repack the printer for return. Getting a 65 lb printer in a box with the Styrofoam packaging is no an easy task. This is what my packing job looks like. Needless to say, I will not be hired to pack boxes for anyone. I am also horrible at wrapping gifts, something which should not be surprising after seeing this. I tried every permutation of the packaging and nothing fit back into the box and over the printer, so I returned it like this.
I had to carry this thing back to Office Depot and continue to use my old HP which leaves horrible black lines all over every printed page.
I am hopeful the supply chain issues will start easing in 2022 and it cannot come fast enough. We had become accustomed to getting what we want when we want it, and now it feels like I live in the time of Little House on the Prairie (TV show from 1974-83 which took place in the late 1800s) when it comes to ordering something. I think having it delivered by stagecoach would be faster. Picture from Little House on the Prarie below. Who could forget Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert?
Quick Bites
The major averages rose for a third day on Thursday as investors looked past earlier jitters about the spread of the omicron Covid variant. The Dow added 197 points, or 0.55%, to 35,951. The S&P 500 rose 0.62% to 4,726 and closed at a record. The 500-stock average sits less than 0.4% from its intraday record high. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.85% to 15,653. Thursday’s gains were broad across the board, although on light volume. Bank shares were higher, along with tech stocks Microsoft and Nvidia. All three averages are higher for the week. Since Monday, the Dow rose 1.6%, and the S&P 500 popped about 2.3%. The Nasdaq Composite rallied nearly 3.2% this week. U.S. markets are closed Friday for the Christmas holiday. The 10-Year Treasury is at 1.49%, BTC is $51k, ETH is 4.1k, Oil is at almost $74 and Natural Gas is down to $3.7 from a recent high of $6.2 given a warm start to winter.
The JPM HY index tends to have a higher yield than others given inclusion rules. The JPM index yield is 4.83%, but if you look by rating is is as follows: Split BBB 3.16%, BB 3.66%, Single B 5.10%, CCC 8.25%.
The world economy is set to surpass $100 trillion for the first time in 2022, two years earlier than previously forecast, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research. Global gross domestic product will be lifted by the continued recovery from the pandemic, although if inflation persists it may be hard for policy makers to avoid tipping their economies back into recession, the London-based think tank said. The first point below is a bit irritating to me. In its annual World Economic League Table, the CEBR also predicted:
China will overtake the U.S. in 2030, two years later than forecast a year ago
India will regain sixth position from France next year and become third largest economy in 2031, a year later the previously predicted
The U.K. is on track to be 16% larger than France in 2036 despite Brexit
Germany will overtake the Japanese economy in 2033
Climate change will lower consumer spending by $2 trillion a year on average through 2036 as companies pass on the cost of decarbonizing investment
U.S. holiday sales jumped 8.5% from last year as consumers spent more money on clothes, jewelry and electronics, a report from Mastercard SpendingPulse showed. Sales grew across the board, both in stores and online, for the holiday season defined as Nov. 1 to Dec. 24. Consumers started searching for gifts earlier than usual with supply chains roiling retailers and stores offering more promotions to jumpstart the holiday shopping season. Sales surged 47% for apparel, 32% for jewelry and 16% for electronics compared with 2020, with all three categories up at least 20% from their pre-pandemic levels in 2019 as well. Department stores saw a 21% jump from last year and gained 11% from two years ago. Online shopping surged 11%, according to the report, which tracks retail sales across all payment types. E-commerce now accounts for roughly 21% of all holiday sales.
November new home sales were down 14% from a year ago. The median price of a newly built home sold in November rose nearly 19% from November 2020, despite rising mortgage rates. “A hefty correction appears to be due,” wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics in a note to investors. Still, inventory of existing homes is at historic lows, keeping prices high for now. I am not sure a major correction is coming tomorrow. Just not enough inventory and people have locked in low rates with massive amounts of equity. According to Yardeni Research, homeowners equity went from approximately $8 trillion in the Global Financial Crisis to $25 trillion today.
I have written extensively about the great migration from high tax blue states to low tax red or at least less blue states. A reader, Max, sent me the Census.gov link which shows interesting data. There are four charts the first two are data in numbers and percent for states with inflows and the third and fourth is for states with outflows. Obviously, highly populated states such as NY and CA can have large numbers in terms of declines, but what about in percentage terms? To me, not surprisingly, the biggest losers in numbers and percentage terms include NY, CA and IL. I have said that charging people $500 for dinner and serving them Taco Bell is not a recipe to keep the best and brightest. Ken Griffin is considering relocating to Florida out of the city of Chicago which he calls, “worse than Afghanistan on its best day.” I do not have the data, but would love to know the annual incomes of the top people leaving? Think about CA losing Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Drew Houston, Joe Lonsdale and companies such as Oracle, Palantir, Hewlett-Packard and Tesla. Even celebrities like Joe, Rogan, Ben Shapiro, have left CA. Kanye and Kim K have figured it out and left for Wyoming. What about NYC losing Carl Icahn, Dan Och, Dan Sundheim, countless hedge fund and real estate moguls or CT and NJ losing people like Barry Sternlicht and Leon Cooperman. I personally know 5 R/E billionaires who now live in South Florida from NYC. Other leavers include Eddie Lampert and Paul Tudor Jones, Scott Shleifer and John Phelan. These billionaires paid huge amounts state and local taxes in NY, CT, NJ... How many cops, fireman and school teachers did Icahn pay a year for NY state and NYC? Think about all the people he employs for his home, cars, planes, work… Look at Elon Musk. He said he will pay over $11bn in taxes in 2021. Think of how much CA lost out given he is a TX resident and on top of that, CA lost TSLA which would have paid billions in taxes over the next decade. Remember when Alliance Bernstein left NYC for Nashville? Goldman is moving some surprisingly senior people to Palm Beach as well as I have outlined in prior reports. Based on the Rosen Report, I am going to suggest that many of the higher earners who can leave are leaving, yet NYC remains resilient. I have spoken with a dozen high-end real estate brokers from Miami to Jupiter. They all say approximately the same thing about the people moving down. They suggest more than half are from the Tri-State (overwhelmingly NYC), approximately 20% from the Midwest and almost 30% from CA. Hey, states who are losing people, maybe, just maybe, you are doing something wrong and should consider giving your residents better services and stop overcharging and under delivering. I know there are a lot of haters of South Florida, and I respect that. However, I am not convinced there is a job or enough money to get me to move back to NYC, but I will never say never as at some point greed overtakes fear. The quality of life, cost of living, weather and taxes is just too good down here from my perspective and it seems like a lot more people are agreeing with me. The fact that my Florida home is up 130% and the apartment I sold in NYC is -25% despite a huge bid for penthouses is fairly telling. Out of the 150 families I have spoken with who have relocated to South Florida, only one would consider moving back.
A WSJ article suggested 3,000+ flights were cancelled or delayed. The pandemic has been incredibly disruptive. Just as we thought we might have a more traditional holiday season with families, Omicron hits. When will this nightmare end? I spoke with a restaurant owner and 16 employees are out with COVID. They are limiting reservations, as they cannot handle a full restaurant with limited staff. If you travel, buy the insurance. Just heard of someone stuck in the Bahamas as they tested positive there. The insurance is paying for the extra hotel nights and food.
I am a big believer in Web3 and the ramifications of the decentralized world. Jack Dorsey has banned and blocked countless people and stories from Twitter, and I love the fact that VC titan, Marc Andreessen, blocked Dorsey for his comments. Jack Dorsey has been blocked on Twitter, the social media platform he co-founded, by renowned venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. The block comes after Dorsey criticized certain corners of the venture capital industry and made several specific remarks about the firm Andreessen co-founded, Andreessen Horowitz. This week, Dorsey has expressed multiple views on “Web3” — a potential new decentralized version of the internet based on blockchain. Perhaps most notably, the entrepreneur said Web3 would be owned by rich VCs like Andreessen instead of “the people.” “You don’t own ‘web3,’ he tweeted. “The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label.”
My industry sources tell me that VCs typically make up a small % of any cap table and most large protocols have very good distribution of ownership. There are quite a few prominent Web3 protocols that have specifically eschewed VC investment entirely. Since crypto protocols often rely on distribution of ownership as a root cause of their success, this issue appears to be overblown by Dorsey. I had been critical of Twitter and Facebook for inconsistent bans. Trump and anything about Hunter Biden are banned, but Louis Farrakhan and the Ayatollah Khomeini who hates Americans and Jews is ok? I want Web 3 to come to life and take away the ability for FB, TWTR, GOOG to pick and choose. Facebook/Meta does not seem to mind antisemitism on their platforms despite being run by Zuckerberg and Sandberg.
This Newsweek article compares Biden to Trump with respect to approval ratings. Biden started his presidency at 57% and it fell down to 43%. Trump fell from 45% to 39% at the end of his 1st year in office according to Gallup. I can only suggest that both have major issues, and I remain disappointed that this is the best that the US has to offer. Remember, I was a big Bloomberg fan and he imploded shockingly quickly. Another recent poll suggested that just 22% want Biden to run again and 27% want Trump to try for a second term. 59% were opposed to a Trump campaign and 57% were opposed to a Biden campaign. These stats do not suggest that either are the ideal President according to the voters. This Newsweek article from a few days ago has Trump with a 6 point lead over Biden if they were to face off in 2024. Given the amount of hate out there for each candidate, I sure hope there are two other front runners come election time.
Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter has been found guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright. Potter had pleaded not guilty. The maximum sentence for first-degree manslaughter is 15 years and a $30,000 fine, and for second-degree manslaughter, it's 10 years and a $20,000 fine. Potter's sentencing has been scheduled for February 18. She will be taken into custody immediately without bail.
There is a proposal to let out hardened criminals from Rikers due to the pandemic. To be clear, I am supportive of improving conditions at prisons which are horrific in some cases. However, I am not supportive of letting violent offenders out of jail due to the pandemic. Rikers has 45% of inmates with at least one vaccine shot. Earlier last week, positivity rates went from 1% to 17% and I presume higher today. Vincint Schiraldi, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Corrections implored public defenders to ask courts to consider “every available option” to reduce the jail population—including seeking supervised release, seeing if cases can be resolved with modified sentence lengths, or requesting release for people with underlying medical conditions. Just what NYC needs, more criminals on the streets with the NYPD being unable to do anything about them.
What idiot ever thought it was a good idea to allow the system to play video games while driving a car? The Tesla engineers have done many remarkable things, but this idea was not a great one. Tesla reversed course Thursday and will no longer allow video games to be played on its cars' touchscreens when they are in motion, bowing to an investigation of the feature by federal safety regulators. "Following the opening of a preliminary evaluation of Tesla's 'Passenger Play,' Tesla informed the agency that it is changing the functionality of this feature," said a statement from a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesperson late Thursday. "In a new software update, 'Passenger Play' will now be locked and unusable when the vehicle is in motion."
Other Headlines
What Bill Gates is ‘most worried about heading into 2022’
He cites public distrust of governments as a big concern. I agree.
Remember, this is CNN, not Fox questioning Biden’s cognitive health
Two Georgia election workers sue OAN, Giuliani over election fraud claims
Mayor-elect Adams may tap FDNY lawyer as first female fire commissioner
Colin Kaepernick SPAC Deal Collapses, Testing Celebrity Halo
A special edition Tiffany Blue Patek Philippe Nautilus just sold at auction for $6.5 million
170 of the Patek Phillipe Nautilus steel watches were made and had a retail price of $52k, which means this one sold 125x the retail price. The watch looks nice. The movement is not super special and it is not worth $6.5mm, but the market is telling us otherwise.
USA Swimming official quits over transgender swimmer Lia Thomas: ‘I can’t support this’
I applaud this move and agree that Lia Thomas should be banned from women’s swimming.
Woman armed with a PICKAXE seen casually shoplifting at a Rite Aid in crime-ridden Los Angeles
Click the link to see what this lovely person had to say to the patrons in the store. Until the police and prosecutors are able to make a statement and hold people accountable, bad acts will continue. Could you imagine being in the store with your young children?
Uber driver charged with raping passenger during Vegas ride
We do not allow our kids alone in an Uber or Lyft. A friend’s daughter escaped a potential assault when the driver locked the doors and drove her to a different location than the destination. Scary stuff.
Why do people continue to go on cruises during a pandemic? The stupidity of people is astounding.
Virus/Vaccine
I used data through Friday rather than Saturday to avoid noise from Christmas Day as I presume many testing centers and labs were closed for the holiday. We have started to see a sharp spike in cases with 12/23 reporting 265k (3rd all time) despite testing being 28% lower than the highest case days. This is a NY Times article about President Biden and 500mm tests coming, but it does not appear they will here tomorrow. The 7-day average for cases exploded +65% over the prior two-week period. The slope of the curve for new cases is the steepest I have seen thus far. The positivity rate has jumped to 10.2% and is lower than the peak in January of 13%. I expect to see positivity continue to rise in coming days. Testing was+21%, but remains well below peak levels of over 2mm/day. There have been long lines and many centers have run out of tests according to the news. Hospitalizations grew by 10% and are almost 71k and deaths were +3% to 1.35k. Thankfully, hospitalizations and deaths remain low relative to peak levels. The third picture shows all regions are growing in terms of cases with the Northeast and South really exploding. Note how steep the lines are moving upward. The US remains at 62% fully vaccinated, 71% for 12 years and up and 88% for 65 years and up.
Omicron is ripping through the country and NYC and CA are seeing it explode along with most other cities and states. Florida case growth is very strong and Miami/Dade is one of the fastest growing counties for COVID. Florida had record cases two days in a row at almost 33k on Saturday. Puerto Rico is hands down the worst place in terms of case growth with approximately 69 out of 70 counties being in the top 70. The good news is it is clear that Omicron is less deadly than Delta. This Yahoo story outlines cases in NYC and the positivity rate of 11%. The first chart shows the fastest case growth in the US and Territories (see the right most column, WOW) and the 2nd chart shows hospitalization growth. As you can see, cases are growing rapidly, but hospitalizations are lagging. Part of this is the timing difference, but I believe the bigger part is Omicron is milder than Delta. Interestingly, 7 out of 10 of the top case locations have a higher vaccination rate than the US as a whole and 9 out of 10 locations listed for growing hospitalizations have a higher vaccination rate than the 62% US average. Clearly the vaccines do not prevent Omicron, though they are said to lessen the severity of illness. One young and healthy reader was quite sick despite being double vaccinated and boosted. Turns out he tested positive for BOTH Delta and Omicron. This NY Times link allows you to manipulate the charts to see for yourselves. I used data as of Friday as I felt the data would be questionable given Christmas. The United Kingdom reported another record high number of COVID-19 cases Friday as the omicron variant of the disease sweeps the world. The country reported 122,186 new cases on Friday, up from 119,789 cases the day prior. The highly contagious omicron variant has led to case surges everywhere it has been detected. The U.K. reported just over 90,000 new cases last Saturday. The UK had over 1.7mm cases in a week, a new record. Australia is also seeing record cases.
Falsifying a COVID-19 vaccination card is now a class A misdemeanor in the state of New York, and tampering with computer records related to vaccinations is now a class E felony, after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed new legislation late Wednesday. The bill clarifies that "a COVID Vaccination Card shall be considered a written instrument for purposes of the forgery statute," which makes faking one a crime punishable by up to 1 year in jail or 3 years' probation. I am all for it. However, NY has an uncanny willingness to let violent criminals out on zero bail and then not prosecute them. If they put someone in jail for the vaccine card, but repeat violent criminals and shoplifters suffer no consequences, I have a problem.
The UK is not advising the vaccine for children 5-11 years old, while the US is pushing them. I do worry about the long-term effects and I would not have my 5-year-old get vaccinated if they were otherwise healthy. According to the CDC, from 1/1/20-10/16/21 a total of 94 kids ages 5-11 died in the US from COVID (slide 19) and an overwhelming majority had some type of underlying condition. The UK’s expert body JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization) is moving forward with vaccinating 5 to 11 year olds with underlying health conditions, who are at risk, but not all healthy 5 to 11 year olds. In the US we are seeing mandates in some places for ages 5-11.
These type of headlines are concerning about booster effectiveness and how long they last. If true, it would suggest going with Moderna vs Pfizer. New data from the UK indicates that the effectiveness of Pfizer vaccine booster shots in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 as a result of the Omicron variant drops considerably within 10 weeks of receiving the inoculation. But it also showed that protection afforded by Moderna boosters remained relatively strong for a longer period. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reviewed 68,489 Omicron cases in the country. It assessed that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were around 70 percent effective at preventing symptomatic disease 2-4 weeks after getting a third shot (down from some 90% effective against the previously dominant Delta variant) With Pfizer boosters, this dropped to 45% by 10 weeks, but Moderna booster effectiveness stayed at around 70% for at least 9 weeks.
Real Estate
My community, Royal Palm, is down to 5 active listings. Remember, when I bought in 2017, there were 70 listings out of approximately 750 homes. The range today is $4.5mm to $45mm. The $4.5mm house is on the worst street in the community and was built in 2007 with 4,833 feet and is a 3/3.5 bed/bath. To me, the house is incredibly unattractive, but with so little on the market, it too will sell. In one of my worst calls of all time, I bid on a house in my community in late 2018. It was the ugliest home in town and a 20,000 sq foot abomination requiring a knockdown. It was a horribly unattractive house inside and out. However, it sat on a 55,000-foot waterfront lot with over 473 feet of water frontage. I was interested at $10.5mm, and the seller turned it down only to eventually sell around that price. I did not chase it as at the time, I felt as though the Boca market would not warrant what I wanted to do. I was planning on building a house for my family on 22k feet and building a larger spec house on the bigger 32k portion. I believed I would be unable to get the price to make it worth my time as homes were not selling for over $18mm and most waterfront was far less than that. What a complete idiot. Conservatively, had I bought the both properties, I would have made in excess of $30mm. I am not sure what the lot would trade for today, but if I had to guess, I would think it would go for $30mm. Who would have predicted that prices in this community for waterfront would go up by so much in such a short time? The water frontage wraps around the entire back and side of the home and sold in the $10mm range in late 2018. I spoke with a South Florida broker who did $400mm this year and $250mm last year. Pre-pandemic, he was doing $150mm. No, these volumes are not sustainable as there is just such limited inventory. Dying to sell my house and cannot find another at any reasonable level.
According to this Bloomberg story, NYC had its best year ever with record contracts, volumes and sizes. This is partially due to the onerous restrictions in 2020, but clearly NYC is a place people still want to live. In case anyone was still worried about New York City being “over,” the news of its best-ever year in luxury home sales should put that concern permanently to rest. Of the 1,877 contracts signed at $4 million and above, a staggering 400 were signed for properties asking $10 million or more, according to data compiled by Donna Olshan, president of the real estate broker Olshan Realty. “This has gone beyond the golden years of new development in 2013 and 2014 and 2015,” she says. The article gives a bunch of examples of condos, townhouses and co-ops, but shows the UES is “King," as 9 out of the top 10 sales were there. I lived on 74th and Park for years and must admit that I far prefer Greenwich Village or Flatiron to the UES. If I was forced to live in NYC again, I would only live downtown in Greenwich Village, West Village, Flatiron, Gramercy and maybe Tribeca.
I receive quite a few comments from readers about the idiocy of the crypto market and how no wealth has been created. I beg to differ. One suggested it was the tulip bulb craze. This article goes into some details about the real estate being acquired by the new wealth created from crypto. In another article from CNBC, the discussion is about growing crypto donations. People have made trillions in crypto and most of it has been in the last few years (2nd picture). It is being used to buy real estate, NFTs, art, cars, planes, trips, fancy collectibles, donations…
Although many cities are still struggling with high unemployment and low economic growth during Covid, other cities are flourishing. SmartAsset analyzed the most recent data for 500 of the largest cities, including population change, unemployment rate, change in unemployment rate, GDP growth rate, business growth, housing growth and change in household income, to find the places where the outlook is rosy. Cities in Washington State dominate the list, with three in the top 10. Vancouver, for instance, ranks well for its growing number of businesses and housing options. Bellingham stands out in terms of five-year population change and average yearly GDP growth. And Seattle ranks in the top 10% of cities for five-year population change, the number of new housing units, and median household income increased growth. The link gives details and scores for each city below.
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Nampa, Idaho
Meridian, Idaho (Tie)
Conroe, Texas (Tie)
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Bend, Oregon
Tempe, Arizona
Vancouver, Washington
Bellingham, Washington
Seattle, Washington
The developer of 432 Park Avenue, one of the world’s tallest and most luxurious condominium towers, on Wednesday filed its answer to a $125 million lawsuit from the building’s condo board over alleged construction defects, calling the board’s suit “ill-advised” and “an effort to wrest unwarranted payments” from the developer. The answer, filed in New York State Supreme Court by an entity controlled by Los Angeles-based CIM Group, also alleged that the complaints raised by the board had been “vastly exaggerated.” The board’s lawsuit, filed in September, had alleged that the Billionaires’ Row megatower was one of the worst examples of developer malfeasance in the history of New York City, citing more than 1,500 alleged defects, breakdowns, failures and safety issues. I do not understand the fascination with living in mid-town and wanting to be so high up. I get the reason around the view, but nothing could get me to live in that location on the 80th or 90th floor. Oh yeah, places cost tens of millions of dollars or more. I’ll pass. I would be scared to live on the 90th floor in case of a fire. Also, in NYC, we lost power a handful of times and I had to walk down 16 flights. Could you imagine 90 flights?