Electric Boondoggle? Average Price Of Used Tesla Declined 18 Consecutive Month, Down -47%! (Only 6% Of Americans Want An EV)

Is the Obama, I mean Biden, Administration playing Electric Boogaloo? Or is it Electric Boondoggle?

The average price of a used Tesla has declined 18 months in a row, moving from a record high of $67,900 in July 2022 to a record low of $35,844 today (-47%).

On January 11, I noted Hertz Is Selling 20,000 EVs Due to Lack of Customer Demand

Hertz is selling a third of its EVs globally, with 20,000 in the US and will use some of the money to buy more Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) gasoline-powered cars.

On January 18, I commented $2 Billion in Subsidies, Only 2 EV Stations Opened, the Holdup is Social Justice

In yet another example of Biden incompetence, the administration is setting up rules making it harder to deliver EV charging stations.

Like insects that the World Economic Forum wants us to eat (while Kerry, Gore, Klaus Schwab and other elites eat wagyu beef and slurp champagne in their private jets), people apparently don’t want to be forced into buying an EV. Only 6 Percent in the US want an EV for their Next Vehicle.

I will wager that Obama/Biden (not even including VP Harris since she has seemingly been disowned by O’Biden, wish that they could COMMAND EVs been bought. Look at China’s share of EVs: 33%!

Then we have this staggering waste of taxpayer money! Ashville NC’s $ million in electric buses sit broken and idle.

Finally, we have those idiotic green energy carbon “allowances.” So Taylor “Not so” Swift can jet to watch KC Chief’s tight end and stud Travis Kelce play football. Tons of carbon emmissions, but she is paying for it. Still polluting, but Feds get their piece of the action. Oh I see. Carbon allowances are essentially permission from the ruling class to fly.

Just play some accordian music to relax. Like “Cabbage rolls and coffee.” At least cabbage rolls and coffee don’t use meat, a no-no from the World Economic Forum.

Inconvenient Truths About Electric Vehicles (Expensive, Battery Woes, Few Charging Stations) Ford Cuts Lightning Production As Dealers Stuck With Unwanted EVs

Al Gore, former Clinton VP and Senator from Tennessee, has made millions of dollars from his hysterical film about global warning called “An Inconvenient Truth.” For that, Gore (undeservedly) won a Nobel Prize. Then again, Obama won a Nobel Prize for Peace then proceeded bombing people. You can’t make this stuff up.

Well, here are 8 inconvenient truths about electric vehicles that Globalist Democrats like Obama, Biden, Gore and Kerry have been hawking like carnival barkers.

EVs are more expensive
EVs are inconvenient for anyone who needs a public charger
EVs are inconvenient for anyone who drives long distances
Insurance costs are higher
Maintenance costs are higher
Repairs take longer and parts are in short supply
Minor accidents can be very costly requiring a new battery
Consumers don’t want the damn things and rightfully so

Then we find out that Ford loses $36,000 on each EV, and announced cuts in production of the Electric F-150 pickup trucks. Only government would try to force car manufacturers into producing a product that loses so much money per unit.

The price of a Ford F-150 Lightning starts at about $50,000 and is eligible for $7,500 in federal EV tax credits. Even with the tax credits, the price remains higher than the $34,000 base price of the gas-powered truck.

As a result, 3,900 auto dealers wrote a letter to President Biden, warning:

“Electric vehicles are stacking up on our lots which is our best indicator of customer demand in the marketplace.”

Plus, high auto loan rates and vehicle prices add to affordability concerns. Folks don’t want $1,000 payments for vehicles that come with “range anxiety.” Not to mention BATTERY anxiety.

$2 billion in subsidies, only 2 EV stations opened, the holdup is social justice. The FHWA issued a rule requiring that workers for most projects be certified by the electricians union, or another government-approved training program. States have also blasted the program for its lack of flexibility. Florida’s Transportation Department said projects were stifled by guidance that stations be 50 miles apart. Pennsylvania lamented restrictions on building stations with fewer than four charging ports. Half of the grant money is set aside for “disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment,” which by the agency’s description includes Alaskan and Arizonan Indian tribes and urban parks and libraries.

Speaking of charging stations (or the lack thereof), there was the fiasco with EVs in Chicago with the polar vortez. While Tesla is the highest profile EV manufacturer, other EVs and hybrids were turned into frozen bricks when the electric batteries froze/degraded in the cold.

Then we have Hertz selling 20,000 EVs due to lack of customer demand.

Remember, Obama and his aging, demented sock puppet Joe Biden are profoundly pro-union and pro-idiotic woke policies. The EV push is mading made by the World Economic Formum who don’t even want you to own your own car and take mass transit (electric no doubt).

Why is the US government funding the anti-US WEF?? Why was SecState Antony Blinken attending the WEF in Davos where his plane broke down in the cold??

Confession: I own a hybrid car that had trouble starting due to the cold. Not to mention that the windshield wiper motor burned out while trying to wipe away the dusting of snow on the windshield. BUT it does have great acceleration!

And the scariest thing about EVs is that Biden apppointed a small town Mayor from South Bend Indiana to be Secretary of Transportation. Pete Buttigieg. Here is Mayor Pete in Ukraine visiting with Zelenskyy. WHY is our Transportation Secretarty in Ukraine?? Bagman for Biden’s Boodle??

Auto sales, mostly internal combustion engines (ICEs) are still growing. Just not EVs.

Not Feelin’ Alright! National Office Vacancy Rose To 19.6% In Q4 (Credit Card Delinquencies Near All-time High!)

The US office market is NOT feelin’ alright.

The national office vacancy rate rose to a record-breaking 19.6% in the fourth quarter of 2023, Moody’s Analytics said. That’s the largest quarterly increase since the first quarter of 2021, and larger than the 19.3% level reached twice in 40 years.

Credit card delinquencies are near all-time high as well.

And then we have Ford scaleing back all-electric F-150 Lightning production in response to weak customer demand. Ah, too much consumer debt and freezing temperatures, perfect storm for EVs.

The Bidenomics Roadmap! Existing Home Sales (4.09 million) Drop To Lowest Level Since 1995 (Lowest SAAR Since 2010)

American homebuyers are going down the road of Bidenomics and feeling bad. Is this the roadmap for the US??

Existing Home Sales fell 1.0% MoM in December, worse than the +0.3% expected, leaving sales down

Source: Bloomberg

Total Existing Home Sales in December 2023 were 3.78mm – the lowest SAAR since 2010…

Source: Bloomberg

But, on an annual basis, this is the worst year on record (back to at least 1995)..

Source: Bloomberg

“The latest month’s sales look to be the bottom before inevitably turning higher in the new year,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Mortgage rates are meaningfully lower compared to just two months ago, and more inventory is expected to appear on the market in upcoming months.”

Existing Home Sales were flat in the Northeast, lower in the MidWest and the South, and up marginally in the West (driven by single-family-home sales as condo sales declined)…

Source: Bloomberg

Last month, the number of previously owned homes for sale dropped to 1 million, the lowest since March.

At the current sales pace, selling all the properties on the market would take 3.2 months.

Realtors see anything below five months of supply as indicative of a tight resale market.

That lack of inventory is helping to keep prices elevated.

The median selling price climbed 4.4% to $382,600 in December from a year ago, reflecting increases in all four regions. Prices hit a record of $389,800 in 2023.

Source: Bloomberg

But, with mortgage rates having tumbled (and given the lagged responses), are sales about to start rising again?

Source: Bloomberg

So The Fed managed to kill sales, collapse inventories, send home prices higher, destroying affordability… and now what is going to happen?

Is Bidenomics the Highway To Hell?

Who designed this photoshoot for an accordian band?? Not sure I want to have a party with this crew!

Biden Brags About Mortgage Rates Dropping In 2024 (Inside Info On Disease X?? Or Admission That The Economy Actually Sucks)

As only Clueless Joe can do, Biden brags about something that he has nothing to do with: falling mortgage rates.

Mortgage rates (30-year conforming rate) are up 392 basis points or a whopping 142% under Biden. Mortgage rates are down from the 2023 peak of 7.83% to 6.69% as of yesterday. One reason that mortgage rates are stable is that M2 Money GROWTH has been negative since the end of 2022.

Of course, it is The Federal Reserve acting to slow down inflation caused by excessive Federal government spending that is leading to mortgage rates declining, not Biden’s open border policy or his green agenda.

But for the future, does Biden know something that we don’t know? Like is Biden buying into the hypothetical Disease X (20 times worse than Covid) that was discussed in Davos at the World Economic Forum. If a major pandemic is unleashed (again) in the election year, The Fed would have to cut rates (again) to offset the damage done by another round of goverment economic shutdowns. Not to mention the shutting down of schools again.

Or did Biden just tell us that he knows the US economy is slipping and The Fed will come riding to the rescue of Biden (or Newsom or Michelle Obama) like in an old John Ford western with John Wayne. That would also lead to declining mortgage rates in 2024.

But all is not well in the banking sector. Use of Fed funding tool jumps most since April to fresh record: Banks borrowed record sum of $161.5bn from Fed’s Bank Term Funding Program, w/demand at $14.3bn climbing the most in 9 months as they piled into a reliable arbitrage trade just weeks ahead of its scheduled closure.

The availability of mortgage credit remains VERY TIGHT.

Whether its Disease X (unleashed The Kraken!) or just a slowing economy, The Fed (the master manipulator) will likely cut rates in 2024. Making mortgage rates come down.

And what is a dancing sandwich??

Not Always Sunny! Dis-Inflation & Disappointment For Philly Fed Survey In January (-10.6, Worse Than Expected)

It’s not always sunny in Philadelphia! And not because the Eagles got stomped by Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region continued to decline in January (for the 18th month of the last 20). The headline Philly Fed survey printed -10.6 (worse than the -6.5 expected) and apart from the insane outlier spike in August, this indicator screams recession…

Source: Bloomberg

More worrying is the fact that hope appears to be dwindling fast as the six-month-forecast for the survey plunged back into contraction (from +12.6 to -4.00)…

Source: Bloomberg

Philly Fed’s demise is consistent with the collapse of hope as ‘soft’ survey data has slumped in the last month, back to its weakest since July (as ‘hard’ data improves relative to expectations)…

Source: Bloomberg

On the bright side for the doves, the dis-inflationary trend remains in tact as priced paid and prices received both plunged in January. However, we highlight the fact that Philly businesses expect price pressure to return in the next six months…

Source: Bloomberg

Overall, the ‘bad news’ in this report should buoy stocks and bonds (lower inflation and lower growth enables sooner and faster cuts)… But will it.

Green man (The Federal Reserve) will stike again!

WTF are dancing sandwiches??

The Bidenomics Plunge! Single-Family Home-Starts Plunged In December (But Permits UP)

While the Nestea plunge was meant to be refreshing, the housing starts plunge is not refreshing at all. Just another warning about the shortcomings of Bidenomics.

Despite mortgage rates having tumbled (relatively-speaking), and homebuilder sentiment picking back up post-Fed-pivot, expectations were for a plunge back to reality for Housing Starts in December after November’s unexpected surge. Permits were expected to rise only very modestly.

Analysts were right in direction but wrong in magnitude – too bearish. Housing starts declined 4.3% MoM (vs -8.7% MoM exp and +10.8% MoM in November, a big downward revision from the initial +14.8% MoM). Building permits also rose more than expected (+1.9% MoM vs +0.6% exp but saw November’s 2.5% MoM decline upwardly revised to -2.1% MoM…

Source: Bloomberg

On a SAAR basis, Housing Starts and Building Permits are higher YoY

Source: Bloomberg

Under the hood, single-family permits rose for the 12th month in a row (i.e. every month in 2023) but single-family home starts plunged 8.6% MoM after surging 15.4% MoM in November… that is the biggest monthly decline since July 2022…

Source: Bloomberg

Perhaps the optimism among homebuilders about future sales is a little overdone given their actions?

Source: Bloomberg

And why would starts be down so much if rates are tumbling?

Source: Bloomberg

Still along way to go for mortgages to be affordable…

Source: Bloomberg

Will less supply of new homes do anything to help the Shelter component of CPI (hint – no!).

Biden In Wonderland! Savings As Percentage Of GDP Goes Negative As Consumer Still Cope With Inflation Of Over 4.50% (But At Least Yield Curve Is Normalizing!)

President Biden still shuffles around mumbling about Maga Republicans and defending democracy (while gettig his DOJ and affiliates to prosecute his leading Presidential opponent) even though …. consumers continue to struggle. While Biden is in wonderland, American consumers are in hell.

Savings as a percentage of GDP is actually NEGATIVE as sticky price inflation remains above 4%.

Any good news? At least the US Treasury yield curve (10Y-5Y) is normalizing.

How true!

Speaking of Biden, is this photo real? With AI, I wonder.

Fed Better Think Twice About Rate Cuts! 10-year Treasury Yield Surges To 4.10% After Strong Dec Retail Sales (Consumers Win, Fed/Treasury Lose)

The Fed had better think twice about expected rate cuts. The market just isn’t feeling it.

Treasury yields rose Wednesday, with the 10-year yield touching almost 4.10% as investors focused on stronger-than-expected December retail sales and the latest remarks from Federal Reserve members.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was recently up 4 basis points at 4.108% after briefly getting to 4.117%, the highest since Dec. 13. The 2-year Treasury yield rose by around 11 basis points to trade at 4.335%.

December’s retail sales data indicated strong consumer demand at the holidays. Retail sales increased 0.6% for the month, above economists’ estimates of 0.4%, as compiled by Dow Jones. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.4%, which also topped a 0.2% estimate.

On Tuesday, yields jumped after comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, who suggested that while the central bank will likely cut rates this year, it may take its time.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, more European Central Bank members indicated that markets were getting ahead of themselves on rate cut projections.

The president of the Dutch central bank, Klaas Knot, told CNBC Wednesday that the euro zone’s central bank looked at overall financial conditions, and that “the more easing the market has already done for us, the less likely we will cut rates.” Knot was referring to the fact that higher stock and bond prices in the fourth quarter of last year acted as the equivalent of easier interest rate policy, while lower prices act as the equivalent of tighter policy.

Rising interest rates are going to bite a big chunk out of The Fed’s massive ass (I mean balance sheet). Of course, The Fed sends the bill to Treasury. Gee, no wonder Biden/Yellen want so much money!

There is something wrong with letting aging politicians like Biden (81), Grassley (90), Pelosi (83), etc. borrow vast sums of money to spend when they will likely not be around for another 10 years.

Debt Star! Massive Money-Printing Will Accelerate As Debt Soars ($34 Trillion In Current Federal Debt And $212 Trillion In Promises To The 99% Will Require LOTS Of Money Printing!!)

Biden and Congress continue their massive spending spree, mostly on themselves and their donors, creating a massive Debt Star capable of unfathomable economic destruction. This will require massive money printing to fund the US Debt Star.

But as of today, M2 Money growth is negative as is bank credit growth.

But all this is about to change.

The U.S. federal government published a December deficit of $129 billion, up 52% from the previous year. The private sector recession is clear as expenses continue to rise while tax receipts decline. If we look at the period between October and December 2023, the deficit ballooned to a staggering $510 billion.

You may remember that the Biden administration expected a significant deficit reduction from its tax increases and the expected benefits of its Inflation Reduction Act.

What Americans got was a massive deficit and persistent inflation.

According to Moody’s chief economist, Mark Zandi, the entire disinflation process seen in the past years comes from exogenous factors such as “fading fallout from the global pandemic on global supply chains and labor markets, and the Russian War in Ukraine and the impact on oil, food, and other commodity prices.” The complete disinflation trend follows the slump in money supply (M2), but the Consumer Price Index (CPI) should have fallen faster if deficit spending, which means more consumption of newly created currency, would have been under control. December was disappointing and higher than it should have been.

The United States annual CPI (+3.4%) came above estimates, proving that the recent bounce in money supply and rising deficit spending continue to erode the purchasing power of the currency and that the base effect generated too much optimism in the past two prints. Most prices rose in December, and only four items fell. In fact, despite a large decline in energy prices, annual services (+5.3%), shelter (+6.2%), and transportation services (+9.7%) continue to show the extent of the inflation problem.

The massive deficit means more taxes, more inflation, and lower growth in the future.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects an unsustainable path that still leaves a 5.0% deficit by 2027, growing every year to reach a massive 10.0% of GDP in 2053 due to a much faster growth in spending than in revenues. The enormous increase in debt will also lead to extremely poor growth, with real GDP rising much slower throughout the 2023–2053 period than it has, on average, “over the past 30 years.”

Deficits are not a tool for growth; they are tools for stagnation.

Deficits mean that the currency’s purchasing power will continue to vanish with money printing and that the real disposable income of Americans will be demolished with a combination of higher taxes and a weaker real value of their wages and deposit savings.

We must remember that, in Biden’s administration’s own estimates, the accumulated deficit will reach $14 trillion in the period to 2032.

Yes, the US has $34 trillion in national debt and $212 trillion in promises made to keep the 99% quiet while the 1% gut the economy for their own wealth. Think Biden, Clintons, and various Congress Critters who suddenly become millionaires.

The Debt Star was born under Obama and weaponized under Biden/Pelosi/Schumer.

Yes, national debt rose under Trump too. Bear in mind that spending originates in The House and Trump was saddled with warhawks like RINO Paul Ryan and insider trading expert and warhawk Nancy Pelosi.