Insurance, repairs, and maintenance costs are up for both homes and autos. Some homeowners are skipping home insurance. What’s going on and who is to blame?
Auto and Home Chart Notes
- All data via St. Louis Fed FRED repository, index levels all set to 1015=100
- CPI components where found and closest equivalent when not
- Case Shiller Home Price Index: S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index
- Maintenance and Repair of Dwellings: OECD Main Economic Indicators
- Homeowners Insurance: PPI Premiums for Homeowner’s Insurance
- New and Use Motor Vehicles: CPI New and Used Motor Vehicles in U.S. City Average
- Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repairs: CPI Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repair in U.S. City Average
Auto and Home Index Level Percentage Point Changes
- Case-Shiller Home Price Index: Trump 28.3% vs Biden 31.6%
- New and Used Cars: Trump +4.5% vs Biden 21.5%
- Homeowner’s Insurance: Trump +5.8% vs Biden 11.8%
- Private Auto Insurance: Trump +8.0% vs Biden 17.3%
- Maintenance and Repair of Dwellings: Trump 11.5% vs Biden 30.8%
- Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repairs: Trump 11.1% vs Biden 30.2%
The Hidden Costs of Homeownership Are Skyrocketing
The Wall Street Journal comments The Hidden Costs of Homeownership Are Skyrocketing
Darren Gondry has owned his four-bedroom home near a golf course in Louisville, Ky., since 2004. He and his wife, Lori Gondry, paid off their primary mortgage in 2021.
That hasn’t stopped other bills associated with homeownership from piling up. Their home insurance costs have risen 63% in two years. Their property taxes, utility costs and homeowners’ association fees have risen in recent years, too.
“I was so sticker-shocked,” Gondry said of the mounting home-cost increases. “I fear they’re here to stay.”
Homeownership affordability fell to its lowest level since the 1980s last year as mortgage rates reached a 23-year high and home prices set new records.
Property taxes and home-maintenance costs are climbing in much of the country. Non-mortgage costs including property taxes, maintenance, utilities and insurance make up more than half of homeowners’ overall costs, according to a 2022 analysis by Fannie Mae economists.
Worst of all, home insurance premiums are soaring. Rates rose by more than 10% on average in 19 states in 2023 after a series of big payouts related to floods, storms, wildfires and other natural disasters across the U.S., according to an Insurance Information Institute analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Plenty of homeowners are having to stretch financially to meet these home-related expenses. Nearly one in five said they couldn’t afford a $500 emergency repair without going into credit-card debt, according to a February online survey of 1,000 homeowners by tech company Clever Real Estate, while 42% said they’ve skipped home repairs or maintenance because of the cost.
Home maintenance fees have risen. It cost an average of $6,663 a year to maintain a home in the fourth quarter of 2023, up 8.3% from a year earlier, according to home-improvement tech company Thumbtack.
In Manhattan, one of the country’s priciest real-estate markets, typical home values fell 8.9% in February from a year earlier, according to Zillow. But the monthly maintenance fees for recently sold co-ops rose 62% from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2024, and condo fees rose 45% in the same period, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel.
In Charlotte, N.C., the average property tax rose 31.5% from 2022 to 2023. In Indianapolis it was up nearly 19%.
Insurify expects average home-insurance costs to rise by more than 10% in eight states this year, including Louisiana, Maine and Michigan.
Steve Kissee listed two Louisiana houses for sale last year, an inherited property and a vacation home.
Kissee is also struggling with insurance costs for his primary home in New Orleans. He received a renewal quote for wind and hail insurance last year for about $31,000, up from a $3,200 premium the year before. He switched to the state’s insurer of last resort for about $7,900 after replacing his roof. His monthly payment for taxes and insurance is higher than the principal and interest payment on his mortgage, he said.
In Colorado, the 2021 Marshall Fire that swept through the suburbs between Denver and Boulder is still boosting insurance costs in that state. Insurance broker Michael McCarron said many of his clients’ home-insurance bills are rising 20% to 40% a year.
Those who live in flood zones, hurricane zones, or fire zones have seen their rates rise 50-100 percent or more. A quote from $3,200 to $31,000 is shocking.
Ask anyone in a hurricane zone, anyone in school, and anyone who buys their own health insurance what their inflation rate is.
The BLS averages all of this. Economists wonder why so many people are angry.
Assessing the Blame
Neither Trump nor Biden handled Covid well, but Biden was an outright disaster.
The third and final fiscal stimulus under Biden was totally unwarranted and unleashed a huge amount of inflation (see fiscal stimulus chart below).
It’s important to note that Trump wanted the fiscal stimulus that Biden got, but Congressional Republicans delivered a much smaller package.
Trump started eviction moratoriums, but Biden kept them too long and fought with the Supreme Court to keep them going longer. The same applies to student aid.
The fiscal stimulus was massive and unwarranted as were the lockdowns. Biden and Democrat governors kept lockdowns and school cancellations going long after it was easily apparent they were no longer doing any good.
For some of the supply chain problems, no one is to blame explicitly, but the fiscal stimulus exacerbated the problems.
Fiscal Stimulus
Consumer Price Index
Prices had already started to soar before the third and largest round of stimulus.
Role of the Fed
The Fed’s role in all of the housing components is massive. Home prices were already soaring, up 28 percent in the Trump years.
The Fed (economists in general) view home prices as a capital expense, not a consumer expense. Thus home prices are not in the CPI nor in the PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) measure of inflation. The latter is the Fed’s preferred measure.
This is a serious ongoing economic mistake by the Fed. The Greenspan Fed and the Bernanke Fed both ignored home prices. Asset bubbles brewed, culminating in the Great Recession.
Powell made the same mistake. However, because there were no liar loans this time, the result is people are trapped in their homes unwilling to trade a 3.0 percent mortgage for a 7.0 percent mortgage.
Compounding the inflationary problem, everyone with an existing mortgage refinance at 3.0 percent, This put extra money in their pockets every month fueling consumption.
The Fed’s QE also created an asset bubble in stocks, also fueling consumption. Those wanting to buy a house are trapped out by soaring prices and high mortgage rates.
The Fed’s Big Problem, There Are Two Economies But Only One Interest Rate
I described the Fed’s role on February 20 in The Fed’s Big Problem, There Are Two Economies But Only One Interest Rate
And as a direct result of soaring home prices, insurance and maintenance costs had to rise. The only surprise is the lag in which that happened.
Some of the lag is due to regulators prohibiting insurers to raise prices.
Proposition 103 Backfires, State Farm to Cancel 72,000 California Policies
Citing wildfire risk, State Farm will not renew policies on 30,000 homes and 42,000 business in California.
On March 26, I noted Proposition 103 Backfires, State Farm to Cancel 72,000 California Policies
Caping insurance rates has the same effect as capping rents.
The former leads to an exodus of insurers. The latter lead to an exodus of builders and repairs.
What About Autos?
The push to EVs is part of the reason costs are up (manufacturers had huge capital expenditures but sales have been poor). A record UAW contract also played in rising prices as did a chip shortage.
Biden had a direct role in the UAW contract (Biden was on the Picket Line) and 100% of the role of forcing manufacturers to build EVs before the industry and infrastructure was ready.
The cost of vehicles is up, so the cost of insurance is up.
Whose Job Is It?
Trump, Biden, and Congress all played a role. Biden pressed for all the stimulus and got it. So he gets the credit, or in this case more of the blame, than Trump.
But in assessing the blame we must also factor in responsibilities.
Inflation is the Fed’s direct responsibility. The Fed kept QE going way too long. It slashed rates creating a housing bubble (albeit one of a different flavor), and an asset bubble in stocks.
Powell repeated the mistakes of the Greenspan and Bernanke Fed and on top of it failed to understand, then even see (when it was obvious to the world), what three rounds of fiscal stimulus would do.
The Fed also missed the transition from goods inflation to services inflation. And on the Fed’s watch we had the failure of three banks because the Fed failed to spot obvious speculation by banks in long-dated treasuries.
It doesn’t get more pathetic than that.
Politically speaking, Biden wants credit for reducing the rate of inflation that he and the Fed are most responsible for.
It doesn’t work that way. Biden deserves no credit and polls show people don’t give him any.
“Skipping hme insurance” is something we’ve done since…forever! Never had it…there’s aways someone here anyway. We’ve saved tens of thousands of $ over the years, increasing out standard of living.
Insurance everywhere is a government-supported racket.
In NC the homes going for 0-300k which would be considered a started home are being sold to developers and equity firms. They are not being converted to sale but to rent!
“What’s going on and who is to blame?”
At a very high level, it’s just another peeling off of another layer of the onion.
Ever since ’71 once and for all ended all actual net value creation in the US, the game has been about shielding those closest to The Fed from the decay, by transferring wealth from those further away from to them.
In the beginning, the dividing line between who were being transferred to vs transferred from, could be fairly wide: America had a good amount of real wealth and wealth creation left from the postwar boom, fairly widely distributed. For the initial “yuppie” period of the debasement theft experiment; lots of people could be made to feel like they were on the benefiting side of the debasement transfer ledger. Lots and lots still believe America was somehow getting wealthier during the Reagan years: For any homeowner, anyone with a 401K, anyone with a Schwab account; who weren’t particularly economical literate; it sort of appeared that way. After all, being handed a pile of loot, does make one, at least temporarily, wealthier.
As the decay progressed, there were no longer sufficient resources left to steal/transfer to retain such a wide swath of society as nominal beneficiaries. So, the outer layers of early beneficiary classes had to be sacrificed, in order to keep those closer to The Fed from “taking losses.” Etc., etc., rinse and repeat. Decade by decade, at times almost imperceptibly slowly and at times by leaps and bounds, the dividing line between those being robbed and those being handed the resulting loot, has been moved closer and closer to The Fed. 2008+- saw the peeling off of a large group of once-were-made-to-feel-like beneficiaries.
This latest run up in costs, is just another step. It won’t bother Powell’s immediate social circle in the slightest. But it will result in another group who previously could have had reason to believe The Fed’s existence benefited them personally, now being added to the robbed/thrown-under-the-bus for the benefit of those more useful to The Fed and junta.
One thing you can be sure of, is that this trend will never turn. As long as there exists a Fed and a totalitarian government protecting it, the day will never come that someone closer to The Fed will take a loss, as long as there exists more peripheral previous “beneficiaries” (small-time “investors” etc.) which can be robbed in order to save them.
I have noticed the price of the materials to build a house have gone up at a much higher rate than the price of houses that are already built. I built my own house and did all the framing, wiring, plumbing, finishing, etc. myself. The cost of concrete, rebar, copper wiring, plumbing fixtures are all much more expensive than 15 years ago when I built my house. When you factor in the cost of land, legal costs and scarcity of people who are able to work outdoors today, this problem will only get worse.
Demand inflationary forces are part of this. If people CAN stop buying, then there will be deflationary trends finally. I do not see that happening. Habits, such as living here, die HARD.
Credit creation is the primary cause of inflation. The central bank is trimming credit creation, but satellite banks are still wantonly creating credit independently of the central bank.
“.satellite banks are still wantonly creating credit independently of the central bank.”
They’re in no way independent of the central bank.
All they do, is collect commissions for extending loans. Then sell the loans to larger, supposedly too-big-to-fail banks. Who will buy anything, since they know they have a Fed backstop.
It’s a theft setup so simple any six year old can see straight through it. Which is exactly why it is so singularly existentially important for the preservation of “the system”, to ensure that all wealth; hence power; is transferred only and solely to those with the intellects of five year olds and below.
Of course, nothing to do with wealth concentration and the fact that wealthy buyers bid up many housing markets in the post Covid move away from cities. But it was all those poor people on stimulus checks who bid up the prices of BMWs and Porches, nothing to do with supply chain disruption and greedflation.
But never miss an occasion to shoot cheap political shots, please.
Where did the $7 trillion of stimulus end up?
“Where did the $7 trillion of stimulus end up?”
Where all “stimulus” end up:
On yachts in The Med and St. Barths. As well as the prostitutes working them.
In NC, I’ve seen insurance rates on my home and my rentals go through the roof (only one house in hurricane area and we don’t have wind and hail on that home). Factor in huge increases in property tax (some of the insurance and PT because homes are higher value now). But the point is, government scream for “affordable housing” … then slams us with higher property taxes. And yes these huge increases in insurance and taxes will play out into higher rents. I do most repairs myself and materials costs are sometimes up, sometimes down … but still much higher than 4 or 5 years ago. If you look at the price now of buying/financing a home, prepping it for rental, and then renting it (including mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, property management, … ) … if rent does come down in the near future … many folks will sell and thus reduce the supply of rental homes.
There will be a trend of people looking for more affordable ‘hoods: in other countries. We have a large circle of TRUE American types, who grew up here and there are no fewer than 13 couples LEAVING America for other countries: permanently.
Things will get a lot worse before the end of 2024. People are forced to pay for these expenses on credit cards and/or withdraw money from their 401k’s, I expect a lot more bankruptcies and an increase in credit card delinquencies by the end of the year.
I also think there will be an increase in second mortgages.
I don’t think so. The average person looking for additional credit doesn’t usually have a high FICO score. Banks are being extremely cautious. Most of their lending is to people with FICO scores over 720 with low debt to income ratios.
There are FHA second mortgages available that can accommodate applicants with lower credit scores.
Yeah, right. People will hold Biden responsible for the inflation? I’ll believe it when I see the votes in Nov., or January 2, when the Dems finish their count.
The Fed has been diligently responsible for the loss of 96% in the value of the U.S. dollar since 1913. My cat laughs at the ‘professionalism’ and ‘competence’ of the Fed’s group of economists. She snickers about the “very large Powell of skit (sp??)” every time Jay speaks. She thinks she’s so funny. Well, so do I.
my dog wants to bite them. has to eat substandard food now.
Ya got one smart Pussy.
What’s going on is this:
The relentless — and ever accelerating — rise in energy demand of oil extraction threatens to upend centuries of economic growth; with or without wind, solar and nuclear. Together with a decline in conventional oil production it will eventually cap off the net energy returned to the economy, making any further expansion to our material world impossible. In fact, there is a good case to be made that we have already passed this point, and that the economic pains we endure at the moment are just a quiet prelude to the massive crash to come as a result.
link to thehonestsorcerer.substack.com
The central banks were able to mask the problems with record low interest rates, easy money and other stimulus measures…
But as the saying goes — what cannot continue — will stop.
Out of control inflation is the signal indicating we are coming to a full stop (collapse actually)
“For some of the supply chain problems, no one is to blame explicitly, but the fiscal stimulus exacerbated the problems.”
Statements like this tell me you still don’t get it. The supply chain issues that still plague us are mainly the result of supply constraints caused by the coronadoom and gloBull warming responses, which where, and still are, intentional.
Some of these actions could be chalked up to Govt incompetence, corruption, graft, and hubris, which grows exponentially with power, and is exemplified by this piece – link to armstrongeconomics.com.
However, there is also a large cabal of sociopaths at the WEF, UN, and funding recipients of Gates, Soros, etc., that are completely evil and ignorant of cycles, which causes them to erroneously believe in global warming and the population bomb. These Nutjobs are hellbent to convert the world to a One World Govt hellhole to save the world (Build Back Better / Great Reset / 4th Industrial Revolution). They believe in tactics, like those promoted by Cloward & Piven, to overwhelm the welfare state to implode the system to build it back in their image of a collectivist state.
While they are working to reduce the population be 50% by any means necessary – war, starvation, plagues, etc., you are still trying to find blame, as if you think they care. They think they are doing God’s work. When people realize that these irrational and illogical actions are intentional, then everything will start making sense, and they can start taking actions that will make a difference.
This makes it that much more apparent, that each and every time the Government gets involved in things they don’t belong in, it creates havoc and hurts Americans of nearly all walks of life (excluding the Uber wealthy).
I have wished my entire life, since I started to understood Politics, for the Government to “Stay in There Lane” and stop butting into things they don’t understand, don’t control, and add zero, if not typically Negative value when they do!! But
If they could simply take care of the things they are responsible for, I would be so great Full! It’s not that hard to do your job, and it’s not like they don’t know what it is they are supposed to be doing. They just fail miserably at it and on purpose to add insult to injury!
Closed Borders, have an active, well trained, and strong Military, No tolerance policy on crime, and a few others are all your required to do. That’s it! Not Hard!!! Just Do Your Job!!!
My car Insurance renewal came… Old cars, no collision coverage, no tickets or accidents for 30+ years and it still went up 25%…ouch. Thank goodness I’m a good shade tree mechanic… Saves a lot. I use mechanics only for the biggest jobs. Perhaps this is a trend?
Mine went up 20% on an older car her ein CA. No tickets or at-fault accidents in more than 20 years!
I moved from NZ where my auto insurance had gone up about 20% in a year to NZS1200… to Australia – where I am paying the equivalent of NZD2000!
Our home insurance in NZ was tipping NZD9000 per year. Rates had gone up over 15% – and are projected to increase 12-15% per year for the next 3-4 years.
Throw in maintenance costs etc.. and we decided to exit what was still a fairly strong market – shift our base – and rent
The downside risk of owning is enormous
It certainly is a trend, and it’s been around since the 50’s I would guess. I always repaired my own vehicles, and still do some things, but trannies and pulling engines are long behind me.
This is also why I will never, ever, willingly own an EV.
Where does this come into the insurance underwriting/rating/pricing picture?
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage –
I’ve always had a ‘personal liability’ policy for years. My renewal came up 2 months ago I and I rec’d change document that said the personal liability policy would no longer cover claims made on automobile accidents. Heck, that is where I figured the possibility of severe damages could take place. I guess the insurance company thinks likewise, therefore they don’t want to be exposed with that type of coverage.
We are also subsidizing the insurance of EV owners… the slightest bump can damage the battery pack resulting in huge repair costs
Blackrock manages a lot of insurance stock. They can force boards to dump insurance of homes citing “risks”
Even though insurance actuaries can find a risk profile and a price for any home and make it worth their while.
You lose insurance. The bank can foreclose on home if you have mortgage.
Blackrock can pick up house for cash(free to them from FED), not needing insurance.
Blackrock owns residential housing sector in a couple of generations.
All legal theft
A home is a depreciating asset.
Not generally in CA. A home here is almost a guaranteed appreciating asset, if you hold it for 5 years or more
And thanks to the government and the real estate lobby for all the tax breaks they have created for homeowners, such as interest deduction, home improvements, capital gains exclusions, etc.,which in total, turn a house from a simple roof over your head to an investment vehicle.
People want their investments to appreciate, so no one should be surprised that home prices keep appreciating. This is a feature, not a bug.
Past performance is not an indication …. you know the drill
That looks to be the new normal
Inflation was muted for years with cheap goods from China with a Fed that essentially looked the other way and printed money with abandon. Just five yeas ago the Fed spent much of its time lamenting that they were having a tremendous amount of difficulty hitting their 2 percent inflation target (why that’s a target is beyond me but that is another whole can of worms). Fast forward to 2024 we have a Fed that is supposedly trying to get inflation back down to its 2 percent target. Somewhere in there I suspect they are treating all of the price rises as new “high water marks” because even Powell has stated that we shouldn’t expect prices to go back to where they were. Why is that? Are we to treat the wealth transfer from consumers to corporates as permanent transfers? Have to admit that is a very strange new world where only profligate rapacious and reckless behavior is rewarded but I guess that makes sense when government is now essentially Al Capone’s Chicago masquerading as a democracy.
Welcome to corrupt crony capitalism. This wealth gap between the middle class and higher incomes will continue until it can’t. Part of the fourth turning. This ultimately results is political and financial disruption with the end result anyones guess.
Prices are guaranteed to increase over time because of the Fed’s 2% inflation target. This is the intention. A loaf of bread cost 10 cents in 1935. The same loaf costs $3-5 now. What changed? People make a lot more money now but prices almost always exceed what raises people get, unless they jump from job to job. Some people manage to get ahead of the price increase curve and live well. But the majority are always playing catch-up, which is why something like 50% of Americans say they couldn’t afford a $400 emergency expense.
There are ways to reset all this but there are too many lobbyists and stakeholders for anything to ever really happen. Everything will just get worse.
Reading the comments I realize that politicians have effectively done their real job; distracting everybody into bickering over who is better or worse, Trump or Biden.
Does anything really change when either party is in power? Every president out spends and borrows his predecessor. It’s a Uni party masking the Hatfields and McCoys. They are all getting rich on lobbying while we bicker over nonsense.
Vote these assholes out.
We aren’t voting our way out of this…. FJB and the groomers just killed title 9 and made sports a free-for-all. If you have daughters or grand daughters, the failed sickos are gonna claim they are chicks in order to cheat and have a shot at winning. Dudes parading as chicks are going to steal the trophies, scholarships, endorsements and prize money from girls and women. It’s over for women in sports. Even feminists can’t perform this level of deranged mental gymnastics.
You can’t vote or negotiate or legislate or even converse with these people. They are mentally deranged and mentally sick. Voting…… pfft. That era is over too
For those who haven’t done so, you should read the famous short story ‘Harrison Bergeron’ by Kurt Vonnegut, a portrait of a dystopian society where the drive for equality has gone berserk. When Vonnegut published this story back in 1961, it was considered satire. Nowadays, it appears to have become a reality.
Story link:
link to tnellen.com
That was great. Thanks for sharing.
One I’d recommend is a book by Dmitry Orlov, Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Experience and American Prospects.
Some elected a total moron in 2020, some didn’t. The problem is that all of us are taking the shaft.
People seem to forget they get what they vote for.
I blame the greed of for profit insurance companies. Why do they buy super bowl commercials with star athletes? I’ve stated it but it’s been awhile. Running a non-profit business is what most consumers would flock to. All of these mandatory items should only be allowed to operate as non-profit. This includes anything insurance and real estate related along with financial services of any kind including banks. Imagine these greedy for profit
companies having to spend 80+% of their revenue on nothing but customers and coverage instead of denying coverage for everything.
Non-profit companies aren’t a panacea. Suggested reading:
link to google.com
P. Diddy also entertained at the same Super Bowl halftime as the infamous ‘wardrobe malfunction’. Coincidence?
“Plenty of homeowners are having to stretch financially to meet these home-related expenses. Nearly one in five said they couldn’t afford a $500 emergency repair”
I’m curious what type of emergency home repair only costs $500 nowadays. Autos too. Car batteries are routinely $200 now. Full sets of tires are over $500. If you can’t replace a part yourself the labor alone will exceed $500 and even then the quality of new parts is garbage so it’ll need replacement again in a year.
But 4 in 5 can afford it. There is your inflation right there. These companies will keep raising prices to make more money. The velocity of money has gone up exponentially since 2020 because of rising prices followed by 80% of consumers who can still pay.
Car batteries are typically $110-$200. a full set of tires installed is closer to $800.
Rampant speculation and a deluge of irresponsible borrowing and lending have characterized the rise in consumer and asset prices. The government inspired price indices are passive indicators; of the average change; of a group of prices. They do not reveal why prices rise or fall.
Only price increases generated by demand, irrespective of changes in supply, provide evidence of inflation. There must be an increase in aggregate monetary purchasing power, AD, which can come about only as a consequence of an increase in the volume and/or transactions’ velocity of money.
The volume of money flows must expand sufficiently to push prices, up, irrespective of the volume of financial transactions consummated, the exchange value of the U.S. $ (reflected in FX indexes and currency pairs), and the flow of goods and services into the market economy.
I have to say, that reads like it came out of a textbook. Or was written by an AI? Anyway, I think you’re saying that more money in the system drives higher prices. If so, that sounds about right to this ordinary human.
How much money costs DEI and green departments in every bussiness?
A funny news, Europe has no cocoa because chocolate makers can only buy ecological certified crops…
A while back I saw the EU agricultural standards to certify and sell a red apple. It was totally ridiculous the requirements for a simple apple.
Well, ummm, ya know it’s the same old comments again. Where’s my ignore button Mish…. This is just ludicris. Just whining and complaining non stop. Those in your 20s and 30s who bought a house the last few years, well, ummm ya know that was stupid and it’s your own fault. But since you’re already in trouble, ya gotta pull yourselves up by your boot straps and stop complaining. And stop having kids or better yet, dont even start. They are a drag on your net wealth and just a distraction. You gotta be wired in to making money at all times. In fact these are opportunities you are facing. Just take out a HELOC and buy AI stocks and oil and you could be up 400%, we’ll, ummm, now it’s more like 350%. The important part is stop complaining and look for opportunities like investing in insurance companies….. Max out the HELOC and use all those 0% BNPL offers to cover any bills so you can buy insurance co’s. They must be making good money right? If Buffet can do it, well by golly you can too. Just keep buying and you too can make it and make it big like me. This is a game of who can get the most the fastest and you need to ignore atrocities of war, tiny insurance rate hikes, food and feeding your family or utilities or any other distractions and get to gettin yours like I got mine…. 😂🤣😎
_________
Hope y’all have a great day
Going forward, your auto mechanic should charge you $650,000 + hours + parts.
Hunter Biden is a worthless drug addict, money launderer, extortionist, and deadbeat dad (after he knocked up the exotic dancer). Hunter knows absolutely nothing about natural gas — or much of anything.
if Hunter is worth $650K per month for his non-existent “natural gas expertise”, then an auto mechanic that knows how to fix things is worth much much more.
Be careful what you wish for, if your auto mechanic behaves like your corrupt president — every car repair bill will cost over $700,000. That is exactly what is happening, although so far your mechanic is “only” increasing prices by 25-50%.
I don’t care if complaints are ruining your buzz. If you don’t think your country, your home, your neighborhood, your family is worth fighting for, then why are you here?
🤣😂 I’m with you. It was 100% sarcasm and making light of a lot of the hilarious shit I read. We are circling the drain because of this mind rot and moral decay.
Independent auto shops here in the SF Bay Area are mostly charging $160 to $220/hr these days! And that is at times shown in the flat rate book, which are always higher than actual repair times. So mechanics are earning very good $$ these days and most are only HS graduates, at best.
That’s the price of LaLa Land.
I believe Reagan reduced regulation to fight inflation in the early 80s. Given my experience, regulation compliance for many industries is an expensive nightmare that does not benefit the consumer. It’s a waste of manpower, time, and money…all while making things overly complex and without providing the “intended” benefit.
The problem with Fed governors (and central planners in general) is their hubris. They are so confident in their analysis and ability that they are overly optimistic. At least until reality eventually hits them in the face.
These inflationary costs will only get worse no matter who is in office because all of these costs are driven by ever increasing labor and goods charges. You know the drill, millions of experienced boomers are retiring so who is going to back fill? Robots? AI? Where are they, we need them now?
Young people don’t want to work in trades unless the pay is really high. There is already a crisis in auto mechanics, aviation mechanics and home repair (plumbers, electricians, carpenters) and it will only get worse.
Insurance companies have to charge higher premiums because workers are demanding higher pay and materials cost more.
Just wait till 10 million more people leave the labor force over the next 7 years. Today’s inflation is a joke compared to what’s coming.
It’s turtles all the way down and inflation all the way up!
Your assuming life is going to be the same. It won’t. Automation will play a bigger role. So will AI. 10M people is nothing for automation and AI to replace.
Where is the automation and robots? I’ve been hearing that for 50+ years. The first robots went in on a GM plant in 1961. Why aren’t all plants automated by now, its been 63 YEARS?
link to en.wikipedia.org
Tell me when it’s going to happen because I’ve been waiting a long time.
There is a lot more automation occurring these days but I agree , the pace is still slow.
It is a LOT of work and very expensive to refit a factory process from manual to automated.
Watch the cable show “How Things Are Made”. Once you have a process in place, even if it non-automated, very few want to start over from ground zero putting together a new automated process that will probably take a decade to earn back the costs involved before profits come in.
“These inflationary costs will only get worse no matter who is in office…”. Agreed, neither B or T seem to give a darn about (ho-hum) balanced budgets.
“Young people don’t want to work in trades unless the pay is really high.” Define really high? Engineers and managers can work from home…taking time throughout the day to take their kids to daycare or dance class. The trades have to be “boots on the ground”, paying big after tax $ to have other folks take care of their kids.
“Insurance companies have to charge higher premiums because workers are demanding higher pay and materials cost more.” Workers are demanding higher pay because their expenses have shot through the roof. Additionally, they actually do the work.
“Just wait till 10 million more people leave the labor force over the next 7 years. Today’s inflation is a joke compared to what’s coming.” Totally agree. The cost of reduced productivity cannot be overstated.
” There is already a crisis in auto mechanics, aviation mechanics and home repair (plumbers, electricians, carpenters) and it will only get worse.”
Robots will do absolutely nothing for any of those job categories. Robots can’t even pick strawberries. There are apple orchards all around me, how many apple picking robots do I see in the fall? Zero. How many pruning robots did I see this spring? Zero.
That company with the stupid emu as their mascot tried to jack up my homeowners insurance policy by 65%!!! I said F U Emu, and found a policy from a different company for only 4% higher than last years policy.
I’d bag Liberty Mutual just on principle due to their obnoxious EMU commercials.
I’ve never understood the marketing thought process for companies that use animals/pets as mascots.
What relationship does n Emu have to insurance? Does someone think “I need insurance, I bet that company with the Emu is a good choice”?
Dean Gerard Winters does the best commercials…if that meant the best rates, I’d go Allstate.
Home maintenance costs are crazy. I could afford to pay someone but the estimates make me cringe. I’m not paying someone $800 to change a HVAC condenser fan. Even after buying a puller tool and grease I did it for $175 in less than an hour. I also needed some drywall work done on another property. The estimate was $8K! Nuts. I did it for $600 but concede it took a lot of man hours and I already had the tools.
I really feel bad for elderly folks on fixed incomes. Most can’t afford these prices so their homes are falling apart. I’ve talked to several of them in the neighborhood and they straight up tell me they simply can’t afford repairs. They do have kids but they are busy with their own problems.
Yup, I do most home and car maintenace myself. Just replaced a garbage disposal and sink faucet cartridge. Total cost was $100 for the disposal and some plumbers putty. The cartridge was free since its Moen provides free replacment cartridges.
Mish: “Insurance, repairs, and maintenance costs are up for both homes and autos. Some homeowners are skipping home insurance. What’s going on?”
Bidenomics is what is going on. Two trillion dollar budget deficits, $3.5 trillion spending deficits, millions of illegal immigrants invited to invade US borders while the senile fart rambles on endlessly about the sanctity of Ukraine borders.
The auto mechanic or home repair guy is watching a drug addicted porn star first infant get paid millions for his “natural gas expertise”, while the auto mechanic gets a tax increase. Joe Mechanic wonders where is his $20 million, cocaine stash, and endless hooker supply?
The insurance companies are buried in endless anti-money laundering legislation, and millions in associated costs… Meanwhile the first infant and his dad are laundering millions in bribes from foreigners… the IRS and Treasury knew the whole time, big banks filed suspicious activity reports as they were required to do, but corrupt bureaucrats just looked the other way. Insurance companies wonder why they are paying millions for AML compliance?
An opposition candidate was ignored for years, but was immediately charged for made up bullsh!t by corrupt democrat apparitniks the instant he declared his candidacy against the senile fart. Meanwhile illegal immigrants get debit cards full of taxpayer money so they can commit rapes, kill NYC cops, steal, panhandle, prostitution, and live in luxury NYC hotels paid for by people dumb enough to still pay taxes to a corrupt system.
All the while, Mish can’t stop writing nasty things about Trump. Whining about an abortion law that even Ruth Bader Ginsburg said was certain to be overturned, it was just a question of when.
Bidenomics happened Mish. Its obvious. Everyone from the auto mechanic to the home repair guy to the insurance wizzards have figured this out. Criminals of all sorts have realized they can steal anything they want, shoot a cop while escaping, and a democrat D.A. will let them off with a warning.
“All the while, Mish can’t stop writing nasty things about Trump. Whining about an abortion law that even Ruth Bader Ginsburg said was certain to be overturned, it was just a question of when.”
So why are you here
SpeculatoWillie? Didn’t you get banned already once? ZH is the place for you trump worshipers.I’m here to vent my frustrations on losers like you MPO. I don’t care how jealous you are of ZH. I also don’t care how illiterate you are about my views.
Trump is the lessor of two evils, not someone to worship.
Your senile wet fart hates US values, and has appointed a white house full of marxists to destroy the USA from within.
Everyone from auto mechanics to home repair to insurance is fed up of you and your BS
Trump was already President once for four years. What did he do to help any of the things you listed? How will next time be any different?
He didn’t make things worse, which given the choices is unfortunately the best we can hope for. He is the first president in decades who didn’t get us into a *new* war (although he failed to get us out of previous wars, as he promised). he is the lessor of two evils.
As long as we tolerate incompetence and corruption, it is difficult to expect we will get better choices / candidates in the future.
I refuse to accept corruption and incompetence, and then to pretend like this crap is first world anything. Its crap. We need better candidates (both parties), and step one is to let the status quo understand their performance is unacceptable. If you don’t like it, stop pretending Biden is competent or ethical, he is a third world f#ck up.
The only solutions to any of our problems will require things getting much MUCH worse. I think that’s what you’re missing. There are no solutions that won’t require significant pain for everyone now. Be prepared for Trump II to be saddled with the blame for the necessary collapse. Frankly I see him bailing out anyone and everyone to prevent that which will only compound our problems. He only wants to be flattered.
I imagine the media’s last gasp will be trying to blame Trump for the coming collapse, but I don’t think anyone gives a fig what the media thinks or says. Maybe Trump will hate the media for it, but ultimately… we all know the media is a disaster, and we don’t care enough about them to try to help / fix them. The public no longer supporting big media will last long after Trump is gone. I think that (dead media) is pretty much baked in now.
I remember that NYC in the 1970s was a disaster. It literally went bankrupt, financially, morally, and every other way. Drugs, crime, murder, trash everywhere, graffiti, subways that broke down every day, demoralized police… (sound familiar?).
Some 70s era wall Street types helped bail out the city’s finances, NY state offered credit support and supervision. The people elected Mayor Ed Koch (a democrat), who didn’t exactly fix much (he made a few good changes)… mostly he stopped making things worse. Not everyone liked him, but most people thought he was OK.
David Dinkins was the mayor after that, and nearly destroyed everything. Both democrats and republicans were saying that NYC might just be ungovernable, but clearly Dinkins was not up to it
Today, NYC is a disaster zone again. Between Bloomberg, Deblasio and now Eric Adams, Gotham is becoming a failed city-state. Many top wall street leaders have moved away (Miami, etc). D.A. Alvin Bragg is a third world partisan hack, openly abusing the legal system to go after political opponents over bullsh!t. If NYC was still a functioning city, they would celebrate Trump moving to FL. instead, they are acting like a banana republic. Today, Bragg is in hot water because an illegal immigrant Bragg released (may have been his office, but Bragg’s name is on the form) – the illegal immigrant was robbing an old lady, shot and killed a police officer.
The NYPD was already demoralized by Bragg’s catch and release crap, but a dead cop has them openly and publicly calling for radical changes. No one knows what will happen, but you shouldn’t rule out Bragg being forced to resign in disgrace… like many other George Soros backed losers.
I hope President (again) Trump can serve a similar role nationally 2024-2028 as Ed Koch did in NYC in the 1970s. Just stop making things worse. I hope we can find better candidates in both parties for 2028. All I know is that Biden / Harris / Obama / Newsome are marxists through and through, and marxism / socialism always leads to violence and economic suffering all over the world — the USA isn’t special. Marxism is leading the USA in the same direction.
Inflate away the national debt by creating moar national debt. Wait, something is wrong here …
33% increase in home insurance last year (one year). We’ll see what happens with auto. Also over $10k last year to repair 2013 Chevy Volt [new front suspension, FOUR new radiators (yes, Volts have four radiators), new steering and braking systems.] Yeah, what is happening? I assume Covid trimmed the competitors back so much that businesses of all kinds have green light to raise all prices. Only good thing is that time will bring prices down with new businesses.
Not so sure new businesses will spring up and lower prices. There is a shortage of trades people that will keep wages moving up. Also materials are up along with all the other costs for a business. barriers to entry are now higher as regulations and compliance for everything is more complex and expensive.
Regulations and laws can be changed in a pinch. 🙂
Let Chinese cars in under WTO duties & drop the 25% duty.
Why should Legacy Auto be able to have a captive audience to gouge.
Exactly. But neither candidate is open for competition. Tariffs.
A tornado went 35 miles from me 5 years ago and my homeowners doubled. Now im on my 3rd company since then and they are threatening to drop me over various issues like heavy moss growth on my roof. There is no moss on my roof. There is some on my gutters. My roof is green. State Farm threatened to drop my neighbors over a weed patch.
My property taxes went up 50% this year. Literally. Some people laugh when I say I now pay 3k a year for property taxes and say i’m lucky. That you are getting screwed worse than me is NO reason to rejoice.
I watched a recent Gerald Celente video and he discussed how the govt attempts to keep us behaved by not crossing that red line and have been getting really close to it. He’s right. And speaking of Gerald, how does he manage to keep his youtube channel from getting shut down have you ever listened to that guy? I love it. It’s sad how hearing the truth suddenly sounds shocking at times.
My property taxes are close to $11k per year, and most of it goes to a failed school system and to illegal immigrants.
The local school system has a graduation problem, well actually its a lack of graduation problem. So they spent millions of my tax dollars to expand the school cafeteria so they could provide free meals to illegal immigrants. Tax paying citizens must pay for their own food.
The streets are covered in potholes. Police are quitting if they are new, or literally twiddling their thumbs if they are close to 20 years on the job — taxpayers who have been working 20 years don’t get a pension, we can fund our own 401k and pray to retire at 67 after 50 years on the job.
The city council assures us they are working to ban gas powered leaf blowers, because the WEF told them gas engines are noisy and harm the environment. How many gas leaf blowers does it take to equal the emissions of one private jet flying to Davos?
You have any proof that your property taxes all goes to failed schools and “illegal immigrants” or are you just talking your book? 40% of mine goes to schools and 50% goes to the city (of Chicago). The rest goes to county, park district, community college, etc. If all your prop taxes are going to illegal immigrants, I would have thought the news would have covered that .. nationally … cause it doesnt happen. 🙂
My city council sent out an ‘explanatory letter” that detailed where our tax dollars go. Over 60% goes to the “Board of Education”. Then they got sued, and forced to admit the “school expansion” was a cafeteria expansion (almost tripled in size), despite the fact the number of students in attendance was down 15%.
You are as ignorant and ill informed as your senile president.
But you dont mention the trillions of your tax dollars going to illegal imigrants.
Willie, Here is a link posted by California that reports on test scores across all schools. According to this, 47% of California students are able to perform English at or above grade level and only 35% of those students can perform math at or above grade level.
For Scott, that means an F in math and an F in English. In California. I thought I would break it down for you to prevent confusion.
link to caaspp-elpac.ets.org
Scott sounds like the typical city council politician. Can’t solve a problem he doesn’t want to admit he has.
Imagine thinking the news will cover that when NPR’s CEO says that truth is a distraction which gets in the way getting things done..her way off course. The woman who praised the riots when a career criminal with a history of violence towards women named George Floyd overdosed on fentanyl. Of course her place didn’t go up in smoke.
How about all those networks and newspapers who pushed the “52 government employees say the Hunter Biden briefcase is Russian misinformation “. Have any of them admitted they were wrong.
Or CNN telling Joe Biden when he was installed as POTUS “how can we help you”? Do you think they did that when Donald Trump was elected?
You are a funny guy, Scotty.
Preach
Do you just pick the ten most popular words on Fox News that day and put them in a paragraph? I dont understand what you are trying to say. Remember: intro, body, conclusion
I just got a letter from a county commisioner stating illegals are now being bused to the federal prison in leavenworth then sprinkled all over our area. Ive had it.
You afraid they will mow down all the deer before you had a chance to do it? 🙂
Celente owns some sweet, historic properties up in New England. I’d bet he’s really getting shafted HARD on property tax, insurance, etc. No wonder he’s angrier than ever in his videos.