John T. Reed’s news blog

I just got suspended again from Facebook. I pushed the why button and they talked about a ban from a couple of months ago—for which they suspended me then. Around that time, FB announced that they changed their algorithm so people discussing the Ukraine war, as I was, would no longer be suspended..So I have no idea what the current suspension is about. The posts above are the ones. I expect my readers will not see any problem either.

James Mackintosh has a WSJ column today that says “get used to inflation.” I submit that the recent Venezuelan experience wt inflation reveals quite clearly that Mackintosh has no idea what he is talking about. . The average adult there lost 24 pounds from inability to find food. High inflation combined with price controls means empty store shelves. Since 2014, at least 5.6 million Venezuelans—more than 18 percent of the population—have fled the hunger, crime, violence, and collapse of public services that have destroyed that nation. . Getting used to it is NOT an option. . Mackintosh also speaks of...

It is common among very young novice real estate investors to seek as an end point the ability to stop work and just live off the cash flow from their empire of duplexes and other residential rental properties. This is get-rich-quick guru nonsense. . 1. Owning rental properties is a job. I calculate it takes 3.6 hours per unit per month to manage them. At about the 40 units level, that is a full-time job. 2. The cash flow, if you have it, comes from your equity being about 50% of more of the value of the property, not from...

Shiller Home Price Index increased from 19.2% in the year ended January 2021. . Did I know that would happen? No. . But I DID tell readers here and on Reddit who were fed up and abandoning trying to buy a home because the market was nuts and insane and ridiculous and all that that they were making a big mistake. They were going to sit out the market until the evil market learned how to behave and make them feel comfortable. . I said I made that mistake in 1977-79 in CA. I refused to pay $80K for a...

I continue to think the flood across the border is probably a net good thing. American women are having too few babies. The average age of Americans is too old (around 38). We need about a million families of five per year. We need young new Americans. The southern border migrants are generally young men and young families, precisely what we need. . GOP fears they are “undocumented Democrats” as Cruz calls them. Trump suggests they are criminals or welfare. Some are. Some of the people already here are criminals and on welfare. Trump says we get too many from...