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The Bad News Report


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I recall 15 (?) years ago steel stud construction was to be the future of homebuilding. Stable, fireproof, lightweight advantages would overcome the re-training of field crews and different equipment necessary. Did. Not. Happen.

I wonder what it is for designers and architects who must make a construction estimate for their plans?

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13 hours ago, KJHburg said:

 I absolutely think lumber prices will crash but when I don't know.  

*Puts on tin foil hat* I have heard from a friend or two in the industry that there is a pretty large excess of wood just sitting around sawmill yards that suppliers are refusing to either process or ship with prices at their current high.

 

I am sure this is actually related to the rising price (due to low capacity) of bulk shipping ( both by truck and container which are up 30%+ in Q1) and the backlogs at the sawmills from moving to single shift during COVID but I like to pretend I am a conspiracy theorist every once in awhile.  I am with you KJ, I think it will normalize eventually and even possibly crash. Just not sure when.

 

 

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No product can go up 300% in a year like lumber and sustain those prices without cutting demand.  I think it will crash just don't know when.  Look for more steel framing.  Inflation is HIGH in the construction industry now and that in itself is unsustainable.   

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43 minutes ago, JacksonH said:

So yesterday, a day after the CDC announcement that people who are vaccinated are safe to  go largely mask free, my agency had a Zoom meeting, not to tell everyone to come back to the office, but just the opposite: "Your home is now your office, permanently."  In fact, they just hired a couple new people, one in San Antonio and one in Indiana, and those two individuals will NOT be moving.  We are going to be almost 100% virtual.  The agency is moving out of its old office space where the lease has expired and moving into another location that's about 25% the size.  This pandemic has taught those in charge that we can accomplish the same amount of work with everyone working from home and also save a boatload of money.  I'm sure many employers having gone through this pandemic are making the same assessment.  Which makes me wonder, what's going to happen to our cities?  Are we going to have a bunch of abandoned office buildings throughout the country and never see any new ones get built?  Are hoards of urban dwellers going to flee to the country now that they no longer need to reside close to an office?

On the bright side maybe city housing will get more affordable? *shrugs*

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3 hours ago, JacksonH said:

So yesterday, a day after the CDC announcement that people who are vaccinated are safe to  go largely mask free, my agency had a Zoom meeting, not to tell everyone to come back to the office, but just the opposite: "Your home is now your office, permanently."  In fact, they just hired a couple new people, one in San Antonio and one in Indiana, and those two individuals will NOT be moving.  We are going to be almost 100% virtual.  The agency is moving out of its old office space where the lease has expired and moving into another location that's about 25% the size.  This pandemic has taught those in charge that we can accomplish the same amount of work with everyone working from home and also save a boatload of money.  I'm sure many employers having gone through this pandemic are making the same assessment.  Which makes me wonder, what's going to happen to our cities?  Are we going to have a bunch of abandoned office buildings throughout the country and never see any new ones get built?  Are hoards of urban dwellers going to flee to the country now that they no longer need to reside close to an office?

Time to move to Charlotte.  Some companies are going to do this but in the long run I am not sure how productive it is but I guess we will see.  

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On 5/14/2021 at 6:27 AM, KJHburg said:

No product can go up 300% in a year like lumber and sustain those prices without cutting demand.  I think it will crash just don't know when.  Look for more steel framing.  Inflation is HIGH in the construction industry now and that in itself is unsustainable.   

Steel is high now too.  There's some gouging going on.

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On 5/15/2021 at 10:09 AM, JacksonH said:

So yesterday, a day after the CDC announcement that people who are vaccinated are safe to  go largely mask free, my agency had a Zoom meeting, not to tell everyone to come back to the office, but just the opposite: "Your home is now your office, permanently."  In fact, they just hired a couple new people, one in San Antonio and one in Indiana, and those two individuals will NOT be moving.  We are going to be almost 100% virtual.  The agency is moving out of its old office space where the lease has expired and moving into another location that's about 25% the size.  This pandemic has taught those in charge that we can accomplish the same amount of work with everyone working from home and also save a boatload of money.  I'm sure many employers having gone through this pandemic are making the same assessment.  Which makes me wonder, what's going to happen to our cities?  Are we going to have a bunch of abandoned office buildings throughout the country and never see any new ones get built?  Are hoards of urban dwellers going to flee to the country now that they no longer need to reside close to an office?

Are they paying you more to cover the expenses and square footage of your home office? This sounds like a cost saving move of a company prioritizing profit over culture.

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2 hours ago, Urban Cowboy said:

Are they paying you more to cover the expenses and square footage of your home office? This sounds like a cost saving move of a company prioritizing profit over culture.

They provide computers, cell phones and supplies like paper, pens and ink (they gave me a printer to use), but that's all.  We were told that if you don't want to work from home then you can find a job with someone else.  "Must have ability to work from home"  has replaced "must have reliable transportation."  So I guess they can look at it as a tradeoff because most employers do not pay for automobile maintenance and gasoline.

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2 hours ago, JacksonH said:

They provide computers, cell phones and supplies like paper, pens and ink (they gave me a printer to use), but that's all.  We were told that if you don't want to work from home then you can find a job with someone else.  "Must have ability to work from home"  has replaced "must have reliable transportation."  So I guess they can look at it as a tradeoff because most employers do not pay for automobile maintenance and gasoline.

this will cost some employers as some do not want to work out home.  why would anyone live in a high cost area when you can take your job and salary elsewhere and live comfortably?   This is why the Charlotte area has many new people moving here in the last year and I know of some from NYC who can work remotely so why live there? 

But is it not all companies  feel this way Apple is going to build a 1 million sq office campus in RTP and this was just announced as you know. 

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Yep, shrinking office size looks like the post pandemic trend. I imagine in the next couple years we will see vacancies increase and the office construction boom will end until enough new businesses and/or people move to Charlotte to absorb those now-empty spaces.  There could also be fewer relocations to Charlotte now that companies have figured out they can save money by having people work from home, which may be an incentive to not undergo the expensive and disruptive cost of relocating companies.  Charlotte, hopefully, will start investing in incubating more home-grown businesses (like Seattle) as a way to grow jobs, rather than just purging companies from other cities.

 https://charlotte.axios.com/258578/duke-energy-to-trim-office-footprint-and-move-hq-into-new-tower-uptown/

 

 

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On 5/16/2021 at 12:03 AM, Seabrooke said:

BOA may be obliterated soon.

BAC is the bag holder for Citadel Securities through subsidiary BAML, and carry 96.69%  of their financial burden, which equates to a 56+ billion bag of Citadel poo, 36+ billion of which are suspected naked shorts/ options that will be worthless soon or explode in their face. BOA could quite possibly be vaporized in one of the largest transfers of wealth the world has ever seen as SEC investigations and MOASS begin soon. 

 

I'm sure you mean well but this is Q-anon level dumb. MOASS is a delusion of grandeur and even if the exposure statement were remotely true, this statement completely ignores both the regulatory and house limits that are built into hedge fund trading.  Real collateral is held to reduce exposure and those precautions have undoubtedly strengthen after what happened with Archegos.

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The linked article has nothing to do with the posted theory that Bank of America would be failing as a company because they are the prime brokerage of Citadel, that has lots of open naked short options, and presumably is net short GME.

If the comment had been there is risk of hyperinflation, and BofA (and all banks) will fail because their asset/liability mismatch becomes impossible to manage, then fine, that's a view that's debatable.  But that's not what was posted, and the source was a reddit page titled effectively "if i needed to convince someone that BofA was going to fail, what are some legit sounding talking points, actual facts not necessarily important"

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1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

Charlotte makes the top ten of this list....................drumroll #9 worst cities from mosquitos

US cities with the most mosquitoes | Fox Business

I'm sorry, I call BS on this.  Growing up in NY, in the summers I'd get bit probably 3-5 times a day.  I've lived here 27 years and if I could count that high, I'd estimate I've been bitten less than 13 times.  I'm just not seeing this.  Or if I am being bitten, maybe my body's just lost the ability to react in any way.  Color me a skeptic.

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41 minutes ago, turbocraig said:

I'm sorry, I call BS on this.  Growing up in NY, in the summers I'd get bit probably 3-5 times a day.  I've lived here 27 years and if I could count that high, I'd estimate I've been bitten less than 13 times.  I'm just not seeing this.  Or if I am being bitten, maybe my body's just lost the ability to react in any way.  Color me a skeptic.

I buy specific pants and long-sleeved shirts specifically for the summer because the mosquitos are so bad for me. Different strokes :whistling:

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Posted this in the Hornets thread, but I thought it belonged here as well.

RIP Rick Bonnell.  Long time and current Charlotte Observer beat writer for the Charlotte Hornets.  He covered the original 1988 season.  He was only 63.

https://www.wcnc.com/article/sports/nba/hornets/rock-bonnell-charlotte-hornets-beat-writer-dies/275-067c6ed6-3ca5-491a-9d78-7e8995052c5a

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48 minutes ago, CltFlyer said:

Posted this in the Hornets thread, but I thought it belonged here as well.

RIP Rick Bonnell.  Long time and current Charlotte Observer beat writer for the Charlotte Hornets.  He covered the original 1988 season.  He was only 63.

https://www.wcnc.com/article/sports/nba/hornets/rock-bonnell-charlotte-hornets-beat-writer-dies/275-067c6ed6-3ca5-491a-9d78-7e8995052c5a

Awful news. Rick was full of so much knowledge, both basketball and about life. He was synonymous with Charlotte and the Hornets. RIP :(

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