From the national debt to negative jobs reports, data has been piling up that suggests America’s economic bubble is ready to burst. Now, with the Fed’s most recent round of rate cuts moving through the economy, fault lines are appearing in the commercial real estate sector. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Peter Schiff or SchiffGold. The pain is especially apparent in the so-called “CRE-CLO” bond market. CRE-CLO bonds are packaged commercial real estate mortgages comprising short-term floating rate loans. These bridge loans were recently, and most notably, used to facilitate the biggest apartment investment bubble in history, but were also used in financing other commercial real estate sectors including office, retail, hotel, industrial, and self-storage. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/commercial-real-estate-bond-distress-reaches-record-high

The number two at Canada’s central bank just made it clear she isn’t a policy cheerleader, like the Governor has been in recent months. Bank of Canada (BoC) Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers addressed finance professionals at the Economic Club of Canada last week, explaining the usual mortgage market risks. It got more interesting when she trekked into the rarely discussed issue of cheap credit and extended amortizations and how they actually erode affordability, even though politicians claim otherwise. The Deputy Governor warned policymakers that “there’s no free lunch,” and tinkering with the mortgage market can have the opposite impact while amplifying longer term risks to households, and the greater economy. https://betterdwelling.com/bank-of-canada-warns-policymakers-against-tinkering-with-mortgages/

, that HSBC Canada and other Canadian banks including CIBC had systemic problems with highly questionable mortgages issued to diaspora buyers with unverified sources of wealth in China. https://www.thebureau.news/p/fake-chinese-income-mortgages-fuel

“The Great Taking”: How They Can Own It All The derivatives bubble has been estimated to exceed one quadrillion dollars (a quadrillion is 1,000 trillion). The entire GDP of the world is estimated at $105 trillion, or 10% of one quadrillion; and the collective wealth of the world is an estimated $360 trillion. Clearly, there is not enough collateral anywhere to satisfy all the derivative claims. The majority of derivatives now involve interest rate swaps, and interest rates have shot up. The bubble looks ready to pop. Who were the intrepid counterparties signing up to take the other side of these risky derivative bets? Initially, it seems, they were banks –led by four mega-banks, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. But according to a 2023 book called The Great Taking by veteran hedge fund manager David Rogers Webb, counterparty risk on all of these bets is ultimately assumed by an entity called the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), through its nominee Cede & Co. (See also Greg Morse, “Who Owns America? Cede & DTCC,” and A. Freed, “Who Really Owns Your Money? Part I, The DTCC”). Cede & Co. is now the owner of record of all of our stocks, bonds, digitized securities, mortgages, and more; and it is seriously under-capitalized, holding capital of only $3.5 billion, clearly not enough to satisfy all the potential derivative claims. Webb thinks this is intentional. What happens if the DTCC goes bankrupt? Under The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005, derivatives have “super-priority” in bankruptcy. (The BAPCPA actually protects the banks and derivative claimants rather than consumers; it was the same act that eliminated bankruptcy protection for students.) Derivative claimants don’t even need to go through the bankruptcy court but can simply nab the collateral from the bankrupt estate, leaving nothing for the other secured creditors (including state and local governments) or the banks’ unsecured creditors (including us, the depositors). And in this case the “bankrupt estate” – the holdings of the DTCC/Cede & Co. – includes all of our stocks, bonds, digitized securities, mortgages, and more. It sounds like conspiracy theory, but it’s all laid out in the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), tested in precedent, and validated by court rulings. The UCC is a privately-established set of standardized rules for transacting business, which has been ratified by all 50 states and includes key provisions that have been “harmonized” with the laws of other countries in the Western orbit.​ https://ellenbrown.com/2023/10/03/the-great-taking-how-they-plan-to-own-it-all/

Government announces 30 year amortizations for insured mortgages to put homeownership in reach for Millennials and Gen Z. From: Department of Finance Canada 🇨🇦 #resigntrudeau 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 #NoMoreLiberalsAndNDP 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 #SayingTheQuietPartOutLoud 🇨🇦 https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1665357396047826951?referrer=john_f_burke

Why Justin Trudeau's Liberals are introducing 'halal mortgages' 🇨🇦 #resigntrudeau 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 #NoMoreLiberalsAndNDP 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 #SayingTheQuietPartOutLoud 🇨🇦 https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1629090590878601233?referrer=john_f_burke

Payment shock coming for most Canadians with mortgages, RBC says #NoMoreLiberalsAndNDP https://torontosun.com/news/national/payment-shock-coming-for-most-canadians-with-mortgages-rbc-says

Canadians will sacrifice food to pay spiking mortgages: expert #NoMoreLiberalsAndNDP https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/07/12/canadians-will-sacrifice-food-to-pay-spiking-mortgages-expert/

When home values get low enough, many borrowers simply decide to walk away from their mortgages, and so the fact that U.S. home values have plummeted by 108.4 billion dollars should deeply alarm all of us… https://www.activistpost.com/2023/07/do-you-remember-the-chaos-that-underwater-properties-caused-in-2008-and-2009-well-it-is-starting-to-happen-again.html

Source: IMF. Canadian mortgages have the highest risk of default in the world, according to the IMF. A combination of high household debt and frothy home prices have increased risk in the market. Households embracing floating, or fixed rate, loans turned it from just overpriced housing into over priced housing with a high risk of default. https://betterdwelling.com/canadian-mortgage-default-risk-is-the-highest-in-the-oecd-imf/