Ripped From The Headlines, November 1, 2023
US Deficit "More Serious Than Ever," Homes Sales Commissions Inflated, Google Blurs Lines With Ads & Search - Read, Share, & Subscribe - SherlocExposes.com
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“Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers believes that the current federal budget deficit poses a greater challenge for the economy than it has before in U.S. history.
Summers said Tuesday during an event staged by the Center for American Progress, a Democratic Party-aligned think tank, that the U.S. budget deficit, which came in at $1.7 trillion in 2023, ‘is probably a more serious problem than it ever has before.’
Summers discussed the issue of IRS enforcement of tax laws, an issue that he said was of increasing importance when the fiscal deficit remains so high.
The budget deficit is large not only in absolute terms, but also relative to the size of the U.S. economy. The 2023 shortfall came in at 5.3% of GDP, well above the average 3.8% seen over the past 40 years, according to data from the Office of Management and Budget.
‘Seems to me that before we get to painful spending cuts, before we get to raise taxes on anybody under the law, we ought to be collecting the taxes that are owed,’ Summers said. ‘I see a kind of overwhelming evidence that by strengthening the work the IRS does, we can raise more tax revenue.’”
THINGS TO PONDER:
This is a “double-whammy” of bad…
First, you’ve got a former Treasury Secretary who is saying the quiet part out loud about our economic situation…
Then, you’ve got him basically advocating for more intense IRS enforcement (which is a guilty until proven innocent process) to “collect taxes that are already owed…”
We see how that process has been going with random IRS visits to people…
What you have to look forward to:
More IRS scrutiny over EVERY TRANSACTION YOU MAKE;
More questions on your tax forms and returns;
Attempts to roll back tax breaks to get more money out of you.
Keep in mind that this is all being done by the same people who got us into this mess.
Know Your Foe.
Click Here to read the full article.
“A U.S. jury on Tuesday found the National Association of Realtors and some residential brokerages, including units of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, liable to pay $1.78 billion in damages for conspiring to artificially inflate commissions for home sales.
The verdict by a federal jury in Kansas City, Missouri, could upend decades-old practices that have allowed real estate agents to boost commissions as home prices and mortgage rates rise, hurting consumers by making housing transactions more expensive.
Plaintiffs in the class action included sellers of more than 260,000 homes in Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois between 2015 and 2022, who objected to the commissions they were obligated to pay buyers' brokers. The verdict followed a two-week trial, and the damages award can be tripled under U.S. antitrust law to more than $5.3 billion.
‘Today was a day of accountability,’ said Michael Ketchmark, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs. The defendants included Berkshire-owned HomeServices of America and two subsidiaries, as well as the realty Keller Williams.
NAR spokesperson Mantill Williams said the trade group plans to appeal and seek reduced damages.
HomeServices said it was disappointed in the verdict and planned to appeal, while Keller Williams spokesperson Darryl Frost said the realty company would consider its options for an appeal. ‘This is not the end,’ Frost said.”
THINGS TO PONDER:
The timing on this ain’t good…
As Ripped From the Headlines has covered over the last month, the real estate market in the US is hanging on by a thread…and something like this basically pulls the string and unravels everything…
In short, the US real estate market doesn’t need any more bad news…and a ruling like this is a harbinger of instability.
As we often say, Brace For Impact.
Click Here to read the full article.
“The former head of search at Alphabet Inc.’s Google told colleagues in February 2019 that his team was ‘getting too involved with ads for the good of the product and company,’ according to emails shown at the Justice Department’s landmark antitrust trial against the search giant.
Google maintains a firewall between its ads and search teams so that its engineers can innovate on Google’s search engine, unsullied by the influence of the team whose goal is to maximize advertising revenue. But in February 2019, testimony at the antitrust trial revealed Tuesday, Google internally declared a ‘Code Yellow’ amid concerns the company might not meet its goals for search revenue for the quarter.
As part of the emergency, which lasted for seven weeks, engineers from Google’s search and Chrome browser teams were reassigned to figure out why user queries had slowed, according to the documents.
Ben Gomes, Google’s former head of search, was called by the company in its defense to show that it had made various advancements in search, particularly in mobile. However, cross-examination by Justice Department lawyer David Dahlquist revealed the tensions between Gomes’ search team and its advertising counterparts.
THINGS TO PONDER:
That search you’re doing?
It’s all about the money, honey.
And now, Google is being forced to share that fact with you.
We encourage you to watch the movie, “The Creepy Line” to better understand how you’re being manipulated and your behavior is being modified to fit revenue and control targets.
Click below to watch.
Know Your Foe.
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