#Brandonomics

Neat little report with some maps if you're American, MSM article Homes "unaffordable" in 99% of nation for average American

Actual report below Home Affordability Gets Even Tougher Across U.S. During Third Quarter As Home Prices And Mortgage Rates Rise Further

TL;DR

Meanwhile, major home-ownership expenses on typical homes are considered unaffordable to average local wage earners during the third quarter of 2023 in 457, or more than three-quarters, of the 578 counties in the report, based on the 28 percent guideline.

457/578 is ~80%, in other words unless you live in that priviledged 20% of the country it is literaly impossible for the average worker to own a home.

But anyway something something China collapse in 30 days because obviously something something real state bubble.

Burkina Faso's transitional government claims foiled 'attempted coup'

In a statement broadcast on national television, the government "informs public opinion that a proven coup attempt was foiled on September 26, 2023 by Burkina Faso's intelligence and security services".

"At present, officers and other alleged actors involved in this destabilization attempt have been arrested and others are being actively sought", continues the government, which deplores the fact that the perpetrators of this attempted putsch "had the dark intention of attacking the institutions of the Republic and plunging (the) country into chaos".

On Tuesday evening, thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Ouagadougou in response to a call from supporters of Captain Traoré to "defend" him in the face of rumors of a putsch that were circulating on social networks.

Former PM Fico (Socdem) on course to win Slovak election as most districts report

Slovakia's leftist former Prime Minister Robert Fico was on course to beat his progressive rival in a parliamentary election after a campaign in which he pledged to end military aid to Ukraine, partial results showed on Sunday.

With 90% of voting districts reporting in the Saturday election, Fico's SMER-SSD party led with 23.69% of the vote. The liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS) followed with 15.68% and the HLAS party, which could become the kingmaker for forming the next government, was third with 15.43%.

Former Fico colleague and HLAS leader Peter Pellegrini kept his options open on future coalitions in televised comments as results became clearer.

A government led by Fico and his SMER-SSD party would see NATO member Slovakia joining Hungary in challenging the European Union's consensus on support for Ukraine, just as the bloc looks to maintain unity in opposing Russia's invasion.

"We do want to evaluate everything, so we will wait for the final count," said Robert Kalinak, a SMER-SSD candidate and long-time Fico ally, adding the party would comment on the full results later on Sunday.

Exit polls had favoured PS as the winner, but projections from two Slovak news sites based on results with 90% of districts reporting pegged Fico as the winner with a margin of about 5 or 6 percentage points.

The PS party has advocated maintaining Slovakia's strong backing for Ukraine, and would also likely follow a liberal line within the EU on issues such as majority voting to make the bloc more flexible, green policies and LGBT rights.

The first party across the line was expected to get a mandate from President Zuzana Caputova to lead talks on forming a parliamentary majority and, if successful, a government.

The final districts to report, from large cites, were expected to favour PS, but the gap behind Fico appeared too large to bridge.

PS leader Michal Simecka did not give up hope he could form the next government, depending how possible smaller allies end up.

Fico has ridden on dissatisfaction with a bickering centre-right coalition, whose government collapsed last year, triggering the election six months early. In campaigning, he stressed concern about a rise in the number of migrants passing through Slovakia to Western Europe.

Fico's views reflect traditionally warm sentiments towards Russia among many Slovaks, which have gathered strength on social media since the Ukraine war started.

He has also pledged to end military supplies to Ukraine and strive for peace talks - a line close to that of Hungary's leader, Viktor Orban, but rejected by Ukraine and its allies, who say this would only encourage Russia.

The far-right Republika party, which was seen as a possible ally for Fico but unacceptable to others, may not win any seats, partial results and media projections showed.

No sleep until I’ve turned the world towards a thousand years of depravity, filth, and moral decay. I wanna make a world so downright pornographic it makes every single rightoid shit squeal. Open, conscious defiance of their philosophical traditions and social mores around every corner. That shit needs to chafe them as much as their ideal world would chafe me. Shit, as much as the world they’ve built does chafe me.

Can anybody post the un-paywalled latest article of ol' Seymour on Ukraine?

https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/zelenskys-bad-moment Looks promising, I'd like to read it

My vision of next year’s election: it’s election day, it’s the corpse of joe biden vs trump, midway through the day while voting is still ongoing they both die of old age. In the confusion and chaos, one man will step forth to save America in its darkest hour:

the true president of America

Germany: Copper theft hits crucial infrastructure, business

German railway operator Deutsche Bahn has been struggling for quite a while now. Decades of neglect have left the state-owned company's infrastructure and rolling stock in tatters and its finances in disarray.

Deutsche Bahn's precarious funding is now being additionally burdened by a rising number of copper thefts that in 2022 alone cost the company about €6.6 million ($7 million), according to German business daily Handelsblatt. This year, the newspaper found, copper thefts have already led to 2,644 train delays, totaling well over 700 hours.

As criminals destroy cable ducts to get hold of the valuable base metal, supply chains are disrupted and hundreds of thousands of passengers are getting increasingly frustrated about Deutsche Bahn's unpunctuality.

Literally stripping the copper out of the walls of Europe.

UAW Expands Strike to GM and Ford SUV Plants

This way the total number of UAW members on strike at the three automakers will reach more than 25,000.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union is expanding its strike against the big three U.S. automakers to General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Company SUV plants, according to UAW President Shawn Fain.

Fain told workers during a Facebook Live event that negotiations have not broken down, but "unfortunately, despite our willingness to negotiate, Ford and GM have refused to make meaningful progress at the table."

More than 7,000 workers at GM's Delta Township plant in Lansing, in the U.S. state of Michigan, and at Ford's assembly plant in Chicago, Illinois, will join the strike.

The GM plant has more than 2,800 employees who manufacture large crossover SUVs such as the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse, while the Ford plant has 5,700 hourly workers who manufacture the Ford Explorer and Explorer police interceptors, as well as the Lincoln Aviator SUV.

With the integration of these additional members into the strike, the total number of UAW members on strike at the three automakers will reach more than 25,000.

Stellantis NV is spared this time from the strike extension following progress made in negotiations, Fain said. Last week, the UAW excluded Ford from a strike extension, noting that there was progress at the bargaining table with the automaker.

The UAW announced its strike at three selected Ford, GM and Stellantis factories on Sept. 14, after its contract with the big three manufacturers expired. By Sept. 22, it extended the strike to 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers across the country after failing to make significant progress in new contract negotiations.

According to the latest updates from the company and the union, Ford has offered a 20 percent wage increase over the four-year contract term, the job security sought by the UAW, restoration of cost-of-living adjustments, an improved profit-sharing formula, elimination of a tiered wage, immediate conversion of temporary workers to permanent status, and a reduction from eight to four years in the time it takes permanent full-time workers to reach the top of the wage scale.

GM and Stellantis have made similar wage offers. The union initially demanded a 46 percent increase in compounded pay over four years and has been reducing the request to 36 percent without compounding.

Russian Telegram says Ukraine is preparing to attack toward Kopani, to the west of the Robotyne bulge. It seems that Ukraine is aware of the risk of encirclement and seeks to strengthen their flanks.

So I did a little swiss update numbers for insurance premium rise is out and it's an average of 8.7% rise, with some insurances going up by 10% this is obviously a huge amount so what are some parties now saying:

SVP (right-wing): social democrats are at fault, in order to keep rising health insurance costs in check we should make immigrants pay more and people asking for asylum should only get the minimum of healthcare.

FDP (market-liberals): Costs are rising because no one wants to do our market-deregulation plan everyone is at fault for not deregulating the market.

SP (SocDems): Lets just give higher subsidies so that that rise gets counteracted.

Middle(right-wing): An 'Insurance-Rate Hammer' i.e. price freeze combined with cutting some healthcare.

Greens(SocDems): Income based insurance premiums make the rich pay more so we have a more social system.

Special mention: Pierre Maudet, former market liberal sicko now independent and member of the federal council of Geneva "The system is no longer transparent the insurance companies are just profiting and people can no longer endure this. We need to put an end to this, as such I propose a switch to public insurance"