Businessmen Say They Will No Longer Invest in New York After Justice Engoron’s Trump Ruling

This reporting by the Epoch Times on the justice’s finding that former President Donald Trump is liable for fraud has some investors taking their business elsewhere is showing that yes what Donald said is coming true. NOT just truck drivers bringing in supplied got mad but a lot of major investors also see this as a major issue and will now remove themselves from New York.

Remember AOC didn't want AMAZON to open a location in the Bronx which would have helped the community with a lot of work, and income and would have been a big economy boom. Now this TRUMP thing with the other Democrats destroying NY and it's clear you vote Blue you become part of the banana republic too.

Anyway read the rest as this was very real and it's going to be a major issue in NEW YORK...... WAKE UP PEOPLE!

By Samantha Flom

Some real estate investors are losing interest in investing in the Big Apple after New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s staggering ruling last week in a civil fraud case against President Donald Trump.

President Trump and Trump Organization executives were ordered on Feb. 16 to pay $355 million in fines, plus interest, after Justice Engoron found them liable for inflating the values of their assets to obtain better rates from lenders and insurers.

The judge also barred the former president and his sons from managing their businesses in New York for three years.

“I’m shocked at this. I can’t even understand or fathom the decision at all. There’s no rationale for it,” “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary told Fox Business on Feb. 19.

The Canadian businessman, often called “Mr. Wonderful,” described New York as a “mega loser state” for business.

“New York was already a loser state, like California’s a loser state,” he said. “There are many loser states because of policy, high taxes, uncompetitive regulation. It was already on the top of the list of being a loser state. I would never invest in New York now.”

Instead, Mr. O’Leary said he would be looking to Oklahoma, North Dakota, and West Virginia for future investment opportunities.

“Those are winner states. They don’t do things like this.”

President Trump expressed appreciation for Mr. O’Leary’s comments in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Kevin O’Leary is so great, and tells it like it is,” he wrote. “Businesses will flee NYC & State after the Corrupt Judge’s ruling!” And at least one other investor is doing just that.

Grant Cardone, a private equity fund manager and owner of real estate investment firm Cardone Capital, said he was considering investing in New York before Justice Engoron’s ruling.

“CardoneCapital just started to research real estate investments in New York believing it was time to get into the market,” Mr. Cardone said in an X post. “After the over reach [sic.] by the judge in the Trump case & penalties imposed of $355M I told them team do NOT waste time in New York.”

The real estate mogul added that his companies would now be doubling their efforts in Florida, Arizona, Texas, and Tennessee instead.

Mr. Cardone’s comments follow his wife’s creation of a GoFundMe campaign to help raise the $355 million President Trump was fined. More than $660,000 has been raised in the four days since the fundraiser was launched.

“I stand unwaveringly with President Donald Trump in the face of what I see as unprecedented and unfair treatment by certain judicial elements in New York,” Elena Cardone wrote on the GoFundMe webpage. “The recent legal battles he faces are not just an attack on him but an attack on the very ideals of fairness and due process that every American deserves.”

Ms. Cardone also stressed that the purpose of the fundraiser was to defend not only the 45th president but all businesses against “a system that increasingly seeks to penalize dissent and curb our freedoms.”

President Trump’s latest fine adds to the more than $83 million in damages he was recently ordered to pay writer E. Jean Carroll in a defamation case over his denials that he sexually assaulted her. He has pledged to appeal both rulings as he simultaneously fends off four criminal indictments.

The former president maintains that all of his current legal troubles are nothing more than an attempt by Democrats to thwart his campaign to reclaim the White House.

In a Truth Social post, he reiterated that belief and called for an immediate end to “all political prosecutions” against him.

“I should not have to go through any fake prosecutions before the election, he wrote in all caps on Feb. 19. “This is communism, and a threat to democracy. Our country will not stand for it. Make America great again!!!

Man Dies After Setting Himself on Fire Outside Trump Trial

Some of you I'm sure heard the news about the man who set himself on fire recently outside the trial of Donald Trump. Now we have the story as reported by the EPOCH Times... Check it out.

 

[Epoch Times] The man who set himself on fire outside a Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald Trump’s so-called hush money trial was proceeding has died from his injuries, police said. Max Azzarello, a 37-year-old resident of St. Augustine, Florida, carried out the act of self-immolation on Friday afternoon in Collect Pond Park, located across the street from the courthouse that has been a gathering point for demonstrators and media outlets covering jury selection for the trial. He threw a stack of pamphlets in the air before pulling out a canister, soaking himself in a liquid police believe was an “accelerant” and setting himself on fire in front of horrified witnesses.

Emergency responders were quick to arrive and put the blaze out, but the man suffered severe burns as he was rushed to the hospital. Hours after being admitted to a burn unit, he was declared dead. The New York Police Department said they do not believe the incident has anything to do with President Trump’s trial, although it did raise concerns over the security in the area. In a press briefing, Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey told reporters that the NYPD will review security protocol because of the “gravity of the event going on,” referring to the high-profile trial.

“We’re very concerned,” Mr. Maddrey said, noting that Mr. Azzarello didn’t breach any security checkpoints in accessing the park, given that it is a public space. “Of course we’re going to look at everything,” the police chief said. “We’re going to reassess our security with our federal partners.” A self-proclaimed “investigative researcher,” Mr. Azzarello traveled to New York City earlier in the week from Florida without his family knowing, according to the police. In the days leading to his self-inflammation, Mr. Azzarello appeared to have been protesting in front of the courthouse against political leaders from both sides of the aisle. He allegedly drove a vehicle emblazoned with a phrase that repeatedly shows up in his writings—”fascist coup”—and featured the name of his Substack blog, “Ponzi Papers.”

In a nearly 3,000-word rambling manifesto, Mr. Azzarello said that he carried out the extreme act to “draw attention to an urgent and important discovery.” His Substack manifesto directs outrage to a wide array of subjects, ranging from cryptocurrency, New York University, “The Simpsons,” the Clinton family, and the U.S. government and its allies. “We are victims of a totalitarian con, and our own government (along with many of their allies) is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup,” he told his readers. “These claims sound like fantastical conspiracy theory, but they are not. They are proof of conspiracy.” Describing what he called a “Ponzi scheme,” Mr. Azzarello claimed that the Democrat-Republican adversary “has been entirely manufactured.” Ever since the 1996 election that saw former President Bill Clinton’s victory, he claimed, presidential candidates of the rival parties had been secretly collaborating, merely “acting as characters that are against one another” in a way akin to scripted wrestling matches.

“Both parties are run by financial criminals whose only goals are to divide, deceive, and bleed us dry,” he wrote. “They divide the public against itself and blame the other party while everything gets worse and more expensive and handful of people take all the money.” In addition, Mr. Azzarello claimed he discovered that “elites” have been funneling “trillions of dollars in stolen cash through the stock market” to create “the largest stock-market anomaly in history.” He claimed that the U.S. government “unleashed COVID on the world” to “explain the massive anomaly.” In the pamphlet he threw out before setting himself on fire, Mr. Azzarello said his goal was to abolish the government and replace it with one that “serves all.” The NYPD has dismissed the pamphlets as “propaganda-based” material. “The pamphlets appear to be propaganda-based, almost a conspiracy theory type of pamphlet,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters. “Some information in regards to a Ponzi scheme, and the fact that some of our local educational institutes are fronts for the mob.”

US Inflation Rises More Than Expected!

US Inflation Rises More Than Expected, Fueled by Higher Rent, Gasoline Costs which isn't good heading into the winter months and especially the major Holidays like Thanksgiving & Christmas coming up.

Currently the U.S. annual inflation rate was unchanged at 3.7 percent in September, topping the consensus estimate of 3.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose at a higher-than-expected pace of 0.4 percent month over month, up from 0.6 percent in August. Core inflation, which excludes the volatile energy and food components, eased to 4.1 percent year over year in September, down from 4.3 percent and matched economists’ expectations. Core CPI edged up 0.3 percent, unchanged from the previous month.

Shelter and gasoline costs were the largest contributors to the CPI in September, rising 2.1 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. Compared to the same time a year ago, shelter and gas are up 3 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.

Housing costs have soared this year as the average mortgage payment and rent are above $2,000. This has been the result of an undersupplied market and higher interest rates, experts warn. Because many homeowners secured historically low mortgage rates during the coronavirus pandemic, households are refraining from selling their residential properties, especially as the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is marching toward 8 percent.

The overall energy index rose 1.5 percent, including an 8.5 percent surge for fuel oil and a 1.3 percent increase for electricity. Natural gas utility service fell 1.9 percent. Global energy markets have rallied significantly since the end of June, although oil and gas prices have eased this month. The dramatic jump has been driven by worldwide supply fears as key oil-producing countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, have reduced output and exports.

Food prices jumped 0.2 percent month over month, with supermarket prices flat and restaurant prices jumping 0.4 percent.

Within the food index, there were many notable gains for kitchen staples. Beef and veal prices swelled 0.6 percent, bacon surged 4.8 percent, eggs rose 0.9 percent, milk climbed 1.4 percent, and coffee increased 0.7 percent. New vehicles increased 0.3 percent, while used cars and trucks fell 2.5 percent. Apparel prices slumped 0.8 percent.

On the services front, transportation climbed 0.7 percent, and medical care advanced 0.3 percent. The higher inflation last month also led to a 0.2 percent decline in real (inflation-adjusted) average hourly earnings, the BLS noted in a separate release. Real average weekly earnings tumbled 0.2 percent.

Looking ahead, the annual inflation rate is projected to ease to 3.4 percent this month, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Inflation Nowcasting model.

Markets Reaction

The U.S. financial markets were flat in pre-market trading following the Oct. 12 inflation data, with the leading benchmark indexes seesawing between positive and negative territory.

The Treasury market was mixed as there was a divergence in the yields between short- and long-term bonds. The benchmark 10-year yield shed about 2 basis points to trade below 4.58 percent. Treasury yields had recently touched their highest levels in 16 years, but they have eased in recent sessions.

The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), a gauge of the greenback against a basket of currencies, rallied above 106.00. The U.S. dollar has had a strong 2023 despite hiccups earlier in the year. The DXY has soared more than 6 percent in the last three months.

A Pre-Indicator of Inflation

Following the release of the September Producer Price Index (PPI), market analysts have warned about a potential reacceleration of inflation.

Wholesale prices climbed 0.5 percent month over month and climbed to an annualized rate of 2.2 percent, up from an upwardly revised 2 percent. The core PPI also rose 0.3 percent on a monthly basis and surged to 2.7 percent year over year.

The higher-than-expected increase in the PPI was fueled by higher energy and food prices. Economists contend that the PPI is a worthwhile measurement because it can serve as a precursor to the CPI since it gauges the costs of producing consumer goods and services. The higher costs are then passed onto the consumer in the form of higher prices.

But businesses and consumers could see some relief from the surge in inflation pressures as energy commodities have cooled this month. West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices have slumped to around $83 after firming above $94 late last month, while the national average for a gallon of gasoline has slipped about 3 percent in the last week, to $3.66.

To Hike or Not to Hike?

For now, the futures market is mostly pricing in a rate pause at the policy meetings in November and December of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), according to the CME FedWatch Tool. A handful of Fed officials have suggested that interest rates are high enough and that even the recent rally in Treasury yields could help do some of the U.S. central bank’s work.

Minutes from the September FOMC meeting suggested that officials debated whether to pull the trigger on one more rate hike. As rate-setting committee members discussed the need for additional policy tightening, there was one uniform opinion: Rates would need to remain in restrictive territory until the Federal Reserve was confident inflation is sustainably returning to its 2 percent target level.

“A majority of participants judged that one more increase in the target federal funds rate at a future meeting would likely be appropriate, while some judged it likely that no further increases would be warranted,” the minutes stated.

While policymakers agreed that they need to “proceed carefully” on future decisions, they concurred that “policy should remain restrictive for some time until the committee is confident that inflation is moving down sustainably toward its objective.”

“Today’s .4% rise in Sept. #CPI, including a .3% rise in core, further confirms that the #Fed is no where near achieving its 2% annualized #inflation target,” said Peter Schiff, the chief global strategist at Euro Pacific Capita, on X (previously Twitter). “YoY headline CPI is 3.7% and YoY core is 4.1%. When will investors finally figure out that the inflation war has been lost?”

Giuseppe Sette, the president of investment research services firm Toggle AI, thinks the Fed’s rates are “already appropriate” and “the hiking cycle is done for good.”

From The Epoch Times

Trump: ‘Big Things Happening Over the Next Couple of Days’

The real President of the United States Donald Trump told reporters today that people can expect to “see a lot of big things” over the coming days. Speculations already going on that it’s got to do with the election frauds current status, “I think the case has been made,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “And now we find out what we can do about it. But you’ll see a lot of big things happening over the next couple of days.”

He did not elaborate other than this, and left us with a cliffhanger like a true showman… Now the president was answering a question about what his strategy will be after electors vote in the Electoral College, which is scheduled for Dec. 14. “The election was totally rigged. It’s a disgrace to our country,” Trump also asserted. “It’s like a third-world country these ballots pouring in from everywhere, using machinery that nobody knows ownership, nobody knows anything about. They have ‘glitches,’ as they call them. Glitches. The glitches weren’t glitches. They got caught sending out thousands of votes all against me, by the way.”

Starting in late November, Trump’s legal team attended events and hearings with lawmakers from several key states, arguing that the legislatures have the power under the U.S. Constitution to select their own electors. They also presented witnesses who claimed there was intimidation, ballot stuffing, numerous ballots that should have been disqualified but weren’t, and statistical irregularities.

Secretaries of state in several states have said there is not enough evidence of fraud to overturn the election. Over the weekend, a judge in Michigan allowed two dozen Dominion Voting Systems machines in Antrim County to be forensically audited by Trump’s legal team. Antrim County hasn’t responded to a request for comment.

Antrim County spokesperson Jeremy Scott told the Detroit Free Press that forensic images will be taken from voting machines used during the Nov. 3 election. “Our team is going to be able to go in this morning at about 8:30 [a.m.] and will be there for about eight hours to conduct that forensic examination and we’ll have the results in about 48 hours, and that’ll tell us a lot about these machines,” Trump attorney Jenna Ellis told Fox News on Sunday. “A judge actually granted our team access … to conduct a forensic audit,” Ellis added.

Ellis also told Fox News on Monday that the team is currently working on trying to get their lawsuits to the Supreme Court while they are still lobbying state legislatures in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. It came as fellow Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani was diagnosed with the CCP virus over the past weekend.