Folks, before you get too excited about the recent Federal Reserve announcement to lower the Federal Funds Rate, and are hoping for a sudden drop in mortgage rates, just understand a few things:
The Federal Reserve does not directly impact mortgage rates. That is a function of the Bond Prices. Bond prices are based (in part) on public supply and demand, risk, market expectations, etc.. And collectively, Bond Market analysts are far more astute than the Federal Reserve Board.
Need proof?
Bond Traders understood market factors impacting inflation and the economy as early as last October, and already reacted. And as a result, mortgage rates have quietly improved about 1.25% since last October.
And how much did the Federal Reserve lower rates since last October? That’s right – they didn’t.
So for those who were waiting for the Federal Reserve to lower the Federal Funds rate before buying or refinancing, you’re late to the party.
Sure mortgage rates may have already made a move, but a lower Federal Reserve rate means lower consumer credit costs, and that’s VERY good for the economy (which is not as healthy as we’ve all been led to believe) and the economy sure could use a little help. A reduction in the Federal Funds rate will help that greatly.
So if you need a home, don’t be late to the party – call your Favorite Trusted Real Estate Agent and just go buy a home.
Cheers!
Jay Atterstrom Regional Branch Manager Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. jay.atterstrom@primeres.com (214) 377-0033 (214) 417-1000
Why is it okay that Senator Booker can tell us – he will get rid of President Trump and ALL OF MAGA; BUT, it is not okay for Musk to ask a question on President Trumps attempted assassinations in contrast to Biden/Harris not having that same experience?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the country’s toughest lawbanning digitally altered political “deepfakes” on Tuesday, following through on a vow to act after rebuking Elon Musk for sharing a doctored video of Vice President Kamala Harris.
The new California law — which will take effect before the November election — channels rising alarm about artificial intelligence’s capacity to disrupt elections by sowing misinformation, with voters increasingly confronted with deepfake images and audio impersonating candidates. Musk, who owns X, stoked that debate when he shared the AI-altered video of Harris in July, drawing Newsom’s public promise to prohibit similar practice.
“I could care less if it was Harris or Trump,” Newsom told Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff during a conversation on Tuesday. “It was just wrong on every level.”
Newsom also signed a companion bill on Tuesday that targets deepfakes by compelling platforms to pull down such content when users flag them, although that bill will not take effect until next year. He signed a third measurerequiring disclaimers on political ads that use AI.
Newsom signed the measures on the same day Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the front-runner to become California’s next senator, helped introduce a similar bill to ban fraudulent AI campaign ads. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco highlighted AI threats, including those emanating from foreign adversaries, during POLITICO’s AI and Tech summit on Tuesday.
“It is the ultimate double-edged sword: it holds great promise but also exceptional peril because it’s lowering the barrier to entry for all sorts of malicious actors,” Monaco said. “There will be changes in law, I’m confident, over time.”
The California ban on campaign deepfakes will allow courts to issue injunctions blocking people from distributing intentionally deceptive political content during election season, and it exposes people who share deepfakes to civil penalti
The bill was intentionally written to take effect before the November election. Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, a Santa Cruz Democrat and former county elections official who carried the bill, has repeatedly warned that the 2024 cycle represented the nation’s “first AI election.” The measure also includes deceptive content about election officials to shield against candidates and others targeting poll workers in the aftermath of elections, as former President Donald Trump has explicitly done.
The debate about AI in politics has set concerns about misinformation and election integrity against warnings about eroding free speech protections. Tech companies have argued restrictions on AI alterations may undercut the First Amendment, and Musk noted in an X reply to Newsom that “parody is legal in America.”
The back-and-forth between Newsom and Musk over AI content adds another chapter to their tumultuous, yearslong relationship.
Some of those disputes have played out in court. An appeals court recently backed X’s challenge to a 2022 law, signed by Newsom, that requires social media companies to disclose more information about their content moderation policies.
What is the deal? Why does the left/media hate President Trump and have this disease which doesn’t have a cure?
What are they hiding in the government/White House that they don’t want anyone – especially – President Trump to see and feel they have to be elected to keep the power in their hands.
That alone frightens me – what are they hiding from the people. We know how high the debt is and that alone should be enough TO NOT ELECT THEM.
Here is a man who left a LUXURIOUS lifestyle to work without a paycheck for four years and made the country into something that no one else has been able to do?
Something is mentally wrong with the left when they want to continue what people are enduring today instead of electing a person, President Trump, who knows what he is doing and has done.
Rather than even thinking about voting for Kamala Harris, who has proven that she is not ready for the job of PRESIDENT – she wasn’t successful in her job as VP – so why in the world/how could we even think she can handle the President’s job – her spark plugs don’t work, she doesn’t use gas, and her brain doesn’t function when using more than five words.
We have to be serious about this election – the world is questioning and laughing at us. We are allowing Biden, a man whose mind is sick, placing her on the ticket. Do people realize that she has not won one vote and was PLACED on the ticket by someone else’s votes/donations?
There are magazines who have questioned HER ABILITIES. Few people seem to think she’s ready to be president.
Fox News host Sean Hannity calls out the heated political rhetoric against former President Trump on “Hannity.”
SEAN HANNITY: Now the threats against Donald Trump, they are very real. The lack of urgency, the lack of accountability at the DHS, and frankly, the entire Biden-Harris administration is beyond appalling.
Make no mistake, Donald Trump has a huge base of devoted supporters. Now, there are Americans who would walk over hot coals to vote for him, and they will, but there are also people who hate the former president with a passion, which has now made him, obviously, the number one target in terms of assassination in our country.
He has a lot of enemies: the Democratic Party, the state-run media mob, the deep state, government officials. Trump Derangement syndrome is very real. They have demonized him. They have besmirched him. They have smeared him. They have slandered him. They have created a caricature of him. In less than a decade, Donald Trump has gone from a billionaire and celebrity beloved by Democrats in the media, to a Republican that these same people now refer to constantly as a “threat to democracy” because his politics and rhetoric did not align with this Democratic machine.
Former vice president Mike Pence has given advice to Donald Trump‘s new running mate, JD Vance, and offered to sit down with the Ohio senator to discuss further.
Speaking at the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) on Tuesday as part of their Constitution Day celebration, Pence told Vance that the job of a vice president is to “be prepared” if “history called.”
Pence, whose relationship with Trump fell apart in the wake of the 2021 January 6 Capitol riot, made the remarks days shortly after the apparent assassination attempt against the former president at his Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach, in Florida.
The incident, in which the suspect did not fire at Trump, was the second assassination attempt against the Republican in two months. On July 13, Trump was left with minor injuries after a gunman opened fire while he was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
When asked if he has any advice for Vance, Pence said the role of the vice presidency is to assume office duties at a moment’s notice in the case of a tragedy. If Trump wins the 2024 election in November, Vance would be second in line for the presidency.
“Full disclosure, I got out a magic marker and wrote on the mirror. Be informed, be prepared and be of service. I wanted to make sure my heart was in the right place if history called.”
Vance’s team has been contacted for comment via email.
Elsewhere during the event, Pence defended his actions after he refused Trump’s demands not to not certify the 2020 election results while Pence performed his purely ceremonial role as presiding officer of the Senate on January 6, 2021.
During the riot at the Capitol, the former president’s supporters could be heard chanting “hang Mike Pence” while backing Trump’s false 2020 election fraud claims.
Speaking at MTSU, Pence reiterated that he did not have the power or authority to not certify the election results, despite Trump’s insistence.
“When that day came three years ago, I think of the oath I took to the American people and almighty God,” Pence said.
“I will leave the judgment to others and history. It was by God’s grace I did my duty that day, and it was a great honor to do so. On. January 6, President Trump was wrong. I had no right to reject votes.”
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In my opinion, Pence did not serve the President in the fashion I thought he should.
In regards to what he did by not talking with the AG before he made his final decision was a mistake because according to what went down that day – there were a lot of loose ends about the election/questions/even this day. The AG did not make anything available except what people heard from the internet and the fact that important people came to him and the AG told them to put it aside – not wanting to know.
One in particular was:
Tony Shaffer on the Deep State, the 2020 Election Steal in PA and former AG Bill Barr’s response