‘We Don’t Permit Thieves Investigating Crimes of Other Thieves’ ‘Spare No Dime In Self-Defense But Refuse One Cent For Empire’ – Armstrong Williams on New Year Desires; plus MHMarkets Recap

‘WeDontPermitThievesInvestigatingCrimesOfOtherThievesSpareNoDimeInSelfDefenseButRefuseOneCentForEmpireArmstrongWilliamsOnNewYearDesiresPlusMHMarketsRecapMHProNews

“No dual standard of justice. We do not permit thieves to investigate the crimes of other thieves.” Armstrong Williams is the author of the op-ed featured in Part I below that uses the remarks paraphrased in the headline.  Williams attended the inaugural Innovative Housing Showcase (IHS) which touted manufactured housing in 2019, as Mobile and Manufactured Home Living News (MHLivingNews) reported at the time. “Ordinary Americans…do not want a global, gold-plated military presence undertaking fool’s errands to summon utopia into being by force of arms to enrich the multitrillion-dollar military-industrial-security complex under the counterfeit banner of patriotism,” wrote Williams. The video and more on his relationships and ties to manufactured housing are found in Part II, along with additional information and analysis among his new op-ed that follows.

Stating the obvious, 2024 is not only a leap year, this is also a general election year. Reflections therefor ought to include a mix industry specific topics along with the national issues which will frame the type of government our profession will be operating in 13 months from now.

  • Part I below is provided by the Daily Signal to MHProNews.
  • Part II will provide additional information with more analysis and commentary.
  • Part III will be our Daily Business News on MHProNews macro and industry-specific equities and markets segment.

Part I

From the Daily Signal to MHProNews

SOCIETY | COMMENTARY

What Ordinary Americans Want

Armstrong Williams / @Arightside / January 04, 2024

The leisurely pace of the new year gives birth to reflection. We celebrate the new year, but from time immemorial each new year proves the prescience of Ecclesiastes, that there is nothing new under the sun. Then why do the celebrations endure? Because hope springs eternal. Happiness is commonly the temporary suspension of disbelief. Dreams are our nectar and ambrosia.

What do ordinary Americans want? They do not want a free lunch. That leaves an empty soul lacking in self-esteem. You can’t be proud of being born with a silver spoon. The more challenging the struggle, the more euphoric the triumph.

Ordinary Americans want a fair opportunity to develop their faculties and pursue their ambitions unhandicapped by the accident of birth. Character and accomplishments are all that should count.

President Abraham Lincoln instructed that the leading object of government was “to elevate the condition of men—to lift artificial weights from all shoulders—to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all—to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.”

Ordinary Americans want respect, if not a 21-gun salute. Every man or woman should be treated like a king or queen, but no one wears a crown.

Ordinary Americans want an equal playing field. A day’s work for a day’s pay. They do not want corporate welfare fueled by handsome campaign contributions and $2,000 per-hour lobbyists. They want an evenhanded tax system that does not enable the super-rich to pay less than the hardworking wage earners through tax dodges only they can pay for and exploit.

Ordinary Americans want to march to their own drummers free from domestic predation. That means holding police accountable to the law to the same extent citizens are. No dual standard of justice. We do not permit thieves to investigate the crimes of other thieves. The conflict of interest is obvious. Similarly, police should not investigate the crimes of their colleagues. Independent investigators are needed.

Ordinary Americans want investigative and prosecutorial resources targeted at identifying and punishing the handful of recidivists that commit most of the crimes, not for retribution but for self-defense and incapacitation. The most vulnerable are the primary victims of criminality. “Defund the police” is blind to this tragic fact.

Ordinary Americans want a national security policy of invincible self-defense. They do not want a global, gold-plated military presence undertaking fool’s errands to summon utopia into being by force of arms to enrich the multitrillion-dollar military-industrial-security complex under the counterfeit banner of patriotism.

We should spare no dime in self-defense but refuse to spend one cent for the empire. Our greatest and most enlightened influence abroad is the influence of example, which costs nothing.

Ordinary Americans want an education in critical thinking and a mastery of reading, writing, and speaking. They do not want indoctrination or fixations on sexual orientation or sex. The latter are the responsibilities of parents. It is the business of schools to hone cerebral faculties, not to promote hormonal gratifications. The armored knight needs to be admired less and the thinker needs to be admired more. Without thinkers, armored knights have nothing to fight for.

Ordinary Americans want leaders who are selfless and exhibit every benevolent instinct of the human heart. They do not want professional, narcissistic politicians with ulterior motives whose sole mission in life is to acquire and maintain power for its own sake—not for any public good.

Our political life has decayed. Think not only of the corruption of former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., and incumbent Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. Additionally, we now commonly encounter members of Congress clueless that the Constitution they have sworn to uphold and defend provides for three branches of government and separation of powers.

Congress has been reduced to no more than sound and fury signifying nothing, while the executive branch has grown to a giant oak sporting the limitless power of a Caesar.

They include dragnet, warrantless surveillance and playing prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner to kill any person on the planet based on secret suspicion that the target might become a national security threat—an alarming doctrine of anticipatory self-defense to exterminate pre-embryonic potential dangers.

The government has become a lawbreaker, which invites every man to become a law unto himself. ##

Armstrong Williams is a columnist for The Daily Signal and host of “The Armstrong Williams Show,” a nationally syndicated TV program. ###

 

Part II – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary

There is an evidence-based case to be made that the history of housing, economics, and politics in the U.S., as reported by mainstream media, is often not well told. The tie ins to what Williams said and manufactured housing will be explored later below in the broader context to be laid out in supporting that statement about an often-weak explanation of history, economics, and housing.

 

‘Black Holes in Journalism’-Kristina Borjesson-‘Only Released Half Information’ Govt Agencies-Big Media Woes-‘Shadows of Liberty’ Acclaimed Full-Documentary with Exclusive Annotated Transcript

 

The maxim: “Actions speak louder than words” and the motto of the state Missouri may come to mind in reflecting on the 21st century, and the role of government in our lives. That role of government obviously includes business, incomes, retirement, and employment, and how the various economic, financial, regulatory and legal factors at work in the U.S. intermix to create the working environment and performance of are industry’s part of the housing market.

Don’t tell me, show me” is one of the ways the motto of Missouri can be rephrased.

Let’s review.

  • During the Bush era, manufactured housing went downhill, while conventional housing rose. More on Bush and the others who have sat day by day behind the Resolute Desk in the 21st century with respect to Manufactured Housing herein below.
  • During the Obama era, manufactured housing hit its absolute bottom since the HUD Code era began on June 15, 1976. During Obama’s term in office a useful study was published by HUD on Barriers to Manufactured Housing. It oddly failed to mention the enhanced preemption provision of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (MHIA) and its enhanced preemption provision.
  •  During the Trump years, manufactured housing’s recovery accelerated. HUD Secretary Ben Carson and President Donald J. Trump not only said several nice things about manufactured homes, but they did helpful – albeit imperfect- things for the industry during the four years Trump was in office. Industry production was higher during Trump than Obama, but lower than during the Bush years. Unlike doing a “Barriers” style report, as occurred during the Obama-Biden years, Secretary Carson did several events and media appearances that were favorable to manufactured housing. It was at the first Innovative Housing Showcase (IHS) that Dr. Carson was interviewed by Armstrong Williams. More on that herein below,
  •  Joe Biden has on this date not been in the Oval Office a full three years yet. The Biden White House. the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) has at times glowed, produced a housing plan that mentions manufactured housing several times. But as regular and detail minded readers of Manufactured Home Pro News (MHProNews) know, the biggest decline in manufactured housing in the past 7 years has occurred during the Biden era. And the growth that occurred during the Biden years was often attributed by experts to the extreme demand for housing, in an era of housing shortages that are measured in the millions of needed units.

 

Legislation that MHI pursued for years, the so-called Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act, was never enacted during the Obama years. Under the Trump Administration, what amounted to half of the provisions of Preserving Access did get through Congress and was signed into law. That obviously was a benefit to the industry going into the Biden era.

MHLivingNews and MHProNews have routinely pointed to HUD’s own researchers, who said that under both Democratic and Republican administrations, the causes and cures to the affordable housing crisis have been known, but never properly implemented. See the details in the reports linked below.

 

AffordableHousingConventionalHousingMobileHomeManufacturedHomeAndModularHousingConundrumWhatU.S.DepartmentOfHousingAndUrbanDevelopmentHUD.ResearchRevealedMHLivingNews
https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/affordable-housing-conventional-housing-mobile-home-manufactured-home-and-modular-housing-conundrum-what-u-s-department-of-housing-and-urban-development-hud-research-revealed/
ExpandingHousingChoiceThroughInvestmentsInInnovationAndTechnologyReginaGrayHUDDirectorAffordableHousingResearchAndTechnologyDivisionOnManufacturedHousingPlusMHMarketsMHProNews
https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/expanding-housing-choice-through-investments-in-innovation-and-technology-regina-gray-hud-director-affordable-housing-research-and-technology-division-on-manufactured-housing-plus-m/

 

HUD’s Director of Affordable Housing Research and Technology Division, Regina Gray, made it clear that people from different countries come to the U.S. and speak to HUD officials about the HUD Code manufactured housing program. That being true, why hasn’t HUD properly implemented the provisions of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (MHIA) of 2000? Particularly, the MHIA’s “enhanced preemption” provisions?

That the MHIA is not being properly implemented is an area of not only wide agreement within the manufactured housing industry, it was also an area that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Congress have both previously probed. MHARR has called for new hearings by Congress. Despite previous and more recent Congressional hearings, and the ‘happy talk’ about Biden-era ‘support’ for manufactured housing, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge – a Democratic appointee – essentially denounced the position taken by prior Democratic lawmakers who helped enact the MHIA and its enhanced preemption provision. Given that stonewalling by HUD’s current top official, is it any wonder that zoning barriers remain what many say are one of the top barriers to the sales of more manufactured homes? Read and/or watch the video of what Secretary Fudge said to members of Congress carefully. “Until we start to address this [MHIA/enhanced preemption] we are going to continue to be perpetually in this kind of situation.”

Perpetually means never ending. That’s a long time. Has everyone else in MHVille – those who want robust, sustainable sales growth – gotten the message that MHI somehow seems to manage to ignore?

 

HUDSecMarciaFudgeMHIinActionManufaturedHousingInstituteLOGOZoningManufacturedHomesUntilWeAddressThisWeAreContinuePerpetuallyInThisSituationQuotePlusManufacturedHousingStockUpdates
https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/hud-sec-marcia-fudge-zoning-manufactured-homes-until-we-start-to-address-this-we-are-going-to-continue-to-be-perpetually-in-this-kind-of-situation-news-analys/

 

Yet, as the report linked above details, MHI apparently left members of Congress improperly prepared for that kind of pushback. Nor has MHI apparently made Fudge’s remarks an issue.

There seems to be very little intellectual curiosity among many in mainstream media, or even among pro-MHI bloggers and trade publications (meaning, others who are not MHProNews/MHLivingNews) about these issues. Indeed, while MHI says that they want to see enhanced preemption enforced, those legally critical words are missing from the MHI website. Those words are also missing from that of MHI linked bloggers and trade media. By contrast, MHARR has pages of articles that mention or address enhanced preemption, as does MHLivingNews and/MHProNews.

Unlike, the gas industry, MHI apparently had to be embarrassed into litigation involving the Department of Energy (DOE) manufactured housing energy rules.

There are some who might assert that MHI has to be embarrassed into doing anything that actually produces the results that they claim to want? MHI’s track record is so problematic, that outside legal research into manufactured housing brought direct and indirect condemnation. As one MHEC member told MHProNews, MHI is apparently guilty of association malpractice.  Without naming any association, MHI member Legacy Housing’s CEO Duncan Bates said less than two months ago: “Look, the biggest headwind of this – in this entire industry is where to put these [HUD Code manufactured] homes.”

 

DuncanBatesPhotoLegacyHousingLogoQuoteZoningBarriersLookBiggestHeadwindIinThisEntireIndustryIsWhereToPut[HUDCodeManufactured]HomesMHProNews

 

Now, What Armstrong Williams Recently Wrote and Previously Did

That quick review of some history and recent events refocuses what Williams raised previously and recently. Williams, whose association with prior HUD Secretary Carson reportedly pre-dated his role in the Trump Administration, was apparently favorable to manufactured housing, as was Trump and Carson.

 

 

WhenPresidentTrumpFirstLadyMelaniaVPMikePenceTourManufacturedHomeCommunityHurricaneIrmaNaplesFLMHLivingNews
https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/i-knew-right-from-the-beginning-when-president-trump-first-lady-melania-vp-pence-toured-manufactured-home-community/

 

PresidentDonaldJTrumpTalksAboutFactoryBuiltHousingLegendWilliamBillLevittLevittownToScoutsDailyBusinessNewsMHProNews
https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/president-donald-trump-talks-about-factory-built-housing-legend-to-scouts/

 

Little or none of this are likely to be found on the industry’s so-called “umbrella” association website, where they claim to represent the interests of both production and post-production sectors of manufactured housing.

Bluntly, there are forces within manufactured housing, and beyond manufactured housing that are actively or passively blunting the most proven solution to the U.S. affordable housing crisis in over 50 years.  Minneapolis Federal Reserve Researchers have said as much. Legal researcher Sam Strommen was even more specific. Now, return to some pull quotes from Williams. Obviously, his topic in the recent op-ed above wasn’t manufactured housing, but much of it applies.

ArmstrongWilliamsDailySignalManufacturedHomeProNewsCollageMHProNews“Ordinary Americans want a fair opportunity…”

“Ordinary Americans want an equal playing field. A day’s work for a day’s pay.”

“They do not want corporate welfare fueled by handsome campaign contributions and $2,000 per-hour lobbyists. They want an evenhanded tax system that does not enable the super-rich to pay less than the hardworking wage earners through tax dodges only they can pay for and exploit.”

“President Abraham Lincoln instructed that the leading object of government was “to elevate the condition of men—to lift artificial weights from all shoulders—to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all—to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.”

“The government has become a lawbreaker…”

Williams also hit corrupt members of Congress AND those in Congress who have apparently forgotten their oath to support and defend the Constitution.

“Our political life has decayed. Think not only of the corruption of former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., and incumbent Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.”

“Additionally, we now commonly encounter members of Congress clueless that the Constitution they have sworn to uphold and defend provides for three branches of government and separation of powers.”

The system is rigged. That is what Williams is describing.  On that, there is a growing consensus, which is why he is able to write with a straight face ‘what ordinary American want.’

 

RiggedSystemFeudalFascistMarxistMegaCapitalistSocialistCorporateShellGamesUnderstandWhyWorkingMiddleClassesStruggleAmericanDreamAffordableHomeownershipFadesFactsAnalysisMHLivingNews
https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/rigged-system-feudal-fascist-marxist-megacapitalist-socialist-corporate-shell-games-understand-why-working-middle-classes-struggle-american-dream-affordable-homeownership-fades-facts-analysis/

 

MHARR may not necessarily say that the system is rigged in so many words. But they have described it by saying that there is a “shell game” operating “on steroids.”

 

ShellGameAffordableManufacturedHomeThreatsOnSteroidsManufacturedHousingIndustriesTwinCrisesOneOnOneInterviewMarkWeissPresCEOManuHousingAssocRegReformMHARRlogoPicMastMHProNews1
https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/masthead/shell-game-affordable-manufactured-home-threats-on-steriods-exclusive-probe-into-manufactured-housing-industrys-twin-crises-a-one-on-one-interview-with-mharr/

 

Left-leaning Axios (2019) and Pew (2020) each said that about 70 percent of those surveyed believe that the system is rigged in favor of the wealthy. Williams described elements of how that is done in the op-ed above.

Ipsos in a survey published last summer found similarly. On June 20, 2023, Ipsos said:  “The majority of Americans think the American economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful (69%)…” That same survey found that: “More than half of all Americans believe traditional parties and politicians don’t care about people like them (64%) and that America needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful (61%).” Is it any wonder why Trump is leading among all the Republican candidates? Or that Trump is also leading Biden too?

African born Hanne Nabintu Herland said something similar to what Williams observed. The billionaires have managed to manipulate the system in a fashion where even Marxists are serving the interests of those who operate the rigged system.

 

HanneHerlandBillionaireClassRobberyCapitalismHowMarxismServesBillionairesSinkingQuagmireNationalPovertyWhileBillionaireClassTakesItAllMiddleClassShrinksPlusMHStocksUpdateMHProNews
https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/billionaire-class-robbery-capitalism-how-marxism-serves-billionaires-sinking-into-quagmire-of-national-poverty-while-billionaire-class-takes-it-all-middle-cla/

 

The consolidating corporations, meaning those who have helped rigged the system in manufactured housing to serve their own interests, have managed to deploy years of head fakes that somehow fooled public officials, untold numbers of investors, and millions of others. Manufactured housing, say several housing professionals, is the ‘affordable housing solution hiding in plain sight.’ True enough. But meanwhile, the industry is in 13 straight months of decline?

 

Fast Company 2024 Report Highlights Manufactured Homes as Affordable Housing Solution ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’–Pew’s Rachel Siegel- ‘MH Stigma Perpetuated’ Insights-Analysis; plus MHVille Markets

 

To learn more, see the linked and related reports. Programming note: a new item from MHI as well as some updates on legal issues are pending. Stay tuned for those and more. ##

 

Part III – is our Daily Business News on MHProNews stock market recap which features our business-daily at-a-glance update of over 2 dozen manufactured housing industry stocks.

This segment of the Daily Business News on MHProNews is the recap of yesterday evening’s market report, so that investors can see at glance the type of topics may have influenced other investors. Thus, our format includes our signature left (CNN Business) and right (Newsmax) ‘market moving’ headlines.

The macro market move graphics below provide context and comparisons for those invested in or tracking manufactured housing connected equities. Meaning, you can see ‘at a glance’ how manufactured housing connected firms do compared to other segments of the broader equities market.

In minutes a day readers can get a good sense of significant or major events while keeping up with the trends that are impacting manufactured housing connected investing.

Reminder: several of the graphics on MHProNews can be opened into a larger size. For instance: click the image and follow the prompts in your browser or device to OPEN In a New Window. Then, in several browsers/devices you can click the image and increase the size. Use the ‘x out’ (close window) escape or back key to return.

 

Headlines from left-of-center CNN Business – from 1.4.2024

  • Costco’s surprising response to workers’ union win: It’s not you, it’s us
  • Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon Athletica Inc., speaks during a news conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. Wilson is making his biggest philanthropic gift ever –and one of the largest among Canadas ultra-rich — to protect vast tracts of wilderness in the western part of the country.
  • Lululemon distances itself from founder’s comments on its ‘whole diversity and inclusion thing’
  • Amazon workers deliver packages on Cyber Monday in New York, US, on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. An estimated 182 million people are planning to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, the most since 2017, according to the National Retail Federation.
  • Americans spent a record $222 billion shopping online this holiday season
  • Brand new Hyundai Santa Fe SUVs are displayed at a Hyundai dealership on April 7, 2017 in Colma, California.
  • Hyundai and Kia thefts soar more than 1,000% since 2020
  • Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in Cambridge, MA on 9/8/04.
  • Key takeaways from the latest trove of Epstein documents
  • Economist Alberto Musalem was named the next president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on Thursday, January 4.
  • Louis Fed names Alberto Musalem as its new president
  • A sign reading “Shrinkflation, This product has seen its weight decrease and the price charged by our supplier increase” at a Carrefour supermarket in Montesson near Paris, France, September 13, 2023.
  • Pepsi pulled from supermarket shelves in Europe over price increases
  • The Glu Mobile Inc. Kim Kardashian: Hollywood game is seen in the App Store on an Apple Inc. iPhone in this arranged photograph taken in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017.
  • Kim Kardashian’s mobile game is shutting down after a decade
  • A for sale sign is posted outside a single-family home in Philadelphia, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. On Thursday, Freddie Mac reports on this week’s average U.S. mortgage rates. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
  • US mortgage rates increase for the first time since October
  • Cari Gundee rides her Peloton exercise bike at her home on April 06, 2020 in San Anselmo, California.
  • Peloton and TikTok join forces to create fitness content
  • TGI Fridays abruptly closes 36 restaurants. See the list
  • Microsoft unveils ‘Copilot’ key, its biggest update to Windows keyboard in 30 years
  • Inflation isn’t beaten yet. Price rises are accelerating again in Europe
  • Does the secretive board running Harvard get a failing grade?
  • ESPN remains silent after Aaron Rodgers’ ugly attack on Jimmy Kimmel
  • Rose-hued Stanley cups for Valentine’s Day spark a frenzy at Target
  • What to expect from Friday’s jobs report, 2023’s final tally
  • Under pressure, MIT’s Kornbluth vows to use ‘every lever’ to address conflict on campus
  • Flight cancellations in the US drop to lowest rate in a decade last year
  • Stocks are off to a bumpy start in 2024. Here are the challenges ahead
  • Two of China’s bubble tea giants are gearing up for IPOs
  • World’s largest oil producer plans to deepen its push into China
  • Oklahoma teenager finally defeats the unbeatable game: Tetris

 

Yahoo-ManufacturedHomeCommunitiesMobileHomeParksFactoriesBuildingSuppliersFinanceStocksEquitiesClosingDataYahooFinanceLog1.4.2024MHProNews
In instances such as Apollo, Berkshire Hathaway, Blackstone or others, manufactured housing may only be part of their corporate interests. Note: depending on your browser or device, many images in this report and others on MHProNews can be clicked to expand. Click the image and follow the prompts. For example, in some browsers/devices you click the image and select ‘open in a new window.’ After clicking that selection you click the image in the open window to expand the image to a larger size. To return to this page, use your back key, escape or follow the prompts.
Notice: MHProNews invites the firms named in these reports to respond to any concerns about possibly inaccurate information via email that identifies the concern and offers evidence that sheds a different light on the topic discussed. That said, neither publicly MHI nor by email have MHI and their ‘insider brands’ done so. They’ve been repeatedly invited to do so, including an outreach on Dec 7, 2o23.
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