Wealthy Chinese buying up the Eastside with cash

This from the Seattle Times:

Eastside real-estate brokers say they’ve noticed a wave of affluent mainland-Chinese buyers for luxury homes in Medina, Clyde Hill and other millionaire rows in West Bellevue. Data and public records show they’re right. It’s part of a cash-buyer phenomenon sweeping the home market.

In the process, they are accelerating the real-estate market’s recovery, sometimes edging out other buyers with all-cash offers, and deepening ties between Seattle and China.

So thank you, future overlords.

Bill Gates is once again world’s richest person

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has regained the title World’s Richest Person after the six years of “only” being one of the richest people in the world. Windows 8 is a success, Microsoft stock is at a 5-year high and Bill is obviously saving money on quality haircuts and this is all adding up to a $72.7 billion (USD) fortune.

The former champ was Carlos Slim, the world’s biggest welfare recipient. The Mexican national’s wealth is the result of a sweetheart deal that gave him a monopoly. Slim is not particularly talented and his days among the world’s richest are coming to a close, according to Bloomberg:

Slim’s fortune has dropped more than $2 billion this year as Mexico’s Congress passed a bill to quash the market dominance of the 73-year-old billionaire’s America Movil SAB.

So local boy makes good – Seattle’s Bill Gates is the richest person in the world.

In other Seattle news: statewide budget shortfalls threaten to eliminate hundreds of bus routes throughout King County.

David Stern – enemy of the state (of Washington)

pictured: dog poo

pictured: dog poo

Three words – “F— David Stern.” For those of you outside of Seattle, we were denied an NBA team on Wednesday. That was hard enough. But the salt in the wound came from NBA Commissioner David “his entire career has been based on coasting off of Jordan, Kobe and Lebron” Stern.

“This is going to be short for me, I have a game to get to in Oklahoma City.”

That’s what he said right before giving Seattle the bad news. Really, Stern!?! Saying that statement to Seattle is like bragging to Bambi how great it was to spend time with your mom this past Mother’s Day. The crappy OKC Thunder was once the Seattle Supersonics? The same Thunder that you, Sterny-boy, practically helped pack up their suitcases to go to Oklahoma. BTW, Thunder – stop playing Macklemore at your games, he’s ours!

David Stern knew exactly what he was saying. That is not in dispute for those of you out there looking to defend this deliberate insult (we’re looking at you, SB Nation). Stern has it out for Seattle because, to make a long story short, David Stern wants cities and their taxpayers to buy stadiums for NBA owners. Seattle broke and still breaks that fascist business model. So he’s pissed at us.

Look, you turtle-looking twit Mr. Stern – the NBA needs Seattle more that Seattle needs you. Good luck, building franchises in third-tier markets. We agree with our friends at The Stranger with this sentiment…

The NBA can go fuck itself t shirt

…we are a football town from now on. We kinda have a baseball team, too. Portland will now provide us with any NBA needs we have or we’ll at least pretend to be into the Seattle Storm. Whatever it takes to not give David Stern the satisfaction.

February 1, 2014 should become a state holiday here in Washington. That is the day that David Stern steps down as NBA Commissioner and Adam Silver replaces him. Silver, who differs from Stern by way of being an actual human, has stated ”We fully expect to return (to Seattle)” possibly by way of expansion. But who knows, maybe we won’t want a team by then…

…okay we’ll want a team but we’ll appear like we don’t want a team.

No Sonics for Seattle, Kings for another day

22-8, that is how much we in Seattle lost by in our quest to get an NBA team back in town. The Kings remain in Sacramento, the Sonics remain our Seattle fantasy.

Here’s more from King 5:

The NBA Board of Governors met in Dallas to resolve the tug of war over the Kings between a group in Seattle that wants to move them and a group in Sacramento that wants the franchise to stay put.

The board heard from representatives for both sides — Seattle ownership group leader Chris Hansen and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. Each side was given 45 minutes to make its presentation.

No buzzer beater, no over time. The NBA remains stubbornly adamant against expansion (even though Seattle is lucrative market) and investor Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer must wait another year for a new option.

The silver lining – it is probably good karma that we do not take a team away from a city since that is what happened to us.