Friday Free for All!
We’ve reached the end of another work week, so that means it’s time to do our news round-up and open topic discussion. Last week Dave beat me to the free-for-all post and to his credit he managed to find a batch of positive or at least ‘less negative’ news stories. This week I’m back in the drivers seat and that means old-testament style bad news mixed in with the good… Seems it’s still a lot easier to find the bad news. Here are some stories that have come to my attention this week:
-March home sales surge from last month, down over the year
-Vanoc: economic downturn means no profit for 2010
-West Van: A good place to go through foreclosure?
-Holborn re-evaluate Ritz project
-Job seekers swarm to Atlantic provinces
-Unemployment hits men hardest
-Carney warns of too much stimuli
-GMAC gambles on riskier borrowers
-Savvy: Leveraging equity in a falling asset
-Madoff mansion loses close to $2 million
So what are you seeing out there? Post your economic news, links and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!
April 6th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
"Nor are hardened criminals the only victims. An attack on one gangster’s car killed a 24-year-old man hired to fit it with a new stereo. In February, Nicole Alemy, 23, the wife of another gangster, was gunned down in her white Cadillac – with her four-year-old son in the back seat."
Was that guy really fitting a new stereo? Maybe he was. Or maybe he was fitting new armored plating or new places to hide guns. I'm sorry, but I have to wonder about people who do business with gangsters (especially working on their vehicles).
Nicole Alemy certainly was not innocent, but the child was. The upside is maybe the child will now be raised away from the life of crime.
April 6th, 2009 at 8:52 am
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/sees+cent+surge+…
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&a…
So, they're still adding to the glut? This is going to be worse than a lot of us thought.
April 6th, 2009 at 3:15 am
ulsterman check out this link
http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/Campaigns/maintainings…
it is about falling standards in science from the 1960's to today. the article is about the UK, but don't assume this is just their problem. There was more written about this months ago. This article highlights how chemistry has been dumbed down. This is what is happening in all developed countries. We have lowered standards to claim some perverse form of success where everyone gets an A and everyone passes. The same is happening here.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Anonymous:
Same concept, rent or lease is pretty much the same.
No it is not. Leasing is short-term ownership. The lessee takes on all the risks and responsibilities of an owner. This is true whether you are leasing a car, or take leasehold ownership of RE.
Renting is paying for the use of a capital asset without taking on any of the risks or responsibilities of ownership such as capital loss, idleness (lack of use or rental income), depreciation, or maintenance. That's why it's more expensive than buying.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:06 am
The UK puts Vancouver on the map LOL
"From heaven to hell: 18 die as drugs war rages on streets of Vancouver"
From heaven to hell: 18 die as drugs war rages on streets of Vancouver
The Canadian city has been named the best place in the world to live. But those halcyon days are over
By Paul Rodgers
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Vancouver's streets are now a battlefield for rival gangs, armed with automatic weapons, seeking dominance in the city's booming illegal drugs trade. There have been 50 shootings there in the past three months
Vancouver's streets are now a battlefield for rival gangs, armed with automatic weapons, seeking dominance in the city's booming illegal drugs trade. There have been 50 shootings there in the past three months
Once upon a very recent time, Vancouver had a clean, safe image. Nestled between a spectacular bay and snow-capped mountains, this Canadian city, which is twice the size of Birmingham, was described by The Economist as the most liveable in the world. Not any more. As it prepares to host the 2010 Winter Olympics, what it's got now is not cuddly, eco-friendly publicity, but blood-spattered streets littered with shell casings and corpses.
Vancouver is the battlefield in a war between myriad drug gangs, which include Hell's Angels, Big Circle Boys, United Nations, Red Scorpions, Independent Soldiers and the 14K Triad. Guns – often machineguns – are fired almost daily. "We've always been told by media experts to never admit that there is a gang war," the chief of police, Jim Chu, said last month. "Let's get serious. There is a gang war and it's brutal." Vancouver's Mayor, Gregor Robertson, confessed that the police are fighting a losing battle. Since mid-January, the city has recorded 50 gang-related shootings, 18 of them fatal. And the violence is not confined to seedy neighbourhoods. The cross-fire is happening in quiet, residential cul-de-sacs and the car parks of up-scale shopping centres. It's a suburban civil war.
Nor are hardened criminals the only victims. An attack on one gangster's car killed a 24-year-old man hired to fit it with a new stereo. In February, Nicole Alemy, 23, the wife of another gangster, was gunned down in her white Cadillac – with her four-year-old son in the back seat. On Friday, police arrested James Bacon – one of three brothers who left the United Nations gang to join the Red Scorpions, intensifying the rivalry between the two – for conspiring in the deaths of four gangsters in their flat in Surrey, south-east of Vancouver. Two innocent men were forced from the hallway into the flat and also killed. Police said they intend to make more arrests over the weekend.
As Vancouver has boomed over the past two decades, attracting wealthy immigrants from across Canada and the Pacific, so too has the illegal drugs trade. It is now the third largest industry in the province, generating between C$7bn (£3.8bn) and C$8bn a year. A young, party-loving population with liberal attitudes to drugs has created strong domestic demand, while the province's mild climate and a ready supply of well-educated horticulturalists has led to supply of a premium brand of cannabis called "BC bud", produced mostly in hydroponic "grow-ops".
The drug's superior quality – "one puff and you're anaesthetised," reported one academic – also found favour with customers in the US, encouraging an imaginative corps of smugglers. Customs agents have found shipments in church vans, hollow logs and even kayaks. One enterprising crew emulated the prisoners of Stalag Luft III, digging a 110m tunnel "under the wire". The bigger problem for Canada, though, was the return trade. The US drug distributors preferred to pay in kind, with cocaine and guns.
Many commentators think Vancouver's violence is just a skirmish on the fringe of the much larger war in Mexico, where 6,000 were murdered last year as the state tried to reassert control over territories seized by drug lords. The result has been a 50 per cent rise in the price of cocaine in Canada, and correspondingly higher profits to fight over. But not everyone is convinced. Experts at Simon Fraser University argue that the problem is home-grown, and that it's exacerbated by police efforts to bang up mob leaders. "All you do is create vacancies as you put people in jail," said Ehor Boyanowsky, an associate professor of criminology. "Suddenly there's an opportunity."
In the short term, say the academics, Vancouver's problem is one of unco-ordinated enforcement. By one count, as many as 11 different agencies, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and local police forces, were responsible for suppressing the drugs trade. The courts are almost as confused. Canadian justice is more tolerant than America's. No one has been successfully prosecuted for simple possession of marijuana in years, and Amsterdam-style hash cafés operate in a grey zone, only occasionally being shut down. Because of judicial leniency, officers prefer to see their targets collared in the US. The "Great Escape" gang were under surveillance on both sides of the border, but were arrested in Washington.
In the long run, many British Columbians, on both left and right, accept that legalisation and regulation are the answer. Just the sales tax on C$7bn of drugs would pay for several hospitals and schools, policing costs could be reduced, property crime by addicts to pay for their drug habits would be slashed, and the gang wars could be quickly reined in. "But the international politics are unbelievable," said Dr Rob Gordon, director of Simon Fraser's school of criminology. "The DEA [US Drug Enforcement Administration] starts to foam at the mouth at the idea of there being a huge, legal marijuana farm just north of the border. Under George Bush, the concensus was that if Canada ever moved to exercise its economic sovereignty, they would shut the border down by searching every vehicle."
Until then, the best hope may be that one gang or another comes out on top, allowing it to impose stability, much as the Hell's Angel's bike gang used to do up to 15 or 20 years ago. Professor Boyanowsky said: "Those were the good old days."
April 5th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Ulsterman I wasn't comparing it to other systems. Just an observation. There is no critical thinking. Anyone can graduate from highschool or university. I have been through the system, plus I live here. We have a population that is way too arrogant and ignorant. We always trash americans.
But I can tell you I have met more intelligent americans than Canadians. In the workplace I find professionalism is none existant in this country, while I have found the opposite to be true with american colleagues.
April 5th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
And back to reality:
http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Rising+number+…
"VANCOUVER — The number of real estate sales may have bounced back in March compared to February, but they are still well below levels of a year ago, and so are prices. What is clearly up, however, is the number of condominium developers seeking creditor protection or going into receivership."
Get a grip trolls! We've heard it all before and we don't give a flying f**k about your opinion.
April 5th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
other ted:
"Lets face it the education system in this country is a joke.From elementary school through our universities."
The exact opposite is true Other Ted. A couple of points – to make this assertion you need to have indepth knowledge of many other education systems throughout the world. Otherwise you become just like the other twit who claim BC is the Best Place on Earth when the only other place they've ever been is Cancun and a one month Eurorailing trip back in '97.
I a little knowledge of the Canadian education system and one thing that has surprised me is that the Canadian system is admired and emmulated throughout the world. Ours is one of the few to focus on critical thinking skills and not just rote learning.
There are problems with our system, but it is certainly one of the better systems out there.
April 5th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
patriotz:
In reference to rentals in Van right now…I have been watching Craigs List very closely as my lease is up end of May. It is my observation that there are far fewer rentals available over this past two months than there were last November. In Nov/Dec, I had shortlisted 55 rental opps (Coal Harbor, Yaletown, Kits, Fairview) and was able to negotiate. As I am looking at the market again, I see comparable rentals down from $2500-2800 pm in Nov to $2000-$2200 today, BUT the pickings are slim and the landlords are not in a negotiating mood. Is there somewhere else I should be looking? I am looking for min 1000 sq feet, would like to pay $1500 pm…and I am a working professional who is a dream tenant and leaves a very light/minimal footprint.
April 5th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
read on:
#131, not even smart trolling either. At least try to entertain if you're going to troll, c'mon.
April 5th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
and out come the trolls…
April 5th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
You bears are still in denial and it makes me sick. The real estate market is resuming it's rightful upward swing as spring has arrived. If a first time buyer takes your fool hardy moldy basement suite advice and doesn't buy soon they will be priced out forever just like you. It's a shame. It's a shame that a whole generation of first time buyers have been fooled by real estate bears into rental servitude.
April 5th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
#125
"It makes you wonder if the RE industry is trying any way it can to pump up sales…like yesterday on CBC radio they said that presale condo lines had reappeared in Vancouver, how many of these people were hired to stand in line? It’s certainly not logical to go and stand in line to buy one of these not-yet built units, and meanwhile there are how many units for sale in Vancouver?? Makes no sense to me."
I would believe that CBC radio was pumping, but if you go to open houses and condo sales, somehow, you see a lot of rich Asians driving around with their Mercedes and BMWs as if nothing had happened to the global economy. It is quite ridiculous to see the sheer number of 2-3 million dollar homes listed in the west side of Vancouver. Who the heck has the money to buy and why are they still listing them at such prices? To me, it feels like the prices will never go down.
It's good for me since I have a house which I bought for 900k now everything in my area is listed for 1.5 to 2.5 million. On the flip side, I want to spend some cash to buy an investment condo but definitely not over 500k for a 2 bedroom.
April 5th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
patriotz,
What you said in #2 is true. But its the same for leasing a car. I have no intent in buying out the residual. It makes more sense to lease it and give it back to the dealer. Same concept, rent or lease is pretty much the same.
April 5th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
"The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One."
April 5th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
" Finally" Global TV has a new line of Bullshit. It wasn't working to trot out the sluts, whores and talking heads to proclaim the Real Estate market in a fine state of unadultered health, so they jumped ahead and admit that there ( pretending to be current) had been a 'bit of a problem' and have now proclaimed the recession in real estate dead. Hooray !! What a giant farce.
The King is Dead, Long live the King!!!!!
Someone is going to go postal and fire bomb or do a shooting rampage at the the media offices if this keeps up. Someone is going to feel so pissed off at having lost everything because he trusted the MSM and he's going to start to look for the upside down justice that people who are driven insane by circumstance often do.
Lets hope he doesn't take his wife and kids out with him like so many of them are doing these days. Lets face it , the level of bullshit that has come out of the MSM is pervasive and will have to affect a weak mind. Those weak minds then get laid off and then lose thier cars and houses and Friday night pizza and then one day the mental fabric just unravells. Who are they going to blame? Who will the dog next door direcy them to kill? Will it be the voice on the radio or TV that constantly mocks them with thier failure?
We have been lucky that we have not had any of these instances recently, but, watching the news we see that these occurences are becoming ever more pervasive. It's just a matter of time.
April 5th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
It makes you wonder if the RE industry is trying any way it can to pump up sales…like yesterday on CBC radio they said that presale condo lines had reappeared in Vancouver, how many of these people were hired to stand in line? It's certainly not logical to go and stand in line to buy one of these not-yet built units, and meanwhile there are how many units for sale in Vancouver?? Makes no sense to me.
Globaltv today proclaimed that the "housing market in Vancouver has recovered…finally!" Whaddya mean finally…it's been less than a year since the peak! lol…"finally"….you ain't seen nothing yet baby!
April 5th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Observer I don't think so. In fact just as this boom was beginning I was watching a program on tv about mortgage fraud. I think it was W5 can't remember this was around 2003. They featured a guy in edmonton who would flip one house back and forth between his friend then get a mortgage on it. Then he bailed. Apparently that kind of scam was common. And at that point the banks didn't even bother phoning the police.
April 5th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Is there any oversight in preventing companies from selling their own properties to themselves in order to produce sales numbers and setting price precedents?
April 5th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Hohohohoh hehehehehehe Bwahahahahahahaha what a pleasent weekend for me. Terrorists, world wide communist conspiricies, Machiavellian local politics, Pluto, Uranus ( I mean how many years does a guy have to wait to fit Uranus into a joke?), Surrey jokes, people setting thier hair on fire over rips and digs about where they live, some seriously bent out of shape, better than two trips to the loony bin, just classic guys, thanks.
Some people take themselves Waaaaaaaaaaay to seriously BTW.
April 5th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Please stop feeding the trolls. They will only come back for more. Best for everyone to just ignore them.
April 5th, 2009 at 9:19 am
other ted: "Lets face it the education system in this country is a joke.From elementary school through our universities.
Schools main objective is to get students to conform to social issues rather than think independantly"
Thanks for the laugh on a Sunday morning.
April 5th, 2009 at 3:02 am
I haven't read most of the threads on what started the BCTF discussion. But I have to agree the BCTF spends too much time on social engineering and less on teaching. Lets face it the education system in this country is a joke.From elementary school through our universities.
Schools main objective is to get students to conform to social issues rather than think independantly.
April 5th, 2009 at 2:17 am
what exactly do you mean by "university entrance equivalency"?
which university? and what are the %s in other areas?
April 5th, 2009 at 1:23 am
factcracker:
Factcracker said: "The BCTF is a political organization of secret social engineers and really doesn’t give a crap about your childs future as an individual."
I can vouch for Factcrackers expose. I have attended some of the secret BCTF meetings. Just like in Roald Dahl's The Witches, once inside the meeting room we barred the doors and took off our secret masks we use to make the ordinary parents and students believe we are human. Then we plotted how to brainwash the kids into becoming NDP droids. After the tea break we focused on plain old run of the mill world domination.
April 5th, 2009 at 12:27 am
oneangryslav:
Surrey graduates 1.7% -university entrance equivalency, lowest in the Province, it's a shittyhole, nuff said.
April 4th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
factcracker:
"For example the Lord Tweedsmuir school in Cloverdale has nothing but auto shop and cooking programs for Grade 12 students. There is zero emphasis on university preparation."
Factcracker, you are not only a bigot, but a lying sack of dung…
It's kind of ironic that someone labeling himself as factcracker can't get a single fact correct.
From the Surrey Leader:
"Three of the seven provincial gold medal winners in academic excellence are from Surrey schools…
• Sheng Yi Wu, Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary, who received a perfect score in chemistry 12, math 12 and physics 12."
So are you saying that things have changed since I went to high school and now chemistry, math, and physics are considered auto shop and/or cooking courses.
The rest of the crap you've spewed this weekend is just as fact-challenged, but I have better things to do than fact-check a habitual liar.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreylead…
April 4th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Ralph, I apologize. I got a little excited by the smell of that troll. Better now. Now if I can only do smething about these bedbugs!
Hm. … Weren't we talking about real estate?
April 4th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
..now if only there was a spray for getting rid of off-topic race-baiting trolls.
April 4th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Bedbug-couver: You think the bedbug problem in Vancouver is being kept secret? I've seen a few transit buses with giant ads on the back for bedbug removal services, as well as a number of news articles about the growing issue. If this problem is being kept secret, it's one of the worst kept secrets out there.
April 4th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Strataman:
Regarding the BCTF endorsing the NDP. This eliminates them as a professional unbiased group of instructors.
The BCTF is not a professional society. It is a trade union which represents professionals. The BC College of Teachers is the professional society for teachers in the province. This is the body responsible for enforcing professional standards for teachers, just like the College of Physicians & Surgeons, etc.
The BCTF has no say as to the qualifications of who can work as a school teacher in BC. Union contracts may of course require teachers to belong to or contribute dues to the BCTF, just like any other trade union.
You have a similar situation with nurses where the BCNU is a trade union and the College of Nurses of BC is the professional organization.
You also have a similar situation with doctors, where the BC Medical Association acts as a trade union (although they don't call themselves one). Do you think your doctor can't be unbiased because he/she belongs to the BCMA?
The BCTF has just as much right to engage in political advocacy as any other trade union. If you don't like who they advocate, vote for somebody else.
Historically the BCTF was neither a trade union nor a professional society, but combined aspects of the two. The change in status of the BCTF to a full trade union with the right to strike and engage in political advocacy, and the creation of a separate professional society, was implemented by the Vander Zalm government.
April 4th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
"Look, these people, or anyone else, have every right to try to take over the educational agenda." Regarding the BCTF endorsing the NDP. This eliminates them as a professional unbiased group of instructors. Teachers should not as a group endorse any political party. I would have a problem if they endorsed the Conservatives, or Liberals as well. It is rather obvious that their endorsement of the NDP is always a given due to their preference for union security. The students who go there will tend to look at teachers as role models, and sub-consciously may lean towards popular teachers beliefs. As a parent and who had a mother who was a member of the BCTF I find this political endorsement very undemocratic. One only has to affirm that they would have absolutely no problem if the teachers endorsed the Conservatives or for that matter the Fraser Institute as to if they think this is a good idea for any professional organization, especially one in which your kids are exposed daily. Before shooting this down pick whatever political party you detest and say I (you) would totally support the teachers if they endorsed and supported this party (that I detest). Yeh Right!
April 4th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Patiently Waiting:
Will these measures make up for the huge land costs that still exist. It will take a lot to make rental housing profitable in Vancouver. Even with these incentives, is it possible?
No.
The reason no purpose-built rental accommodation is being constructed is simple – people are willing to pay prices for condos which are vastly above the rental value of the property, so the prices of land and other construction inputs are far too high to make purpose-built rentals economically feasible. It is the condo buyers who are responsible for this by their willingness to pay ridiculous prices.
There is no shortage of rental accommodation in Vancouver, which is demonstrated by rents lagging inflation and actually dropping at the high end right now. All that has happened is that instead of new rental stock being owned by business people, it is owned by amateur condo investors getting a terrible return on their purchase price. So be it. If at some point in the future these fools start getting a clue and realize what a terrible investment condos are, there will be an incentive for business people to invest in rentals again.
Robertson's proposals actually amounts to a subsidy to land owners and developers.
This topic is discussed in detail in the thread below:
http://housing-analysis.blogspot.com/2009/03/rent…
April 4th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
factcracker:
Are there teachers, unionists and politically aggressive leftists who scheme towards a takepver of the educational agenda in this province, you bet there are.
Wow it's a commie plot.
Look, these people, or anyone else, have every right to try to take over the educational agenda. That's called democracy. People form political parties, present their agenda to the voters, and the voters select the party that they like best.
And FYI, neither the provincial government nor the Surrey school board is currently run by lefties. These are the bodies which decide what programs are offered at public schools in Surrey, not the BCTF.
If the BCTF were really engaged in some sort of plot to dumb down the school system, wouldn't they start in places like Kerrisdale and Shaughnessy, where their "class enemies" live, not Surrey?
And BTW the Vancouver school board is controlled by lefties right now. I don't see the good folks in the West Side marching in protest, do you?
And if the Lord Tweedsmuir high school in Cloverdale "has nothing but auto shop and cooking programs for Grade 12 students" as you say (which sounds pretty strange to me, surely they can't do that all day), that's because the BC Liberal government and its allies on the Surrey school board want it that way.
So I suggest you stop looking for the red under the bed and pay attention to the people who are really running the schools. For starters, the BC Liberal government which has full and absolute legal authority over the school system. And the BC Liberal MLA who represents Cloverdale. School board powers are only delegated by the provincial government.
April 4th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
factcracker:
#62 The " Carbon Credit" issue is a lot bigger issue than many people realise. It is a small footnote in a larger agaenda first designed by the anti smoking fanatic First Minister of Norway, Go Brudntland, a radical social activist. This same 'Brundtland commission' document also introduced for the first time the concept of 'Sustainable development' . It;s a long and dry read, but for those who have to know these things. it's a facinating look at what happened to create many of the economic and enviornmental global governance policies many take for granted but neverr bother to find out how they came about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro_Harlem_Brundtlan…
The 1983 General Assembly passed Resolution 38/161[1]; "Process of preparation of the Environmental Perspective to the Year 2000 and Beyond" establishing the Commission. In A/RES/38/161, the General Assembly:
"8. Suggests that the Special Commission, when established, should focus mainly on the following terms of reference for its work:
(a) To propose long-term environmental strategies for achieving sustainable development to the year 2000 and beyond;
(b) To recommend ways in which concern for the environment may be translated into greater co-operation among developing countries and between countries at different stages of economic and social development and lead to the achievement of common and mutually supportive objectives which take account of the interrelationships between people, resources, environment and development;
(c) To consider ways and means by which the international community can deal more effectively with environmental concerns, in the light of the other recommendations in its report;
(d) To help to define shared perceptions of long-term environmental issues and of the appropriate efforts needed to deal successfully with the problems of protecting and enhancing the environment, a long-term agenda for action during the coming decades, and aspirational goals for the world community, taking into account the relevant resolutions of the session of a special character of the Governing Council in 1982;"[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brundtland_Commissio…
Now you know
April 4th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Anyone following the Growing Bedbug and Cock Roach Infestation Story? The other quiet secret about Vancouver, besides the raw sewage and shit on the beach issue, is the fact that Vancouver is one of the most BEDBUG infested cities on the planet. UGGGGHHHH!!
Since the last garbage strike the rat and cockroach populations have Expolded. Theres giant rats and giant roaches everywhere !!!!! But the BEDBUG story is being kept quiet, HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, wonder why?
Rich IOC fat cats screwing the cheap local hookers on bedbig infested hotel beds not a good seeling point?
Tourists getting bitten and having thier clothes and luggage infested and then taking the bugs into thier homes when they leave…..ugly thought and not one the tourist whores want to promote.
Many condo towers in Yaletown have ugly cockroach infestations, not good for re-sales if the truth gets out.
Bedbugs have been found on bus and sky train seats recently and that means that you can be carrying the infestation home with you .
Bed bug complaints in Vancouver have doubled every year for the last five years »
http://bedbugger.com/category/bc/
April 4th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
#101 read on, how can you possibly extend the 'racism ' comment to anything here. Are you just one of those truth challenged liberal hand wringers who hate every pov they don't think promotes thier agenda?
#103 Are there teachers, unionists and politically aggressive leftists who scheme towards a takepver of the educational agenda in this province, you bet there are. Do many of these agitators tend to want to join boards and steering com's. you bet they do.
Does anyone remember what has happened when these socialist whacko's actually got into government last time? The same whacko's are still waiting in the wings at hard core bastions like the BCTF planning for a destruction of the current educational values we parents hold dear.
April 4th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Dave: "I would argue that is actually a good thing. Jobs that are no longer in demand get replaced with jobs that are. Clean out the old and bring in the new."
Yup though it's perhaps telling, with unemployment rising so fast, how unproductive much of the past years' employment really was. As was already mentioned, we are seeing this in spades in the real estate and construction industries. On the plus side, maybe some of the newly unemployed will start up truly productive ventures to employ the rest of us.
April 4th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
factcracker: "Do the unions want to keep a certain number of poor undereducated workers in the sytem because they are more likely to vote NDP."
Do you even read what you post? What a load of crap. You are for one claiming teachers are at best incompetent then you turn around and come up with some magnificently designed Marxist endgame from this same group.
Teachers cater to the students' needs and it so happens that some schools have students who are motivated to do better at trades. It is laughable to think class based social engineering is responsible for differences in schools. Look at the parents for more plausible explanations for a lack of class mobility.
April 4th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Too many clowns in this circus trying to get an audience to prop their off-topic ignorance.
Get a break folks!
April 4th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
fatcrack, please take your racist and political views elsewhere. what exactly have they to do with real estate?