I've never figured out exactly why all this money is needed, but that's the way it works there. When you add in the fees, which you will have to pay during the entire time you own (and which will inevitably go up), it makes you think twice about owning in NYC.

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I've never figured out exactly why all this money is needed, but that's the way it works there. When you add in the fees, which you will have to pay during the entire time you own (and which will inevitably go up), it makes you think twice about owning in NYC.

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April 27th, 2009 at 2:44 am

patriotz writes: “If you had a 100% speculation tax you would never have a housing bubble, because all bubbles are based on expectations of speculative gains, and if you tax away those gains, you will have no speculative buying. Period.”

Marxist. Who decides what is a speculation and what is an investment. Is buying gold an investment? Protection against a devalued currency? Speculation?

But good for you, thinking that you or whatever saviour you vote for would be wise enough to divine the difference."

Haha, wow, what a knee-jerk reaction. God forbid people not be allowed to flip their properties at will, how will people "get on the property ladder" if that happens?

Here is some economics for you my friend: having people spend their income servicing mortgage debt provides less economic benefit to society than saving (which eventually works its way into the system as investment in capital goods).

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Hey, when you addressed "squabbly" in your post, you gave yourself away as the goof who posts at albertabubble.blogspot.com under the monicker "Art Vandelay", the fictitious fool played by the fictititious idiot George Costanza from Seinfeld re-runs, which you presumably were watching while posting at 2:36 am.

You got the wrong blog, bubba. Most people in Vancouver won't know about "Rundle" and "Cowtown". Some will think that "Cowtown" refers to Guelph, Ontario, not Calgary. btw, I can guess about your other monickers. Give it up, you have nothing to say of any importance. I'm tired of your trolling under different names.

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FRANCES BULA

Special to The Globe and Mail

April 27, 2009 at 8:13 AM EDT

Vancouver's then-chief financial officer wrote only one memo to express her concerns about the financing of the Olympic village before leaving her post, but it was a telling one, according to a freedom of information request.

That lengthy memo from Estelle Lo, apparently written last October after The Globe and Mail had revealed the project's shaky finances, raised a raft of questions about what would happen if real-estate prices fell at the luxury Millennium development and where the city would find the money to back up its loan guarantee if needed.

Every one of the questions she raised before her resignation later that month became subjects of public debate after it was revealed that the $1-billion project had extensive cost overruns, could no longer get financing from Fortress Investment Group – the U.S. hedge fund it had originally borrowed from – and was requiring emergency loans from the city to pay its bills.

"In the worst-case scenario of the city continuing to provide financing in the future if the project faces additional financing shortfalls (due to escalating costs, presale collapses, declining sales value or inability of Fortress to finance or any other reason), how can the city protect itself in recovering these funds?" Ms. Lo asks in her 11-point memo.

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TORONTO — Several countries have issued advisories or advice about travelling to Canada after confirmation of six cases of swine flu.

India's government has issued a travel advisory, telling its citizens to restrict visits to Canada, Mexico, the U.S. and New Zealand to essential travel because of swine flu. The Times of India reports all travellers flying into India from Canada and other countries that have confirmed cases of swine flu will be individually checked for symptoms such as a fever and upper respiratory tract infection.

Media reports from Malaysia say that country's Health Ministry is advising Malaysians against travelling to Canada, Mexico and selected U.S. states where there are swine flu cases.

Australia's Foreign Affairs department makes note of the Canadian swine flu cases on its Web site, telling Australian travellers to Canada they should consult a doctor or go to a hospital if they develop flu-like symptoms.

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EU issues heatlh warnings agianst EU citizens travelling to Mexico.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Swine-flu-travel-wa…

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http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/RTGAM….

The thousands of people in BC who work in and around the travel industry must be shit scared about the swine flu epidemic, this will put thousands out of buisness. Kudo's to Air Canada for a change for offering a no penalty ticket option to re book a flight after the pandemic is over, if it ever is. A big " YOU SUCK" to the travel agents association who said yesterday that thet will continue to sell peopel into the epicenter of the epidemic " because they don't feel it's widespread' , what bullshit. The news out of Mexico is that it's nation wide and all public events and buildings are being closed as a pre caution. Screw you trave agents, you greedy pigs, you'll get what you deserve. I hope people spit on you and you realtard friends when you're standing in the EI line ups after you've hit the food bank.

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Take your shameless bait-and-switch comments somewhere else Realtard. With posts like this on your blog, it’s obvious you’re not on the same page as the rest of us."

Must be nice, having all the answers. All you have to do in life is come on this board and read comments that confirm your world view. Awesome.

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