Government announces new ‘deficit surplus’
The government of Canada is moving farther away from it’s policy of not running large budget deficits with today’s announcement of a new “budget deficit surplus” policy:
Today’s announcement by the government has surprised and angered many supporters of the Harper government, but newly appointed spending secretary Amhed Uhpnaym argues that it’s an important first step to getting the economy back on track.
“we looked at all our options and decided this was our most prudent option at this time.” explains Uhpnaym “Unemployment levels are rising, and our largest trading partners aren’t showing any signs of a quick recovery from this recession.”
“On the positive side, prices on Vancouver real estate are at a three year low! Have you seen some of the incredible deals out there? By running a surplus deficit now we’ll have enough available Capitol to invest at these rock bottom prices. I mean seriously, only $600 per sq foot in the prime edge of Yaletown! It’s time for us to hop down off this fence and invest, our children will thank us.”
The plan announced today will see an additional 2.8 trillion added to the deficit, which will then be used as down payments on presale developments across the lower mainland. The prime minister is said to currently shopping at Ikea for a smaller couch that will fit his favorite floorplan and was unavailable for comment.
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April 1st, 2009 at 8:25 pm
In the event of an economic crisis please
remain calm and carry on.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....20-protest
April 1st, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Got me. I guess I’ll have to wait to hear Supra’s bullish BS again..
April 1st, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Fckin Denalis: April Fool
April 1st, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Supraboy – what happened – you thought it was time to buy at the peak! Now you’re agreeing with us all – the bubble is bursting. Lucky your Supra is payed off (they haven’t made those since when?)
April 1st, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Fish is back! He has a Vancouver housing blog that is worth checking out, if you haven’t already. http://fishyre.blogspot.com/
April 1st, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Supraboy: Who are you?
April 1st, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Absolutley no one believes that a recovery is on the way. In fact the current published recession projection numbers have already been surpassed to the downside by the stats that were oublished today which indicates that things are getting worse faster than anyone can track.
“The U.S. economy will contract this year much more sharply than the Obama administration has forecast, and next year’s U.S. unemployment rate will reach double digits, far higher than the White House has predicted, according to a report issued Tuesday by a group representing the world’s most advanced economies.
The U.S. recession “has deepened sharply, with output contracting at an alarming pace and the labor market weakening rapidly. Since December 2007, nearly 4.5 million jobs have been lost,” the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its report. “The financial system remains fragile and some parts of the banking sector are under considerable stress.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com.....han-obama/
April 1st, 2009 at 4:44 pm
deathspiral:
#10 Addendum to this story. The news release stated that the ‘PRIVATE SECTOR’ lost 742,000 jobs in March. Why were public sector losses not counted or published for counting? How many people in the public sector ecperianced jobs loss? I have been reading about MANY public sector workers in every area being laid off in the tens of thousands. Why are those numbers absent? Very curious.
April 1st, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I think Harper should squat low in an asparagus patch.
April 1st, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Dead cat bounce over? Very soon.
The BC real estate market is a fraud, absolutely no different to the U.S. Last 7 years nothing more then an explosion of mortgage debt by hundreds of billions. The BC real estate price level was supported by massive underwriting of mortgage debt rather than income & dividends.
I tell you one thing, I would not hold one Canadian bank stock, take a look at Citigroup’s chart. And our banks our different and conservative, what a crock of BS that is.
Basic economics suggests at the end of the day, a healthy economy needs real wealth producing industries to sustain income. What happens when the rich foreigners stop arriving, instead it is those who have little money and need services. The credit bubble is exploding fast, the end of zero down in October 2008 was the knife in the camel’s back.
TICK TICK TICK, game over!
April 1st, 2009 at 2:48 pm
nice link deathspiral.
I wonder why vancouverites are so confident that housing prices will hold up. Every open house that I go to, the agent puts a spin on things telling me it’s the time to buy, rates are low, etc…I walked in to a house near kerrisdale last weekend and 2 ladies were telling me to buy before it’s too late. Too late for what? 1.8mill for a starter home, a 33×140 lot. What a complete joke. The house itself is not worth more than 150k, the land itself at most is worth 800k and I’m being generous here. And they want 1.8 mill.
April 1st, 2009 at 2:13 pm
THROW THIS ON THE “HOLY CRAP” FILE
Companies in the U.S. cut an estimated 742,000 workers in March, pointing to no relief in sight for the labor market amid the longest recession in seven decades, a private report based on payroll data showed on Wednesday.
The drop in the ADP Employer Services gauge was larger than economists forecast and the most since records began in 2001. February’s reading was revised to show cut of 706,000 workers, up from a previous estimate of 697,000.
Companies are slashing staff as tight credit conditions and shrinking household wealth cause sales to shrink. The Labor Department may report in two days that employers cut payrolls in March for a 15th consecutive month, putting jobs losses in the current downturn at more than 5 million, according to a Bloomberg survey.
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=1451751
This shows a HUGE acelleration in job losses and a HUGE decelleration in the prospects for ANY recovery. You should get a brain scan, a drug test AND a kick in the nuts if you were betting against these odds. BUY NOW? ARE YOU F^&KING KIDDING?
April 1st, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I just love when these little nuggets of truth slip out of an officials mouth.
Marc Carney;
The central banker said any rebound would be at a much slower pace due to the “substantial capital misallocation” of recent years in the global economy. As the highly-levered move to aggressively pay down debt, demand for Canadian exports will dampen — leading to a “significant reduction” in Canadian incomes and the ability to sustain domestic demand at past levels.
http://www.nationalpost.com/ne.....id=1452516
April 1st, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Anybody wondering why the local MSM whores are printing ‘buy now’ fibs for the auto industry?
DETROIT – March proved to be another dismal month of steep declines for U.S. auto sales as low consumer confidence and job uncertainty continued to keep buyers away from showrooms, but the improvement from February signaled that bargain-hunting buyers may be providing the momentum for a turnaround.
General Motors Corp.’s sales fell 45 percent from a year earlier, while Ford Motor Co. reported a 41 percent drop. Sales at Chrysler, Toyota, Honda and Nissan were just a few points better.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:30 pm
BOC M.Carney does a 180 on his economic prediction. Who is this clown? He now states that his ‘ on a wing and a prayer’ strategy for the CDN economy is for the rest of the world to recover first.
Very scary statements from a BOC governor,
OTTAWA — Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney now says the recession will likely persist into the second half of the year, although he questions the need for more government stimulus.
Speaking to a business audience in Yellowknife Wednesday, Mr. Carney continued to walk away from the central bank’s prediction in January that Canada’s gross domestic product would expand by 3.8 per cent in 2010, an outlook that left him uncomfortably out of step with Bay Street predictions for a rebound from recession at about half that pace.
While he stopped short of providing a new figure, Mr. Carney said weaker global growth, the selling off of inventories instead of new production, worsening labor markets and spare factory capacity likely will cause Canada’s economy to “contract into the second half of the year,” a shift from the central bank’s earlier expectation of a third-quarter rebound.
“The first half of the year will be particularly challenging, with deep drops in activity and considerable increases in unemployment,” Mr. Carney said in prepared remarks, which were released to reporters in Ottawa. “The contraction in the first quarter now looks likely to be the worst on record since 1961,” which is when quarterly GDP data was first collected.
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney
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Auto, construction pain spreads
Mr. Carney said in January that his forecast for next year was risky, as it was based in the faith that the unprecedented efforts of governments and central banks around the globe to stoke demand would revive confidence in financial markets and in the world economy.
http://business.theglobeandmai.....iness/home
April 1st, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Get ready for a no show Olympics as corporate sponsors issue the subtle signal that they’re bailing out of the show.
is this secretly why Vanoc and the IOC wanted to close down the schools and government buildings? Was it ( IS IT) a recognition by them that the seats won’t be filled and they want the kids to fill in the blank spaces left in front of the camera.
“And a lot of us decided to give our tickets back because we weren’t going to give an experience that we felt was going to be negative to the type of people we bring to the Games, and that is what we have to analyze with all of these venues: Is this experience going to be an experience we want our guests to have?”
http://www.theprovince.com/Whi.....story.html
April 1st, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Re YLTNBoomerang’s question of did anyone catch the special “Mortgage Section” of the Vancouver Sun today?
Did the irony escape me? No.
Especially since the link from the Sun Business section was titled “A Savvy Way to Manage Money”. Apparently, borrowing for consumption against an asset declining in value is now a savvy financial move.
Canwest should be sued for giving financial “advice” such as this.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:47 pm
The big picture is getting worse when you look at the big picture.
April 1 (Bloomberg) — U.S. manufacturing probably shrank further in March, a report may show today as the recession enters its 17th month and becomes the longest since the 1930s.
The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index was at 36 last month, compared with 35.8 in February, according to the median of 74 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Readings less than 50 signal contraction. Another report may show companies cut more than 600,000 jobs for a fourth month.
Big slide in global trade looms over G-20 meeting
By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER – 1 day ago
GENEVA (AP) — With global trade sliding, analysts say some of the world’s most powerful leaders may need to offer more than ritual support for open markets when they meet this week if they are to steady a teetering economy and avoid a damaging retreat to protectionism.
The presidents, prime ministers and chancellors of the Group of 20 nations have halfheartedly respected their pledge of four months ago to avoid turning inwards in fighting the economic crisis. Since then, world commerce has plummeted in a way unseen since the Great Depression.
With no concerted strategy for a revival, some economists say a rash of go-it-alone stimulus packages and industry bailouts could lead to trade wars — causing havoc in one of the key driving forces to the world’s economic growth since World War II.
“We’re playing with fire,” said Jagdish Bhagwati, an economist at Columbia University. “The system was designed to avoid the free-for-all wrestling of the 1930s. If the U.S. and France start saying, ‘This is legal so I am going to do it,’ everyone else will start to play that game
April 1st, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Did anyone catch the special “Mortgage Section” of the Vancouver Sun today? It should be classified as advertising as pretty much every article was spin to make now look like the right time to buy. My favourite though, by far was this title: “Need renos? A car? Try a home equity loan – Favourable interest rates on line of credit give homeowners another way to borrow money”
http://www.vancouversun.com/bu.....story.html
Seriously! With the Equifax study that more and more people cannot cover credit card interest, do we really need the Sun instructing Sheeple to go get those “needed” reno’s or new car by taking advantage of their home equity (before it disapears or turns negative…)
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....aSlXA1WnKQ
Ahhh, I smell forclosures
April 1st, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Second!!!!!!!
April 1st, 2009 at 12:19 pm
april fool = ftb?