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Friday Free-for-all!

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It’s the end of the week and spring has sprung!  Lets do our weekend news round up and open discussion thing, here are a few stories I’ve noticed lately:

–BC EI beneficiaries jump 66% over the year
–Canada hit with ‘unparalleled force’ in this recession
–Another cruise ship company leaves Vancouver
–Bottom seen forming in lumber market collapse
–Mercer: Vancouver almost good as Vienna, Zurich and Geneva
–US banks lobby for higher ‘stress test’ scores
–US protectionism could spark Canadian retaliation
–Pontiac bites the dust
–US home prices tumble

So what are you seeing out there?  Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!

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yaletowngirl

EB: #85 EB , are you suggesting that foisting any other indignities shy of "execution and burial in mass graves" is OK with you? Wow, the mind boggles. It seems to me to me to be a slippery slope when you start accepting 'some' indignities to a specific group that has been targeted for elimination by a given governmemt. Is 'Nazi Light' OK? Not in my opinion. Zeig Heil Vision Vancouver, corralling the homeless for the duration of the Olympic games under any pretext is unacceptable. How can anyone even dream up up stupid suggestion like that, let alone voice it publicly. Someone said the Greg was a somewhat mentally challenged or functionally retarded boy put into office as a front for the Machiavellian political machinists to hide behind while they slopped in the trough. Maybe that idea has some… Read more »

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Aleks

"Calling everyone a Nazi and likening everything you disagree with to the holocaust makes you sound silly and strident. If they start executing the homeless and burying them in mass graves you can blather about Hitler, but until then it just cheapens the real horrors of genocide and weakens your case."

No kidding. Hitler actually had people executed en mass. Rounding people up and sending them off to die in the wilderness was Stalin.

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kersplatt

other ted:

#90 OT, an interesting parellel, explaining both the bubblicious TSX and the CDN real estate market sync-phony of foolish behaviour.

"One argument making the rounds from bottom callers is mortgage rates are at historical lows. I actually take this argument as a reason not to buy. Why? Well look at the above chart. Mortgage rates are being artificially pushed down by the government through various programs at the Federal Reserve. This cannot go on forever. Here is a scary thought. I ran the numbers above to find the average 30 year fixed rate since 1971. Want to know what that is? 9.08 percent. Big deal right? Well let us run the numbers with the current 4.81% rate and the 9.08% rate on a $500,000 mortgage:

PI @ 4.8% $500k = $2,623/month

PI @ 9.08% $500k = $4,051/month"

http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/10-reasons-why…

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other ted

Forget this insane real estate market can anyone explain the TSX. I feel the governments have succeeded in inflating the bloated stock markets again. Not sure where to put my money. Nothing makes sense now.

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ragingbull

record low intrest rates AND 1/2 of all homeowners in some areas underwater. What kind of scenario does that offer up hmmmm?

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/1070…

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techdeath

EB: #85 EB, how many homeless , insane and assorted street people will be savaged by the police dogs and killed by tazers when they are rounding them up for 'Little Ubergrupenfuhers Greggys' 'Olympicstad street cleansing'. Will the street people all go willingly or will they have to be run down by the mayors dogs. My guess is that many will not want to be corralled into the special holding pens that Greggy Stazi party has already announced as his 'final solution' to the homeless problem during the Olypic party of pigs. My guess is that many of them will try to run and be gunned down by 'Greggys hunting parties' just like the Nazi's did in the Warsaw Ghetto. Greg and his decadent deniers will be gobbling champagne while the shock troops of the VPD, RCMP and IOC mercenarys… Read more »

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Vancouverite

LOTS OF INTERESTING VIEWS ON CURRENT RE MARKET! Fact-Stellar credit today gets you prime-1% WOW thats 1.25% possibly locked in for 5yrs. And you know you %int rate will not go through the roof in 5 Fact-Ridiculous market for investors or speculators, flippers, guaranteed too LOOSE! Fact-prices still far to high for current market conditions. So-forget condo's (500K condo's are history) at these interest rates & look what that monthly maintenance fee buys toward a mortgage. Fact-not all buyers created equal. So-who wouldn't want to own Vancouver Waterfront? As prices fall, cherry picked RE IE waterfront North Van gets to $1.2-$1.5 mill West van add 50%. I personally think there are more buyers than sellers at this price point for this kind of property! Currently too many Nice but extremely overpriced homes in this price range competing for the same… Read more »

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Vansanity

patriotz:

Exactly. But not according to my friend the homeowner who says that the $860 rent I pay per month is more than I would pay for an equal condo bought. I live in a 750 sq. ft. apt. utilities incl. parking incl. 5 mins from d/t. That is like saying I could buy a similar place for $125,000 or less. Ya, I don't think so.

The only thing I know is this: "The dumbest people I know, know it all." – W. Forbes

…and homeowners and realtors seem to know it all, don't they?

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EB

Calling everyone a Nazi and likening everything you disagree with to the holocaust makes you sound silly and strident. If they start executing the homeless and burying them in mass graves you can blather about Hitler, but until then it just cheapens the real horrors of genocide and weakens your case.

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techdeath

other ted: #83 OT , I think the head count at Nokia was a few over a thousand. That number has been cut in half since December.The biggest number of layoffs came in December 08 when just over 300 of the specialist engineers at the Glen Lyon campus were given the old boot-er-oo. We couldn't agree more on the fact that Vancouver is a facade of BS. This is why I'm so happy to see the thin wall of total crap spin dismantled by the facts. I think it's always best to call a nazi a nazi even when he's trying to disguise himself as a populist. When Greg ( the little retard in a pretty skirt) the mayor ubergrupenfuher represents Vancouver as a place where it's OK to round up the 'inconvieniant truth' homeless for the benefit of IOC… Read more »

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other ted

techdeath says"1) None of the layoffs at Nokia, Telus, Rogers, EA, etc etc etc now counting in the many thousands are not really tech co’s so lets label them something else and call the industry robust." The exact opposite. One of the lies about how great Vancouver is, is that it has a larger technology sector than Seattle. Telus, and Rogers are Utlities, EA entertainment. Nokia is a tech company. How many did it ever employ in Vancouver? It has been Vancouver that has reclassified every job into hitech that it could to look better than it is. The industry has been on life support for a decade. that was my first point. Second you say nothing that is meaningful about the industry, you just rant about it dying as if you are cheering it on. Maybe I am wrong… Read more »

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techdeath

Anonymous: #76 Anon, OK anon, so you are a denier. You guys rename and misdirect things to bullshit yourselves and everyone else into thinking that only the message you want getting out predominates. 1) None of the layoffs at Nokia, Telus, Rogers, EA, etc etc etc now counting in the many thousands are not really tech co's so lets label them something else and call the industry robust. 2) Ubergrupenfuher Greg Roberts recent call to round up the homeless is OK with you. 3) Homeless people are drug addicts and nasty's so arresting them to clean up the streets in time for the Olympics is OK, thats an attractive feature for outsiders to assume that Vancouver is a great place to invest. Thats as long as you think a city is designed as a playground for the rich and not… Read more »

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Denialisrampant

Homes bulldozed in Calgary

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/05/06…

A thought would be to invite these people to Whine-Couver to buy a nice CON-DOH with zero down.

If Pammy says go, I guess we should all follow.

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mk-kids

Anyone see the nauseating Pamela Martin RE pump segment yesterday? Ugh.

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mk-kids

"My god. Are some of you being held here against your will, or are there simply no kids on your lawn to yell at?"

LMAO!!!!

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patriotz

Vansanity:

Can anyone tell me the difference between money “pissed away” paying rent vs. paying interest on a mortgage?

Sure.

The rent is a lot cheaper.

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vote Liberals

House prices at 3x 2002/2003 values make sense. High taxes generated will pay for the mega projects like Gateway, Waterfront Convention Center, new ferries, Olympics, etc.

Therefore to run our world class city efficiently our real estate prices must match New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney and San Francisco.

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Anonymous

I assume techdeath clears his cache and votes up his comments or all of you are insane. This is a housing blog not some wacko conspiracy page. What does auschwitz have to do with the olympics. And no techdeath none of those companies listed are tech companies. Tech companies sell technology not content.

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Gripster

ReductiMat:

#73 Reduct , "Any man who hates dogs and children can't be all bad".

W.C. Fields

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TUT

deja vu Says:Reply to this comment

May 6th, 2009 at 10:19 am

Fuzzy math 101:

$544,900 / 955 sqf = 570 $/sqft

570 $/sqft / Lougheed Mall = Magnificent / x

Solving for x we get

x = Imbecilent

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ReductiMat

My god. Are some of you being held here against your will, or are there simply no kids on your lawn to yell at?

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TUT

Anonymous:

Did you get the "Duckling Syndrome"

🙂

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realpaul

techdeath:

#70 Techdeath, I couldn't agree more, the truth in this town is so far people asses that it stinks when it finally comes out after a freedom of information application appeal.

Heres a perfect example of how the MSM and PTB are trying to hoodwink the public into being complacent little consumers.

Talk about an evil spin? here it is, warts and ….well it's just warts. RCMP acronym for the 21st century, Real Cunts Murdering People.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=15…

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techdeath

other ted: #69 OT, so the reality of Van-Aushwitz-Olympiadsta without visible homeless' is hitting close to home OT? Are you the guy thats losing your job next while the decadent play with taxpayers money. Whoops thats the very phony nature of Vancouver in a nut shell isn't it. Vancouver is a shithole and I am having a 'laugh o' minute' watching the phonies scurry around trying to obfuscate the facts in the face of a reccesionary Tsunami rolling in. Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost in the past few months and the wicked airheads and government asskissers are circling the wagons singing Kum By Ya to pretend that it's all OK by reporting nothing. Reality bites babydoll. PS, the number of websters, generalized board geeks and database nerds employed in EBAYS 'Van-Aushwitz-Olympiadstad sans the visible homeless' office is… Read more »

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other ted

techdeath I can't believe you think ebay is a tech company. With that logic so is Mcdonalds. The guy that takes your orders uses a pretty hitech cash register. I can't stand your posts. You have no understanding of what constitutes the tech industry and you are basically cheering on its destruction.

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