Funemployment!
Laid off? Downsized? Turn that frown upside down with the latest hit buzzword in this recession: FUNEMPLOYMENT!
What is funemployment? Why that’s the positive way to look at losing your job. It’s not just a downturn, it’s an oppourtunity! (Just don’t try this at home with a onerous debt load).
But out of the smoldering ashes of lost jobs, a burgeoning scene of independent, arts-loving entrepreneurs are turning unemployment on its head and ushering in a new era of “funemployment.” The term became an overnight viral sensation thanks to a widely-circulated June 3 article in San Francisco’s SF Weekly, chronicling the experiences of recently laid-off people who were collecting unemployment benefits and using their newfound time to reassess their career goals, and then launch their own creative businesses.
With the proverbial pink slips piling up and EI lines wrapping around city blocks, more and more Vancouverites are facing similar challenges, leading to our very own funemployment phenomenon.
Full article in this weeks Westender.
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July 17th, 2009 at 12:16 am
#80 patriotz I agree with you if its $48000 total rent then I would want better. but the article stated that he is living in the unit and could get another $24000 in rent yearly. Well it wasn’t clear if the $48000 already included this. But either way you are right. Looks good after looking at vancouver real estate but probably not as good as made out.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
patriotzed: “People who actually know something about RE rentals want a net yield of 10% on a multi unit property (or a condo, which is just a slice of one).”
Talk to RE investors from outside the city and you quickly understand how incredibly speculative Vancouver’s market really is.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
realpaul: During the federal Liberals’ tenure in Ottawa from 1993 to around 2005, the marginal tax rate dropped. I was thinking more of the BC tax base, which has seen rates drop since the NDP years. There was close to zero counter-cyclical economic policy during that time. Now budgets are being cut like mad at a time when unemployment is increasing. That will tend to deepen the recession unless you believe BC’s population is innovative enough to pull itself out of the mud.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
oneangryslav:
#81 OAS, in better times it would have been a tactic, if thats true today then the Translink board really are dinosaurs. Without a signifigant tax increase the cupboards are bare due to the Olympics and the ‘coordinated’ recession. Corporate, personal and resource revenues are below even the worst case scenario.
Campbell is going shortly before the 2010 budget blows up. The Libs who are looking at a horrible situation will be faced with staring down NDP majority landslide if they raise taxes to fund the debt.
In this scenario I will predict all the major mega projects that were announced to be cancelled. The LIB insiders don’t want to face a wipeout and won’t allow things to get any worse. They are not going to let Translink run wild with special assesments, not after the blowback on the gas tax.
A tax revolt could put the LIBs out for a decade. The NDP of course will play on whatever the current sympathies are, after all they have nothing to do with the ‘fix’ ergo, they ‘re gold. Nice to be in opposition at that juncture. IGGY has the same leisure time back east. The CONS are probably heaving a sigh of relief seeing Translink flub the Evergreen line. With the national deficit at 50 billion +++ the purse strings are snapping shut outside the voter rich suburbs of Toronto.
Jesse: Taxes are high because we have too many parasites dipping their hands into the pot. Get a Conservative majority in Ottawa and we’ll have some fiscal responsibility. Whats happened under successive Liberal Governments was pandering to the special interests and costs are out of control.
It wasn’t lowering taxes that caused the imbalance, it was the continuation of historic Liberal policies and useless spending on ‘programs’ that has wasted the tax revenues recieved by Ottawa. Once you get rid of the whiners and the bleeding hearts this country will be running with milk and honey. Why are we still sending 205 million to China for ‘social development’ for example? And a million other stupid Liberal programs that drain the lifeblood of our revenue distribution system.
We need to deregulate and decertify all union contracts, starting again from the ground up, making Canada fair for everyone. Once we get rid of all these expensive parasites we will have schools full of new text books, new hospitals, free everything for seniors, new infrastructure, taxes cut by half, eliminate all debt, a land of plenty for Canadians instead of a land of plenty for a few unionists and social misfits.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
The Evergreen Line isn’t dead…yet. It’s a bit of pre-negotiation posturing on the part of Translink, which wants to send a very strong message to the provincial government that in order to fulfill the transit blueprint for the Lower Mainland, Translink will need a reliable funding source.
As for Evergreen specifically, I think that both the province and Translink will be loathe to cancel given the very real possibility that getting the Feds on board again would be next to impossible.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
other ted:
Anyone read a letter posted on Garth turners: It says:”Some Numbers: (Toronto)
Current Market Value $750,000 +- 10,000
Annual Net Rent $48,400
The net yield of 6.4% ignores inevitable contingencies like major repairs. That’s lousy for an illiquid, immobile, high hassle asset like RE, although of course it looks good compared to Vancouver.
High quality preferred shares currently yield around 6% which is equal to 8.4% rental income (dividends get a tax credit but rental income is fully taxed).
People who actually know something about RE rentals want a net yield of 10% on a multi unit property (or a condo, which is just a slice of one).
July 16th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
“Every $28,000 purchase of real estate in Canada creat(es) one job in real estate agencies and one job in property management”
—
This doesn’t pass the sniff test…. doesn’t seem right…
$28K of property can’t possibly generate two salaries per annum.. ridiculous!
Perhaps $280,000..? (but even that seems like it’d be pushing it…)
July 16th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Every $28,000 purchase of real estate in Canada creat one job in real estate agencies and one job in property management,These same jobs shop or dine for other jobs and economy cycle run upwards from there.
Canadian existing home sales, prices jump in June
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.c.....-june.html
Thanks all the bears and bulls with your hard working efforts we have recovered faster than expected,Please keep it countinue.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
We’ve seen cuts to health and now transit. Does anyone have the skinny on the education budget? We were hearing talk of the early childhood education preschool being funded but my guess is that’s on the chopping block.
It’s amazing how pro-cyclical this government is. Do they know how bad BC is going to get hit by the lack of construction, financial, and real estate jobs over the next several years? They’ve dialed in 10%+ unemployment for sure now. But that’s exactly what happens when taxes are lowered when GDP growth is high and ESPECIALLY what happens when a lot of that GDP growth was actually debt.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
realpaul: here’s a link for the readers: TransLink to yank Evergreen Line funding. HT to you.
July 16th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
#70 Tourist Bureau BS like ‘we’re #1′ , ’supernatural’, ‘best place on earth’
Yes, this IS a VERY nice place to live.
Ever been to Teheran? I have.
Tel Aviv? I have.
Bangkok? I have.
TORONTO? I have. Ugh!
July 16th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
The Evergreen Line is officially dead. Myself and several others on this board correctly pointed to this conclusion when the announcement was made.
For all the morons who speculated on ‘cheap condos’ along the line have officially been screwed, Bwahahahahahahha!!!
The provincial coffers are empty. The 6 Billion that has been blown on the Sno-Job Olympics will cause the closure of schools , hospitals, seniors care homes, etc etc etc. The Billions of dollars have been pissed away and now the people will have to suffer for the greed and stupidity of the curent regime.
Wait for the announcements of increases in taxes and service fees while facing big cuts and crappy service. The unions go on strike immediatley after the Olympics end, and theres no money left. In fact we’re so far in debt only a special levy on cars, homes and taxes gouging will satisfy the new union demands for big wage hikes. Chaos 2010. I will post congratulations when the fact comes out after the hype is over and the stench creeps out of the government controlled message.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I read here yesterday that the Swine Flu epidemic wasn’t being reported here in Canada. I think whoever pointed that out is on to something. Heres an example from another jurisdiction.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/.....article.do
July 16th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
helltopay:
#71, heres an example of balanced reporting that we never see here in BC
http://www.breitbart.com/artic....._article=1
July 16th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Boombust:
#70 Tourist Bureau BS like ‘we’re #1′ , ‘supernatural’, ‘best place on earth’,'world class’ and all the BS we get here?
-Tourism BC spends big bucks on staff ( your tax dollars) dreaming up these ‘superlame’ slogans. The amount they spend to advertise that you ‘staycation’ here in superpolluted, supercrimeinfested, superbedbuginfested, superdruggieoverrun, drunkenbrawlingeverywhereyougo, is pretty sickening. Couldn’t the money be better spent on civic problems?
Meanwhile I notice that the canadian press has become so blase’ that they don’t even post the unemployment numbers anymore. As if 584000 people losing thier jobs doesn’t interest them anymore. Is the information counterindicatory to the staycation push? Of course the numbers will be equivalent in Canada. That means tens of thousands more Canadians have lost their jobs this week and it doesn’t get a notice from the MSM. What a joke the CDN media is.
“On a four-week moving average, the Labor Department said new claims fell to 584,500, down 22,500 from the prior week’s revised average of 607,000.
In the week ended July 4, the insured unemployment rate fell to 4.7 percent, a half-point decline from the prior week’s revised rate of 5.2. percent.
For that week, 6.273 million people claimed unemployment benefits, a decline of 642,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 6.915 million.”
What are todays welfare numbers? You just HAVE to know they got a lot bigger since the first wave of EI recipients from last October are out of weeks now. Don’t tell me you believe that bullshit about these people becoming successfully self employed.
Hey, the real joy would be to access BC Hydro’s commercial stats and find out how many small buisnesses are pulling the plug every week. I read today in the Maui news that 20 per week are going titters. Thats in a small community. It must be MUCH more here.
We’ve seen here that EI recips are not vacationing in Thailand or New York while collecting ( unless they want to get charged with fraud and face big fines and total payback) , so th emisery must be pretty intense. Why hasn’t the local MSM focused on any personal stories of hardship? Is that going to flush the government and real whores dream of selling a ‘recovery’?
The bullshit from the MSM is so thick you can it with a spoon.
July 16th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
“Don’t forget that new orleans had a catastrophy.”
Even the areas that were NEVER touched by the storm are UGLY.
The French Quarter, too doesn’t even COME CLOSE to Old Quebec. And the “Garden District” is no match for Shaughnessy/Kerrisdale.
Audubon Park is a joke. They would have a hemmorhage if they ever saw Stanley Park or, say, Central Park in Burnaby.
The landscape is nothing but a low lying swamp. Where golfers would ever go golfing is a mystery to me.
The closest decent beaches are in Miss. over an hour’s drive away.
Greater New Orleans is a dump. Just like Las Vegas is a dump, Reno is a dump, LA is a dump…
Places like Miami, San Fransisco, Key West and Naples…now, THOSE are NICE!
I am so sick of “Tourist Bureau BS”!
July 16th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
helltopay: I’d suggest driving around New Orleans before comparing it to Surrey. Even before Katrina it was a dangerous place. I’d live in any part of Surrey over most parts of Orleans any day of the week.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Boombust:
#49 Don’t forget that new orleans had a catastrophy. Surrey is a shithole naturally. The crime rate is higher in Surrey I’m sure. The people in Surrey make it the way it is. You can deny and argue around it but thems the facts
July 16th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Anyone read a letter posted on Garth turners: It says:”Some Numbers:
Cost Including Improvements $680,000
Current Market Value $750,000 +- 10,000
Mortgages (25 year & HELOC) $440,000
Net Equity $310,000
Annual Net Rent $48,400
I currently live in the building at no cost to me, with the rents covering all expenses, and positive cash flow of $200 per month. If I were to rent my unit, the cash flow would be $26,400, or 8.5% cash on cash return. The cap rate for the building is 6.4%, high for Toronto but low for any place but a major Canadian city.”
I say BS. Of course Garth tells him to sell. If those numbers are true I wouldn’t. He clams net rent $48000 which nets him with all his expenses $200. If he were not to live there his net flow would be $26000 assume this is yearly. So an additional $24000 in rent. So if I read this right the can take in $72000 a year in rent. Making it worth at most 125*monthly rent. I would buy this place not sell it. I say BS or Toronto for the most part is not over valued.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Many of my colleagues have been in their positions for more than 10 years and are bored out of their minds. It’s not worth leaving the company to find a new exciting job when a potential layoff package is around the corner.
Personally, I would throw a big layoff party for all my friends if I was let go followed by a summer off then an over-the-atlantic-south-of-the-border job search. Ahh, would be a dream come true!
July 16th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
EB:
Don’t forget FUNlympics! But most likely Failympics
July 16th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
THE MAN NOBODY WANTED TO HEAR
Global Banking Economist Warned of Coming Crisis
http://www.spiegel.de/internat.....51,00.html
” William White predicted the approaching financial crisis years before 2007′s subprime meltdown. But central bankers preferred to listen to his great rival Alan Greenspan instead, with devastating consequences for the global economy.
William White had a pretty clear idea of what he wanted to do with his life after shedding his pinstriped suit and entering retirement.
White, a Canadian, worked for various central banks for 39 years, most recently serving as chief economist for the central bank for all central bankers, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. ”
July 16th, 2009 at 11:56 am
The Derivatives Beast Is Still Destroying World Banking
http://emsnews.wordpress.com/2.....d-banking/
” What this means is very simple: NO PARTS OF THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM CAN FAIL. That is, if any parts, say, real estate, goes under, all the many zillions of derivative swaps such as interest rate swaps, have to be resolved. This means, the biggest holders of these swaps have to pay someone or get someone to pay them. And no one has any CAPITAL to do this. The entire derivatives system is tremendously undercapitalized.”
===
It’s probably old news, but that Goldman Sachs employee was caught trying to steal a GS trading computer program. This has opened a whole can of worms as to how rigged the market truly is.
Seems to me like Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan have taken over the Gov’t, and the last gasp is these politicized low interest rates.
IMHO, these companies have set themselves up so they can’t fail or won’t fail…and Gov’ts sit like quivering eunuchs as they rape the economy.
That “new world order” is quickly become old news….
July 16th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Funemployment will be followed by funkruptcy, which sounds even more awesome.
July 16th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Hovering: Comment link limit is 2 per comment, I’ve rescued your #50 from moderation. It’s a drag, but it’s better than having the comment section fill up with spam.
July 16th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Green shoots? Really? Again the data points to extreme government and industry bullshitting the public.
http://www.reuters.com/article.....mp;sp=true
Apparently against the best efforts of the bullshitters to say otherwise and get you spending again the fact is taht foreclosures are at an all time high!
Industrial production fell again. Imports are down. Unemployment is still going up. Debt is skyrocketing. Welfare rates are going through the roof.
This is the enviornment thats saying to you ” Time to Buy”?
July 16th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Hovering:
Perhaps you misunderstood. I was trying to say that I believe the decisions by central banks to keep rates artificially low will come back to haunt us.
If you mean now, central bank rates aren’t artificially low. We have been seeing the greatest asset price deflation since the 1930′s, and the US actually recorded negative YOY CPI recently.
If the markets thought the central bank rates were artifically low the yield curve would steepen sharply (i.e. long rates would go up a lot) in anticipation of inflation.
If you mean in the early years of the decade, yes it was crazy to keep central bank rates so low during an unprecented rise in RE prices. In net terms there was substantial asset price inflation even including the dot-com bust to 2002.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:31 am
‘CIT shares slump as investors gird for bankruptcy’
http://www.marketwatch.com/sto.....bankruptcy
This will be the 4th largest bankruptcy in US history. And yet the rekindled hot hot Van RE still defies logic. The blinders are on if the people of Van and Canada thinks we can avoid what is going in the US. With more and more people unemployed the effects will trickle over here.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Nobody left but the taxpayer to pay for Olympic extravegance.
Question: If the Olympics can’t see adverts, and corpoarate sponsors aren’t buying up space then whats going to become of the ‘Olympic Boom’ that was forecast for Vancouver real estate?
http://www.theprovince.com/new.....story.html
We’re seeing a desperate government close down offices, schools and hospitals in an attempt to get locals to fill up the blank spaces in front of the cameras. Does that mean nobody’s interested and they are forecasting failure but just won’t announce it.
I look forward to seeing all the seniors who can’t have knees and hip replacement surgery lining up to cheer on the Olympic fat cats as they swirl by swilling champagne with the free whores they get to enjoy.
This govermnet has blown close to 6 billion on a 13 day party that is set to be a complete bust. We, on the other hand are seeing our homeless problem explode, have our schools limping by without textbooks, no space in old hospitals, seniors going without housing or services. What a travesty.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:22 am
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/200.....0713226837
toxic drywall
July 16th, 2009 at 9:53 am
#26 – I live one block away from that apartment building, and pay less than $800 for a 700 sq ft first level (semi basement) one bedroom, in a similar 3 storey walk up. Granted my building is a dump, but who would pay even $1000 for a tiny studio apt with no view or balcony? So you’re right, it’s totally ridiculous to be holding out at $1200 for 4 months on the owner’s part …
July 16th, 2009 at 9:36 am
oops
my #50 post got hung up in mederation.. probably becasue I put in 4 external links
what’s the limit on links again ?
I thought it was 4
is it 3?
thanks
July 16th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Boombust:
You can’t really say ‘compared to Mogadishu, Surrey is a nice place’ or such. Frankly it high time we built a wall around that hole to contain the slime that flows out of there everyday to do crime everywhere else. East of the Fraser River is a real no mans land for personal safety.
But I’m not just pointing out the Sewer, look at whats happening in the valley. Mission, Aldergrove, just total crack bins and slime pits. You’d have to be a real moron, desperate and left with no choice to even drive through that area , never mind live out there. Buying out in Surrey or the Valley is something you’re forced to do, it’s not by choice. What kind of a loser would put his kids into that situation? Do they know that the Surrey school district graduates only 1.7% of the kids with marks high enough to go to University?
What’s the drug crime and murder stats? Do just deny them so that you can faze over the fact that you could;nt afford to live anywhere else/
People moving out to the Sewer are in desperate DENIAL about their personal justifications to do so.
This has got to be bad for buisness. Judge call RCMP brass “liars”. 1 more dead from RCMP out of control murder spree. These stats make Afghanistan a ‘paradise’ by comparison.
http://www.vancouversun.com/
Consumer confidence numbers total BS as is shown by the aggregate import numbers of ports data.
http://urbansurvival.com/week.htm
I’m shocked that this ‘no travel -EI’ thing has so many people surprised. How can you not think that they haven’t been keeping tabs on that sort of thing? If you think this is shocking then you’ll be equally shocked as to just how much information about you the government releases to other organizations about you. Your complete file is accessed in 18 seconds by the customs in any other country.
I know a guy at US Customs and he tells they have real time access to everything about you, criminal, civil and medical.
#41 RO, your jealousy and covetousness is laughable. Just because you have nothing and get nothing, do you think the rest of the world should be the same? Grow up, not everyone is a loser. Being in denial is when other peoples comments make you angry, so angry your little head says “Grrrrrrrrrrr I’m an angry wittle boy.”
July 16th, 2009 at 9:34 am
If I am incorrect in my understanding that governments can, and do, have a limited ability manipulate interest rates I would be happy to learn more on the subject
July 16th, 2009 at 9:33 am
and
greenspan defends low rates
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories.....7567.shtml
Fed produces artificially low rates by buying Mortgage securities
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-.....p?tickers=