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Friday Free-for-all!

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It’s Friday and that means it’s time for another free-for-all, our regular end of the week news round up and open topic economic discussion thread.  Here are a few stories to kick off the chat:

–Price cuts coming for Olympic Village
–Vancouver house prices stay robust
–BC Housing Starts vs. Unemployment
–Mr. Rennie says LEED too expensive
–Flaherty: Canada a ‘shining example’
–Millennium to city: be patient and help out
–Happiest Vancouverites live on north shore
–Demographic shock challenges real estate
–Nation demands a new bubble
–Helmsley mansion sells for 72% discount
–US foreclosure mess could last for years

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

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patriotz

@I See Debt People:

Personally, I agree with some traditionally “liberal” ideas and some traditionally “conservative” ideas.

So do I. But it seems that about the only traditional conservative ideas our "Conservative" government has left are opposing equal rights for gay people and advocating unrestricted gun ownership.

All the conservative ideas that I agree with – like encouraging saving, responsible budgeting, growth through real production, telling the truth, and accepting responsibility – have gone out the window with them.

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patriotz

@I See Debt People:

Q. Which parties in the US and Canada receive large campaign contributions from the big unions and the big banks?

A. Both.

As a matter of fact federal political parties in Canada are no longer permitted to receive contributions from either unions or banks.

As for BC parties, the NDP has received the odd token corporate contribution, and the Liberals perhaps from some union or another, but the fact is that the contributions are overwhelmingly the other way.

Also union contributions in the US are overwhelmingly to the Democrats (aside from a few right-wing unions like the Teamsters), although both Democrats and Republicans do get significant corporate donations.

BTW there are 4 elected political parties at the federal level in Canada, so "both" is a bit off base.

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No-lympics

# # 203 oneangryslav Sounds like Liar's Poker, by Michael Lewis, and 1980's During the training sessions, Lewis was struck by the infantilism of most of his fellow trainees. Examples include, but were not limited to: yelling at and insulting financial experts who talked to them, calling phone sex lines and then broadcasting them over the company's intercom, gambling on every perceivable thing (including how long it took certain trainees to fall asleep during lectures), and their incredible lust for money and contempt for any position or job that didn't make that much. Lewis attributed their behavior to the fact that the trading pit required neither finesse nor advanced financial knowledge, but rather, the ability and desire to exploit others' weaknesses, intimidate other people into listening to you, and generally the ability to spend hours a day screaming orders under… Read more »

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oneangryslav2

@No-lympics: Granny is forced into risky investments, so Goldman Sachs can hire the entire Ivy Leagues MBA class. If they'd only hired MBAs maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. I did my PhD studies at an Ivy League school and as a teaching assistant was provided a rather unique viewing seat as the finance bubble was created, expanded, and then popped. There were kids in my seminars and lectures who had done nothing at all during their college careers (even at Harvard, it is much tougher to get in than to get a B average) but who were able to parlay a B-average transcript from this Ivy League school into a six-figure starting salary on Wall street. I taught in a social sciences field; these kids didn't know the first thing about finance and hadn't worked a day in… Read more »

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Drachen

@Anonymous:

"realpaul, you need your own blog."

Hear hear!

The world needs to know the current fashion in tinfoil hats.

Is it tricorn with tea-bag decorations as Scullboy suggested or more of a dunce-cap look?

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Drachen

@scullboy:

"For those of you who don’t know, Ol’ Breitbart is the guy who loves to edit videotapes. He’s the guy behind that creepy plan to “lure” a female CNN reporter onto a boat to have her “seduced” (where “seduced” means something far creepier). He’s also the guy who tried to get Shirley Sharrod fired b editing a recording to make it seem like she was a black racist when actually she was just the opposite."

Actually Breitbart is just the guy who published that crap. O'Keefe is the guy who was behind the 'love nest' thing. O'Keefe made the fake Acorn "pimp" tapes that Breitbart published to get them out into the media.

Don't get me wrong, Breitbart is every bit as bad as you've painted him, just correcting your interpretation of his role.

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scullboy

@tinfoil 171 Really Grampy? Really? Andrew Breitbart's big government site? Just the fact that you're reading the site of a proven liar just shows you're either a liar, an idiot or just plain batshit insane. For those of you who don't know, Ol' Breitbart is the guy who loves to edit videotapes. He's the guy behind that creepy plan to "lure" a female CNN reporter onto a boat to have her "seduced" (where "seduced" means something far creepier). He's also the guy who tried to get Shirley Sharrod fired b editing a recording to make it seem like she was a black racist when actually she was just the opposite. So Gramps which is it? Are you an idiot, a liar, or jut plain nuts. Personally I'm voting for hybrid. Jesus… why do I bother. Fuck you're a pathetic ol'… Read more »

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ReadyToPop

The world's elite ran up the cost of assets worldwide and priced young families out of housing and now they can't even get along….RTP

<a href="http://www.financialpost.com/news/fails+find+consensus+ease+currency+frictions+talks/3651640/story.html&quot; rel="nofollow">IMF fails to find consensus to ease currency frictions as talks end

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No-lympics

# 193 realpaul: Don't forget how Ex PM Jean Cretin, the guy with the litle dick from ShitWinnebago, removed the $100,000 lifetime capital gains exemption in the mid 1990's. However, you shouldn't make such bads inferences re Gov't. They are trying to achieve Castro Valhalla. Granny is forced into risky investments, so Goldman Sachs can hire the entire Ivy Leagues MBA class. Then granny's cash can be used to fund those risky morgtages,so their grandkids can buy a $500,000 house when th graduate from high school. By then they'll all re-unite on the street in the line-up for the Millenium unit which has sat empty for 10 years and Premier Gregor Robertson, in his 3rd consecutive term, buys them off Jimmy Pattison and converts all the units to social housing. Prime Minister Jim Green, BC Fed president Bill Vander Zalm,… Read more »

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Best place on meth

Since the banks in the U.S. can no longer prove they hold the title to any mortgages, I'm wondering if this is an ideal time to short them.

This doesn't in any way affect my suggestion to kill the bankers, I'm just thinking we can make a profit off this as well.

Kill them, profit. Win-win.

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Devore

@realpaul: As Charles Bean of the Bank of England advised, savers should stop moaning and start spending. "It may make sense for them to eat into their capital a bit." Good grief.

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Anonymous

realpaul, you need your own blog.

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logic

yup

no inheritiances to pay off those large morgages.

so, that was plan B. Is there a plan C?

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realpaul

Cash strapped boomers are finding out what yield starved seniors have known for years…that a reverse mortgage is the last resort. When seniors and boomers run out of money they are forced to dig into the walls. In Canada after Jim Flaherty killed the income trusts and then slammed the yields on saving to zero the saving of millions of seniors were quickly wiped out by the escalting living expenses caused by the zero intrest rate enviornment. Now 'boomers' in the US are finding out the same thing….when the government wipes you out you can start counting the days until you're forced to buy your first can of ALPO. http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/oct2… The granny basher 30 somethings should be mad as hell because the inheritance they've always thought was coming is gone by the time granny falls down the stairs…..thanks to the… Read more »

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Best place on meth

@BoB:

>>>I heard there’s been no price reductions in kits. Is that true?<<<

Absolutely false.

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chilled

You folks are being douchy.

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anoymost

or acc-'unt.

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No-lympics

#

188

#

Anonymous Says:

October 10th, 2010 at 2:42 pm

@NO – LYMPICS: No, he forgot a period, an apostrophe and a space

======================================

Oh you mean it should read

a-'ccunt.

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Anonymous

@NO – LYMPICS: No, he forgot a period, an apostrophe and a space.

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BoB

I heard there's been no price reductions in kits. Is that true?

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realpaul

The pimps are desperatley grasping at straws and trying to throw up suggestions that 'rates cannot go up' in the face of the negative 6000 jobs lost in the most recent survey. The pimps forget that Canada has already agreed to raise rates in lock step with several other G8 economies and will raise again in October as scheduled. The underlying fundamentals of the economy are sound…the profit picture of the corporations is underwritten with massive amounts of cash…..thinking that unemployment is a concern is to be looking at the economy from the perspective of a cashless unemployable troglodyte. http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Bank+Canada+ra… Every recovery I can remember has been led by rising unemployment…this will be no differant.. If you want to see where the economy will be in 18 to 24 months look at what the smart money is doing. The pimps… Read more »

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realpaul

#180 NO….its a real mess isn't it….anyone in that situation could effectively say 'prove it' to any bank that issued a forclosure notice. This is entirely the banks fuck up……obviously you can't purchase a property without assurance that the title is free and clear. This new ruling by the US Supreme court has exposed a huge void in governance…it could essentially redraw every rule on mortgage backed securities….which are …at this time…..essentially… 'air'.

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squidly77

#181

Oh those O's, geez that was funny, thanks.

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chilled

http://www.bankruptingamerica.org/

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chip

@Junius:

"How can anyone be called a flop after G.W. Bush? The worst President in the history of the U.S. and perhaps the Western World."

Junius: You see, most presidents, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten. Where can Bush go from there? Where?

Marty DiBergi: I don't know.

Junius: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?

Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.

Junius: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

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