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Friday Free-for-all!

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97 Comments

It’s the end of another work-week in paradise!  Let’s do our end of the week news round up and economic open topic discussion thread.  Here are a few stories to kick off the weekend:

–BOC sounds more alarms on Canadian debt loads
–Federal cuts coming
–Canadian R&D spending continues downward spiral
–The strengths and weaknesses of housing market measures
–BMOs fun finance facts
–RBC predicts stability
–Who says you can’t afford a new home?
–Can this man kill the Federal Reserve?
–The worlds best places to lose your job

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

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ReadyToPop

@blueskies

Long overdue….especially for those in a holding pattern flying above this cuckoo's nest.

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blueskies

Ottawa, banks discuss measures to rein in Canadians’ personal debt

Bankers support cooling mortgage market by increasing required down payment or cutting maximum term
http://tinyurl.com/2b2wj9g

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patriotz

The banks are telling the feds to get mortgage lending under control – again: Ottawa is talking to the banks about putting new measures to curb the rise in consumer debt into the next federal budget. Deputy finance minister Michael Horgan has broached the topic in prebudget consultations with executives from Bay Street firms, sources say. Several bankers have told him that they would support further federal moves to cool the mortgage market, including cutting the maximum term of mortgages or increasing the minimum down payment. Gordon Nixon, chief executive officer of the Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest bank, said he’s not hitting the panic button yet over concerns that some consumers may not be able to repay their loans. But “we are clearly at the limit,” he said in an interview. “You do not want significant growth… Read more »

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Drachen

@Drachen:

Nevermind, I didn't realize you were quoting the url. That's why it got screwed up.

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Drachen

@D. Rail:

The url you posted is too long, you need to put (where you see square brackets put angle brackets, if I use angle brackets it thinks I'm typing code)

[a href="put the url here"]name your link here[/a]

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Anonymous

The bear group is still around? Nowhere else to hang out except this poor blog. Come on, take your wife out for shopping or something, but dont spend all the money you have. Rent is due end of the month.

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D. Rail

@Best place on meth:

Has Vancouver City Hall considered the merits of “Sidewalk Housing” yet?

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/g…..toViewer=1

These would look great in Dunbar.

…….

Oddly enough, a lot of places in Dunbar actually look like that now.

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D. Rail

@loveitorleaveit:

…..

This place is officially a shithole.

http://www.vancouversun.com/ne…..story.html

…….

Ya, I can hardly wait until tomorrow to see how the Vancouver Sun spins this story into supporting higher RE prices (there's a pumper every day in the business section). Here's some story lines:

"Ten individuals shot on Sunday morning expected to live and stay in town keeping RE prices moving higher in 2011."

or:

“Low cost of bullets in Vancouver expected to keep gangsters in town pushing RE prices higher”.

or:

"Gang war attracting international media attention creating demand for reporter housing"

or:

“Oak street lead deposits expected to create mining jobs– RE to rise!”

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Best place on meth

Has Vancouver City Hall considered the merits of "Sidewalk Housing" yet?

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/green/beijing-archit…

These would look great in Dunbar.

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Larry turd1 Rob turd

“Dave is our village idiot”

How dare you refer to an esteemed member of the RE industry in such a derogatory manner.

He is a highly trained professional.

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Best place on meth

@McLovin:

Dave is our village idiot.

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McLovin

“Either that or he’s spoofing his IP so he can up-vote himself multiple times.”

Yes, on his blog he had a ticker showing how many visitors he had on line, but of course most of them were just the same person logged on from differnt windows from spoofed IP.

When called on it by a poster, the ticker quickly went down.

Who is Dave?

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loveitorleaveit

@logic

"Hmm, as long as they keep managing to just shoot each other and avoid hitting bystanders, I see drug dealers shooting drug dealers as free community policing."

I agree.

Except thats not what usually happens. Halloween innocent people were shot in Gastown.

This is what usually happens:

http://www.sj-r.com/breaking/x1757257984/3-year-o…

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logic

Hmm, as long as they keep managing to just shoot each other and avoid hitting bystanders, I see drug dealers shooting drug dealers as free community policing.

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StillLookingForAGood

Loveitorleaveit,

And then also there was the shooting in Port Moody the previous night.

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loveitorleaveit

This place is officially a shithole.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Massive+gang+sho…

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patriotz

With a stable job as an environmental engineer and a $100,000 gift from her father, Kamala naturally wants to buy a first home. She’s 34, single, and has no plans to marry and have children.

But she lives in Vancouver, where a modest condominium apartment will set her back about $390,000.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/per…

Note that the "expert" didn't give her the only advice that makes sense – don't throw away your money on an overpriced POS.

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Keeping An Eye On Th

@patriotz:

My experience is that as soon as “LTD, INC, or any form of personal from business distinction comes into play, the stigma of not paying off debt no longer applies.

In fact the laws of the jungle apply and all is fair as in love and war.

It is accepted that the merchant class play by a separate set of rules, the easiest way for me to explain is that once virginity is lost, then it’s OK to be a whore, as long as you make money at it.

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Junius

#77 Dave,

However the near trend is down since April. Not looking good for 2011 Dave.

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StillLookingForAGood

You may think the following is a bit off topic, but to me it is on topic. It deals with the general question about how the truth about things can come out to the public (despite corporate interests and advertising to the contrary and corporate pressures on news organizations). (This general question is of course part of the story that will be told by future historians when they recount the Vancouver housing bubble.) Net neutrality, journalistic significance of Wikileaks is discussed.

http://personaldemocracy.com/pdfleaks

Apologies in advance if you think it is too far afield.

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Dave

@off-the-radar:

The other trend is higher prices. 2.6% YOY.

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jesse

@Alum: "What point do you want to mention?"

Some people have been using current prices to determine their required savings heading into retirement. For them, a loss of 20%, while not in itself causing a paper loss, drastically alters their retirement plans.

Compare that to the family who saved and didn't include their PR as part of their retirement plans. For them even a 50% decline is meaningless.

I think a lot of people are in column A but people's motives for selling aren't always about avoiding negative equity or default on a mortgage.

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Anonymous

BearsCry= RE agent?

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BearsCry

Here's the problem with almost all of you here! Just look at the headlines you're focusing on!

– Services *might* be cut

– Debt *for some* increasing

– Sales *for some* are down

– Best places *for readers on this site* to lose a job

– Who says *except you* can't afford a new home?

None of the HAM are reading this crap. They're out there buying! While you, and I'm betting this site is overwhelmingly whiny white folk, just type away and complain about how you can't afford to live here and don't understand how any one else can. Get off your chair whiny white people and start living life!

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patriotz

@Keeping An Eye On The Pimps:

The loan sharks know, particularly in Western Canada, in some cultures defaulting on a debt is so shameful that 3 jobs and eating out of the garbage bin is preferable.

I think that's a myth. Check out people like Faye Leung and Bas (father of Moe) Sihota. You might throw in the Maleks (of Millenium) too.

What's shameful is appearing to be broke, which is something quite different.

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