It was just after 6 am. Gripping my Starbucks, I waited for the boarding call. It came, and I shuffled to the desk, handing over the boarding pass for seat 18D on Flight 190 from Victoria to Toronto.
“Step back.”
Startled, I looked up, into the steely, remorseless, dead eyes of Janet, the Air Canada morning-shift dominatrix.
“Excuse me?”, I asked in my best what-the-what tone.
“Priority boarding only,” she hissed. “Step back.”
“But,” I said, looking at the emptiness behind me, “we aren’t exactly busy this morning, are we, Janet? Let’s just get on the damn plane.”
She flipped. Janet ordered me to step back again, behind a line three feet away. I sorta did, but bumped into a woman with a bag and a yoga mat. Janet picked up her gate phone, turned her back for a moment, then wheeled around and looked at me like the scum, back-of-the plane 18D trash I obviously was. Meanwhile the yoga woman stared hard, then said quietly, “I know who you are. Why do you think you can get special treatment?” I could feel a Rob Ford moment coming.
Seconds later an airport security guard materialized. Janet, now surrounded by passengers, pointed at me cruelly and spoke the word no flyer ever hopes will be uttered: “Disorderly!”
I thought of that as I read the latest OECD economic projections today. Not only does it push the Bank of Canada to double interest rates within little more than a year (yikes!), but it warns of a “disorderly correction” in the gaseous Canadian housing market. That comes perilously soon after the central bank itself identified a “disorderly unwinding” of consumer finances as probably the biggest threat the entire economy faces.
So, thank God, it’s not just me.
Actually, this is turning into a real bad week for those house-humping realtors who come to this site seeking fresh virgins. Not only is the OECD raising the alarm over a real estate market it clearly believes is unsustainable by global standards, but a major US rating agency says our real estate is currently selling for an average of 21% more than it’s worth, with the home construction sector poised for a major slowdown.
Fitch claims we should worry since over 7% of the total economy is now represented by construction, up 40% in the last decade. Of course, when you add in the real estate industry and the financial interests supporting it (the so-called FIRE sector), it amounts to about three times that exposure. Having this much employment and personal wealth dependent on property, says Fitch, means “a housing downturn could have serious consequences for the overall economy.”
Gee, where have you read that before?
But there’s more disorderly!
Now the country’s mortgage brokers are at it again with a new report echoing the concern voiced on this pathetic blog about the recent collapse in the new house construction sector in the nation’s largest market, Crackonto. All those cranes poking up across the GTA are busy building condos which people bought two and three years ago. New sales have plunged in 2013, meaning lots of unemployed drywallers a year from now.
“If what’s happening in Toronto is at all representative of the rest of the country, there is a big correction coming in construction starting about now and proceeding through the coming year,” the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals was quoted as saying in the Globe. “If we see a reduction of 30- or 40- or 50,000 housing starts, we’re talking close to 100,000 jobs directly being impacted, and then ancillary jobs as well.”
The mortgage guys add, scarily, the “adjustment of housing starts has barely begun,” which is a stunning statement seeing by this time in 2011 there were 34,286 new units built in the GTA, and this year it’s down to 19,327. If this malaise spreads to the resale market, already segmenting and showing weakness with both condos and luxe listings, how disorderly can things get?
Maybe it’s already started, despite the realtor rhetoric about boffo times.
Manulife just unveiled a national survey which queried homeowners if they feel good about their real estate. This is like asking married women if they’re happy with their long-term husbands. But more serious. Surprisingly, only 43% said home ownership was working for them. A big 30% responded they were unhappy with it. And why not? After paying so dearly to get a house, with a mortgage that stretches from here to eternity, higher monthly costs and possibly no hope of financial gains with the risk of loss amid all this negative news, who wouldn’t piss and moan a little?
This is not the way it was supposed to be, after all. Buying a house used to be a no-brainer, a rite of passage. But now it’s fraught with emotion, uncertainty and angst.
Yes, like flying Air Canada.
By the way, I made the flight. The yoga lady emailed me two days later and threatened to expose my bad behaviour.
I told her what disorderly really means.
191 comments ↓
someone’s early today. :)
Sounds like you bumped uglies with two divorcee -man haters. Never give these women positions of authority OR government jobs, ever. Sour about the man with hairy face.
Ahh yes the AC Crones………..in Halifax, When I pointed out that the SIGN over her head indicated checked baggage (me) the stare was Linda Blair..ish
Just took AC’s partner Lufthansa, they actually collected the garbage from our trays more than once every 3 hours and SMILED
First, let’s start with the Downward dog pose…
Was she at least hot?
“Fitch claims we should worry since over 7% of the total economy is now represented by construction, up 40% in the last decade.”
Geez, China’s is closer to 60% and nobody bats an eye at them.
Your a bad -azz Garth.
I hope they did a body cavity search on you just to get their yee ha’s
Garth:
You shouldda went to Vegas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQMNSIKThVo
#150 Daisy Mae on 11.19.13 at 8:15 pm
My neighbour was wearing his helmet, flew over the handlebars, cracked his helmet, spent weeks in the hospital.
Without the helmet, he’d be DEAD.
—————————-
nobody said incompetent riders CAN”T wear one.
… Let’s just get on the damn plane.” was your disorderly nano second
Should have said.. Oh but of course Miss? as you look her up and down for the badge of authority as your step back bumps into Mrs. Yoga Mat. Then just point to Miss?
Where’s old man? Guess eaten by a black widow, flew too close to the spun.
(Or one yarn too many.)
I always fly AC not Worstjet. Lounge access.
Garth if i was one of them, id bump you up to business class for free and hand you a copy of the REAL ESTATE TODAY magazine. Luckily your name is Garth and not Jack. hi ja..i mean Garth. lolz
“Air Canada morning-shift dominatrix.”
————————-
garth you badass! boarding early – how DARE you!
personally i ALWAYS wait until very last – let the confused get on and the line dissipate , then get on and go. why spend longer in those tiny seats than one has to (i’m far too tall for the cattle class seats)
—-
EVERY single airline person we dealt with on alaska airlines last week was over the top friendly, helpful, pleasant – a fun experience
heck , even the TSA airline cops in texas were was nicer than AC staff. they were howling at the jokes I made while inside the ‘naked’ scanner.
Speaking of Downturn in House Building Employment
My business offers entirely discretionary services to homeowners – nobody needs my services in a dire way, like they need a dentists or plumbers services. They can just out off fixing the things that I fix – no basements get flooded, no teeth fall out.
Guess what – its seems the 30 somethings who work in the construction industry are putting off things in a big way. I used to get three to four jobs a week out in Victoria’s west shore suburb. An area populated with building trade people living in $500-$600k homes.
I would be doing the job with the stay-at-home mommy and her 1 or 2 kids at home, while hubby was off installing electrical or plumbing. Sometimes he’d pop home for lunch in his $75k F250.
Have not had one of those jobs for months – literally months.
Seems like somebodies feeling a bit squeezed.
Thanks god for Victoria’s civil servants and wealthy seniors.
Double interest rates? Ben just said he’s doubling down in the US. The OECD is out to lunch and just as irrelevant as the unfriendly Air Canada counter gal.
Rates will stay low for a prolonged period of time. Nobody will sell their digs at 25% less than what they’re worth today unless its forced upon them.
Assessment values are pretty bang on. Will the cities budge when values adjust down? No, they will prevent the lot values from decreasing. The cost of the building will not get cheaper either (I wish).
The only real losers are the banks because their hands may be tied when Canadians try to suck more cash out of their walls.
Realtors will have a rough ride between sellers who want top dollar and buyers who think the OECD and other nonsense about overvalued real estate in Canada is good as gospel.
A few years ago there was a Polish tourist who was tazzered to death at a BC airport. They murdered him like an animal, he was just a visitor to Canada, he couldn’t speak English
What’s up with that priority boarding line anyway? Sure you don’t have to line up to get your boarding pass scanned, but after you pass, you’re still stuck on the jetway in the same line as everyone else!
When we moved to Victoria some decades ago, we’d pretty well crossed the continent to get here. We needed a couch. We went to a large national dept. store. We’d brought the weekend advertisement. We want that, we said. The salesman said we don’t have any. But, we replied, it says they’re on sale. We had one, we sold it, he said and, as he walked away, added, and we’re not ordering more. Garth, you are lucky they didn’t put you in one of those travel dog cages and ship you to your destination in the hold.
#8 Steve French on 11.19.13 at 8:57 pm
“Garth:
You shouldda went to Vegas.”
====================================
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas . It’s got to be the worst Las Vegas theme movie that I have ever seen…
…but it warns of a “disorderly correction” in the gaseous Canadian housing market.
Imagine that…house prices coming down. Perish the thought!
#11 TurnerNation on 11.19.13 at 9:08 pm
“I always fly AC not Worstjet. Lounge access.”
====================================
I second that. Best Airline in the world. Bar none.
If yoga lady is typical of that type, she is crap assed poor, with barely a shred of savings. Between her foolish condo purchase (or worse, a home in Langford) and her habit of spending most of her disposable income on luluemon and starbucks, she probably has a net negative savings rate.
These people can get very surly when one points out that housing is cyclical, and that all good things must come to an end.
I will have the pleasure of flying into Victoria to teach at the university every now and then. (For kicks, since I miss the scenery). Good school. Pretty city. Terrible employment prospects and high levels of debt.
Jeez dude, now you ‘ putting fights out with womens now. Flaherty and Harper wasnt good enough
#14 omg
That sounds right to me. A clear case of irrational exuberance / ebullience. Families in Victoria do NOT make much money. Salaries compared to Hamilton, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay or Ottawa are low.
Yet they went aspendin as if they had all won the lottery. Nary a shred of interest in learning from Sacramento, San Diego, Miami, Phoenix or other areas.
It looks good on them. There’s no excuse for ignoring a major exemplar that is visible from dallas road.
Ive seen articles like this since 2006. Ive heard and read of many articles that the s&p will tank this fall. Bearsish articles towards real estate has done nothing to prices. In fact, its a pretty strong November so far in Van.
Sad to say, but thats the truth.
Good call! Expose her before she has a chance to expose you.
You still have a bit of the politician in you Garth ;)
Garth, you are shitting me; that’s hilarious. For some reason, I always seem to get into trouble from these overly serious, fascist types.
Airport security is ridiculous in Victoria; they treat you like a terrorist even though you haven’t done anything–and I’m just a boring, middle-aged chick. But when people bark at me for no good or legitimate reason, you’d better bet that I’m going to bark them back up their tree.
Ridiculous indeed–it’s all just theatre to make the insecure types who are paying through the roof for first class feel better about themselves. Segregation: That’s where the money is baby–they aren’t making much off us cheap skates who are just helping them absorb some of the fuel costs :-)
Apparently the clock on the blog does not automatically reset with the transition from daylight savings time.
Regards…
Not house-trained, either. — Garth
Ms. Yoga sounds like her Lulu-lemons were several sizes too small. How Victorian of her, hope you helped her understand the libel laws, like that other real estate agent clown you had to tune up.
Liking it, throw in a bit of situational life experience while blending it into a economic post.
Did I teach you that garth….
Funny thing is was hammering and away at my short story for the contest titled don’t fly with Dmitry when I peeked in
flight 90 seat d18. Holly crap UCC how un believable would it be that, that seat is where the fiction written character Sunny McKean is sitting.
I need to start drinking again.
You should post more like this…
15 screwed on 11.19.13 at 9:15 pm
Double interest rates? Ben just said he’s doubling down in the US. The OECD is out to lunch and just as irrelevant as the unfriendly Air Canada counter gal.
Rates will stay low for a prolonged period of time. Nobody will sell their digs at 25% less than what they’re worth today unless its forced upon them.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Screwed, so how long do you think the FED can play their parlor trick of holding down mortgage rates? The longer they play the QE game, the less effective it becomes. They are painting themselves into a corner and if the bond market revolts, mortgage rates could head to the ugly level.
Prior to your disorderly conduct you likely had pissed off yoga-lady probably by convincing her SO to rent instead of buy. Nice trick publishing the story before her!
Air Canada is the worst airline I have ever flown and I have flown a bunch.
Does this mean the “great melt” is starting in earnest?
Will interest rates REAL?LY move up in the face of slack demand?
Will QE Infinity REALLY be finite?
Will Canadian Real Estate in Toronto chase Phoenix to the basement?
Will 2014 be a repeat for investors of 2013?
Will Rob Ford resurrect his authority as Mayor?
Will Obamacare really work “As Advertised”?
Will Garth continue his excellent investing advice?
Will recent RE buyers suffer “Virgin Buyers Remorse”?
Will Real Estate be the Toxic Asset of choice in 2014?
Will the Smoking Man contact the UCC to save us all?
Stick around, next episode coming up shortly.
Garth as brilliant as you are; flying with Air Canada. What were you thinking?
#16 eddy on 11.19.13 at 9:17 pm
A few years ago there was a Polish tourist who was tazzered to death at a BC airport. They murdered him like an animal, he was just a visitor to Canada, he couldn’t speak English
——————————
bullshit.
he was tossing around computers and furniture – of course the cops should be called
when confronted by cops he was too stupid to not make any quick moves – here comes the taser – still all good
the cops went too far in pinning down his neck post-tasering and not checking his breathing – this was the only mistake the cops made, and it was fatal.
cops are not selected from the best or brightest, not even close, failing to recognize this when dealing with them can be fatal. ( ie. no sudden moves)
#2 Chris L.
No, silly. Divorce makes most women free, happy, and rich!
More like the plane lady needs to keep the smart people who pay low airfares at bay so that that the ones who overpay for privilege of boarding early don’t stop shelling out for the added benefit of pumping up their fragile egos.
And the yoga lady is pissed because she bought an “investment condo” a couple years back at the height of the market despite Garth’s warnings, and now she can’t get rid of it and is taking her frustration out on him.
Disorderly??!
Garth, I lived the first two decades of my life behind the iron curtain. The life was full of stupid restrictions, created for silly reasons and implemented by little people.
You and most of the Canadians (Americans) are not aware of how much North America is slowly resembling what we had in Eastern Europe 25 years ago, and I am not having any joy in saying this.
Please do not take this as a derogatory comment. I am sure the Russian, Polish, Czech, Romanian, former Yugoslavian (etc) readers of this blog know what I am talking about…
you’re still stuck on the jetway in the same line as everyone else!
————————–
hello!
that is why you wait till the line is GONE, the overhead bins are filled , all are seated, THEN you get on. pretty simple.
The life was full of stupid restrictions, created for silly reasons and implemented by little people.
———————————-
doorknobs and bike helmets anyone?
I’ve had very different service from airport personelle, but I always fly westjet. On westjet, they call out “prioirty loading” and like everyone pretty much gets up, moneyed and poor alike. Ive never seen them harass anyone. I usually don’t go till i’m called, because hey, what am i going to do? run to the seat and eagerly buckle myself in? and then… wait.
I usually fly only after smoking and drinking though.
Are you really that famous that some women recognized you? I guess you get passed around quite a bit in my workplace too so I shouldn’t be surprised. Anyways, hopefully someone here works for air canada and can get an incident report “leaked” to some OTHER website…
#13 bdwy sktrn on 11.19.13 at 9:12 pm…
“…they were howling at the jokes I made while inside the ‘naked’ scanner”
They were probably laughing because the X-ray ‘naked’ scanners were removed earlier this year – TSA now uses ‘generic’ images with millimetre wave scanning technology.
But I do agree Alaska is better than AC – actually since a 17 hr flight from Vancouver to Kelowna about 15 years ago I came to realize any airline is better than Air Canada.
I will never board another AC flight – I would rather drive to YVR and catch any other airlines’ offering.
corporate profits going uo
https://twitter.com/hussmanjp/status/402786419032076288/photo/1
Reminder: profit margins are cyclical. The “permanently high plateau” view assumes sudden change in the past 3 years
Jobless rate numbers fudged
https://twitter.com/IBD_ECarson/status/402870811008462848/photo/1
http://nypost.com/2013/11/18/census-faked-2012-election-jobs-report/
The resemblance with the RE market in Canada is striking :-)
1% or 2.25% is still a garbage rate. There will be others that will make home owners pay for years that interest rates will never do.
Ontario Liberals have done so much damage with double electricity rates and their just getting started, $900 health taxes, smart meter fees, H.S.T. on everything, overvalued property assessments by at least 20% to 30% from MPAC, eco fees on paint, oil, other supplies needed by homeowners.
Wasting money in the billions, Eheath, gas plants etc. over spending and crowding out private investment and jobs and creating huge job losses.
The new city of Toronto act that McGunity gives Toronto tax everything in due time.
Wait until A Miller copy comes into power in Toronto. dark days ahead for homeowners.
Doubling of water rates in 7 years, doubling of land transfer tax, doubling of VRT from $60 to $120 that does not exist right now, $200 to $250 annual increases to T.T.C, metro passes, 15 to 25 cent per T.T.C. token annual increases, garbage taxes of $150 to $300 a year going to $500 a year easily.
New taxes of all types like Don Valley, Gardiner tolls etc. and tolls on Toronto roads, minimum 5% to 7% annual increases in property taxes.
The right hand tax man of Glenn Baeremaeker wanting to tax everything from batteries to gasoline, cigarettes, billboards, driveways, walkways to plastic bags which he did.
Also, wanting to make gas lawnmowers illegal. Google it and you will see all the taxes he wanted to put.
He was scaring and talking about 18% to 20% property tax increases if the Toronto Land Transfer tax was not put in. He is a Taxocrat 100% of the time for sure.
Good luck with these environment wacko, tax and spend, massive debt accumulators in power.
You all should know this. Anyone who has the power to make you wait will. How long is up to you. Be kind and personable. That spoils for them. If you look rushed it just makes it more fun to mess with you.
We are all familiar with micro condos. What is next? HD Camp?
I can c the lineups already.
http://funnymelon.com/HD-Camp-_–id1058.html&h=720&w=960&sz=236&tbnid=TfYiLV8WShN73M:&tbnh=129&tbnw=172&zoom=1&usg=__lEFpOoegK8j7KJOgfLRxSQOvmMo=&docid=Kyz1X2yT1lVltM&sa=X&ei=3R6MUr67CfHIsASih4HYCg&ved=0CC0Q9QEwAA
Starbucks. Never liked the organization. That is my bias. Even still, I was gobsmacked to hear the CBC-aired radio story the other day about how Starbucks proclaims it has always supported the military, etc. and demonstrated its ‘compassion’ and support by offering free coffees to those who demonstrate their affiliation on November 11. The radio show guy was talking to a military guy was told by a Starbucks store on November 11, No, to his request for his free coffee, and further, No we don’t do that!!
CBC then contacted HQ Canada who fell all over themselves explaining that the store was wrong, “miscommunication” all a mistake, etc. So, I figured, “I don’t think so…” these guys are lying and I figure they do not communicate “the offer” and stores probably turn down any military personnel who request a free beverage on November 11. So, I emailed them… and they emailed me.
Dinks.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Corporate social responsibility <>
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 19:44:53 -0600
Thank you for contacting Starbucks.
Unfortunately, we’re not able to share this information because it is proprietary. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
If you ever have any questions or concerns in the future, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Sincerely,
Yvette V
customer service
— Original Message —
Received: 11/17/13 7:10:56 PM MST
To:
Subject: Corporate social responsibility
Would like to know – how many free-to-military beverages were dispensed November 11 across Canada. Given that the one store, as aired by CBC radio, did not and would not dispense free beverage, how many were dispensed overall?
So once the word gets out that % rates are going to double or increase within the next yr is this not going to encourage another buying binge ????
Watch and think…
http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/canadian-home-prices-in-for-a-soft-landing-will-flatten-over-next-5-years-report-1.1550272
These two poor ladies just need
DELETED
Such insolent public lashing out at AC personnel might get one on the No Fly List. To me Air Canada has become the airline of last resort after on several occasions observing their staff treat the company’s customers like cattle. Why do people put up with this? The sooner we get some competition here the better. Or perhaps we could just ask them to attend the West Jet training program.
It is blind application of rules over compassion, common sense and respect to people. I feel bad about the Air Canada incident, having witnesses many myself…..
We are all familiar with micro condo. What is next? HD Camp?
I can c the lineups already.
http://bit.ly/1hW0UJg
#22 jim,
“These people can get very surly when one points out that housing is cyclical, and that all good things must come to an end.”
This is typical of Victoria, the denial is so deep there will be many that will need some serious therapy when the bottom drops out. I see a new reality show potential, “Homeowner Rehab” starring our host Garth “Told ya So” Turner.
“With a high level of employment and individual net worth tied to the value of the housing stock, a housing downturn could have serious consequences for the overall economy,” it warned in the 12-page report.
Fitch Ratings said home prices have surged more than 130 per cent since 2001, outpacing income growth by more than 80 per cent.”
Soft landing though says Fitch.
And…
The Conference Board cavalry rides to the rescue:
“A crash would require a significant negative surprise like an interest rate spike or employment collapse. Since no such shock is in the cards in Canada, a housing crash like the one in the U.S. is nowhere near a possibility,” said Robin Wiebe, a senior economist at the board’s centre for municipal studies.
Home Prices Overvalued By 26 Per Cent: Fitch Ratings:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/11/19/home-prices-overvalued_n_4303670.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-business
(For those of us who followed the US housing implosion from pre 2005, these comments seem like Groundhog Day.)
When consumers, business and governments finally decide to get serious about their deficit spending, where will final demand come from?…
re: “OECD to push the Bank of Canada to double interest rates within little more than a year”
We will have to wait and see if mortgage rates double in 18 months. There are analysts that argue a negative rate may be in order for a much longer period of time eg: Lawrence Summers http://pragcap.com/summers-expects-a-long-winter
My “real” 10 Year CAD Bond rate chart is still trending up: http://www.chpc.biz/real-10yr-rate.html (up 226 beeps since the Dec 2011 low) … it looks like a trend to me.
But even if interest rate policy is an unknown, there are always fundamentals to look at. My latest mashup clearly shows a slowing Canadian GDP http://www.chpc.biz/2/post/2013/11/commodity-dependence-vulnerability.html
A global slowdown is affecting our trade balance and if the Conservative government is serious about balancing the budget, then who in the private sector is going to pick up the slack?
#146 Smoking Man on 11.19.13 at 7:06 pm –“But I am a blog addict, and I might slip up. Is there rehab for blogging?” — Si. Pythons reuniting (sans Graham Chapman).
— plus —
“Not only does it push the Bank of Canada to double interest rates within little more than a year (yikes!), but it warns of a “disorderly correction” in the gaseous Canadian housing market.” — Garth
— and —
#151 Smoking Man on 11.19.13 at 8:25 pm — “. . . and a few charts, something huge is going to happen in the markets. HUGE and soon.”
Ummm, could it be this? Bubbleishus Bondage and like above. Then Obama’sCare, which is rolling along nicely.
Clearly, AuldPol… things have changed markedly for the worst since Pierrette et Celine TagTeamed me @ YUL’s CrewLounge. Talk about Disorderly! “Ahem.”
NeverMind all that… just pour yourself a libation and try the FriendlySkies instead…
http://youtu.be/O0uyIWOU024
So what is the best way to profit from the coming downturn in terms of investment…..should I be shorting certain ETFs or perhaps selling cardboard boxes for the homeless, and recyclable bags for yoga pant wearing bag ladies?
Im seeing unhappy homeowners more now then ever.Everyone of them bitchin about the cost of this,cost of that,property tax’s seem to burn mosts ass’s as well as the high cost of maintenance,and renovation..And how can you blame them watching their accumulated equity disappearing faster then a fart in a hurricane.
OECD asking to increase rate to control inflation but we have deflation isn’t it?
She was angry because she sold all of her AC stocks last year.
@ #26 Chaddywack on 11.19.13 at 9:46 pm
Good call! Expose her before she has a chance to expose you.
You still have a bit of the politician in you Garth ;)
Not. A politician would have denied, denied, denied until there was incontrovertible prove of bad behaviour and then would have “come clean” or had a “Jesus moment”. And when there was a negative public backlash he would try to make it look like he was the one who came forward and is now being persecuted.
And then run for re-election and, in Toronto at least, won. Garth didn’t run for re-election.
Would like to know – how many free-to-military beverages were dispensed November 11 across Canada
——————–
in contrast to the place in texas we went for dinner on veterans day…
the gal asks if any of us are military or ex-mil – i say no – my daughter says ‘but dad, you used to be in the air force’ – the gal immediately says completely free dinner for you – i say “it was very brief, a long time ago and in a different country”- she says too bad, free dinner anyway
i was VERY briefly in service to her majesty as a pilot , but the lifestyle was not for me, never got past officer cadet;( not the place for smoking men.
snowboid -They were probably laughing because the X-ray ‘naked’ scanners were removed earlier this year – TSA now uses ‘generic’ images with millimetre wave scanning technology
——-
duh – we know about the scan changes, the jokes were about being tickled while holding one’s arms up in the air.
I was unhappy with my house (condo) purchase too. I did some math in the after-math, and decided I wasn’t getting ahead with savings and investments as I’d like to, correctly identified the condo as the cause (costing me nearly 50% more than equivalent rent, in a unit with better finishings just two floors down), and solved my problem. Condo sold two months later, in the spring market. It wasn’t an easy decision, but a 20% downpayment meant plenty of cushion for transaction costs. The hardest thing about the sale? Cutting that hefty check to the realtor, who literally did little more than post the listing on MLS.
Lessons learned all around.
63 Skytrain – “i was VERY briefly in service to her
majesty as a pilot ”
Did you wear your helmet?
why do we expect extra courtesy from the airline staff, because they as vendors may be responsible for loss of our limb and …?
“#16 eddy on 11.19.13 at 9:17 pm
A few years ago there was a Polish tourist who was tazzered to death at a BC airport. They murdered him like an animal, he was just a visitor to Canada, he couldn’t speak English”
He also wandered around the arrivals area (before you clear immigration) for hours before anybody did anything. I always wondered: if he were non-Caucasian and/or wearing a turban/skullcap, would he have been allowed to hang around aimlessly for that long?
And why didn’t his mother squawk and scream for people to find her son when she knew darned well his plane had already landed and he was uncomfortable in unfamiliar environs?
A lot of balls were dropped by a lot of people that day.
” #36 Cici on 11.19.13 at 9:59 pm
#2 Chris L.
No, silly. Divorce makes most women free, happy, and rich! ”
—–
That’s what my mom thought.
My dad never gave her that divorce and got top lawyers to tell her feminist lawyer to move along.
They have not seen each other for over 20 years.
Today my mom is in her 70’s and enjoys never seeing my dad but enjoys her full medical insurance paid for and eventually his pension.
I asked him why he never signed for the divorce.
He said, “I was thinking ahead for my kids and them not having to support her.”
My dad, the ex-mechanic, said
“Even with her CGA and accounting career, your mother doesn’t understand personal finance .. most women don’t.
She got 30% so my 3 kids can get 60% someday. I just need 10%.
She also gets free medical insurance and my pension when I’m gone.
This was the only path that made financial sense.
”
Cici .. you keep thinking divorce makes you rich. It only reduces your chances in the long run. I am grateful my wife understand when I die she gets 100% + hopefully get have a healthy fund for our legacy.
If my wife ever leaves me, I’ll have a deal for her. 10% to me, 10% to her and 80% to the kids. I think she will accept since she is not a Cici, greedy, @#[email protected]#%#.
Lol – fly westjet.
Anybody who wants to invest their funds with John Hussman is welcome to. The crappier markets get, the better you’ll feel. And vice versa.
just remember not to call those AC employees “stewardesses” – the correct term is “sky cows” as a previous poster had clarified on here a couple or weeks ago.
good times, GT – waiting for said disorder. one day.
At least you got on your flight. Last time I attempted to fly Air Canada they didn’t even have a seat for three of us. The flight had been booked for me by the conference organizers months before. Calmly they told us that not only was our flight full but the rest of the flights that day were even more full. In fact, we may not get on a flight until the day after tomorrow. I was only going for three days to present at a conference. The compensation was minimal. How do they run a business this way? Needless to say I flew home on Westjet and took Porter my next trip.
EF it I’m doomed. Never going to be an author…
I can write here so easily.
I know some in the audience will love what I post, others will want my head on a stick.
That’s what makes it fun. Instant pissoffication.
Trying to write a story in word for a future audience is not working for me.
I have spent the last 5 hours typing shit..
The story is about a soul collector, who job is to calm newly departed souls who’s body’s have been ripped to pieces in a plane crash.
The theme of the story is the way down, what the passengers are thinking as things fly apart. Some cool, some hysterical, some indifferent all thinking they can get out of this. Time slows down just before impact. The belief system goes through wild changes.
Look how brilliant Garth writes. I can’t do that. Shit!!!
………………………………………………………
““Step back.”
Startled, I looked up, into the steely, remorseless, dead eyes of Janet, the Air Canada morning-shift dominatrix.
“Excuse me?”, I asked in my best what-the-what tone?
“Priority boarding only,” she hissed. “Step back.”
…………………………………………………..
I’m depressed………damn screw not drinking, it doesn’t work…
Continued……………………
The start is ok.
Middle of the story sucks. Bubble heads insult me, chirp me..I need a middle…..
The ending perfect, I lead the souls up to meet the maker. they are in shock, for he is an autistic bald fat sweaty man mumbling like he just did 10 hits of acid.
The souls terrorized….
Bout to lock in for 5 years in Dec would you be changing your recommendation from variable to 10 year year now. Currently going for a 5 year fixed after feeling like I had a good run with variable.
Don’t worry Garth, if yoga lady is wearing Lululemon, she’s the one that will be exposed!!!
Smoking Man-
You probably CAN write. Your problem is your trying to type it. Get a nice recorder, and speak your thoughts.
Have a slave transcribe those verbalized thoughts to paper, then edit those thoughts.
Yeah, might take more than a few “passes” at first, but what the hell? What’s there to lose?
Really enjoy your thoughts.
#31 Jsan
How long can the Fed hold mortgage rates down? You speak of “bond market revolt” as if that were really a possibility anymore. The Fed IS the bond market. Without the Fed, there wouldn’t be a buyer of UST at these rates. The Fed buys it all including student loans.
Pretty good reporting on the failure of QE even in the WSJ lately. Now the top guy at the Fed in charge of buying the bonds during QE1 & 2 came out saying that it was a failure, that it didn’t help main street and that they knew it was a huge gift to Wall Street and nothing else.
Wall Street banks reporting best profits ever and bonus time galore all the while not one dent had been made in the real economy and credit is still tight. The banks didn’t need a real economy to make profits, they were on the receiving end of the weekly Fed money showers.
When the Fed even as much as hints at reducing QE or shutting off the tap, the markets cringe and take a dive. Real economy would degenerate further and go from teetering on the brink of recession right down to a depression. If it wasn’t for SNAP or EBT you’d see the soup lines across the nation.
Q4 will be a massacre as consumers aren’t shopping and US.gov is reducing its spending.
The Fed will increase its purchases and go full retard where only the Japanese have gone before.
What will Canada do? I hope BoC will do all possible to devalue the Canadian Dollar as that is the only game in town. We need a massive bout of inflation to keep financing the current budgets and entitlements.
Air Canada sucks, plain and simple, and represents much of what is wrong with this country.
I fly 100K miles a year……..most of them on United……….the more money I can keep out of Air Canada’s pocket, the better I feel. The next time they go BK we should let them rot in the hell they so justly deserve.
It’s been 22+ years since there has been any major correction in the RE market in Canada (there used to be one every 10 years or so). Anyone under 40 or 45 who has owned a house has never seen their home value go down. But they are about to. The gov’t is trying so desperately hard to slow this thing down without impacting the economy …. but it’s impossible.
Smoking man, if you are in love with Ford so much, why aren’t you down there during council to get a big sweaty belly hug from him like I see other supporters doing?
He’s your guy, warts and crack pipe and all, so get in there and show your undying support.
No crash is coming. No tsunami. No rerun of 2008. If there’s a correction in markets, it will be the normal variety (5%-20%) we see most years. Hate to break it to you, but the world’s recovering a little more every week. — Garth
Ok but Blackberry, Heinz,and on it goes with no real
income gains to be seen.
House prices in the 80s and my wage at that time,
taxes cost of gas and food ect. It was hard but doable.
What of the children?
Jim Rogers – one of the smartest and richest investors on the planet has said for years that the FED prints money yet Garth says they don’t. Who should we believe? Jim Rogers has never worked for Govt. Google Jim’s videos. He says the FED prints money nearly every time.
??????????????? Confusing ??????????????????
Gotta put a plug in for Air North! They don’t charge extra for baggage or meals and ya even get a warm cookie for dessert. Last flight I took they actually served freshly baked slices of cake to everyone. Cake!!
And of course AC sux, almost as bad as United. I avoid em like the plague.
#69 Carpe Diem
Actually, I’m not a greedy ?&*?&*%$# type, I was jut poking fun at the fact that for a lot of women (and some men too), divorce is the meal ticket.
I’m also really sorry that worked out like that for your Dad, and I’m glad he had the foresight to look out for you kids. My uncle got totally looted by his ex, and I’ve seen this with acquaintances as well.
As it stands, my boyfriend and I share home finances, but other than that we are totally financially independent, and love each other and want to stay together, but don’t want to get married. He’s studying and working full-time, so I do almost all the grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning, but he does the weekend breakfasts.
I do however think that a lot of women are much more astute than you may be giving them credit for. My own mom worked 30-35 hours a week, took care of the household budget and bills, some of the investments and ran the entire home (cooking, cleaning and child-rearing). She never stopped–ever. Now they are retired, and still together, and thankfully, relaxing and enjoying life a little bit more :-)
Norway, another one trick pony with an inflated housing market is on decline:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-11/norwegian-housing-bubble-seen-by-shiller-deflating-mortgages.html
It used to be fun to fly. Remember PWA’s Chieftain Airbus?
Yet Another reason to wear a helmet – Skytrain, as a pilot you might enjoy the vids
http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/11/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-bifurcation-and-high-speed-shimmy_309601
OK back to our regularly scheduled RE/finance blog
Spending even a PENNY on an Air Canada ticket is like flushing your money down the toilet.
You buy a ticket, then you arrive at the airport, and you have a 20% chance your flight will be delayed by such a huge amount that you will miss ALL of your connecting flights, thus stranding you in some far-away airport, so that you never get to your destination on time.
And there is also the 5% chance that you will be told that the airline is over-booked, and that the earliest you can fly for your 5-day holiday is a week from now.
In other words; Air Canada puts your travel plans seriously at risk.
#69:
Interesting that you would respond to Cici with such derision when she was merely calling out #2 on his pathetic comment. Your father was ignorant to make sweeping judgments about women and finances just as #2 was to make comments about divorced women.
As great as Garth’s blog is, there are still so many idiots making useless comments.
Not a pathetic blog, Garth. Just lots of pathetic readers.
In other news…bitcoin
as usual, absolutely spot on assessment from my other favorite economic wacko:
http://armstrongeconomics.com/2013/11/19/congressional-hearings-on-bitcoin/
also an interesting read:
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-11-19/money-does-not-exist
This Blog is pathetic , in one day I learn more from observation, than I do from reading one years worth of comments on this blog! But reading one year of Garth’s blog priceless, thanks Garth!
Garth, I am not surprised by what happened to you while trying to board your plane. Not only is there some people: in the RE industry, the Political Arena, the MSM, and the Financial Industry, etc. who may harbor negative feelings/homicidal thoughts towards you, but these were 2 females, the extreme House Horny sex…….who probably are mortgaged to the hilt while also being Helo’d out for their brand new SUV with heated leather seats. Their whole well being relies on the Greater Fools. However, judging by their actions, it’s them. We can only hope. Thank God I live alone, ringless, on my finger, or in my nose.
#83 continued…
I do love women. Just don’t wish to lose my freedom. Women want to be the Boss of a man’s life.
No human being is my boss. Forever, Freedom First.
AC haters.
Suck it up, or take the train.
Garth, funny how it is that you, being a great guy, stick your neck out for what you believe in and looking out for the little guy/girl gets treat like a piece of poo, yet crack smoking, Rob Ford is beig hearlded as some kind of working man/woman’s hero. (Damn this gender neutrality! Smoking Man, someone spiked my Diet Coke?)
Canadian have a big spanking coming to them but the best part aboot is that no one complain. Partly because they were warned but mostly is they are the most timid of world citizens in the western world. Look I’ll prove it. “Canadians, did a pigeon fly into your face or do you always wake up that way?” “RUSH sucks and the latest cultural contributions are the Trailer Park Boys. Justin Bieber doesn’t count because anyone with a shred of talent leaves Canada to make it big somewhere else.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X_wUflADA8
Another reason I am happy to be in Europe, tons of airline choices and even the much maligned Ryan Air is miles better than AC. You just have to know their restrictions so you don’t get dinged with extra costs. But what the hey, you can go from London to Barcelona for 50 euros, who cares?
My wife was stranded at LAX years ago because the stewardesses (sky cows?), had gone over their allotted hours. I swore after that day to never fly AC again and discourage as many people I know not to as well.
These days it seems like just about every AC flight has a Nurse Ratched who actually believes she’s at the helm.
But what was really her problem? Power intoxication, recently bought a house, or working nights at OECD?
I wonder if Janet missed her works ‘customer service’ refresher training. Does AC have any for there staff?
Janet sounds like she may have mist it.
Maybe AC CEO can get on that to help justify there pay?
Just a thought.
Two interesting reads this AM:
Jeremy Grantham On Timing Bear Markets: 25% Upside Left And Then The Bust “We All Deserve”:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-19/jeremy-grantham-timing-bear-markets-25-upside-left-and-then-bust-we-all-deserve
Deficits Versus Growth: Rep. Paul Ryan Battles Larry Summers To Convince CEOs:
http://www.ibtimes.com/deficits-versus-growth-rep-paul-ryan-battles-larry-summers-convince-ceos-1477544
I know what you mean about the passive/aggressive AC agents GT. Via Rail reps aren’t very far removed either.
We are merely a commodity to move; no longer a customer.
The customers are in first class…
You and most of the Canadians (Americans) are not aware of how much North America is slowly resembling what we had in Eastern Europe 25 years ago, and I am not having any joy in saying this.
”
You are of course right my friend….but you will be labeled
a doomer……we are frogs slowly being boiled to death but most of the idiot masses…..prefer to just watch the circus and eat their bread…everyone thinks “it can’t happen here” but it can and it will….these are far more important issues than…real estate…but human history shows that no one will pay attention till it’s too late.
One just need tour the museums in Budapest or spend a couple hours talking to a Serbian war vet..to understand how things can change in a New York minute….
But..you’re wasting your breath on the poorly educated and fast food masses…as Garth tries to get across….most people can’t even do math to figure out the rape of bank mortgages….how do you expect them to see the forest for the trees?
Should be sandman…not sandman…hope I didn’t put everyone to sleep!
#82 not 1st on 11.20.13 at 12:49 am
Smoking man, if you are in love with Ford so much, why aren’t you down there during council to get a big sweaty belly hug from him like I see other supporters doing?He’s your guy, warts and crack pipe and all, so get in there and show your undying support.
………….
Dude its not like I love they guy.. But the alternative is worse.
Think of the libs as your mom and dad, they keep up sizing your house. You the child have a false sense of comfort and security. One day they won’t make the mortgage payment and you your brothers and sisters will be on the street.
Ford is like that asshole dad, that moves you into a trailer park and cuts of your alowance, but you will always have a roof over your head.
@screwed
“Q4 will be a massacre as consumers aren’t shopping and US.gov is reducing its spending.”
Want to bet?
Feeling odd. There was a story I read that expresses my attitude to the bureaucratic mindset and my wallet. A public subway transit system was losing money. The managers debated solutions. Their focus went to the top line – revenues. The operating statistics showed that if they could collect the fines issued to non-paying “customers”, the revenue shortfall could be solved. The problem was that most fines were issued to people of no fixed address (the lowest form of human life to many people) who didn’t pay up. The final solution – raise fines high enough so those who did pay them would cover those who didn’t.
I hate make the rich pay solutions because it generally punishes honest and responsible people. I admit there are scumbags at the top – may they rot in hell. I despise cheaters but my background makes me lenient to those who are trying to provide for others – no personal gain.
I would have considered the Indiana Jones solution – lots of subliminal messages.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNseba-wHUc
Why do I think of Smoking Man? I live outside of the centre of the Canadian Universe and I thought this was a fair comment on Rob Ford from the elitist point of view. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-18/why-rob-ford-happened#r=rss
My recent instincts have been to raise some cash from the markets – don’t know why. I will probably redeploy into income orientated assets later.
Small wonder Westjet has done so well. When it first made its appearance on the travel scene, it was a huge breath of fresh air.
I couldn’t believe how traveler-friendly they were. On-board staff are second to none. It’s pure pleasure to travel with Westjet.
I know this is off-topic, but it needs to be said- I hop on Westjet every time I have a choice.
No, I don’t work for them, nor do I own stock. Just a very impressed traveler.
Problem with Worstjet, their B737 is 6″ narrower by design than AC’s Airbus 319/320 model (domestic haulers). With 4 seats abreast and an aisle this means your Worstjet seat is 1/2″ narrower. I notice. Seats are harder and very uncomfortable.
(Plus they call you by your first name. )
Only when work’s TA books them as a last resort…
You get the service you deserve. Early this year was passing though Halifax, on an Aeroplan reward ticket (via AC), flight canceled due to ice storm. After a line up they gave each a cab to a 3.5 star hotel and a breakfast coupon. Taxied back next day, but each later flight was rolling over as cancelled/delayed, into the afternoon. I foresaw another night stuck,
In the AC lounge (have a pass but no frequent flyer status) noticed a lone flight out to Moncton boarding while everything else was cancelled. Asked lounge agent, said to call AC’s CXLd flight line. I did, got though right away, they said if gate agent can re-open flight can add you. I ran to gate still on phone with AC, asked gate agent, they put me on that flight. 19 seats on the little plane, I got one.
Nearly got stuck on runway in snow in little Beechcraft airplane, but we lifted off, above the clouds into to the sun. Amazing. All those 1000s of people still stuck in the airport. To Moncton then on to T.O on another flight. All I had to do was work with them and ask nicely. Saga was from 4pm until 3pm the next day, stuck.
#100 Greg on 11.20.13 at 6:58 am
I wonder if Janet missed her works ‘customer service’ refresher training. Does AC have any for there staff?
======================
It really is difficult to be customer centric when you’re unionized.
I suspect that at Air Canada, the salaries (so-so), benefits package (meager), and job security (iffy) can turn the sunniest air stewardess into a sky cow.
Garth, you won’t be elected mayor unless you work harder at being disorderly.
#86 Cici
So, do you file your taxes as a single person or common-law? Financially speaking, are you essentially roommates? If, heaven forbid, your boyfriend racks up some horrendous debt behind your back, can Big Brother (or a Big Bank) come after you to collect? If, heaven forbid (again), you guys break up, are you entitled to each other’s property? What happens if one of you passes away? Did you guys sign some kind of co-habitation agreement?
I’m hoping to have a boyfriend or a husband sometime in this life, and your post got me thinking about these issues. Thanks.
Tell you what, recharts. Over the next year, every time you get some BS letter from a business you patronize about how they try to control costs while providing you with a high quality product or service, but due to factors completely beyond their control, they’re raising their prices by 3%, please write them a letter saying that the consumer is tapped out and in debt, John Hassman says corporate profits are at a cyclical peak, government jobs and inflation numbers are faked and Zerohedge says we’re facing complete economic collapse by Christmas. See if they care.
Dammit Garth, I was trying to impress you in hopes of landing a job on your Amazon squad. Attached is my resume, you bearded hunk you…..
#107 Maxx -re: AC. I too only fly WestJet anytime I can and have done so since 2000 after AC robbed me of 85000 points when they merged with CP. Will never use them again however their stock is up 760% since April 2009 so they must be doing something right.
#75 Smoking Man on 11.20.13 at 12:11 am
Continued……………………
The start is ok.
Middle of the story sucks. Bubble heads insult me, chirp me..I need a middle…..
The ending perfect, I lead the souls up to meet the maker. they are in shock, for he is an autistic bald fat sweaty man mumbling like he just did 10 hits of acid.
The souls terrorized….
_____________________________________________
As time slowed down everyone started talking. One of the passengers said, “Where’s the pilot?” Another said, “yes his name was Dimitri and he was a prick. I recall he cut off our liquor mid flight for some particular reason.” Then the whole crowd erupted into a violent angry mob and demanded to know where was the person that was in control of the descending plane. Bob Gainer who was in business class came out of the cockpit and said, “he’s gone, and he’s just disappeared.” Now the entire aircraft full of souls plummeting towards the ever-encroaching earth knew that they were all going to depart this life, but what could they do in the seconds they has left? Jill asked if we could make notes to our loved ones…………………
Come on Smoking Man, I could write a story in one week, edit it and have a book in two months. If writing is in your blood then just do it! If not find another passion man.
I told you before go take a creative writing class at one of the universities. They will show you how to unlock your mind. Perhaps you have some hidden demons that will help you if they are let out of the abyss.
Good luck :):( Ying Yang
Gripping my Starbucks? Un Canadian Garth!
For Gods sake Garth switch to Tims or Country Style.
TnT on 11.19.13 at 10:41 pm Watch and think…
http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/canadian-home-prices-in-for-a-soft-landing-will-flatten-over-next-5-years-report-1.1550272
———————————————————-
You must be a fellow Crackhead realtor to believe such nonsense. You should watch and think about what happened in the US as that was the EXACT SAME Crackhead realtor line that turned out to be wrong. Any slow down will result in HUGE number of lob losses which will result in more job losses and people are living pay check to pay check. Why am I trying to explain this to a crackhead?
#117 :):(Ying Yang on 11.20.13 at 11:13 am
Dude you know I like you that was ok. But it was just words, didn’t paint a sharp picture.
But Garths few words describing the beotch from hell was perfect.
Put a crystal clear image in our head, we have all met that lady.
I need that standard before I release anything.
As far as university, sure when they finally figure out the universe is shrinking that school will take credit. THE SMOKING MAN LEARNED HERE.
Going to university for me is like having a vampire stroll into the desert mid day sun.
PS doing Seneca Sat night.
#98 World Traveller on 11.20.13 at 5:14 am
I have flown Ryan Air 5 times. From Brussels to Rome for 20 Euros. From London to Brussels for 9 Euros. From Brussels to Barcelona for 15 Euros. From Barcelona to Ibiza for 15 Euros. And from Ibiza to Brussels for 25 Euros. 5 flights around Europe for less then 90 Euros. I didn’t check a bag but I can travel very light.
Ryan Air business model is no frills and aggresive selling. The flight is non stop selling, with sandwichs, drinks, duty free, and lottery tickets. I think if the plane was going to crash, they woud quickly start selling life jackets.
Nemesis, thought you might find this video of interest. Re: unemployment and technology.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SuGRgdJA_c
Wow!
57%: Percentage of 2013 homebuyers who were first-time buyers, about 250,000 buyers YTD … In recent years, it’s been an accomplishment to see even a low-40%-range first-timers ratio.
Source: http://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/canadian_mortgage_trends/2013/11/key-stats-from-caamps-fall-2013-report.html
@ Smoking man
Forgotten languages: how I put together Exit From the Matrix
http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/forgotten-languages-how-i-put-together-exit-from-the-matrix/
Air Canada is the worst airline! Only thing that keeps me flying with them is my Aeroplan!
Number from the 2013 CAAMP report.
70%: Percentage of households with mortgages that have 25% or more equity
—————————–
This percentage value to be high. Give the increase in CMHC over the last 5 years and the high number of 0 to 5% downs how is it possible?
#105 Pbrasseur
Sure, give me your side of the argument first. Don’t look at CAT sales this morning though….
The CAT is finally dead. Layoffs coming.
Truly inspiring to the US consumer.
US.gov needs a new stimulus package or Obama is not just done like dinner, he’s overcooked. Shittiest presidency ever.
What correction? Looks pretty healthy RE market based on theses stats.
http://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/canadian_mortgage_trends/2013/11/key-stats-from-caamps-fall-2013-report.html
Equity
46%: The average equity ratio for owners with mortgages but not HELOCs
43%: The average equity ratio for owners with both mortgages and HELOCs
76%: The average equity ratio for owners with HELOCS but without mortgages
83%: Percentage of Canadian homeowners with 25% or more equity
(This includes people without mortgages.)
What does any of that have to do with pricing? — Garth
People that work for Air Canada think they have power by showing arrogance like they did in Garth’s case. They have to feel important somehow.
I bet you that is typical union mentality that keeps most of the innovation and the young stuck in neutral.
#124 Godth on 11.20.13 at 12:13 pm
@ Smoking manForgotten languages: how I put together Exit From the Matrixhttp://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/forgotten-languages-how-i-put-together-exit-from-the-matrix/
…………
That’s funny, had a similar experience with my dad.
He’s 97 no longer speaks and recognizable language. Alzheimer, dementia, and a few not cataloged yet.
HE smiles and dose these hand jesters while mumbling out who knows what.
I copied him, the two of us engaged a rather detailed conversation for 10 min only to be distracted by the nurse who came into to room. Giggling she said what language is that.
I said ancient african…… I had to, a few Oglala Bugalas, didn’t sound serbian.
Truth is we just inverted it, dad was so happy…
So let me get this straight. You bypass the regular boarding line, cuss out the attendant, and bump into a woman. Yeah, I think I saw a Rob Ford video of him doing most of that in city council.
Even the appearance of someone cutting in line is enough to send most Canucks into a self righteous rage. This is the road rage capital of the world after all. I put it down to people having become entirely anal over their massive personal debt ….”What…you don’t know how much a month I’m paying for this car….I’m going to kill you for not letting me in first”…..they’re walking/driving/seething timebombs…you ran into two. There have been many articles in the local and national papers recently on the derth of civility between canadians lately…..the old ‘kind canuck’ is a thing of the past…..most people are real a-holes imho….
and I think its because of the stress of high debt/insecurity and constant messaging of high paid civil servants and the like getting frebies and more than their fair share while the average person is up to their balls in debt and hiding it behind closed doors.
and….. “heck , even the TSA airline cops in texas were was nicer than AC staff. they were howling at the jokes I made while inside the ‘naked’ scanner”.
Uh…they mave have been laughing at you rather than with you?
WardAir has pretty Stewadesses.
Oh…and FYI…don’t cry for Norway
“Norway, another one trick pony with an inflated housing market is on decline:”
The biggest debate they have going on right now is what to do with the 800 ++ billion dollar rainy day fsoverign wealth fund they’ve squirreled away . The government could give everyone a free home and still be the wealthiest per capita country on the planet. Oh ….the pain of being Norwegian….eh?
#113 4AM Sunrise
Good questions 4AM Sunrise. In our province, we are obligated (as of this year) to file taxes as a common-law couple. We’ve been together for almost three and a half years, but 2014 will only be our second year “officially” living together. I was cautious after a very unpleasant past experience, and made sure that we both had our own separate apartments for the first two years. I think this is a good tactic, because after two years you usually get to see the absolute best and worst of a person. I guess three years is even better, but it’s a long wait.
As for Big Brother (or a Big Bank) coming after me if he racks up a big debt, I really doubt it: I haven’t co-signed any of his loans or otherwise, and we aren’t legally married. However, I chose well this time: my boyfriend is very responsible with money, and in the event of a default due to his own error or lack of judgement, he would pay up.
The property question is pretty much null at this point. We are renting and don’t have any real “property” other than our cars. But in our province (Quebec), we are supposed to draft a co-habitation agreement together detailing how everything should be divied up in the event of a breakup. As for what happens if one of us passes away, this is also provincial jurisdiction. In our province, unless we state otherwise in our wills, each party’s respective property is divided up among each person’s legal heirs.
The only advice I can give you is to check your provincial laws regarding common law, to be open and forthright with your partner, and to discuss all of these issues before moving in together. And then check your provincial laws again (especially if you decide to have children), because they could, can and probably will change.
It seems draconian, but I keep copies of all of my own major purchases, and any major purchases made together are made via a joint account for proof of purchase/transaction history. He does the same, and we like it this way because we feel protected and are not out to profit from each another anyways.
Good luck to you, and hope it works out for the best. Relationships have their ups and downs, so the best decision you can make is too choose someone you love and TRUST, and to look out for your own personal needs AS WELL AS your mutual interests as a couple :-)
If you do not trust him with your money, why trust him with your heart? — Garth
#114 Ralph Cramdown on 11.20.13 at 10:55 am
Tell you what, recharts. Over the next year, every time you get some BS letter from a business you patronize about how they try to control costs while providing you with a high quality product or service, but due to factors completely beyond their control, they’re raising their prices by 3%, please write them a letter saying that the consumer is tapped out and in debt, John Hassman says corporate profits are at a cyclical peak, government jobs and inflation numbers are faked and Zerohedge says we’re facing complete economic collapse by Christmas. See if they care.
The comment zooms in too much to be relevant to the subject. You are exaggerating the importance of consumer level increases as a way to improve the situation. IF that was so simple we should see the economies around the world rising from their ashes. They will just say “screw the consumer” and our GDP will come back to normal. As you can see is not happening…I expected more from you.
PS: even if that would be a way it should be a lot in order to give that 8% every year. My opinion is that your 8% is at the expense of a greater fool. Again if that wouldn’t be true the FEDs won;t be so hesitant to taper and Europe would not be so fragile (to use a mild term)
@ #15 screwed “Ben just said he’s doubling down in the US. …. Rates will stay low for a prolonged period of time. Nobody will sell their digs at 25% less than what they’re worth today unless its forced upon them.”
Thanks for the laugh. Using the American home market as reasoning for stable prices is epic, superhero level cognitive disconnect. Slow open house today?
#89 Vangrrl,
Thanks for the support, and you are 100% right. The comment was in direct response to #2’s insulting comment about divorced women.
I get really pissed when guys accuse divorced or single women of being man haters who are in need of a good shag.
I think they don’t know or just forget that women are capable of building their own wealth, happiness and fulfillment without a man. And I also think that they completely missing the larger picture: women who are self-fulfilled and independent probably make for better, more loving and more satisfied spouses.
I don’t need to be supported by my boyfriend and he doesn’t need me to support him either. If at anytime either of us did become dependent on each other, we would do what we needed to help the other person get back on their feet, and then end of story, back to being strong independent people thriving in a respectful and harmonious relationship.
#73 Julia on 11.19.13 at 11:49 pm
At least you got on your flight. Last time I attempted to fly Air Canada they didn’t even have a seat for three of us. The flight had been booked for me by the conference organizers months before. Calmly they told us that not only was our flight full but the rest of the flights that day were even more full. In fact, we may not get on a flight until the day after tomorrow. I was only going for three days to present at a conference. The compensation was minimal. How do they run a business this way? Needless to say I flew home on Westjet and took Porter my next trip.
…………………
If we can avoid it, we would never take AC again. Several yrs ago we made reservations to fly from HFX to MTL for a long 4 day weekend. We arrived at 1830 hrs. Had a drink at the airport. They kept announcing delays. Finally around midnight, they said the flight was cancelled due to poor weather but that they would put up people on connecting flights. By that time I & hubby had a few drinks & would never consider driving home. Weather wasn’t a problem at all. They had redirected our flight to TO. I forced them to put us up at an Airport Hotel.
I flew up to MTL with Porter last year & found the service, etc. great.
Unfortunately, my hubby has to fly to France over the Xmas holidays & found the least expensive & most direct – HFX – MTL – Paris was w/AC – $1600. return. He’s not looking forward to travelling w/them. Because of his extensive travel, on a shoestring, when he was young, he’ll do fine.
When we fly overseas, at least every 2 yrs., we use Condor as it’s a direct flight from here to Frankfurt. Always upgrade from E class. Well worth it for the leg room, wider seats, etc. & never have a hassle at Customs. The HFX airport is a training centre for new Customs Officers. They are the worst. Because hubby travels on a French passport, half price of a Cdn Passport lasts for 10 years, he always hassled – they ask questions which they have no right to ask. We should have complained. He’s been a Canadian citizen for 30+ yrs.
Stop bashing AC everyone. At least they haven’t put one down in flames on the tarmac yet. You want a 5 star experience go get a room at a hotel. I just want to get there in one safe piece.
Maybe if passengers acted with a little decorum they might get treated that way in return, but most are spoiled entitled babies that think they should be individually pampered on their flight.
on cbc last night – jason kenney disses harper
i know little about him, but is there finally a crack in harpers ice?
prime minister kenney? is he good?
?????
#104 Smoking Man on 11.20.13 at 8:52 am
Dude its not like I love they guy.. But the alternative is worse.
_________
Nobody is saying there has to be a switch in parties for the mayors office. There are other fiscal conservatives in there, nominate one and let them take over.
Your insistence on hanging on to a guy with extreme incompetence and and addiction problems is damaging your cause more than your know and that will make the other party a shoe in if this continues. Cut the cancer and move on.
seems draconian, but I keep copies of all of my own major purchases, and any major purchases made together are made via a joint account for proof of purchase/transaction history…
If you do not trust him with your money, why trust him with your heart? — Garth
——————-
exactly.
if you can’t share with the one you love, you’ve got issues.
#137 fixie guy on 11.20.13 at 1:45 pm
———————-
you ride one of those crazy bikes?
they look hard – what’s the appeal?
Janet probably thinks that we would all be having bidding wars to buy her house for over asking, on our $10/hr gas jockey jobs, if it weren’t for you and your big mouth.
The yoga lady probably has a video of you NOT standing behind the line, you badass MF.
No wonder they all hate you. ;-)
What does any of that have to do with pricing? — Garth
Canadians can afford their homes.
Actually it says we have a dangerous concentration of personal wealth in a single asset, accompanied by record levels of debt. — Garth
Cici, thanks for your response.
One thing I always wondered about – how does a government “obligate” a couple to file as common-law after 2 years of cohabitation? If there are no joint accounts, how do they prove a common-law relationship? (I know of kids in their early 20’s who shack up but keep everything separate. Of course, at that stage of their lives the biggest joint purchase is probably a bed.) Do they knock on people’s doors and say, “A-HA! You’re sleeping together and therefore must file a joint tax return!” If I share an apartment with my gal pal for 2 years, are we obligated to file as a same-sex couple? (We’re straight.) I’m not asking YOU specifically for an answer, I’m just throwing these questions out there.
This is enough to make my eyes roll back into my head: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/20/q-a-b-c-s-negative-option-marriage/ . There’s a very timely point in there, though – “what happens if the house we jointly own decreases in value?” That’ll be a new wrinkle in the grey divorces out there.
take it easy boy take it easy
nowhere in that list says that their salaries are big enough to pay the mortgages no matter what…
Also overpaying for a shed in downtown has nothing to do with the stats below.
This is just CAAMP trying to calm down F so he won;t hit the market again with new rules. Unfortunatelly what CAAMP is missing from their stats is how much debt these guys have acummulated and how big are their monthly payments.
You probably need to see this
http://i.imgur.com/XvL6Jk3.jpg
in order to calm down your kolkhoznik revolutionary enthusiasm
http://www.communisme-bolchevisme.net/images/cccp_ussr_093.jpg
#128 James on 11.20.13 at 1:08 pm
What correction? Looks pretty healthy RE market based on theses stats.
http://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/canadian_mortgage_trends/2013/11/key-stats-from-caamps-fall-2013-report.html
Equity
46%: The average equity ratio for owners with mortgages but not HELOCs
43%: The average equity ratio for owners with both mortgages and HELOCs
76%: The average equity ratio for owners with HELOCS but without mortgages
83%: Percentage of Canadian homeowners with 25% or more equity
(This includes people without mortgages.)
more to the topic …
cat mentioned – sales down 12%
deere – down 3% and they are the over-achiever in the ‘field’
icebergs ahead….
#120 Smoking Man on 11.20.13 at 11:46 am
#117 :):(Ying Yang on 11.20.13 at 11:13 am
Dude you know I like you that was ok. But it was just words, didn’t paint a sharp picture.
But Garths few words describing the beotch from hell was perfect.
Put a crystal clear image in our head, we have all met that lady.
I need that standard before I release anything.
As far as university, sure when they finally figure out the universe is shrinking that school will take credit. THE SMOKING MAN LEARNED HERE.
Going to university for me is like having a vampire stroll into the desert mid day sun.
PS doing Seneca Sat night.
———————————————————-
Smoking Man what I gave you took me all of two minutes. It is a process of getting into the writing mood and or doing it on a daily basis such as our Moderator.
Went on Sunday to the bar with my buddies wow that place is changing. Not going again for some time now. My brother is flying in from Hong Kong December 1st and staying for 4 weeks. I may convince him to come to Seneca. He loves to gamble but Hong Kong is non-gambling officially. They do not have Casinos. He takes cruises to Macau where they can gamble legally.
Good luck with the book!
#136 recharts — “You are exaggerating the importance of consumer level increases as a way to improve the situation.”
I’m not trying to improve the situation, I’m trying to improve my situation.
A lot of public discourse seems to be dominated by the thoughts of people who have no desire to improve the situation. They would rather have low taxes a strong currency and low inflation, even at the expense of crumbling public infrastructure, services, and middle- and working class wage growth, than have higher taxes, government spending or inflation. If that’s the way it’d going to play out, I want to be in position to benefit from those policies. I’ll leave politics to people who don’t mind being hassled at customs.
“Calgary home builder and developer Jay Westman has donated $5 million to the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business to create the Westman Centre for Real Estate Studies.”
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Haskayne+School+Business+receives+million+gift/9189817/story.html
“Students will benefit from case studies and course work specific to various aspects of the real estate industry including building, public policy, finance, development and marketing;”
bahahaha! and the student who dares to talk about RE bubbles during class will be kicked out of the program immediately. It’s different in Calgary ;-)
Condo games in Canada.
http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episodes/the-condo-game
#37. Agree. I’ve lived in Soviet Union until I was 35. But what we had back there is moral. It was a godless society but we knew what was right and wrong. Peope were totally poor but in the meantime they knew how to save money. Unfortunately there’s total lack of both of those things in North America today…
“By that time I & hubby had a few drinks & would never consider driving home. Weather wasn’t a problem at all. They had redirected our flight to TO. I forced them to put us up at an Airport Hotel.”
So just to be clear you got drunk and made someone else pay for your hotel? I don’t think this story reveals what you think it reveals.
@Ronaldo/#122…
ThankYou… however, as a general rule of thumb, may I humbly suggest that you approach all crowd-sourced ‘utopian social movements’ led by lavishly housed wealthy recluses with skepticism… Jacques Cisco being something of an analogue for a certain failed author of speculative fiction who nevertheless did rather well, in the end, with another fictive endeavour.
@YingYang/#117
Shame on you! Suggesting that Homme du Tabagisme enroll in a creative writing programme… they’ve ruined more good writers than alcohol, you know…
…speaking of which…
@HommeDuTabagisme/#74
Just remember this:
“The first draft of anything is shit.” – E. Hemingway
Just keep doing it… But whatever else you do, please don’t start a UtopianSocialMovement… Most of them don’t end that well.
Hmmm… perhaps it’s time for some SeriousSocialScience? BloomBerg obliges this morning with a very succinct piece which nicely encapsulates the AuthenticZeitgeist [as seen through an Anthropoligist’sGoggles]…
[BloomBerg] – Blame Rich, Overeducated Elites as Our Society Frays
…”Complex human societies, including our own, are fragile. They are held together by an invisible web of mutual trust and social cooperation.”….
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-20/blame-rich-overeducated-elites-as-our-society-frays.html
Well, SaltyDogz – if you made it through that… you’ve definitely earned your DailyZen!… so here it is, in no particular order:
#TurkeyHungerGames
[BloomBergBizWeek] – The Mystery of Butterball’s Too-Skinny Turkeys
…”By now you might have heard there’s a shortage of 16-plus-pound, unfrozen Butterball turkeys for Thanksgiving. On some farms, the birds just weren’t putting on weight like they normally do, the company has explained, so it will be shipping out half as many large, fresh birds this year.
Butterball said in a statement that it’s looking into “all potential causes,” although so far the company has refused to speculate as to what could keep its turkeys from packing on the pounds. “Butterball does not have any additional information to share at this time,” a representative wrote in an e-mail.”…
NextUp… How are Okanagan HarleyDealers and Kelowna Realtors alike? Hint: Because they’re both ReallyReallyStressed about this….
[G&M] – Demand, price for B.C. bud dropping in wake of U.S. legalization
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/demand-price-for-bc-bud-dropping-in-wake-of-us-legalization/article15517215/
NextUp? If your BC GrowOp’s declining revenue stream has driven you to drink – fear not, because when it comes to enlightened substance abuse policies… you just can’t beat the Dutch…
[UK Independent] – Amsterdam employs alcoholics as street cleaners and pays them in beer
…”Amsterdam has launched a government-funded scheme which uses chronic alcoholics as street cleaners – and pays them in beer.”…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/amsterdam-employs-alcoholics-as-street-cleaners-and-pays-them-in-beer-8951403.html
[NoteToSelf: I feel so much better now, knowing that when it all goes south for Mayor Ford – that the Dutch are ready for him… I wonder if he’ll fly AC? Nah… KLM for sure… and if he’s really lucky he’ll connect through Copenhagen. On the other hand, he could always check into a ButterBall WeightLossClinic and try for a ‘PoliticalLazarus’.]
Toronto is full of idiots and a$$holes. I’m lucky to be one of the latter .
#154 Yuri
#37. Agree. I’ve lived in Soviet Union until I was 35. But what we had back there is moral. It was a godless society but we knew what was right and wrong. Peope were totally poor but in the meantime they knew how to save money. Unfortunately there’s total lack of both of those things in North America today…
************
Hmm… the fact that there are more people migrating to North America from the former Soviet Union and not the other way around makes me think it’s better here….
#140 not 1st
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Canada#Incidents_and_accidents
Great records but not flawless…
#119 Crackhead realtor on 11.20.13 at 11:30 am
You must be a fellow Crackhead realtor to believe such nonsense. You should watch and think about what happened in the US as that was the EXACT SAME Crackhead realtor line that turned out to be wrong. Any slow down will result in HUGE number of lob losses which will result in more job losses and people are living pay check to pay check. Why am I trying to explain this to a crackhead?
***********
I think the stock market has a better chance of declining 20% before the CDN housing markets…
But that’s just me… :)
Spoken like a true realtor. — Garth
#142 not 1st on 11.20.13 at 2:08 pm
#104 Smoking Man on 11.20.13 at 8:52 am
Dude its not like I love they guy.. But the alternative is worse._________
Nobody is saying there has to be a switch in parties for the mayors office. There are other fiscal conservatives in there, nominate one and let them take over.Your insistence on hanging on to a guy with extreme incompetence and and addiction problems is damaging your cause more than your know and that will make the other party a shoe in if this continues. Cut the cancer and move on.
…………….
He’s done his job well, the side show induced by Blair and the Star has put the city on the world map.
It’s hallarious…. Tourism to Toronto will explode this summer with all the exposure of the Ford show.
Zillions will be made on Ford Tee Shirts alone sold on every young street shop this summer.
Lighten up. My only cause in life is to slap people hard in the face and rock their belief system and open their minds.
Just because the teachers find his behaviour inappropriate, I love it. Best thing that ever happened to the city.
Lots of money will be made this year. I already have a small container of tee shirts ordered and coming in from China for this summer.
A Smoking Man I am…
Egads! SaltyDogz, I nearly forgot your ParableOfTheDay!… so here it is, courtesy of AustinPowers: “FatBastard’s Vicious Cycle”
http://youtu.be/g5AixBKy7b4
[NoteToSaltyDogz: Just try to remember that the trans-formative power of adversity produces Comedians and ObnoxiousBullies in equal measure]…
What does FORD stand for you ask.
F-found
O-on
R-road
D-drunk
that’s a t-shirt for ya
The Condo Game – Doc Zone
THURDAY NOVEMBER 21 AT 9 PM ON CBC-TV
Look at the forces at play behind the fastest moving condo market in North America, Toronto, and discover that the glittering glass hides a sea of troubles.
Attack of The Sustainable Muppets.
Rob Ford could face class-action citizens’ lawsuit
Linkedin José Bento Rodrigues
Legal Intern, Assistant Attaché, Embassy of Portugal, United Nations, April 2010 – May 2010
Represented Portugal in the Commission for Sustainable Development
Read between the lines. Developers and Agenda 21 enforcers want Ford out.
I think the stock market has a better chance of declining 20% before the CDN housing markets…
But that’s just me… :)
Spoken like a true realtor. — Garth
No matter how much I hate to agree with TnT I have to admit that he is correct on that one.
In 2008 the market went down and it needed 3 years to recover
At the same time the RE prices needed 1 year
http://www.chpc.biz/6-canadian-metros.html
Sorry but you can not have everything on your side: 8% return, liquid, and no volatility.
That is probably more and more people choose RE as investment: you have more time to exit the market assuming that you entered the market at the right time (not at the top as of now)
In 2008 the US market dropped 55% and since then has risen 160%. It was a generational event and, as we now know, an historic opportunity. I’ll bet neither one of you played. — Garth
VOLATILTY AND RETURNS IN STOCKS VERSUS HOUSES
TnT at 160 says:
I think the stock market has a better chance of declining 20% before the CDN housing markets…
*****************************************
I agree with that. But Stocks probably have a much better chance of doubling in 10 years than do houses.
But why not be rich and own both?
I only need one house. I only need to keep so much capital invested in a house. Additional funds go to stocks or other investments.
Stocks have treated me well. I love stocks. And they love me too. (Even though Garth does not.)
#140 not 1st — “Stop bashing AC everyone. At least they haven’t put one down in flames on the tarmac yet.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Canada_Flight_797
Renter attitude should be included, what did the manulife study say, otherwise it’s a one sided report.
#165 Canadian Watchdog on 11.20.13 at 5:38 pm
Nice find sir, coordinate effort for sure, that kid tree hugger, pick pocket.
What I love and is so obvious the timely report of police leaks..
The elite spend o alcoholics when ford out bad.
Great find….
#160 TnT — “I think the stock market has a better chance of declining 20% before the CDN housing markets…”
And *I* think that’s probably just a wild-assed guess on your part, with no analysis behind it, and likely not even a well-attuned gut.
Nonetheless, let’s entertain your supposition.
I am currently investing enough money to buy a place like the one I’m living in, and am getting more in dividends than I’m paying in rent. Say my portfolio goes down 20%, which is unlikely as quality dividend payers tend to go down less than speculative ventures in a general market decline. Would my income go down?
Maybe I should put 20% down on a place, let my dividends pay my mortgage, and worry only about real estate price declines, utility and tax increases (currently included in my rent-controlled rent), loss of mobility without paying RE transaction costs… etcetera. On the other hand, if prices DID go down 20%, I’d be wiped out and then some, taking into account taxes and transaction costs. Maybe not.
You focus on asset prices. Will real estate go up or down? Will stocks go up or down? I don’t know, but right now, my stocks pay me more to own them every month than real estate would. Is this so hard to understand?
8 James on 11.20.13 at 1:08 pm wrote
What correction? Looks pretty healthy RE market based on theses stats.
76%: The average equity ratio for owners with HELOCS but without mortgages
so on average people without mortgages owe 100 K on their HELOCs. Now questions: do they have any other debt? Do they have savings? How are they planning to pay that off when the bank calls in the loan? What percentage of the total # of homeowners are they? How old are they? what is their occupation?
OK it was rhetorical – answers would be 1. probably yes (credit cards) 2. Most likely no, maybe some RRSP.3.They are not planning, other than to sell the house.4. it does not matter they are equally screwed as people with mortgages. 5.Good chances they are mostly boomers and some gen-xers maybe retired or getting closer to it.6. Good percentage of them work in industries heavily affected by RE or economic slowdown.
median family income in Canada 72250$
average salary 46000
Now how quickly can one save 100000$ plus interest when they can’t make the ends meet without the HELOCs now?
PS
I will really enjoy the “I told you so” moment we’ve been waiting for when the grim reality finally be widely accepted.
@#144 broadway skytrain: Cheap, light, silent, durable, low maintenance, long parts availability, no slacking and the fun route to rounding out the pedal stroke. Great concentrated exercise if you’re more than coffee shop styling.
The Bonus (reward) Culture
management lexicon, “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” G (greed)
Ensign Group pays $48 million to settle whistleblower lawsuits alleging Medicare billing fraudMarketWatch - 4 hours ago
Ensign Group, Inc., CV06-0643). Both lawsuits were filed in 2006 in federal district court in Los Angeles and were joined by the government
CA Technologies — formerly known as Computer Associates and CA Inc. settles claim that it improperly billed public agencies for software maintenance contracts.
by Brian Heaton / November 13, 2013 Governments Recover $11 Million in Fraud Settlement
http://blog.whistleblower-lawfirm.com/ca-technologies-agrees-11-million-settlement-whistleblower-overbilling-lawsuit/
see http://www.phillipsandcohen.com/Success-for-Clients/P-C-Cases-in-the-News.shtml
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/CA_Technologies#cite_note-1
CA Technologies “100 Most Innovative Companies” list for 2011.
Senate Passes Leahy-Grassley Bill To Protect Whistleblowers in Criminal Antitrust Cases
Written November 6, 2013 by Robert Lu
On Monday night, November 4, 2013, the Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation to extend whistleblower protection for employees who provide information to the Department of Justice related to criminal antitrust violations.
==
Supreme Court Considers Whistleblower Protections Under Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Written November 12, 2013 by Robert Lu
A decision by the Supreme Court is expected by spring 2014.
The case is Lawson v FMR, 12-3.
#64 broadway skytrain on 11.19.13 at 11:21 pm…
You are the one who called it a ‘naked’ scanner – duh right back at you.
Air Force? Maybe it was all those levers and helmets that didn’t work for you!
#155 MPAVictoria on 11.20.13 at 4:12 pm
“By that time I & hubby had a few drinks & would never consider driving home. Weather wasn’t a problem at all. They had redirected our flight to TO. I forced them to put us up at an Airport Hotel.”
So just to be clear you got drunk and made someone else pay for your hotel? I don’t think this story reveals what you think it reveals.
…………………….
Did you actually read what I wrote or are you like so many others who have a comprehension problem.
Quote: “The HFX airport is a training centre for new Customs Officers. They are the worst. Because hubby travels on a French passport, half price of a Cdn Passport lasts for 10 years, he always hassled – they ask questions which they have no right to ask. We should have complained. He’s been a Canadian citizen for 30+ yrs.”
Uhh…you always have the right to complain, if you feel you have been wronged – if there was a genuine problem then address it. But if someone has been a “Canadian citizen” for 30 years and is traveling on another country’s passport, it’s a bit rich to be whining about CBSA asking whatever questions they please.
#104 Smoking Man
“Ford is like that asshole dad, that moves you into a trailer park and cuts of your alowance, but you will always have a roof over your head.”
…Until he smokes crack beside the propane tank and blows the place up, messes up his head causing some type of dementia, lies about it, and publicly humiliates his entire family with wierd behaviour.
I agree with broadway skytrain, bike helmets should be discretionary.
#170 Smoking Man
Damn right they want him out because he proposed to hike devleopment charges by 90%. That isn't not good for profits if you plan on selling 200 sq.ft. concrete micro-boxes that are glued together with the crap off your boots.
So what do developers and sustainable muppets want? More CMHC insurance, gov't subsidies and municipal spending (debentures) borrowed from….drum roll please.. developers!
Alternatives to Development Charges (March 2009)
The federal government has gone a long way to acknowledging and promoting the idea that investment in basic urban infrastructure is important both for long term economic growth and stability (through its $33 billion existing commitment) and short term emergency economic stimulus (through its recent budget measures).The federal government has also sent a strong signal to municipalities, which are required to cost share portions of monies through the infrastructure progam, that they should be borrowing to invest. It has set up a modest instrument through the CMHC to promote this idea.
And just in case anyone missed it, here is a document posted a while back showing who's really running Canada's housing market, CMHC et al.
August, 1976 PDF
HUDAC – Housing And Urban Development Association of Canada (now CHBA)
[Page 11] The following achievements began as Association recommendations to Government:
– Removal of NHA ceiling.
– Amortization period extended from from 35 to 40 years.
– Mortgage insurance fees reduced by 50%
– Loan ratios increases resulting in lower down payments.
– Loan on existing house broadened to include, in addition to purchase, improvement and alterations.
– Five year roll-over mortgage
– Increase maximum loans amount.
– Considering 50% of wife's salaried income when computing gross debt service ratio, subsequently amended further to include 100% of wife's income.
– Increasing maximum loans on apartment housing units.
– Agreeing to issue undertakings to insure or to make loans on houses where work has progresses from the first floor or joist stage.
– Reduction in sale tax on building materials
– %500 grant as rebate or portion of sales tax.
– Improvement in terms and qualifications related to the grant.
– Removal of restriction on high ratio loans insured by private mortgage insurers.
– Reduction of capital cost allowances from other income for new multiple rental units.
– Extension of AHOP to include private lenders in program.
– Extension of limited dividend type programs.
Air Canada, Bell, Rogers, GM name any of the big companies …… they preach good service, good products etc ….. but the head office clearly isn’t aware of (or connected to) what’s going on out in the trenches. They all suck. They leave the door open for competition to eat them up….. I just wish it would happen sooner.
OK, SaltyDogz…
AllKiddingAside… Nemesis is going to drop out of character for a moment or two – wearing his SciencesSociale hat [cocked at a rakish angle] – and with more than a ‘little’ help from Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger introduce you to some Very Uncomfortable Truths about the socio-economic etiology of the NotSoFriendlySkies [and associated phenomena]…
Who here remembers, “Miracle on the Hudson”… probably everybody, right?
But how about the Congressional Testimony afterwards?
Anyone [cue Howard Stein: “Bueller… Bueller… Bueller?”]?…. I thought not.
Why?… because the corporate media [and guess which sponsors] really didn’t want you to hear this:
http://youtu.be/wB3jggG99hw
[NoteToBroadWaySkyTrain: Not WinningThoseWings wasn’t really as bad as you may have once thought, was it?]
When this gets out it will be GAME OVER for condo market. The game is already over but the final nail will be hit tomorrow
http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episodes/the-condo-game
Garth put the link out for all to see tonight so the word can spread faster. Realtors will be pulling their hair out tonight.
#179 Ima Organdonur on 11.20.13 at 7:17 pm
I agree with broadway skytrain, bike helmets should be discretionary.
************
There should be a license you can get that allows you to NOT wear a helmet if you forfeit free medical care in case of emergency.
Make DrUgS legal with the same system :)
Priority Boarding:Due to work,I fly a lot.
I usually complete my flights “downstairs”at Pearson
International in Toronto(whoops!Mississauga).
These are where the small planes land and take off,
to the nether regions of Canada.
I had noticed lately,that priority boarding(elite status)for air canada,had 3/4 of the plane filled before the unwashed were allowed to board.Apparently,us “joe sixpacks” who do construction etc…have enough flying time to go to Mars and back ,a few times.
#171 Ralph Cramdown
Your in a good spot :)
Does this mean you think that CDN RE will go down 20% before the market as I suggested wildly through my ass?
#147 4AM Sunrise
Hi again, I know a lot people that hide their common-law status from the government, but personally I wouldn’t risk it.
I assume that if you got caught, it would mean a hefty fine. To be on the safe side, I’d check your provincial regulations, and then go down and talk to [email protected] (that nice lad or lassie at the bank). Maybe one of their advisors would have some useful information on the subject. However, I doubt if you can opt out just because you don’t have kids or property together…but please let me know if you find out otherwise :-)
#178 Country Girl on 11.20.13 at 7:07 pm
#104 Smoking Man
“Ford is like that asshole dad, that moves you into a trailer park and cuts of your alowance, but you will always have a roof over your head.”
…Until he smokes crack beside the propane tank and blows the place up, messes up his head causing some type of dementia, lies about it, and publicly humiliates his entire family with wierd behaviour.
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Country Girl I can see why you don’t like the guy.
My wife went off him the second the word eat was out there.
We will drop her off at the casino.
My solution is simple in the next election, me and my 3 sons will vote. Mind you need to see where there head is at first.
Ford lost the chic vote……
#177 BillyBob on 11.20.13 at 7:06 pm
Quote: “The HFX airport is a training centre for new Customs Officers. They are the worst. Because hubby travels on a French passport, half price of a Cdn Passport lasts for 10 years, he always hassled – they ask questions which they have no right to ask. We should have complained. He’s been a Canadian citizen for 30+ yrs.
Uhh…you always have the right to complain, if you feel you have been wronged – if there was a genuine problem then address it. But if someone has been a “Canadian citizen” for 30 years and is traveling on another country’s passport, it’s a bit rich to be whining about CBSA asking whatever questions they please.
……………………..
I should have clarified that he`s only traveled on a French passport for the last 4 or 6 yrs. & had his Cdn citizenship papers in his passport. A neighbour`s daughter who worked as a Customs Officer at the airport later told us they have no right to ask my hubby the questions they did.
Anywho, you`re moniker says a lot about you IMHO.
#178 Country Girl
Meant “weird” behaviour.
If you do not trust him with your money, why trust him with your heart? — Garth
Not quite sure what you are getting at. Just saw the comment Garth, and I do trust him with my money, which is why we have a joint account. But for the rest, he has his money, and I have mine, and we are free to spend it how we want and like it that way. As for major purchases, we keep the receipts, if something happens and either one wants out, we split it up fairly and move on.
Do you mean why aren’t we married? No kids, so it’s just another responsibility at a very high expense. I admit it that we don’t get to take advantage of the spousal RRSP things and other such benefits of marriage…but whatever, it works for us right now. Although, if he did ask me to marry him, I’d probably say yes in a second, and if he insisted on melding all of our accounts, I’d probably say yes in a heartbeat if that made him happy. But there would be some terms, to protect both of us.
This new world is a very unstable place Garth. Home ownership and job insecurity are not the only things that destroy people financially. Like jobs, most relationships these days are unstable and living on borrowed time, and many people use marriage for short-term personal gain. Sad, but true.