Things got worse (hard to believe) for the feds on Friday, just as Mr.Socks was trying to change the channel with a cabinet shufflette.
First, lousy growth stats. Like, really lousy. The economy stalled out completely at the end of last year, growing at an annualized rate of 0.4%, a plunge of two-thirds from the previous quarter. Oil tanked. So did consumer spending. Housing slumped. Businesses turtled. And, of course, the stock market laid an egg. Almost the start of a recession, said some Bay Street economists.
This unexpected news begs a question: are higher interest rates starting to weigh on a nation of debt addicts? Consumer spending slowed dramatically and we already know real estate sales in most markets have tanked. Families are actually borrowing more lately with a big jump in HELOCs. It suggests financial distress, as people tap into home equity to service debt – especially since wages are trailing inflation. Yikes.
Second, a couple of banks missed their earnings estimates. In fact at least one slipped year/year. And while the bankers raised dividends to investors, their CEOs talked about ‘the challenging environment’ that’s developed. The stock market plop in late ’18 was part of it, but so is a huge drop in mortgage originations and an increase in loan loss provisions. Our banks are harbingers of the entire economy, and we haven’t heard this stuff in a long while.
Third, Huawei. Our government has acquiesced to the Trump agenda. Canada has officially ordered the start of extradition hearings against H exec (and daughter of the founder) Meng Wanzhou, who owns real estate in Vancouver and was nabbed at the airport there.
Remember John McCallum? My former political buddy was appointed Canada’s ambassador to China until T2 sacked him a few weeks ago. His crime? Musing that Meng’s arrest and persecution by the US Justice Department was politically motivated since the US president is in a trade war with China. Of course, John was right. And Mr. Trudeau punted him for taking an ethical position. Sound familiar?
There’s more. China’s pissed.
It demanded that Canada release Meng, who’s been under arrest since December, and it detained two Canadians in retaliation. Beijing asked Trudeau directly to intervene. He refused. So begins an extradition process which will almost certainly see Meng shipped south for a trial on charges that are broad and dubious. In fact Trump himself has suggested she might have been snatched as a pawn in his manufactured battle with the planet’s second biggest economy. There is now some evidence China will punish us. Great.
Also on Friday came details for the media of the budget lockup set for March 19th. Make no mistake – with so many negatives raining down about him, this will be Justin Trudeau’s big chance to divert attention. At the heart of it could be the Moister Homebuyer Strategy designed to target the key Liberal demographic. Key elements expected are a return to state-insured 30-year mortgages, a lift on the $1 million price cap for insured properties, an enhanced tax credit to help cover closing costs and maybe some diddling with the stress test.
As detailed here with mind-numbing repetition, political moves like this make houses less affordable, not cheaper. They increase buying power which gooses demand, which pops prices – just when Mr. Market is hammering them down. Years of attempts to soft-land the real estate gasbag could be dashed in a few months by a federal government desperate to save its own caboose.
Interestingly, an RBC report this week throws cold water on the moister meme that properties are out of the reach of an entire generation. The bank found over 40% of all sub-35ers own homes, a higher proportion than in most countries, including the US (where it’s 34%). The problem isn’t that first-time buyers are credit-starved, says the bank, but that there’s not enough housing supply. So giving them incentives will simply fuel competition for existing real estate – leading to, yes, higher prices.
Well, Ottawa will do it anyway. The budget is about votes, not governance. Especially now.
And to think how humbled I felt the day I set foot in the House of Commons… What a rube.
163 comments ↓
Do you think your rubeness continues on with your musings on American politics? I think yes! Don’t limit your perceptions to what is possible.
Thanks Garth, you’re the best. ♥
*Of course* Meng’s arrest was politically motivated. Absolutely no chance the evidence is there, right? Certainly no chance that a company linked to all sorts of abuses would go so far as to smuggle tech to Iran. No-no, no need to wait for evidence. China is innocent. Chinese home buyers have no influence on the Canadian market. Chinese money laundering in BC is overblown too, according to this blog.
I’m sensing a theme.
Solving the problem of gigantic, unimaginable debt with more debt.
Slippery slope with no stop, until the complete destruction of currency.
Led by corrupted politicians to whom the rule of law obviously does not apply.
Cost of living will keep skyrocketing with people going deeper in debt, just to survive. Frozen wages. Higher taxes. More HELOC just to put food on the table. Interest rates never to rise with real inflation/cost of living chasing double digits.
Of course the debt has to be ‘insured’ by a broken government as no sane bank will give 30 years mortgage at near zero interest to broken consumers.
2.3 – 3 k for an apartment in Toronto. You need no hyperinflation. In terms of real growth 2nd last in whole America, behind Cuba and ahead only of Venezuela.
BoC will cut rates this year as economy turns negative.
Good bye retirees and savers as well as investors, stupid enough to believe T2.
Enjoy the polar vortex, – 25 to -50 for the next week to 10 days.
The carbon tax surely is working.
Cheers,
Garth, I think the stat is that 40% of Canadians 35 or younger own their home. Not that 40% of homes are owned by Canadians 35 or under. The thesis still stands that young Canadians aren’t excluded from home ownership.
“political moves like this make houses less affordable, not cheaper. They increase buying power which gooses demand, which pops prices” “Ottawa will do it anyway”
Garth, it sounds to me like you are you calling this the bottom for house prices. Is it time for renters with B&D portfolios to liquidate part of the portfolio and buy a house? Staying within the rule of 90 of course.
I’ve been warning about the economy for the last 6 months on this board….that just shows the lag in time between MSM and reality!
I guess it makes sense to buy RE if one can afford it, regardless of politics.
And the conflict with China and the USA will escalate horribly. Iran will be part of this too. Plus Russia, plus Brexit chaos, plus, plus, plus…. Perfect distraction for desperate Trump and even Trudeau, who will involve our forces when the time comes. The days and weeks ahead will be unprecedented in global history.
14 DAYS TO THE IDES OF MARCH!
PREPARE
Bill C-69
Rachel Notley: if the legislation is passed in its current form, major pipelines will continue to meet years-long legal delays and shrink investment in the province’s resource sector.
https://www.communitypress.ca/news/politics/provincial-leaders-slam-federal-energy-reform-legislation-bill-c-69-the-only-people-making-money-will-be-lawyers/wcm/f387be25-0517-4d66-b82e-5c114db0c5d2?video_autoplay=true
Justin Trudeau says his big concern is jobs, but Bill C-69 is destroying jobs while making Canada more dependent on foreign oil. He says he cares about jobs but that’s just in a play he’s in.
Whenever I want to know the thinking of the eastern liberal elite I just read Garths comments.
Could it be as you stated that in Canada especially in the GTA & LM that due to Fed tinkering to assist the Millenials in purchasing homes this could be at the same time as the overall economy tanking . Even if this economic drop is moderate in conjunction with a potential rise in interest rates, a potential rise in house prices and an increase in homes for sale in the GTA & LM we could have a real dog’s breakfast.
Trudumb is really done for.
And… First!
Kinda poopy about dangling house cat nip for the millenials to get votes. Just when the stupidity appears to be starting to settle in RE. I honestly feel sorry for some people who have no financial awareness, and go and buy a house just because they can.
T2 has shown he isn’t different, so why expect anything different.
“This unexpected news”
With all due respect this is not unexpected for anyone that is following consumer spending. It took a shit in December, same store sales were negative. The shocking thing is that no one was covering it. I’m just a minnow in the finance world and I have data that shows we are hooped.
And now for an anecdote…
I’ve been following and ultimately holding off on buying a new boat for years. New boat prices have been going up 15% YOY – couldn’t justify paying 90K for a boat that was 60K 5 years ago. Guys are gobbling up 125K boats like they are going out of style. You would have to make 300-400K to justify a purchase like that – yet there are 135 boats that price or more for sale in Kelowna right now on Kijiji. Options to finance over 25 years! Same for RV’s, quads, etc.
All driven by Heloc’s, everyone is rich.
With RE falling apart all of this spending is going to dry up, retailers are getting and will get killed. Canadians will do anything to stay in their homes. Local boat dealer just closed up shop – once sales dry up these guys go under fast. Once people stop buying toys it’s over, market will get cranked on.
Phurrzzttt!
So there is no point in trying to act all rule of law now after Trudeau has shown he doesn’t care about any. Might as well try to save the trade because there are real jobs on the line now and not desk jobs in Montreal.
Trump will take Mrs Meng, set up some softball review and then package her into a big trade deal and send her home and Canada will be standing there with a puzzled look on its face. And because Freeland made a point of trying to poke trump during Nafta (which amazingly we are now threatening not to sign), we will get zero help from the US. Then the progressives will say but hey we have cannibas and green jobs to run our economy along with a ton of sovereign debt.
Couple posters called the economy perfect and didn’t believe those numbers that came out in the fall. Props to them.
But as to the total incompetence of our childlike government, its a very sad disgusting affair for the country and a recession is probably the best case scenario.
Goosing the property bubble is just currency devaluation (aka quantitative easing). Banks get more $$ to lend and so it goes. Harper started this one trick pony to get his majority; it’s Canada’s fiscal fentanyl.
#151 IHCTD9 on 03.01.19 at 2:11 pm
#9 Dogman01 on 02.28.19 at 5:38 pm
Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline
New Book, Canadian authored, Disclaimer: I have it on hold at the local library not read it yet
____
I might have to pick that one up if it’s available as an E-book on Amazon for a decent price.
My gut also says that fertility will never again reach replacement levels once they drop below it. As I said before, (IMHO) there is some underlying force of nature at work here.
=================================
That book sounds like an interesting read, and I’m thinking that there’s some underlying force of nature at work here as well. Like maybe we subconsciously stop wanting to have kids when we see a lot of other people around, and get baby fever again when we find ourselves in less populated areas.
I’m also starting to question the causality of some of these effects too. Like do urbanization and female empowerment cause lower fertility rates, or do lower fertility rates enable urbanization and female empowerment?
Two quotes from the book’s summary are telling:
“In much of the developed and developing world, that decline is already underway, as urbanization, women’s empowerment, and waning religiosity lead to smaller and smaller families.”
and
“…and falling birthrates in the developing world will bring greater affluence and autonomy for women.”
Update from Down Under:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-25/most-properties-on-market-since-2012-but-where-are-the-buyers/10838172
Yes it may be in the opposite hemisphere but the game was the same.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-10/how-hard-has-australias-property-downturn-hit-your-suburb/10588960
Pick a neighbourhood or a city.
“There is now some evidence China will punish us. Great.”
Don’t care. The Chi Coms shouldn’t even be in the WTO; and they can keep their cheap goods! We don’t buy, they suffer. Nuff said.
Quebec: 2000 jobs and 66 Liberal MPs
Alberta: 150,000 jobs and 2 Liberal MP’s
Quebec wins.
Who said that pajama wearing ex-drama teachers can’t do math.
I still remember the day you got the shoe from the Finance Committee.
That was the day I learned Harper was a piece of work. He went down from there, way down.
It is sad when someone with ideas and ethics is considered a “rube’…
I love how twisted the minds of millennials must be now. They voted for Trudeau because he was so pretty and virtuous and pure and pot and voter reform and the environment and free stuff and houses for all etc etc.
Now that he has utterly failed, they are trying to reconcile the corruption they would be voting for. They are just going to fall back on the but Harper line, therefore corruption ok. Good one millennials. Keep twisting. The bill is coming. You can own it along with the PM. He will skate off to Aga island someday, you will be trapped in your pressboard shack. Better think real hard.
#2 Azashi
I’m sensing a theme.
……………………………
Yes you are:
In Vancouver – where the two founding races were anglos and Chinese – this has turned ugly.
https://www.greaterfool.ca/2017/12/12/blame-game/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/ontario-health-super-agency-1.5035185
home ownership rates are high, people are financially tapped out… tinkering with rates or CMHC won’t save this ship – it’s just rearranging chairs on the Titanic.
Maybe a good time to buy and flip on news.Remember last time,buy on rumour sell on news.Good times for real estate and will cut interest rates as a kicker.The goverment and central bank always knows best for the economy.
When I was young, a long time ago, I said to my father that I’d like to run for parliament. He was a bag man for the Liberals at times. Hustle, hustle, give me a dollar, give me a dollar. Give me lots of dollars. He said to me no, don’t do it. It’s a dirty business. You weren’t alone, Garth, in being a rube. Aren’t we all, in the beginning? I believe that for all our complaining about the internet, Twitter, Facebook, etc. people are more empowered. In the past, politicians worked in the dark corners of life, most information about what went on in Ottawa never escaped to the hinterland. Now, Harper, JT, Trump, anyone is at risk, all the time, at being exposed. Will it help make us,the hoi poloi, less rubish? I hope so.
#5 Tulips on 03.01.19 at 4:43 pm
“political moves like this make houses less affordable, not cheaper. They increase buying power which gooses demand, which pops prices” “Ottawa will do it anyway”
Garth, it sounds to me like you are you calling this the bottom for house prices. Is it time for renters with B&D portfolios to liquidate part of the portfolio and buy a house? Staying within the rule of 90 of course.
*******************
How did you get that from what Garth said? The main factor is affordability and debt stress in a weaker economy. Did you miss the section on people tapping into their Helocs to pay for monthly expenses?
Garth,
Lower house prices and less sales means less tax revenue for this over spending government.
No wonder they want to hand out some coupons for houses in the budget.
Against all odds, things still look good for the Island as comrades cash out of the lower mainland and sales/prices plummet.
http://www.vireb.com/assets/uploads/02feb_19_vireb_stats_package_64706.pdf
#6 Oakville Stinks on 03.01.19 at 4:45 pm
I’ve been warning about the economy for the last 6 months on this board….that just shows the lag in time between MSM and reality!
**********
YUP!
Just have to have your ear to Mainstreet.
But nobody believes it until it is upon us. Wait a minute shouldn’t the experts have warned us? Did they not know? Hmmm!
For over a decade, posters have pointed out that the government would intervene to prop up any falling market. And for a decade, they were mercilessly ridiculed as wishful thinkers, arm chair economists, and out to lunchers.
And yet, here we are in 2019 – 10 years into a bubble, with prices doubling and tripling in the hotest markets, and the government will introduce stimulative measures in a few short weeks.
If bears want to refute this, they need to step up their game and bring in comparisons from other jurisdictions showing that market interventions failed. Otherwise, musings about how the federal changes won’t make a difference, are useless.
The majority of posters here ascribe a level of intelligence to the average buyer that is unwarranted – the average buyer is an idiot that does not look at trends, market fundamentals, or heed the advice of patience and prudence. No, the average buyer will have heard on March 19th that the government wants them to buy and that its all safe to do so, because the governments wants high house prices. And so prices will rise…again….and maintain a bull run since 2003 places like Vancouver.
Renters lose again. Owners win for the 10th year in a row after the Great Financial Crisis.
Insulting a powerful opponent without a contingency plan is never wise. Freeland’s denigrating speech about US governance, delivered in the US, was a short-sighted and foolish play. Then Trudeau doubled down by yapping after G7 and taking a jab at Trump by announcing a Canadian immigration invitation in the midst of the US border turmoil.
What’s the result when a legless person waves a flag in front of a bull? Exactly… that’s Canada right now- crushed, subservient and powerless.
Now we’re reduced to signing a skewed trade agreement, arresting an international celebrity who has broken no Canadian laws, and tiptoeing around the dominant bull.
Instead of pretending inferiority to encourage the opponent’s arrogance, Canada used arrogance- and by doing so, guaranteed its own subordination.
Metro Vancouver’s net increase in dwelling units has surpassed the net increase in household formation by an average of 20% for the last 15 years.
2001-2016 Net Dwelling Unit Grow: 241,336
2001-2016 Net Household Growth: 202,184
There has been no lack of supply.
(Source: The Housing Supply Myth, Dr. John Rose, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Nov. 24, 2017)
Huge debts … show growth …. lower profits. Keeping my bear suit handy.
rube noun
\ ˈrüb
\
Definition of rube
1 : an awkward unsophisticated person : rustic
2 : a naive or inexperienced person
#20 they can keep their cheap goods! We don’t buy, they suffer. Nuff said.
Good luck to find maid in Canada pants Rick .
F-18s
Taxpayers pay even more for the Liberals’ used-jet deal
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/np-view-taxpayers-pay-even-more-for-the-liberals-bad-used-jet-deal
basically the Liberals have relegated the Royal Canadian Air Force to third world status. Behind India. We’re buying old F-18s from Australia who is buying F-35s. Like Belgium, Norway and the UK. Singapore is buying them too. The F-35s don’t look like a top of the line fighter when you look at speed, acceleration and wing loading but I’m guessing in war games they come out on top.
The Liberals said they wanted a competitive bid process to select the new jets but when it looked like the F-35 might win, they said well no, the requirement is so urgent that we don’t have time for that. So they bought some old F-18s from Australia.
They just don’t care.
Did anybody notice what is going on lately with Australia housing market ?
Someone tell me how increasing house prices will get the dumb millennial vote?
The 40% of us who own houses wont vote T2, that’s for sure. They are usually working, not as dependent on government, more business savvy etc. We would vote conservative.
The remaining millannials who voted for T2 voted for weed. Increasing housing costs will piss them off since they can’t afford anything already.
MF
In today’s economies you need ever expanding credit in order to register any “growth”. It’s why savers get whacked, and investors have a better chance of tracking inflation. Having said that, and fearing we are close to better buying opportunities, I am holding on to cash.
China will see that the Libs will intervene politically when it suits their purpose
We have lost China for at least a decade, if not a generation
The only hope for us now in regards to the next empire of the world (assuming they don’t fumble the ball) is if we sign over the nation’s kids to indentured servitude…
…I better shut up. Justin might get ideas
Macallum is a moronic CHinese apologist and he should have been toasted long ago.
Phil’s in love
#1 Phil on 03.01.19 at 4:25 pm
Thanks Garth, you’re the best. ♥
44 Not So New guy on 03.01.19 at 6:44 pm
The Chinese government is just another paranoid communist state. The stats they publish are not real and the even the doctored stats that are published are showing a slowdown.
This political disagreement will be forgotten in a few months and we will continue to buy tons of cheap goods the communist state needs to keep its economy functioning and its citizens from revolting.
I wouldn’t disregard India as the next big thing though.
MF
#47 MF on 03.01.19 at 6:53 pm
China has been ripping America on trade for a long time. What do you think is motivating Trump’s trade talks?
If China can do that to the Yanks, what makes you think they wouldn’t burn us ten times more now that they have us over a barrel?
It wasn’t for no reason that provincial and federal governments have been traveling to China, cap in hand, to meet with their leaders. They didn’t come begging to us. We went to them
And yes, I agree they fudge their numbers and have gotten themselves into the debt quagmire, but they also have a command and control economy. They can do the radical things that our politicians can only dream of
48 Not So New guy on 03.01.19 at 7:10 pm
That’s exactly it though. Our two countries are very different politically yet we find common goals when it comes to trade due to its mutual benefits.
Those factors will still be in existence after this current “crisis” is over in a few months. The average business owner doesn’t care about any of this and is only interested in making money.
MF
wow Garth you get up on the wrong side of bed!! , no Positives??
@#44 Andrii
“Did anybody notice what is going on lately with Australia housing market ?”
*****
Is it a secret or are you going to tell us?
Heading into election season expecting “technical resesion” while the besocked one is shown to be just another politician.
Good thing the housing bubble is bursting too.
Really looking forward to Gath’s Post this year.
Over the past 5-10 of going into commercial supply stores to pick up construction materials and or tools.
All the stores are a gongshow between 6am-7am with tradesmen picking up material , etc. before the workday starts OR after 3pm ….gongshow of tradesmen picking up material/tools, whatever before heading home.
The past two week of stopping off before 7am of after 3pm……. crickets.
Staff playing video games on their phones, no phones ringing, crickets.
I asked one guy “whats up, where is everyone?”
His reply,
“It’s like someone threw a switch…..
Trudeau’s budget aint gonna make a difference.
Tapped out is tapped out.
The real estate party is over and I remember the 1980’s meltdown……if this is anywhere near that,…..this is gonna get fugly…
It’s so sexy when you talk French:
shufflette
GDP was to be expected but GNI going very negative (GDP + net income from abroad) and dropping like a rock in a SINGLE QUARTER (+0.3 –> -1.0), no, that is BAD, very BAD. That was unexpected.
As for the banks, their hoping the Feds can deliver them a Hail Mary pass – with GDP and GNI as they are (and will only get worse), not a:
Snowballs chance in Hell.
The Cdn. Consumer seems to be digging his/her/XXX heels in (XXX = insert pronoun of your choice in accordance with Bill C-16 or, you have rather long or large feet).
You cannot beat a dead horse.
Gov will learn that as will the banks. But I expect they know that, yet, want to be seen to be doing something in the face of any more bad economic news.
My oh my, hope for the best – slow growth and not a recession.
———————————————-
For the Boomer’s (like you Garth) here is a movie trailer about Elton John’s story coming out end of May, ought to cheer us wrinklies up for the music alone, wax and pine about the good old days (less the early 80’s recession) and divert from today’s heavy and discouraging Blog news:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3vO8E2e6G0
Hate to admit it but I played over and over. The music and visuals were great as were the actors (Jamie Bell looks so much better with long hair, who knew?). And no, I do not hold stock in Paramount.
Si Sig. Garth, Buonanotte.
Garth – you are scaring me! No, not the prognosis of the economy (I have been saying this for awhile) – but I almost hit a deer this morning that jumped right in front of me. Had to jam on the breaks and just missed it. Not how I wanted to start my Friday. Seeing your picture gave me some goose bumps…like…are we connected some how? Let me know if you have the feels…:)
Any-who, now on topic. For the blog dogs, some red meat debt stories. Was at bank with the Mrs to make some account changes to TFSA and RRSPs. Talking to TNL, and just asked some questions about how people are doing with debt. She unloaded some horror stories:
– Most people she deals with are carrying mortgage into retirement.
– Sees maybe 3-6 or so clients a day that have debts around the $100K mark, much of that credit card and some LOC (note: NOT including HELOC). Our jaws dropped to the floor – how could anyone have that much CC debt. That is thousands a year in interest! Multiple credit cards, using one to pay the min on the other, maybe pay $1K per month of so and it grows.
– Worse – some of these people have max credit cards with lots of LOC room at lower interest rates. But don’t want to use the LOC to pay down CC, as they want to keep the LOC in case of emergencies!! Financially illiterate to the bone.
– I never heard the turn CHIP mortgage – turns out it is a common name for a reverse mortgage (that is only name I knew). Says lots of seniors are using this to fund their retirement. Unlike a HELOC, they don’t have to pay anything – it just eats away all the equity in their house. Sorry mils – bank of Mom might have flittered away your inheritance.
– Said that many couples she sees have reasonable income, but just spend it all. Most have little savings.
– Says some don’t contribute to RRSP/TFSA as they have a company pension, but the people don’t realize how little that is (maybe they put 6% in, company matches 3%). But they feel it will fund all of their retirement. Only gov’t pensions are good enough.
– On the general topic of debt, when we outlined how we approached debt reduction and savings, she just laughed (agreed with us), but said “that is considered old school thinking…”
I live in a suburb of Ottawa, and it is a mixture of lower, middle, and upper income households You don’t see many old cars around. Property prices aren’t that bad (can buy a starter new town for maybe $350K). My wife and I were shocked (flabbergasted if you want to use another old fashioned term) at how bad it sounded. Sure, she is perhaps sensationalizing a bit, but it was certainly based on facts.
My advice – batten down the hatches – this country is soon going to have its 2008 moment.
freaky friday I learn more here in 10 mins then i do all week…
poster mentioned and great argument gov’t will back up home prices sales at all costs..
how many under 35 households are there in the 416, 905, 604?
where are the jobs/income coming from to blow the next bubble? Job security none.. 30 year mortgage. no oil no auto no tech no investment fill in the blanks
#35 Figure it Out on 03.01.19 at 6:19 pm
If none of the above come to pass, it’d be nice if you’d stop pretending to have superior powers of divination. Fat chance, I know.
———————————————————–
If you are making life impacting decisions based on a free blog you should at least really check out what the title means…
@#53 crowdedelevatorfartz on 03.01.19 at 7:28 pm
Over the past 5-10 of going into commercial supply stores to pick up construction materials and or tools.
All the stores are a gongshow between 6am-7am with tradesmen picking up material , etc. before the workday starts OR after 3pm ….gongshow of tradesmen picking up material/tools, whatever before heading home.
The past two week of stopping off before 7am of after 3pm……. crickets.
Staff playing video games on their phones, no phones ringing, crickets.
I asked one guy “whats up, where is everyone?”
His reply,
“It’s like someone threw a switch…..
Trudeau’s budget aint gonna make a difference.
Tapped out is tapped out.
The real estate party is over and I remember the 1980’s meltdown……if this is anywhere near that,…..this is gonna get fugly…
_________________________________
hmm, usual madness at the supply stores here in Toronto.
So packed on the weekends no point even going.
Same goes for the malls. Guess the storm hasn’t arrived yet.
Woah , GDP in the gutter. The shit you miss when flying to toronto for the weekend.
And to think how humbled I felt the day I set foot in the House of Commons… What a rube.
——————————————————————–
Yes Garth, just like Wizard Of Oz Don’t ever and I mean Never pull the curtain back.
The major grocery store was empty, but the Polish European store was packed, and they ran out of honey. Crowded is right, and there’s coming a dark day when the phones stop ringing at the Real Estate offices and mortgage operations. Then you will know something has happened that is out of control – timber, because she’s all coming down.
We call this democracy ? – candidates can lie through their teeth to get elected – and then run for re-election telling the same lies ?
Welcome to Canaduhh!
hey Garth, do you know the odds of a rate change next meeting
Zero. – Garth
23 Joe Schmoe on 03.01.19 at 5:50 pm
It is sad when someone with ideas and ethics is considered a “rube’…
——————————————————————–
Garth’s problem was he thought he was going to a higher place. what a let down it must have been. when you see the true colours.
@#58 klnr
“hmm, usual madness at the supply stores here in Toronto.
So packed on the weekends no point even going.”
*****
Retail stores or Commercial supply stores?
Weekends? Might be the “home handymen” and “Mr Fix-its”?
#58 – if you follow price changes between Van and Toronto, the 6ix trails by six months… so, the switch might go down after the Summer.
Well, it can’t be helping Q1 retail for the last half of quarter when all of the stores have summer inventory and it is still -20c outside, snow and ice everywhere.
My driveway is about 4 inches of ice. I had stockpiled maybe 10 bags of salt back at Christmas, but it is out. Do you think there is any salt left to buy at end of Feb (it is always winter here this time of year)? Nope.
After I walked around Canadian Tire last night (desperate for a salt lick), where the place was mostly empty, I asked the cashier if she thought they might do better in sales if they had salt instead of potting soil or flowers…just a blank state…and a nervous smile…as though what I was saying was some crazy talk.
Sometimes I wonder if big business is in cahoots with the government to trash the economy…
Trudeau’s carbon tax comes into full force at the start of spring. It is comical how these same economists attacked Doug Ford for saying a carbon tax will lead to a recession just last month and are now changing their tune. Waterloo Region – the tech capital of Canada just shed 1000+ manufacturing jobs at Erwin Hymer Group and North Inc right before Family Day. Then add in the uncertainty with SNC-Lavalin in Montreal and the future of the Saudi Arms contract for London, Ontario. GM has already shut down in Oshawa. And many US retailers are closing all or most of their stores in Canada – all these companies must have been looking forward to paying the carbon tax before they shut down.
56 Headhunter on 03.01.19
Oil is in Alberta, auto was in Oshawa and Windsor. Tech is in Toronto, as is finance, tourism and manufacturing. Despite all the doom and gloom here FIRE is alive in well also (since house prices still are mega expensive). The service and gig industries are also huge. Money from mom and pop factored bigly for anyone I know who (smartly) overextended themselves to buy gta RE.
Surely a headhunter would know this?
MF
“Years of attempts to soft-land the real estate gasbag could be dashed in a few months by a federal government desperate to save its own caboose.” GT
—————————
This last gasp Gov’t. ‘interference’ may result in a temporary ‘pause’ or even a (dead-cat) bounce (sorry Felix), but that’s it.
The smart-money speculators are gone; the ones left are dumb-money speculators and the Greatest of Fools, who will overpay just to get in the game.
Last I checked, wages have stagnated and are the fundamental driver of RE prices over the long term. How is it going to be different this time?
TCC
@#65 crowdedelevatorfartz on 03.01.19 at 8:23 pm
@#58 klnr
“hmm, usual madness at the supply stores here in Toronto.
So packed on the weekends no point even going.”
*****
Retail stores or Commercial supply stores?
Weekends? Might be the “home handymen” and “Mr Fix-its”?
________________________________
status quo at the independents.
as much as i don’t like working 7 days a week still need to hit a bigbox every weekend.
My Amazon equipment shipments from China are long overdue ?
Next time you are at the grocery store check the labels , If we don`t release Trump`s hostage soon they could easily starve us into submission.
There will be blow-back and possibly severe .The Chinese won`t be taken for rubes, those days are over.
#58 klnr on 03.01.19 at 8:00 pm
—–
Guess when you are $350B in debt courtesy of another liberal govt might as well go out with a bang. Hopefully your dirty oil cheque arrives soon.
China ‘ punishing’ us? Good grief , you getting soft Garth?
Don’t bend Trudeau , bloody hell do something right
China buys $26 billion a year from Canadians. Why would we want that to be diminished? – Garth
Liberal corruption is rife in the Liberal camp. The sleazy ethnic politics of ghetto baiting is the Trudeau Liberal stock in trade. In this example an ethnic tribal leader wants the taxpayer to fund an attack on telcos that invest billions . Bain’s wants his temple brothers to be able to freeload of the likes of Bell and Rogers for the sake of ghetto enrichment. This Trudeau mob is seriously crooked. In these, like with the Butts energy fiasco, Canadians will always end up paying more for the sake of a few sleazy voters demanding bribes for loyalty. Multiculturalism at work? More like third world sleaze bags bring old country practices into parliament.
https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/terence-corcoran-liberals-turn-up-anti-telco-populism-to-distract-from-their-scandals
“…with so many negatives raining down about him”
We’ll be in recession, Summer will come and Canadian’s will come out of their igloos and GANGIA their way out of it (incl. Gov misdeeds).
But alas and conveniently timed before the October election in AUGUST comes:
Vice-Admiral Norman’s Trial
With shark and boutique lawyer Marie Henein at this side.
Talk of Peter MacKay, Scott Brison to be called as witnesses, PMO & DND personnel as well and our Lord & Master himself, Trudeau, may be subpoenaed.
When it rains it pours.
Thank God for the Gangia (Cuba Libre for me).
Yet again, Buonanotte.
US clocked pretty impressive GDP Growth – 2.6% for Q4, meeting high end of expectations. This together with our poor showing will pound the loonie. This will basically give our citizenry a pay cut, making our exporters more competitive.
14 Mattl – can you elaborate on why a boat costing $125k requires a $300-400k income? Is there a formula for operating and maintenance costs?
Quantitative Easing. Is that a laxative?
Paraphrasing Keynes, “Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.”
Something to chew!
https://logicmag.io/06-money-machines/
#4 skiBUM
skiBUM is right, that statistic is incorrect.
I think Garth got it from BNN, and BNN just made a mess of it.
RBC’s report says 43% of young people own their own. Not that 43% of the homes are owned by the young.
Read it for yourself here, from the horse’s mouth:
http://www.rbc.com/economics/economic-reports/pdf/canadian-housing/Home_Ownership_Feb2019.pdf
So the lesson here: never read a journalist’s interpretation of a report written by Economics Phd’s. Get it from the source. I don’t think BNN pays enough to have smart journalists.
You forgot to mention that GDP shrank, again, in Dec. 2018 by:
-0.1%
That’s 3 of the last 4 months of negative growth in GDP.
https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/leading-economic-index
Expect more with the cold weather early in the year.
Recession:
2 Qtr’s worth (or longer) of -‘ve growth.
GDP is the leading indicator. Unemployment lags negative GDP by quite a bit, here is a chart I worked up to show this (early ’80s recession, bottom chart blue line shows Unemployment peaking after the recession is over, top chart, and well after its onset):
https://i.imgur.com/cIk3uCC.jpg
Moral of the story:
Pay NO ATTENTION to the Labour Force Survey (Jobs) reports to come and their Unemployment Rate, they are lagging indicators.
If China is angry with Canada, maybe we won’t need the trans mountain Pipeline expansion anymore.
China buys $26 billion a year from Canadians. Why would we want that to be diminished? – Garth
—
According to Statistics Canada, Canada exported $16.3 billion worth of merchandise to China in 2011, and imported more than $48 billion. How does it look now?
#63 mj
hey Garth, do you know the odds of a rate change next meeting
I hope they’ll soon move it down again. It’s scary what banks now offer. I saw an ad from TD offering 3.49% for a variable rate. Yowzers!
Home debts are going to be expensive again, just when incomes are stuck. Bad timing.
DELETED
Cant HARDLY wait for those new mortgage rules to come in affect…
GONNA sell my house to one of Trudeau’s gullible liberal millenial and rent and live debt free forever.
BEST ADVICE GARTH EVER GAVE ME!!
China buys $26 billion a year from Canadians. Why would we want that to be diminished? – Garth
…………………………
Because we are bound to observe international laws and treaties ?
Out of context. – Garth
Today landing at YYZ
I realized I was back into the land of loyal subjects.
20 min to open the plane door. A long walk with no restrooms.
And the cattle lining up in a 1/2 hour line to give the one man customs dude a paper declaring im not bringing in more of a far share of tobacco or booze .
Get my green card on Monday.
I love Canada but can no longer live amongst pathetic suck ups that get abused at every corner of life and say thank you.
I’ll take my chances with Trumps America.
Dr Smoking Man
PhD Herdonomics.
Trudeau is the most corrupt Prime Minister ever!
#87 TRUMP 2020 on 03.01.19 at 10:09 pm
Cant HARDLY wait for those new mortgage rules to come in affect…
GONNA sell my house to one of Trudeau’s gullible liberal millenial and rent and live debt free forever.
BEST ADVICE GARTH EVER GAVE ME!!
————-
My thoughts exactly. Was thinking of getting out at what I paid for but if some house horny couple wants my place which I pay less in mortgage than renting, by all means. :)
As for China, I love their stuff. Especially their smartphones. Killing the Koreans and Apple in bang for the buck. I’m sure some will argue falsely that China is spying through the phones but with Google and the NSA already tapping, who cares.
DELETED
#67 – “Sometimes I wonder if big business is in cahoots with the government to trash the economy”.
Big NO on that one, don’t be foolish.
However, when a company sees a loss coming they’d rather lose large, slash/burn, and clean house all in one shot so the following year they have a shot at growth and all the cuts and change are blamed on the loss.
#31 Sebee on 03.01.19 at 6:11 pm
Garth,
Lower house prices and less sales means less tax revenue for this over spending government.
****
WUT?
What tax revenue does the federal gubmint get from higher house sales and higher prices?
Please expand on this notion which, respectfully, is wrong.
WUL
#51 crowdedelevatorfartz on 03.01.19 at 7:21 pm
@#44 Andrii
“Did anybody notice what is going on lately with Australia housing market ?”
*****
Is it a secret or are you going to tell us?
acuity…humour…acuity…humour…
Crowdie,
You crack me up. Keep ’em coming. We cat skinners need some humour during our 12 hour shifts with the hand on the Johnson Bar on the D9 knocking down carbon absorbing trees.
Hello IH cat skinning dude. I hope you keep delivering the mail too.
Rough February out here on the prairies.
#74 Sam on 03.01.19 at 9:02 pm
China ‘ punishing’ us? Good grief , you getting soft Garth?
Don’t bend Trudeau , bloody hell do something right
China buys $26 billion a year from Canadians. Why would we want that to be diminished? – Garth
————-
Garth,
Maybe we should focus on Europe again.
They share our progressive policies and laws.
And they don’t torture Canadian citizens.
There’s more to life than making a buck.
I’ve reiterated time and again, but it’s worth repeating: The relationship between civic politicians and developers has a lot to do with house prices. Probably 20% (although I haven’t put a number on it before). They collaborate to reduce supply.
Low interest rates are also a factor, but from an affordability perspective they may wash out. Yes, lower rates increase prices but the monthly payment remains the same. Bubble conditions also factor in as FOMO became a factor and the income to price relationship went away in markets like Vancouver as your house was going up by twice your after tax income every year.
But all other factors aside, let loose the builders and prices will come down. Vancouver is of course an interesting example because it is kind of land locked, but a market like Calgary or Edmonton should have no such thing as scarcity. We can build up and out in every direction, we have our own trees, we have our own fuel. Yet acres and acres of land remain undeveloped because they can’t get permits or the owners (developers mostly) are simply holding them off the market.
Considering that the downtown core in Calgary is running about a 30% vacancy rate, it’s hard to see how there can be a housing shortage in Calgary. Calgary has a pretty unique downtown in that it is so compact, but yet they were able to build it quite up. But we can’t build out onto the prairie surrounding the city? There is a whole lot of land in and around Calgary that doesn’t do anything but grow hay.
I personally own 2 acres just 1 mile from the Calgary city limits on a very good road that can get me downtown in 20 minutes if the traffic is light. I use 1 acre, which is nicely gardened and landscaped. The other acre is nothing but grass to mow a dozen times a year. Can I subdivide? No. Yet I am withing a short walk of a Tim Horton’s and there is a school and community center right across the road. This sort of thing is why houses are so expensive in Calgary. You can’t subdivide even when there is more than enough land.
Hands up, if you voted for these halfwits in Ottawa.
China buys $26 billion a year from Canadians. Why would we want that to be diminished? – Garth
And Canada buy three times that amount from China.
Punish away. I would put 100% tariffs on everything from China the first harsh word or dirty look I got.
Sure, everything would get more expensive. But that would allow us to start producing goods here again. It all works out in the end and smart money will always adapt and keep making it.
Kilt.
#84 akashic record on 03.01.19 at 9:53 pm
China buys $26 billion a year from Canadians. Why would we want that to be diminished? – Garth
—
According to Statistics Canada, Canada exported $16.3 billion worth of merchandise to China in 2011, and imported more than $48 billion. How does it look now?
Does it look like a poor resource colony buying high value added manufactured goods from the developed and technologically advanced world, going deeper and deeper in debt in order to be able to afford it? As it surely feels like that.
This is just the beginning of bad news for GDP/GNP, if you count the real inflation, the situations is much, much worse. Go to a retail or even grocery store and see what there is made in Canada.
The reality is of course that we are in a depression that follows the biggest ever credit bubble in history (that had to be goosed additionally by broken government ‘guarantees)’, an inflationary depression, hidden by faulty statistics and outright lies.
(surprise, surprise, the politicians are corrupted and they lie, just watch the questions period in the parliament.)
The future ahead: Inflation of 8-10 % for a decade, decade and a half, CPI at sub 2 %, frozen wages, severe housing and renting crisis, soon food unaffordability as the dust settles and the economy goes down the drain towards it’s equilibrium state – around 40 % from current standard of living which was possible only due to the excessive credit. Take it away and there is almost nothing of substance left.
Look at the TSX and the economy, currency performance. Pathetic.
# 74 Sam on 03.01.19 at 9:02 pm
China ‘ punishing’ us? Good grief , you getting soft Garth?
Don’t bend Trudeau , bloody hell do something right
China buys $26 billion a year from Canadians. Why would we want that to be diminished? – Garth
—————————————————————-
So, are you saying that economic considerations should determine the legal outcome that our government pushes for in this instance?
We must face that the Huawie affair was never going to end well for Canada: either enrage the US if the arrest/extradition request was denied or enrage CN otherwise. Pain assured to come from either side. Catch 22 exceptionnelle.
The only decision our country really can make is to go through the pain with integrity and letting justice be blind (in the statue of liberty sense), or pick a side and roll the dice.
Rube-ish? Probably.
Idealistic? Yes.
JWR’s testimony has certainly influenced this post; who knew Canada still had inspiring leaders?
Thinking of JWR and Kipling today.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46473/if—
Also auto sales in February are down 12 months in a row y/y and legislated oil production cuts that have started. Yah, we could be looking at technical recession here.
Things will have to get worse before they get better…
Mohammed bin Salman in China, Saudi Arabia’s new shift to Asia
https://www.dailysabah.com/op-ed/2019/03/01/mbs-in-china-saudi-arabias-new-shift-to-asia
China committed to growing ties with Saudi Arabia
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1376111
Canada to allow extradition hearing against Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou
https://www.dailysabah.com/americas/2019/03/01/canada-to-allow-extradition-hearing-against-huawei-exec-meng-wanzhou
Erin O’Toole links SNC-Lavalin controversy to Saudi Arabia dispute
https://globalnews.ca/video/4988563/erin-otoole-links-snc-lavalin-controversy-to-saudi-arabia-dispute
SNC-Lavalin considers pulling out from Saudi Arabia amid deepening diplomatic row
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/company-news/video/snc-lavalin-warns-of-impact-amid-escalating-canada-saudi-feud~1457380
It’s not if the current age robber baron is guilty, it’s that their singling out for prosecution is always political. She will be found guilty if they have the evidence and the political weight to do so, which it seems they believe they do. USA plutocrats which do not please the PRC best stay out of China.
Sadly, but we are all going to pay for the (lack of) policies of the liberal government
“I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPDOYPxSSv0
“He who interferes with what doesn’t concern him finds what doesn’t please him.”
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2158728/outrage-saudi-group-tweets-photo-jet-flying-towards
Canada’s ‘human rights first’ foreign policy could cost billions, as Saudi Arabia puts Ottawa’s principles to the test
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2158753/canadas-human-rights-first-foreign-policy-could
The truth about our hypocritical foreign policy
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/david-j-bercuson-the-truth-about-our-hypocritical-foreign-policy
How events unfolded after foreign affairs minister sent tweet rebuking Saudi Arabia
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/how-events-unfolded-after-foreign-affairs-minister-sent-tweet-rebuking-saudi-arabia-1.4935735
———————————————–
Has Canada started licking the wounds yet?
—
Pass the popcorn…
Huawei Princess will be extradited. The US got our Prince of Pot on less evidence. He got five years in a Federal slammer on conspiracy. Princess Meng is accused of a huge fraud and spycraft with Iran. The charm campaign from China included taking hostages and issuing threats. Here’s what major executives in corporate America say about China’s theft of intellectual property, as much as the Chinese deny it.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/28/1-in-5-companies-say-china-stole-their-ip-within-the-last-year-cnbc.html
It’s high time the Communist Party got a good spanking and public dressing down. We have them a hand out and a hand up starting in 1985. They’ve treated us like crap ever since in many despicable ways. We gutted our manufacturing base (Papa Trudeau did this) in Ontario and sent millions of jobs to China. The globalist stupidity don’t forget was the invention of a Canadian, Mr Maurice Strong who had the same Rasputin influence on P Trudeau as Gerry Butts exerts over Junior Trudeau.
The jig is up, Trump rocks.
If you want to know about climate change (greatest scam in history since its the Sun that causes it) you have to understand where the Sun fits into the picture.
It’s called the Solar Cycle and we are heading into what is called the Maunder Minimum and its coming to your home town.
In fact it arrived this winter and you froze your assess off..
You damn well better hope for carbon because we may be heading into a mini Ice Age….
No its not hocus pocus – its truth…
The socialists don’t talk about it because its not man-made nor is it taxable
“If socialists understood economics they wouldn’t be socialists.”
― Friedrich Hayek
Canada’s economy is grinding to a halt.
So many people are connected to real estate now that the slightest shift in sales causes job loss or revenue losses.
Just drive through Tims and count the cars advertising something about real estate
Its far more than 50% of our economy.
Add in the govt jobs and wage growth after a decade of bubble that are tied to sales of real estate or renos and you are talking a large part of our economy.
Public sector workers have pigged out on revenue growth from it.
As sales slide govt is in serious trouble and must increase your taxes to pay for 100K school janitors, 200K a year nurses, 300K a year bureaucrats….
When you stand back its truly staggering the explosion of govt that real estate has created
#78 wrote – can you elaborate on why a boat costing $125k requires a $300-400k income? Is there a formula for operating and maintenance costs?
__________________________________________
Here’s the formula
A boat is a hole in the water to pour money into….
Payments
Breakage
Regular maintenance
It is staggering what a large boat costs to upkeep. Had one for years in Florida
I rent one down here now….
#78 Vampire Studies on 03.01.19 at 9:36 pm
14 Mattl – can you elaborate on why a boat costing $125k requires a $300-400k income? Is there a formula for operating and maintenance costs?
_____________________________
You haven’t owned one before have you? The formula is non-Euclidian and ends in madness to anyone trying to understand it – real Lovecraft stuff…
B – bust
O – out
A – another
T – thousand
The more you pay for one, the more you pay to maintain it… It’s a universal constant, like Pi or owning old British sports cars and their dodgey electrics…
You are right, it starts with gas and maintenance, then insurance, storage, weatherization, more maintenance, trailering, accessories, etc etc etc
The only thing worse is owning the marina or dealership, selling toys means you need the maintenance and accessories sales to ahem, stay afloat. Though Netflix’s Ozark has some ideas on the business model there, mere mortals have a tougher time of it…
#72 Doghouse Dweller on 03.01.19 at 8:59 pm
My Amazon equipment shipments from China are long overdue ?
Next time you are at the grocery store check the labels , If we don`t release Trump`s hostage soon they could easily starve us into submission.
There will be blow-back and possibly severe .The Chinese won`t be taken for rubes, those days are over.
————————————
Really Bad Example or are you posting from North Korea? Almost nothing from China in grocery store I’d need to buy from China to keep from starving…
The anti-Chinese sentiment on this blog is disheartening. You sound like losers. – Garth
Remember John McCallum? My former political buddy was appointed Canada’s ambassador to China until T2 sacked him a few weeks ago. His crime? Musing that Meng’s arrest and persecution by the US Justice Department was politically motivated since the US president is in a trade war with China. Of course, John was right. And Mr. Trudeau punted him for taking an ethical position. Sound familiar?
===================================
If this is an attempt to draw a line between McCallum’s comments and JWR’s testimony, that’s a implausibly big stretch.
McCallum was a diplomat, and surely there is nothing less diplomatic than publicly “musing” on a sensitive political issue? Undermining your own government’s actions is now considered “ethical”?
He had no particularly valuable insight to offer other than opinion. Absolutely his right to hold, but completely inappropriate to express in his position. Whether in agreement or disagreement with the government’s actions there couldn’t have been anything more inexcusable than providing fodder for a foreign government’s propaganda machine!
Don’t agree with much the Liberals do, but he hardly gave them a choice. He had to go, instantly.
“Undermining your own government’s actions is now considered ‘ethical’?” Is that not exactly what JWR did, whom you applaud? Suck & blow. – Garth
Trudeau was wrong to interfere with the SNC Lavelin prosecution. He would also be wrong to interfere with the extradition hearing. If right and wrong don’t change according to Quebec electoral math, then they do not change according to the importance of Chinese trade. The US charges may or may not be politically motivated; let the court decide on their merits.
#109 expat on 03.02.19 at 6:14 am
“If socialists understood economics they wouldn’t be socialists.”
― Friedrich Hayek
—
Now that you mention austrian dude, I recommencement watching both videos but if you are tight with time watch 1st 30sec of first video, and first 2min of second video.
1st
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk
2nd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc
@#98 Bobby
“Hands up, if you voted for these halfwits in Ottawa.”
*****
I’d put my hand up but I just chewed it off to get out of your trap.
It was an anti-Harper moment of weakness.
Garth warned me.
It wont happen again.
I sat next to John McCullum on a flight from Goldtown to Toronto a long time go. John sat in the steerage section with the rest of us crackerjacks, and talked politics of course. Nice guy who didn’t deserve being thrown under the bus by Mr. Dressup. I didn’t understand his firing. The hypocrisy of it all is in full display now.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2019-12
Bribery to further corporate goals -sham change order requests to conceal the payments
Washington D.C., Feb. 15, 2019 —
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and two of the company’s former executives were charged for their roles in facilitating the payment of millions of dollars in a bribe to an Indian government official.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s complaint alleges that in 2014, a senior government official of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu demanded a $2 million bribe from the construction firm responsible for building Cognizant’s 2.7 million square foot campus in Chennai, India. As alleged in the complaint, Cognizant’s President Gordon Coburn and Chief Legal Officer Steven E. Schwartz authorized the contractor to pay the bribe, and directed their subordinates to conceal the bribe by doctoring the contractor’s change orders. The SEC also alleges that Cognizant authorized the construction firm to make two additional bribes totaling more than $1.6 million. Cognizant allegedly used sham change order requests to conceal the payments it made to reimburse the firm…The SEC charged Coburn and Schwartz with violating anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, monetary penalties, and officer-and-director bars against Coburn and Schwartz.
…Without admitting or denying the allegations, the company agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of approximately $19 million and a penalty of $6 million.
The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey today announced the indictment of Coburn and Schwartz on criminal charges of violating and conspiring to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery and accounting provisions.
===============
Jordan Goodman made $2 million steering investors to what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, after a career as a personal finance journalist and expert.
statute for touting — violating a rule that prohibits communicating about a security if you haven’t disclosed your commercial interest in it.
Eric I. Bustillo, director of the S.E.C.’s regional office in Miami, said, “We’re dealing with senior investors, elderly investors and retail investors who are often vulnerable and perhaps not sophisticated and are easily influenced by individuals who basically purport to provide unbiased opinions.
affiliates: So how much did people in Mr. Goodman’s audience know about how he made money? And what are the lines that public-facing money experts should never cross?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/your-money/money-answers-man-jordan-goodman.html
Now Garth can clearly see the problem with the country from a few of the posts above. Its 100% clear that people in this country have absolutely no idea how its economy works and why it works that way.
Maybe we I can distill it for you. Canada is a poorly capitalized resource based economy. We HAVE to export our raw and moderately processed natural resources to survive. Our GDP has nothing to do with cannibas or starbucks or anything like that. Its our oil, timber, mines, ag products, potash, energy etc. That’s what keeps us afloat period. If we torpedo those pillars of our economy we are done. There are zero high tech jobs or green jobs coming here ever.
We have buyers in the world including the US who support our resource based economy all we need to do is SFU, stop acting like entitled children and carry on.
Nope but we couldn’t do that. We had to show ourselves so superior and run around acting like fools, upsetting the apple cart and angering our one ally who allows us to integrate into their world leading economy. These people are just like Trudeau. Oh our oil industry is gone and the GDP went flat, hmmmm wonder why? Write that same idiotic attitude large across Canada once and see what happens. Guess some people need a little taste of real poverty to wake up.
#112 boat costs, don’t forget to add the cost of the truck nuts to pull it.
“If socialists understood economics they wouldn’t be socialists.”
― Friedrich Hayek
“Competition is a sin”
John D Rockefeller
#111 expat on 03.02.19 at 6:20 am
School custodian salary maxes at 50k/year, not 100 like you said:
https://neuvoo.ca/salary/?job=school+custodian
Nurses:
Registered nurses top out at around 78k/year, not 200k like you said:
http://careersinnursing.ca/new-grads-and-job-seekers/find-nursing-job/dollars-and-sense-what-are-nurses-paid
Nurse practitioner tops at 116k/year:
https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/nurse-practitioner-salary-SRCH_KO0,18.htm
Couldn’t find any “government bureaucrat” jobs that pay remotely close to 300k/year. Most government jobs are at 40-50k/year and contract. Prove me wrong.
Basically you have no idea what you are talking about. You post nothing but talking points and soundbites which have zero evidence, and you use hyperbole to get your distorted point across.
MF
@#74 not 1st on 03.01.19 at 8:59 pm
#58 klnr on 03.01.19 at 8:00 pm
—–
Guess when you are $350B in debt courtesy of another liberal govt might as well go out with a bang. Hopefully your dirty oil cheque arrives soon.
___________________________________
lol, why are you so crusty all the time?
If you don’t like your lot in life change it.
#114 Remembrancer on 03.02.19 at 7:27 am
#72 Doghouse Dweller on 03.01.19 at 8:59 pm
The anti-Chinese sentiment on this blog is disheartening. You sound like losers. – Garth
—————————————————-
Hey Garth, while I’ll admit, the level of discussion here, including myself isn’t exactly Kissinger vs. Brzezinski (no moisters, not Mika), I fail to see the questioning of Doghouse’s strategic assessment as being anti-Chinese.
There’s definitely mutual significant trade relationships at stake and the current government is handling this file badly but we are not about to be starved by China as a result. There is a greater chance of poisoning from whatever Trump’s regulation busting Ag department stopped reviewing to weaponize pre-packaged lettuce salads than starving in a China food embargo…
#124 MF on 03.02.19 at 9:36 am
#111 expat on 03.02.19 at 6:20 am
———————————————–
Facts? Ontario is nice enough to publish a downloadable s/s listing with job titles / high level descriptions. They don’t annotate which ones are fuelled by house prices exclusively as I expect there are more factors then that…
https://www.ontario.ca/page/public-sector-salary-disclosure-2017-all-sectors-and-seconded-employees
Word is the neucel pulp mill in port Alice sent their last employees home without their paycheques for the last two weeks. The mill has been on care and maintenance, no longer economic perhaps.
However, Chinese ownership specifically referenced the huawawi situation as to why Canada and the Chinese are on the outs..I’m thinking consequences do come along! Unlikely to be a single event I would guess
Just my two cents
Dave
@#124 MF on 03.02.19 at 9:36 am
#111 expat on 03.02.19 at 6:20 am
Basically you have no idea what you are talking about. You post nothing but talking points and soundbites which have zero evidence, and you use hyperbole to get your distorted point across.
MF
_________________________________
trolls gonna troll
#123 Basil Fawlty on 03.02.19 at 9:35 am
“If socialists understood economics they wouldn’t be socialists.”
― Friedrich Hayek
“Competition is a sin”
John D Rockefeller
—
Few days back I was listening podcast about any-trust and standard oil and how all that came about, very interesting. Here it is. Cant wait what will happen wit big tech, no need for war…
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/02/15/695131832/antitrust-1-standard-oil
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/02/20/696342011/antitrust-2-the-paradox
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/02/22/697170790/antitrust-3-big-tech
and two bonus podcast
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/02/19/696084985/the-super-bowl-key-housing-indicator
“girl” in this podcast is Kaynes grand grand daughtr or something like that.
https://piie.com/experts/peterson-perspectives/trade-talks-episode-70-nicholas-lardy-chinese-economy
and on a side note, all those hours of voice and written content I go thru to help you guys out and noone takes me sirius… I dont know what iam doing wrong, luckaly buzz cabinet is regularly stocked.
#114 Remembrancer
No sir, I`m not from North Korea, you must have been living under a rock for the last 30 years not to realize that most everything in Canada comes from China or some other country. Even the white fish from Lake Winnipeg ( thats in Manitoba BTW ) goes to China for processing before you get to enjoy your Canadian fish dinner.
Obviously you don`t have a clue what your buying or where it comes from. You must have a complete nutritious diet of Cheez Doodles .
@#112 MF
“Couldn’t find any “government bureaucrat” jobs that pay remotely close to 300k/year. Most government jobs are at 40-50k/year and contract. Prove me wrong….”
*****
Apparently you dont live in BC.
Two top govt bureaucrats in the Legislature have been suspended for taking even more from taxpayers than even their obscene salaries .
$325k/year for one , $215k/year for the other but that wasnt enough, they still allegedly “helped themselves to goodies”
https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/legislature-speaker-s-report-accuses-suspended-officials-of-flagrant-overspending-1.23607248
Then we have the boring, run of the mill bureaucrats that suck up millions in pay, benefits,pensions.
The Lowermainland GVRD comes to mind.
Sewers, water works, Transit…..
Apparently a complicated portfolio judging by the amount of staff required to make poo flow downhill, water to flow uphill, and transit to …well, just flow.
The previous Headquarters in Burnaby was dubbed the “Golden Tower” because to the color of the glass and the amount of staff that filled the 20 story structure that earned in excess of 100k per annum.
But not to worry.
That building wasnt big enough. They moved up the street to an even bigger tower to hold their ever expanding , myriad, paper pushing staff.
The results?
Sewage treatment that is less than state of the art.
Water shortages in the summertime.
A transit system designed by SNC Lavalin that is constantly breaking down…..
And the locals so angry with the GVRD demanding more tax hikes on top of Property, gas( we pay some of the highest rates for gas in North America…today $137.9)…
The GVRD solution to public anger?
Spend millions to change their name….
https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/global-travel-sky-high-dining-and-office-massages-your-tax-dollars-at-work
#14 Mattl
Seriously, pal, you are thinking about buying a new boat for $125,000?
Financial illiteracy at its worst. Ugh. But you will learn, eventually.
Been there, done that over thirty years ago. I stupidly bought a new 26 foot cruiser for over 16 grand, a lot of money back then, would have been worth about 3 grand fifteen years later on the market. Luckily, the marina burnt down at that time and the insurer paid back nearly the full original value. (No, I wasn’t the one who lit the fire, lol!)
Since that time, I still like boating and shop for used ones every few years. Since 2000 I’ve actually picked up two powerboats from Craigslist for ‘free’, just had to assume remaining seasonal marina fees and do some small repairs. Another sailboat cost only $4K. The most I’ve spent was $12K on a beautiful old larger Chris Craft that lasted six more seasons and I sold it for $9K. Remember, you’re paying for the fun you can have with your time, not the boat as an ‘asset’ of some kind. That’s crazy thinking, all they do is depreciate.
These days there’s lots of ‘free’ or almost free boats on Kijiji and Craigslist and other sites, because owners know what a trap they are. Look carefully.
*Now is still a pretty good time to buy used, but the best time is October/November til January when the owners are desperate and don’t want to pay the next year’s mooring fees. Vultching at its best!
Treat buying a boat like being a smart renter instead of a fool buying a Mcmansion in Milton.
JMHO.
@#112 MF
“Most government jobs are at 40-50k/year and contract. Prove me wrong”
******
This took less than 10 seconds to find.
All govt employees earning over 100k.
Its a looooong list.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/public-sector-salary-disclosure-2017-all-sectors-and-seconded-employees
There must be some positive good news somewhere, so post it for a change. I keep looking, but can find nothing anymore. Need a weekend uplifting for a change of pace to keep my sanity in check, so might listen to a few songs instead like Blue Skies.
Garth, the sentiment reading today’s Comments is decidedly negative (for many valid reasons it seems) even with pretty well heeled and an informed group of Commenters.
It’s not just in Canada were we are having GDP problems right now but in the rest of the World’s leading economies.
The EU zone GDP is slowing (Italia in recession, Germany narrowly avoiding it…well for now, growth slowing in France and the UK’s growth slowing due to Brexit uncertainty?).
China’s GDP is its lowest in 30 years (if you can call a 6.6% growth rate “slow” where that would be boom times anywhere else in the World, but for them it’s bad – like RE, it’s local).
Japan is also currently facing a recession.
Seems the last man standing is the US economy. Even for them you have to wonder with the rest of the World’s leading economies growth slowing or in recession, how long can they avoid the same?
The best we can hope for is slow growth but my gut says Canada will go into recession instead. Always hope for the best but I just do not see any silver lining in all this, now or in the near future.
I have predicting recession for quite some time now. Yet, here I am hoping for slow growth. Better that than reading here about the shattered dreams of oh so many that will come from recession and their asking advice from you Garth.
Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.
Things have been getting just a tad too cuckoo in recent decades. This is not good.
While pretending to help millennials by making houses more “affordable”, the corrupt government is actually boosting the net worth of us mortgage free boomers by causing the prices of homes to appreciate even further.
Ahhhhh…the irony.
Cha-ching!
Thanks to everyone responding to boat costs. Actually I
have/do own a boat(s) but they are/were for specific work. As with any equipment, you may buy it for that
particular contract, hoping to get more use with other work. The downside is you must now find “boat jobs”
in order to keep it busy and recoup costs.
I have noticed some beautiful newer aluminum boats that would easily hit that $125k mark, probably over
$200k with the truck and trailer. These are typically owned by avid sports fishers, but nowhere near the income level that was stated. More like good mill or
bush jobs. But this is what these guys do, and they use them frequently.
But I am also familiar with the high-earning
businesspeople and professionals who own a pleasure boat, possibly an older one at a lower cost. What I have often heard from them is that they simply don’t use it enough because of their busy schedules, so quite often sell after a few seasons.
I think you could say the same of motorhomes or ski condos/cabins. You can do it if you budget properly and you use it regularly.
The anti-Chinese sentiment on this blog is disheartening. You sound like losers. – Garth
————–
Consider myself a sinophile.
Just don’t like imperialistic, corrupt dictatorships.
Here or there? – Garth
#121 not 1st on 03.02.19 at 9:10 am
Now Garth can clearly see the problem with the country from a few of the posts above. Its 100% clear that people in this country have absolutely no idea how its economy works and why it works that way.
Maybe we I can distill it for you. Canada is a poorly capitalized resource based economy. We HAVE to export our raw and moderately processed natural resources to survive. Our GDP has nothing to do with cannibas or starbucks or anything like that. Its our oil, timber, mines, ag products, potash, energy etc. That’s what keeps us afloat period. If we torpedo those pillars of our economy we are done. There are zero high tech jobs or green jobs coming here ever.
We have buyers in the world including the US who support our resource based economy all we need to do is SFU, stop acting like entitled children and carry on.
Nope but we couldn’t do that. We had to show ourselves so superior and run around acting like fools, upsetting the apple cart and angering our one ally who allows us to integrate into their world leading economy. These people are just like Trudeau. Oh our oil industry is gone and the GDP went flat, hmmmm wonder why? Write that same idiotic attitude large across Canada once and see what happens. Guess some people need a little taste of real poverty to wake up..
—————-
Was not always like that.
Before NAFTA and globalization.
Canada was a country that had a real voice in the world, was diversified and prosperous.
Too late now.
Victim of unfettered capitalism and globalization.
And of course the curse of RE mania.
#137 Dolce Vita on 03.02.19 at 11:28 am
Garth, the sentiment reading today’s Comments is decidedly negative (for many valid reasons it seems) even with pretty well heeled and an informed group of Commenters.
It’s not just in Canada were we are having GDP problems right now but in the rest of the World’s leading economies.
The EU zone GDP is slowing (Italia in recession, Germany narrowly avoiding it…well for now, growth slowing in France and the UK’s growth slowing due to Brexit uncertainty?).
China’s GDP is its lowest in 30 years (if you can call a 6.6% growth rate “slow” where that would be boom times anywhere else in the World, but for them it’s bad – like RE, it’s local).
Japan is also currently facing a recession.
Seems the last man standing is the US economy. Even for them you have to wonder with the rest of the World’s leading economies growth slowing or in recession, how long can they avoid the same?
The best we can hope for is slow growth but my gut says Canada will go into recession instead. Always hope for the best but I just do not see any silver lining in all this, now or in the near future.
I have predicting recession for quite some time now. Yet, here I am hoping for slow growth. Better that than reading here about the shattered dreams of oh so many that will come from recession and their asking advice from you Garth.
———–
What’s wrong with a good recession once a while.
It’t the ebbs and tides of life.
It’t the time to ask existential questions, like Do I really need an F150.
Remember, tough time builds character.
#135 crowdedelevatorfartz on 03.02.19 at 11:26 am
That’s all well and good, but still doesn’t change the fact that I don’t see any 300k/year salaries.
MF
#127 Remembrancer on 03.02.19 at 10:14 am
“Universities and degree-granting colleges receive most of their funding from government sources and tuition fees. The remaining funding comes from donations, private grants, investments and other minor sources of revenues.”
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/170713/dq170713c-eng.htm
-From what I see the vast majority of those high salaries are professors in universities or colleges. Institutions whose revenue not only comes from government sources (taxes) but also tuition, donations, investments etc.
Ignoring the fact that research and development is necessary to move the human species forward, I still don’t see anyone over 300k 1) and it’s clear that these workers are not funded strictly by tax revenue. 2)
MF
#129 KLNR on 03.02.19 at 10:37 am
—-
The perfect example of a boiling frog socialist. Everything is fine so long as I get a interesting design in my daily latte.
But Garth and others knows what’s happening and that’s reassuring
RICO
https://www.justsecurity.org/62120/ruminations-rico-asset-forfeiture-trump-business-empire/
Watch her sing and dance, so have a beautiful day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3JlWxLra7E
#4 “Garth, I think the stat is that 40% of Canadians 35 or younger own their home. Not that 40% of homes are owned by Canadians 35 or under”
Cambridge English Dictionary: ownership definition – the fact that you own something
Try not paying the mortgage for a few months and you’ll see who owns the place…
It wold be more correct to say that 40% are not home owners, they are MORTGAGE OWNERS, by definition and in reality. Otherwise, we could consider most of them as millionaires, owners of million dollar homes – isn’t that a bit delusional? I guess weed helps with that
@#144MF
“That’s all well and good, but still doesn’t change the fact that I don’t see any 300k/year salaries.”
****
Apparently reading and comprehension isnt your strongest trait.
No matter
Lets look at a few on the govt pork “Sunshine” list shall we.
There’s so many to choose from since the list holds 131,000 names….
page 7:
Sheridan College: one people earning in excess of $250,000 per year
Page 8:
Sheridan College: one person earning in excess of $375,000 per year
Page 9:
Sheridan College: one person earning in excess of $250,000 per year
So yes, there are govt workers in schools ( and I’m sure Sheridan College is at the low end of the scale in salaries as compared to some of the more well known institutes of “learning”) earning over $200,000 per year, plus benefits, plus pensions, etc etc etc
Again I insist……Read on.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/public-sector-salary-disclosure-2017-all-sectors-and-seconded-employees
And when you get bored scrolling through the thousands of Ont Govt employees on the list……think of all those towns, cities, Provinces and the country with thousands upon thousands upon thousands of govt employees earning far more than the private sector to do the same jobs.
Who is paying for this unaffordable fiscal freight train careening downhill faster and faster?
There is a tax reckoning coming from the middle class that are fed up paying public sector workers obscene salary’ benefits and guaranteed pensions when they are living on (or will be pensioned) living on scraps.
One need only look at the towns, cities, States and country south of the border to see the wreckage unfolding.
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/bankrupt-public-employee-pensions-the-next-big-financial-crisis/
and if you think it wont be happening here…….I have some swampland for sale in Ontario to show you
#151 crowdedelevatorfartz on 03.02.19 at 1:54 pm
Please read the following post:
#146 Figure it Out on 03.02.19 at 12:53 pm
“Apparently reading and comprehension isnt your strongest trait.”
-Come on. You’re better than that.
MF
#108 David Driven
“The globalist stupidity don’t forget was the invention of a Canadian, Mr Maurice Strong who had the same Rasputin influence on P Trudeau as Gerry Butts exerts over Junior Trudeau. ”
————————————————
There’s no denying that some Liberal “friends” can scare the hell out of the rest of us.
Maurice Strong was a dangerous and despicable man, again and again promoting the demise of Western democracy. Admired by Trudeau senior. Also Chretien.
Strong’s cousin, Anna, was a devout Communist and like her cousin lived in China for many years.
Anna said: “We are undertaking the most tremendous move ever made by labor in this country, a move which will lead — NO ONE KNOWS WHERE!” (her emphasis).
She supported the USSR against “anti-communism”, having met Stalin, but “eventually liked the Chinese more than the Soviets.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Louise_Strong
Ah…the Liberals.
Anything ring a bell?
The 2019 Liberals will amazingly out promise the 2015 Liberals. Hang on to your wallets.
“As sales slide govt is in serious trouble and must increase your taxes to pay for 100K school janitors, 200K a year nurses, 300K a year bureaucrats….”
——————————-
School Board is now charging $300 busing for one child outside of a 2.4 km catchment. Quite the money pit in rural areas.
Plus property taxes are slated to increase 3.8 per cent.
The biggest business is government at all levels.
And we have fools running them.
#145 MF on 03.02.19 at 12:41 pm
#127 Remembrancer on 03.02.19 at 10:14 am
“Universities and degree-granting colleges receive most of their funding from government sources and tuition fees. The remaining funding comes from donations, private grants, investments and other minor sources of revenues.”
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/170713/dq170713c-eng.htm
-From what I see the vast majority of those high salaries are professors in universities or colleges. Institutions whose revenue not only comes from government sources (taxes) but also tuition, donations, investments etc.
Ignoring the fact that research and development is necessary to move the human species forward, I still don’t see anyone over 300k 1) and it’s clear that these workers are not funded strictly by tax revenue. 2)
MF
—
I agree i went thru xls file and there is 132k lines and it did supersized me how “medical” are not as many only 1/5 out all. I did some crude count (countif a:g,”*word*)in xls i am sure number is even smaller because some of the querys are overlaping, like hospitals and nurse, anesiza. Interesting…
https://imgur.com/ojhHU4h
@#147 Not 1st on 03.02.19 at 1:04 pm
#129 KLNR on 03.02.19 at 10:37 am
—-
The perfect example of a boiling frog socialist. Everything is fine so long as I get a interesting design in my daily latte.
But Garth and others knows what’s happening and that’s reassuring
_________________________
lol, what are you on about????
Go out and get some sunshine, judging by most of your comments you may be a little low on vitamin d.
@#151 crowdedelevatorfartz on 03.02.19 at 1:54 pm
@#144MF
There is a tax reckoning coming from the middle class that are fed up paying public sector workers obscene salary’ benefits and guaranteed pensions when they are living on (or will be pensioned) living on scraps.
One need only look at the towns, cities, States and country south of the border to see the wreckage unfolding.
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/bankrupt-public-employee-pensions-the-next-big-financial-crisis/
and if you think it wont be happening here…….I have some swampland for sale in Ontario to show you
_______________________________________
thats some crazy hyperbole dude.
sad that your average human feels they need to tear someone down to build themselves up.
Folks need to quit blaming everybody else for their lot in life.
@Dolce
“I have predicting recession for quite some time now. Yet, here I am hoping for slow growth. Better that than reading here about the shattered dreams of oh so many that will come from recession and their asking advice from you Garth.”
######
Yah, I’m not looking forward to what I have seen happen before in what seems like another life. Judging by how indebted those are around us things are not looking good.
A lot of people are not paying attention to what’s happening around them for various reasons. World growth is slowing, right after a ten year credit run.
Story: Younger couple (separated) are selling their 1960-70’s house in Sooke, BC. For various reasons (one dragging his foot) they have waited till this Spring to put on the Market. They should have listed last Summer before prices declined. The last time this house was renovated was when it was built. They just bought it at peak price 3-4 years ago. Their heads are in other places and slowly they have started to watch the market as they each hope to walk away with a profit to cushion their new single lives. Did I mention they bought at peak price and that prices have come down…Minds our in other places. Yes I did tell them to get the house on the market in the summer. If they are lucky the market will experience a dead cat bounce (March Budget) and/or they will find a clueless greater fool who is driven by delusional or just doesn’t pay attention to financial and economic news.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-01/quadriga-has-6-cold-wallets-but-they-don-t-hold-any-crypto
Quadriga Crypto Mystery Deepens With ‘Cold Wallets’ Found Empty
By Doug Alexander
…It looks now like the storage Quadriga is known to have used — dubbed cold wallets — has been empty since April…
…Ernst & Young identified six cold wallet addresses used by Quadriga to store Bitcoin in the past. Five of those wallets haven’t had any balances since April 2018, and a sixth “appears to have been used to receive Bitcoin from another cryptocurrency exchange account and subsequently transfer Bitcoin to the Quadriga hot wallet” on Dec. 3. The only activity since was an inadvertent transfer of Bitcoin into that sixth wallet last month, which was disclosed earlier…
#145 MF on 03.02.19 at 12:41 pm
Please don’t make this anti-science, I am simply refuting, using objective evidence for the Province of Ontario, the assertion that there’s no one over $300K in the public service. A simple sort based on salary lists senior execs, yes professors, who are public funded enough to be included the so-called sunshine list legislation, and other professions such as radiologists and pathologists. There are also senior trades people in senior supervisory capacities. More a testament to being damn good at what you do and doing long enough to be the top dog. Success the good old fashioned way.
Though its not an interesting enough discussion to do point-by-point here, I think if you sort by job title you may find contrary or supporting information for the other data points you are citing as well.
Have a good day.
@#158 KLNR
“Folks need to quit blaming everybody else for their lot in life….
****
Hyperbole?
Nah, I just want the guaranteed govt pensions to be 100% funded by the public sector workers…. not by unpensioned taxpayers…..
I dont think that’s a lot to ask.
https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/12/06/1662856/0/en/Fraser-Institute-News-Release-Canadian-taxpayers-subsidize-government-pensions-to-the-tune-of-22-billion-a-year.html
If you want a big, fat, juicy guaranteed pension….fine….just dont expect overtaxed private sector taxpayers to fund half of it…..
@#152 MF
“-Come on. You’re better than that.”
+++++
No, actually.
I’m not.
My name should be your first clue…….
An article from almost 10 years ago and it is even more relevant today
https://www.taxpayer.com/commentaries/pension-riots-brewing-in-canada-
#132 Doghouse Dweller on 03.02.19 at 11:07 am
You must have a complete nutritious diet of Cheez Doodles .
—————————————————–
Ah, Cheez Doodles, the pride of Berwick, PA. I don’t usually partake in puffed cheese snacks, but when I do I’m more a Cheetos fan myself, more satisfying crunch. Anyway, each to their own.
Ya, I’m aware of where Lake Winnipeg is and though surprised that if in Winnipeg itself, I couldn’t find local sourced supply like from an outfit like http://www.freshwaterfish.com? Pity. Here in Ontario you can get local stock, for instance from: https://www.seacoreseafood.com/product/Whitefish
(neither affiliated with Seacore Seafood nor Fresh Water Fish, truth be told I don’t even really like fish as a staple, simply a classically trained informed citizen with an aversion for misinformation, passible data analytics skills and not nearly even half as funny as I think I am…)
“Undermining your own government’s actions is now considered ‘ethical’?” Is that not exactly what JWR did, whom you applaud? Suck & blow. – Garth
====================================
It’s easier to argue little soundbites of an statement than the whole statement, isn’t it?
Where do I applaud anyone’s actions?
The logical fallacy is equating rash public comments from a diplomat, (of all people fer chrissakes), to a whistleblower armed with detailed accounts and a precise list of names and dates. The fact that both undermined the government they serve is the only parallel.
I fail to see how public uninformed speculation by a ranking diplomat could be construed as “ethical”. I have no problem with McCallum’s entitlement to his opinion, but expressing it as he did, when he did, from the position he held can’t be described as anything but rash, unprofessional, and accomplished absolutely nothing beyond inflaming the Chinese. Lose-lose. Buh-bye.
JWR may yet be shown to have overreacted, but I also cannot see how shining a light on even the perception of inappropriate influence from the PMO (and that’s being kind) could not be considered ethical. And it may actually have positive consequences, although I’m not holding my breath.
So no. Not “suck and blow”, even though a clever, but overused phrase.
Higher rates are starting to have an impact? These rates are low and only heading lower. The next move for the Fed and Canadas CB is lower. Recession here in Canada in 2019 and 2020 in the US. It’s been a fun ride.