Friday, February 12, 2016

This Day In Clarkland...But Are We Doomed To Repeat It?

And the salad, it is word.

Or some such thing.

And as for 'doomed' governments and all that....Well....Keef!



chuckstraight said...

Christy is getting kind of mean? I don`t think Coleman will go down in history in a good way.
One thing I never hear discussion of is how people from China earn such high incomes to afford million dollar homes. Was`t there something about them being "Commies"?

JasonS said...

Using taxpayer money to "create" affordable housing is just funneling more money into developers hands. Stopping foreign speculators from purchasing property they never live in will make housing more affordable. This is just buying votes from our uninformed electorate and unfortunately we have a lot of those in BC. I used to brag about my province to my American cousins but im afraid that just like the Neo-Liberal party of BC i have nothing more to brag about.

Hugh said...

"Tulip mania reached its peak during the winter of 1636–37, when some bulbs were reportedly changing hands ten times in a day."

Then one day everyone realized they were just tulips.

Lew said...

Coleman has already gone down in history for what he’s done in housing. He turned this:

into this:

He was also involved in the government’s helpful purchase of a bunch of money-pit fleabags the city of Vancouver wanted cleaned up prior to the 2010 Olympics to prevent a black eye on the world stage. Didn’t create any more spaces, but must have been a boon to the previous owners.

RossK said...


Good point about the possibility that the word salad spinning Premier formerly known as the Iron Snowbird is actually drawing attention to the possibility that, as Lew points out, Mr. Coleman's actions may place him on the wrong side of history.



Excellent point, especially given that there is no actual 'plan' in the 'plan'.

Regarding the uninformed state of much of the electorate...Who should we blame for that?



Be careful....

After all, you don't want to be accused of decreasing the equity of westside gardens do you?


Thanks Lew.

Memory matters more than ever.

Especially when you are making history.


e.a.f. said...

so they were a little thin on the details there. if the money is to be spread over 5 years and houses cost $2Million a piece, that just isn't going to work out so well. Details would be nice. of course now that the First Nations own the Jericho lands, things could get interesting. 32 acres right by the beach on the west side of Vancouver. I hear the jets are fired up in China. Don't forget China has 35 Million, millionaires.

Hong Kong and Australia both have laws in place to try to control foreign ownership and at least get some tax money from the foreign owners. Australia's system is real easy, don't live there, you don't own old stock housing there. If you own and leave, you sell it within 3 months. Now of course we have Christy saying that isn't fair to those who have high equity in their homes here. What she doesn't say is thousands of these homes are not being lived in by B.C. residents, by any one. These houses sit empty. You really have to wonder who Christy and her B.C. Lieberals are protecting. It sure isn't the people of B.C.

The announcement of the funding for affordable housing is just another photo op for her. It won't make housing any more affordable in the lower mainland.

When it comes to equity, well at the rate its rising, a little less equity wouldn't kill anyone. In some areas "equity" can be increased by $400K in a couple of weeks.

at some point employers will not be able to keep employees. Employers will be able to find an educated work force in Calgary with more affordable housing, faster commuting times, lower commercial rents. yes, Calgary is colder in the winter, but you can always afford to go to Maui, while in Vancouver you have trouble feeding yourself, after paying the mortgage.

Anonymous said...


Found this recent this new study 'Does Inequality Cause Financial Distress?' and was wondering how well its design is. Are there any folks who would care to comment on the methodologies used?

This is from a Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Working Paper:

Abstract We test the hypothesis that income inequality causes financial distress. To identify the effect of income inequality, we examine lottery prizes of random dollar magnitudes in the context of very small neighborhoods (13 households on average). We find that a C$1,000 increase in the lottery prize causes a 2.4% rise in subsequent bankruptcies among the winners’ close neighbors. We also provide evidence of conspicuous consumption as a mechanism for this causal relationship. The size of lottery prizes increases the value of visible assets (houses, cars, motorcycles), but not invisible assets (cash and pensions), appearing on the balance sheets of neighboring bankruptcy filers.

Hugh said...

There's a concern that clamping down on speculation will cause home owners to lose equity, due to falling prices. Well, duh, no normal person can buy a house because prices are too high. Of course prices have to come down, that's the whole idea.