tharmas

Excellent post!

It's structural. A big problem is the Banks. They would rather lend for asset accumulation (rent seeking) than for production. In Canada, mortgage lending is literally zero risk as the banks are covered via CHMC against any defaults. Ultimately its the tax payer who is on the hook. Hence the massive housing-based economy.

And none of the politicians ever fix the structure because many of them are property owners.

Agreed. Its not just the size of the pie but how it is sliced up.

Canada is on the same footing as Mississippi regarding GDP per capita. But if you look at the economic standard of living of the poorest income earners in Canada verses their equivalent in Mississippi, the Canadian has a better standard of living.

In the USA, the size of the pie is quite big and the wealthy get a much bigger slice of that pie than most other Western countries.

You forgot neoliberalism, Bank lending to fund asset accumulation by the wealthy with no lending for asset production.

Absolutely hard Agree here. Thank you.

Some businesses use that as cover to increase prices even when their costs may not have actually been affected by the price of energy. Never waste an opportunity to put the big squeeze on.

Steadily rising prices will be the norm from now on. What will be interesting to see is how fast the corporate elite figure they can boil the frogs without them noticing too much.

$50.00 hotdog is coming.

I stand with the Pope, also.

Sadly, the politicians are all bought off by the powerful and rich elite. And the ones who aren't are soon hounded out.

What does the "The West" stand for? They (the Elites and the politicians) said human rights etc. But Gaza proved that a lie. Gaza happened in "broad daylight" and the Western leaders did nothing at best, and at worst demonized those who spoke out, as supporters of terrorists.

Precisely.

That's what Canadian oil is for. The USA gets it at a discount price.

He's trying to control the oil that goes to China. First, take Maduro then close the Straight of Hormuz (to prevent oil going to China). The rest is just collateral damage as far as he's concerned.

This is all about keeping China down, and preserving American Hegemony. That's his definition of "making America great again". He doesn't care that you're paying more for food, gasoline, etc. and that the rest of the third world will soon be starving.

Gulf States get a swap line (can't let Wall St crash), but you get no bail out because the elites don't care that you are hurting. They care about the Gulf States hurting because that ultimately means Wall St will crash which would hurt the Billionaire elites.

So to sum up, the reason is maintain America's Hegemony and protect the Billionaire class.

Half time break for Coronation Street in the UK saw a power surge due to people putting the kettle on.

And number 3:

To ensure that Germany and Russia never team up to be a world super power that would rival the USA.

That's the main reason they are there.

Thank you. Too many people genuinely believe it is a simple supply and demand problem. Housing is a much more complicated "commodity" than people want to concede.

A house next door to me sat vacant for 4 years here in Vancouver. The owner couldn't sell at the asking price. The owner never lived in the house himself ever. He couldn't lower the price because then he would be losing money (selling it for less than what he bought it for).

Over that 4 year period, immigration to Canada dropped dramatically.

It just recently sold for slightly lower than the asking price (but slightly more than what the owner had bought it for 4 years prior). It was sold to a new immigrant to Canada. At least the new owner is actually living in it.

Why would developers want to build so much supply that the price drops?

Are there any military personnel working at the Oracle Facility? Big Tech is very much used in this War so not a stretch to imagine military personnel working there.

Apparently the hotels that were struck in Dubai etc were attacked because US military personnel were working remotely there due to US bases being damaged.

The irony about tRump is he sometimes says the quiet part out loud. He is a pathological liar yet at the same time he speaks truth. He revealed the USA's ruling Elite's desire to make Canada a vassal state. Arguably, the Canadian Elite did it when Brian Mulroney, (he was originally against it himself but the Business lobby told him otherwise: he dutifully complied with his donors), pushed and signed the free trade agreement: "I'm rolling the dice!". He was persuaded to put the decision to an election first. He won the majority of seats, but not the popular vote. He signed it anyway. Now, Canada finds itself in the position that his opposition warned about: that putting your eggs in one basket was taking a big risk that US wasn't going to be ruled by a Fascist Dictator.

But thanks to the Fascist Dictator Canadians have once again woken up to the folly of tying yourself so closely to a giant who goes rogue. The Republican Party should be deeply ashamed of themselves for kowtowing to tRump. Mind you, there is plenty of things the Republican Party should be ashamed about - they helped create the situation that would make the election of tRump possible - with their poverty inducing policies. The Republican Party is as loathsome as the Nazi Party.

And then there is the feckless Democrats. Absolutely useless.

The Greenest President Ever!

The World works in mysterious ways.

I thought it was development companies that build houses? And why would development companies build so much housing that the value started to drop? Are you saying that "leftists" put up barriers to new housing such as regulation that helps drive up the overall cost of building and hence the price of housing? I would agree with you there. Are you sure "housing has been built in droves" is what brought the price of rent down?

House prices went sky high because of investors/speculators increasing demand (and massive immigration). Maybe if the government regulated more who buys housing (home dwellers not investors) rather than regulating what gets built. Also, have more sensible immigration levels.

Since developers will be less likely to build with falling prices perhaps the govt can build rent to own housing for lower income earners. Or incentivize private developers to build affordable housing.

High prices doesn't necessarily mean its purely a supply problem. If profit is high with low supply for developers what incentive would they have to increase supply?

Cue the downvotes.

>Ironically, if yuan becomes new petroleum currency, it might hurt Chinese long term.

Agreed. Which is why the Chinese do NOT want their currency to become the Petrodollar or world's reserve currency. They know that that is what destroyed US Manufacturing. China wants to maintain their manufacturing dominance. They've seen what de-industrialization has done to the US.

>They're going to need to line his grave with ammonia cakes to deal with all of the piss.

Cheers. That made me laugh!

>The Iran war is deeply unpopular with the American people

I heard it was popular with Republicans.

Also, the Democratic party establishment seems pretty mum on this war so far. They are full of neocons too.

But BB has achieved the opposite. Israel is now reviled the world over. He flushed any sympathy generated by the Holocaust down the toilet. Even Jews in USA now experiencing hate crime towards them like never before.

Investors add to demand for housing. This will help drive up prices. And no, builders will not necessarily increase supply if they can realise increased margin of profit due to increased demand. We see that with RAM manufacturers. RAM suppliers constrain supply to boost margins. Same with house builders. The difference is people can go without RAM but everyone needs a place to live.

You have to restrict investors buying up that newly built housing too.

Homes for people. Not investors.

I concur!

He's the new Epstein, bar the sex sleaze.

Not to worry. If Israel's extinction is at risk that's when BB will use nukes.

Don't worry. The USA needs to maintain the Petro Dollar so this war will go on until Iran is rubble like Gaza.

The Gulf States are finished.

Thanks for the info. What disturbs me most is the polarization and increasing intolerance of different/opposing ideas and opinions. I'm referring to "slit their throats" kinds of reactions and "set [it] on fire". There's no "lets agree to disagree and meet half way". No compromise. That's seen as weak.

I agree, both should have been charged. Only one was. You could argue that the MP is making the greater offence as he/she is in a position of authority.

The solid bad guy(s) here are BB and tRump (for bending over for BB). No US president has ever been so stupid as to allow an Israeli leader con them into a war with Iran.

Also, you are forgetting that BB/Israel wants the Gulf States to get into the War against Iran. So it is highly plausible that some of those hits are the Israeli's. The Israeli's are masters at subterfuge.