Economic news - Should we be worried?

We're doomed! Game over, man. [Bill Paxton]

 

All I know is if Clinton is elected and the congress stays Dem, I'm putting a huge chunk of money on Congress going Republican in the midterms.

Hey, it seems like we're reliving history right now, it could work... :

 

Exceedingly well-put.

Neither my father nor--particularly--my mother seem to get just how drastically the landscape has changed. I guess I can't blame them, but it's frustrating. Makes me cringe to think what things will be like 30 years from now.

 

buying a house almost is frightening.

 

Don't celebrate too much yet, Canada

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/22/business/worldbusiness/22loonie.html?ref=world

Canadians may now be wealthier in global terms, but the even exchange rate with the United States dollar now makes it immediately obvious that they also pay more than Americans for many goods.

A report released Thursday by BMO Nesbitt Burns, a unit of the Bank of Montreal, estimates that products are priced 24 percent higher in Canada than in the United States despite the Canadian dollar’s steady five-year march to parity with the United States dollar.

During the three-decade slump from which the Canadian dollar just rebounded, Canadians became accustomed to paying more.
...
Despite the Canadian dollar’s rise, the price gap for high-end cars is sharp. In the United States, the base price for a 2008 BMW 550i sedan is $59,275. In Canada, the same car starts at 82,900 Canadian dollars. The difference, 23,625, is slightly more than the Canadian price of a Volkswagen Rabbit hatchback with an automatic transmission.

 

If you were worrying, a story came across bloomberg this week that Goldman Sachs is planning roughly the same bonus pool for their employees this year as last year, roughly $16 billion. If you've read about the bonuses in previous years, the idiot writers always divide it by the number of employees to get an average bonus, somewhere in 6 figures.

I have a friend who works at Goldman, she is client service, long time employee. We got around to talking about bonuses last year, since Goldman's is always very well publicized.

She said she got no bonus last year. And no raise. a SIXTEEN BIILION DOLLAR bonus pool, and the cretins who run goldman couldn't even throw the laymen a bone. She said she left work crying that day. Her team manager did give everyone a small bonus (out of his), but Goldman couldn't/didn't recognize every employee individually. Great morale booster.

I am a big believer in capitalism, but the greed I see in the financial services area sickens me.

 

I've suspected/known this for years. I have a friend who is a Canadian customs agent. He hasn't purchased anything outside groceries in Canada for about two years. And, he's seen a major rise in cross-border shopping, including several Canadians buying cars - new and used - in America.

Corporate Canada has been screwing the apathetic nation for years and continues to do so.

If you've got stock in a major Canadian conglomorate or American company that owns Canadian-based companies (i.e. The Bay, Wendys/Tim Hortons, etc. etc.) you should be making lots of money right now.

 

My wife and I keep putting it off - and keep saving. We really can't see how the trend of $350,000 homes can continue.

Who in the hell are buying and affording these things?

I know some of our friends' parents helped make their purchases. But even still, my wife and I collectively make more than some single friends of ours who own homes. But they were helped and/or have lost money on their homes.

I'm guess two years, that's how much longer this can last. Right now, we're paying $800 in rent for two bedrooms and a balcony, and that $800 includes two parking spaces and ALL utilities. Our only other household bills are the phone/cable/internet bundle and $1.50 per load for laundry. I think we'll keep paying that for a while — at least until the baby needs a yard to run around in. By then, I hope either a) prices have gone down or b) we've saved a substantial amount of money for a down payment.

 

Actually, selling one right now is more scary. The next-door neighbors have had theirs on the market for 11 months now without a taker.

And the worst part is the Mrs. and I have found our dream house. Absolutely perfect. But we're worried we wouldn't be able to sell ours (ready to move-in, great neighborhood) in a timely manner.

 

Buying a used car in the United States and bringing it into Canada can be as logistical nightmare if you don't know what you're doing.

For example, you have to notify U.S. Customs a minimum of 72 hours prior to exporting the vehicle. So, if you buy a car on a Monday, you can't bring it in to Canada until Thursday. And then, once you get it in, you have to pay a registration fee and a fee to have it examined to ensure that it's up to safety standards. (And don't forget the GST--you'll pay that when you bring it across the border)

And a lot of American new car dealers will not sell to Canadians and there's no guarantee that if you buy, say, a Toyota in the U.S. that Toyota Canada will honour the warranty.

As far as prices go, well, remember that wholesalers and retailers paid substantially more for their older inventory. So, that $12.00 widget that costs $10.00 today in the U.S. now may been purchased by the dealer when the loonie was at $.79 US.


And I hope your friend who's a Canada Customs agent is declaring everything he's buying in the U..S and paying the GST & any duty.

Nothing I'd like to see more than a Customs Agent get nailed for smuggling. Mostly good people but too many of them are fascist pricks that make mall security guards look like Dudley Dooright.

 

Market update.

 

Let's not forget curling.