What is going on? Food Shortages / Recession Talk / High Oil Prices(Gas)/Home Prices?

[Dren]

Whats happening ?
Will this affect Alberta much? Heard stories that Ontario is already in recession?

Views? ideas....

[ICEBERG]

Supply and Demand.

I have my own business and the prices on material went up 30% this year.. Things have slowed down alot in Calgary. Oil and gas might be different story, but rest of the industry is not doing that great.

Would it affect Calgary? For sure, people who say it wont are naive. I have friends who live in TO and they say things are really bad down here. There is no work and lot of layoffs. Would that happen here? Sure it would.

As home prices go. I have friends who are loosing money on their homes. They bought when the market was hot thinking they would make good money on their house. One of them is getting a divorce and has to sell, he bought his house for $430,000 in the S.E and now had to lower it to $380,000 and still can't sell it. And this was a Show home he bought. The house market leveled if not went down about 50K. More expensive homes are sitting. Could get worse than better. I feel sorry for people who took out $300 - $400,000 mortgages..

Gas prices won't slow down, look at Europe. They are paying $3 a litre over there. It will be getting high here also. i see no end to this.

cheers,

[Bimmer88]

Food prices are going up too! Damn people are going to be in more debt than ever. That's why the government is lowering interest rates to promote spending which should help out the economy. Well were all screwed... especially folks who are living paycheck to paycheck I feel sorry for them.

[Supa Dexta]

It's all controlled by the major world banks.. *foil hat alert!*

... The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America

[benyl]

There are many many factors, but a big one is the idiots south of the boarder.

They are all living the high life thanks to credit. The credit is running out. It is funny when people say that they are losing everything. The reality is that it wasn't theirs to begin with. Just because you are making payments on something, doesn't mean you own it.

[canuckcarguy]

Originally posted by benyl
There are many many factors, but a big one is the idiots south of the boarder.

They are all living the high life thanks to credit. The credit is running out. It is funny when people say that they are losing everything. The reality is that it wasn't theirs to begin with. Just because you are making payments on something, doesn't mean you own it.

So your cars are all paid for, cash? And you're mortgage-free?

Not trying to single you out, but everybody feels good when the money's flowing, sure some people in the US made some bad decisions, but we're not that different here - we also have record levels of consumer debt. The big difference in the US is not that their borrowers were less disciplined, but that their lenders were looser with their cash.

[98type_r]

Stagflation...

[Xtrema]

The lack of financial and credit education > everyone.

They have force the idea in people's head that "affording" is more than just making the interest payments.

[heavyD]

Originally posted by benyl
There are many many factors, but a big one is the idiots south of the boarder.

They are all living the high life thanks to credit. The credit is running out. It is funny when people say that they are losing everything. The reality is that it wasn't theirs to begin with. Just because you are making payments on something, doesn't mean you own it.

Calgary is just as bad if not worse. Way too many people living beyond their means.

[Antonito]

Originally posted by heavyD


Calgary is just as bad if not worse. Way too many people living beyond their means.

No, it's not. Not even close. But Canuckcarguy is right, it's mostly because we're simply not allowed to be worse by the banks that have shown some restraint compared to their American counterparts.

[98type_r]

Originally posted by heavyD


Calgary is just as bad if not worse. Way too many people living beyond their means.

I couldn't agree more, consumer spending in this city has taken off far faster than the growth can support. Granted there is a lot of oil money is this city, but I for one could see a very large number of BMW owners trying to get out of their leases soon.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by 98type_r


I couldn't agree more, consumer spending in this city has taken off far faster than the growth can support. Granted there is a lot of oil money is this city, but I for one could see a very large number of BMW owners trying to get out of their leases soon.

Everybody is making good money and job market is still hot. So I don't think that'll happen soon.

But used car value is gonna suffer in this city next few year because of all the lease returns (who's gonna buy it out?) and cheaper American imports.

[hampstor]

I hate it how stores market debt.

"you only pay $X per month" instead of, "you pay $x per month over the next Y years and pay Z amounts of interest".

People are sheep, easily fall into that trap and it's fucking up the economy. This is especially true for most younger people that want the new system for your car, new notebook computers, etc.

Maybe it's time we require legislation into how debt is advertised...

[benyl]

Originally posted by canuckcarguy


So your cars are all paid for, cash? And you're mortgage-free?

Not trying to single you out, but everybody feels good when the money's flowing, sure some people in the US made some bad decisions, but we're not that different here - we also have record levels of consumer debt. The big difference in the US is not that their borrowers were less disciplined, but that their lenders were looser with their cash.

Two out of 3 of my cars are paid for. One is a lease as it is a deduction for one of my businesses. My mortgage payment is 15% of my monthly income. I bought my house 1.5 years ago and I have 15 years left on my mortgage. I am getting married in 3 weeks and she makes more money than I do. So our mortgage payment will drop to 5% of our combined income. I don't think that is anywhere near living beyond my means. I am not bragging, but you asked.

Nobody tells you to go and borrow money. It is a choice you make. Sure there is peer pressure to live the "bling" lifestyle.

Interesting article about the US spending habbits:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromab.../20080325.html

Living within your means would seem to be a universal wisdom. Not here.

[canuckcarguy]

I don't remotely care about banks and lenders and credit card companies being too loose and taking a huge hit when the market goes down. Big deal - they're big boys, they can handle it. If you don't like their lending policies, don't buy their stocks. What bothers me is when the taxpayer is on the hook. Everybody talks about the housing boom, and why it happened. I thought, by and large, it was great, by the way. And we were undervalued for a long time in Alberta, so lots of that price appreciation was reasonable. I don't see us returning to $75K houses.

But most people ignore that one of the big causes of the boom is not that banks got looser with their credit, but that CMHC got looser. The government agency introduced lower lending criteria, like eliminating the cap on loan values (they used to limit how much you could spend on a CMHC insured house, depending on where you lived). They decided to allow longer amortization periods. They decided to allow so-called "no down-payment" options (essentially a borrowed downpayment). They reduced requirements on credit, and income, and job stability. They lowered the "conventional mortgage requirement" from 25% to 20%. And they'll be on the hook for most of the foreclosures in this economy, since people who put more than 20% down are less likely to let their homes go.

These changes all occurred within the last five years. And when the shit hits the fan, as it always eventually does, it'll be the taxpayer on the hook.

[Chester]

Originally posted by benyl


Two out of 3 of my cars are paid for. One is a lease as it is a deduction for one of my businesses. My mortgage payment is 15% of my monthly income. I bought my house 1.5 years ago and I have 15 years left on my mortgage. I am getting married in 3 weeks and she makes more money than I do. So our mortgage payment will drop to 5% of our combined income. I don't think that is anywhere near living beyond my means. I am not bragging, but you asked.

Nobody tells you to go and borrow money. It is a choice you make. Sure there is peer pressure to live the "bling" lifestyle.

Interesting article about the US spending habbits:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromab.../20080325.html

Adopt me? I'll take care of the M.

[Antonito]

Originally posted by hampstor
I hate it how stores market debt.

"you only pay $X per month" instead of, "you pay $x per month over the next Y years and pay Z amounts of interest".

People are sheep, easily fall into that trap and it's fucking up the economy. This is especially true for most younger people that want the new system for your car, new notebook computers, etc.

Maybe it's time we require legislation into how debt is advertised...

Forget the advertisments, if we're going to make legislation for help, legislate proper economic education in highschool. Even when people get told Y and Z, they don't care because they don't have financial foresight

[benyl]

Originally posted by canuckcarguy

These changes all occurred within the last five years. And when the shit hits the fan, as it always eventually does, it'll be the taxpayer on the hook.

Yup.

Thats is what is happening south of the border now... and will migrate up here soon. The US Gov is bailing out banks, etc but not the taxpayer themselves. The best part is that Bush lowered taxes... Where does all the money come from? They just print and lend more making the situation worse.

I think that as a prerequisite to becoming the president, you should be required to take an economics, finance and accounting course. LOL

[canuckcarguy]

Originally posted by benyl


Two out of 3 of my cars are paid for. One is a lease as it is a deduction for one of my businesses. My mortgage payment is 15% of my monthly income. I bought my house 1.5 years ago and I have 15 years left on my mortgage. I am getting married in 3 weeks and she makes more money than I do. So our mortgage payment will drop to 5% of our combined income. I don't think that is anywhere near living beyond my means. I am not bragging, but you asked.

Nobody tells you to go and borrow money. It is a choice you make. Sure there is peer pressure to live the "bling" lifestyle.

Interesting article about the US spending habbits:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromab.../20080325.html

and I wasn't trying to single you out. Sounds like you're in a great position. Not sure if you were always in that position, I know I've been in worse spots before. And I'm not one to blame the big, bad companies out there.

But I don't think that Americans are inherently dumber or less-disciplined than their Canadian neighbours. Go to the Brick, and watch broke people buy new furniture, or go to the "no credit, no problem" dealers, and watch people buy cars they can't afford. They're not dumb Americans. They're dumb Canadians.

But on the house front, our lenders are acting like American lenders were acting 10 years ago. We tend to follow their trends. They had payday lending 5 years before we did. Our pawn shop industry is where theirs was some years ago. And the "sub-prime" lending industry here is less-developed, but growing fast.

I'm a big believer in personal accountability, and I frankly don't have a bunch of sympathy for people who over-reached and made unrealistic financial decisions, and are now paying the price. But certain percentages of both Americans and Canadians will borrow as much as you'll lend them.

[benyl]

Originally posted by hampstor
I hate it how stores market debt.

"you only pay $X per month" instead of, "you pay $x per month over the next Y years and pay Z amounts of interest".

People are sheep, easily fall into that trap and it's fucking up the economy. This is especially true for most younger people that want the new system for your car, new notebook computers, etc.

Maybe it's time we require legislation into how debt is advertised...

That hasn't changed for decades. I remember in the 80s, my parents used the "Do not pay" financing to buy a TV.