In many ways we seem to have entered into one of the more dystopian Orson Scott Card novels, and quite a few commentators don’t think this kid’s for real … But on the other hand back in ’06 my 13-year-old niece held her own in a lecture hall in Cambridge MA with a couple of hundred MIT and Harvard types in attendance, so you never know

Back in 2008,  I wondered how sustainable the rise in Canadian home prices was, but the market has continued to rise.  Concerns are rising though, as evidenced by two pieces from the Globe and Mail yesterday.  One was this opinion from Bank of Montreal’s CEO Bill Downe: “We took a long, hard look at the Canadian housing market and concluded … there was a legitimate concern that house prices – particularly in the largest cities – had been rising at a rate that was simply unsustainable,” Mr. Downe said. “With growing concerns over household debt, a soft landing in housing…
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Doom North is having a hard time getting its head around this one (cute picture, but we hope that’s a clip-on tie!): CBC (2/13 ’12): “Community reaction to Harper’s China visit and panda pact” Prime Minister Stephen Harper has completed his relationship-building trip to China, during which he brokered agreements worth an estimated $3 billion dollars and secured the loan of two giant pandas. Here’s the other shoe: CBC “The Current” (2/13 ’12): “Where to Sell Alberta Oil” (with link to 25m audio) Prime Minister Harper has returned from China where he was greasing the path for more Canadian trade….
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A headline worthy of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald’s Bill Smith, circa 1975 … CBC News (1/12 ’12): “Same-sex divorce options explored by Harper government” The mind boggles.  Meanwhile, the foreign central banks continue to steadily reduce their holdings of US obligations … more on this in due course

Well, well, well.  After years of hearing how different it is north of the border, it looks like the Vancouver housing market is finally starting to crack.  [T]he latest home-sales figures point to a slowdown. The number sold dropped 21 per cent in July from June, and prices edged 0.1 per cent lower to $630,251 for a typical detached house, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. Listings of properties for sale in the city are increasing, while bidding wars are becoming less common. The slowing real estate scene in Vancouver is adding to concerns that the rest…
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We’ve been hearing for years that the dramatic rise in home prices in Canada did not mean that the housing market was “bubbly”.  Now there’s evidence to the contrary: Canada’s housing market may have peaked after prices soared in the second quarter, according to a survey by real estate giant Royal LePage. “In many of Canada’s regional markets, we saw house prices appreciate at a significantly faster rate than wages and salaries, and this trend cannot continue indefinitely,” observed Phil Soper, president and chief executive, Royal LePage Real Estate Services. Soper may not exactly say “pop”, but this sounds close…
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Few Americans would have noticed Canada’s recent election (the show in Pakistan was a tough act to follow), but the country ended up radically (and I do mean radically) changed.  In the map at the link above have a look at the blue dagger at the bottom.  That’s Ontario’s “golden triangle,” and it just sent a whole lot of government members to Ottawa.  This is the heart of the country’s auto industry, and borders on Detroit and Michigan. Now Canada produces a lot of key commodities, including oil, uranium, potash and precious metals, which has sent the C$ “loonie” soaring…
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Hat tip to my brother on this one. The now-abandoned mining town of Pine Point, NWT is featured in a fascinating 2011 interactive documentary by Canada’s National Film Board (NFB). This northern community on the south shore of Great Slave Lake only existed for about a single generation, starting in the early 1950s. Could this also be the future for parts of California’s Inland Empire and other bubbly American towns and developments?

This country lives or dies by its resources (and my family has roots in Penobsqis NB ) … American Doomers may find this one a bit incomprehensible but, if on a scale of 1 to 10 Senator Rand Paul is a 6, this is an 8 in the Canadian context.  Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already suffered one humiliating stand-down under intense international pressure this week, and if he allows the foreign takeover of SK’s potash industry in the face of opposition from the guy who they named the business school after at the university the PM took two economics…
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“We have a real problem with property ownership right now in this country” — Florida homeowner; about 18:00 on the tape this from today’s broadcast of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s The Current on CBC Radio 1, with Anna Marie Tremonti Nov 02/10 – Pt 1: Foreclosures<– click here to go to CBC’s episode site (with pop-up audio file) In the wake of the U.S. mortgage crisis, banks have seized millions of homes. This year alone, nearly 300,000 homeowners in Florida received foreclosure notices. Now, there are allegations that many of those home were seized unfairly. The Current’s Howard Goldenthal traveled to Florida…
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Oh dear.  Looks like it’s time for my semi-annual retirement post Obviously the complexity of this new phase of the crisis (Robosigner?) has advanced beyond my capacity to add much to the discussion.  While I’ll be maintaining a presence behind the “Relevant Articles” list on the sidebar and the NY Fed Update posts most Fridays, you’ll probably see less of my by-line on Doom’s front page for a while provided nothing really outrageous sets off a hasty rant. Like the man says, You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.  And even with a vertical…
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Why is the Prime Minister dipping his tea bag into the President’s cappuccino just 5 weeks ahead of the mid-term vote? CBC (9/28 ’10): “Great Lakes nuclear shipments topic of hearing” “There would be a greater radiological impact of someone with a pacemaker falling over the side of a boat and drowning,” Hawthorne said. “He would introduce more radioactive material into the lake than one of our steam generators.” I do believe they get weather in that part of the world occasionally …

The sound of the Double Dip (Office of Market Oversight & Investigations empty and echoing) … but also the sound of the West’s ultimate cultural uprising getting underway. The uppercase words in the title are from Anne Carson’s English version of The Girl Who Played With Ashes, Part II of a “Millenium Trilogy” that occurred prior to the First.  In the introduction the translator refers to her short article “Screaming in Translation.” Since Margaret Avison died in ’07, Carson has probably become our most important poet.

It’s been a long time since we’ve visited Realty Times. A website that caters to realtors, it can always be counted on to look on the bright side, even when there isn’t one. Today they have an article by PJ Wade, a Canadian financial commentator.  As more and more people are hesitant to purchase a home in the current economic environment, Wade offers this advice: Waiting for things to go back to the way they were, and other “caught in the headlights” reactions, waste time and use up valuable resources. These “victim” strategies can make financial matters worse, as you…
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With the Fed possessing a world-class stable of lawyers, it’s a safe bet that every jot and tittle of the boss’ sworn testimony is rock-hard supportable.  Here I’m more interested in what he doesn’t say.