Question for Canadians.....

jlew24asu

soulsinging wrote:

I think generally that debt is a bad thing, and a particularly bad thing to have as the backbone of your economy. Since banks essentially build their profits on debt, I say too much regulation is far preferable to too little.

debt is not always a bad thing. do you expect people to buy homes in cash? or a business to expand based solely on money from profits?

debt is a very useful financial instrument when used correctly.

soulsinging

jlew24asu wrote:

soulsinging wrote:

I think generally that debt is a bad thing, and a particularly bad thing to have as the backbone of your economy. Since banks essentially build their profits on debt, I say too much regulation is far preferable to too little.

debt is not always a bad thing. do you expect people to buy homes in cash? or a business to expand based solely on money from profits?

debt is a very useful financial instrument when used correctly.

No, but I think if you're going to err, it's wiser to err on the side of only buying stuff you have the money to buy rather than getting loans that everyone knows you'll never be able to pay off. What shocks me is that I honestly think many in the financial industry bought so heavily into this "debt is a good thing" philosophy that they were truly surprised when the house of cards collapsed. You could explain what was going on to a 5-year old and they'd say "that seems like a bad idea."

Prohibiting banks from loaning money they don't have doesn't mean nobody will be able to get a home or business loan.

jlew24asu

soulsinging wrote:

jlew24asu wrote:

soulsinging wrote:

I think generally that debt is a bad thing, and a particularly bad thing to have as the backbone of your economy. Since banks essentially build their profits on debt, I say too much regulation is far preferable to too little.

debt is not always a bad thing. do you expect people to buy homes in cash? or a business to expand based solely on money from profits?

debt is a very useful financial instrument when used correctly.

No, but I think if you're going to err, it's wiser to err on the side of only buying stuff you have the money to buy rather than getting loans that everyone knows you'll never be able to pay off. What shocks me is that I honestly think many in the financial industry bought so heavily into this "debt is a good thing" philosophy that they were truly surprised when the house of cards collapsed. You could explain what was going on to a 5-year old and they'd say "that seems like a bad idea."

Prohibiting banks from loaning money they don't have doesn't mean nobody will be able to get a home or business loan.

I agree....give people an inch they take 10 feet. I'm all for regulation as well. but debt really is a good thing. I just really hope some lessons where learned this time around

polaris_x

http://www.canada.com/business/fp/Decli ... story.html

“The wealth shock has been smaller in Canada than in the United States,” the agency said. “As a percentage of personal disposable income, household net worth has fallen faster in the United States than in Canada since the third quarter of 2007.”

jlew24asu

polaris_x wrote:

http://www.canada.com/business/fp/Decline+Canadians+household+wealth+slows/1721146/story.html

“The wealth shock has been smaller in Canada than in the United States,” the agency said. “As a percentage of personal disposable income, household net worth has fallen faster in the United States than in Canada since the third quarter of 2007.”

now you want to talk about "wealth shock" ? so you give up on personal debt and unemployment not being a problem in Canada? ok cool.

but nice job furthering your Canada > America agenda. or am I missing the point of you posting this?

Pepe Silvia

jlew24asu wrote:

polaris_x wrote:

http://www.canada.com/business/fp/Decline+Canadians+household+wealth+slows/1721146/story.html

“The wealth shock has been smaller in Canada than in the United States,” the agency said. “As a percentage of personal disposable income, household net worth has fallen faster in the United States than in Canada since the third quarter of 2007.”

now you want to talk about "wealth shock" ? so you give up on personal debt and unemployment not being a problem in Canada? ok cool.

but nice job furthering your Canada > America agenda. or am I missing the point of you posting this?

those wiley canadians!!!!!

VINNY GOOMBA

blackredyellow wrote:

You are probably right... our freakin' media talks for hours and days and weeks straight about how bad our economy is, and how fucked we are.... over and over and over again... of course people watching that and hearing that over and over again will have more pessimistic views of our economy.

Yes, and what makes it worse is that our economy is admittedly a house of cards-- and that confidence, and only confidence in our currency is the only thing backing it. With that in mind, the worst possible thing that the media could do is tell everyone that entire economy is going down the tubes... Well, maybe it really isn't? Maybe it's just a few of the larger corporations who decided to deal in too much credit and make bad investments that have gotten burned... Except it's "news" when it happens to them-- a big sensational story, too. All that does is cause panic, and creates a wave effect all the way down to small businesses, who start cutting back out of fear. This is when layoffs happen, people start slashing prices and working for nothing-- the deflation before the inevitable inflation once trillions flood the market in the form of "stimulus."

I stay far away from TV and the internet on the weekends when I can. I go outside, breathe in the air, buy stuff as locally as possible, and everything seems to be just fine. As a matter of fact, life is great when you stay away from the propaganda and the sensationalism. Here's a new stimulus plan we can all follow: turn off your TV, buy locally, and pay cash.

decides2dream

VINNY GOOMBA wrote:

jlew24asu wrote:

polaris_x wrote:

it's not as bad here as we didn't have the personal debt issues americans have and our financial institutions are for the most part very sound ... manufacturing and everything related (see auto industry) have taken a huge hit ... we've spent billions on stimulus - not sure how well that's worked but for the most part people are trucking along ...

so quick to knock America and praise Canada eh? maybe get for facts straight. Canada is in the shithole as much as any other nation.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/0 ... bt854.html

Household debt in absolute terms climbed to a record-breaking $1.3 trillion in 2008, according to a report released by the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada.

Unemployment is 8.5%, worst in 11 years.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujet ... pa-eng.htm

yea, trucking along just fine.

Well...

Canada's population: 33 million, 1.3 trillion in debt.

America: 300 million, 13 trillion in debt.

They're in proportion, that's for sure. The unemployment rates are the same. I think the difference is THE MASS HYSTERIA THE MEDIA CREATES HERE in regards to this economic crisis. I'm sure things aren't as batshit crazy over this whole mess in Canada.

Just my guess though

damn....300 million of us. no wonder we can never agree on anything.

i truly enjoyed the ALL CAPS for the mass hysteria.....well played.

even flow - question mark

mitchmoore2 wrote:

How is your economy doing? All I hear on the news here is about our economy being in the toilet but I never hear much about your situation. I cant find much online either? Help!?

One good part about it is that I can't wait for my tax dollars to reap the reward of GM when they start making money again. Boy, owning a piece of that company should help my portfolio in the long run.

I would say that our economy is much like everybody elses who is in trouble. You work and make money, nothing to really worry about. You don't have a job or just got laid off and you have a heap of credit, well you are in a tad of trouble. Everywhere I look as I drive to work there are "for sale" signs on houses, "sold" signs on houses and new houses being built. That says something about how it is up here. To say that most are feeling it would be an understatement in my eyes.

Having regulated banks kind of helps the situation. How can people stand by idly while their tax dollars are bailing out financial institutions is a bit of a joke. Especially when the top dogs are still getting bonuses while people are losing their houses and the banks still aren't lending. Strange indeed.