I used to work at a company that wanted to be the most profitable among its competitors. I said oh, that means you want to go bankrupt last!
It is a mystery to me how the US currency maintains its “value” despite the obviously intended negatives. But, the Euro and Yen are worse. And the Chinese are not trusted to protect private property. But why is the Canadian dollar down?
“But why is the Canadian dollar down?”
Excellent question, Robert. I suspect the answer is in part that the Bank of Canada is pleased with the Canadian and US dollars being exchanged roughly at par, and has and will continue to inflate lockstep with our American neighbors.
The Captain seems to be backpedalling a bit here. When I see the Dow Jones rising to insanely high levels with US industrial production in a nose dive, I know that the crash, when it comes, is going to be of epic proportions. I have none of my assets in stocks although I do know people that have done well recently on the markets; however those that lost big are unlikely to talk about it.
A recent trip to Florida was surprising as the somewhat sleepy oceanside town where I spend my days on the beach had gone from a weird feeling state of 50% of the houses in foreclosure to suddenly people coming in and snapping up beach side property at what must be firesale prices for the Russian mobster from St. Petersberg (and much warmer as well). Some of the property purchasers hale from Alberta and, as anyone in BC knows, once the Albertans discover a nice recreation area swarms of additional Albertans are sure to follow. When one can pick up a beachside brand new 3500 square foot house for $280K, it will eventually get noticed. Noticed a lot more people speaking Russian this last time down and maybe the money that’s fled Cyprus has headed for US beachfront property. That’s the only property that seems to be selling as brand new houses a couple of miles inland are still unsold at $140K for a never lived in 4 bedroom house and, AFAIK, the average house price in Orland is $90 K (but then who would want to live in Orlando?)
So, I’ll agree with The Captain that my most recent foray south of the border shows signs of foreign money coming in, but given the seemingly insatiable need of the current Washington kleptocracy for other peoples money, do we have months or years of stability? Presumably even the wealthy Chicoms are finding Vancouver a pricy place at the moment and US properties are a bargain now.
The US still has a major problem in that the slightly modified hippie version of the watermelon party economy in which we sell crappy hand made pottery to one another isn’t going to work except in this case it’s fixing up local neighborhood houses for each other. The US is producing less and less and, given the recent third world corruption policies of the current administration, the illusion of a society based on the rule of impartial laws is already in tatters.
I’m still preparing for a SHTF scenario and staying far away from large cities in case the SHTF when I’m in one of those cities.
I used to work at a company that wanted to be the most profitable among its competitors. I said oh, that means you want to go bankrupt last!
It is a mystery to me how the US currency maintains its “value” despite the obviously intended negatives. But, the Euro and Yen are worse. And the Chinese are not trusted to protect private property. But why is the Canadian dollar down?
“But why is the Canadian dollar down?”
Excellent question, Robert. I suspect the answer is in part that the Bank of Canada is pleased with the Canadian and US dollars being exchanged roughly at par, and has and will continue to inflate lockstep with our American neighbors.
The Captain seems to be backpedalling a bit here. When I see the Dow Jones rising to insanely high levels with US industrial production in a nose dive, I know that the crash, when it comes, is going to be of epic proportions. I have none of my assets in stocks although I do know people that have done well recently on the markets; however those that lost big are unlikely to talk about it.
A recent trip to Florida was surprising as the somewhat sleepy oceanside town where I spend my days on the beach had gone from a weird feeling state of 50% of the houses in foreclosure to suddenly people coming in and snapping up beach side property at what must be firesale prices for the Russian mobster from St. Petersberg (and much warmer as well). Some of the property purchasers hale from Alberta and, as anyone in BC knows, once the Albertans discover a nice recreation area swarms of additional Albertans are sure to follow. When one can pick up a beachside brand new 3500 square foot house for $280K, it will eventually get noticed. Noticed a lot more people speaking Russian this last time down and maybe the money that’s fled Cyprus has headed for US beachfront property. That’s the only property that seems to be selling as brand new houses a couple of miles inland are still unsold at $140K for a never lived in 4 bedroom house and, AFAIK, the average house price in Orland is $90 K (but then who would want to live in Orlando?)
So, I’ll agree with The Captain that my most recent foray south of the border shows signs of foreign money coming in, but given the seemingly insatiable need of the current Washington kleptocracy for other peoples money, do we have months or years of stability? Presumably even the wealthy Chicoms are finding Vancouver a pricy place at the moment and US properties are a bargain now.
The US still has a major problem in that the slightly modified hippie version of the watermelon party economy in which we sell crappy hand made pottery to one another isn’t going to work except in this case it’s fixing up local neighborhood houses for each other. The US is producing less and less and, given the recent third world corruption policies of the current administration, the illusion of a society based on the rule of impartial laws is already in tatters.
I’m still preparing for a SHTF scenario and staying far away from large cities in case the SHTF when I’m in one of those cities.