Canada Housing/Debt: Trust me, I'm a landlord.

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namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

Oil is plunging again. :unsmith:

# ? Aug 19, 2015 16:03

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# ? May 26, 2024 17:49

triplexpac: Mar 24, 2007; Suck it
Two tears in a bucket
And then another thing
I'm not the one they'll try their luck with
Hit hard like brass knuckles
See your face through the turnbuckle dude
I got no love for you

Cultural Imperial posted:

Oil is plunging again.

Is there any telling how far things could possibly drop when all is said and done? Surely it can't keep falling and falling

# ? Aug 19, 2015 16:04

Freezer: Apr 20, 2001; The Earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot stay in the cradle forever.

As oil demand is largely linked to economic growth, it's likely to stay flatish/stagnant for a while (or take a dive, if something destabilizing such a china crash happens). Supply will continue being high as petrostates compensate lower prices with more production.

In short, this will be the new normal unless things get shaken up by world events.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 16:25

Rime: Nov 2, 2011; by Games Forum

triplexpac posted:

Is there any telling how far things could possibly drop when all is said and done? Surely it can't keep falling and falling

I have seen predictions of $15-20 USD a barrel if Iran enters the global market again within the next 12 months. This seems like a fanciful idea though, Iran isn't as easy to smooth over as Cuba was.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 16:27

Twerk from Home: Jan 17, 2009; This avatar brought to you by the 'save our dead gay forums' foundation.

Rime posted:

I have seen predictions of $15-20 USD a barrel if Iran enters the global market again within the next 12 months. This seems like a fanciful idea though, Iran isn't as easy to smooth over as Cuba was.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/18/investing/oil-prices-15-kotok/

One of the important takeaways is that Western Canadian Crude is already at $20 because it's such a lovely oil.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 16:32

less than three: Aug 9, 2007; Fallen Rib

Twerk from Home posted:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/18/investing/oil-prices-15-kotok/

One of the important takeaways is that Western Canadian Crude is already at $20 because it's such a lovely oil.

Last Year posted:

Assuming an average price of $70 per barrel next year, the bank estimates that Canadian governments will lose out on between $10 billion and $13 billion worth of revenue next year.

If the NDP or Liberals win, they're totally going to get into office and find out that 1 billion deficit is actually like 40. But it's all their fault because they noticed!

# ? Aug 19, 2015 16:57

Rime: Nov 2, 2011; by Games Forum

We're standing on the edge of a cliff that'll make the 90's look like nirvana, aren't we?

# ? Aug 19, 2015 17:03

triplexpac: Mar 24, 2007; Suck it
Two tears in a bucket
And then another thing
I'm not the one they'll try their luck with
Hit hard like brass knuckles
See your face through the turnbuckle dude
I got no love for you

Rime posted:

We're standing on the edge of a cliff that'll make the 90's look like nirvana, aren't we?

I'm not sure, but I better buy a house now before I'm priced out of the market

# ? Aug 19, 2015 17:04

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

Good news. You can all work for free at hootsuite.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 17:20

JawKnee: Mar 24, 2007; You'll take the ride to leave this town along that yellow line

Calgary is the 5th most liveable city? :laffo:

# ? Aug 19, 2015 18:10

Wistful of Dollars: Aug 25, 2009

Oil drops like a rock, gas prices still high. :v:

# ? Aug 19, 2015 18:14

JawKnee: Mar 24, 2007; You'll take the ride to leave this town along that yellow line

anybody who thinks gas prices are tied to supply is delusional.

they're still 30 cents cheaper in Point Roberts though!

# ? Aug 19, 2015 18:20

Rick Rickshaw: Feb 21, 2007; I am not disappointed I lost the PGA Championship. Nope, I am not.

Part of the reason gas hasn't dropped much is because the loonie has dropped so much, I think.

I'm laughing since I do less than 500km of non-vacation driving per year.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 18:21

Wistful of Dollars: Aug 25, 2009

Reminds me why I walk to work.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 18:31

Rime: Nov 2, 2011; by Games Forum

El Scotch posted:

Oil drops like a rock, gas prices still high.

Thank heavens we closed all our domestic refineries decades ago and now have to import our fuel at a horrible exchange rate, eh?

'cause srsly, $0.25 of that price is coming from how little the CAD is worth right now.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 19:28

Mederlock: Jun 23, 2012; You won't recognize Canada when I'm through with it; Grimey Drawer

Alberta refineries here we come

# ? Aug 19, 2015 19:36

Gorau: Apr 28, 2008

Rime posted:

Thank heavens we closed all our domestic refineries decades ago and now have to import our fuel at a horrible exchange rate, eh?

'cause srsly, $0.25 of that price is coming from how little the CAD is worth right now.

Even if we had more domestic refineries we'd still be paying the same price for gas. The wholesale price is set in USD, same as oil, so we'd still be hosed.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 19:55

leftist heap: Feb 28, 2013; Fun Shoe

THC posted:

Rent is too high for mom-and-pops, and there's not enough customers for American Apparel. So they sit vacant.

There is an American Apparel exactly one block north!

This place:

https://goo.gl/maps/5U7BB

Has been vacant for FOUR YEARS. Not only has it been vacant, but they haven't cleaned out any of the poo poo from the previous owners who from the looks of it fled in the middle of the night.

The old Scotia McLeod building on the corner of Douglas/Yates has been vacant for a similar amount of time. IDGI at all.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:09

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Yeah, oil and gas are global resources, so they have global prices in USD. Any local differences are just in taxes.
Which always killed me when americans were all excited that invading iraq or opening up Alaskan parks would lower their gas prices, domestically, personally. Canadians have the same idea that if we had local refineries we'd have cheaper gas. I mean sure if everything was nationalized and the price set by the government.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:10

Rime: Nov 2, 2011; by Games Forum

Baronjutter posted:

Yeah, oil and gas are global resources, so they have global prices in USD. Any local differences are just in taxes.
Which always killed me when americans were all excited that invading iraq or opening up Alaskan parks would lower their gas prices, domestically, personally. Canadians have the same idea that if we had local refineries we'd have cheaper gas. I mean sure if everything was nationalized and the price set by the government.

NEP, we hardly knew ye. :canada:

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:12

leftist heap: Feb 28, 2013; Fun Shoe

Not exactly housing bubble but since this thread is now basically all things Canadian economy. A Financial Post writer laments that Amazon's horrible Randian hellscape would never work in Canada:

quote:

http://business.financialpost.com/executive/management-hr/the-ruthless-jeff-bezos-amazon-culture-would-never-fly-in-canada-and-thats-a-shame

Imagine if Amazon � not amazon.ca � but Jeff Bezos� Amazon, the real Amazon, was in Canada. Could it last a month?

In an expos� in the New York Times, written by Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld, Amazon was described as a cutthroat culture where employees were overburdened, overworked, measured on every metric possible, regardless of their job, and then vastly rewarded if they succeeded and quickly fired if they did not.

Some might think that spirit represents the best of America and is what is needed to continue that economy�s pre-eminence. Others might consider it representative of a cannibalization of the human spirit by capitalism.

Amazon rewards creativity, innovation, and ruthless competition. As a result of this culture, it has now become the world�s biggest retailer, exceeding the revenues of even Wal-Mart.

In an increasingly globalized economy, where former Third World nations are educating their youth to the same standards as Canada and in some cases beyond, how can this country retain competitiveness and standard of living without a good dose of Bezos� medicine?

I have long been an admirer of at least a kernel of that approach. Demand excellence, reward those who provide it far beyond your competitors and in myriad forms. But once you realize an employee cannot be better than merely above average, cull them from your ranks, then advertise your approach to your clients and potential clients.

But how would the full-throated, unbridled, Bezos model work in Canada? Unhappily, not well.

In this country, unlike the at-will model of many U.S. states permitting termination with impunity, Bezos would be dragged down by exorbitant dismissal costs. To cultivate an environment where employees often willingly work almost around the clock for days on end when a project excites them, would not be permitted in Canada. That�s because there is a maximum number of hours that constitutes daily work before overtime � 40 to 44 hours weekly depending on the province.

That alone would make the Bezos model difficult but, I fear in our politically correct culture, Amazon�s take no prisoners, pull-down-the-gangplanks approach would attract countless immobilizing complaints for constructive dismissal, negligence, and under occupational health and safety, harassment complaints � with a body of politically correct adjudicators quick to agree with the aggrieved employees.

I don�t know if the Bezos model will prevail and do for U.S. industry what it has done for Amazon, which is to relaunch it to unrivalled global supremacy.

What I do know is, without a fundamental shift in our political-cultural-judicial landscape, it won�t happen in Canada anytime soon. Here, it will take chickens coming home to roost in the form of unfinanced pensions, uncompetitive employers and a hollowing out of the economy before the requisite tectonic sea change will occur.

Howard Levitt is senior partner of Levitt & Grosman LLP, employment and labour lawyers. He practises employment law in eight provinces. Employment Law Hour with Howard Levitt airs Sundays at 4 p.m. on CFRB in Toronto.

labor laws :qq:

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:17

triplexpac: Mar 24, 2007; Suck it
Two tears in a bucket
And then another thing
I'm not the one they'll try their luck with
Hit hard like brass knuckles
See your face through the turnbuckle dude
I got no love for you

Do Amazon employees not make salary or something? I don't know anyone on salary who sticks to 40 hours a week, or gets overtime or anything like that.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:22

Squibbles: Aug 24, 2000; Mwaha ha HA ha!

rrrrrrrrrrrt posted:

Not exactly housing bubble but since this thread is now basically all things Canadian economy. A Financial Post writer laments that Amazon's horrible Randian hellscape would never work in Canada:

labor laws

Good thing tech companies don't have to pay overtime, at least in BC, the dream of bezos is still alive!

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:24

Heavy neutrino: Sep 16, 2007; You made a fine post for yourself. ...For a casualry, I suppose.

Yes yes it turns out that you can be extremely competitive as a capitalist enterprise if you ruthlessly abuse your workers, but if you think that's a good thing maybe your place is inside an active volcano

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:26

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

Thank goodness we have a progressive government in Ontario protecting us.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:30

Yeast Confection: Oct 7, 2005

Ikantski posted:

Thank goodness we have a progressive government in Ontario protecting us.

Please don't remind me that this exists :smithicide:

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:33

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

What's the justification for such a weird exception from basic labour rights? Did a bunch of high school jocks write it to get back at those pimply nerds? Are pimply nerds just so meek and or libertarian that they're just fine not having rights?

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:39

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

Well it's not like what we do is work...

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:41

leftist heap: Feb 28, 2013; Fun Shoe

I really love the phrase "Information technology professionals are not entitled to an eating period."

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:53

leftist heap: Feb 28, 2013; Fun Shoe

Most of them should cut down on the eating periods anyway :rimshot:

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:54

Risky Bisquick: Jan 18, 2008; PLEASE LET ME WRITE YOUR VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT SO I CAN FURTHER DEMONSTRATE THE CALAMITY THAT IS OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM.; Buglord

THC posted:

Well it's not like what we do is work...

Debatable, I work in the :airquote:

knowledge economy :airquote:

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:58

ocrumsprug: Sep 23, 2010; by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

Baronjutter posted:

What's the justification for such a weird exception from basic labour rights? Did a bunch of high school jocks write it to get back at those pimply nerds? Are pimply nerds just so meek and or libertarian that they're just fine not having rights?

BC has the same exemptions, thanks BCNDP you fucks. Yes, you read that right. The BC NDP passed a law exempting an entire industry from labour standards.

Basically they were passed because the industry convinced the government that they would not be competitive with American firms that were ignoring their own labour laws. Presumably California has similar exemptions for exactly the same reason now.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 21:04

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

When I was working in the UK, I used rack up mad overtime.

gently caress this loving country and the bcndp

# ? Aug 19, 2015 21:22

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

I never work OT and I get plenty of lunches and breaks and I get a month of vacation and nearly all my friends in IT have the same or better :shrug:

# ? Aug 19, 2015 21:37

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

ocrumsprug posted:

BC has the same exemptions, thanks BCNDP you fucks. Yes, you read that right. The BC NDP passed a law exempting an entire industry from labour standards.

Basically they were passed because the industry convinced the government that they would not be competitive with American firms that were ignoring their own labour laws. Presumably California has similar exemptions for exactly the same reason now.

We gotta race to the bottom before someone else gets there first! Thanks global capitalism.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 21:38

HookShot: Dec 26, 2005

Gas here in New Zealand was $2.14 a liter when I arrived in late July.

It was $2.04 for ages, and is $1.97 now.

Luckily the Corolla we rented has basically the same fuel economy as my Prius (though it's smaller) but it's still weird spending $100 to fill up a tiny car. But yeah, an over $0.15 drop in just under a month.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 21:55

the talent deficit: Dec 20, 2003; self-deprecation is a very british trait, and problems can arise when the british attempt to do so with a foreign culture

Squibbles posted:

Good thing tech companies don't have to pay overtime, at least in BC, the dream of bezos is still alive!

Amazon already has a huge office in Vancouver. I think Amazon can work in Canada.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 22:18

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

It's interesting how the news about Amazon's toxic white collar culture seems to get a lot more play than last year's stories about their brutally exploitive fulfilment centres. It's business as usual when you do it to unskilled blue collars, but if a techie or manager is overworked or driven to tears suddenly it's a Big Deal. Whatever.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 22:20

EvilJoven: Mar 18, 2005; NOBODY,IN THE HISTORY OF EVER, HAS ASKED OR CARED WHAT CANADA THINKS. YOU ARE NOT A COUNTRY. YOUR MONEY HAS THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND ON IT. IF YOU DIG AROUND IN YOUR BACKYARD, NATIVE SKELETONS WOULD EXPLODE OUT OF YOUR LAWN LIKE THE END OF POLTERGEIST. CANADA IS SO POLITE, EH?; Fun Shoe

You can blame the libertarian IT fuckheads who made bank back in the 90s for all the exemptions. In remember these people asking for those exceptions back when raw salaries for anyone in IT were super high and the expectation was that the exceptions would lead to even higher salaries based on merit.

Fuckers had the foresight of a turnip and just couldn't see a world where people who could install a sound card or write something lovely in Java would be a dime a dozen and desperate for work.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 22:44

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# ? May 26, 2024 17:49

Mr Luxury Yacht: Apr 16, 2012

Yeah, bursts of tons of unpaid overtime are standard in tech in Canada. Sure we have fairer firing practices but lol at the idea of tech companies paying overtime. I've certainly never seen anything more than maybe an informal extra day off after a bunch of overtime.

But the gall of a labour lawyer arguing other people should work *more* free overtime when he probably wouldn't wipe his own rear end if he wasn't billable is rage inducing.

Everyone I know who's worked at Amazon has said similar poo poo to that article, put up with it for a year to get the name on the resume, then moved on to greener pastures at companies like Microsoft that have some semblance of work life balance.

It's all for naught anyway since everything tech is getting slowly shipped overseas regardless where there's tons of devs and engineers at a quarter of the price.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 22:48

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Canada Housing/Debt: Trust me, I'm a landlord.

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