Dearche

joined 2 years ago
[–] Dearche 36 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Why the hell is the government paying for a service that is directed towards individual households at a price that few households would find difficult to pay for in the first place?

This is frankly not only a waste of taxpayer money, but also a blatant attempt to buddy up with an American oligarch.

Once again, Ford is selling this province to his oligarch buddies.

[–] Dearche 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think there's a serious issue of conflating affordable housing with low income housing. The two are different things. I mean, a two bedroom apartment that can be paid for from a single person's full time salary at minimum wage is different from an apartment meant for someone who can't hold a steady job.

People so often talk about the latter as the only form of affordable housing, when it's the former that's actually needed. So many people are in subsidized housing because it's either that, or something that's over $2k a month for a single bedroom or a condo that's half a million. There is almost nothing in between for most of Toronto, which is the real issue.

And all the problems with drug abuse and people causing so much local trouble is because they've lost purpose. Without housing that's of a decent price, it's no wonder that so many homeless have appeared and is causing trouble all over the city the moment the economy dipped. For lots of people, the moment they lose their income, they're too far over their heads to be able to stay at their current homes because they're so expensive. And how the hell is anybody supposed to get a job when they don't have a home to take a shower to get cleaned up for an interview?

Affordable housing is literally the first step to being able to live like a basic human being, and those NIMBYs are against such things. They're basically the same as all the things we complain about when it comes to the western oligarchs like Musk.

[–] Dearche 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think we shouldn't just see this as a Trump 2.0 thing either. This has been going on for at least a decade now. It's just that T2.0 has taken things to the point that it can't be ignored. NAFTA2 was pretty bad for us, and Biden hasn't done anything to make things easier.

Even if we don't get a Putin scene where Trump rewrites the constitution and gets a third term (somehow when he's like 80 and clearly suffering from dementia), I have little hope that the next president will be any better. Even the best case scenario would be someone who's completely occupied putting out the internal fires Trump has set with napalm, and won't have time to give the rest of the world much thought, let alone Canada.

Relying so much on the US was never such a good idea, and there won't be any stability down south for the next decade at least.

[–] Dearche 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Don't forget, he's still under a criminal investigation over trying to bulldoze the greenbelt, and that's before his latest legislation to bulldoze part of the greenbelt to build his bypass for a highway that doesn't even reach anywhere near capacity.

That hat of his that says Canada is not for sale is on backwards, as Ford is the single biggest proponent for selling off Canada in Ontario, and he's been doing that the entire time he's been our premier, and to the detriment of all Ontarians.

Frankly, it's insane how he has any support when he's made everybody's life worse, especially for rural Ontarians when he's entirely neglected them in favour of focusing all his energies tearing up Toronto.

[–] Dearche 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Considering that Brexit got through and that's exactly what's happening in the UK (amongst countless other problems), don't bet against them trying something stupid like this (regardless of when or who's in power).

[–] Dearche 2 points 6 months ago

Possibly. I don't follow automakers generally, but I really wonder if you can be worse than cars with batteries that spontaneously combust while parked, or cars with batteries that are entirely unshielded and placed lower than the axel and fenders, making it the first thing to be hit by any debris on the road.

[–] Dearche -1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Considering the quality of Chinese EVs lately, we don't even need to do tariffs. Just force random safety testing on them and we can basically bar the entire line. Simply include proper collision simulations and battery safety tests. These EVs already spontaneously combust in transit and there's already been several container ships that's gone up because of them.

Such tests can be universal and will help maintain local production quality as well.

[–] Dearche 1 points 8 months ago

Not to mention foreign slave labour that's subsidized by a government intent on taking as much of the western world with them when they crash and burn.

Not only that, but Chinese industry is declining so hard right now that even the EV industry is on the verge of failing with record number of companies in the middle of shutting down, so relying on Chinese EVs is not just asking for destroying our local industries, but also have our supply vanish the moment the Chinese are unable to deliver once they can't even get half the parts to build them due to all the tarrifs that are being put on them.

Then there's there's all the stories of Chinese EVs spontaneously combusting that keep popping up before being covered up. I think there's been at least two cargo ships that went up after the EVs they were carrying suddenly caught fire, then all the thousands of EVs that caught fire after minor bumps due to a lack of safety features. Even the Russians are saying no to Chinese EVs lately due to how bad they are.

[–] Dearche 3 points 8 months ago

Interesting they're blaming the Liberals when this decline's been going on for at last two decades now, at least relative to global wealth. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised to see that relative standard of living compared to the rest of the world, we've been declining the entire 40 years on average.

And looking at the trends, we're headed right towards another recession on top of a housing bubble burst, so no matter what anybody tries, we're looking at another decade of decline before there's even a chance of things getting better. The moment the housing bubble crashes, we're looking at a similar situation to Japan's lost decades, and we can only hope to ride it out half as well as they have.

[–] Dearche 2 points 8 months ago

I have a strong suspicion that this won't be a guaranteed income in the near future. There's already human testing for life extension treatments, so it won't be a surprise that in twenty years, we'll see a serious decline of profits both for funeral homes and in elderly care facilities making them both rarities.

That said, I do think that cremation or something similar should be a subsidized if not a free government service. Being charged an arm for dealing with a tragedy is just plain exploitation and there should be alternatives for those who aren't in the best positions. There's already so much paperwork and other things people have to deal with, it's a wonder that this hasn't been a major public issue for decades now.

[–] Dearche 10 points 1 year ago

To be honest, it doesn't have to be HSR at that point. Just reliable normal rail would do that, something we're still lacking for most of the country. Imagine being able to get to any province in a day under $30 (and even cheaper group deals) with zero chances of any delays.

Vacations across Canada, or even just visiting family in another province for a weekend would be easy and regular. Not to mention how much it would bring the nation together. As things stand, the provinces are more separated from each other than the states in the US. We're closer to the EU than the US in terms of unity. Arguably even worse than the EU. Promoting cross provincial movement for even little things would seriously bring us together, not to mention all the economic benefits.

[–] Dearche 7 points 1 year ago

Agree on all points. Frankly speaking, part of the reason housing prices are as high as they are is because it's so cheap to continue owning one. And by not selling as often, the market prices soar and it becomes more difficult to have more efficient housing options replace single detached homes.

Not only that, but by increasing housing density, it further increases the city's revenue and reduces cost of the infrastructure since a similar amount of infrastructure can service several times as many people.

Frankly, I hope that this not only passes, but keeps going for a few years. Homes should never be treated as investments, but necessities of life. Unlike investing in businesses, investing in homes puts greater burden on the economy rather than expanding it, and it's only a matter of time before the bubble bursts, causing millions to love everything.

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