Busted

Peacenik has been asking this question of Peacenik's self: Could Peacenik be wrong? Garth Turner is wondering the same thing. The crazy thing is that Canada may have escaped the worst of the housing bubble but in a desperate effort to re-inflate the bubble economy the powers that be are going to insure that Canada follows the U.S. and the U.K. and Spain, and everywhere else, right down the toilet. Canada already has a huge deficit. Canada already has had to bail out Canadian banks. Canadian pension plans are already woefully underfunded. Canada already has record unemployment. Is this present housing bubble going to pop? Garth thinks so. So does Peacenik.

by Garth Turner

My, my. Could I be wrong? Just a bearded broken-down piece of meat? (If you saw ‘The Wrestler’ imagine me now with flowing blonde locks, a bursting heart and tights.)

After all, my words of caution to those people rushing into real estate deals seem to be falling on deaf ears. According to the MSM, we are on the cusp of recovery and hot property is all the proof necessary. So, this week’s new housing report was heralded as wonderful news, even though starts are down by a third nationally, and have been squished by half in Ontario. Big Bank economists have been lining up at microphones, saying since car and house sales are the first things to crash when recession hits, it makes sense they’ll soar when recovery noses out of the earth.

But, car sales are still dismal. The preponderance of real estate sales are to inexperienced buyers. And today’s jobs report shows the economy’s still a dangerous thing. But, whadda I know?

Read on...