It was the belief and desire that home ownership is the best thing to do that drove millions of Americans to purchasing homes they could not afford. This blind desire to own a home, fuelled by the media and misunderstanding of the economics of home ownership significantly contributed to the skyrocketing of real estate prices….
Category Archives: economics
What is Your True Disposable Income?
Many years ago I calculated how much in taxes citizens were paying for the privilege of living in my country. The same method of calculation can be used for taxpayers in different countries. The inspiration for this exercise came from complaints of those around me who believed they had less and less disposable income with…
Inventors, inventions and Innovation
Throughout history the success of nations has been based on their people’s ability and aptitude for innovation. If it were not for the English long-bow the English would not have been as effective against the French during the Hundred Years’ War, especially in the battles of Crecy (1346), Poitiers (1356), and the famous Battle of Agincourt (1415). In modern…
Canadian Home Prices Drop 5.4 Percent Over Last Three Months
Last month this author wrote an article about the indications on the street that the Toronto real estate bubble had begun to burst. The article titled “Home Not Selling in Toronto Reveals Truth About Market” received much heat from industry players, primarily real estate agents despite its reference to specific examples. Yet, today the Canadian…
TD Bank Takes Gamble with Paying $4,778 Plus Debt Per Credit Card Account
Recently I wrote an article about how to calculate the value of a business. Toronto-Dominion Bank deal is an example of the irrelevance of valuation techniques used by most industry professionals. In the end it is what a buyer is willing to pay for a business that determines the company’s value. Image via Wikipedia The Toronto-Dominion…
Debt and the Future of the American Dream
With the recent lifting of the United States debt ceiling its debt as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has reached 100 per cent. This was necessary in order for the U.S. federal government not to default on its debt. The last time the U.S. federal debt reached this level was just after World…
Debt and The Future
Debt is very simply a commitment to pay back money (or other resources) that have been borrowed. The act of borrowing is inherent in human beings and it is evident, such as when a child wants to play with a ball and asks to borrow one from a friend. The friend lends the ball with…
China Using Its Rare Earth Minerals For Eco-Political Leverage
This week China announced it is reducing the amount of rare earths it will export in 2011 by more than 10 per cent. Since rare earth minerals (REE or REM) are vital for the manufacturing of high-tech products this has caused concern among other countries. China supplies 97 per cent of the global production of REMs, which are needed to…
Fertilizer Off-Limits…But Here’s Some Uranium For You.
Having worked in the Uranium industry and understanding it better than most Canadians, I was surprised to read this morning that Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall supports a federal private member’s bill sponsore by Saskatchewan Conservative MP Brad Trost. Allow me to share some background with you so that you may understand my surprise. The Uranium industry…
