Totally disagree with you @pgveer. Economics is made up by men to uphold their beliefs in the un-real and nature is real that we are a part of as humans. And if we keep destroying nature it will eventually totally destroy us. You can't eat money. We took a wrong turn somewhere and now have to back track.
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You ARE describing economics: incentives. WHile the scale of "destruction" of nature is subject to discussion (and it's subjective in most instances), the worst part is caused by perverted incentives from governments.
Without them, destruction and pollution would be minimal since clear property rights would make polluters pay/abate pollution more easily. With the present state of things - where governments "own" so much land - that incentive doesn't exist. In fact, Washington is the single largest polluter on the planet
The only thing perverted about governments is that they are in the pockets of greedy industrialists.
YOu have it backwards. A large government has plenty to distribute, which modifies people's incentives and want to make them get some of that pot.
Take the crisis of 2008: if was created through government regulation to MAKE banks give loans without thorough checks on "minorities", otherwise they were fined or blackmailed. Canada didn't have these incentives, and the housing bubble was much less inflated
Let's agree to disagree....and remain friends.
Not anymore though. BoCanada's slashed interest rates and the dollar is very low. Chinese investors who want to hide their money in assets are influencing the bubble. Then the government says "look at us, we're making it illegal for them to invest too much. Thank us". My house, bought in 2007 for $500k is now worth $1.2million. Chinese investment is a part of it (more recently than before, due to the low dollar), but interest rates have also gone down by 4%+ since then
I take it you are from Vancouver? Then please tell me about the extend of land restriction I hear so much about. I hear THAT has a much larger influence than the Chinese speculation
I live in Ontario in the suburbs of greater Toronto (not Toronto itself). In downtown urban Toronto specifically, housing prices are roaring because Vancouver put laws against Chinese investors
According to an economics class I had, the "green belt" policy is also pushing prices in the GTA upwards. And with you present Premier, it shouldn't be long before SHE puts the same restrictions