frostbiker @ frostbiker @lemmy.ca

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2 yr. ago

What a horrible act of violence. A few years back we suffered a similar terrorist attack in Toronto, that time against women, and it left many of us in the community shaken. A terrorist attack in the news feels very different from one in your street.

I hope the Muslim community in London is healing. Our thoughts are with you.

They want freedom to do what they want, not freedom for you to do what you want. To be fair, we are all a bit like that.

Premier is a closeted homosexual confirmed.

Do you realize how homophobic these sorts of messages are? Accusing every homophobe of being secretly homosexual is in itself homophobic for two reasons.

First, because if it was true then would logically follow that the suffering of homosexuals would be entirely self-inflicted. We know this is false, because in certain cultures homophobia is nearly universal.

Second, because it implies that the "problem" with homophobes is that they are homosexual, when in reality the problem is that they are... well... homophobic.

I'm not denying that some homosexuals suffer from internalized homophobia. But to jump from that to the blanket assumption that every homophobe is homosexual is plainly wrong, both factually and morally.

Thank you for the NSFW tag. I threw up in my mouth a little.

Most cars, at least in NA, have excessively large engines. It is crazy that we use 2L engines to carry one person around, when their own legs would suffice.

There is no limit to yearly increases in the real world. You get a phone call from your landlord telling you that they want to sell/renovate the unit, you get the hint and tell them that you will accept a rent increase, then magically they no longer want to sell/renovate. Happened to me with an otherwise "good" landlord.

A cheap bike would have made this a lot more bearable.

Hey, I'll be happy to maintain a civil conversation but I won't entertain rudeness. Have a great day!

Huh? Like I said, inflation increases demand for credit. Debt shrinks under inflation, so it becomes more compelling to take on debt in an inflationary environment.

Sorry, I must have misread it. I agree that nominal demand for credit increases under an inflationary environment, but only under the condition that interest rates stay constant. Which they don't, because central banks intervene. I hope we agree so far.

That is why interest rates rise alongside inflation

As I understand it, the interest rates of e.g. mortgages are (rather) indirectly set via the overnight lending rate of the BoC. In other words, mortgages rise because the BoC rated increased its rates. And that in turn happens because the BoC knows that increasing the cost of money lowers demand.

The effect of this intervention means that inflation-adjusted demand for credit today is lower than it was before the rate hikes started.

Same reason why, all else equal, the cost of bread increases when demand for bread increases. Basic supply and demand.

Credit is not a free market thanks to central banks. That is why they were created in the first place.

But if those interest costs are responsible for driving inflation, then you can find yourself in an interesting feedback loop where taking on debt remains compelling no matter how high rates go.

In theory, yes, that could happen. In practice, high enough interest rates asphixiate demand: people have less amount of money to spend on anything other than servicing their debt, causing unprofitable businesses to go under due to lower demand and their inability to access cheap credit, forcing businesses lay off their staff, which means that people stop being able to pay their mortgages, leading to foreclosures, and then a self-reinforcing slump of home prices.

This has happened many times before and it is happening now.

I addressed that here.

The higher the interest rates go, the higher the inflation, the greater demand for credit, the higher the rates go to try and quash that increase in demand, the higher the inflation goes, the higher the… A classic inflationary spiral.

You got it wrong at the point where higher interest rates increase demand for credit. It is the other way around: when interest rates are high, fewer people want to go into debt. On the contrary, not only fewer credit products are purchased, but also people try to repay their existing debts faster.

So while there is a temporary increase in mortgage repayments of existing mortgages, fewer new mortgages are signed and the demand for other products and services is also decreased because the money people spend in repaying debt is money they are not spending elsewhere.

I hope it makes sense.

Raising interest rates won’t fix inflation driven by gas prices.

Raising interest rates will not reduce the price of gas. However, it will reduce inflation in other ways. Higher interest rates decrease the demand for credit and encourages people to pay back their debts faster, if they can. This deleveraging reduces economic activity in other areas, easing demand and thus reducing inflation.

I am not an economist, but I won't pretend to know more than the BoC either.

Houses, food and rents prices are unhinged.

Higher interest rates lower inflation. That is why the BOC has been rising them

The country’s economy had a net regression for the first time in years

The main goal of central banks is keeping inflation around 2% per year, even if that causes a recession.

An asylum seeker that jumps from one developed country to the next is no longer seeking safety, and thus should be subject to the same rules as any other immigrant.

The regulation that the city needs is that whenever roads are rebuilt they should prioritize transport options as follows: wheelchairs/pedestrians > bicycles > e-scooters/e-bikes > transit > compact cars > pedestrian mutilators (a.k.a. pickup trucks and SUVs). It is preposterous that some residential roads today don't even have sidewalks.

They should also eliminate right turns on red, which are as hostile to pedestrians and bicycles as it gets.

If you want to lower immigration rates, you’re gonna need to increase birth rates

The opposite is also true: if you want to see higher birth rates then housing needs to be affordable. Most Canadians require some financial stability before they start a family, and that is difficult today with the sky high housing costs.

Just another old white dude inexperienced colored girl rying to fix dumb shit instead of focusing on the real problems within.

Do you see how toxic it sounds now? Gross.

I'm in complete agreement. Humanity will transition to sustainability the good way or the bad way. The good way involves making some tough decisions and calculated sacrifices, while the bad way involves despair, famine, mass migrations, war and genocide.

But it will all eventually settle down to sustainability, one way or another. That's why I'm an optimist.

Nothing to apologize for. I understand that some people, particularly those who are young, environmentally conscious and lacking financial stability, look at the world and think that it's all going to shit.

I'm old enough to remember the cold war and the fear we had of nuclear holocaust and nuclear winter. It's just an example, there have been doomsday headlines every day for as long as I've lived and every single time humans have prevailed.

I'm not saying climate change isn't serious, it is very serious. I'm saying our children and grandchildren will, for the most part, live good lives. Better than our lives in some ways, worse in others, just like it's always happened. People adapt.

I have brought two wonderful people to this world because I don't underestimate humanity's ability to understand, adapt and overcome the challenges ahead. Humans have lived and thrived through much tougher times in history. A defeatist attitude sure won't help.