Quote:
Originally Posted by thewave46
If there's been something devastating to the middle class in the last decade, huge property price appreciation and rent inflation has been it. I recall middle-class neighbours raising four kids in a bungalow in the 1980s and 1990s. Seems but a dream now for anyone below the upper-middle class in all but the cheapest locales.
I care not of the colour of the political party, nor their ostensible party platform. That's partisan bullshit, and if Team Orange abets Team Red's corporatism, they wear the stain of it too. If government is so blind to their own failings are to make Team Blue appear the better option (see my cynicism on Team Blue's pitch in my previous posts), we deserve what we get.
Oh, but the housing price appreciation felt so good and the cost of screwing over the future wasn't felt at the time. Until we had to keep it up, because we'd built a little scheme. In keeping up the scheme via high immigration, we traded away the pressure release valve of ordinary times. One might lose their overleveraged house, but they'd at least land with somewhat affordable rent. Except that option's gone in many places. Lose the house and get hosed on rent. Proper screwed, with no path forward.
Pressure comes out somewhere. I like safety release valves personally, but watching things go 'Bang!' in ugly ways is fun too.
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A guy was out road biking down the highway when he notices a small dark smudge on the side of his right leg. He realizes that his chain must have rubbed against his skin at some point. Annoyed, he stops to wipe off the smudge. At that moment his dirt biker friend emerges from a forest trail covered head to toe in mud. His friend comes over takes a look at him and says well, well, well. You always claimed you didn't want to try dirt biking because it was too messy and you wanted to stay clean. But I guess you should have taken up dirt biking after all. I don't have a single spot of bike grease on me!
But seriously this whole topic is verging on the ludicrous. First of all, the housing affordability crisis is the result of income inequality rather than vice versa. David Hulchansky, Canada's foremost housing policy expert and PhD author, researcher, and UofT professor has written about the topic in great detail. You can access a full discussion he gave on the topic
here. So while it's a complex issue with many variables, if you want to blame anyone for housing unaffordability the best place to start is with those whose policies have most increased inequality prior to the crisis taking hold. Policies that erode union protections, allow inflation to outpace minimum wages, reduce corporate taxes, increase corporate welfare, weaken the social safety net, etc.
The NDP are well aware that for all the liberal shortcomings they are significantly better in all such regards compared to the conservatives. And since the the NDP aren't poised to actually take power any time soon which is the only way to actually implement their preferred policies, keeping the conservatives out of power as long as possible is pragmatically the most good they can do. There's no "smudge" associated with them for making that (correct) calculation unless you think they could have actually enacted their preferred policies somehow?