Juggling Dynamite

Not only are drug traffickers and other criminals enabled, and needed tax revenues avoided, but investigators confirm that money laundering flows have been a significant factor driving up the price of real estate and related services (and thus the debt for Canadian households), as well as auto sales and luxury products, far beyond the means of most Canadians.  This is lose, lose for Canada–completely counterproductive, and it’s not just a problem in BC.  The segment starts at 47:00 on the play bar here.

The Current looks at money laundering in Canada, starting at 47:00 on the play bar: “An estimated $1 billion flowed into Vancouver real estate in just one year.” https://t.co/aKCWiBbEb5

— Danielle Park (@kdaniellepark) April 5, 2019

So far, Toronto sellers have been holding and hoping that 2017 prices will bounce back, but with clamp downs on money laundering and foreign inflows, the large inventory of properties priced over $2m are less in demand. And with the majority of baby boomers over-housed, undersaved and looking to downsize, there is little reason to expect selling pressure to relent anytime soon.  Flat prices are now seen as relative strength in the GTA.

The Toronto Real Estate Board Market Watch report was released earlier this week and Realosophy’s John Pasalis joined BNN Bloomberg’s Amber Kanwar and Jon Erlichman to discuss what the numbers mean. Key topics included why Toronto’s real estate market remains stable so far while the Vancouver market has plunged 31%, the impact of investment (both foreign and domestic) and banking policy changes (such as mortgage stress tests) and the sluggish recovery in the Greater Toronto Area’s York Region. Here is a direct video link.

There is understandably a lot of angst today about what people should be training for in a world moving increasingly to automation and artificial intelligence–and especially when education programs have become so expensive.  But we should be careful not to seek only linear paths from education and training to work. Our lives usually doesn’t go in straight lines and knowledge and understanding benefit from diverse exposures.

We should keep open-minds when we talk to young people about their interests and work plans.  In the age of machines, multi-faceted human thinkers with developed empathy and communication skills remain valuable.  See more in Why ‘worthless’ humanities degrees, may set you up for life:

“…take it directly from two top executives at tech giant Microsoft who wrote recently: “As computers behave more like humans, the social sciences and humanities will become even more important. Languages, art, history, economics, ethics, philosophy, psychology and human development courses can teach critical, philosophical and ethics-based skills that will be instrumental in the development and management of AI solutions.

…it goes without saying that you can be an excellent communicator and critical thinker without a liberal arts degree. And any good university education, not just one in English or psychology, should sharpen these abilities further. “Any degree will give you very important generic skills like being able to write, being able to present an argument, research, problem-solve, teamwork, becoming familiar with technology,” says Dublin-based educational consultant and career coach Anne Mangan.

But few courses of study are quite as heavy on reading, writing, speaking and critical thinking as the liberal arts, in particular the humanities – whether that’s by debating other students in a seminar, writing a thesis paper or analysing poetry.

…One recent study of 1,700 people from 30 countries, meanwhile, found that the majority of those in leadership positions had either a social sciences or humanities degree.