Yeah seriously, everybody dies (for now at least) let’s just provide basic disposal for bodies as a government service. If you want to have a funeral or other celebration you are welcome too and if you want a “fancier” disposal (like burying in a cemetery) you can pay for that. But it seems like basic disposal should be provided.
I find it hard to blame people for doing what they are incentivized to do. Sure, I would love if everyone is morals first but given the open to build a “luxury” condo that gets N% return on investment or a “basic” condo that gets %M return on investment they are going to build whatever one is higher.
Most of the blame should lie on the government for not creating the correct rules and incentives.
Because it is amazing to live downtown where I can walk to dozens of different great restaurants and shops, work and anywhere else I need to go on the average day. If I have kids they can get around easily without needing to wait until they turn 16 and can get a drivers license.
City life isn’t everyone’s preference but it is clearly desirable by many people. $1M is a huge price tag but if you can afford it and you want to live in the city then you will pay it if you need to. Many people do.
The only hope is that with supply increasing the price tag will start dropping. Additionally to dropping price of current stock hopefully builders will start targeting lower pricepoints as well. (Right now most of the new condos are targeted at more “luxury” audience because it is more profitable, now that the market has been saturated other markets will start to be addressed.)
I’m just waiting for the bubble to pop.
I find rail more comfortable than bus and it is cheaper to run at high frequency. The main downside is flexibility (you basically need to close the route to fix the tracks, or if something is blocking them) but overall I find it much better, especially with grade separation.
Prices won’t change overnight, even a year is pretty fast. These are large assets and most sellers would rather wait a bit than risk selling in a short stall. Some sellers are also very emotional and think they know what it is worth.
But if the supply is increasing the prices should start to drop.
Amex and credit cards in general are a tax on our society, especially the poor. The wealthy get “rewards” which just come from increased prices to cover the high credit card fees. The less wealthy don’t get as much of the extra fees back as rewards but still have to pay the higher prices.
We should strictly regulate credit card fees like the EU has done.
Capitalism depends on proper competition to function “properly”. So of course the goal of every company is to reduce competition so that they can raise prices to infinity.
Loblaw’s still has competition, but it is not what it should be. There are a small number of big chains that don’t have proper competition in their best interests. If you live in a big city you likely have a few real options but often not really.
The capitalist’s answer to this is applying regulation since it has been required to prevent monopolistic behaviour. Or we can ditch capitalism as the model for our society. Or more likely both, one as a short term fix and another for the longer term.
*to an industry who creates serious health complications that raise the costs of hospitals.
It is thankfully becoming more rare. But I have frequently seen some hostile behaviour.
This is one of the many reasons that banks should stop being hostile to password managers. Browser-integrated password managers significantly help protect against phishing because my username + password won’t auto-fill on the wrong domain. So I need to take my time and look up my password. Which will at the very least make me suspicious and give me extra time to consider what I am doing.
Funerals are one thing. That is basically a party and I think people can choose to do what they want. But I think that basic body disposal should be provided (and separated from any funeral provider as much as desired).