Conversation started Jan 10, 2013 at 20:03.
Jan 10, 2013 20:03
Welcome to Project Update Thursday
slow time of year for DIY?
I would have thought that we would all be getting new tools as christmas presents and collectively find things to use them on :)
like what Santa brought me...
also this
crappy outside, money spent on christmas - hibernating till spring
I've been working on Lego.
Is Lego ontopic :O
Note: Employees at the Lego store are called "Brick Specialists"
Which makes an Apple Genius sound so lame.
Jan 10, 2013 20:17
Wasn't there a Lego SE?
When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up and be a Lego Engineer
stupid parents getting my hopes up
I wanted to be the guy that did the big displays in stores.
Did your parents give you false hope for that as well?
because my parents never told me that I would be writing mind numbing LOB apps and sufferring from panic attacks because of the stress that my do-nothing superiors put me under
thanks mom
you greatly prepared me for the real world
wtf is LOB
Jan 10, 2013 20:25
I studied 3 years of Civ Eng, and realize that my career path was going to be roads and sewers. So I went into Comp. as the shortest path out of university.
Line of Business
i never went to college - spent that money on self education and cheap hookers and alcohol
(joking about the hookers and alcohol)
I'm thinking I would have been better off to go into a unionized trade.
Electrician maybe.
@ChrisCudmore THIS
@ChrisCudmore i actually enjoyed building my oven as much as it was labor intensive - i could see myself being a brick layer
after a while, you'd build that muscle
I think that's a young man's game. It would get tiring as you get older.
Jan 10, 2013 20:29
wages and benefits are dropping for nearly everybody... unless you are in the government or a union.... those guys at least have mostly stagnant wages and benefits
Electrical Engineering might have been a better option. Work for the power companies.
I'm doing ok wage wise. I typically get about 3-4% a year. But there's no path change for me here.
union guys typically have a pension too, meaning that they don't need to worry about Wall Street stealing their retirement
or if they do steal it
I'll find out in a couple weeks what this year's increase is.
the government picks up the tab (troubled pension fund)
@ChrisCudmore You are one of the lucky ones
haven't gotten a raise in 3 years - medical and tax both went up this year - not exactly happy right now
Jan 10, 2013 20:31
SS tax up 2%
thanks deadlocked government
if i could score this side job, i'd wipe out half of my CC debt
Taxes have been stable. Employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan went up a little. ($300/yr). Health care is socialised, so I don't pay directly.
@ChrisCudmore man... now if your real estate wouldn't be overvalued by a factor of 4 then Canada would be the place to be right now
Hell yeah. My house is $700k for a 1800 ft back split on the edge of the city.
Sell.
Please sell
this shit happened to us 5 years ago remember that
Jan 10, 2013 20:36
my side work designer is in toronto - now turned realtor - amazing price of property in toronto
You are in a giant game of hot potato right now
Compare to this: trulia.com/property/…
We're not as heavily levered as you were. Our banks weren't allowed to give the "Creative" loans yours were.
2800 sq ft - $900k - you know what i could get in buffalo for 900k ?
It must be nice to be a Realtor with property values like that.
It won't crash. It might go stagnant for a while, but it won't crash.
Jan 10, 2013 20:38
I'll take 3% of each sale, thanks very much.
if my brother built 2500 sq ft for < $300k in wheatfield... i'd have my indoor pool!!!
It's already flattening. moneyville.ca/article/…
^^^ What you can get in Pittsburgh for that kind of money
Condos will tank though. They've been building too many 800 ft condos for "Investment Purposes"
@maple_shaft Look at the Taxes though. I pay 4k a year.
Jan 10, 2013 20:42
How far out of town?
plus it has gas wells on the property so you will literally make money just by owning it
@ChrisCudmore hour and a half
oh and it has a rental unit too
@ChrisCudmore y do you think it will not tank? Are banks actually reasonable with loans over there?
Yes, quite.
Do you mean Canada doesn't have a penchant for vampiric capitalism preying on the weak and stupid?
Jan 10, 2013 20:45
5% equity minimum, with declaration that it isn't borrowed.
Insurance required up to 20% equity.
@ChrisCudmore what about liquid asset requirements for Canadian banks?
No increases allowed with out re-qualifying.
I think we are at like 3%
You mean reserve amount?
Jan 10, 2013 20:47
Apparently none. Which surprises me.
on that matter too... how do Canadian banks figure out their base interest rate? Does Canada have its own version of the Fed? Is it based on LIBOR?
NONE?!
If you made it NONE in USA then banks would drive this country over a cliff at 700mph
There's the Bank of Canada, which is equivalent to The Fed.
It sets the overnight rate (prime). Currently 0.75%
i don't get it
Banks set their own prime rate, typically 2-3% above that rate.
ah welcome back @oscilatingcretin our resident basement murderer :)
0
Q: When finishing drywall, is it a common practice not to mud the bottom of horizontally-hung drywall?

oscilatingcretinDISCLAIMER: This question contains information related to my recent dealings with what the SE consensus has determined to be an incompetant construction company. If you are one of the SE'ers who become enraged to the point of outright wanting to skip past my questions every time I post a questi...

Jan 10, 2013 20:50
HOW then do your banks resist the urge to NOT take too much risk?
@maple_shaft US Banks also set their own rate
they only follow Prime if they're doing fannie/freddie/fha
they're not required to
There's a whole lot of other regulations on them. Canadian banks are much more regulated than US banks.
But banking is complex, and I don't pretend to understand it.
@ChrisCudmore but but... regulation is socialism! and socialism is communism! and that makes Canada EVIL! Regulations always cause more harm than good! That is what is repeated to us ad nauseum in our media so it must be true
Jan 10, 2013 20:53
actually US Banks are pretty heavily regulated
maybe canada is more so but us banks are hardly the wild west
Ah! But you don't realize that Canadian banks are an Oligarchy. So Regulation is the only way to return to a market defined equilibrium.
I think the issue with US banks is the vast number of small banks who fly under the radar.
@ChrisCudmore Hmm... it wasn't the small banks that got us in the mortgage crisis though
it was the big ones
and the high risk derivatives
and the insurance taken out on those derivatives
It was the derivatives, and derivative derivatives.
obligatory yodawg.jpg meme
Typically, Canadians as a people are more risk adverse than Americans.
The joke here is that doing business with americans is fun, because they make decisions quickly. Not necessarily better or worse decisions, just faster ones.
Jan 10, 2013 20:59
Its the Max Powers way
At what point do derivatives cease being financial instruments and start being gambling? I mean, why not issue derivatives on college basketball scores?
"There is the right way, the wrong way, and the Max Powers way." "But isn't that also the wrong way?" "Yes, but its FASTER!"
Does PUT end at 4 or 5?
well g2g
later
It apparently ended at 3 today.
Jan 10, 2013 21:02
Thanks for joining this week's PUT
 
Conversation ended Jan 10, 2013 at 21:02.