Andy Bravo

[The Economic LongWave @TheELongWave]

For my nephews and niece, I want to tell you what your grandparents experienced when they bought their first modest home and how different that experience would be for your generation today.

Your grandparents were Italian immigrants. They married in 1957, worked in factories, saved carefully, and in 1964 bought a semi-detached home in northwest Toronto.

Their combined annual income was approximately $5,000 to $5,800.

The house cost $15,000.

That means the home was priced at roughly 2.6 to 3 times their combined annual income.

They were required to put down 25%, which was $3,750, leaving them with a mortgage of $11,250.

By saving approximately 20% to 25% of their income, they could realistically have accumulated the down payment in about three years.

They then paid off the entire mortgage by 1970, approximately six years after purchasing the house.

They were not wealthy. They did not have high-paying professional careers. They were factory workers building a life through work, discipline and sacrifice.

Now compare their experience with yours.

Today, two comparable factory workers in Toronto might earn a combined income of approximately $80,000 to $95,000 a year.

That same modest semi-detached house is now worth approximately $950,000 to $1 million.

Instead of costing about three times the household income, it now costs approximately 10 to 12.5 times the household income.

A 25% down payment would be between $237,500 and $250,000.

The mortgage would still be between $712,500 and $750,000.

Your grandparents needed a down payment equal to roughly 65% to 75% of one year’s gross household income.

Today, two factory workers would need a down payment equal to nearly three full years of their entire gross income.

Of course, nobody can save every dollar they earn. After taxes, rent, food, transportation and other basic expenses, saving that amount could easily take ten to fifteen years—even with a very disciplined savings plan.

And that assumes the house price does not continue to rise while they are saving.

There is another important comparison.

If your grandparents’ $15,000 house had simply kept pace with normal consumer price inflation, it would be worth approximately $150,000 to $160,000 today.

Instead, it is approaching $1 million.

The house did not become six times larger. It did not become six times better. The land and the financial claims attached to it became dramatically more expensive.

So when people say younger generations should simply work harder, stop spending, and save as their grandparents did, they are ignoring the mathematics.

Your grandparents worked hard and sacrificed, but they also lived in an economy where ordinary wages could still purchase an ordinary home.

That social contract has been broken.

Your grandparents could save the down payment in approximately three years and pay off the mortgage in six.

Their grandchildren may need ten to fifteen years merely to save the down payment—and then carry a mortgage for another 25 or 30 years.

That is not a failure of your generation.

It is evidence of how profoundly the relationship between wages, housing, land and credit has changed. 👇

[Andy Bravo @canind555]

@Pavanasoonu Visible

[Collin Rugg @CollinRugg]

NEW: Border Collie in China with 1.5 million followers stolen, sold for $27 to a restaurant, and then eaten.

The dog's owner, a Chinese travel blogger named 'Guo,' documents his travels with his dog.

While he was away on an overseas trip, the dog disappeared while in the care of Guo's dad. Surveillance footage showed two people stealing the animal.

Guo was able to track down the thief and offered $1500 for the return of his dog, but was told the dog had been sold for $27 and eaten.

The thief says he thought the dog was a stray.

"The dog is dead, so stop making a fuss. I did not break the law," the man allegedly said.

[Andy Bravo @canind555]

@Mrsinha Awesome!!

[Andy Bravo @canind555]

@peggy_blair Sorry for your loss Peggy.

[Andy Bravo @canind555]

@ShaziGoalie Not sure what are people smoking. Massive layoffs and unemployment, roaring gas prices and inflation, crazy bond prices aka mortgage rates and overall shit consumer sentiment, but yeah “real estate is picking up”. Sure.

[Andy Bravo @canind555]

@AK_Aspire <I want to know>

[Dr David Frawley @davidfrawleyved]

HINDUISM/SANATANA DHARMA is not just a way of life, it is the Way of the Universal Life, honoring the Self in all beings and all worlds.
We are all Hindus by nature and by Consciousness. To know this we must meditate on our true Self-nature beyond the illusions of the mind.

[Sridhar Vembu @svembu]

Lord Krishna in the Bhagwad Gita: when adharma rises, a warrior has the duty to fight. Showing misplaced empathy to adharma itself becomes adharma.

Arjuna mistakes his emotional attachment and fear of consequences for righteousness. Krishna points out that Arjuna is a warrior/guardian of society and a warrior’s cosmic duty is to protect society from chaos and injustice.

​If Arjuna walks away, evil (adharma) wins by default. Society descends into lawlessness, and Arjuna becomes complicit in that ruin by failing to stop it. Krishna calls Arjuna's hesitation unmanly and dishonorable for a warrior.

[Collin Rugg @CollinRugg]

NEW: 11 teachers in Canada of "North African" descent who were teaching "Islamist religious concepts" to elementary school children have been fired.

The teachers allegedly made the students pray in class, and physically & psychologically abused them.

"I find it appalling what was done to young girls. I find it appalling that we didn’t provide all the necessary services to students who were vulnerable.... Their (licenses) were permanently revoked? Perfect," said Michelle Setlakwe, member of the National Assembly of Quebec.

According to an investigation, the "North African" teachers were influenced by a local mosque. They subjected the kids to "physical and psychological abuse."

They allegedly forced the children to pray in class and refused to teach s*x education.

What a total mess Canada is.

[Patrick Brauckmann 🕉️ @vonbrauckmann]

Brahman

[Andy Bravo @canind555]

Roop’s of Shri Hari. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudeva.

[Andy Bravo @canind555]

@Pavanasoonu Thank you @Pavanasoonu for your time today. Eternally grateful. Pranam.

[The Economic LongWave @TheELongWave]

Why our Political Parties Abandoned Fiscal Responsibility (And Why the Cycle Made Them)

[1/18]

Two of the most storied reform parties in the Western world quietly abandoned fiscal discipline over the last 30 years.

Not because their leaders were corrupt. Not because their values changed.

Because the economic cycle made it feel rational until it didn't.

🧵 A thread on Late K-Autumn, institutional drift, and what happens next.

[That Marine Guy🇮🇳 @thatmarineguy21]

The bearded man in the video is a famous Pakistani podcaster, and the person he is speaking to is the head of a major IT company in Pakistan.

The IT executive has developed an app that provides a Hindi translation of the Quran, enabling users to gain an understanding of Islam.

The interviewer asks him why he chose to create it in Hindi. He replies, "Just imagine: India is a country with a population of 1.3 billion people. If even a single Hindu there were to embrace Islam through my app, think of the immense spiritual merit I would earn! I would attain Paradise; I would be granted 72 houris. What boundless blessings Allah would bestow upon me!"

When I searched for this individual on Google, I discovered that he is considered a prominent technocrat in Pakistan and runs three or four companies—yet, just look at his mindset.

[Natasha Montreal @NatashaMontreal]

This is Nancy Lefrançois and her 11-year-old son Loïc. They are dead now.

They are dead because Baljeet Singh, who was driving a semi, was so engrossed in playing an online game on his cell phone that he didn't notice that the traffic ahead of him was stopped for road work.

Singh mowed down 7 vehicles with his truck. 10 victims other than Nancy and Loïc miraculously survived, but were badly injured.

After Singh was treated for shock, he fled the country and went on the lam. For years.

Nancy's husband Benoit was unable to attend her funeral because he was in a coma for 3 weeks with serious injuries.

The other child in their vehicle suffered injuries to his spine, internal bleeding, a broken nose, and facial injuries requiring plastic surgery.

Singh was eventually caught by US authorities and returned to Canada.

Singh is now expressing deep regret. Which seems self-serving and convenient because he had a plethora of violations prior to this catastrophic event, suggesting a pattern of reckless disregard for the lives and safety of others.

According to CTV News reporter, Joe Lofaro, "A review of the truck’s dash camera showed that he committed more than 40 traffic violations during his last three trips and repeatedly used his cellphone while driving, weaved between lanes, and failed to take his mandatory rest periods, leading him to exceed the number of permitted driving hours."

I am tired of writing about the avoidable slaughter of Canadians on our roads.

Accidents are an unavoidable reality of driving. Well-meaning people sometimes make unintentional and catastrophic errors that end in tragedy. We all know and accept this.

But these events aren't accidents. These are deaths caused by wanton recklessness. The drivers in these cases consciously disregard known risks and as a consequence, people die who would otherwise not.

11-year-old boys die. Little girls die. Moms and Dads die. Grandparents die. Lives are shattered. Innocents have catastrophic injuries that forever change their futures.

None of it needs to happen. It's all a choice.

Canadians will keep getting slaughtered on our roads if we don't stop mass-importing third worlders to drive semis.

Only about 18% of Indians have a driver's license. India has over 150,000 road deaths per year.

It is fantastical to believe that people born and raised in places where driving is unusual and recklessness on the roads is the norm will all be cultural outliers.

It is pure ignorance to deny that, even for the outliers who do value safety and competence, skills like driving in snow and ice are easily acquired.

Canadian driving skills are first learned through observation and experience in a small vehicle. They are not easily acquired by adult foreigners behind the wheel of a semi.

It is akin to organised crime to allow companies to bring these drivers in, and it is suicidal not to shut the companies down and deport the offenders when they slaughter Canadians on the road.

Elbows Up policies get Canadians killed. The willful blindness of Canadians who refuse to tell the truth and the clinging to bromides about diversity being a strength are destroying Canada.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

This happened last month, but you probably never saw any press about it

[Andy Bravo @canind555]

@ronmortgageguy But not for long. With the economy in the crapper, a war in the middle east jacking inflation right up, real estate in the next 6-12 months is not going to fare well. We'll see then if the games were worth it. Sell today if you can.

[Barbara Bal @BarbaraBalCPC]

😡🔥 If anyone accuses me of raging today, they would be RIGHT!

How the HELL does a family sneak across the border ILLEGALLY in 2017, get their refugee claim REJECTED in 2018, appeals denied by 2019, and STILL be chilling in Toronto in 2025 while their son is allegedly trying to kidnap women at gunpoint?

This isn’t oversight; it’s a total SYSTEM FAILURE under a decade of Liberal incompetence that’s put women’s safety on the back burner.

https://t.co/qOaM2NsfLQ

@LenaMetlegeDiab

[Kimiko Shibata 🦋 @ESL_fairy]

Ontario has the fewest hospital beds per person of any province in Canada.

Ontario funds its hospitals at the lowest rate per person of all the provinces.

We deserve better.

#OnPoli #OntarioHealth