Good morning beautiful people! It is bright and sunny out in London today, and I have a feeling it is going to be an amazing day 😊
Daily quote:
“Injustice is relatively easy to bear, it is justice that hurts.“
—Henry Louis Mencken
Back at home…
Houses in Vancouver were already at a ridiculously high level when I lived there, but apparently they have gone to the next level and risen over 50% in the past 2 years. Pretty insane stuff.
In an attempt to combat the persistent rise of real-estate prices, the Canadian government is implementing a 2-year ban on foreigners from purchasing properties & putting billions into construction in efforts to increase housing supply.
Firstly, it’s not that hard to get a permanent residence in Canada, and I’d assume a lot of those buying properties already have one anyway? Also, 2 years does seem like a rather short amount of time, especially since people have already been stocking up on Canadian properties, in light of coming rate increases. And 2 years seems like a ridiculously short amount of time considering the snail-like pace of Canadian construction work as well —so doesn’t seem to me like the supply problem would be fixed in time either. 😕
Not sure how much damage the policies can really undo or prevent… Looks more like virtue signalling to me. Seems like they just want to cover their backs against political backlash from inflation and housing prices.
To be fair, “helping local governments update their systems to allow faster construction of new properties” is technically a part of Freeland’s new plan. But what the fuck does that even mean. Sounds vague and not practically helpful to me.
I’m honestly just a bit worried the Canadian government never really knows what they are doing. But I do think they mean well!
Warren Buffet moves the markets again.
After Berkshire bought a $4.2 billion stake in HP, the company’s stock shot up 10%.
Last time I thought about HP was when I read about Marty Cagan’s unenviable experience as an early engineer there… I remember they have a reputation for antiquated practices and putting a plug on innovation. I hope Cagan’s words have made their mark and they’re doing things differently now?
I better check in on what they’re up to. Maybe HP will come back into the limelight more now that Buffet’s got his eyes on them.
Nonetheless, HP stock gained 53% in 2021. I wonder what that was about?
Berkshire is changing its ways as they place an increasing emphasis on technology. The stake in HP is a further move in that direction, and follows their $161 billion buy-in to Apple.
Ruble is back.
People laughed at Biden’s pun about the ruble being reduced to “rubble” when the sanctions came in. They aren’t laughing much longer. The Russian ruble has risen back to pre-war levels very quickly (back at 79.7 rubles per dollar Wednesday 6th of April). I guess damage can be more quickly undone than we know.
Elon pulling third world residents into debt?
Companies providing pay-as-you-go power brought the third world hope, and then they brought them down. After being locked in, in some areas, half of loans go unpaid, and 43% of paygo customers sacrificed food to come up with the money. It seems very coercive to me that the system leverages short-termist mindsets, everyday utilities, and limited financial literacy of those in the third world.
The startups funded by VCs, Elon, and touted by the UN and the US Government have proved willing to forego ethical boundaries in their pursuit of the third world market. Continuing to prey on the weak, many of these startups are infiltrating refugee camps.
“Move fast and fuck things up.” is the motto these startups have gone by it seems. Their model has come back to bite them as well because these paygo startups often end-up on funding treadmills. Sad business model. The incentives are all fucked. I don’t know how entrepreneurs like these go to bed at night.
I think something like this will only work if the paygo system is centralised and standardised by one organisation. I mean maybe someone like the World Bank or IMF can coordinate this kind of thing? But maybe just wishful thinking…
There should at least be caps on debt accumulation and collection for people who have been targeted though.
That’s all for today!
Speak soon,
Angeline 🤍
Resources consulted:
“Special status.” The Bloomberg Open, Europe Edition, Bloomberg, April 7, 2022.
Chiglinsky, Katherine. “Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Adds New $4.2 Billion HP Stake.” Bloomberg Markets, Bloomberg, April 7, 2022.
Kocieniewski, David & Finch, Gavin. “Tesla-Backed Startup Made Cheap Power a Debt Burden for the World’s Poorest.” Big Take, Bloomberg Green, Bloomberg, April 7, 2022.
Platt, Brian & Altstedter, Ari. “Canada to Ban Foreigners From Buying Homes as Prices Soar.” Bloomberg Wealth, Bloomberg, April 6, 2022.