‘Too Asian’? – Macleans, 10 Nov 2010
A lengthy article on patterns of admission to Canadian Universities.
Controversial enough to be the cause of public meetings at UBC.
Is Vancouver in a real estate bubble? – Globe and Mail, 24 Nov 2010
Despite the name, this article deals entirely with the effects of Chinese immigrants on the Vancouver RE market and economy.
We will extract the anecdotes elsewhere.
There is a discussion of this article at financialinsights.
Also, last month, the Globe and Mail ran a series of 6 articles on immigration and Multiculturalism that garnered much web discussion.
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Are these articles simply documenting the various effects of immigration on Canadian society?
If so, those issues are longstanding; the effects are gradual, and ongoing; so why all this concurrent media attention?
Students of the effects of markets on social phenomena will ask: “Why now?”
Have the emerging markets peaked?
Has the USD bottomed?
Are we about to face a second large deflationary wave?
-vreaa
UBC has become a tension point. No longer an anglo school. There will be a huge backlash against Asian immigrants. The Chinese are detested in many parts of the world, and they have destroyed their country, so they are hellbent on polluting the rest of the Planet.
Forget it – it’s over for snob City = Vancouver. This is a second rate city and has the most over priced RE in the world – so stupid money is coming in.
Good luck. I predict Vancouver will remain what it truly is, a backwater full of coffee drinking slackers, who think you make money by buying houses made of particle board. Done like a Tiger Williams dinner.
Well, Vancouver is a town that thinks it’s a city. I give you that. But:
Is utterly dishonest. The Chinese have done nothing that the western world hasn’t done for almost a hundred years.
Ah yes, we “cleaned up our act”. Sure we did. We shipped all the dirty jobs off to China, India and other poorer parts of the world and now we like to look down on them while enjoying the cheap “Made in China” “crap” while at the same time feeling smug and superior about it.
Yeah, I say “too bad” too. I find it curious how obsessed people seem to be with the “not working” attitude.
This really only worked the last 20 years because of some sheer dumb luck in certain parts of the world. The sooner people realize there is no free lunch the better.
But of course that won’t register until TSHTF and by that point in time it’ll be too late anyway.
Yeah, I am not looking forward to the future.
The latest pieces of journalism have one feature that gets unbearable quickly: questions in their titles. Are we in a bubble? Is hot Asian money that important? When will this trend finally expire? If you can’t say something definite, don’t say anything. Stop asking questions in your titles. Sorry, I mean: How more annoying can questions in titles become?
Nice observation.
Gradual? Why now?
Read Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point, you’ll find some answers there.
I know Gladwell’s writings.
Yes, agreed, a possible threshold/tipping point effect.
But, in one month?
I would still submit the alternate theory for consideration, that something about the state of the markets causes these journalists to examine different aspects of the apparent Asian behemoth, all at the same time.
Michael,
I’m with you 100% on your comment above. It is too late and I too have long enjoyed my privileged life. Competing on the global stage where wages are 1/16th of mine makes it tough to win. And when I was at school, I partied. It was an entitlement. This recession will diminish all Western entitlements.
I was just thinking the same thing yesterday.
My conspiracy theory on this sudden spike in Asian immigration issues:
In the near future the world will find itself short of food and energy. A decreasing supply of energy will exacerbate declining food production brought on by climate change (glaciers gone, rivers dried up, no irrigation= no food).
China has no way to feed its citizens (nor does India) with the food it produces within its own borders and it is unlikely they will increase food production to meet internal demand. India is in the same situation.
Their rivers are polluted and are drying up, and their food production will decrease at a time when the population will still be increasing.
So the next wars will be about energy and food production. We’re in Afghanistan, along with other NATO countries, and you can draw a line from Afghanistan, through Iraq to Turkey and then the Eastern border of Europe where they are western and US troops stationed. The only piece missing is Iran. This is a wall against any expansionist dreams of either China, India, Russia or Pakistan, the purpose of which would be to secure access to energy and food production (oil, gas, coal and water).
These articles are peppering the middle class Macleans readers for the coming anti-China articles to begin blaming them for the world’s ills and allowing us to feel guilt-free while we watch a few hundred million of them go hungry.
In short- we’re looking for someone to blame, and the MSM has selected China.
Funny. People thought of Ireland like that too.
The “blame China” game isn’t new, it has been going on for a few years.
The reality is though that the US does not understand what they are in for. China can easily start a landwar and remove US influence in Asia if they so chose. They haven’t yet because they aren’t completely stupid.
But yes, Cold War II is about to begin and Korea will most likely be the first place where China and the US will cross swords over who gets to divy up the remaining resources.
Funny how we used to tell the Chinese not to be such commies and when they change we call them consuming, polluting, superficial capitalists.
BTW anything coming out of that hate-filled Macleans is not worth reading. They must be tired of attacking blacks, gays, muslims, women’s rights, unions, the left, the poor and have found a new victim to spew hate on.
Before you read their propoganda look and see who owns it?
The undertone of racism in Vancouver is undeniable. The first comment for this post reminds me of a conversation I once had in North Vancouver with a certain biggot that runs an animal society there . He informed that when he came to Canada from good old Britian; only caucasians where able to live in the British properties. He had this arrogance and glee when he told me that. Same choice of words; backlashes against Chinese buyers who does not appreciate the country and destroying such a prestigous area. I asked him with a disgusted tone. “Backlashes? Maybe a race riot like the early 1900′s would do the trick!” Yes, the China blame game isnt new; just a topic to release the racial undertone that exist live and well in this city .