The Inflation & Cost of Living Complaints Thread

[The Arrogant Worms]

As far as inflation....had to buy a new electric can opener yesterday.  Cheapest I could find was at Walmart for $40.

 

A few years ago the same one was $19.99

[RupertKBD]

1 minute ago, The Arrogant Worms said:

As far as inflation....had to buy a new electric can opener yesterday.  Cheapest I could find was at Walmart for $40.

 

A few years ago the same one was $19.99

 

I know this doesn't refute your point on rising costs, but you had to buy an electric can opener?

 

I have three "analog" can openers that cost me significantly less than $40....

[The Arrogant Worms]

5 minutes ago, RupertKBD said:

 

I know this doesn't refute your point on rising costs, but you had to buy an electric can opener?

 

I have three "analog" can openers that cost me significantly less than $40....

Yes......starting to get arthritis in my hands a bit. I have been using a hand held one.   So I did have to buy one.  Plus we can afford it.

Edited December 30, 2023 by The Arrogant Worms

[RupertKBD]

6 hours ago, Bob Long said:

I have an issue with Eby complaining about international students. The province has let our post secondary institutions turn into diploma mines. UBC has grown fat and dependent on international money and the province was there for the ride. If Eby really cares he can require UBC and others to stop this, and reform how we deliver education in BC. 

 

FWIW, the PSI's are getting a bit frustrated as well. Even up here on the North Coast, we're getting flooded with students who can't find anywhere to live. (Same with our IT department, where we have newish employees from India, South Korea, Lebanon and Brazil)

 

My wife is a student advisor and although housing is not part of her responsibility, she still hears it from the students who come to see her.

 

The government has done something about it: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/foreign-students-requirements-questions-answered-1.7053773

 

....but there are some caveats:

 

Most of these students, (particularly the ones from India) are taking out loans so they can study in Canada. These are often predatory loans, which will take years to pay off. (if they ever are) So raising the income that students must show will in many cases, just lead to them taking out larger loans, putting them further in the hole.

 

To compound the issue, @Junkyard Dog's point about TFWs is also true. Several years ago, I worked in a local hotel and helped three newly hired cooks move into an apartment. I heard from our Executive Chef that they had been hired by an unscrupulous restaurateur in the LM, forced to work about 80 hours per week at less than minimum wage, or be deported.

 

As luck would have it, we already had a recent immigrant from India working in our kitchen, who happened to know the other three. He told our Chef, who started the process of moving them up here to PR and getting them work visas.

 

Fun fact: Our sales of Butter Chicken skyrocketed after we hired these guys.....

Edited December 30, 2023 by RupertKBD

[RupertKBD]

11 minutes ago, The Arrogant Worms said:

Yes......starting to get arthritis in my hands a bit. I have been using a hand held one.   So I did have to buy one.  Plus we can afford it.

 

As a 60+ year old musician, arthritis is one of my biggest fears.....

 

I'm just starting to figure out what I'm doing and now my body is starting to fail me.

[The Arrogant Worms]

Just now, RupertKBD said:

 

As a 60+ year old musician, arthritis is one of my biggest fears.....

 

I'm just starting to figure out what I'm doing and now my body is starting to fail me.

I hear you.  My fingers are not quite as nimble when I play guitar.  Thank god for easy chords now  lol

[MattJVD]

48 minutes ago, RupertKBD said:

 

FWIW, the PSI's are getting a bit frustrated as well. Even up here on the North Coast, we're getting flooded with students who can't find anywhere to live. (Same with our IT department, where we have newish employees from India, South Korea, Lebanon and Brazil)

 

My wife is a student advisor and although housing is not part of her responsibility, she still hears it from the students who come to see her.

 

The government has done something about it: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/foreign-students-requirements-questions-answered-1.7053773

 

....but there are some caveats:

 

Most of these students, (particularly the ones from India) are taking out loans so they can study in Canada. These are often predatory loans, which will take years to pay off. (if they ever are) So raising the income that students must show will in many cases, just lead to them taking out larger loans, putting them further in the hole.

 

To compound the issue, @Junkyard Dog's point about TFWs is also true. Several years ago, I worked in a local hotel and helped three newly hired cooks move into an apartment. I heard from our Executive Chef that they had been hired by an unscrupulous restaurateur in the LM, forced to work about 80 hours per week at less than minimum wage, or be deported.

 

As luck would have it, we already had a recent immigrant from India working in our kitchen, who happened to know the other three. He told our Chef, who started the process of moving them up here to PR and getting them work visas.

 

Fun fact: Our sales of Butter Chicken skyrocketed after we hired these guys.....

We (as a Province) need to do a better job of managing and building campus housing. More housing types than traditional dorms and a lot more quantity of all types. I haven't looked at the details in some years so this may be out of date: But post secondaries weren't allowed to go to the market and get traditional mortgages or private loans for building housing. They had to rely on special allocations from govt or internally generated money.

 

Funding sources being restricted or not, the Province can do more to get new units online. That's not to say they're doing nothing though. UVic had their largest ever residence building come online this September.

[Bob Long]

1 hour ago, RupertKBD said:

 

FWIW, the PSI's are getting a bit frustrated as well. Even up here on the North Coast, we're getting flooded with students who can't find anywhere to live. (Same with our IT department, where we have newish employees from India, South Korea, Lebanon and Brazil)

 

My wife is a student advisor and although housing is not part of her responsibility, she still hears it from the students who come to see her.

 

The government has done something about it: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/foreign-students-requirements-questions-answered-1.7053773

 

....but there are some caveats:

 

Most of these students, (particularly the ones from India) are taking out loans so they can study in Canada. These are often predatory loans, which will take years to pay off. (if they ever are) So raising the income that students must show will in many cases, just lead to them taking out larger loans, putting them further in the hole.

 

To compound the issue, @Junkyard Dog's point about TFWs is also true. Several years ago, I worked in a local hotel and helped three newly hired cooks move into an apartment. I heard from our Executive Chef that they had been hired by an unscrupulous restaurateur in the LM, forced to work about 80 hours per week at less than minimum wage, or be deported.

 

As luck would have it, we already had a recent immigrant from India working in our kitchen, who happened to know the other three. He told our Chef, who started the process of moving them up here to PR and getting them work visas.

 

Fun fact: Our sales of Butter Chicken skyrocketed after we hired these guys.....

 

its actually really at the provincial level where student policy can be most effective. The Ministry of Education controls the intake process. 

 

But its a big business for UBC and they are in bed with the ministry, so I expect them to keep pointing fingers at Trudeau, because its easy. 

 

[RupertKBD]

34 minutes ago, MattJVD said:

We (as a Province) need to do a better job of managing and building campus housing. More housing types than traditional dorms and a lot more quantity of all types. I haven't looked at the details in some years so this may be out of date: But post secondaries weren't allowed to go to the market and get traditional mortgages or private loans for building housing. They had to rely on special allocations from govt or internally generated money.

 

Funding sources being restricted or not, the Province can do more to get new units online. That's not to say they're doing nothing though. UVic had their largest ever residence building come online this September.

 

Our main campus in Terrace just finished a new building.....problem is, the old one had to be demolished for some reason. (Not sure why)

 

AFAIK, the new residences filled up pretty much right away.

[Mac]

The scam carbon tax is sometimes applied 15 to 22 times to a single source of food coming from farmers. That is part of the reason the fed libtards have doubled food prices.

 

Yet some sheep still think the carbon tax is something special and not just billions of dollars the scam liberals steal from us taxpayers.

 

I cannot wait until these fed lib criminals get theirs.

[Satchmo]

32 minutes ago, Mac said:

The scam carbon tax is sometimes applied 15 to 22 times to a single source of food coming from farmers. That is part of the reason the fed libtards have doubled food prices.

 

Yet some sheep still think the carbon tax is something special and not just billions of dollars the scam liberals steal from us taxpayers.

 

I cannot wait until these fed lib criminals get theirs.

And then where do the scammed billions go?

[The Arrogant Worms]

45 minutes ago, Mac said:

The scam carbon tax is sometimes applied 15 to 22 times to a single source of food coming from farmers. That is part of the reason the fed libtards have doubled food prices.

 

Yet some sheep still think the carbon tax is something special and not just billions of dollars the scam liberals steal from us taxpayers.

 

I cannot wait until these fed lib criminals get theirs.

Once you used the term Libtards I stopped reading as it shows your IQ.

 

If uou would like to make an intelligent response I would love to read it.

Edited December 31, 2023 by The Arrogant Worms

[Spur1]

48 minutes ago, Mac said:

The scam carbon tax is sometimes applied 15 to 22 times to a single source of food coming from farmers. That is part of the reason the fed libtards have doubled food prices.

 

Yet some sheep still think the carbon tax is something special and not just billions of dollars the scam liberals steal from us taxpayers.

 

I cannot wait until these fed lib criminals get theirs.

Why do so many whine about paying taxes but blame the government for not fixing everything. It costs money to fund healthcare. It costs money to build infrastructure and schools, hospitals, roads. It costs money to maintain said infrastructure and enforce laws and bylaws. Sure there is no doubt that some gets skimmed off by nefarious entities but the majority of the money is spent building and maintaining our economy all the while providing jobs and pensions. As far as a scam tax…well climate change is the real deal and it will cost us billions. 
Besides if you are paying taxes you are one of the fortunate ones, count your blessings. 

Edited December 31, 2023 by Spur1
Adding

[bishopshodan]

4 minutes ago, The Arrogant Worms said:

Once you used the term Libtards I stopped reading

 

I got as far as 'sheep'

 

 

 

[Alflives]

1 hour ago, Mac said:

The scam carbon tax is sometimes applied 15 to 22 times to a single source of food coming from farmers. That is part of the reason the fed libtards have doubled food prices.

 

Yet some sheep still think the carbon tax is something special and not just billions of dollars the scam liberals steal from us taxpayers.

 

I cannot wait until these fed lib criminals get theirs.

“Libtards”; “Sheep”

[bishopshodan]

BC assessments are out.

 

My property went down by 400k. 

Its a pricey property but that is quite the swing in one year.

 

 

[Gurn]

38 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

BC assessments are out.

 

My property went down by 400k. 

Its a pricey property but that is quite the swing in one year.

 

 

I'm up $2,000-my folks are down $55,000 and my Aunt's  5 acres is down $66,000.- mostly land value drop in their cases.

I'd guess that their lower 'value' will mean that they won't have a higher insurance premium-but I don't see those payments going down- as that doesn't seem to be the way insurance prices go.

 

Still looking at 113.1% increase in last 3 years, for my place.

If the government offers me the assessed value I'd be thinking hard, about taking it.

 

Could find some nice places to go to 

https://www.realtor.ca/map#ZoomLevel=2&Center=51.673156%2C-134.088122&LatitudeMax=79.15499&LongitudeMax=31.32203&LatitudeMin=-13.66640&LongitudeMin=60.50172&Sort=6-D&PropertyTypeGroupID=1&TransactionTypeId=2&PropertySearchTypeId=0&Currency=CAD

 

 

[bishopshodan]

3 minutes ago, Gurn said:

- mostly land value drop in their cases.

Mine too.

My house is modest. 

[4petesake]

2 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

Mine too.

My house is modest. 

 

House down 14k, land up 16k

l wish mine had dropped like yours since we have no thoughts of selling.

[Elias Pettersson]

On 12/29/2023 at 9:35 PM, -AJ- said:

 

Yeah, I have something, but not nearly enough yet. Will still be years before I have enough to consider buying.

 

Have you considered a joint venture with someone else?  I know lots of people who combined their downpayment and bought a property together.  You’d have to work the logistics with a real estate lawyer but it may be a good way to get into the market and build some equity.

 

Praying that prices are going to go down and then buying in at some point in the future may not be the best investment strategy for someone like yourself.  You will need to think out of the box if you ever want to reach your dream of home ownership…

Edited December 31, 2023 by Elias Pettersson

[Mac]

7 hours ago, Satchmo said:

And then where do the scammed billions go?

 

Read some news.  Lots went to the turd's "foundation", some went to his criminal environminister's "foundation", and the turd gives tens of millions if not billions away in news releases every day. The other day he gave 10 million of our dollars to help iran/iraq kids...but our own kids in the north don't have clean water to drink. The criminal libs do this constantly as it buys them votes from the 500,000 3rd world citizens they let into our country each year...they are the only reason the criminal turd is still in power...well...them and that idiot sellout singh.

[Mac]

7 hours ago, Spur1 said:

Why do so many whine about paying taxes but blame the government for not fixing everything. It costs money to fund healthcare. It costs money to build infrastructure and schools, hospitals, roads. It costs money to maintain said infrastructure and enforce laws and bylaws. Sure there is no doubt that some gets skimmed off by nefarious entities but the majority of the money is spent building and maintaining our economy all the while providing jobs and pensions. As far as a scam tax…well climate change is the real deal and it will cost us billions. 
Besides if you are paying taxes you are one of the fortunate ones, count your blessings. 

 

I am fine with paying taxes in a reasonable way where my government actually fixes things.

 

Sadly, the turdeau has taken billions of our tax dollars and just given them away to the point where canada has 3 days of ammo when the widening mid east war gets bigger. We paid all those taxes and the hospitals are a joke and so are our courts.

 

I expect at least a below average performance from our govenment...but those idiots are so far below average you can't see any results at all...crime up higher than anytime in the last 30 years including murder. Not a surprise as those fed idiots make sure criminals are released. It seems so sci fi and dystopian it should not be real.

 

But here we are lol.  

[Satchmo]

8 hours ago, Mac said:

 

Read some news.  Lots went to the turd's "foundation", some went to his criminal environminister's "foundation", and the turd gives tens of millions if not billions away in news releases every day. The other day he gave 10 million of our dollars to help iran/iraq kids...but our own kids in the north don't have clean water to drink. The criminal libs do this constantly as it buys them votes from the 500,000 3rd world citizens they let into our country each year...they are the only reason the criminal turd is still in power...well...them and that idiot sellout singh.

I read plenty of news.   I have not read any that would lead me to describe national events in the way you just did.  I guess we just see things in a different way.

 

I can certainly agree that kids in the north need clean drinking water.   That's been a problem for many decades now.

[MattJVD]

59 minutes ago, Satchmo said:

I read plenty of news.   I have not read any that would lead me to describe national events in the way you just did.  I guess we just see things in a different way.

 

I can certainly agree that kids in the north need clean drinking water.   That's been a problem for many decades now.

This is one of current government's leat publicized successes imo. This issue has lingered for decades and this is what Canada has done in the last 8 years:

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by MattJVD

[Boudrias]

45 minutes ago, MattJVD said:

This is one of current government's leat publicized successes imo. This issue has lingered for decades and this is what Canada has done in the last 8 years:

 

I am involved with our small water system here in BC. Bottom line is that over 50% of small water systems aren't even registered with the government. The BC government know about most of them but do no enforcement. The main reason for this, in my opinion, is that they don't have the money to upgrade the systems to drinking water standards and the people using the water don't have the money either. Interior Health help with testing but do not do system inspections like they used to. It is a 'work until it doesn't' policy. Walkerton has faded into history. Our system is ran by volunteers and us old guys are dying off. Paying people to do what I do would triple the cost of our water.