Thread by @StephenPunwasi

Canada’s housing crisis will do more economic damage than most can imagine.

Not through a crash, but elevated costs force young people to worry about shelter instead of taking risks.

It’s turned into a plutocracy to rent cheap labor to billionaires.

jacobinmag.com/2022/01/canada…

2/ @JohnOCAP did a great job on the social side, but I’d like to add to the economic side.

No animal procreates when the environment is wrong. Seriously, none. Humans aren't unique in this regard.

As millennials (and Gen Z soon) are exploited, they get uncomfortable.

3/ They're told their jobs are in major cities, they need $100k in student debt, and live in a tiny box.

Meanwhile, previous generations have decided they get to collect additional value just for existing. Sweet gig.

4/ Not surprisingly, no one has kids. This creates a dependency problem for the tax base.

If you don't have a couple kids, they won't pay taxes for you. This means you raise taxes on young people or find new ones.

Obviously, Canada chooses to find new ones.

5/ Great. Except this creates two problems. The person you got now needs more housing, driving prices higher or making units smaller since we shall never let Boomers lose money.

But more important, THAT PERSON CREATES LIABILITIES TOO!!!

6/ An immigrant is seen as a solution to carry your tax liabilities. But they have parents too, which should join them eventually.

The immigrant, who can't have kids, will now need to carry you and their parents? Then who carries them?

7/ Immigration doesn't solve the growing dependency issue unless that person is an orphan who commits suicide when they exit the workforce.

The plan LITERALLY makes no sense, but we buy into it because it emotionally supports the justification of higher home prices.

8/ I mean, you're paying more because there are so many people. Except home price grew the most without immigration.

We're finding reasons to justify wealth extraction from young people and new immigrants, so people who think they should be paid for being here first make money.

9/ Meanwhile, liabilities stack higher for young people because no one can do math.

Seriously. Why does everyone think the solution to a lack of kids to carry the tax base is more people entering the same conditions where it's impossible to have kids?

10/ The only fix is real productivity, which comes from increased work. Not expanding every older person into the rentier class.

Of course, none of that will be fixed by the kids of politicians that run Canada. They've never worked a day in their life and depend on entitlement.

End/ Obvs this will be seen as an anti-immigration rant

… from people who think being pro-immigrant is saying, “we need immigrants because we can’t afford our debt!”

Canada: "We can easily afford $10/day childcare if no one can afford the space to have kids."