The Economist - Most Liveable Cities 2011

Quote from JohnGreen:


I live in Calgary, and the quality of life is greatly superior to the vast majority of the cities in the USA, even after you factor in a few negative points for the cold. Why?

Calgary???? a sub-artic city in the middle of nowhere? don't make me laugh.

no city qualifies for top city unless it's within 1 hr of the ocean, and definitely not some place where you need an engine block heater most of the year.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

I would think Montreal would be much more fun to live then Vancouver. I'm also surprised San Diego did not make the list. Anyone here actually live in San Diego? Apart from the obscene taxes in CA, what are the negatives to San Diego? And of course real estate prices. But all those cities on that list have high real estate prices.
san diego has only a couple of negatives.

1. lots of illegals coming up from the southern border.

2. if you love the nightlife, SD is probably not for you. it won't compare to los angeles, NYC, etc.

for a coastal calif city, real estate prices in SD really aren't that high. compared to other coastal cities (carmel, monterey, SF, laguna beach, santa barbara, santa monica, redondo), SD is the cheapest. but there are expensive communities like la jolla and rancho santa fe. i have considered moving to RSF actually, but at those prices i might as well live in LA or orange county, which have more activies and more hot women.
 
Monte Carlo is great for a day but to live there amongst THE worst nouveau trash in the world, you need your head testing.

They say money ruins everything, Monte Carlo backs that up 100%.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

This is total bullshit and I'll tell you why. At risk of sounding like a raging racist, I'm going to say this anyway. How many poor blacks live in Calgary? How many poor latinos? How many illegals of any kind? OK, thank you. Look, Canada has the same demographics as most of Scandinavia. Same white people. Same stats. The US is a cultural meting pot. At least that is what we like to call it. Far more diverse and I guess you could say, far more interesting then Canada.

If you look at our upper middle class suburbs and nice urban areas, they blow Canada out of the water. Just as clean, low crime, good schools, nice people, doors unlocked at night, all that jazz. Oh and one more thing, there are far more Canadians coming down here then Americans going up there. Things that make you go hmm...

Thanks for making my points.

Basically, these canadians are closet racists. They claim to love the diversity of toronto, then tout all these benefits that come from living in racially and economically segregated communities.

They also aren't mentioning their burgeoning problems with radical muslims, the startling repression of free speech in canada under the guise of hate crime or hate speech laws, their supposedly idyllic health care system that sends rich canadians to the US for "exotic" procedures like routine MRIs, or the fact that their newfound prosperity is almost totally due to a third world economy based on oil and other natural resources and their willingness to sell passports to anyone rich enough to qualify.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure alberta is a great place to live. In fact, his description of it sounded a lot like the places where most of us grew up before liberals ruined our own country. Most canadians I have met are delightful people I would love to have as neighbors. But to say Toronto is one of the world's best places to live? Please.
 
Look, there are only a few places worth living in long-term, if you actually want to live life, as opposed to vegetating.

Canada, Australia, and other countries like that are provincial backwaters with tiny populations. Where is close to Canada - the USA, that's it. Why not just live in the important country rather than the minor one. Where's close to Australia? New Zealand, lol. No ambitious or adventurous person in their right mind would move to these places, they are countries you move to in order to have a dull but easy life, not places you go to change the world or experience all that life has to offer. The only people that live there are the locals, people fleeing desperate 3rd world shitholes, and the occasional retired person taking advantage of PPP (which no longer works for Oz and Canada).

The only places that matter are the leading global cities in the key parts of the world: the Americas, Europe, Asia. Africa and S America are just too backward to be considered. That leaves NYC, London, and Hong Kong as the only serious candidates.

Second tier alternatives, especially if you are into the industry that predominates there, would be places like LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris, possibly Tokyo and Shanghai. I could understand an Italian futures trading moving to Chicago, or a Spanish actor moving to LA, or an American chef moving to Paris. I can't imagine why anyone would take a look at their career and life plan, and think "Aha - Canada here we come! Vancouver or bust!"

Everywhere else is an irrelevance. No one with prospects moves to cities like Calgary, Auckland, or Vienna and says 10 years later "wow, moving here really changed my life!" These places aren't even on the radar for anyone who wants to make something of themselves. If I was an employee and got posted to somewhere like Adelaide or Helsinki, I would seriously contemplate suicide. These are dull, lifeless backwaters with little to do, most people don't even know where they are.
 
Quote from dandxg:

Fine. IMO you lack objectivity. Alberta is solid because of crude the others not so much. We both know that history will show.

You know when prices divert to far from mean they return.

I am fully aware of the inherent lack of relative objectivity, and yes, when prices divert too far from mean they return. But returning to mean and crashing are two entirely different concepts. Could we see real estate prices flatten, or even slightly decline in the near future? Sure, entirely possible. Could the real estate market CRASH in the near future? Possible, but not likely.

A real estate crash is brought upon by people who can no longer afford their homes, foreclosures, etc. This is far from prevalant in Canada. We have jobs, and wages are actually increasing. Couple that with the fact that banks do not/are not allowed to dole out cheap credit a la the subprime mess in the USA, and I would say the real estate market is on solid footing right now.
 
Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

No one here gives a crap about ( in canadian, "aboot") the canadian property market.

Search for the numerous threads regarding a Canadian real estate bubble, and you will realize you are once again incorrect.

Perhaps you could busy yourself with trolling someone else in another thread? Your lack of meaningful contribution has shown repeatedly. Thank you kindly.
 
Quote from Ghost of Cutten:

The US housing cheerleaders said exactly the same back during their bubble. They correctly pointed out that many bears had been bearish and wrong for years. They correctly pointed out that many bears claimed it was about to pop at any moment, and that the bulls were still waiting. They even pointed out that a broken clock will be right eventually.

And yet despite all this, the US housing bubble was indeed a bubble, and it did indeed crash.

Great, so we've established that sometimes people are right, and sometimes people are wrong. Timing is everything.

Surely you understand the differences between the US subprime-driven property market, and the situation with Canadian real estate at the moment, right? Because there are many, many differences. For that reason, I am not bearish on Canadian real estate.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

This is total bullshit and I'll tell you why. At risk of sounding like a raging racist, I'm going to say this anyway. How many poor blacks live in Calgary? How many poor latinos? How many illegals of any kind? OK, thank you. Look, Canada has the same demographics as most of Scandinavia. Same white people. Same stats. The US is a cultural meting pot. At least that is what we like to call it. Far more diverse and I guess you could say, far more interesting then Canada.

If you look at our upper middle class suburbs and nice urban areas, they blow Canada out of the water. Just as clean, low crime, good schools, nice people, doors unlocked at night, all that jazz. Oh and one more thing, there are far more Canadians coming down here then Americans going up there. Things that make you go hmm...

So you're saying the USA is handicapped and uncomparable to Canada because you have poor blacks and latinos? Please.
 
Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

Thanks for making my points.

Basically, these canadians are closet racists. They claim to love the diversity of toronto, then tout all these benefits that come from living in racially and economically segregated communities.

They also aren't mentioning their burgeoning problems with radical muslims, the startling repression of free speech in canada under the guise of hate crime or hate speech laws, their supposedly idyllic health care system that sends rich canadians to the US for "exotic" procedures like routine MRIs, or the fact that their newfound prosperity is almost totally due to a third world economy based on oil and other natural resources and their willingness to sell passports to anyone rich enough to qualify.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure alberta is a great place to live. In fact, his description of it sounded a lot like the places where most of us grew up before liberals ruined our own country. Most canadians I have met are delightful people I would love to have as neighbors. But to say Toronto is one of the world's best places to live? Please.

A lot of unsubstantiated lies and opinions in this post by an ignorant American. I challenge you to produce one shred of evidence or fact to substantiate your claims of:

1. Canadians are closet racists.
2. Repression of free speech.
3. Newfound prosperity is almost totally due to a third world economy based on oil and other natural resources and their willingness to sell passports to anyone rich enough to qualify.
 
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