The BBC article it references is terrible:

quote:

But one man, who did not give his name, said he and his family were living in Tent City because they were victims of America's foreclosure crisis. It came down to "feeding my family or keeping the house", he said, "so I got rid of the house". It's hard for me to see it, when someone else owns it and I am homeless with nothing Foreclosure victim The property he lost is nearby in Ontario, which, in places, offers a middle-class suburban dream - green lawns, wide pavements, garages big enough for two cars. Yet it is in an area known as the Inland Empire, where the rate of foreclosure is the third highest in the entire US. No longer able to afford his mortgage payments, this man saw his lender repossess the property, and now someone else lives there. "It's hard for me to see it, when someone else owns it and I am homeless with nothing," he said. Mike Dunlap fears that more former homeowners will end up homeless There are thousands like him across California - people whose inability to finance their mortgages has cost them their homes; many thousands more across the US. But in Tent City, at least, he is in a minority - few are here as a direct result of the housing crash. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7297093.stm

Wait ... what??? So this tent city "highlights" the US home crisis but few are there as a result of the housing crash?? Since when did the bbc start taking lessons from fox news?

Furthermore, when it comes to the "debt" crisis, perhaps they should take into consideration that the household debt to income ratio in Britain is 1.62 vs. 1.42 in the US.
http://biz.yahoo.com/nytimes/080322...24005.html?.v=1

/hates shoddy journalism

___________________
Retro ...

um...there's no such thing as an 'economic refugee' in Canada...

___________________
"...End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass...and then you see it...
...white shores...and beyond...the far green country under a swift sunrise."

that has to be one of the most ridiculous articles i've ever read. In the last three months i've been to SF, Seattle, NYC, Philly, Denver, and D.C. I can assure you that i have not seen a single tent city. A camper in the san bernandino mountains does not constitute a tent city.

To be honest though, it would be great if Canada took in some of our poor. Apparently, canadians enjoy giving away their money to people who make poor decisions or who otherwise can't earn for themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherWay83 great article here + a couple of great videos: http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1631 American Refugees are flooding into Canada: Tens of thousands of Americans are now economic refugees In September of 2007, the city of Windsor, which borders the United States, officially asked for financial assistance from Ottawa to deal with American refugees flooding into Canada. This is proving to be the tip of the iceberg, and only the first wave of economic refugees that have been created in the United States. There are now tent cities being built outside most large metropolitan areas, one of the largest of which is in Los Angeles. The following report from the BBC highlights the consequence of the US subprime meltdown and the fears that the crisis is growing. The homelessness situation has grown so rapidly in the United States that certain cities are issuing color-coded wristbands � blue for those who can stay, �orange for people who need to provide more documentation, and white for those who must leave.� Refugees will no longer be able to stay in one area, meaning that many towns and cities will now have to be prepared to receive migrant refugees displaced by local governments from other districts and States. Canadians will also need to be prepared for this influx, especially considering that the average processing time for a refugee claim in Canada is currently 14.2 months, �a period during which the applicant is eligible for financial and other support. A failed claimant then also has the right to seek leave to appeal his or her rejection to federal court.� If the American refugee crisis continues to grow as analysts predict, then the cost to Canadians will be astronomical. Aside from tens of thousands of Americans becoming refugees in their own country, there is another problem. As The Atlantic is reporting, �the subprime crisis is just the tip of the iceberg. Fundamental changes in American life may turn today�s McMansions into tomorrow�s tenements.� Over 60% of the homes in certain communities �were in foreclosure as of late last year. Vandals have kicked in doors and stripped the copper wire from vacant houses; drug users and homeless people have furtively moved in.� �The experience of cities during the 1950s through the �80s suggests that the fate of many single-family homes on the metropolitan fringes will be resale, at rock-bottom prices, to lower-income families�and in all likelihood, eventual conversion to apartments� much of the future decline is likely to occur on the fringes, in towns far away from the central city, not served by rail transit, and lacking any real core. In other words, some of the worst problems are likely to be seen in some of the country�s more recently developed areas�and not only those inhabited by subprime-mortgage borrowers. Many of these areas will become magnets for poverty, crime, and social dysfunction.� All of this is occurring while: the US government bails out Wall Street; credit card companies raise record amounts of money by issuing shares; the economic crisis draws comparison to the 1929 stock market crash; investigation of predatory banks gets killed; The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. prepares for bank failures; and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta releases a crisis peparedness video. And some thought that Stocking the Root Cellar was only for conspiracy theorists.

quote:

Originally posted by jerZ07002 Apparently, canadians enjoy giving away their money to people who make poor decisions or who otherwise can't earn for themselves.

Don't kid yourself - we deport over 1/2 that try...

___________________
"...End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass...and then you see it...
...white shores...and beyond...the far green country under a swift sunrise."

I'm not going to lie; there have been quite a few times when I've strongly considered emigrating for reasons of safety and economic padding.

You'd be surprised how quickly things can turn around for the worse, in ways you wouldn't ever have dreamed possible; it's pretty simple to get comfortable in a certain mode of living, and easy to miss the vital signs of an impending flatline.

quote:

Originally posted by Fir3start3r Don't kid yourself - we deport over 1/2 that try...

1/2 is 50% less than who should be deported.

quote:

Originally posted by occrider Furthermore, when it comes to the "debt" crisis, perhaps they should take into consideration that the household debt to income ratio in Britain is 1.62 vs. 1.42 in the US. http://biz.yahoo.com/nytimes/080322...24005.html?.v=1

leave it to Occrider to bring ratios into the discussion

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Originally posted by Q5echo leave it to Occrider to bring ratios into the discussion

Leave it to this guy to point out the obvious as if it somehow discredited the information at hand.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Shibby Leave it to this guy to point out the obvious as if it somehow discredited the information at hand.

it was a joke man. Occ hasn't been heard from since whenever.


hey look! theres some crack, go get it.

quote:

Originally posted by Q5echo it was a joke man. Occ hasn't been heard from since whenever. hey look! theres some crack, go get it.

.

Last edited by DJ Shibby on Mar-24-2008 at 09:43

Economic refugees? Tent cities? Yeah I think we have a gross over exaggeration here. Things are not that bad as of yet. But I will admit that crime in my town has seemed to rise a little bit. I've been hearing more sirens pass by my home than usual. More meth labs on the news getting busted, and a guy who just got arrested for having 4 or 5 pounds of flavored cocaine in his house. Yes, flavored cocaine. Blow meant to taste like candy and being distributed to teens here. And I thought the kiddies were only interested in prescription drugs...