>You don't feel that skews your perspective just a little bit?
Not anymore than it skews yours. Except I spent the majority of my life there. I know people in the pulp and paper mill of my hometown, in the mines of Greater Sudbury, doing construction. Personal friends. We had one high school, with 400 students; it's not like I grew up privileged.
It's a bit surreal to even be participating in a discussion about Northern Ontario on HackerNews. There are very few things I'm an "expert" on on this site; life in Northern Ontario might be the only one, ever.
I suppose I took offense to the description of the place as representative of "first world poverty". I'd prefer "some of the most beautiful landscape and people in the world, with its unique issues".
>No, you're ignoring the case where they might have defaulted.
How on earth do you know what I'm ignoring? I most certainly accounted for the fact that the companies could default.
>The housing market oftentimes works in cycles and changes with time. In my life I've watched the neighborhood I grew up in go from highly desirable to highly undesirable and now it's back to being desirable again. 30 year mortgage is enough time to see wild swings in technology, the economy, industry, and plenty else.
And yet, the long term real rates of return are positive (but small). You have your strategy, I have mine.
>Been to Wawa, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay or Timmins recently? What about the smaller towns like Desbarats, what about the rural areas?
Yes, in fact I have. I lived in North Bay for many years. I have family there still. I played NOJHL hockey. I still spend 4 weeks a year on vacation (best fishing in the world!) in the North.
>If you feel that Northern Ontario is doing well then you are not in agreement with the people that live there, younger people
Not "doing well" isn't the same as "first world poverty". Sure, there are isolated First Nations reservations, like Attawapiskat, that have serious issues. It is nowhere near the norm, or in fact much worse than places like, say, the Appalachian coal regions.
But I'll concede the climate argument. Thankfully, our country has a decent safety net.
>younger people - if they have any marketable skills - move to the large cities, mostly Toronto but also in the United States as soon as they are able to.
Do they? Because I was and know many of those young people. Yes, there's movement to the cities like everywhere else on the planet; it's where the white collar work is. But many people want to stay in the North.
For what it's worth, I'm in the tech industry and moved from Northern Ontario to the city. Now I'm in PEI, another beautiful rural area that I hear people are fleeing....
>The whole world's middle class is on the brink of ruin thanks to modern era politicians whose gluttony for easy money
I guess that depends on what you define as "middle class". The bottom 50% of people earn 15% of all income in the US. These people are struggling. Not sure I'd consider them "middle class" though.
On the other hand, the segment from median income to $100,000 is 50% of all income earned, and that figure is rising.
>Here's a thought, treat them as people and not "a black" or "a woman". You don't have to ingratiate yourself in the fear that some random person will think you're a racist.
I think you need to read through this thread. People are assigning motivations to the host: "He is sexist". Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. I'm sure he'd say that he is not, but plenty of people here are saying he is. Is it crazy to think the same thing can happen to, say, the OP?
Not anymore than it skews yours. Except I spent the majority of my life there. I know people in the pulp and paper mill of my hometown, in the mines of Greater Sudbury, doing construction. Personal friends. We had one high school, with 400 students; it's not like I grew up privileged.
It's a bit surreal to even be participating in a discussion about Northern Ontario on HackerNews. There are very few things I'm an "expert" on on this site; life in Northern Ontario might be the only one, ever.
I suppose I took offense to the description of the place as representative of "first world poverty". I'd prefer "some of the most beautiful landscape and people in the world, with its unique issues".