Wednesday morning news drop
Parents gifting Vancouver homebuyers $340,000 on average for down payment Homebuyers in Vancouver are increasingly dependent on their parents for the financial capacity to cover their down payment. According to a new report by CIBC Capital Markets, over the first nine months of 2021, first-time homebuyers in Vancouver received an average of $180,000. This figure increases even more for parents supporting their children buying larger homes, with the average for move-uppers at $340,000. (Daily Hive)
B.C. government proposes legislation to speed up permitting applications B.C. has introduced the first of what is a planned series of changes to make it easier to get approvals for new housing, part of a raft of measures aimed at tackling the province’s ongoing problems with upward-spiralling rents and prices for homes. (Globe and Mail)
Rogers drama shows how owning a company is not the same thing as controlling it The Family trust owns almost all shares that come with voting rights (CBC)
Why Is Everyone Else Quitting? Sometimes, as in a collective bargaining situation, you do have to think about other people at work. Other times, it’s better to focus on what you really want. (New York Times)
You Could Be Competing With Bots to Buy Gifts This Christmas: As shortages of sneakers and other goods persist, the digital cat-and-mouse game between retailers and resellers is intensifying. (Businessweek)
Ownership Inequality in the Stock Market This data is kind of depressing. The top 10% owns 45% of the housing market while the bottom 90% owns 55% of real estate in this country. Just wait until you see the ownership numbers for financial assets: The top 1% now owns $22 trillion or about ~54% of the total in stocks and funds. The top 10% owns 89% of the stocks in this country, meaning the bottom 90% owns just 11% of the stocks. (A Wealth of Common Sense)
The Billionaire Tax: The Worst Tax Idea Ever? In conjunction with widening inequality, the perception is building that the wealthy don’t pay their fair share in taxes. If you focus just on federal tax dollars paid by each group, the wealthy are actually paying a larger share of federal taxes collected than ever before in history. The counter argument: they are paying a lower percent of their taxes than they were 50 years ago. (Musings on Markets)
11 Un-Magical Secrets I Learned While Working at Disney World From parents leaving their kids with “Mary Poppins” to ladies lusting after Captain Jack Sparrow, the most magical place on Earth is also one of the most colorful places to work.(Bloomberg)
The vinyl straw: Why the vinyl industry is at breaking point The industry is at its strongest since the advent of the CD disk, so why has it become near-impossible to get music pressed onto wax? (Mix Mag)
In Major Shift, NIH Admits Funding Risky Virus Research in Wuhan America’s premier science institute has been less than forthcoming about risky research it has funded and failed to properly monitor. (Vanity Fair)
The Mysterious Case of the COVID-19 Lab-Leak Theory Did the virus spring from nature or from human error? (New Yorker)
Can Harper Watters Make Ballet Matter Again? The Houston social-media influencer is a gay Black man with a gift for the absurd and a passion for platform heels. He’s also a star dancer in one of the world’s most rigid, gendered, and segregated art forms. (Texas Monthly)