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Rebates on groceries??? Wow, what a great way to control how one spends and when. And yes it is a wealth transfer. Surely CA is next. My friend and I were discussing the one true benefit of the Covid madness - we truly woke up. Not rubbing our eyes and hitting the snooze button again for a few more sleepy winks - but a full-on cold shower. Because of a comment made three years ago, I read the 'Road to Serfdom.' It put into words what I intuitively believed but couldn't express.

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Some people saw government power as a danger while others continue to see it as a good thing. That will only change when the government starts doing something they don't like.

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Unfortunately so many like the actions even though they complain about the consequences. It’s like a person complaining how much weight they’ve gained but not connecting it to nightly snacks on cake

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Sep 8, 2023·edited Sep 8, 2023

I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a minute. What I have found is that homebuyers aren't as interested in affordability as they are in features. We had trouble selling our two-bedroom, one-bath house because it had, gasp, one bathroom -- and it was, gasp, upstairs! The house was on a double lot and had three outbuildings all with electricity. We had window A/C units and baseboard heating, which together was an incredibly energy-efficient system, heating or cooling only those rooms we were in -- we averaged about $100 USD/month for an all-electric home. We had a washer and dryer, but no dishwasher. Our house was priced more than $50k (!) less than everything else in the area (listed at $174,000 USD). People came in, saw that it was small, and left. There was a time people raised families in houses this size, but now if a house doesn't have double vanities and a master bedroom, millennials aren't interested. So forgive me if I remain dubious.

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That may be true but you can't complain about features until you can afford a house. In Vancouver, BC, where I live, the average house costs $1,203,000 which means you need $235,650 to afford it. So if you're rich, yes, features may be important, but if you're not...

Details are important obviously so if you are interested here's the article: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/metro-vancouver-235650-a-year#:~:text=The%20jump%20in%20Vancouver%20home,up%20from%20%24226%2C800%20in%20May.

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