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For Canadian Repo Men, Business Has Never Been Better

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Four days ago, we again profiled Canada’s unraveling economy.

For those who may be late to the story, the inexorable decline in crude prices that’s played out over the past 13 or so months means the country’s oil boom is now its oil bust and nowhere is the sharp reversal in fortunes more apparent than Alberta, the heart oil Canada’s oil patch. 

Oil and gas investment in the province tumbled by nearly a third in 2015 as rig activity plunged by 50%. The country as a whole has lost 100,000 oil and gas sector jobs amid plunging prices and as Bloomberg noted last week, some skilled workers have given up on the sector, choosing instead to go back to school in order to acquire the skills they need to pursue employment in other fields. In a sign of the times, food bank use in Alberta was up more than 23% in March (the last month for which there's data). Here's a look at the interplay between crude prices and Calgary's unemployment rate:

Meanwhile, the rash of layoffs is having a profound effect on Canadians. Suicide rates in Alberta are up an estimated 31% this year as “people are just at wit’s end,” according to an operator at a distress hotline center. Crime is up sharply as well. Property crime in Calgary, for example, rose nearly 40% during the first quarter.

In yet another sign of a rapidly deteriorating situation, 1.7 million square feet of office space has become available in downtown Calgary, more than any downtown in North America.

But not everyone is Alberta is struggling. Take Steven Low, CEO of Consolidated Recovery Group for instance. Low's company works with courts on auto repos and evictions and as you can imagine given everything said above, business is booming. Here's The Calgary Herald:

While the crash in oil prices idles drilling rigs and empties out downtown Calgary offices, Steven Low's company can barely keep up with the deluge of work.

 

Low is CEO of Consolidated Recovery Group, an agency in Western Canada that works with lenders and the courts to recover bad debts — by repossessing a car or carrying out an eviction, for example.

 

It's been a busy year for the company and the work has only picked up as the crude doldrums linger, squeezing the finances of the many Albertans who rely on oil and gas to make a living — either directly, or through its economic spinoffs.

 

Low says bailiffs at his firm are working around the clock and he's even had to hire more staff to get all the work done.

But Low says he's not particularly enamored with the idea of profiting from the Alberta's collapsing economy. "We don't gloat or feel terribly excited about the economic conditions right now. We approach every single repo and seizure as an opportunity to help respect the dignity of the debtor," he says. 

And Low isn't the only one who's seeing his business double or triple in the face of the widespread malaise. There's also John Shortridge, whose Allied Shortridge Civil Enforcement is twice as busy now as it was just six months ago. "Shortridge is a veteran of the business — first with the Alberta Sheriff's Office and then on his own after civil enforcement functions were privatized in the province in 1996," The Herald notes. Here's Shortridge's dire warning: "This reminds me more of '82 and '83. It was bad and it was long... My view is this is going to be a long haul." 

On the bright side, if you're an Albertan and you find yourself "doing business" with Low, Consolidated Recovery Group will work with you so that you can save face. Here's Low: "...we will go out of our way to seize a vehicle around the corner or allow the person to bring it out of their place of work so that co-workers don't see their vehicle being towed away." That of course assumes you still have a job.

 

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Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:17 | 6966847 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

The trickle down theory?

Mal investment run riot. When do they start repo-ing houses?

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:56 | 6966899 BoNeSxxx
BoNeSxxx's picture

A classic for those who may have missed it

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087995/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:06 | 6966910 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

If you own the house deed, that cannot happen. Most of this bullshit revolves around shifting debt into another brokering cesspool to resell the debt to redeem federal reserve projections. 

If you own a new car, GPS will find you for non payment. Horn goes off first. Then they pick it up. That's the sign and drive leasing hatch you see on Internet and TV advertising. 

Always purchase your car in cash, or by check. The finance manager will be pissed. Tell them the car is not a necessity, you still have time to shop around. Walk out of dealership. The phone will be flooded with calls. Just ignore. I did this with competing BMW dealerships within 30 mile radius. Sure, I saved a couple hundred bucks. The prior dealership wanted a lease program only. I don't lease cars. All part of the banking fuck up. Reselling debt. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:39 | 6966978 Lostinfortwalton
Lostinfortwalton's picture

If you own the house you still have to pay taxes and insurance  and city utilities, and electricity, and natural gas, and maintenance and upkeep. A lot of "folks" who own their houses in many parts of he northeast find thay cannot afford to remain in their paid for house when they retire. If they can unload the turkey they can move to places like the Alabama Gulf Coast and get a much nicer house at a much lower cost.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:55 | 6967013 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

My son purchased a home last year in Pennsylvania where the local property and school tax amounts to 5% of the purchase price paid yearly. The amount of escrow collected for taxes and insurance monthly is equal to the interest and principal payment.

Anything you must pay a 5% 'vig' on in order to 'own' is simply another word for 'renting'.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:55 | 6967018 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

That's insane

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:24 | 6967063 CheapBastard
CheapBastard's picture

"... Just because my house value goes up, that doesn't mean I have money to pay my taxes," he said. "When your house value is going up, but your taxes are six, seven, eight thousand a year - that's not a good investment. It's keeping me from upgrading houses here if I want to, just because of taxes."

 

http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/katy/news/article/Katy-residents-hurt-...

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:47 | 6967114 post turtle saver
post turtle saver's picture

I hate the level of property taxes in Texas as much as the next guy, not to mention the 'Robin Hood' school funding, but I will note this... if your household income is between 150k-200k in Texas (_anywhere_ in Texas) and you bitch because you can't swing 6k a year in property taxes, you'll excuse me if I don't sympathize... that's some pretty shitty income management right there... come to Austin, I'll show you what out of control property taxes look like... it starts with AISD thinking they have a mandate to throw money around like it's confetti because the stupid voters here keep approving ridiculous bond issues, because hey that's just 'free money'... fucking idiots

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 00:41 | 6967637 sun tzu
sun tzu's picture

They're fucking you up the ass for the children. Don't you know that children can't learn unless they all have new iPads and Macbooks each year? The classrooms also need the latest 55 inch flatscreens. Then they need to pay $500K to have consultants because the $200K they pay to the principal and $150K to each assistant isn't enough to hire someone competent.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 18:23 | 6967938 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture

If you become a religious scamster, and use your home as an office or church, you may be exempt. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:26 | 6967074 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

"That's insane"

Agreed.....and I conveyed that sentiment to my son. But what is even more insane is that prior to 'owning' he was renting. And his 'rent' (for less square feet of living space) was 40% higher than the cost to 'own', even when the taxes and insurance were added in.

Go figure.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:50 | 6967119 post turtle saver
post turtle saver's picture

yep, damned if you do damned if you don't... when it's all said and done you just boil it down to a home is a place to live... it's not a bank, it's not an investment, it requires constant maintenance and general care and feeding and the tax man will always have his due...

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:57 | 6967392 hal10000
hal10000's picture

Capitalism is designed to suck wealth upwards.  Always has, always will.  It's no different from any other social order in human history.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:49 | 6967643 sun tzu
sun tzu's picture

Government raping you up the ass is capitalism?

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 17:33 | 6967755 WonderDawg
WonderDawg's picture

You obviously don't know shit. Since when is the government sucking up your cash considered capitalism? Dumbfucks like you are the reason this country is going down faster than shit through a goose. Jesus tapdancing Christ, where do these idiots come from?

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:12 | 6967277 OldTrooper
OldTrooper's picture

Buying is usually cheaper than renting, CD.  But it's easier to walk away from a rental if you need to relocate.  Owning can trap you in an area.  I've watched plenty of guys buy homes in oil and gas boom towns, only to be stuck there working 2 or 3 jobs when the inevitable bust rolls around, if they can find jobs at all.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:53 | 6967657 sun tzu
sun tzu's picture

Buying may be cheaper if you have a family and need the space. You can't tell me buying a 4/3 or 3/2 house is cheaper than renting a 1 bedroom apartment, especially when you add in the property taxes, maintenance, and insurance. On top of that, you can always rent near your workplace and save thousands a year on fuel costs and sitting in traffic. for hours each day. For 5 1/2 years I had a 2+ hour round trip commute and it sucked the life out of me. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:30 | 6967082 stormsailor
stormsailor's picture

i own a nice home in a small town in rural south carolina.  the county taxes are about 5%.  i don't live there and it sucks sending off 4k every year to a town that doesn't even have curbs or gutters,  i grew up there and 50% go for the schools.  the schools are so bad i think the sign reads skool.  oh, and i'be been paying this for 10 years

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:12 | 6967170 nscholten
nscholten's picture

Why?

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:21 | 6967186 Skateboarder
Skateboarder's picture

All right - someone finally had the courage to spell it correct for once!

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:40 | 6967098 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

I'd wager that if one were to ask those local authorities, they'd say they weren't receiving enough tax revenue. MOAR, they'll always need MOAR.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:26 | 6967312 Theosebes Goodfellow
Theosebes Goodfellow's picture

I'd wager that if one were to ask those local authorities, they'd say they were all democrats. And you're right, for them there will never be "enough".

As an aside, as a tax-and-spend politician or public school "administrator/educator", (any flavor), "How much tax is "enough" and watch the blank look fill their faces. The question had never even occur occured to them. Amusing at first, after a while it is really rather sad.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:56 | 6967667 sun tzu
sun tzu's picture

They could take 100% of your income and leave you under a bridge eating out of a dumpster and it still wouldn't be enough for them. They wouldn't be satisfied until they could harvest your organs and sell them and sell the rest of your remains as fertilizer.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:40 | 6967100 post turtle saver
post turtle saver's picture

the kicker is when the locals start complaining about "youth flight"... like anyone with a brain would stick around for that fleecing when the jobs available can't afford that level of skim...

I keep seeing the word "unsustainable" used for a great many things, it certainly applies to property tax levels...

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:57 | 6967674 sun tzu
sun tzu's picture

All you have to do is say it's for the children and the dumbfucks will vote yes and never question how the money is being spent. It's the Oprah effect.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 15:20 | 6967438 two hoots
two hoots's picture

 

We are all renters.  Just stop paying the property tax and the landlord (gov) will boot you out… paid off or not.  The dream is the “little lie”.

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:41 | 6966980 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture
The rise and fall of the American middle class

 

'Downward mobility' is all the Fad. As you say, with rising property taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, Obamacare tax, job losses, job pay freezes, etc., it's harder then ever to keep your house.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:52 | 6967111 Montani Semper ...
Montani Semper Liberi's picture

After 25 years of struggling to make the payments, I was finally able to pay off the mortgage in 2013. If I miss making my property tax payment, the county will send in the armed thugs that they call sheriffs, and I will be evicted from my "paid off" house, and my deed auctioned off on the courthouse steps.

 I often wonder how these men (and women) deal with turning people out of their homes and onto the streets. I imagine the sheriffs off-duty conversations at the local bar goes something like this:

 Sheriff #1: "You should have been there! The widow Johnson was crying uncontrollably and collapsed in a heap on the front porch. I thought I was going to have to pull my service revolver in order to motivate her, but her ten-year old and eight year old daughters manage to get her on her feet and to the curb where they were off our newly acquired property."

 Sheriff #2:" Oh man! I wish you had some video! Did you manage to lick some tears off the faces of that tax deadbeat c*nt and her kids? That would have been delicious!"

 Sheriff #1: "Better than that. I was able to help myself to a couple of pieces of exquisite antique gold jewelry. My old lady just loves them!"

 Sheriff #2: "Life is good!" (Clink!)

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:32 | 6967324 Theosebes Goodfellow
Theosebes Goodfellow's picture

It is possible to get off the tax rolls but you give up all of the "amenities" that being on it provides, like fire protetion, schools, water, sewer, or any other "service" represented by paying the "tax". It's called Sovereign something or other. BTW, you must pay off in gold, not FRNs.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:52 | 6967653 Stoonod Nicknud
Stoonod Nicknud's picture

There is a guy in detroit that gets ex-military members off of property tax, free-and-clear.

 

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:32 | 6967325 Hongcha
Hongcha's picture

 

Good article; but the New York Post is typical amoral, mocking East Coast filth ... I had to hit 'Block Element' several times for those few paragraphs...

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:15 | 6967176 Jack Burton
Jack Burton's picture

I don't shop for a new car until my checking account contains the entire amount I need. Then I go in to the dealer and ask for his best and final offer to sell me the car I want. I take that and leave. I use that as my base and call 5 other dealers within 200 miles. I live semi rural. Then I call dealers and ask for their best and final for the same car. Usually the phone starts ringing off the hook from the local dealer I visited in person. Last time I told him that another offer came in 1,200 dollars under his best offer. He got mad, but called back in an hour and said come pick up your car. What pisses me off his his best and final was not his best and final. He even seemed a bit put out that I got 5 offers not counting his. I went with him because he is local and I like to deal local if I can.

But these guys are always liars. You ask for best and final, and they still tack on 1,200 to 2,000 over what the car is worth. They think everyone is a sucker until they prove otherwise!

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:44 | 6967355 Theosebes Goodfellow
Theosebes Goodfellow's picture

Consumer Reports had a methodology for finding out what any given new car actually cost a dealer. I don't recall what it was but it would save you having to jimmy-jack around with asshat dealership sale people. Personally I do not buy new cars, cosidering that a new car loses 27% of its initial value the moment you drive it off the lot, (on average).

A year-old or two year-old car is fine enough for my likes. I usually figure out what I want, call around to local credit unions and banks and find one in the model that I want that has been repo-ed. You get the same warranty as the original buyer and save buckets of money. Also available are former lease and rental cars, though I prefer pre-owned by private parties vehicles as they tend to be less trashed than the lease-rentals. But yes again, cash in hand. Cash is king.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 04:09 | 6969541 barroter
barroter's picture

anyone selling you anything, is scum.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:43 | 6967356 armageddon addahere
armageddon addahere's picture

Look at the first chart. Unemployment which was only 7% a year ago has roared all the way up to 7%. 5 years ago it was 9.5%.

 

These self proclaimed pundits never give up. After predicting a real estate crash that never happened for the last 8 years, based on prices in Toronto and Vancouver, now they think the whole country is going to collapse because the oil patch is in trouble again.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:48 | 6967374 Theosebes Goodfellow
Theosebes Goodfellow's picture

Whose unemployment numbers? The government's? That shit is more cooked that a Thanksgiving turkey that is still on the oven. The real number as far as unemploment goes is that of those "not in the workplace", which last time I looked was something north of 94 million. In a nationwide population of something like 330 million, that works out to over 28%. 7%, my ass.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:48 | 6967375 Badsamm
Badsamm's picture

I'll be ready for a cheap almost new car next year.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:35 | 6966849 VinceFostersGhost
VinceFostersGhost's picture

 

 

He's not what you might call a glamor man......he's mister repo man.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:15 | 6966927 two hoots
two hoots's picture

How do they Repo student debt?  

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:20 | 6967058 tarsubil
tarsubil's picture

They find that very valuable piece of paper with the fancy writing on it and some schlup's name. Those pieces of paper go for a lot on the black market. /sarc!

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:23 | 6967307 divingengineer
divingengineer's picture

They ruin your life. If it's worth anything.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:49 | 6967377 Theosebes Goodfellow
Theosebes Goodfellow's picture

~"How do they Repo student debt? "~

Full lobotomies?

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 15:30 | 6967465 JohnG
JohnG's picture

The IRS will hound you until the end of time....

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:18 | 6966850 flyonmywall
flyonmywall's picture

Coming soon, to a Texas and Nebraska near you.

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:36 | 6966970 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture

It's already there. My friend's dad is a tow truck owner...in fact he has 12 tow trucks in the DFW area that operate 24/7 repo'ing vehicles. Pulling out of parking lots, driveways, etc....24/7.

He's one of the wealthiest men in his neighborhood too.

It's a very good business. Rough, but very lucrative.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:05 | 6967037 Max Cynical
Max Cynical's picture

I've never understood why finance companies don't keep a set of keys until the loan is paid in full. It seems it would be much easier and less expensive to repo a vehicle if you already had a set of keys.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:22 | 6967066 seabiscuit
seabiscuit's picture

Welcome to the universal metric key. The banksters already know how to get in your car and your tracking device (that also has a phone - and you pay for) makes it easy.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:56 | 6967388 Theosebes Goodfellow
Theosebes Goodfellow's picture

~"I've never understood why finance companies don't keep a set of keys until the loan is paid in full."~

Better than that, these days. The used car dealers install a GPS kill switch on their units. If you fail to make a payment, (buy-here/pay-here), they disable your ride. Miss three and they come get it. This with an interest rate sometimes exceeding 9%, the used market is holding its own, (and most of yours!). They only guys killling it harder are the payday lenders. Them vampires can walk in the daylight.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:38 | 6967617 Stoonod Nicknud
Stoonod Nicknud's picture

Something like that happened here to the "Superstar" dealer years ago. They remote-killed a car in default, problem was, a lady with the same name as the woman behind on her payments, was driving her car to work when they did it. She died. Her payments were on tiem though.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 05:28 | 6969604 mkkby
mkkby's picture

If any cock sucker GPS stopped my car, I'd drain the oil and drive it until the engine fries.  Probably about 3 miles.  Come and repo that, asshole.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:19 | 6966852 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

Thanks to Allah for Patriotic Repo-Men

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:24 | 6966860 DetectiveStern
DetectiveStern's picture

Fun fact. In Islam interest is forbidden. Strange that it's allowed in Christianity despite Moses and Jesus both denouncing it.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:29 | 6966869 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

Strangely, the profit sharing on a loan from an Islamic bank always works out the same as the

interest on a loan from a western bank.

Stupid infidel.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:35 | 6966874 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Yeah, I was just about to say the same.

Fun Fact Number Two:

https://www.riyadbank.com/en/personal-banking/savings-account

I declare a fatwa on all infidels!!!...lol.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:38 | 6966975 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture

Islam prohibits interest on loans...however, if you don't pay back on time, you are scheduled for either stonning or beheading. They usually give you a choice.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:10 | 6967167 caustixoid
caustixoid's picture

Winston is right that the payment for a loan (Islamic banking) and interest (western banking) are similar amounts and one could argue are just semantics and math tricks.

However Islamic banking prohibits compound interest, and therefore is very much less userous and onerous.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:36 | 6966876 DetectiveStern
DetectiveStern's picture

Where there's money there's a scam. I remember our sales guys selling clients "Islamic Accounts" that were just normal accounts that could go overdrawn and would be charged debit interest...

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:32 | 6966870 willwork4food
willwork4food's picture

When did Jesus denounce interest? Didn't he get pissed at the lazy guy who he had gave money to have him bury it in the sand without interest?

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:35 | 6966872 bamawatson
bamawatson's picture

he got crossed up

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:09 | 6966913 Monetas
Monetas's picture

Jesaus did a "black lives matter" overturning of the money changers tables .... which really sounds out of character .... prolly a proletarian re-write by debtor disciples .... who wanted loan forgiveness ?

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:25 | 6967071 tarsubil
tarsubil's picture

He was denouncing hoarding wealth. He is for living and growing (light on the hill, seed dying in the earth, etc.) not sporulating (seed lying by itself on the shelf).

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 19:04 | 6968105 kiwigal
kiwigal's picture

Jesus was the ultimate socialist, he shared what he had. That comment is bound to rattle some cages from some rather odd people on this site! His message was about sharing not something humanity has done very well over the past 2000 years. He kicked out the money lenders from the temple, the tax collector saw the error of his ways. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:56 | 6966898 Solarman
Solarman's picture

LOL, they simply gross it up to account for the interest lost.  Don't be a mushroom.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:31 | 6966934 Dicey
Dicey's picture

It's not allowed under christianity but the jew bankers put paid to that.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:22 | 6967065 tarsubil
tarsubil's picture

Muzzies get around this with "fees" that act almost exactly like interest. Jews for a long time did not pay interest to fellow Jews.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:07 | 6967160 Free_Spirit
Free_Spirit's picture

No,  all thanks goes to Harper, well thanks for "getting outta Canada" Harper, pity you left such a blazing mess behind you. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:20 | 6966855 Fireman
Fireman's picture

"Not many people got a code to live by anymore". And from there it just all turned to subprime shit!

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcJXT5lc1Bg

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:23 | 6966857 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

When i'm feeling Blue
All i have to do
Is, rip the feet from under you.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:26 | 6966862 Holleyman
Holleyman's picture

I live in Alberta, I work in the oil patch.  I work with people that buy $85,000 trucks every year or so, live in $900,000 houses furnished to the 9s and vacation overseas twice a year. They lived of the teat of credit backed up by 25% overtime.  The good times came to an end, as they always do.  Now I hear a lot of moaning and groaning at work, now even minimum payments are difficult to sustain. I don't envy them.

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:35 | 6966873 willwork4food
willwork4food's picture

Thanks for the update on the ground. I don't envy them either. Falling that far tends to really fuck up marrages.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:52 | 6966890 Global Hunter
Global Hunter's picture

I fell very far a few times when I was a young man, the last time I was literally rescued by people who love me from the street and living a life of addiction surrounded by people also down and out living on the streets but I was also a young man.  I had been an athlete and had continued playing sports right up until my spirals downward so I had physical strength to draw on.  Other than financial and "mental" issues I was in good health so I was able to rebuild my life as a youngish man, early 30s, no children and in good health.  I have been able to recover to a large extent and live a stable life.

I can't imagine doing it with children, losing houses and cars, careers with a wife in mid 40s or 50s.  I fear a lot of people won't recover from this kind of blow (obviously others will and grow stronger but many simply won't), I get no satisfaction from the suffering, but I sleep well knowing I have tried to tell people to prepare as much I can since about 2008. 

But you are right, many marriages are built on material accumulation and they can't survive the loss of material things.

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:29 | 6966955 BandGap
BandGap's picture

Funny, but I gave away a house and two cars getting divorced a few years back. Half my retirement and savings, too.

Happy as heck now, remarried to someone who takes things quite a bit differently when it comes to finance. Helped me through that very difficult time.

Life is so much more than possessions. It's a shame that people are killing themselves, giving up their most prized gift. Sad.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:32 | 6966964 TheDanimal
TheDanimal's picture

I'm in a similar situation but luckily I'm only 26. Have you got any advice to help?  

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:57 | 6967023 Global Hunter
Global Hunter's picture

TheDaminal, I don't know specifically what you are going through, please message me on Zchat if you'd like to speak further.  I wrote this below and tried to be non specific because everybody is different, but I wanted to be honest.  I try not to be afraid of change as humans we tend to hold on to our shit because it is what we know:

Be humble and ask for help when you can, never be too proud to accept help.  I think personally its a spiritual issue, I believe we are both material and spiritual beings but the spiritual side of our nature or our humanity has been torn from us, or we have allowed it to be torn from us and that side of us is repaired or worked on, the other issues become so much more manageable.

In my case I have found a way to accept myself, who I am, who I was and then I stopped judging other people so much.  I was judging myself when I judged others.  Growing up I wanted so much to be one of the "cool kids", I was mesmerized by cool haircuts, nice clothes, flash cars, I was judging, judging what others had, what I had, how I compared to them, who I wanted to be.  It occured to me clearly I wasn't always that way, I wasn't born like that.

Acceptance of yourself, acceptance of other people, one day some very strange looking people may cross your path and provide you with a whole new perspective on things, things that could change your life for the better.  Life can be a personal and inner hell for most people on this planet at any one time, you are not alone, but try to find a way to make it an inner heaven.  That inner heaven as you might have thought of it as a very young child when you were hopeful and innocent. Work on faith (if not spiritual then faith that things may very well get better).

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:48 | 6967115 neuronius
neuronius's picture

+100

Good stuff, thanks for the wisdom.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:04 | 6967033 northern vigor
northern vigor's picture

At 26 you have many years to learn from this and to correct it...The poor bastards at 56 should know better, and have little time to rebuild their retiement funds.

Just consider it a learning experience. I fucked up alot of money at 25...I never did it again. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:30 | 6967078 Global Hunter
Global Hunter's picture

"At 26 you have many years to learn from this and to correct it."

Worth repeating, if nothing else this.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:41 | 6967099 847328_3527
847328_3527's picture

Holleyman, Canada is in for some big pain but it's to be expected since the entire thing is part of an economic cycle; up and down, just the timing changes. This time CBs manipulated the mostest ever to sav ebankers, so cycles are a bit screwed up but eventually they shall occur.

 

'This past year's been a disaster,' landlord says as city's vacancy rate climbs
Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:12 | 6967043 Max Cynical
Max Cynical's picture

Danimal, stabilize your living situation, seek out new skills, try to find a mentor.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:28 | 6967583 Stoonod Nicknud
Stoonod Nicknud's picture

I cannot stress this post above enough!

Invest in good tools, tires, and guns. Don't go cheap. Don't avoid women, but don;t let them ruin you either. You young guys have problems that us older men weren't as exposed to.

Find a fellow who knows his stuff and learn, learn, learn.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:28 | 6967076 CheapBastard
CheapBastard's picture

Stay out of debt is Rule #1.

 

Only if you absolutely have to very short term for small amounts but otherwise stay debt free.

 

Then you are a "Free Man" to a large degree.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:24 | 6967572 Stoonod Nicknud
Stoonod Nicknud's picture

Stay out of debt, no matter what.

 

Bitches be trippn'.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:53 | 6966893 Metalredneck
Metalredneck's picture

Most oil-patch marriges are a host/parasite arrangement.  Poison is the cure. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:32 | 6967086 tarsubil
tarsubil's picture

Most marriages are a host/parasite arrangement.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:39 | 6967221 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

I don't practice Santeria
I ain't got no crystal ball
Well, I had a million dollars but I, I'd spend it all.
If I could find that Heina, and that Sancho that she's found.
Well, I'd pop a cap in Sancho and I'd slap her down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEYN5w4T_aM

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:52 | 6966889 Metalredneck
Metalredneck's picture

It was like that in the early 80's as well, but interest was 17%.  Good times.  Credit is as addictive & destructive as meth.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:14 | 6966925 Chuck DeBongo
Chuck DeBongo's picture

Credit's a helluva drug!

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:13 | 6966922 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Debt is slavery.

It will get worse because those $900 K homes will have a 50% haircut along with those dumb trucks.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:30 | 6967081 CheapBastard
CheapBastard's picture
Calgary housing market sees biggest price drop this year in September

 

The Calgary Real Estate Board recorded 1,448 sales in September, a decline of 32.4 per cent from a year ago.

The Calgary housing market has posted declines in year-over-year MLS sales and average sale prices every month this year.

 

http://calgaryherald.com/business/real-estate/calgary-housing-market-see...

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:23 | 6967571 pitz
pitz's picture

Only 25% overtime?  Try more like 50-75%.  Without overtime, Alberta compensation would actually be less than in Ontario, BC, Saskatchewan, etc.  Overtime and the expense accounts are the only saviours, and those are all being chopped back if not eliminated.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 19:59 | 6968300 kiwigal
kiwigal's picture

What is happening with residential real estate?

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:28 | 6966866 oddjob
oddjob's picture

Let me know when they come to Vancouver and repo the 250K Lambos and Aston Martins from Chinese children that have had a drivers' license for less than 24 hrs.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:35 | 6966875 foodstampbarry
foodstampbarry's picture

Fuck em. Did they give a fuck about me when I was paying 4 bucks a gallon 2 years ago while they were out buying their 2nd and 3rd houses? Cry me a river.

Death to the price fixers.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:57 | 6967022 wmbz
wmbz's picture

I agree x 10.

Shoe is on the other foot now.

Tuff shit!

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:44 | 6966884 juicy_bananas
juicy_bananas's picture

Repo man's always intense.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:02 | 6966905 SubjectivObject
SubjectivObject's picture

I was riding on a concrete slab

Down a river of useless flab

It was such a buggerful day

I heard a witch doctor say

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:55 | 6966897 Monetas
Monetas's picture

Government buyer of last resort .... cars, hoses, bad loans, medical care, stocks, debt forgiveness .... seller of first fesort .... gold .... get ready for "The Great Re-Sort" (New Deal) ?

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 10:59 | 6966900 swmnguy
swmnguy's picture

People who rush into a boom without anticipating the bust fascinate me from a distance.  

I have in-laws in the North Dakota oil patch, who fortunately didn't lose their heads.  They also haven't lost their asses now that the bust has hit.  But there are plenty of stories floating around about people they know who thought they'd struck it rich by just being in the right place at the right time, and it was the big Rock Candy Mountain forever and ever, and they deserved it for just being themselves.  

Once they sold their property, bought lodgings more appropriate to their newly exalted status, began living the lifestyle to which they'd always dreamed of becoming accustomed; it doesn't take much of a downturn to leave them destitute.

Meanwhile, their "stuck-in-the-mud" neighbors and relatives who drive used cars and live in little, non-luxurious (but fully-paid-off) houses just keep doing what they've always done, and will do for a long time to come.

"Free Shit Army" is a phrase we like to toss around here at ZH, but we're usually talking about people who get the crumbs that fall off the banquet table.  The real "Free Shit Army" are the people who get the chance to stuff their faces at the table and think they've deserved it all the whole time.  They never put anything away because they are so sure the good times will never end.  "Everything is different this time," the real FSA will tell you.  The rule no longer apply, math no longer works the way it used to.  They're not making any more real estate, are they.  Derivatives mean everything is hedged to the point there is no risk anymore!  And nothing can possibly diminish the value of oil.  So only a sucker wouldn't spend a hundred grand on a pickup truck, a million on a house, $500 a month on TV service, and more and more and more of everything.

And then feel horribly wronged when the repo men show up to take it all away.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:27 | 6966936 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

I came across some contractor types while doing some hurricane Katrina work in 2006. They had just come off of working in Iraq for KBR where they were making some good bank building infrastructure. Now they were back in the States "working" hundred hour weeks they claimed. I was wondering how they were working 100 hours a week when it was 7 pm and they were sitting in their trailer in their undies behind the job site grilling steaks and watching TV. They probably worked 40 hours and put 100 on their time sheets like they had been doing for a number of years with KBR.

One guy headed out on a long weekend to pick up a new boat. They other guy was mentioning his new Mustang convertible. He had given his teenage daughter his 2 year old Mustang.His wife was back in Florida at their new house with a pool.

Wonder how they weathered the economic storm that swept through a couple years later.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:34 | 6967093 CheapBastard
CheapBastard's picture

Those military contractors make a killing. I read somewhere where contractors up the price 500% when it's a gubmint contract since there is essentially zero oversight. Everybody takes their cut along the way. It's no better then China or 3rd world countries in many ways. There, however, it's called bribery or corruption over there.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:59 | 6967139 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

These guys had the HS diploma and maybe worked in the trades for a while then got into construction management. With OT, they were probably making between 100 and 120k annually. I think they were also making out on their per diem by doubling up in a trailer and pocketing the difference. The one guy was definitely not saving up for a rainy day. Construction tanked s couple 2 to 3 years later.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:37 | 6966974 I woke up
I woke up's picture

People like to make themselves out as the victim.  They can't take personal responsibility on their poor decisions.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:13 | 6967171 Zoomorph
Zoomorph's picture

I think they are victims. Victims of their own stupidity, perhaps, but it's not really their fault that their parents and environment didn't teach them a sense of personal responsibility (yet).

The most truthful perspective on this is that everyone is a victim. However, being a victim does not entitle one to any special treatment, pity, or so on.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:51 | 6967234 Hongcha
Hongcha's picture

+1 for the reference to Big Rock Candy Mountain ... a great American song. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:01 | 6966903 fowlerja
fowlerja's picture

You to can join this select group with some training... please check out...

http://www.bountyhunteredu.org/repo-man-jobs/

How to Become a Repossession Agent

Falling behind on loan obligations isn’t reserved for the middle class. In fact, while most repossession agents are scouring the streets, searching for vehicles with overdue loan payments associated with them, there are a select group of repossession men who set their sights on the biggest ticket items –private jets, helicopters, semi-trucks, yachts, construction equipment, and RVs.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:06 | 6966909 45North1
45North1's picture

I remember that time well, the Career Section of the Calgary Herald went from a couple of sections to a couple of pages in what seemed a few weeks. 

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:12 | 6966919 Vuke
Vuke's picture

Schumpeter's Creative Destruction is being writ large now in Alberta.  This is a harbinger for the rest of North America as the developing world awakens.  We're living on the ability to print money others will accept but, how long can that last?

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:16 | 6966930 Monetas
Monetas's picture

"I hereby agree to the terms of the above indentured service contract !" .... signed: John T. Fucker

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:22 | 6966940 22winmag
22winmag's picture

It's *always* the Balkans!

 

Often Canada too.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:31 | 6966960 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

And NATO. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:30 | 6966948 Monetas
Monetas's picture

When you want to sell an underwater vehicle in California .... "store" it at a "friend's" place for an extended time .... later he can have a "Storage Lien Sale" (a mechanic's lien requires actual work and receipts) .... at a certain point the offended bank won't touch it .... voila .... new title for your friend ?

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:39 | 6966981 withglee
withglee's picture

.... voila .... new title for your friend ?

You are entering a formal period of societal collapse when techniques for cheating are proudly advertised.

In a healthy society they have these things called morality and responsibility that make most rules unnecessary. A healthy society is first-and-foremost a "fair" society. Our society is far from fair.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:23 | 6967067 BingoBoggins
BingoBoggins's picture

when the shit comes down I'll be fighting fire with fire - all's fair, aye?

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:55 | 6967129 Omen IV
Omen IV's picture

capitalism creates rules, regulations and laws for the few at the expense of the many - there is no such thing as morality........ask the banks

 

you are way way off base!

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 15:30 | 6967464 stacking12321
stacking12321's picture

bullshit! you're the one who's way off base.

capitalism DOES NOT create rules, capitalism is the free market, which one can choose to participate in, or not.

what you are talking about is corporatism, it has nothing to do with capitalism.

i'm all in favor of destruction of the big banks and their influence, but if you're going to talk about morailty, then how moral is it to borrow money to buy a fancy car and then decide you are going to keep the car (which was supposedly used as collateral) and not pay back the loan? only a hypocrite would do this and then talk of morality of the banks to excuse his actions. your word defines who you are, and if your word is shit, then you are shit.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:52 | 6967655 falak pema
falak pema's picture

capitalism with corporatism is like king without pope...

"I need my divine rights!..; Go get th Pope to poop on the people!"

That's capitalism with corporatism. Without it its anarchy as there is no regulation without someone to stop supply siders from raping the consumer.

Supply siders have their strong arm guys; the Luca Brazzi; the consumer has his wife!  The market is owned by the Mafia or by the King... All you can hope for if the king is elected is that he is scared of losing his crown next time and has to apply the rules of the land, duly voted and approved (With the Mafia there are no laws as its survival of the fittest).

Thats democracy or thats entertainment.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 23:35 | 6969053 stacking12321
stacking12321's picture

falak, again and again your posts show that you either don't understand what capitalism is, or you are purposely misrepresenting it.

the obvious thing that gives it away is your use of the phrase "raping the consumer."

do you understand what rape is? it's when someone commits an act of violence agsinst another, when someone violates another's sovereignty. governments commit rape, capitalists do not, they are complete opposites in that regard.

in the free market, if someone offers you terms you don't like, you simply decline and can choose not to engage.

when government offers you terms you don't like, you do NOT have the choice to turn down the offer and walk away, because their "offer" is backed my an implicit or explicit threat of violence against you.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 10:30 | 6970065 withglee
withglee's picture

governments commit rape, capitalists do not, they are complete opposites in that regard.

Looking more and more like a distinction without a difference. Read "Confessions of an  Economic Hitman" by Perkins.

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/045228708...

 

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 14:39 | 6974683 stacking12321
stacking12321's picture

asking me to read a book, is not a valid response to the statement i made.

if the book in question addresses this subject, and you've read the book in question, you should be able to put into words, what you are trying to say, instead of telling me to read it.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 07:25 | 6969695 trader1
trader1's picture

"cocaine economics"

A remarkable passage in Zero Zero Zero explains why: a transcription of an FBI tape recording of a seasoned Italian mafioso in New York schooling young Mexican footsoldiers in the difference between law and “the rules”. Laws are there to be broken, he urges, but the rules of the organisation are sacrosanct, on pain of death. “The law is supposed to be for everybody,” Saviano tells me, “but the rules are made by the so-called men of honour. This is how narco-traffic explains the world, by embracing all the contradictions of the world. To succeed in narco-traffic, you apply the rules to break the law. And today, any big corporation can only succeed if it adopts the same principle – if its rules demand that it break the law.”

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/26/man-who-exposed-lie-war-on-...
Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:39 | 6967219 Hongcha
Hongcha's picture

Withglee, I have to agree with that much as I don't want to.  I have seen it in myself, starting around 2005 - a new, sneaky capacity, sort of a grunt-level peasant cunning; based upon disgust with institutional corruption and being nickeled and dimed and lied to at every turn.  Feeling the need to scrounge, scramble and work-around.  Must be what it's like in a failed state.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:28 | 6966953 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers Banking crash is about to repeat under new Central Banking measurements to refine new Basel III Accord money laundering shell company operations. 

Treasury, Secretary, HenryPaulson - YouTube

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:29 | 6966958 R.R.Raskolnikov
R.R.Raskolnikov's picture

A beautiful example of someone at the other side of the trade. On one side we have a muppet with the 72 month car loan on a second hand car previous owned by an old grany. And on the other side of the trade we have our repo men.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 11:38 | 6966977 cpgone
cpgone's picture

Nobody posted "death of duke " yet? Slackers..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKIaS0lh-uo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcJXT5lc1Bg

BTW, whats your code?

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:13 | 6967047 CHoward
CHoward's picture

Thems the breaks.  I distinctly remember paying over $4 a gallon and no one sympathized with me. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:31 | 6967084 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Sorry, eh.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:48 | 6967116 HighPressure
HighPressure's picture

South Dakota is next...

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:01 | 6967141 Last of the Mid...
Last of the Middle Class's picture

Listen to Bartiromo bullshit every moring on 113 and she'll tell you $4 a gallon is good for the economy and low gas prices are really bad for the economy. You have to be some kind of a fucking idiot tool to try to peddle that shit on TV. However, I'm sure if we remove some more confederate monuments here in the south things will be much better.  Always, ALWAYS dazzle 'em with bullshit.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 15:33 | 6967468 db51
db51's picture

Bartiromo is so full of herself it is fucking sickening.  With her new HoBag haircolor job this morning leading the charge against Donald Trump with her panel of douchebags.  lmao.   I'd pay good money to fuck her eyeballs out though.....

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:09 | 6967166 Macon Richardson
Macon Richardson's picture

A repo man's life is intense.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:14 | 6967173 lamont cranston
lamont cranston's picture

BoNeXxxx- I hope these a-holes open the trunk & get what's coming to 'em

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:26 | 6967195 yogibear
yogibear's picture

You never own a house around a large city. Your just renting it from the county. Paying them $8,000 to $30,000/yr in property taxes.

Stop paying and see how fast they auction the property off.

Live in a trailer and move to the cheapest place to live. F the government and their bloated government pensions.

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:28 | 6967202 MarcusAurelius
MarcusAurelius's picture

I remember having a certain conversation with the Right Honorable Mark (Goldman) Carney and the deceased Honorable MP Finance Flaherty about this very subject. What is unfortunate at the moment is this catastrophe is just getting started. The last time my fellow Canucks had a real wall banger of a recession was 1990-92. We were late to all the parties that ensued in leading to crashes in 2001 and 2008. Well we caught up in a hurry when they opened the spigots to free money from 2004 onward. Had they simply ignored the Feds move to 0.25% in 2008 the crash would have happened then and we would be recovering by now. Nope can't do that. The credit junkies cried too hard and they caved in. They caved to the US pressure to lower interest rates so it would make no sense for US investors to buy Canadian GIC's. We restructed everythingn in the 90's to be fiscally sound. Now all for naught. Lets see how fiscally sound the Canadian banks are now that I argued about those years ago. When you blow a credit bubble in real estate like we have here and in just about everything else this is going to be about as ugly as it gets. The Canadian Dollar is already amost 38 cents below the US Dollar. Where do you go from here? Just plain fucking dumb. No other way of saying it.  

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:19 | 6967299 northern vigor
northern vigor's picture

Carney was never "Right Honourable".

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:29 | 6967203 MarcusAurelius
MarcusAurelius's picture

I remember having a certain conversation with the Right Honorable Mark (Goldman) Carney and the deceased Honorable MP Finance Flaherty about this very subject. What is unfortunate at the moment is this catastrophe is just getting started. The last time my fellow Canucks had a real wall banger of a recession was 1990-92. We were late to all the parties that ensued in leading to crashes in 2001 and 2008. Well we caught up in a hurry when they opened the spigots to free money from 2004 onward. Had they simply ignored the Feds move to 0.25% in 2008 the crash would have happened then and we would be recovering by now. Nope can't do that. The credit junkies cried too hard and they caved in. They caved to the US pressure to lower interest rates so it would make no sense for US investors to buy Canadian GIC's. We restructed everythingn in the 90's to be fiscally sound. Now all for naught. Lets see how fiscally sound the Canadian banks are now that I argued about those years ago. When you blow a credit bubble in real estate like we have here and in just about everything else this is going to be about as ugly as it gets. The Canadian Dollar is already amost 38 cents below the US Dollar. Where do you go from here? Just plain fucking dumb. No other way of saying it.  

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 13:48 | 6967232 ExploitedCitizen
ExploitedCitizen's picture

This is isolated to Alberta only.

The rest of Canada is booming!  Housing is off the charts busy, prices are sky rocketting!

This doom and gloom is unfounded, real estate in Canada is hot, the world is moving here and they all want a piece.

Nothing can derail our housing boom it seems, even in 2008/2009 prices went up.  Canadian real estate has only one way to go, up!

I thought it was going to crash eventually, but I was wrong, prices keep going up, fundamentals mean nothing.  Things are good here, everyone is buying $800,000+ houses with granite countertops, stainless appliances, two brand new luxury cars, I see this everywhere I go.

 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:02 | 6967258 orangegeek
orangegeek's picture

Fuck off idiot.  Canada is a "goobermint jawbs" economy.  When resources go, the country goes.

 

Bubble real estate, as with all other parts of the world, is largely driven by cash purchases out of Asia.  Asia cash buying is pretty much over.

 

Goobermint jawbs economies see no recessions because goobermint just pile on debt to hire and over pay unionized lumps.  Goobermint jawb economies like Canada just load up on MOAR WERKERZ that do meaningless make work crap.

 

But when the debt bomb goes off, have fun starving in the rioting streets.  Canada is in the toilet except for a few pockets like Tor/Van.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:06 | 6967262 ExploitedCitizen
ExploitedCitizen's picture

It is 100% government, just like Greece!  But this country is different because we have multiculturalism!  We'll never have a bad economy.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:10 | 6967272 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Sarcasm at its finest

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:26 | 6967579 pitz
pitz's picture

Not even close to true.  RE across Canada has been in decline for well over two years now.  The RE collapse is probably more important than the O&G industry investment collapse.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:17 | 6967288 Arktik
Arktik's picture

Alberta's  economic problems are not representative of Canada's economic issues. When any one company town loses the main employer, divorce, suicide, bankruptcie and crime rates increase. These numbers are not skyrocketing across all of Canada, our economy is not unravelling. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:40 | 6967351 Signs of the end
Signs of the end's picture

REPO MAN (the 1984 one with Emilio Estevez) now that was a classic! 

Otto my man; what a dude!

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 14:44 | 6967361 herbicidal
herbicidal's picture

Seen on the back of a beat up old 1978 F-150 Pickup Truck in Alberta.  Bumper sticker "Please god let their be another oil boom, I promise not to piss it away on booze and hookers like last time."  The cycle of life/debt continues.  In 1984 the oil boom in Alberta completely dried up and was dead for a decade.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 19:36 | 6968213 Angus McHugepenis
Angus McHugepenis's picture

Yep, I heard about that bumper sticker a looong time ago.

Here’s some info about what is going on in Alberta right in front of me:

- Many, many machine shops went tits up and this started back in September 2014. My gold mining buddy who works right next to me is a highly skilled machinist with a SMALL operation and he will survive easily since he’s not in debt and didn’t piss his money away for the past 10 years. He’s already rented a second 2,000 sq.ft. unit in our industrial complex and HIRED some part timers to help with projects that are all of a sudden coming to him since everyone else went bust. He’s even done machining for O&G in Texas AND Europe recently due to the Canadian dollar taking a pounding.

- Salesmen from all sorts of suppliers have been coming around nagging all of us for months! Even the company that dumps my buddy’s scrap metal bin came around to see if he had anything going on. No machining, not scrap metal. His older brother just laid off one of the other brothers from his much larger shop that supplied major heavy duty steel components to the O&G industry. They are down to 4 employees from 20+. And now it’s to the point where the nagging salesmen aren’t coming around anymore because they’re probably out of work also.

- Crime is out of control right now. We’d experience maybe one theft or vandalism incident every 3 months or so. Now it’s every 3-4 DAYS between 10:30pm and 2:00am. We have cameras that record everything but it’s useless calling the police. We see guys on camera driving almost new, expensive F350’s and other monster trucks searching through his metal bin for junk steel and other metals in the middle of the night. The last guy we saw was here at 12:15am on BOXING DAY, literally 15 minutes after Christmas Day for fuck sakes! Oh, and driving a vehicle much nicer and much newer than my 1993 Chevy 2500 truck with 300,000 kms on it!

Real Estate: Fucking vacant warehouses popping up for lease everywhere just in our little area. I actually told the agent that does our complex to fuck off and never come back because he kept trying to lease out a unit that one of our customers was paying partial rent on for storage only. I told him I would bury him in his own backyard if he ever tried leasing that unit again since it would cause about 3 different companies a shitload of expense to move out because the slime ball was just “doing his job” and “trying to make a buck”! I told him his little profit on a lease would create tidal waves of expenses for several other people and I would personally kick his fucking ass into permanent hospitalization if he ever came back. And the irony… there’s another vacant unit here but he thinks it’s a piece of shit. I made him show me the unit and it’s probably the best maintained one of them all! Slime bucket RE agent was just trying to offload a unit that WE occupy because he thought it was better fitted to his clientele. He won’t be back after my little chat with him.

I could go on but that’s enough for now.

Merry Christmas all you ZH wankers.

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 15:19 | 6967435 InnVestuhrr
InnVestuhrr's picture

Love to visit Alberta for recreation, otherwise I know nothing going on east of the Rockies, but I can assure you all that in my stomping grounds west of the Rockies, Canada is BOOMING, especially Vancouver !

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:26 | 6967580 pitz
pitz's picture

Vancouver's slowed dramatically over the past couple years. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 19:57 | 6968294 bunnyswanson
bunnyswanson's picture

Cranes in the air in city of Vancouver?  Foreign investors and construction of highrise apartment buildings designed in accordance with Agenda 21 is the only explanation.  1.6 billion people living in pollution so thick, chronic bronchitis is found in toddlers may be why.  The Canadian economy is being propelled by foreigners and there is nothing good about that. 

Sun, 12/27/2015 - 16:16 | 6967562 Booked
Booked's picture

FTFA-- "But Low says he's not particularly enamored with the idea of profiting from the Alberta's collapsing economy. "We don't gloat or feel terribly excited about the economic conditions right now. We approach every single repo and seizure as an opportunity to help respect the dignity of the debtor," he says."

 

What a crock of shit!  Politically correct rhetoric at its most self-serving!



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