Maddog's wry look at economics, history, society, culture, and politics

The Baltic Republics, in photos

7/30/2016

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Commie Skin Jobs | Newgeography.com

Beautiful, at least what the natives built.

Then came the Russians, and they built something else entirely.

"But then there’s all that left over communist stuff ringing the city. What exactly do you do with it all? Pulling it down and replacing it is too expensive. And many of these buildings are occupied by ethnic Russians not Latvians. (Latvia is a quarter Russian as a result of the Soviet occupation, but the city of Riga is closer to half Russian.)"

Heh! You leave the crap digs for the Russians, they like this top down, neo-feudal crap.

As for American suburbs looking like this crap, no, sorry none of them resembled this until the 20th century when the Bauhaus movement began to utterly destroy architecture, building the apartment horrors, and suburban horrors we are still left reeling from. This has again gained steam as recently Smart Growth cities like Portlandia began to build the progressive rejuvenation of Soviet/Bauhaus apartment hell, commonly known as TOD's.

7 Modern Buildings by Bauhaus Founder Walter Gropius | Architectural Digest

This is the architecture of hell.

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The Vancouver housing market is white hot: Collapse is imminent

7/18/2016

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Vancouver’s real estate is ‘fuelled by a money laundering bubble’: Market analyst

"There is no denying that the real estate market in Vancouver is red hot – prices have been rising with no end in sight.

More after the break.

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Canada: land controls, and zoning are good, right?

6/17/2016

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'This is a bubble. A very big bubble. And it is going to end in tears'

Right up to the point they crater.

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Oregonians, the Urban Growth Boundary, and soaring home prices

6/16/2016

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Who's to blame for Portland's soaring home prices?

Who would have guessed that highly limiting developable land resulting in a supply shortage would cause a price surge in the face of strong demand. Well, except for anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of first year economics.

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Urban Growth Boundary: Boomers stealing from Millennials

6/16/2016

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Ignoring the Reality of Growth Constraints | The Antiplanner

The boundary restricts supply, drives up price, drives wealth into the pockets of the Boomers, and costs Millennials huge sums to buy property.

More after the break.

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Taxes Rise on foreign home buyers in Australia

6/15/2016

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Tax rises on foreign homebuyers in Australia - FT.com

No, they didn't. And only a politician or a progressive could fail to understand this.

Much more below.

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The San Francisco area toys with utterly destroying its housing market

6/14/2016

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Backward Thinking in Silicon Valley

It's not the rent, it's the zoning, the urban services boundary, and the huge amount of land off limits to development.

More below.

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What happens 20 years after "there's nobody left to move to the city?"

6/14/2016

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What Happens When There’s Nobody Left to Move to the City? | Newgeography.com

Renn notes that many cities are simply sucking the young adults out of the rural areas and into the cities. This is a quandary for the rural towns, but another quandary is what happens to the cities a few years after that?

More below the fold.

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Stockholm should ban cars!

6/13/2016

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'Ban cars from Stockholm and have Sweden fund cycle taxis

This idea has worked wonders in America. Every city which tried to ban cars suffered economic dislocation, declining property values, skyrocketing vacancies, and turned most of the towns into Ghost Towns! Dude, how cool is that?

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Suburbs dominate for jobs, exurbs dominate for short commute times!

5/25/2016

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Suburbs (Continue to) Dominate Jobs and Job Growth | Newgeography.com

Suburbs, and exurbs remain the most desirable communities. The urban city continues its slow decline.

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<<Previous

The Baltic Republics, in photos

The Vancouver housing market is white hot: Collapse is imminent

Canada: land controls, and zoning are good, right?

Oregonians, the Urban Growth Boundary, and soaring home prices

Urban Growth Boundary: Boomers stealing from Millennials

Taxes Rise on foreign home buyers in Australia

The San Francisco area toys with utterly destroying its housing market

What happens 20 years after "there's nobody left to move to the city?"

Stockholm should ban cars!

Suburbs dominate for jobs, exurbs dominate for short commute times!

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