21 May 2011

Saturday Open Thread

It's the Saturday Open Thread! This weeks topic: Gentrification: Where is it happening? Good or bad?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another estate agent probed

Johannesburg - The Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) said on Friday it had reported "the strong suspicion of criminal wrongdoing" at Constantia Sectional Title Management (CSTM) to the police.

Read more at:

http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Property/Another-estate-agent-probed-20110520


LS

Anonymous said...

A lot of estate agents are crooks but then.... South Africa is totally corrupted. I was lucky to sell my house recently within 2 weeks at a price higher than what i had paid for it 3 years ago and i managed to get the estate agent to accept 4% commission instead of 7,5% as he wanted at first.

Anonymous said...

I know an oke who sells high-end leg cream and makes over R100k per month

Anonymous said...

... erm .... ok, good for him then.

RE: Gentrification. Perhaps Obs and Woodstock? Also, throwing huge caution into the wind here as I know the demographics of this forum consist mainly of ever balding alcoholic Sea Point renters - Parklands in the meanwhile has actually started to grow some trees and built private schools whose fees will make a Newlands local blush. I wouldn't be brave enough to count it out just yet. There are some Black Diamonds literally rolling in it.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous

We sold our little duplex in Parklands almost three years ago for about 30% more than you could get for it now. The glut of depreciating, badly-built shoeboxes in the area has resulted in dodgy tenants, lots of petty crime and an atmosphere of poverty and desperation. I work at one of the private schools you mention - our kids spend a lot of time getting mugged at knifepoint or dodging/patronising tik dealers. I think gentrification is a pipedream at the moment (excuse the pun)...

Anonymous said...

i would forget buying or renting in South Africa. if you can, get the hell out of this country for your kids 's future especially. It is going down very fast.

Fanaaz said...

Take a good look in the mirror gents. I know some people earning R 1 million/month selling ladies leg cream. You are all poor.

Goldilocks said...

Just another tidbit to add to the interest rates increase non debate and thinking like a central banker:

"....and the very tools central banks use to combat inflation run the risk of attracting even more capital inflows into emerging economies."

Address by Mr Daniel Mminele, Deputy Governor, South African Reserve Bank, at the JP Morgan Investor Conference, Washington D.C., 16 April 2011

Goldilocks said...

And 2 more:

Bank credit extension to the private sector is also relatively subdued, with total loans and advances growing by 4 per cent since September 2010, house prices are either declining or growing at low nominal rates, while equity prices will most likely also have a moderating impact on wealth effects and consumption....

The Monetary Policy Committee has kept the repo rate steady at 5,5 per cent since November 2010. While the risks to the inflation outlook are tilted to the upside, they are predominantly of a cost-push nature, but need to be monitored very closely for any second round effects.

Anonymous said...

Quantitive Counterfeiting.

Anonymous said...

Ag please, quantitative counterfeiting - do you have ANY idea what you are talking about. what a joke, self styled expert

Anonymous said...

Quantitative Easing Equals Qualitative Counterfeiting.
November 10, 2010 08:00 PM

By Bruce Hillis.

The Federal Reserve announced earlier this month that it would pump $600 billion into the money supply by a practice it calls Quantitative Easing, a fancy word substituted for the actual practice of legal counterfeiting. No they don’t actually print money; however, by crediting its own accounts for the amount, the Fed is then able to purchase assets, most often US Treasuries, adding the value of the newly acquired assets to its balance sheet out of thin air. The result is an expansion of the money supply, via legal counterfeiting, without having to bother with messy ink, heavy rolls of paper and the noisy clanking of the presses.

I use the term Qualitative Counterfeiting since there is no precise way to measure the effect to the value of the dollar – you can’t put a number on it. Yet, when the quantity of dollars in the market place expands out of thin air there are more dollars chasing the same quantity of goods and services, and the effect will push up the price of those goods and services. This requires more of your dollars to purchase such items, thereby eroding the value of your wealth held in currency or other assets fixed in value. Another way to put it is that it will result in a devaluation of your dollars.

The government created Federal Reserve System and its practice of Quantitative Easing amounts to little more than Quanitative Counterfeiting or legal robbery as real as the practice of “clipping” the edges of gold and silver coins, to diminish their value to the benefit of the perpetrator.

Until the Federal Reserve is disbanded or it is adequately controlled by law, mischief by this perpetrator will continue.

Anonymous said...

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/7257866-paul-krugman-quantitative-easing-is-not-currency-manipulation

read from the pen of a Nobel prize winning macro economist please before reading such cr@p

Anonymous said...

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/fiscal-aspects-of-quantitative-easing-wonkish/

and the original article

Anonymous said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/opinion/10krugman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

and why it is important

Anonymous said...

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/Politics/story?id=7966402&page=1

and why Krugman is worth listening to - his predictions are remarkably on the button