Wednesday, September 03, 2014

Reading between the lines

Articles like this make me scratch my head. "Thinking of heading out to Alberta? Sure, there are lots of jobs. But be forewarned–there’s also lots of debt.” Does that mean that if I move to Alberta and start earning a higher wage that I’m going to start recklessly spending and go into debt?

“Sure, go to NY but be warned there are a lot of Broadway shows there... you might find yourself stuck in a musical, unable to ever leave.” Another rubbish sentiment.

The closing comments are especially telling "The report indicated 43% of Canadians hold mortgage debt, up 13% from a year ago. The rising share of households with a mortgage is driven partly by the active participation of first-time buyers, mainly younger Canadians, BMO said. More than half of all households are carrying a credit-card balance, although that total declined to 52% from 56% in 2013.”

Wait, it gets worse… the rising share of households with a mortgage falls to 'First Time Home Buyers’? That is good, not terrible. I don’t like the idea of ‘many households’ carrying credit card debt - yet the reported number doing so has DECLINED. Another good thing. What is being reported anyways?

I’m (generally) not one to pick apart news stories but sometimes enough is enough. The patter is so dubious and patronizing to spin some fairly good factoids into something bad. Be smart and read through the noise. 

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