News   Mar 27, 2024
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News from across Europe

We can file Turkey under Asia or Europe, I will do the latter here.

Massive Earthquake, 7.8 on Turkey/Syria border.

17 confirmed dead, hundreds (or more) feared dead.

Minimum of 34 buildings fully collapsed.

 
Death tolls from the earthquake already revised to 1,500++


Multiple aftershocks, one of 7.5!
 
We can file Turkey under Asia or Europe, I will do the latter here.

Massive Earthquake, 7.8 on Turkey/Syria border.

17 confirmed dead, hundreds (or more) feared dead.

Minimum of 34 buildings fully collapsed.

When I saw the intial reports I didn't think it was going to be that bad, but this is a disaster of apocalyptic proportions.

Over 5000 buildings destroyed death toll already nearly 12,000 I've seen some estimates say it could rise over 100,000
 
When I saw the intial reports I didn't think it was going to be that bad, but this is a disaster of apocalyptic proportions.

Over 5000 buildings destroyed death toll already nearly 12,000 I've seen some estimates say it could rise over 100,000
I have no doubt that the death toll will increase from 12,000 but it is EXTREMELY unlikely it will reach 100,000.
 
I have no doubt that the death toll will increase from 12,000 but it is EXTREMELY unlikely it will reach 100,000.
Why? When you have thousands of high rise buildings in a densely populated area completely collapse, 100,000 is not a crazy number. 3 days in and it's already past 20,000 now.

Look at some pictures. The scale of this disaster is unfathomable.

Edit: not to mention that the official figure in Turkey right now is over 60,000 injured of which some will most certainly die and my impression is that there is still so much rubble to clear and rescue efforts still needed. I don't want a number that high obviously but I don't think people realise how truly staggering this disaster is.
 
Check out what was promised to Turkey for taking in millions of Syrian refugees. And then check out what was actually delivered. I don't blame the Turks for being a bit skeptical.
Right on cue....


And now there's disputed information that the Greek Coast Guard was attempting to tow the boat out of their waters.

Compare this to the Turks giving asylum to millions in their country. I detest Erdogan and his politics. There are Turkish military officers I trained with who had to seek asylum because of him. But as a country, the Turks have been incredibly generous to refugees at a time when Europe turned the refugee crisis into a culture war with one side all but insisting on ways to kill them by endangerment.
 
Erdogan gets weapons deals, more earthquake relief, and financial considerations to help the beleaguered Turkish economy (which tanked primarily due to his policies). In exchange he takes in more refugees and approves Sweden's entry into NATO. Everyone is happy.
 
This piece from the NYT could easily go in a housing policy thread; but I'll place it here for now.


It focuses on Paris, France and discusses the impact of the large stock of public housing (roughly 25% of all Paris residents live in government owned housing) along w/the broader issues of housing affordability.

On the former:

1710850014666.png


And

1710850056097.png


Also discussed are other impacts of a very interventionist state, including the rents set in the above housing, but also the impacts on retail, particularly small business, where the government is the owner of 19% of all retail spaces.

On the latter:

1710849957598.png
 
This piece from the NYT could easily go in a housing policy thread; but I'll place it here for now.


It focuses on Paris, France and discusses the impact of the large stock of public housing (roughly 25% of all Paris residents live in government owned housing) along w/the broader issues of housing affordability.

On the former:

View attachment 549456

And

View attachment 549457

Also discussed are other impacts of a very interventionist state, including the rents set in the above housing, but also the impacts on retail, particularly small business, where the government is the owner of 19% of all retail spaces.

On the latter:

View attachment 549455
Unthinkable initiatives here.
 
Unthinkable initiatives here.

They're different models. And it kinda screws us over that our left is so fixated on the European model of public housing (see NDP regularly complaining about how Trudeau is paying developers), because it wastes energy on something that will never happen here. Most of our housing is delivered by the market and it will always be that way. Might as well put in effort into figuring out how to make our system work for most people.
 
They're different models. And it kinda screws us over that our left is so fixated on the European model of public housing (see NDP regularly complaining about how Trudeau is paying developers), because it wastes energy on something that will never happen here. Most of our housing is delivered by the market and it will always be that way. Might as well put in effort into figuring out how to make our system work for most people.

I'll differ here.

First off, TCHC and its predecessors (City Home and MTHA) became a very large landlord and supplier of housing from post WWII through the late 70s; its a concscious choice, since then, that we have shifted away from that model; and that homelessness has rocketed upwards, because the private market cannot meet the needs of those on Social Assistance or even working minimum wage jobs.

In Ontario, a single person with no children gets $733 a month total, for food and shelter. Even someone on disability gets just shy of $1,400.

While a minimum wage earner (full time) will pull down about $2,490 pre-tax/deductions; or something closer to $2,000 factoring for those on a net basis.

The math just doesn't work; the public sector needs to be the provider of low income housing, unless, we're going to triple assistance rates and raise the minimum wage by at least 50%.

The former seems more likely than the latter; though I'd be content enough to support the latter. (phased-in and with some targeted relief for the most affected industries)
 

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