The Livable Blog

General Motors and many other auto makers are losing money for a simple reason, overcapacity. They have spent a lot of money to build factories that can build far more cars than there is a market for. Good lesson to learn.

Today, the front page of the Vancouver Sun business section has this lovely headline. "U.S. Economy is a Shambles, with no Improvement in Sight: President Obama's claim that a second depression isn't possible doesn't square with the relevant numbers".

Gateway is based on the idea that US shoppers are going to flock to Wall Mart and buy more and more plastic crap from China, and pay us well to ship it because they won't have room for it all at their ports. Not likely soon. Given the end of cheap oil, not likely ever. Given global warming, we had better pray it never happens.

Map - Gateway to Wall Mart

So considering that we have a massive overcapacity in port capacity in BC and all along the pacific coast of North America, building more would just make the overcapacity problem worse. More overcapacity built with public dollars means that we lose more money on new and existing facilities.

So our elected Provincial and Federal representatives have decided to throw $21 billion into making the overcapacity problem worse. That is three Owe-lympics worth!

Photo - Cranes wait for containers at Prince Rupert

http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/PacificGateway/index.htm

Connecting Asia to North America
Government and industry partners have come together to fulfill the long-term vision of British Columbia as the preferred gateway for Asia Pacific trade, with the most competitive port system on the west coast of the Americas.

Today, Canada’s Pacific Gateway is a world-class transportation network. Its integrated, seamless supply chain includes airports, seaports, railways, roadways and border crossings, connecting Canada and the North American market to Asia and the world.

Major public-private investments will increase capacity, eliminate congestion, and streamline operations. Projects to expand and enhance port, rail, road and airport infrastructure currently planned or underway total over C$21 billion.