Agora Symposium 2010, Vancouver, Canada
By Barry Ritholtz - July 20th, 2010, 8:09AM
I am in Vancouver this week for the Agora Financial Investment Symposium 2010. Lots of Gold bugs and dollar bears.
It was interesting last year, and I managed to turn the crowd that initially wanted my then bullish hide.
I present this afternoon, but there are lots of interesting speakers all week: MarcFaber, Bill Bonner, Addison Wiggin, Robert Parenteau, Byron King, Doug Casey, John Mauldin, and Vitaliy N. Katsenelson. Should be fun.
I normally do my thing and head for the exits, but the conference was so fascinating last year that I am staying to see the other speakers and participate in a broad debate on Thursday night.
And if you have never been, Vancouver is one of the most lovely cities in North America.
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July 20th, 2010 at 8:24 am
Is Fleckenstein there? That’s his neck of the woods, right?
July 20th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Uh, oh. Barry’s travelling, again. ;-)
July 20th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Tell those dollar bears to dig in for a hard long rest of the year.
Yeah,….traveling Barry. Watch out below when he is gone!
July 20th, 2010 at 9:03 am
In that crowd, this: “I am staying to see the other speakers and participate in a broad debate on Thursday night…”, is a Good Idea.
or, is it “In that location”..?
July 20th, 2010 at 9:06 am
Hey Barry,
Welcome back. Head over to Cioppino’s for a lovely dinner if you haven’t already. Don’t faint when you see how much we get dinged for wine and single-malts. Then head across the street to Revolucion for your favourite Cuban and then on over to the seawall for a stroll.
July 20th, 2010 at 9:14 am
What’s Agora’s latest “make 15 times your money in the next 2 weeks” investment? Haven’t looked at their emails in a long time but really, they reminded me of the boiler room clowns from da Bronx who used to phone me with hot tips.
July 20th, 2010 at 10:11 am
BR, in your spare time, you may want to walk about and write down 10 properties for sale with the idea of comparing their prices next year. Vancouver, BC, has had a seemingly bigger, and longer housing bubble than the U.S.
July 20th, 2010 at 10:41 am
Hope you can post some video of your talk if someone has it.
July 20th, 2010 at 11:03 am
I was gonna suggest the Tomahawk grill in North Vancouver for a great breakfast with plenty of back bacon, but then realized it might not be appropriate. :( I do recommend it for you gentiles, tho.
In default of that, we did try Cioppino’s last year when were were there and it was very good. However, I understand NY has plenty of Italian places, so don’t know that it would be a that new for you.
July 20th, 2010 at 11:58 am
Always extend a biz trip to Vancouver into a mini vacation. Some great tips above, but also try Vij’s for perhaps the best indian food you can find anywhere. Yes, you have to suffer through waiting in a room filled with exceptionally hot Canadian women before you can eat, but the wait is worth it.
http://www.vijs.ca/index_in.htm
July 20th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I have long said that if God didn’t want people to eat Lobster or Bacon, he would not have made it so delicious! 5,700 years ago, shellfish and pork in the desert without refrigeration was a nonstarter, but in the modern era . . .
So far in Vancouver, we have eaten in Tropica (spectacular Crab), SandBar (good pizza) and Judas Goat (French tapas, including delicious Pastrami Salmon).
Vij sounds great — If anyone has other food suggestions, I am all ears (and belly).
July 20th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Welcome and enjoy! Rent a car and drive up the sea to sky highway for lunch in Whistler (yes the one from Olympic fame). There are plenty of high class eateries there. It makes for a great day trip and the weather seems to be cooperating
July 20th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Make sure to say hi to mayor DaVinci for me, Barry. :)
Speaking of TV-show references, maybe you can get yourself cast as an extra on one of the many SciFi shows they film in and around Vancouver. “Special Guest Economic Villain: Barry Ritholtz.”
July 20th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
@ewmayer
There is a new mayor in Vancouver now. As a matter of fact there have been two since the one you’re referencing
July 20th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Don’t know if you have the wife with you, but Queen Elizabeth Park was very nice. I’m not a big fan of gardens, but even I enjoyed them. The gardens are built in an old quarry, so they aren’t just flat and have nice views.
http://vancouver.ca/parks/parks/queenelizabeth/
July 20th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
How does it feel to breathe fresh(er) air Barry?
There is a fireworks display on Wednesday
http://www.celebration-of-light.com/event-information/
July 20th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Barry, another vote for Vijs. Just plan on waiting an hour or so. They will serve you drinks and delicious appies during that time. Go with three other friends and make a party of it! We were there last night.
Salmon House on the Hill is also nice for its views if you love salmon.
July 20th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
BR,
when in Vancouver, remember, you’re in “Salmon Nation”
http://www.salmonnation.com/fish/meet_species.html
and, better, everyone else should know, re: Farmed Salmon:
http://www.sectionz.info/issue_1/Hidden_costs.html
http://www.sectionz.info/issue_1/
July 20th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Mark,
He’s probably better off going for the world class Asian food than the salmon. We’ve managed to convince a few high quality chefs from China and Hong Kong to set up shop here. I doubt Barry speaks the language so he might not benefit from it
July 20th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
http://www.lumiere.ca/
July 20th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
HTCMSI,
given this:
“When salmon feedlots came to British Columbia, a pound of fresh salmon was worth $9 in mid-winter. This triggered gold-rush behavior, which devaluated farm salmon to a low-priced commodity. It is easy to see why people got into raising salmon, but when I began to investigate the relationship between salmon feedlots and the Fraser sockeye crash, I made an unexpected discovery. B.C. feedlot salmon cannot meet world market standards for sustainable practices, they have too many secrets. When government made it possible for salmon feedlots to operate outside the Constitution of Canada, it sealed the fate of both the industry and the wild salmon, both of which they were tasked to protect.
The first step set the course to disaster
Salmon feedlots should never have happened to Canada because they violate the Constitution by privatizing ocean spaces and exerting ownership over fish in sovereign marine waters. For reasons we are left to guess, government decided to overlook this and began beavering away on a patchwork of poorly considered fixes to overcome this inconvenience. …”
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/07/12/FishFarmSecrecy/index.html
and, seeing
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Wealthy+Chinese+house+hunting+Vancouver+vacation+itinerary/3209490/story.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+canwest%2FF7477+(Vancouver+Sun+-+Business)
I’d be saying you’re offering sound Advice (even if the Food isn’t coming from the Sound)
July 21st, 2010 at 1:18 am
Yes, many restaurants will make a point on their menus that they don’t sell farmed salmon because many customers will refuse to buy it. That whole industry is a bad secret around here. The things I could say would probably get me sued by liable lawyers from the industry. Not because it isn’t true, but just to shut you up. Something like what GS would do to a little guy running a website that criticizes them.
Suffice it to say, as they would say(or maybe I should say once said) in Mexico about not drinking the water, don’t eat the farmed salmon
Re: R.E. It was said around the peak of the boom that there were 10,000 empty condos in Vancouver. It wasn’t because of non buyers. No, what was happening is people were buying the properties and then just sitting with them empty as an investment vehicle (you don’t get any wear and tear on the property that way). Residents weren’t too happy to hear about it because it was artificially inflating the price of housing.
I haven’t looked at the situation of empty condos lately but I would think there are still quite a few that are being bought and held with Asian investment dollars