Foreign Buyers Tax Could Ripple Through B.C. Economy: Here’s What We’re Reading Today
The Daily 5 is Sharp’s essential reading list for what’s happening in the world today. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or subscribe to the Sharp Insider newsletter to stay up to date.
Here’s what’s happening today:
1. The future of drones in Africa
“Some are killing machines. Others are pesky passions of the weekend hobbyist. As such, drones have not always been welcomed in our skies.
“Across Africa, however, projects are being launched that could revolutionise medical supply chains and commercial deliveries, combat poaching and provide other solutions for an overburdened, underdeveloped continent.”
2. B.C. realtors speak out on new tax
“A new tax on real estate purchased by foreign buyers has set off shock waves through the B.C. real estate sector, sending clients and realtors scrambling to close deals before the new tax kicks in and raising concerns it could scupper millions of dollars’ worth of deals and hurt the provincial economy.”
3. The babysitter’s club
“Apps like Seamless and Yelp listen in on our adult lives, then speak to us like children.” Real Life Mag, the magazine run by Snapchat, looks at the sinister meaning behind the playful interfaces of some of our favourite apps.
4. Joe Biden loves his malarkey. But what in the heck does it mean?
“We can say one thing for certain: Where other languages are adept at expressing the nuances of snow, the English language overflows with variations on nonsense. There’s poppycock — American origin — codswallop (British, as it were). And, as Lehigh University English professor Amardeep Singh dissects, an unholy host that includes balderdash, bunk, claptrap, gobbledygook, hokum, hogwash and mumbo jumbo.”
5. The libertarian theory driving Pokemon Go
“But what might be a bigger surprise is the fact that the biggest non-politics story at the moment—the phenomenal rise of Pokémon Go—is seen by some libertarians as a validation of a philosophy that’s key to their economic ideals: spontaneous order, the idea that in a world of chaos, order eventually organizes itself.”
