We are heading into a severe worldwide economic depression. The root cause of this depression is that we have been living beyond our means and have built up more debt than can be repaid. The coming depression will be much worse than the 1930's because the debt levels today are much higher. Furthermore, we can expect the depression to be permanent because oil production has already peaked and will begin to decline in less than 5 years. This means that no further economic growth is possible and the economy will contract for many decades.

The implications for the City of Vancouver are dramatically falling property prices and tax revenues, coupled with much higher demand for services due to rising unemployment. There is also significant risk of social unrest if the demand for basic services (water, food, shelter, security) cannot be met. And there is a risk of the city defaulting and being unable to provide services if it is unable to service its debt.

Rather than reacting in a crisis mode, the city should proactively reduce expenses and pay off debt now. Whatever revenues remain should be focused on building resilience for the coming storm. Because the depression will collapse worldwide consumption of discretionary goods we can expect a rapid drop in CO2 emissions and therefore the city need not invest any precious funds in reducing its emissions.