The Missing Middle Podcast

Your 20s: risky bets, crypto hype, and meme stocks. 🎲 Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt explain why being priced out of a home is turning saving into gambling — and why young men are taking the biggest swings.
In this episode of The Missing Middle – Classonomics, we unpack why a generation priced out of housing is turning to meme stocks, crypto, and online sports betting instead of traditional saving. Mike and Sabrina explore how the “gamification” of investing on your phone blurs the line between investing and gambling, why young men dominate high-risk trading, and what research tells us about the link between gambling, crypto, and financial stress. 
The conversation introduces the idea of “financial nihilism” — when homeownership feels impossible, big bets can start to seem rational. They also debate solutions, from tighter gambling advertising rules to better financial education and, most importantly, fixing housing affordability. Is this risky behavior a cultural problem, a policy failure, or both? Watch to find out — and tell us in the comments if you’ve ever placed a big bet with your money.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:10 The high-risk landscape
02:15 Personal experience with risk
03:00 Demographics of gamblers and investors
04:35 Gambling vs investing
05:30 The Risks of sports gambling & prediction markets
06:52 The difference between zero-sum and negative-sum behaviour
08:53 The link between gambling & crypto trading
11:01 How the culture of gambling is hurting young men
12:22 How the housing crisis leads to financial nihilism
14:22 How big risks start to become rational choices
15:38 The role of social media 
16:24 YOLO spending and the gendered aspect of risky bets
17:50 Mike drops a hockey metaphor
19:23 Solutions: Regulation, education and home ownership

Research: 

Canada Is Finally Regulating Stablecoins – Here’s Why It Matters
Cryptocurrency trading, gambling and problem gambling
"Giving Up": The Impact of Decreasing Housing Affordability on Consumption, Work Effort, and Investment
Newsletter Sabrina mentions:
1 big thing: Gen Z plays the economy like a casino
Are We Ignoring a Generation of Struggling Young Men?
All Bets Are On: The Rise of Prediction Markets
The Doom Spenders
polymarket.com Website Traffic Demographics
Gambling Statistics Canada 2026 – Unveiling Canada’s Gambling Landscape

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

Yesterday, Bank of Canada governor Tiff Mackem warned that early evidence shows AI is reducing the number of entry-level jobs available. 
Are we heading toward a future of mass unemployment, or is AI just the latest "calculator" to change how we work? Cara Stern and Mike Moffatt dive deep into the data behind AI's impact on demographics and the workforce.
While Mike leans into historical optimism, Cara brings the receipts: a recent Stanford study showing a 13% drop in employment for young workers in AI-exposed fields since the release of ChatGPT. We explore which jobs are "AI-proof," why Gen X seems to be winning (again), and what policy changes could help young people get a foot in the door.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:29 Why Mike is unconcerned about AI taking his job
01:30 Why Cara is worried about AI
02:21 Young works AI exposed jobs see 13% drop
03:52 Examining AI exposed occupations
04:30 How AI impacts different cohorts of workers
06:12 Understanding the impact of AI on wages
06:54  Being well rounded is the best protection
08:16 Trades, healthcare and education will continue to be in demand
09:20 Mike shares a story from the olden times
10:00 Mike’s take on going into the trades
11:20 Mike on wages
12:18 Focus on developing skills
13:17 The role of policymakers and solutions

Research/links:
Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence
Youth in Canada will need help gaining experience in the AI era
No to being young again; The struggles of Canadian youth employment - CIBC Capital Markets
Canada must pioneer AI adoption that creates job opportunities: Ryan Khurana in Canadian Affairs | Macdonald-Laurier Institute
Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence
Youth in Canada will need help gaining experience in the AI era
No to being young again; The struggles of Canadian youth employment - CIBC Capital Markets
Canada must pioneer AI adoption that creates job opportunities: Ryan Khurana in Canadian Affairs | Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

Canada’s housing ladder is broken. In this episode of Missing Middle, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt explain why the starter home no longer works and how an entire generation has been locked out of moving up.
They compare buying a detached home in 2004 for $168,000 with today’s reality, where condos fail as a first step and buyers are trapped with no clear path forward. The conversation explores how this breakdown affects family formation, careers, ambition, and Canada’s economic future.=
If homeownership feels impossible, this episode explains why and why it matters.
Do you still believe the starter home works, or has the housing ladder completely collapsed where you live?

Chapters:
00:00 — What “Buying Your First Home” Used to Look Like
00:40 — Mike’s First House: A Brand-New Detached Home… as a “Starter”
01:47 — Why That Dream Is Gone for Today’s Buyers
02:29 — What “Starter Home” Means Now vs. Then
05:23 — “Aging Out” of the Starter Home
07:03 — Trapped in a Condo
09:58 — The “Second-Time Buyer Problem” Explained
11:09 — Housing, Birth Rates, and Canada’s Demographic Crisis
13:37 — Careers Limited by Real Estate, Not Talent
18:45 — Why Politicians Are Getting This Wrong
Research links:
Teranet Market Insights Q1 2025
National Bank Housing Affordability Monitor
CMHC Housing Market Outlook 2025
CMHC Housing Supply Report 2025
Royal LePage House Price Survey and Market Forecast
Statistics Canada - Homeownership and Mortgage Debt of Tax Filers
CIBC Economics - Housing Affordability Reports

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

Canada’s housing crisis. Youth unemployment. Immigration debates. A broken healthcare system.
What if we told you a book published in 1996 predicted almost all of it?
In this episode of The Missing Middle, Cara Stern and Mike Moffatt revisit the Canadian classic Boom, Bust & Echo to explore how demographics, especially the aging of the baby boomers, reshaped Canada’s economy, housing market, job prospects, and public policy.
We break down:
• Why youth unemployment was a policy choice
• How demographics quietly drive housing prices
• What governments got right — and very wrong
• Why immigration policy, real estate, and healthcare are deeply connected
• And how Canada ended up with a generational economic imbalance
This isn’t just history. It explains why life is harder for young Canadians today and what choices led us here.
If you care about housing affordability, jobs, immigration, public policy, and Canada’s economic future, this episode is for you.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:49 Why Boom, Bust, and Echo (BBE) still matters
03:00 What the book got right and wrong
04:25 Prediction about the rise of home health care
06: 06 Policy dilemma: high demand for PSWs & balancing budgets
08:12 Immigration policy advice from Boom, Bust and Echo
09:03 Governments didn’t take the advice 
10:55 BBE real estate prediction
11:45 Housing market predictions: what went wrong
15:10 Boomers, Millennials & real estate
16:40 BBE prediction on future changes to taxation policy
17:13 The politics of moving taxation from income to capital
19:50 Real estate prediction for aging boomers
20:34 Naturally occurring retirement communities
23:40 Following where people actually live
24:47 Demographics are facts that help us understand the future
  
Research/links:

Boom, Bust & Echo: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Shift
https://www.amazon.ca/Boom-bust-echo-profit-demographic/dp/0921912978

David Foot on Aging Society & Youth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy7y2w9i_aA

What David Foot didn't tell us
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/what-david-foot-didnt-tell-us/article784233/

Finding Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities - Agenda segment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynlwpsye2c0

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

In this episode of The Missing Middle, Mike Moffatt and Sabrina Maddeaux dig into why homeownership for Canadians under 40 has fallen off a cliff. Spoiler: it’s not just zoning, NIMBYs, or avocado toast. The federal government plays a much bigger role in today’s housing mess than it likes to admit.

They break down how rapid population growth collided with a massive slowdown in building family-sized homes, why “dog-crate condos” became the default housing plan, and how taxes, development charges, and investors quietly push prices even higher. They also ask the uncomfortable question: do first-time buyer programs actually help young people — or just lock in high prices?

From down payments that feel impossible, to policies that accidentally reward investors over families, this episode gets into what’s broken, who benefits, and what Ottawa could actually do if it wanted to bring the dream of homeownership back to life.

If you’ve ever wondered how Canada managed to make buying a home feel impossible — this one’s for you.

00:00 – Intro: Is the dream of homeownership dead?
01:08 – The Federal Role: Debunking the "Provincial Responsibility" trope
01:58 – How Federal immigration and monetary policy impact housing
04:12 – A Blueprint to Restore Homeownership: The 4 big hurdles
06:30 – Not All Units are Equal
10:22 – How Population Growth Affects Supply and Demand
12:06 – Time to Reduce Taxes on Homes
14:05 – Making It Easier for First-Time Buyers
16:14 – Will these Policies just Drive Prices Up?
17:59 – The "Second-Time Buyer" crisis and downsizing seniors
21:09 – Incentivizing Seniors to Downsize
22:00 - Getting investors out of single-family homes: The MURB plan

Research/Links
A Blueprint to Restore Homeownership for Young Canadians
https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/a-blueprint-to-restore-homeownership

The Quiet Death of the Investor Condo? MURBs May Change the Game
https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/the-quiet-death-of-the-investor-condo

How to get single family homes out of the hands of investors
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/this-is-how-the-government-can-get-single-family-homes-out-of-the-hands-of/article_0f92b0f4-e67e-4a84-aa62-2c9316492363.html

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.