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Old 05-30-2014, 08:35 AM
 
Location: Toronto, ON
564 posts, read 1,040,451 times
Reputation: 996

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Quote:
Originally Posted by BruSan View Post
A revolution in either country? Perhaps but not likely; lemmings are genetically predisposed to follow the leader.
History shows that people can be pushed to the breaking point, even ones lulled to sleep by celebrity news and other meaningless concerns. Elites have learned how to test the waters, i.e. they apply a bit of pressure and measure the result. Gas over $1? People freaked when it first happened, but they "primed" us and now we accept $1.35 without blinking.

People have been manipulated into taking on historically-high levels of debt, through the housing market and constant consumer agitation. Look at the mindless drones lined-up for the latest iPhone (even worse were the ones lined up for the Canadian opening of Target), or for the latest condo developments, where people swarm agents in feeding frenzies to buy $400,000+ concrete boxes, sight unseen. People exercise more caution when buying a gaming console than they do for some phantom development project. Millennials whine about being unable to afford houses or their student debt payments, yet have Coach bags, Canada Goose jackets, every iPad or iPhone under the sun, and take vacations to Cuba every winter, all on credit.

Costs of essentials are going up while incomes remain stagnant or decrease due to layoffs, lack of permanent full-time positions with benefits, etc. And many layoffs are not generated due to lack of work or reduced need for workers, but lack of profit for people who are already well-off. CEOs who are incompetent and trash the company are fired with $50 million packages. Bankers who scammed the entire financial network for billions and brought it to its knees ride off with more bags of taxpayer money and no criminal consequences, while Joe Small Business Owner or Susie Citizen gets bent over and reamed by the IRS or CRA for peanuts (relatively speaking).

Eventually, the tide can shift from apathy to anger. But they are very adept at keeping the pressure just enough so that we continue to work, consume, and pay taxes. Which is really our only purpose.
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Old 05-30-2014, 09:23 AM
 
1,706 posts, read 2,436,829 times
Reputation: 1037
Quote:
Originally Posted by botticelli View Post
on that I completely agree with you.

The financial industry is hijacking the economy. Banks are supposed to be intermediaries between investors/savers and companies in need of funds but turned into pure profitable driven, highly speculative monsters. I don't know why the financial sector pays so high that so many talented people who could otherwise excel in science and engineering turn to do finance and create paper wealth. This is really sad.

I sort of work in this area and I despise today's financial sector. Most of the "work“ really doesn't add much real value to the economy. They are just transferring money from one person to another ("clients").
That's right. Manufacturing used to be about 30% of the economy, and now it is down to single digits. And banking is up to over 10% of the GDP.

Financial sector pays high because it is a closed system and there are very few people who work and profit in this system. Moreover, you need to possess certain skills to even get into hedge fund or trading firms. About 30% of my graduating class went into hedge firms or trading firms: (a) plenty of jobs if you have the (rare) skill set, (b) pays very well.

But, playing devil's advocate for a moment - I think, it is a little too easy to blame everything on the banks. As if they alone, masterfully duped everyone and made a boat-load of money in the process. If you read Timothy Franz Geithner's (US Secretary of the Treasury under Obama, during the crisis) new book, you will note that the reasons behind the collapse were plentiful. And he makes the case that the "evil" double-derivates had very little to do with it.
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Old 01-18-2015, 07:58 AM
 
103 posts, read 100,694 times
Reputation: 82
It's not going to be in the wind. Because,Canadians never want to that. Canada is richer than U.S. of course in terms of the rate of natural resources/population what ı said. this is an important circumstance think about it.. I'm sorry, as for me if canada is Switzerland so US is Germany..
crowded,scary and in trouble-troublemaker!
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Old 03-07-2015, 01:28 PM
 
10,839 posts, read 14,724,552 times
Reputation: 7874
Quote:
Originally Posted by wannaskedaddle View Post
It's not going to be in the wind. Because,Canadians never want to that. Canada is richer than U.S. of course in terms of the rate of natural resources/population what ı said. this is an important circumstance think about it.. I'm sorry, as for me if canada is Switzerland so US is Germany..
crowded,scary and in trouble-troublemaker!
you analogy is senseless.
Switzerland has high income and higher per capita GDP than Germany. Maybe more like Austria vs. Germany
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Old 03-18-2015, 08:53 PM
 
615 posts, read 1,391,566 times
Reputation: 489
If Canada and the USA were to merge into one country, could Ottawa's infrastructure withstand the demands of all the support staff of nearly 4,000 MPs from sixty provinces?
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Old 03-19-2015, 01:09 AM
 
Location: Canada
14,735 posts, read 15,033,548 times
Reputation: 34871
Quote:
Originally Posted by 313 TUxedo View Post
If Canada and the USA were to merge into one country, could Ottawa's infrastructure withstand the demands of all the support staff of nearly 4,000 MPs from sixty provinces?
Well, maybe we could solve that problem by just making the lower 48 USA into one single province plus seven territories (Alaska & Hawaii plus USA's five presently populated territories) represented by a total of 55 MPs with each MP representing what was previously a state/territory.

.
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Old 03-19-2015, 09:10 AM
 
577 posts, read 1,475,667 times
Reputation: 532
If such merger happened, almost everyone from Canada would migrate to U.S. - for better weather to say the least.
To counteract such phenomenon, the Canadian government would then have to come up with incentives to encourage people to remain in Canada - such as cheaper housing, property taxes, lower income taxation environment and higher-paying jobs. This will be the "edge" enticing the people to stay.

But this will hardly happen - there are simply too many interests that have to be defended for the Canadian Feudal Lords - those who made exorbitant fortunes and not necessarily through hard work / fair play. There will be no incentive for them and the government puppets to become "competitive" in a more global "market place" and making the life of Canadian "peasants" more comfortable and attractive :-)
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Old 03-19-2015, 09:19 AM
 
Location: Canada
170 posts, read 182,369 times
Reputation: 221
Quote:
Originally Posted by smihaila View Post
If such merger happened, almost everyone from Canada would migrate to U.S. - for better weather to say the least.
To counteract such phenomenon, the Canadian government would then have to come up with incentives to encourage people to remain in Canada - such as cheaper housing, property taxes, lower income taxation environment and higher-paying jobs. This will be the "edge" enticing the people to stay.

But this will hardly happen - there are simply too many interests that have to be defended for the Canadian Feudal Lords - those who made exorbitant fortunes and not necessarily through hard work / fair play. There will be no incentive for them and the government puppets to become "competitive" in a more global "market place" and making the life of Canadian "peasants" more comfortable and attractive :-)
Good post.
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Old 03-19-2015, 09:54 AM
 
10,839 posts, read 14,724,552 times
Reputation: 7874
Quote:
Originally Posted by smihaila View Post
If such merger happened, almost everyone from Canada would migrate to U.S. - for better weather to say the least.

To counteract such phenomenon, the Canadian government would then have to come up with incentives to encourage people to remain in Canada - such as cheaper housing, property taxes, lower income taxation environment and higher-paying jobs. This will be the "edge" enticing the people to stay.

But this will hardly happen - there are simply too many interests that have to be defended for the Canadian Feudal Lords - those who made exorbitant fortunes and not necessarily through hard work / fair play. There will be no incentive for them and the government puppets to become "competitive" in a more global "market place" and making the life of Canadian "peasants" more comfortable and attractive :-)
I think it is pretty accurate.

My friends and I are often in this sad agreement: that in Canada Toronto seems to be the only city with barely acceptable weather and a solid economy and job market. There is simply no other alternatives. If the border does open up like the EU, I am guessing a massive number of people will move south - let's not even pretend Canada is so much better and people will stay no matter what. Maybe those with strong family ties will, but many won't.

I am not saying American cities are better - but weather really is a deal breaker. -4 degrees in Mid march?
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Old 03-19-2015, 09:56 AM
 
10,839 posts, read 14,724,552 times
Reputation: 7874
Quote:
Originally Posted by 313 TUxedo View Post
If Canada and the USA were to merge into one country, could Ottawa's infrastructure withstand the demands of all the support staff of nearly 4,000 MPs from sixty provinces?
if it were to happen, the city Ottawa will quickly decline into an unknown small town with no real jobs and economy, much like the Maritimes. Besides the Federal jobs, Ottawa has nothing to attract people.
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