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I've been saying this on this forum for awhile now that monetary policy and central banking is overwhelmingly complex beyond the average perception. Explaining it is hard because unless you also have the foundational economic knowledge to understand the terminology and relationships, it's going to seem hopelessly esoteric and complex. The number of people who are actually going to read (or listen to) an essay on it to get even a basic grasp are few, so as a popular media/discussion topic you end up with little but oversimplified and/or grossly inaccurate summaries/narratives that mostly confuse people. This has made for fertile ground for negativity, with central bankers around the world under mountains of criticism from folk who (at best) have no idea what they're talking about, but also those that do understand but see it as a useful political whipping boy. The reason I made this thread was a timely article in the CBC (I know - reee MSM fake news), where the author points out the challenges explaining this to the average layfolk and references the Deputy BoC Governor's attempts to make policy decisions more accessible. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/inflation-interest-rates-column-don-pittis-1.6660112 The CD Howe Institute also had some interesting takes on how silly the politicization of monetary policy has become, but my favorite quote from the article was the comparison to "Doing Your Own Brain Surgery". Most people would defer to the medical experts on this and can understand the obvious implications of mucking around as noobs, but because it's not so obvious or visible, they have trouble doing the same for monetary policy despite relatively similar levels of complexity. I've done some crypto investing over the last couple years and made a lot of money off it, but it's been very much a Greater Fools game where I ride a delusional hype train and bail long before whatever sh*tcoin I'm buying inevitably steams off a cliff. Central to the delusions of crypto bros and moonbois has been the theory that central banks were steering us towards hyperinflation and the imminent collapse of sovereign fiat currencies (pushed heavily in 2021). These theories have predictably played out as false and crypto market caps have been devastated since Nov 2021, but the narrative that central banks are just printing piles of cash out on their money machines and using it to prop up their governments persists anyways. Many of these folk sit at their computers reading charts that don't tell them what they think they do, and sharing tweets and blogs that reinforce their narrative, but all they're doing is reinforcing their poor decision making. The TLDR of this post, I think, is that people often don't know what they don't know. Convincing yourself that you're capable of proficiency in deeply complex subjects that usually require years of formal education and/or practical experience is unwise. I'm guilty of it sometimes and try as much as I can to recognize when it happens, but that's unfortunately sometimes long after the fact. We don't have to blindly defer to authority, but at the same time we should be acknowledging that on many subjects, we're not really capable of commenting fairly or intelligently. That's not because we're stupid. It's because we have no idea what we're talking about and because spending our after-hours prowling the interweb is not going to solve that. Sometimes, we have to let the experts be the experts.

White people are 100% responsible for slavery in the Americas. Africans didn't force them to bring ships over and buy slaves.

Of all the rights available to our American neighbours, why is the right to bare arms the one that seems to be so sacred. Perhaps it is just the forums I lurk in but it seems to me that gun rights seem to outweigh the right to free speech, freedom of religion or a free press. In the eighteenth century, firearms were a necessity for getting food and making up for an eastablished constabulary. Now, the US has lots of supermarkets and more police agencies than you can shake a stick at.

Do I honestly have to explain the concept of an analogy? I think it was pretty clear, but okay. The point is that just because someone (or someones) was not the first person to do something bad does not mean they bear any less guilt for the action. Hitler didn't invent genocide, but he's still an awful, evil guy. We don't need an article about how Hitler was just a man of his time. Literally everyone knows that slavery existed prior to the colonization of North America. It's about as useful as posting that the sky is blue. The problem is why those stories are written and the implications of posting it. The intention is to minimize and excuse the culpability of early Americans in what was a fundamentally heinous evil at the very core of how this country was formed--an original sin that has lingered all the way to the present day. We may not have slavery anymore, but we still live with the effects. Minimizing that history is wrong. It's part of that evil. It's the same sad series excuses that many slave owners made. "Everybody else is doing it!" George Washington knew and went on record about the evils of slavery, but he didn't free his slaves until after his death. That's commendable in one sense. But why would he wait until his death? Because doing what he knew to be wrong afforded him a lavish lifestyle. The fact that it was customary and his friends and peers owned slaves didn't excuse his ownership, particularly when he knew what was right. We (nearly) all know that slavery is wrong now. We shouldn't be making any excuses for that history. It was always wrong, whether other people were doing it or not.

There is no product if there is no customer. Without addicts there are no drug dealers. Without transportation, there is no oil industry. African slave traders were filling a demand. It's called capitalism. Africans were not forcing anyone to buy slaves.

This takes the cake for stupid, disconnected from reality statements.

Whatever. More likely I'll be the victim of zealots who use a god to justify doing whatever they want.

I none the less predict that God will prevail in the end and His wrath will brought down upon the likes of you therein

I posted an article in a status update that addresses many of your arguments in this thread and also addresses why certain people are unable to understand what you're talking about. Don't know if you saw the link, just wanted to bring it to your attention if you didn't.

highway of heroes

And surgeons pretend that brain surgery is too complex for the average Joe to do so they can keep making scads of money.

And then Americans adopted the practice.

Thank you

It's a question for academics mostly. What does it mean to us today ? We have inherited a set of problems. The important thing is how WE behave and how WE make things better for our country. Academic discussions are not a good fit for public discussion IMO

https://news.yahoo.com/zelensky-nationalizes-tv-news-restricts-173820471.html

Hmmm... Vindication is important...both socially and politically. Legally...I don't know, I'm not a lawyer. But there must be some sort of 'abuse of power' charge to be used? Not that the RCMP, who's already let Pixie-Dust off the hook once, would execute any such charges. Your second point is true. There really is no way to say for sure if the vaxx was effective. However, there does appear to be a way of saying the vaxx was a detriment to human immune systems. That would fall under the heading of "bad results". I don't know why so many people refused to take it. I know I didn't want to. I know I didn't want my kids to take it. I might have to chalk that one up to "instinct". None of 'The Great Vaccine Project' made any rational sense to me. This bug gets loose...from China. Trump watches his wonderful economic success go south. He spares nothing to get the major pharmaceuticals to develop a vaccine...a cure...a pill...hell anything to end this panic. It comes out...and the Libbies adopt it like it was a baby they'd all given collective birth to. And that's when every bone in my body said, 'This is not good'. The level of pressure put on the public to take the vaxx was...way over the top and created a real division in the public. And my instincts were screaming at me, 'Don't do this! And DON'T let you kids do it!'. Now...as it turns out...we don't really know if the vaxx helped anyone deal with the dreaded Rona, but we do know there are some interesting negative results from it. Both physically AND socially. Just reading you, West and WestCanMan argue is proof of the social effects. And there's something else... Are we eventually gonna find out we pumped all our kids with anti-baby serum? I know that sounds a little fantastical but, I want grandchildren. Lots of 'em. Flyer...one day your going to be sitting in a bar or a caffe and you'll over hear someone exclaim, 'But how were we to know?' We reacted to a bug that hardly shows a tick on the global death rate...poorly.

Chicken or egg? Nonsense. Like saying it's not your fault for banging trafficked girls at a seedy brothel. "Well they were there, someone had to bang 'em!"

Hey, liar, that's not quote from me, no matter how you spell my user name. And this is an absurd argument to make. Jeffrey Dahmer didn't invent cannibalism, but it doesn't mean he's blameless, absolved of the evil of his actions. America bears the sins of its origins build on the bloodied, brutalized backs of the slave population whether other peoples were guilty of the same or not. And from a purely economic perspective, there is no market without demand.

Like a child yelling out at the schoolyard "but what about you"... Will you now hold your breath and stamp your feet?

You have a recording of this conversation?

Hey, if facts are uncomfortable for you, too bad. They're still facts.

So you're doubling down on your simpleton PRETENSE that there was ONLY ONE REASON. Thanks for demonstrating YOU don't have the education to understand why that's wrong. Americans WHO BOUGHT slaves ARE TO BLAME. Only an id iot would deny HALF of the responsibility. RACIST DEMOCRATS in the South WERE WHITE Americans. You should think before clicking "Submit." Perpetrating the slave trade is JUST AS EVIL as STARTING IT despite your PATHETIC DEFLECTION.

Your quote does NOT prove a lie. The thread title is a FACT, which is backed up by reliable sources. Educated people know this. Just because you're a simpleton who tries to blame ONE reason, does NOT mean there were not MANY MORE. You're the bat guano for brains who blames Americans for slavery. The American Southern racists did NOT fight "a bloody CIVIL WAR" to end slavery, they fought to KEEP their slaves. DUH. You really are pathetic. I said WHITE AMERICANS fought a bloody civil war to end slavery. That part is history. Maybe before you dropped out of the third grade you should have read at least ONE history book. Yes, RACIST DEMOCRATS in the South fought to maintain their slaves. They then gave us Jim Crow, the welfare state and a destroyed black family unit. For purposes of this thread. (since you people have difficulty sticking to the subject of the thread) Americans did NOT start the slave trade. That part has been proven.

It doesn't matter WHO captured the slaves, and that DOES NOT justify Americans buying and abusing them.

The Crack has damaged your memory. Woke cretins here are DENYING that Africans sold themselves into slavery. They called me a racist for bringing it up, even though I had reliable links.

I'm asking what point your trying to make. Your just repeating known history and acting like you've discovered something new. It's infantile and moronic.

QQ, how many "debate" forums have you been banned from for being a useless, vulgar, dishonest troll? My money is on 4. I think we should get a pool going.

You mean the article from the BBC that you posted in another thread - the one that says nothing at all about Trump working as a construction laborer, but does mention that he got million dollar loan and cushy job from daddy after college? Mr Trump says he got into real estate with a "small" $1m loan from his father before joining the company. He helped manage his father's extensive portfolio of residential housing projects in the New York City boroughs, and took control of the company - which he renamed the Trump Organization - in 1971. You are just comically foolish. Now I have to cite your own post back to you. It's too much.? Also love that you're on record that BBC is a reliable source. You're correct (for once). They are a reliable source. I'm sure they'll be honored to have ascended in your esteem to the level of Pinterest posts and opinion pieces and other sources you respect. ETA: There is no secrecy here and no controversial history. Trump's dad gave him millions of dollars, bailed out his dumb son's failed businesses over and over again and left him the company--the hotel and casino portion which Trump developed and subsequently bankrupted FOUR TIMES. If Trump hadn't been born into extreme wealth he'd be a wildly successful used car salesman, still full of sh*t and full of himself. That's not really fair to used car salesmen, actually. Some of them are decent people.

McKenzie Intelligence Services is quite real. And they're very pro-war and very pro-NATO...and pro-Nazi it would appear. Just like yourself.

Yeah. The MSM reported something convenient for you so you suddenly believe them just this one time after all the time claiming the MSM is just a Ukrainian/Nato/Biden /Nazi propaganda machine Explain yourself

The amount of propaganda in this thread is breathtaking. It really is true, the very first casualty in any war is the truth. What did Churchill say again about the truth? "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."

What are you contesting? There was undoubtedly a crowd that gave a standing ovation, but it wasn't the whole crowd and plenty have voiced their displeasure about both the speech and the ovation. They didn't list who applauded it either, so I don't really see what's strange about this. Are we supposed to tally up the yays and the nays to determine who's right? ? I don't think the Minister's opinion is remarkable. She's going to parrot Trudeau, so we can ignore her, but Jennie Carignan's voice matters and she undoubtedly has the support of Eyre and others in the upper leadership, else she'd have said nothing. It's not just the brass either. I can't remember the guy's name but I'm sure I could find it, but some colonel working with NATO in Europe was tweeting the speech was disgraceful or something to that effect. Of course it was his opinion, just like you're giving your opinion and I'm giving mine. What I thought was interesting was how closely Scott's feelings matched my own.

Sounds like the infamous nazi flag guy was a paid liberal activist afterall

ExcessiveFlatulence . . . . always standing tall for Trudeau.

Nope, this is WEF directive intended to enslave us. Baaaa!

Don't worry everything's encoded into your chip.

As I read this letter WestConMan is whining about the school and health district vaccination status and is not about COVID anyway. It is about all childhood vaccinations status. His COVID paranoia runs rampant again LOL Some school boards in this country will not allow student that do not have their childhood vaccinations. This is a public health issue that protects our children.

Trump was not a laborer, lol. You cannot seriously believe that. His daddy gave him millions of dollars, a cushy job in the family business and a silver spoon--exactly like Trump did for his own children. If Donald Trump HAD ever worked as a construction laborer (I can't even type it with a straight face) then he wouldn't have become notorious for cheating honest laborers out of their hard-earned wages. Those pudgy little baby-soft hands have never touched a shovel handle for more than a ceremonial groundbreaking. All mansions and private schools and limousines for little Donald.

This is a comical claim. Donald came from, and enjoyed all the trappings of extreme wealth. His father financed everything from his full education, to bankrolling his early endeavors. A far cry from the "self made man" that you falsely claim.

Wrong. It means the whole country is interested, which means that you were 100% wrong when you were saying that it was foolish to talk about it. Again, you need to grow up. You approve of forcing people to take a vax they don't need, and the gesundheitspass, which is the height of short-sightedness/fascism. You need to try to be a better person. Your acceptance of insane gov't overreach is duly noted, again. Nothing that you're saying here is intelligent, or acceptable within a free country. In the future, when you wonder wtf made people go along with Adolf Hitler, look in a mirror. The Nazi chumps that you are disgusted by look exactly like you - on the inside.

Poor assertion. Hear both of them speak, listen to what they say, you and I don't need letters behind our names to discern which one has the smarts. You could have degrees and letters coming out your ying-yang and still have your shoes on the wrong feet.

A common misconception to confuse the volume of propaganda with the number of meaningful answers. Have you seen many intelligent analyses comparing different policies, including many successful ones and justifying more hectic, heavyhanded and restrictive policies?

so be it I don't concern myself with that which is beyond my control

Virtually every human institution on the planet is dysfunctional right now. He received a standing ovation from senior military officers in attendance. Perhaps the problem is that there are to many conservatives bloating the military establishment in Canada. That seems contradictory given how much conservatives like to pride themselves on trimming bloat to both save money and increase efficiency.