Thinkinoutsidethebox

That's not what I meant, his personal goals are building wealth and power, to that end he's an overwhelming success.

A LOT more than you and the press admit, he doesn't win all his battles but he's getting richer and he is president...

"In Trump's opinion", or what he implies anyway. You'll see what I mean...

If Trump gets his way that'll be outlawed as well...

I thought I'd give it a shot , I can't believe so many didn't see Trump's election victories coming. We are in the calm before the storm, as you should be able to see Trump isn't going to sit on his laurels. Making deals is what he claims is his specialty. Oh! And #4, this deal is going to go on well past the deadline if Canada and Mexico stand our ground... We have allot to lose, taking on Trump is going to cost us dearly if our politicians think they can win. It's starting already, our only hope is American law holding him up until he eventually leaves office.

Out here probably a mushroom cloud over the city about a hundred miles from us

I'm surprised there has been no threads on this topic yet so I thought I'd start the pot boiling So far we are a couple meetings into negotiations and all has been eerily quiet from the American side, Canada is confident, Mexico is confident , Canada/Mexico have sort of a preliminary agreement started, everything is calm. Here's what I think is going to happen... 1. Trump is suddenly going to find the time to participate and he is going to blow the whole deal wide open and everyone is going to have to start from square one 2. Chrystia Freeland will go from being a respected foreign diplomat to the lowest form of life on earth faster than feminists can scream MISOGYNIST!!!!! in Trump's opinion when she starts standing up to him. After her reaction to the Belgian state of Walloon during the CETA giveaway this will be a thousand times worse., I wouldn't be surprised she quits politics over this. 3. From what I've seen of Trudeau's track record so far it wouldn't be a stretch we are singing the American national anthem when the smoke clears.

Oh oh ... My son has a truck exactly as you describe, including the Metal Mullisha and Coal Rollers stickers. The black smoke is produced from oversized injectors, it's the over pushing of the throttle that produces the smoke. It's funny really as he is one of the more polite and courteous drivers out there and would sooner push his truck past a cyclist then blow smoke at them. His daily runner is a '97 escort On topic though, what the cyclist was dangerous all right. If I was the driver of the car I'd probably shut it off, relax and let him/her get it out of their system, done it a couple times in other situations and it doesn't take long. I'm a relaxed driver and traffic doesn't bother me.

So just turn Europe into an aging population? That'll fix it

Doesn't matter, somehow the country you're exporting to has to recover their trade deficit with Canada. Reminds me of Harper doing the deal with the EU and coming home claiming it was going to benefit Canada to the tune of 21 billion dollars. Were the EU politicians going around saying they just negotiated a deal that would give Canada 21 billion dollars? I'd think that would shorten their political careers considerably. Only beneficiaries I see in these deals is the transportation industry (guess what that does to the environment...). Intellectual property is a good export commodity as it doesn't contribute to environmental problems.

You're right, it is ridiculous, it would take a group of the elite to make this work. The problem with these individuals getting this rich and powerful is lower class human beings become dispensable. And god knows how they contribute to world turmoil in the name of profit. http://listverse.com/2014/02/14/10-shocking-ways-the-west-abuses-developing-countries/ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/26/legal-aid-bill-exploit-poor and locally is this happening? https://worldmercuryproject.org/mercury-vaccines-cdcs-worst-nightmare/ then there's ag in the third world https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/jun/24/gm-crops-african-farmers or the wars in the middle east http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-hartung/who-will-profit-from-the_b_5915794.html Is it so ridiculous?

Not average, up to, according to this http://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/taxes/heres-what-the-wealthiest-of-the-wealthy-in-canada-earn-and-pay-in-taxes and you're correct about the exemption. I stand corrected... You're missing the fact that we have to import something of equal value to replace what you exported, so in reality we are paying your income. I wasn't discussing provincial taxes. They do use police, health care, drive the roads, and many other services...

Kinda wandered off Following the money does bring some logical conclusions though. It's interesting billionaires are exempt from the "terrorist act" restriction in their insurance contracts, they can even claim double losses if they can convince the insurance companies it was two attacks http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/silverstein.html

Problem is they fix one loophole they create another. Simplicity is the solution. And capitalism is a problem if it's not kept in check, there needs to be limits...

Okay, the top ten percent earned about 35% (starting $134,900) of everyone's total income and payed about 54% in taxes (tax rates 26% to 142,353, 29% to 202,800 then 33% on up). http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html The bottom 50% earned under $15,300 and payed 15% on that income. So a little math shows at $134,900 taxes paid are $35,074 so that leaves them with $99,826. Living within their means they should do reasonably well. At $15,300 they are paying $2,295 in taxes leaving $13,005 or $1083.75 a month to put a roof over their heads, feed and clothe themselves and their families. Remember there is also provincial taxes GST and others. Another thing is you have to remember the wealthy don't "create" their wealth, it's given to them by each and every one of us. You could say they did earn it but they definitely did not create it. The tax is capped at 30% so you earn ten million, you get to keep seven million. You can also talk about how they "sacrifice" to get where they are, you forget they can stop anytime? They have choices. Another thing, the wealthy use government services like everybody else.

Does Ontario build their own wind generators, solar panels, batteries and such? Why or why not?

Different systems of government are contributing world turmoil, dictatorships are the "free" world's latest enemy.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jan/14/aid-in-reverse-how-poor-countries-develop-rich-countries Some interesting points here... https://emergenteconomics.com/2014/02/24/21-things-they-never-tell-you-about-poor-countries/ Also allot of these countries were doing just fine before people from the "developed" world showed up, we need to realize money wasn't the only factor in quality of life until we made it so. Watch this video then consider something http://www.foodmatters.com/article/14-year-old-girl-schools-kevin-oleary-on-gmos . If we hadn't gone over there and talked these people into monocropping with promises of wealth they would still have a stable diet of the variety of foods they used to grow. Now Kevin O'leary claims we need a GMO rice so they get enough vitamin A. You'd be happy going from a multi food diet to a monofood diet just to stay alive?

Call it what you like, every big corporation and wealthy individual is benefiting from loopholes in a tax system that's made like swiss cheese. Just last month we have the latest tax avoidance scam http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/kpmg-offshore-sham-1.4006469 it's completely legal and the government is completely happy to let these people do this until they are emberrassed by the public finding out. They will work to fill these holes only to open more, meanwhile, guess who's replacing the lost revenue. You can have two individuals living and working side by side earning exactly the same income, one has no interest in the tax system and the other is completely fascinated by it and studies it and loves to find ways to avoid taxes or they are equal but one has an accountant that just pushes them through while the other puts way more energy into their client's tax situation or even happened to hear of a loophole the other hadn't etc. Taxes should be simple, fair and transparent. As you say socialism and communism aren't the ideal system but it's where we are headed and acceptance of runaway greed in our capitalist system is at the head of the train.

Funny how that works eh? Let's tax CO2 emissions and in the same sentence let's double petroleum output... Reducing emissions and carbon output is so far on the back burner they couldn't reach it with a crane.

911 is an interesting event to observe from a distance, it happened while the Republicans were in charge, many that call themselves Republicans bought the official story hook line and sinker, everything Obama did was wrong or some sort of conspiracy, 3000 Americans get killed by some lunatics from the middle east , seven buildings from the same organisation were all destroyed and no questions asked... Silverstein probably hadn't made the first payment on his investment and collected something like 4.6 billion. I guess the majority of people that call themselves Democrats also bought it. We the people are all being led into a society that will become slaves to the wealthy and machines, think about it, look around you, how many have their heads buried in their buried in their gadgets, we are being led, followed and observed and we are all perfectly happy to allow this. Maybe it's for the best...

That's an interesting phenomenon, anybody think to figure out why this is? Maybe it's time to figure out why we a raising a population that is not willing, educated, experienced or ambitious enough to be self starters...

"Well oiled machine" as in we shouldn't be increasing our deficit and begging other countries to trade with us, exporting services and importing people to replace people we are paying too much to work efficiently (apparently). And where are we headed? Statistics show we are doing okay right now, but every day the middle class are taking more and more of the burden propping the poor and the wealthy. Ever think why people are killing themselves with opioids? My argument is we shouldn't be plunking people down in front of a TV if they can't find work, we are creating a time bomb if we don't give everyone a reason to live. And I mean everybody, able bodied or not, let's give them experience, education, a reason to get up in the morning. People can work from home, from a wheelchair etc. They can input data, digitize literature, cleanup and mow in parks and public places and so on. And this should start in our teens.

You're 100% correct, problem is we are giving them their wealth and power on a silver platter. It's too bad and probably too late... I've debated this with people on other forums and many just don't see it. They are perfectly happy to subsidize the wealthy and let them run our lives, I can't believe it. I've been called a lefty, democrat, communist, socialist (even a chinese Marxist LOL) when they run out of reasons our world shouldn't be allot more equal and fair. There is no reason individuals and corporations should have more net worth then smaller states and even countries and then put in positions of power. Everybody says Kim Jong Un is a power crazed leader impoverishing the people in his country, we don't have to look far to see the western world has impoverished far more than 25 million people. This is a huge case of pot calling the kettle black.

Happens all the time, remember our "leaders" are getting compensated handsomely for making these deals also. I wouldn't be surprised Trump has more integrity then these people.