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69cat

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  1. In a thread about white racist cops shooting black men and how race is a prime motivator it is interesting to note the police officer in the Castile shooting was not white therefore removing the racist component. However it is reported Castile was pulled over for investigation as he was thought to resemble someone wanted for armed robbery. Being that the suspect and Castile are both black this is apparently a police issue as Castile is being racially profiled. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/07/08/confirmed-philando-castile-was-an-armed-robbery-suspect-false-media-narrative-now-driving-cop-killings/ As others have said, wait for the facts to come in. But the police are muzzled as their facts must be kept for the investigation so that leaves all the others to make claims like white racist cop and outstanding black citizen with permitted weapon. No, dont wait for facts. Just spread a lot of speculation and accusations until 12 law enforcement officers are gunned down.
  2. Another antiquated idea is having the possibility of consequences after being caught performing an illegal act.
  3. Dont know how far you want to look msj for an article that you do not consider a conspiracy based source. While i find zero-hedge pessimistic i do find over the years that there are many articles there that are based on fact and reality. Whether or not we choose to accept them as such does not make the article conspiracy or non-conspiracy based. Here is another one that you can pre-determine whether it is a conspiracy based website. http://internationalbanker.com/banking/banking-rebuilding-system-bail-policy/ Of note in the above link is the fact that we have not heard much discussion of bail-in bonds as pondered by the G20 meetings but we have heard much about new legal structure so is it conspiracy thinking to beleive the bail-in bond idea has not received much traction but an alternative legal structure has, and if so who are the creditors that the G20 discussions are seeking out if not bond holders? "Whether there is a need to have specific bail-inable bonds or a new legal structure to permit a bail-in element of debt structuring will be discussed, while leaders put together a bail-in operation designed to bring stability and economic freedom to the global financial system."
  4. Scribblet, perhaps not a great link but some info to consider. https://pressfortruth.ca/top-stories/what-bail-means-why-you-shouldnt-hold-your-money-big-five-banks/ I do beleive a depositor in excess of $100,000 will be part of the bail in. I do not see it being any other way. Why else would one write legislation that would otherwise essentially say the banks owners are responsible for the bank. Perhaps in this messed up banking world it is otherwise possible for the owners to walk away. My guess is that bank owners will have away around the bail-in laws anyway, if your asset is a bank and it is bankrupt then what do you have to invest? The reality is that if bail-in is triggered then things are very bad and as the article notes, our insured deposits will likely cease to exist anyway. Of note in the article is the origin of the bail-in structure, it is not a Conservative or Liberal agenda and articles labelling it as such should be skipped.
  5. Good to know that in less than six years the GFC is already considered no big deal. It will make things much easier if Canadas economy really tanks in the next few years as it seems such an occurrence will essentially be a non-event when put in histotical context and we can be confident the Liberals wont go to the trough of tax payer money to inject it into the econony in such an event. Frankly i dont beleive this but certainly am left with this impression based on reading here so i can have some degree of optimism that there is no chance the deficit will increase beyond projections no matter what transpires.
  6. Agree with a lot of what you said dre about the budget discussion regarding partisan attacks and a meaningful discussion. I do get very tired of talk about debt/gdp ratio and more spending is ok, Keynesian Economics, the entire world is doing it etc. I dont care what the world is doing, what i care about is wasting $25B for nothing, and that the next government in power will add more to the deficit, and why not? Debt/gdp ratio is an arbitrary target number easily changed. So what if $25B becomes $50B in interest as it will be someone elses bill to deal with the next decade. I think people should be more fiscally responsible so as to not saddle my kids with debt that they did not ask for. To me that is responsible stewardship. The environmentalists demand it from our government but fiscal stewardship is meaningless. I agree Canada economy is not great, but what the Liberals announced is going to have next to no impact on that fact. People can dress it up how they want. The reality is that if Canada hits another key juncture like the GFC (which others are quick to point out as a bump in the road) then it would be in conjunction with other global issues. So if the GFC was a minor bump then the next will either be a minor bump or a huge one, in any case todays deficit spending will do nothing to prevent or avert it but if the government needs to go to the well for a huge cash injection then we are that much further behind to begin with. This budget tells me they expect everything will be AOK and have no plan if we hit a major recession that the world monetary policies may have set in motion since the GFC. If things get bad then hunkering down now is better than later. Lets hope it is all Sunny, but then why the deficits.
  7. I didnt delve into anything beyond this article but does not sound like anything as changed. As i understand it, laws were changed in the last few years in US and Canada to enact the bail in policy. In Canada we are insured of our savings up to $100,000 if a bank fails. Anything over that is taken by the bank and converted to shares, if the bank survives then you have a share with some value, if the bank still fails then you have nothing. Banks love to borrow money that have no backing of so this is a concern. Particularly for US residents as there are many smaller banks making riskier investments in such things as junior oil companies during peak times. People can dress the new deficit up how ever they want but the reality is the government is borrowing and spending more money than it takes in and therefore we will continue to piss away billions of dollars on interest rather than converting those dollars into something tangible. As dre points out, we see this problem with individuals borrowing and spending because interest is cheap so no better time to do so. This is what drives the economy and is why interest rates are where they are - this is by design. However to show concern for individual indebtness but give a passing mark to the government (federal and provincial) for doing the same is questionable. Yes consumers are in debt and it concerns me. Also our government is taking on more debt without a repayment plan so this concerns me as much as consumer fiscal plans.
  8. Regarding charger connectors, they are common place. 250A at 4160v 3 phase in a plug about 6" diameter and connected with multistrand conductor (look up "5/15kv jumper cable" if interested) is used everywhere in mines. A potash mine will have thousands of connectors in the 600v to 4160v range. Here is one manufacturer http://www.smsconnectors.com/high_voltage.htm I dont think 5 minute charging is practical. One hour would be fine and you need to adapt your schedule/lifestyle accordingly. If it is a road side stop then grab a coffee. The idea of these electric cars are that you are knowingly driving 120 km that day while the cars range is 200 km. If you need to travel further than expected then you use the road side charger or drive a hybrid instead of 100% EV if it is going to be necessary to wait one hour to routinely charge your vehicle.
  9. Series hybrid is the answer, i came across a bmw unit a few months ago that looked like the right idea. An electric motor drives the vehicle via the battery pack for a range of 160 km. A generator charges the battery when needed to extend range and can therefore be used to provide heating that would otherwise shorten your range in the winter. To go a step further one would need a storage battery at home you can charge with solar panels when at work during daytime so that at night you can plug your vehicle into this stored energy to charge your car. Electric cars dont help matters much if you plug in at night and have the electric utility generating power from natural gas, you may as well run natural gas in your car and skip the carbon footprint of manufacturing a hybrid. And then you need solar panels to run your house also otherwise one could argue why bother charging a battery during the day to charge your car off solar yet run your house off electricity from the utility. And so you start thinking about the area that solar panels should occupy on a urban house and it gets rather complicated. But on the farm i have room to spare and can consider these possibilities.
  10. Thanks Bonam, had no idea what rates were like south of the border. Though it looks like i would be buying quite a bit at your 12.9 c/kwh rate as in winter i have quite a bit of my bill over 16 kwh/day, probably another 200 kwh/day at the higher rate. Electric boiler and winter heating drives that.
  11. Whats a typical total kwh cost for people on here? Lots of talk on TOU and not factoring in delivery charges and such. Got my quarterly power bill and i am at 14.2 cents per kwh all in. Took the total paid (including taxes) to settle the bill and divide by kwh used during the billing period.
  12. What part of spending in relation to revenues requires explaination? You take in $1000 and have $1500 of tasks you want to invest in so you decide which of those get $1000 and drop the others. And better yet, when debt is 66% of gdp you go so far as to spend $900 and put $100 toward debt. Does one explain further that as you borrow to spend money now because you dont want to cut then you have no rational reason to ever stop using that ideology. This is correct yes? Borrow and spend when times are good, borrow and spend when times are mediocre, borrow and spend when times are bad - this is an accurate summary. So you bring up 2010 to 2014, it is your position that you DO NOT borrow and spend when times are bad. And so when the Libs and NDP threatened overthrow of the government in the really bad years you omitted because they demanded far more spending then they must have been way out of line then but now the Liberals are dead on target to borrow and spend because stimulus is not needed. And so we remind our selves of the Great Financial Crisis, if only it was a well enough known event to warrant remembering in history like the Great Depression, but actually it does have a name and Canada came through it well enough for Trudeau to say that because the CPC managed the country well the Libs are in a position to borrow and spend. So call it what it is, borrowing and spending because you are incapable of making decisions on where your income should be spent. So tell me smallc, what economic conditions do you see being ripe for paying down debt and with no need to decide how funds are split? Since my position makes little sense lets hear yours.
  13. The media needs to get that memo and stop using the term 'stimulus'. Because dropping that term is correct, and by doing so it simply becomes an issue of the government prioritizing its spending. Since stimulus is not required then 'infrastructure deficit' spending is balanced by cutting spending in other areas. No need to run deficits for a problem that does not exist. Now if the government is simply going to borrow and spend money because it does not want to cut anywhere then say it as such and quit using the term 'stimulus'.
  14. Lucky thing inflation rate dropped to 1.4% in Feb, down from 1.9% in Jan and stopping the rising trend. Bank of Canada targets 2% rate so things like high gas or lower $Can dollar would push inflation higher and BofC would be looking to boost interest rates to cool the economy to lower inflation while the government is running deficits to boost the economy. Looks like in todays world inflation rate is no longer an indicator of need for government stimulus.
  15. In Sask i am 12.6 cents/kwh for residential with a $29.19 basic monthly charge. No delivery charges or time of use or other such rates. Industrial customers are slightly less but are charged around $14/kva each month their peak demand is over 50 kva so this is comparable to a delivery charge.
  16. Water diversions are used for agriculture and that is not just cotton, you need to read more on what crops are grown on irrigated land, though it makes for a good story to claim the worlds fourth largest lake has shrunk growing solely cotton. Water diversion and water rights between US and Canada will once again become a hot topic like it was 20 to 30 years ago. Excessive rain fall in recent years has put that aside but we will hear about it again soon enough though this time labelled as the effects of "climate change" though the mechanisms remain the same. The issue of diverting water for agriculture is not solely an issue "over there" and has nothing to do with global warming either. People want their pretty flowers and strawberries and so these issues will exist whether or not fossil fuels are burned. As for CO2 used to improve plant growth it is probably fitting to reference a greenhouse study when discussing a greenhouse gas. http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/00-077.htm
  17. Global warming is not near the concern to food production than is the desire for people to develope land. Pipelines spewing toxic sludge upon rupture is far more desireable of an event than what we do yearly to build infrastructure. Losing 50 acres per hour for lifetimes in the US seems a lot to me if the numbers are reasonably accurate. https://www.farmland.org/our-work/areas-of-focus/farmland But lets all instead talk about the disaster that could ensue if a pipeline failed and those 10s of acres affected that would eventually be restored. As for CO2 fertilization and the Aral Sea i would think the agricultural production created by diverting the rivers that feed this sea and using that water to grow food is in fact benefiting from higher CO2. And to address a previous post that made a comment that using agricultural chemicals results in increased soil erosion i would like someone to explain this concept to me. We conserve and build soil by not performing tillage. Tillage removes the protective organic layer exposing soil to wind and water erosion. Having something growing all the time on the land builds soil.
  18. I think the first casualty of low oil will be the middle east powder keg. Authoritarian control, money and military keep the religous factions in check. If KSA runs short of money then it looses control and civil unrest tears that country apart. Which in turn takes supply of oil down. Perhaps they can borrow money to sustain their present social structure built on oil but i suspect civil unrest will come before north american production drops enough to impact world supply/use ratio first. The other unknown to me is how much oil companies have invested in Canadian oil. Reefer takes the position that over the years Alberta has given the oil away and that as soon as prices drop then all the development and production is abondoned. Perhaps this is true. Perhaps there has been actual investment to build the infrastructure when times are good and now that is in place those costs are removed and now it is only cost of production that needs to be addressed. As such production does not need to be abondoned as doomsayers say, only building and expanding the growth side is abadoned. Regardless, oil can go lower yet and i do not see a significant uptick to beyond say $60/bbl unless there is a significant change on the supply side. This could likely come from the middle east and not north america or other countries. I think demand will continue to drop based on my beleif we are heading to a global recession and not global prosperity.
  19. I always get a chuckle out of "climate change" talk, but lets call it what it really is, human caused global warming. Because anyone who lives on planet earth knows the climate is always changing therefore applying a term "climate change" has no value what so ever, except to generate more tax revenue. If one is concerned with AGW causing droughts or floods simply research average rainfall for the area in question for a 100 years or so and see if indeed AGW is affecting rainfall. A hint is that SW US (California and Texas) go through many drought cycles and can be found with a little searching, you may even find an interesting pattern. But i do beleive people still do not get enough food but not from lack of food grown elsewhere. Perhaps populations will eventually adapt to finite resources however government increasingly helping those who can not help themselves does not let that priciple take effect. The Warren Buffet comments do point to a beleif but fundamentally i beleive there is only so much a consumer can aspire to obtain. At some point the average consumer is going to say "i have enough, i do not need anymore". That is true for me anyway. Is it acceptable that the new goal should be for everyone to own a second vacation home and all that comes with just to keep gdp growing? 1% growth per year and when my kids are 50 (40 years from now) is it necessary they own their dream home plus vacation home be the standard simply to continue gdp growth? I think not. I expect my kids at some point to say they have a good life and not pursue further material possessions. Perhaps travel more though, or not, it will be their choice. But the government should not pencil in a yearly rise in gdp indefinitely just because it is mandatory to service debt and spending.
  20. You can add Enbridge line 3 replacement as another on hold now http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/01/29/news/enbridge-line-3-pipeline-could-be-next-face-tougher-scrutiny I have some pictures of a pile of pipe the size of a football field out at Loreburn, sk and drove by another at Craik, sk. All the electrical buildings are built, pumps and motors (3@5750 hp at each site) are all bought too. When i was on site Wednesday the Enbridge employee said an announcement was made that day that the job will be on hold till 2019. It was obviously going to start going in the ground this spring. JT will have lots of time to get his social license in place, just in time for the next election. So the Harper government did do all it could to get Line 3 done and Line 67 (Alberta Clipper) was also built in the last few years and fully operational now.
  21. In away we have shorted the grain markets msj as bins are emptied once again except for a bunch of canary seed that has been on farm for 5 years now, that stuff has not moved in price for about that same period. More typical to sit on grain and wait for price bump over 6 to 24 months but not this time around. But i would not say farmers are pessimistic. Land values in recent years and amount of new equipment bought would say otherwise. I would say farmers are typically more optomistic than the average Joe as there is always "next year" to make things better on the farm. However much a farmer is isolated from world economic cycles the reality is that when commodities go down then ALL go down including grain. The optomistic farmers are the guys buying land right now under the assumption that the market owes them a profit and that people always need food so somehow grains will remain high. If that were true i should by land right now and maintain the optomistic view that things will always be better and land is an investment regardless of price. But i simply cant have that degree of optomism. This all comes back to original post. If economic growth is not slowing down then certainly one needs to be optomistic. I think that a long term trend in the US of borrowing money to keep generating GDP does not say good things. Canada with balanced budgets would speak positively but we are not going to see positive cash flow for many years so being optomistic does not fit the reality. The consumer driving the economy may be valid but when it is the government giving the consumer the money then it is not valid. Economic prosperity comes from the consumer generating his own wealth to spend in the economy. Therefore if the consumer is not generating new wealth on his own and has bought all the things needed to live a comfortable lifestyle (reference to ever increasing standard of living that will eventually and likely has levelled off) then i expect economic growth to slow down as a matter of fact. And government needs to accept this at some point.
  22. Sharkman, i am very sure Obama understands the numbers, so does the majority of the population and so we have a net pessimistic outlook on the US economy. And so it is up to the propoganda machines to keep using the "unemployment" rate in attempts to boost some confidence. And so government now turns to GDP numbers to support their positive economic outlook, but that number is bs too. The US and the Liberals turn to GDP data to support their positions. Thing is that the government can easily boost GDP as we are seeing right now, Liberal claim is Canada GDP is 1.4% and want 2% growth so we need stimulus spending to raise GDP. Lets see now, 0.6% growth on $2000B is $12B, so JT proposed to run a deficit around $18B. Who here does not think we wont see an increase in Canadas GDP and reach target if all things remain equal this year? Similarily the US is borrowing a ton of money each year, but hey, GDP is looking ok as a result so can borrow more again because GDP is growing year after year. The question of financial illiteracy comes up. As a side note, i am a right winger and i am a farmer and also worked full time and was part owner of a company, so fiscal responsibility is a big thing for me - just the way i am wired. But it is interesting how rural parts of Canada are talked of in unfavourable terms because they tend to vote right wing. But when a large percent of rural people are independent business owners and less likely to suffer from financial illiteracy is it any wonder they vote the way they do? Spending tax payer money simply to raise GDP does not make sense to me. And people can call it an "investment" all they want but i prefer seeing it for what it is. If Canada wants to make an "investment" in infrastructure i suggest we build another rail line to the west coast complete with right away for a highway and a pipeline. That would be an investment worth borrowing for that my kids will benefit from. Majority of infrastructure work being discussed these days is not an investment, it is maintenance and expenditures, an investment pencils out with a ROI.
  23. Wasnt attemting to test your knowledge of farmland msj, meant it as a point that sometimes one has to go with what he thinks based on info at hand. I dont disagree with what you are saying about the emerging markets as that is why i (wife) do have money going into investments right now. I have an investment management company doing these things and they are focused in emerging markets and Europe, next to nothing for Canadian small cap, some Canadian large Cap and some US but not a lot. I used to buy stocks on my own but got too personally involved and never made some trades i should of. I understand it is not easy to do but certainly dont discourage someone from doing it. Some days i think i should buy some stocks on my own right now but will stick with what i learned previously in that regard and let someone else do that for me. I simply try to keep up on trends and make some larger money management decisions. As to Reefer, yes i dont agree with the measurements used. I think that speaks to my underlying thinking that parties do not necessarily do what is best for the country. Instead they latch onto a statistic that they can use to defend their spending. I personally dont think we need deficits right now but that is a topic discussed in other threads so lets not drag that up. But it speaks to your point on focus on gdp and my point on winning voter favor. Regarding numbers, i am sure everyone knows about unemployment numbers, but if not here is a short primer. COSTELLO: I want to talk about the unemployment rate in America. ABBOTT: Good Subject. Terrible Times. It’s 5.6%. COSTELLO: That many people are out of work? ABBOTT: No, that’s 23%. COSTELLO: You just said 5.6%. ABBOTT: 5.6% Unemployed. COSTELLO: Right 5.6% out of work. ABBOTT: No, that’s 23%. COSTELLO: Okay, so it’s 23% unemployed. ABBOTT: No, that’s 5.6%. COSTELLO: WAIT A MINUTE. Is it 5.6% or 23%? ABBOTT: 5.6% are unemployed. 23% are out of work. COSTELLO: If you are out of work you are unemployed. ABBOTT: No, Obama said you can’t count the “Out of Work” as the unemployed. You have to look for work to be unemployed. COSTELLO: BUT THEY ARE OUT OF WORK!!! ABBOTT: No, you miss his point. COSTELLO: What point? ABBOTT: Someone who doesn’t look for work can’t be counted with those who look for work. It wouldn’t be fair. COSTELLO: To whom? ABBOTT: The unemployed. COSTELLO: But ALL of them are out of work. ABBOTT: No, the unemployed are actively looking for work. Those who are out of work gave up looking and if you give up, you are no longer in the ranks of the unemployed. COSTELLO: So if you’re off the unemployment roles that would count as less unemployment? ABBOTT: Unemployment would go down. Absolutely! COSTELLO: The unemployment just goes down because you don’t look for work? ABBOTT: Absolutely it goes down. That’s how it gets to 5.6%. Otherwise it would be 23%. COSTELLO: Wait, I got a question for you. That means there are two ways to bring down the unemployment number? ABBOTT: Two ways is correct. COSTELLO: Unemployment can go down if someone gets a job? ABBOTT: Correct. COSTELLO: And unemployment can also go down if you stop looking for a job? ABBOTT: Bingo. COSTELLO: So there are two ways to bring unemployment down, and the easier of the two is to have people stop looking for work. ABBOTT: Now you’re thinking like a Democrat. COSTELLO: I don’t even know what the hell I just said! ABBOTT: Now you’re thinking like Hillary.
  24. Some good posts made. To eyeball re government oversight, i think your post is valid but there is no proper solution. We elect people to govern on our behalf as i do not ever expect each voter to be knowledgeable on every subject to provide an informed vote. In a similar fashion i oppose mandatory voting. Therefore the system fails when the government does not govern in the best interest of the country but rather creates a system where the govering party tends to govern based on what is best for its own popularity instead. For that i think deficit budgets should be illegal unless voted on by all parties, history would indicate in 2008 the opposition was certainly pushing for deficits and the CPC caved in so agreement is arguably obtained. Otherwise deficits are most often seen as winning popularity rather than good governance. To msj, yes timing the market is only possible in hindsight by myself but i still need to go with my gut. For instance your suggestion would also have me buying farmland when it is at an all time high because eventually it will be worth more some day. Dad did that in 1980 and it took 28 years to fulfill that idea, i am getting too old for that. However i do agree with what you say in principle, and even though markets may go down there are good buys right now that should hold value even if we see a significant downturn. I have my wife putting money into her investment account last week and i will be putting some in next month. I have much more i can invest but am sitting back with it to see how things play out going into summer. There are buys out there but also much uncertainty. Watching a few things over the next couple months will give me another indication of whether i will invest a little more then or sit on sidelines a bit longer. For right or wrong i have some things that i watch before i simply put money in because i have it. I should add i have not pulled out a dime of all my previous investments so am also invested for the long run too.
  25. Its all just opinion, one persons opinion may tell me a new place to look for further reading. As to eyeballs opinion on capitalism failing, i see it as government control and a multitude of bad decisions by government to regulate far too many aspects of daily life that leads to the system failing - but that is just my opinion. For instance i would like most all subsidies removed aside from those with a strong indication the investment will pay off. Too big to fail has its limits. The government always there to bail out a company does not lead to a strong company, economy or government. Yes Bonan, i understand the aspects of NIRP you mention. It is the tinfoil hat people that talk of getting paid to borrow money. I should say people are subsidized to borrow money meaning the savers will provide the stability to the banks as we savers bail into the system so the banks can lend more money to those of questionable ability to manage their money. The thing with NIRP is that this does very much create a bubble. We see it right now with low interest rates and high stockmarket valuations and can look at low mortgage down payments as another indicator. It is not hard to find companies that have borrowed money to buy back stocks or pay dividends. This works if everything keeps going upwards. And NIRP is another attempt to keep things climbing higher and therefore investing in stocks is a good idea if one is bullish. Myself, i dont see artificially inflated stock values as being a good investment. To get back on topic, yes i think economic growth is slowing and NIRP should be a sure sign of that in my opinion. We need to let the natural laws of the free market take over instead of feeding more and more money in to avoid a recession/depression. However governments want to be in power so they will continue to feed the system with every tool they have to work with in hopes to keep voter approval ratings up. So we have an entire society expecting government intervention at each turn, this is includes the workers, business owners and the financial sector. Yes, the system may be failing and there is a good reason for it. Maybe now is a goodtime to put some of my savings into the stock market but i am going to hold off. I really hope there is a greater devaluation coming and a recession as i see that as the better alternative to more investment right now that continues to over inflate the markets. Get the pain over with and then move forward.
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