August1991

I disagree. But even if you are correct, we're back to 1815. We need a new order of peace - Kissinger, Nixon style

Maybe this explains his writings in the 1930s. But we are not in the 1930s. We are in the 1910s.

Winston Churchill was born in 1874 - about 60 years after the Napoleonic wars. Millenials, people born some 60 years after 1945, are like Churchill. Churchill was a war monger in spring/summer 1914. https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/did-churchill-want-world-war-i/ ===== Modern American politicians remember Churchill as a lone guy who, in the 1930s, stood against Hitler. In the middle of the disastrous three decades after 1914, Churchill was correct. This current world of the 2020s is not like the 1930s. We are not in the middle of a maelstrom. Rather, we are living in a world like the 1910s. We have had decades of peace, few remember what war is, and we are struggling to create a new structure.

Mais au Québec, que pensez-vous ?

I disagree. IMHO, you Americans have a sustainable society - but you borrow and spend too much. China holds too much American financial paper.

OMG. I'm talking with a computer - in public. JFK and Nixon did not want war. They knew what it was.

Trudeau Snr was born in 1919. Rich, he travelled in Europe. He saw Europe in the midst of catalcysm. Kennedy too. Even Nixon served, ===== Our leaders nowadays don't understand war.

Disagree. Ukraine? You describe a Balkan War of nationalism. And then, as in summer 1914, diplomats/elites said the war would be short. ====== This is not 1938 when ordinary people suffered the bad decisions of an elite. It is 1912. Our elite is clueless and about to lead us into another disaster.

This cut/paste post terrifies me. Unlike JFK & Nixon - who sought freedom for all peacefully - you Americans now want war.

Disagree. There is eastern Ukraine and western Ukraine. Like the Balkans, === IMHO, Russia did not start this March 2022 war. It started because of a failure of diplomacy. Like August 1914.

IMHO, as long as the "National Debt" (as you describe it) is rising slower than nominal GDP growth - a society is sustainable. In the past few years, US governments are borrowing at a faster rate than citizens can generate tax revenue. This is not sustainable. Lenders will notice.

They did not sell bonds (treasuries) at the rate of the recent governments. So far, the demand in auctions of these bonds sort of work - depends on terms. Of course, the Fed could simply buy the bonds - but Powell doesn't want to print money. ==== I reckon that the US federal government must impose a federal VAT. (America is the only developed country without one.) Trump is the kind of guy to do it.

Uh, buy a Tesla?

Disagree, Herbie. 1. Homeowners pay no tax on their rent to themselves. Renters pay to landlords with after-tax dollars. (Note: The GST does not apply to rent.) 2. Homeowners/Boomers in Toronto/Vancouver, when they sell and move to Florida/PEI, pay no tax whatsoever on their capital gain. This has not changed. At issue is their chalet/cottage/cabin sale. Or their increase in company value. Any such capital gain is now taxed at 75% of an equivalent labour income gain. I fully support this recent federal Liberal tax change.

I believe in taxes. To have a civilised society, we must force people to pay. I just don't think that a civilised society imposes such a tax where only young men pay it. ---- But to return to my OP, I am terrified that so many in the US elite - Republicans and Democrats - want to start a war. They want regime change in Russia. This is madness.