August1991
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Posts posted by August1991
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10 minutes ago, User said:
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You said: "you Americans now want war."
...Mais au Québec, que pensez-vous ?
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1 minute ago, User said:
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You said: "you Americans now want war."
I asked: "What do you mean, Americans want war? War in Ukraine? Somewhere else? Just in general? "
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I disagree.
IMHO, you Americans have a sustainable society - but you borrow and spend too much.
China holds too much American financial paper.
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5 minutes ago, User said:
What do you mean...
OMG. I'm talking with a computer - in public.
JFK and Nixon did not want war. They knew what it was.
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Trudeau Snr was born in 1919.
Rich, he travelled in Europe. He saw Europe in the midst of catalcysm.
Kennedy too.
Even Nixon served,
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Our leaders nowadays don't understand war.
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2 hours ago, Aristides said:
It started because Putin wants a bunch of Ukraine if not all of it. He annexed Crimea in 2014 and had been fighting a proxy war in Donbas ever since. They even shot down a Malaysian airliner. You would sell out your grandmother to avoid standing up to a tyrant. This is more like 1939 than 1914.
Disagree.
Ukraine? You describe a Balkan War of nationalism.
And then, as in summer 1914, diplomats/elites said the war would be short.
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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.
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On 4/22/2024 at 2:03 AM, myata said:
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But one cannot ignore this side of reality too: more than a half of the Republicans: 112 versus 101, with 5 standing by voted against the Ukraine assistance bill.
Earlier in 2022, just after Putin's brutal invasion was unleashed, the support for Ukraine assistance was unanimous.
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This cut/paste post terrifies me.
Unlike JFK & Nixon - who sought freedom for all peacefully - you Americans now want war.
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10 minutes ago, Aristides said:
Russia wants regime change in Ukraine. They already started a war.
Disagree.
There is eastern Ukraine and western Ukraine. Like the Balkans,
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IMHO, Russia did not start this March 2022 war.
It started because of a failure of diplomacy. Like August 1914.
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On 4/22/2024 at 3:14 PM, User said:
No, the facts are accurate. The National Debt trend increased substantially under Obama.
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.
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On 4/22/2024 at 2:50 PM, Rebound said:
Nixon, Reagan and Trump also racked up massive deficits.
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.
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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.
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On 4/22/2024 at 8:37 AM, ExFlyer said:
What can they do in Quebec but not anywhere else?
Uh, buy a Tesla?
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On 4/22/2024 at 4:37 PM, herbie said:
They do, but it has nothing to do with taxes.
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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.
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On 4/22/2024 at 11:01 AM, Aristides said:
So you don't believe in taxes either.
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.
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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.
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On 4/14/2024 at 4:51 PM, herbie said:
You know what a circular argument is? Trying to support your idea just by going back to the idea itself.
You have delivered zero proof of any reason or benefit from ink stamping besides wagging it in others faces to pride yourself.I still feel strongly that people should vote in person, and raise their thumb in purple to show that they voted.
People should be proud to show that they voted, secretly - in a democracy.
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2 hours ago, Aristides said:
I actually think a term of compulsory service would be a good thing for young people.
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Compulsory military service is a tax. To our credit, we in Canada have never had such a federal tax.
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To return to my post that you quoted:
-Biden -like Amazon - seems to want to change the world.
-Trump -like WalMart - seems to want to get me a good deal.
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In Canada, homeowners have a tax advantage over poor renters.
The capital gain of a principal residence is tax-exempt. (Hey kids! Choose a rich parent.)
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In the US, the tax scheme is even more skewed to home buyers.
1) Mortgage payments are deductible from federal taxes
2) SALT - State and Local Taxes - are deductible from federal taxes.
In Canada, this is not possible -except in Quebec. Provinces cannot use the federal authority to tax.
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Trump changed this US federal tax system - SALT in particular.
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Last thought: My Newfoundland grandfather once said that people who own land are better.
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Prior to 1970, only working people paid income tax. Working capital paid no tax.
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Pierre Trudeau first imposed in 1970 a tax on working capital - at (half) 50% of the rate of working people.
In 1990, Mulroney then raised the tax on working capital to (three-quarter) 75% of the tax rate of labour.
(It is difficult to calculate taxes: inflation is one problem. When, how to calculate another.)
In 2000, Chretien/Martin lowered the rate to 50%. Trudeau Jnr raised the rate to Mulroney's rate.
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On 4/19/2024 at 10:14 PM, Aristides said:
Disagree all you want but the government includes pension assets when it gives you its BS net debt to GDP number.
Canada is a remarkable country. Distinct from the US.
Our monetary history is proof.
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The English-Canadian author Margaret Atwood wrote a foolish book about debt.
Heck, she wrote a foolish and badly written novel about Canada: "Survival"
To make money, she eventually appealed to a particular part of the US audience and wrote The Hand Maid's Tale.
I have not read Alias Grace. I am told it is good.
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1. At present, the US federal government is selling bonds (treasuries) in auctions at about $3 trillion per year.
That's around 10% of US nominal GDP.
The US nominal GDP is growing at about 7% per year. To me, that's a Ponzi scheme.
2. Russia? Why would anyone in China buy a US government bond?
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27 minutes ago, cannuck said:
The Western world (i.e. NATO) has Putin, Xi, Khamenei and Kim - all with or very near full nuclear capability and all led by people a few bricks short of a load. Damn straight we need NATO - just that since the Turd...uh....TRUdeau dynasty has dedicated its every effort into turning or military into some social engineering experiment instead of keeping up and in synch with our allies' defensive technology.
I disagree so strongly.
The Economist magazine is now talking about conscription in Western countries.
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This is not the 1930s.
This current situation reminds me of the events in 1912-1913 with various Balkan wars.
A clueless diplomatic elite is leading ordinary people into total disaster.
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On 4/18/2024 at 6:45 PM, Dougie93 said:
actually the Wars of British Hegemonic Succession
Disagree
Reagan won.
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Truman with his two bombs - he finessed.
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On 4/18/2024 at 7:35 PM, Aristides said:
The government loves to use net debt to GDP but are you aware that number uses CPP and Quebec pension plan assets which amount to over 650 billion to bring that number down. It's a bullshit number unless you are prepared to give up your pensions.
Disagree,
In Canada, because of some Quebecers, we have a large pool.
At issue is how we spend the money.
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7 minutes ago, Aristides said:
Canada's total government debt is well over 100% GDP. Using net debt is a con because it is debt remaining after government sells all its liquid assets.
Why is the Caisse buying US paper if it is a Ponzi scheme?
Disagree.
The problem is not how much water is in the pool - it is whether it is rising/falling - and why.
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In Canada, all governments added together, the pool is high. (Hydro-Quebec and the Caisse make Quebecers remarkably frugal. Typical Normans.)
But with this current federal Liberal government, the pool level is falling.
We are losing water for nothing.
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10 minutes ago, Aristides said:
Because it encourages people to invest in actual business that create wealth instead of just interest bearing accounts that do not..
The gain is sufficient. Risk is risk. Tax is tax.
Government bureaucrats cannot pick winners in life.
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There was this wonderful period in Europe between 1890-1910.
Or, after 1990
Silver years.
Churchill & Millenials
in The Rest of the World
Posted · Edited by August1991
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/
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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.