CanPol Megathread: Big Changus

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > CanPol Megathread: Big Changus

Gus Hobbleton: Dec 30, 2003; Can't post for 3 years!

vyelkin posted:

Yeah, I know somebody who was recently out jogging in Thunder Bay and got hit by a 90-year-old driver who was apparently blind enough he couldn't see her crossing a green light and turned left, right into her.

The last time this happened*, the pedestrian was blamed for not wearing giant reflective flashing lights and screaming and waving to the driver, and also not ninja flipping out of the way.

_{*And every single other time too}

# ? Jan 19, 2016 01:03

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# ? May 15, 2024 18:06

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

THC posted:

Moody's Investors Service has changed its outlook on the Alberta economy from "stable" to "negative" and says the situation will get worse unless the province's NDP government takes action.

I wonder what action the government could possibly take to reverse the trend? No wait, let me guess: cut everything, and when that doesn't help, implement more cuts.

Maybd they mean time travel and the government of 2010 needs to take action?

# ? Jan 19, 2016 01:10

HookShot: Dec 26, 2005

When I was in grade 11 a 9th grader got hit by an old person on the way to class... to leave the staff parking lot (the dude wasn't staff so who knows why he was in there) you have to go through a crosswalk that linked both sides of the school that kids always used, it was in between classes, he tried to stop but pressed the gas instead and went right into her.

Luckily she got away with just a few broken bones.

Just before I left Australia an old dude did the same thing to a lady pushing her 1-year-old baby in a mall parking lot, pinned her against the wall and she died.

You haven't truly lived among the old people until you've seen someone literally driving on the white line separating lanes doing 30 in a 60 zone.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 01:48

Kafka Esq.: Jan 1, 2005; "If you ever even think about calling me anything but 'The Crab' I will go so fucking crab on your ass you won't even see what crab'd your crab" -The Crab(TM)

Haha, poor CI is sitting on the outside watching a bike conversation without him.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 02:04

tagesschau: Sep 1, 2006; Guten Abend, meine Damen und Herren.

vyelkin posted:

Or, in other words, "Conservatives claim they can wave a magic wand and make oil $100 a barrel again".

Or, in other other words, Rona Ambrose should just cut to the chase and ask for OAS to be paid partially in cat food.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 02:07

apatheticman: May 13, 2003; Wedge Regret

THC posted:

Moody's Investors Service has changed its outlook on the Alberta economy from "stable" to "negative" and says the situation will get worse unless the province's NDP government takes action.

I wonder what action the government could possibly take to reverse the trend? No wait, let me guess: cut everything, and when that doesn't help, implement more cuts.

Forgive my stunning ignorance,

Why cant provinces just take a loan from the bank of Canada and avoid all this credit rating as a means of austerity bullshit that Moodys and the world bank likes to put forth as sound fiscal strategy?

We've proven time and time again austerity during an economic crisis further exacerbates the issue because you cant start cutting holes in the social safety net when you have more people falling into it.

I hate bankers.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 02:38

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

The older, experienced Conservatives want to sit down and "check the books" with Trudeau, slowly going over things step by step to make sure he's got it right, gently guide him to the right answer.

:barf:

But seriously, saying that oil companies are investing in Alberta NOT BECAUSE OIL IS DOWN but because they're scared of possible environmental laws and higher taxes is dumb as poo poo, Rona Ambrose is just a shillier female Harper, the Conservatives are bullshit.

apatheticman posted:

We've proven time and time again austerity during an economic crisis further exacerbates the issue because you cant start cutting holes in the social safety net when you have more people falling into it.

lol they don't want to solve problems for Canada, just their own

In that interview, for example, she talked about cutting taxes and putting money in the pockets of Canadians instead of gov spending, but what she really said was corporate tax breaks

Professor Shark fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Jan 19, 2016

# ? Jan 19, 2016 02:39

Pinterest Mom: Jun 9, 2009

apatheticman posted:

Forgive my stunning ignorance,

Why cant provinces just take a loan from the bank of Canada and avoid all this credit rating as a means of austerity bullshit that Moodys and the world bank likes to put forth as sound fiscal strategy?

Two things:

-That'd cause inflation. Maybe the central bank printing 10 billion a year to lend out wouldn't by itself be the worst thing ever, but the knowledge that there's an unlimited amount of money that governments could just tap into to finance their deficit spending would send inflation expectations (and therefore inflation itself) through the roof.

-We like our central banks to be independent of the government itself in order to take objective decisions about how to fulfill their mandate, and having the central bank serve as lender to the government really highly problematises that relationship and jeorpadises that independence.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 02:46

vyelkin: Jan 2, 2011

apatheticman posted:

Forgive my stunning ignorance,

Why cant provinces just take a loan from the bank of Canada and avoid all this credit rating as a means of austerity bullshit that Moodys and the world bank likes to put forth as sound fiscal strategy?

We've proven time and time again austerity during an economic crisis further exacerbates the issue because you cant start cutting holes in the social safety net when you have more people falling into it.

I hate bankers.

Loaning money from the BoC is essentially printing money and promising that in the future you will remove that same amount of money from circulation. It causes inflation now with the promise that you will deflate your currency later. On the other hand, borrowing money from a separate financial institution is, in theory, borrowing money from someone that already has that money, not someone that is creating that money out of thin air for you to borrow, which does not cause inflation but does cost interest.

Right now, interest rates are the lowest they have ever been and are in fact below the rate of inflation, even for provinces and governments with poor credit ratings (because credit ratings are total bullshit and everyone knows it). There has literally never been a better time in modern human history to borrow money (as a government), because when interest rates are below the rate of inflation the creditor is paying you to borrow money from them. I.e. I borrow $1m in 2016 dollars at 1% interest for one year, and I spend that $1m on some kind of investment, maybe a road or a bridge or a university or a high speed rail line, something that will generate economic and social benefits in the future. Over the next year, inflation is 2%. One year later, I repay $1.01m in 2017 dollars to my lender. But I have gained $1.02m worth of benefit in 2017 dollars from that investment. By comparison, the creditor has lost money in this transaction, because the amount of money they received at the time the loan was repaid is worth less than the amount of money they loaned in the first place. In a sense, the lender has paid me $10,000 to hold onto their million dollars for a year, because as a government I was a very safe place to store their money in a time of risk.

So right now there's no reason not to borrow money from established non-BoC lenders. On the other hand, as Pinterest Mom pointed out, loaning from the BoC causes some inflation in the moment and sets a precedent that we are willing to print money (that may or may not be taken back out of circulation later) to cover deficit spending, which is a cause of greater inflation in the long run.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 02:58

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Let's all take a moment to point and laugh at NewLeaf, the "airline" that can't be bothered to obey basic operating requirements. I hope Transport Canada metaphorically fucks their chocolate starfish.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 03:42

Legit Businessman: Sep 2, 2007

Legit Businessman fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Sep 9, 2022

# ? Jan 19, 2016 04:03

Femtosecond: Aug 2, 2003

On the topic of our terrible car oriented society and pedestrian/cyclist deaths:

quote:

It Will Soon Be More Expensive To Jaywalk Than To Drink And Drive In Nova Scotia

This year the province is upping its fines for jaywalking to $700 for a first offence. It�s $1,272 for a second offence and a whopping $2,422 for a third offence.

As you�d expect, that�s far outside what is normal in Canada. Jaywalking fees in many cities range between $15 and $100.

Once the changes are enacted, which should happen sometime in the next few months, it will be more expensive to get caught jaywalking in Nova Scotia than to get caught:

Texting while driving.
Driving more than 30 kilometres per hour over the speed limit in a school or construction zone.
Driving with a blood alcohol level above .05.
Driving more than 30 kilometres per hour over the speed limit while passing a stopped emergency vehicle.
Failing to stop when a school bus is flashing a red light.
Failing to drive with caution when passing a school bus flashing an amber light.
Driving across a solid double line.
Driving a prohibited vehicle on a highway.
Driving a car without a valid driver�s license.
Failing to report an accident resulting in injury or death.
Throwing objects at a motor vehicle.

In the province of a little under a million people, there are an average of 286 pedestrian injuries and seven pedestrian deaths each year due to collisions, according to provincial figures.

So Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Minister Geoff MacLellan decided to make some changes. He took a slew of traffic charges for drivers and pedestrians and raised them all to the same price � $697.50 for a first offence.

�The idea behind that was we would send the message that it is a shared responsibility. So everyone, regardless of pedestrian or driver, everyone would be subject to the same fines,� he told BuzzFeed Canada.

Under this system, a driver failing to yield to a pedestrian will be ticketed the same amount as someone who crosses the street during a �don�t walk� light.

MacLellan insists he�s not trying to target pedestrians, but to prevent injuries. He says police will use their discretion and only give out tickets if a pedestrian jaywalks in a dangerous way.

�The whole idea behind this is that it�s going to be a deterrent,� he said.

�The dollar amount is almost irrelevant to me, in the sense that we don�t want people doing this.�

In Nova Scotia it�s actually legal to cross a street as long as no cars are nearby. But you could be ticketed if a car is coming or if you cross at a crosswalk while a countdown or don�t walk sign is flashing.

If the government wants to deter jaywalking they should drastically lower jaywalking fines, says Ben Wedge, chair of the Halifax Cycling Coalition.

Because the tickets are �completely out of scale� with the offence, police are already hesitant to give out jaywalking tickets, he said. Whereas in cities with $25-$50 fines police will hand them out.

Ultimately, said Wedge, pedestrians are already careful because they know that they�re the ones who are going to be injured in a collision, not the driver.

�The punishment has to be proportional to the crime committed,� he said.

The bill hiking the fines has already been passed by the legislature but has not yet come into force. That could happen any time.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 04:51

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

gently caress the Maritimes.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 04:52

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

Femtosecond posted:

�The punishment has to be proportional to the crime committed,� he said.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 04:53

Jordan7hm: Feb 17, 2011; Lipstick Apathy

People we elect to government are often shockingly dumb, but I guess from his perspective at least it gets his name in the paper.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 04:55

Femtosecond: Aug 2, 2003

The headline is stretching the truth a bit. Out of curiousity (it is buzzfeed after all) I looked up the Nova Scotia drunk driving penalties.

quote:

Penalties in Nova Scotia

Penalties in Nova Scotia for driving while impaired are outlined below, and all fines and assessment fees must be paid by the driver. The judge's decision and sentencing is based upon the specific facts of each case. Fines and jail terms can also be affected by whether any deaths, bodily harm or dangerous driving resulted from the motorist's actions.

1st offence:

a fine of $600 to $2000

revocation of driving privileges for one year from the date of conviction (not the date of being charged)

completion of an Addiction/Drug Dependency Services assessment program ($455.00, your cost)

licence reinstatement fee of $124.60 (your cost)

you might also be required to be re-take any and all of your driver's tests, including written, road, and vision tests.

So I guess technically if you got the minimum fine of $600, your fine is less than the jaywalking fine, but there's the additional costs of $455 and $124.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 04:55

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

When it comes to pedestrian safety/rights/victim blaming a lot of places are really still in the "let's fine women for wearing short skirts to help stop sexual assault" sort of mindset. Boys will be boys, drivers will be drivers. Just get the victims to protect them selves and stop "risky behavior" like not covering them selves in flashing LED's and setting up a series of real time camera feed drones around the intersection before crossing on a walk signal, anything less would be the pedestrians own fault for "not taking responsibility for their own safety"

# ? Jan 19, 2016 04:56

Hexigrammus: May 22, 2006; Cheech Wizard stories are clean, wholesome, reflective truths that go great with the marijuana munchies and a blow job.

Femtosecond posted:

On the topic of our terrible car oriented society and pedestrian/cyclist deaths:

Sounds like one of ISIS' strategies for raising operating funds in their occupied territories - fines for everything, all the time!

When Nova Scotia starts issuing fines for beard length it's time to start the bombing.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 04:58

Helsing: Aug 23, 2003; DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU JOE BIDEN

Pinterest Mom posted:

Two things:

-That'd cause inflation. Maybe the central bank printing 10 billion a year to lend out wouldn't by itself be the worst thing ever, but the knowledge that there's an unlimited amount of money that governments could just tap into to finance their deficit spending would send inflation expectations (and therefore inflation itself) through the roof.

In theory there's no reason that government's couldn't use taxes to control demand and prevent inflation from overheating the economy.

I mean we already know based on the last 50 years that governments are willing to implement austerity in some circumstances.

quote:

-We like our central banks to be independent of the government itself in order to take objective decisions about how to fulfill their mandate, and having the central bank serve as lender to the government really highly problematises that relationship and jeorpadises that independence.

Oh come on man. There's no such thing as objectivity in economics and even if there was there's no way our central banks would pass the test. The Bank of Canada is and always has been a political actor.

Not to say that your answer is baseless as I do agree you outline some genuine concerns but you're giving an extremely technocratic analysis of something that I would suggest is also a deeply political question relating to the power of business and especially finance.

There's a crucial divide in our society between people whose income derives from their ownership of capital (land, machinery, buildings, patents, copyrights, etc.) and the much larger population of people whose income comes from selling their labour on the market place. In the long term the government tends to be biased toward the concerns of the capital owners, and those people tend to like small government. A big government is more inclined to regulate private business and a generous government safety net reduces the disciplinary power of the marketplace and thereby raises labour costs. So even if businesses don't pay for social programs through taxes they pay for them by having to offer higher wages and salaries. On top of this there is of course the very powerful finance industry which has a vested interest in continuing to profit off of loaning money to various levels of government.

The point being that there's a pretty serious question about power and influence here that goes beyond any technocratic questions about inflation.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 05:07

apatheticman: May 13, 2003; Wedge Regret

Let's just do a liquid asset capture, if you've carried a significant cash balance over 2 years, the government gets to use it at bond rates.

It'd be funny.

apatheticman fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Jan 19, 2016

# ? Jan 19, 2016 05:11

The Butcher: Apr 20, 2005; Well, at least we tried.; Nap Ghost

J.J. McCullough posted:

http://looniepolitics.com/opposition-radical-islam-must-define-canadian-conservatives/

Opposition to radical Islam must define Canadian Conservatives
January 15, 2016 - By J.J. McCullough

muslim_woman.jpeg

Liberal partisans in the press and elsewhere have worked hard to reframe the 2015 election as a referendum on multiculturalism in which Tory flirtations with �xenophobia� and �Muslim-bashing� were soundly rejected by a repulsed populace.

Conservatives should resist pressure to believe them. In reality, all available data suggests continued vigilance towards radical Islam and the negative cultural consequences of unrestricted, unassimilated immigration provide the opposition party�s surest assurance of continued relevance.

Take the Conservative policy of forbidding Muslim women from wearing face-coverings while reciting the oath of citizenship, for instance, a policy the Trudeau administration ostentatiously ceased defending in court shortly after taking office. A Forum poll taken just before the election found 58% of Canadians in favor with only 31% opposed. Banning veil-clad women from working in the public service � something the Tory government never fully endorsed but merely mused about � was even more popular, boasting 62% support.

There exist few issues of this sort that don�t pull similar numbers. In contrast to Liberal propaganda incessantly insisting otherwise, a Forum poll taken in December found only 34% of Canadians believe Syrian refugees will exert a �positive impact on life in Canada� with 34% disagreeing and 32% unsure. Justin Trudeau�s sky-high refugee intake has been consistently unpopular as well, with some polls showing as many as 60% opposed. An Angus Reid poll taken shortly after Trudeau�s inauguration found 29% of Canadians believe Canada should admit no Syrians whatsoever.

Suspicion of immigration, Islam, and multiculturalism runs deep in Canadian society. A March 2015 study by pollster Frank Graves for iPolitics found 46% of Canadians believe Canada admits too many immigrants with 41% having the chutzpah to say we let in too many minorities. An Angus Reid poll last March found 44% of Canadians hold a negative view of Islam (only 15% claimed to have a �positive� one) while a 2011 Leger Marketing poll found 56% of Canadians believe Islam and the west have �irreconcilable� differences. (42% of Canadian Muslims, for their part, were happy to agree their differences were irreconcilable.) Even Donald Trump�s proposal of an across-the-board ban of Muslim immigration got 33% support in a recent Angus Reid poll � that�s greater than the number of Canadians who voted Conservative or NDP. (37% said they consider Trump�s rhetoric �good for society� � getting close to majority government territory.)

On questions like these, Conservative supporters overwhelmingly favor the most hardline answers, a reality the next Tory boss must be willing to accept and embrace. Though politicians and pundits will exert much effort over the coming months trying to formulate a workable philosophy of 21st century Canadian conservatism, our times don�t call for complex ideology as much as moral clarity. My pal Jackson Doughart recently observed that �a long-forgotten basis of political parties is the taking of one side on a defining contemporary issue,� and if there exists a �one side� today that requires steadfast advocacy, it�s western civilization in its second-decade struggle against radical Islam.

��

RELATED COLUMNS

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Trudeau can�t play the nice guy role forever
Trudeau�s electoral reform dreams headed for collision with constitution
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Trudeau�s refugee plan is a reckless fantasy
��-

The conservative movement of the previous generation was in large part a diverse anti-communist alliance. To this day, when talking to older conservatives, even the softest �Red Tory� types, I�m always struck by how quickly a Soviet analogy will surface. The right prides itself on unapologetically backing the correct side of the Cold War, the greatest moral conflict of the 20th century, and now craves equal resolve in the war against Islamic fascism, the successor conflict in mankind�s permanent battle to preserve freedom. That this fight will have a military dimension is unanimously understood and relatively uncontroversial; the need to defend the home front from domestic terror and Sharia chauvinism in an age of diversity and open borders, by contrast, is a popular cause in need of stronger political advocates.

Liberals of previous eras, like the current prime minister�s father, maintained that the conflict between the Communist bloc and the democratic world was either exaggerated, morally ambiguous, or slightly tilted in the Communists� favor. In retrospect, such people look immoral and embarrassing, and in time so will the Angela Merkels and Justin Trudeaus of our age, who interpret the present clash of civilizations as a cheerful test of tolerance.

Will the Tory party muster the confidence to realize its generational calling, or simply retreat to its own postmodern malaise? Will it look at poll numbers and see a supportive base on which to build, or learn fashionable but wrong lessons from Stephen Harper�s defeat? The stakes are too high for Conservatives to concede the conventional wisdom of their opponents.

Hadn't heard of this site so wasn't sure if it was satire or not until like halfway through.

Really cool that some people in the political scene are looking at Trump and being like "hey this race war stuff really seems to turn some people on, we should totally try that here!"

The Butcher fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Jan 19, 2016

# ? Jan 19, 2016 05:30

infernal machines: Oct 11, 2012; we monitor many frequencies. we listen always. came a voice, out of the babel of tongues, speaking to us. it played us a mighty dub.

J.J. McCullough posted:

...our times don�t call for complex ideology as much as moral clarity.

This seems a precarious position for a homosexual man to take, given the view of "moral clarity" on his sexuality as recently as the turn of the century.

This is like Ezra Levant citing Canada's immigration policy in the 1930s as a positive model for today.

infernal machines fucked around with this message at 05:52 on Jan 19, 2016

# ? Jan 19, 2016 05:44

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

Conservative morality is now correct and there shall be no further revisions.

Juul-Whip fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Jan 19, 2016

# ? Jan 19, 2016 05:53

Melian Dialogue: Jan 9, 2015; NOT A RACIST

Melian Dialogue fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Feb 2, 2016

# ? Jan 19, 2016 06:39

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

At least he's not Milo Yiannopoulos :shrug:

# ? Jan 19, 2016 07:08

Legit Businessman: Sep 2, 2007

Legit Businessman fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Sep 9, 2022

# ? Jan 19, 2016 07:14

The Butcher: Apr 20, 2005; Well, at least we tried.; Nap Ghost

Trudeau can�t play the nice guy role forever
Trudeau�s electoral reform dreams headed for collision with constitution
Trudeau refugee policy trainwreck offers glimpse of his governing style
Trudeau�s refugee plan is a reckless fantasy

# ? Jan 19, 2016 07:45

Dreylad: Jun 19, 2001

In theory I should support any attempts to broaden the Canadian media beyond the entrenched newspaper conglomerates that do poo poo like force journalist graduates to work as scabs.

but not like this.

not like this...

# ? Jan 19, 2016 08:03

HackensackBackpack: Aug 20, 2007; Who needs a house out in Hackensack? Is that all you get for your money?

It's tempting to want the Conservatives to go whole-hog RaHoWa and basically exile themselves to powerlessness for being the crazy racist uncle party, but a part of me worries that it'll actually loving work, especially if they get a leader who is charismatic enough. Given the right set of circumstances near the next election, like some kind of economic difficulty, or if the Europeans decide to go back to their time-honoured tradition of killing each other, a clever leader could find a way to blame it all on refugees and Muslims in general, and then we get swept into :godwin:

territory.

That probably won't happen, but I sometimes fear it will.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 08:24

Jordan7hm: Feb 17, 2011; Lipstick Apathy

Dreylad posted:

In theory I should support any attempts to broaden the Canadian media beyond the entrenched newspaper conglomerates that do poo poo like force journalist graduates to work as scabs.

but not like this.

not like this...

I don't see any forcing going on.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 13:39

Seat Safety Switch: May 27, 2008; MY RELIGION IS THE SMALL BLOCK V8 AND COMMANDMENTS ONE THROUGH TEN ARE NEVER LIFT.; Pillbug

Patrick Brazeau was apparently found injured in his home last night.

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/ottawa/patrick-brazeau-injured-mayo-quebec-1.3409877

Don't die Brazman, we need you for the series finale of Duffy.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 14:57

bunnyofdoom: Mar 29, 2008; I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad!

And here's the senate advisory board
https://twitter.com/kady/status/689464256207556608

Note: No politicians on the list.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 16:14

flakeloaf: Feb 26, 2003; Still better than android clock

Canada excluded from a meeting of nations whose armies are relevant in the ISIS campaign. Let the handwringing begin.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 16:15

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

IMF downgrades Canada�s economic outlook

quote:

Canada will grow just 1.7 per cent in 2016 and 2.1 per cent in 2017, the IMF predicted in its World Economic Outlook update on Tuesday.

For Canada, the 2016 forecast is unchanged, but the outlook for 2017 is down 0.3 percentage points since the IMF�s last prediction, in October.

Trudeau declines to address IMF�s pessimism for Canada

quote:

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepared to head to Davos, Switzerland to mix with the world�s elite business and financial leaders, he ignored questions about the IMF�s downgrade of Canada�s economic outlook for the next year.

Trudeau said his message would be an optimistic one.

�I�m going to talk to the World Economic Forum about how Canada is looking to invest and looking to build growth for the middle class. We�re going to talk about how diversity is a strength and really showcase the fact that Canada has tremendous opportunities and is facing challenges like lots of places but we have the tools to surpass those challenges in a way that should draw in global interest.�

Soild plan.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 16:39

Risky Bisquick: Jan 18, 2008; PLEASE LET ME WRITE YOUR VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT SO I CAN FURTHER DEMONSTRATE THE CALAMITY THAT IS OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM.; Buglord

Seat Safety Switch posted:

Patrick Brazeau was apparently found injured in his home last night.

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/ottawa/patrick-brazeau-injured-mayo-quebec-1.3409877

Don't die Brazman, we need you for the series finale of Duffy.

Listening to this on the radio, it sounds like it was possibly a self harm event, based on the choice wording from police. Now, did he drink himself into a Rob Ford stupor and fall down some stairs or impale himself with a knife or what is the question.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 16:59

Pinterest Mom: Jun 9, 2009

Helsing posted:

In theory there's no reason that government's couldn't use taxes to control demand and prevent inflation from overheating the economy.

I mean we already know based on the last 50 years that governments are willing to implement austerity in some circumstances.

That doesn't make sense as a solution. There's no world in which a government i, on the one hand needing to print money and borrow from the central bank to finance its spending, and on the other hand raising taxes and cutting spending to curb inflation. A government who's going to have to do that might as well just go ahead and run a surplus in the first place and save everyone a lot of headache.

quote:

Oh come on man. There's no such thing as objectivity in economics and even if there was there's no way our central banks would pass the test. The Bank of Canada is and always has been a political actor.

Not to say that your answer is baseless as I do agree you outline some genuine concerns but you're giving an extremely technocratic analysis of something that I would suggest is also a deeply political question relating to the power of business and especially finance.

There's a crucial divide in our society between people whose income derives from their ownership of capital (land, machinery, buildings, patents, copyrights, etc.) and the much larger population of people whose income comes from selling their labour on the market place. In the long term the government tends to be biased toward the concerns of the capital owners, and those people tend to like small government. A big government is more inclined to regulate private business and a generous government safety net reduces the disciplinary power of the marketplace and thereby raises labour costs. So even if businesses don't pay for social programs through taxes they pay for them by having to offer higher wages and salaries. On top of this there is of course the very powerful finance industry which has a vested interest in continuing to profit off of loaning money to various levels of government.

The point being that there's a pretty serious question about power and influence here that goes beyond any technocratic questions about inflation.

I think technocratic concerns about institutional credibility and stability are really important! And the concerns about political interference aren't just about relationship between the federal government and the central bank (which, really, the feds can borrow at very low rates already), but more about the relationship between the central bank, the federal government, and the provinces. What happens if there's a big spending Liberal government in Ontario and the federal government is Conservative? What if the federal government is Liberal? What if there's an NDP government in Alberta and the federal Liberals want to ensure their reelection? We already know that the LPC doesn't have many qualms about breaking down, or appearing to break down, central bank independence, so those questions are actually really important!

The point about class warfare is, I think, entirely orthogonal to this particular issue.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 17:10

Coolwhoami: Sep 13, 2007

In order to borrow from ourselves, so to speak, we would need to withdraw from several international central banking organizations. This is because it is a condition of being in say, the bank of international settlements. Leaving such organizations, would in theory would make fiscal interactions abroad difficult, or at least strained.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 18:46

Eej: Jun 17, 2007; HEAVYARMS

Didn't JJ vow to get out of (talking about) politics in the new year or something talking about how focusing on politics makes life miserable or whatnot

# ? Jan 19, 2016 19:31

Lain Iwakura: Aug 5, 2004; The body exists only to verify one's own existence.; Taco Defender

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/postmedia-job-cuts-1.3410497?cmp=rss

quote:

Postmedia cuts 90 jobs, merges newsrooms in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa

Newspaper chain Postmedia today announced sweeping changes to its operations, cutting 90 jobs across the country and merging newsrooms from multiple newspapers into one each in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa.

"We will continue to operate separate brands in each of these markets," Postmedia CEO and president Paul Godfrey said in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon. "What is changing is how we produce these products."

The chain says two papers in those markets � the Sun and Province in Vancouver, the Herald and Sun in Calgary, the Journal and Sun in Edmonton, and the Citizen and Sun in Ottawa � will share newsroom resources, but continue to operate.

"Each city will have one newsroom," Godfrey said, and the two papers will be run by one editorial team.

At least 90 editorial jobs are being cut as a result of the process.

I cannot wait for more opinions from the same newsroom.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 19:59

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# ? May 15, 2024 18:06

Risky Bisquick: Jan 18, 2008; PLEASE LET ME WRITE YOUR VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT SO I CAN FURTHER DEMONSTRATE THE CALAMITY THAT IS OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM.; Buglord

OSI bean dip posted:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/postmedia-job-cuts-1.3410497?cmp=rss

I cannot wait for more opinions from the same newsroom.

ef;b

At least post the juicy, from Torstar, they must've loved posting this article.

http://www.thestar.com/business/2016/01/19/postmedia-begins-making-job-cuts.html

quote:

However, the company is now aiming for cost reductions of $80 million by mid-2017 � up from its previous goal of $50 million in cuts by the end of 2017.

Postmedia said it expects the first $50 million of savings will be implemented by the end of its third quarter, which ends May 31. It didn't say how it would achieve those savings.

80 Editors != $50m

Risky Bisquick fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Jan 19, 2016

# ? Jan 19, 2016 20:02

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > CanPol Megathread: Big Changus

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