PT6A posted:

So: strong, but in disagreement with the orthodoxy on the CanPol thread?

If you're just going to be snarky, would you mind very much actually saying why I'm incorrect?

Global News posted:

Jillane Mignon just needed cash to pay for day care.

Her job with the City of Winnipeg’s 311 program covered the bills, but not the $1,000 a month it cost to care for her son while she was at work.

“When there are [child care] subsidies, there are no spaces. When there are spaces, there’s no subsidy.”

So it started with a small loan from a payday lender. That took care of that month.

“And then when you get your paycheque, half your paycheque is already gone to pay the lender. So then you have to borrow again.”

At one point, she said, she owed money to four different payday loan outlets – all the money taken out to pay existing loans, plus their rapidly accumulating interest, and get her through to the next paycheque, which was quickly swallowed up in more loan payments.

When Mignon decided to dig herself out of payday loan debt once and for all, she did so “painfully.”

“The last time I took [out a payday loan] I said, ‘Whatever my paycheque comes back as after I pay them back, I’m going to live on,” she said. “Painfully.

“Food banks. Salvation Army. Swallow your pride.”

Is There an Institutional Theory of Distribution?, JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ISSUES, Vol. XXXIX No. 4 December 2005, p. 12 posted:

A highly skewed distribution of income is detrimental to the development of the type of broad-based consumerism that buoyed the United States economy in the post-1945 era. It is questionable whether the “golden age” (1945–1972) expansion of output and productive capacity could have been achieved without the ameliorative effects of the minimum wage, unionism and collective bargaining, progressive taxation, and income transfers.

Fried Watermelon posted:

All that money from the fools and plebs goes to corporate, which then goes to Panama or another tax haven never to be seen again.

Or corporations just use the legal tax evasion loop holes we allow in country.

quote:

http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/is-it-micro-usury/267394


In a complaint to the state government in February, Khammam district collector V. Usharani had alleged that MFIS have not only been violating state regulations for tribal areas but have also been indulging in unfair practices, including taking their property as collateral. “Due to coercive recovery methods,” she said, “certain borrowers have committed suicide.”

Prof K. Venkata Narayan of Kakatiya University, Warangal, substantiates this, pointing out that as each of the 7-10 members of a self-help group are held responsible for ensuring other members repay the weekly instalment on time, defaulters face the humiliation of others staging a dharna in front of their houses to put pressure. Often, they are forced to sell off their belongings to fund repayment. In Palivelpula village of Warangal, Banda Elisa sold her mangalsutra and mortgaged her house for Rs 30,000. Today, she pays Rs 600 as rent to live in her own house and has even mortgaged her ration card. Reports of harassment and suicide have also emerged from different parts of the country, particularly from states like Orissa, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

PT6A posted:

My goodness! That sounds like a very significant problem -- maybe we should be focused on that, which is not industry-specific, instead of whining that short-term credit is bad and the lenders are a bunch of big, mean poopy-heads.

It's funny, really: if you extend small amounts of money at usurious rates to people who otherwise would have no access to credit in the developing world, you get a Nobel Peace Prize. Here in Canada, where it's arguably easier to access money and people are more educated in general, it's somehow bad.

senae posted:

All of these companies explicitly target people who could never pay the loans back. The ad above is telling people "not having money is shameful and you shouldn't ever admit to that because people will call you an idiot".

flashman posted:

I've been saving money and calculating interest from the crib. Societal pressure? As if (thanks aspbergers). If these dumb wanker cunts can't save it's not my problem.. How can enabling their poor financial decisions effect me?better for them to be bankrupt than limit my access to pay day loans. Cigars

flashman posted:

The less enlightened among us find value in consumption and strive to match their peers spending even when not financially astute. Not having money is seen to as a personal failing by these dullard half wits, and the simpering weak willed cretins buy into this shite as if it were real and consume accordingly. Either that or they are disgusting corpulent manifestations of nenshiesque proportions who can't stop consuming food lol. I have personally ascended this need to base my personal value on what I buy. I would rather spend my money on luxurious automobiles, fine tobacco, aged liquors, and trips around the world than waste it trying to impress people.

Helsing posted:

The best that can be said about some of these lenders -- in terms of their impact on the rest of the economy -- is that by fronting this guy the money to buy dumb poo poo they have helped sustain effective demand at a time when other sources of demand were weak. But by loading consumers with debt they also put a drag on future effective demand. In fact, over leveraged consumers is one of the biggest risks to our economy, and you look like an idiot when you start cheer leading for that tendency.

Ikantski posted:

Guess they didn't pray hard enough to be found innocent.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/meningitis-trial-verdict-1.3552941

PT6A posted:

I hope they go to prison for five years, as is the maximum sentence. It should be more, but the law's the law I guess.

Ikantski posted:

Hnnnngggg

https://www.facebook.com/PrayersForEzekiel/posts/1190390867638163

Ikantski posted:

Hnnnngggg

https://www.facebook.com/PrayersForEzekiel/posts/1190390867638163

mik posted:

They're deleting all the comments critical of the parents and those agreeing with the verdict, leaving pure concentrated craziness. Yes, the only reason they were guilty was because the jurors were paid off! Well also the fact that people didn't pray hard enough apparently.

mik posted:

They're deleting all the comments critical of the parents and those agreeing with the verdict, leaving pure concentrated craziness. Yes, the only reason they were guilty was because the jurors were paid off! Well also the fact that people didn't pray hard enough apparently.

cowofwar posted:

Go read the rottentomatoes user reviews for that anti-vax movie.

vyelkin posted:

CanPol Megathread: I FEEL SO NOT FREE

PT6A posted:

Will it make me have violent thoughts again?

PT6A posted:

Will it make me have violent thoughts again?

vyelkin posted:

They aren't all bad.

vyelkin posted:

quote:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will not pay Abu Sayyaf terrorists any ransom to release remaining hostages, which leaves open the question of whether Ottawa and its allies could launch a rescue mission to free those held by the Filipino jihadis.

“I do … want to make one thing perfectly crystal clear: Canada does not and will not pay ransom to terrorists, directly or indirectly,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters at the conclusion of a Liberal government cabinet retreat west of Calgary on Tuesday.

“Paying ransom for Canadians would endanger the lives of every single one of the millions of Canadians who live, work and travel around the globe every single year.”

quote:

Mr. Trudeau said Canada “is determined to bring these terrorist criminals to justice” and has talked to Philippines President Benigno Aquino III, whose government is coming under pressure to free remaining hostages.

quote:

Security sources say the CIA, Australia’s intelligence service and the Communications Security Establishment, which is Canada’s ultrasecret signals intelligence agency, would be assisting the RCMP as the lead agency in seeking the release of the hostages.

Vincent Otf Valentine posted:

YOU CAN'T BE INFORMED ABOUT MEDS BUT KNOW IT'S WRONG BUT YET NO CHOICE , NO RIGHT OF REFUSAL OF ANY THING.

bunnyofdoom posted:

Stephen Harper acted honourably in Mike Duffy investigation; now it's time for other authorities to step up] Stephen Harper Acted Honourably in Mike Duffy investigation

From Harper's lawyer.

THC posted:

Completely unrelated but one of my friends posted this gem today

EvilJoven posted:

My wife came from an Adventist background and still has a ton of em on Facebook. I bet they're frothing at the mouth at this verdict. I should grab her phone and take a peek.

THC posted:

Completely unrelated but one of my friends posted this gem today

Hexigrammus posted:

I left the Adventist church a long time ago. I don't recall them being anything but positive about modern medicine and vaccinations. Have they gone back to their 19th century roots with corn flakes to prevent masturbation and chiropractic to fix everything else?

quote:

In light of recent events I am going to focus this update solely on the CBC article that has come out and created a great deal of trouble for my wife and I. It is this CBC article that has served to be the reference point for which many other articles have taken their information (or misinformation) from. I will be breaking down some of the points that were covered in that article that at best were mistakes, and at worst, an intentional dissemination of misinformation that has served to be extremely provocative and defaming of my wife and I and the organization that I work for. Ultimately this has created a hostile environment for my wife and I to be in. Let me put this straight, my wife and I are now in a situation that we have so much animosity being directed our way that we are actually concerned for our security and are currently considering legal action against CBC.

Now many of you are coming to this page extremely inflamed and wanting to voice your complete disdain towards my wife and I. And to be completely honest… I don’t blame you. I would feel the same way towards someone else if I read a similar type article as what you have and adopted it as the truth. Now there is the key word… truth. What is the truth?, or better yet, what is the WHOLE TRUTH as it never does anyone any service to omit key facts and yet cherry pick other facts in order to create the slant that you desire. This CBC article (or any other article that has stemmed from it) is clearly not the WHOLE TRUTH. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of the article is truth, but conveyed in such a way to create a distorted picture. Other points are complete mistruths (which I will cover) that only serve to create huge amounts of animosity towards my wife and I and the organization that I work for.

The first question that should be asked is would CBC intentionally put out an article that would distort the facts and create hostility towards my wife and I? This is the question that I have been pondering myself. Well upon further investigation I find one particular reason that they may have done this with intent. This brings me to my second question. Who owns CBC? I did some digging and it turns out that wikipedia has some light to shed on this matter. “The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (French: Société Radio-Canada), officially branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster.” Please take note of “Canadian Crown Corporation”. What relevance does this have? Well Collet and I are currently in a court battle that is being initiated by the “Canadian Crown”. Does this seem like a conflict of interest to anyone else? Can we actually expect objective reporting from an organization that is government owned by the same government that is taking my wife and I to court? The very same government that attempted to shut my father’s company down in the early 2000’s but lost in the courts. I would suspect no and it is likely that there was some ill intent from the way the article was presented and how facts were misrepresented.

Now to point out the absolute misrepresentations of the facts that would only serve to be inflammatory.

1.“In a bid to boost his immune system, the couple gave the boy — who was lethargic and becoming stiff — various home remedies, such as water with maple syrup, juice with frozen berries…”
This is a major misrepresentation and has led other news articles to use the headlines of “A Baby Died After His Parents Allegedly Tried To Cure His Meningitis With Syrup”. First off, anyone in their right mind would see how ridiculous this is, and if it wasn’t such a serious matter, it would be laughable. The idea of boosting an immune system with maple syrup, juice and frozen fruit is so illogical that I am left here shaking my head. As all of these items contain high amounts of simple sugars, I would suspect that they would serve to feed viruses and bacteria and actually do the opposite of boosting the immune system.

2.”Court also heard the Stephans tried treating Ezekiel with Empowerplus.”
This once again is another complete mistruth. Why would we try to treat Ezekiel for an infectious disease with a multi-vitamin that assists with brain function? This is a multi-vitamin that my wife and I take as well as our children (in smaller doses) on a consistent basis. If Ezekiel was taking EMPowerplus prior to his illness, which he was, then how would it possibly have an effect on his illness when he contracted it while he was already taking the EMPowerplus. I would suspect that this comment was intentionally placed in the article to create an inflammatory response to our organization that successfully beat Health Canada (equivalent of U.S. F.D.A.) and the crown back in the mid 2000’s, and has subsequently generated massive attacks on Truehope’s social media accounts.

3.”The family has posted on social media that they feel they are being unfairly persecuted and that their approach to health should be respected.”
This is completely untrue and it would be a far stretch for anyone to come to this conclusion after reading all of our posts. However, it does serve to illustrate a level or arrogance on our part in regard to our practices, that in light of our son passing would generate huge levels of hostility towards us and subsequently direct that hostility on to our Facebook page. This indeed has taken place and is probably one of the reasons that you are reading this right now.

As for the rest of the article and the way it is portrayed, please consider that an artist can paint the most diverse of portraits all the while using the exact same paint. It is not about what the facts actually are, but rather how you display them that ultimately serves to form opinions in one way or another.

Since this court case has begun, there has been a great deal of opposition and outright malicious attacks from various organizations, some having pharmaceutical interests and others just having a very strong opposing agenda. My wife and I have come to the point that it is of no affect. Our only desire is that the truth comes out. For those that have been actively opposing us and even sought to hurt us, we forgive you and clear ourselves of the bitterness and hatred.

Regardless of your views towards my wife and I, may God bless you all with an abundance of Love!

David Stephan