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Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

washingtonstatestandard.com

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Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#121

Post by abtinf »

andy_ppp wrote: post #7

I’m surprised all the countries the US is trying to bully aren’t considering moving to the Euro as the reserve currency (even China might go along with this). It would be so damaging for the US they might actually understand they have been benefiting from a win-win situation since the end of the Second World War.

For better or worse, dollar is the only reserve currency. Every other central bank holds dollars on both sides of their balance sheet.

As a result, any attempt to switch away from the dollar would be… cataclysmic.

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#122

Post by cwillu »

amanwithnoplan wrote: post #54
adamgordonbell wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are calling for the invasion of your own country? Surely you realize that is a very fringe view.

https://angusreid.org/trump-carney-51st-state-canada-usa/ ~10% support overall. However, that's 21% of Conservative voters and 1-3% everyone else. So it's beyond fringe for everyone else, but maybe not as much for Conservatives.

1-3% is lizardman constant territory, yeah.

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#123

Post by wwweston »

Trasmatta wrote: post #93
diggan wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> dismissed both as ridiculous I think this idealism/naiveness is why you're now sliding further and further away from democracy. Older countries already had their democracies stress-tested, but seemingly this is the biggest test so far for the "checks and balances" in the US, and I feel like many other countries learned to always live with idea that democracy can slip away really quickly unless you always pay attent…

How do you reconcile that idea with the fact that the United States is the oldest country with a continuously running democracy?

Full franchise democracy in the US is arguably younger than living memory. So are a lot of things we take for granted as civil rights (and some of powers that be seem determined to roll those back).

But even assuming the premise, it’s not hard to see how generations who’ve enjoyed a privilege might be more likely to take it for granted than societies that have more recently gained it, and are within living memory of fascism in power (or in neighboring states).

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#124

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

tcgv wrote: post #79
kps wrote: post #6

Should also toll the ‘shortcut’ between Detroit and Buffalo for foreign high-axle-weight vehicles like transport trucks and maybe some electric cars.

It looks like the longer route adds about 1 hour and 30 minutes. So, truck drivers would compare the toll price, additional gas usage, and the schedule change to determine if paying is worthwhile, thus limiting how much the toll could effectively charge.

They also have the cost of maintaining the roads that the truck drivers are using. They might decide that a toll that brings that cost down is still a worthwhile toll even if it doesn't bring in money.

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#125

Post by Y_Y »

FredPret wrote: post #56

I've seen two apocalyptic North American scenarios in fiction, and have previously dismissed both as ridiculous. 1. In the Fallout universe, the USA annexes Canada 2. In at least two Neal Stephenson novels (Snowcrash and Termination Shock), the USA has collapsed. I've never before thought that either of these would have a semi-realistic path to actually happening.

What about Infinite Jest's "interdependence" where a environmental disaster necessitates the merging of USA, Mexico and Canada.

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#126

Post by kube-system »

psychlops wrote: post #112
dave4420 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect many countries would prefer a Chinese reserve currency to a European one, due to past bad experiences of being ruled by Europeans. But even on a purely economic level… does the Eurozone even have a larger economy than China? I can see countries moving away from USD, but I don’t see them coalescing around a single alternative.

China would absolutely not want to have a reserve currency. Their export economy would be destroyed overnight.

Doesn't China currently address this by having two currencies, with one dedicated to offshore use?

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#127

Post by phkahler »

kps wrote: post #6

Should also toll the ‘shortcut’ between Detroit and Buffalo for foreign high-axle-weight vehicles like transport trucks and maybe some electric cars.

>> Should also toll the ‘shortcut’ between Detroit and Buffalo for foreign high-axle-weight vehicles like transport trucks and maybe some electric cars.

Nah, Canada ships too much trash to Michigan to go after one of those crossings. Yes it's weird that part of the US is used as another first world countries garbage dump. I've never looked in to why this is happens. Maybe we could put a tariff on trash?

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#128

Post by Descon »

boringg wrote: post #66
Brusco_RF wrote: post #32

What a lot of commenters cheering this headline might not know is that there is only one single internal road connecting east and west canada which regularly closes. Most commercial routes go through the US. Don't believe me? Route Ottawa to Vancouver in google maps. This move would amount to throwing rocks from a glass house.

Listen Im all for smart reactions to dumb policies. This sounds like a dumb reaction to a dumb policy. Right now any article that does anything pro Canada anti US is going to get cheered in Canada because they are David against a mean Goliath (former best friend) situation. Intelligent conversation and debate has no baring in this absolutely ridiculous situation. This is truly one of the biggest unforced errors I hav…

What intelligent options are you offering for Canada then? The US is going to tariffs us. They have stated that their aim is economic warfare focusing on collapsing our economy so that they may annex us.

It seems in the face of existential threats to our sovereignty, every option should be considered where we have advantage, and there are few.

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#129

Post by hcurtiss »

ForTheKidz wrote: post #113
Trasmatta wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you reconcile that idea with the fact that the United States is the oldest country with a continuously running democracy?

Well we've only been a true "liberal democracy" for the past sixty years or so. Before that we were a de-facto apartheid state. Maybe at a stretch you could say 105 years if you go by the 19th amendment. And frankly i'm still skittish to call America pre-Trump a democracy with my full chest given the electoral college, completely bonkers division of the country into states, the senate, complete lack of a right to vot…

I don't believe any of the founders believed they were creating a "true democracy," or even that it would be desirable. Read Federalist Number 10. The modern fetishism of democracy will lead bad places.

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#130

Post by hmmm-i-wonder »

zellyn wrote: post #75
FredPret wrote: post #56

I've seen two apocalyptic North American scenarios in fiction, and have previously dismissed both as ridiculous. 1. In the Fallout universe, the USA annexes Canada 2. In at least two Neal Stephenson novels (Snowcrash and Termination Shock), the USA has collapsed. I've never before thought that either of these would have a semi-realistic path to actually happening.

In the Handmaid's Tale TV show, the US has turned into a repressive religious state horrifyingly cruel to women, and people will occasionally try to cross the border into Canada to safety.

As a Canadian, this is increasingly becoming my best case scenario. Hopefully we can maintain our independence, and many of the freedoms and judicial process the US is currently destroying, although there are some exceptions our govt drastically needs to address *

* the biggest example I expect Americans to bring up is gun control. Canada absolutely needs to revert to a logic and data based restriction approach rather than an emotional appeal over looks or otherwise. Unfortunately while 85% of the country supports some form of gun control, only one party is actively implementing it and doing it in the stupidest way possible. That being said, I expect Americans never to agree with gun control in any form, and that's OK and another reason of the many Canadians do not want to be part of the US.

* Canada has mirrored the US in restricting protests and collective bargaining in some cases, and needs to step back and seriously strengthen the laws protecting its people. At the same time, some protestors also need to understand the difference between protesting and terrorizing neighbourhoods...

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