That makes perfect sense. It puzzles me why supporters of the current US regime think Canada won’t resist the US. Be it a trade war or a military invasion, Canada will make the cost so great that it may eliminate the US from the world arena. Canada has been cornered and has nothing to lose at this point.
Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska
181–190 of 355 posts
Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska
#182I'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.
> 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…
Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
But that sounds bad! Why should we be borrowing all this money from foreigners when we’re a rich country? What if I want the U.S. to build stuff, instead of moving money around and trying to “influence global politics.” I’d also love a sane domestic politics that acknowledges that borrowing money from foreigners every year because we can’t square our spending with our taxing is a bad thing.
> Why should we be borrowing all this money from foreigners when we’re a rich country? The crazy thing is, most of the money that the US borrows from is from their own citizens... not foreigners. I don't know why everyone presumes that US debt is mostly or entirely owed to other countries. It isn't.
Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
But that sounds bad! Why should we be borrowing all this money from foreigners when we’re a rich country? What if I want the U.S. to build stuff, instead of moving money around and trying to “influence global politics.” I’d also love a sane domestic politics that acknowledges that borrowing money from foreigners every year because we can’t square our spending with our taxing is a bad thing.
> Why should we be borrowing all this money from foreigners when we’re a rich country? The crazy thing is, most of the money that the US borrows from is from their own citizens... not foreigners. I don't know why everyone presumes that US debt is mostly or entirely owed to other countries. It isn't.
does any other country do it this way?
Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
people keep looking up the population of Canada to see where it would rank as a state
That's the wrong thing for them to be looking up. It would have to be 13 states, with 26 senators. Oh, wait, is that suddenly not so appealing?
Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
How much dairy does the US import from Canada? Answer: there is essentially no dairy trade between the countries. The US is, of course, free to have a reciprocal tariff policy.
The US already has heavy agri subsidies, so it's a completely hypocritical comparison. And a pointless one, as you pointed out. It's fascinating to watch the spread of official propaganda talking points through online media. This one started two-three weeks ago, presumably from Trump. People who knew nothing about the Canadian dairy market suddenly "experts"
> The OECD estimated the subsidy equivalent in 2012 (producer support estimate) in all Canadian agriculture represented 18% of the value of the industry with most of this amount going to supply managed sectors which represent only a percentage of Canadian agriculture. Critics say that this results in a "much higher effective subsidy" for supply-managed industries.
> According to Hall Findlay's 2012 study, in the European Union, the effective subsidies were 27%, with the United States at 10%, Australia (6%), New Zealand (1%), Brazil (6%), and China at 9%.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy_and_poultry_supply_manag...
Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
#188I don't understand any of the justifications for a trade war with Canada. IIRC, Trump was fudging numbers by only including the "goods" part of "goods & services" so the deficit looked worse than it actually was (assuming a deficit is even bad in the first place) It's also bewildering that Trump literally negotiated a trade deal in his first term with Mexico and Canada but is now saying we're getting screwed? Is this…
The justification is Trump wants to do to Canada much what Putin is doing to Ukraine. Russia being allowed to take Ukraine legitimizes world powers engaging in conquest within their sphere. It's really that simple. The talk about fentanyl, the supposed trade imbalance, and all the rest is just smoke and noise, because if he said that he wanted to raid Canada for resources and Lebensraum it might actually threaten his…
Even if such an effort were attempted, any progress would likely be reversed by the next administration, assuming Democrats return to power.
Beyond that, the situation has been highly disruptive to Canada. I've witness movements like "Free Alberta" and "Alberta 51" have gained traction, while some people display pro-Trump stickers and wave U.S. flags. At the same time, others are booing the U.S. national anthem and removing American flags.
Overall, this growing division is unhealthy for Canada and has only deepened existing tensions.
It's not fun to be in Canada right now..
Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
> to a logic and data based restriction approach and what would data tell why guns have to be restricted? Some questions: - what the fraction of gun crimes are commited by law-abiding citizens, which would be actually subject of restrictions? - is number of casualties high compared to casualties from knife fights, over-doze, obesity, and car accidents because of speeding Is there data for this question which would ba…
Not to be too glib, but rather than citing a theoretical need to stage an uprising, why not measure something more direct and practical, like the number of mass shootings. Some stats - https://www.healthdata.org/news-events/insights-blog/acting-... Yes, a tyrant could take over, but the only credible threat Canada has had of that since the second world war has been our most powerful ally 'joking' about annexing us. A…
I think your link doesn't have actual mass shootings number, my bet is that majority of fire arm homicides are commited by some small caliber hangguns (unlikely to be restricted) in domestic violence setting. Wikipedia says that massshooting casualties are only 0.2% of gun deaths in USA.
Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's the wrong thing for them to be looking up. It would have to be 13 states, with 26 senators. Oh, wait, is that suddenly not so appealing?
Just curious, what's the reason for it needing to be 13 states?
Making Canada one huge state would be stupid, even more than annexing Canada.