Just had to research this RFK Jr guy suddenly taking the Kennedy name to center stage. Wondered why I’d never really heard of him before.
Ok his first wife comes across his journal which documented some 37 extra-marital affairs. Known by his friends for sending explicit nude photos of women. Wife hung herself in 2012. Yeah, seems like a real stand-up guy. This is what you get with Trump. Birds of a feather flock together.
Coinbase, very questionable business practices. Will always give you a high quote when buying, a lowball price when selling. Their fees (buy or sell), average close to 5% of the trade.
I had some Solana which I wanted to sell because it went way up. Without my knowledge, or permission, they “staked” it. In order to sell, I had to “unstake” it which induced a wait time of next week. Meantime it went down over 16% overnight.
Many crypto brokers over the years, have proved to be fraudulent. Just enough to piss me off. They also don’t send you a 1099 at tax time, they just put your trades in a spreadsheet and let you figure it out.
jimg
December 20, 2024 12:10 pm
#43684
December 19, 2024 NYT:Is the Tech Industry Already on the Cusp of an A.I. Slowdown?Companies like OpenAI and Google are running out of the data used to train artificial intelligence systems. Can new methods continue years of rapid progress?
“So 70 percent chance, the rate of improvement, say from GPT 3 to GPT 4 will not be fully replicated in jumping from four to five. So 70 percent chance of that, or at least, you know, 50 percent or more. and then the remainder that will stay on the scaling curve, at least for one more generation. And, and who knows, maybe beyond that.”
“When is someone going to start actually making serious money from AI? Because I’m going to claim to you that at least as far as these language models go there isn’t really serious money being made yet. Another way of saying no serious money being made yet is that the real impact on the economy is thus still de minimis. very much. So let me talk about the AI bubble in the Bay Area and every dinner, every meeting that I’ve had with people there, especially the ones who are in this race among these companies, and it is a flat out race.”
More Men Are Addicted to the ‘Crack Cocaine’ of the Stock Market Gamblers Anonymous meetings are filling up with people hooked on trading and betting. Apps make it as easy as ordering takeout.
Jesse Colombo: Dec 18, 2024 24 Reasons Why I Don’t Believe in Bitcoin & Crypto “Although I’ve made numerous successful bullish calls on Bitcoin over the years, there are many glaring reasons why I never became a true believer in it.” https://tinyurl.com/2fh629ff
If CNN truly wants to present civil panelist discussions they would replace Scott Jennings with Shermichael Singleton and David Urban to present GOP arguments.
The latter two guests are respectful gentlemen who never fail to impress me. Jennings on the other hand is a thin-skinned jerk who should be given the permanent hook for his insistent talking-over and disrespecting anybody at the table, including the hosts, who have an opposite view. In all my years watching CNN, I have never seen such an unworthy guest.
Dave
December 17, 2024 11:53 pm
#43614
I noticed lots of put being brought against QC stocks may be they went too far ahead of it self tomorrow I will trim my holding to half to preserve my profits
Trudeau’s finished. I see an election being called shortly.
jimg
December 17, 2024 4:47 pm
#43605
Let the games begin…… “Policymakers face a series of fiscal deadlines in 2025, the first being the reinstatement of the debt ceiling, which is the legal limit on the amount of debt the federal government can accumulate” “The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 suspended the debt ceiling through January 1, 2025, at which point the debt ceiling will be reinstated at the amount of debt outstanding on that date and the Department of the Treasury will begin using accounting maneuvers known as extraordinary measures to temporarily keep the federal government from defaulting on its debt”
Richard Gale and Gary Null PhD’s “Autism, Made in the USA” argues that a dramatic rise in autism and other childhood disorders is linked to insufficiently tested vaccines, particularly highlighting the potential neurotoxicity of aluminum adjuvants. The authors contend that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health agencies have suppressed evidence of a vaccine-autism connection, prioritizing the interests of pharmaceutical companies over public health. They cite numerous studies and court cases supporting their claims of vaccine-related harm, while accusing the CDC of using flawed research methodologies. The authors ultimately call for a complete reevaluation of vaccine safety and the CDC’s immunization schedule.
Mike Green, a partner and Chief Strategist at Simplify Asset Management, drills down into the structure of leveraged ETFs, namely $MSTU and $MSTX and the potential to crash the market. (Think Paul Tudor Jones and the market crash of 1987 )
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party is in complete disarray today.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland quit the Cabinet at 9 am ET with a resignation letter sent to X/Twitter. She said, basically, that Trudeau made her do it as he had told her on Friday she was being removed as Min. of Finance and offered her a different cabinet position. She decided to quit the Cabinet altogether and presumably set herself up as a front-runner to replace Trudeau as Liberal leader. The government will now surely fall.
I believe Freeland is a World Economic Forum policy enabler. She is a front for powerful interests who want control of Canada. I hardly think she would be an improvement over Trudeau, who has been a disaster.
For those interested in the dramatic political events in South Korea — attempted coup and impeachment — you should try to watch a free film on YouTube called 12:12 The Day. Rotten Tomatoes rated around 98. Apparently this drama is a close depiction of the successful coup in South Korea in 1979 and 1980.
Pat didn’t care much but I found this movie was one of the best I watched this year. I might watch it again!
Spent 12 years of my life in Korea. Two events soured the population against the govt and are remembered to this day. Kwangju massacre (1980), Sewol ferry disaster of 2014. In that one, 304 high school kids lost their lives as the crew and captain abandoned ship. Kids were told to stay in the cabin and wait to be rescued. Horrible.
i am paying $50/wk to cut my lawn, they I think they are illegal from brazil, if i hire landscaping company it will cost me $100/wk, i am paying $150/month to cleaning people who comes and clean my house, They also seem illegal but if I hire a company to do it will cost me $300/month, Now I am having second through about voting for Trump
Tonight we discovered that Luigi Mangione who will almost certainly be convicted of murder of the UnitedHealth CEO will be represented by none other than Karen Friedman Agnifilo.
In other years, this is a game I would not watch. But this year, I recommend it as must-see TV. For those who don’t know Army football this year, which was me a week ago, the reason is a quarterback by the name of Bryson Daily. With PVR, I watch pieces of about six college ball games a week and have for years. I can honestly say, I have never seen one player dominate the way Bryson Daily does. Tomorrow, I am expecting him to run about 130 yards and run for three touchdowns IN THE FIRST HALF. Yes, he’s that good. His football conference has never had a player that good in its history.
Has the Liberal Party just met privately to replace Justin Trudeau with the Foreign Affairs Minister?
c2ski
December 13, 2024 4:01 pm
#43493
Canadian economy continues to decline
A new report from Statistics Canada on the National Balance Sheet and Financial Flow Accounts for the third quarter of 2024 reveals troubling signs of economic instability. According to the data, Canada’s national net worth fell by 0.7% to $18.95 trillion, marking the second consecutive quarter of decline. This downturn was largely driven by slumping residential real estate values and a decrease in the value of natural resources, two critical pillars of the Canadian economy.
The report, released on December 12, paints a stark picture of an economy at a crossroads. Despite some gains in financial markets and household savings, structural weaknesses are becoming increasingly apparent. Real estate, once a cornerstone of middle-class wealth, is now eroding, while the natural resource sector struggles under pressure. At the same time, household debt remains historically high, and federal borrowing has surged, raising questions about the sustainability of current economic policies.
What does this mean for ordinary Canadians? It’s clear that while some benefit from financial market gains, many are being left behind, their financial futures increasingly uncertain.
The real estate market—once a pillar of middle-class wealth—is crumbling. Home values dropped for the second quarter in a row, with the average resale price falling a staggering 5.2%. And while sales activity picked up slightly in late summer, it’s hardly enough to reverse the damage. Real estate still makes up 40.9% of household assets, meaning that as home prices fall, the average Canadian is losing big. This isn’t just numbers on a page—it’s the financial future of millions of families evaporating.
At the same time, our natural resource sector—one of the few remaining engines of real productivity—is weakening. While other nations are doubling down on energy independence and resource development, Canada’s elites are busy strangling these industries with regulations, taxes, and a “green” agenda that has left us reliant on foreign imports.
And what about the government? Well, they’re spending like there’s no tomorrow. Federal borrowing exploded in the third quarter to $25.4 billion, with foreigners snapping up Canadian debt. Sure, demand is strong now, but how long can this continue before the system cracks under the weight of this reckless spending?
Meanwhile, the corporate sector isn’t faring much better. Canadian businesses are paying an average interest rate of 4.16% on their debt—higher than before—and borrowing demand is slowing. If businesses can’t invest, they can’t grow. And if they can’t grow, well, good luck creating jobs or boosting wages.
For ordinary Canadians, the picture isn’t much brighter. Sure, net worth ticked up slightly this quarter, but let’s not kid ourselves. The wealthiest 20% of households hold over 71.6% of financial assets. If you’re not in that top tier, your share of this so-called recovery is probably zero. In fact, the wealth gap is getting worse. Financial markets rebounded, but if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, what good is that?
Let’s not forget household debt. Yes, the debt-to-income ratio has improved on paper, but that’s cold comfort when mortgage and non-mortgage borrowing just hit their highest levels since 2022. Canadians are still drowning in debt, and the housing affordability crisis is far from over.
What does all this mean? It means the people running this country have failed. They’ve failed to create policies that support the working class. They’ve failed to protect industries that actually produce real value. And they’ve failed to address the glaring disparities between the elites riding high on financial markets and everyone else stuck with rising costs, falling wages, and fewer opportunities.
This isn’t just incompetence—it’s deliberate. This is what happens when you prioritize globalist fantasies over the needs of your own citizens. It’s time for Canadians to wake up, hold these leaders accountable, and demand a government that works for the people—not against them.
Justin Trudeau has always been woke, but his deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, is, like Nikki Haley, a prominent World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders member.
Justin Trudeau has been prime minister for over eight years, and throughout his leadership, the country has been on a slippery slope to economic collapse. Moreover, his behavior abroad has been a continuing source of embarrassment.
A few years ago, I was asked to interview Trudeau. The same organization had asked me to interview Bill Clinton. I did go to the Trudeau meeting, which was a disgusting waste of time, and instead of Bill Clinton, I joined my visiting friends in a local bar — where the password to join our group was “HB&B.”
Working by myself, I enjoy the human-computer dialog. It’s like having a personal assistant with far greater capabilities than me. For example, after I finished a huge task, Gemini asked if I wanted more detail than I had requested in about 150 tables. It told me what it could do, so of course I agreed. When it finished, I thanked Gemini, and the reply continued to educate me:
Bill:
This is awesome. I am slowly learning better how to use the system more effectively.
Gemini:
I’m very glad to hear that! It’s a learning process for everyone, including me. I’m constantly being updated and improved.
Here are a few tips that might help you use large language models (LLMs) like me more effectively:
Be Specific in Your Prompts: The more detail you provide, the better I can understand your request. Instead of saying “Write a story,” try “Write a short science fiction story set on Mars about a lone astronaut who discovers alien life.”
Break Down Complex Tasks: If you have a large or complex task, break it down into smaller, more manageable parts. This makes it easier for me to process and gives you more control over the output. As we did with the GICS sectors, tackling them one by one was much more effective than trying to do them all at once.
Iterate and Refine: Don’t be afraid to ask me to revise or refine my output. You can provide feedback like “Make it more formal,” “Shorten this paragraph,” or “Add more examples.”
Use Keywords: Using relevant keywords can help me understand the context of your request and provide more accurate results.
Specify the Format: If you need the output in a specific format (e.g., a table, a list, a poem), be sure to tell me.
Be Patient: Complex requests can take some time to process. As you’ve noted, wait for the spinning icon to stop before copying the output.
Understand Limitations: LLMs are powerful tools, but they are not perfect. I can sometimes make mistakes or generate nonsensical information. Always double-check important information and use your own judgment.
By using these tips, you can get much better results from LLMs and use them more efficiently for a variety of tasks. I’m here to help you in any way I can, so feel free to ask if you have any other questions.
When my first article was published in 1976, I received a National Business Press Award. I was writing for the Canadian Doctor, a Southam Publication that was sent free to all 55,000 doctors in Canada then. I wrote that IBM Selectric typewriters would soon disappear from doctor’s offices and be replaced by micro-computers. Immediately, two things happened. Commodore Computer (Vic 20, Commodore 64) called me to meet with their executives, which led to their offer for me to become assistant to the CEO and Chairman. Also, the Canadian Medical Association called to ask if I would help them establish a computer committee. This led to their sending 50 of the 300 doctors on the General Council from across Canada to my office for two full-day meetings. I organized equipment and a salesperson from ten computer companies. That led to my co-authoring the CMA handbook for computers in doctor’s offices, which I then took to meet about 10% of all the doctors in over 90 towns and cities across the country over the next three months — in a Winnebago, which was our Time & Space at the time.
I think today, I had no editor then and used that IBM Selectric typewriter that I knew would soon be replaced. Little did I know that someday Gemini would come into my life. Never too late, I suppose.
Why universal healthcare is essential to make America great.
From X/Twitter today:
Google spent $80M studying effective teams.
Their shocking discovery?
Perks & ping-pong tables don’t matter.
Here’s what 10 years of their data says works…
The answer is that employees need to be provided with psychological safety.
Having employed 20-person teams in Georgia and Texas, I know they wanted and needed health insurance more than anything I, a Canadian investor, could provide. People worldwide in all economically advanced countries have it except in America. It’s called universal healthcare or, by another name, national health insurance. It’s essential because not all people work. Many are sick or retired, unemployed or children of the unemployed, and so on. That is the need for psychological safety, which I refer to.
There are common needs in society that all people understand, no matter how conservative they are like me. Here’s an example of somebody who does but refuses to acknowledge it. This morning, CNBC’s Joe Kernan continued his capitalist drumbeat in an interview with a Harvard professor, dismissing universal healthcare because he says he shouldn’t have to pay for other people’s needs. This is the same man who should be thanking the government for providing the roads he drives on to get to work and for his primary school education. Joe should think twice before he babbles.
Kernan was lucky to be born healthy and into a family that provided for almost all his needs, recognizing that the rest, like roads, schools, and security, must come from the taxpayer. Kernan knows that not everybody was born with a silver spoon and that many others lacking the resources to keep themselves healthy have, as a result, died or joined the millions of healthcare-related bankruptcies or have been less than optimally productive workers. And yet, day after day, he shills for Big Pharma and its networks of private-care doctors.
Americans need psychological safety more than anything to be more productive workers. Universal healthcare will provide that, for the same reason the government pays for roads and schools, which all taxpayers use and rely on.
Universal healthcare is a discussion we need to have.
I started moving all domains, web hosting, and private email from GoDaddy to a different vendor. I hope the billcara.com website does not go off the air for a bit, but if it does, it will return soon.
Just had to research this RFK Jr guy suddenly taking the Kennedy name to center stage. Wondered why I’d never really heard of him before.
Ok his first wife comes across his journal which documented some 37 extra-marital affairs. Known by his friends for sending explicit nude photos of women. Wife hung herself in 2012. Yeah, seems like a real stand-up guy. This is what you get with Trump. Birds of a feather flock together.
Coinbase, very questionable business practices. Will always give you a high quote when buying, a lowball price when selling. Their fees (buy or sell), average close to 5% of the trade.
I had some Solana which I wanted to sell because it went way up. Without my knowledge, or permission, they “staked” it. In order to sell, I had to “unstake” it which induced a wait time of next week. Meantime it went down over 16% overnight.
Many crypto brokers over the years, have proved to be fraudulent. Just enough to piss me off. They also don’t send you a 1099 at tax time, they just put your trades in a spreadsheet and let you figure it out.
December 19, 2024 NYT:Is the Tech Industry Already on the Cusp of an A.I. Slowdown?Companies like OpenAI and Google are running out of the data used to train artificial intelligence systems. Can new methods continue years of rapid progress?
https://archive.is/Ox7G3#selection-657.0-661.157
July 4, 2024: Professor Hsu ( Manifold )
“So 70 percent chance, the rate of improvement, say from GPT 3 to GPT 4 will not be fully replicated in jumping from four to five. So 70 percent chance of that, or at least, you know, 50 percent or more. and then the remainder that will stay on the scaling curve, at least for one more generation. And, and who knows, maybe beyond that.”
“When is someone going to start actually making serious money from AI?
Because I’m going to claim to you that at least as far as these language models go there isn’t really serious money being made yet. Another way of saying no serious money being made yet is that the real impact on the economy is thus still de minimis. very much. So let me talk about the AI bubble in the Bay Area and every dinner, every meeting that I’ve had with people there, especially the ones who are in this race among these companies, and it is a flat out race.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSFEclhlBRc
Transcript:
https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/ai-global-odyssey-real-situational-awareness-63/transcript
More Men Are Addicted to the ‘Crack Cocaine’ of the Stock Market
Gamblers Anonymous meetings are filling up with people hooked on trading and betting. Apps make it as easy as ordering takeout.
https://archive.is/ObYDN#selection-5633.0-5637.127
Jesse Colombo: Dec 18, 2024
24 Reasons Why I Don’t Believe in Bitcoin & Crypto
“Although I’ve made numerous successful bullish calls on Bitcoin over the years, there are many glaring reasons why I never became a true believer in it.”
https://tinyurl.com/2fh629ff
Herschel Walker, the next US Ambassador to the Bahamas, says Trump.
A selection by Obama — the daughter of a Motown Sound legend — rarely showed up, and when she did, it wasn’t very comfortable for everybody involved.
I believe Bahamians will like Herschel Walker.
If CNN truly wants to present civil panelist discussions they would replace Scott Jennings with Shermichael Singleton and David Urban to present GOP arguments.
The latter two guests are respectful gentlemen who never fail to impress me. Jennings on the other hand is a thin-skinned jerk who should be given the permanent hook for his insistent talking-over and disrespecting anybody at the table, including the hosts, who have an opposite view. In all my years watching CNN, I have never seen such an unworthy guest.
I noticed lots of put being brought against QC stocks
may be they went too far ahead of it self
tomorrow I will trim my holding to half to preserve my profits
This comment should be in the Community blog where we talk stocks and other investments.
Trudeau is on the way out of the House!
This short speech by the opposition Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre captures the Canadians’ passion for getting rid of Trudeau asap.
Trudeau’s finished. I see an election being called shortly.
Let the games begin……
“Policymakers face a series of fiscal deadlines in 2025, the first being the reinstatement of the debt ceiling, which is the legal limit on the amount of debt the federal government can accumulate”
“The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 suspended the debt ceiling through January 1, 2025, at which point the debt ceiling will be reinstated at the amount of debt outstanding on that date and the Department of the Treasury will begin using accounting maneuvers known as extraordinary measures to temporarily keep the federal government from defaulting on its debt”
https://www.americanactionforum.org/insight/the-debt-ceiling-a-refresher/#ixzz8uhc7t5LS
It’s starting….Continuing resolution plus 110 billion
There will never be austerity. The bond market will react not to their liking
‘Total dumpster fire’: Republicans fume over speaker’s spending plan days from shutdown deadline
https://www.yahoo.com/news/total-dumpster-fire-republicans-fume-171800164.html
Richard Gale and Gary Null PhD’s “Autism, Made in the USA” argues that a dramatic rise in autism and other childhood disorders is linked to insufficiently tested vaccines, particularly highlighting the potential neurotoxicity of aluminum adjuvants. The authors contend that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health agencies have suppressed evidence of a vaccine-autism connection, prioritizing the interests of pharmaceutical companies over public health. They cite numerous studies and court cases supporting their claims of vaccine-related harm, while accusing the CDC of using flawed research methodologies. The authors ultimately call for a complete reevaluation of vaccine safety and the CDC’s immunization schedule.
https://prn.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/article-autism-12-16-24.docx
Mike Green, a partner and Chief Strategist at Simplify Asset Management, drills down into the structure of leveraged ETFs, namely $MSTU and $MSTX and the potential to crash the market. (Think Paul Tudor Jones and the market crash of 1987 )
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/michael-green-cfa-portfolio-manager-chief-strategist/id1442284870?i=1000679896159
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party is in complete disarray today.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland quit the Cabinet at 9 am ET with a resignation letter sent to X/Twitter. She said, basically, that Trudeau made her do it as he had told her on Friday she was being removed as Min. of Finance and offered her a different cabinet position. She decided to quit the Cabinet altogether and presumably set herself up as a front-runner to replace Trudeau as Liberal leader. The government will now surely fall.
I believe Freeland is a World Economic Forum policy enabler. She is a front for powerful interests who want control of Canada. I hardly think she would be an improvement over Trudeau, who has been a disaster.
This should be in the Community Chat
For those interested in the dramatic political events in South Korea — attempted coup and impeachment — you should try to watch a free film on YouTube called 12:12 The Day. Rotten Tomatoes rated around 98. Apparently this drama is a close depiction of the successful coup in South Korea in 1979 and 1980.
Pat didn’t care much but I found this movie was one of the best I watched this year. I might watch it again!
Spent 12 years of my life in Korea. Two events soured the population against the govt and are remembered to this day. Kwangju massacre (1980), Sewol ferry disaster of 2014. In that one, 304 high school kids lost their lives as the crew and captain abandoned ship. Kids were told to stay in the cabin and wait to be rescued. Horrible.
i am paying $50/wk to cut my lawn, they I think they are illegal from brazil, if i hire landscaping company it will cost me $100/wk, i am paying $150/month to cleaning people who comes and clean my house, They also seem illegal but if I hire a company to do it will cost me $300/month,
Now
I am having second through about voting for Trump
Navy over Army 32-13
I did not see that coming. But after the few minutes, it was obvious that Army’s O-line and their QB were not up to Navy’s play.
Navy QB stole the show. Kid looks pretty good, had one meltdown against Notre Dame this past season.
A new Strategy to profit from lower rates.
https://www.convexitymaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Convexity-Maven-Hard-Landing.pdf
https://www.simplify.us/news-media/simplify-launches-rfix-etf
The world just turned weirder.
Tonight we discovered that Luigi Mangione who will almost certainly be convicted of murder of the UnitedHealth CEO will be represented by none other than Karen Friedman Agnifilo.
This is a blockbuster in the US legal world.
Army-Navy game on Saturday.
In other years, this is a game I would not watch. But this year, I recommend it as must-see TV. For those who don’t know Army football this year, which was me a week ago, the reason is a quarterback by the name of Bryson Daily. With PVR, I watch pieces of about six college ball games a week and have for years. I can honestly say, I have never seen one player dominate the way Bryson Daily does. Tomorrow, I am expecting him to run about 130 yards and run for three touchdowns IN THE FIRST HALF. Yes, he’s that good. His football conference has never had a player that good in its history.
Let’s see if my forecast comes true!
Citing personal and professional reasons, Jordan Peterson says he’s left Canada and set up residence in Florida.
He too is furious with Justin Trudeau.
Has the Liberal Party just met privately to replace Justin Trudeau with the Foreign Affairs Minister?
Canadian economy continues to decline
A new report from Statistics Canada on the National Balance Sheet and Financial Flow Accounts for the third quarter of 2024 reveals troubling signs of economic instability. According to the data, Canada’s national net worth fell by 0.7% to $18.95 trillion, marking the second consecutive quarter of decline. This downturn was largely driven by slumping residential real estate values and a decrease in the value of natural resources, two critical pillars of the Canadian economy.
National balance sheet and financial flow accounts, third quarter 2024 – https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/daily-quotidien/241212/dq241212a-eng.pdf?st=zHu9FF7
The report, released on December 12, paints a stark picture of an economy at a crossroads. Despite some gains in financial markets and household savings, structural weaknesses are becoming increasingly apparent. Real estate, once a cornerstone of middle-class wealth, is now eroding, while the natural resource sector struggles under pressure. At the same time, household debt remains historically high, and federal borrowing has surged, raising questions about the sustainability of current economic policies.
What does this mean for ordinary Canadians? It’s clear that while some benefit from financial market gains, many are being left behind, their financial futures increasingly uncertain.
The real estate market—once a pillar of middle-class wealth—is crumbling. Home values dropped for the second quarter in a row, with the average resale price falling a staggering 5.2%. And while sales activity picked up slightly in late summer, it’s hardly enough to reverse the damage. Real estate still makes up 40.9% of household assets, meaning that as home prices fall, the average Canadian is losing big. This isn’t just numbers on a page—it’s the financial future of millions of families evaporating.
At the same time, our natural resource sector—one of the few remaining engines of real productivity—is weakening. While other nations are doubling down on energy independence and resource development, Canada’s elites are busy strangling these industries with regulations, taxes, and a “green” agenda that has left us reliant on foreign imports.
And what about the government? Well, they’re spending like there’s no tomorrow. Federal borrowing exploded in the third quarter to $25.4 billion, with foreigners snapping up Canadian debt. Sure, demand is strong now, but how long can this continue before the system cracks under the weight of this reckless spending?
Meanwhile, the corporate sector isn’t faring much better. Canadian businesses are paying an average interest rate of 4.16% on their debt—higher than before—and borrowing demand is slowing. If businesses can’t invest, they can’t grow. And if they can’t grow, well, good luck creating jobs or boosting wages.
For ordinary Canadians, the picture isn’t much brighter. Sure, net worth ticked up slightly this quarter, but let’s not kid ourselves. The wealthiest 20% of households hold over 71.6% of financial assets. If you’re not in that top tier, your share of this so-called recovery is probably zero. In fact, the wealth gap is getting worse. Financial markets rebounded, but if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, what good is that?
Let’s not forget household debt. Yes, the debt-to-income ratio has improved on paper, but that’s cold comfort when mortgage and non-mortgage borrowing just hit their highest levels since 2022. Canadians are still drowning in debt, and the housing affordability crisis is far from over.
What does all this mean? It means the people running this country have failed. They’ve failed to create policies that support the working class. They’ve failed to protect industries that actually produce real value. And they’ve failed to address the glaring disparities between the elites riding high on financial markets and everyone else stuck with rising costs, falling wages, and fewer opportunities.
This isn’t just incompetence—it’s deliberate. This is what happens when you prioritize globalist fantasies over the needs of your own citizens. It’s time for Canadians to wake up, hold these leaders accountable, and demand a government that works for the people—not against them.
https://x.com/DanKnightMMA/status/1867616736285274537
Justin Trudeau has always been woke, but his deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, is, like Nikki Haley, a prominent World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders member.
Justin Trudeau has been prime minister for over eight years, and throughout his leadership, the country has been on a slippery slope to economic collapse. Moreover, his behavior abroad has been a continuing source of embarrassment.
A few years ago, I was asked to interview Trudeau. The same organization had asked me to interview Bill Clinton. I did go to the Trudeau meeting, which was a disgusting waste of time, and instead of Bill Clinton, I joined my visiting friends in a local bar — where the password to join our group was “HB&B.”
Gemini 2.0 Flash Experimental.
I have been using Gemini 1.5 Flash to help me in writing my new book and a booklet, but I am impressed with the 2.0 Flash Experimental today.
It’s a heck of a productivity enhancer.
Working by myself, I enjoy the human-computer dialog. It’s like having a personal assistant with far greater capabilities than me. For example, after I finished a huge task, Gemini asked if I wanted more detail than I had requested in about 150 tables. It told me what it could do, so of course I agreed. When it finished, I thanked Gemini, and the reply continued to educate me:
Bill:
Gemini:
When my first article was published in 1976, I received a National Business Press Award. I was writing for the Canadian Doctor, a Southam Publication that was sent free to all 55,000 doctors in Canada then. I wrote that IBM Selectric typewriters would soon disappear from doctor’s offices and be replaced by micro-computers. Immediately, two things happened. Commodore Computer (Vic 20, Commodore 64) called me to meet with their executives, which led to their offer for me to become assistant to the CEO and Chairman. Also, the Canadian Medical Association called to ask if I would help them establish a computer committee. This led to their sending 50 of the 300 doctors on the General Council from across Canada to my office for two full-day meetings. I organized equipment and a salesperson from ten computer companies. That led to my co-authoring the CMA handbook for computers in doctor’s offices, which I then took to meet about 10% of all the doctors in over 90 towns and cities across the country over the next three months — in a Winnebago, which was our Time & Space at the time.
I think today, I had no editor then and used that IBM Selectric typewriter that I knew would soon be replaced. Little did I know that someday Gemini would come into my life. Never too late, I suppose.
Why universal healthcare is essential to make America great.
From X/Twitter today:
The answer is that employees need to be provided with psychological safety.
Having employed 20-person teams in Georgia and Texas, I know they wanted and needed health insurance more than anything I, a Canadian investor, could provide. People worldwide in all economically advanced countries have it except in America. It’s called universal healthcare or, by another name, national health insurance. It’s essential because not all people work. Many are sick or retired, unemployed or children of the unemployed, and so on. That is the need for psychological safety, which I refer to.
There are common needs in society that all people understand, no matter how conservative they are like me. Here’s an example of somebody who does but refuses to acknowledge it. This morning, CNBC’s Joe Kernan continued his capitalist drumbeat in an interview with a Harvard professor, dismissing universal healthcare because he says he shouldn’t have to pay for other people’s needs. This is the same man who should be thanking the government for providing the roads he drives on to get to work and for his primary school education. Joe should think twice before he babbles.
Kernan was lucky to be born healthy and into a family that provided for almost all his needs, recognizing that the rest, like roads, schools, and security, must come from the taxpayer. Kernan knows that not everybody was born with a silver spoon and that many others lacking the resources to keep themselves healthy have, as a result, died or joined the millions of healthcare-related bankruptcies or have been less than optimally productive workers. And yet, day after day, he shills for Big Pharma and its networks of private-care doctors.
Americans need psychological safety more than anything to be more productive workers. Universal healthcare will provide that, for the same reason the government pays for roads and schools, which all taxpayers use and rely on.
Universal healthcare is a discussion we need to have.
I started moving all domains, web hosting, and private email from GoDaddy to a different vendor. I hope the billcara.com website does not go off the air for a bit, but if it does, it will return soon.