The hated Harperites tried to tear him down in the election three years ago. Remember ‘just not ready’? Sure you do. Voters ignored the warning and voted for The Kid with the Nice Hair. He was modern, hip, preached the Obama-style politics of hope and told people everything would be okay, with legal weed and budgets that balanced themselves.
So T2 has done better than a lot of people (Cons) expected. Still a rock star, too. But after spending last summer insulting and enraging small business guys, entrepreneurs and doctors, this summer’s toll is worse. He bought a pipeline with $4.5 billion in tax money without asking Parliament. Then the pipeline was ruled illegal on the day the sale was closed. Oops. He met with the American president at a summit in Quebec that cost taxpayers $600 million, and ended in disaster. The Kid’s post-meeting media conference enraged Trump and ignited a trade war. So NAFTA fell apart. The US did a trade deal with Mexico, freezing us out. Next week the T2 government will scramble to rescue a treaty, throwing a lot of farmers (and others) under the bus in doing so.
As for the budget, it hasn’t balanced itself yet, with deep deficits and $100 billion added to the national debt by the time of the next election. Taxes have increased and soon CPP premiums will follow (the average family will pay $2,260 more a year when this round of hikes is done). People making over $240,000 a year are now in a 53% tax bracket, and TFSA contributions for everyone were effectively halved. Let’s not even mention India
But, the economy’s grown along with that of the US, inflation is back, interest rates are going up, job creation has improved and weed is coming next month. House prices crested, then retraced, lending regs were tightened, household debt has hit new record levels and the banks are making more money than God.
Is this enough to get re-elected in a year?
Maybe. This week will be pivotal. No trade deal would whack the dollar, open the door for auto tariffs, spank southern Ontario and flatline the economy. The trade deal Trump wants would end supply management, pit Ottawa against Quebec, increase input costs plus goose inflation and interest rates. We should know what the damage will be by Friday. But there’s no denying the fact Canada will suffer because the emotional, egocentric US president was slighted by a telegenic young prime minister playing to the cameras on June 9th. Did he stand up for Canada? Or has the old guy deked him out of his Calvins?
Of course, if Mad Max Bernier gets any traction and rips away even 5% of the core Conservative vote for his destined-to-fail alt right movement, then T2 will be the dude in charge for a long time.
Voters didn’t buy it. Now he’s the anti-Trump.
The FIRE still burns. Seems all that talk about ‘work-like balance’ has been rejected by a growing number of people who want to amass some capital as fast as possible so they can exit. All life, no work. It’s led to the financial-independence-retire-early meme that’s spawned an online revolution among thirty-somethings who have zero interest in a career. So they save big, live small, invest, avoid debt and check out of a full-time gig as soon as possible.
Is it a worthy goal? Or hopelessly selfish to spend the bulk of your adulthood diddling?
My mailbox is smouldering. Here’s a sample, first from Vlad, who can apparently resist strippers:
Here’s an email from yet another insufferable 30-something, FIRE devotee. I’ve been addicted to your blog since 2009, although I haven’t followed your real estate advise to a T. I own real estate and am actively looking to acquire more, but as you say, only if the numbers make sense. Instead of bragging about my financial triumphs, I’m hoping my story can serve as a cautionary tale to other young people looking to flourish in our new economy.
I graduated from pharmacy school in 2009 in the midst of a massive pharmacist shortage. I walked into a $130k/year job with a $36k signing bonus, while the rest of the world was still reeling from the Global Financial Crisis. I rented out my Toronto condo and headed to Owen Sound, Ontario. For the next 3 years, I proceeded to work 6-7 days per week. Not only did I have my main full-time job, but I worked the equivalent of a second full-time job by picking up locum / relief shifts all over the Grey Bruce region. I lived in a $690/month apartment in downtown Owen Sound, located catty corner from the town strip club. I went without the fancy Starbucks coffees and to this day, I don’t even know if Owen Sound has a Starbucks. I saved aggressively when times were good because I knew that labour market shortages don’t last indefinitely.
In the past 9 years, new faculties of pharmacy have opened while existing schools have increased enrollment. New programs aimed at expediting the licensing foreign trained grads have also played a role in creating a huge surplus of pharmacists. The oligopoly of the big pharmacy chains has shifted the focus to the bottom line, so labour hours have been cut to the bare minimum. There is endless pressure to do flu shots / med checks to bring in taxpayer funded sources of revenue. The final straw for me was when two armed robbers walked into my pharmacy, jumped the dispensary counter, and cleaned out the narcotic vault a few months ago. I demanded management make changes to the pharmacy layout to improve security and as a result, I was unceremoniously fired after 9 years of service.
That experience, while unpleasant, has not derailed my life. I’ve benefited greatly from the rising real estate and stock markets of the last decade, as well as the FIRE frame of mind which kept me from frittering away money on shoes or lattes. So despite being an unemployed millennial, I have 3 rental properties and $750k invested. My advice to any millennial with a 6-figure job would be to stay cognizant of their spending & saving. These days, you just never know when early retirement may be forced upon you.
And this is a note from Derek Foster, who wrote me claiming to be “Canada’s First Youngest Retiree’:
My “claim to fame” was that I retired at 34 – WAY back in 2004 – so I’m not quite a wrinkly, but not a moister either (a Gen Xer). So I guess I did the whole “FIRE” thing before anyone ever called it that….
I realized early that working for decades for the promise of some pension and occasional pats on the head did not make sense, so I saved a lot while teaching in Asia,. travelled a lot backpacking, and stopped working at 34. I guess my “side hustle” was writing books after I retired – wrote 6 of them. Remember when people read books instead of blogs???
Anyhow, now at 48, I have no regrets. I guess being retired young gave me a lot of time on my hands, so my wife and I have 8 kids, so not typical, but life is good. I don’t follow all of your ideas – I own dividend stocks (around 30 of them – roughly 50/50 US can Canada, keep a little cash and own a house in Ottawa…oh and I don’t own a dog…
You only live once and you only have so much time, so what’s wrong with the whole “FIRE” idea? Beats the 9-5 grind…
Of course, if you spend time working at something of value you enjoy, it isn’t ‘work’ any more. So why retire?
209 comments ↓
I lean towards the “Mad Max” scenario and figger we are stuck with him. Just wish it wasn’t so. All our options are not the best in the next election.
And I wonder if the electorate will want to reduce the TFSA limit again on everyone next election? Or have they woken up? I doubt it …
T2 has got to go. So does
Rachel Notley. Splitting the vote will end with many tears.
Derek Foster is an entertaining and informative writer. It’s worth noting that at the core of his early financial success was a speculation in tobacco company options that returned over $400,000, back when money was worth a lot more than it is today. He’s more akin to a lottery winner that made good investments with a bias to dividend stocks and income trusts.
If you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like you’re working on someone else’s dream. So the takeaway is to invest in yourself so that you can spend your “work” time in the happy zone. The stories of extreme financial freedom have some great lessons on financial offense, financial defense and successful investing, but you should strive for balance in all things.
Reality check Garth. Not many can just ‘spend time working at something of value they enjoy’. Only the privileged have this ability.
I’m starting to think this is a 1% blog and the opinions expressed do not represent what 99% of the population has in terms of income and options.
As much as I love reading about your rich man pet projects… The day has come to leave this blog behind. My time is worth more.
Great long term career for Gen Z: Tattoo removal artist.
Someone here asked, what comes after Gen Z? Likely nothing.
With all the mind programming and chemicals them acting as a family unit will be ancient history. It’ll take several liberal arts degrees before they settle on even their gender.
“ignited a trade war”….
Now we all know better than that..the war was there over 2 years ago Trump promised to tear up NAFTA…no matter which party ran Canada….these individual trade tariff attacks were used against many countries not just Canada….it’s about keeping his anger alive.
What don’t we believe what Trump….kept saying over and over and over….?
The trade war lives in Trump’s head…it is all about being in the News..propaganda…little crumbs for his base….making America Great Again….for Trump and his friends. Showing the tough guy stuff….he promised.
NAFTA…..is such a complicated very detailed agreement…Trump couldn’t get past the title page…he doesn’t read….he just blurts out.
Ultimately Congress will decide about NAFTA.
Sounds like your #1 gripe with FIRE is that you should find work you enjoy instead of finding ways to avoid work…which I tend to agree with.
Still, these stories are useful and interesting. I wonder what a nation of people with so much free time would look like. And I wonder if ultra-automation will ever force us there in a different way.
EIGHT kids!? Have you heard the world is overpopulated? I know this ain’t going to sound very politically correct but I think everyone should have to get sterilized after two kids… All the worlds governments should get together and put some population control measures in place. After a couple hundred years we could reduce our population by 80% and there’d be plenty for everyone.
Be responsible folks. Make sure you always have a couple rubbers handy…
I’m surprised that Mister Money Mustache hasn’t been mentioned (not that I have seen) with regards to the conversation with FIRE. He and his group of Mustachians (ardent followers of MMM) have put forward the FIRE mindset for many years now. He’s brilliant and has a bunch of articles on how to do it, if anyone is interested.
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com
“Canada’s First Youngest Retiree”…
What a laugh.
In the little district of Harewood we have third generation guys who retire right out of high school.
Been on welfare and live off the social industry tit, they do.
Good topic for Labour Day maybe.
And this is a note from Derek Foster, who wrote me claiming to be “Canada’s First Youngest Retiree’
——————
The 1st young Canadian retiree was T2. He never had to work in 1st place
The second is daddy’s boy, french villa guy for whom 45 billion of our tax money is a chump change.
They both were born retired and never had to work/never actually worked except now for the good of all the Canadians.
God help us.
Hi blog dogs,
Do you think $550k townhouse in Langley sounds reasonable to you?
https://www.zolo.ca/langley-real-estate/5388-201a-street/27
It does not seam that it will significantly go down in value any time soon.
I am kind of tired of renting.
While I actually like a lot of Bernier’s ideas, i don’t think he will do well launching his own party. I intend to vote alongside Scheer and hope he moves their platform a little more small “c” if he wins the election. No one can take too hard line an approach and expect to win.
I’m no fan of Obama’s policies while in office but what a great eulogy he gave for McCain.
I’m not shocked at the PM making some youthful mistakes on dealing with Trump. Unfortunate for all of us that our leadership is so “Canadian”. We have such a strong sense of fair play… a poor attitude when dealing with a power player who has more and better cards…
T2 might pull it off but him and his band of kleptocrats will continue to pillage our great nation
Running massive deficits while forcing massive tax and other govt costs is bizarre
I don’t want this stupid CPP increase and it’s s total generational theft scheme – while the CPP is sound who knows what a radical future politician will do as insolvent governments desperately look to steal every penny they can
And of course in 20 years your CPP will be paid to you in pesos and might pay for a week or two of basic groceries
I have made several serious financial mistakes but think the FIRE movement is intriguing but crazy
You cannot trust the markets – after taxes , fees, and accelerating currency inflation there is a better than even chance these people will be wiped out within the next 10-15 years
Nothing is more dangerous than a oversized broke govt with legions of active and retired employees , an elite that effectively controls govt and growing numbers of soon to be broke millennial homeDEBTRENTERS and non public sector seniors who can’t afford groceries
Be careful , have a plan B. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face
Study financial history especially sovereign debt crisis
The day I will regret is when I can,t be productive anymore. I love working. As long as it,s on my own terms.
OMG thank you for printing my letter Garth! But it’s Val not Vlad!!! I’m female and that’s probably how I can easily resist strippers!
I was giving you anonymity. So much for that. – Garth
Think about the FIRE lifestyle all the time. Over 40, working wife and 2 pre-teen kids. No mortgage. Maybe 10-13 years until retirement. I used to like my job, but it’s no longer fun, but pays well and has long hours but flexible work arrangements. Better the devil you know, sometimes. If you read MMM blogs, you’ll see that keeping busy is also important or you’ll looney tunes.
My advice for the 30-something set is to get the world travel out of your system and think about proficiency in your career. Be invaluable at your workplace. The one who says “I’ll take care of it.” Being obsolete in your 40’s or 50’s is no picnic.
“Is this enough to get re-elected in a year?”
====================================
No way. Same fate as the Ontario Liberals. Their party status will disappear.
So these guys that didn’t follow economists advice are well off and retired early and the rest of us who didn’t buy real estate and kept balanced stocks are pooched. But our dogs love us!
Just wait ’til Mr. Dressup slaps on the carbon tax and implements the mis-named ‘climate change’ policy (just another tax), adding another $2,000-$3,000 annually to the average taxpayer’s burden while achieving no measurable effect on climate. How many Canadian families will be able to handle that?
Ketih has said it right. Thank you for your wisdom Keith.
In the book Wellbeing, doing what you love is vital to achieving a high well being. Everyone needs a challenge, something to inspire to, recognition, and something to look forward to.
That’s why when you meet people to “love” what they do, nothing else really matters. No stress of work.
Being a poplar and spending nothing doing FIRE might sound exciting but for how long will you get board with nothing to do??
So really FIRE a concerning way to look at this now but because the economy has changed, doing what you “love” is not so easy or practical. And expectations of mellenials don’t want to work hard, isn’t there even more opportunity now then ever??
#12 renter in Surrey
BUY THE TOWNHOUSE DUDE OR YOULL BE KICKING YOURSELF. YOULL BE LIBERATED. I just bought a townhouse in GTA for 800K and I’m finally free!!! Best feeling ever.
I am shocked. Shocked I tell you. Shocked that he got elected. Shocked that he could get re elected. Shocked that I am so out of touch with reality. I don’t understand us any more. Maybe I never did….
#8 Madcat on 09.02.18 at 5:44 pm
EIGHT kids!? Have you heard the world is overpopulated? I know this ain’t going to sound very politically correct but I think everyone should have to get sterilized after two kids… All the worlds governments should get together and put some population control measures in place. After a couple hundred years we could reduce our population by 80% and there’d be plenty for everyone.
Be responsible folks. Make sure you always have a couple rubbers handy…
——-
Uhhh, the guy is Canadian. You know, Canada – where we were told by a government study that we need to import 500,000 people a year to maintain population growth because no one wants the headache and cost associated with having kids anymore?
This guy is a hero IMHO.
You’ve got no worries here in Canukland, reproducing is out, immigration is in.
Looks like no go for rate hike this month? Poloz says they are not concerned that inflation is 3%, because they have underestimated the impact of technology
TO the interest rate boogie man, take this:
1. 58% of senior over 65 are debt free. (statscan)
2. 30% of canadians are debt free (yay!)
2. 1/5 household in Toronto are millionaire. (money sense all wealth test 2015)That’s ALOT considering )
3. 80% approx is wealth in RE
4. CHIP reverse mortgage on the rise.
5. There is ENOUGH equity the impact on most is minimal.
Grandpa and grandma is hoarding a lot of wealth in RE, bungalow in West Scarborough worth 1m+ bought 30 years ago for 5 figures.
The amount of high income 100K club is raising, well the middle class are stagnating and poor are growing.
T2 is the perfect choice to Balkanize Kanada.
Inevitable.
Vote T2!
Doing what you love is great, if you happen to like doing something that makes a lot of money.
If you like doing things that don’t make much money and, you happen to have the ability to make a lot at something you don’t like so much, it makes sense to pile up a bunch by doing the thing you don’t like for a while, and then switch to the thing you do like.
It beats spending 40 years doing something you can tolerate and pretending that it’s something that you like.
These “look at how awesome I am!” validation-seeking letters seem to be featured here every other day.
Anyone checkout any of the new real estate websites showing SOLD data for Toronto? Total junk. Seems most only show data joining back 30 days.
Those of us hoping to go back 5, 10, 15 years like a stock chart are going to be sh-t out of luck with real estate.
They still behaving like a criminal cartel
#9 YVROptimist on 09.02.18 at 5:49 pm
I’m surprised that Mister Money Mustache hasn’t been mentioned (not that I have seen) with regards to the conversation with FIRE. He and his group of Mustachians (ardent followers of MMM) have put forward the FIRE mindset for many years now. He’s brilliant and has a bunch of articles on how to do it, if anyone is interested.
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com
————
MMM has been brought up many times here. He’s got a good philosophy, and great ideas, but the fact remains – the biggest thing he had going for him is luck. Good timing gearing out into the workforce, and great incomes for both him and his wife. Great timing on RE too.
The best the typical dude can draw from mmm, is recognize opportunity when you see it, and grab on with both hands. If he just got out of school now with everything going on with Canadian RE, tuition costs, job competition, and wages – it would be a totally different story.
If you have a good look at these successful FIRE advocates, you’ll see some trends. #1 is big time incomes, sometimes dual, usually no kids. FIRE is likely attainable only by those that make big bucks from the get go, or walk into some kind of windfall to get them rolling.
I seriously hope that the FIRE hopefuls understand this prerequisite…
@#12 Surrey renter
“I am kind of tired of renting.”
+++++
Then stop coming here to moan about renting.
Grow a pair and buy the fricken thing.
Just dont come here next Sept for sympathy when your purchase is worth 100k less than you paid for it….
Hahaha. Another 30 year old with more money than Trudeau himself. Probably even more than you Garth!
750k and 3 rental properties as a Pharmacist? Give me an effing break homie.
But hey it’s an anonymous blog.
Heck I have $5 million, 8 rental properties and I am just a male Nurse!
@#16 Valerie
“OMG thank you for printing my letter Garth! But it’s Val not Vlad!!! I’m female and that’s probably how I can easily resist strippers!”
+++++
Hmmm
Valerie the rich Pharmacist formerly of Owen Sound now back in TO…..
Do you like elevators?
Stunner…
That is quite the litter… consider a sheep dog to help with herding…
Hey, FIRE people, have you learned nothing from John McCain???? Retire?? In your 30s and 40s. Absolutely pathetic. Try being relevant and making the world a better place.
#6 Danny on 09.02.18 at 5:30 pm
“ignited a trade war”….
Now we all know better than that..the war was there over 2 years ago Trump promised to tear up NAFTA…no matter which party ran Canada….these individual trade tariff attacks were used against many countries not just Canada….it’s about keeping his anger alive.
What don’t we believe what Trump….kept saying over and over and over….?
The trade war lives in Trump’s head…it is all about being in the News..propaganda…little crumbs for his base….making America Great Again….for Trump and his friends. Showing the tough guy stuff….he promised.
NAFTA…..is such a complicated very detailed agreement…Trump couldn’t get past the title page…he doesn’t read….he just blurts out.
—————————————————
Please don’t mix up your feelings about him as a person and his tweets with how intelligent you think he is or isn’t.
I’ve copied a part of an article from Alan Dershowitz. He is a Clinton supporter and life long Democrat and liberal. He’s a Harvard Law Professor.
If you want to read the whole article, click https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/us/politics/alan-dershowitz-trump.html
Q: During Vietnam, in the 1970s, you had thousands of people dying every month, a president who had so clearly broken the law. How is that somehow not as bad today? Because people seem to think today it’s worse.
A: With Trump it’s personal. His personal style is so confrontational. He provokes. He’s a brilliant politician, and let me tell you why. He is pushing Democrats to the left. Because extremism provokes extremism. And the Democrats can’t win from the left. They can only win from the center in a national election. So his fondest hope is that somebody from the left gets the nomination against him.
Q:The reaction to him is seen as such an overreaction at times.
A: And then he overreacts. Overreaction causes overreaction, which causes overreaction. And the parties split further and further apart, which is good for Trump. The more divided we are, the more his base comes to his support. These articles in The Times and The Globe may hurt me on Martha’s Vineyard, but they help Trump. If there’s one thing you quote me on, I want it to be that.
#22 Alessio on 09.02.18 at 6:17 pm
#12 renter in Surrey
BUY THE TOWNHOUSE DUDE OR YOULL BE KICKING YOURSELF. YOULL BE LIBERATED. I just bought a townhouse in GTA for 800K and I’m finally free!!! Best feeling ever.
———————————————————–
That was very good! I laughed hard!
Hi Garth…You give great advice on how to manage financial affairs by through financial risk . Don’t forget that risk management related to health and avoiding degenerative diseases is critical to enjoying the fruits of your years of hard labour. All the crap that Val / Vlad dispenses through your pill-pushing doctors won’t help achieve your dream of a long healthy, wealthy life.
@#25 Lost in the Jungle
“TO the interest rate boogie man, take this:”
++++++
No problem REALTOR
I particularly liked the announcement 2 days ago of a $1 billion dollar budget surplus in June.
https://www.castanet.net/news/Canada/235362/Billion-dollar-surplus
Can you say “inflation”?
I knew you could.
Interest rates going Uppa uppa uppa to combat inflationary pressures….. gotta slow that economy down AND keep our buck in line with the US.
Further downward trending on prices…….
The grandparents that bought 30 – 40 years ago will now be selling enmass to get ahead of the coming price drops so they can rent a suite in a hospice.
Aging population and all that.
Realtors just dont get it.
P.S.
The Economist issue Aug 11. Page 61 Title
“Housing Correction”
Lists the 22 most “livable, vibrant cities” Vancouver is there, New York , Paris, London……..but, alas no Toronto.
Anywho
The gist of the article is….and I quote
“Prices in Vancouver are 65% overvalued….. and the 3 reasons why the boom may be over are….demand, supply and the cost of money……..The reason sales are dropping, people are leaving unaffordable locations, cities are less welcoming to foreign money, loose monetary policy (interest rates) is ending.
Renting?
“Canada has been 20% above “fair value”compared with rents, Vancouver is 40% above “fair value” for renting…..”
Keep pumping real estate sales REALTOR…..because in a falling sales market and plummeting prices…..
its a Jungle out there
Happy Housing CRASH everyone!
:)
No comment here lately about the predicted apocalypse due to Bill 148 and the minimum wage hike in Ontario.
No massive small business closures and the 2nd lowest unemployment after BC.
What gives?
Who predicted that? – Garth
I FIRE’d out of a mortgaged Hamilton home into a place in Niagara 2 years ago, paid cash with proceeds, age 50. Cost of living so cheap here a minimum wage couple can buy a house.
Renter in Surrey: “It does not seam that it will significantly go down in value any time soon.”
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Yawn … try realtor.ca and you'll find over 200 townhomes between Surrey and Abbotsford for under $500,000.
Or follow the prices down on myrealtycheck.ca.
Langley:Average Change: -4.07% Up:11 Down:101
Overall $ Change: -4988391.00 Average Change Amount:-44539.21
I liked Maxime’s arguments on twitter earlier today. If he can organize, I’m in. “Not as bad as Trudeau” is a weak position and Canada deserves better.
Here is something I can understand and relate to. It gives me comfort in these troubled times :
A photo reportedly taken by a firefighter this summer, is making the rounds on social media and causing a stir.
The photo sent to Castanet along with information on Sasquatch sightings shows a firefighter’s work boot beside the outline of a large footprint.
“This was taken by a firefighter a couple days ago. Lots of Sasquatch talk going on on FB group BC hunting,” says the anonymous source.
The thread calls it a “taboo subject,” but the stories of eyewitnesses who claim to have seen prints, heard what they describe as “calls” and even sightings are many and varied.
“It took a long time to discover mountain gorillas,” one hunter wrote. “To think of another great ape, highly intelligent, shy and adapted to its environment doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility to me.”
One B.C. man, Todd Standing, believes so strongly in the Sasquatch he took the case all the way to the B.C. Supreme Court.Standing asked the court to consider his evidence and he alleges his credibility has been harmed because B.C. Fish and Wildlife won’t take his claims seriously.
https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/235467/Big-stir-over-Bigfoot
#32 Balraj Dhalandar on 09.02.18 at 6:38 pm
Hahaha. Another 30 year old with more money than Trudeau himself. Probably even more than you Garth!
750k and 3 rental properties as a Pharmacist? Give me an effing break homie
——
She spent 9 years working for 130K while living on probably less than 1500/month. Seems totally possible to me, she probably still has 3 mortgages, but I got no problem seeing 750k. Especially given what the markets have done since 09. She must have really powered it in there though.
@#22 NoLease-io
“I just bought a townhouse in GTA for 800K and I’m finally free!!! Best feeling ever.”
++++
Free?
You paid 800k cash?
OR ( more than likely)
You mortgaged that over 25 years…..
Bubba……you aint “free” until the ….very ….. last…..payment in Aug 2043.
Enjoy the rate hikes on your property when its worth 600k).
#25 Jungle on 09.02.18 at 6:23 pm
4. CHIP reverse mortgage on the rise.
=====================================
Not good. Any public companies participating in this business. ?
I am interested in buying their stock.
#26 joblo on 09.02.18 at 6:25 pm
“T2 is the perfect choice to Balkanize Kanada.
Inevitable.
Vote T2!”
=====================================
T2 will be lucky not to get impeached before next election.
4 Cheque
“Reality check Garth. Not many can just ‘spend time working at something of value they enjoy’. Only the privileged have this ability.”
Huh? Cheque – we all wanted to be NBA players or astronauts or pro skateboarders when we were young.
It doesn’t mean you cant have a satisfying job in any
number of vocations. Yes, you do have to put some effort and sacrifice in, but isn’t that so with anything worthwhile?
So T2 has done better than a lot of people (Cons) expected.
……………………………………..
How is that ? What has he done ? The country is going downhill fast……
The alt-right is inevitable because the Conservative and Liberal Parties are not much different if it only comes down to TFSA levels, taxes and the budget deficit, and they are already identical regarding social issues. The alt-right will come into existence as ethnic, religious and cultural differences become more important reasons to form new parties and then intra-province migration will strength those ethnic differences as they become known.
The snag with Maxime Bernier is that he should lead a separate Quebec identity and so we need two alt-right parties. One for Canada and one for Quebec combined with parts, or all, of eastern Canada.
‘Reality Cheque’ – working at what you love is not ‘only for the privileged’. It is however generally not the norm, mainly because most people have no idea of what kind of work they would enjoy doing. Those who go into the workforce knowing what they actually want to do are the lucky ones – unless it happens that their passion is rapidly becoming obsolete. Then it may be more of a curse than a blessing.
I recall being counseled in high school on possible career paths. Mainly the student were given a variety of brochures to read, sort of a one page Cole’s notes on what pursuing career path X entailed for education. Not much information on how much one could expect to earn & definitely a sex based career bias. The girls were encouraged to become nurses or teachers if they had any ambition. The boys were steered towards professions such as doctor, lawyer or engineer. I think both sexes were given more or less equal encouragement to pursue accounting, though again boys were more likely to be told about professional designations while girls were told about becoming a bookkeeper.
There were no tours of workplaces, no job shadowing, no mentoring & definitely no apprenticeship programs that students could access to make a career path decision. Frankly, its surprising that anyone ever figures out what they would love to do prior to entering the workforce.
Wage growth has not kept up with re but wealth has kept up with supply, field by an ara of low interest rates. In Ontario minimum wage hikes allows households of immagranrs to buy house, do not underestimate how hard these people work some 2 full time jobs and the entire family lives in a big detach all serving as one powerful economic unit.
Trudeau screwed up massively. The Liberals were stupid enough to buy a pipeline with massive legal challenges and liabilities and now they own a stranded asset. He campaigned on better consultation with First Nations and failed to do so. All this for shipping oil to China, it will create very few permanent jobs. He’s a hyppocrite on climate change and he’s alienated his voting base in BC. The only politician that has lost more respect is Notley, stupid enough to push for the pipeline, she’s alienated most NDPers and the Cons hate her, perhaps she should run for the Cons. Kinder Morgan is a shell company, if–I mean when there is a spill they will be bankrupt, but now the Liberals were stupid enough to buy it and they will be forever on the hook, even if it gets ressurected, they will be liable for spills. I can’t believe there is not more public pressure on the Liberals to back out of this deal and just pay the fine.
Air bnb is such a threat the city of Toronto and hotel industry lobbied against it as each has its own concerns of taxes, regulation and holding units from the rental pool.
Look at air bnb for to condos, thesw guys are making A KILLING. Even 2 bed condo @ 700k can run cash flow
Positive renting 450 / night. Less risk than a long term tenant too.
I’ve seen the revenue charts on reddit rfd, big revenue vs
Long term lease.
I can’t stomach anymore of these obscene 1%er 30-something emails. I’m starting to question whether this is so much a financial advice column as it is some sort of lifestyle blog for douchebag millenials of unearned wealth.
#32
U jealous of the pharmacist? Very easily attainable
I’ve done it aswell….
Nice work pharmacist, keep it up the sky’s the limit for people like us!
#30 IHC9td
I agree.
Since the 1950 the domestic birthrate has been going down, enough that if we didn’t import immagrants, we would eventually become extinct in Canada .
If they so increase to 500k year you can bet re will be so Tight in Gta because the lack of infrastructure investment, no transit expension since 1950 , hold re to hedge against this,
There are no plans to increase what’s been a decades-long immigration quota of less than 1% of the population. – Garth
I guess my “side hustle” was writing books after I retired – wrote 6 of them.
———————————
There’s only one faster path to poverty. Musician.
Johnny Paycheck: I climbed up on Barstool Mountain….Robots and bitcoin unable to kick Johnny Paycheck out of C&W heaven sort of like the Liberal Elite and spelling the almighty with a small “g” (better not). I don’t want to be known as an ingrate here in the Garth blog but “the above-mentioned $600 million on that Quebec spread” would you do us all the big nod and tell us where the six bills are gone to?
As an Albertan, I hope Trump puts the boots to both the auto and dairy industry. You easterners voted for Trudeau, enjoy the consequences. At this point, I seriously hope we become the 51st state. It would be much better for us.
thinking that the sox is going to supprise ,and at least show he has a pair, coming home whipped at the nafta table wont fly well and wont be forgoten at the ballot box he knows it.
its very much a 50/50 that any deal gets done,and the trumpster knows it if you think the bloomberg leak was anything more than pre negotiation tactics your dreaming.
going to be a interesting week
I find it amusing that so many people are so perturbed by others goal of retiring early… Is it jealousy? An inability to save? Or a sense of “if I’ve gotta work everybody should have to work”-itis? I’m so tired of these fortune cookie snippets of false wisdom suggesting that everybody find some sort of work they’re passionate about and then do it till you’re 65. If you want to continue going to an office till you’re 65, I take no issue with it. More power to you. But I think I’d lose my shit if I had to go until 65. So, if I’ve got the means to save adequate funds to quasi-retire at 40 (in one of Canada’s most expensive cities with two kids in daycare), why does that concern anybody. Do I see my retirement as me sitting in a rocker whittling for the next 40 years? Not at all, but rather simply me no longer having to do work with money as a consideration at all – heck, what I do may not even be work! *gasp* I’d save a ton on daycare costs and actually be able to watch my young kids grow up. Or I could continue to be a slave to the billable hour..
And Garth, people can absolutely save sufficiently over 5-10 years to retire. My family is 3 years into our plan, and I’ve gone from family net worth of -225k after my wife and I finished master’s degrees 3 years ago to an all liquid net worth well over $400k.
Besides the bragging, it’s always useful to share your experience. How did you two find $$625,000 extra over living expenses in 36 months? Do tell. – Garth
I’d bet anything that Bernier’s endeavor is being secretly funded by Liberal party backers.
A few million dollars to Bernier will deliver more seats to the Liberal’s than $100 million of advertising.
The mad max libertarian ideals sound swell for tax avoiding investors, but the split vote on the right seriously increases the chances of another Trudeau majority. Even if Max gained serious momentum by 2023, the fiscal mess would take at least a term to clean up, making his target state of meaningfully lower taxes unattainable without painful and wildly unpopular cuts. I’m sticking with the experienced CPC crew to stop the Trudeau tax & spend bleeding, even if they can’t move the needle much more than that with a centrist platform that attracts swing voters.
Trump had his mind set on screwing Canada well long before the issue in Quebec. It would make no difference if Elmer Fudd was leading our country; Trump is a bully, wild-card, and vindictive. It would certainly be bad short-term if NAFTA falls through (especially for the auto-workers in Ontario as the tariffs would likely be set). However, in the long-run if NAFTA fails I hope that Canada can diversify its export market and by getting out of the shadow of the US (at least somewhat), we might in the end all be better off. This is why we do need a pipe-line from coast to coast, an LNG plant in Kitimat, so that we are less reliant on the whims of a nutcase down south. This is I think what Ace was saying yesterday.
I have cut my ties to the US, and haven’t crossed the border since November 2016.
If #61 Lovingit is so overjoyed with the idea of being able to buy crappy milk cheaply, I will send him on a one-way bus ticket across the border.
I’m no T2 fan, but this sentence is an oversimplified overexaggeration: The Kid’s post-meeting media conference enraged Trump and ignited a trade war. So NAFTA fell apart.
Whoooaaah….I’d say the real version of the story goes something like this: Trump was looking for ANY excuse to screw Canada out of NAFTA, and he jumped on the first petty opportunity that came his way.
And our guy fell for it. – Garth
#8 Madcat on 09.02.18 at 5:44 pm
EIGHT kids!? Have you heard the world is overpopulated? I know this ain’t going to sound very politically correct but I think everyone should have to get sterilized after two kids… All the worlds governments should get together and put some population control measures in place. After a couple hundred years we could reduce our population by 80% and there’d be plenty for everyone.
Be responsible folks. Make sure you always have a couple rubbers handy…
—-
Best rubber is to stop paying any taxpayers subsidy after the second kid to any family.
At this time there are people who look at having more kids as a source of government guaranteed and provided “basic income”, that pays more than taking low paying jobs, plus wide range of benefits, which are not available to couples who don’t FIRE up more kids to provide them with work free life.
What a total disaster silly little Justin Trudeau, Gerry Butt-hurt, Princess Freeland, Climate Barbie, and all the others of this band of social justice warriors are. These silly, incompetent, ideologically ridged bozos are going to irreparably damage this country if we don’t get them out. I like Max Bernier and his ideas, but we need to vote for whoever will displace the incompetent Liberals!!
#30 IHCTD9 on 09.02.18 at 6:35 pm
#9 YVROptimist on 09.02.18 at 5:49 pm
I’ve been reading up on a bunch of these FIRE bloggers, and everyone really needs to take their “advice” with a grain of salt.
The basic idea is 1M with 4% draw, and live on 40K/y forever. The thing is, these bloggers all make $50K/y off their websites
There’s the
-1500 guy (still flipping houses in the US)
-FIREcracker where every link on the website earns them points (they do fully disclose this on every page though)
-gocurrycracker (he breaks down how much he makes off his blog for us)
Most FIRE blogs have 1-3 years of info, with the longest I could find being gocurrycracker, and he went from 40K per year to 50,60,70,95.
Suddenly the “1 million and 4% draw” becomes 2.4million needed.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s some great advice on these blogs, just keep in mind that they all have a “side hussle” earning more money in “retirement” than many people do while working.
Read all of Derek fosters books back in the day and really enjoyed the spirit and line of thinking toward equity investing.
Seems a lot if hate for this guy who made it basically when mellenials were still in high school??
Regardless if he made mistake if you held his suggested dividend growers over last 15 years the fruit would have shown exactly what he wrote in his books
$100bn in the hole.
What do we have to show for it? I heard a lot of fluff about “infrastructure”, but an ill-though-out pipeline purchase only accounts for 4.5% of that.
A few hundred mill on refugees and “irregular” migrants.
Same again to UN pet projects and bottomless African pits.
A little bit to the Aga Khan.
A handful of hundred grand shipping 300 tree-humpers on a carbon-spewing plane to Paris to talk about reducing emissions.
$127k for Gerald Butts to move house so he can be closer to the heart of the country he is destroying.
$70k or so annual salary for two nannies.
And finally, $400m to the CBC to gloss over all the above and still bang on about Mike Duffy’s reimbursed $90k.
Where’s the rest of the money gone? Anyone?
“$100 billion added to the national debt by the time of the next election. “
Harper added it faster, ~$27B/year, not even inflation adjusted.
And the Conservatives still have the audacity to claim they left with a balanced budget. Even though the data is very clear that they left a huge deficit.
I still remember the early 1990s when deficits were at similar levels, not even inflation adjusted. We’ve sure come a long way since.
Since the 1950 the domestic birthrate has been going down, enough that if we didn’t import immagrants
How about not flooding Canada with so many people so that our own locals could afford to reproduce themselves? Every last childless 30-something-year-old I know, of all ethnicies, cite the poor job market and economic circumstances as their reason for childlessness.
Harper was in power during the GFC. No comparison, and you know it. – Garth
Great Article Garth, Most likely forgot about some of those details of the past few years under True Dough.
* * *
Pipeline workers in limbo with mortgages waiting for some kind of direction with the Trans Mountain drama. Will he go nuclear? Personally I’d like to see Trudeau get a bit mad and govern a bit harder. Agreeableness is good for low level workers but in leadership roles boldness (hate to say it but like Trump) garners respect and unity.
One final point..the midterms are coming and will be such a huge turning point for USA and the world. Get ready, get your popcorn and then prepare for the Election Cycle in 2019 and 2020. Can’t wait for it and Brexit too. Life in 2018+ has great politics and we get to see it all with lots of media.
Not Vlad, located catty corner to a tax free high paying moonlighting opportunity.
Now the gross income figures verify for the story.
Selfie Boy I predict will not drop the Dairy Marketing board his Daddy put in place. The auto industry in Canada has already been irreparably damaged by Trumps constant haranguing. This constant signaling by Trump will eliminate any added expansion to Canadian auto plants by investors and eventually over the next several years most of the Auto industry will be in the US and Mexico. Investors are spooked. Investors are also spooked with the oil & gas, forestry and mining industries. We are screwed !!!
Vlad or Val
Vlad or Val seems to have played it smart. The high money never seems to last. Also I’ve heard that being a pharmacist isn’t all that great of a job, mostly due to opioids. People come in with fake or expired prescriptions and then get quite hostile when the pharmacist won’t fill them, which they can’t. Having armed robbers clear out the vault seems extreme for Canada but I don’t doubt it and there is lots of other crap they have to put up with. People suck.
———–
Mad Max
I don’t think Max Bernier is going to get any traction, but people of Canada heed the warning from Alberta! Splitting the conservative vote put Nutely in power! Without enough experienced politicians to form a cabinet! Also let’s remember what happened way back in the days of the Reform Party. I know it’s unfortunate, but change is going to have to come from within the conservative party under the current system or we are going to just hand the keys over to a bunch of young lefties that don’t know how to drive! Nutely probably wont survive the next election in Alberta but much damage has already been done. Be warned Canada. Consolidate the right!
———–
Harper seems like the good ol’ days now
As disliked as Harper was, I sure wish he was PM right now instead of Turdeau. I don’t think he’d consider a trade war with the US as an option. He’s an economist, so I imagine he would have a very good understanding of how important the US is to Canada as a trade partner.
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The quota system was a boondoggle
And besides, what, exactly, would be wrong with cheaper milk and eggs? Why is it that Canadian dairy farmers are so uncompetitive with their US counterparts? Well, a part of it is because they have to spend so much money to get their quota.
If this article is to be believed:
https://albertamilk.com/ask-dairy-farmer/how-much-does-quota-cost-for-a-108-cow-dairy/
It costs about $4 million (in Alberta) to get enough quota to own 108 cows thereabouts. Now me thinks that anyone who has $4 million is going to go visit Garth and go FIRE, not start a dairy farm, so this money is likely financed, along with the farm and all the equipment.
So what we have here is another case where the government has totally screwed up the market by intervention, and much for the worse. Not only do we have to pay much more for milk, but the dairy farmers are in a situation where if Turdeua gives in to Trump and eliminates the quota system, a lot of dairy farmers are going to go broke and those that don’t are going to lose all their retirement savings. (Selling the quota is THE retirement plan for many dairy farmers, the farm isn’t worth nearly as much and the equipment next to nothing after 25 years compared to what they paid for it. Talk about your “single investment” strategy.)
So the quota system is another government created catch-22 that probably was never needed in the first place. I don’t know how you back it down from here. The obviously solution is to create more quota so the price gradually falls, but that would create more milk so prices would also fall, and we got a long way to go before Canadian milk could be exported anywhere because it’s twice as much as any other market that doesn’t have restrictions. And most of that extra cost goes into financing the quota.
One has to wonder if this boondoggle had never been created how much cheese Canada would be exporting around the world right now. I choose cheese of course because shipping raw milk to China would be difficult, but maybe we’d be sending them powdered milk or something. Maybe yogurt. But that never developed because the quota system makes Canadian milk some of the most expensive in the world. Yet we are a country that has more room to let the cows graze than practically anywhere. How did this come to be? Government. Put government in charge of the Sahara Desert and in 20 years there would be a shortage of sand. Well, we put the government in charge of milk and there has been a shortage of it ever since, localized only to Canada. This despite the fact that there is no shortage of cows or land in Canada.
So here is the solution as I see it. The Canadian government has to take responsibility for the mess they created just like they did with Trans-Mountain and buy all the quota back. Use some sort of “eminent domain” law to fix the price at the current market price. The farmers will sell of course because they know that next year there will be no quota so if they don’t take the money they will get nothing. Then let the market be free, as it always should have been. Sure, this means the taxpayers get stuck with yet another government boondoggle bill, but we are being stuck with it every year now. Time to put a stop to it.
And don’t fear the evil American dairy farmers. If the Canadian dairy farmers didn’t have to spend so much on quota, there is no reason to think they wouldn’t as a whole be competitive. Sure some will go broke sure but that happens in every business.
#8 Madcap.
That the world is overpopulated is a myth. If all the people in the world lived as they do in New York, then everyone woul fit into a space the size of the state of texas.
Plenty of room. Plenty for everyone. Only the base nature of humankind (greed, envy, love of money, ignorance, bias and especially the insatiable desire for power) prevents us all from getting a fair share.
#67 Cici
Selfie Boy was trying to act tough as soon as Trump’s air force one left the Quebec tarmac and this backfires. Then Canada’s government Nafta representative Freeland gives a speech in Washington with thinly veiled accusations towards negotiating trade deals in bad faith. Plus Selfie Boy wants social agendas front and centre in international business deals and preaching about them. No Selfie Boy does have to go.
There are no plans to increase what’s been a decades-long immigration quota of less than 1% of the population. – Garth
Immigration, refugees, temporary work permits and student visas, that are convertible to immigrate, point system, family reunification, etc. is a political taboo topic, not opened up for public discussion or decision making.
The two governing parties have declared sole ownership in decision making, without any direct input from voters, for good reason.
Immigration is part of the business subsidies, in the form of keeping continuous pressure on wages, keeping labour market over supplied and importing new customers for the products, created with immigrant labor cost business subsidies. The Conservative party support for immigration comes from this angle.
The liberal party benefits from an almost exclusive voter block that immigrants represent at election.
Mad Max may well become the Bernie Sanders equivalent in Canadian conservative circles if he plays his cards right. Don’t underestimate the power of disappointed, but motivated Canadians. We set sail in unprecedented times. Public skepticism is at an all time high. Nobody believes anything the media reports anymore, and why should we? Their lies are a matter of public record. It isn’t just Canadian real estate that is reported with deception by the ‘Cartel’. It’s what is said about pretty much everything else in the world by the western ‘bought and paid’ mainstream media. Too bad the genie is out of the bottle. Those who take an interest and do a deeper dive may come to different conclusions, and will align their assets and set forth their actions accordingly. Their numbers are more numerous than you might imagine. Fasten your seat belt if you think historical patterns will repeat themselves. End of days.
Like it or not the tide has gone out and exposed some serious issues to Canadians. Supply management is an obvious boil on the canadian economic landscape. Lance it, the Jag thinks, even if the entire province of Quebec turns to quicksand. About time. Western alienation seems a weak description of sentiment in Alberta at the moment.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. A good piece of advice as ever is ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’. Seems only a matter of time before this can be served on those who have demonstrated their disloyalty, lack of understanding and compassion , and morally bankrupt tendencies. If the political landscape is the Bridge on the River Kwai, the fuse has been lit.
Australia Real Estate CRISIS is Here! 40% of Refinance Applications NOT Approved!
http://www.investmentwatchblog.com/australia-real-estate-crisis-is-here-40-of-refinance-applications-not-approved/
#2 SmallTownSteve
T2 has got to go. So does Rachel Notley. Splitting the vote will end with many tears.
…………
Good reason why we should now have Proportional Representation instead of FPTP! Too bad T2 reneged on his promise.
@#58 Jungle
Take it easy on the REALTOR Garth he’s just trying to pump sales in a falling market.
Next up … Surrey Renter REALTOR
To be followed by …..Allesio REALTOR
But enough of REALTOR disinformation and pathetic scare tactics.
How about Scottish separatism rearing its oogly head agin.
https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKCN1LI0UK-OCATP
Damn Brexit ! Just wont go away.
The whole NAFTA, angry Trump thing is such an overblown non issue. Trump basically pranced into Canada, expected to be treated like royalty (by Canadian Royalty, which is kind of funny really), and he wasn’t. I remember the result “is that any way to treat the President of the United States?”
I was like, yeah, that’s a good way to treat him. He deserves less, but Canadians are civilized people……
We had NAFTA forced on us by Brian Mulroney. Now Trump is letting us get out of it, while making it look like it is all the American’s fault that we are leaving. This is golden. Like staging a break up with a GF that you can’t stand anymore, and letting her break up with you.
Trump’s last idiotic move, trying to shut down the “Canadian auto industry” is his most laughable yet. Canada doesn’t have an auto industry. They are all US companies operating the auto plants. Trump wants to tax his own domestic auto industries. The guy is as dense as a post. He will literally be charging HIS OWN domestic auto manufacturers tariffs to import their own cars into their own country. All we provide up here is the labour and the real estate.
US car companies do nothing for us. Remember what happened to St. Catherines? They are US companies. They just pull the plants and go elsewhere. They have been shutting down Oshawa for years.
Remember what Heinz did to Leamington? The list goes on (and on, and on).
Canada COULD have an auto industry, but NAFTA gets in the way of that. Any profitable Canadian car maker would be bought out by a larger American company.
Remember what happened to our Zellers? Bought out by Target, who then proceeded to run the worst retail business in the history of our Country, bar none, losing millions and exiting with their tail between their legs. What we don’t need, is more crap US companies coming here and taking over our industries. Erect the trade walls, put up the barriers. Keep the Americans out.
Canada has a company that actually does build cars itself. Just not its own designs. That company is called Magna and it was started in someone’s garage (the way Canadian companies usually are).
Best thing for us right now up here in the Great White North is get out of NAFTA, tell Donald to go eff himself and find some better trading partners. What is happening down in the USA does not need to happen up here.
I mean, seriously, that Jerk is talking about us, saying we are difficult, we are ripping off the USA, we are hard to deal with, just trashing us as a nation. Why would we go down there and try to negotiate with this buffoon?
We need a little of our own protectionism up here. Mainly protection from the USA and it’s whiplash politics and insane, deranged Presidential candidates. They go from Obama to Trump and who knows what is next.
Oh, yeah, FIRE. Made me into a multi millionaire. But I was doing it when those two kids who made it into a thing were riding their bikes with the training wheels still on.
Bottom line for the FIRE movement is a dollar is worth at least 6 cents per year. So you don’t spend your dollars, you put them to work for you. Each one should be working hard, earning that six cents (or more).
You only spend the six cents, never the dollars that are earning them.
When you get to the point that your six cents per dollar can support your living expenses entirely, life gets REALLY, REALLY GOOD.
MAD max will take a lot more than 5%. Soros could not have planned it may better.
T2 for 4 more years. Move everything into usd backed assets..now!!!
@Reality Cheque #4, I was thinking what you wrote…got me a bit bummed. Good news is, old dogs can learn new tricks.
Don’t think anyone is scrambling to cut a trade deal with Trump.
Its Trump that needs the deal, Canada can wait, and they will. We owe no favors to f head magoo.
T2 was going to win the election anyway. The cons have not improved since Harper. Now there is Mad Max who will split the right vote.
That pipeline is a money maker. It will not be delayed by American oil interests much longer.
to #61 Lovingit
As an Albertan, I hope Trump puts the boots to both the auto and dairy industry. You easterners voted for Trudeau, enjoy the consequences. At this point, I seriously hope we become the 51st state. It would be much better for us.
—————————————————————————————————-
Agreed.
I wish BC becomes 51st state.
Canada is a joke.
Live the dream in Langley. Buy now before that townhome is 1 million dollars. Living a life in debt is awesome! Maybe you have cash. Who knows.
My portfolio paid me 3,900 CAD for the month of July. There is no way I would put that into any house, let alone deflating house prices.
Have you heard about the avalanche of supply that is hitting right now in Langley?
Prices might not significantly drop, or who knows, may even keep going up. But who cares. The current cost of home ownership will suck you dry. Absolute rip off. And if it goes up more, even more of a rip off.
So many good places to rent in Langley. And don’t tell me that you can’t find a decent place for $1,200. Lots of options in the Fraser Valley. But, hey, buy now and live in the moment if you want. If you havn’t experienced home ownership before, you will know what I am talking about after owning for a few years. Make sure you can afford it for at least 10-years.
_________________________________________
Hi blog dogs,
Do you think $550k townhouse in Langley sounds reasonable to you?
It does not seam that it will significantly go down in value any time soon.
I am kind of tired of renting.
Unfortunately, wealth-creating habits are only developed when one (or a couple) goes through a crisis and survives.
For example, losing a job and being long-term unemployed, and then recovering financially.
40 OttawaMike on 09.02.18 at 7:04 pm
No comment here lately about the predicted apocalypse due to Bill 148 and the minimum wage hike in Ontario.
No massive small business closures and the 2nd lowest unemployment after BC.
What gives?
Who predicted that? – Garth…
…..
Employees are cheap chattle, it’s up to them to learn the business, open up there own shop or live in poverty or up notch and become a civil servant. At leased you get a pension . Becoming the man requires risk taking, everything safe space schools are so against.
They make activist thieves.
Come to trumps America if you have any usfull skills.
The reason why Justin Trudeau is PM of Canada, is his last name.
Justin Trudeau inherited the office as if it was part of the trust fund.
It is more in line with the traditions of feudalistic governance than with liberal ideology. But this could happen, because the entire liberal party could not find any better candidate to lead, based on merit. So they chose a political reality show actor – with drama teaching experience.
Unlike Trudeau, Trump didn’t inherit the Oval office, clearly the most contested political role in the world.
He got there by beating every single Republican candidate, knowing that all of them had way more support of the party – just to have the opportunity to challenge the most powerful, most funded, most connected opponent in American election history.
He won that, too, which makes me laugh when I hear people claiming that Trump is “stupid” and his victory was nothing else but luck. These people must also believe to retire or buy their home finally by winning the Max jackpot.
These are the people who think that Trudeau and the party that booted him into office, as their best candidate to offer, are in the same league with Trump and the economic and political power of the US.
They really thought that Trudeau and the liberal party can play virtue-signalling politics with the guy who got elected as the vocal opponent of such politics.
If Clinton couldn’t what made Trudeau and the liberal party think that they could?
There is very little difference between the Liberals and Conservatives.
The same what was in the US, with the Democrats and Republicans – as it became absolutely obvious after Trump got elected.
Max in not Trump, though. He won’t be able to win.
His vote splitting will likely help the guy, who inherited the office from his dad, to keep it for a second term.
After that all bets are on the table, Max or someone like Max is my bet, with current liberals and conservatives shredded out of power.
I agree with Garth. I love my job and would even do it for free but that is something I would not admit to those who pay me. Instead I get paid a lot of money to do something I enjoy. Why retire?
I’m sure you’ve heard it before but all I can say is to work at something you love doing and become the best at it. The money will follow. It is true.
Retiring at 30 is complete nonsense- a waste of human capital.
I like you Garth but you are not a conservative. You are a true blue conservative but the conservative party of today are full of scumbags and liars that sell out Canada for pennies on the dollar to corporate interests at the detriment of Canadians. Harper , mulroney , Mike Harris, drug Ford are evil men who hate 99% of Canadians. I know you are part of the club who’s no longer allowed to play in the game since you have a soft heart towards the peasants (aka the other 99%). T2 isn’t perfect and let’s face it the liberals are just CONlite and the only difference is they throw us crumbs to eat. The evil corporate conservative monsters eat everything like Drug Ford. Conservative propaganda is so weak but the poor $1 drinking beer idiot is even dumber. The conservative monsters of today give the monies of the 99% away to the 1% when they should be saving the 99% monies for the 99%. If you vote conservative and you haven’t figured this out and are not part of the 1% = you are an idiot.
The 3 “parties” in this country are laughable – and each will make their “I promise to do this…….” BS speech to get elected -so it’s become a game of who’s BS version you hope for lol – vote not to vote – make a statement or be a part of the joke.
RATM
No vote = no voice. Loser option. – Garth
#93 akashic record on 09.02.18 at 9:47 pm
“He won that, too, which makes me laugh when I hear people claiming that Trump is “stupid” and his victory was nothing else but luck. These people must also believe to retire or buy their home finally by winning the Max jackpot.”
Trump is the son of a billionaire. He managed to lose most of his father’s money, many times over, but because there was so much of it, he still has some left.
Trump sells his family name to stay solvent. He will sell it to anyone.
He is not smart. He was born rich, partied and squandered money like the little golden spoon boy that he was, and now he is in a position of power that he does not understand, acting like an a&&hole and causing lasting damage to the Country he is supposed to be President of.
#80 akashic record on 09.02.18 at 8:43 pm
There are no plans to increase what’s been a decades-long immigration quota of less than 1% of the population. – Garth
Immigration, refugees, temporary work permits and student visas, that are convertible to immigrate, point system, family reunification, etc. is a political taboo topic, not opened up for public discussion or decision making.
The two governing parties have declared sole ownership in decision making, without any direct input from voters, for good reason.
Immigration is part of the business subsidies, in the form of keeping continuous pressure on wages, keeping labour market over supplied and importing new customers for the products, created with immigrant labor cost business subsidies. The Conservative party support for immigration comes from this angle.
The liberal party benefits from an almost exclusive voter block that immigrants represent at election
————-
Canadians are not having kids. We’ve been below replacement (forget growth) since the 70’s. Since 2016, Canada now has more 65+ seniors than kids 14 and under for the very first time. This is a Japanesque demographic time bomb for a nanny State like Canada with a grotesquely swollen government.
Don’t get me wrong, it would be great if we did not have to import our youth – but the simple fact is WE DO. That’s an unassailable decades long fact. Pretty much every 1st World economy does.
Do you pay into CPP? Would you like to collect? Like free health care? Better think again about what’s really going on out there.
Stop wasting your time with the tinfoil stuff, and consider reality instead.
re #40 – On topic….but I went to the movies the other night….only kiosks and touch screens to get tickets, the only kids working there were the ones checking tickets to go into the different theatres, and the ones serving the popcorn. I am guessing the cineplex has 2-3 less kids working at the front desk selling tickets now.
In regards to the blog topic….I don’t think there are many small business owners who will have forgotten how much T2 values their risk taken, work ethic and contributions to the economy come the next election. May not be enough for someone else to become the PM. But I don’t think those voters will forget how they have been socially labelled as cheaters either.
It is ironic that as Trump has goosed the American economy and its stock market, those Canadians with assets to invest in US stocks including our pension funds have done extremely well but soon NAFTA and the Canadian economy is potentially about to get shafted. Many Canadians have benefited from this uncertainty by investing in USA not Canada.
The Pharmacist even admitted it: he benefited from rising real estate and stock prices, both manipulated returns. Stocks went up because of QE. Real estate because of interest rates manipulated downward and held too low for too long.
MF
#80 akashic record on 09.02.18 at 8:43 pm
I’m surprised that, in your robotic sounding quasi economic, and thinly veiled criticism of immigration you forgot to mention the most important point: a larger tax base. Also basic advantages that Canada offers such as: higher standard of living or a place free from persecution seem to have completely been ignored.
MF
#76 Drill Baby Drill….”The auto industry in Canada has already been irreparably damaged by Trumps constant haranguing”
I think this is kinda the point. Trump is quite happy to let Nafta/Canada just sit parked on the sidelines, while he deals with Mexico. The auto companies can see the writing on the wall and will move back of their own accord.
Toyota is the one to keep an eye on. USA’s most popular SUV…the RAV4…..and totally imported into the US from Japan and Canada. Think that situation will change? I do.
Made the mistake of listening to the insuferable CBC news tonight….the narrative engineer….sorry ‘Journalist’ hypothised that Trump’s ‘bullying’ tweets about NAFTA this weekend was to distract from the fact he wasn’t invited to McCain’s (seemingly never ending) funeral.
Really? That’s the quality of the headline news discussion? zero substance…just ‘feels’….I was none the wiser from this report as too what the issues being discussed…just a load of liberal commentators dissing Trump…..no conservative viewpoints….at least make some sort of effort at being impartial eh CBC….
“So NAFTA fell apart. The US did a trade deal with Mexico, freezing us out. Next week the T2 government will scramble to rescue a treaty, throwing a lot of farmers (and others) under the bus in doing so.”
NAFTA has not fallen apart and is currently fully in effect. In order for Mr. Trump to pull out he must give six months notice and would need the approval of the Congress which is not a given.
Trump expects Canada to roll over and sign whatever he demands. I hope Our government tells him to pound salt knowing that without Canada the US Congress will be unlikely to tear up NAFTA and Trump will go into the November elections with no trade deals and trade wars going around the world. Trump does not have enough authority to tear up NAFTA and without Canada he won’t get congressional approval for the Mexico deal.
Been to the PNE today.
Admission is 20 bucks.
And “Whack a mole” is now 5 smuckeroos a pop.
14 players whack away.
After 20 seconds, winner gets crapy toy made in China.
So, they made 70 bucks in couple of minutes.
And the kid behind the counter makes 10 an hour.
And that was in the afternoon.
No telling how much the capitalist owners make in the evening when everyone is drunk.
And it used to be about kids having a good time.
Re #44
There was a “Samsquanch” siting in Nova Scotia as well , I believe it was at Sunnyvale Trailer Park. All captured on video too , have a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJphX1WtVSY
Trump will never have a gender section or carbon section in NAFTA. So unless JT drops this nonsense there will be no deal. JT has no right to dictate to the USA how they deal with these issues.
I don’t believe Vlad saved $750000 in 9 years and invested in three properties (unless the 750 was invested in the properties). Otherwise, I’m spending too much on booze.
#32 haha exactly
#36 yes sir he is a brilliant poitician, when it is all said and done people will look back and just shake their heads. I do not like Trump or any other politician I can think of. But the majority of these people are so stupid that Trump just has a field day running them around in all directions. Too funny.. That includes Trudeau and Freeland.
#12 – If you have a need to feel good go for it otherwise wait…. we’re only in the early stages of a correction.
Trudeau chose a 3rd world country over its largest trading partner. He has to step down and be replaced by someone that throws Mexico under the bus. Trade dispute is about our 8 auto manufacturing plants, Mexico and the US agreed how they’ll split those jobs, dairy isn’t what Trumps after, it’s simply a talking point.
Meet some people from Arkansas today.
I believe them ..
https://youtu.be/eJlN9jdQFSc
I don’t see that the FIRE movement is actually that different from the traditional Canadian immigration story. My parents came to Quebec in the 1960’s and both worked every hour that God sends to support 6 children in a new country. Lucky for them they had the foresight to import my Granny too with them and she looked after the kids while they worked. The difference vs FIRE I guess is that they worked so hard for the next generation and not for themselves. They never understood why I as an adult said this harsh climate, high taxes and cost of living and Canada’s geopolitical isolation is not for me and moved myself and my own family back to Britain. My parents had worked so very hard for their children’s easier future.
My personal 2017 financial triumph was a New Year’s resolution not to buy anything new that I could buy slightly used on Ebay or Gumtree. The results have been amazing. Used items in the Western world have no little value. I just set up a three bed house for AirB&B as close to a major sporting venue. Getting it fully furnished and equipped nicely has cost me about $1500 Cdn using used items. This is such an easy way to save money. Can’t believe how much i have pissed away in my life buying new.
When Trump refuses to back Kanada with any military support things get REAL.
Don’t see JT getting majority in 2019. He will get max 15 seats from Manitoba to BC. He’d get negative seats in Alberta and Saskatchewan if that was possible. He’ll get no more than 70 this time in Ontario. Even if repeats his 40 in Quebec he can’t do more than all 35 in the Maritimes and up north. That’s 160 and he needs about 169 for majority. Even 160 is sweet because I don’t see 70 and 40 in Ontario and Quebec. Not impossible for him to win majority though. Not sure what his governance strategy is. He’s all over the map.
You look a bit grumpy in that pic Garth…no fake smile needed…perhaps something in between?
“Harper was in power during the GFC. No comparison, and you know it. – Garth”
The GFC was at best a year or two, and had little to do with Canada as Canada did not have a physically oversupplied RE market, and systemic problems in the financial sector were largely limited to ABCP which was only transacted in by a few obscure institutions who thought they could slip a few extra bps into their short term returns. The economy was smoking hot for many other years that Harper was in power, meaning that the GFC should have been fully reserved for. Yet the deficits continued right up until he was punted from office. Presumably because the voters could see through the dishonest claims of a balanced budget and fiscal prudence.
I don’t like many of Trudeau’s social policies, but in terms of fiscal policy, the voters rolled the dice and actually seem to have won. The Canadian economy is becoming less dependent on RE and the O&G industry with almost every passing month.
Even if the RE market were to suddenly accelerate severely to the downside, instead of just the relatively steady continuation of the 2013-reached plateau experienced thus far, Trudeau will likely win the next election with relative ease. The polling numbers, the economic numbers deliver literally no indication to the contrary.
Those of you salivating over cheap US milk have obviously never consumed it.
It tastes manufactured, a couple of steps up from Chinese back alley formulae, a chalky, aftertaste kind of thing.
That’s the “cheap” stuff.
Now their small dairies, regional old school stuff…best cheeses, milks and such around…but it sure isn’t cheap.
Matter of fact it is more expensive than Canadian dairy.
But all you rich blog dogs keep on gunning for your cheap US dairy…that will sure show somebody something, eh?
Max Bernier is Alt-right? I guess anything not left of center is now considered neo-Nazi. Yeesh
Voted conservative until a leader had the balls to walk in front of a Pride Parade.
Still hate his socks and he should always ware a tie in public though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2Ka2nkIi2I
#93 akashic record on 09.02.18 at 9:47 pm
Unlike Trudeau, Trump didn’t inherit the Oval office, clearly the most contested political role in the world.
—————————————–
All world elections are basically 50/50….have you noticed?
That plus a little Russian influence, a little Diebold voting machinery, a little different result….
#98 Ace Goodheart
You realize how stupid it sounds that someone can just find himself in the White House “in a position of power that he does not understand”?
You completely ignore the fact that all that happened after beating out one by one all opponents, who were supposed to be the most sophisticated masters of that game, with much more political capital and money than Trump.
Despite of your personal feelings and assessment, the White House presidency was not handed out as an inheritance or a lottery draw prize.
Not realizing that is delusional, with all of the consequences. Trudeau’s government is facing this reality check now.
#93 akashic record on 09.02.18 at 9:47 pm
Unlike Trudeau, Trump didn’t inherit the Oval office, clearly the most contested political role in the world.
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Another thing, I am not big on biblical topics, but do you think “Grab ’em by the Felix” (pussy) would have had anymore traction in Sodom and Gommorah than it did in bible belt USA?
#99 IHCTD9
If I follow your argument, this country could find herself rich beyond imagination simply by multiplying several times over the number of immigrants who would pay even more for the free health care, CPP and stuff.
The wealthiest countries in the world are also supposed to be the ones with the highest population.
#123 Wrk.dover
I don’t remember anyone saying 50/50 for the 2016 elections.
The fact remains.
When the truth comes out about the number of people being killed as a result of Big Pharma Poisins…..will doctors and pharmacists be charged for aiding and abetting ?
Re #100 – X
Count me in to that group. Voted Libs last time – regretted it pretty much ever since. I’ll vote the other way (doesn’t matter who). I’ll just hope they do a less &))&:@$’y job than this current clown patrol.
#116 Lee on 09.03.18 at 1:13 am
Don’t see JT getting majority in 2019. He will get max 15 seats from Manitoba to BC. He’d get negative seats in Alberta and Saskatchewan if that was possible. He’ll get no more than 70 this time in Ontario. Even if repeats his 40 in Quebec he can’t do more than all 35 in the Maritimes and up north. That’s 160 and he needs about 169 for majority. Even 160 is sweet because I don’t see 70 and 40 in Ontario and Quebec. Not impossible for him to win majority though. Not sure what his governance strategy is. He’s all over the map.
————————————–
A few points:
– Ralph Goodale practically owns his Saskatchewan seat. He is not going to lose. Alberta Liberals may be shut out though, especially with the pipeline debacle.
– You are wrong on Quebec. The polls are showing the Liberals taking 60+ seats there. Quebeckers only vote for their own. Andrew Scheer can’t compete on that score no matter how much he sucks up to the dairy cartel. Bernier in the mix might make things interesting though.
– As always, BC is unpredictable. So many 4-way races to be had in the LM and VI.
– I think the Liberals win a very slim majority on the basis of a Quebec sweep. The electoral map will look very similar to the 1980 election when Quebec effectively forced an expansive marxism on the rest of the country (74 out of 75 seats Liberal!).
– Trudeau will leave office midway through his second term with some of the lowest approval ratings in Canadian history.
#67 Cici on 09.02.18 at 8:05 pm
I’m no T2 fan, but this sentence is an oversimplified overexaggeration: The Kid’s post-meeting media conference enraged Trump and ignited a trade war. So NAFTA fell apart.
Whoooaaah….I’d say the real version of the story goes something like this: Trump was looking for ANY excuse to screw Canada out of NAFTA, and he jumped on the first petty opportunity that came his way.
And our guy fell for it. – Garth
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Precisely. There are people who haggle/negotiate/barter on a regular basis throughout the course of their lives. They become good at it and those who know little about brokering emotionally charged deals like a trade deal between countries are the victims, because of their ignorance. Trudeau was played and people are whining because he’s in way over his head when it comes to matters such as this.
#88 conan on 09.02.18 at 9:07 pm
Don’t think anyone is scrambling to cut a trade deal with Trump.
Its Trump that needs the deal, Canada can wait, and they will. We owe no favors to f head magoo.
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Your anger is clouding your reason. We need them far, far, far more than they need us. Basic math.
You need to stop watching the talking heads that are lying to you regarding how the world views Trump. The USA, therefore Trump, have massive leverage in trade negotiations and he is using it. He’s telling others that he has a big stick, and they are paying attention because…it’s true.
All the whining about him being a bully is futile. Who wants a pussy for a negotiator?
#118 The Real Mark on 09.03.18 at 2:09 am
“Harper was in power during the GFC. No comparison, and you know it. – Garth”
I don’t like many of Trudeau’s social policies, but in terms of fiscal policy, the voters rolled the dice and actually seem to have won.
————
If you think taking a 976 million deficit in Oct 2015 to an 18 BILLION flaming crater 12 months later is winning, I’d hate to consider what you feel is losing.
He met with the American president at a summit in Quebec that cost taxpayers $600 million, and ended in disaster. The Kid’s post-meeting media conference enraged Trump and ignited a trade war. So NAFTA fell apart. The US did a trade deal with Mexico, freezing us out. Next week the T2 government will scramble to rescue a treaty, throwing a lot of farmers (and others) under the bus in doing so.
At the summit, Justin Trudeau was the host. He should have been gracious.
He doesn’t strike me as a patient man.
@#63 Lawless on 09.02.18 at 7:51 pm
I find it amusing that so many people are so perturbed by others goal of retiring early… Is it jealousy?
if I’ve got the means to save adequate funds to quasi-retire at 40 (in one of Canada’s most expensive cities with two kids in daycare), why does that concern anybody.
______________________
Of course its jealousy.
the average human doesn’t like to see his fellow human succeed.
“Of course, if you spend time working at something of value you enjoy, it isn’t ‘work’ any more. So why retire?”
~ Garth
——————————————————————–
The vast majority of the entire world’s population works due to necessity, not because they value or enjoy working.
Me?
I never had a job I liked, and never liked a job I had.
These days, instead of working for my money, my money works for me!
Now I spend time doing what I value and enjoy, but it sure ain’t work, let me tell you.
No vote = no voice. Loser option. – Garth
………………………………………….
39% majority govt. = no voice. Loser option.- Watson
Vote strategically. – Garth
#98 Ace Goodheart on 09.02.18 at 10:48 pm
He is not smart. He was born rich, partied and squandered money like the little golden spoon boy that he was, and now he is in a position of power that he does not understand, acting like an a&&hole and causing lasting damage to the Country he is supposed to be President of.
————————————————————
Please forgive me for using a bit of logic Ace.
Being born rich, partying and pissing away money does not mean a person is smart or stupid. Smart people do stupid things as well as smart things.
Acting like an a-hole is subjective and doesn’t address the issue of intelligence. Lots of smart people are a-holes.
He is causing lasting damage to his country because he is intentionally breaking things that he disagrees with and he built a political platform on.
People like yourself don’t appear to have anything of depth to say except, if Trump is for it, I’m against it.
He now controls the majority of the public narrative. It’s easy to figure out what people who don’t like him will stand for…..whatever is the opposite of Trump, even if it means they are hurting themselves in the process.
#99 IHCTD9 on 09.02.18 at 10:49 pm
Canadians are not having kids.
________________________________________
lmfao “ya think?” whats with all these small dogs the youngins’ have.. surrogate kids? That one line mr CAT driver sums up the FIRE explosion also!! They cant afford kids in the same style their parents could afford them.
Canadian Mom/Dad had a mostly a good life cradle to grave employment, vaca’s, cars, cottages, stability, inflation made them rich (most of em) Kids today are “dialed in” and know its a rigged game and they want to opt out.. disrupt a system that doesn’t do jackshit for them. So they say “why bother” kill myself working soul sucking mainly contract gigs to hopefully retire when my knee’s hurt, can see and am balding? IF I was able to save some $$$ as pension plans are not like they used to be. (re contact gigs again)
It doesn’t help when a lot of “US” boomers who are retired and/or can retire keep sucking up the gravy roles in the workforce.. Retired teachers, Police, Firemen, Hydro, Gov’t workers… Same in Private sector at the Management Consulting levels.
I have a client Automotive who has 120 openings.. Production.. HUGE shop runs 24/7 900 employees(same deal from Oshawa to Windsor) same work Mom/dad bought a house AND cottage,had vaca’s with… Same type of jobs where you could have 3-4 kids and rock n roll! Full and complete benefits Pension etc etc. They cant find workers. Why is that?
For starters cant run a car to get to work for $18-$20/hr. Even a 100km commute, round trip will cost 8-10K year gross to run a vehicle.. throw in 3-4K for insurance and 30% of your gross income is just getting to work, my math is shoddy that why I’m in sales but you get the gist.
Ray Skunk: Where’s the rest of the money gone? Anyone?
$1.4 billion a year is going to Shared Services. Shared Services is a major effort on the part of the senior civil service to centralize the IT sections of all the government departments.
https://www.greaterfool.ca/2016/11/11/trump-it-up/#comment-483969
#105 The real Kip on 09.02.18 at 11:48 pm
“So NAFTA fell apart. The US did a trade deal with Mexico, freezing us out. Next week the T2 government will scramble to rescue a treaty, throwing a lot of farmers (and others) under the bus in doing so.”
NAFTA has not fallen apart and is currently fully in effect. In order for Mr. Trump to pull out he must give six months notice and would need the approval of the Congress which is not a given.
Trump expects Canada to roll over and sign whatever he demands. I hope Our government tells him to pound salt knowing that without Canada the US Congress will be unlikely to tear up NAFTA and Trump will go into the November elections with no trade deals and trade wars going around the world. Trump does not have enough authority to tear up NAFTA and without Canada he won’t get congressional approval for the Mexico deal.
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You’ve got to stopping listening to the “experts” on TV.
That is almost a complete copy and paste from some talking head who knows almost nothing about how the trade deals work, how the US congress works or how the feel.
You actually know how the US congress feels in regards to the trade deals and their desire or lack to desire to tear up NAFTA?
#114 jane24 on 09.03.18 at 12:59 am
My personal 2017 financial triumph was a New Year’s resolution not to buy anything new that I could buy slightly used on Ebay or Gumtree. The results have been amazing. Used items in the Western world have no little value. I just set up a three bed house for AirB&B as close to a major sporting venue. Getting it fully furnished and equipped nicely has cost me about $1500 Cdn using used items. This is such an easy way to save money. Can’t believe how much i have pissed away in my life buying new.
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…and tax free too. Buying “like new but used” is just too easy now with EBay, Craigslist, Kijiji etc. Everyone should be doing it.
You can even take it a step further by buying something in need of repair. Anything actually broken has near zero value in today’s world (due to how cheap new stuff is) as you say.
I bought an old hunk of equipment that had been sitting untouched in a barn for 30 years. A new one is 3K, I bought it for 50.00. It needed some new hammers, one bearing for the blower end drive shaft, and some new sheet metal welded in to the blower housing.
200.00 and 8 hours of labour later, it looks and runs like a new one.
Vlad’s story resonates. Although I was already investing at the time, it was a layoff that really made me focus on FIRE. Or more like, FI + RIN (Retire If Necessary). I actually like my job right now, but that doesn’t mean my employer will continue to like me.
It is very clear that this government is very challenged intellectually (at least the top political layer that poisons everything bellow with their idiotic policies).
It is getting worse by the fact that they are also rich, arrogant elitists born with silver spoons and rich and famous daddies, who can’t handle any critique despite their numerous failures (private vacations, buying lemon pipelines with taxpayers money, french villa scandal, numbered corporations, conflict of interest laws, killers of small businesses,…NAFTA killers,…) and whose only line of defense is to lie and accuse their critiques by threatening with lawsuits.
Just look at wild bill and T2 and tell me what do you think these people would have been doing for living based solely on their skills, brains, knowledge and abilities if they were not born rich and famous.
wild billy (daddy’s the) kid’s top is probably a teller in a bank or an assistant manager at a grocery store, while T2’s top (with some pushing and wild imagination) is probably a mechanize arrangement assistant who arranges stuff on shelves at the stores, maybe a mall security officer.
I would challenge them to take a public IQ test and consider them as mentally challenged if they do not take such.
#108 Lee on 09.03.18 at 12:10 am
Trump will never have a gender section or carbon section in NAFTA. So unless JT drops this nonsense there will be no deal. JT has no right to dictate to the USA how they deal with these issues
————-
Obviously you are correct. But, I’m not sure our bird brained PM has figured this out yet. Trudeau has a date for a crow eating party he won’t soon forget.
As for an alternative career for the BoC boss, I am thinking shoe shining boy as a top but some work on his integrity is a must.
@#96 Pete on 09.02.18 at 10:10 pm
I like you Garth but you are not a conservative. You are a true blue conservative but the conservative party of today are full of scumbags and liars that sell out Canada for pennies on the dollar to corporate interests at the detriment of Canadians. Harper , mulroney , Mike Harris, drug Ford are evil men who hate 99% of Canadians. I know you are part of the club who’s no longer allowed to play in the game since you have a soft heart towards the peasants (aka the other 99%). T2 isn’t perfect and let’s face it the liberals are just CONlite and the only difference is they throw us crumbs to eat. The evil corporate conservative monsters eat everything like Drug Ford. Conservative propaganda is so weak but the poor $1 drinking beer idiot is even dumber. The conservative monsters of today give the monies of the 99% away to the 1% when they should be saving the 99% monies for the 99%. If you vote conservative and you haven’t figured this out and are not part of the 1% = you are an idiot.
______________________
So true.
The current conservative party will wallow in obscurity until they decide to govern for the common good instead of the vocal minority. Mad max will only make things worse them. a divided right can’t beat the divided left.
#93 akashic record on 09.02.18 at 9:47 pm sez, in part:
“These are the people who think that Trudeau and the party that booted him into office, as their best candidate to offer, are in the same league with Trump and the economic and political power of the US.
They really thought that Trudeau and the liberal party can play virtue-signalling politics with the guy who got elected as the vocal opponent of such politics.
If Clinton couldn’t what made Trudeau and the liberal party think that they could?”
———————————————-
I think it’s even simpler than that. So called “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as real. Very real. Trudeau and the Libs were well known to be aligned with Obama, Hillary, and the Dems. When it turned out that it wasn’t her turn after all, they couldn’t accept the result. So they’re gonna show him!
We have a lesser version of this now going on with Doug Ford.
It’s time to dump the virtue signalling and work with Trump for the betterment of both countries, because what they’re doing now sure ain’t working.
I have concluded anyone using the words ‘virtue-signalling’ is a mindless, Fox News-adled ideologue. – Garth
#119 Ustabe on 09.03.18 at 2:11 am
Those of you salivating over cheap US milk have obviously never consumed it.
It tastes manufactured, a couple of steps up from Chinese back alley formulae, a chalky, aftertaste kind of thing.
That’s the “cheap” stuff.
Now their small dairies, regional old school stuff…best cheeses, milks and such around…but it sure isn’t cheap.
Matter of fact it is more expensive than Canadian dairy.
But all you rich blog dogs keep on gunning for your cheap US dairy…that will sure show somebody something, eh?
—
Cant remember where i red but i was around 2008 melamine fiasco in china, i remember reading about steroids and antibiotics in milk.
FDA allows US milk is to have safe levels of antibiotics and growth hormones in us milk, while in canada milk should be free of those according to health canada.
On a side note EU rules about growth hormone and antibiotic are more stricter than what we have in canada. I am saying let us milk in and color code our milk from Canada, so i know what i am buyung.
https://albertamilk.com/ask-dairy-farmer/difference-canadian-american-milk/
if Mad Max Bernier gets any traction and rips away even 5% of the core Conservative vote for his destined-to-fail alt right movement, then T2 will be the dude in charge for a long time.
————————————-
I don’t think Bernier will get the same traction like some of the other alternative political parties in the past. There are only about 400 days until the next election. Politicians take forever to formulate ideas they could sell to the voting public.
As soon as the Conservatives show people they can go rogue and lose to Trudeau again or show support for one party to throw out Trudeau, as well as promise to reduce taxes for people making more than 240k and bring back the 11k TFSA. The choices to for a more pro-business less big government Canada will be clearer.
Former actors like lil T, Big T(-rump), Ronald Raygun, Arnold S. Make great front men.
The real money lies in drug and booze running.
Our elites no longer even hide this.
A Former Toronto Police chief heads a GTA weed operating company. Formerly Mexico’s Pm, Vincente Fox just joined the same. Much has been alleged against Ontariowe’s new King too.
Beer companies want women now
You’ve come a long way baby?
Stoned and fluoridated. Just the passive sheep they want.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-big-beer-shifts-its-approach-to-marketing-to-women/
#147 KLNR on 09.03.18 at 9:31 am
So true.
The current conservative party will wallow in obscurity until they decide to govern for the common good instead of the vocal minority. Mad max will only make things worse them. a divided right can’t beat the divided left.
————————————————
Oh? So now the “tyranny of the majority” is a GOOD thing?
Does the majority of Canadians think the government should devote most of its time to gender, or is it only a very loud group of unemployables who think so?
He bought a pipeline with $4.5 billion in tax money without asking Parliament. Then the pipeline was ruled illegal on the day the sale was closed. Oops. He met with the American president at a summit in Quebec that cost taxpayers $600 million, and ended in disaster. The Kid’s post-meeting media conference enraged Trump and ignited a trade war. So NAFTA fell apart. The US did a trade deal with Mexico, freezing us out. Next week the T2 government will scramble to rescue a treaty, throwing a lot of farmers (and others) under the bus in doing so.
___ ___ ___ ___
Pray tell me how the Reformicon’s (Harperites) would have done anything different in all of these situations?
Would we have seen a return of the Great Canadian Conservative sychophant perennially brown nosing our American cousins! Our dairy supply management system would have been dismantled in a heartbeat, almost as fast as they sold the Canadian Wheat Board to the Saudi’s ….
T2 has got his faults but he is the least of our worries. There is no solid ground with this President. He is like a greased pig that no one can grab a hold of. He peddles in fear and half-truths. The best we can hope for is to contain this demagogue.
Trudeau’s post-Quebec summit press conference was about as polite a rebuttal of Trump tactics as one could muster. After all Trump shit all over the Quebec summit, trashing the hosts and belittling America’s allies for the world to see.
Acquiescing to this narcissistic cognitively-challenged bully would be a big mistake.
@#99 IHCTD9
“This is a Japanesque demographic time bomb for a nanny State like Canada with a grotesquely swollen government.”
++++
Ironically.
Demographers discovered another place like Japan.
The only other 1st world “country” on the planet that is even remotely close to Japans demographic timebomb is….. Quebec.
Yep. Little, old (pun intended) Quebec.
The Province that had multi children families up until the 1970’s and then …..stopped having kids.
But not to worry. Quebec insisted on creating its own pension plan for God only knows why.
The QPP has been investing everywhere but will it be enough?
Only time and lack of babies will tell.
Scheer lost his nerve this week as he fired up Canada’s very own “Project Fear” with regards to NAFTA as he lashed out at the government for botching negotiations.
NAFTA will survive intact. The probability of tariff’s on Canadian manufactured auto’s are also remote.*
Canada holds the Trump card!
Are American’s going to give up preferred access to our energy? water?
Once Trump’s trade advisor’s and Congress make the Big Orange aware of what he would be throwing away if NAFTA was abrogated he will do what he does best – back down.
*American auto-makers will ultimately take the hit on their bottom line and manufacturing plants are not moved and re-tooled overnight. It can take years.
#104 Deplorable Dude on 09.02.18 at 11:31 pm
#76 Drill Baby Drill….”The auto industry in Canada has already been irreparably damaged by Trumps constant haranguing”
I think this is kinda the point. Trump is quite happy to let Nafta/Canada just sit parked on the sidelines, while he deals with Mexico. The auto companies can see the writing on the wall and will move back of their own accord.
Toyota is the one to keep an eye on. USA’s most popular SUV…the RAV4…..and totally imported into the US from Japan and Canada. Think that situation will change? I do.
————
Yep. Also how does the Civic stack up in the US market? It’s the #1/#2 biggest sellers for cars. Yep, made here in Canada too.
If NAFTA is rewritten excluding Canada, estimates are Six Hundred Thousand jobs will get cluster bombed. Good high paying, mostly Union jobs with a pension to boot. I.E. the kinds of jobs Canada is not making anymore.
You can add these jobs to the scrap heap on top of all the other high paying mining and oil jobs our brainless governments have already piled up.
No one – including Canadians themselves – is going to want to risk starting anything here in this Country. Our government seems to hate the idea of anyone making more than minimum wage. Activists are allowed god like powers and legal clout. The Courts seem to use any little excuse to provoke a shut down of multi billion dollar energy projects.
IMHO, if Trump gets round 2 (very likely), we will be in some big trouble either way NAFTA goes.
If we do formally get booted from NAFTA, it will have a decade long fallout, and everyone had better brace themselves for an utterly broke government (and Citizenry if you’re from Ontario). There’s just nothing big and good left after oil, gas, auto/related, and mining finally take their last breath.
Yes, it is so exciting to pay about million for crap made of sawdust that starts to fall apart in no time.
@#130 Howard
Uhhhh, the federal election is still a bit far to be predicting a “Trudeau win”.
I fully expect “Benedict Bernier” to start tugging the Separatist strings in La Belle Province if his polling numbers ( and the Quebec economy) start to tank. He’s an opportunist….anything to stay in power.
The NAFTA debacle will gut Ontario farmers and auto sector.
The pipeline Court decision debacle will continue to gut Alberta unless Trudeau changes the Laws and rams it through….then he’ll be dealing with endless aboriginal protests and the BC environmentalists saving whales in their gas powered, noisy boats……anywho.
Either way, No easy ride to “victory” as PM.
Trudeau’s photogenic hair should be turning grey by Jan 2020.
Similar thing happened to me as Vlad the gen-X pharmacist in big pharma. After I questioned the safety data of a drug (they were cooking the books), All of a sudden there was a “reorg” and I was out on my ass…
Fortunately I had just turned 55 and left with full benefits for life, though no one would hire me. I also turned around and sued the bastards. This made sure I would never work again. 3+ years later I about to close on a 7 figure settlement though I am sure I will gagged with all kinds of releases and hush clauses.
#138 Chico on 09.03.18 at 9:06 am
“People like yourself don’t appear to have anything of depth to say except, if Trump is for it, I’m against it.”
I think you have missed my point.
Trump is “for” trying to cause economic damage to Canada, because he does not like our feminist PM, and feels this person has insulted him personally .
For me, that is a stupid position for the leader of a country to take. I would expect that of perhaps the leader of the DRC down in the African Congo, but not so much the leader of the USA.
However, I am neither for or against Trump’s “position” (if you can call it that). I tend to stay neutral in terms of having an opinion on Trump as a human being (a lot of stuff about him I actually like).
However, I believe he is acting the fool. I think he is in over his head. His “trade war” won’t work. Particularly his fight with China, which bankrolls his country’s out of control deficit spending every year.
He is treating his Presidency the same as he treated his Television reality show series “The Apprentice” only he seems to believe that every other Country on the planet is the equivalent to the apprentices that he freely abused and fired at will on TV.
We had a choice as a Country back when the USA’s other out of control President, baby Bush, decided to wage war against an innocent country, and we made the right choice not to join him.
Now we have a deranged idiot President who wants us to join him, on his terms, as he wages economic warfare against the world, for personal reasons not connected to policy or anything his Country would benefit from.
The choice, once again it would seem, is clear……
The Canadian version of the NAFTA song and dance show should be amusing to watch unfold over the next few weeks.
Freeland trying to put lipstick on a pig that no longer has gender equality wage demands and call it “a win” for Canadians.
I’ve noticed the talk spewing forth from the Canuck side hasnt mentioned any social equality issues in a while.
Everyone is now focussed in the real world of Dairy and Car production massive job losses.
Trudeau’s “because its 2016” meme isnt working with the big bad USA negotiators so its quietly ……dropped.
Perhaps when all this amateur hour negotiating is wrapped up…. Freeland should be “rewarded” with an Ambassadorship in Russia or Saudi Arabia….both places she’s persona non grata for shooting off her mouth before considering the consquences.
Or better yet, send Trudeaus best buddy Butz in to the NAFTA rescue……
I have concluded anyone using the words ‘virtue-signalling’ is a mindless, Fox News-adled ideologue. – Garth
Fox News must have invented some mind control broadcasting, that allows them to penetrate vulnerable minds, even without cable to their shows.
They certainly didn’t invent the term “virtue-signalling”, though. Surprised to hear that television these days use big, long words, those used to be reserved to addle minds on boutique blogs.
On other hand, I have (also) concluded anyone using the word ‘tribal’ is a mindless, CBC-addled ideologue.
Thanks to our great conclusion achievements, we are now going to resolve all the problems that make peoplekind suffer. Possibly earlier than NAFTA settles.
After all, diversity is our strength. Hold on, isn’t that also from CBC?
@#113 Smokey
Arkansas?
Redemption?
Nah.
We talked about this yesterday.
God just wants you to brush your teef.
Garth sez:
“I have concluded anyone using the words ‘virtue-signalling’ is a mindless, Fox News-adled ideologue.”
————————————————————
Garth would be wrong. I for one haven’t watched Faux News ever.
Virtue signalling is a real political strategy and it has been used to great effect. Finally people are starting to see through it. Hence Trump and Doug Ford.
PS- Bernier might surprise.
Stoned and fluoridated. Just the passive sheep they want.
————-
Does stoned result in passive sheep? If this is a reference to MJ, let’s look at some examples: Bob Marley, Peter Tosh. Is stoned the best word to describe someone who is high? Or is “High”? Think spiritual. Why is something that is helping and has helped so many humans only now being made legal, but with absurd laws surrounding it to perpetuate the belief to the contrary?
And the belief that it creates sheep. So ask yourself this question: how did ex-slaves and their offspring in Jamaica, given nothing else when freed, dirt poor, little formal education, figure out life, and our purpose on this earth. With the intimate knowledge of the bible bestowed upon them by their masters, overstood the truths within it. Did something help them along the way? Did something clear the images of our past to allow them to see the truth? How did one of them produce the Album of the 20th century?
I don’t know.
@#138 Chico on 09.03.18 at 9:06 am
#98 Ace Goodheart on 09.02.18 at 10:48 pm
He is not smart. He was born rich, partied and squandered money like the little golden spoon boy that he was, and now he is in a position of power that he does not understand, acting like an a&&hole and causing lasting damage to the Country he is supposed to be President of.
————————————————————
Please forgive me for using a bit of logic Ace.
Being born rich, partying and pissing away money does not mean a person is smart or stupid. Smart people do stupid things as well as smart things.
Acting like an a-hole is subjective and doesn’t address the issue of intelligence. Lots of smart people are a-holes.
He is causing lasting damage to his country because he is intentionally breaking things that he disagrees with and he built a political platform on.
People like yourself don’t appear to have anything of depth to say except, if Trump is for it, I’m against it.
He now controls the majority of the public narrative. It’s easy to figure out what people who don’t like him will stand for…..whatever is the opposite of Trump, even if it means they are hurting themselves in the process.
__________________________________
Trump is certainly a born politician.
literally 90% of what he says is a lie – fake news as it were. guy plays cold and loose with the facts. If he doesn’t like a fact he just makes up his own version.
He is smart like a playground bully is smart.
Old megalomaniac riding into the sunset trying to leave a legacy.
Very dangerous man with those kind of smarts.
#130 Howard on 09.03.18 at 8:28 am
“You are wrong on Quebec. The polls are showing the Liberals taking 60+ seats there. Quebeckers only vote for their own. ”
Polls are Bulls%$t and can be manipulated for the result.
Your last sentence says it all. The unwashed masses crossing at La Colle and other points are not wanted in the province and Quebeckers will vote for their own. IE: Anyone who has the balls to stop the flow of “Diversity”.
#147 KLNR on 09.03.18 at 9:31 am
So true.
The current conservative party will wallow in obscurity until they decide to govern for the common good instead of the vocal minority.
——————-
Probably a good thing. Canadians have never been so blind to what is really important in a government, and there is surely no one better than Trudeau to bring those things back into focus.
If the cons can’t get a majority, then having the libs or ndp with 100% control is the next best thing. Especially if Trump gets another 4.
With Trump down south, and the alt-left up here – pretty much all high paying resource and auto/manufacturing private sector Union jobs would be gone, or near gone. Job losses in the private sector will become exponential as the big fish exit the country.
At some point, the Federal bean counters will realize they have a big problem with revenues – an unfixable one. The answer will be more debt and more taxes (easiest way out).
I like that outcome. My tax load is dropping every year, and the heavy ordinance has yet to be deployed. I couldn’t believe how high the stated NET income of our household was on our CCB notification this year. Evidently I’ve been doing a great job avoiding taxes.
I don’t give a rip what SJW agenda ends up absorbing the wealth, sweat and soul of our nation, or puts Canadian taxes in the hands of foreign dictators. My concern retreats with every dollar withheld from supporting any of it.
I’ll be voting the same way I did in the Ontario election: for a Liberal or NDP majority if there is no good chance for a con majority. Why slow things down? The sooner the pain comes to bear, the better.
In addition to that…..
#86 Smoking Man on 09.02.18 at 9:02 pm
MAD max will take a lot more than 5%. Soros could not have planned it may better.
T2 for 4 more years. Move everything into usd backed assets..now!!!
——————————-:::———————-
Nobody will ever speak or write about! Soros , rainbow socks, trust fund crook, gave away sovereignty to Canada. Share the awareness dogs.
UN Agenda 21 hiding behind Agenda 2030 – Canada Free Press
https://canadafreepress.com › article › u….
@#152 Howard on 09.03.18 at 9:54 am
#147 KLNR on 09.03.18 at 9:31 am
Does the majority of Canadians think the government should devote most of its time to gender, or is it only a very loud group of unemployables who think so?
____________________
howard, do honestly believe this?
seriously dude, quit getting your opinion from this blog. way to much group think going on here.
MMM has been brought up many times here. He’s got a good philosophy, and great ideas, but the fact remains – the biggest thing he had going for him is luck. Good timing gearing out into the workforce, and great incomes for both him and his wife. Great timing on RE too.
The best the typical dude can draw from mmm, is recognize opportunity when you see it, and grab on with both hands. If he just got out of school now with everything going on with Canadian RE, tuition costs, job competition, and wages – it would be a totally different story.
If you have a good look at these successful FIRE advocates, you’ll see some trends. #1 is big time incomes, sometimes dual, usually no kids. FIRE is likely attainable only by those that make big bucks from the get go, or walk into some kind of windfall to get them rolling.
I seriously hope that the FIRE hopefuls understand this prerequisite…
——————————
I disagree, somewhat. Certainly having a great job from the getgo and a partner who supports you is essential – rather than a partner who isn’t on board. Not suggesting one needs a partner, only suggesting it is a team effort. And he’s pretty dogmatic about his approach, often to the point of insanity, some might say. In terms of his luck, I think it’s best to quote Yogi Berra, “The harder I work, the luckier I get!”
I think the most important thing that MMM brings to the table is the mindset that you really have to examine how you use your money – and especially how you spend it. I can’t think of the times I have spent a lot of cash to just get things done and haven’t really given much thought, if any, to what was really going on.
A simple examination of one’s habits will yield impressive results. Not unlike one’s eating habits or exercise habits.
39% majority govt. = no voice. Loser option.- Watson
Vote strategically. – Garth
———-
Max has created a window that many of us have been looking for. Except I don’t know him and the one politician I trust says it’s all about his ego. But he needs allies who people trust, who might have sufficiently chiseled abs to keep Max’s ego in check, if this window is to opened. Is there a team of such people dedicated to functioning on truth who could guide this party? Is this possible?
I don’t know.
Max is not window of opportunity, unless you are a Lib. How can right-leaning people not see this? – Garth
Drumpf needs 60 votes in the Senate to get what he wants and doesn’t have them. He’s just following Moscow’s instructions to cause mayhem with his allies. But experts say it won’t be quite that easy to cut Canada out of a revised North American Free Trade Agreement.
For starters, Congress has a critical say on trade agreements, noted Toronto-based international trade lawyer Lawrence Herman. “Trump has no authority from Congress to end NAFTA and do a bilateral deal with Mexico as he threatens. I suspect lots of political pushback and, importantly, legal challenges to any such attempt,” Herman said on Twitter.
U.S. trade lawyer Dan Ujczo said he doesn’t see a procedural barrier to going forward with Mexico alone, but he does think political considerations would scuttle such a move.
“The issue is whether Congress will stand up to the president,” Ujczo said in an interview Sunday. “It’s a political question, not a procedural question. At the end of the day, it will be up to Congress to decide whether we can proceed with a bilateral deal as opposed to a trilateral.”
Aside from the procedural questions, including a six-month notice requirement, Trump would also certainly face a backlash from members of Congress, state governors and U.S. business leaders whose constituencies and companies would pay an economic price if Canada — America’s largest goods export market in 2017 — were left out.
Even before trade negotiations got underway, Ottawa had begun a concerted strategy to reach out to U.S. stakeholders to drive home the benefits of Canada-U.S. trade and what it meant economically to their individual districts.
That’s helped build valuable allies.
On Friday, Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, issued a statement stressing that a revised NAFTA must include all three countries.
“NAFTA’s many strengths rest on the fact that it ties together three economically vibrant nations, drawing upon each of our strengths to boost the competitiveness of the whole. If you break off one member of this agreement, you break it all, and that would be bad news for U.S. businesses, for American jobs, and for economic growth,” Donohue said.
He warned that unless the new deal is a trilateral one, it won’t get congressional backing or the support of the business community.
In the view of the Canadians, this gives them leverage at the bargaining table, an assessment backed by Ujczo.
Don’t take it to mean by what I typed above that I am a Trump Zombie either. However you have to realize the negotiation position you are in and act accordingly. Trudeau’s strategy still depends on the Dems winning the House at mid term. IMO that’s too risky. He should be negotiating as if Trump is going to win a second term and plan accordingly.
Trudeau and other elites also don’t understand the reasons for the current trend towards populism. They and other elites do so at their own peril.
There’s a lot of fed up people out there that are tired of being told by governments what is good for them. Time for governments to do what they are supposed to do- govern FOR the people NOT dictate between elections every 4 years.
Love Guru’s Dad on 09.03.18 at 10:54 am
…sheep.
So ask yourself this question: how did ex-slaves and their offspring in Jamaica, given nothing else when freed, dirt poor, little formal education, figure out life, and our purpose on this earth. With the intimate knowledge of the bible bestowed upon them by their masters, overstood the truths within it. Did something help them along the way? Did something clear the images of our past to allow them to see the truth? How did one of them produce the Album of the 20th century?
=================================
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
Old Bob had that nailed decades ago.
https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/rolling-stone/
#130 Howard,
What polls show Trudeau at 60 seats in Quebec?
I tried FIRE. Didn’t like it
Like Gartho says, if you like what you’re doing, why retire?
Only people with crappy jobs want to retire
#124 akashic record on 09.03.18 at 7:29 am
#98 Ace Goodheart
No one is arguing that Trump wasn’t amazing at winning a popularity contest. That doesn’t mean he can’t be a moron when it comes to other things.
Please, stop the Hate for the U.S. president, actually a waste of your time.
But the more important local issue is the lies and farce of the Canadian political players.
Mental illness at the helm . Why doesn’t the Media delve into this, oh, never mind…. ::
Is Trudeau Jnr Bipolar? – Federal Politics – Political Discussion …
https://www.mapleleafweb.com › topic
Madcat on 09.02.18 at 5:44 pm
EIGHT kids!? Have you heard the world is overpopulated? I know this ain’t going to sound very politically correct but I think everyone should have to get sterilized after two kids… All the worlds governments should get together and put some population control measures in place. After a couple hundred years we could reduce our population by 80% and there’d be plenty for everyone.
Be responsible folks. Make sure you always have a couple rubbers handy…
“……………”…
If you are not claiming income, then you get $750 per kid per month. T2 may have even raised this, since last time I looked.
That is alot of money per year.
Taxpayers are paying for this.
FIRE
A four letter word.
Want to get rich quick. Refer to many movies out there on Netflix.
Their solution is to steal.
Then retire early.
#155 Willy H on 09.03.18 at 10:06 am
Scheer lost his nerve this week as he fired up Canada’s very own “Project Fear” with regards to NAFTA as he lashed out at the government for botching negotiations.
NAFTA will survive intact. The probability of tariff’s on Canadian manufactured auto’s are also remote.*
Canada holds the Trump card!
Are American’s going to give up preferred access to our energy? water?
Once Trump’s trade advisor’s and Congress make the Big Orange aware of what he would be throwing away if NAFTA was abrogated he will do what he does best – back down.
*American auto-makers will ultimately take the hit on their bottom line and manufacturing plants are not moved and re-tooled overnight. It can take years
———-
Just a few considerations for you to think about:
1. The USA has more Oil than we do, and it’s top quality compared to the roofing tar we produce. WCS sells for a massive discount for a good reason. The USA recently made it legal to export Oil again. Why? Because they’re swimming in it. The USA has been the top Oil producing nation in the world for a couple years now, accounting for over 15% of global production.
2. American auto manufacturers have not been taking the hit on their bottom line. In fact, they have been bailing out for the southern USA and Mexico for 20 years already. What makes you think that when things get even worse for them, that they will suddenly “take the hit”? Wouldn’t they just accelerate what they have already doing for 2 decades (leaving)?
Do you remember what UNIFOR head Jerry Diaz held up to his membership as his number one priority during the last Canadian Auto contracts? It was “guaranteed new production”. Not wages, not benefits, not working conditions, but security for the future. They all know what’s coming because they see it firsthand right on the front lines.
Ultimately, Trudeau pumped a bunch of money into GM and Chrysler to keep things calm for now (ie, for his time in office, same thing Wynne did with the Teachers Union). This will not work forever, and if Trump slaps a 25% tariff on autos, they’re done. It’s less money burnt with an empty plant sitting there than running the thing with a double digit loss.
3. There is nothing for congress to tell Trump other than Mexico can produce autos and parts for way less than Canada, and without the meddlesome Unions and Government to boot. They could also advise Trump about how the US produces more Oil than Saudi Arabia, or that Canada produces 2.7 million bpd compared to the USA’s 15 million bpd.
I’m thinking a Trump is well aware of all this…
#160 Ace Goodheart on 09.03.18 at 10:28 am
However, I believe he is acting the fool. I think he is in over his head. His “trade war” won’t work. Particularly his fight with China, which bankrolls his country’s out of control deficit spending every year.
——————————————————-
You claim to be neutral but your statements are based on assumption and pure speculation…guesses.
If you think his trade wars won’t work, then site some examples why. I’m not an expert in trade. If you are, then stop sounding so bitter and back up these beliefs you have.
Many years ago my brother pointed out the fact that all the profs teaching business courses had never successfully started and run a business.
This is what the professional politicians and media reps sound like. They’ve never done what he is attempting to do, but they are certain it won’t work.
Many of these same people are promoting socialism while choosing to ignore the horrible track record of that system.
I don’t know if what he’s doing will work, from what I can tell, neither do you.
#166 KLNR on 09.03.18 at 11:03 am
Trump is certainly a born politician.
literally 90% of what he says is a lie
———————————————————
Now I don’t want to hurt your feelings ;)
but would a wild exaggeration without any facts to back it up be considered “bending the truth…lying?”
It seems to me you just made something up…lied…in order to convince other people that some other third party is a “liar.” Did I miss something?
#171 YVROptimist on 09.03.18 at 11:22 am
I disagree, somewhat. Certainly having a great job from the getgo and a partner who supports you is essential – rather than a partner who isn’t on board. Not suggesting one needs a partner, only suggesting it is a team effort. And he’s pretty dogmatic about his approach, often to the point of insanity, some might say. In terms of his luck, I think it’s best to quote Yogi Berra, “The harder I work, the luckier I get!”
I think the most important thing that MMM brings to the table is the mindset that you really have to examine how you use your money – and especially how you spend it. I can’t think of the times I have spent a lot of cash to just get things done and haven’t really given much thought, if any, to what was really going on.
A simple examination of one’s habits will yield impressive results. Not unlike one’s eating habits or exercise habits
————
I’m not bagging on mmm, he did everything right – just pointing out he had all kinds of tailwinds pushing him along. Those tailwinds aren’t there for most. The MR couple had great incomes at young ages and no kids, other FIRE examples made a one time windfall that got the ball rolling for them.
Some of these letters Garth gets showcase FIRE hopefuls that don’t have a snowballs chance in hell for success that nonetheless expect to retire at 30 with 7 figures.
IMHO, the whole FIRE idea lives and dies with the combination of big incomes in your youth. Outside that, it’s more like [email protected] – and that’s really not so bad. Maybe a good plan B for those that fail at the RE part.
#156 IHCTD9 on 09.03.18 at 10:09 am
If NAFTA is rewritten excluding Canada, estimates are Six Hundred Thousand jobs will get cluster bombed. Good high paying, mostly Union jobs with a pension to boot. I.E. the kinds of jobs Canada is not making anymore.
Liberal Media says 91 000 jobs will be lost.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nafta-economy-conference-board-1.4569047
What will save the day is the lower loonie.
Now I hope you savers and retirees heard/read that.
Much lower loonie in order to ‘overcome the effect of the tariffs’. If they are increased by further 25 %?
No problem, another 30 % cut in the loonie.
These people are dangerous, stupid, incompetent.
Canada is what it is because of NAFTA. We have privileged access to the world’s number one – both consumer and financial market.
If NAFTA is killed, every sane business will move out their investments, as our chances to freely compete on Asian’s or Europe’s markets are zero if not negative.
What exactly would we be exporting? Help me here:
Cars to Germany (note that we only assemble those)?
Wine to France?
Beer to Germany and Belgium (it is 4 times cheaper there)?
Tooling to the Checks?
Bread and pizza, maybe milk to Italy?
Medical devices to Germany (considering they have Siemens)?
Tomatoes to Spain?
TVs and electronics to Japan and South Korea?
We could actually end up much worse than Mexico as they don’t have our debt loads, Mexico will also gladly take all the jobs that we are willing to lose in order to satisfy T2’s political handlers.
We could easily lose 10-15 % of all jobs in Ontario, maybe more due to the avalanche effect of one manufacturing/base job creating 5-6 service jobs downstream.
What exactly are we going to produce and for whom if NAFTA is killed? What if US tariffs prove prohibitive for everything except lumber and raw materials?
US has us by the balls in heavy oil as have no alternatives, our dirty oil was getting cheaper while Brent prices rose this spring and summer, and guess what, Ontario is buying Brent on International markets and can’t even consume our own, Alberta oil.
All international energy majors have disappeared from the oil sands due to this Liebral government idiotic tax policies.
I don’t think we are far from a complete economy meltdown, it becomes more and more likely by the day and soon will be probably a certainty.
The more this NAFTA ‘negotiations’ are dragged, the more confidence in investors and the economy will disappear and investors will simply move their money elsewhere, nobody is going to wait for T2 to show some brains, specially when they realize he does not have any.
4 more years of T2 rule, considering the stupidity of the sheeple and the moral of the prestitude media seems more and more likely which will bring an absolute end to the standard of living we used to have.
Do you ever believe the pipeline will be built?
In 5 years we all will be smoking pot in public meetings led by a lieberal or NDP shaman in a g-string who will tell us how well we live and how much we ‘gained’ by leaving NAFTA.
All I/the investors want to hear now is: NAFTA is important for Canada, we will work out the details.
What is announced instead by our government and the media is:
Details are important, if not satisfied with all bull crap details, the deal is worthless for Canada.
Note how quickly Mexico and US came to an agreement. Do you think Mexicans like Trump?
Re: #106 Ponzius Pilatus on 09.02.18 at 11:48 pm
Been to the PNE today.
Admission is 20 bucks.
And “Whack a mole” is now 5 smuckeroos a pop.
14 players whack away.
After 20 seconds, winner gets crapy toy made in China.
So, they made 70 bucks in couple of minutes.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I went there last week, lasted all of 2 hours, never saw anything under $5 except coke, that was $3.75. Never checked the donuts.
They now have 3 sizes of racks of ribs at some rib places, with the 1/3 rack ($18) now the price of the former 1/2 rack and the full size pushing $30.
A can of beer $8.75.
Rip off.
To top it off, it took the bus 45 minutes instead of the usual 10 minutes from the Skytrain to get there! They decided to take a huge detour that turned into more than double the usual 10 blocks and all traffic jammed, on Freebie day. Who does that?
I wasn’t going to pay the $20 entrance fee for what, I guessed correctly, turned out to be a useless trip. The ride back took 10 minutes on the regular route less than 2 hours later.
Couldn’t move at all in the Marketplace building.
All the casino games that used to be 25 cents are now $2 minimum, but the maximum is still $20 as before.
Never again. Total waste of time.
#177 Leo Trollstoy on 09.03.18 at 12:20 pm
I tried FIRE. Didn’t like it
Like Gartho says, if you like what you’re doing, why retire?
Only people with crappy jobs want to retire
********************
So….most people?
Even those with a job where it’s easy to see passion like an artist of some kind would obviously rather “work” on their own schedule/projects.
90% of FIRE is FI
Financial Independence is something that would improve absolutely anyone’s life. No matter how much you love your job, it automatically gets improved by the fact that you don’t have money worries.
The RE part can mean anything from reducing hours to changing jobs to full on beach bum for life.
@#187 Greedo
I never could really understand the appeal of the PNE ( or Disneyland for that matter).
Another cheesy carnival full of ripoff carny barkers sucking in Rubes to spend money.
And you have to pay $20 to enter? WTF?
They can have it.
It used to be about the agricultural theme….now its the “Prize Home Lottery” and useless crap.
I see the union workers at the CNE in Toronto have been striking before the Labour Day weekend.
Call their bluff.
Fire then all as a negotiating tactic………
A similar strategy seems to be working for Trump in NAFTA……
A lot of people are gonna be plain old screwed when the Social Media Bubble bursts and you can’t make a living off Tweeting, Instagramming or taking pictures of pictures.
So glad I’m smart enough to have a skill set that is sought after.
#blessed
#165 Love . What’s there to be figured out with life?
Simply, work hard and you will reap what you sow.
I also hate, cause it’s the B-side to love. Balance.
#127 akashic record on 09.03.18 at 8:06 am
#123 Wrk.dover
I don’t remember anyone saying 50/50 for the 2016 elections.
The fact remains
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Good grief man! A robot would not be able to see the pattern I mention either.
All of the elections from Bush/Gore to Brexit….50/50, 49.5/50.5, 5.5/49.5, what is the difference?
It’s all 50/50 in round numbers if they were measured by twos rather than ones for example. Then the results round closer to 50/50 then 52/48, which would be more acceptable if you can think in parables about what the outcome really warrants.
All of the voters in the world are 50/50 in disagreement.
Before the vote, and then still, after the vote.
About everything. No matter who gets the one extra vote in 300 million, it’s not like they got the clear mandate to steamroll the losing voter, with that one extra vote, at the bottom of the box.
Obama got that point, when he had absolute control of all three branches of power, and ramrodded nothing.
Maybe that’s where the Nobel thing came from.
There are two types of work. Working for yourself or working for someone else. Even if the daily job is the same, working for yourself is much more enjoyable.
I can’t say I enjoy my work, but I do enjoy making money and enjoy the things that money buys, including financial security. I enjoy choosing how much I work and when I work.
I can also say one thing I enjoy less than working is not working. I can’t stand it. At least the part about not making any money.
Problem with working for someone else is you don’t get to keep all the money and you work under their terms. And when you work for someone else you can be kicked to the curb at anytime, no matter what you have done for them in the past.
Work that you love often isn’t enough to pay for even the basic standard of living required – think artists, writers, musicians.
Let’s be real here.
So for those not born into a wealthy family, they have to do careers that solve real life problems at the enterprise level to roll in a little nest egg before they can go chase that Picasso, Katy Perry rock star dream before arthritis kicks in.
Tech, sales, or art – it’s all work. But it’s no secret that the world compensates more to those solving problems of the masses or yields a higher return for the ones holding the purse strings.
Thank goodness for Labour Day.
#165 Love Guru’s Dad on 09.03.18 at 10:54 am
Wait….is your position that a country which is two thirds christian and famous for weed proves that weed doesn’t make people sheep?
You know that the bible literally calls the followers of christ sheep, right?
I don’t have an opinion either way, but your argument needs work.
#189 crowdedelevatorfartz on 09.03.18 at 1:50 pm
@#187 Greedo
I never could really understand the appeal of the PNE ( or Disneyland for that matter).
Another cheesy carnival full of ripoff carny barkers sucking in Rubes to spend money.
And you have to pay $20 to enter? WTF?
They can have it.
It used to be about the agricultural theme….now its the “Prize Home Lottery” and useless crap.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Speaking of the Prize Home-tickets are 2/$25-6/$50-12/$100 when just a couple years ago they were 10 tickets for $5. They used to give a car a day away now only 5 cars for the whole fair.
That’s another thing I won’t be buying.
The prize home isn’t even in the lower mainland, it’s in Naramata (BC’s Okanagan), the middle of forest fire/smoke central.
No thanks….
#186 Stan Brooks on 09.03.18 at 1:28 pm
#156 IHCTD9 on 09.03.18 at 10:09 am
If NAFTA is rewritten excluding Canada, estimates are Six Hundred Thousand jobs will get cluster bombed. Good high paying, mostly Union jobs with a pension to boot. I.E. the kinds of jobs Canada is not making anymore.
Liberal Media says 91 000 jobs will be lost.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nafta-economy-conference-board-1.4569047
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Wow, RBC report says half a million. Why such a massive discrepancy?
Just another reason why I don’t have any faith in the msm anymore. It all just seems like a giant load of propaganda.
@#184 Chico on 09.03.18 at 1:02 pm
i’m not going to do your homework for you
@#168 IHCTD9 on 09.03.18 at 11:12 am
True enough.
Canada has always been a country of centrists. skew to far right or left and you won’t get many votes. Thats why the libs hold power for so long and why scheer is acting the way he is. Thats why harper muzzled all the back benchers in his party. Canadians don’t like the lunatic fringe.
Really wish T2 would have changed the voting system.
Would better reflect who Canadians want to govern.
Also make voting mandatory – really sad when half the country doesnt vote then starts whining about their gov
Other than posting photos of his feet and bum and toenails on instagram, Trudeau has basically done zero.
Will the nafta deal be gender neutral??!!
#196 Where’s The Money Greedo?
Any long time Vancouver resident can tell you the PNE is now a mere shadow of it’s former self. It didn’t happen overnight. It’s been shrinking and cutting costs for about twenty years. The best things had all but disappeared a decade ago. They’re even closed on Mondays now.
My wife and I used to spend over eight hours there on the one day we’d go each year. This year we were done in five hours. The agricultural aspect is practically gone. The ‘free concerts’ aren’t really free any more and most traditional annual attractions are gone: Amateur stage, Dal Richard’s Orchestra (Dal’s passed away), demolition derby, logging show, the BC building with its fabulous relief map of British Columbia (now in storage forever), and much more.
The only thing that hasn’t changed is the plethora of junk food and the kids crowding the midway rides. The PNE was far too old fashioned to survive in its original state. Now only the very young and very old seem to understand the original spirit of the event. The former will soon be moving on to flashier diversions and the latter will simply be moving on.
for me, Financial Indepedence is true freedom. To do whatever you please ; troll on blogs, swim, dance, teach , work as a en electrician PT to keep busy…etc
Passive income greater than living expenses = FI
52 yrs young and nailed it. Self taught DIY
ANYONE that tells you it cant be done? nonsense. Turn down the noise and set a plan . DO NOT expect another to do it for you
“Kid’s post-meeting media conference enraged Trump”.
How can you enrage an “Enraged”? Trump wants to kill our economy, he is looking for scape goat the size of Canada.
#196 Where’s The Money Greedo? on 09.03.18 at 2:41 pm
#189 crowdedelevatorfartz on 09.03.18 at 1:50 pm
@#187 Greedo
I never could really understand the appeal of the PNE ( or Disneyland for that matter).
Another cheesy carnival full of ripoff carny barkers sucking in Rubes to spend money.
And you have to pay $20 to enter? WTF?
They can have it.
It used to be about the agricultural theme….now its the “Prize Home Lottery” and useless crap.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Speaking of the Prize Home-tickets are 2/$25-6/$50-12/$100 when just a couple years ago they were 10 tickets for $5. They used to give a car a day away now only 5 cars for the whole fair.
That’s another thing I won’t be buying.
The prize home isn’t even in the lower mainland, it’s in Naramata (BC’s Okanagan), the middle of forest fire/smoke central.
Used to be good when they parked the elephants along Renfrew Street. And you could always find a hole in the fence …
#188 SoggyShorts on 09.03.18 at 1:45 pm
#177 Leo Trollstoy on 09.03.18 at 12:20 pm
I tried FIRE. Didn’t like it
Like Gartho says, if you like what you’re doing, why retire?
Only people with crappy jobs want to retire
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So….most people?
Even those with a job where it’s easy to see passion like an artist of some kind would obviously rather “work” on their own schedule/projects.
90% of FIRE is FI
Financial Independence is something that would improve absolutely anyone’s life. No matter how much you love your job, it automatically gets improved by the fact that you don’t have money worries.
The RE part can mean anything from reducing hours to changing jobs to full on beach bum for life.
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You’re shorts may be soggy but at least you understand this far better than Leo.
Re 183 Chico:
Tariffs and trade barriers as a solution to?
Exactly.
A solution to nothing. Manufacture everything in the USA and you have…..very expensive consumer goods.
Stop other countries from trading with you and you have….tax walls. Everyone retaliates. You can’t sell your stuff anywhere.
NAFTA destroyed Canada. We now view ourselves as a helpless appendage to the USA. We could not possibly have our own industries. We have to have all our factories owned by US companies.
People on here state that we need to be connected to the US banking system to survive. Even though in 2008 their banking system collapsed and ours did not.
No one has any balls anymore. This is what NAFTA did to us. A pathetic branch plant country afraid of everything.
Our founding mothers and fathers would be ashamed of what we have become.
The USA’s willing lap dog.
Anyone who wants to say that Canada needs to kiss American butt can go live there. We don’t need you.
Those who want to be the True North Strong and Free, stay.
Bunch of treasonists on this blog recently.
#119 Ustabe
I’ve been to the US and consumed their milk and cheese and it tastes fine to me, and it’s half price compared to Canada. No reason for that besides quota.
Others have said that Canadian milk is maybe some sort of “organic” thing, better I guess if you like paying twice as much like an organic produce buyer, but I knew a dairy farmer and watched him inject the hormones and antibiotics. There is little difference if any besides the quota.
The first guy wouldn’t have two cents to rub together if not for Bernanke. Once again someone who did the wrong thing but at the right time like in the movie The Cincinnati Kid. I’d like to see his face in the future when the central bankers pull the rug out on the U.S. stock market.
#63 Lawless on 09.02.18 at 7:51 pm
And Garth, people can absolutely save sufficiently over 5-10 years to retire. My family is 3 years into our plan, and I’ve gone from family net worth of -225k after my wife and I finished master’s degrees 3 years ago to an all liquid net worth well over $400k.
Besides the bragging, it’s always useful to share your experience. How did you two find $$625,000 extra over living expenses in 36 months? Do tell. – Garth
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I’m with you Garth and I call bull on this (unless if they have received a large inheritance)
625K in 3 years means 208K per year, after taxes, which means about 400K gross per year. In extra cash. Meaning they must be making at least 600K gross together. And they have “kids”.
Unless they’ve been robbing banks?