Expectations are low, but hope is high.

no no no this is the internet that’s not how we do things here

they’re gonna need therapy

Check the article. It’s pretty easy to choose the right option.

Yeah, the bond question doesn’t seem relevant to most people (unless they’re building a trading portfolio), but the questions on inflation and buying power shrinking over time are extremely important.

Unless we plan to go back to bartering, basic financial literacy is important. It doesn’t make you an evil exploiter to understand that we use money

Pretty much this. If people have a better understanding of how our system is supposed to work, they’ll get angry when the rich bad people take advantage of it.

The questions are basically “what is inflation?” and “what did they teach you in high school about investing in stocks?”

They’re pretty trivial.

I agree that the rich are able to get away with weird financial fuckery because they own regulators. But that may be because the average voter doesn’t understand how investments are supposed to work.

The questions weren’t about esoteric financial instruments that allow the rich to get away with murder, they were home ec style questions:

Stuff like

• Imagine that someone puts €100 into a savings account with a guaranteed interest rate of 2% per year. They don’t make any further payments into this account and they don’t withdraw any money. How much would be in the account at the end of five years, once the interest payment is made?

• Now imagine the following situation. You are going to be given a gift of [€1,000] in one year and, over that year, inflation stays at 2%. In one year’s time, with the [€1,000], will you be able to buy: [more, less, or the same]

• Which of the following is true? An investment with a higher return is likely to be: [more risky, less risky]

Maybe part of the reason governments keep bailing out bad financial moves by private companies is because the electorate has decided investing is black magic and ignores it.

i want legs

The report was prepared by the RCMP’s three-member Strategic Foresight and Methodology Team, a special section set up in February 2022

Yes. All three of them are in on it. /s

There’s nothing in the linked document that is surprising. Populism, fucked up supply chains, extreme weather due to climate change - all the stuff you’d expect.

Now, if you’d said they’re gunning for more funding, I could get behind that. The Canadian security establishment has a storied history of strategic leaks to a compliant press.

which part of Malaysia did they put the pacemaker into?

From the article:

But is there a danger that in comparing today’s situation with the Victorian period we may be getting things out of proportion? For instance, one of the key reasons scabies cases are increasing, according to the British Association of Dermatologists, is a shortage of treatments such as permethrin and malathion. And not every case of scurvy is due to parents being unable to afford fresh fruit and vegetables – sometimes, a vitamin C deficiency may be due to children being picky eaters.

People opting out of vaccines is very different from a shortage of medicines/treatment. It isn’t entirely dissimilar from people choosing riskier sex (which is mentioned in the article).

the “gentlemans agreement” you speak of isn’t perfect

That’s what I’m trying to illustrate. The post that I’m replying to suggests that a multipolar world is fine, “we” should stay out of the other poles’ spheres of influence, and that there’s a hard distinction between economic, philosophical, and military jockeying. I don’t think that’s the case. The gentleman’s agreement that I’m referring to would be between poles.

You bring up a great example how “we” fuck our allies even when we have a gentleman’s agreement with them. Which is a great point.

Fuckery is going to happen: we need to keep our friends close, and we need to build our international agreements in a way that keeps us safe. Assuming other governments will adhere to rules-based order with siloed areas of competition is unlikely to succeed.

In India’s case, I think careful diplomacy can still accomplish our goals to the satisfaction of both parties.

Like what? Canada was (apparently) tipped off about the assassination by big bro to the South. In response, the Canadian government shot it’s mouth off naming India as the attacker. India Modi promptly punished Canada economically for the audacity of bitching. That’s it.

Countries, like people, aren’t rational actors. They are punitive, emotional, and will try to get away with whatever they can. (As a Canadian, I can name a long litany of illiberalism my country has committed)

Don’t get me wrong - I love the idea of a multipolar world, where international order is decided solely in the marketplace of ideas. But every pole in this multipolar world is a dick. They are actively trying to destabilize each other economically, politically, and militarily.

trickiest part is the information warfare, since we can’t always respond in a similar way due to intense authoritarian controls of their local information spaces. We’re largely on the defense in that arena, though we should counter as best we can while we build up our own defenses

This paints information warfare as a nothing burger that is distinct from a physical assault. It really isn’t. Russia (allegedly) took down parts of the Ukraine grid for a few hours during their ongoing assault against the country. Saudi refineries have been taken offline. Stuxnet did significant damage to the Iranian nuclear program.

Misinformation is arguably worse, since it can significantly damage social cohesion in victim countries. I don’t think we have a very good handle on the role of foreign actors in the rise of populism in the past decade, but you can bet your polling booth it’s nonzero.

Do we really need to talk about economic espionage like it’s nbd? Imagine Taiwan without fabs. Or Canada without Nortel (oh wait, you don’t need to). So much of our economic growth is driven directly through innovation, and national power/prosperity comes from that growth. It’s a big deal.

In principle I agree, but the other poles are fucking with “us” though. Let’s define “us” as the NATO-aligned countries.

India is offing political dissidents in Canada and the US (that’s an honorable mention, since the US assassins were caught). China is setting up “police stations” in Western countries to intimidate ex-pats, not to mention the ongoing industrial espionage thing. Russia and North Korea seem to be conducting regular cyber attacks against NATO members (including civilian targets). And we’ve resigned ourselves to constant misinformation campaigns (+ election meddling) from Russia, China, and Iran.

If other poles follow the same gentleman’s agreement, that works out. But I’m not sure how “we” can take the high road when other countries aren’t.

AFAIU contribution companies are already working to capacity. Canada has a significant shortage of skilled trades, so that’s a limiting factor.

Another factor (that politicians have been much more vocal about) is the planning process that construction companies have to comply with when building new developments or infill.

EDIT: and the relatively high interest rate makes it hard to get financing.

I’m fuckin grateful I was born in a place where compulsory service is a thing. I can’t imagine my kids being killed in some despots vanity war.

Castelain, who was initially charged with rape, was handed a one-year sentence, while his colleagues, who were found to have beaten Mr Luhaka, were given ones of three months.

That’s grotesque. The cops damage this guy for life and they get a slap on the wrists. The seriousness of the punishment should fit the seriousness of the crime.

China missiles filled with water, not fuel: US intelligence

oops

US officials now believe Xi is less likely to contemplate major military action in the coming years than would otherwise have been the case

So this is a good news story.