Excited Delirium

Donald Trump has officially declared that trade wars are good.

Well, he’s got a BIG one with China.

I’ve tried to rationalize the insanity and I think the short-cut for the radical conservatives is for them to believe that all of this madness will translate to the jobs and more income that Trump promised in 2016.

This, of course, is folly.

Trump’s approach to China is like using a wrecking ball to cut a turkey. It’s messy and there will be no benefit to those who need it most.

Let’s walk through the likely results of Trump’s actions:

• Massive tariffs on Chinese imports
• Incredible inflation with prices on low-cost goods in places like Wal-Mart, Home Depot and other mass distributors of poorly made products
• Huge increases in the cost of living for Trump’s base: white, middle America
• China retaliates by dumping US treasury holdings (currently estimated to be $1.17 TRILLION)
• The US dollar collapses AND/OR interest rates have to escalate (which they would anyways with the increase in domestic prices)
• We now have the makings of a post-WWI German inflationary crisis: protectionist government, devalued currency, massive debts not worth anything and escalating interest rates
• Foreign investors stop buying US assets – for a while
• The price of all ranges of asset classes collapse in the US

And then what happens? Chinese companies swoop in (maybe under different venture company names or numbered companies) and scoop up what’s left to buy in the US.

With one simple action – the declaration of a trade war with China – Trump has sold out America to the so-called enemy that he’s trying to put at bay.

What an idiot.

Or is he …?

NOW … here’s the thing I’m having trouble getting my head around: what if he’s right?

Hear me out: for decades, most of the Western world has sold out everything to China. Work. Ownership. Debt. Food supply. Pretty much everything else.

And the question is why? China has a deplorable record with the environment, human rights, economic distribution, access to their economy and more.

So, I hate to admit that despite everything I said above, maybe in a very weird, perverse way, Trump is right to take a stand against China.

We are reaping what we have sewn. The Western world might as well start the (Chinese) proverbial process of a walk of a thousand miles beginning with one step.

Of course, this can only be true if Trump has the moral high ground.

He doesn’t, so I’m back where I started.

I’m so confused …

Mainstream media – lead by companies like Sinclair in the US or PostMedia in Canada – can’t be trusted any more.

Check this out:

For too long, corporate interests have been pushing news and information into the abyss, only to generate its own version of some ugly-headed Medusa that turns us all into stone.

Money talks.

So, truth walks.

For nearly two decades now, consumers of media have had options and these options are coming under fire by idiots like Trump and Bannon’s Breitbart that suggest people who seek out the truth are, well, idiots.

Let’s identify the perpetrators of the crime here: corporate-owned mainstream media.

The sooner we understand this and how advertising and other financial conflicts of interest conspire to mislead the public, the sooner we’ll have an opportunity to take back full ownership of our democracy.

And keep up the pressure! Companies like Sinclair are finally being called out for their BS and lies.

A couple of weeks ago, I shared some thoughts about transit projects being the ‘swimming pools of the 21st century’.

‘Shovels in ground’! Politicians come running.

‘Proportional funding arrangements’. Politicians, planners, consultants and other special interest groups gang up on advocates of a more universal approach and call them Luddites and knuckle-dragging elitists.

And then there’s St. Louis which planned an incredibly innovative line that … didn’t connect to anything.

This is a classic example of how demand for money leads projects.

And plunges them into the abyss of wasted money, bad infrastructure and poor planning.

Be careful what you wish for, bus advocates. You may well become the brunt of many jokes about government waste.

In the last 24 hours, Doug Ford is quoted as saying:

• He doesn’t want to give away $1,000 for a family of 5, even though the Liberal’s proposed tax on ‘the rich’ (incomes above $130,000 / year) would be $200 PER INCOME. So unless you’re living with – and depending on – 5 incomes, including that of your kids, his math is just SAD.
• He would cut the CBC. As most people know, the CBC is a federally funded institution. He can’t influence funding on a provincial level.

The list goes on …

When Doug Ford is making statements that are just so ridiculous, what does it say about his supporters?

I know many people that are Conservative and every time I see them, I want to give their head a shake.

They should be ashamed.

Suffice to say, they’re not friends any more.

Doug Ford is NOT an option.

Unfortunately, the financial terror and horror that is Kathleen Wynne is making his job easy.

People that support the Liberals should be ashamed because the Kathleen Wynne math is ten times worse than Doug Ford’s BS.

Why is it so hard for the Catholic church to say it’s sorry?

Time and again, their arrogance and hubris blocks them from doing the right thing.

The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission was very clear in its recommendations, including an important acknowledgement and apology from the religious institutions that brought about such pain and sorrow with the residential school program.

The Protestants apologized.

The United Church apologized.

The Anglicans have apologized.

But the Catholics stand fast and refuse to apologize for the wrongs committed, despite the fact that Catholic-run schools were about two-thirds of the 150 schools across Canada.

So, let them do that. Let them ignore the responsibility of trying to heal wounds.

But let them also enjoy existence in Canada without any tax status, be it tax-free status for property taxes or status as an official status in Canada.

At a bare minimum, Canadians should withhold donations to the Catholic church until it takes ownership for the crimes committed against First Nations people in Canada.

It’s almost impossible to estimate that massive wealth that gets transferred from Canadians to the Vatican every year, be it donations, fundraisers or even gains made from ownership of some of the most valuable real estate in the country.

There are hundreds of churches and thousands of priests across the country servicing millions of Canadians.

Of course, the real truth is that nothing of the sort will happen. Nearly 40% of Canadians (wow! I had no idea) identify as a Catholic. It’s unlikely that so many will abandon their adherence to such an archaic and twisted role model.