These are some of the stories from the “inside pages” that caught my eye during the week ending May 13:
Corporate welfare has its place. For instance, if Canada wants an aerospace industry it should make it a clear objective and support Canadian companies in the sector. If we want a stronger agriculture and food supply chain, governments should invest in Canadian initiatives. But should it invest in foreign car manufacturers that routinely threaten plant closures to secure more subsidies?
Greig Mordue, the chair, manufacturing policy and associate professor of engineering at McMaster University, asserts that :
Troubles in the Ukrainian surrogacy industry makes for an interesting counterpoint to the US Supreme Court’s impending decision to upend Roe v. Wade. International surrogacy is legal in the Ukraine. Conditions apply:
What happens to surrogate mothers in wartime. They have signed a contract to comply with the surrogacy agency to protect the foetus. But also, they have families. When the agency moves them to safe havens, families can be left behind. If Poland, say, provides that safe haven, then the new child is subject to Polish laws and a long adoption process will ensue.
I wrote recently that the Finns consider good shelter a human right – compassionate. Toughness – the National Post recently printed an article from The Daily Telegraph. In it we discover that:
I have to shill the Shadow Lines TV series one more time. If you live next to a bear, be ready to swat it on the nose. Finland is.
Now imagine that on that March date someone in a shawarma shop tells you:
Would you ever take investment advice from that shawarma shop customer again? Probably not – but that person aspires to be Prime Minister. He continues as frontrunner for the leadership of one of Canada’s main political parties – the Conservatives. In line with the rules for the last Conservative party debate, I have not named him. I can only hope that all of his campaign funds had been converted to Bitcoin on March 29.
Regardless, many will vote for him because there is a perception that he will be a better financial manager. In this regard, the current government is not a hard act to follow. They will pass off his crypto currency passion as a passing fancy to appeal to a certain voting block. He has, however, had a long history with crypto currency. He featured on a crypto currency podcast with so-called crypto expert / conspiracy theorist Robert Breedlove. The un-named candidate tells Breedlove he is “extremely informative.” In the Toronto Sun, Warren Kinsella wraps up a column on Breedlove and the Candidate with the more appropriate line: “It is extremely nuts”.
The hyperlinked title will take you to the Economist article on the downturn of crypto currencies.
“Bitcoin is ingenious but it has no unique value at all. It doesn’t produce anything. You can stare at it all day and no little bitcoins come out. It’s a delusion, basically,”
Warren Buffett in a 2019 interview with CNBC. He added “its like rat poison for investors.”
That’s it for the week ending May 13.
A headline from the New York Times ! Off the Grid, Extremely Online – August 14, 2024 Am I the only person that thinks this is an oxymoron? How can someone claim to be off the grid and still have a million YouTube followers? A sense of humour may be necessary if you read these […]
I have only written the occasional article over the past twenty-four months – twenty-four months working with Anastasia Mourogova-Millin on innovative concepts designed to attract financing-at-scale to invest in urban nature and bio-diversity. Recently we have re-defined our working relationship. I continue to believe in the ideas she is pioneering. However, we are at different stages […]
Anastasia Mourogova Millin, March 5, 2024 Earth’s urban population will grow by 2.5 billion people over the next 30 years. Over the same time period, urban land expansion put at risk the survival of 855 different species and will threaten the homes of over 30,000 animal and plant species. Add in the impact of climate […]
Co-working space came to mean the notorious We Work model. When I had been asked to opine on co-working I tried to steer the conversation away from the Adam Neumann / Softbank flimflam growth model. Instead, I suggested that property owners look at usage and users. While I doubted We Work’s ability to survive I […]
Before I fall completely into the trap of opposition politics, I have decided to take a break from never-ending criticism and to start suggesting solutions to the affordable housing conundrum. Do I have a plan? No, more a collection of ideas To start with, I think there are three key issues: Home ownership is not […]
I know! I am going to sound like a grumpy old man. Maybe that is because I am. I have been scratching my head in wonderment at the Taylor Swift phenomena. Is she an Incredible song writer, composer, and performer? I really don’t know! A discussion for another time? But probably not. At my age […]