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wampus

@ wampus @lemmy.ca

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321
Joined
12 mo. ago

  • ‘We need a mass program of deshittification’: Avi Lewis on rebuilding Canada’s public services

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  • Honestly, I imagine that wealth taxes would be difficult / cumbersome to actually implement in a fair way -- and they'd likely get significant challenges.

    A more traditional approach, that I believe worked fairly well though I'm not totally sure, is to jack up inheritance taxes. Much easier to apply a tax on wealth during a wealth transfer, as all items get accounted for at the time anyhow.

    Another approach that would likely dramatically shift things, would be to alter how stock market securities get used to secure loans: regulate banks to prevent them accepting securities at value. Doing that would turn off the 'tap' of money for many rich people, and instead force them to liquidate some capital to afford their high-service lifestyles. Ie. Cases like Musk, where you see the "richest man in the world" taking out loans using his stock as collateral in order to pay for stuff, shouldn't happen: make him actually sell his stock to raise liquidity.

    so idk, i think there are options beyond just those two.

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene introduces bill to end H-1B visas days after Trump backs the program: ‘Americans first’

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  • Oh, yeah, our housing situation is an absolute gong show. I'm "hopeful" that our current govs push for a kind of modular/prefab evolution will help, but it's really not clear how that'll pan out, or when -- and most of their "major projects" that they're pushing for, are still about building infrastructure for corporations to extract resources to foreign partners, not so much about building up Canada itself, so there's good reason to be skeptical of it all. Like even the Small Nuclear reactors they're promoting, are made by US companies and are reliant on US fuel sources, which is absurd.

    But this is basically a thread responding to a commenter's take on how immigration should be entirely dependant on job acquisition -- get a job in Canada? Boom, you're Canadian. Get a job in the US? Boom, you're American. The point of my previous comment isn't so much to highlight/critique "Canadian" or "Chinese" policies on housing and income tax, but rather to point out that there are differences that make the commenter's take unfeasible in my view. I'm just familiar with the Canadian/Chinese variance as it's been an issue that Canada's failed to address adequately for years.

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene introduces bill to end H-1B visas days after Trump backs the program: ‘Americans first’

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  • Issues with Chinese immigrants are well known and documented, literally with immigrant families openly exposing their own community's rampant fraud methods to our supreme courts, because "that's just how its done in Canada!".

    Paying a little bit of sales tax on modest purchases, is not sufficient to sustain social support programs. Taxes are paid in various ways, and yes, there's a minimal contribution made by the non-earning people staying in Canada, but it's not enough to offset the costs of providing social support services to the extended family.

    I don't think I mentioned the pension program specifically, that's on you. When I 'm mentioning old age social supports, there's more than just 'old age pensions' in Canada (heck, there's CPP and OAS, so two direct payments in terms of 'pensions' even) -- the universal healthcare system is another example. The cost of that system increases significantly for the older demographic, as people become more reliant on pills/medications. There's a reason a bunch of seniors from the states, in the past at least, would buy prescription meds in Canada, for example -- and that's tied to us having a government funded approach to providing those medications (the US medi-tourists are basically leeching off us). The basic premise of the system is that, generally, working age adults who have less reliance on the healthcare system, fund it via taxes, with the expectation that it'll be there when they need it (generally when they're older).

    We do have a problem with frauds and abuse, but the system can tolerate some fraud and abuse. If the ops approach were adopted, we'd have rampant fraud and abuse. The system can't tolerate rampant fraud and abuse. I don't think this sort of statement requires me to go into absurd detail to justify/demonstrate, frankly, and I'm not going to bother further.

  • What would be the most optimal way to have good bodily nutrition with the lowest cost per meal?

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  • For years I used to do Soylent for a bunch of meals per week. I stopped when there was a postal strike / delivery issues for it in Canada, and with the US's recent trends I haven't really tried to renew subscriptions to it on "fuck you for saying 51st state" grounds, but it was a pretty good product.

    The powder option is about $60 for 35 meals, about $2 per meal. Broadly provides about 1/4 daily nutrition per meal, 1/4 daily calories per meal (they assume 4 meals per day if I remember right). It's also delivered to your door, so no fussing/time spent with grocery shopping. And practically no dishes/cleanup or prep time.

    It's not too 'fun', in that all meals basically taste the same. But it's simple, consistent, scientifically nutritionally balanced.

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene introduces bill to end H-1B visas days after Trump backs the program: ‘Americans first’

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  • Canadians who move abroad for a long time lose their insurance, but it's not tied explicitly to the fact that they don't pay a sales tax. They also tend not to report their income / pay income taxes to Canada if working outside of Canada (unlike in the states, where they expect taxes to be paid from every citizen no matter where they are in the world).

    People who move to Canada, can currently get insurance coverage as part of immigrating to the country, which generally means staying in and working in Canada for an extended period as a PR to start. During that time they're paying income taxes and sales taxes etc.

    The ops comment implies that it should be like a light switch that is tied to your employment. There's a reason there's a process to immigration flows.

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene introduces bill to end H-1B visas days after Trump backs the program: ‘Americans first’

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  • Or china has a property tax/income tax problem.

    The variance is why the approach the op commenter hints at doesn't make sense.

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene introduces bill to end H-1B visas days after Trump backs the program: ‘Americans first’

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  • Yeah, but a bunch of legislation and conditions isn't what the op guys comment was hinting at. He was basically saying, get a job? Congrats, you've immigrated and get all the citizenship perks of wherever you work.

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene introduces bill to end H-1B visas days after Trump backs the program: ‘Americans first’

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  • Yeah, I don't agree.

    Here in Canada we pay a buncha tax to get things like universal healthcare and to fund various social programs, we also handle taxes differently than other jurisdictions.

    Like even with the existing setup, one of the issues we have is that there's been a fairly standard style of immigration where chinese citizens will buy property in Canada and have the kid and "stay at home mom" living in Canada, while their Dad/breadwinner stays in China. One reason its done this way is that Canada was considered to have better education opportunities and social supports for the non-income earning side of the family -- and property taxes are fairly low in places like Vancouver, with income taxes being very high. However in China, it's the opposite -- high property taxes, low income taxes. So as a country/region, you end up with basically no tax income, but high social program costs, with 'needy welfare' people living in multimillion dollar properties.

    And once the kid is through school, and entering the workforce.... they often go back home to china to take over the family business from a retiring parent. That parent then comes to Canada, and enjoys the old age social security network.

    If you remove all impediments to inter-country immigration, I reckon that sort of abuse would become so rampant that social programs would become essentially unsustainable.

  • YouTuber Jack Doherty arrested in Miami on drug possession charges

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  • I'd laugh if the USA deported this "violent drug user criminal". Like the situation there sounds bonkers right now, but if they deported this idiot as part of their overall stupidity, it'd be instant karma for the shit he's done over the years.

  • ‘Devastating and demoralizing’: public service braces for wave of cuts

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  • Not surprising given the hiring spike under Trudeau. Like since 2019 public sector jobs increased at roughly double the pace of private sector, and had gotten to the point that public sector job characteristics skewed national averages on things like wage growth.

    So stats like the increase in national average incomes/wages, was largely driven by gains for public sector employees -- ones who's salaries are paid by the collective taxation of primarily private sector employees. It's sorta like seeing a spike in people demanding food, but no change in the number of farmer's supplying that food -- if the supply doesn't catch up quick, you're going to have less people (or at least, increased cases of hunger/starvation). Some people need to go back to farming, if you're going to keep an equilibrium. Especially if the people eating, have gotten union-pushed food/plate increases, have become significantly more numerous in comparison, and are getting far more of the total food supply by percentage produced.

    Significantly increasing taxes on the rich might help, though I imagine it still wouldn't be enough to support the recent increases in public sector costs. That's sort of moot though, as the gov in general is loathe to increase taxes on the rich.

  • Changed Rules Will Shut a Trans Bodybuilder Out of Competition

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  • Except genetics is taking a backseat to science in some cases. Cases that are normally considered cheating. Except for a small minority where they're allowed to do it. Like if you were to show up to a gaming LAN party with a ton of hacks/mods, because you were bad at the games being played, you'd be a cheater. Even if you try justifying it saying you're bad at those games, and that you need computer science bots to help make you better at it, you're still entering in to the competition with an unfair advantage and not competing with the other players in a fair way. And even if other players beat you, you still cheated and made it a lot less fun for anyone who lost to you in the process. And to demand that the competition completely change how players are sorted / paired, so that bot players/cheaters get representation and can participate too, totally undermines the whole point of the event.

    Idk. I agree that it's theoretically possible to implement some sort of max T level via medical sources or whatever, but that's totally impractical for most levels of the sport, I would imagine. It's a huge hurdle to put for event organizers to meet, in order to include a very small sub set of the population. There need to be some limits on that, otherwise the cost / effort to put on events for anyone becomes intolerable for organizers/administrators.

  • Changed Rules Will Shut a Trans Bodybuilder Out of Competition

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  • I don't see an issue with this, personally. I'd also broadly agree with the idea of banning all beauty contest competitors who've had plastic surgery, under a similar principle. An organized competition around physical traits should not be significantly influenced/determined by a doctors risk tolerance / skill pre-competition.

    Doesn't stop people from doing the activity either way, if they enjoy it. Structured competitions require some rules and restrictions though, to keep things fair, beyond just being 'equitable' to minorities.

    Whether he's winning these things or not is kinda moot, too. Like the article notes that he's met 'soft guys' at competitions that are more passive/seem less toxic. Men, as a gender, have all kinds of different testosterone levels -- some are below average, but still strive to compete / participate in these events. A trans guy being "set" at a doctor prescribed "medium" level, would seem like he's being given an advantage over all those "soft" guys. I can't imagine many of those 'soft guys' would be thrilled to hear they lost to an x-woman on drugs in a competition often related to masculinity. I mean, why shouldn't they also get that edge? Why should Canadian healthcare policy's lopsided treatment of testosterone supplements between trans people and straight people impact the outcome? Doesn't seem 'fair' for the soft cis guys.

  • US firefighter detained on the job speaks out after deportation: ‘I feel betrayed’

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  • Read a chunk of the article, though I admit I stopped part way.

    Specifically, after the part where they note this guy had been kicked out multiple times already. Got kicked out in 2013. Again in 2015. Came back in 2019 and just started working with no documentation/authorization. So kicked out twice during Obama's terms, the guy fully knows what he's doing is 'wrong' by the govt/rules, yet took the risk anyhow.

  • The Conservative floor crosser actually reveals a lot about the Liberal budget (and it's not pretty)

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  • Carney being a fiscal conservative / pro-free market / pro-private sector business person isn't a surprise to anyone who's paid attention to his career. That the liberals are a centrist party who's values skew left / right based on the perceived 'majority' that exists in the centre, which is the demographic they attempt to target to get elected, isn't a surprise to anyone who's paid attention to the history of the liberal party. That Canada's general sentiment is/had shifted towards the right, in part due to the perception of unequal treatment under the guise of initiatives such as DEI and equity employment programs, isn't a surprise to anyone who's followed social trends (at least, those who try to get a fairly 'outside of an echo chamber' feel for them).

    This isn't to say I support the tax breaks being given to the rich of course. If I had my way, we'd go in a much different direction. All I'm trying to get at is that this isn't all that surprising to many, and it's likely still an outcome they viewed as preferable to PP's conservatives, and to the NDP. Hell, the NDP basically said vote liberal if it helped to stop the Cons.

    I'm sure part of the hope is that the liberals will shift right far enough, that the cons won't have a viable path to full control of the government. In theory that'll open up more room for the NDP on the left. Where people who are for some reason 'shocked' by Carney's moves, will find solace.

    What's more shocking to me in a way is how far to the left the Liberals had drifted, as a centrist party. That's what opened up opportunities for the cons to make such large gains, and what caused the NDP to be so thoroughly routed. Seeing cons cross the isle because the Liberals are once again more 'centrist' in their values, isn't a bad thing.

  • ‘We’re in an Emergency. We Have Got to Start Talking’ | The Tyee

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  • I'm personally not a fan of the NDP, but I do hope that they make some gains during the next election as their participation generally provides a different perspective on government options -- and I hate the idea of being a two party system, with the cons as the only other option. Some of this guys points aren't bad.

    Reason for not liking the party is based on interactions with one of their long standing MPs/my rep, who ignored my concerns due to my race/gender demographic, and preached to me about how my concerns were invalid as a result. That sort of exchange is hard to excuse, and I personally won't vote for a party that overtly discriminates/supports discrimination based on race/gender. It's the same reason I won't support the cons. I'm basically left holding my nose for the libs, or going independent based solely on my local options individual bios/speech clips (and potential power within an elected government, as that can benefit my local area more/less of course).

  • No changes coming 'at the moment' for Alberta's recall legislation: Danielle Smith

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  • I don't get it. The whole point of recall legislation is so that if the government goes off the rails, people can recall/topple them mid-way through an election cycle. I really don't see how the 'good faith' approach to that sort of legislative option would go otherwise.

    I really hope the labour unions do it.

  • Data stored in Canada can be subject to foreign courts, government paper warns

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  • Oh, I know as well. But I wouldn't say it's stopped with Trudeau's exit, and I'm not sure about the start point. I'm currently watching a slow moving train wreck in the financial industry, as most of Canada's Credit Unions move to outsource their online banking to an Indian company -- with Regulators offering absolutely no hesitation / road blocks. Canada's Credit Unions had data center colosites across the country, but now its all in US cloud providers. Like, they literally moved all the cheque processing into Microsoft Azure this year -- so even after shit hits the fan and the gov starts faking alarm over US aggression, the gov is still rubber stamping critical industries moving more shit out of Canadian control. Hell, the CEO of Central1 received Business In Vancouver Awards for abandoning a Canadian stack, and pushing it all off-shore -- she literally got awards for presiding over the FAILURE of 1/3 of the services her organisation offers to its 'customers'. Add to that, that the Board of Central1, which is made up largely of "big Credit Union" people like Vancity, and which presided over this strategic failure for the industry, voted to boost their salaries a ton and to consolidate more power with fewer board members (so they can fail more efficiently, with fewer roadblocks! they get like >$100k per year now, for what's essentially a part time job that they do on the side of their regular jobs). Go figure.

    Carney has previously, and is currently in my view, still in favour of this sort of shift. When he was at the BoC, he started the process of killing Canada's local / smaller financial institutions, and selling out to American big tech. People like Carolyn Rogers, then regulator of BC's provincial system now #2 at the BoC, helped to enact his vision -- she basically set about to kill off the small/medium sized Credit Unions in the province, a process that's seen the count of CUs drop to like 25 or so (the counts basically halved in the past decade). She's the one whining about Canadian's lack of productivity, even though while acting as BC's financial regulator, she outsourced all her departments audit work to international audit firms. Her screwing that up so badly, is likely the reason she failed upwards out of the BC system -- she got skewered by MLAs for her mismanagement of her department and outsourcing contracts a short time prior her "promotion". She's also been 'promoted on' from numerous positions between then and becoming the #2 at the BoC, moving quickly enough that her impact on the orgs she worked for would be minimized.

    Anyhow, those smaller FIs that govs been killing off were also really important for financing things like riskier personal businesses / small businesses -- in the past, they'd take those sorts of risks with far fewer hurdles than the banks required, helping to bolster the small business sector which employed a huge number of Canadians. Of course, the government is now trying to figure out why it seems harder for small businesses to get financing... it's like the gov is too dense to realise that it's because of the gov's actions. The solution will almost definitely be "open banking" paired with "let foreigners / fintech conglomerates control the financing!".

  • Data stored in Canada can be subject to foreign courts, government paper warns

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  • So reading through the white paper, they didn't really report on the more interesting output from it... paper's here.

    Appendix A is interesting, in that they list out their mitigation against foreign control / methods of trying to protect Canada's digital sovereignty. And basically every item has a con that says it doesn't actually help against foreign laws (unauthorized and un-reported access to Government of Canada data by foreign interests/govts).

    The long and short, is essentially that you need companies that are in Canada, and only accountable to Canada, for their cloud products provided in Canada. You need control of the stack. That's a really tall order.

  • Data stored in Canada can be subject to foreign courts, government paper warns

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  • It's not contradictory really, though the lack of a link to the white paper is definitely lazy journalism. I'm 'guessing' the paper is here: https://www.canada.ca/en/government/system/digital-government/digital-government-innovations/cloud-services/digital-sovereignty/gc-white-paper-data-sovereignty-public-cloud.html . I haven't read through that yet, so its just a guess.

    The statement you say is contradictory isn't, in that they differentiate between "operate completely under Canadian jurisdiction" from businesses just 'storing data in canada', or 'using a canadian supplier'. For example Telus is one of our big telcos. Telus has significant business ties to US companies, in that their email is just reselling either Microsoft or Google, and their VoiP is just reselling US Ring Central (even uses the same servers for call routing). Telus is currently a "Canadian" company that is effectively just a US software supplier, that has data 'reside' in Canada when it's demanded by client/regulatory requirements. Telus is beholden to US laws and regulations. Even the data that Telus has "residing" in Canada, is potentially subject to US laws and regulations -- that's what the Cloud Act solidified: basically the US govts authority to coerce any business that wants to do business in/with the US, to give up that company's data from anywhere in the world.

    When it comes to something like AI and training on user data -- companies like Microsoft and Google don't really care all that much about Canada's legislation / sovereignty, especially as the US is letting them write their own regulation down south. So any email that goes through US tech giant servers, is likely getting ingested / processed by US AI's, with US laws / trends in mind.