Avoiding US goods and services – from tech to whisky to air travel – has forced many to find a new way of living
This week the US imposed 50% tariffs on US$20bn (£15bn) of Canadian goods, and Mark Carney, the country’s prime minister, has vowed to match them “dollar for dollar” after the collapse of trade talks between the two countries last weekend. Donald Trump retaliated on Thursday by ordering the federal government to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.
Such actions have added fuel to a widespread boycott of US products and services by Canadians that began early last year in response to the president’s trade war and threats to annex his northern neighbour.
More than 3,500 people from across Canada shared with the Guardian via an online callout how they have made changes to their lives in response to the US administration’s political and economic stance. Many expressed deep anger and sadness, but remained resolute that this was now a new way of living.
Yeah that one is 😵
Hey I wonder if that goes for billionaires who own multinational corps as well.
That is a great question, and I guess it depends if they are “american”. We know Musk is not, so no taxes there, and most can shelter their income in a way that they pay nothing.
The issue for the little people is that (everywhere but United States and Eritrea) generally you pay taxes in the place you are living. So if you live in say Poland you would be using Polish services (healthcare, police, roads, you get the idea) and therefor pay Polish income tax. And most would say that is fair. The us though asks for their cut regardless where you are on top of what ever the local government takes. If rich enough you can just say where you “live” regardless of where you lay your head.
Let’s be real, none of the Magnificent Seven pay any taxes in any country. Unless you count bribes as taxes.
Maybe I’m misreading you, but, yeah so unless you register a company in Estonia for a pittance, get a flat 20% tax rate on all income made domestically or abroad. See how it works? I know nothing of business, when I haggle I try to raise the price I pay, it’s a known issue, but I know that if someone can do that, then god only knows what an army of litigants and accountants with a billion dollars and a taste for blood could invent to circumvent their just dues.
Do you know of the game Nomic? It’s a game where when it’s your turn you can propose and vote to change the rules, the whole point is that the ruleset keeps changing based on what the players decide.
That, to me, is modern capitalism. And the more money you have, the more votes you get to change the rules in your favor.
Oh remember that I started that with it being a problem for the “little people”. None of this applies to someone with a shit tonne of money.
I’m drunk and conversational, I don’t think it’s necessarily conducive to constructive conversation to keep on topic. I like to think of it as a collaborative effort to gain a mutual understanding, like spitballing, or brainstorming, thinking out loud, to explore ideas.
Shit sorry if I veer off topic, but that’s kind of the idea. Make of it what you will. :)
No issue with me as long as you don’t start typing trump talking points or making up stuff about the world that is very provably false (the us does not subsidize Canada for example). You can veer wildly as you will.
I hear that, on the other hand, how DO you counter:
“I am renaming Africa to Trumpalago”
Like… How do you even address that?
You know how magic tricks work? They work because people want to believe it, and let themselves be mesmerized. They look at what the magician is showing them, instead of looking at what they are sleighting.
Humans are pretty dumb. It’s very impressive we survived this far. Too bad there are no apex predators left to hunt us, that would definitely have a diminutive effect on our pride and conceit about our place in the world.
Alas…
I am not the biggest fan of our current leader but I thought the statement made about the lake was good:
“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,'”
“The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.”
See, Carney, and you and I, are rational. We use rational arguments. What when you debate an imbecile that not only does not care for the rules, but doesn’t understand them or even realize that they are there and what for, what is that quote about the pigeon?
Like, something to the effect of, playing chess with a pigeon, it doesn’t understand the rules, it shits all over the board, then struts around like it won.
I want to ask you, how do you deal with that, but the answer is obvious to the both of us so it’s superfluous and would get us banned.