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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

When you have a large common market, there's less need to look elsewhere for substitute goods. It's a strong point for the market.

CETA is a great move, but let's face it—many goods just aren't worth the transportation costs when you have plenty of alternatives within the common market. So, it makes sense that the EU has a trade surplus with us, so good on them. :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Don't these petitions get dropped when an election is called? Unlikely that it'll ever actually hit the floor.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

It can technically be used to extend your stay in Palau long enough to establish tax residency since it would allow you to stay in Palau for longer than 183 days a year. Not unusual for people sitting on big crypto stashes to move abroad or buy citizenships in order to cash out their crypto without capital gains tax (or at least that's how it goes - I imagine the IRS doesn't go down that easily).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 weeks ago

The whole point of this card is basically to bypass KYC requirements for crypto exchanges that don't allow US customers. They are very explicit about this in their marketing.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

This has been the playbook from day one—Trump throws out an outrageous statement, his lackeys rush to ‘clarify’, 'negotiate' or downplay it, and then, surprise, he meant exactly what he said.

The real problem is the constant gaslighting: pretending he’s just posturing when, in reality, he’s dead set on pushing his reckless, authoritarian agenda. At this point, anyone still treating him like a rational actor is either delusional or complicit. No rational actor would casually equate ethnic cleansing to a real estate transaction, or try and take over a sovereign state as though it was a ruthless corporate takeover.

There is no future in negotiating with the US - the only way out of this mess is to do what we should've been doing for the past 30 years - diversify our supply chains, build resilient trading relationships and establish the infrastructure to insulate ourselves from the whims of volatile US policymakers - even if that means cozying up to global partners with historical animosity.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (2 children)

Canadian tariffs are targeted in a number of ways. One of the ways is targeting American goods that have Canadian alternatives. So the goal is to make American products less attractive by making them more expensive, damaging the US economy while bolstering our own.

I feel like it's often missed that it isn't a binary Buy US/Buy Canada dilemma. Most goods have substitutes - there are other countries that can produce most consumer goods. It's only when you start getting into high-value-added goods like turbines, flash memory, missiles and planes that there's difficulties in import substitution. A 25% retaliatory tariff doesn't mean your canned tomatoes are definitely going up by 25%, but you'll likely start seeing Mexican, Peruvian, etc. canned tomatoes on Canadian shelves that weren't there before.

And while patriotism is great and all, buying goods from other countries that we don't have strong established trading ties with is a good way to make the case for closer bilateral cooperation and even future free trade agreements that exceed most-favoured nation benefits conferred by the WTO. When countries start building export-driven industries that give dignity and economic self-sufficiency for their citizens, that's a future tiger worthy of negotiating a free trade agreement with.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

I'm doubtful full membership will ever happen, and even an EEA Norway-style agreement where we adopt 75% of the EU's laws without representation but keep our fishing and agricultural policies (pre-requisites for the Atlantic and Prairie Provinces to agree), would take decades to be negotiated, signed and ratified with all the dysfunctional, proportional representational governments in Europe right now.

There's been discussions about "associate membership" in the EU to bypass the European-ness requirement, but I don't think that's gotten any traction.

I would be grateful for any kind of free movement agreement that gains traction right now, even with CARICOM or MERCOSUR.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This isn’t the major issue it’s being portrayed as.

Under Canada’s free trade agreements—including those with the WTO, CPTPP, and the European Union—Canada is obligated to allow foreign companies from these partner regions to compete for large government procurement contracts (typically valued at ~$230,000 CAD or more). These agreements ensure fair access without protectionist barriers and, in return, give Canadian companies access to similar opportunities in those markets.

Given this context, it's not surprising that a significant portion of federal procurement contracts go to companies headquartered in the world's largest free market economy, the United States. The fact that nearly 25% of federal government suppliers by total contract value being U.S.-based is not unexpected under these trade arrangements.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Consider the cost of inaction. A decade of lost economic growth, fewer jobs, and diminished competitiveness – all because we lacked the leverage to counter these blatantly unfair tariffs. Can we afford that?

Either those tariffs come down quick because we fight back, we massively expand our trading relationships with countries we don't get along with (China, Russia, India) Erdogan-style, or we experience what could amount to a Great Depression once Trump escalates further again knowing we're an easy target.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

China scary tho

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If you're okay with older homelab-esque equipment, the ERA, also on eBay as Calgary Computer Wholesale, often has really cheap rack mount stuff. This being said, the ERA is a pretty sketchy organization overall (it's closer to a small e-waste recycling business that takes advantage of its status to reduce liable taxes (with variable employee salaries equivalent to dividends) and take advantage of free volunteer labour, than an actual non-profit organization). Sometimes, provincial government surplus auction sites have rack mount equipment as well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

The X3 CPUs were essentially quad cores where one of the cores failed a quality control check. Using a higher end Mobo, it was possible to unlock the fourth core with varying results. This was a cheap consumer Acer prebuilt though, so I didn't have that option.

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/19371857

I'm curious to learn about places around the globe that have a significant amount of underutilized tourism infrastructure. In many cases, I suspect that governments are propping up unsustainable tourism operators or investing in tourism with a "build it and they will come" mentality.

Here are a few examples that I'm aware of:

  • Qatar - The country has an oversupply of hotels relative to the number of visitors, and its tourism economy heavily relies on layover tours due to the strength of Qatar Airways' network.

  • Saudi Arabia - In an effort to diversify its economy away from oil, the country is pushing a massive tourism development agenda, despite having many factors that make it less appealing to visitors. Religious tourism seems to be a primary focus.

  • North Korea - For obvious reasons... For example, only a few floors of the Ryugyong Hotel are ever occupied.

  • Northern Japan (Aomori, Akita, Sendai) - These places are heavily fueled by domestic tourism, and are basically deserted for half of the year (despite attractions and so on still functioning).

To clarify, I'm not looking for hidden gems or places that are simply underrated travel destinations. Instead, I'm interested in learning about locations where there is a clear mismatch between the available tourism infrastructure and the actual number of visitors.

I want to find places where I might end up being the only visitor to a museum or one of few tourists on an airport bus. The fact that these museums and airport limo buses even exist is where the question stems from.

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/19371857

I'm curious to learn about places around the globe that have a significant amount of underutilized tourism infrastructure. In many cases, I suspect that governments are propping up unsustainable tourism operators or investing in tourism with a "build it and they will come" mentality.

Here are a few examples that I'm aware of:

  • Qatar - The country has an oversupply of hotels relative to the number of visitors, and its tourism economy heavily relies on layover tours due to the strength of Qatar Airways' network.

  • Saudi Arabia - In an effort to diversify its economy away from oil, the country is pushing a massive tourism development agenda, despite having many factors that make it less appealing to visitors. Religious tourism seems to be a primary focus.

  • North Korea - For obvious reasons... For example, only a few floors of the Ryugyong Hotel are ever occupied.

  • Northern Japan (Aomori, Akita, Sendai) - These places are heavily fueled by domestic tourism, and are basically deserted for half of the year (despite attractions and so on still functioning).

To clarify, I'm not looking for hidden gems or places that are simply underrated travel destinations. Instead, I'm interested in learning about locations where there is a clear mismatch between the available tourism infrastructure and the actual number of visitors.

I want to find places where I might end up being the only visitor to a museum or one of few tourists on an airport bus. The fact that these museums and airport limo buses even exist is where the question stems from.

 

I'm curious to learn about places around the globe that have a significant amount of underutilized tourism infrastructure. In many cases, I suspect that governments are propping up unsustainable tourism operators or investing in tourism with a "build it and they will come" mentality.

Here are a few examples that I'm aware of:

  • Qatar - The country has an oversupply of hotels relative to the number of visitors, and its tourism economy heavily relies on layover tours due to the strength of Qatar Airways' network.

  • Saudi Arabia - In an effort to diversify its economy away from oil, the country is pushing a massive tourism development agenda, despite having many factors that make it less appealing to visitors. Religious tourism seems to be a primary focus.

  • North Korea - For obvious reasons... For example, only a few floors of the Ryugyong Hotel are ever occupied.

  • Northern Japan (Aomori, Akita, Sendai) - These places are heavily fueled by domestic tourism, and are basically deserted for half of the year (despite attractions and so on still functioning).

  • EDIT: Maybe the Caribbean islands outside of Cruise ship season?

To clarify, I'm not looking for hidden gems or places that are simply underrated travel destinations. Instead, I'm interested in learning about locations where there is a clear mismatch between the available tourism infrastructure and the actual number of visitors.

I want to find places where I might end up being the only visitor to a museum or one of few tourists on an airport bus. The fact that these museums and airport limo buses even exist is where the question stems from.

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