Blog Dis
We catch the cold
2025-09-10
Finances are an integral part of every person's life. Mine too. Just like yours.
CTV News often showcases the same financial expert to educate and help viewers to interpret the latest investment trends, often citing the latest stock market performances between the DOW Jones and TSX markets. A looming and pending recession is expected to soon hit the good ol' United States of America, attributed in part to the impact of the US tariffs on goods being imported into the USA, and as a result of the international manufacturers who are forced to raise the cost of their goods to compensate for the higher cost of selling their products into the USA. No one will be exempt from these higher prices, except maybe the very well-to-do of this world.
There's an expression often heard: when the U.S. sneezes, Canada catches the cold. Throughout these past few months, I've watched my aggressive equity funds rise, with occasional dips, and I am convinced that American stock markets are ok with the slow roll-out and militarization of American cities, thanks to the US president deploying army service personnel to cities one strategic city at a time. Well, this is my theory, in any event. I'm basing my opinion on the different news shows I watch, to include podcasts, and the long-held notion of the money war machine, the engine that grinds out productivity whenever military action is put into action. Think World War II when manufacturing plants were re-engineered to begin building war planes, tanks, and jeeps, and other relevant other armaments.
As to the USA, economists have observed a slow-down, a weakening in retail sales, housing starts dropping and the usual loss of jobs; a good example would be John Deere Company laying off 300,000 persons, which is a big deal when you consider that this company is world-renowned for being the most successful farm-equipment manufacturing company of them all - these are typically the benchmarks used to determine the health of an economy. Canada is also feeling the pinch, as a result of the imposed tariffs, and student unemployment is at an all-time high.
But not all persons are affected by rising costs.
The percentage of the elite wealthy who own the greatest percentage of stocks and money being traded on stock exchanges hovers around the 3% mark to represent the percentage of the super rich who own over half of the world's stocks being traded, which is the same as saying the richest own over 40% of the world's wealth. It staggers the mind when you think of the number of millions of people and how some afford every conceivable luxury without ever having to bat a pretty eye lash. However, I personally do not possess the wherewithal to elevate my standard of living to that level but I do have enough to get by and live a life of comfort. When you focus on what you have, you tend to lean more toward gratitude, rather than to focus on what you don't have, which leaves you feeling exposed for those things that you want, all the while being cognizant of the fact that there are some pretty stinking filthy rich persons out there who have it all.
Money, therefore, can be a point of perspective, when you have some, a lot, a stinking amount of a lot, or when you barely have two nickels to rub together.
Very little changes in the history of humankind. There will always be the rich and the poor but now the poor encompass the middle class too, and have for some while. It is the fate of every hierarchy that democratic societies will be divided into classes that will always include: the elite (the very rich of the rich); the ruling class (our politicians and bureaucrats and some would say our lobbyists too); the media and press corps (the reality spin doctors); military apparatus and finally the working class, slobs like you and me and Betsy and her three-legged dog. It doesn't matter what term you use to describe it, each and every system of human construction falls into these patterns. I guess that's why Communism seemed like a good idea at the time until they realized that more could be stolen by having the appearance of a democracy.
I'm not being fair. I omitted the presence of religion, the Church and their special status, being able to exist without having to pay taxes for their buildings built on government land. I scratch my head in this day and age of higher costs, and how the poor and middle-class have to invent new ways to stretch their budgets to be able to buy the same things they used to, only with less money, to purchase a product that is being re-packaged in a smaller package, and offering less of the product, while having to pay more for it.
Is it not high time that every religious denomination lose their special status and begin to pay taxes like the rest of us? This status is no different than large multi-billion corporations being able to forego having to pay taxes on their earned profits by setting up offshore tax shelters to shield their profits from being taxed in the first place.
Like I said... I'm not being fair because life is rarely fair.
CTV News often showcases the same financial expert to educate and help viewers to interpret the latest investment trends, often citing the latest stock market performances between the DOW Jones and TSX markets. A looming and pending recession is expected to soon hit the good ol' United States of America, attributed in part to the impact of the US tariffs on goods being imported into the USA, and as a result of the international manufacturers who are forced to raise the cost of their goods to compensate for the higher cost of selling their products into the USA. No one will be exempt from these higher prices, except maybe the very well-to-do of this world.
There's an expression often heard: when the U.S. sneezes, Canada catches the cold. Throughout these past few months, I've watched my aggressive equity funds rise, with occasional dips, and I am convinced that American stock markets are ok with the slow roll-out and militarization of American cities, thanks to the US president deploying army service personnel to cities one strategic city at a time. Well, this is my theory, in any event. I'm basing my opinion on the different news shows I watch, to include podcasts, and the long-held notion of the money war machine, the engine that grinds out productivity whenever military action is put into action. Think World War II when manufacturing plants were re-engineered to begin building war planes, tanks, and jeeps, and other relevant other armaments.
As to the USA, economists have observed a slow-down, a weakening in retail sales, housing starts dropping and the usual loss of jobs; a good example would be John Deere Company laying off 300,000 persons, which is a big deal when you consider that this company is world-renowned for being the most successful farm-equipment manufacturing company of them all - these are typically the benchmarks used to determine the health of an economy. Canada is also feeling the pinch, as a result of the imposed tariffs, and student unemployment is at an all-time high.
But not all persons are affected by rising costs.
The percentage of the elite wealthy who own the greatest percentage of stocks and money being traded on stock exchanges hovers around the 3% mark to represent the percentage of the super rich who own over half of the world's stocks being traded, which is the same as saying the richest own over 40% of the world's wealth. It staggers the mind when you think of the number of millions of people and how some afford every conceivable luxury without ever having to bat a pretty eye lash. However, I personally do not possess the wherewithal to elevate my standard of living to that level but I do have enough to get by and live a life of comfort. When you focus on what you have, you tend to lean more toward gratitude, rather than to focus on what you don't have, which leaves you feeling exposed for those things that you want, all the while being cognizant of the fact that there are some pretty stinking filthy rich persons out there who have it all.
Money, therefore, can be a point of perspective, when you have some, a lot, a stinking amount of a lot, or when you barely have two nickels to rub together.
Very little changes in the history of humankind. There will always be the rich and the poor but now the poor encompass the middle class too, and have for some while. It is the fate of every hierarchy that democratic societies will be divided into classes that will always include: the elite (the very rich of the rich); the ruling class (our politicians and bureaucrats and some would say our lobbyists too); the media and press corps (the reality spin doctors); military apparatus and finally the working class, slobs like you and me and Betsy and her three-legged dog. It doesn't matter what term you use to describe it, each and every system of human construction falls into these patterns. I guess that's why Communism seemed like a good idea at the time until they realized that more could be stolen by having the appearance of a democracy.
I'm not being fair. I omitted the presence of religion, the Church and their special status, being able to exist without having to pay taxes for their buildings built on government land. I scratch my head in this day and age of higher costs, and how the poor and middle-class have to invent new ways to stretch their budgets to be able to buy the same things they used to, only with less money, to purchase a product that is being re-packaged in a smaller package, and offering less of the product, while having to pay more for it.
Is it not high time that every religious denomination lose their special status and begin to pay taxes like the rest of us? This status is no different than large multi-billion corporations being able to forego having to pay taxes on their earned profits by setting up offshore tax shelters to shield their profits from being taxed in the first place.
Like I said... I'm not being fair because life is rarely fair.
