Why is the federal government obsessed with capital spending?
Reclassifying profit subsidies as capital spending might be fun, but it is not serious policy and it will not result in the investment Canadians need.
Economics
Austerity, spending, and budgeting
Canada has some decisions to make when it comes to our federal spending. Are we making the right ones, or are we following the same failed policies that got us into the current mess with the USA? It is the same, of course.
Regulations and consequences
Every conversation we are having about regulations and barriers to trade or productivity are complex. That complexity means that following the rhetoric on deregulation has unintended consequences as much as regulations have.
AI , automation, and productivity
Increased automation of back office, management, and sales services are not guaranteed to have positive outcomes for companies or society. However, some negative outcomes are rather well known at this point and work should be done so they are avoided.
Their industrial strategy and ours
There are massive differences in the industrial strategies from the left and those promoted by the new conservative movement circling Trump. It is essential for the movement's leadership to articulate the difference for workers. A right wing version industrial policies will only lead to war, domestic conflict, stagnant wages, inflation, and capital profiteering from misery.
Canadian economic resilience and industrial strategy
There is pressing need for Canada to develop a robust industrial strategy centered on public investment, strategic diversification of export markets, industrial investment, and the safeguarding of publicly funded intellectual property.
AI efficiency, supply, and demand
Energy and processing power analysts are very taken with the Jevons paradox. The concept is that as energy or processing power become more efficient, demand expands to use up that increased efficiency and everyone wins. It has been applied in great haste by investors and firms in the AI space. Especially since much more efficient open source solutions have been made available commercially (such as DeepSeek).
What is a tariff?
Ever wonder what the discussion about tariffs is actually about? There are a lot of explanations on the internet and in the news about what a tariff is.
Taxes and price
The discussion of prices, inflation, and taxes are informed by ideology. The ideologies driving our understanding of economics, how we talk about money, and who we expect to pay for certain things determines both our understanding of what is going on in the world and how we should respond to it.
Resilience?
The word 'resiliency' is one of the more overused words in the wake of the pandemic. Things that were disrupted because of lack of proper investment include our supply chains that move goods around the world. It is not just global pandemics that cause major crises along these supply chains.