The “Yield Curve” is nothing more than a line between the dots on a graph of interest rates. At the start of the graph (on the left) is very short term interest rates and at the end of the graph (on the right side) is longer term interest rates. When long term interest rates are lower than short term rates it means business is expected to DECREASE over time. When the graph trends down, it is called an “inverted yield…
One-China is an understanding that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) under the Communist Party of China (CPC) has complete legal and moral authority over both the Chinese mainland and break away island of Taiwan. How it came to be is a fascinating story but One China has been a diplomatic football ever since it was formulated in the early 1970’s by Chinese and Canadian diplomats. From 1971 through through the early 2000’s regional flair ups have lead many countries to…
Google built Android from scratch in about 3 years of serious work. With China’s: penchant for stealing intellectual property unlimited budgets massive talent pool how long do you think it is will take China to develop a solid mobile OS? Not to mention that the newest copy of anything is better than the first because the developers learn from mistakes in the original. As we explained in our recent article: US President Trump Just Killed Google Android, the US China…
When China began the ‘free-marketization’ of its economy in the 1980’s it was clear that China was going to be an economic powerhouse. They had an excellent blue print to follow in capitalist British Hong Kong and a singular drive to raise its citizens from the poverty of its communist past. However, few had predicted back then that China would look so completely inward for growth as they are today. It is clear that while foreign markets like the United…
This topic is a departure from our usual focus on politics, tech and China but we thought it made an excellent point in a funny way you would like. As a… lets go with ‘gruff’ person myself, I sadly see tiny parts of Coleman Sweeney in me (pun intended!) and I have signed up for organ donation too. Be an asshole and sign up! In most countries you just have to fill our an organ donor card or sign the…
Today there are already about 60,000 Chinese manufactured vehicles entering the US and Canadian automobile market each year, some of which may surprise you; Buick Envision ($32,000) Cadillac CT6 Plug-In Hybrid ($75,000) not the standard CT6’s cancelled for US and Canada sales in 2018 Volvo S60 & S90 ($36,000 and $48,000) However, what you don’t see is a single Chinese brand like BYD (serious Telsa competitor), Chery (former Chrysler partner), or Dongfeng (sold 4.1 MILLION cars in China in 2018)…
It will come as no surprise to anyone in the oil sector, or involved in the stock market that Canada exports nearly all of its oil to the United States. What may be surprising is some of the secondary markets. For instance, you can see in the graphic below that The Netherlands and France are Canada’s second and third largest export markets for refined oil (i.e. gasoline, diesel…) Click to expand graphic 2017 Exports From Canada Click to expand…
There are many that think Huawei is just a puppet of the Chinese government and an equal number that think the Huawei bans and bad talk are nothing more than hype designed to stifle a non-Western competitor. We recently wrote two articles explaining some of Huawei’s background: 10 Short Answers To Why Huawei is so Scary To Western Countries Who Owns Huawei? A Fascinating Story but neither our previous articles nor the political hype have clearly explained why countries should…
There are three main factors in our calling for the US economy to stall in the coming months, which will give China the upper hand in trade negotiations: 1 – Government Spending Tax Cuts Stimulation Has Run Its Course The US economy has been booming for the last two years because of historic federal government spending under President Trump: “Trump May Be The Most Fiscally Reckless President In American History. Trump’s behavior on everything and anything having to do with…
From an American perspective, China has a strange confidence the belies and critical weakness that is just below the surface. US President Donald Trump is fond of pointing out that China sells much more to the US than the US sells to China. He believes that this trade imbalance gives him unlimited power to dictate Chinese policy and that belief has lead to the US initiating a trade war. Chinese President Xi Jinping knows that his country has an enormous…
Here are the numbers supporting what you likely already knew. George W Bush was not well liked or respected in the international community, largely because he polarized world leaders into “…those who are with (the US), or with the terrorists” Obama softened the US stance on international issues. He had been called the Consoler In Chief. Trump’s lack of foreign policy planning and his penchant for grandstanding has lead him to take hard line on almost everything. Thus far, he…
We just spent a few hours reading, skimming and searching through the Mueller report and found just two references to Canada or Canadians, both of which are completely innocuous. You may then ask why a negative outcome worth reporting and we respond that it is a question we have been asked to look into. We expected to at least be able to to say that the report was chock full of mysterious inferences about the Russia – Trump relationship but…
If you live in Alberta, BC, Ontario… ok… Canada, or the US or UK or Australia… ok… if you live on planet earth, you have heard about Carbon Taxes. Those that are for them claim they will cure all environmental ills and those against claim they are just another government tax grab. We dug into the facts and came up with 5 Myths about Carbon Taxes we thought you would find interesting: MYTH 1 – Carbon Taxes Don’t Change Behaviour…
Nearly 60% of people in the US, Canada and Britain believe in at least one notable conspiracy theory. This includes: 5% of Americans think airplane vapor trails are poison gas controlled by the government 46% of Americans believe in haunting’s or ghosts 60% of Americans believe the US Government had something to do with the murder of John F Kennedy 55% of Americans believe the US Government is withholding critical information about 9/11 attacks or was directly involved in the…
We have all heard of the bizillionaire who dropped out of College and became fabulously wealthy and happy, but let’s face it, you are not Marc Zuckerberg or Bill Gates. You can also find the odd 90 year old still smoking a pack a day, but again, we both know that won’t be you, so you had better plan ahead and education is the single largest non-subjective predictor of a solid financial future. Let’s quickly look at some of the…
It is understandable that people often prefer to associate with people of their own groups. It is just easier to converse, live with and do business with people that share a similar background. Personally, I find that boring, but understandable. The Great Browning is the notion that over the next few hundred years the concepts of White, Black, Asian, … will all be relegated to the history books as nearly everyone’s skin will be some light shade of brown. The…