The most straightforward form of government is a “majority” government. Majorities occur when a single party receives more than 50% of the seats. Minority and Coalition governments occur when a natural majority was not achieved, but what is the difference? What is a Minority Government: A minority government is formed when the party that wins the most seats, but less than 50% of the total, informally agrees to work another party (or parties) on specific areas of agreement to archive…
What happens to oil pipelines in a post oil world? Many people think the massive expenditures in pipelines result in a permanent oil infrastructure. The fact is that pipelines originally constructed to move oil are both reversed and repurposed all the time. The graphic to the right is from 2014 and shows that oil pipeline reversals and repurposing are not new. Here are some real world examples about what happens to old oil/gas pipelines. PIPELINE REVERSALS: Enbridge ‘Line 9’ reversed the…
It has been noted that during the gold rush most miners did not get rich, but the people who sold them their pick axes and dynamite certainty did. In the same vein Google has said it is not those with the most powerful computers that will win in the future, it is those with the most data. Perhaps electric cars are the same. Tesla just released amazing new version 3 electric charging stations in Regina Saskatchewan Canada: “…The new stations…
At PartisanIssues.com we shy away from opinion and stick to facts. However, the recent impeachment process involving US President Donald Trumps potential abuse of power has us interested in what serious people in the Republican party have to say about the matter. We stumbled on a fascinating talk between Fareed Zakaria and former US secretary of states Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright at the New Albany ‘The Jefferson Series‘. In it both Albright and Powell make some excellent non-partisan points…
Proton Technologies of Calgary has taken existing technologies and combined them into a method or ‘process patent’ that gives them exclusive rights to produce hydrogen in the ground. This means that all of the CO2 and other greenhouse gases remain locked in the ground where they have been for millions of years. It also massively reduces the complexity and cost allowing Hydrogen to be produced 80% to 95% cheaper than the current process. At that rate, hydrogen will be several…
The nuclear energy industry has a bad rap. Accidents at Fukushima Japan and Chernobyl Russia, using 1950’s technology, scared citizens and politicians into thinking that nuclear energy is both dangerous and dead. Even with these massive events, the fact is that nuclear was always RELATIVELY safe. We say relatively because all systems have flaws and failures but nuclear is far superior to coal or even natural gas and wind power. However, in the 1970’s and 1980’s much research was done…
In Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, Talking to Strangers, he explains a theory that while humans are better off for trusting strangers, that we are terrible at over valuing personal interactions. He bases most of his position research fro University of Alabama professor Timothy Levine’s research: He discusses US President Donald Trumps over valuing his personal meetings with Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Mussolini, Chamberlain, Stalin and Churchill’s interactions with Hitler Here is the audio and a machine transcription of…
A Canadian company named Proton Technology has developed the worlds first large scale, cheap method of producing ultra-clean hydrogen from oil. “This technique can draw up huge quantities of hydrogen while leaving the carbon in the ground. When working at production level, we anticipate we will be able to use the existing infrastructure and distribution chains to produce H2 for between 10 and 50 cents per kilo. This means it potentially costs a fraction of gasoline for equivalent output” said…
A 22 year old “man” from the Indian city of Haryana, decided that his parents birthday present of a brand new BMW 3 Series worth $50 to $60,000 in India was just not good enough. He wanted a $75,000 Jaguar so he recorded himself pushing the new BMW into the river and sent it to his father. According to the BBC and New York Times, the police then got involved and sent first responders because they did not know if…
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)…
The City of Toronto has the largest transit system in Canada that includes 2200 buses and they are now testing 10 fully electric units from each of New Flyer (Canada), BYD (China), and Proterra (US) Here are the numbers: 25% more reliable 30% few parts less items to inventory and manage saves money 25% lower maintenance costs 60% quieter which is a big deal for drivers and communities 75% reduction in energy costs $32,000 /bus /year energy savings $70 million…
It is oft said by those who disapprove of carbon taxes that: Carbon taxes are ineffective Carbon taxes target the wrong people The Canadian Federal Government does not have right to impose a carbon tax All three of these statements are demonstrably incorrect. University of Ottawa Professor of Law and Economics, Stewart Elgie, explains that the dissenting judges in the Saskatchewan and Ontario carbon tax cases are not disagreeing with the principle that the Federal Government has the right to…
People typically purchase stocks in a company for two reasons: to make money from an increase in stock price over time to make money from dividends However, there is a third way to make money with stocks… a very risky way called ‘short selling’. What is Short Selling Stocks In Simple Terms? A ‘short’ as it is called in the financial industry is a bet against a companies stock. To short a stock, you ‘borrow’ shares from someone with a…
The goal of a trade war is to increase access to some other countries markets. However, we can simplify the logic by reducing down from a country scale to an individual business scale. At the single company scale, Company A withholds a key product or increases price on that product because they want something from Company B, perhaps increased sales effort of some key line. At some point the cost becomes too much for one or both of the parties…
If you are wondering how someone like Donald Trump of the United States, Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil get elected to power watch the short video below. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria considers the 2019 Indian elections an notes that about one third of their candidates and federal officials have serious criminal charges against them. He the contrasts this to the United States with President Trump. The majority of Americans believe Trump committed crimes but large numbers…