h/t Uncle Al
Only President Trump could get the Canadians to vote for an exit to the USMCA, and he did it brilliantly.
To understand President Trump’s position on Canada, you have to go back to the 2016 election and President Trump’s position on the NAFTA renegotiation. If you did not follow the subsequent USMCA process, this might be the ah-ha moment you need to understand Trump’s strategy.
During the 2016 election President Trump repeatedly said he wanted to renegotiate NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Both Canada and Mexico were reluctant to open the trade agreement to revision, but ultimately President Trump had the authority and support from an election victory to do exactly that.
In order to understand the issue, you must remember President Trump, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer each agreed the NAFTA agreement was fraught with problems and was best addressed by scrapping it and creating two seperate bilateral trade agreements. One between the USA and Mexico, and one between the USA and Canada. more
Listened to a Dinesh D’Souza podcast last week in which he laid out all of the financials between the U.S. and Canada. He did the same for Mexico — how much is paid to each country in tariffs, U.S. trade deficits to them (deficits!), how much the U.S. spends on their defense, etc.
Aside from Canada’s punitive amount of tariffs on U.S. goods, we’re basically paying for their entire military defense (all but a small contingent of Boy Scouts who are now waiving the Pride flag up there).
Canada, from an economic standpoint, is nothing but another country-sized NGO who has been sucking money out of the U.S. ATM for decades.
I’m glad they elected the loser. It brings us that much closer to buying them outright and declaring a 51st state.
AA, all good points however I think it’s important to keep in mind Trumps goal. To get American car and car part manufacturing back in the United States. Over the last couple decades they’ve marched that industry either north or south. And oh by the way the unions applauded the work leaving here. Go figure. DJT is the only president we’ve ever had that is looking out for Americas financial future. I don’t think Trump is serious about making Canada our 51 state. We’d have one hell of a time getting a conservative ever elected again. If he is serious about it I would think it would be over concerns of China taking them over. Sadly I don’t think DJT will ever get the recognition for this brilliant move.
Brad — We actually own Canada on paper, now, as it stands. But while we’re paying their mortgage and utility bills, we don’t get any of the upside. I say cut out the middle man and just take possession.
Think if you were buying your kid’s house for him, paying his bills and the security company for his protection, and he still wants to bankrupt you.
Make Canada a sovereign state of the U.S. and build all the cars we want in the great state of Canada.
This is why Trudeau totally freaked out and quickly backed-off when Trump tweaked him on tariffs. Trudeau is pretty stupid, but he knows how long Canada would last without the U.S. and our money.
I guess Trump has a lot more patience with these blood-sucking “friends” than I would have.
AA
I think most of what you wrote above applies to the EU as well. Your average American tax payer that works an 8 hour day donates about an hour a day to support people in other countries. And it’s been going on for a long time. If Canadians are allowed to vote in our elections we have big problems. The amazing thing to me is the hatred and resentment these freeloaders are now displaying once the money is cut off.
On a side note, I read a post you made a couple weeks ago where you mentioned you keep some of your work software on an older computer. The very next day we got a security update for windows 11 on our hot rod laptops. Boom, they stopped recognizing the hasps required to use 3 different sets of software we use/need. ERP and two cad cam tools. I’ve always had an old XP box as a back up. I ended up breaking out another old XP box we had laying around and loading everything on that box too for the home office. Unbelievable.
If the U.S. in any fashion takes control or ownership of Canada, it must, MUST, be in a way that denies their residents the privilege of voting in U.S. national elections. No voting for President/VP. No Senate representation. No House representation.
If you apply the political leanings in Canada as shown in their electoral actions and history to the U.S., we would see an immediate and catastrophic massive leftward displacement. I would expect that it would inevitably result in the kind of structural changes that would lock in destructive collectivist structures and institutions that it may not EVER be possible to undo.
Possession? Territory? Protectorate? Colony?
I don’t know. But it isn’t possible for me to be more adamantly opposed to seeing Canada join the U.S. as a 51st state than I am right now.
Al, I’m of the opinion Trump was using the 51st state as a threat. The end result was these idiot ran away and opposed anything red white and blue. You know, like NAFTA and the Bi-Lateral trade agreement. An fing brilliant move. Trump played these clowns BIG. Trump knows there’s no way we could absorb that many idiots into our electorate. After all, they have destroyed their own country.
I am in full agreement with Uncle Al. I visit Canada at least twice a year and have for over 30 years. The vast majority of people I know from these visits have swallowed the poison of socialism hook line and sinker and any attempt to allow them to vote would result in one huge democratic bloc. I have learned to keep my mouth shut when conversations veer into politics or social issues, particularly anything pertaining to the green agenda or transgender issues. Health care is also a no go. I’ve had to suffer through more than a few harangues extolling the wonders of their “free” medical care while also hearing them mention 10-14 month wait times to get MRI imaging for serious conditions.
Let them marinate in the mess they have allowed to happen. The most annoying part of it all is their smug, condescending attitude.
Brad — XP?!! Now, there’s a blast from the past. But, doggonit!, somehow they just keep chugging along. Even getting better as the years go by — compared to all the fussiness of Windows10/11/etc.
I hate “the cloud”, I hate multi-layer security sign-ins, I hate ever having to give info on myself in order to use anyone’s website. I want possession of my own stuff and you can’t have that anymore on the latest OS.
I find myself wistful for the Blue Screen of Death. At least all Win98 ever needed was a re-boot.
@Brad — We’re in agreement: President Trump has been using the “Canada as 51st State” as a threat, a Canadian political discombobulator (that’s a technical term 😉), and as a distractor for domestic enemies. I don’t believe he’s ever been even a little serious about statehood, but is perhaps thinking of something in between independence and statehood.
There are others, though, who seem to be taking the 51st state idea more seriously than it ought to be taken. I’m pretty sure they’ll wake up fairly soon to the awfulness of what that would mean.
@Mark Nelson — Thanks for adding that. I don’t recall ever meeting a socialist / communist who wasn’t smug and condescending. They get a bit peeved when I call them “fatuous”.
@Brad, @AbigailAdams — If you have access to a true geek, you might want to look into using Linux as the base OS and then run virtual machines for your applications, each with its own version of Windows if necessary. It can be set up so that for the normal users’ perspective, Linux isn’t apparent, only the app in Windows.
But don’t try this at home, kids. You need a middle aged overweight guy in bib overalls and with a neck beard and who smokes a pipe and cut his teeth on Unix back in the Golden Age. You can tell him apart because he’s usually got a slight smile on his face and doesn’t say much to us normies.
AA
The new Microsoft products aren’t nearly as stable as the old ones. At times we get multiple security updates a week. Probably to fix the security update they just gave you. I was thinking about giving Apple a try but all the software we run is Dos based. That XP box we were using as a back up hasn’t had a single problem since we first plugged it in. I’m no fan of the cloud either. Unfortunately it’s almost unavoidable.
Al
I have an old SGI Spark 2. I love Unix. A much superior operating system. We were forced into getting one quick with our first purchase of Pro Engineer. I picked up a copy of Unix for Dummies and I was dangerous. LOL. I ran it for probably about 5 years. Rock solid. Unfortunately now days not much software is compatible.
@Brad — Unix for Dummies is excellent! I still have my copy although it’s gathered a lot of dust.
My suggestion above was written a bit tongue in cheek but is a serious possibility. Set up a machine to run Linux (distro mostly up to you). Add a virtual machine application. Install Windows in the VM. Run production apps in the VM.
You must have some sort of geek IT person you see/use from time to time, preferably familiar with your uses/needs. Ask him (VERY unlikely to be a her) about this kind of setup.
I’m running a laptop with Win7 and Libre Office right now, and I love it. Boots quick, tastes great. My only problem is mechanical, parts of the keyboard don’t work, so I have an external plugged into one of the 2 (3?) USB ports. Someday I’ll take it in for repair, with strict instructions DO NOT UPDATE (not that any IT would be able to cram Win10 or Win11 into a Win7 chassis)