Federal Government & Politics II

[Build.It]

Government CPI stat is just an arbitrary calculation based on a random basket of goods for an "average" person. In reality every person is going to experience a different inflation rate depending what they buy on a regular basis.

Anyhow was just curious if you had taken inflation into account.

I think that for the bottom 20% earners who don't need to house themselves, life probably has gotten a little better b/c of all the handouts.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Whatever the reason, almost no Western country really actively deports people in large numbers these days. And of course Canada is no exception.

I don't expect this to change at all under a Conservative government and agree with the posters who've said that most of the people who are in the country right now are here to stay.

I suppose some would leave if their situation got really bad, but my guess is that even a subpar situation in Canada is better than a decent situation in most of the places they are from.

15,000 deportations from Canada in 2023. Depending what you're including, 140.000 to 200.000 from the USofA in 2023.

[Build.It]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

You think without social spending we don't have inflation ?

There would be less, but it wouldn't be zero. The surge in new, more expensive mortgages contributed significantly as well.

[kwoldtimer]

Trudeau suddenly not pitching up for the Calgary Stampede? Let the speculation begin ...

[theman23]

Originally Posted by Build.It

Government CPI stat is just an arbitrary calculation based on a random basket of goods for an "average" person. In reality every person is going to experience a different inflation rate depending what they buy on a regular basis.

Anyhow was just curious if you had taken inflation into account.

I think that for the bottom 20% earners who don't need to house themselves, life probably has gotten a little better b/c of all the handouts.

Yeah, it’s not about “believing” government stats. It’s about understanding what they actually measure and their limitations. For someone who owns their own home or lives in a rent controlled apartment and maybe has owned a vehicle for many years, inflation has been negligible. For someone that’s just starting out and didn’t have any of this, inflation is much higher than 18% or whatever the official number is.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Build.It

Government stat is just an arbitrary calculation based on a random basket of goods. Every person is going to experience a different inflation rate depending what they buy.

Anyhow was just curious if you had taken inflation into account.

I think that for the bottom 20% earners who don't need to house themselves, life probably has gotten a little better b/c of all the handouts.

It's not arbitary nor random. It reflects actual spending. Sure your purchases may vary but are you claiming yours is much higher? Most low income earners have seen their rent increase very little. They are getting carbon rebate, CCB, Dental coverage. Meanwhile in 2015 minimum wage was $11 in Ontario so they've seen a 50% pay increaes. Plus OP is a tipped employee so tips are probably double what they were 10 years ago.

[Build.It]

I'll also say that for me life has gotten way better, but that has almost entirely been my own doing.

Public sector projects come from a mix of taxes and printed money, so I can give some credit to the government there. And of course wage suppression has made workers cheaper, while inflation has meant that I can charge more money.

[Build.It]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

It's not arbitary nor random. It reflects actual spending. Sure your purchases may vary but are you claiming yours is much higher? Most low income earners have seen their rent increase very little. They are getting carbon rebate, CCB, Dental coverage. Meanwhile in 2015 minimum wage was $11 in Ontario so they've seen a 50% pay increaes. Plus OP is a tipped employee so tips are probably double what they were 10 years ago.

I'm fairly certain my personal inflation rate has been higher than CPI, but it's tough to tell since we also moved a few times and upgraded a lot of things.

Of the larger purchases compared to what they would've cost in 2019:
- dog probably went up by about 50%
- couch 50-100%
- SUV 25%
- current house 30%

Recurring items:
- food 30%
- gas 25%
- insurance 10%
- phone down by 15%
- internet up by 10%

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Trudeau suddenly not pitching up for the Calgary Stampede? Let the speculation begin ...

To expect Trudeau to show up at the Calgary Stampede is unreasonable.........he wouldn't be able to attend every Pride parade in the country and give them the obligatory, condescending, bi-weekly "diversity is our strength" speech.

[ssiguy]

So much of our economic and social woes can be traced back to our reckless immigration policies. Since 2016 when our immigration levels began to soar, Canada has experienced complete freeze in our per-capita GDP and the worst in the G20 save Argentina. Our immigration levels are killing our economy and plunging our standard of living.

We need to do a complete 180 on our immigration intake to try to undo some of the damage and a drop from 1.3 million to 500k isn't going to do it. Wasn't it Einstein who said, "the definition of stupid is trying something once and failing and then trying it again hoping for a different result"?

These TFW/Students must be shown the door at then end of their work-term with only those in very high demand sectors requiring very high levels of education being able to remain. The only way they are going to get these cheats out of the country is, as I gave examples of earlier, by POUNDING them AND their supporters in the pocketbook.

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

To expect Trudeau to show up at the Calgary Stampede is unreasonable.........he wouldn't be able to attend every Pride parade in the country and give them the obligatory, condescending, bi-weekly "diversity is our strength" speech.

Why would he care about Alberta anyway? They hate him over there, hes not convincing anyone

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

I'm poor and I'm better off because of the new social programs available This is also true for most of my friends who can finally afford childcare and seeing a dentist.

The Liberals brought in all of these programs in 2022 and 2023, when they had been in power for 8 years and were way behind in the polls.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

I lived cash-only for about a year, the biggest annoyances were 1) whenever needing to order shit online (rare but happened a couple times), and 2) refueling the tiny part of my real estate that’s still oil-heated (that was very annoying, actually; I always had to manage to pre-pay).

I’m back to having a credit card now, it’s better of course, but not THAT life-changing

Also many online purchases you can make with a prepaid credit card you can buy no-questions-asked from a dépanneur or pharmacy.

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by acottawa

The Liberals brought in all of these programs in 2022 and 2023, when they had been in power for 8 years and were way behind in the polls.

and? better late then never

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

and? better late then never

So whatever adjectives you will apply to PP to get rid of them also applied to the Liberals for 8 years.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by lio45

I lived cash-only for about a year, the biggest annoyances were 1) whenever needing to order shit online (rare but happened a couple times), and 2) refueling the tiny part of my real estate that’s still oil-heated (that was very annoying, actually; I always had to manage to pre-pay).

I’m back to having a credit card now, it’s better of course, but not THAT life-changing

I have questions

How did you pay property taxes on your portfolio?

How did you pay suppliers, contractors, etc?

How did you buy plane tickets?

[casper]

Originally Posted by acottawa

I have questions

How did you pay property taxes on your portfolio?

How did you pay suppliers, contractors, etc?

How did you buy plane tickets?

I have no idea how LIO does it. Personally I like the points from credit cards. That said.....

I have never lived in a municipality where I can pay property tax with a credit card. If you must do it with a credit card it is usually some weird third party service that charges a few percent for the service. Usually the fees are higher than the value of the points.

Most contractors don't like credit cards. Paying the 2.5-3% to the bank as a merchant. Sympathetic, but as the consumer I like the points.

Most travel agencies will accept payment for airline tickets in whatever form you want to pay such as cash or a cheque.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by casper

I have no idea how LIO does it. Personally I like the points from credit cards. That said.....

I have never lived in a municipality where I can pay property tax with a credit card. If you must do it with a credit card it is usually some weird third party service that charges a few percent for the service. Usually the fees are higher than the value of the points.

Most contractors don't like credit cards. Paying the 2.5-3% to the bank as a merchant. Sympathetic, but as the consumer I like the points.

Most travel agencies will accept payment for airline tickets in whatever form you want to pay such as cash or a cheque.

I think maybe people are using two uses of the word "cash." The people saying it is hard to live with cash mean it is hard to live using banknotes, i.e. getting paid in banknotes, paying rent in banknotes, etc. I think the people who are saying it is easy to live with cash mean it in the figurative sense, i.e. not using credit (i.e. when someone says they bought their car with "cash" they do not mean they went to the dealer with a suitcase full of banknotes, they mean they made a bank transfer of some sort to the dealer).

Contractors don't like credit cards, but most want a cheque or e-transfer. They might take banknotes for small transactions to avoid some taxes but very few will for large transactions.

Most municipalities want property taxes paid as a bill through your bank. I don't know if it is still possible to show up at city hall with a bag of banknotes.

I haven't used a travel agency for years, but I would expect many are reluctant to take banknotes for large transactions.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Trudeau suddenly not pitching up for the Calgary Stampede? Let the speculation begin ...

I’m sure Calgarians will be devastated by this loss.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by whatnext

I’m sure Calgarians will be devastated by this loss.

I'm sure he will get a ton of "He doesn't like us" etc from the people who don't actually like him.