Stock Market

good to carry on discussions on finance.....so called progressives haven`t a clue about finance and economics, rendering their policy (reformist) ideas irrelevant...imagine for example a green party supporting international capitalist finance with interest rates and leveraging rendering their ideas of steady growth totally moronic!

As for the stock market...we are now into the last moments of a historic stock market, corporate debt and real estate price bubble....

if you still invest in this you are nuts!

The system is unwinding....the emerging markets are collapsing, and now with the Chinese finance bubble breaking, we are witnissing the weakning of the yuan and the collapse of the 500 billion yuan carry trade

Government, credit card, and mortgage debt continue to climb. The financial industry makes about half of the profits in the Canadian economy. The financial industry makes up the lion's share of market capitalization on the TSX. Record bank profits are going to result in record prices for bank shares. 

I wasn't saying whether all this debt was a good thing or a bad thing, however with the loss of jobs in the extraction and manufacturing sectors it explains why the stock market in Canada is still going up. 

Last time I looked, corporate profit was about 14% of Canadian GDP, and financial services took half of that. 

As I mentioned elsewhere, it is now hard to say Canada is a resources- or manufacturing-based economy. It is a debt-based economy.

Not sure again what the point of this thread is. If it is just noting stats from the stock market, I wonder why you don't have other equally mundane information like the exchange rate, balance of payments and other stuff that will make me regret opening a thread.

Mr. Magoo wrote:

Quote:

‘You know, I’m going to be out of ketchup in the next few days. I’m going to order a few bottles. The core customer uses the last bit of ketchup at the table the night prior, and either on her way to work or on her way home picks up one bottle.”

Who "orders" ketchup?  Who buys up ten bottles when they're a dime off the regular price?  Not rich people who do the math and save that dollar.

Hands up, babblers who typically buy their ketchup MORE than one bottle at a time.  Personally, I might buy a big bottle if it's on deep discount, then wonder if I'll actually use it prior to its "best by" date.

Good point. I do not shop at Costco because I think that is the most evil of retail stores. I have spoken to many left people who shop there and lecture my about all their boycotts.

Costco is from the start designed to create an elite shopping experience and to exclude poorer people any way they can.

When they started they were only for business owners and then public servants. They have a model of requiring paid membership in advance and creating oversize packages. Consider why they do that. The purpose is so that their customers do nto have to rub shoulders with a poor person -- ick! By requiring the membership they get to report the data of what is purchased to their suppliers. More to the point the membership means that people have to invest in a card before they can shop and invest in bigger packaging. This means the bulk buyers are also those who have more money than they need right now. It keeps the riff-raff out by deciding whose dollar is acceptable and then requiring that they maintain an advance investment in their purchases.

Oh, and by the way, Costco prices are more expensive on average -- the model of large packaging is to defeat easy comparison. I have made these comparisons when I have gone with friends as I do once a year or so just out of curiousity (I do not have a membership and do not buy). Typically you pay three times as much for twice as much and think you got a good deal. True they are less expensive than loblaws -- the most expensive grocery chain -- but they are significantly more expensive than food basics, Freshco, Giant Tiger and many others who do not require membership.

So if we are to take aswipe at Dollarama, which deserves a few for much of the garbage they sell, let's at least point out that they are not the evil elitists who seek to offer a shopping experience devoid of poor people.

NorthReport wrote:

Speaking of the stock market Trump sure has spooked it today with his Trade War talk.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/

This may be in part due to an understanding that the Chinese are devastating when they use consumer boycotts. The US has only one weapon in this and that is tarriffs that hurt at home as well. Chine has two: they can also use tarriffs but as well they can generate significant boycotts at the consumer level. This changes the balance significantly especially when you consider that in these conflicts the Chinese are more willing to pay the price of a trade conflict down to the consumer thant he US. Trump is making quite a blunder -- as usual.

While both the US and China are significantly nationalistic this nationalism is quite different. The US tends to go for symbols and assumptions about their exceptionalism. The Chinese are more sophisticated and practical as well as a bit vengeful at perceived humiliations. In some respects China's nationalism is of a type more common around the world that the US version. Even here in Canada Quebec nationalism is more like this than the US version.

The United States by acting like a bully could trigger a response in much of the world that they are incapable of understanding.

Part of this is that the US is considered the top dog, the imperialist of the 20th century. It knows no humility and no humiliation. It prides itself on being dominant. The responding nationalism does not appear quite the same way. I suspect as Chinese power grows China could adopt more of the attitudes that the US has but for now they are proud of their rising power, angry with any humiliation (after a couple centuries of humiliation). The Chinese have a different kind of materialism and expectation than the US and a different relationship with the state even if they oppose the Communist government. The US is literally clueless in provoking the Chinese since their reaction will not be just one of correction but of restoration of dignity. The US may well destroy their Made-In-USA brand for a generation.

Lets remember that over the last half century the world has discovered the one thing the US is great at making: enemies.

Capitalism Run Amok

https://youtu.be/IiEmfXECD9k

"Economist and Professor Richard Wolff analyzes the deficiencies of modern  capitalism."

Hope this helps...