Juggling Dynamite

Providing equal socio-economic opportunity and pay for equal work to all is the most effective prosperity ‘stimulus’ we can deploy as a nation; and we need this now more than ever.

It is important for Canadians to understand our own history of systemic discrimination against indigenous and other people of colour, as well as other minority groups. David Austin is one of the most articulate historians on the topic of race in Canada.

Racial conflict and the Black Power movement of the 1960s have long been seen as American phenomena, but in 1968, Montreal’s black activists rose up in protest against racial discrimination and exclusion. Their struggle is documented in David Austin’s book “Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex and Security in Sixties Montreal. ” David Austin sits down with Piya Chattopadhyay for a feature interview on Canada’s history of black radicalism. Here is a direct video link.

Danielle was a guest on The Financial Survival Network with Kerry Lutz talking about recent developments in the world economy and markets.  You can listen to an audio clip of the segment here.

As debt-fueled central bank liquidity and government largesse have inspired a rebound in asset prices since March 23, investment banks have been assuring retail clients that the worst is over while privately urging their corporate clients to load up on cash for a long winter ahead.  As always, gullible retail investors are the sacrificial lambs to slaughter.  See Bankers urge companies to raise debt ahead of looming risks:

“The gradual reopening of businesses after months-long shutdowns and a pick up in manufacturing activity have given investors reason for optimism in recent weeks. But underwriters who cater to heavily indebted corporations are offering their clients a bleak preview of what may lie ahead.

The long list of worries includes a new wave of coronavirus contagion in the fall, an extended period of double-digit unemployment, a spike in defaults and a slower-than-expected economic recovery as businesses around the globe adapt to the realities of prolonged social distancing.”

This also aligns with an observation from real estate analysts at Better Dwelling on May 14, 2020 when they wrote:

“One thing that becomes immediately clear is consumer facing companies are more bullish. That is, reports designed for consumers are more optimistic about prices. These tend to provide the least amount of rationale for their forecasts. Reports that target institutions and wealthier clients, tend to be less optimistic. In fact, the more expensive, and less likely the public is to see them, the worse the outlook forecasted.”

As we repeatedly hear that present challenges are ‘unprecedented’ it’s important to understand that they are not.  Human life has always been full of great risk, every day in every way.  Hoping for the best, while always thinking, planning and protecting–as much as possible–for what can go wrong, is the rational course.  In good times, the extent to which we set aside and preserve resources for future needs and emergencies is often the difference between catastrophe and resilience during the inevitable challenges that come.  The pandemic of 2020 underlines these lessons, as do centuries of life on earth.

The most extraordinary geological event that few have ever heard about took place 205 years ago this spring, dramatically changing the earth’s climate and the course of human history forever.  Read the incredible story of how the largest volcanic eruption in human history changed the 19th century as much as Napolean:

With the help of modern scientific instruments and old-fashioned archival detective work, the Tambora 1815 eruption can be conclusively placed among the greatest environmental disasters ever to befall mankind. The floods, droughts, starvation, and disease in the three years following the eruption stem from the volcano’s effects on weather systems, so Tambora stands today as a harrowing case study of what the human costs and global reach might be from runaway climate change.

…Now, in the 21st century, as we begin to appreciate more profoundly the interdependence of human and natural systems, the lesson of a 200-year-old climate emergency may finally be learned: a changing climate changes everything.