Juggling Dynamite

Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources yesterday announced a $120-million investment to expand the network of electric vehicle charging and alternative refueling stations across the nation “to encourage Canadians to reduce their carbon footprint”.  Additional benefits will be improved air quality, lower household expenditures on fuel and internal combustion engine parts and repairs, and reduced pollution-related death and illness.  Smart investment for lasting benefits.  See: Coast to coast investments help Canadians drive clean:

Electric, hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles are the future of transportation. As Canadians continue to make greener choices, our government is giving them more options to drive clean while supporting a cleaner environment.

The funding, which is part of Phase 2 of the Green Infrastructure Fund, will support the deployment of electric chargers; natural gas and hydrogen refueling stations; the demonstration of new, innovative charging technologies; and the development of codes and standards. Proposals are now being accepted for deployment and demonstration projects.

Today’s announcement brings our total investment to $182.5 million. It builds on the success of the initial $62.5-million Phase 1 investment in 2017 that provided funding for more than 100 electric vehicle fast-charging stations, seven natural gas refuelling stations and three hydrogen refuelling stations across Canada. It is also funding 10 demonstration projects and the building of another 200 next-generation electric vehicle charging stations. A current list of all projects is available on the NRCan website.

The Government of Canada has also worked with our U.S. counterparts to create a Canadian version of their Alternative Fueling Station Locator map to ensure that all Canadian drivers and fleet owners have the most current information at their fingertips.

Through Canada’s national energy dialogue, Generation Energy, Canadians made it clear that the transition to electric vehicles and lower-carbon fossil fuel alternatives is not a luxury but a necessity for Canada’s low-carbon future. Our government continues to support green infrastructure projects that will create jobs, advance Canada’s clean future and help us realize our domestic and international climate change goals.

I am pleased to announce that we’re investing an additional $120 Million for electric vehicle charging and alternative refueling stations. The call for proposals is now open. https://t.co/IiUEEnUEB2 pic.twitter.com/xDjauQwu1C

— Jim Carr (@jimcarr_wpg) January 10, 2018

Paid-for-homes are a refuge of peace and shelter.  Homes continually gutted of equity are financial calamities waiting to happen.  Central bank-inspired speculation has wrought another nightmare on main street.  See: Home equity hits record high and here’s how homeowners are spending it:

“there is now a strong confidence among borrowers that home values will continue to rise, making it less likely that borrowing against their homes even more will not end up putting them underwater on their mortgages in the future.

For some that means investing in the stock market. For others it is buying more real estate…And of course, “Some are looking to profit from the popularity of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin,” added Weaver.

Our son was born in December 1999, three months before the ‘irrationally exuberant’ stock market peak of March 2000.  When he was young, we used to tell him that he was born at the top of the greatest stock market bubble of all time.  Apparently we were mistaken.

Celebrating his 18th birthday last month, we had to change the story:  now he was turning 18 at the peak of the greatest financial bubble of all time.  His short life has now had the distinction of spanning the most destructive and reckless financial era ever.

Lest anyone try to delude themselves that the present run is just excesses in the tech sector, my partner Cory Venable’s chart of the relative strength indicator for the Dow 30 so-called ‘conservative’, dividend paying stock index below, says it all.  With a monthly RSI reading of 93.3 (! on a monthly!) stocks have never been more overbought, and have never lasted so long in the delirious zone.

After both of the last crashes, most kicked themselves for not seeing the warning signs; for ignoring rational metrics, buying and holding with the herd, as they fell into the abyss.

Today if one can’t see the warnings there is no hope that they ever will.  In the infamous words of Queen Elizabeth in November 2008, after falling markets had wiped an estimated £25 million off her personal fortune and triggered The Great Recession worldwide:

“If the problems were so large, why did nobody see it coming.”

The answer, as always:  greed, ignorance and lack of personal discipline.  We’ve been warned.