@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

mpjgregoire

@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca

ingénieur, tory canadien, citoyen du Grand Montréal

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

mpjgregoire, to random
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

Canada Post loses $750M. Taxpayers may be on the hook
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-post-bleeding-money-will-need-big-change

"During the 2015 election, the Liberals promised to end a Canada Post program, which was then underway, converting addresses from door-to-door home delivery to community mailboxes." A bad — but politically popular — decision of the Trudeau ministry.

For more radical change, @acoyne proposed many years ago that we give to the postal union and let them find solutions.


mpjgregoire, to random
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

Canada's 100 Best Restaurants list 2024
https://nationalpost.com/life/food/canadas-100-best-restaurants-2024

mpjgregoire, to random
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

If you oppose stock buybacks, how do you feel about dividends?

Stock buybacks and dividends are essentially the same thing, methods for corporations to transfer money to their shareholders.

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@wjmaggos People buy and sell stocks; making all issued stocks more valuable by reducing the number that have been issued puts more money in the pockets of shareholders just as dividends do, but as capital gains (which normally are treated differently by taxes).

As for your article, I think its major point is that corporations borrowing money to send to shareholders is a bad idea. I agree.

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@tobiaspatton Well, accumulating the money for a buyback is a sign the company's done something right in the past.

clacke, to random

On Saturday, the Fediverse is celebrating it's 16th anniversary!

How are you celebrating?

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@clacke
I wonder if we'll see identi.ca became compatible with ActivityPub one of these days, eh @evan ?

mpjgregoire, to Economics
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

's new memoir will be published tomorrow! I've been waiting years, listening to him recount anecdotes as he's worked on the book. Quite the life he's led, going from the South Side of Chicago to youngest member of the Harvard Economics Department, offered a position in the Reagan Administration and author of a book opposing mass incarceration...

Here's an interview with : https://www.econtalk.org/glenn-loury-tells-all/

Celeste_pewter, to random
@Celeste_pewter@mastodon.social avatar

All, something to be aware of this morning - Biden's trailing Trump in five key states in a new NYT/Siena Research poll.

https://t.co/YDLKlKUbS3

Please consider this a reminder as a lateral move - if you haven't already, adopt a Senator, adopt a House member, and get involved this cycle.

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@Celeste_pewter It's not too late for President Biden to step down in favour of someone who would continue his policies but wouldn't be accused of being too old.

#uspol

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@barney @Celeste_pewter
It may be untrue, it may be unfair, but it's simply a fact that many Americans think Pres. Biden is too old (e.g., https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/poll-americans-on-biden-age/story?id=107126589 ). It's a severe political liability for him, eating away at his support even though the economy isn't bad at the moment.

It also means there's serious risk that he will do something while the public eye is upon him that will strengthen that impression in popular opinion — even if it's something that could happen to anyone.

#uspol

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@barney
I'm sure you're right about some of the voters in the 86% in the article I linked to. And I don't know who among Democrats has the best chance of defeating Mr. Trump — maybe Pres. Biden really is the best of the lot. But I look at the polls and I worry.

@Celeste_pewter

#uspol

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@barney Dragging people to reality is a great idea, but it's hard to know how to achieve it. Antihistamines, on the other hand, I know where to buy them.

checkervest, to random
@checkervest@laserdisc.party avatar

Good morning, it's my birthday! Birthdays on the first day of the work week should be illegal!!!

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@checkervest Happy birthday!

mpjgregoire, to random
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

"It will forever remain a mystery who the anonymous reviewer is. 🧐🕵️"

https://twitter.com/florianederer/status/1789699021524648172

parismarx, to apple
@parismarx@mastodon.online avatar

I feel conflicted about this because I know journalism is in a rough spot, but I also hate the online ads so much. Usually I’d say this would be a nudge to force them to change course, but given the media’s in such dire straits, I’m not so sure this time.

https://www.ft.com/content/c6dcbe7b-eaf0-41d1-adb4-f9a68542e2cb

#apple #tech #news #journalism

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@wjmaggos
That would be a good solution. I've also thought about the government assigning all taxpayers a certain number of credits that they could each assign to their media source of choice.

I could tell you about the current government programmes in Canada to support the media if you're curious — they're not working very well, in my opinion.

@parismarx

evan, (edited ) to random
@evan@cosocial.ca avatar

How long has it been since your last subway ride?

https://evanp.me/pollfaq#never

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@evan I use the local LRT several times a week, the subway rarely.

SethRudy, to random
@SethRudy@c18.masto.host avatar

How long would I, a midwestern American, have to live in Europe before I felt even remotely comfortable wearing a dress shirt with no t-shirt underneath?

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@SethRudy What? I thought Americans stopped wearing undershirts with dress shirts around 1934: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-shirt-off-his-back/

emd, to random
@emd@cosocial.ca avatar

Stock buybacks should be illegal.

You wanna increase your stock price? Actually increase your value. https://masto.ai/@rbreich/112423899192330749

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@emd Should dividends be illegal too?

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@emd Stock buybacks and dividends are essentially equivalent ways of transferring money to shareholders. The major difference is in how the tax system treats capital gains vs. dividend income.

rbreich, to random
@rbreich@masto.ai avatar

Stock buybacks don't just line the pockets of CEOs and shareholders — they're dangerous.

Boeing failed to implement a $7B redesign of its 737 Max while spending that much per year on buybacks.

A dollar spent on buybacks is a dollar less spent to upgrade equipment and safety.

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@rbreich Should dividends be illegal too?

GeekSusie, to random
@GeekSusie@expressional.social avatar

Thomas Sully, Queen Victoria, 1838

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@GeekSusie Nearly indecent!

gedeonm, to random
@gedeonm@mastodon.social avatar

Imagine if Republicans actually got on board with this awesome idea instead of painting it as the destruction of America like they undoubtedly will. Conservatives have lost their way and their minds, truly. https://www.threads.net/@potus/post/C607StBrwUy

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@gedeonm If the government gives people money to buy housing, won't sellers raise their prices correspondingly?

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@gedeonm Economists generally believe that the mortgage interest tax deduction in the US has increased housing prices. See https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20141751

(This article is aimed at the general public and lists other problems with the policy: https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2018/may/why-economists-dont-like-mortgage-interest-deduction )

In Canada, we don't have a deduction for mortgage interest, and we have a higher homeownership rate than the US: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_home_ownership_rate

#uspol #CanPol #housing #economics

dmacphee, to climate
@dmacphee@mas.to avatar

Andrew Coyne Helped Run Charity That Gave $6.4M to Climate Crisis Denial Groups

Yikes.
#ClimateChange #Canada #cdnpoli

https://www.desmog.com/2024/05/07/andrew-coyne-helped-run-charity-that-gave-6-4m-to-climate-crisis-denial-groups/

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@LALegault Understood. There's no obligation to do research for strangers on the Internet.

theagendatvo, to random

"I think I speak for many when I say I hope for a day when more Canadians can live up to the kinder, gentler reputation we think we have — but increasingly don’t demonstrate." — @spaikin https://www.tvo.org/article/politicians-and-the-public-need-to-pick-up-their-game-on-civility

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@theagendatvo Yes, our society has become more vulgar and less courteous. It's a decline.

justinling, to random
@justinling@mastodon.online avatar

The story of how Canada went from tripping over itself to meet the country's emissions targets to openly hostile to good climate policy is a saga worth learning some lessons from. https://www.splinter.com/canadas-cautionary-climate-tale

mpjgregoire,
@mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca avatar

@justinling Is the cap and trade system effective?

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