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Deal or No Deal

ByDoug Anderson International Relations, Politics
Cusma is dead! Long live the new world order!

Doug Anderson

Aug 16, 2025

The gyrations of Trump’s trade war remind me of the popular Howie Mandel TV show from the early 2000s (it has been reprised a few times and reruns were still running on closed circuit at my doctor’s office a few months back). Contestants had to blindly choose suitcases with various amounts of cash up to a million dollars, gradually whittling down the number of cases in the hopes of hitting the jackpot. Trump is playing a similar huckster deal maker role as the US’s trading ‘partners’ scramble for their ‘deal’.

But that’s where the similarity ends. Reality takes over.

Canada’s failure to make a deal by August 1 is not the end of the world – it heralds a new era which will probably be better in the long run. Canada is unique among contestants. No … More

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The intersection of politics and personality

ByDoug Anderson Media, Communications, Personality, Politics
Why Hilary Clinton lost the 2016 election … and what about Mark Carney?

Doug Anderson

Jul 14, 2025

By any rational criteria, Hilary Clinton was far better qualified for the presidency than Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign, but objective qualifications did not decide the race – it was their personalities.

If you’ve ever been accused of being secretive, you’re likely an introvert and Hilary had lots of secrets – her emails, Benghazi, etc. A lot of those secrets were part of her job as Secretary of State (and it’s good that a person in that position can keep their mouth shut) but it left her vulnerable.

In contrast, Donald Trump was an extrovert at the more extreme end. Extroverts get elected because they have a relaxed self assurance that draws people in. They sound like they know what they’re talking about and so people (the MAGA ones anyway) … More

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ICYMI – Exposing Trump’s Tariff Fraud

ByDoug Anderson Economics, International Relations

The last week and a half have been dominated by Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs. You may recall his charts that showed what they said other countries were charging the US and the lower figure (usually 1/2) that the US was going to charge them.

Except it was all a sham. After some pushback they came up with this equation.

Looks impressive doesn’t it with all those Greek letters. Except it doesn’t have anything to do with tariffs. The equation was cracked by financial journalist James Surowiecki within a few hours and later validated by several other analysts. The equation takes the the US total trade deficit with a given country (Xi – Mi) and divides it by the value of the goods said country exports to the US (Mi).  The other factors were set so they cancel out, and the delta Ti is the supposed tariff rate.… More

Carney vs Trudeau, Poilievre, & TRUMP

ByDoug Anderson Canada

The almost universal narrative of the media is that Mark Carney is a political neophyte running against seasoned politicians. While it is true that he has never held any elected position, his record in his fist couple of weeks is that of a seasoned pro eating his opponents for lunch. His actions have been well-planned and executed with precision.  

I would conclude that Carney was always inclined towards politics and his sojourns into banking were mere sidebars to his preferred career. His banking years were probably somewhat frustrating as he tried to use the limited monetary tools at his disposal (interest rates) to keep the economies of Canada and England ticking along in spite of some of the reckless fiscal policies (Brexit) coming from his political peers  but it also provided a cat bird seat to watch those politicians at work … and learn.

Even before Trudeau resigned Carney … More

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Bring These $$ Home

ByDoug Anderson Canada, Economics, International Relations, Money

Trump has poked the Canadian bear and has unleashed a level of patriotism that we haven’t seen before – perhaps ever.  So while the tariffs may eventually get  withdrawn and things may seem to go back to normal we can never again leave ourselves this vulnerable. We need to harden our economy.

Ironically this situation presents Canada with some incredible opportunities. This current wave of nationalism must be harnessed.

50 years ago the government of Justin’s father Pierre, created the Canada Development Corp in order to stem the tide of foreign ownership of Canadian companies and a similar idea is needed today but for different reasons. The Canada Development Corporation was created to invest in strategic industries in order to increase Canadian ownership. The CDC had some success but the Mulroney government shut it down when they took office in the mid 80s. The problem of foreign ownership is still … More