Canada Pension Plan invested >$7 Billion in China

The Canada Pension Plan has invested more than $7 billion in China, despite Canadian politicians calling out Chinese companies for unfair trade practices and human rights violations, 

Feds put $604M of Canadians' pension funds in blacklisted Chinese EV companies | Western Standard | Jen Hodgson:

July 2, 2024 - "The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board disclosed it held $604 million in shares in the Chinese electric vehicle sector, per Blacklock's Reporter. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, meanwhile, blamed Chinese industry for job-killing schemes.... 

"On June 24, Freeland named the Chinese sector as predatory and announced a 30-day Customs Tariff review of trade practices in the electric auto market. 'Workers and the auto sector currently face unfair competition from China,' said Freeland.

"Stock bought with Canada Pension premiums included $287 million in Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. of Fujian Province, the world’s largest electric auto battery manufacturer. Canadians also own $12 million worth of stock in Great Wall Motor Co., maker of Ora-brand electric cars. 

"Other Pension Plan holdings include $116 million in automakers BYD Co., $69 million in Li Auto Inc., $26 million in Chongqing Changan Automobile Co.and $19 million Nio Inc. Millions more were put in battery manufacturers and suppliers including $13 million in Tianqi Lithium Corp., $7 million in Eve Energy Co. and $6 million in Ganfeng Lithium Group. Freeland, in announcing the tariff review to autoworkers in Vaughan, ON, made no mention of CPP investments in Chinese industry.... 

"The CPP board holds a total $7.5 billion worth of shares in Chinese companies of all types. A parliamentary committee in a report last December 13 had urged the board to pull investments from Chinese companies involved in unethical or illegal practices.

“'There is no legislative or regulatory provision that would prevent investments in the People’s Republic of China (PRC),' wrote the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations. However the Board could 'compile and maintain an official list of companies deemed unsuitable,' said the report on the exposure of Canadian investment funds to human rights violations in the PRC."

Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/news/feds-put-604m-of-canadians-pension-funds-in-blacklisted-chinese-ev-companies/55716

Canadian Pension Funds prefer investing in China & private equities over Canada's natural resources | Red Cloud TV | February 7, 2024:

Higher taxes coming to Canada in 2024

Here's how much more Canadians will be paying in federal income tax hikes | National Post (stress added): 

January 3, 2024 - "Nearly every Canadian will pay higher federal income taxes in 2024, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF). The federally incorporated, not-for-profit citizen’s group released its annual report on Tuesday highlighting the varied tax changes across Canada.... Citing data from the Fraser Institute, the report notes that the average Canadian family pays 46.1 per cent of its budget in taxes after adding up income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes and all other taxes.

• In 2024, the maximum pensionable earnings subject to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) tax will increase, resulting in higher CPP contributions for both employers and employees. They will each pay $3,867, marking a $113 increase from the previous year for earnings of $68,500 or more.
• Additionally, a new CPP2 tax will be introduced and applied to earnings between $68,500 and $73,200, with a maximum tax amount of $188. For those earning $73,200 or above, the total CPP contribution (including CPP and CPP2) will rise to approximately $4,055, an overall increase of $301....
• In 2024, both the Employment Insurance (EI) tax rate and maximum insurable earnings in Canada will increase. Employees will pay $1,049 and employers $1,469 for EI. This is a rise of $47 for employees and $66 for employers, for those earning $63,200 or more.... Consequently, total federal payroll taxes (CPP and EI) will amount to $5,104 for workers earning $73,200 or above in 2024, while employers will be on the hook for $5,524.
• Canada’s federal carbon tax will rise from $65 to $80 per tonne on April 1, 2024, increasing the carbon tax rate per litre of gas. This means a higher cost for fueling vehicles, with a family filling a 70-litre minivan expected to pay about $12.32 more per fill-up. Most provinces and territories will be subject to this increased rate, except Quebec. The government suggests a net benefit for families with rebates, but a Parliamentary Budget Officer report shows the carbon tax will cost the average household between $377 and $911 in 2024-25, even after the rebates.
• A second carbon tax for fuel producers, introduced last year, could further raise fuel prices if producers don’t meet the requirements of the regulations. Citing the PBO’s analysis, the second carbon tax is expected to increase the price of gas by up to 17 cents per litre and cost the average household between $384 and $1,157 annually by 2030....
• Beginning on April 1, 2024, Canadians will pay more for beer, wine and spirits. The 'alcohol escalator tax' will increase excise taxes in line with inflation. The escalator tax will see a 4.7 per cent rise in federal excise tax on these beverages, resulting in an estimated additional cost of about $100 million to taxpayers for the 2024-25 period. Per CTF, taxes already account for about half of the price of beer, 65 per cent of the price of wine and more than three quarters of the price of spirits.
• Introduced last November, Canada’s new Digital Services Tax (DST) legislation is aimed at large online companies that host and generate marketplaces, social media platforms and online advertising revenue, like Google and Facebook. A previous PBO estimate found that DST will cost taxpayers $1.2 billion in 2024, but that revenue estimate depends on when the tax is implemented. Consumers should also expect to pay higher prices due to DST."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/2024-canada-federal-tax-increases

Brace for impact: more federal tax hikes in 2024: Canadian Taxpayers Federation | Canada's Podcast | January 1, 2024:

Jacob Hornberger: Abolish Social Security now

LP Presidential Candidate Jacob Hornberger on Socialism, Freedom, and Reform vs. Repeal | The Libertarian Republic - Gary Doan:

February 4, 2020 - "The day of the Iowa Caucuses ... I had a chance to talk to Jacob Hornberger. He’s the president and founder of the Future of Freedom Foundation, and is currently running for the Libertarian presidential nomination with the backing of the Mises Caucus....

"TLR: In your presidential campaign announcement video, you called the following things socialism: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public schooling, educational grants, farm subsidies, corporate bailouts and foreign aid to dictators. What does the US government currently do that you don’t think is socialism?

"JH:  Very little, in that the primary source, the driving force in the federal government is to take care of people through the coercive apparatus of the state. It seizes money from people to whom it belongs, and it gives it to people to whom it does not belong. That is classic socialism.... And many of these socialist programs came into existence as a direct result of socialists in Germany advocating them. Social Security is a primary example. The idea originated among German socialists. It was adopted by Otto von Bismarck, the so-called Iron Chancellor of Germany. It was imported to the United States and they became part of our laws in the 1930s....

"TLR: Last year, the US federal government spent something like a trillion dollars on Social Security, which makes it the largest federal program and about a quarter of the federal budget. It recently started paying out even more than it’s taken in through FICA. You’ve talked about literally abolishing it. If the world were to heed such advice, what time frame would be appropriate to accomplish that? And how would you advise winding such a large program down in a responsible way?

"JH: The best and most responsible way would be just to repeal it immediately. And that’s all you have to do. You just enact a law that repeals the laws that set up Social Security. I mean, the government… the program came into existence through Congress. Well, Congress can easily just put the program out of business by repealing it, and that’s exactly what should be done.

"Now that scares people. Freedom scares people. I mean, now we’re talking about a free society. Now we’re talking about a society where people are free to keep their own money, and they decide what to do with it. Well, if you believe in freedom works, and I do believe freedom works, there’s nothing to worry about. I mean, I know people worried about that, 'oh my gosh, seniors will die in the street, they won’t have any more money'.

"Well, some seniors don’t need the money. They’re very wealthy [or] they’re very middle class. And the Social Security payment is like an extra little bonus for them to, to play poker with or whatever. So there’s a large sector of the society doesn’t need the money. Some seniors might have to go back to work. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I see seniors working all the time. And they’re in the mainstream of life. They’re interacting with other people and young people. I think it’s a better alternative than just sitting in your living room waiting to die.

"But there are some people that truly need help. But if you believe that freedom works, you have no doubt. And I have no doubt that if it were repealed today, that young people would come step forward to the plate. Now they’re keeping all their money now. No more FICA tax, no more money as needed to pay all the salaries of Social Security bureaucrats. They were talking about salaries, ranging 50,000, 200,000 a year, that’s just wasted money. Young people will be able to keep all that money, and then step up to the plate and help their parents and grandparents.

"I have no doubt that you can do that, that they would do that. Or in those cases where they say, 'I’m not going to help my parents or grandparents'… you’ve got church groups. You’ve got community groups, all on a voluntary basis. And this is what I’m saying that we need to recapture in this country, a belief in ourselves. A faith in others. A faith in the free market. For me, have faith in God rather than the faith of government.

"And then all of a sudden you’re talking about how a free society works, how a free people work. But Social Security is really an insult to the younger people in the society. It’s saying that 'you are a bad people. You can’t be trusted with freedom. And we need to force you to take care of seniors by taking your money and given it to them'. Well, I say nonsense to that. I think young people should rebel against the system. I think they should join up with us libertarians and say, 'we can handle this. We can handle freedom. We can take responsibility for parents, grandparents, other people in the community, who need help. And we don’t need to be forced by anyone to do this'."

Read more: https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/lp-presidential-candidate-jacob-hornberger/

Johnson's the only candidate worth considering

Why Gary Johnson Is the Only Presidential Candidate Worthy of Consideration | HeatStreet - Sebastian Doggart:

October 24, 2016 - "When the Trump campaign imploded, I finally felt it was safe to come out as a supporter of Gary Johnson.... The response was more hostile than if I’d announced I was engaged to Kim Jong Un.

"'I’m genuinely concerned you’ve lost your mind,' wrote my pro-Clinton friend Eliza....  I knew Eliza opposed the death penalty, so asked her why she was voting for Clinton, who still believes the government can kill people legally. When I showed her that, unlike Johnson, Clinton is indeed a cheerleader for lethal injections, Eliza went silent.

"Capital punishment is just one issue where many Americans, in their heart of hearts, may well agree more with Johnson than with ClinTrump. Peace is another one. Hawkish Hillary voted for the Iraq war, backed military action in Libya and sending American troops into Syria. Trigger-happy Trump also gave the Iraq war a thumbs-up.... Johnson opposed the Iraq war, and has pledged to slash the military budget ... scale back on nuclear programs, close down some foreign bases and end foreign invasions.

"Johnson is a far braver free-speech advocate than ClinTrump. He has been steadfast in his opposition to the Patriot Act, censorship of the Internet, militarization of the police and the indefinite detention of prisoners. In 2012, the American Civil Liberties Union gave him the highest score of any presidential candidate....

"Johnson is the champion of the challenge to the bankrupt two-party system, with which millennials are so fed up. That’s especially true with Social Security ... an entitlements program that is heading off a cliff.... 'Millennials are getting screwed,' Johnson warns.... The same is true with healthcare. As Johnson said: 'President Obama’s affordable healthcare is dependent on young healthy people paying for older unhealthy people'....

"On education, Johnson ... will completely abolish the grossly wasteful Department of Education and will expand vouchers for private schools. Unlike Clinton, his plan favors teachers over unions; local educational processes over federalized testing.

"Johnson is passionate in his belief that the Federal government should stay out of both your bedroom and your wallet. That is most apparent in his tax plan, which would eliminate the IRS and replace most of the tax code with a single consumption tax. He’s promised to submit a balanced budget to Congress within his first 100 days in office....

"Johnson could win the White House it if he prevails in just one state, and neither Clinton nor Trump secures 270 electoral college votes.... Terror of this scenario is what’s brought out the Obamas to turn their sights on Johnson and led the liberal-limousine echo chamber to sink to personal insults. Bill Maher recently called Johnson a 'ventriloquist dummy' and a 'fucking idiot.' John Oliver drank the two-party Kool-Aid, laid into Johnson as 'weird… an ill tempered mountain-molester with a radical, dangerous tax plan.' David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker, called him 'the least informed candidate for the presidency'.... The Clinton propaganda machine and their loyal media supporters ... hammered Johnson [and] MSNBC ... organized a Gotcha-ism orgy."

Read more: http://heatst.com/politics/pot-shot-heres-why-gary-johnson-should-be-the-next-president/
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Welfare state 'screws' millennials, Johnson tells Kimmel (video)

UPDATED! Gary Johnson on Jimmy Kimmel Live: Millennials Are Getting "Screwed" - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Nick Gillespie:

October 20, 2016 - "Immediately after last night's final presidential debate, Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson appeared on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! to discuss a wide range of topics, including debt and deficits, marijuana legalization, foreign policy, and whether the former two-term New Mexico governor plans to run again in 2020 (answer: no).

"Here's Johnson explaining why he's polling well among millenials. It's worth a quick watch, as it lays out the mostly undeclared generational warfare that has been rolled out through most of the 21st century. Younger, relatively poor Americans are being forced to pay for the health care, retirement, and safety of older, wealthier people. The big catch? Those same entitlement programs are unsustainable, so they will be long gone by the time that millennials expect to collect on their 'investments.'"

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/10/20/gary-johnson-on-jimmy-kimmel-live-millen
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Democrats run against 1980 Libertarian platform

The Next Level Of The Anti-Koch Campaign: Treat David Koch Like A Candidate For Office - Evan Morris-Santoro, Buzzfeed:

April 1, 2014 - "In 1980, David Koch ran in and funded a presidential campaign that called Social Security 'The Ultimate Pyramid Scheme' and promised to abolish and replace it.

"In 2014, Democrats are hoping to use that fact to tar the Republicans he and his brother Charles are bankrolling in 2014. Welcome to the next phase of the Democrats’ anti-Koch strategy this year: Treat the Kochs like a candidate for office and try to make Republicans answer for the Kochs’ libertarian ideology.

"Democrats have already painted the Kochs as a shadowy pair pouring millions into the political process for their own ends. In recent months Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has made almost a daily point of invoking their names, calling them 'moles'... In North Carolina, supporters of Democratic incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan ... say Republicans benefitting from Koch spending need to say whether or not they agree with statements like the one about Social Security in 1980.

"David Koch didn’t actually write the book that called for the abolition of Social Security, but he was the main driver of the presidential campaign that pushed for it in 1980. Koch ran as vice president on the Libertarian ticket helmed by Ed Clark, but according to a 1980 New York magazine report on the race was selected by Libertarian party leaders as VP candidate before Clark was selected to run for president, mostly because of his ability to give their campaign effort more money than it had ever seen before....

"And so, using a copy of Clark’s 1980 campaign book A New Beginning as a jump-off point, Hagan’s supporters are beginning to vet Koch as a candidate for office, shopping around the kind of opposition research campaigns usually send out on their opponents."

Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/koch-ran-for-vp-with-a-campaign-that-called-social-security
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More problems with Thomas Piketty's thesis

The FT Claims Thomas Piketty's Numbers Don't Add Up, Piketty Calls The FT Ridiculous - Forbes - Tim Worstall:

May 25, 2014 - "This has rather put the cat amongst the pigeons: the Financial Times went through the data that Thomas Piketty used to prove that wealth is becoming ever more concentrated and found, at least so they claim, that the evidence isn’t actually there. There are some minor transcription errors, there’s also some questionable interpolations in the data sets. But the real killer is that the claimed concentration of wealth, the thing that Piketty insists is going to get ever worse, doesn’t actually seem to exist....

"Here’s the nub of the FT’s claim: '... once the FT cleaned up and simplified the data, the European numbers do not show any tendency towards rising wealth inequality after 1970. An independent specialist in measuring inequality shared the FT’s concerns'....

"This isn’t the only problem with the case that Piketty is making either. As I noted ... he is correct in stating that the wealth to GDP ratio is rising.... However, as the FT says we don’t seem to see any increase in the concentration of wealth over recent decades. But if wealth to GDP is rising, and wealth isn’t becoming ever more concentrated, well, where is that increased wealth?

"The answer, amusingly, coming from Emmanuel Saez, a regular Piketty collaborator ... the increased wealth is our pensions savings. And this is another terrible hole in Piketty’s argument. For it’s something that we would have expected to see from the first. The lifetime savings hypothesis almost insists that alongside rising lifespans (one of the two great demographic changes of the past 70 or so years, along with the declining fertility rate) that we would see an increase in pensions savings. And that’s exactly what Saez does find: pensions savings move from some trivial percentage of GDP to 150% of it....

"Piketty seems to have assumed that the rise in wealth was all going to the rich: whereas it really seems to have been going to pay for our own old ages."

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2014/05/25/the-ft-claims-thomas-pikettys-numbers-dont-add-up-piketty-calls-the-ft-ridiculous/
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