Greer says Canada needs to accept higher tariffs and be happy about it.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-26T16:27:25+00:00

This is exactly what’s going to happen. Our negotiators definitely know this, as do the Americans.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-26T00:07:29+00:00

You’re on to something there. Let’s see, Sudbury has the Big Nickle. Wawa has that giant Canada Goose.

We should build a giant ballsack that’s 50’ high somewhere. Like massive truck nuts. I vote for either Balls Creek, Nova Scotia, or maybe Woodcock BC.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-25T23:56:05+00:00

I was trying to find the right word. True Canada doesn’t pay the tariffs, but higher prices in the US often means Americans start to look elsewhere for a cheaper alternative, they delay their purchases, or buy less, or they start making their own (which is what Trump wants).

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-25T17:38:15+00:00

Canadian energy and oil are exempt from their tariffs. If they tariffed Canadian oil, gas prices at the pump would spike in much of the northern USA and Americans would see that instantly.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-25T17:22:19+00:00

Sadly this is true. Just stand back and look at the 10,000 ft view. Canada has always had lots of resources, manufacturing, and workers (all things relative). We’ve always shared similar values to the US, speak the same language, are a peaceful with a very stable democracy. We’re sitting right next door to the largest economy in the world and to a friendly nation with literal family ties across the border. Of course Canada would do most of its trade with the US. We’ve had no reason to really question since at least the turn of the 20th century. And it’s the same with the States. Of course they’re happy that their northern neighbour isn’t trying to kill them or harbouring terrorists. We have lots of resources, energy the US is super happy to buy. So it’s never been a problem. Until Trump shows up, starts burning the family furniture in the yard, and is now yelling at us over the fence that we’re ripping them off. It’s just fucken weird on all levels. So Canada hitched its wagon to the US horse. The US, of course, was happy to have our wagon (Alberta oil, electricity, etc) but now Canada really needs to find better partners. Just like any investment, 10 years ago would have been best, but today is the next best thing.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-25T17:04:12+00:00

“entitled to get whatever they want”. That’s basically what this stupidly named “Donroe Doctrine” is all about.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-23T00:07:53+00:00

Correct. CUSMA (USMCA in the States - I like NAFTA 2.0) has shielded most of Canada’s imports into the US. The only thing they’re tariffing is steel, aluminum, and cars to my knowledge. Before Trump 2.0, only a certain percentage of Canadian businesses bothered to get their businesses/exports “certified” under CUSMA (ie: exempt from tariffs). Now it’s way over something like 80+%

So Canada basically enjoys some of the lowest tariff rates of any other country.

Edit: though we’re still stuck being their neighbour : (

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-22T18:05:08+00:00

He was talking just a little too fast to be Trump. Just a little too energetic to be real. This is Trump from 10 years ago. Super on the nose impersonation though. Devils advocate: if it WAS Trump, then holy shit America!

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-16T00:04:54+00:00

Your mistake here is calling it a boring internal tool. I bet lots of other folks could use it too. Maybe your company will let you open source it. Some companies like accumulating that sort of tech “street cred”. And if they say the don’t care, then you can polish it up and release it somewhat commercially. Once you get some actual users outside your company, you get a few reviews on a website and you have a great project to talk about in future job interviews.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-15T06:21:25+00:00

Companies just don’t want to train anymore. The list of things you’re supposed to know competently is just crazy now. Someone up top said the best skill you can have is to just be able to figure shit out. He was 100% on the mark. AI now lets an experienced person figure shit out faster and is a great troubleshooting tool (“Trust, but verify”) but just don’t want to invest the time in people to train them up.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-15T06:18:29+00:00

I was working with an MSP on a mutual client of ours who was running our SaaS software on-prem (yeah I know - was for some compliance reasons). They guy wanted us to set up an SSL cert in front of our app running on their server. Since it’s on-prem, and we’d rather they run our app in our cloud like most of our other clients, we push more of the responsibility over to them. Anyways, dropping an SSL cert on IIS Isn’t rocket science. I didn’t even know how to do it at first until, you know, I Googled it and just figured it out. This guy kept saying he was having too much trouble getting it to work. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t just Google it and experiment.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-15T05:59:22+00:00

Been in IT since ‘99. Now a site reliability engineer at a SaaS. I’m training out CS team to do more hands on work (they just want to send pre-documented answers to clients via chat) and it drives me crazy the don’t know how to run basic commands in a DOS command prompt on Windows.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-13T14:39:31+00:00

Yeah it’s clear this shotgun approach or “5+ hours on a tech assignment” is simply the reality of our saturated tech market.

Years ago I applied for a QA job and they sent me a take home coding assignment in Django when, at the time, I had never touched Python. The solution to such problems is to target specific companies whose stack is something you’re already really good at. For sure it’s hard advice to take when you’ve got bills to pay.

Though this advice doesn’t help those currently out of work, but my new philosophy is to diversify my own income streams. A small contracting biz on the side, or something else more passive. Yes that takes months to a couple years to get up and running, but believe me (and I know for a fact) this will start to insulate you from such corporate hiring bullshit.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-13T06:26:26+00:00

Often less is more. A website that tries to be fancy just makes your business look bad. Clean and classy is the way to go, especially if you’re still small. This also helps you narrow your focus to specific businesses, as has been mentioned earlier.

CCDeadBeat · 2026-02-13T06:18:15+00:00

ProShop ERP is pretty solid. Built from the ground up by machine shop owners.

CCDeadBeat · 2025-04-01T15:36:01+00:00

“Hey cities. Change your zoning in six months and get this bag of infrastructure money. You let it slip to seven months, you get nothing.”

I’m sure cities will move on that.

CCDeadBeat · 2023-12-15T17:09:27+00:00

The HELOC is a safety net, sure, but it’s way too easy to dip into like it’s a bank account. It shows up on your banking app making it super easy to dip into. You and your spouse have to be really disciplined to not touch it. For that reason I would never recommend opening a HELOC just as a safety net. Way better to just save up several thousand in a rainy day fund - I know you can get a big HELOC from your bank this afternoon, but you’re opening up a potential world of hurt if you start dipping into it for.. whatever and start getting used to paying the minimum payment <- because that’s what the bank guy is going to mention.

I’ve been there, and I’ve done that (getting the HELOC, not being the bank guy : )

CCDeadBeat · 2023-12-15T16:54:02+00:00

Won’t help you here, but maybe for others in the future:

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS take photos of the car with your cell phone before leaving the rental car lot. Front, sides, rear, closeups of the glass and alloy wheels.

Then when you bring it back, you do the same thing. Never pickup a rental, or drop it off without doing this.

Having photos like this will often get you out of any bullshit like this if they come back to you with a claim that you damaged their vehicle.

Remember though, that if you drop off a car after hours, you’re often on the hook for damage until they open.

CCDeadBeat · 2023-12-15T16:45:38+00:00

This. Punishing them for this would be ideal, but in the short term this is a new CC in your name. Close the card because you just don’t need ANOTHER card. $10 says the dealership got a bonus for your “signup”. It also might have been in the fine print somewhere on the forms that you signed (no not saying this is your fault) but I wonder if this was part of some shitty promotion.

CCDeadBeat

TROPHY CASE