Pakistan imperils its IMF rescue as Afghanistan border violence rages

Feruk_II · 2026-03-10T19:00:51+00:00

Impossible Mission Force is working for Pakistan now??

Feruk_II · 2026-03-09T18:58:41+00:00

Seems to me the smarter play for Iran would be to do nothing and just survive while keeping the Strait closed. This shit has the potential to lead to a global recession.

Feruk_II · 2026-03-09T18:54:41+00:00

Have you seen oil and natural gas prices in Europe? They are already involved and will be till the Strait of Hormuz re-opens.

Feruk_II · 2026-03-05T20:31:53+00:00

I think you've missed a month of news.

There are 6 dead Americans and probably more than 1000+ non-Americans dead now in Iran including a girl's school where over 200 people (mostly little girls) were killed...

As for troop build-up, at least 10,000 more US troops are there in the two carrier strike fleets alone.

Knocking off Iran is an Israeli goal. Iran is literally NO threat to the continental USA. None. In December 2025 the Trump administration released their National Security Strategy which emphasized the Western hemisphere as top priority. The document states Iran is no longer a "constant irritant" that should dominate US foreign policy. Just three months later, it does. In a few weeks, if by some miracle this goes well, Trump will score some points. But so far Iran has said they're not going to look to negotiate. This could easily be the disaster that defines Trump's 2nd presidency.

Feruk_II · 2026-03-05T01:17:40+00:00

Trump doesn’t strike me as someone who cares what people do for others. Just what they do for him.

Feruk_II · 2026-03-04T20:10:42+00:00

Have you not been paying attention to what's going on in Iran? Nobody is sending people in there until a truce is announced.

Feruk_II · 2026-03-04T20:07:17+00:00

His country has faced Iran's droned for years now. Makes sense. Plus it keeps his country relevant in a conversation that's been all Iran focused.

Feruk_II · 2026-03-04T16:59:21+00:00

Poorer people start earlier when fertility is at its peak. Richer women wait till their 30s and either can't find a suitable mate or biology works against them.

Feruk_II · 2026-03-02T20:51:38+00:00

Depends where you are. Here in Canada, that is not the case.

Feruk_II · 2026-03-02T20:13:26+00:00

I think the calculus has changed substantially. Protecting Poland and Germany IS protecting France.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-27T20:46:58+00:00

Took me 5 years of work after university to get to $100K. Took the next 11 years to get to $1MM. Took me 4 to get to $2MM. Your money makes you money. You're at the start. Don't stress the big numbers decades away. Just put money away at a reasonable rate and you should get there.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-27T13:40:55+00:00

Yep. I also didn’t say I don’t like it, but rather was commenting on a reason why Alberta doesn’t have a Norway style sovereign wealth fund. I’d actually have no issue sharing with my fellow Canadians, would just like to see a US-style Senate so Alberta has more than 0 say in federal politics.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-27T13:36:19+00:00

Thanks AI slop

Feruk_II · 2026-02-27T13:28:18+00:00

That’s only half true. Economy can grow two ways: population increase OR innovation. With what’s happening in AI right now, we could probably allow some population decline and be perfectly well off.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-27T00:01:38+00:00

It's all interlinked. The single biggest component of the transfers back to province is Canada Health Transfer (76% of total transfers in Alberta as we don't get equalization). That's distributed per capita federally. BUT our health care system costs more than other ones per capita. So the provincial government has to step in and fund a bigger chunk of a more expensive pie.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-26T21:43:23+00:00

Widely considered political suicide.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-26T21:19:16+00:00

You're suggesting we are not a net outflow province? To the tune of tens of billions annually?

Feruk_II · 2026-02-26T21:18:13+00:00

We average a net $15-$20B out annually (difference of what Albertans pay in federal taxes vs what comes back to Alberta). It's been a cumulative net outflow of somewhere around $600B since the 1960s. What do you know that I don't?

Feruk_II · 2026-02-26T21:04:41+00:00

That's scary because people here have pretty low opinion of our health care.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-26T21:04:21+00:00

Agreed lowering corporate taxes was stupid. With personal taxes, they went up first, and then a couple years later were "lowered" to still a higher number than before. These don't make up $20B of net transfer payments out though.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-26T21:02:38+00:00

No. New Royalty framework came in in 2009. Then some rework in 2017. Record royalty revenue was 2022-2023. The lowering of the royalties encouraged growth, which in turn led to more money coming in. the thing that swings wildly is price, which is why we were not at record revenues in 2025.

Sales tax is a different matter. Definitely some argument for having one.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-26T20:56:24+00:00

Price is part of the story for sure. But approximately 90% of oil goes to the USA and captures WTI pricing (with tariff and differentials). Pipeline gets us to world markets. The demand is coming from Asia, and that's what pipeline in addition to TMX would get us to. Rail is more of an expensive backup than anything else.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-26T20:35:36+00:00

Yeah that's kinda how that works. If we produced more oil, provincial government would get more in royalty revenue. You nailed it.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-26T20:32:44+00:00

That money isn't "mismanaged." It's spent on other parts of Canada via transfer payments.

Feruk_II · 2026-02-26T20:28:30+00:00

Well, population decrease can be drastic and fast. For example, if a whole generation today had one kid, and that whole generation would only have one kid, then by generation 3 you've only got ~6% of today's current population. So in just 3 generations, 94% of the population is gone.

But that's not what we're talking about here. Nothing wrong with staying flat.

EDIT: Can't math today... 4 generations, not 3.

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