Let’s start with a little fun! I guess when “ET phoned home” they told him they had cancelled his credit cards (or maybe he heard about Space Force).
You hear a lot about our contribution to NATO compared to Germany, for example. My readers are likely aware that NATO members are “required” to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. But when the US and Germany are compared on that basis (3.6% – 1.2% = 2.4%) the difference is fairly meaningless to most Americans. But when one sees a graph in DOLLARS we can appreciate that the US spends 93% MORE DOLLARS. President Trump is right to belittle Europe’s committment to NATO.
Public sector unions just took a big hit (SCOTUS decision in Janus v AFSCME), but it will take decades still to even this playing field.
The following graph is a “two-fer.” In part one the “red state/blue state” dichotomy should slam you right between the eyes. In part two we see that private sector unions have been on a steady and continuous decline. That decline will soon afflict public sector unions because of the SCOTUS decision.
Even the most fertile countries in Europe are below replacement levels (roughly 2.1 children per woman). Who would have thought that the uterus would be the weapon of Europe’s demise? Our own birthrate just fell to a 30-year low. Some demographers think that the societies at the bottom of the graph have already hit the point of “no return.” That is, they can no longer reverse the trend in time to save their cultures or nationalities.
There is a new President in Mexico. He intends to eliminate corruption. Good luck with that! And tell me again why leftists are opposed to protecting our southern border?!?!
Yes, there are America jobs dependent on trade with Canada, but let us not forget how many Canadian jobs depend on trade with America. More than 150 million Americans are part of the U.S. workforce. Canada has 9,636,700 in their workforce. According to Trevor Tombe, a University of Calgary economist, there are in fact only two American states out of 50 – Michigan and Vermont – where trade with Canada exceeds 10 per cent of their annual economic output. By comparison, Canada’s provinces are in large part overwhelmingly dependent on keeping the borders open with the U.S. Forty-nine per cent of Ontario’s gross domestic product depends on trade with the United States. For Quebec, that number is 23 per cent. For Alberta, it’s 31 per cent.
And just FYI.
Roy Filly
The Rugged Individualist 