Category: It’s Probably Nothing

Our Business is Theft

And business is booming.

David Clinton- Using Government Data to Track the Car Theft Epidemic

Canada is experiencing some nasty car theft numbers right now and I’d love to understand the underlying “business” model a bit better. Reports suggest that most of the stolen cars are left to “cool off” for a couple of days to make sure there aren’t any tracking devices (not that the police have time to intervene even if there are) and are then shipped out of the country through the Port of Montreal.

Conservative in Name Only

If even a conservative government can rack up this kind of debt, there’s no comfort in knowing that a liberal government would rack it up even faster. There’s virtually no political constituency for smaller government left anywhere on the planet, perhaps with the exception of Argentina.

Ontario is delaying its path to balance as lethargic economic growth drags the province’s books further into the red, with a $9.8-billion budget deficit projected for the coming fiscal year.

The deficit for 2024-25 is almost double what the province projected in the fall economic update. That document had also eyed a return to surplus the following year, which was already delayed a year from the 2023 budget. Bethlenfalvy now projects that a small surplus will not happen until 2026-27. In 2025-26, the deficit is forecast to be $4.6 billion.

Self Defense in the Rainbow Nation

At one time I was told that legal, personal ownership of a firearm was extraordinarily difficult in South Africa, but it seems that times have changed. That won’t stop the BBC, however, from trying to frame the problem as one of gun ownership as opposed to a criminal justice system that has largely collapsed along with the economy.

For the last six years Penson Mlotshwa has been carrying a gun with him wherever he goes in the South African city of Johannesburg. To the shops, restaurants and even the gym. His gun has become an extension of him as the country battles record levels of crime. “I’m not a fortune teller – I never know when I will be attacked,” the YouTube content creator told the BBC.

“Unfortunately, I’ve had to use my gun multiple times to protect myself,” he sighs, explaining how a man wanting his wallet pulled a knife on him after dinner one night. He drew his gun and made the mugger hand over the pocket knife, which he threw in the gutter.

Thirsty Proletarians

First there was the collapse of the electricity grid, then the collapse of the railway network, and now the water is running out. Yet few South African voters seem able to make a connection between these events and a political philosophy of nationalizing the mines, banks and monopoly industry. They cannot fathom that a mix of African superstition, tribalism and Marxism-Leninism is nothing less than toxic.

The shortages, which have lasted nearly two weeks, have affected some 50% of Johannesburg Water’s supply area, officials said. The South African city has a population of almost 6 million people.

Businesses have been hit hard, and several hospitals have been affected. Nurses at one medical center told local media that they were not able to wash their hands.

The Rising Cost Of Bird Choppers

These days it’s routine to hear that wind power is “free” energy. But the Swedes are finding out that the absence of an invoice for raw material doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to still lose your capital investment.

Christian Sandström and Christian Steinbeck analysed wind-power companies’ annual reports in Sweden and their work revealed “significant financial problems”, they told Swedish media outlet Kvartal on February 28.

“The total loss for the years 2017–2022 amounted to 13.5 billion Swedish krona [€1.2 billion], which meant a loss margin of 39 per cent,” they said about the sector.

Sandström and Steinbeck pointed out that the sector as a whole has not made a profit in any year since 2017.

Company losses have ranged from 19 per cent to 90 per cent of turnover between 2017 and 2022, they said.

Sock Puppets for Sock Puppets

When even Ed the Sock throws in the towel on Justin, you get the sense that the end has to be near.

As an aside, I remember when Ed used to be genuinely funny.

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