Make Canada What again?

[Chris12345]

21 hours ago, Smashian Kassian said:

 

I'm in that boat. I'm 23 and been working since highschool for the most part. Im rly debating going back to school. But I'd have to work to live & how do I do both? My parents don't have money to pay my way. So live at home till late 20s and go into debt. Or school part time & live with parents till your 30? Depending on what you take? Which is a whole other thing.

 

Getting a degree (or more) increases your chances of making more money in the long run. School just seems so inefficient here. I've been thinking of looking into going to University in Europe or Scandinavia maybe, apparently some countries offer it cheaper to international students. And get life experience traveling.

 

Such tough decisions to figure out. I'm confident in my ability to work & make money for myself, but it would be nice to try & shoot a little higher. It does feel very overwhelming. 

I'll chip in with some life advice.....

 

I HATED school. Somehow ended up with a degree from an awesome school and more education after that. Yep, super educated. 

 

Seemed like a bad idea when I was 25. Now I can charge big money in my sleep.

 

Get your a$$ back in  school, chase opportunity. Go to the opportunities in cheaper cities. Don't look back.

[Chris12345]

10 hours ago, aGENT said:

Big challenge I think for a lot of young people is figuring out what you'd actually want to do for work, that actually has a job market for it both now, and in a future that is rapidly becoming less and less clear thanks to automation, AI, globalization, polarized politics, and massive debt/fiscal/economic questions. Hell, 'jobs' as we've traditionally known them, may not even particularly exist in 20+ years. And we're massively unprepared for THAT transition as well.

 

THEN you have to figure out how/where to get the best education/training for whatever that is and figure out how to pay for it all. All after being told their entire, young lives how amazing they are and how they could do 'anything' they can dream of, and raised in a 2 minute attention span society that expects them to stay focused and on task.

 

I don't envy young people these days. We've gone decades now with poor long term planning and performing idiotic social experiments on our poor, unwitting offspring and are going to pay the price for it barring some miraculous discoveries and innovation, likely by your generation.

Health care. Demand and supply are in young people's favour.

[BPA]

I've been hearing of a rumor where the older parents move into the Laneway house while their adult children(s) live in the main house.

 

Housing prices and still too high for young people to even dip their toe into the market. 

 

I worry for my kids future. 

 

 

[aGENT]

20 minutes ago, Chris12345 said:

Health care. Demand and supply are in young people's favour.

Yup, it's a growth industry 

 

Still, not EVERYONE can work in health care. And it's not immune to future automation either.

[BPA]

Just now, aGENT said:

Yup, it's a growth industry 

 

Still, not EVERYONE can work in health care. And it's not immune to future automation either.

A little bit morbid but a Funeral Director and grave diggers would be stable employment.  

[Lockout Casualty]

On 2/8/2020 at 8:22 AM, Ryan Strome said:

Um yes it is. Just like Dairy it in fact is a tax. 

Um, no it isn't. Dairy tariff is a tax. The cost of a good is the cost of a good. A business may pay tax on it as revenue, it may avoid tax via a scheme, or it may not pay any tax on this revenue. I am not privy to what the business does with its revenue, nor is my paying for said good reflected in my tax forms. It is not a my tax burden. It is not a hidden tax on consumers. It is a business tax that business may pay on revenue. 

[bishopshodan]

18 hours ago, Lockout Casualty said:

Um, no it isn't. Dairy tariff is a tax. The cost of a good is the cost of a good. A business may pay tax on it as revenue, it may avoid tax via a scheme, or it may not pay any tax on this revenue. I am not privy to what the business does with its revenue, nor is my paying for said good reflected in my tax forms. It is not a my tax burden. It is not a hidden tax on consumers. It is a business tax that business may pay on revenue. 

Sorry, not following your convo but you sparked a thought with this post.

 

I know a bit about the liquor industry. The wholesale price of liquor is not the actual cost of the product at all from the suppliers. The BCLDB sets the price and just calls it the wholesale price. Then you pay tax on top of that.

Is that a tax on a 'hidden' tax?

[RUPERTKBD]

20 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

Sorry, not following your convo but you sparked a thought with this post.

 

I know a bit about the liquor industry. The wholesale price of liquor is not the actual cost of the product at all from the suppliers. The BCLDB sets the price and just calls it the wholesale price. Then you pay tax on top of that.

Is that a tax on a 'hidden' tax?

Can't answer that, but i just had to say how shocked I am...

 

....you mean it doesn't actually cost $25 bucks to make a 6 pack of beer in aluminum cans?

[Lancaster]

On 2/11/2020 at 8:48 PM, BPA said:

I've been hearing of a rumor where the older parents move into the Laneway house while their adult children(s) live in the main house.

 

Housing prices and still too high for young people to even dip their toe into the market. 

 

I worry for my kids future. 

 

 

Not uncommon.

I'm currently renting my parent's basement ("free daycare" and larger plus more economical than living at our apartments).... they expect us to swap places once my kids are old enough.

But jokes on them, I'm moving overseas in a few years, lol.  

[Ralph.]

49 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

Sorry, not following your convo but you sparked a thought with this post.

 

I know a bit about the liquor industry. The wholesale price of liquor is not the actual cost of the product at all from the suppliers. The BCLDB sets the price and just calls it the wholesale price. Then you pay tax on top of that.

Is that a tax on a 'hidden' tax?

May as well be. LDB is awful. They know nothing will stop people from boozin' and know they can get away with crazy prices because it won't slow business one bit. In fact, the more they raise that "wholesale" price, I bet you the more business BCLs would get. Private store prices go up as result -> people take their business to the less expensive BCL. Few will cut their drinking while they have that option.

27 minutes ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Can't answer that, but i just had to say how shocked I am...

 

....you mean it doesn't actually cost $25 bucks to make a 6 pack of beer in aluminum cans?

No way! 

[bishopshodan]

4 hours ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Can't answer that, but i just had to say how shocked I am...

 

....you mean it doesn't actually cost $25 bucks to make a 6 pack of beer in aluminum cans?

Some might be surprised to know the avg COGS for private retail liquor stores is in the 70-75% range. Not much margin at all.

 

 

[bishopshodan]

4 hours ago, Gäz said:

May as well be. LDB is awful. They know nothing will stop people from boozin' and know they can get away with crazy prices because it won't slow business one bit. In fact, the more they raise that "wholesale" price, I bet you the more business BCLs would get. Private store prices go up as result -> people take their business to the less expensive BCL. Few will cut their drinking while they have that option.

I don't know if you remember , they 'levelled the playing field a few years back'?

 

They were losing out to the LRS shops (mostly due to selection and knowledge of new trends, craft beer etc..) so they took our discount away, opened the gov shops on Sundays, added 'cold zones' ( fridges) for products and implemented the new wholesale pricing model. However, the playing field was not levelled at all. LRS shops still cannot sell Special Event Licenses ( there goes the wedding sales etc)...nor can Licencee Private Stores sell to On-premiss licenses, so no pub, nightclub or restaurant sales ethier!

Despite this lopsided unfair changing of the system, most of their locations are ran with such high overhead and poor management that they don't turn a profit. However when the BCPLSA asked for individual store numbers, the gov said that would require payment of $30k+ per location for the info. They are a drain on all of us, bad system and it's very unfortunate to see them making a mess of Cannabis now too.  

[smokes]

Make Canada NHL Champions Again! 

[Ralph.]

1 hour ago, bishopshodan said:

I don't know if you remember , they 'levelled the playing field a few years back'?

 

They were losing out to the LRS shops (mostly due to selection and knowledge of new trends, craft beer etc..) so they took our discount away, opened the gov shops on Sundays, added 'cold zones' ( fridges) for products and implemented the new wholesale pricing model. However, the playing field was not levelled at all. LRS shops still cannot sell Special Event Licenses ( there goes the wedding sales etc)...nor can Licencee Private Stores sell to On-premiss licenses, so no pub, nightclub or restaurant sales ethier!

Despite this lopsided unfair changing of the system, most of their locations are ran with such high overhead and poor management that they don't turn a profit. However when the BCPLSA asked for individual store numbers, the gov said that would require payment of $30k+ per location for the info. They are a drain on all of us, bad system and it's very unfortunate to see them making a mess of Cannabis now too.  

I do remember that; Management at the place I was at was pretty worried about the added competition of BCLs being open extended hours/Sunday and our prices going up. Not sure how it turned out on the books but I'm sure they're still making a killing.

[NewbieCanuckFan]

18 minutes ago, smokes said:

Make Canada NHL Champions Again! 

If it ain't the Canucks, I'd rather have the "Guangdong Southern Tigers" win the Cup before the Oilers, Flames, Leafs, Sens, Jets or Habs.

Edited February 13, 2020 by NewbieCanuckFan

[smokes]

1 minute ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

If it ain't the Canucks, I'd rather have the "Guangdong Southern Tigers" win the Cup before the OIlers, Flames, Leafs, Sens, Jets or Habs.

Not me, local team growing up is number one then Canada is Canada, gotta bring the cup back home.

[Dr. Crossbar]

On 2/6/2020 at 11:18 PM, Warhippy said:

Do you think or feel as though the rise of and advent of social media platforms has effectively perpetuated and help create the division we're seeing now?  I can't think of much else outside of media manipulation which is not only prominent but prevalent.  But no media outlet is outright telling people that immigrants are bad or the like.

 

Having looked over 300+ responses, and then perused reddit, 4chan, facebook for groups of the same name it's overwhelmingly the same statements.  

 

I find that incredibly sad to be honest.  What happened to disliking people based on their actions like a normal human being, or because they were leafs fans?

I want to add to this based on my experiences online years ago. It speaks to what you're noticing and the question you asked about social media contributing to division.

 

Sorry for the long response, the online division issue hits a nerve with me. 

 

Back in the late 90s, early 2000s, I used to be an admin of a really popular online social community with a huge audience. Way bigger than this community. This was before the term "social media" existed. It was the early days of the Internet before the online world went mainstream. 

 

The community started as an exciting, tolerant, helpful, educational, infomative platform ... much in the same way social media was exciting in its infancy. People loved hanging out there each day, engaging, sharing ideas, learning and helping one another. The larger brand that the social community was part of was an outlet that prided itself as a leader in ethical and responsible online media. We wanted our community to reflect the value of ethics and responsibility. 

 

This online social community began as a really healthy meeting place. Over time, however, things started to change. I began to notice repetitive patterns in human behavior. Healthy conversation and discussion often descended into battles over right vs. wrong. At first people placed priority on maintaining the health and tolerance of the community. What began as a tolerant community increasingly became more intolerant. The community then began to splinter into groups with many users jockeying for power over the other. The priority shifted from the health of the community to a greater priority on being right. 

 

About a year and a half into this once thriving, tolerant online social community, suddenly it was a community divided. It seemed like the more we tried to keep it healthy, the more divided it became. Each month became more toxic than the next. It got so bad that some users even tried to overthrow the person paying the server bills so they could take over. No amount of civility, appeals to reason, or responsible administrating worked. Trying to keep the community healthy literally became a full time job. 

 

By year three of the community, we had to shut it down. It became far too divisive and toxic. All of it became unproductive and extremely unhealthy. There was no good end to any of it. 

 

Keep in mind, this was very early 2000s. It was so traumatic of an experience, I vowed never, EVER would I go through that again.

 

But when the community began to change, it was interesting. I made the conscious decision to also observe how people acted, communicated and engaged with each other online.

 

I started to notice that across all topics and responses, similar patterns emerged in communication. Certain hot button issues evoked specific statements that would always be repeated over and over in language. It was as if each hot button issue had a specific set of canned human responses people would simply repeat. If a certain hot button issue arose, over time you could actually predict the exact responses and flow of conversation.

 

I still see it today across the many Facebook groups I belong to. An issue or topic arises and the responses to that issue are exactly the same across all groups. Not similar, not close, but exactly the same from group to group. You can see it here if you pay attention to the patterns of responses to certain topics. 

 

At the time, the one thing I didn't realize with that community was that I was actually getting a glimpse into the future. When social media came along and people said this is "important", my reaction was ... "You've got to be kidding me? The only thing this will lead to is people being divided with no resolve."

 

There's something about human behavior online and how we communicate with each other that we, as a people in a collective, don't fully understand. And it's deeply connected to a need for people to be right and heard. That need to be right, in my view, will override tolerance, rational thought, civility, truth, and facts. That need to be right is also the behavioral gateway to a desire for power with others who have the same need. The more people in a group who are always right will never be wrong. Even when all evidence indicates they are indeed wrong.

 

So I'm not surprised at all that you're seeing the same responses from platforn to platform. Obviously, when it comes to that particular issue, there's an established set of human responses. 

 

So, do social media platforms help to perpetuate the division we see today? Absolutely, they do. But there's also a deeper human nature component to it as well.  People are easily intoxicated, susceptible, and empowered by circumstances that lead to division. Those circumstances often make people feel good. Especially when those circumstances give them the validation in the online world that they don't get offline.

 

Social media and the Internet feed that part of the human condition, which we don't fully understand. The media and tech companies have exploited this in people. We, as a society, have justified our use of social media as something good and needed when it is leading to division and wreaking havoc on our mental health. 

 

Whenever I have these conversations out in the real world, there's never the intense anti-immigrant sentiment that you see online. It used to be standard practice to not believe anything you see online. In fact, you'd be laughed at, mocked, and be seen as non-credible if you took online seriously. The only thing since then is that more people are online and more people take what they see online as truth when they shouldn't. It's easier to believe what you see online instead of putting in the effort to filter information. And really, there are a myriad of reasons - some very complex - why we see the things we see online. 

 

When it comes to the issue of immigration, I wouldn't be relying on the online world for an accurate picture of anything. It's not real or accurate. 

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by Dr. Crossbar
.

[Boudrias]

37 minutes ago, Dr. Crossbar said:

I want to add to this based on my experiences online years ago. It speaks to what you're noticing and the question you asked about social media contributing to division.

 

Sorry for the long response, the online division issue hits a nerve with me. 

 

Back in the late 90s, early 2000s, I used to be an admin of a really popular online social community with a huge audience. Way bigger than this community. This was before the term "social media" existed. It was the early days of the Internet before the online world went mainstream. 

 

The community started as an exciting, tolerant, helpful, educational, infomative platform ... much in the same way social media was exciting in its infancy. People loved hanging out there each day, engaging, sharing ideas, learning and helping one another. The larger brand that the social community was part of was an outlet that prided itself as a leader in ethical and responsible online media. We wanted our community to reflect the value of ethics and responsibility. 

 

This online social community began as a really healthy meeting place. Over time, however, things started to change. I began to notice repetitive patterns in human behavior. Healthy conversation and discussion often descended into battles over right vs. wrong. At first people placed priority on maintaining the health and tolerance of the community. What began as a tolerant community increasingly became more intolerant. The community then began to splinter into groups with many users jockeying for power over the other. The priority shifted from the health of the community to a greater priority on being right. 

 

About a year and a half into this once thriving, tolerant online social community, suddenly it was a community divided. It seemed like the more we tried to keep it healthy, the more divided it became. Each month became more toxic than the next. It got so bad that some users even tried to overthrow the person paying the server bills so they could take over. No amount of civility, appeals to reason, or responsible administrating worked. Trying to keep the community healthy literally became a full time job. 

 

By year three of the community, we had to shut it down. It became far too divisive and toxic. All of it became unproductive and extremely unhealthy. There was no good end to any of it. 

 

Keep in mind, this was very early 2000s. It was so traumatic of an experience, I vowed never, EVER would I go through that again.

 

But when the community began to change, it was interesting. I made the conscious decision to also observe how people acted, communicated and engaged with each other online.

 

I started to notice that across all topics and responses, similar patterns emerged in communication. Certain hot button issues evoked specific statements that would always be repeated over and over in language. It was as if each hot button issue had a specific set of canned human responses people would simply repeat. If a certain hot button issue arose, over time you could actually predict the exact responses and flow of conversation.

 

I still see it today across the many Facebook groups I belong to. An issue or topic arises and the responses to that issue are exactly the same across all groups. Not similar, not close, but exactly the same from group to group. You can see it here if you pay attention to the patterns of responses to certain topics. 

 

At the time, the one thing I didn't realize with that community was that I was actually getting a glimpse into the future. When social media came along and people said this is "important", my reaction was ... "You've got to be kidding me? The only thing this will lead to is people being divided with no resolve."

 

There's something about human behavior online and how we communicate with each other that we, as a people in a collective, don't fully understand. And it's deeply connected to a need for people to be right and heard. That need to be right, in my view, will override tolerance, rational thought, civility, truth, and facts. That need to be right is also the behavioral gateway to a desire for power with others who have the same need. The more people in a group who are always right will never be wrong. Even when all evidence indicates they are indeed wrong.

 

So I'm not surprised at all that you're seeing the same responses from platforn to platform. Obviously, when it comes to that particular issue, there's an established set of human responses. 

 

So, do social media platforms help to perpetuate the division we see today? Absolutely, they do. But there's also a deeper human nature component to it as well.  People are easily intoxicated, susceptible, and empowered by circumstances that lead to division. Those circumstances often make people feel good. Especially when those circumstances give them the validation in the online world that they don't get offline.

 

Social media and the Internet feed that part of the human condition, which we don't fully understand. The media and tech companies have exploited this in people. We, as a society, have justified our use of social media as something good and needed when it is leading to division and wreaking havoc on our mental health. 

 

Whenever I have these conversations out in the real world, there's never the intense anti-immigrant sentiment that you see online. It used to be standard practice to not believe anything you see online. In fact, you'd be laughed at, mocked, and be seen as non-credible if you took online seriously. The only thing since then is that more people are online and more people take what they see online as truth when they shouldn't. It's easier to believe what you see online instead of putting in the effort to filter information. And really, there are a myriad of reasons - some very complex - why we see the things we see online. 

 

When it comes to the issue of immigration, I wouldn't be relying on the online world for an accurate picture of anything. It's not real or accurate. 

 

Very interesting post. This is a very political community with a few posters who seem more interested in dominating the conversation rather than listening to others. My views are right of center and based on financial considerations. People who do not agree with me automatically label me with all sorts of characteristics that I don't think I have. Being right of center does not make a person racist, ignorant, socially unaware or uncaring. When challenged many posters quickly dive into a almost juvenile reaction. As a result I usually leave.  

[Dr. Crossbar]

2 hours ago, Boudrias said:

Very interesting post. This is a very political community with a few posters who seem more interested in dominating the conversation rather than listening to others. My views are right of center and based on financial considerations. People who do not agree with me automatically label me with all sorts of characteristics that I don't think I have. Being right of center does not make a person racist, ignorant, socially unaware or uncaring. When challenged many posters quickly dive into a almost juvenile reaction. As a result I usually leave.  

Well, this is only real if you make it real, just like social media.

 

Politics aside, when you "know" you're not the things people say, those people have zero power over you. I'm saying that because you said "I don't think I have" those characteristics. Knowing you're not those things is your best defense. 

 

And ...

 

Everyone "knows" Canada is and has been a great country despite how others don't want it to be.