Re:Airbus buys majority stake in Bombardier CSeries passenge...
by tareqak on Tuesday October 17, 2017 @07:35PM
(#15495840)
When the United States, Canada, and Mexico negotiated NAFTA, they explicitly chose to agree on a mutual set of best interests over that of any one members specific best interests (minus some explicitly carved out exclusions that were also negotiated). Unfortunately, some parameters of the agreement were either not negotiated at the time or forgotten about. One such parameter is the definition of a government subsidy, and what actions or set of actions constitutes to be as such.
Proponents of the United States variety of capitalism preach and espouse (or at least used to) free trade as both gospel and a kind objective truth while ignorant (at times on purpose and at times sufficiently unaware) of how big business and the government are bedfellows scratching each others backs (big sugar, the corn lobby, big oil, the automakers, other agribusinesses such as dairy, telecom, Silicon Valley and other tech companies, the military-industrial complex, and commercial aviation to name just a few: Boeing straddles the last two industries).
In comparison, Canada has more hybrid approach somewhere between a market economy and a command economy practically necessitated by the confluence having a large land area, a relatively small population, and an economic, cultural, and military powerhouse for a next-door neighbour. And yes, similar sort of mutual government/business back-scratching does occur in Canada. However, most if not all of the policies that Canada has is mostly to prevent itself from being economically and culturally drowned-out/overwhelmed (do notice that I left out militarily). In spite of the investments that the various levels of Canadian government make, they readily allow foreign investors and corporations to buy or merge with large, iconic Canadian businesses after assessing the impact through mandatory reviews much like US Congress does (Molson Coors, Target buying Zellers from the Hudson's Bay company, and Wendy's merging with Tim Horton's, Tim Horton's later repatriating itself, then merging again with Burger King.
TL;DR There is nothing inherently wrong with looking out for your own best interests. But, there is something wrong with the pot calling the kettle black (hypocrisy).
Proponents of the United States variety of capitalism preach and espouse (or at least used to) free trade as both gospel and a kind objective truth while ignorant (at times on purpose and at times sufficiently unaware) of how big business and the government are bedfellows scratching each others backs (big sugar, the corn lobby, big oil, the automakers, other agribusinesses such as dairy, telecom, Silicon Valley and other tech companies, the military-industrial complex, and commercial aviation to name just a few: Boeing straddles the last two industries).
In comparison, Canada has more hybrid approach somewhere between a market economy and a command economy practically necessitated by the confluence having a large land area, a relatively small population, and an economic, cultural, and military powerhouse for a next-door neighbour. And yes, similar sort of mutual government/business back-scratching does occur in Canada. However, most if not all of the policies that Canada has is mostly to prevent itself from being economically and culturally drowned-out/overwhelmed (do notice that I left out militarily). In spite of the investments that the various levels of Canadian government make, they readily allow foreign investors and corporations to buy or merge with large, iconic Canadian businesses after assessing the impact through mandatory reviews much like US Congress does (Molson Coors, Target buying Zellers from the Hudson's Bay company, and Wendy's merging with Tim Horton's, Tim Horton's later repatriating itself, then merging again with Burger King.
TL;DR There is nothing inherently wrong with looking out for your own best interests. But, there is something wrong with the pot calling the kettle black (hypocrisy).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molson_Brewery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molson_Coors_Brewing_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zellers#2010.E2.80.932013:_Lea...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hortons