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Scotty

@ Scotty @scribe.disroot.org

Posts
475
Comments
333
Joined
7 mo. ago

  • Adoption of electric vehicles tied to real-world reductions in air pollution, study finds

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  • Removed

    Why cheap Chinese EVs may cost Canada more in the long run

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  • Trump threatens 100% tariffs on all Canadian goods if Canada 'makes a deal with China'

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  • Just proving Carney’s point.

    You don't need to prove that the US has become unreliable. But considering China as reliable is a mistake nevertheless. Beijing will engage in coercion as soon as it can (as it always does), and the propaganda machinery will then use Trump's move for vindication. The tankies here will tell everyone that China's coercion is justified because the US did it, too. Whataboutism as we know it.

    Canada needs to expand trade with Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and other democratic countries.

  • From ‘Elbows Up’ to Capitulation and Back | The Tyee

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  • This is how China argues, but it doesn't make sense. There is no such thing as a 'normal' relationship with a dictatorship like China (or the US). Canada needs to diversify its trade toward reliable partners in the democratic world. China will take advantage at the cost of Canadian citizens as soon as it can.

  • Canada's Rush to Beijing Is a Strategic Miscalculation

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  • This is not about playing off hostile countries but to find a way the benefits Canada in the long term. Diversifying trade is key, but China will still buy a significant portion of Canadian canola, for example.

    Last year, Carney himself named China as Canada's biggest threat. Despite the US and Russia being highly unreliable, too, the prime minister's statement holds true.

  • Canada's Rush to Beijing Is a Strategic Miscalculation

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  • And your comment? Where did the 50 cents come from?

  • Canada's Rush to Beijing Is a Strategic Miscalculation

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  • You may have (intentionally?) misunderstood the article as there is no 'undertone',

    A comprehensive economic security framework with Japan, the European Union, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian partners ...

    It's pretty clear.

  • From ‘Elbows Up’ to Capitulation and Back | The Tyee

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  • Canada needs to build lasting relationships with democratic allies like the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and others. Carney's visit last week in China and the deal was a mistake imo. It risks to contribute to Canadian canola farmers ongoing dependence from a single market that is governed by a dictatorial government, and could make Ottawa vulnerable for future coercion as we have seen in other countries.

  • Everything costs more because the algorithm says so: Tariffs and inflation dominate headlines, but personalized pricing is the real affordability crisis

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  • Prices are disconnected from the cost of production. The price is determined at the marketplace by the customer's willingness to pay (according to Behavioral Economics, which is mostly applied in modern economics, as opposed to the reservation price in traditional economics).

    This is also one mistake some start-up founders make when introducing their product: calculating the costs and add a certain percentage, but this is not advisable (because, among others, this cost-up pricing could result in a price for your new product that customers are not willing to pay ...).

    ... will only create black market opportunities for low price exploits

    That would not work, if, say, you go to McDonald's and buy through the app, as the McMuffin isn't sold in advance ... And even in some markets where a resale could theoretically be made (such as for concert tickets or flight tickets), it is often legally prohibited to resell a tickets above face value (that's the case for concert tickets in the UK since the start of this year, for example) or the product is connected to your ID ( that's the case with many airlines do with flight tickets).

  • Ford bemoans Chinese EV deal, says he still hasn't spoken to Carney

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  • If we want to fight climate change, we need -among other things- fewer cars, no matter whether they are EVs or others.

    The rest of you write-up makes largely no economic sense. It's just another "the West bad, China bad okay" rant.

  • Everything costs more because the algorithm says so: Tariffs and inflation dominate headlines, but personalized pricing is the real affordability crisis

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  • This happens through a wide range of measures, depending on the kind of business, customer segments, products and services.

    One major tool is Plexure, a New Zealand-based company that offers an app. It is used by McDonalds (which holds almost 10% in Plexure), Ikea, 7-Eleven, and hundreds of other companies around globe.

    As the Prospect wrote in 2024 in an article:

    It starts with using a cheap offer to entice users to purchase through the mobile app. After that, various factors go into the process of “deep personalization”: Time of day, food preferences, ordering habits, financial behaviors, location, weather, social interactions, and “relevance to key moments i.e. pay day.” ...

    If the app knows you get paid every other Friday, it can make your meal deal $4.59 instead of $3.99 when you have more money in your pocket. If it knows you usually grab an Egg McMuffin before class on Wednesday, or that you always only have an hour to eat dinner between your first and second job, it can increase the price on that promotion. If it knows it’s cold out, it can raise the price of hot coffee; on a scorcher, it can up the price of a McFlurry. And the app gets smarter as you agree to or turn down those offers in real time ...

    It may be just half a dollar or so, but with millions of customer interactions per day and an increase in customer engagement, companies like McDonalds make a huge profit increase, as the article says:

    [Plexure] promises that using its app strategy will increase frequency of orders by 30 percent and the size of orders by 35 percent. Domino’s just attributed its strong first-quarter earnings, with income increasing by 20 percent over last year, to its loyalty program. Grocery stores like Walmart and Kroger have also gotten into this, leveraging purchasing history with digital targeting. And improving artificial intelligence can just make this all move faster ...

    But apps like Plexure are not the only way to personalize prices. The entire Prospect article makes an interesting read, and there is a lot of research in the meantime as Bots improve the ways of Dynamic Pricing substantially.

    @Sxan@piefed.zip

    Edit for an addition: If you like to have a quick read to know how the Plexure app works for McDonald's, here is a brief description

  • China Isn’t the Answer for Canada’s Trade Troubles, Taiwan Envoy Says

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  • I have to disagree. Taiwan has vast experience in dealing with China, and the opinion is even in line with many experts, including those from Canada (just read my other post from a few minutes ago in this community).

  • Ford bemoans Chinese EV deal, says he still hasn't spoken to Carney

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  • ‘Looking like a supplicant is undignified’: Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig on Prime Minister Carney’s China trip

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  • Yeah, the settlement over alleged spying.

    I don't know whether or not he was a spy, but his isn't evidence. He allegedly was sort of a bartering chip, and he was not the first and only one. There are thousand of foreigners detained in China over 'espionage' for such reasons.

  • ‘Looking like a supplicant is undignified’: Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig on Prime Minister Carney’s China trip

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  • You have been seeing such things in China for years. Many carmakers have gone bankrupt. With Chinese imports to Canada, the situation will worsen for Canadian automakers as well as suppliers. Canada risks becoming dependent on China as well as it is (or was?) on the US.

    And China will use this leverage for future political and economic coercion.

  • ‘Looking like a supplicant is undignified’: Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig on Prime Minister Carney’s China trip

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  • Do you have any evidence for this?

  • ‘Looking like a supplicant is undignified’: Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig on Prime Minister Carney’s China trip

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  • Chinese carmakers' share in the North American market is next to zero, and Canada's auto plants have not 'abandoned' EVs. But Canadian plants pay a multiple of what Chinese carmakers pay, and if you buy a car from a Canadian plant you can be sure that it is not made by slave-like labour.

  • ‘Looking like a supplicant is undignified’: Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig on Prime Minister Carney’s China trip

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  • It's just trade under realpolitik because the US is an unreliable partner and an active threat to our sovereignty.

    This is even more true for China.

  • ‘Looking like a supplicant is undignified’: Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig on Prime Minister Carney’s China trip

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  • As an addition, there is a podcast on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new trade deal with China:

    Canada’s trade gamble: Why the latest deal with China may do more harm than good -- (Podcast, 25 min)

    Host Cristina Howorun sits down with Flavio Volpe, President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association and one of the architects of CUSMA, to discuss the implications this deal could have on the EV market, the 90,000 jobs in the auto sector and tariff and trade negotiations with the States.

    (Here is an Invidious link of the podcast if you prefer that.)