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Making Sense of the Markets this week: June 26 + MORE Jun 24th
It was the week of April 3, 2022, when I signed off from writing the “Making sense of the markets” column. It is wonderful to be back filling in for Kyle Prevost (he’s on vacation), who took over the column. Kyle’s insights and writing give the column a nice jolt. I am so glad to see it in g.... More »
How to buy bitcoin in Canada (and find out where, too) Sep 25th
Canadian investors interested in buying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have two main options: crypto ETFs and buying crypto directly. Let’s look at both options.
Buying bitcoin through an ETF
An ETF (exchange-traded fund) is a “basket” of securities (groupings of individual stocks, o.... More »
How mutual funds grew to be a $1.5-trillion industry in Canada Oct 2nd
Don’t buy into deferred sales charges funds, you have the right to pay upfront commissions instead, writes Ellen Roseman..... More »
Average Canadian house price up 38% compared to last year, but down from March - CBC.ca Jun 15th
Average Canadian house price up 38% compared to last year, but down from March CBC.caCanadian real estate: CREA says sales fell in 80% of markets in May Yahoo Canada FinanceCanadian home sales fall 7.4% in May, average selling price also inches down from month before: CREA .... More »
Divorce and life insurance: How to make sure your family stays protected + MORE Feb 7th
Jay and Susan (not their real names) spent 15 years building a life together. They bought a house, adopted a dog and started a family—their two kids are the light of their lives. But due to a variety of reasons, they decided that they’d be better people, and better parents, separately rather tha.... More »
Why people never see populism coming
– macleans.ca
Mark Milke is author of A Nation of Serfs? How Canada’s Political Culture Corrupts Canadian Values
When some pundits, professors and politicians write or speak of populism, they often do so with a sneer and the assumption that populist voters are knuckle-dragging reactionaries with genetic stock firmly planted in the evolutionary Neanderthal period. You know the arguments and the attitude: a new politician cobbles together a coalition or platform defined by someone as populist and out come the rhetorical knives and eye-rolls.
Politicians in the past and present endured this treatment: Tommy Douglas, W.A.C. Bennett (his critics called him “wacky”), Ralph Klein, Mike Harris, Preston Manning and, more recently, Rob Ford and now Doug Ford.
Internationally, the politicians most associated with populism include Juan and Eva Peron in Argentina in the 1950s and 1970s, the American president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and the La Pen father-and-daughter National Front tag team in France over the last few decades…
When some pundits, professors and politicians write or speak of populism, they often do so with a sneer and the assumption that populist voters are knuckle-dragging reactionaries with genetic stock firmly planted in the evolutionary Neanderthal period. You know the arguments and the attitude: a new politician cobbles together a coalition or platform defined by someone as populist and out come the rhetorical knives and eye-rolls.
Politicians in the past and present endured this treatment: Tommy Douglas, W.A.C. Bennett (his critics called him “wacky”), Ralph Klein, Mike Harris, Preston Manning and, more recently, Rob Ford and now Doug Ford.
Internationally, the politicians most associated with populism include Juan and Eva Peron in Argentina in the 1950s and 1970s, the American president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and the La Pen father-and-daughter National Front tag team in France over the last few decades…
Is Vice ready for a post-bro CEO?
– macleans.ca
Vice’s newly appointed CEO has everything a druggie, start-up lad rag eyeing a slice of corporate respectability could want. Nancy Dubuc has a solid track record in television broadcast, experience as a CEO at A&E Networks, familiarity with Vice’s inner culture as a member of its board.
And, take note, she is not only a woman. She is also an adult.
Vice Media, struggling with allegations of sexual harassment and an exploitative corporate culture in a post Me Too world, needs the help. Founded in 1994 in Montreal, the sprawling media empire now has a predicted valuation of almost $6 billion U.S., and 3,000 employees in 30 companies. All of it built on a combination of edgy journalism, custom content, and a brand that bills itself as a representative of anti-establishment millennial culture.
Partially owned by a combination of the Walt Disney Media Corp., A&E Networks, 21st Century Fox, and co-founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi, among others, Vice now seems poised to cement itself into the global media hierarchy, with rumours of asset sales, or a possible IPO in the offing…
And, take note, she is not only a woman. She is also an adult.
Vice Media, struggling with allegations of sexual harassment and an exploitative corporate culture in a post Me Too world, needs the help. Founded in 1994 in Montreal, the sprawling media empire now has a predicted valuation of almost $6 billion U.S., and 3,000 employees in 30 companies. All of it built on a combination of edgy journalism, custom content, and a brand that bills itself as a representative of anti-establishment millennial culture.
Partially owned by a combination of the Walt Disney Media Corp., A&E Networks, 21st Century Fox, and co-founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi, among others, Vice now seems poised to cement itself into the global media hierarchy, with rumours of asset sales, or a possible IPO in the offing…
Mitch Joel is President of Mirum, a global digital marketing agency with offices in Toronto and Montreal and author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete.
Did Facebook hack the 2016 U.S. election? No. Did it swing the result? Probably. Did it do it on purpose? No, not likely. But this weekend, news reports bolster the view its data, which were not supposed to be shared, were central to the strategy of political consultants Cambridge Analytica to sway voters in favour of Donald Trump. What Facebook has actually done here is to confirm the death of privacy.
You could make the case Facebook is actually the victim here, after Cambridge Analytica weaponized someone else’s academic survey data by blending it with other available consumer data to create rich profiles on the behaviours and activities of 50 million American Facebook users and potential voters. But right now, many fingers are pointing at the firm and its CEO-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
The news broke hard over the weekend and the fallout has been fevered and far-reaching, extending far beyond a slide in Facebook shares that took as much as a US$5-billion bite out of Zuckerberg’s personal wealth in a matter of hours…
Did Facebook hack the 2016 U.S. election? No. Did it swing the result? Probably. Did it do it on purpose? No, not likely. But this weekend, news reports bolster the view its data, which were not supposed to be shared, were central to the strategy of political consultants Cambridge Analytica to sway voters in favour of Donald Trump. What Facebook has actually done here is to confirm the death of privacy.
You could make the case Facebook is actually the victim here, after Cambridge Analytica weaponized someone else’s academic survey data by blending it with other available consumer data to create rich profiles on the behaviours and activities of 50 million American Facebook users and potential voters. But right now, many fingers are pointing at the firm and its CEO-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
The news broke hard over the weekend and the fallout has been fevered and far-reaching, extending far beyond a slide in Facebook shares that took as much as a US$5-billion bite out of Zuckerberg’s personal wealth in a matter of hours…
