Trumponomics Sweeps Ontario, Canada -- July 6, 2018

Trade war metric to watch: Chinese banks. Watch for bank failures in China. See also this story. [Later: I posted that note earlier this morning; now this afternoon, 5:10 p.m. CDT, Jim Cramer practically said the same thing. He has no concerns about the "trade war" which some have said is a "trade skirmish" and others have gone so far as to call it "renewed trade negotiations."

Trans Mountain Pipeline: presses on.

Ontario's premier: "cap and trade" nothing more than a cash grab -- wow -- yes, that Ontario; capital city, Toronto --

• the premier says the province will end its cap-and-trade program
• said it was nothing more than a government cash grab that did not help the environment
• "taxes suck, even if they have a bogus feel-good rationale"

If you do't trust that link, then this is the Reuters link, and if you can't trust Reuters, who can you trust?

• the newly elected Ontario government announced on Tuesday it would end the province’s cap-and-trade program, a policy designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fulfilling one of Premier Doug Ford’s election promises
• it leaves businesses that bought C$2.8 billion ($2.1 billion) worth of allowances in limbo
• Ford’s Progressive Conservative government swept to power last month, ending 15 years of Liberal rule in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and the country’s economic engine, with a promise to cut corporate and personal taxes
• the government said it would immediately start an orderly wind-down of all programs funded out of cap-and-trade carbon tax revenues but agreed to honour certain contracts that have already been signed

Australia may soon join Ontario. Link here. 

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Fact-Checking Reuters

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Coding Isn't Just For Techies Any More

From FastCompany, back in 2016:

Coding has become a core skill that bolsters a candidate’s chances of commanding a high salary. Jobs that require coding skills pay up to $22,000 per year more, on average.

Nearly half (49%) of all jobs that pay more than $58,000 require some coding skills.

What’s most in demand? The highest demand is for programming languages with broad applicability. Other skills in demand include:

• SQL – Databases
• Java -General purpose programming
• Javascript -Web development
• Linux – Computer system operations
• XML – General purpose programming
• C++ -General purpose programming, especially in engineering
• C# -General purpose programming
• Python -General purpose programming
• .NET -General purpose programming

Olivia, our 12-year-old granddaughter said this was one of the toughest courses, she has ever taken. She says she may need to "repeat" the course next summer.