The irony is that in 2028, a state with the same population as Canada might hold a referendum about leaving America. This trade dispute just might push California over the edge, and I am not talking about earthquakes.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/01/24/country-of-california-secession-newsom-trump/77907859007/

and more recently

https://theharvardpoliticalreview.com/calexit-california-independence/

If America is so out of control and beyond the reach of the Rule of Law and the Constitution that it can elect Trump (recall that he is considered to be potentially a traitor to the Constitution by the Supreme Court), then it is definitely within the realm of possibility that California could separate.

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[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

People aren't liabilities. Thinking this way is why US doesn't really have healthcare. Healthcare is a service, not a liability.

Do you consider infrastructure and the legal system to be liabilities because the budget of these things scale with the population size? Or are they just things the government is supposed to do?

So anyway, I don't want to live in a country that thinks my health is a liability.

[–] Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world 0 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

Morally you are right but fiscal reality is, both governments are going to take on a lot of unfunded liabilities that don’t mix well with their current financial structure. Making the talk of absorbing parts of Canada into the US or Canada taking on California or other states a moot point. No population is going to give up their current benefits.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah I think you're confusing countries with businesses. Any analysis from the perspective of a country being a business is inherently wrong.

Thinking money is real and people are abstractions has things totally the wrong way around.

If what you were saying were true, there would still be a separate West Germany and East Germany.

The reasons for Canada not being a part of the US or California separating from the US or it not making sense for California to be part of Canada has nothing to do with liabilities.

[–] Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world 1 points 11 minutes ago

I never said countries should be run like business. But they do have to be run responsibly. You can print money out of thin air… but print too much and you’ll have inflation print waaay to much and you’ll have hyper inflation. Investing tax dollars in a sector that brings in income is a great way to boost revenue. But focusing on one industry like oil production or AI will hurt other parts of the economy.

I very much doubt Canadians would give up their free healthcare or retirement. Which means the US would suddenly need to take on even larger amounts of debt to fund it. Taxpayers in the other 50 states would not want to foot the bill so that one new state could have free healthcare when they do not.

So yes you are right governments don’t need to be run like businesses. But they do have their fiscal limits as well. Germany spent A LOT of money over two decades integrating East and West Germany. But they had a common culture. While I think America and Canada have similar cultures they aren’t nearly as close as Germany’s.

This talk of integrating parts of either country is stupid because it fiscally

tax payers are only going to support so much.

[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 0 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

You sound like an accountant.

[–] Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world -1 points 22 hours ago

No, just a realist.