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Eric Apps posted thisI found some excerpts from the TD Waterhouse news feed today interesting....Lutnick and Hoekstra attempting to rattle chains on CUSMA negotiations, and looking a bit unhinged in the process..... loving the negotiating advice from the Art of the Deal masters Commerce Secretary Lutnick Says Trade Deal With Canada, Mexico Needs to Be ‘Reconsidered’ OTTAWA — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Friday that President Trump considers the present U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade treaty [which he negotiated] to be a poor deal that needs to be “reconsidered and reimagined.” Speaking at a conference organized by media outlet Semafor, Lutnick also harshly criticized Canada’s approach to the trade strategy with Washington, and efforts by Prime Minister Mark Carney to rekindle trade ties with China. “They suck,” Lutnick said. A Commerce Department spokesperson said the secretary was referring to the trade imbalance with Canada, and “how Canada sucks off of our $30 trillion economy.” The U.S. recorded in 2025 a trade deficit of $46.4 billion with Canada, largely due to energy shipments from western Canada to America. .........it’s a bad trade [deal],” Lutnick said. “There’s plenty of good in it, but there’s a huge amount of bad in it, and needs to be reconsidered for the benefit of America.” Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that the Trump administration had made progress in talks with Mexico but “we have some issues” with Canada “that haven’t been resolved yet.” [On the Canadian side]..... “We continue to remain engaged in conversations with them to resolve those issues,” LeBlanc said, although adding a resolution should be contingent on tariff relief for key sectors of the Canadian economy, like automobiles, steel and aluminum. “Carney has a problem with us. He gets on a plane and he goes to China. Does he think the Chinese economy is going to buy his stuff?” Lutnick asked conference attendees. “China is entirely export driven economy, right? So what did he do? He came back and said, ‘Oh, we’ll take their electric cars.’ I mean, is this nuts?” The Trump administration has threatened hefty tariffs on all Canadian exports should Ottawa strike a broad trade deal with China. Carney has said officials are not pursuing such a pact. Trump’s chief envoy in Ottawa, Pete Hoekstra, has said that Canadians who buy Chinese EVs won’t be allowed to enter the U.S. with those vehicles. ttps://https://lnkd.in/eYaDZAZ6
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Eric Apps shared thisInteresting...one suspects that (like ducks) those trying to manage US debt markets with the insatiable need to drum up demand for US debt issues, and drying up PetroDollar flowbacks, are paddling furiously beneath the surface, while trying to maintain a calm waters demeanor... Paulson should know...he was in the drivers seat the last time the US Fed had to bail out the market in 2008 - ironically though this time the Fed would be bailing out the US government. >>>>>>>>> Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is urging policymakers to prepare contingency measures to stabilize the government bond market in the event of a sudden drop in demand for U.S. Treasuries, warning such a scenario could trigger severe financial disruption. Paulson emphasized the importance of having a rapid-response plan ready to deploy if market conditions deteriorate. Unlike the 2008 financial crisis, he noted, today’s risks are tied more directly to the scale of federal debt and the government’s ongoing financing needs. He cautioned that a breakdown in the roughly $31 trillion Treasury market could create a dangerous feedback loop. As investors demand higher yields to compensate for rising fiscal risks, borrowing costs would climb, further expanding budget deficits and increasing the government’s reliance on debt issuance. In a worst-case scenario, Paulson suggested the Federal Reserve could become the primary buyer of government debt if private demand weakens significantly—an outcome that could drive bond prices lower and push interest rates higher. While the timing of such stress is uncertain, Paulson warned that the consequences could be abrupt and severe, underscoring the need for proactive planning. https://lnkd.in/gDVDuE2z
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Eric Apps posted thisI am finding it hard to square President Pelley's comments about the Leafs needing a "data driven" GM with their dismal 2025-2026 run. If the below 2 statements attributed to him are accurate, I would have thought that his next sentence would be of the falling on his sword variety. "Having failed, despite these resources, to ensure this was done, and in view of the result, I have tendered my resignation to the MLSE board so the organization can start afresh from the top down. Why is the board not firing this person. Wasn't this their job? Perhaps we'll see the "two-fer" with him along with Coach Berube after the season ends. Nothing personal, and no axe to grind. Just seems like management 101 to me....at least for sports organizations that want to ultimately build winning teams. As long as people from the top don't take accountability, its tough to get others to. >>>>>>> “The team is blessed with the best resources in hockey,” Pelley said. “I can emphatically tell you, with the greatest of confidence, that there are many teams competing next month in the Stanley Cup playoffs that their expenditures on hockey operations pales in comparison to the Toronto Maple Leafs. “But without the right structure, without the right processes in place, without the right culture, without the alignment and accountability among everyone inside the operation, we will not be successful.”
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Eric Apps shared thisI just heard the weirdest journalist question today about missing US scientists in Karoline Levitt's White House Briefing today......and then checked online and apparently it is a "thing".....it sounds like a conspiracy theory or the intro to a Tom Clancy novel but in today's America who knows...... Gemini As of April 2026, a concerning series of at least 8–10 deaths and disappearances involving US scientists, researchers, and military personnel with ties to sensitive defense, nuclear, or aerospace research has emerged. Key cases include retired Air Force Gen. William McCasland, rocket scientist Monica Reza, and Los Alamos employee Melissa Casias, prompting calls for FBI involvement. https://lnkd.in/egVbJQzuWho are the US scientists linked to NASA and military research vanished or died under unexplained circumstancesWho are the US scientists linked to NASA and military research vanished or died under unexplained circumstances
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Eric Apps shared this...Interesting to see how the cards are falling....there has been a pretty long themed view that "blow out IPOs" tend to be just that...happening at market peaks as sophisticated private investors monetize the in the money value of their long held at lower valuations private equity investments....in this case, where will ChatGPT land in the AI platform space...as the meat in the sandwich between Google (consumer markets) and Anthropic (corporate markets)...no mention of Microsoft here, or of whatever Elon's latest AI iteration is now called >>>>>> One investor who has backed both companies said that in order to underwrite an investment in OpenAI’s recent round, they would have to assume an IPO valuation of $1.2tn or more. That has become harder to justify given the cheaper proposition of buying into Anthropic, most recently valued at $380bn. The person added OpenAI risked being left “in no man’s land”. A recent flurry of deals, initiatives and abandoned projects is designed to reorient the company around a new strategy: defend ChatGPT’s dominance among consumers, while taking on Anthropic in the higher-margin market for corporate AI tools. Some OpenAI investors told the FT the changes could leave it vulnerable to Anthropic and a resurgent Google, all while preparing for a blockbuster initial public offering as early as this year.Eric Apps shared this(Yup...“You have ChatGPT, a 1bn-user business growing 50-100 per cent a year, what are you doing talking about enterprise and code?” said one early backer of OpenAI. “It’s a deeply unfocused company.”) OpenAI investors question $852bn valuation as strategy shifts Chief executive Sam Altman refocuses AI company as Anthropic tests its early lead One investor who has backed both companies said that in order to underwrite an investment in OpenAI’s recent round, they would have to assume an IPO valuation of $1.2tn or more. That has become harder to justify given the cheaper proposition of buying into Anthropic, most recently valued at $380bn. The person added OpenAI risked being left “in no man’s land”. A recent flurry of deals, initiatives and abandoned projects is designed to reorient the company around a new strategy: defend ChatGPT’s dominance among consumers, while taking on Anthropic in the higher-margin market for corporate AI tools. Some OpenAI investors told the FT the changes could leave it vulnerable to Anthropic and a resurgent Google, all while preparing for a blockbuster initial public offering as early as this year. The runaway success of Anthropic has precipitated a strategic rethink. The Claude-maker’s annualised revenue surged from $9bn at the end of 2025 to $30bn at the end of March, driven by demand for its coding tools. Anthropic’s business appears to have leapfrogged OpenAI, which hit $25bn in annualised revenue in February, though the companies use different accounting methods to book revenue, making direct comparison difficult. https://lnkd.in/effJQWcSOpenAI investors question $852bn valuation as strategy shiftsOpenAI investors question $852bn valuation as strategy shifts
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Eric Apps posted thisWho is going to be speaking truth to the American electorate in 2026...certainly not #garbagepresident I asked ChatGPT how it would solve the US federal deficit problem (annual debt approaching $2 trillion this year)....it took about 1 minute to answer and came back with 10 targeted policies (Prompt 1). I then asked it to forget "targeted" and simplify things and come back with across the board recommendations. Prompt 1 - you can do it yourself with ChatGPT or your fave AI and see the response.... Can you provide a set of 10 specific fiscal measures (tax increases and federal government spending cuts) the US federal government could implement to get to a balanced budget over the 4 year administration starting in 2028 that would not reduce the size of the active duty members of the US military and would not reduce US defence spending below that of the next 3 countries spending most on defence combined and that would not affect medical and social security entitlements for American veterans and seniors Prompt 2 - simplify things and focus on across the board measures combining tax increases and spending cuts Simplest Version Possible If you wanted the absolute simplest structure: Option A: 12% across-the-board income tax increase 2% payroll tax increase 15% cut to all non-protected spending OR Option B (Cleaner & More European Model): 5% VAT 1.5% payroll tax increase 10% cut to all non-defense, non-entitlement spending Core Tradeoff Reality Because: Social Security Medicare VA Active duty military size Defense spending floor are protected… The burden shifts heavily to: Working-age taxpayers Medicaid recipients Federal civilian programs State transfers Corporate sector Broad consumption There is no path to balance under those constraints that avoids broad-based tax increases and meaningful civilian spending compression. What This Looks Like in Aggregate If implemented together: Revenue Increases Income tax: ~$450B Payroll tax: ~$275B Corporate: ~$175B VAT (net): ~$350B Total: ~$1.2T annually Spending Reductions Non-defense discretionary: ~$275B Medicaid (non-senior): ~$100B Other mandatory: ~$175B Federal workforce freeze: ~$60B Grants reduction: ~$125B Growth caps: ~$175B Total: ~$900B annually Combined: ~$2.1T annual fiscal improvement That would be sufficient to close a ~$1.8T deficit with margin for forecasting error.
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Eric Apps posted this...wow....looks like everyone is racing to the center in the US....go figure.....timing is right to build a better America...Who is dumping the left-right ideological culture wars, pushing religion out of politics, and leading from the center...the question of the year in the run up to 2028...... >>>>>>>>>>> Rogan, who endorsed Trump a day before the 2024 presidential election, has become increasingly more critical of the president since he took office, pushing back against the U.S. strikes in the Middle East and the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics. He said during a podcast episode last week that he has felt “politically homeless” for some time, arguing the public was being manipulated by both Republicans and Democrats. “It’s so stupid,” Rogan said. “Neither one of them make any sense to me. We need like, a logical, centrist government that, like, just says there’s a lot of things that we should do to make this country a better place.”
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Eric Apps posted thisSigns of the times IMF today flashes warnings of global recession ahead....while US stock markets erase all the losses triggered by the Iran war. Meanwhile, back at the ranch....in downtown TO commercial brokers are pitching hard to fill empty space...at an average of (say) 5,000 sq ft per they would need 1,000 new businesses to get to 100% occupancy. Good news for people thinking about starting a new business...if you need the space that is...there are also certainly lots of great shared space options in downtown Toronto now as well....also nicely priced. >>>>> ....."The financial core currently has over 5 million square feet of availability, so there's strong negotiation power if you wanted to explore an early lease renewal. When a submarket has as much inventory as there is now, tenants have lots of leverage, especially during a corporate restructuring.
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Eric Apps shared thisI was appreciating the Toronto Public Library this weekend - a large organization, with a complex set of tasks, in an evolving business and technology environment, and being asked more often than in the past to perform a broader community social services role..... It is easy to be critical of what people think governments and their agencies get wrong, the successes are seldom celebrated. At less than $100 a year per resident of Toronto in taxpayer funding, TPL delivers massive returns for everyone and has been quietly excelling in its management of the organization and all of our needs for my entire lifetime in Toronto. Thanks to TPL, its board and all of its staff! https://lnkd.in/e9CFQM5R
Eric Apps commented on a post
18h
The Canadian government should be prioritizing digital government as a strategic priority and identifying and working (through procurement leverage and lighthouse customer status) with Canadian vendors of goods and services to build that competency for global markets.
As an example Dayforce (Ceridian) offered the Canadian payroll contract should have links to relocate Ceridian operations to Canada for government sector operations and build a global government and public sector payroll platform for export to world markets and the Government of Canada should have warrant upside in Ceridian. This is a multi-billion contract. Of course the government should have picked Dayforce a decade ago instead of IBM Phoenix...but that is another story.....
Don't ask. Don't get.
Public sector procurement professionals - as trustees for Canadian tax payers - need to get much more agressive and creative about how they use procurement leverage strategically.
Eric Apps replied to a comment
19h
Kate O'Connor I loved that...thanks for adding the humorous wrinkle...you are absolutely right....the clickbait / division crowd makes its living off up crap like this...permitting the echo chamber headline writers and soapbox posters to spout dumb crap...as a father of two accomplished daughters who I am very proud of, I roll my eyes at the small minded men out there (and there are legions of them) who feel the need to diminish others (regardless of sex) to feel better about themselves, rather than joining hands and moving forward constructively to build a better world we can leave for future generations....I am a glass half full person..we have a long way to go, but we have made good progress and just need to keep building on it.
Eric Apps replied to a comment
19h
This is of course good news and a great example. I was simply noting that just as we have acquired Australian over the horizon radar last year and are engaged with SaaB on the Gripen project, Finland on the icebreaker project and Korea/Germany on the subs project this is what will be one of many reciprocal transactions where Canada, EC and other middle power countries select technology solutions from reliable trade and security partners. Glad to see Canadian companies meeting the moment, measuring up, and participating in these important strategic initiatives.
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Eric Apps reacted on thisEric Apps reacted on thisI wanted to start blogging again but didn't want to produce AI slop. So I built a system where the AI interviews me instead of writing for me. It asks questions, I talk — literally, the first interview was hands-free while driving — and then a separate skill drafts the post from the transcript. With SKILL files for brainstorm, interview, draft, review, research, Claude does the prep, ChatGPT handles the voice interview, and the transcript comes back for drafting. One thing I added that I didn't see elsewhere: a researcher skill that can pause the interview, look something up, and fold it back into the conversation. First post is up — it's about the system itself. Skills are on GitHub if you want to try it. https://lnkd.in/gr8A7sWf https://lnkd.in/gWe3h7vwGitHub - wandir-tech/blog-interviewer: Some skills for AI assisted blogging using an interview techniqueGitHub - wandir-tech/blog-interviewer: Some skills for AI assisted blogging using an interview technique
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