As a citizen of the U.S. I loudly and enthusiastically applaud Canada and Europe for EVERYTHING they do to disengage from the oligarchs trying to wrest control of my country and the world out of the hands of the citizenry. Bravo, y'all. Thank you. Sincerely. Keep up the good work!
Canada is propping up AI investment in the USA. You may want to look at what the Canada Pension plan Investment Board is doing. They are enabling the Techbros
You are really misunderstanding this. Replacing a payments infrastructure is not about disengaging from the oligarchs. This is the first step we are taking to remove the US$ as the reserve currency. This is about a long term strategy of dedollarisation. Every single major country is doing the same. This is about weakening the USA for good. No new POTUS will stop the US decline globally.,The ECB has agreed the USA can no longer be trusted and this is a step towards truely divesting financially from the USA. When in place, the negative economic impact on the USA will be felt by every US citizen. The ECB (along with other central banks) is now replacing US$ with gold. Europe, in particular Germany, is removing its gold reserves stored in the USA. Europe is talking with BRICS+ who have developed a new prototype payments system that does not use the US$ for trade. Already the EU and partners have started to trade in local currencies and not the defacto US$. Europe, China and Japan have started to dump US Treasury bonds - Japan, UK and China are the biggest holders of US debt. The US economy is artificially propped up currently by AI investments. If (when) that pops the fear is the USA won’t be willing to pay it’s debt. BTW, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has invested approximately $416 million CAD (roughly $300 million USD) into Elon Musk's xAI to develop AI data centers. Canada is your biggest investor in AI. Canadian pension funds (the "Maple Eight") have increased their holdings in US public data center and digital infrastructure firms to over $6.6 billion USD. Canada isn’t disengaging, they are propping up your Techbros
You are correct in realizing that Trump broke the very soul of the American belief that we were and still are the savior of the western world. Too much money made our own American oligarchs believe that, having bought the government, they could own the world.
We are all lucky that at the time when the world needs them most brilliant thinkers and leaders like Carney, Mertz, Tuck, and Zelenskyy are here to show us true financial, economic, and unified wisdom.
Thank you for this post. It was enlightening. The rest of the world is moving at lightning speed to get away from us. I don’t blame them at all. Our government has shown them we are a completely unreliable partner. They’ve given us enough chances to regain our sanity. I don’t recognize my own country any more.
I lose ~3.5% every time my customer charges something using STRIPE. In fact, it's cheaper to give my customers a discount if they will use the local payment app.
Canada clears the majority of everyday transactions in CAD through its own systems... that’s the whole point of Interac and domestic clearing networks.
USD dominance is mainly a cross-border and reserve currency issue, not local settlement.
Not only to I agree, but I suggested it in a post on a different thread. There is no great difference between having a sovereign credit card system and a sovereign financial system. If you have a sovereign currency you can set your own rules, but if you don't then you are dependant on someone else's good will.
I've been reaching out to Canadian Banks, my question: When is CANADA going to offer a credit card or online payment system which does not rely on the visa or mastercard of the USA? How can I disconnect my finances from the USA and still have a credit card?
That’s a question a lot of people are starting to ask.
Canada has domestic debit infrastructure (Interac), but credit cards are different... they rely on global networks like Visa and Mastercard for acceptance worldwide.
Building a fully domestic credit system would be possible, but it would require major coordination between banks, government, and merchants. Europe is exploring this right now.
For the moment, Interac and bank transfers are the closest thing to keeping transactions inside Canada.
In a story on the Radio Canada website, the Canadian judge on the International Criminal Court sanctioned by the US for investigating wrongdoing by US personnel in Afganistan tells her story. She is not sanctioned for any crimes, she is sanctioned for doing her job and daring to investigate US personnel’s aledged criminal wrongdoing. She lives in Europe and due to the unjustified American sanctions she, along with her family can no longer use the service of a bank and her accounts are frozen. This is the impact of overreach by the US banking system. I hope that Canada will also join the EU’s initiative
In Europe the debit card is much more used than in the states as the idea of debt is somewhat different as it should be entered into with reluctance. Cash of course is still king in some parts ( Germany for example) but electronic payment is inevitable. Europe should have European systems and these exist.
And that’s the bigger point Nigel... if payments are going digital anyway, there’s no reason Europe should route everything through Visa and Mastercard.
Infrastructure equals leverage. Might as well own your own rails.
This is a trend that makes me very nervous—I don’t like giving someone direct access to my bank account for payment! How long before someone figures out some kind of “double dip” maneuver to come back and empty it? With a credit card in between you have a buffer, and they have to refund your money if there’s fraud. If someone takes your money with with your debit card, it’s just gone.
My TD bank card is Visa, as is my wife's CIBC card. I told them I didn't want to replace my non-Visa card with a Visa one after the machine ate my card, but there wasn't a choice.
Very wise and extremely interesting that Europe has done this. Now Canada needs to do it although this is going to be a little bit harder because we're closer in proximity to the US and don't have that big ocean in between like Europe does.
Interac does a great job, but we still need an online payment form for Canada.
How do we get past our credit card addiction? Interact is great but you have to have the money in the bank. I don’t see us weaning ourselves off credit cards and that is a hard brake on reduced Visa and Mastercard usage.
Yes .. and to add .. you can really enjoy a life with less. You don’t have to be minimalist .. but honestly .. it can change the dynamics of your life. Less clutter … less debt ..
I hear you. I format for mobile and skim-readers... which is most of us these days. If it feels spaced out, that’s intentional. But I appreciate you sticking through it.
Interesting - but EXHAUSTING to read, with all those different sized, single line fonts. Please just write in paragraphs. It’s the way we think and the way we speak (unless we’re a politician trying to scare people).
In the end, it's just trading one master with another...bankers are going to fk us over as they don't have loyalties, allegiances or even being remotely patriotic to anyone. Except wealth, of course.
And as long as there is virtually no limit of data mining (as in if in doubt, better kneel before the real masters instead of limiting their powers), not to mention that RuSSia, Kingdom of Trumpistan and Emperor Xi's China had already implanted some digital spies within the systems for sure.
BTW, German banks had announced to give up Mastercard on ATM cards long ago (2022?), and with around 450 mil. Europeans, just a tenth of them are using WERO as (at least in Germany) you can only transfer money from one private account to another at this moment.
Hate to say this (seriously!), but as long as our so-called political leaders are weaseling around instead of directly confronting the enemies with direct consequences (like, telling Trump where he can shove his tariffs and all his other brainfarts as one example)...welcome to the new age which makes the Cold War looking like a snowball fight among kids.
Bankers have always chased incentives more than flags... that part isn’t new.
What is new is countries realizing how dangerous it is to depend on someone else’s financial plumbing.
Alternatives like WERO or regional payment rails aren’t about trading one master for another… they’re about not having a single master at all.
And the spy stuff?
Every major power is already inside everyone else’s systems.
That’s been reality for years. The only defense is stronger domestic capability and redundancy... not pretending it isn’t happening.
We are moving into a colder world again, no question. But power now comes from supply chains, finance, and technology alliances... not whoever shouts the loudest on TV.
The major problem/malfunction of the world as it is now is that it is descending into some kind of apocalypse - the signs are all there (money and/or ruthlessness ruling the world, overreliance on technologies we barely can control, people are becoming more and more indifferent or openly hostile etc.) , including the notion that only a few are seeing them.
I mean, at least to me it looks like "Idiocracy meets Mad Max" (the 1979 version) - I like both flicks but never was that keen on living in them actually. Well, I give myself about 20 more years of lifetime and hope that me and my folks will be spared from the full outbreak though with each new day breaking, this hope is waning...
As a citizen of the U.S. I loudly and enthusiastically applaud Canada and Europe for EVERYTHING they do to disengage from the oligarchs trying to wrest control of my country and the world out of the hands of the citizenry. Bravo, y'all. Thank you. Sincerely. Keep up the good work!
Cheryl... that means more to me than you probably realize.
This was never “Canada vs. America.”
It’s regular people vs. the handful of guys trying to buy the board and flip the table.
Most of us... on both sides of the border... just want the same boring stuff like...
steady work, honest government, and not getting fleeced by billionaires with ego problems.
The loud ones make it sound like we’re enemies.
We’re not... Period!
We’re neighbours looking over the same fence saying,
“Yeah… something smells off.”
Appreciate you saying it out loud.
We’re pulling for you too. 🇨🇦🤝🇺🇸
Another U.S. citizen. I completely agree with you. Ive worked and traveled extensively in Canada. Love you people.
Canada is propping up AI investment in the USA. You may want to look at what the Canada Pension plan Investment Board is doing. They are enabling the Techbros
CPP is a global pension fund whose job is to earn returns for Canadians, not to subsidize national industries.
They invest in U.S. tech for the same reason everyone else does... performance.
The bigger conversation is whether Canada should build stronger domestic AI capacity so pension money has more Canadian opportunities to invest in.
You are really misunderstanding this. Replacing a payments infrastructure is not about disengaging from the oligarchs. This is the first step we are taking to remove the US$ as the reserve currency. This is about a long term strategy of dedollarisation. Every single major country is doing the same. This is about weakening the USA for good. No new POTUS will stop the US decline globally.,The ECB has agreed the USA can no longer be trusted and this is a step towards truely divesting financially from the USA. When in place, the negative economic impact on the USA will be felt by every US citizen. The ECB (along with other central banks) is now replacing US$ with gold. Europe, in particular Germany, is removing its gold reserves stored in the USA. Europe is talking with BRICS+ who have developed a new prototype payments system that does not use the US$ for trade. Already the EU and partners have started to trade in local currencies and not the defacto US$. Europe, China and Japan have started to dump US Treasury bonds - Japan, UK and China are the biggest holders of US debt. The US economy is artificially propped up currently by AI investments. If (when) that pops the fear is the USA won’t be willing to pay it’s debt. BTW, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has invested approximately $416 million CAD (roughly $300 million USD) into Elon Musk's xAI to develop AI data centers. Canada is your biggest investor in AI. Canadian pension funds (the "Maple Eight") have increased their holdings in US public data center and digital infrastructure firms to over $6.6 billion USD. Canada isn’t disengaging, they are propping up your Techbros
You are correct in realizing that Trump broke the very soul of the American belief that we were and still are the savior of the western world. Too much money made our own American oligarchs believe that, having bought the government, they could own the world.
We are all lucky that at the time when the world needs them most brilliant thinkers and leaders like Carney, Mertz, Tuck, and Zelenskyy are here to show us true financial, economic, and unified wisdom.
Thank you for this post. It was enlightening. The rest of the world is moving at lightning speed to get away from us. I don’t blame them at all. Our government has shown them we are a completely unreliable partner. They’ve given us enough chances to regain our sanity. I don’t recognize my own country any more.
Move there, then. That would be better for everyone.
Personal attacks don’t really move the conversation forward.
The point was solidarity between ordinary people, not politics.
You’re an idiot!
Personal attacks don’t really move the conversation forward.
The point was solidarity between ordinary people, not politics.
You first.
Already have!!😂
Canada we need to do this too get off american payment systems
You’re not wrong.
People think “payment systems” are just plastic cards…
but they’re actually leverage.
If your money runs through someone else’s pipes…
they control the valve.
That’s why Canada built Interac in the first place.
It keeps a huge chunk of everyday transactions inside the country instead of skimming fees to Visa and Mastercard.
Same idea Europe’s pushing now... local rails, local control.
It’s not anti-American.
It’s pro-sovereignty.
When your neighbour starts acting unpredictable, you don’t cut ties…
you just stop running your house extension cord through their garage.
Smart countries build their own outlets.
Owning the rails is ground zero for a country’s financial peace of mind. Nothing replaces that level of control, and it shouldn’t be given away.
And have you seen Visa’s fee schedule lately?
ooooh! I have!! I have!
I lose ~3.5% every time my customer charges something using STRIPE. In fact, it's cheaper to give my customers a discount if they will use the local payment app.
…uh you do know that payment and settlement rails are USD so that’s not going to change
Domestic payment rails operate in local currency.
Canada clears the majority of everyday transactions in CAD through its own systems... that’s the whole point of Interac and domestic clearing networks.
USD dominance is mainly a cross-border and reserve currency issue, not local settlement.
Inter country correct. However all crypto and international all USD…
In the meantime, use cash when you can.
For Mom and Pop shops, I've switched to cash.
The extortionate charges on small businesses by credit card companies take a massive bite out of the bottom line of small businesses.
Not only to I agree, but I suggested it in a post on a different thread. There is no great difference between having a sovereign credit card system and a sovereign financial system. If you have a sovereign currency you can set your own rules, but if you don't then you are dependant on someone else's good will.
You’re exactly right... and most people don’t connect those dots.
A credit card network isn’t just plastic and points.
It’s plumbing.
Same as payments, clearing, banking rails.
If someone else owns the plumbing… they own the faucet.
And sooner or later you’re asking permission to turn the water on.
That’s why the old Mastercard roots in Bank of Montreal matter historically... we actually helped build part of the system instead of just renting it.
And like you said, it’s the same logic as currency.
If Canada controls its own currency, its own payment rails, its own financial rules?
We set the terms.
If we outsource all that?
We’re basically tenants hoping the landlord’s in a good mood.
Most of sovereignty isn’t flags and speeches.
It’s boring back-end stuff like this.
Payment systems. Settlement systems. Trade routes.
The quiet mechanics.
Not sexy… but absolutely critical.
Funny how the “boring” pieces are the ones that actually decide who’s independent and who isn’t.
I've been reaching out to Canadian Banks, my question: When is CANADA going to offer a credit card or online payment system which does not rely on the visa or mastercard of the USA? How can I disconnect my finances from the USA and still have a credit card?
That’s a question a lot of people are starting to ask.
Canada has domestic debit infrastructure (Interac), but credit cards are different... they rely on global networks like Visa and Mastercard for acceptance worldwide.
Building a fully domestic credit system would be possible, but it would require major coordination between banks, government, and merchants. Europe is exploring this right now.
For the moment, Interac and bank transfers are the closest thing to keeping transactions inside Canada.
In a story on the Radio Canada website, the Canadian judge on the International Criminal Court sanctioned by the US for investigating wrongdoing by US personnel in Afganistan tells her story. She is not sanctioned for any crimes, she is sanctioned for doing her job and daring to investigate US personnel’s aledged criminal wrongdoing. She lives in Europe and due to the unjustified American sanctions she, along with her family can no longer use the service of a bank and her accounts are frozen. This is the impact of overreach by the US banking system. I hope that Canada will also join the EU’s initiative
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2224567/juge-canadienne-cpi-kimberly-prost-sanctions-etats-unis
When a country can freeze your life with a keystroke, it’s not “convenience infrastructure” anymore.
It’s power.
And smart nations don’t hand that power to someone else.
It's ridiculous that the US can arbitrarily do something like this. Even after the Pylon is gone the threat still exists.
When another country can freeze your bank account with a keystroke, that’s not partnership... that’s dependence.
Smart nations eventually build their own rails.
In Europe the debit card is much more used than in the states as the idea of debt is somewhat different as it should be entered into with reluctance. Cash of course is still king in some parts ( Germany for example) but electronic payment is inevitable. Europe should have European systems and these exist.
And that’s the bigger point Nigel... if payments are going digital anyway, there’s no reason Europe should route everything through Visa and Mastercard.
Infrastructure equals leverage. Might as well own your own rails.
This is a trend that makes me very nervous—I don’t like giving someone direct access to my bank account for payment! How long before someone figures out some kind of “double dip” maneuver to come back and empty it? With a credit card in between you have a buffer, and they have to refund your money if there’s fraud. If someone takes your money with with your debit card, it’s just gone.
Canada and Mexico need to do this too
Smart countries eventually stop renting critical systems and start owning them.
Payments, energy, food, minerals… same rule everywhere.
Fred, what does Canada need to do?
My TD bank card is Visa, as is my wife's CIBC card. I told them I didn't want to replace my non-Visa card with a Visa one after the machine ate my card, but there wasn't a choice.
Yeah… and that’s exactly how dependency sneaks in.
Not dramatic.
Just...
“Sorry, that’s the only card we issue now.”
Next thing you know, everything runs through Visa Inc. or Mastercard, whether you like it or not.
Your bank logo says TD Bank Group or CIBC…
…but the rails underneath are foreign.
Which means the real control sits somewhere else.
Most people think it’s just convenience.
But it’s actually infrastructure.
And infrastructure equals leverage.
Nothing wrong with Visa or Mastercard themselves... they work fine.
It’s just risky when everything funnels through two or three pipes.
Because then it’s not a market anymore.
It’s a dependency.
Funny how sovereignty isn’t flags and speeches…
It’s boring stuff like “who runs the payment network.”
Not exciting... but hugely important.
America is losing all sorts of businesses. That suits Putin just fine. Tell me again just what a great businessman that gangster is?
Yeah… turns out bankrupting casinos isn’t the résumé most countries look for in an economic strategist.
How about Bessent and his hedge fund! You are so fortunate to have Carney and even elevated him.
Trump is destroying our country from the inside out.
I get why it feels that way.
When you watch the chaos day after day, it can look like demolition.
But I try not to frame it as “the end.”
More like damage that needs repairing.
Big difference.
Donald Trump isn’t some master villain with a wrecking ball.
It’s more basic than that.
Short-term thinking.
Ego decisions.
Burning trust with allies.
That stuff doesn’t “destroy” a country overnight…
…but it does weaken it from the inside.
Institutions.
Goodwill.
Stability.
Those take decades to build and minutes to chip away.
The good news?
They can be rebuilt too.
History’s full of countries that went through messy, loud periods and still came out fine.
Democracies bend. They don’t usually break.
Ugly chapter? Yeah.
Final chapter? I doubt it.
I hope you're right!
Very wise and extremely interesting that Europe has done this. Now Canada needs to do it although this is going to be a little bit harder because we're closer in proximity to the US and don't have that big ocean in between like Europe does.
Interac does a great job, but we still need an online payment form for Canada.
I’ve always thought Interac is one of those quiet Canadian success stories.
Works great. Low drama. Just does the job.
Now we just need the online version so we stop renting everyone else’s pipes.
Yes I agree with you
How do we pump up Interact and lower use fees? I know my bank charges per use often, some fees seem high too.
Does interact have any credit options too?
Who manages interact and what are their near term plans?
How do we get past our credit card addiction? Interact is great but you have to have the money in the bank. I don’t see us weaning ourselves off credit cards and that is a hard brake on reduced Visa and Mastercard usage.
We probably don’t eliminate credit cards... we just need a strong Canadian option so we’re not dependent on foreign rails for everything.
Choice equals leverage.
.. but we can try .. not a hard brake — just weening off .. .. and let the addictions settle down .. spend more within our means ..
Exactly.
Same idea for countries too... less dependence, more self-reliance.
Works for households and economies.
Yes .. and to add .. you can really enjoy a life with less. You don’t have to be minimalist .. but honestly .. it can change the dynamics of your life. Less clutter … less debt ..
Hers a thought.
While you are contemplating the 26/27 tax filing strike to defund the government that won’t defund ICE…
Run up your credit card purchasing silver, and then drift it out the car window on your road to freedom.
Revolutions do not need to be fought with guns and bullets. But with $ and sense.
🌀✌️
Real change usually comes from building smarter systems, not blowing up your own life.
Slow and boring tends to win.
Ah Fred, it’s ok,
Not, Much ado about nothing.
I’m talking Revolution, not 401 k’s
The 26/27 Tax strike is being set for next year.
The ICE funded prison camps should be complete by then …. Just saying that this isn’t a drill. I thought you had that part figured out.
Love your work btw. Keep up the good work.
Always be prepared
✌️🗽
interesting....https://wero-wallet.eu/ Is this like the app in the US- VENMO which allows people to send and receive money between people. business?
Same idea as Venmo. Different plumbing.
thank you. that’s what this dinosaur thought…
I hope Wero goes further than the EU in the nearest future. Citizens in other countries would jump to an alternative payment option.
If accurate, this is huge! We could be done for with this. Pay attention people.
I can’t blame them. We created Trump and then gave him power. Twice. FAFO, America.
Interesting, but article is too long and unstructured. Don’t need spaces between every sentence. Make your point and stop.
I hear you. I format for mobile and skim-readers... which is most of us these days. If it feels spaced out, that’s intentional. But I appreciate you sticking through it.
Interesting - but EXHAUSTING to read, with all those different sized, single line fonts. Please just write in paragraphs. It’s the way we think and the way we speak (unless we’re a politician trying to scare people).
Hi Jane... I appreciate you saying that.
You’re right, it’s not conventional formatting. I write in shorter bursts intentionally... it’s how I think and how I like to read.
It won’t be everyone’s preference, and that’s okay.
Thanks for reading and engaging either way.
I *like* your "bursts"! And I'm older than you are.
Good morning Fred.. not your topic today, but here is a giggle for you.
https://substack.com/@cantstandoompaloompa/note/c-212944397?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=7dp3i8
In the end, it's just trading one master with another...bankers are going to fk us over as they don't have loyalties, allegiances or even being remotely patriotic to anyone. Except wealth, of course.
And as long as there is virtually no limit of data mining (as in if in doubt, better kneel before the real masters instead of limiting their powers), not to mention that RuSSia, Kingdom of Trumpistan and Emperor Xi's China had already implanted some digital spies within the systems for sure.
BTW, German banks had announced to give up Mastercard on ATM cards long ago (2022?), and with around 450 mil. Europeans, just a tenth of them are using WERO as (at least in Germany) you can only transfer money from one private account to another at this moment.
Hate to say this (seriously!), but as long as our so-called political leaders are weaseling around instead of directly confronting the enemies with direct consequences (like, telling Trump where he can shove his tariffs and all his other brainfarts as one example)...welcome to the new age which makes the Cold War looking like a snowball fight among kids.
Bankers have always chased incentives more than flags... that part isn’t new.
What is new is countries realizing how dangerous it is to depend on someone else’s financial plumbing.
Alternatives like WERO or regional payment rails aren’t about trading one master for another… they’re about not having a single master at all.
And the spy stuff?
Every major power is already inside everyone else’s systems.
That’s been reality for years. The only defense is stronger domestic capability and redundancy... not pretending it isn’t happening.
We are moving into a colder world again, no question. But power now comes from supply chains, finance, and technology alliances... not whoever shouts the loudest on TV.
Noise feels strong. Strategy actually is.
The major problem/malfunction of the world as it is now is that it is descending into some kind of apocalypse - the signs are all there (money and/or ruthlessness ruling the world, overreliance on technologies we barely can control, people are becoming more and more indifferent or openly hostile etc.) , including the notion that only a few are seeing them.
I mean, at least to me it looks like "Idiocracy meets Mad Max" (the 1979 version) - I like both flicks but never was that keen on living in them actually. Well, I give myself about 20 more years of lifetime and hope that me and my folks will be spared from the full outbreak though with each new day breaking, this hope is waning...