Canadian political debate on food prices focuses on taxes versus climate change, ignoring the core issue of grocery monopolies. Five corporations control 80% of the market, with a history of price-fixing. Both major parties receive significant donations from these families, explaining the lack of political will to address this root cause of inflation. https://dominionreview.ca/liberals-and-conservatives-avoid-mentioning-canadas-grocery-monopolies/ #canada #cdnpoli

Secret documents show Pepsi and Walmart colluded to raise food prices across the economy. The Trump FTC tried to hide a complaint showing Pepsi forced shoppers to pay higher prices everywhere but Walmart. But now it's unsealed. And the politics of affordability are explosive.

Secret Documents Show Pepsi and Walmart Colluded to Raise Food Prices Across the Economy

The Trump FTC tried to hide a complaint showing Pepsi forced shoppers to pay higher prices everywhere but Walmart. But now it's unsealed. And the p...

#usa #economy #capitalism

New 2025 military aid to Ukraine is on track to be the lowest since 2022. European pledges have sharply slowed, failing to offset the halted U.S. support. While Germany, France, and the UK increased aid, they still trail Nordic nations relative to GDP. Italy and Spain contributed very little, widening disparities and weakening Europe's overall response.

Ukraine Support Tracker: Europe fails to offset US aid drop

New aid allocations in 2025 might drop to their lowest level since the outbreak of the war in 2022. Europe allocated only about EUR 4.2 billion in ...

Special refrigerated cabinets stocked with food items donated by nearby supermarkets and bakeries are appearing on streets of Shenzhen, offering immediate support while combating food waste. #china

It's very on the nose to have a victims of communism memorial with no names on it. 😆

Why Ottawa abandoned names on the new communism memorial | Ottawa Citizen

#canada #cdnpoli #socialism

Risk of recession returns as German industrial production plunges in August. Extremely disappointing industrial data in August has just increased the risk of yet another quarter of contraction for the German economy.

ING Think

Risk of recession returns as German industrial production plunges in August

German industrial production drops sharply in August, bringing back the risk of recession

#germany #economy

Europe’s sole supplier of TNT, in Poland, sends much of its production to US, which exports to facilitate the genocide in Gaza by Israel.

the Guardian

TNT that Europe needs to defend itself is being used on Gaza, Polish MP claims

Maciej Konieczny claims Europe’s sole supplier, in Poland, sends much of its production to US, which exports it for use by Israel

#europe #gaza #poland #genocide

The US is pulling a "Khrushchev" on Europe. Trump's push for "peaceful coexistence" with rivals, paired with a new US strategy retreating from global hegemony, mirrors the Soviet pivot that betrayed Mao in the 1960s. Europe, like China then, is the stunned junior partner realizing its senior ally's commitment was always conditional.

America's Khrushchev moment

There is no more tired cliché than Mark Twain’s quote “history rarely repeats itself, but it often rhymes”.

#usa #europe #geopolitics

Automatically translated preprints from the Chinese arXiv (ChinaXiv).

ChinaRxiv

ChinaRxiv

Machine-translated preprints from ChinaXiv (Chinese arXiv)

#science #technology

Fed Chair Powell says raising wages is the key to solving the cost-of-living crisis. However, the job market has stalled, pay growth is slowing, and rising tariffs threaten to reignite inflation, which could erase any wage gains. The path to affordability remains unclear. https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/15/economy/affordability-jobs-inflation #usa #economy #uspol