Dear Daily Disaster Diary, Feb.04 2025

 Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.

- Mark Twain

"Buy Canadian": Freeland suggests "boycott" of US goods amid Trump tariffs

Fight With Your Wallet: The Canadian Revolution Starts Now

A revolution is brewing in the north, and it doesn’t involve muskets or battle cries—it’s fought in supermarket aisles and online shopping carts. 

Canadians are increasingly flexing their economic muscle, steering clear of American-made goods in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s past threats of a 25-percent tariff on Canadian imports. 

The message is clear: Canadians are not passive spectators in global politics. The hashtag #BuyCanadian isn’t just a trend; it’s a movement. 

And every boycott, no matter how small, contributes to a larger wave of financial resistance.

The Power of Consumer Boycotts: Do They Work?

Skeptics argue that boycotts don’t accomplish much. Historically, the impact of consumer-driven boycotts has been mixed. 

A 2016 study on politically motivated boycotts in China, the U.S., and Turkey found that while boycotts could cause dips in exports and stock market fluctuations, the long-term financial impact was limited. 

But does that mean they are meaningless? 

Absolutely not. Boycotts, beyond their economic impact, serve as powerful statements of defiance. 

They make people think about where their money is going and force corporations to pay attention.

Dodging American Products: Not So Easy, But Possible

Canada is deeply intertwined with the U.S. economy, especially when it comes to food. 

About 50% of Canada’s fruit, nut, and vegetable imports come from the United States. A staggering 90% of the leafy greens consumed by Canadians originate from U.S. soil. 

And let’s be real—when it’s the dead of winter and you’re craving fresh produce, your choices are slim. Greenhouses offer some local alternatives, but at a premium price.

However, if you really want to hit America where it hurts, start in the aisles filled with processed goods. 

Packaged American brands dominate our shelves—pastas, sauces, canned goods. These are areas where clear, Canadian alternatives exist. 

If you want to boycott but don’t know where to start, ditch the American pasta and sauces first.

Adaptation-Guide: Living The Boycott Since 2018

We put our money where our mouths are. Since 2018, we at Adaptation-Guide have been actively boycotting American and Mexican food. 

It started as a reaction to every food scandal that made its way to our tables. On Canada’s East Coast, with only two supermarket chains—Sobey’s and Loblaw/Atlantic Superstore—we spent hours meticulously selecting only Canadian-made products.

Was it easy? Hell no. Was it cheap? Not a chance. In 2018, our grocery bill (for two adults) came to around 700 Canadian dollars for 50-70 staple items. 

By 2024, thanks to inflation, taxation, and the absence of competition, that number had ballooned to 1100 Canadian dollars.

Was It Worth It? 100%

If you can afford it, and if your goal is to live healthier while supporting Canadian businesses, then do it. 

The Conservatives have fought every environmental regulation tooth and nail, making food more toxic than ever. 

Mexico’s severe water crisis raises concerns about the sustainability of their exports. 

The choice is clear: support local, eat cleaner, and strengthen Canada’s economic resilience.

Every Little Boycott Counts

This isn’t about whether a single Canadian skipping Kraft Dinner will bring America’s economy to its knees. 

It’s about collective action. It’s about making corporations sweat when they realize that consumers have the power to turn the tide. 

Canadians are not voiceless, motionless witnesses to world events. We have the ability to react, and we must.

So next time you’re at the store, think twice before reaching for that American-made product. 

Your wallet is your weapon. Use it wisely.

#BuyCanadian #ByeAmerica #FightWithYourWallet

Sincerely,

Adaptation-Guide

WE ARE READY! ARE YOU?

Dear Daily Disaster Diary, Feb.03 2025

Customer Review for The United States Of America 

👮                 * * * * * *

John Doe                             Still one of my go-tos, but I`m not sure how

                               I feel about the new management. 

El Salvador's surf city: The Bitcoin haven for tourists and investors alike

                                 

We Should Call It Bit"Con"

It was during a particularly dull Zoom meeting that I found myself drifting off in front of the screen, half-asleep, when an astonishingly shameless statement jolted me awake. “Trump’s election is a dream come true,” the crypto baron declared, his face glowing with excitement. 

I shouldn’t have been surprised: this man was sitting on a mountain of Bitcoin, whose value had skyrocketed nearly 40% ever since Donald Trump crushed Kamala Harris in the race for the U.S. presidency.

Even more thrilled than this particular crypto kingpin was Marc Andreessen, Silicon Valley’s venture capital overlord and one of crypto’s loudest evangelists. 

According to him, Biden’s administration was engaging in “repression,” and Trump’s victory felt like “a boot being lifted from [his] throat... Every morning, I wake up happier than the day before.”

The "Better Future" They Keep Selling Us

Of course, these crypto bosses will vehemently deny that they’re just talking up their own assets. No, no. What’s happening here, they insist, is the dawn of a grand libertarian future—one where cryptocurrency is freed from the shackles of overregulation and paves the way for human prosperity. 

Sounds great, except for one small issue: crypto regulation, in reality, is virtually non-existent, and no one in the industry has been able to articulate what massive benefits this so-called "better future" actually offers us.

In fact, even minor benefits are nowhere to be seen. Bitcoin has existed for sixteen years, yet you still can’t buy a damn cup of coffee with it, let alone engage in a seamless online shopping experience. 

The claim that crypto will replace fiat currency is looking increasingly ridiculous, but that hasn’t stopped its believers from making new promises.

A trendy new argument is that Bitcoin will serve as “digital gold” in our increasingly turbulent world—a safe haven asset. 

But if that’s the dream, then it’s a yawn-inducing one. Gold has existed forever, and yet only a tiny fraction of the world’s savings are stored in bullion. 

One reason? Gold prices are volatile—though nowhere near as erratic as Bitcoin, which crashes with astonishing regularity every few years.

Another argument is that cryptocurrencies will make payments and money transfers significantly cheaper. And while that isn’t entirely false—traditional banks, like my own New York institution, do charge absurd fees like $30 per overseas transfer—it’s also an irrelevant point. 

We don’t need crypto to solve this. Competition from online banks and agile fintech startups is already doing the job.

So where does that leave crypto? Still a solution searching desperately for a problem. The only new development is a chorus of fraudsters, demagogues, dictators, and conmen, all trying to convince us otherwise.

The Lie They Keep Repeating

These crooks keep telling us that crypto is about one thing, while the reality is something entirely different. 

We’re supposed to believe that cryptocurrencies will liberate us from oppressive governments by replacing their corrupt fiat currencies. 

Meanwhile, the crypto industry has become one of the biggest political influencers in America. Nearly half of all corporate donations in the 2024 U.S. presidential race came from the crypto sector, with the crypto-friendly super PAC Fairshake alone throwing more than $200 million into the election.

We were also promised that crypto would make banks obsolete. Yet, here we are—crypto companies still need bank accounts like everyone else to run their operations. 

And now, they’re crying about "debanking"—a trendy term for the very reasonable (and legally required) practice of banks denying accounts to businesses with possible ties to money laundering and illicit activities.

The Salvadoran Shitshow

Some demagogues make grand promises they can never keep. Take Elon Musk, another tireless crypto pusher, who claimed his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) would slash the U.S. budget deficit by "at least $2 trillion." The problem? A staggering 88% of all federal spending goes to legally mandated entitlements, interest payments, and defense. 

As Harvard professor Jeffrey Frankel pointed out, even if Musk eliminated every non-defense discretionary expenditure, the savings wouldn’t even come close to $2 trillion. It’s nothing more than a delusional fantasy.

And then there’s Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s Bitcoin-loving president-turned-autocrat. Sure, he was democratically elected, but he long ago dispensed with constitutional checks and balances. 

Human Rights Watch reports that his government has imprisoned “around 3,000 children,” many of whom were subjected to “severe mistreatment amounting to torture” and held “under inhumane conditions, denied adequate food, medical care, and family contact.”

Crypto fanatics love Bukele anyway, because in 2021 he made Bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador. 

Never mind that his grand experiment was a colossal disaster. His government gave away $30 worth of Bitcoin to anyone who signed up for a digital wallet—only for most people to immediately cash out for U.S. dollars. 

The much-hyped “volcano bonds,” which were supposed to be backed by Bitcoin, never even materialized. And now, the International Monetary Fund is demanding that Bukele stop forcing businesses to accept Bitcoin as a condition for a $1.4 billion emergency bailout to rescue El Salvador's tanking economy.

The Ultimate Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card

Tax evaders and money launderers continue to be among the most enthusiastic users of cryptocurrency. And why wouldn’t they be? Crypto is a technology designed for transactions where no questions are asked.

Take stablecoins, for instance—crypto tokens allegedly backed by real U.S. dollars. But why would anyone use these fake dollars instead of the real thing? 

Simple: because opening a U.S. dollar bank account requires answering inconvenient questions about where your money comes from. But by setting up a wallet on a public blockchain and loading it up with stablecoins, criminals can bypass these pesky regulatory hurdles. 

This is exactly how participants in a massive scheme, recently exposed by British authorities, helped drug dealers and Russian spies launder their money.

Fraudsters, demagogues, dictators, and scammers all have one thing in common: they pretend to be libertarians. 

Any attempt to regulate their grift is framed as an attack on "freedom." But with friends like these, freedom doesn’t need enemies.

A Solution Looking for a Problem

They told us Bitcoin would heal the world. Instead, what we got is an unholy choir of crypto zealots, con artists, and autocrats, all singing the same tired tune—hoping that if they repeat it enough times, we’ll finally start to believe it.

Sincerely,

Adaptation-Guide

Dear Daily Disaster Diary, Feb.02 2025

 The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Why Europe is Souring on Net Zero

From our series: "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"  Part 2.

The Great Combustion Engine Ban of 2035: A Green Deal or a Greenwashed Compromise?

Ursula von der Leyen's so-called "Green Deal" is looking less like an ambitious climate revolution and more like a watered-down, corporate-pleasing PR stunt. 

When push comes to shove, does she stand firm, or does she crumble under pressure? 

The answer is clear. The moment European farmers rolled into town with their diesel-powered tractors, the grand vision of a cleaner Europe started fading into a murky shade of greenish-gray. 

And now, with industries, governments, and lobbyists gnawing at the 2035 combustion engine ban, it’s beginning to look like another case of political backpedaling disguised as pragmatism.

But we’re here to call out the nonsense and demand real action. 

If Europe is serious about a sustainable future, half-measures won’t cut it. The solution isn’t to delay or dilute the ban—it’s to go further and faster. 

Start with diesel. Ban diesel cars and trucks outright. These are some of the dirtiest, most polluting vehicles on the road, and the sooner they disappear, the better. No transition period. No loopholes. Out. Period.

Next, overhaul public transportation. Luxembourg is leading the charge with free, reliable, and clean buses and trains, many of them electric. 

This should be the gold standard across Europe. Make public transport so efficient, so convenient, and so free that private car ownership becomes the outdated choice, not the necessity. 

Invest in high-speed rail and better urban transit networks to make cross-border and inner-city travel cleaner, saver and more seamless than ever.

But let's go deeper. While the goal is a future without combustion engines, we must acknowledge that not all industries can transition overnight. 

Instead of giving in to automaker whining, enforce stringent emission standards that push combustion technology to its cleanest, most efficient limits until a full electric takeover is feasible. 

Penalize manufacturers who resist change and reward those that innovate.

Europe needs radical action, not political theater. No more compromises, no more delays, no more green-washing. 

The future demands bold, unapologetic policies that prioritize people and planet over profit. 

The next generation deserves breathable air—not excuses.

Sincerely,

Adaptation-Guide