Coffee prices soar
Coffee prices are up 60% so far this year. The big reason is freezing weather in coffee growing regions in Brazil. This is inflation that will hit coffee shops around the world soon. The damage could last for three or four years.
What is Ethical when it comes to investing?
ESG is investment-speak for Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance. It is meant to attract people who want to feel their money isn’t supporting things they don’t believe in. Vanguard, the largest Mutual Fund group in the world, has an ESG Fund. It also has a fund for large corporations. Here is what each owns:
ESG Fund Holdings Non-ESG Fund Holdings
1 Apple 1 Apple
2 Microsoft 2 Microsoft
3 Amazon 3 Amazon
4 Alphabet 4 Alphabet
5 Facebook 5 Facebook
6 Tesla 6 Tesla
7 NVIDIA 7 Berkshire Hathaway
8 JP Morgan 8 NVIDIA
9 Visa 9 JP Morgan
10 United Health 10 Johnson & Johnson
These are pretty much the same portfolios. Berkshire Hathaway was booted from list one because it owns electric utilities, among other things. Mutual Fund companies know what their clients want and if ESG makes them feel good, there it is.
Robin Hood Reversal
Robin Hood and his Merry Men stole from the rich and gave to the poor. One assumes that is the message from the investment site Robinhood Markets, which went public this week. The modern Robin Hood gives so-called free trading to the `little guy’. But when you work it out, Robinhood makes deals with other firms that mean it charges an effective commission of 3.1%. Since the owners of Robinhood are now rich it is in fact the Rich stealing from the Poor.
Maid Marian, have I got a stock for you.
Robinhood Markets Inc. itself went public this week. It opened at $38 and closed the week at $35. One of its founders is now worth $29-billion.
Who is Rich and Who Isn’t
Which brings me to the enigma of Russia. Look how poor the average Russian is compared to the average Australian or Canadian. In fact, Canada’s Gross Domestic Product in 2020 was $1.64 Trillion while Russia’s was $1.47-trillion, both measured in US dollars. So how can Russia afford space programs, and the fourth largest military in the world? If Canadians are asked to send troops to a trouble spot in Africa, they cry poor and come home early. They are both big, cold countries. I am only guessing, but could it be because Canada spends 61% of government income on health, education and `social protection’ such as pensions and unemployment payments; Russia appears to spend the most of its oil riches on its million person military: $166-billion in 2019, according to the International Monetary Fund. An Apples and Oranges comparison, but Canada spends $22.8-billion on its small military, 43,000 almost half them reservists, and keeps putting off buying new fighter jets.
Who is poorer?
Jeff Bezos. The richest man in the world lost $13.5-billion on the week. That means he is worth only $192.4-billion (from Forbes) but still holds the number one rich spot.
Amazon stock was off 7.5% o Friday alone. Part of the reason is Amazon was a hit with a Perhaps a bigger reason was Amazon predicted sales would be weaker in the next quarter. And that house? The website Verge said it took so little of Bezos’ overall wealth that it was like a person making $60,000 a year buying a house for $75.
Wrong
Last week I said Ottawa is colder than Moscow and Ulan Bator.
It is colder than Moscow, but the capital of Mongolia is much colder. Thanks to a sharp eyed reader.
How Far North can Wheat Grow?
The Financial Times published an interactive chart about where crops grow now and where they will grow in the future- 2070. Cold places such as Canada and Russia appear to benefit as wheat and corn will grow in Siberia, the shores of Hudson’s Bay and even in Labrador. The chart below is not the interactive chart but show the areas in blue where corn and what might be grown fifty years from now.
Hard to believe. This chart was probably made by people who live in a warm climate. It is almost impossible now to grow corn where I live part of the time in southern Quebec. Will the corn belt really move north 500 kilometres or more? It seems similar to when Hollywood has people in winter scenes without hats or gloves. You have to experience cold to understand it. It may get warmer, but wheat will never grow in the subarctic, parts of Labrador or the shores of Hudson’s Bay by 2070.
Essay of the Week
Pat McNeil was a victim of two global health crises, one when he was born, the other when he was dying. Mr. McNeil, who has died at the age of 61, was a Thalidomide baby, one of many born in Canada.
In spite of his handicap at birth, Mr. McNeil led an active, successful life. He played sports in school, skied as an adult and was a branch manager at a Toronto Dominion Bank in Winnipeg.
The second health crisis was Covid-19. At the end of his life Mr. McNeil’s family was refused access to a palliative care facility in Winnipeg. That happened in May and after a public campaign, partly waged on the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press, the restriction was relaxed somewhat. “It was ridiculous that fully vaccinated members of his family couldn’t visit him, but at the same time hockey fans could go to a Winnipeg Jets game,” said his cousin, Joan Flood, a physician who helped organize the campaign to ease the visiting restrictions.
Joseph Patrick McNeil was born in Winnipeg in 1960. His mother, Anne Zelinsky, was a school secretary and his father Lloyd McNeil was a salesman.
During her pregnancy, Pat’s mother’s obstetrician in Winnipeg gave her a sample of Thalidomide to help her deal with severe morning sickness. She only took it once. At that time Thalidomide had already been reported as the cause of significant birth defects and miscarriages in Europe, but the drug continued to be prescribed in Canada.
“The Food and Drug Administration of the United States refused to approve thalidomide. Officials of the Food and Drug Directorate in Canada had access to the same information upon which U.S. officials based their decision to deny approval for the use of the drug in the United States,” wrote the Thalidomide Task Force in a 1989 report.
At birth, Pat was born without hands and deformed but functional feet. He had a long partial left arm and a right arm that extended below the elbow.
When Pat was born in 1960 his family was in shock. But his parents adjusted, because they had to. One kind doctor said to Lloyd McNeil: “He will never play the piano, but can you?”
“Pat’s parents raised him to be resourceful and independent: Don’t give up and never be ashamed or use your disability as a crutch,” said his wife JoAnne. “When he started school, his parents would take him in on the first day to explain to other children about his differences and how he could do what they could do.”
Pat started kindergarten in a private home school run by a Mrs. Dyer. He spent the first three years of primary school at St. Clements Catholic School in Winnipeg. He then went to the public system at Campbell School, followed by John Henderson Junior High and Miles Macdonell Collegiate. He was an excellent student, graduated on the honour roll and earned a degree in economics at the University of Winnipeg.
Mr. McNeil’s handicap did not hold him back in his adult life. One of his first jobs was at Eaton’s in Winnipeg. He then joined the TD Bank, starting as a management trainee and worked his way up from a teller, finally becoming a branch manager. He retired in 2015 after 30 years of service.
He mastered every aspect of modern life.
“He did all his own emails and when he was working on a mortgage application at he would write with a pen between his two hands,” said his wife JoAnne.
Mr. McNeil was also an accomplished handyman and took on many DIY projects. He built decks at both his home and cottage and completely refinished the interior of the family cabin at Lester Beach a hundred kilometres north of the city on Lake Winnipeg. “When he built the rec room at home or the interior of our cottage he used power tools. My husband was an amazing man,” said Mrs. McNeil.
Pat McNeil and his wife attended many of the annual conferences of the Thalidomide Victims Association. He and others worked to pressure the federal government to provide support for severely disabled victims, people who were unable to work and some who needed full time care.
“The whole basis of it was that the Canadian government approved the drug even when it was already causing deformities in newborns,” said Mrs. McNeil. “They were trying to rally the government to provide support to people who were severely disabled.”
The campaign was championed by the Globe and Mail and reporters Ingrid Peritz and Andre Picard.
The Canadian Thalidomide Survivors Support Program was started by the federal government in 2015, and adjusted in 2019.
One of Mr. McNeil’s other volunteer associations was as a board member, and eventually chair, of the Children’s Rehab Hospital Foundation in Winnipeg, the former Shriner’s Hospital. It raised funds for prosthetic limbs, computers, custom bikes and other equipment for disabled children to improve their quality of life.
Pat McNeil was one of only about five thalidomide victims in Winnipeg. The Thalidomide Task Force said the federal government reported in November of 1963 that “…115 children had been born in Canada in 1961 and 1962 with congenital malformations associated with thalidomide. At that date, only 74 were reported to have survived. These number are not reliable. Our Task Force has identified 109 victims.”
Canada banned the drug in 1962.
Pat McNeil’s deformities were mild, compared with others who were born with internal organ damage or hands that protruded from their shoulders. There was a vast array of deformities. His mother only took the drug once, but it was at a time when Pat’s limbs were developing in his mother’s uterus. It meant his deformities were severe, but they could have been worse.
“Pat never used his situation as an excuse for not trying anything. Even when it came to changing diapers on his new born daughters, he would joke that he had to get a lot closer,” said Mrs. McNeil. “But things were harder for him: Try tying a necktie or using a drill with no hands. He did that and so much more in his life. Those who know him would never say he was disabled.”
Pat’s younger sister Margaret Penner, known in the family as Missy, also helped her brother as with things such as doing up buttons and zippers when they were children. She added that from an early age he had a love affair with cars.
“He could tell you any make, model and year of car from decades ago,” said Mrs. Penner. “When Pat got his license they put on a restriction for power steering and automatic transmission. This really bothered him. He did not want to be made to feel different or have limitations, so he arranged to get tested again to lift the restriction. He was successful. Years later he bought a sports car with a stick shift.”