Paul Martin • Photo by Remy Steinegger How exceptional is Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his crop of Canadian conservatives? For not just large- and small-l liberals, but also some leftists, the last decade has been an aberration — particularly compared to the alleged synthesis between responsible government and economic
Continue readingAuthor: Michal Rozworski
Political Eh-conomy: Podcast: Pension tensions and privatizations
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/podcast150501-pensions-and-privatization.mp3 I have two guests on two different topics today. First up: Kevin Skerrett, a pension researcher at the Canadian Union of Public Employees. I spoke with him about the role of pensions in financialized capitalism. Don’t let the word pensions scare you off, this is a conversation that gets
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Canada’s Austerity Consensus
I have a longer piece out in Jacobin today on tracing the roots of today’s austerity consensus in Canada to the 1990s. In a way, it’s me coming to terms with the last twenty years of Canadian political economy. How exceptional is Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his crop of Canadian conservatives?
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Budget 2015: A tale of austerity past, present and future
Cross-posted from my blog. I’ve been banging the drum of “slow-motion austerity” for a while and little in the 2015 federal budget suggests any change from the pattern of death by a thousand cuts. This budget is another is a series of unspectacular austerity budgets. Taken together, however, the cuts
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Budget 2015: A tale of austerity past, present and future
I’ve been banging the drum of “slow-motion austerity” for a while and little in the 2015 federal budget suggests any change from the pattern of death by a thousand cuts. This budget is another is a series of unspectacular austerity budgets. Taken together, however, the cuts rapidly add up and
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: The Conservatives’ balanced budget legislation: Silly economics, smart politics
I wrote up the Conservatives’ new balanced budget law for Ricochet. In short, the law is really silly in terms of economics, but simply pointing out its economic stupidity is not enough, because the whole point is to shift the political consensus. Politically, it’s not that dumb. So rather than play games
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Podcast: JW Mason on business not investing, still disgorging the cash
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/podcast150420-jw-mason.mp3 This week’s podcast is a bit more economics-focused than usual but gets at the heart of what’s going on in the global economy where interest rates are near, at, or even below zero, but where investment, growth, wages and employment continue to suffer. My one guest, who joins me for a
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Podcast: The roots of the Greece crisis in European integration and what this means for the future
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/podcast150402-europe.mp3 As the simmering crisis between Greece and the institutions formerly known as the Troika heats up again, it’s a good time to look once more at the roots of the European crisis and what they mean for the possibilities open before Syriza at the present juncture. Greece is being squeezed
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Transfers, taxes and who pays for austerity
The question of who pays for austerity and how is an enormous one. Promoters of austerity often claim that cuts to universal services are fine if they’re offset by transfers to those who can’t pay for newly-marketized services. The same goes for expanding services – why give everyone childcare if
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Branko Milanovic on inequality and the new global plutocracy
Last week I interviewed Branko Milanovic, one of the world’s foremost authorities on inequality. Our conversation moved freely from global trends in inequality over the past quarter-century to the rise of a new plutocracy and the threat it poses to democratic governance. I thought it worthwhile to transcribe our chat in full. A bit more about Branko:
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Podcast: Inequality, global and Canadian
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/podcast150320-inequality.mp3 I have two guests to talking about inequality today. First up is Branko Milanovic, who speaks with me about global inequality as well as the rise of a global plutocracy. One of the world’s foremost experts on inequality, Branko is professor at the CUNY Graduate Centre, where he also heads
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Minimum wage workers not the only ones getting screwed
I have a populist piece in The Tyee this morning on how last week’s paltry $0.20 minimum wage increase in British Columbia actually reflects stagnant wages across the economy and why the Fight for 15 is everyone’s fight. Here it is in full. Last week, the B.C. government reacted to the
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Some notes on precarious work
Here’s a few more notes on a point that seems to be made with increasing frequency: working for a wage has always been precarious. The current focus on precarity as a defining feature of our age is not unwelcome; indeed, its popularity shows that it clearly harmonizes with the everyday experience
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Podcast: First Nations and the political economy of land
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/podcast-150306-first-nations.mp3 This episode looks at the political economy of land in Canada and the Canadian state’s relationship with First Nations as mediated by land. I’m happy to bring together two guests who deal extensively with these issues and pose challenges to rethink the way land is governed. My first guest is
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Stagnant wages for over 80% of Canadian workers
Are wages in Canada stagnant or growing? The short answer is another question: do you live in an oil boom province? There’s a fairly common meme that while Canada, like the US, saw wages stagnate, this is no longer true. Indeed, overall wage growth has picked up since the last crisis. “Stagnant
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Syriza buys four months of breathing room
Belatedly, here is an article I wrote on Greece’s agreement with the Eurozone for Ricochet. It focuses on the next four months with their opportunities and pitfalls. Given that the list of reforms authored by Yanis Varoufakis looks to get the approval of the Eurogroup member states, the article remains relevant, the breathing
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Podcast: Leo Panitch on Syriza and Greece
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/podcast150220-leo-panitch.mp3 This week I’ve devoted the entire show to discussing the most recent developments in Greece. While there is a great deal of day-to-day drama at the level of the ongoing negotiations between Greece and European institutions, I wanted to take a broader strategic and political look at what the
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Creditors forcing rapprochement within Syriza?
I’m starting to cautiously think that the Varoufakis and Lapavitsas “approaches” to the crisis might end up not too far away from each other even though the strategic direction they have advocated is very different. The situation, especially after today’s hardening of the creditors’ stance at the Eurogroup, may simply
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Jason Kenney gets a growth portfolio
Jason Kenney has long been one of Stephen Harper’s trusted lieutenants and after yesterday’s cabinet reshuffle, he is now Minister of National Defence. In Harperland, this is a decisive promotion: from the “ugh, why are we still doing this?” of Employment and Social Development to the prestigious, patriotic defence portfolio.
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Media talks debt
How to characterize the mainstream media reaction to the unfolding debt negotiations between Greece and Europe (not the financial press mind you, which knows what it’s about though sides largely with the creditors)? For those looking for the simplest angle, it is merely a stand-off without context: a horse race or
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