A particularly potent myth has been circulating for about a decade. It is that the world’s economic problems began with the fall of the World Trade Center. But, as Jennifer Wells writes in this morning’s Toronto Star, it was “greed, not Osama” which wr…
Continue readingAuthor: Owen Gray
Northern Reflections: Inherit The Wind
Forty two years ago, I was preparing to teach my first classes. I had spent the summer at the University of North Carolina, studying John Dewey, Jerome Bruner, Carl Rogers and American Literature. I was one of about fifty students who were about to ent…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: One Good Man
Recently I have despaired that there was such a creature as a wise Republican. But I took note this morning of a piece by Charles Fried in The Daily Beast. Fried was Ronald Reagan’s Solicitor General; and he has taught at Harvard Law School for f…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Second Great Contraction
The American economist, Kenneth Rogoff suggested this week that we stop referring to our present economic woes as The Great Recession, and instead label the present situation The Second Great Contraction. The first Great Contraction occurred in the 193…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: It’s Always Been About Jobs
Many people criticize Paul Krugman for being too shrill. But, after all, the policy elites have chosen not to take his advice; and, as economies around the world continue to deteriorate, he has become increasingly frustrated. He writes this morning tha…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Witch Hunt Has Begun
When historians look back at the Harper Government — remember, that is its chosen moniker — I suspect they will point to this summer’s hunt for “War Criminals” as a defining moment. As Carol Goar writes in this morning’s Toronto Star:For law-an…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Misreading Your Opposition
Storm clouds continue to gather around Nycole Turmel. She is not the first federalist politician who has flirted with Quebec nationalism. John English has documented Pierre Trudeau’s early affinity for the narcissistic currents of Quebec politics…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Putting The Children In Charge
Joe Nocera’s column in today’s New York Times will be quoted often in years to come. He and a few others — like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich — have written that America’s future is being sabotaged by the children who were elected last November…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: This Is A Better Idea?
There are many around the world who are resting easier this morning. But Paul Krugman isn’t one of them. He writes that the deal which President Obama reached with congressional leaders is a disaster:Start with the economics. We currently have a deeply…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Tea Party Time
Amid reports that Democratic and Republican leaders have reached a budget deal, Jeffrey Simpson’s analysis of American politics, in today’s Globe and Mail, offers some valuable perspective. The reasons for the problem are well known:The U.S. spen…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Vultures Are Circling
John Boehner is in the same spot he was in a week ago, when he walked out of budget negotiations with President Obama. He doesn’t have the votes. The difference this time is that he doesn’t have the votes for his own plan, not the president’s.In today’…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: When Ignorance Drives The Bus
When Margaret Atwood wrote this week that Rob and Doug Ford’s campaign to cut public services was “swiftly approaching the ‘let them eat cake stage,” Doug fired back, “Well good luck to Margaret Atwood. I don’t even know her. If she walked by …
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Another Mountain To Climb
The news that Jack Layton is again battling cancer is very distressing. On a personal level, it must be a tremendous set back for the man and his wife, who have each previously battled the disease. On a political level, it is also a setback for a…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Dangerous Mr. Frye
Jim Bronskill reported in ipolics yesterday that the now defunct RCMP Intelligence Service kept a substantial file on the late Northrop Frye. He came to their attention because of “his involvement in the anti-Vietnam War movement, an academic forum on …
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Children’s Hour
Ezra Klein cuts to the chase in today’s Washington Post. The White House wanted $400 billion in revenues, and John Boehner knew he couldn’t get the deal through the House:But you can’t get a deal unless you can get the votes. And what’s been clear …
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: How Little Wisdom
Paul Krugman has a right to be pessimistic. The powerful elites on both sides of the Atlantic suffer from group think. And, instead of proving the truth of the old adage, “great minds think alike,” they offer a vivid illustration of the flip side of th…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Refrain Is The Same
Jeffrey Simpson notes that income inequality in Canada is getting worse. According to a Conference Board of Canada report,The richest group of Canadians, those in the top fifth of income earners, saw their share of national income rise from 1993 to 20…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Raging Amnesia
George Orwell had a pretty good bead on the future. The only difference between 1984 and 2011 is that things go down the memory hole quicker. Certainly, writes Peter Beinart in The Daily Beast, the Republican Party suffers from a shocking case of amnes…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: All That Money Can Buy
As the doinoees continue to fall in the Murdoch Saga — the latest are Rebekah Brooks and Britian’s top police officer, Paul Stephenson — we are reminded yet again that our institutions, both public and private, have been corrupted by money.The idea t…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Fearing Nothing But Fear
In a short piece for the Canadian International Council, Roland Paris asks the essential question about Prime Minister Harper: What Is Stephen Harper Afraid Of? It’s been clear for some time that Harper, for all his bravado, trusts no one. That has bee…
Continue reading