Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Danyaal Raza and Edward Xie write that a well-designed city environment can make all the difference in enabling individuals to live healthy lives: What if city council took our health into account when designing neighbourhoods? An idea gaining favour in major cities around
Continue readingTag: austerity
Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Linda McQuaig criticizes the Cons’ use of the tax system to try to silence charities who don’t match their political message: PEN now joins Amnesty International, the David Suzuki Foundation, Canada Without Poverty, the United Church and other groups that, having criticized
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Joseph Stiglitz writes that while we should expect natural resources to result in broad-based prosperity, Australia (much like Canada) is now turning toward the U.S. model of instead directing as much shared wealth as possible toward the privileged few: There is something deeply
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – The New York Times editorial board chimes in on how Kansas serves as an ideal test case as to illusory benefits of top-end tax cuts: The 2012 cuts were among the largest ever enacted by a state, reducing the top tax bracket by
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Linda McQuaig discusses how a renewed push for austerity runs directly contrary to the actual values of Canadians, who want to see their governments accomplish more rather than forcing the public to settle for less: Their formula for achieving small, disabled government is
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Social movements in Spain – 15M
Social movements in Spain – 15M. From Revolution News Many things have changed and we need to know how to read reality and celebrate our triumphs. The emergence of the 15M movement did not result in an organisation which currently has a significant number of members. The 15M movement is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Stephen Hwang and Kwame McKenzie discuss the connection between affordable housing and public health and wellness: In 2009, researchers followed 1,200 people in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver who were homeless or at risk of homelessness. It was found that they experience a high
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Beyond the European elections, another left-wing force is growing in Europe | Red Pepper
Beyond the European elections, another left-wing force is growing in Europe | Red Pepper. Pascoe Sabido However you interpret them, the European elections have challenged the mainstream’s business-as-usual way of doing politics in Brussels. But while many commentators ignore progress on the left, focusing exclusively on the rise of the
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Dignity Marches In Spain Surround Parliaments
Dignity Marches In Spain Surround Parliaments. Collective Marches with integrated platforms today under the banner of ‘Dignity’ have surrounded the headquarters of several regional parliaments to protest against cuts in public services, inequality and poverty that lead many citizens to despair. Following the success of the marches that converged on
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Tens of thousands march in London against coalition’s austerity measures | Politics | theguardian.com
Tens of thousands march in London against coalition’s austerity measures | Politics | theguardian.com. Russell Brand told the marchers there will be a ‘peaceful, effortless, joyful revolution’ against austerity in the UK. Photograph: Rex Features Tens of thousands of people marched through central London on Saturday afternoon in protest at
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Andrew Jackson reviews the OECD’s economic recommendations for Canada – featuring a much-needed call for fair taxes on stock options: Special tax breaks for stock options primarily benefit senior corporate executives, especially CEOs of large public companies who are commonly given the right
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: It’s Time To Stand Up To Troika Austerity Part II
It’s Time To Stand Up To Troika Austerity Part II. Thomas Fazi In the first part of this article I looked at the mounting evidence against austerity by organisations as varied as Caritas, the ILO, the Council of Europe and the IMF. So why is the European establishment pushing for more of
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The 500 – A Cautionary Tale for North American Workers
The rights we enjoy today in Canada as workers and professionals were not given to us. It was through determined, bloody at times, never-say-die, collective struggle that our rights as workers were imposed on the capitalist class. Power never makes concessions – struggles for basic working benefits must be
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The 500 – A cautionary tale for North American Workers
The rights we enjoy today in Canada as workers and professionals were not given to us. It was through bloody at times, collective struggle that our rights as workers were imposed on the capitalist class. Power never makes concessions – struggles for basic working benefits must be fought for
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Thomas Fazi: It’s Time To Stand Up To Troika Austerity Part I
Thomas Fazi: It’s Time To Stand Up To Troika Austerity Part I. In my book, The Battle for Europe: How an Elite Hijacked a Continent – and How We Can Take It Back, published some months ago by Pluto Press, I argued that the austerity policies imposed on European member
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Leader in Austerity Push Appointed Head of Greek Central Bank – NYTimes.com
Leader in Austerity Push Appointed Head of Greek Central Bank – NYTimes.com. By NIKI KITSANTONISJUNE 11, 2014 The announcement on Wednesday, by the General Council of the Bank of Greece, followed a sweeping cabinet shuffle on Monday that installed Gikas Hardouvelis, another economist and former government adviser, as Greece’s new
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Greece Wars With Courts Over Ways to Slash Budget – NYTimes.com
Greece Wars With Courts Over Ways to Slash Budget – NYTimes.com. ATHENS — The Greek government has made a range of painful cuts to salaries, pensions and jobs for public workers over the last four years, saying they were needed to satisfy the demands of the international creditors that bailed
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Portugal indebted to Angola after economic reversal of fortune | World news | Guardian Weekly
Portugal indebted to Angola after economic reversal of fortune | World news | Guardian Weekly. There was no doubt about the firm handshake, but the smile looked a bit forced. The date was 17 November 2011, the place Luanda. Pedro Passos Coelho, the Portuguese premier, had just completed talks with
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: After The Elections The Real Battle For Europe Begins
After The Elections The Real Battle For Europe Begins. by Thomas Fazi Taking stock of the results of the recent European elections is not an easy task. Many commentators have described the outcome as an ‘earthquake’, citing the surge in ‘anti-establishment’ parties, with voters supposedly lured by two ‘extremes’: the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Gary Engler explores Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century from the perspective of a reader who’s far more skeptical than Piketty about the prospect of tinkering around the edges of our current corporatist economic system. And Seth Ackerman writes that Piketty’s
Continue reading