Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Michal Rozworski writes that we need to respond to the coronavirus pandemic with investment in the society we want to build for tomorrow, not austerity to punish us today: Our economy is ripe for transformative reconstruction. The key now will be both how
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Dan Guadagnolo calls out the spinmeisters trying to torque job availability numbers to portray workers receiving coronavirus relief as lazy rather than deserving. And Christian Favreau notes that in fact, the real danger is that any recovery plan will be used to further
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Evening Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – David Macdonald discusses the opportunity to transition from the temporary CERB to a permanently-improved income support system for Canadians – along with the danger that people relying on modest relief now will be left to drown if the old EI rules are
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Crawford Kilian examines a few crucial questions as to what Canada needs to keep, throw away and modify based on the lessons learned from COVID-19. And the Globe and Mail’s editorial board agrees with Kilian that austerity belongs on the scrap heap. –
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Jonathan Aldred highlights how COVID-19 has laid bare the folly of a neoliberal economic structure which encourages insecurity, fragility and illusions of control over the unforeseen. And Merran Smith and Michel Letellier discuss how a rebuilding program centred on clean energy will
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Anca Matei writes that the coronavirus pandemic has provided us with another vivid example of how the accumulation of wealth (particularly in a small number of hands) has little to do with social health and well-being. And Rosa Pavanelli writes about the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Jason Markusoff writes about the absurdity of Jason Kenney’s continued bluster about attacking the rest of Canada rather than working on improving the lives of Albertans. And Shama Rangwala and Danielle Paradis discuss the warped idea of “freedom” underlying the ideology of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Linda McQuaig warns us not to tolerate yet another around of austerian demagoguery when investment in people’s well-being is a positive step toward every end other than the goal of pushing people into additional precarity. And Marilyn Watkins examines how Washington state was
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Annie Lowrey discusses how essential workers have been consistently undervalued due to political choices. And Patty Coates, Jan Simpson and Pablo Godoy discuss the need to ensure legal protections for workers’ rights in the wake of Foodora fleeing the country after its attempt
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Jim Stanford highlights the drastic difference between Canada’s already-high official unemployment rate, and the much higher level of loss of work. And Aaron Wherry discusses how the workers with the least are bearing the greatest risks arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Scott Aquanno writes about the role the Bank of Canada has played so far in responding to COVID-19, while also recognizing that a new public bank could and should do far more to ensure we invest in a sustainable economy rather than plunging
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Paul Wells explores how extensive planning for foreseeable pandemics was discarded or forgotten just as it mattered most. – Ryan Meili highlights the importance of putting people first in determining how to ease restrictions in the wake of the coronavirus, while Missy
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Amadeus Narbutt discusses the uncertain effect of the coronavirus on the global balance of power. And Adam Tooze notes that the U.S.’ damaging response to COVID-19 included vetoing IMF support for governments around the globe. – Andrew Langille examines how workers with low
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Annie Lowrey writes about the long-term effects of the millennial generation facing a second economic shock in the years which would normally serve as the base for personal stability and growth. – Polly Toynbee weighs in on the holes exposed in social
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Austerity Is The Enforcement Mechanism designed to keep the Rich in Control of the American Political Economy – Rob Urie
Counterpunch columnist Rob Urie tackles some of the political consequences of the neoliberal choices we have made as a society. “The question of bailouts is fundamentally different from that of taking care of people. An adequate response to the pandemic will require years of dedicated effort, not tossing a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Adam Tooze writes that the coronavirus pandemic has offered a reminder that the economy (particularly defined in terms of shareholders’ interests) can’t be given priority over human survival and well-being. – John Daley discusses three possible options in responding to the coronavirus –
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The coronavirus pandemic: Not good news for anyone, but probably worse news for the West than China
The novel coronavirus hit China first. Today was the first day China reported no new local infections since the global pandemic officially began in Hubei province in the fall of 2019. No new local infections means that while there were 34 cases reported in China in the previous 24 hours,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Robert Reich highlights how the long-term costs of failing to invest in a just transition and a healthy society far outweigh the short-term price of providing for basic needs, while Duncan Cameron calls out the deception behind claims that we can’t afford
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Polly Toynbee and David Walker write about the brutal social consequences of a decade of austerity in the UK. – Andrew Jackson reviews James Crotty’s Keynes Against Capitalism with a strong emphasis on Keynes’ recognition of the need for a democratically-planned economy. –
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Heather Scoffield points out that the Trudeau Libs’ definition of poverty (for the purposes of claiming credit for having reduced it) excludes many people facing extremely precarious financial circumstances. Sarah Boseley discusses how the UK Cons’ gratuitous austerity has led to declining
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