The prime minister of Greece warns his country is on the verge of becoming the next Wiemar Republic. Antonis Samaras is appealing for funds to fend off the outright collapse of Greek society. “Greek democracy stands before what is perhaps its greatest challenge,” Samaras told the German business daily Handelsblatt
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Canadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: In Spain, An Anti-Austerity Revolutionary Uprising (VIDEO)
This must-see video delves into the heart of Spain’s recent violent anti-austerity protests, and reveals the deep divide between the government and the people. “The government is trying to scare the people,” one protester says. Video available on YouTube
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Evening Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – George Monbiot discusses the effect of inegalitarian and austerian policies imposed by the UK Conservatives: (T)he neoliberal programme has closed down political choice. If the market, as the doctrine insists, is the only valid determinant of how societies evolve, and the market
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Zach Carter shines a spotlight on the few types of interests who stand to gain from austerity: But the austerity game also has winners. Cutting or eliminating government programs that benefit the less advantaged has long been an ideological goal of conservatives. Doing
Continue readingRedBedHead: Spain & The Madness of Europe
There’s a saying that defines madness as doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. By that criteria, it’s clear that the European Union’s response to the long and painful crisis unfolding on that continent is utterly and completely mad. With the appearance a few years ago
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: IMF Calls Bullshit on Brit Tory Austerity Farce
David Cameron’s boneheaded austerity fetish isn’t working. Even the International Monetary Fund, the IMF, says that much is plain. The Guardian’s Jonathan Portes has this take on the IMF report. A non-technical summary of Thursday’s International Monetary Fund report on the UK economy would be that we are up the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer theorize that we should discuss the economy as a garden rather than a machine: A well-designed tax system — in which everyone contributes and benefits — ensures that nutrients are circulated widely to fertilize and foster growth. Reducing
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Blaming the People
Whenever social and economic crises develop, those in power always try to blame somebody else. For example, what caused the recession in the U.S. in 2008? Simple, it was the selfish poor who had the gall to think that they could afford to own their own homes. (And don’t pay
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Jim Stanford discusses how Canadian right-wing parties are picking up on the most extreme anti-labour stances of the U.S. Republicans. But I do have to wonder whether the comparison between union dues and taxes is one that they’d particularly shy away from:
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Juxtaposition
Ah, the memories of Stephen Harper and his bestest international buddy deciding what to do about the economic pain they’ve inflicted on the world: Mr. Cameron, hailing Canada as a model of fiscal probity and pointing to his own deep spending cuts, argued that debt cutting is the only way
Continue readingCanadian Trends: Debt fuelled economy unsustainable? Gee, what a surprise
So, can we finally drop the act? Debt-fuelled economy unsustainable, Carney says. Canada’s relatively healthy economy has been largely based on borrowed money but the situation cannot go on indefinitely, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney warned Thursday. Relative to the circus currently going on in the EU, or the
Continue readingCanadian Trends: One big idea: Banking Oversight? Please.
Emerging from their resort world leaders have come up with one idea that just might work. Banking Oversight. No seriously, this is what they are spending money coming up with. Click the link, see for yourself. Of course their brand of banking oversight is new. It’s nothing like the banking
Continue readingCanadian Trends: Expensive resorts and lavish dinners, austerity is in the air
The G20 leaders continue to excel at making a credible case for austerity. Hunkered down in a Mexican luxury resort the reality of the world most people live in is no where to be found near them. Between lavish meals economic talk erupts, lots of talk which these leaders insist
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Sunday reading. – It’s a few months old, but the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s comparison of U.S. states with a zero personal income tax to those with the highest tax levels looks like one of the most clear refutations yet of the idea that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your day. – Thomas Walkom highlights why we should be nothing but dubious about the austerians’ call to slash public supports: The Harper Conservatives are scaling back spending on national parks to save about $20 million. But at the same time they are planning to spend
Continue readingCanadian Trends: Contrarian optimism and the omnibus ballet
The Canadian economy, ‘the envy of the world‘. Remember that? Of course that in itself was a complete lie more of which is revealed all the time. But who needs memory when you have what passes for politics? For it is only in the world of politics that a government can
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Erika Shaker points out how Quebec’s student protests are a natural and justified reaction to the policy choice to saddle young workers with debt: (T)he effects of student debt are not exactly “character building”. Postponement of owning a home or starting a family.
Continue readingCanadian Trends: Modern capitalists hate capitalism
You can sum up any current financial news in to a few categories. You’ll either find yourself reading about: A solution proposed by those responsible for the problem that when tried didn’t work. An expensive summit or meeting attended by those responsible for the problem to discuss a solution which won’t work.
Continue readingCanadian Trends: No-gasm: Global economic foreplay isn’t working
Anyone with proper insight in to the global situation has known more Canadian stimulus would be here sooner or later. At the moment it would appear sooner is winning. Coincidentally I don’t remember stimulus in the budget, in fact the whole budget was supposed to be about post-stimulus Canada. Jobs
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – May 7, 2012
Monday, May 7 saw another day largely dominated by debate on the Cons’ omnibus budget bill. The Big Issue Plenty of MPs rightly focused on the Cons’ move to combine so many disparate types of legislation into a single behemoth of a bill. Don Davies remembered his first instruction as
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