This and that to end your Saturday. – Andrew Jackson comments on how a premature push for austerity has driven the global economy to the brink of more disaster – as slashing intended to summon the confidence fairies has instead led businesses to reasonably conclude it’s not worth trying to
Continue readingTag: austerity
Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Paul Krugman highlights the anti-social austerity agenda at work in the U.K. and U.S.: (T)he austerity drive in Britain isn’t really about debt and deficits at all; it’s about using deficit panic as an excuse to dismantle social programs. And this is, of
Continue readingCanadian Trends: Reality Check
Don’t worry! A solution is coming I just can’t tell you what it is. Energy and economics have much in common, in fact economics is just a system to organize the exchange of energy in the form of trade. Today however I discovered another commonality between the two: analysts of
Continue readingCanadian Trends: When our leaders talk about austerity remind yourself of this
Released by Anonymous Quebec. From the description: Identification (n’hésitez pas à nous envoyer vos requête d’identification par MP)Lucien Bouchard @ 13:50, 16:15, 18:13, 1:40:05, 1:40:36, 1:40:54Brian Mulroney @ 14:10, 15:29, 19:25, 1:36:25, 1:38:49, 1:41:13, 1:42:50Jean Charest, semi caché @ 14:29, 15:52, 19:35, 20:07, 43:48Jean Chrétien @ 15:00, 43:15, 43:35, 1:40:19,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: May 1, 2012
Tuesday, May 1 saw more debate on a couple of relatively non-contentious bills – along with a prime example of the Cons’ blinkered focus on mandatory minimum sentences. The Big Issue In continued debate on the Lucky Moose self-defence bill, the NDP pointed out some of the ways the legislation
Continue readingAnti-austerity mood grows for better or worse
It seems only weeks ago that austerity opponents were crying in the wind. Their words were blowing away unheard. No more. The Greeks flatly rejected austerity in a recent election and attention had to be paid. France elected a new anti-austerity president, François Hollande, and now he has been welcomed
Continue readingCHAPTER 8: The Miserable Metrics of Neoliberalism
Conclusion to Chapter 8 Consistent with the main line of argument in this thesis then, is the proposition that labour market flexibilisation is the other side of the neoliberal policy coin; namely, price stability and conservative fiscal policy all locked in via the globalisation of production and finance. In this
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How Dare You Drones Resist?!
It is truly stunning to see how the elites react when people dare speak out against “austerity” – that is, to squeeze even more profits out of workers, students, and citizens in general. Almost as appalling is the way that the corporate media (and often the CBC) follow the party
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: Alexis Tsipras of SYRIZA: Impact of austerity on Greece ‘catastrophic’
In the current Eurozone crisis Greece has been unfairly cast as the “black sheep” of Europe. Greece isn’t alone in being negatively impacted by neoliberal economic policies – policies that have precipitated a meltdown in the Eurozone and a growing gulf between classes. It isn’t a Greek crisis, it’s a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Andrew Jackson raises an absolutely devastating point to refute anybody trying to use “it’s all about growth!!!” as an excuse for slashing social supports and handing free money to the rich: In this age of austerity, we are constantly told by governments that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – April 4, 2012
After the Cons refused to listen to the opposition parties’ proposed amendments, Wednesday, April 4 saw a day of debate on the main budget motion in the second-last day before a Parliamentary break. The Big Issue Nycole Turmel rightly labeled the budget as being based entirely on (gratuitous) austerity, while
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Austerity and Innovation – Reinventing Society
Over the last week, I have been busy – let me bring you up to date. Last Wednesday, May 2, I tuned in to a podcast of the MARS lecture on “Austerity and Innovation” given by Geoff Mulgan who is the Chief Exec of the National Endowment for Science, Technology
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Paul Krugman writes a long-overdue obituary for the confidence fairy who was supposed to turn needless austerity into growth contrary to all economic evidence: So, about that doctrine: appeals to the wonders of confidence are something Herbert Hoover would have found completely familiar
Continue readingCanadian Trends: The Great Canadian Divide: our road to failure
Canada is divided, perhaps more than the heyday of the Quebec separatist movement. There’s a divide between generations thanks to the budget and there’s a divide between eastern and western Canada and the economic differences and difficulties each is facing. In many ways Canada is itself a mini-Europe; we are
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Jared Bernstein discusses the effect of raising taxes on the highest-income households, featuring this in particular: Growth and jobs. History shows that higher taxes are compatible with economic growth and job creation: job creation and GDP growth were significantly stronger following the Clinton
Continue readingCanadian Trends: In the global race to the bottom it’s impossible to tax the top
You would think Ontario would have learned it’s lesson by now. The rules of economic activity in the era of globalization changed everything and created the race to the bottom, and now peak oil combined with globalization has created the race to the most cost efficient bottom and Ontario doesn’t get it.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Danielle Martin discusses the importance of federal involvement in Canada’s public health care system: Whose job is it to co-ordinate health-care reform in Canada? Canadians expect our federal government to play that role. We want to know that wherever we live, we will
Continue readingbastard.logic: Dueling Ledes (Compare & Contrast), Redux
AP video, Feb 15, 2011: A recent [US] government report states the terrorist threat from Canada is greater than from Mexico, and that only 50 kilometres of the border is adequately patrolled. CBC News, today: Major job cuts at the Canada Border Services Agency could undermine national security and public
Continue readingbastard.logic: Dueling Ledes (Compare & Contrast)
TorStar, March 20th: Schools, hospitals and popular burger restaurants such as Hero’s and Lick’s are part of a suddenly massive beef recall over fears of E. coli contamination. The G&M, today: Veterinarians and other inspectors responsible for food recalls and ensuring the safety of Canadian meat are among the hundreds
Continue readingAny one else see a trend here?
As with any budget there are winners and losers, with the true test of a budget at least in my mind being the determination of who wins and who loses. As the days pass and people have had time to scour the latest Conservative government budget a picture of who
Continue reading