Well, well, well, normally an invite from Rob Ford would end up in my garbage quicker than a brochure to take out a subscription to the National Post. But sometimes when opportunity knocks, you just have to listen. And this, I think, is one of those mo…
Continue readingTag: austerity
RedBedHead: Gee Skewers Ford
I was about to write another pithy dismembering of the lies and stupidities of the mayoralty of His Honour Rob Ford. But then I read today’s article in the Globe & Mail by Marcus Gee and, frankly, I couldn’t have said it better myself. We may all r…
Continue readingBefore Wisconsin there was Puerto Rico
Governor Scott Walker’s actions in Wisconsin brought the NeoLiberal agenda into the mainstream conscientiousness. Many were surprised by the viciousness with which Walker implemented his agenda yet we shouldn’t have been surprised at all, he was merely…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Mayor Ford: Lies, Stupidity and Statistics
I suppose that few people are in danger of suggesting that Rob Ford is the sharpest knife in the drawer, which makes it all the more unfortunate that he’s swinging around an axe like leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The target for Ford is, o…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Ontario Austerity, the Days of Action and How Unions Became So Pathetic
There was a time when unions in Canada fought for jobs, pensions and wages like they meant it. And it wasn’t so very long ago. Well, it was a while – back in the 1970s, to be exact. Back then Canada had the highest rate of unofficial strikes in the adv…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Italy Votes To Kill Its Economy To Save Its Debt Rating
The parasites and rumour-mongers who run the debt ratings agencies, having done their work getting the Greek government to screw their population, have moved on to Italy. Let’s be honest, the ratings agencies are just the propaganda arm – fully funded …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your midweek reading.- Stephen Gordon weighs in again on the Cons’ census disaster:Many readers may have thought that the census issue was settled last summer; it wasn’t. We haven’t even begun to deal with the consequence…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Greece: Bigger Than Lehman Brothers
What a frigging disaster. Back in 2008, the US Federal Reserve let the Lehman Brothers investment bank – which held more than a bellyful of toxic debt, go to the wall. It was meant to bring “calm” to increasingly panicked financial markets. That will p…
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Austerity Leads to Suicide Rate Increase
Friday’s Vancouver Sun had a short item that you might have missed, “Suicides up, road deaths down due to recession.” It’s in the bottom corner of page B5: Suicides rates rose sharply in Europe in 2007 to 2009 as the financial crisis drove unemployment up and squeezed incomes, with the worst hit countries like Greece […]
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis a Sovereignty Crisis
Greek Parliament, Syntagma Athens – by kouk News outlets around the world have focused heavily on the so-called Greek Sovereign debt crisis this week. The proposed solution–an IMF loan package requiring “austerity measures” and a fire-sale of public assets–has sparked massive unrest in the capital, where people from all walks
Continue readingRedBedHead: Greek Austerity Vote Is Just The Beginning
There was a certain amount of hand-wringing by the business press and politicians internationally that the PASOK government of Greece might not be able to pass the second austerity package in a year. However, it seemed unlikely that more than a handful…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Live Stream: 48-Hour Greek General Strike Against Austerity
The fight is on. Greek workers are under a massive assault as international bankers, speculators, governments and capitalists try to force a brutal austerity package down their throats. Last year’s austerity has already doubled the unemployment rate to…
Continue readingOnce Again, Austerity For Thee But Not For Me
Here’s another example of financial obscenity. This time, in Europe. Yes, it seems to much for the Eurozone to lead by example.
While Greece erupts in riots over spending cuts mandated by international banks, bureaucrats in Brussels are fretting about the lavish new headquarters they’re building for themselves.
With stunning insensitivity, details about . . . → Read More: Once Again, Austerity For Thee But Not For Me
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Greece at a Crossroads
Now that the Greek government has survived a confidence vote in Parliament, the stage is set in Greece for further confrontations ahead of next week’s decision on the new “austerity” plan demanded by the “troika” – the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the European Union (EU). While the origins of […]
Continue readingRedBedHead: A View From The Volcano: Report From Greece
This is a fascinating interview from the British Socialist Worker Newspaper on what’s going on in Greece. All we’re really getting is the maneuverings and panic of the politicians and the bankers. This interview with a socialist gives a flavour of what…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Greek Meltdown: People vs Banks
Forget the riots in Vancouver by angry hockey fans, things are really on the boil in Greece. After a year of austerity measures that have all but killed the economy and which have driven down living standards substantially, the government is coming bac…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Support The Strikes To Defend Pensions
Usually even the mention of Margaret Wente’s name can ruin my day but her article in today’s Globe & Mail is actually not too bad in terms of laying out the terms of the strike and lock-out at Canada Post and Air Canada respectively. Of course, in …
Continue readingbastard.logic: Montreal Massacre: “Remember, then organize.”
by matttbastard Record snowfall may have forced the cancellation of local commemorative events, but the memories of December 6th, 1989 remain fresh, regardless of where we wrestle with them. Though we take time today to reflect on the untimely murders of 18 … Continue reading →