Having earlier dealt with Stephen Harper’s attempt to justify war by building up hatred and hype toward ISIS, I’ll note the other main rationale on offer from the Cons – which can generally be described as government by wrong answer to a rhetorical question: If Canada wants to keep its
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Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – PressProgress highlights how the Cons’ stay in office has been marked by temporary rather than permanent jobs, while Kaylie Tiessen writes that precarious work is particularly prevalent in Ontario. And Erin Weir notes that more unemployed workers are now chasing after fewer job
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Linda McQuaig discusses how the interests of big banks ended the Cons’ willingness to consider postal banking which would produce both better service and more profits for the public: (C)ompetition is the last thing the banks want. And given their power (straddling the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – David Dayen discusses how prepaid debit cards are turning into the latest means for the financial sector to extract artificial fees from consumers. And Matt Taibbi reports on the looting of public pension funds in the U.S.: Nor did anyone know that part
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, looking at a $396 million annual benefit in the form of lower wireless rates for Saskatchewan residents serves as a prime example of the value of public enterprise – and pointing out a few other public options which could help ensure that the interests of citizens are better reflected
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Mark Taliano discusses how corporatocracy is replacing democracy in Canada, while Jaisal Noor talks to John Weeks about the similar trend in the U.S. And DownWithTyranny reminds us how corporations came to be – and how radical a difference there is between
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jim Stanford discusses how unions and collective bargaining improve the standard of living for everybody: The following figure illustrates the broad negative correlation between bargaining coverage and poverty: that is, the higher is bargaining coverage, the lower is relative poverty (and the more
Continue readingcmkl: There’s a credit union at Bank and Somerset again
Back when I moved to Ottawa in the early 1990s I did all my banking with one of the big commercial banks. I realized how wrong that was but what could I do? “But there’s the cutest, most friendly little credit union right at Bank and Somerset,” one of my
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Myths of central banking
The Bank of Canada has been in the news lately – or, more precisely, the news has been full of other well-placed people telling our central bankers what to do. In an interview on CTV this past weekend, Jim Flaherty made comments (later retracted) that Canada’s central bank will be
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Ryan Meili highlights the need for a plan to address poverty – rather than the customary bromides about a rising tide lifting all boats: Elimination of poverty requires more than a growing economy; it requires a dedicated plan. When more jobs are available,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Costas Lapavitsas discusses the disproportionate hold finance has over the global economy: Financialisation represents a historic and deep-seated transformation of mature capitalism. Big businesses have become “financialised” as they have ample profits to finance investment, rely less on banks for loans and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Heather Mallick discusses what Canada stands to lose as Canada Post is made both more expensive and less functional. Ethan Cox suggests that what’s missing from Canada Post is a postal bank – which makes postal services elsewhere both more profitable, and more
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: FINTRAC collecting personal banking information of innocent Canadians
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart accuses FINTRAC of collecting the personal banking information of thousands of innocent Canadians. The post FINTRAC collecting personal banking information of innocent Canadians appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: New study makes the case for postal banking in Canada
The reintroduction of postal banking in Canada would offer access to financial services not now available to many Canadians, says new study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The post New study makes the case for postal banking in Canada appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Alison Bennett reports on the OECD’s work on offshore tax avoidance, highlighting the “stateless income” that’s shuffled around the globe so as to avoid contributing to social good anywhere: Policymakers around the world are stepping up efforts to tighten rules because a growing
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Stephen Beer argues that the UK’s Labour Party should take the lead in arguing for a financial transactions tax oriented toward reducing inequality: The banking sector is incorrigible. It cannot alone reform itself or repair its relationship with the rest of society.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Bill Gardner discusses the effect of inequality and poverty starting at birth: There are three important facts packed into this slide. First, the lines stack up in order of increasing age, meaning that older people reported worse health than younger people. Second, all the lines
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – The Globe and Mail weighs in on the Lac-Mégantic tragedy by pointing out that we should be far more concerned about public safety than technical defences and excuses. Saskboy notes that as soon as a corporation’s business choices lead to a massive public
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Michael Harris nicely describes what the Cons are actually doing with power while pretending to be innocuous fiscal managers: The PM and his government are not good managers. The nauseating repetition of the claim that the Tories know what they’re doing with
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Scott Sinclair discusses how CETA could create extreme and unnecessary risk in Canada’s banking and financial system: The failure of a single company (such as Lehman Brothers in October 2008) or unchecked growth in markets for high-risk financial products (such as sub-prime
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