Here, on the noteworthy contrast in positions on income supports in the NDP’s leadership campaign (and particularly the recent debate in Saskatoon). For further reading…– Jeremy Nuttall discussed the state of the campaign prior to Tuesday’s debate. And Peter Zimonjic offered a summary of the debate. – I’d previously blogged
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – The Courage Coalition discusses why economic justice is necessary for social equality. But Ed Finn writes that instead, Canada is pushing people into serfdom: Today’s big business executives are not so outspoken, at least not in public, but privately they could make the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Michael Rozworski discusses the importance of workers exercising power over how our economy functions. Robert Booth reports on a forthcoming UK study showing the desperate need for improved quality of work and life among low-income individuals. And Lana Payne writes that a strong
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Ryan Meili writes about the fundamental importance of trust in both politics and medicine – and the corrosive effects of corporate donations in both: When we talk about the problems with political donations, we’re not really talking about campaign financing. We’re talking about
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Danny Dorling sets out how a more equal society leads to benefits for everybody. And Annie Lowrey discusses Richard Reeves’ take on the separation between the top 20% of the income spectrum and the rest of the U.S. – particularly in preventing social
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On comparative advantages
In the federal NDP’s previous leadership campaign, Tom Mulcair managed to release numerous policy proposals without offering any hint of what he’d do as leader. Starting from the (correct) assumption that a frontrunner could likely find his way to victory simply by minimizing controversy, Mulcair released policy planks which were
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Owen Jones writes that UK Labour’s bold and progressive platform was crucial to its improved electoral results. Bhaksar Sunkara rightly sees Labour’s campaign – in both its firm defence of the common good, and its determination to reach young and marginalized voters rather
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Don Pittis discusses the growing price everybody pays for more extreme weather events caused by climate change. And Adrienne Lafrance offers a grim look at what’s in store if we can’t curb greenhouse gas emissions in a hurry. – Seth Klein and Shannon
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Nick Saul reminds us of the need for strong and consistent public pressure to end poverty. And the Economist points out how punitive criminal justice policies coupled with a lack of rehabilitation strand people in poverty rather than allowing for a path
Continue readingMichal Rozworski: Four (more) arguments against real-world basic income
With the Ontario Liberals rolling out their basic income pilot project to much fanfare this week, it’s an opportune time to dive into the debates around BI once again. 1 Political aspects of unemployment A few weeks ago I attended a debate on basic income and left in Toronto hosted
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Andrew Jackson discusses the problems with increased corporate concentration of wealth and power – including the need for a response that goes beyond competition policies. In the 1960s, institutional economists like John Kenneth Galbraith described a world of oligopoly in which a few
Continue readingThings Are Good: Basic Income Being Tested in Ontario
Basic income is a concept that is being tried in Finland and now in Canada. The idea is to give people just enough money to live off of regardless of their situation. People can live a barebones life using basic income, but in order to afford things like travel or
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2017 Links
The latest from the NDP’s federal leadership campaign. (As always, see the reference page for general information.) – Mylene Crete reports on Alexandre Boulerice’s endorsement of Peter Julian – which offers another important piece of evidence that the party’s contingent of Quebec MPs and organizers sees Julian as a viable
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2017 Links
The latest from the federal NDP’s leadership campaign… – Marie-Danielle Smith reports that Jagmeet Singh is laying the groundwork to join the race. And Steve Paikin offers his take as to what that might mean for the current candidates – while also raising the (seemingly unlikely) prospect that Thomas Mulcair
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Rutger Bregman writes that the most extreme wealth in our economy is based on rents rather than productivity: In reality, it is the waste collectors, the nurses, and the cleaners whose shoulders are supporting the apex of the pyramid. They are the true
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2017 Candidate Profile: Guy Caron
So far, media coverage of Guy Caron’s NDP leadership campaign has focused largely on one note (that being his basic income proposal). But there’s plenty more to his candidacy – and he may well emerge as the party’s favourite when it comes time to vote. Strengths Both Caron’s core campaign
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – David Olive offers his take on what a basic income should look like – and is optimistic that Ontario’s ongoing experiment should hit the mark: A UBI would be pointless in the absence of existing supports. In the Ontario pilot projects, the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Robert Reich comments on the absurdity of Donald Trump’s plan to shovel yet more money toward a military-industrial complex and corporate profiteers who already have more than they know what to do with. – Sara Fraser and Laura Chapin write that food insecurity
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Linda McQuaig discusses the need to fight fake news about Canada’s health care system (and the corporate raiders trying to amplify it): (I)t was with some pleasure last week that I watched as a Republican congressman tried to insist that Canadians routinely flock
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Evening Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Jordon Cooper rightly argues that Brad Wall’s plan to slash education will only doom Saskatchewan to be further trapped in boom-and-bust resource cycles. And Toby Sanger discusses (PDF) how Saskatchewan can get back on track without imposing cruel cuts on the people who
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