Paul Martin’s official prime ministerial portrait was unveiled on Parliament Hill on Wednesday. During the ceremony, he was referred to as the greatest finance minister in our history—lavish praise indeed. But deserving? I believe so. He did at lea…
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Paul Martin—Canada’s greatest finance minister?
Paul Martin’s official prime ministerial portrait was unveiled on Parliament Hill on Wednesday. During the ceremony, he was referred to as the greatest finance minister in our history—lavish praise indeed. But deserving? I believe so. He did at least three things that, in my mind, place him in that rarefied
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Great War on Pensions
Well there he was in Poland yesterday, relentlessly pursuing the ethnic vote again, by portraying himself as the fearless leader of the Great War on Russia.And the champion of freedom and democracy.Even as the Senate rammed through his totalitarian anti-terror bill.Which will kill OUR freedoms and turn us into a police state,But at
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Andrew Jackson weighs in on the need for our public policy to ensure a fair initial distribution of income and power in order to ensure that further redistribution is sustainable: The issue of how to deal with rising inequality and the squeezed middle-class
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Great Con Pension Scam
You might think that Stephen Harper has done enough to hurt poor seniors. By making them wait until they are sixty-seven to receive Old Age Security payments. And treating our veterans like dirt.You might think that his Great Con Debate scam would have satiated his corrupt instincts.But no, now he has ordered his dilapidated
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Justin Wolfers discusses new research showing how location has a dramatic effect on the future of young children. And it’s particularly striking that the negatives of moving seem to outweigh any positive effects of a surrounding neighbourhood for older children – suggesting that
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Podcast: Pension tensions and privatizations
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/podcast150501-pensions-and-privatization.mp3 I have two guests on two different topics today. First up: Kevin Skerrett, a pension researcher at the Canadian Union of Public Employees. I spoke with him about the role of pensions in financialized capitalism. Don’t let the word pensions scare you off, this is a conversation that gets
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On active demolition
Shorter Fraser Institute: It has come to our attention that due to the Canada Pension Plan, the rabble might actually enjoy the benefit of high-return investments normally reserved to our corporate overlords. Clearly this must end.
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Why I Might Vote for the Liberals in the Ontario Election.
With just two days before the Ontario election, and still not having decided whether to vote for the NDP or the Liberals, I decided to check out the lawn signs on the island, which is part of Trinity-Spadina riding.And the results were no surprise. The island is still mostly orange, with
Continue readingAlberta Diary: CFIB members please post: ‘Money from public sector wages & pensions NOT wanted here!’
CFIB AstroTurf technicians roll out part of their campaign against improved pensions for Canadians, a plan certain to harm the group’s naïve supporters. Below: A suggested sign for the windows of CFIB-member businesses. Whew! That was a close one! We almost improved the Canada Pension Plan! So says the so-called
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Nightmare Before Christmas
Well I finally got to screen Stephen Harper's year end interview with Global TV, and it was one of the weirdest interviews I've ever seen.And one of the most chilling. For there was Harper sitting in what looked like a set from A Christmas Story.But sounding like a character out
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: The in-and-out trick: Thoughts on Canada Post, CPP and your child’s breakfast
The past few days have not been great for public services in Canada. Canada Post will be phasing out home delivery of mail. Expansion of the Canada Pension Plan was scuttled at the finance ministers’ meeting. In the grand scheme of things, however, these are not extreme cutbacks. It’s not
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Notes on pensions and risk
Canada’s finance ministers are meeting this weekend and a proposal to expand the CPP is at the top of the agenda. If implemented, this proposal would bolster an important public program at a time when public programs are under attack and the public sector as whole is shrinking. There are many good arguments in
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Con War on the Canada Pension Plan
It's my nightmare vision of a Con jungle. A country full of seniors living in poverty and misery. A country where the old and the poor have no present, and the young have no future.A nightmare that became even more real today, when the Cons killed an NDP proposal to expand
Continue readingAutonomy For All: Government That Works: CPP is Healthy Say Actuaries
Every 3 years the Canada Pension Plan is analyzed by professional actuaries (with peer review by independent actuaries picked by the UK government) to analyze its financies against the best practice means of assessing likely future pay outs and revenue…
Continue readingAutonomy For All: Government That Works: CPP is Healthy Say Actuaries
Every 3 years the Canada Pension Plan is analyzed by professional actuaries (with peer review by independent actuaries picked by the UK government) to analyze its financies against the best practice means of assessing likely future pay outs and revenue. Once again, the 26th such report finds the CPP is
Continue readingAutonomy For All: Government That Works: CPP is Healthy Say Actuaries
Every 3 years the Canada Pension Plan is analyzed by professional actuaries (with peer review by independent actuaries picked by the UK government) to analyze its financies against the best practice means of assessing likely future pay outs and revenue. Once again, the 26th such report finds the CPP is
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: CPP reform: Pensions and population health objectives should be linked
There are two accepted axioms in health care: 1. The older you get, the more health care you use. 2. Wealth is closely linked to health, or what policy wonks like to talk about as the “social determinants of health.” … Continue reading →
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Taint of Ideology
Although I’m sure that I frequently fall victim to it, I am deeply offended by lazy thinking, our seemingly endless capacity to fall back on ideological bromides as a substitute for careful and reasoned consideration of an issue. Instances of such defective cogitation abound, and are especially noticeable in online
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Jim Flaherty and the Theatre of Cruelty
You might think that Jim Flaherty would be satisfied with ramming through his latest Trojan Horse budget.His ghastly swollen beast stuffed to the gills with toxic waste.But no. Now he's going after seniors and the Canada Pension Plan. Read more »
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