The Bank of Canada today cut its benchmark interest rate today to nearly record lows, now just 0.5%. In the face of an oil shock and other weakness, monetary policy is expected to do the heavy lifting of beating an economic funk. Today’s move reflects a poverty of economic policy
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Michal Rozworski » Political Eh-conomy: Canada’s new recession and the push for alternatives
The Bank of Canada today cut its benchmark interest rate today to nearly record lows, now just 0.5%. In the face of an oil shock and other weakness, monetary policy is expected to do the heavy lifting of beating an economic funk. Today’s move reflects a poverty of economic policy
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Vindication Of Thomas Mulcair
Some will remember the abuse heaped upon NDP leader Thomas Mulcair back in 2012 when he said that Canada was suffering from the same Dutch disease that afflicted the Netherlands after natural gas fields boosting that nation’s currency reduced the competitiveness of its exports back in the 1970s. The culprit
Continue readingWise Law Blog: Is Facebook Indirectly Your Employer?
A recent article published by at Huffington Post shone an interesting light on Facebook’s contribution to the Canadian job market. A study prepared by Deliotte of some contention (as it was funded by Facebook) found that the social media giant may have indirectly contributed to the creation of 82,000 Canadian jobs,
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Jim Stanford on Canada’s economy
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/podcast-1411212-jim-stanford.mp3 Today’s episode is the last of 2014 as I’ll be away spending the holidays with family. For a bit of a year-end summary of Canada’s economy, my one guest is Jim Stanford who joins me for an extended conversation. Jim is the chief economist at Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, and
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta’s big problem is the same as Russia’s – so what’s Stephen Harper doing about it?
Keep those wells a-pumpin! Keep those oil prices low! Squeeze those Russkies! Uh … just a minute. … isn’t that bad for Alberta’s many varieties of Conservative? Below: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Mr. Harper’s hero, Margaret Thatcher. The Globe and Mail, tireless cheerleader for
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Canadians will forever be indebted because of Jim…
Canadians will forever be indebted because of Jim Flaherty. Regardless of what one thinks of the recently deceased man on a personal level, if one uses objective, non-emotional criteria, it is clear that he was probably the worst finance minister in Canadian history. Unfortunately for us, his replacement, Joe Oliver,
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: There has been a lot of talk in the Canadian mainstream media…
There has been a lot of talk in the Canadian mainstream media and from the mainstream Canadian political parties about the middle class, but almost no discussion of the working class. Even the (slightly) left-of-centre New Democratic Party (NDP) keeps using the buzzwords “middle-class families” instead of “workers” or “working-class
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Crappy New Year 2014: Canada’s economy in the shitter Yes,…
Crappy New Year 2014: Canada’s economy in the shitter Yes, it’s the economy, stupid! As of January 2014, the Canadian economy continues to be shite, swirling down the toilet. The Harper Conservatives are flushing our country down the drain. When I say “the economy”, I mean the real, boots-on-the-street, money-in-your-pocket
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Shocking And Inconvenient Truth
It is a statistic that should disturb even the most unflappable among us. It is also a window through which we see the bald lie in the Harper claim that his government is the best one to manage the nation’s economy. An RBC survey has revealed that three-quarters of Canadians
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Whenever a new study or article comes out proving that the…
Whenever a new study or article comes out proving that the Canadian job market, compensation packages and standard of living are dwindling for most workers — especially young Canadians — the knee-jerk response from right-wing reactionaries is to sputter: ” Move to Alberta!” or “Go into the trades!” or “Go
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: I downloaded this image from Facebook. It perfectly sums up…
I downloaded this image from Facebook. It perfectly sums up what Canadians are experiencing under the disgraced Harper Conservative government. The traitorous scum are slowly destroying Canada bit by bit, scandal by scandal, crime by crime, sell-off by sell-off, treason by treason. They are deliberately trying to wear us down
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: If You Haven’t Noticed Yet
…the economy is under-performing: The Bank of Canada signalled Tuesday that it’s lowering its forecasts for economic growth in the second half of 2013 and possibly for next year, citing a more prudent consumer and an export sector that has yet to fully recover. Senior deputy governor Tiff Macklem said
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Summer Is Almost Over
..and poli-talk turns from the wan mellow of good ganja to the economy, which ended Q2 with an enormous thud: On a monthly basis, real GDP by industry declined 0.5% in June. Work it out and that means less than two per cent growth for the year as a whole. Mind
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Unemployment Numbers: Most Important News During A Slow News Day
Led by declines among youths, employment decreased by 39,000 in July, and the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 7.2%. With this decrease, employment gains have averaged 11,000 per month over the past six months, slower than the average of 27,000 observed during the preceding six-month period. The experts
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Canada is an un-developing country. It has been for decades….
Canada is an un-developing country. It has been for decades. Here are some of the signs. * Crumbling infrastructure. * Irresponsible deregulation of industry and cutbacks to enforcement of the few, weak regulations that remain. This resulted – and will continue to result – in otherwise-preventable deaths, injuries and illnesses;
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: He Certainly Has Mr. Harper’s Number
It is always heartening to me, and I am sure to countless others, to see that some members of the Canadian electorate are not asleep at the proverbial wheel but instead busy exercising their critical-thinking skills. Peter Dick of Toronto is one such citizen. Not content to blithely and blindly
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: organized labour is the only potential political force with enough critical mass & enough organizational capability to get things moving.
Here’s my take on the May Day CUPE Sponsored Workshops in Ottawa on Saturday, the 27th of April: It was an interesting affair for its lamentations and the myriad problems it laid forth with little emerging by way of tactics, however, and certainly no overall strategy. Unions can’t even wrestle concentrated concern from
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Toronto Mayday 2013 – Photo set 3 These are various photos of…
Toronto Mayday 2013 – Photo set 3 These are various photos of the International Workers Day march in downtown Toronto during the evening of May 1, 2013. A wide range of groups, individuals, causes and ideologies were represented — under the common banner of working class power.
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Toronto Mayday 2013 – Photo set 2 Two current issues that were…
Toronto Mayday 2013 – Photo set 2 Two current issues that were emphasized at the 2013 International Workers Day rally in Toronto were the deaths of hundreds of garment workers in a recent factory collapse in Bangladesh (and the continuing systematic exploitation of all sweatshop workers in that country) and
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