Toronto Mayday 2013 – Photo set 1 These pictures are from the starting point of the International Workers Day rally in downtown Toronto in the early evening of May 1, 2013. The trees and sunlight in these five photos highlight the other, much older, aspect of Mayday: nature, rebirth and
Continue readingTag: Canadian economy
Alberta Diary: Advice for Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau: Hammer Stephen Harper on the economy
The neoliberal Harper economy at work: a Toronto street scene, last week. Below: Thomas Mulcair, Justin Trudeau, Stephen Harper and Margaret Thatcher. Here’s some free advice for a couple of would-be Canadian prime ministers who are both in the news these days, the NDP’s Tom Mulcair and the Liberals’ Justin
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Why are governments addicted to neoliberal #austerity?
The key to deficit reduction is not austerity – reducing government spending by cutting programs and personnel – but good old-fashioned employment. Stanford’s argument is in the Krugman reformist, Keynesian tradition. He doesn’t seek a transformation, merely a technical economic readjustment, but, given our failure to transform capitalism so far – which can be brought about,
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Why are governments addicted to neoliberal #austerity?
Politics and Entertainment: Why are governments addicted to neoliberal #austerity?
The key to deficit reduction is not austerity – reducing government spending by cutting programs and personnel – but good old-fashioned employment. Stanford’s argument is in the Krugman reformist, Keynesian tradition. He doesn’t seek a transformation, merely a technical economic readjustment, but, given our failure to transform capitalism so far – which can be brought about,
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Maybe its time to begin thinking about withdrawing our patronage from all retailers and services that offshore labour
“Yes, the Conservatives are focused on what they call the economy. But their economy is a ruthless, inhuman task-master. It demands that the very profitable Royal Bank be even more profitable. It demands that 45 highly trained people lose their jobs. It demands that Canada’s visa system allow all of
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Maybe its time to begin thinking about withdrawing our patronage from all retailers and services that offshore labour
“Yes, the Conservatives are focused on what they call the economy. But their economy is a ruthless, inhuman task-master. It demands that the very profitable Royal Bank be even more profitable. It demands that 45 highly trained people lose their jobs. It demands that Canada’s visa system allow all of
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Maybe its time to begin thinking about withdrawing our patronage from all retailers and services that offshore labour
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*English is indeed the language of business and global commerce thanks to U.S. imperial control of global finance, but the cultural differences, the nuances, the subtexts, the connotations, the rhythms among English language speakers are significant when it comes to communication efficiency – which is what a call centre should be all about. An English-speaking German really doesn’t speak the same language as an Indian or Texan. This is why offshoring call centres in the interest of profit and wage cost cutting is a failed business practice. It frequently if not always alienates clients. The neoliberal habit of displacing domestic workers is also of course in and of itself morally reprehensible.
The Ranting Canadian: RBC declares war against Canadian workers
RBC declares war against Canadian workers: Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is firing dozens of its employees in Canada and replacing them with lower-paid temporary foreign workers. RBC is forcing their soon-to-be-unemployed Canadian employees to train their own replacements. RBC made $7.5 billion in profits in 2012. Also about a
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: The issue is not #capitalism under new management, but the transformation of #capitalism itself. #neoliberalism #cdnecon
More and more I tend to agree with George Monbiot that it is not neoliberalism in and of itself as an ideology or economic theory that is the root cause of our economic/political/social woes, but the ruling oligarchy’s alibiing use of that model to further their own wealth no matter
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: The issue is not #capitalism under new management, but the transformation of #capitalism itself. #neoliberalism #cdnecon
More and more I tend to agree with George Monbiot that it is not neoliberalism in and of itself as an ideology or economic theory that is the root cause of our economic/political/social woes, but the ruling oligarchy’s alibiing use of that model to further their own wealth no matter
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: The issue is not #capitalism under new management, but the transformation of #capitalism itself. #neoliberalism #cdnecon
More and more I tend to agree with George Monbiot that it is not neoliberalism in and of itself as an ideology or economic theory that is the root cause of our economic/political/social woes, but the ruling oligarchy’s alibiing use of that model to further their own wealth no matter the harm that results from that quest. (Is it any wonder they’re called “the feral rich.”) The distinction is important because it shifts the strategic focus to the plutocratic investor class itself and in turn their banking, regulatory, and corporate institutions – their agents of destruction – which are served of course by compliant governments everywhere and nowhere more so than right here in Canada. Our banks are now “too big too fail.” This is, sad to say, the point to which the financialization of the Canadian economy has descended: 80% of financial assets are held in these institutions. Be prepared for the socializing of bank debt down the road now that the framework’s in place; that is, you’ll pay for any bailouts.
More and more too I find myself in agreement with both Greg Albo and Leo Panitch, who have argued persuasively that progressives groups here (including the Council of Canadians) and elsewhere are very big on tactics and “micro-politics” but woefully lacking in overall strategy and considerations of long-term consequences. I would add to their basic argument that the self-interest of the progressive groups each with its own agenda determined largely by their executives – as is the case with political parties – will no doubt continue to inhibit any collectivizing co-operative movement towards a larger, focused pragmatic goal of institutionalizing social democratic controls.
For a brief moment, there was a ray hope with the establishment of CommonCauses, but apparently all they wish to do is replicate the actions of other progressive groups and to replace the Harper Regime. The issue of course is much larger than that simplistic goal. The issue is not capitalism under new management, but the transformation of capitalism itself. Else all is lost.
Is it hopeless? Perhaps not. Perhaps all that is required is patience, As Richard Wolff has said, “As has happened often in human history, what provokes change is less any clear vision of where we go next and more the intolerability of where we are. Capitalism is no longer “delivering the goods” for most people. The circle of its beneficiaries grows smaller and richer and more out of touch with the mass of people than ever.”
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Inform your "fiscally conservative" friends please of this astounding failure
#neoliberalism Under Flaherty the #cdnecon since 2006 has been a debt-fuelled financialized one only with little real production, productivity, or significantly increased employment to drive demand. Credit card debt has gone from $35.6 billion in February 2006 to $77.4 in February 2012, a staggering 117% increase. Mortgage debt has gone from
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Inform your “fiscally conservative” friends please of this astounding failure
#neoliberalism Under Flaherty the #cdnecon since 2006 has been a debt-fuelled financialized one only with little real production, productivity, or significantly increased employment to drive demand. Credit card debt has gone from $35.6 billion in February 2006 to $77.4 in February 2012, a staggering 117% increase. Mortgage debt has gone from $672.5
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Inform your “fiscally conservative” friends please of this astounding failure
#neoliberalism Under Flaherty the #cdnecon since 2006 has been a debt-fuelled financialized one only with little real production, productivity, or significantly increased employment to drive demand. Credit card debt has gone from $35.6 billion in …
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Here are some unintentionally hilarious excerpts from an old interview with Jim Flaherty,…
Here are some unintentionally hilarious excerpts from an old interview with Jim Flaherty, Canada’s worst finance minister. The article was published by the pro-Conservative (and plagiarism-tolerant) Globe and Mail. It was the height of Trudeaumania, and the Flaherty clan was right in the middle of it. But over the following
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: SNC-Lavalin + Canadian politicians = organized crime The thoroughly corrupt SNC-Lavalin has its…
SNC-Lavalin + Canadian politicians = organized crime The thoroughly corrupt SNC-Lavalin has its dirty mitts in a bunch of lucrative federal and provincial projects across Canada, despite being tainted by multiple serious infractions. Why are they allowed to operate as normal? Are they another “too big to fail” corporation? Here
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Jim Flaherty, the most incompetent finance minister in Canadian…
Jim Flaherty, the most incompetent finance minister in Canadian history, released his pathetic 2013 budget on March 21 and almost immediately snuck off to Hong Kong, en route to Thailand. He only stopped in Vancouver along the way – to give a scripted speech to an exclusive audience of Conservative-friendly
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Interview with Glen “the Hamilton Kid” of the Steeltown Spoilers
Interview with Glen “the Hamilton Kid” of the Steeltown Spoilers: The above link is to an interview with Glen “the Hamilton Kid” of the punk band Steeltown Spoilers. Glen talks about his band of course, but he also discusses the economic decline and political destruction of the city he loves.
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: A 516.7 billion increase in personal debt and 140 billion in federal debt since Flaherty took over
#cdnecon An Appalling Performance from a Finance Minister. » Whatever economic movement we’ve had has been fuelled by essentially personal debt, an astonishing 516.7 billion increase since 2006, at a staggering 165% debt to disposable income ratio. Only #banksters and the investor class benefit from such a financialization of the economy. And we’re 140 billion deeper
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