Paul Street writing for Counterpunch illustrates the problems humanity faces as a whole and how completely useless our insular elites and mainstream media would rather madly fiddle for short term profit that tackle the larger issues of the human habitability of the earth. “The 2020 elections and their aftermath (including
Continue readingTag: capitalism
Dead Wild Roses: Before Becoming Too Smugly Secular – Sheldon S. Wolin – Democracy Incorporated.
As an atheist it is sometime easy to become hyper focused on what those people over there are doing wrong and how they need to fix their views and join the 21st century. Sheldon Wolin takes this view and compares it to what we have going on right now in
Continue readingScripturient: America’s time machine
We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin… our homes are covered with mortgages, labor impoverished; and the land concentrating in the hands of the capitalists… The fruits of toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Christmas – Whose Holiday is it Anyway
It is time for the annual discussions about the “War on Christmas” and putting “Christ Back in Christmas”, but whose holiday is it anyway. The Christians claim it as theirs because, well, it has “Christ” in the name and celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. But yet they chose the
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Our Common Apocalypse – Our Common Problem – The Elites
We have a NIMBY problem here. The bad news is that said NIMBY problem is on a planetary scale and my backyard is really everyone’s back yard so to speak. The doom of our time is coming, human driven climate change, and we merrily continue to do that very things
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: An Excellent Introduction to Neoliberalism. It’s Essential to Grasp How Its Adherents in Our Political Caste Undermine Democracy.
A lot of us see neoliberalism, manifested in the rise of market power and the spread of globalism, as a plague on society. It is a plague on democratic society. That purpose was forged almost a century ago in Austria as it emerged from the ashes of WWI. With the end
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Inequality-redistribution in Canada update
Two years ago I posted my first guest blog focused on income inequality, specifically how changes in Canada’s redistribution over the last three decades have increased after-tax income inequality, and how these changes compared to OECD trends. The figures and analysis in this post update the earlier blog, based on
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Managing Dissent and the threat of Populism in the US
We’ve had a few pieces on the disconnect between the public and the political process. This essay by Richard D. Wolff looks to answering the question why, despite there being two different political parties in the US, that the overall arc of the US body politic maintains the same general
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: The "But Communism Was Bad" Argument
Lately, when debating matters of economics, people that I will broadly call “small government advocates” (usually hardline fiscal hawk conservatives and libertarians) will inevitably start throwing about the argument that “communism is a failed ideology” when they are challenged directly about the specifics of what they would cut from government,
Continue readingThe Political Road Map: New Year, New Wage, New Me
Happy New Year to everyone! You may be wondering where I have been for the past five months, since The Political Road Map has become quite lonely. I decided that I would try out working in print media and took a position with a local newspaper. The work is hard,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Autonomous Vehicles
The dour feminist in me would like to point out that women are still struggling toward full autonomy in society after some 2000 years of ‘civilization’ ( :/ ), but the hot topic of self driving vehicles has crossed my desk and merits a comment or two with
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Capitalism Is Not the Only Choice
Capitalism in its current form enriches mostly privileged men and sidelines marginalized groups such as people of colour, immigrants and women. We need the courage to imagine and create new solidarity economies that prioritize people and the planet over profit. The post Capitalism Is Not the Only Choice appeared first
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Changing the Capitalist System – We are closer than you think
I’ve recently changed computer operating systems, moving from Windows 10 to a version of Linux called Mint. I was motivated primarily by concerns about privacy and had grown weary of a computing environment that was constantly trying to sell me stuff I didn’t need. I won’t bore you with what
Continue readingThings Are Good: Capitalism Will End, Celebrate What Comes Next
The damage that wealthy bankers did to the economy back in 2007/08 is still with us, and that has led to a whole generation questioning the validity of modern hyper-capitalism. That same germination witness ongoing environmental destruction and the erosion of labour rights (amongst a litany of other ills) all
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ease up on shareholder payouts, pay your workers more instead
With Alberta and Ontario raising their minimum wage to $15 per hour, and BC possibly following suit soon, the usual suspects have begun their predictable howling about how this is a bad time, or it’s happening too fast, or how it will simply hurt those we are trying to help.
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: A despot in disguise: one man’s mission to rip up democracy
George Monbiot The Guardian It’s the missing chapter: a key to understanding the politics of the past half century. To read Nancy MacLean’s new book, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America, is to see what was previously invisible. The history professor’s work
Continue readingThe Political Road Map: Don’t Be Afraid of Raising The Minimum Wage!
I decided to write this post in response to the usual chatter that is generated, whenever the government decides to impose an increase on minimum wage. Usually, you will hear some form of Libertarian or Anarchist arguing that the increase in minimum wage will not only lead to higher prices,
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Desmond Cole, the Toronto Star and Another Existential Crisis for Professional Journalism
DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. I see this as a two-fold issue; firstly, actions and secondly, words. I’ll consider both briefly and then elaborate on my concerns. Actions There is no point in rehashing here the now well-known details of what lead to Desmond
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: The role of NGOs in Africa: are they a force for good?
Some critics argue that the neo-liberal policies advanced by powerful non-governmental organizations, NGOs, limit states’ influence and sovereignty while benefiting NGOs. In Africa, NGOs also place Africans at the mercy of donors. The post The role of NGOs in Africa: are they a force for good? appeared first on The
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