Thoughts on Marxism & Technology Part I There is a joke about Marxist economists that goes something along the lines of “Marxists have predicted five of the last four recessions”. I was reminded of this joke recently as I debated with a comrade about capitalism and progress, specifically around technological
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Politics 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 readingArt Threat: Swaping songs for socks: has Indiegogo become colonized by capital?
Remember when crowdfunding was a baby? It was an innocent but fierce little phenomenon that you would feed, along with a whole community, and lo and behold, a project would be raised, big and strong ready to tackle the world. Amazing things like literacy projects, art therapy, and independent documentaries
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: why focus on inflation when there is little evidence of a inflationary trend while there are abundant statistics revealing just how bad things are for both the unemployed and the underemployed.
One of the official goals of central bank monetary policy is supposed to be low employment fostered through what is known as an expansionary policy by lowering interest rates with the hope that low credit rates will encourage businesses to expand their operations by way of capital investment in hard assets or
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: why focus on inflation when there is little evidence of a inflationary trend while there are abundant statistics revealing just how bad things are for both the unemployed and the underemployed.
One of the official goals of central bank monetary policy is supposed to be low employment fostered through what is known as an expansionary policy by lowering interest rates with the hope that low credit rates will encourage businesses to expand their operations by way of capital investment in hard assets or
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: why focus on inflation when there is little evidence of a inflationary trend while there are abundant statistics revealing just how bad things are for both the unemployed and the underemployed.
One of the official goals of central bank monetary policy is supposed to be low employment fostered through what is known as an expansionary policy by lowering interest rates with the hope that low credit rates will encourage businesses to expand their operations by way of capital investment in hard assets or capital expenditures of some sort and new hirings. We’ve had this policy in place for quite some time now, and yet employment really hasn’t improved one iota. If anything it’s merely gotten worse along with – because of the incentive of low interest rates – an astounding increase in personal debt to the unseemly tune of a 165% income to debt ratio.
** For example, “the number of temporary workers in Canada hit a record two million last year, according to Statistics Canada. That amounts to 13.6 per cent of the work force compared with 11.3 per cent in 1997, when such record-keeping began.

Melissa Fong: Vancity & Anti-gentrification CCAP Protests in DTES: When social economy work gets messy
Vancity is a co-operative [2] bank that has been a long time funder of the Carnegie Community Action Project. On April 13th Vancity released a statement on their stance on CCAP Protests in the DTES. After a lengthy non-committal statement about their stance on housing and the gentrification of the
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: I just saw that today, May 5, is the birthday of Karl Heinrich…
I just saw that today, May 5, is the birthday of Karl Heinrich Marx (1818-1883), the German economist, historian, journalist and philosopher. I post this video in honour of the occasion. It’s a bit silly, and I’m not sure of the intentions of the creators, but I’ve been waiting for
Continue readingThe Political Road Map: Someone Always Has To Die…
It has been a pretty busy week so far and this beautiful weather has been a much needed treat(ment) for the woes of working a stressful job and trying to get by. Fortunate for me, but unfortunately for 500 other people, there will no longer be good and bad days,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Birth Control – An Ounce of Prevention…
Fiscal conservatives give me a headache at the best of times. Having them opine about how availability of birth control is going to drive up costs and make every one sad, well…makes me sad. It would be nice, for once, if our conservative friends would base their opinion on something
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: It’s April 27, 2013: a few days after my blog’s…
It’s April 27, 2013: a few days after my blog’s first anniversary, the weekend of Rebelfest in Hamilton, and a few days before International Workers’ Day (aka Mayday, aka the real Labour Day). Additionally, April 28 is International Day of Mourning for workers who were killed or injured on the
Continue readingezra winton: Hidden riches of world’s wealthiest exposed
Kudos to the Guardian and to the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists [ICIJ], for their ground-breaking investigative work that has now revealed the names of the world’s most questionable millionaires. In an era of austerity, with massive cuts to services, the arts, education, and labour in many countries, it’s sobering
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: Capitalism efficient? We can do so much better
By Richard Wolff A Madrid woman holds a banner reading ‘Your benefits, Our crisis. Another world is possible’ at the Spanish headquarters of the European Commission. Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters What’s efficiency got to do with capitalism? The short answer is little or nothing. Economic and social collapses in Detroit, Cleveland
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: A Socialist’s Lament
Let’s be clear about one thing: the New Democratic Party of Canada was never a socialist party. For all the hands wrung and tears shed over its newly amended constitution, the NDP, since its formation in 1961, has always been a social democratic party like any other, and social democracy
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: A Socialist’s Lament
Let’s be clear about one thing: the New Democratic Party of Canada was never a socialist party. For all the hands wrung and tears shed over its newly amended constitution, the NDP, since its formation in 1961, has always been a social democratic party like any other, and social democracy
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?
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: 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.
Politics 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
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