Tag: capitalism
THE FIFTH COLUMN: On Inequality, Democracy and Taxing the Rich – A Modest Proposal
No doubt many raised in our capitalist society, where inequality rules and excessive incomes and wealth are seen as a right (and where even the NDP only proposes a measly 1% tax on excessive wealth), will consider this proposal to be radical but it is actually quit a modest proposal.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: A Case for Transitioning Toward Socialism – Chris Wright
I do like me some socialism, as I do believe it is the tonic that will address some of the societal problems we are currently experiencing. I think tackling the inherent problems socialism bring with it might be good for a change. It’s like changing the government every so often,
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Are U.S. capitalists going soft?
The aristocracy of American capitalism can be found on the membership list of the Business Roundtable. The Roundtable, one of Washington’s top lobbyists, includes among its 193 members the chief executives of the cream of the country’s corporations, including Amazon, Apple, Fox, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Goldman Sachs and dozens of
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Race to the Bottom: US & China
It is a wonderful time to be alive. Our social sphere is a dividedly partisan uncharitable hot mess. Nothing gets done because the status quo recognizes that people working together have the capacity to radically alter society. Internecine conflict and partisan yelling matches are not an accident. They conveniently combust
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Monbiot Sees Mankind in a Fight for Life with Capitalism
You might not like his ideas but they’re well worth airing. Guardian enviro-scribe, George Monbiot, writes that it’s time to ditch capitalism before it puts us in the grave. Capitalism’s failures arise from two of its defining elements. The first is perpetual growth. Economic growth is the aggregate effect of the
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Catastrophic Climate Change Just Isn’t Profitable
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 readingDead 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
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