This and that for your Sunday reading. – Jeffrey Sachs writes that the fight against climate breakdown demands a concerted solution to global problem – rather than political wrangling over whether anybody will accept any responsibility for desperately-needed change. And Adam Tooze points out the foreseeable political threats posed by
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Accidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Tom Parkin discusses the contrived war between the Libs’ fake progressives and the Cons’ phony populists: In Canada, under Conservatives and Liberals, income polarization continues, social programs get cut, workers’ economic strength weakens, infrastructure is turned into a finance rent-seeking scheme and oil
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Sara Mojtehedzadeh reports that the Ford government’s move to strip sick days away from workers was made without any attempt to consider the consequences for public health. And Emma Paling reports on how public protests at least delayed the final passage of the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Roger Eatwell writes that the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment can be traced back largely to the sense that elite-dominated governments have failed to take care of citizens generally, while David Leonhardt likewise notes that inequality can all too easily lead to easily-exploitable resentment.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Evening Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Aditya Chakrabortty discusses how UK Labour is pursuing genuine and positive class politics by promising to ensure that workers have a share in both the decision-making and the spoils of major corporations. – Duncan Cameron offers a reminder of the lack of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Duncan Cameron writes that the Libs’ anti-poverty “strategy” really isn’t about much more than spin. And Katherine Scott asks when we’ll see something which actually reduces poverty rather than merely taking one more step in measuring it. – Bill Curry points out
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Emma Paling discusses how the security of a basic income provides the opportunity to escape an abusive relationship. And Jim Stanford collects four views of a basic income from Australia, including this (PDF) from Ben Spies-Butcher: There are two broad ways that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Hugh MacKenzie comments on the continued need for an adult conversation about public revenue, including the importance of bringing in enough in taxes to fund the services which serve everybody’s best interests: The disconnect between public services and the taxes we pay to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Brett Scott pulls back the curtain on the cashless society, and notes that it (like so many “financial innovations”) is largely the result of banks seeking profits with no interest in how they harm people who don’t have money to burn: Financial institutions,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the need for Canada’s immigration policy to actually respect the human dignity of refugees and asylum seekers – contrary to both the rhetoric of the Cons and the actions of the Libs. For further reading…– The Canadian Press reported on the Cons’ anti-immigrant advertising – as well as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – J.W. Mason reviews Yanis Varoufakis’ Adults in the Room with a focus on how damaging austerity was forced on Greece by other governments. And Jan Rovny comments on the need for Europe’s left-wing parties to adapt to the precarious economy and evolving social
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Matt Bruenig writes that the concentration of wealth and power which is largely being attributed to crony capitalism is a natural byproduct of laissez-faire economics as well: An economy that distributes the national income based solely on the marginal productivity of each
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – The Star’s editorial board argues that the Paradise Papers prove the need for a crackdown on offshore tax avoidance. Zach Dubinsky and Harvey Cashore report on one nine-figure scheme cooked up by BMO. And Oxfam offers its list of suggestions to end
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Yves Engler discusses how Justin Trudeau is now the face of the exploitation of poor countries and workers by the Canadian mining industry. And Penny Collenette writes that governments and business should both bear responsibility for human rights – though it’s worth
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the latest confirmation from the Parliamentary Budget Office that a national pharmacare plan would both improve our health and save public money – and the Libs’ and Cons’ insistence on standing in the way. For further reading…– Brent Patterson weighs in on the Libs’ refusal to work toward
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Joseph Stiglitz discusses how the Republican’s trillion-dollar corporate giveaway will only exacerbate inequality without doing anything to help the U.S.’ economy: If inequality was a problem before, enacting the Republicans’ proposed tax reform will make it much worse. Corporations and businesses will
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Phillip Inman reports on a new UN study (PDF) showing that the inequality caused by austerity results in particular harm to women who are forced to take on more unpaid labour. – David Sloan Wilson interviews Sigrun Aasland about the mix and balance
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Owen Jones points out Portugal’s example as a demonstration that that there is indeed an alternative to austerity – and that it’s better for public finances as well as for social progress: During the years of cuts, charities warned of a “social emergency”.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Owen Jones calls out the dogmatic centre for first laying the groundwork for the rise of the populist right, then trying to vilify anybody working on a progressive alternative. And Chris Dillow zeroes in on what’s wrong with the neoliberal view of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Rhys Kesselman challenges the Fraser Institute’s grossly distorted conception of “tax competitiveness”: Even with lower overall tax burdens, many Americans bear much heavier non-tax burdens than their Canadian counterparts. These costs can be so large as to swamp any tax-rate differentials between the
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