Here is an extract from my column on balanced budgets in the Globe ROB today. “When it comes to balancing the books, the Harper government is seemingly more Catholic than the Pope. Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF), hardly big fans of high government spending, argue in their latest Country
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The Progressive Economics Forum: G20 meeting of world finance ministers too little too late
Posted earlier as an opinion piece for CBC. See original post here (this post slightly modified from original) By Louis-Philippe Rochon Follow him on Twitter @Lprochon Much was at stake earlier this week when finance ministers from G20 countries met in Istanbul to discuss Greece and the state of the world
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Rochon Asks: “Is the Canadian economy unraveling?”
In a recent CBC blog post, Louis-Philippe Rochon assesses the current state of the Canadian economy. The link to the blog post is here. Follow him on Twitter @Lprochon.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Seccareccia on Greece, Austerity and the Eurozone
Over at the blog of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Ottawa U professor Mario Seccareccia has given an interview titled “Greece Shows the Limits of Austerity in the Eurozone. What Now?” The interview can be read here.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Don’t Play Tories’ Game on “Risk” of Deficit
Acres of newsprint have been devoted in recent weeks to the possibility that lower oil prices might push the federal budget back into a deficit position. As I argue in my column in today’s Globe and Mail, this drama is mostly political theatre — and progressives should be cautious about
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Louis-Philippe Rochon’s Top 10 Economic Predictions for 2015
Louis-Philippe Rochon has written a provocative blog post for the CBC titled “Top 10 Economic Predictions for 2015.” The post is available here.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: What Have we Learned From the Financial Crisis? Part 4: Bernard Vallageas
What follows are comments from a roundtable discussion held at the University of Ottawa on February 28, organized by Mario Seccareccia, and which featured participation from Marc Lavoie, Louis-Philippe Rochon, Mario Seccareccia, Slim Thabet and Bernard Vallageas. This is Part 4 of 5 sequential blog entries. – Bernard Vallageas Vice-président de l’Association pour
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: What Have we Learned From the Financial Crisis? Part 3: Mario Seccareccia
What follows are comments from a roundtable discussion held at the University of Ottawa on January 28, organized by Mario Seccareccia, and which featured participation from Marc Lavoie, Louis-Philippe Rochon, Mario Seccareccia, Slim Thabet and Bernard Vallageas. This is Part 3 of 3 consecutive blog entries. – Mario Seccareccia Professor
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: What Have we Learned From the Financial Crisis? Part 2: Louis-Philippe Rochon
What follows are comments from a roundtable discussion held at the University of Ottawa on January 28, organized by Mario Seccareccia, and which featured participation from Marc Lavoie, Louis-Philippe Rochon, Mario Seccareccia, Slim Thabet and Bernard Vallageas. This is Part 2 of 3 consecutive blog entries. – Louis-Philippe Rochon Associate
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: What Have we Learned From the Financial Crisis? Part 1: Marc Lavoie
What follows are comments from a roundtable discussion held at the University of Ottawa on January 28, organized by Mario Seccareccia, and which featured participation from Marc Lavoie, Louis-Philippe Rochon, Mario Seccareccia, Slim Thabet and Bernard Vallageas. Parts 2 and 3 will follow in subsequent blog posts. – Marc Lavoie
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Flaherty’s Legacy: Ideological, reckless and just plain lucky
This piece was originally published at the Globe and Mail’s online Report on Business feature, EconomyLab. There are two reasons why it is difficult to comment on the legacy of a finance minister. 1) It is a tremendously challenging job, anywhere, any time. Stewarding one of the largest economies
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada Post’s vow to ‘protect taxpayers’ needs a reality check
This piece was first published in the Globe & Mail. In a move that caught everyone off-guard, Canada Post announced a five point “action plan” last week that included phasing-out home delivery of the mail over the next five years, making Canada the only G7 nation to do so. Why? To “protect taxpayers.” Of
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Flaherty’s (mis)Adventures In Balanced Budget Land
Flaherty is expected to deliver an “optimistic” fiscal update report today, which will show the government tracking to achieve a “balanced budget” by 2015. Unlike last year’s update which went down like a spoonful of cod-liver oil — tastes awful, but good for you — Flaherty has signalled he
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Obama’s Powers and the Debt Ceiling Increase: What if the Tea Party is right?
Senator Collins The debate is getting testy down south. The Republicans seem to believe that they have now become paragons of reasonableness, while the Democrats are risking armageddon: Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said that while Republicans entered the shutdown debate with unreasonable demands to scuttle key portions of Obamacare, it
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Alberta Tar Sands: The Royalty Rip Off [VIDEO]
We recommend:FAA imposed no-fly zone over Exxon’s Pegasus tar sands oil spill siteState Department’s Keystone XL Project Review Upsets EnvironmentalistsTar Sands: Exxon’s New “Energy Everywhere” Program (Satirical Video) Exxon pipeline breaks, spills 84,000 gallons of Canadian tar sands oil in Arkansas (VIDEO)Line 9: The Tar Sands Come to Ontario (VIDEO)
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Beating Back the Ghosts: Be Gone Appeals to Reinhart and Rogoff Authority. Welcome the Triumph of Reason.
They’ve haunted me. Incessantly. The ghosts of Reinhart and Rogoff. Their research here, there, everywhere. Bank of Canada speeches? Yes. Finance Department talking points? Check. House of Commons debates? Yup. Globe editorials? Ditto. Discussions with fellow progressives? Sadly, yes. Results? Arguments conjured in their name. Reason decapitated. Modern Monetary Theorists
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Austerity through infrastructure Cuts: Budget 2013
One the most amazing things about this budget is that one of its three focuses will actually be the opposite of what it’s touting. You’ll likely hear that $14 billion will be spent on infrastructure over the next 10 years (actually you may hear much bigger numbers but they just
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Dead Money
Kudos to Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney for raising the profile of the over $500 billion Canadian corporations are holding in excess cash surpluses and not investing in the economy, which garnered front page coverage (and kudos to the CAW for inviting him to speak.) It’s not the first
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Fiscal “Crisis” In Context: Two Indicators
With all the predictions of doom and gloom coming from the austerity camp, one would think that Canada was already about to hit the famed (but never seen) “debt wall.” Before we get too carried away, however, with the scary debt stuff, consider these two indicators of the fundamental fiscal
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Krugman: End This Depression Now!
I am an enthusiastic reader of Krugman’s columns and, especially, his economic blog. And I certainly side strongly with him in the intellectual and political struggle against “the Austerians” and “Very Serious People” who are unnecessarily prolonging the Great Recession in America and in Europe. That said, Krugman’s latest book
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