I can’t remember the last time I laughed out loud when I saw election results. I almost spat a mouthful of my breakfast across the room. Almost nobody expected Ontario’s Liberals to win a majority, least of all the NDP’s Andrea Horwath. Her decision to pull the plug on the
Continue readingTag: economic crisis
The Progressive Economics Forum: Rising Homelessness
In 2010, I wrote a blog post in which I suggested that: a) the recession of 2008-2009 would bring on increased homelessness; and b) there would be a lag effect of roughly three to five years. Indeed, I suggested that it would not be until 2014 until the full effect
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: Intellectual Dishonesty at the Ivey Business Journal
Under the headline “Canada Isn’t Rotten to the Core”, the new editor of the Ivey Business Journal, Thomas Watson, attacked my book “Thieves of Bay Street” in his inaugural editorial. Although the book hit bookstores almost two years ago, and has faded from view, I found this assault so distorted
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Trickle Down Would Work If It Weren’t For The Sponges At The Top
This piece was first published in the Globe and Mail’s Economy Lab. Five years after a global economic crisis unleashed chaos on markets everywhere, income inequality has become an inescapable political and economic issue, in Canada as elsewhere. That’s because of mounting evidence that the increasingly skewed distribution of gains from economic
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The G-20, Global Stagnation and the Option of Wage Led Growth
Here is the link to a short piece I wrote for Economy Lab. It borrows from and includes the link to an important paper co-authored by the PEF’s own Marc Lavoie and recently published by the ILO , which I highly recommend. The overall conclusion of that paper is that
Continue readingCanadian Dimension | Articles: Wall Street Take-Off
On July 16, 2013, Goldman Sachs, the fifth largest US bank by assets announced its second quarter profits doubled the previous year to $1.93 billion. J. P. Morgan, the largest bank made $6.1 billion in the second quarter up 32 per cent over the year before and expects to make
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: The Crisis of Extreme Capitalism
Our current incarnation of capitalism — variously referred to as savage capitalism, extreme capitalism or euphemistically as the “free market” (free of any constraints) — is in one of its periodic crises. For years many assumed that the smart people who ran the system and benefitted from it would find
Continue readingCanadian Dimension | Articles: The Crisis of Extreme Capitalism
Our current incarnation of capitalism — variously referred to as savage capitalism, extreme capitalism or euphemistically as the “free market” (free of any constraints) — is in one of its periodic crises. For years many assumed that the smart people who ran the system and benefitted from it would find
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Ireland and the Basque Country: Massive Flight (Emigration) or General Strike?
Many billions of Euros are being extracted from Europe’s vassal-debtor nations—Spain, Greece, Portugal and Ireland—and transferred to the creditor banks, financial speculators and swindlers located in the City of London, Wall Street, Geneva and Frankfurt. Under what has been termed ‘austerity’ programs, vast tributary payments are amassed by ruling Conservative
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Niall Ferguson’s Latest Idiocy
As I discussed in an earlier post, Niall Ferguson, the Harvard historian and author of numerous bad books about economics, is prone to writing and saying completely ignorant things, making one wonder about the intellectual heft of so-called academic “stars” who populate our institutions of higher learning. The latest bit
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Margaret Thatcher’s Economic Legacy
Here is my take from today’s Economy Lab in the Globe. To expand a bit on alternatives, my take is that the neo liberal turn at the end of the 1970s was one possible response to the stagflation crisis, which found mainstream Keynesian economics wanting. Left Keynesians such as Kalecki
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Capitalism Becomes Questionable
The depth and length of the global crisis are now clear to millions. In the sixth year since it started in late 2007, no end is in sight. Unemployment rates are now less than halfway back from their recession peak to where they were in 2007. Over 20 million are
Continue readingLooking for Dr. Goodpain? Check the Reflection in the Mirror Dr. Krugman
Far be it from me to cast a pox on what has been one of the only few bright lights in the last few years but premises matter. In Krugman’s recent Looking for Mr. Goodpain he presents a reasonable derision of those pushing austerity in the face of zero evidence
Continue readingPutting lipstick on the PIIGS: the health of modern macroeconomics
Ok, so some of the best economists, trained at elite institutions, working for the pinnacle of the of the financial world got it wrong, very wrong. How wrong? Just go ask a Greek citizen. But, of course, we all knew that just by reading the headlines coming out of Greece
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Happy Crashiversary! Are you better off now than you were four years ago?
Four years after Lehman Brothers collapsed, it’s time to take stock of things by asking a stock political question: Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Where you stand on the answer depends on where you sit. Many people, businesses and communities are still struggling to
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
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