By a miraculous coincidence the Auditor General’s report on the Kenney government’s first year in office landed smack in the middle of the American election. Well, the election is over. Mr Biden won. Agriculture minister Devin Dreeshen can put away his MAGA hat and we can turn our attention back
Continue readingTag: Economics
Northern Currents: The Conservatives are hostile towards those we need the most
Share this: While the coronavirus pandemic started spreading across the globe, many governments were caught off guard and had to act quickly. Those countries that elected to put their top scientists in charge and listen to their expertise were more successful in flattening the curve than those that didn’t. Photo:
Continue readingNorthern Currents: The Conservatives are hostile towards those we need the most
Share this: While the coronavirus pandemic started spreading across the globe, many governments were caught off guard and had to act quickly. Those countries that elected to put their top scientists in charge and listen to their expertise were more successful in flattening the curve than those that didn’t. Photo:
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Kenney Stands Up For Doomed Oil
Nowhere in Canada is more cursed than Alberta. It’s the Resource Curse. And Jason Kenney is the leader of the cursed. At the empty Tesla charging station in Fort Macleod. Apparently Albertans aren't heeding NDP lectures to "change their behaviour." pic.twitter.com/euc7vGk2ZH — Jason Kenney (@jkenney) January 4, 2017 Some people
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Decision Day for Dr Day
Mr Justice Steeves’ decision in Cambie Surgeries Corporation v. British Columbia (Attorney General) reads like a Scott Turow novel, albeit at a slower pace. It includes all the major elements of a legal thriller: a law suit with white hats and black hats, ordinary people desperately searching for ways to
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: My Dream Homestead Garden – Or, Healing The Earth, One Carrot At A Time
A dream homestead garden? Ok, so this is not a subject to everyone’s taste or interest, clearly. Nor is it my usual domain, but it is related. I tend to write about politics, philosophy, social issues and social commentary, with forays into economics and finance, green living, health, and green
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Plague Update: Children Thrown Away Like Masks
The coronavirus is airborne. Most of our plans are based on it spreading by droplets and unclean hands. #KeepYourChildHome and they'll thank you in later years, even if 2020 and some of 2021 is more difficult. Easier to rebuild social connections than a damaged heart. — Saskboy from #SocialDistancing (@saskboy)
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A “Marathon Session”
The Alberta Legislature is adjourned for a month. For this we are truly grateful because no matter how Jason Kenney tries to dress up his performance—he says he’s well on his way to delivering on almost 70% of his campaign promises—he has not delivered on the promise of “jobs, economy,
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Plague Update: Post-lockdown
Even though everything isn’t re-opened, the Saskatchewan Government very much wants people to think and act as if everything is back to normal. They’ll deny that if asked. There’s no evidence of the Premier wearing a mask though to set a good example in public. As a result, the infection
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On McQuaig’s Sport and Prey
Linda McQuaig’s newest book, The Sport and Prey of Capitalists: How the Rich are Stealing Canada’s Public Wealth, is a fast read full of local history and written as history should be written, as colourful stories about fascinating people! But, in order to try to remember any of it, I’ve whittled
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Kenney’s Recovery Plan: A Failure to Launch
Pfffft! That’s the sound of Jason Kenney’s recovery plan as it sputters and lands like a limp balloon in the corner of the room. Mr Kenney promised Albertans a “bold and ambitious plan,” a “game-changer” that will send a clear message to the world that Alberta is the best place
Continue readingNorthern Currents: Workers deserve a 32 hour work week with no loss of pay
Share this: Since the industrialization of the world, workers organized in unions have fought for many key rights Canadians enjoy today. In the early days of Capitalism, it was not uncommon for a worker to spend 80 hours per week at their job in strenuous working conditions. Thanks to organized
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Joe Biden:Strike n+1 Against the Keystone XL Pipeline
Our dear government’s stalwart obsession with fossil fuel is again jeopardizing the economic well-being of the Province of Alberta. Kenny is investing heavily in a project that may evaporate with the stroke of the Presidential pen. The company said Alberta has agreed to invest approximately $1.1 billion US as equity
Continue readingThings Are Good: Caring About the GDP is Passé
In 2009 we looked at how Bhutan uses Gross National Happiness instead of the bizarre Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measurement to see how “successful” the country is. The GDP doesn’t reflect lives lived since things like oil spills and other disasters actually make the GDP go up despite the damage
Continue readingThings Are Good: Amsterdam: The Economy is a Doughnut
Amsterdam is embracing an ecological approach to their economy by looking at it as if it’s a doughnut. Of course, it’s not a literal snack they are using, it’s a metaphor to visualize how different aspects of life interact with each other in an economic model. Classical economic models assume
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Plague Update: Frugality Saves Itself
It’s become trendy to be thrifty. Frugal, even. There’s always been a case for being frugal, but now it’s more apparent to a society facing supply chain disruptions from an unsure labour market and contracted globalism. Have you started a Victory Garden this year? When there were social events, did
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Plauge Update: POStmedia Shows Its Soul
That's sick. Heaven forbid that poor people not be poor on the other end of a crisis where they lose family members and friends. Wouldn't want to accidentally make the country better as a result of problem solving. — John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina) April 28, 2020 Is the risk greater in
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Is Oil Profitable? Negative.
This has been obvious to me for most of the last decade, after it became clear that good information was never going to win over enough people, because disinformation had already corrupted too many. https://t.co/jbwxnjMkB2 — Saskboy from #SocialDistancing (@saskboy) April 20, 2020 Oil prices turn negative for first time
Continue readingIn-Sights: The Fierce Urgency of Now
The financial crisis is about more than money. It is also about morality, casting an uncomfortable light on the links between the activities of bankers and the wellbeing of society as a whole. The idea that economics is morally neutral or that finance should be above ethical scrutiny deserves to
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Maxims of Empire
(And the Maxims of Liberation) There are at least five known, central maxims which all emperors understand and employ, which have been used for millennia by the elite in order to control, rule over, and generally fleece and rob, oppress and exploit the people. They are: Divide and conquer: keep
Continue reading