Last year I attended the Liberal Policy convention in Ottawa as a delegate. One of the policies up for debate was a resolution supporting the implementation of High Speed rail in the Quebec-Windsor Corridor. (stops in London, Toronto Ottawa and Montreal) I was trying to convince my friends to support the policy, because I think the
Continue readingTag: Economics
The HB-Log : A Minimum Income Could Boost Free Trade
I will not go on about the possible benefits of implementing a negative income tax, or a guaranteed minimum income program (GMI) in Canada. If you want to read an excellent case for it’s implementation this article is a great introduction. All these folks may not stop, but some would with a GMI in place. In
Continue readingEarthgauge Radio: Tomorrow on Earthgauge Radio: what big oil wants, Harper gives, plus reducing your home energy bill with SwitchHop
Earthgauge Radio returns with our first show of 2013! Tomorrow on the program, we have an interview with Keith Stewart of Greenpeace who will tell us about the December 2011 letter he obtained through an Access to Information request from oil companies to the Harper government. As it turns out, what
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Attawapiskat Audit is Merely a Distraction
Green Party leader Elizabeth May published a well-thought out and clear article on Wednesday, breaking down the reasons why the ongoing media banter about Attiwapiskat fund mismanagement and Chief Theresa Spence are merely distractions from an ongoing legacy of government failure to protect indigenous people and the environment. Twitter and
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: America the Not-So-Beautiful: God Shat His Grace On Thee
Close your eyes, and conjure up a mental image of the stereotype of the Ugly American. Loud. Large. Willfully ignorant of customs and countries that lie beyond the border of the US -of- A. Rabidly proselytizing the gospel of liberty, freedom and patriotism bestowed unto their nation via God and
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Does Adbusters Ask of You in 2013?
From the people who suggested the modest idea of occupying Wall Street, Adbusters has sent out a new half dozen suggestions to fix the economic cancers of capitalism. Here’s my favourite, and it’s a little policy wonky:
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Why is it that on Wikipedia, Facebook and various other…
Why is it that on Wikipedia, Facebook and various other websites, the pushiest proselytizers are almost always the libertarian capitalists? They are like cult members. The glassy-eyed worshippers of the fortunate rich (who are rarely rich themselves) are by far the most persistent of the zealots who spread propaganda and
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: PayWatch: The Clash for Cash
. Overcompensated: CEO Pay Rates Show Growing Inequality in Canada By 1:18pm on January 2, the first official working day of the year, Canada’s top 100 CEOs will have already pocketed $45,448 – the income that it takes the average Canadian an entire year of full-time work to earn.
Continue readingThe HB-Log : Care about equality? Suck up the tall buildings
Over the holidays I read Matt Yglesias fantastic book “The rent is too damn high,” which deals with urban policy in the United States and its effect on housing prices. But really, the book is about equality. Yglesias argues cities in the U.S. have too many regulations for the construction
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Putting Christ back in Christmas: maybe Christians themselves need to ‘press reset’
Jesus, centre, separates the sheep from the goats. Don’t ask what happens to the goats. Below: St. Paul and modern Evangelical favourite Ayn Rand. Today is Christmas, and thus an opportunity for many who think of themselves as adherents of the Christian faith to lecture everyone else sternly about the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Why does ArcelorMittal hate Bosnia?
Pollution, people and tombstones in Zenica. Owned by the Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, ArcelorMittal is the world’s largest steel producer—creating some 93 billion USD of revenue as of 2011. Granted, steel is an essential building block of the modern world yet ArcelorMittal’s obscene profit margins do raise the question of
Continue readingEarthgauge Radio: December 20, 2012: Buy Nothing Christmas and the shark fin import ban in Canada
Download: earthgauge-podcast-dec20-2012.mp3 This week on Earthgauge Radio, I have a feature interview with Aiden Enns of BuyNothingChristmas.org. We discuss some ideas about how you can have a “greener” and less stressful holiday season. I also have an update from NDP MP Fin Donnelly on his private member’s Bill C-380 to ban the import of shark fins
Continue readingEarthgauge Radio: December 20, 2012: Buy Nothing Christmas and the shark fin import ban in Canada
Download: earthgauge-podcast-dec20-2012.mp3 This week on Earthgauge Radio, I have a feature interview with Aiden Enns of BuyNothingChristmas.org and we discuss some ideas about how you can have a “greener” and less stressful holiday season. I also have an update from NDP MP Fin Donnelly on his private member’s Bill C-380
Continue readingEarthgauge Radio: Tomorrow on Earthgauge Radio: Canadian shark fin import ban and dreaming of a green Christmas
Tomorrow on Earthgauge Radio, it’s our second annual holiday special program. As you probably know, huge amounts of waste are produced during the holiday season – more than any other time of year. In addition, a lot of people find the holidays incredibly stressful. The pressure to buy gifts, social commitments, preparing meals
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Workin’ For The Money
I always find it so interesting to see people making well in excess of $100,000/year. I really have to stretch to find ways to spend it all in my imagination. Feels a bit like Brewster’s Millions. There are some jobs where I think it’s acceptable to make well more than
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Reading Economic Health into the Recent StatsCan Jobs Data is An Exercise in Fantasy
Reading Economic Health into the Recent StatsCan Jobs Data is An Exercise in Fantasy Here’s the reality in that data: 1) As Derek Holt points out, there is no hours worked increase. That remains static. But it is hours worked that “drive incomes, not body count.” Holt speculates that the already
Continue readingEarthgauge Radio: Earthgauge Radio December 6 2012: Over the climate cliff! Special program on the Doha Climate Change Conference
Download: earthgauge-podcast-dec6-2012.mp3 This week on Earthgauge Radio, it’s our Doha Climate Change Conference special broadcast. We have several features on the program today: On the ground reporting and news from the Doha summit courtesy of Deutsche Welle Living Planet An interview from Doha with Beatrice Yeung who is attending the conference
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: SaskPower: At Least 13 Years Out of Touch
I’m sorry Canada, and the world. I’ve tried to convince my province’s public utility that there are huge benefits from dialing down the reliance on coal burned electricity, but they won’t listen. They haven’t even removed or updated a shockingly out-dated “Solar” page on their website that lists information that
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Liar, Liar, Head’s On Fire
There’s an excellent animation of this sad situation regarding toxic fire retardants, in the video called “Story of Stuff”, which also explores the messed-up nature of our whole global economic system. It’s one of the decade’s must-watch videos. We don’t want our heads to catch fire while we are sleeping, so our pillows have toxic […]